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Temperance
the conditions that existed in the days of Noah. Every conceivable
crime is committed. The lust of the flesh, the pride of the eyes, the
display of selfishness, the misuse of power, the cruelty, ... all these
are the working of satanic agencies. This round of crime and folly
men call “life.” ...
The world, who act as though there were no God, absorbed in
selfish pursuits, will soon experience sudden destruction, and shall
not escape. Many continue in the careless gratification of self until
they become so disgusted with life that they kill themselves. Danc-
ing and carousing, drinking and smoking, indulging their animal
passions, they go as an ox to the slaughter. Satan is working with all
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his art and enchantments to keep men marching blindly onward until
the Lord arises out of His place to punish the inhabitants of earth
for their iniquities, when the earth shall disclose her blood and no
more cover her slain. The whole world appears to be in the march to
death.—
Evangelism, 26
.
The Curse Carried to Heathen Nations
—From so-called
Christian lands the curse is carried to the regions of idolatry. The
poor, ignorant savages are taught the use of liquor. Even among the
heathen, men of intelligence recognize and protest against it as a
deadly poison; but in vain have they sought to protect their lands
from its ravages. By civilized peoples, tobacco, liquor, and opium
are forced upon the heathen nations. The ungoverned passions of the
savage, stimulated by drink, drag him down to degradation before
unknown, and it becomes an almost hopeless undertaking to send
missionaries to these lands.
Through their contact with peoples who should have given them
a knowledge of God, the heathen are led into vices which are proving
the destruction of whole tribes and races. And in the dark places of
the earth the men of civilized nations are hated because of this.—
The
Ministry of Healing, 339
.
Even the Christian Churches Paralyzed
—The liquor interest
is a power in the world. It has on its side the combined strength of
money, habit, appetite. Its power is felt even in the church. Men
whose money has been made, directly or indirectly, in the liquor
traffic, are members of churches, “in good and regular standing.”
Many of them give liberally to popular charities. Their contribu-
tions help to support the enterprises of the church and to sustain its