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Counsels on Diet and Foods
the truths for these last days. God has bountifully provided for the
sustenance and happiness of all His creatures; and if His laws were
never violated, and all acted in harmony with the divine will, health,
peace, and happiness, instead of misery and continual evil, would be
experienced.—
Testimonies for the Church 2:368, 1870
73. The Redeemer of the world knew that the indulgence of ap-
petite would bring physical debility, and so deaden the perceptive
organs that sacred and eternal things would not be discerned. Christ
knew that the world was given up to gluttony, and that this indulgence
would pervert the moral powers. If the indulgence of appetite was so
strong upon the race that, in order to break its power, the divine Son
of God, in behalf of man, was required to fast nearly six weeks, what
a work is before the Christian in order that he may overcome even as
Christ overcame! The strength of the temptation to indulge perverted
appetite can be measured only by the inexpressible anguish of Christ
in that long fast in the wilderness.
Christ knew that in order to successfully carry forward the plan of
salvation He must commence the work of redeeming man just where
the ruin began. Adam fell by the indulgence of appetite. In order
to impress upon man his obligations to obey the law of God, Christ
began His work of redemption by reforming the physical habits of man.
The declension in virtue and the degeneracy of the race are chiefly
attributable to the indulgence of perverted appetite.—
Testimonies for
the Church 3:486, 487, 1875
Special Responsibilities and Temptations of Ministers
There is a solemn responsibility upon all, especially upon ministers
who teach the truth, to overcome upon the point of appetite. Their
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usefulness would be much greater if they had control of their appetites
and passions; and their mental and moral powers would be stronger
if they combined physical labor with mental exertion. With strictly
temperate habits, and with mental and physical labor combined, they
could accomplish a far greater amount of labor and preserve clearness
of mind. If they would pursue such a course, their thoughts and
words would flow more freely, their religious exercises would be more
energized, and the impressions made upon their hearers would be more
marked.