Chapter 127—Dangerous Amusements for the Young
The desire for excitement and pleasing entertainment is a tempta-
tion and a snare to God’s people, and especially to the young. Satan
is constantly preparing inducements to attract minds from the solemn
work of preparation for scenes just in the future. Through the agency
of worldlings he keeps up a continual excitement to induce the unwary
to join in worldly pleasures. There are shows, lectures, and an endless
variety of entertainments that are calculated to lead to a love of the
world; and through this union with the world faith is weakened.
Satan is a persevering workman, an artful, deadly foe. Whenever
an incautious word is spoken, whether in flattery or to cause the youth
to look upon some sin with less abhorrence, he takes advantage of it,
and nourishes the evil seed, that it may take root and yield a bountiful
harvest. He is in every sense of the word a deceiver, a skilful charmer.
He has many finely woven nets, which appear innocent, but which are
skilfully prepared to entangle the young and unwary. The natural mind
leans toward pleasure and self-gratification. It is Satan’s policy to fill
the mind with a desire for worldly amusement, that there may be no
time for the question, How is it with my soul?
An Unfortunate Age
We are living in an unfortunate age for the young. The prevailing
influence in society is in favor of allowing the youth to follow the
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natural turn of their own minds. If their children are very wild, parents
flatter themselves that when they are older and reason for themselves
they will leave off their wrong habits, and become useful men and
women. What a mistake! For years they permit an enemy to sow the
garden of the heart, and suffer wrong principles to grow and strengthen,
seeming not to discern the hidden dangers and the fearful ending of
the path that seems to them the way of happiness. In many cases all
the labor afterward bestowed upon these youth will avail nothing.
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