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Counsels on Stewardship
How Means is Squandered
What a vast amount of God’s entrusted capital is expended in
purchasing tobacco, beer, and liquor! God has forbidden all these
indulgences because they tear down the human structure. Through
their indulgence health is sacrificed, and life itself is offered on Satan’s
shrine. Perverted appetite causes the brain to become enfeebled, so
that men cannot think sharply and clearly, and devise plans that will
succeed in temporal matters; and much less can they bring a cultivated
intellect into their religious transactions. They are unable to discern
sacred and eternal things above those which are common and temporal.
Satan has invented many ways in which to squander the means
which God has given. Card playing, betting, gambling, horse racing,
and theatrical performances are all of his own inventing, and he has
led men to carry forward these amusements as zealously as though
they were winning for themselves the precious boon of eternal life.
Men lay out immense sums in following these forbidden pleasures;
and the result is, their God-given power, which has been purchased by
the blood of the Son of God, is degraded and corrupted. The physical,
moral, and mental powers which are given to men of God, and which
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belong to Christ, are zealously used in serving Satan, and in turning
men from righteousness and holiness.
Everything is devised that can possibly turn the mind from that
which is noble and pure, and the boundary line is almost reached when
the inhabitants of the earth will be as corrupt as were the inhabitants
of the world before the flood....
As in the Days of Noah
If we look at the picture of the days that were before the flood, and
then turn our attention to the habits and practices of society today, we
shall see that our earth is fast ripening for the plagues of the last days.
Men have corrupted the earth by their sinful course of action. Satan
is playing the game of life for the souls of men. Those who are doers
of the words of Christ will find that they will have to watch and pray
continually in order that they may not be led into temptation.
Many do not seem to appreciate the fact that the money they need-
lessly expend on amusements which only vex the soul and lay the
foundation for the corruption of their morals, is money that belongs to