Impure Thoughts & Sexual Evils in Marriage

    ‘’Need for Clear Spiritual Eyesight. Never was there a time when Christian men and women, in all walks of life, were in so great need of clear spiritual eyesight as now. It is not safe to lose sight of Christ for one moment. His followers must pray, and believe, and love Him fervently. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 103.1}

   ''But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; {1 Corinthians 7:29}

                        kjv BIBLE & SPIRIT OF PROPHECY

      ''A very thorough work must be done in cleansing the soul temple from its natural depravity. The Christian must be wide awake to resist the increeping of a spirit of licentiousness among those who claim to be sanctified. When our hearts are clean, washed, and made white by the blood of the Lamb, the work will go forward in our experience that was outlined in the wonderful prayer of Christ: "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth" [John 17:19]. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 103.2}      

     ''What shall be said regarding the man who has been greatly blessed as a teacher of righteousness, yet who in time of temptation is betrayed into a sinful course? Satan in the form of a heavenly angel has come to him as he approached Christ in the wilderness of temptation, and he has gained the victory. . . . {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 103.3}      

     ''Satan's Disguise as an Angel of Light. It is those who have had the most light that Satan most assiduously seeks to ensnare. He knows that if he can deceive them, they will, under his control, clothe sin with garments of righteousness, and lead many astray. I say to all, Be on your guard; for as an angel of light, Satan is walking in every assembly of Christian workers, and in every church, trying to win the members to his side. I am bidden to give to the people of God the warning, "Be not deceived: God is not mocked." --RH May 14, 1908. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 103.4}       

     ''The Curse of Transgression. Oh, that men and women would consider and inquire what is to be gained by transgressing God's law! At all times and in all places, under any and every circumstance, transgression is a terrible mistake, a dishonor to God and a curse to man. We must regard it thus, however fair its guise and by whomsoever it is committed. As Christ's ambassador I entreat of you who profess present truth to promptly resent any approach to impurity, and forsake the society of those who intimate or breathe an impure suggestion. Loathe these defiling sins with the most intense hatred. Fly from those who would even in conversation let their minds run in such a channel, "for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."  Shun them as you would the leprosy. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 104.1}       

     ''I call upon all who have had any confidence in these pretenders whose lives are not elevated and whose conversation is not pure, to measure them by the gospel rule: "To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20). Let the mirror of God's Word reflect upon them, and discern the defects in their moral character. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 104.2}       

     ''Offensive Character of Sin. We are in an age of the world when there is a fascinating, mesmeric power in all that class who would gloss over sin, secretly insinuating impure thoughts and coming as angels of light while they are the servants of sin. They do not sense the offensive character of sin or the retributive justice of God that will fall upon the sinner. I tremble for those who are not fully upon their guard, and who will be in danger of being deceived and corrupted. As a servant of Jesus Christ I warn you to shun the company of this class. Let them not into your houses, neither bid them Godspeed. Separate yourselves from their company, for they corrupt the very atmosphere you breathe. . . . {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 104.3}       

     ''As Moses called to Israel that they leave the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, we would call for all to leave these corrupt men alone to suffer the disgrace and punishment of their crimes. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 105.1}       

     ''Satan in the Form of a Man. As God has shown me how abhorrent in His sight are these defiling sins, and as they are steadily increasing in our world and would intrude into our churches, I warn you to give no place to the devil. Fly from the seducer. Though a minister, he is Satan in the form of a man. He has borrowed the livery of heaven that he may serve his master and deceive souls. You should not for one moment give place to an impure, covert suggestion. Grant no indulgence. Rebuke them. Associate not with them, no not so much as to eat [with them]. Regard with no complaisance the words that would tarnish your soul's purity. Even listening to an impure suggestion will stain the soul, as foul, impure water will defile the channel through which it passes. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 105.2}       

     ''Clear as the Light of the Sun. Choose poverty, separation from friends, losses, reproaches, or any suffering, rather than to defile the soul with sin. Death before dishonor or the transgression of God's law, should be the motto of every Christian. As a people professing to be reformers, treasuring the most sacred, solemn, purifying truths of God's Word, we must elevate the standard far higher than it is at the present time. Sin and sinners in the church must be promptly dealt with, that others may fear God. Truth and purity require that we make more thorough work to cleanse the camp of the Achans. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 105.3}       

     ''Let those in responsible positions not suffer sin in a brother. Show him that he must either put away his sins or be separated from the church. When the individual members of the church shall act as true followers of the meek and lowly Saviour, there will be less covering up and excusing of sin. All will strive to act at all times as if in God's presence. They will realize that the eye of God is ever upon them and that the most secret thought is known to Him. The character, the motives, the desires and purposes, are as clear as the light of the sun to the eye of the Omniscient. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 105.4}       

''Peril of Indulged Sin. By far the larger class do not bear this in mind because they do not cultivate spirituality and test their character by God's standard of right. They do not bear constantly in mind that a fearful account must be rendered at the bar of God by all the transgressors of His law. The life must be ordered and fashioned as in the eye of the great Taskmaster. Can you who have professed to receive such great light in advance of every other people on the face of the earth, be content with a low level? {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 106.1}       

     ''Oh, how earnestly and constantly should we seek for the Divine Presence, that there may be not only a profession but a realization of the solemn truth that the end of all things is at hand and that the Judge of all the earth standeth at the door! How can you disregard His just and holy requirements? How can you transgress in the very face of Jehovah? Can you pursue a course of sin in full view of the consequences? Can you cherish unholy thoughts and base passions in the full view of the pure angels and of the Redeemer, who gave Himself for you that He might redeem you from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works? Can we be guiltless and cherish sin in the sight of God? As you contemplate the matter in the light which shines from the cross of Christ, will not sin appear too mean, too perilous, too fearful, to indulge in? {TSB 106.2}      

     ''Spotless and Undefiled Until the End. Sinful corruptions! How sinful at any time, but how much more so now, when standing upon the very borders of the eternal world! I speak to my people. If you draw close to Jesus and seek to adorn your profession by a well-ordered life and godly conversation, your feet will be kept from straying into forbidden paths. If you will only watch, continually watch, unto prayer; if you will do everything as if you were in the immediate presence of God, you will be saved from yielding to temptation and may hope to be kept pure, spotless, and undefiled unto the end. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 107.1}      

     ''If you hold the beginning of your confidence firm unto the end, all your way will be established in God, and what grace has begun glory shall crown in the kingdom of our God. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" [Galatians 5:22, 23]. If Christ be within us, we shall crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts.--Ms 9, 1880. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 107.2}

     ''Purification of the Heart. By accepting Christ as his personal Saviour, man is brought into the same close relation to God, and enjoys His special favor, as does His own beloved Son. He is honored and glorified and intimately associated with God, his life being hid with Christ in God. Oh, what love, what wondrous love! {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 107.3}      

     ''This is my teaching of moral purity. The opening of the blackness of impurity will not be one half as efficacious in uprooting sin as will the presentation of these grand and ennobling themes. The Lord has not given to women a message to assail men and charge them with their impurity and incontinence. They create sensuality in place of uprooting it. The Bible, and the Bible alone, has given the true lessons upon purity. Then preach the Word. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 107.4}      

     ''Christ, the Propitiation for Sin. Such is the grace of God, such the love wherewith He hath loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, enemies in our minds by wicked works, serving divers lusts and pleasures, the slaves of debased appetites and passion, servants of sin and Satan. What depth of love is manifested in Christ, as He becomes the propitiation for our sins. Through the ministration of the Holy Spirit souls are led to find forgiveness of sins. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 108.1}      

     ''The purity, the holiness, of the life of Jesus as presented from the Word of God, possess more power to reform and transform the character than do all the efforts put forth in picturing the sins and crimes of men and the sure results. One steadfast look to the Saviour uplifted upon the cross will do more to purify the mind and heart from every defilement than will all the scientific explanations by the ablest tongue. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 108.2}       

    ''Forgiveness at the Cross. Before the cross the sinner sees his unlikeness of character to Christ. He sees the terrible consequences of transgression; he hates the sin that he has practiced, and he lays hold upon Jesus by living faith. He has judged his position of uncleanness in the light of the presence of God and the heavenly intelligences. He has measured it by the standard of the cross. He has weighed it in the balances of the sanctuary. The purity of Christ has revealed to him his own impurity in its odious colors. He turns from the defiling sin; he looks to Jesus, and lives. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 108.3}       

     ''He finds an all-absorbing, commanding, attractive character in Jesus Christ, the One who died to deliver him from the deformity of sin, and with quivering lip and tearful eye he declares, "He shall not have died for me in vain."-- Letter 102, 1894. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 108.4}  

           Other Sexual Evils - Sexual Excess within Marriage     

     ''Young, unmarried women, would have a message for married men, and in no delicate words would tell them to their face of the abuse of the marriage privileges. Purity was the burden of the messages given, and for a while everything appeared to be reaching a high state of purity and holiness. But the inwardness of these matters was opened to me. I was shown what would be the outcome of this teaching. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 109.2}       

     ''Those who were engaged in this work were not a superficial, immoral class, but persons who had been the most devoted workers. Satan saw an opportunity to take advantage of the state of things, and to disgrace the cause of God. Those who thought themselves able to bear any test without exciting their carnal propensities, were overcome, and several unmarried men and women were compelled to be married. I am afraid of those who feel so great a burden to labor in this direction. Satan works upon the imagination, so that impurity is the result, instead of purity.--Letter 103, 1894. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 110.1}      

     ''Jesus did not enforce celibacy upon any class of men. He came not to destroy the sacred relationship of marriage, but to exalt it and restore it to its original sanctity. He looks with pleasure upon the family relationship where sacred and unselfish love bears sway.--AH 121. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 110.2}      

     ''The Expenditure of Vital Energy. Many parents do not obtain the knowledge that they should in the married life. They are not guarded lest Satan take advantage of them and control their minds and their lives. They do not see that God requires them to control their married lives from all excesses. But very few feel it to be a religious duty to govern their passions. They have united themselves in marriage to the object of their choice, and therefore reason that marriage sanctifies the indulgence of the baser passions. Even men and women professing godliness give loose rein to their lustful passions, and have no thought that God holds them accountable for the expenditure of vital energy, which weakens their hold on life and enervates the entire system. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 110.3}      

     ''Excessive Sexual Indulgence. The marriage covenant covers sins of the darkest hue. Men and women professing godliness debase their own bodies through the indulgence of the corrupt passions, and thus lower themselves beneath the brute creation. They abuse the powers that God has given them to be preserved in sanctification and honor. Health and life are sacrificed upon the altar of base passion. The higher, nobler powers are brought into subjection to the animal propensities. Those who thus sin are not acquainted with the result of their course. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 110.4}      

     ''Could all see the amount of suffering that they bring upon themselves by their own sinful indulgence, they would be alarmed; and some, at least, would shun the course of sin that brings such dreaded wages. So miserable an existence is entailed upon a large class that death would be preferable to life; and many do die prematurely, their lives sacrificed in the inglorious work of excessive indulgence of the animal passions. Yet because they are married, they think they commit no sin. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 111.1}      

     ''Men and women, you will one day learn what is lust, and the result of its gratification. Passion of just as base a quality may be found in the marriage relation as outside of it.--RH Sept. 19, 1899. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 111.2}      

     ''The Wife's Dignity and Self-Respect. Many professed Christians who passed before me seemed destitute of moral restraint. They were more animal than divine. In fact, they were about all animal. Men of this type degrade the wife whom they have promised to nourish and cherish. She is made an instrument to minister to the gratification of low, lustful propensities. And very many women submit to become slaves to lustful passion; they do not possess their bodies in sanctification and honor. The wife does not retain the dignity and self-respect which she possessed previous to marriage. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 111.3}      

     ''This holy institution should have preserved and increased her womanly respect and holy dignity; but her chaste, dignified, godlike womanhood has been consumed upon the altar of base passion; it has been sacrificed to please her husband. She soon loses respect for the husband, who does not regard the laws to which the brute creation yield obedience. The married life becomes a galling yoke; for love dies out, and frequently distrust, jealousy, and hate take its place. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 112.1}       

     ''Mistrust Between Husband and Wife. No man can truly love his wife when she will patiently submit to become his slave, and minister to his depraved passions. In her passive submission, she loses the value she once possessed in his eyes. He sees her dragged down from everything elevating, to a low level; and soon he suspects that she will as tamely submit to be degraded by another as by himself. He doubts her constancy and purity, tires of her, and seeks new objects to arouse and intensify his hellish passions. The law of God is not regarded. . . . {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 112.2}       

     ''The wife also becomes jealous of the husband, and suspects that if opportunity should offer, he would just as readily pay his addresses to another as to her. She sees that he is not controlled by conscience or the fear of God; all these sanctified barriers are broken down by lustful passions; all that is godlike in the husband is made the servant of low, brutish lust. . . . {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 112.3}

                                   MASTURBATION      

     ''High Resolve and Spiritual Life Destroyed. Secret vice is the destroyer of high resolve, earnest endeavor, and strength of will to form a good religious character. All who have any true sense of what is embraced in being a Christian know that the followers of Christ are under obligation as His disciples to bring all their passions, their physical powers and mental faculties into perfect subordination to His will. Those who are controlled by their passions cannot be followers of Christ. They are too much devoted to the service of their master, the originator of every evil, to leave their corrupt habits and choose the service of Christ.--CG 445, 446. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 121.2}       

    ''Vital Energy Is Depleted. The practice of secret habits surely destroys the vital forces of the system. All unnecessary vital action will be followed by corresponding depression. Among the young the vital capital, the brain, is so severely taxed at an early age that there is a deficiency and great exhaustion, which leaves the system exposed to disease of various kinds. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 122.1}       

     ''Foundation Laid for Various Diseases Later in Life. If the practice is continued from the ages of fifteen and upward, nature will protest against the abuse she has suffered, and continues to suffer, and will make them pay the penalty for the transgression of her laws, especially from the ages of thirty to forty-five, by numerous pains in the system and various diseases, such as affection of the liver and lungs, neuralgia, rheumatism, affection of the spine, diseased kidneys, and cancerous humors. Some of nature's fine machinery gives way, leaving a heavier task for the remaining to perform, which disorders nature's fine arrangement; and there is often a sudden breaking down of the constitution, and death is the result.--CG 444. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 122.2}          

     "THE AMOUNT OF ZINC IN SEMEN IS SUCH THAT ONE EJACULATION MAY GET RID OF ALL THE ZINC THAT CAN BE ABSORBED FROM THE INTESTINES IN ONE DAY. THIS HAS A NUMBER OF CONSEQUENCES. UNLESS THE AMOUNT LOST IS REPLACED BY AN INCREASED DIETARY INTAKE, REPEATED EJACULATION MAY LEAD TO A REAL ZINC DEFICIENCY WITH VARIOUS PROBLEMS DEVELOPING, INCLUDING IMPOTENCE. "IT IS EVEN POSSIBLE, GIVEN THE IMPORTANCE OF ZINC FOR THE BRAIN, THAT 19TH CENTURY MORALISTS WERE CORRECT WHEN THEY SAID THAT REPEATED MASTURBATION COULD MAKE ONE MAD!"--ZINC (VITABOOKS: ST. ALBANS, VERMONT, 1981), P. 8. {Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 269.5}