Crime Is in the Land—In these days when vice and crime of every form are rapidly increasing, there is a tendency to become so familiar with existing conditions that we lose sight of their cause and of their significance. More intoxicating liquors are used today than have ever been used heretofore. In the horrible details of revolting drunkenness and terrible crime, the newspapers give but a partial report of the story of the resultant lawlessness. Violence is in the land.—Drunkenness and Crime, 3.
(Te 23.1)
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The Testimony of the Judiciary—The relation of crime to intemperance is well understood by men who have to deal with those who transgress the laws of the land. In the words of a Philadelphia judge: “We can trace four fifths of the crimes that are committed to the influence of rum. There is not one case in twenty where a man is tried for his life, in which rum is not the direct or indirect cause of the murder. Rum and blood, I mean the shedding of blood, go hand in hand.”—Drunkenness and Crime, 7.
(Te 23.2)
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High Percentage of Crime Attributable to Liquor—Nine tenths of those who are taken to prison are those who have learned to drink.—The Review and Herald, May 8, 1894.
(Te 23.3)
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Sequence of Drinking and Crime—When the appetite for spirituous liquor is indulged, the man voluntarily places to his lips the draft which debases below the level of the brute him who was made in the image of God. Reason is paralyzed, the intellect is benumbed, the animal passions are excited, and then follow crimes of the most debasing character.—Testimonies for the Church 3:561.
(Te 23.4)
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Our Responsibility in This Solemn Hour—Upon us, to whom God has given great light, rests the solemn responsibility of calling the attention of thinking men and women to the significance of the prevalence of drunkenness and crime with which they are so familiar. We should bring before their minds the scriptures that plainly portray the conditions which shall exist just prior to the second coming of Christ....
(Te 251.1)
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In these times, when the daily newspapers are filled with many horrible details of revolting drunkenness and terrible crime, there is a tendency to become so familiar with existing conditions that we lose sight of the significance of these conditions. Violence is in the land. More intoxicating liquor is used than has ever been used heretofore. The story of the resultant crime is given fully in the newspapers. And yet, notwithstanding the many evidences of increasing lawlessness, men seldom stop to consider seriously the meaning of these things. Almost without exception, men boast of the enlightenment and progress of the present age....
(Te 251.2)
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How important it is that God’s messengers shall call the attention of statesmen, of editors, of thinking men everywhere, to the deep significance of the drunkenness and the violence now filling the land with desolation and death! As faithful colaborers with God, we must bear a clear, decided testimony on the temperance question....
(Te 251.3)
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Now is our golden opportunity to co-operate with heavenly intelligences in enlightening the understanding of those who are studying the meaning of the rapid increase of crime and disaster. As we do our part faithfully, the Lord will bless our efforts to the saving of many precious souls.—The Review and Herald, October 25, 1906.
(Te 251.4)
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Go With Hands Full of Reading Matter—Publications upon health reform will reach many who will not see or read anything upon important Bible subjects. The gratification of every perverted appetite is doing its work of death. Intemperance must be met. With united, intelligent effort make known the evils of beclouding the powers that God has given, with wine and strong drinks. The truth must come to the people upon health reform. This is essential in order to arrest the attention in regard to Bible truth.
(Te 251.5)
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