Section 4—The Growing Personality
Chapter 16—Prenatal Influences (Part 2)
Wife’s Responsibility—Women who possess principle and who are well instructed will not depart from simplicity of diet at this time [pregnancy] of all others. They will consider that another life is dependent upon them and will be careful in all their habits, and especially in diet.—Testimonies for the Church 2:382 (1870).
Innocent Offspring Will Be Sufferers—Diseased children are born because of the gratification of appetite by the parents. The system did not demand the variety of food upon which the mind dwelt. Because once in the mind it must be in the stomach is a great error which Christian women should reject. Imagination should not be allowed to control the wants of the system. Those who allow the taste to rule will suffer the penalty of transgressing the laws of their being. And the matter does not end here; their innocent offspring also will be sufferers.—Testimonies for the Church 2:383 (1870).
Unwise advisers will urge upon the mother the gratification of every wish and impulse as essential to the well-being of her offspring. Such advice is false and mischievous. By the command of God Himself the mother is placed under the most solemn obligation to exercise self-control. Whose voice shall we heed—the voice of divine wisdom or the voice of human superstition?—The Signs of the Times, February 26, 1902.
Pregnant Mother to Form Habits of Self-denial—The mother who is a fit teacher for her children must, before their birth, form habits of self-denial and self-control; for she transmits to them her own qualities, her own strong or weak traits of character. The enemy of souls understands this matter much better than do many parents. He will bring temptation upon the mother, knowing that if she does not resist him, he can through her affect her child. The mother’s only hope is in God. She may flee to Him for grace and strength. She will not seek help in vain. He will enable her to transmit to her offspring qualities that will help them to gain success in this life and to win eternal life.—The Signs of the Times, February 26, 1902. (Counsels on Diet and Foods, 219.)
The Basis of Right Character—The basis of a right character in the future man is made firm by habits of strict temperance in the mother prior to the birth of her child…. This lesson should not be regarded with indifference.—The Gospel Herald, February, 1880. (The Adventist Home, 258.)
Race Groaning Under Weight of Accumulated Woe—The race is groaning under a weight of accumulated woe because of the sins of former generations. And yet with scarcely a thought or care, men and women of the present generation indulge intemperance by surfeiting and drunkenness and thereby leave, as a legacy for the next generation, disease, enfeebled intellects, and polluted morals.—Testimonies for the Church 4:31 (1876).
Insatiable Cravings, Unholy Desires Transmitted to Young—Both parents transmit their own characteristics, mental and physical, their dispositions and appetites, to their children….Liquor drinkers and tobacco users may, and do, transmit their insatiable craving, their inflamed blood and irritable nerves, to their children. The licentious often bequeath their unholy desires, and even loathsome diseases, as a legacy to their offspring. And as the children have less power to resist temptation than had the parents, the tendency is for each generation to fall lower and lower.—Patriarchs and Prophets, 561 (1890).
As a rule, every intemperate man who rears children transmits his inclinations and evil tendencies to his offspring.—The Review and Herald, November 21, 1882. (Temperance, 170.)
Samson’s Prenatal Life Regulated by God—The words spoken to the wife of Manoah contain a truth that the mothers of today would do well to study. In speaking to this one mother, the Lord spoke to all the anxious, sorrowing mothers of that time and to all the mothers of succeeding generations. Yes, every mother may understand her duty. She may know that the character of her children will depend vastly more upon her habits before their birth and her personal efforts after their birth than upon external advantages or disadvantages.—The Signs of the Times, February 26, 1902. (Counsels on Diet and Foods, 218.)
God had important work for the promised child of Manoah to do, and it was to secure for him the qualifications necessary for this work that the habits of both the mother and the child were to be so carefully regulated….The child will be affected for good or evil by the habits of the mother. She must herself be controlled by principle and must practice temperance and self-denial if she would seek the welfare of her child.—Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 38, 1890. (Temperance, 90.)
https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/77.668#682
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for the privilege of daily dying to self and placing our will in Your power that we may be divinely guided by Your eye every day, especially when bringing another life into the world. Thank You for Your Word and biblical advice, which encourages us in the total, true and right development of character and mind culture, resulting in whole-body vibrant health. Please bless us truly to contemplate the life of Jesus and to allow Your Word to develop within us that true religion, which ennobles the mind, refines the taste, sanctifies the judgment, and makes us partakers of the vibrant health, purity, and the holiness of Heaven. Please bless us with a love for truth that we might be empowered, sustained, and consoled in every adversity. Because we ask all these in the Awesome name of Almighty Jesus the Christ, our Savior, we say Thank You and Amen.
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DID YOU KNOW THIS…? For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. Luke 1:15. [The WORD OF GOD—It’s the only flesh that is safe to eat (meditate on) to live forever!]
Do you feel sorrowful, disconnected—without a place to feel at home or useful? I pray this might show you the way forward. Watch…
https://www.youtube.com/live/2QB6fcwVuws?si=fsEvZU-rkI-BngfD
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FREE HEALTH TALK* open to the public Thursdays at 5pm at Country Life Natural Foods Store and Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurant, 1217 Eberhart Avenue, Columbus, GA. The topic for Thursday, May 28, “Natural Tips for High Blood Pressure” with Dr. Marvin Randall.
*Exception: $10 for cooking classes
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If you want to support Christian radio programming for these final days, please visit
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I coordinate wonderful health and worship events and conferences online and onsite as a gospel medical missionary at Uchee Pines, a total plant-based health retreat, where doctors and practitioners specialize in lifestyle medicine. For event details, visit https://www.ucheepines.org/events
Therefore, if at any time you fail to receive this post as a text, please visit
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where devotionals are first posted daily (almost without fail). From there devotionals are publicly shared to my page on FB, LinkedIn, and Signal (in My Story), and to a response-restricted group on WhatsApp (once again when I am able to find the time to successfully rebuild it).
NOTE: These began as daily texts to encourage my academy roommate and dear friend of nearly 50 years, until she suddenly passed March 2023. Now I continue to compile and send them to anyone who will receive them and to her family in honor of their mom. Lately, I have begun featuring consecutive chapter portions of a select Bible-based book.
If you agree to continue receiving them, then this is my personal gift to you; and in this way, I not only honor God but the memory of a very dear friend whom I desperately miss.
My personal prayer is that God will bless me to find ways to multiply this gift, so that we all may be encouraged to be found faithful in the sight of a Holy God, whenever Christ returns or our eyes are shut in the sleep of death.
It is a prayerful process that leads me to share from my personal study.
So please feel free to forward to your loved ones or to anyone, as God leads you. I’m calling them Barb’s Devotionals.