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Chapter 40


Counsels of Caution–
Hereditary and Cultivated Tendencies



      Those who put their trust in Christ are not to be enslaved by any hereditary or cultivated habit or tendency. MH 175

      The religion of Christ changes hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong. It banishes self-confidence and egotism, leading man to see himself as he is, weak and sinful, unable of himself to do any good thing. It leads him to behold Jesus, and beholding, he is changed into His likeness. 4ST 216

      None need despair because of inherited tendencies to evil. When the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, the wrongdoer must repent, and confess, and forsake the evil. Faithful sentinels are on guard, to direct souls in right paths. YI 502

      God has given His Holy Spirit as a power sufficient to subdue all your hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong-doing. By yielding the mind to the control of the Spirit, you will grow into the likeness of God’s perfect character, and will become an instrumentality through which He can reveal His mercy, His goodness, and His love. YI 551

      He has given His Holy Spirit as a power sufficient to overcome all man’s hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong. By yielding his capabilities to the control of this Spirit, man will be impressed with God’s perfect character, and will become an instrument through which He can reveal His mercy, His goodness, and His love. 3ST 336

      The converting power of God can transform inherited and cultivated tendencies; for the religion of Jesus is uplifting. “Born again” means a transformation, a new birth in Christ Jesus. 3RH 455

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      Genuine conversion is needed, not once in years, but daily. This conversion brings man into a new relation with God. Old things, his natural passions and hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong, pass away, and he is renewed and sanctified. 3RH 499

      As we partake of the divine nature, hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong are cut away from the character, and we are made a living power for good. 4RH 175

      All who receive Christ in truth will believe in Him. They will see the necessity of having Christ abiding in the heart by faith. They will escape from the control of their hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, - their pride, vanity, self-esteem, worldliness, and every sin, - and will reveal Christ in their lives. 4RH 101

      Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character on His church. 5RH 471

      Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power. It is the Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world’s Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church. DA 671

      Hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil must be overcome. MH 453

      We all have hereditary and cultivated weaknesses, but we may obtain precious victories every day. 2ST 274

      Every defect in character condemned by the law of God, must, through the grace of Christ, which is freely given to every soul who desires it, be overcome. Every hereditary and cultivated tendency to evil must be seen, subdued, and cleansed, that the soul temple may become fit for the indwelling of the Spirit of God. 3ST 223

      . . . the battle of overcoming is one that is presented to every soul who would enter into the kingdom of God. “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before His angels.” The followers of Christ are to war against every evil tendency which they have inherited or cultivated; for the evil practices defile the soul. 3ST 226

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      Those who enter there must be loyal and faithful servants of God, yoking up with Christ, working His works, overcoming as He overcame, wrestling day after day with hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong, which must be oft crucified. 3ST 372

      We desire to be Christians, then let us sit at the feet of Jesus and learn of Him. He will give us strength to overcome every defect in our character, and to oppose to these hereditary or cultivated defects the virtues of Jesus Christ. We must push our way through the deceptive darkness to the divine light. 3ST 290

      The call comes to us, “Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” As we obey this command, the power of the Holy Spirit will come upon mind and body, bringing us into conformity to the will of Christ, and renewing us in His likeness. The hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong will die, and Christ will be formed within, the hope of glory. 4ST 389

      If we would work wisely and intelligently for God, our human passions, our hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong, must be brought under the control of a higher and more commanding generalship than human ability. 4ST 146



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