Philippians 4:8 Avenue

Wall Street, New York

Market Street, San Francisco

5th Avenue, New York

Santo Domingo

Let every soul heed these words, and know that the Lord Jesus will

accept of no compromise.

(Testimonies to Ministers, p. 161)

Cast of the Walton’s

Little House on thePrairie

“Bribes and kickbacks to nongovernmental officials are

deductible unless the individual has been convicted of making the

bribe or has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere (No

Contest).” (The Internal Revenue Service official taxpayers’ guide)

“Make us choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be

contented with half truth when whole truth can be won. Endow us with courage that is

born of loyalty to all that is noble and worthy, that scorns to compromise with

vice and injustice and knows no fear when right and truth are in jeopardy.” Surely as

Christians we can have even a higher standard. (“Cadet Prayer” at West Point)

In the sermon on the mount, Christ presented before his disciples the far-reaching principles of the law of

God. He taught his hearers that the law was transgressed by the thoughts before the evil desire was carried out in actual commission. We are under obligation to control our thoughts, and to bring them into subjection to the law of God. The noble powers of the mind have been given to us by the Lord, that

we may employ them in contemplating heavenly things. God has made abundant provision that the soul may make continual progression in the divine

life. He has placed on every hand agencies to aid our development in knowledge and virtue; and yet, how

little these agencies are appreciated or enjoyed! How often the mind is given to the contemplation of that

which is earthly, sensual, and base!

We give our time and thought to the trivial and commonplace things of the world, and neglect the

great interests that pertain to eternal life. The noble powers of the mind are dwarfed and

enfeebled by lack of exercise on themes that are worthy of their concentration. “Whatsoever things

are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,

whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (The Review

and Herald, June 12, 1888)

More precious than the golden wedge of Ophir is the power of right thought. We need to place a high value upon the right control of our thoughts; for such control prepares us to labor for the Master. It is necessary for our peace and happiness in this life that our thoughts

center in Christ. As a man thinketh, so is he. (The Signs of the Times, August 23, 1905)

There are many in the church who at heart belong to the world, but God calls upon those who claim to believe the advanced truth, to rise above the present attitude of the

popular churches of today. Where is the self-denial, where is the cross-bearing that Christ has said should characterize his followers? The reason we have had so

little influence upon unbelieving relatives and associates is that we have manifested little decided difference in our practices from those of the world. Parents need to awake, and purify their souls by practicing the truth in their home life. When we reach the standard that the

Lord would have us reach, worldlings will regard Seventh-day Adventists as odd, singular, straight-laced extremists. “We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” (The Review and Herald,

January 9, 1894)

Herein is revealed the outworking of the divine principle of co-operation, without which no true

success can be attained. Human effort avails nothing without divine power; and without human endeavor, divine effort is with many of no avail. To make God's

grace our own, we must act our part. His grace is given to work in us to will and to do, but never as a substitute

for our effort. (Prophets and Kings, pp. 486, 487)

Those who would not fall a prey to Satan’s devices, must guard well the avenues of the soul; they must avoid reading, seeing, or hearing that which will suggest

impure thoughts.

Many of the popular publications of the day are filled with sensational stories that are educating the youth in wickedness and leading them in the path to perdition.

Mere children in years are old in a knowledge of crime. They are incited to evil by the tales they read. . . . The seeds of lawlessness are sown broadcast. None need

marvel that a harvest of crime is the result.

The readers [and watcher] of fiction are indulging an evil that destroys spirituality, eclipsing the beauty of the sacred page. It creates an unhealthy excitement,

fevers the imagination, unfits the mind for usefulness, weans the soul from prayer, and disqualifies it for any

spiritual exercise.Suffer not yourselves to open the lids of a book that is

questionable. There is a hellish fascination in the literature of Satan. It is the powerful battery by which he tears down a simple religious faith. Never feel that you are strong enough to read infidel books; for they

contain a poison like that of asps.

Young men and young women, read the literature that will give you true knowledge, and that will be a help to the entire family. Say firmly: “I will not spend precious moments in reading that which will be of no profit to

me, and which only unfits me to be of service to others. . . . I will close my eyes to frivolous and sinful things.”

The oftener and more diligently you study the Bible, the more beautiful will it appear, and the less relish you

will have for light reading. Bind this precious volume to your hearts. It will be to you a friend and guide. (The

Faith I Live By, p. 241)

Yet we have a work to do to resist temptation. Those who would not fall a prey to Satan’s devices must guard well the avenues of the soul; they must avoid reading,

seeing, or hearing that which will suggest impure thoughts. The mind should not be left to wander at

random upon every subject that the adversary of souls may suggest. “Girding up the loins of your mind,” says

the apostle Peter, “Be sober, . . . not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in . . . your

ignorance: but like as He which called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living.” 1 Peter

1:13-15, R.V.

Says Paul, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just,

whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be

any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8. This will require earnest prayer and unceasing watchfulness. We must be aided by the abiding influence of the Holy Spirit, which will attract

the mind upward, and habituate it to dwell on pure and holy things. And we must give diligent study to the word

of God. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to Thy word.”

“Thy word,” says the psalmist, “have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” Psalm 119:9, 11.

(Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 460)

We should be sanctified by the truth. The conscience and the understanding, the words, the deeds, and the

thoughts, should be controlled by truth, and not error. The principle of truth and righteousness implanted in the

heart, will be revealed in the life, and especially in the family circle. God estimates a man by what he is in the

bosom of his family. Fix the mind on things that are pure and holy. “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be

any praise, think of these things.” And the life will be clothed with the beauty of holiness even here; but who

shall tell what it will be, when the great controversy between sin and righteousness is forever closed, and we appear in “the beauty of the Lord our God”? (The Signs

of the Times, May 8, 1884)

Sardis

The rock of the acropolis is a coarse and friable conglomerate, which melts away gradually under the influences of the atmosphere. It always preserves an almost perpendicular face, but at times an oblique crack develops in the rock wall, and permits a bold

climber to work his way up. Such a weak point betrayed Sardis. . . . In the course of time a weakness had developed at one point. Through want of proper

care in surveying and repairing the fortifications, this weakness had remained unobserved and unknown to the defenders. But the assailants, scrutinizing every inch of the walls of the great fortress in search of an opportunity, noticed it and availed themselves of it to climb up, one at a time. On such a lofty hill rising fully 1,400 feet above the plain, whose sides are, and must

from their nature always have been, steep and straight and practically perpendicular, a child could guard

against an army.

Even a small stone dropped on the head of the most skillful mountain climber would inevitably hurl him

down. An attack made by this path could succeed only if the assailants climbed up entirely unobserved, and they could not escape observation unless they made

the attempt by night. Hence, even though this be unrecorded, a night attack must have been the way by

which Cyrus [the same Cyrus of the Bible] entered Sardis. He came upon the great city “like a thief in the

night.” (W. M. Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches, p. 264)