- Foreword
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- Preparing to Meet Christ
- The Vision of the Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan
- How the Light Came to the Prophet
- The Life and Work of Mrs. E. G. White
- Mrs. E. G. White as Others Knew Her
- Messages that Changed Lives
- The Vision that Could not Be Told
- The Testimonies and the Reader
- Practical Test of a Good Prophet
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- Chapter 2—The Time of The End
- Chapter 3—Prepare to Meet the Lord
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- Chapter 5—Christ Our Righteousness
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- Chapter 9—The Publications of the Church
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- Chapter 32—Music
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- Parents Must Agree
- The Danger of Too Severe Training
- To Allow Children to Grow Up in Ignorance Is a Sin
- The Evil of Idleness
- Parents, Lead Your Children to Christ
- Do Not Neglect the Wants of the Mind
- Never Correct a Child When Angry
- The Importance of Strict Honesty With Children
- The Importance of Character Development
- A Personal Experience in Counseling Children
- Parents’ Need of More Divine Guidance
- Teach Respect and Courtesy
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- The Church's Responsibility
- Moral Support of Our Institutions
- Teachers Under God
- Qualifications of a School Teacher
- The Bible in Christian Education
- Dangers in Sending Children to School Too Young
- Importance of Training in Duties of Practical Life
- The Dignity of Labor
- One's Mother Tongue Should Not Be Ignored
- The Works of Skeptics Forbidden by God
- The Results of Christian Education
- Student's Responsibility to Uphold His School
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- Chapter 39—The Importance of Cleanliness
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- “Of Every Man That Giveth It Willingly”
- Tithing Is Ordained by God
- The Privilege of Being a Co-laborer With God
- God Asks for One-tenth of the Increase He Gives
- God Evaluates Gifts by the Love Which Prompts the Sacrifice
- The Proper Disposition of Property
- “If Riches Increase, Set Not Your Heart Upon Them”
- A Pledge Made to God Is Binding and Sacred
- Offerings of Thanksgiving to Be Set Aside for the Poor
- Our Property and the Support of God's Work
- The Spirit of Self-denial and Sacrifice
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- Chapter 64—Christ Our Great High Priest
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Dangers in Reading Exciting Stories
What shall our children read? This is a serious question and one that demands a serious answer. It troubles me to see in Sabbathkeeping families periodicals and newspapers containing continued stories which leave no impressions for good on the minds of children and youth. I have watched those whose taste for fiction was thus cultivated. They have had the privilege of listening to the truth, of becoming acquainted with the reasons of our faith; but they have grown to mature years destitute of true piety and practical godliness.CCh 170.2
Readers of frivolous, exciting tales become unfitted for the duties of practical life. They live in an unreal world. I have watched children who have been allowed to make a practice of reading such stories. Whether at home or abroad, they were restless, dreamy, unable to converse except upon the most commonplace subjects. Religious thought and conversation was entirely foreign to their minds. With the cultivation of an appetite for sensational stories, the mental taste is perverted, and the mind is not satisfied unless fed upon this unwholesome food. I can think of no more fitting name for those who indulge in such reading than mental inebriates. Intemperate habits of reading have an effect upon the brain similar to that which intemperate habits of eating and drinking have upon the body.243Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 132-135CCh 170.3
Before accepting the present truth, some had formed the habit of novel reading. Upon uniting with the church, they made an effort to overcome this habit. To place before this class reading similar to that which they have discarded is like offering intoxicants to the inebriate. Yielding to the temptation continually before them, they soon lose their relish for solid reading. They have no interest in Bible study. Their moral power becomes enfeebled. Sin appears less and less repulsive. There is manifest an increasing unfaithfulness, a growing distaste for life's practical duties. As the mind becomes perverted, it is ready to grasp any reading of a stimulating character. Thus the way is open for Satan to bring the soul fully under his domination.244Testimonies for the Church 7:203CCh 170.4