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| There are in the world today many who close their eyes to the evidences that Christ has given to warn men of His coming. They seek to quiet all apprehension, while at the same time the signs of the end are rapidly fulfilling, and the world is hastening to the time when the Son of man shall be revealed in the clouds of heaven. Paul teaches that it is sinful to be indifferent to the signs which are to precede the second coming of Christ. Those guilty of this neglect he calls children of the night and of darkness. He encourages the vigilant and watchful with these words: "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." {AA 260.1} |
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| Young men and women should be urged to appreciate the heaven-sent blessings of opportunities to become well-disciplined and intelligent. They should take advantage of the schools that have been established for the purpose of imparting the best of knowledge. It is sinful to be indolent and negligent in regard to obtaining an education. Time is short, and therefore, because the Lord is soon to come to close the scenes of earth's history, there is all the greater necessity of improving present opportunities and privileges. {MYP 185.2} |
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| It is sinful indulgence |
| The Christian world are insensible to the result of their course. It is sinful indulgence that has produced degeneracy of the race, until at the present time, as we look upon the pale, sickly, deformed and imbecile specimens of humanity, they seem almost valueless. And yet Christ has died to redeem them from the thralldom of sin, and the oppressive power of Satan. By His own example He has shown us how to overcome the power of appetite. Man may, through the merits of Jesus Christ, become elevated and noble; he may possess moral value with God. It is difficult to conceive what a man may be and what he may do through the power and grace of God. The law of God requires that he should love the Lord with all his heart and soul and mind and strength, and his neighbor as himself. How important, then, that he preserve himself in the very best condition of health, that he may have physical, mental and moral power with which to glorify his Creator. God has given to us a habitation to care for and keep pure and holy, to be devoted to His service. {FPR, March 30, 1879 par. 6} |
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| I ask God's people to come to their senses in regard to their home duties. There are Christian parents who do not discern that Satan is working cunningly to catch unwary souls. Unless fathers and mothers become converted, unless they prayerfully consider the home duties which they have to perform, which it is sinful negligence to leave undone, unless they work strenuously at every point to outgeneral the enemy, their hearts will be pierced with many sorrows, for their children will be a disgrace to them and to the church. {16MR 144.1} |
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| it is a sin |
| The office work of the Holy Spirit is to convince of sin, and I know that it is a sin for any one of us to be indifferent now. As we look around at the different fields that have been entered, we are led to inquire, “What hath God wrought?” What more could He have done for His vineyard than He has done? God has made provision to supply His rich grace, to give divine power for the performance of His work. Nothing is wanting on the part of God; the lack is on the part of the human agency, who refuses to cooperate with divine intelligences. Through the plan He has devised, nothing can be done for the salvation of man save through the cooperation of man. Sinners who have been blessed with light and evidence, who know that through grace that can be supplied to them, they may meet the conditions upon which salvation is promised, and yet who decline to make the attempt, have but themselves to blame for their own destruction. We feel that of such it may be said that Christ has died for them in vain. { YRP 174.3} |
