Greetings MOL Family!

Take heed to yourselves, Jesus said, lest at anytime your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life…

Who Shall Be Able To Stand?

Overwork, over worry, fretting, stewing — What for? — Why, to make a living. Do you know what it means to make a living today? Well, if you don’t have a car, you must have a car; you can’t live without a car. But if you have a car, you must have 2 cars. The neighbors have 2 cars. You must keep up with them. And then there’s a long, long list which I’m not going to recite of things you have to have in order to live. You are well acquainted with them – the media, your neighbor, and your children keep you well informed on the things you have to have in order to live. Am I correct?

So father must work, and if possible, he must do something after hours. Thousands, tens of thousands of fathers are moonlighting today. What for? – That he keeps up. And mother probably must get a job too. What happens to the children? Well, some babysitter will take care of that; or some nursery, something. But at any event, we must keep up with the Joneses.

Where are the Joneses going? They are going to all these problems and troubles and snares. The trap is going to shut like that. Are you going with them? Are you a part of that rat race? Jesus says take heed to yourselves lest at anytime your heart be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life.Then what will happen? That day will come upon you unaware. Oh friend, that we may know the warning.

Let me tell you of an experiment that took place in one of our great university research centers some years ago. They were experimenting with monkeys, seeing what the effect of tranquilizers would be on the brain of a monkey. They had these monkeys in a cage, and they had it arranged that they could shock the monkeys at any time that the monkeys were in the cage. But there was a wooden pole in the center of the cage. They had it fixed up so that a warning light would go on just before they shocked them. The monkeys learned that when the red warning light went on if they would jump for that wooden pole, they wouldn’t get shocked. So, what do you suppose the monkeys did? — Why, they jumped whenever that warning light went on. They learned to do that.

But then they gave the monkeys tranquilizers. Do you know what they did? They did not jump when the red light went on. They jumped after they got shocked. Ah friends, it matters not what it is that effects your brain, whether it is the stupefying effect of overwork, whether it is the effect of overeating – eating rich food or whether it is the drug action of alcohol or any of these other poisons. May I repeat it, and repeat it, and repeat it? Whatever weakens the action of the brain cells in the forebrain is destroying your ability to discern and to act. It’s putting your conscience, your reason, your judgment to sleep.

And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always… – Luke 21:34-36

Now He tells us the 3 things to avoid — The surfeiting, the drunkenness, the cares. Now He tells us what to do – watch and pray. But may I tell you something friends? If we fail to obey the 34th verse, we shall find it impossible to carry out the 36th verse.

People whose stomachs are full of rich food and their bloodstream is over full of sugar and cholesterol, they don’t watch and pray as they should. People whose bloodstream has alcohol in it or caffeine or nicotine, or these other drug poisons, they cannot watch and pray as they should. People who are burning the midnight oil in the endeavor to get ahead and make it in this competitive, business world, and make a fortune for themselves or their children, they cannot watch and pray as they should.

So, turn from the way of the world, and enter into a program of simplicity, and watch and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Do you want to be a survivor? Are you willing to train for it? This is training time.

Reasoning From Cause To Effect

Now go back to the 25th and 26th verses, in Luke 21. Jesus says following the signs in the Heavens, there will be a period when there will be distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men’s hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming upon the earth.

The leading cause of death in America is heart disease. Several years ago, a doctor from one of the leading medical colleges in this country spoke on the subject of America’s greatest epidemic in America – a coronary heart attack. [At that time] Twenty-five million people either had already been affected, or were on the road to having one. Heart disease is on the increase… heart attack.

Jesus put His finger on it in this last generation — Men’s hearts failing them. I know He’s talking primarily about the, shall we say, the mind, the mental heart, and we will discuss more of that in a future lesson. But the interesting thing is that when people’s minds are full of fear, it affects the physical heart.

[Several years ago] two of America’s magazines of great circulation — Time and Life, put out a book called A Special Report on a Healthy Life. The entire book deals with this number one threat to America’s health and life – coronary heart attacks. In the opening spread of photographs which graphically display the basic causes, we see 4 pointed out.

The first of these is emotional stress. Jesus put His finger on it nearly 2,000 years ago, looking down to this generation – Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. My dear friends, if looking at the things that are going on and are coming on this world has that effect, how much time do you want to spend with your eyes glued on the TV screen? Tell me, it’s giving people heart attacks just trying to keep up with all the trouble and the crime and the vice in this world. With the war and the riots, and all the rest, it’s doing something to the very blood stream, to the nerves, the brain cells, the hearts of people — Men’s hearts failing them for fear. So, the first cause here is this one.

The next one in this spread of pictures – A fat rich diet. What did Jesus say? Take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with what? — surfeiting. That type of diet builds up the cholesterol, making those fatty deposits in the blood vessels, and pretty soon there’s a heart attack or a stroke or some other symptom which means incapacity or death in many cases. Jesus said, I’m going to give you a program of life, so you don’t have to go through a lot of things that the world goes through.

And now, the 3rd one — Smoking. I want to ask you something friends, has Jesus given His people a way of life to keep them away from alcohol, and smoking, and tea and coffee, and a thousand other poisons? Thank the Lord.

Now, the 4th and last is lack of exercise: A sedentary, inactive life.

Now here are the 4 great causes of this terrible epidemic of coronary heart attacks and associated conditions: Emotional stress, fat rich diet, smoking, and lack of exercise. If we’ll just listen to Jesus, He’ll keep us from all those conditions.

Be Like Daniel… Joseph

Our precious book The Ministry of Healing [The Wisdom of the Great Physician] is the only medical textbook that hasn’t gone out of date, after all these years. It is an inspired book. Those who will read and study Ministry of Healing will be kept from every one of these four great predisposing causes to coronary heart attack.

There was an article in the Review several years ago that showed that the average Seventh-day Adventist man [in the blue zone region of Loma Linda] lived 6 years longer than his non-Adventist neighbor. This is on the average, you understand. Much of it was due to the fact that he didn’t smoke; but part of it was/is due to all these other things. And may I say this dear friends, if a partial carrying out of health reform has done that much for the rank and file of our people, what would a full carrying out of health reform do? God wants His people to shine and stand out as signs and wonders in this generation, where fear and disease and death are stalking people everywhere.

God wants His people to be like Daniel in Babylon, like Joseph in Egypt, standing out from the crowd. Do you want to be a survivor? What a wonderful way of life God has given His people. What do you say?

These instructions that God has given us through the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, are they to be hard or easy on us? Are they to get us in trouble, or keep us out of trouble? What do you think, which do you believe? Well, I’ll tell you friends, you vote not only with your lips. You vote with your knife and fork and spoon, and several other things. Our actions speak louder than our words.

I beseech you, in Jesus’ name; get into a program of physical fitness. And I’m not talking about meat eating; I’m talking about getting away from a lot of sweet eating. Excessive amounts of sugar are doing thousands of people more harm even than meat would do. I tell you true.

And don’t forget this point about exercise. Outdoor exercise we’re told gives you ten times more benefit than indoor exercise. Outdoor exercise is important, it’s vital if you want to be a survivor.

Some of the great executives of the county, men who stand at the top of big banks, big commercial concerns, they’re out jogging every morning, literally running for their lives. But ah, my friends, I say what I said about the airplane pilot [in last week’s lesson], the decisions I have to make, the life that I must live, is more important than General Motors, Standard Oil, Ford Motor, or any commercial concern in this country. What do you say?

Oh, how good God is to give us a way of life.

Precious Lord, we thank Thee so much for opening up a way of escape from these snares and traps of the enemy all over this world. We know You want us to go through the time of trouble, and not go down in it. We know You want us to stand before Thee at Thy coming with joyful faces, welcoming Thee with gladness. We pray, in the blessed name of Jesus, that we may be among the survivors, for His sake who died for us, Amen!

Next week, we’ll be continuing on with our class rotation! Invite a friend, and we’ll see you then… 

-Continue on to the next study-

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“Jesus came to this earth to accomplish the greatest work ever accomplished among men. He came as God’s ambassador, to show us how to live so as to secure life’s best results.” {MH 365.3}  Learn how to become a survivor, by following the example of Christ. Enter promo code SURVIVAL to get 50% off this precious volume [offer expires 4/17/2020] >> Order Now

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* This study has been adapted from classes taken by Elder W.D. Frazee.