Flesh Foods
177
Can we possibly have confidence in ministers who at tables where
flesh is served join with others in eating it?
“Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your
[80]
God.” Every one who transgresses the laws of health will surely be
visited with God’s displeasure. Oh, how much of the Holy Spirit we
might have day by day, if we would walk circumspectly, denying self,
and practicing the virtues of Christ’s character.
Unpublished Testimonies, January 11, 1897 (Healthful Living,
102.3)
O, if every one could discern these matters as they have been
presented to me, those who are so careless, so indifferent in regard to
their character building, those who plead for indulgence in a flesh-meat
diet, would never open their lips in justification of an appetite for the
flesh of dead animals.
Testimonies for the Church 9:156-160
If we could be benefited by indulging the desire for flesh foods, I
would not make this appeal to you; but I know we can not. 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
and to middle-aged. Deny your appetite of those things that are doing
you injury. Serve the Lord by sacrifice.
Let the children have an intelligent part in this work. We are all
members of the Lord’s family, and the Lord would have His children,
young and old, determine to deny appetite, and to save the means
needed for the building of meeting-houses and the support of mission-
aries.