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Satan controls the minds of the youth in general. Your daughters are not taught self-denial and self-control. They are petted, and their pride is fostered. They are allowed to have their own way until they become headstrong and self-willed, and you are put to your wit's end to know what course to pursue to save them from ruin. Satan is leading them on to be a proverb in the mouth of unbelievers because of their boldness, their lack of reserve and womanly modesty. The young boys are likewise left to have their own way. They have scarcely entered their teens before they are by the side of little girls of their own age, accompanying them home and making love to them. And the parents are so completely in bondage through their own indulgence and mistaken love for their children that they dare not pursue a decided course to make a change and restrain their too-fast children in this fast age. {2T 460.1} |
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Daughters are not taught self-denial and self-control. They are petted, and their pride is fostered. They are allowed to have their own way, until they become headstrong and self-willed, and you are put to your wits' end to know what course to pursue to save them from ruin. Satan is leading them on to be a proverb in the mouth of unbelievers because of their boldness, their lack of reserve and womanly modesty. The young boys are likewise left to have their own way. They have scarcely entered their teens before they are by the side of little girls of their own age, accompanying them home and making love to them. And the parents are so completely in bondage through their own indulgence and mistaken love for their children that they dare not pursue a decided course to make a change and restrain their too-fast children in this fast age. {AH 52.2} |
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The youth are seldom taught self-denial and self-control. They are allowed to have their own way till they become headstrong and self-willed, and parents are put to their wit's end to know what course to pursue in order to save them from ruin. The corrupting doctrine that has prevailed, that, from a health standpoint, the sexes should mingle together, has done its mischievous work. When parents and guardians manifest a tithe of the shrewdness that Satan exercises, then can the association of the sexes be more nearly harmless. As it is, he is only too successful in his efforts to bewitch the minds of the youth, and the association of boys and girls only increases the evil. Young boys have scarcely entered their teens before they begin to show attention to girls of their own age, and the girls show a painful lack of maidenly reserve and modesty. {CTBH 136.2} |
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Let no one ray of light from heaven be held in questioning and doubt. In great power the Lord has revealed to you His grace, His mercy, and His love; and He who charges the work of God to undue excitement, and calls it fanaticism, is certainly standing on dangerous ground. If such do not retrieve their steps, their consciences will become less and less sensitive, and they will have less and less appreciation of the Spirit of God. It will become harder and harder for them to understand the message of God. Why?--Because they are sinning against the Holy Ghost; and as a result of their resistance, they place themselves where they cannot recognize the Spirit of God, but set themselves against every instrumentality that God might use to save them from ruin. "What sign shewest thou?" (John 2:18) said the Jews to Christ, when at the same time His life and character, His lessons and miracles, were continual signs of His holy mission and divinity. {TDG 52.2} {RH, February 13, 1894 par. 2} |
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We may say with Job: "He knoweth the way that I take; when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." "For thou, O God, hast proved us; thou hast tried us, as silver is tried." Our heavenly Father gave his only-begotten Son to cope with the powers of darkness, and to restrain Satanic agencies, so that they might not prevail against his tried and chosen ones, and overcome and destroy them. Jesus, our great High Priest, is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and he works to bind up those who are wounded and bruised by the enemy. He does not leave the tempted soul to the mercy of the destroyer. The children of God are to work in Christ's lines. They are to seek the wandering, straying sheep of his pasture. Those who claim to love God are to form a guard around perishing souls to save them from ruin. Instead of saying, "Let the erring go, we will not try to help them," we are to strengthen the hands which hang down, and confirm the feeble knees. We shall never form characters after the divine similitude if we cherish the meager, stunted piety that looks out only for our individual selves, and does not lead us to do earnest, positive work for the salvation of others. We are to let our light shine in such a way as to guide souls into the haven of safety, that they may find refuge in Christ. Those who have not a positive religion, have no influence to entice others into the fold of safety. Their religion brings dishonor on the truth, and gives those who are not of our faith an excuse for their own defective lives. Those who are indolent, who center everything upon self, bring contempt upon the cause they profess to love. {ST, August 20, 1896 par. 3} |
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After entering Canaan, the children of Israel gradually went into idolatry. By His prophets God sent them message after message. But they forgot the instructions of their leader, and followed their own inclinations and the imagination of their own hearts, until the Lord could no longer protect them. He permitted their enemies to overcome them, and to scatter them as captives in strange lands. But still He was willing to pardon them. He promised that if they would return to Him, He would heal all their backslidings, and reinstate them in His favor. He sent them warnings, reproofs, judgments, to save them from ruin. But notwithstanding these efforts, they wandered farther and farther from Him. As represented in the parable given by Christ, God sent His messengers to them, but these were persecuted and put to death. Last of all, He sent His only begotten Son. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, . . . full of grace and truth." But the people He came to save refused to receive Him. They rewarded Him evil for good, and in Pilate's judgment hall He was condemned to death by crucifixion. "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine fat? I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me." {RH, April 23, 1901 par. 13} |
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Take up the stones, remove the rubbish from your hearts. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. God's servants need constantly to lay hold with one hand of souls ready to perish, while with the hand of faith they lay hold of the throne of God. Souls possessed with evil spirits will present themselves before us. We must cultivate the spirit of earnest prayer, mingled with genuine faith to save them from ruin, and this will confirm our faith. {SpM 89.2} |
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"Those who are reproved by the Spirit of God should not rise up against the humble instrument. It is God, and not an erring mortal, who has spoken to save them from ruin." [VOL. 3, P. 257 (1873).] It is not pleasing to human nature to receive reproof, nor is it possible for the heart of man, unenlightened by the Spirit of God, to realize the necessity of reproof or the blessing it is designed to bring. As man yields to temptation, and indulges in sin, his mind becomes darkened. The moral sense is perverted. The warnings of conscience are disregarded, and its voice is less clearly heard. He gradually loses the power to distinguish between right and wrong, until he has no true sense or his standing before God. He may observe the forms of religion and zealously maintain its doctrines, while destitute of its spirit. His condition is that described by the True Witness: "Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." When the Spirit of God, by message of reproof, declares this to be his condition, he cannot see that the message is true. Is he therefore to reject the warning? No. God has given sufficient evidence, so that all who desire to do so may satisfy themselves as to the character of the Testimonies; and, having acknowledged them to be from God, it is their duty to accept reproof, even though they do not themselves see the sinfulness of their course. If they fully realized their condition, what would be the need of reproof? Because they know it not, God mercifully sets it before them, so that they may repent and reform before it shall be too late. "Those who despise the warning will be left in blindness to become self-deceived; but those who heed it, and zealously go about the work of separating their sins from them in order to have the needed graces, will be opening the door of their hearts that the dear Saviour may come in and dwell with them." [VOL. 3, P. 257 (1873).] Those who are most closely connected with God are the ones who know His voice when He speaks to them. Those who are spiritual discern spiritual things. Such will feel grateful that the Lord has pointed out their errors." [VOL. 5, P. 134.] {5T 682.1} |
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