3296.—Tobacco-Using Habit
By Editor
In the SIGNS of September 20, on "Tobacco-Using Habit" you speak of the help one can receive in breaking the habit by taking a course of eliminative treatment at some sanitarium. Do you have to take a course in some man-established and man-constructed institution for the purpose of helping to be cleansed from sin, or is the promise in 1 John 1:9 to be accepted by faith? W. G. C. There is much more in this letter from our earnest correspondent, but these questions cover the real points in the case. We heartily agree with her that God is able and God is willing to give instant and absolute victory over every habit. We know from experience that He has done this again and again. There are many who have had the same experience as the one of whom our correspondent speaks, but all men have not faith. God does not always work the same with different individuals; in fact, it may be set down that He never works the same. It was not necessary for Him as His part to put His fingers on the ears of the deaf man whom He healed, or to make mud out of the dust and anoint the eyes of another and tell him to wash in a certain pool to heal his blindness, or to take another outside of the crowd and separate him in order to heal him. Jesus had demonstrated His healing power in restoring one sick unto death while He was at a distance. Why had He to do these things then?—In order to meet the weak faith of the one whom He healed. Another thing, God wants clean, intelligent people. There are some who have used tobacco so long that they do not know what a terrible, filthy thing it is in their systems until they are once cleansed from it. They have not been convicted as the one to whom our correspondent refers; that is, convicted to that extent. In a general way they think it is inconvenient, undesirable, and to some extent an unclean habit; they would like to get rid of it; it injures them healthwise. They do not have, however, the sensitive, deep conviction of its awful sin, and consequently the simple faith to grasp the healing power of God. We recommend such ones as this to take a course of eliminative treatment and relieve the sensitive nerves from the narcotic effect of the nicotin, and then the Spirit of God can better reach them. There is one other truth that is worthy of consideration. When we are convicted of that which is wrong, if we meet it right there and then with full purpose of heart, with all our soul depending upon the grace of Christ, He gives us complete victory, just as He gave the children of Israel victory at Jericho; but if we temporize with it, yield to it again and again, we will hold the victory for a while and then suffer defeat. That very thing will keep alive the appetite; and God suffers it just as He suffered Israel's foes to reign and become thorns and pricks to them, until they would get to that place where they would utterly abandon all compromise and temporizing and cast their whole soul upon God. The article was written in order to help all classes, even the unconverted who might read it; because we think it is a good deal easier to reach with the great spiritual truth of God the system freed from tobacco and not narcotoized by its poison; and yet, on the other hand, Jesus Christ is a complete Saviour from sin, with power to save even to the uttermost. Sanitariums are man-made, man-built institutions; yet we believe that they have come to the great, needy, suffering race through God's providence, and are agents of His in lifting souls to a higher plane physically, that His truth may better reach them spiritually. They are great teaching centers also for better, higher living; and we believe God desires His people to be teachers in this respect, so that they can help others to eat and drink to God's glory. There is danger on both sides of this question. The danger always in those who have had a remarkably bright experience, is in demanding that others shall have a similar experience or else it is not genuine; and there is danger also in those who are conducting reform work along physical lines, in thinking that all cases must pass through certain rules and regulations. The truth of the matter is that God works in many ways, by human means and without them; and in all these we ought to recognize His hand and give Him the glory.