Health Reform and the Third Angel’s Message
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When properly conducted, the health work is an entering wedge,
making a way for other truths to reach the heart. When the third angel’s
message is received in its fullness, health reform will be given its place
in the councils of the conference, in the work of the church, in the
home, at the table, and in all the household arrangements. Then the
right arm will serve and protect the body.
But while the health work has its place in the promulgation of the
third angel’s message, its advocates must not in any way strive to make
it take the place of the message.—
Testimonies for the Church 6:327,
1900
Need for Self-Mastery
100. One of the most deplorable effects of the original apostasy
was the loss of man’s power of self-control. Only as this power is
regained, can there be real progress.
The body is the only medium through which the mind and the soul
are developed for the upbuilding of character. Hence it is that the ad-
versary of souls directs his temptations to the enfeebling and degrading
of the physical powers. His success here means the surrender to evil of
the whole being. The tendencies of our physical nature, unless under
the dominion of a higher power, will surely work ruin and death.
The body is to be brought into subjection. The higher powers of
the being are to rule. The passions are to be controlled by the will,
which is itself to be under the control of God. The kingly power of
reason, sanctified by divine grace, is to bear sway in our lives.
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The requirements of God must be brought home to the conscience.
Men and women must be awakened to the duty of self-mastery, the
need of purity, freedom from every depraving appetite and defiling
habit. They need to be impressed with the fact that all their powers of
mind and body are the gift of God, and are to be preserved in the best
possible condition for His service.—
The Ministry of Healing, 129,
130, 1905
Ministers and People to Act in Concert
101. One important part of the work of the ministry is to faithfully
present to the people the health reform, as it stands connected with the
third angel’s message, as a part and parcel of the same work. They