Revival & Reformation

Sacredness of Health
Saturday October 07, 2023

by EG White
Key Text:
“I came that they might have
life and that they might have it
more abundantly.”
John 10:10
Key Text:
Question:
Why did God give the health
message to the Seventh-day
Adventist Church?
Answer:
Lessening of suffering and for
1 purification of His church.

“The work of health reform is the

Lord’s means for lessening suffering
in the world and for the purification
of His church.”
Answer:
For Greater zeal and for the
2 salvation of others.
“If SDA practiced what they
professed to believe, if they are
sincere health reformers, they would
indeed be a spectacles to the world,
to angels, and to men.
Answer:
For Greater zeal and for the
2 salvation of others.
And they would show a greater zeal
for the salvation of those who are
ignorant of the truth.”
CH 575
Answer:
For our Salvation and for the
3 salvation of the world.
“The light that God has given me on
health reform is for our salvation and
the salvation of the world.”
CH 44
The Enemy’s Target
“Satan comes to man with his
temptations as an:
1. ANGEL OF LIGHT, as he came to
Christ. He has been working to
bring man into a condition of…
The Enemy’s Target
“Satan comes to man with his
temptations as an ANGEL OF
LIGHT, as he came to Christ. He has
been working to bring man into a
condition of PHYSICAL AND
MORAL WEAKNESS,
The Enemy’s Target
He well knows that it is impossible
for man to discharge his
OBLIGATIONS TO GOD and to his
FELLOW-MEN, while he impairs
the faculties God has given him. The
BRAIN is the capital of the body.
 Relation to Health and
Character Building
“God gives no permission to man to
violate the laws of his being. But man,
through yielding to Satan’s temptations
to indulge intemperance, brings the
HIGHER FACULTIES into subjection
to the ANIMAL APPETITES and
PASSIONS.
 Relation to Health and
Character Building
When these gain the ascendency,
man, who was created a little lower
than the angels, with faculties
susceptible of the highest cultivation,
SURRENDERS to be controlled by
Satan.
 Relation to Health and
Character Building
And he gains easy access to those who
are in bondage to appetite. Through
intemperance, some sacrifice one-half,
and others two-thirds, of their
PHYSICAL, MENTAL and MORAL
powers and become playthings for the
enemy.” – MYP 236.2
 Relation to Health and
Character Building

“Those who would have clear minds

to discern Satan’s devices must have
their physical appetites under the
control of reason and conscience.
 Relation to Health and
Character Building

The moral and vigorous action of

the higher powers of the mind are
essential to the perfection of
Christian character.
 Relation to Health and
Character Building

And the strength or the weakness

of the mind has very much to do
with our usefulness in this world,
and with our final salvation…
 Relation to Health and
Character Building
The ignorance that has prevailed in
regard to God’s law in our physical
nature is deplorable. Intemperance of
any kind is a violation of the laws of
our being. Imbecility is prevailing to
a fearful extent.
 Relation to Health and
Character Building
Sin is made attractive by the covering of
light which Satan throws over it, and he
is well pleased when he can hold the
Christian world in their daily habits
under the tyranny of custom, like the
heathen, and allow appetite to govern
them.” – MYP 236.3
 Health Habits and Spiritual Discernment

Paul’s Triple Sanctification Goals

“And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly; and I pray God your whole
spirit, soul, and body be preserved
blameless unto the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ.” 1 Thess. 5:23
Health Habits and Spiritual Discernment
“True sanctification involves the
whole being; it is not really possible
to be partially sanctified, in the sense
of withholding certain areas of the life
from being holy. Every department of
life must be submitted to the purifying
power of God’s Spirit”.
SDA Com. Vol 7, p 256.
Health Habits and Spiritual Discernment

But “It is impossible for the Spirit

and the power of the truth to sanctify
a man - soul, body, and spirit when
he is controlled by appetite and
passion.” 3T 570
Health Habits and Spiritual Discernment

“A pure, healthy life is most

favorable for the perfection of
Christian character and for the
development of the powers of mind
and body” CH p. 41
Health Habits and Spiritual Discernment

“…Our physical health has a direct

bearing on our mental health,
which in turn directly affects our
spiritual health.” Christ’s Way to
Spiritual Growth” p. 171
Health Habits and Spiritual Discernment

“Intemperance benumbs the

perceptive organs, weakens brain
nerve power and the result eternal
things are not appreciated but
placed upon the level with the
common.” 3T 50, 51
Health Habits and Spiritual Discernment

“Let none who profess godliness

regard with indifference the health
of the body, and flatter themselves
that intemperance is no sin, and
will not affect their spirituality….
Health Habits and Spiritual Discernment

The work of health reform is the

Lord’s means for lessening
suffering in the world and for the
purification of His church.” CH
443
Health Habits and Spiritual Discernment

When the health of the body is

neglected and bad physical habits
are established, the religious life
also suffers” SDA Com. 3 John 2;
MH 280, 315, 319
Wrong Habits and Spirituality
Eating/Diet:
Intemperance in eating, even of
food of the right quality, will have a
prostrating influence upon the
system, and will blunt the keener
and holier emotions. TSDF 36.10
Wrong Habits and Spirituality
Eating/Diet:
Those who place too much food
upon the stomach, and thus load
down nature, could not appreciate
the truth should they hear it dwelt
upon.
Wrong Habits and Spirituality
Eating/Diet:
They could not arouse the
benumbed sensibilities of the brain
to realize the value of atonement,
and the great sacrifice that has been
made for the fallen man. TSDF 32
Wrong Habits and Spirituality
Eating/Diet:
If you pursue a wrong course, and
indulge in wrong habits of eating,
and thereby weakens the
intellectual powers,
Wrong Habits and Spirituality
Eating/Diet:
you will not place that high
estimate upon salvation and eternal
life which will inspire you to
conform your life to the life of
Christ… TSDF 37.3
Wrong Habits and Spirituality
Eating/Diet:
When the animal part of the human
agent is strengthened by meat-
eating, the intellectual powers
diminish proportionately.
 Wrong Habits and Spirituality
Eating/Diet:
A religious life can be more
successfully gained and maintained
if meat is discarded, for this diet
stimulates into intense activities
lustful propensities, and enfeebles
the moral and spiritual nature.
TSDF 37.8
Wrong Habits and Spirituality
Physical:
The transgression of physical law is
transgression of God’s law…The
human being who is careless and
reckless of the habits and practices that
concern his physical life and health,
sins against God. God is not
reverenced, respected, or recognized.
Wrong Habits and Spirituality
Physical:
Anything that lessens physical strength
enfeebles the mind, and makes it less
capable of discriminating between
right and wrong. We become less
capable of choosing the good, and have
less strength of will to do that which
we know to be right. TSDF 36.1
Wrong Habits and Spirituality
Physical:
Let none who profess godliness regard
with indifference the health of the
body, and flatter themselves that
intemperance is no sin, and will not
affect their spirituality…
Wrong Habits and Spirituality
Physical:
Indulgence of appetite is the cause of
dissension, strife, discord and many
other evils. Impatient words are spoken
and unkind deeds are done,
Wrong Habits and Spirituality
Physical:
dishonest practices are followed and
passion is manifested, and all because
the nerves of the brain are diseased by
the abuse heaped upon the stomach.
TSDF 37.4
Wrong Habits and Spirituality
Moral Power:
The controlling power of appetite will
prove the ruin of thousands, when, if
they had conquered on this point, they
would have had moral power to gain
the victory over other temptation of
Satan.
Wrong Habits and Spirituality
Moral Power:
Those are slaves to appetite will fail
in perfecting Christian character.
TSDF 36.6
Wrong Habits and Spirituality
Measuring Stick:
The lack of stability in regards to the
principles of health reform is a true
index of their character and their
spiritual strength. TSDF 36.11
Intemperance is Degrading
“If men and women of intelligence
have their moral powers benumbed
through intemperance of any kind,
they are, in many of their habits,
elevated but little above the heathen.
Intemperance is Degrading
Satan is constantly drawing the
people from saving light to custom
and fashion, irrespective of physical,
mental, and moral health.
Intemperance is Degrading
The great enemy knows that if
appetite and passion predominate,
health of body and strength of
intellect are sacrificed upon the altar
of self-gratification, and man is
brought to speedy ruin.
Intemperance is Degrading
If enlightened intellect holds the
reins, controlling the animal
propensities, keeping them in
subjection to the moral powers, Satan
well knows that his power to
overcome with his temptations is
very small....” – MYP 237.1
Intemperance is Degrading
“A large share of the Christian world
have no right to call themselves
Christians. Their habits, their
extravagance, and general treatment
of their own bodies, are in violation
of physical law and contrary to the
Bible standard.
Intemperance is Degrading
They are working out for
themselves, in their course of life,
physical suffering, mental and moral
feebleness.” —The Review and
Herald, September 8, 1874. – MYP
238.1
 Temperance Alone
The highest attainment in Christian
life is the control of appetite.
Without this victory, all hope of
heaven is vain.” CDF 206
 Temperance Alone
“Temperance, as given by the Spirit,
is a restoration of moral power to
resist or overcome false cravings and
desires that war against the soul,
bringing impairment and destruction
alike to physical, mental, social, and
spiritual life.
 Temperance Alone
By enticing us with many acts of
intemperance, Satan seeks to destroy
our mental, moral, and physical
powers. He used many temptations
to entrap Jesus but failed every time
because Jesus relied fully on His
Father’s strength.
 Temperance Alone
Tragically, the rest of humanity had
been all too responsive to evil.” (SS
qtly 2000 p41)
The Purpose of Temperance:
Ø To sanctify and to cleanse (See
Ephesians 5:26)
Ø To have the power of His might
and be clothed in the whole armor
of God (See Ephesians 6:10, 11)
Ø To magnify Christ in the body
(See Philippians 1:20)
The Purpose of Temperance:
Ø To have freedom from depravity
(See 2 Peter 2:19)
Ø To be a "vessel unto honor,
sanctified, and meet for the
master's use, and be prepared
unto every good work." (See 2
Timothy 2:21, 22)*
 Christ Paid the Price
Our bodies are not our own, to treat
as we please, to cripple by habits
that lead to decay, making it
impossible to render to God perfect
service, Our lives and all our
faculties belong to him.
 Christ Paid the Price
He is caring for us every moment;
He keeps the living machinery in
action... We are absolutely dependent
upon God. TSDF 35.9
 Christ Paid the Price
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. TSDF 36.8
 God’s Invitation
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. – MYP 238.2
 God’s Invitation
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.
 God’s Invitation
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, 130. – MYP
238.3
Christ Offers the Power
Let the individual who is
seeking to possess purity of
spirit bear that in Christ there
is power to control the
appetite. TSDF 37.5
A Call to All: A Cause to Share
“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.
A Call to All: A Cause to Share
The kingly power of reason,
sanctified by divine grace, is to
bear sway in our lives.” – MYP 238.2
A Call to All: A Cause to Share
“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.
A Call to All: A Cause to Share
“The truth for this time embraces the
whole gospel. Rightly presented, it
will work in man the very changes
that will make evident the power of
God’s grace upon the heart. It will do
a complete work, and develop a
complete man.” 6T 291
A Call to All: A Cause to Share
“Those who receive are to
impart to others. From every
direction are coming calls for
help. God calls upon men to
minister gladly to their fellow
men.
A Call to All: A Cause to Share
Immortal crown are to be won;
the kingdom of heaven is to be
gained, the world, perishing in
ignorance, is to be
enlightened.” MH 103
The Invitation: Do all to the
Glory of God
“So whether you eat or
drink or whatever you do,
do it all to the glory of
God.” 1 Cor. 10:31
 My Response
“I have been crucified with
Christ, and I no longer live, but
Christ lives in me. The life I live
in the body, I live in faith in the
Son of God, who loved me and
give gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20
 My Commitment
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because He has anointed me to
preach the good news to the poor. He
has sent me to proclaim freedom to
the prisoners and recovery of sight
for the blind and to release the
oppressed, to proclaim the year of the
Lord.” Luke 4:18
 My Prayer
But whatever was to my profit I now
consider loss for the sake of Christ.
What is more, I consider everything a
loss compared to the surpassing
greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my
Lord, for whose sake I have lost all
things. I have consider them rubbish,
that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:7,8