132
Counsels for the Church
after another was made, till finally Satan himself thought of a plan. He
would take the fruit of the vine, also wheat, and other things given by
God as food, and would convert them into poisons, which would ruin
man’s physical, mental, and moral powers, and so overcome the senses
that Satan should have full control. Under the influence of liquor,
men would be led to commit crimes of all kinds. Through perverted
appetite the world would be made corrupt. By leading men to drink
alcohol, Satan would cause them to descend lower and lower in the
scale
Satan is taking the world captive through the use of liquor and
tobacco, tea and coffee. The God-given mind, which should be kept
[102]
clear, is perverted by the use of narcotics. The brain is no longer able
to distinguish correctly. The enemy has control. Man has sold his
reason for that which makes him mad. He has no sense of what is
right
Our Creator has bestowed His bounties upon man with a liberal
hand. Were all these gifts of Providence wisely and temperately em-
ployed, poverty, sickness, and distress would be well-nigh banished
from the earth. But alas, we see on every hand the blessings of God
changed to a curse by the wickedness of men.
There is no class guilty of greater perversion and abuse of His
precious gifts than are those who employ the products of the soil in the
manufacture of intoxicating liquors. The nutritive grains, the healthful,
delicious fruits, are converted into beverages that pervert the senses and
madden the brain. As a result of the use of these poisons, thousands of
families are deprived of the comforts and even the necessaries of life,
acts of violence and crime are multiplied, and disease and death hurry
myriads of victims to a drunkard’s grave
Intoxicating Wine
The wine that Christ made from water at the marriage feast of Cana
was the pure juice of the grape. This is the “new wine found in the
cluster,” of which the Scripture says, “Destroy it not; for a blessing is
in it.”
Isaiah 65:8
.
136
Temperance, 12
137
Evangelism, 529
138
Gospel Workers, 385, 386