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Testimonies for the Church Volume 1
It has hitherto been the case that when one or two felt the necessity
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of arousing and standing unitedly and more firmly upon the elevated
platform of truth, others would make no effort to arise. Satan puts in
them a spirit to rebel, to discourage those who would advance. They
brace themselves when urged to take hold of the work, a stubborn
spirit comes upon some, and when they should help they hinder. Some
will not submit to the planing knife of God. As it passes over them,
and the uneven surface is disturbed, they complain of too close and
severe work. They wish to get out of God’s workshop, where their
defects may remain undisturbed. They seem to be asleep as to their
condition; but their only hope is to remain where the defects in their
Christian character will be seen and remedied.
Some are indulging lustful appetite which wars against the soul and
is a constant hindrance to their spiritual advancement. They constantly
bear an accusing conscience, and if straight truths are talked they
are prepared to be offended. They are self-condemned and feel that
subjects have been purposely selected to touch their case. They feel
grieved and injured, and withdraw themselves from the assemblies
of the saints. They forsake the assembling of themselves together,
for then their consciences are not so disturbed. They soon lose their
interest in the meetings and their love for the truth, and, unless they
entirely reform, will go back and take their position with the rebel
host who stand under the black banner of Satan. If these will crucify
fleshly lusts which war against the soul, they will get out of the way,
where the arrows of truth will pass harmlessly by them. But while
they indulge lustful appetite, and thus cherish their idols, they make
themselves a mark for the arrows of truth to hit, and if truth is spoken
at all, they must be wounded. Some think that they cannot reform,
that health would be sacrificed should they attempt to leave the use
of tea, tobacco, and flesh meats. This is the suggestion of Satan. It is
these hurtful stimulants that are surely undermining the constitution
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and preparing the system for acute diseases by impairing Nature’s fine
machinery and battering down her fortifications erected against disease
and premature decay.
Those who make a change and leave off these unnatural stimulants
will for a time feel their loss and suffer considerably without them, as
does the drunkard who is wedded to his liquor. Take away intoxicating
drinks and he suffers terribly. But if he persists he will soon overcome