Basic HTML Version
Chapter 2—The Inception of Intemperance
Satan gathered the fallen angels together to devise some way of
doing the most possible evil to the human family. One proposition
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 has succeeded in turning the world from God. The bless-
ings provided in God’s love and mercy he has turned into a deadly
curse. He has filled men with a craving for liquor and tobacco.
This appetite, which has no foundation in nature, has destroyed its
millions.—
The Review and Herald, April 16, 1901
.
The Secret of the Enemy’s Strategy
—Intemperance of any
kind benumbs the perceptive organs and so weakens the brain-nerve
power that eternal things are not appreciated, but placed upon a level
with the common. The higher powers of the mind, designed for
[13]
elevated purposes, are brought into slavery to the baser passions.
If our physical habits are not right, our mental and moral powers
cannot be strong; for great sympathy exists between the physical
and the moral.—
Testimonies for the Church 3:50, 51
.
The brain nerves which communicate with the entire system are
the only medium through which Heaven can communicate to man
and affect his inmost life. Whatever disturbs the circulation of the
electric currents in the nervous system lessens the strength of the
vital powers, and the result is a deadening of the sensibilities of the
mind.—
Testimonies for the Church 2:347
.
Satan is constantly on the alert to bring the race fully under his
control. His strongest hold on man is through the appetite, and this
11