Health Reform and the Third Angel’s Message
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Lord, and to turn the people to the wisdom of the just. He was a
representative of those living in these last days, to whom God has
entrusted sacred truths to present before the people, to prepare the way
for the second appearing of Christ. John was a reformer. The angel
Gabriel, direct from heaven, gave a discourse upon health reform to
the father and mother of John. He said that he should not drink wine
or strong drink, and that he should be filled with the Holy Ghost from
his birth.
John separated himself from friends, and from the luxuries of life.
The simplicity of his dress, a garment woven of camel’s hair, was a
standing rebuke to the extravagance and display of the Jewish priests,
and of the people generally. His diet, purely vegetable, of locusts
and wild honey, was a rebuke to the indulgence of appetite, and the
gluttony that everywhere prevailed. The prophet Malachi declares,
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the
great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the
fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.”
Here the prophet describes the character of the work. Those who are
to prepare the way for the second coming of Christ, are represented by
faithful Elijah, as John came in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way
for Christ’s first advent.
The great subject of reform is to be agitated, and the public mind
is to be stirred. Temperance in all things is to be connected with the
message, to turn the people of God from their idolatry, their gluttony,
and their extravagance in dress and other things.—
Testimonies for the
Church 3:61-64, 1872
A Marked Contrast
The self-denial, humility, and temperance required of the righteous,
whom God especially leads and blesses, is to be presented to the people
in contrast to the extravagant, health-destroying habits of those who
live in this degenerate age. God has shown that health reform is as
closely connected with the third angel’s message as the hand is with
the body. There is nowhere to be found so great a cause of physical
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and moral degeneracy as a neglect of this important subject. Those
who indulge appetite and passion, and close their eyes to the light