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HEALTH REFORM AND THE LATTER RAIN

HEALTH REFORM AND THE LATTER RAIN. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT . THE LATTER RAIN . March 2, 1897 Pray for the Latter Rain.

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HEALTH REFORM AND THE LATTER RAIN

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  1. HEALTH REFORM AND THE LATTER RAIN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

  2. THE LATTER RAIN March 2, 1897 Pray for the Latter Rain. • -"Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain." "He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain." In the East the former rain falls at the sowing-time. It is necessary in order that the seed may germinate. Under the influence of the fertilizing showers, the tender shoot springs up. The latter rain, falling near the close of the season, ripens the grain, and prepares it for the sickle. The Lord employs these operations of nature to represent the work of the Holy Spirit. As the dew and the rain are given first to cause the seed to germinate, and then to ripen the harvest, so the Holy Spirit is given to carry forward, from one stage to another, the process of spiritual growth. The ripening of the grain represents the completion of the work of God's grace in the soul. By the power of the Holy Spirit the moral image of God is to be perfected in the character. We are to be wholly transformed into the likeness of Christ. {RH, March 2, 1897 par. 1}

  3. THE LATTER RAIN • The latter rain, ripening earth's harvest, represents the spiritual grace that prepares the church for the coming of the Son of Man. But unless the former rain has fallen, there will be no life; the green blade will not spring up. Unless the early showers have done their work, the latter rain can bring no seed to perfection. {RH, March 2, 1897 par. 2} • There is to be "first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." There must be a constant development of Christian virtue, a constant advancement in Christian experience. This we should seek with intensity of desire, that we may adorn the doctrine of Christ our Saviour. {RH, March 2, 1897 par. 3}

  4. many have in a great measure failed to receive the former rain. They have not obtained all the benefits that God has thus provided for them. They expect that the lack will be supplied by the latter rain. When the richest abundance of grace shall be bestowed, they intend to open their hearts to receive it. They are making a terrible mistake. The work that God has begun in the human heart in giving his light and knowledge, must be continually going forward. Every individual must realize his own necessity. The heart must be emptied of every defilement, and cleansed for the indwelling of the Spirit. It was by the confession and forsaking of sin, by earnest prayer and consecration of themselves to God, that the early disciples prepared for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The same work, only in greater degree, must be done now. Then the human agent had only to ask for the blessing, and wait for the Lord to perfect the work concerning him. It is God who began the work, and he will finish his work, making man complete in Jesus Christ. But there must be no neglect of the grace represented by the former rain. Only those who are living up to the light they have, will receive greater light. Unless we are daily advancing in the exemplification of the active Christian virtues, we shall not recognize the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain. It may be falling on hearts all around us, but we shall not discern or receive it. {RH, March 2, 1897 par. 4}

  5. THE ACTIVE CHRISTIAN VIRTUES • Faith • Virtue • Knowledge • Temperance • Patience • Godliness • Brotherly kindness • charity

  6. Healthy Life Favors Perfection of Character • .--A pure, healthy life is most favorable for the perfection of Christian character and for the development of the powers of mind and body.-- RH, Dec 1, 1896. (CH 41.) {2MCP 378.1}

  7. 1st Duty – Self Development • Our first duty toward God and our fellow beings is that of self-development. Every faculty with which the Creator has endowed us should be cultivated to the highest degree of perfection, that we may be able to do the greatest amount of good of which we are capable. Hence that time is spent to good account which is used in the establishment and preservation of physical and mental health. We cannot afford to dwarf or cripple any function of body or mind. As surely as we do this, we must suffer the consequences. {CD 15.2}

  8. PERFECTION OF CHARACTER • A large proportion of all the infirmities that afflict the human family, are the results of their own wrong habits, because of their willing ignorance, or of their disregard of the light which God has given in relation to the laws of their being. It is not possible for us to glorify God while living in violation of the laws of life. The heart cannot possibly maintain consecration to God while lustful appetite is indulged. A diseased body and disordered intellect, because of continual indulgence in hurtful lust, make sanctification of the body and spirit impossible. The apostle understood the importance of the healthful conditions of the body for the successful perfection of Christian character. He says, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." He mentions the fruit of the Spirit, among which is temperance. "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." Health Reformer, March, 1878

  9. HEALTH OF BODY AND MIND • Let it ever be kept before the mind that the great object of hygienic reform is to secure the highest possible development of mind and soul and body. --C. T., p. 120. {HL 38.1} • He who cherishes the light which God has given him upon health reform has an important aid in the work of becoming sanctified through the truth, and fitted for immortality.--C. T., p. 10. {HL 38.2} • God requires all who believe the truth to make special persevering efforts to place themselves in the best possible condition of bodily health, for a solemn and important work is before us. Health of body and mind is required for this work; it is as essential to a healthy religious experience, to advancement in the Christian life, and progress in holiness, as is the hand or foot to the human body.--T., V. I, p. 619.

  10. LIVING SACRIFICE • If the bodies professedly laid upon the altar of God should pass that scrutiny that was given the Jewish sacrifice, how few would stand the test and be pronounced perfect before God, preserved unto holiness, free from the taints of sin or pollution. No lame sacrifice could God receive. No injured or diseased sacrifice would God accept. The offering given to God was required to be sound, in every respect without blemish, and valuable. {TSB 99.4}

  11. CONDITION OF THE MIND • Overeating prevents the free flow of thought and words, and that intensity of feeling which is so necessary in order to impress the truth upon the heart of the hearer.--T., V. III, p. 310. {HL 41.1} • Excessive eating of even the best of food will produce a morbid condition of the moral feelings. . . . Wrong habits of eating and drinking lead to errors in thought and action.Indulgence of appetite strengthens the animal propensities, giving them the ascendency over the mental and spiritual powers. . . . Everything that conflicts with natural law creates a diseased condition of the soul.--R. and H., 1881, No. 4. {HL 41.2}

  12. AT THE TABLE • Irregularity in eating and drinking, and improper dressing, deprave the mind and corrupt the heart, and bring the noble attributes of the soul in slavery to the animal passions.--H. R. {HL 41.3} • If those who profess to be Christians desire to solve the questions so perplexing to them,--why their minds are so dull, why their religious aspirations are so feeble,--they need not, in many instances, go farther than the table; here is cause enough, if there were no other.--C. T., p. 83. {HL 41.4} • A religious life can be more successfully gained and maintained if flesh meats are discarded; for a meat diet stimulates into intense activity lustful propensities, and enfeebles the spiritual and moral nature.--U. T., Nov. 5, 1896.

  13. GOD MISREPRESENTED • The children of God cannot glorify him with sickly bodies or dwarfed minds. Those who indulge in any species of intemperance, either in eating or drinking, waste their physical energies and weaken moral power.-- C. T., p. 53. {HL 55.2} • Those whose moral faculties are beclouded by disease, are not the ones rightly to represent the Christian life, to show forth the joys of salvation or the beauties of holiness. They are too often in the fire of fanaticism or the water of cold indifference or stolid gloom.-- S. of T., 1885, No. 42. {HL 55.3} • THERE COMES A TIME WHEN WE MUST STOP BEING SICK!!

  14. DISEASE AND PERFECTION ??? • While men and women professing godliness are diseased from the crown of their head to the soles of their feet, while their physical, mental and moral energies are enfeebled through gratification of depraved appetite and excessive labor, how can they weigh the evidences of truth, and comprehend the requirements of God? If their moral and intellectual faculties are beclouded, they cannot appreciate the value of the atonement or the exalted character of the work of God, nor delight in the study of his word. How can a nervous dyspeptic be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh him for a reason of the hope that is in him, with meekness and fear?-- T., V. I, p. 488. {HL 55.4} • Perfection and the spirit of holiness cannot be attained with diseased bodies and minds. -- T., V. I, p. 554. {HL 55.5}

  15. OUR ONLY HOPE • As our first parents lost Eden through the indulgence of appetite, our only hope of regaining Eden is through the firm denial of appetite and passion. . . . The controlling power of appetite will prove the ruin of thousands, when, if they had conquered on this point, then they would have had the moral power to gain the victory over every other temptation of Satan.But those who are slaves to appetite will fail in perfecting Christian character. . . . As we near the close of time, Satan's temptation to indulge appetite will be more powerful and more difficult to overcome.--T., V. III, p. 491. {HL 74.5}

  16. SEPERATION AND REFORMATION • Satan sees that he cannot have such a controlling power over us as he could if appetite were indulged.--T., V. III, p. 569. {HL 75.1} • Our habits of eating and drinking show whether we are of the world or among the number that the Lord by his mighty cleaver of truth has separated from the world.--U. T., Aug. 25, 1897. {HL 75.2} • Christ began this work of redemption by reforming the physical habits of man.--T., V. III, p. 486. {HL 75.3} • Luk 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. • Luk 21:35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

  17. SUCCESS • A religious life can be more successfully attained and maintained if meat is discarded; for this diet stimulates into intense activity the lustful propensities, and enfeebles the moral and spiritual nature.--U. T., Nov. 5, 1896. {HL 102.4} • YI. May 31,1894. “Eating, drinking, and dressing all have direct bearing upon our spiritual advancement.”

  18. MORAL COURAGE • Perhaps no question has ever come up among us which has caused such development of character as has the dress reform.-- T., V. IV, p. 636. {HL 120.1} • Simplicity of dress will make a sensible woman appear to the best advantage. We judge of a person's character by the style of dress worn. Gaudy apparel displays vanity and weakness. A modest, godly woman will dress modestly. A refined taste, a cultivated mind, will be revealed in the choice of simple and appropriate attire.-- T., V. IV, p. 643. {HL 120.2}

  19. MORAL COURAGE • Fashion and false modesty look upon these girls who have their limbs clad in reference to comfort, modesty, and health, with horror, but smile upon those whose dresses are quite as short, and whose limbs are uncomfortably, immodestly, and unhealthfully exposed. Here come the cross and the reproach, for simply doing right, in the face of the tyrant--Fashion. God help us to have the moral courage to do right, and to labor patiently and humbly in the great cause of reform. {HR, September 1, 1868 par. 13}

  20. IMPOSSIBLE / CANNOT • The Spirit of God cannot come to our help, and assist us in perfecting Christian characters, while we are indulging our appetites to the injury of health, and while the pride of life controls. {CD 57.4} • All who are partakers of the divine nature will escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. It is impossible for those who indulge the appetite to attain to Christian perfection. {CD 57.5}

  21. THE IMPOSSIBLE • It is impossible for those who give the reins to appetite to attain to Christian perfection. The moral sensibilities of your children cannot be easily aroused, unless you are careful in the selection of their food. Many a mother sets a table that is a snare to her family. Flesh meats, butter, cheese, rich pastry, spiced foods, and condiments are freely partaken of by both old and young. These things do their work in deranging the stomach, exciting the nerves, and enfeebling the intellect. The blood-making organs cannot convert such things into good blood. The grease cooked in the food renders it difficult of digestion. The effect of cheese is deleterious. Fine-flour bread does not impart to the system the nourishment that is to be found in unbolted-wheat bread. Its common use will not keep the system in the best condition. Spices at first irritate the tender coating of the stomach, but finally destroy the natural sensitiveness of this delicate membrane. The blood becomes fevered, the animal propensities are aroused, while the moral and intellectual powers are weakened, and become servants to the baser passions. The mother should study to set a simple yet nutritious diet before her family. {CD 236.2}

  22. (1890) C.T.B.H. 53 • It is as truly a sin to violate the laws of our being as it is to break the ten commandments. To do either is to break God's laws. Those who transgress the law of God in their physical organism, will be inclined to violate the law of God spoken from Sinai.

  23. MORAL FITNESS • You need clear, energetic minds, in order to appreciate the exalted character of the truth, to value the atonement, and to place the right estimate upon eternal things. If you pursue a wrong course, and indulge in wrong habits of eating, and thereby weaken the intellectual powers, you will not place that high estimate upon salvation and eternal life which will inspire you to conform your life to the life of Christ; you will not make those earnest, self-sacrificing efforts for entire conformity to the will of God, which His word requires and which are necessary to give you a moral fitness for the finishing touch of immortality. {CD 47.1}

  24. Erroneous Eating Leads to Erroneous Thinking • The health of the body is to be regarded as essential for growth in grace and the acquirement of an even temper. If the stomach is not properly cared for, the formation of an upright, moral character will be hindered. The brain and nerves are in sympathy with the stomach. Erroneous eating and drinking result in erroneous thinking and acting.--9T 160 (1909). {2MCP 392.2}

  25. VALUING THE ATONEMENT • High Appreciation of Atonement Blunted.--When we pursue a course to lessen mental and physical vigor--in eating, drinking, or in any of our habits--we dishonor God, for we rob Him of the service He claims of us. When we indulge appetite at the expense of health or when we indulge habits which lessen our vitality and mental vigor, we cannot have a high appreciation of the atonement and a right estimate of eternal things. When our minds are beclouded and partially paralyzed by disease, we are easily overcome by the temptations of Satan.--Lt 27, 1872. {2MCP 392.3}

  26. IMPROPER DIET LEADS TO ADULTERY • If all who profess to obey the law of God were free from iniquity, my soul would be relieved; but they are not. Even some who profess to keep all the commandments of God are guilty of the sin of adultery. What can I say to arouse their benumbed sensibilities? Moral principle, strictly carried out, becomes the only safeguard of the soul. If ever there was a time when the diet should be of the most simple kind, it is now. Meat should not be placed before our children. Its influence is to excite and strengthen the lower passions, and has a tendency to deaden the moral powers. Grains and fruits prepared free from grease, and in as natural a condition as possible, should be the food for the tables of all who claim to be preparing for translation to heaven. The less feverish the diet, the more easily can the passions be controlled. Gratification of taste should not be consulted irrespective of physical, intellectual, or moral health. {CD 63.3}

  27. TRANSLATION • Among those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord, meat eating will eventually be done away; flesh will cease to form a part of their diet. We should ever keep this end in view, and endeavor to work steadily toward it. I cannot think that in the practice of flesh eating we are in harmony with the light which God has been pleased to give us. All who are connected with our health institutions especially should be educating themselves to subsist on fruits, grains, and vegetables. If we move from principle in these things, if we as Christian reformers educate our own taste, and bring our diet to God's plan, then we may exert an influence upon others in this matter, which will be pleasing to God. {CD 380.4} • VEG – SUBSTITIUTES / REFINED FOODS / SPICY FOODS / OILY FOODS/ SUGARY FOODS- EVEN IF THEY ARE NAMED HEALTH FOODS.

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