WATCHING blindfolded children trying to pin the tail in the appropriate place on a cardboard donkey can be rather amusing, but watching a befuddled evangelist trying to find the right place to pin the temperance message in his series, before his candidates are ready for baptism, is not so funny.
At times we have spoken of "the right arm" of the message with some justified pride, for instance when a previously en slaved tobacco addict who speaks appreciatively of the church that took the trouble to run a Five-Day Plan so that he might be set free. But have we too often kept our "right arm" behind our back? If so, we may be fighting the battle of the Lord under a considerable disadvantage.
It is agreed that as fishers of men we must use different approaches to reach different men; nevertheless the prophetic blueprint lays down some significant guide lines which are in accord with sound common sense. For a person to give himself to God, he must give mental assent to certain propositions, yet we read:
The brain nerves which communicate with the entire system are the only medium through which Heaven can communicate to man and affect his inmost life. --Testimonies, vol. 2, p. 347.
Intemperance of any kind benumbs the perceptive organs and so weakens the brain-nerve power that eternal things are not appreciated, but placed upon a level with the common. --Ibid., vol. 3, p. 50.
Probably every minister has had the experience of trying, with every facet of theological argument at his command, to gain a conviction of an apparently reasonable person who will agree that two and two make four but cannot see that the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath.
Could it be that the man who just cannot comprehend that God forgives his sin when he asks in faith is not unusually dumb, or necessarily faithless, but that the tobacco smoke that he is inhaling is clouding his mind? The servant of the Lord indicates that this could be so. "It [tobacco] affects the brain and benumbs the sensibilities, so that the mind cannot clearly discern spiritual things." --Counsels on Health, p. 81. "The use of liquor or tobacco destroys the sensitive nerves of the brain, and benumbs the sensibilities." --Temperance, p. 59.
Turn Off the Tap
As workers with the Master Physician, we could perhaps learn something from the story of the doctor in charge of a psychiatric hospital, who is said to have used a simple test to discover which of his patients were ready for discharge and which needed further treatment. Water from a faucet would be left running into a wash basin until it overflowed and ran onto the floor. In another corner of the room there would be a bucket and a mop. When the patient was brought into the room he was told to clean up the mess. If he got the bucket and the mop and started to mop up the water, he was regarded as still being in need of further treatment; but if, first of all, he turned off the water and then cleaned up the room, he was considered for discharge. Perhaps the lesson is fairly obvious. If the imbibing of harmful sub stances is going to cause the continuation of a problem, we may well need to turn off the cause of the problem before trying to clean up the mess.
To change our metaphor somewhat, if something is blocking the flow of water in an irrigation channel, the logical thing is to remove the blockage rather than try to force water through it. If something is blocking the understanding of heavenly truth, would it not be logical to try first to remove the blockage in order that the mind might be fully enlightened? The inspired blueprint has declared that intemperance in general, and alcohol, tobacco, and narcotics in particular, prevent men from understanding and comprehending the truth of God. It would, therefore, seem practical to strive to remove these obstacles at a very early stage.
In this drug age we have added to the legal intoxicants mentioned in the Spirit of Prophecy a new sophisticated list of drugs that have similar or even more terrifying effects on the brain. Although the use of some of these substances is relatively new, the principles involving their use are covered by Spirit of Prophecy counsel and their effects documented. For example:
The God-given mind, which should be kept clear, is perverted by the use of narcotics. The brain is no longer able to distinguish correctly. . . . He [the narcotic user] has no sense of what is right. --Evangelism, p. 529.
Undoubtedly, marijuana is the most controversial drug at the moment in many countries of the world. Its proponents claim it is harmless and desirable. Medical men are cautious, waiting for scientifically valid studies to impersonally report on the findings of the laboratories, but already enough evidence is at hand from medical research to enable us to reach a decision in a world of indecision. According to news paper reports, very recent studies have shown that the use of marijuana changes the normal electrical patterns of the brain as measured by the electroencephalograph. Even after two years of abstinence from the drug, the changed pattern remains. This finding takes on real significance when placed alongside of the statement, "What ever disturbs the circulation of the electric currents in the nervous system lessens the strength of the vital powers, and the result is a deadening of the sensibilities of the mind." --Temperance, p. 13.
Working With a Wedge
Clearly, those who use alcohol, tobacco, and drugs are at a disadvantage in comprehending and accepting the truth of God's Word until such times as their minds can be cleared through abstinence from these substances. I believe that it is not insignificant that temperance is called "an effective entering wedge," (Ibid., p. 242), for this is consistent with the principles which we have noted.
If we use this approach, we will discover that "it [temperance] will be an agency through which the truth can be presented to the attention of unbelievers. They will reason that if we have such sound ideas in regard to health and temperance, there must be something in our religious belief that is worth investigation." --Ibid., p. 242.
Those who are enslaved by evil habits . . . are to hear discourses from the word of God concerning Christian temperance. . . . Persons who have not entered a church for nearly a score of years have come to such gatherings and have been converted. . . . They discarded tea and coffee, tobacco, beer, and liquor. Most marvelous changes in character have taken place. --Ibid., p. 242.
There are many current examples of the soundness of this approach.
On the Verge of the Kingdom
Recently I participated in a Five-Day Plan in one of our Australian universities, where we enrolled fifty-five people. On the first night when I inquired as to how those present heard about the Five-Day Plan, the usual replies were given a doctor recommended it, an Adventist neighbor extended an invitation, or they heard about it from radio or TV advertising, et cetera, but each of these sources of information represented only a small percentage of those present. More than half attended because they had seen a letter to a newspaper columnist who offers advice. The writer of the letter said she understood there was a church that helped people to stop smoking, and she asked the columnist which church it was and how they could be contacted. Having received a news release from the church PR man, the columnist replied through the newspaper stating that it was the Seventh-day Adventist Church that gave this assistance, and a Stop-Smoking clinic was to be conducted at the nearby university.
Naturally, I asked whether the person who wrote the letter was present, and a young lady raised her hand. I had spoken to her casually as she arrived that evening, and she had exclaimed, "Don't ask me to use my will power. I don't have any." Now somewhat shyly she identified herself as the writer of the letter that had resulted in more than half of those present attending the program. Each day she was successful in her fight with tobacco. Then after the lecture on the fourth night, when we spoke about the extra power that is available from heaven for those who ask, this same young lady, who I had discovered was a married woman with two children, stayed behind to say that she agreed that we should ask God for help. "But," she confided, "I did that six weeks ago. I asked God to help me stop smoking, and nothing happened at all. I felt that God had let me down, and so I wrote to the newspaper in desperation. But I can see now that He had other people to help in this city besides me, and so He answered my prayer in a different way from what I expected."
The young mother had more to say, how ever. When I commented that it was unfortunate that so few people took advantage of the help that God wanted to give, some even saying that God is dead, she exclaimed, "Aren't they going to get a shock when Armageddon comes." I must admit that I was the one who was startled by her comment, until she explained that a member of a religious sect that specializes in this topic had been calling on her. I suggested that she might like to know what the Bible really had to say on this and many other subjects, indicating that the Gift Bible Plan was available to her. This she accepted readily, and within a few weeks was attending church with her husband and children. Prior to the Five-Day Plan this family knew nothing of Seventh-day Adventists or their beliefs.
The servant of the Lord wrote, "Christ sees a plentiful harvest waiting to be gathered in. Souls are hungering for the truth, thirsting for the water of life. Many are on the very verge of the kingdom, waiting only to be gathered in." --Ibid., p. 258. She was talking about temperance and had pref aced the words quoted above with the statement, "In every place the temperance question is to be made more prominent."
An Entering Wedge!
Working with wedges requires skill as the lumberman splits open the hard-cored timber, and he must start with an "entering wedge," preparing the way for blunt and more rugged implements. Unfortunately some have seen temperance not as an entering wedge, but rather like a donkey's tail--an appendage. It is, in fact, an integral part of the third angel's message. Could it be that we have failed to note the specific purpose of an "entering wedge"? Counseled the servant of the Lord:
Brethren and sisters, we want you to see the importance of this temperance question, and we want our workers to interest themselves in it, and to know that it is just as much connected with the third angel's message as the right arm is with the body. --Temperance, p. 238.
Temperance is listed among the fruits of the Spirit. It should be a way of life for the follower of Christ. And for seeking out new souls, for breaking down prejudice, and preparing hardened hearts for a soul-saving message, it is hard to find a sharper, more efficient tool than the "entering wedge" of temperance.
