[THE 1977 ANNUAL COUNCIL OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH VOTED THAT "GROSS SEXUAL PERVERSIONS, INCLUDING HOMOSEXUAL PRACTICES, ARE RECOGNIZED AS A MISUSE OF SEXUAL POWERS AND A VIOLATION OF THE DIVINE INTENTION IN MARRIAGE. AS SUCH THEY ARE JUST CAUSE FOR DIVORCE."--GENERAL ACTIONS, P. 10. REASONS FOR WHICH A PERSON MAY BE DISFELLOWSHIPPED FROM THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH INCLUDE "HOMOSEXUAL PRACTICE AND OTHER PERVERSIONS."--SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH MANUAL (REVISED 1986), P. 162.]

Sodomitish Impurity. Oh, how disgusted is God with the tame, lifeless, Christless efforts made by some of those who profess to be His servants! God's work must be carried forward strongly and upward. This cannot be done unless the sensuality that corrupts the whole man is separated from the religious experience. This work must be done.

Church members need to fast and pray, striving earnestly to overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. Not one particle of Sodomitish impurity will escape the wrath of God at the execution of the judgment. Those who do not repent of and forsake all uncleanness will fall with the wicked. Those who become members of the royal family and form God's kingdom in the earth made new, will be saints, not sinners. Isaiah 30:1-3, 8-16.

Those who have had great light and have disregarded it stand in a worse position than those who have not been given so many advantages. They exalt themselves, but not the Lord. The punishment inflicted on human beings will in every case be proportionate to the dishonour they have

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brought on God. Many, by a course of self-indulgence, have put Christ to open shame.--Letter 159, 1901.

Basest Passions of the Human Heart. Indulgence in unlawful things has become a power to deprave mankind, to dwarf the mind and to pervert the faculties. Just such a state of things as exists today existed before the flood and before the destruction of Sodom. Dissipation is on the increase in our world. Handbills on which indecent pictures are printed are posted up along our streets to allure the eyes and deprave the morals. These presentations are of such a character as to stir up the basest passions of the human heart through corrupt imaginings. These corrupt imaginings are followed by defiling practices like those in which the Sodomites indulged. But the most terrible part of the evil is that it is practised under the garb of sanctity. Our youth will be defiled, their thoughts degraded, and their souls polluted unless they are barricaded with the truth.--Letter 1, 1875.

Sodom's Sins Today. We are not ignorant of the fall of Sodom because of the corruption of its inhabitants. The prophet has here [Eze. 16:49] specified the particular evils which led to dissolute morals. We see the very sins now existing in the world which were in Sodom and which brought upon her the wrath of God, even to her utter destruction.-- 4BC 1161.

Strange Abandonment of Principle. Is there not enough transpiring about us to show us the dangers that beset our path? Everywhere are seen wrecks of humanity, broken-down family altars, broken-up families. There is a strange abandonment of principle, the standard of morality is lowered, and the earth is fast becoming a Sodom. The

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Sodomitish practices which brought the judgment of God upon the world, and caused it to be deluged with water, and which caused Sodom to be destroyed by fire, are fast increasing. We are nearing the end. God has borne long with the perversity of mankind, but their punishment is no less certain. Let those who profess to be the light of the world, depart from all iniquity.--RH Nov. 10, 1884.

Impurity is today widespread, even among the professed followers of Christ. Passion is unrestrained; the animal propensities are gaining strength by indulgence, while the moral powers are constantly becoming weaker. . . . The sins that destroyed the antediluvians and the cities of the plain exist today--not merely in heathen lands, not only among popular professors of Christianity, but with some who profess to be looking for the coming of the Son of man. If God should present these sins before you as they appear in His sight, you would be filled with shame and terror.--5T 218.