Faithfulness in Health Reform
143
Those who experience the work of true conversion in their lives will
reveal the fruits of the Spirit in their lives. O that those who have so
little spiritual life would realize that eternal life can be granted only
to those who become partakers of the divine nature and escape the
corruption that is in the world through lust!
The power of Christ alone can work the transformation in heart
and mind that all must experience who would partake with Him of the
new life in the kingdom of heaven. “Except a man be born again,” the
Saviour has said, “he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:3
. The
religion that comes from God is the only religion that can lead to God.
In order to serve Him aright, we must be born of the divine Spirit. This
will lead to watchfulness. It will purify the heart and renew the mind
[130]
and give us a new capacity for knowing and loving God. It will give
us willing obedience to all His requirements. This is true worship.
God requires of His people continual advancement. We need
to learn that indulged appetite is the greatest hindrance to mental
improvement and soul sanctification. With all our profession of health
reform, many of us eat improperly. Indulgence of appetite is the
greatest cause of physical and mental debility, and lies largely at the
foundation of feebleness and premature death. Let the individual who
is seeking to possess purity of spirit bear in mind that in Christ there
is power to control the appetite.
Flesh Foods
If we could be benefited by indulging the desire for flesh foods, I
would not make this appeal to you; but I know we cannot. Flesh foods
are injurious to the physical well-being, and we should learn to do
without them. Those who are in a position where it is possible to secure
a vegetarian diet, but who choose to follow their own preferences in
this matter, eating and drinking as they please, will gradually grow
careless of the instruction the Lord has given regarding other phases
of the present truth and will lose their perception of what is truth; they
will surely reap as they have sown.
I have been instructed that the students in our schools are not to
be served with flesh foods or with food preparations that are known
to be unhealthful. Nothing that will serve to encourage a desire for
stimulants should be placed on the tables. I appeal to old and young