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Restoring the Temple – Decreasing Your Risk of Disease

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God, the great governor of the universe, has put everything under law. The tiny flower and the towering oak, the grain of sand and the mighty ocean, sunshine and shower, wind and rain, all obey nature’s laws. But man has been placed under a higher law. He has been given an intellect to see, and a conscience to feel, the powerful claims of God’s great moral law, the expression of what He desires His children to be.” The Signs of the Times, July 31, 1901.

“In the beginning God placed man under law, as an indispensable condition of his very existence. He was a subject of the divine government, and there can be no government without law.” Ibid., July 23, 1902.

In outline form, we will look first at those factors that weaken the body’s ability to ward off disease. These are the habits we want to overcome or avoid. Next we will look at those factors which help the body ward off disease.

Factors Associated with Increased Risk of Disease

1 Certain nutritional supplements.

We do not have complete information on all of the nutritional supplements that might increase the risk of disease, but a few include beta-carotene supplements and large supplements of vitamin A. Beta-carotene supplements have actually been shown to increase cancer risk. It can also cause depletion of vitamin E. Large amounts of vitamin C and vitamin E supplements can actually favor the development of free radicals in the body.

2 Cow’s milk formula for infants.

Infants given cow’s milk formula are over 50 percent more likely to develop diarrhea and ear infections than infants who are breast-fed. With the development of antibiotics, we have become unaware of the dangers of cow’s milk for infants. In a 1930 study of 20,000 infants, before the development of antibiotics, the death rate for infants fed cow’s milk during the first nine months after birth was over 50 times the death rate of infants who were breast-fed. The breast-fed infant receives antibodies and white blood cells from the mother. Human breast milk is usually sterile which is never the case with cow’s milk. The mother’s milk can also help the infant avoid a deadly build-up of E. Coli bacteria in its intestine.

3 Use of cow’s milk by adults.

Cow’s milk has been shown to have a relationship to many serious and deadly diseases, including coronary artery disease, cancer, neurological diseases, allergies, and even Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Multiple Sclerosis.

4 Use of tobacco.

Smokers have twice the risk of colon cancer as non-smokers. Smoking one “joint” of marijuana does the equivalent damage to the lungs as a full pack of 20 regular cigarettes.

5 Use of alcohol.

Even moderate consumption of alcohol can significantly damage the immune system, making the person more susceptible to cancer and other serious diseases. As few as two drinks can reduce antibody production by two-thirds.

6 Excessive exercise.

Exercise to the point of exhaustion, as in competitive sports, can result in a decreased immune response by the body.

7 Meat eating.

Animal protein has been shown to be a cancer-producing substance. Women who eat meat every day have a higher risk of developing breast cancer than those who do not eat meat at all (over eight times in one study). Regular meat eaters have a colon cancer risk of about three to four times those not eating meat at all.

8 Stress.

People who are not coping with major stressors in their lives have a greater chance of developing life-threatening diseases.

9 Use of refined sugar.

Refined sugar reduces the ability of white blood cells to destroy bacteria. For example, one study showed that one white blood cell could destroy 14 bacteria before sugar had been consumed, but after consumption of 24 teaspoons of sugar, only one bacterium could be destroyed.

Factors Associated with Decreased Risk of Disease

1 Sunshine.

One researcher has estimated that regular, moderate exposure to sunshine could prevent 30,000 deaths caused by cancer per year in America.

2 Regular, moderate exercise.

Cancer deaths are significantly lower in those who exercise regularly.

3 Foods rich in carotene (pro-vitamin A).

The high-level carotene foods are those that are deep orange in color—such as carrots, yams, pumpkin, cantaloupe, apricots, mangos, persimmons, sweet potatoes—and those that are dark green, such as spinach, kale, turnip greens, broccoli, collard greens, and beet greens.

4 Foods rich in vitamin E

The high-level vitamin E foods are nuts, seeds, and the germ of grains—wheat germ, sunflower seeds, and almonds and the dark greens as mentioned above in the rich carotene foods.

5 Foods rich in vitamin C.

These vegetable foods include bell peppers, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, potatoes, tomatoes, and cabbage. Fruits such as kiwi, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and citrus fruits are also
beneficial.

6 Foods containing natural chemicals.

Only a few of these phyto-chemicals are presently known, but if you use a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains, you will get all of these chemicals—even the ones that are not well-known. The secret to helping the body resist disease is not in finding the protective elements in a food and mega-dosing on those through supplements, but consuming foods that contain a balanced form of many compounds. This balance will help the body, but the artificial use of supplements often unbalances the chemistry of the body.

7 Trust in God.

It has been statistically demonstrated that unresolved stress can both cause and exacerbate some of our most serious health problems, such as cardio vascular disease, cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, ulcers, and, of course, depression. God has given the answer to stress in Matthew 11:28–30.

8 Adequate water drinking.

Adults generally need eight glasses or more of water per day, depending on their activity and the climate conditions.

9 Cleanliness of person, clothes, and living environment.

About 100 years ago, Ellen White published the following counsel, which, if heeded, would decrease infectious diseases throughout the world approximately 85 percent (according to the estimates of some researchers)!

“Every form of uncleanliness tends to disease. Death-producing germs abound in dark, neglected corners, in decaying refuse, in dampness and mold and must. . . . Nothing unclean or decaying should be tolerated within the home. In towns or cities regarded perfectly healthful, many an epidemic of fever has been traced to decaying matter about the dwelling of some careless householder.” The Ministry of Healing, 276.

10 Adequate rest.

The exact amount of needed rest varies with different individuals, but the vast majority of human beings need between seven and nine hours of sleep per day.

Many people are looking for the miracle food or the miracle vitamin, mineral supplement, or herb that will cleanse the body of all problems and disease. “Miracle foods” come in and out of vogue. The secret of health and long life does not reside in finding the miracle potion, medicine, or herbal supplement but in following, in moderation and with good judgment, all the laws of health that the Creator has made and provided for our use.

Restoring the Temple – Proteins

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Some, in abstaining from milk, eggs, and butter, have failed to supply the system with proper nourishment, and as a consequence have become weak and unable to work. Thus health reform is brought into disrepute. The work that we have tried to build up solidly is confused with strange things that God has not required, and the energies of the church are crippled. But God will interfere to prevent the results of these too-strenuous ideas. The gospel is to harmonize the sinful race. It is to bring the rich and poor together at the feet of Jesus.

“The time will come when we may have to discard some of the articles of diet we now use, such as milk and cream and eggs; but it is not necessary to bring upon ourselves perplexity by premature and extreme restrictions. Wait until the circumstances demand it, and the Lord prepares the way for it.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 368.

Cheese Unfit for Food

“Cheese should never be introduced into the stomach. . . .

“Many a mother sets a table that is a snare to her family. Flesh meats, butter, cheese, rich pastry, spiced foods, and condiments are freely partaken of by both old and young. These things do their work in deranging the stomach, exciting the nerves, and enfeebling the intellect. The blood-making organs cannot convert such things into good blood. The grease cooked in the food renders it difficult of digestion. The effect of cheese is deleterious.” Ibid., 368, 369.

An Aftermath of Sin

“God gave our first parents the food He designed that the race should eat. It was contrary to His plan to have the life of any creature taken. There was to be no death in Eden. The fruit of the trees in the garden, was the food man’s wants required. God gave man no permission to eat animal food until after the flood. Everything had been destroyed upon which man could subsist, and therefore the Lord in their necessity gave Noah permission to eat of the clean animals which he had taken with him into the ark. But animal food was not the most healthful article of food for man.

“The people who lived before the flood ate animal food and gratified their lusts until their cup of iniquity was full, and God cleansed the earth of its moral pollution by a flood. Then the third dreadful curse rested upon the earth. The first curse was pronounced upon the posterity of Adam and upon the earth, because of disobedience. The second curse came upon the ground after Cain slew his brother Abel. The third most dreadful curse from God came upon the earth at the flood.

“After the flood the people ate largely of animal food. God saw that the ways of man were corrupt, and that he was disposed to exalt himself proudly against his Creator and to follow the inclinations of his own heart. And He permitted that long-lived race to eat animal food to shorten their sinful lives. Soon after the flood the race began to rapidly decrease in size, and in length of years.

Antediluvian Depravity

“The inhabitants of the Old World were intemperate in eating and drinking. They would have flesh meats, although God had given them no permission to eat animal food. They ate and drank to excess, and their depraved appetites knew no bounds. They gave themselves up to abominable idolatry. They became violent and ferocious, and so corrupt that God could bear with them no longer. Their cup of iniquity was full, and God cleansed the earth of its moral pollution by a flood. As men multiplied upon the face of the earth after the flood, they forgot God, and corrupted their ways before Him. Intemperance in every form increased to a great extent. . . .

Israel’s Failure and Spiritual Loss

“In choosing man’s food in Eden, the Lord showed what was the best diet; in the choice made for Israel, He taught the same lesson. He brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and undertook their training, that they might be a people for His own possession. Through them He desired to bless and teach the world. He provided them with the food best adapted for this purpose, not flesh, but manna, ‘the bread of heaven.’ [Psalm 105:40.] It was only because of their discontent and their murmurings for the fleshpots of Egypt that animal food was granted them, and this only for a short time. Its use brought disease and death to thousands. Yet the restriction to a nonflesh diet was never heartily accepted. It continued to be the cause of discontent and murmuring, open or secret, and it was not made permanent.

“Upon their settlement in Canaan, the Israelites were permitted the use of animal food, but under careful restrictions, which tended to lessen the evil results. The use of swine’s flesh was prohibited, as also of other animals and of birds and fish whose flesh was pronounced unclean. Of the meats permitted, the eating of the fat and the blood was strictly forbidden.

“Only such animals could be used for food as were in good condition. No creature that was torn, that had died of itself or from which the blood had not been carefully drained, could be used as food.

“By departing from the plan divinely appointed for their diet, the Israelites suffered great loss. They desired a flesh diet, and they reaped its results. They did not reach God’s ideal of character or fulfill His purpose. The Lord ‘gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.’ [Psalm 106:15.] They valued the earthly above the spiritual, and the sacred preeminence which was His purpose for them they did not attain.

Nonflesh Diet to Modify the Disposition

“The Lord plainly told His people that every blessing would come to them if they would keep His commandments, and be a peculiar people. He warned them through Moses in the wilderness, specifying that health would be the reward of obedience. The state of the mind has largely to do with the health of the body, and especially with the health of the digestive organs. As a general thing, the Lord did not provide His people with flesh meat in the desert, because He knew that the use of this diet would create disease and insubordination. In order to modify the disposition, and bring the higher powers of the mind into active exercise, He removed from them the flesh of dead animals. He gave them angels’ food, manna from heaven.” Ibid., 373–375.

Ellen G. White (1827–1915) wrote more than 5,000 periodical articles and 40 books during her lifetime. Today, including compilations from her 50,000 pages of manuscript, more than 100 titles are available in English. She is the most translated woman writer in the entire history of literature, and the most translated American author of either gender. Seventh-day Adventists believe that Mrs. White was appointed by God as a special messenger to draw the world’s attention to the Holy Scriptures and help prepare people for Christ’s second advent.

Food for Life – Transitioning to a Vegetarian or Vegan Diet

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Change to a vegan diet should be done with study, care, and thought. If people change too quickly, before they know how to cook nutritional, tasteful food, there is a danger that the change may be short lived. It is also important that diet reform be ongoing as more information is learned. It may be very difficult if too much information is given all at once and the person cannot incorporate the knowledge into healthful living. Ellen White made the following comments in regard to diet reform and change:

“Let the diet reform be progressive.” Testimonies, vol. 7, 135.

“When flesh food is discarded, its place should be supplied with a variety of grains, nuts, vegetables, and fruits, that will be both nourishing and appetizing.” Child Guidance, 384.

“Some, after adopting a vegetarian diet, return to the use of flesh meat. This is foolish, indeed, and reveals a lack of knowledge of how to provide proper food in the place of meat.

“Cooking schools, conducted by wise instructors, are to be held in America and in other lands.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 469.

“Nuts and nut foods are coming largely into use to take the place of flesh meats. With nuts may be combined grains, fruits, and some roots, to make foods that are healthful and nourishing. Care should be taken, however, not to use too large a portion of nuts. Those who realize ill effects from the use of nut foods may find the difficulty removed by attending to this precaution.” Ibid., 363, 364.

“Three years ago a letter came to me, saying, ‘I cannot eat the nut foods; my stomach cannot take care of them.’ Then there were several recipes presented before me; one was that there must be other ingredients combined with the nuts, which would harmonize with them, and not use such a large proportion. One-tenth to one-sixth part of nuts would be sufficient, according to combination. We tried this, and with success.” Ibid., 273.

“Olives may be so prepared as to be eaten with good results at every meal. . . . When properly prepared, olives, like nuts, supply the place of butter and flesh meats. The oil, as eaten in the olive, is far preferable to animal oil or fat. It serves as a laxative. Its use will be found beneficial to consumptives, and it is healing to an inflamed, irritated stomach.” Ibid., 349, 350.

Restoring the Temple – No Flesh Foods

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It is not the chief end of man to gratify his appetite. There are physical wants to be supplied; but because of this is it necessary that man shall be controlled by appetite? Will the people who are seeking to become holy, pure, refined, that they may be introduced into the society of heavenly angels, continue to take the life of God’s creatures, and enjoy their flesh as a luxury? From what the Lord has shown me, this order of things will be changed, and God’s peculiar people will exercise temperance in all things.

“Those who have received instruction regarding the evils of the use of flesh foods, tea, and coffee, and rich and unhealthful food preparations, and who are determined to make a covenant with God by sacrifice, will not continue to indulge their appetite for food that they know to be unhealthful. God demands that the appetite be cleansed, and that self-denial be practiced in regard to those things which are not good. This is a work that will have to be done before His people can stand before Him a perfected people.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 381.

Perfecting Holiness

“Health reform is to do among our people a work which it has not yet done. There are those who ought to be awake to the danger of meat eating, who are still eating the flesh of animals, thus endangering the physical, mental, and spiritual health. Many who are now only half converted on the question of meat eating will go from God’s people to walk no more with them. . . .

“If, while proclaiming the most solemn and important message God has ever given, men war against the truth by indulging wrong habits of eating and drinking, they take all the force from the message they bear.

“Those who indulge in meat eating, tea drinking, and gluttony are sowing seeds for a harvest of pain and death. The unhealthful food placed in the stomach strengthens the appetites that war against the soul, developing the lower propensities. A diet of flesh meat tends to develop animalism. A development of animalism lessens spirituality, rendering the mind incapable of understanding truth.

“The word of God plainly warns us that unless we abstain from fleshly lusts, the physical nature will be brought into conflict with the spiritual nature. Lustful eating wars against health and peace. Thus a warfare is instituted between the higher and the lower attributes of the man. The lower propensities, strong and active, oppress the soul. The highest interests of the being are imperiled by the indulgence of appetites unsanctioned by Heaven.” Ibid., 382.

Firm Stand Against Meat Eating

“Those who claim to believe the truth are to guard carefully the powers of body and mind, so that God and His cause will not be in any way dishonored by their words or actions. The habits and practices are to be brought into subjection to the will of God. We are to give careful attention to our diet. It has been clearly presented to me that God’s people are to take a firm stand against meat eating. Would God . . . give His people the message that if they desire to have pure blood and clear minds, they must give up the use of flesh meat, if He did not want them to heed this message? By the use of flesh meats the animal nature is strengthened and the spiritual nature weakened.” Ibid., 383.

“Those who use flesh meat disregard all the warnings that God has given concerning this question. They have no evidence that they are walking in safe paths. They have not the slightest excuse for eating the flesh of dead animals. God’s curse is resting upon the animal creation. Many times when meat is eaten, it decays in the stomach, and creates disease. Cancers, tumors, and pulmonary diseases are largely caused by meat eating.” Ibid.

“The intellectual, the moral, and the physical powers are depreciated by the habitual use of flesh meats. Meat eating deranges the system, beclouds the intellect, and blunts the moral sensibilities. We say to you, dear brother and sister, your safest course is to let meat alone.” Ibid., 391.

Strength to Resist

“If our appetites clamor for the flesh of dead animals, it is a necessity to fast and pray for the Lord to give His grace to deny fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

When Prayer for Healing is Inconsistent

“There are those among Seventh-day Adventists who will not heed the light given them in regard to this matter. They make flesh meat a part of their diet. Disease comes upon them. Sick and suffering as a result of their own wrong course, they ask for the prayers of the servants of God. But how can the Lord work in their behalf when they are not willing to do His will, when they refuse to heed His instruction in regard to health reform? . . .

“The light on health reform has been coming to the people of God, but many have made it a subject of jest. They have continued to use tea, coffee, spices, and flesh meat. Their bodies are full of disease. How can we, I ask, present such ones to the Lord for healing?” Ibid., 400.

Benefit of Self-Denial

“If we could be benefited by indulging the desire for flesh foods, I would not make this appeal to you; but I know we cannot. Flesh foods are injurious to the physical well-being, and we should learn to do without them. Those who are in a position where it is possible to secure a vegetarian diet, but who choose to follow their own preferences in this matter, eating and drinking as they please, will gradually grow careless of the instruction the Lord has given regarding other phases of the present truth, and will lose their perception of what is truth; they will surely reap as they have sown. . . .

“We need ever to bear in mind that in these days of probation we are on trial before the Lord of the universe. Will you not give up indulgences that are doing you injury? Words of profession are cheap; let your acts of self-denial testify that you will be obedient to the demands that God makes of His peculiar people. Then put into the treasury a portion of the means you save by your acts of self-denial, and there will be that with which to carry on the work of God.

“There are many who feel that they cannot get along without flesh foods; but if these would place themselves on the Lord’s side, resolutely resolved to walk in the way of His guidance, they would receive strength and wisdom as did Daniel and his fellows. They would find that the Lord would give them sound judgment. Many would be surprised to see how much could be saved for the cause of God by acts of self-denial. The small sums saved by deeds of sacrifice will do more for the up-building of the cause of God than larger gifts will accomplish that have not called for denial of self.” Ibid., 402–404.

Meat Eating a Curse

“The Lord would bring His people into a position where they will not touch or taste the flesh of dead animals. Then let not these things be prescribed by any physicians who have a knowledge of the truth for this time. There is no safety in the eating of the flesh of dead animals, and in a short time the milk of the cows will also be excluded from the diet of God’s commandment-keeping people. In a short time it will not be safe to use anything that comes from the animal creation. Those who take God at His word, and obey His commandments with the whole heart, will be blessed. He will be their shield of protection. But the Lord will not be trifled with. Distrust, disobedience, alienation from God’s will and way, will place the sinner in a position where the Lord cannot give him His divine favor. . . .

“Again I will refer to the diet question. We cannot now do as we have ventured to do in the past in regard to meat eating. It has always been a curse to the human family, but now it is made particularly so in the curse which God has pronounced upon the herds of the field, because of man’s transgression and sin. The disease upon animals is becoming more and more common, and our only safety now is in leaving meat entirely alone.” Ibid., 411, 412.

True to Principle

“We are determined to live out the principles of health reform, to walk in the way of truth and righteousness. We shall not, for fear of losing patronage, be half-and-half reformers. We have taken our position, and by God’s help we shall stand by it. The food provided for the patients is wholesome and palatable. The diet is composed of fruits and grains and nuts.” Ibid., 414, 415.

Health – Deadly Meats

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Adventism is a faith known for health reform. A particular way which this is exhibited is in the vegetarian diet that is practiced. This is not an arbitrary decision; rather a conscious and informed practice based on results of scientific research, daily evidence, and a desire to best maintain the most amazing and efficient machines God created, our bodies.

“Beef; it’s what’s for dinner!” Every American has heard this line. And most Americans salivate at the thought. Yet, at the same time we see headlines like, “Meat Consumption Linked to Cancer,” “Mad Cow Killer,” and “Is your Steak at Stake?” proclaiming the dangers of meat-eating. Headlines such as these have been seen everywhere from the New York Times to Science Daily to the Health Journal, and first began appearing in the New York Times in the mid-1800s. In contrast, if you were to Google “vegetables and cancer” the results speak only of the preventative properties of vegetables toward cancer and other health issues, and of the healthfulness of vegetarianism. What is it about these two different classes of diet that makes one potentially deadly and the other a possible agent in reversing the effects of the former?

The make-up of our bodies is primarily protein; hair skin, blood, muscle, and organs are all protein. The protein in our bodies is made up of 20 different amino acids which are essential to the maintenance of our systems. Of these 20, we naturally produce only 9, the rest of which must be obtained through adequate nutrition. When we partake of one serving of animal protein, we are getting more than seven times the amount of protein we need; whereas, in plant protein the concentration in a serving is the recommended amount for the needs of the human body to be fulfilled. What does the body do with the excess protein? It is processed through the kidneys and returned to the body in stored energy that we know as “fat.” It is quite understandable, then, why America is the obese capital of the world!

Obesity carries with it serious health problems. The first and foremost issue is the likelihood of an obese person to develop diabetes. Someone with such a surplus of weight is three times more likely to develop this disease, which also raises the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), strokes, osteoarthritis, gallstones, and sleep apnea.

When we eat protein, our bodies break down the protein and convert it into a form that is constructive: amino acids. These amino acids then are specialized and sent to the different parts of the body where they are needed. Yet, when there is an excess of amino acids, the body is forced to excrete the extra through the kidneys. Each amino acid strain must be neutralized before the kidneys can do this. The neutralization is done by calcium. Once the calcium is processed through the kidneys, our bodies get rid of both the extra amino acids and the calcium through urination. The calcium for this process comes from the bloodstream forcing the body to then tap into the bone’s stores of calcium, thus depleting the bone density. This is especially dangerous for women. It has been found that women who partake regularly of meat have lost 35% of their bone density by the age of 65.

In addition to the issue of high protein concentration, the meat the average American consumes in a day contains over 75% of the daily caloric recommendation, most of which are calories from fat! Meat also consists of high levels of saturated fat and low-density lipoproteins (LDL), also known as “bad cholesterol”. Saturated fat by itself contains cholesterol, but there is additional cholesterol in meat that is not a part of the strains of saturated fat. Our bodies naturally produce cholesterol in the very limited quantities that we need. Additional amounts, however, are responsible for the clogging and hardening of the arteries. This often leads to issues with heart disease, obesity, strokes, heart attacks, cancer, diabetes, and more. A diet consisting of raw vegetation lacks the necessary properties to induce these physiological issues. Cholesterol is found only in animal products. The Journal for the American Medical Association (JAMA) has stated that a vegetarian diet can prevent 97% of coronary occlusions, or blocked arteries.

In the book The China Study, T. Colin Campbell compares the diet, health statistics (i.e. cholesterol level, blood pressure, mortality rate, etc.), and diseases of China and the United States. The results of this study were astounding! Blood cholesterol levels have been thought by traditional medicine to be dangerously low at 150mg/dl. This was being proclaimed in a country ranked as one of the highest in cancer and heart disease mortality rates. China, on the other hand has an average cholesterol level of 127 mg/dl (America’s average is 215!), and the mortality rate due to the “western diseases” dropped by nearly 70%. What made these findings far more provocative was another study conducted by W. Haenszel and M. Kurihara that tracked the Japanese immigrants to America. This study found that those immigrants who adopted the dietary patterns of the Americans also assumed the health risks of their new geographical area. The implication here is quite strong that these diseases are not caused primarily by genetics, which the western world likes to think, but rather a result of diet and lifestyle. Congress summarized a compilation of these studies and found that only 2–3% of these diseases, particularly cancer, are attributed to genes.

There are ample studies that have proven over and over again that meat consumption is linked with heart disease and cancer. Some of these “studies” have been unintentional. During World War I, Denmark’s supply of meat was cut off. In seeing that one pound of meat is equal to 15 pounds of grain, the government decided to open their grain stores to the people. Not only did the people survive just fine on this diet, they thrived! The death rate dropped 34% from all causes. These results have been repeated throughout history. Whenever there has been a shortage of meat supply, the health of those affected has increased and the disease rate has fallen dramatically. And to drive the point home a little harder, the rate of death and disease rose once again once the supply of meat was restored.

The controlled studies have come to the same conclusion. Caldwell B. Esselstyn M.D. conducted a study of 18 patients who had experienced 48 cardiac events collectively. He placed them on a vegetarian diet low in cholesterol and reviewed the results over a 12 year period. Among those who were placed on this diet, only one patient, who was non-cooperative with the diet, suffered another cardiac event. In those patients who followed the diet, Esselstyn found that the more closely a patient followed the prescribed program, the better off they were.

According to the JAMA, acidity levels in the body causes 97% of the health issues that we encounter, cancer being a leading disease. A meat based diet is a main cause for the high acidity level in the human body. One of the body’s highest priorities is to maintain a healthy pH balance in the blood. The pH range is very narrow; between 7.35 and 7.45. If the pH level in the body goes below 7.355, the body begins to lose its proper function. Cell production is slowed, energy production in the cells lessens, and the body’s ability to absorb nutrients and minerals is hindered. The effects of this may be somewhat subtle at first and easy to blame on other causes; however, left unattended, the consequences could turn severe. Fatigue, depression, headaches, sleep depravation, lack of energy, lack of concentration, achiness, and increased illness are just some of the short-term effects. If the body’s pH remains acidic over a period of time, Crohn’s Disease, colitis, arthritis, kidney stones, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cancer, and a myriad of other diseases come into play.

Here is where we see the link between cancer and the consumption of flesh meat. Meat has a natural pH ranging from 4.0 to 5.0, although, to help tenderize the flesh, a lower pH is artificially induced, bringing the acidity level as low as 2.5. Dieticians recommend four parts alkali to one part acid in our diet. An appropriate acidic level for consumption is not below 6.0! When our bodies ingest this amount of acidity, the cell production is slowed down significantly and the new cells often are mutated. In addition to this, the reparation of cells is dangerously inhibited. Cancer occurs when there is an interruption in the cell’s natural process. If a newly developing cell splits before it has all the information required to function properly, these cells may not die when they are supposed to and duplicate when they should not. They also may not have received the information that dictates with what part of the body they belong, which allows them to travel to places where they are not needed and can be harmful. This is what forms tumors.

The fact of the matter is that cancerous cells are anaerobic, meaning that they survive without oxygen, and they are acidic, which means that they thrive in a low pH. This means that cancer cells cannot survive in an alkaline environment! Different parts of our body, out of necessity, vary in their pH balance. Yet, every part is affected by what we put into our bodies. The nutrients that we ingest, along with the toxins and acids, are transported through our bloodstream. So the entire body is fed through our blood. Whatever is in the bloodstream is carried to every portion of the body and distributed, toxins and all. If the blood is acidic, the entire body will be also. By maintaining a diet that is primarily alkaline, we can take our health into our own hands.

Through diet and a healthy life style we can take a responsible stance with our health and prevent the top five leading causes of death in our country: heart disease, cancer, medical care, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases (in order from greatest to least). God has blessed us through His provision of the means to maintain the health of our bodies, and the necessary remedies to heal them. While we are just now figuring this out, Ellen White wrote on this very matter: “While He [Christ] did not give countenance to drug medication, He sanctioned the use of simple and natural remedies.” Counsels on Health, 30. “By the use of poisonous drugs, many bring upon themselves lifelong illness, and many lives are lost that might be saved by the use of natural methods of healing. The poisons contained in many so-called remedies create habits and appetites that mean ruin to both soul and body. … The use of natural remedies requires an amount of care and effort that many are not willing to give. Nature’s process of healing and upbuilding is gradual, and to the impatient it seems slow. The surrender of hurtful indulgences requires sacrifice. But in the end it will be found that nature, untrammeled, does her work wisely and well. Those who persevere in obedience to her laws will reap the reward in health of body and health of mind.” The Ministry of Healing, 127, 128. “Our Saviour is the restorer of the moral image of God in man. He has supplied in the natural world remedies for the ills of man, that His followers may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. We can with safety discard the concoctions which man has used in the past. The Lord has provided antidotes for disease in simple plants, and these can be used by faith, with no denial of faith; for by using the blessings provided by God for our benefit we are cooperating with Him. We can use water and sunshine and the herbs which He has caused to grow for healing maladies brought on by indiscretion or accident.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 289.

Alicia Freedman works at Steps to Life as a part of the LandMarks team. She can be reached by e-mail at: landmarks@stepstolife.org.

Health – Too Much of a Good Thing

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“Satan well knows the material with which he has to deal in the human heart. He knows—for he has studied with fiendish intensity for thousands of years—the points most easily assailed in every character; and through successive generations he has wrought to overthrow the strongest men.” The Adventist Home, 326.

So how will Satan attempt to overthrow God’s people in the very last days? There are a multitude of methods that he is using: “Satan sees that his time is short. He has set all his agencies at work that men may be deceived, deluded, occupied and entranced, until the day of probation shall be ended, and the door of mercy be forever shut.” The Desire of Ages, 636. “As the time draws near for Christ to be revealed in the clouds of Heaven, Satan’s temptations will be brought to bear with greater power upon those who keep God’s commandments, for he knows that his time is short.” The Review and Herald, January 28, 1875. [Emphasis added.]

What are these agencies? One of them is appetite: “The victims of a depraved appetite, goaded on by Satan’s continual temptations, will seek indulgence at the expense of health and even life, and will go to the bar of God as self-murderers. Many have so long allowed habit to master them that they have become slaves to appetite.” Confrontation, 77. “Appetite and passion, the love of the world, and presumptuous sins were the great branches of evil out of which every species of crime, violence, and corruption grew.” Ibid., 47.

“The controlling power of appetite will prove the ruin of thousands, who, if they had conquered on this point, would have had the moral power to gain the victory over every other temptation. But those who are slaves to appetite will fail of perfecting Christian character. The continual transgression of man for over six thousand years has brought sickness, pain, and death as its fruit. And as we draw near the close of time, Satan’s temptations to indulge appetite will be more powerful, and more difficult to resist.” Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 154.

“The gratification of unnatural appetite led to the sins that caused the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God ascribes the fall of Babylon to her gluttony and drunkenness. Indulgence of appetite and passion was the foundation of all their sins.” Ibid., 43.

In this article we will only look at one small aspect of the appetite temptation. Satan cannot force you to sin. God has not given him that power. Satan could not force Eve or Adam to sin; he had to entice them, to persuade them to do it. In the same way, Satan cannot force you to eat anything. He has to entice you to do it. In order for Satan to destroy you through your appetite, he has to persuade you to eat in a way that will destroy you. How can he do this? By making the food that is going to destroy your brain and body taste good. As we will see, it is possible to get too much of a good thing.

The Human Brain

Small molecules contained in the food that we eat are utilized by the brain as neurotransmitters. There is a delicate balance in the brain between excitatory transmitters and inhibitory transmitters. If this balance is upset, serious disorders of the nervous system can result. Today we are using tons of substances in our food that act as excitatory transmitters in the brain. These substances were completely unknown and therefore did not generally exist in their purified form 100 years ago.

In 1908, a chemist in Tokyo isolated the chemical in Kombu (a seaweed that the Japanese had used for generations to enhance the flavor of their recipes). He found to his surprise that the mysterious flavor-enhancing substance in this food was a simple salt or ester of glutamic acid—an amino acid widely distributed in plant and animal protein. This was so exciting that by 1909 this chemist and a friend of his formed a company to manufacture this taste enhancer in the form of monosodium glutamate. By 1933 the Japanese were using over 10 million pounds of this taste enhancer every year. During World War 11 American soldiers obtained some food rations from Japanese soldier prisoners. They were surprised that the Japanese soldiers’ rations were so much more delicious than their own. The reason was that MSG (monosodium glutamate), the flavor enhancer, had been added to the Japanese rations, but the Americans did not have MSG added to their rations.

It did not take long for the American food industry to see the financial boom that could result from the use of this substance. It could also be used to enhance the flavor of some new cheap foods that we were developing which did not taste very good unless some type of flavor enhancer was added.

The Vegetable Protein Industry

Adventists have long known that meat was not the best food. Although this could be discovered easily by reading the first few chapters of the Bible, Ellen White is very specific about this subject:

“Flesh was never the best food; but its use is now doubly objectionable, since disease in animals is so rapidly increasing. Those who use flesh foods little know what they are eating. Often if they could see the animals when living and know the quality of the meat they eat, they would turn from it with loathing. People are continually eating flesh that is filled with tuberculous and cancerous germs. Tuberculosis, cancer, and other fatal diseases are thus communicated.” The Ministry of Healing, 313.

“Again and again I have been shown that God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to His original design,—that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth. Among those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord, meat-eating will eventually be done away; flesh will cease to form a part of their diet. We should ever keep this end in view, and endeavor to work steadily toward it.” Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 119.

Because of this information, Adventists have long been interested in the vegetarian diet, but they were told up until the 1960s that they needed to be very careful to get enough protein if they adopted a vegetarian diet. We know today that this advice was wrong, but this type of thinking made Adventists very susceptible to the new foods being introduced by food technologists. We know today that many of the vegetarian foods introduced by the food industry during the last 100 years are just as dangerous and perhaps more dangerous than the more expensive animal foods that they replaced. (A good example of this would be margarine, but that is another subject.)

One of these new wonder foods adopted almost wholesale by the Adventist world was hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP). Here is a thumbnail sketch of how it is made. First, the vegetable products are boiled in sulfuric acid, and then it is neutralized in caustic soda, and then dried. It can be dried until a brown powder is all that remains. This powder does not have a good taste at all, so MSG is added to it, and we have a powder that we can add to all manner of protein dishes. If a person eats meat such as hamburger, the cost of the hamburger can be greatly decreased by adding some HVP—a true “extender.” However, we have discovered other flavor compounds today besides MSG (many of them). We can add other amino acids to this HVP that will make it taste like beef, and then it can be used in barbecue sauces and fast foods. We can add still other protein combinations that will make the HVP taste creamy, and then use it in soups and salad dressings and sauces.

When we chemically analyze these foods, we find out some alarming facts. First of all, we find some compounds that, when used in high concentrations, are powerful brain transmitters, so much so that they can accurately be called brain cell toxins. Examples of these would include glutamate, aspartate, and cysteic acid.

Over fifty years ago, in 1957, it was discovered in animal experiments that these substances can destroy the inner layer of the retina in the eye. This is part of the reason that the writer developed an interest in investigating this subject.

One segment of the population that is extremely susceptible to obtaining large amounts of these substances are the overweight. These people want to lose weight, but they want low calorie foods that taste good. Three of the main ingredients that give flavor to food are carbohydrate (sugar and starch), fat, and protein. If the food is a low calorie food (like lettuce and spinach), it does not taste all that scrumptious unless some type of food flavoring is added. Historically, the way that this is done is to add fat and sugar (think butter, cream, sugar or syrup, mayonnaise, sweet and sour sauce, etc.) But all these things add calories, so today we can make the food taste good with very little additional calories with our new flavor-enhancing compounds. Any time that you buy food, if you see one of the following ingredients on the label you can be almost certain that it contains one or more flavor-enhancing compounds: “hydrolyzed vegetable protein,” “vegetable protein,” “natural flavorings,” and/or “spices,” “glutamate,” “aspartate,” or “glutamine.”

Another segment of the population that we know today is extremely sensitive to these substances are infants, both born and unborn infants. The central nervous system of the infant (both born and unborn) is much more sensitive to these substances than an adult, and although it would be unethical to perform research experiments with these substances on human beings, extensive animal experiments with these substances have demonstrated a severe effect on the development of the brain in every species of animals tested. Many pregnant women are using large amounts of these substances with absolutely no awareness of what the possible results might be. Nobody actually knows what all the results of large use of these substances might be. Some scientists are afraid that these substances can lead to severe misdevelopment of the brain, resulting in learning disorders and serious psychological problems such as autism, hyperactive behavior, dyslexia, and uncontrollable anger. (Their fears are not based on armchair speculations, but on actual animal experiments.)

If we use large amounts of these substances in our diet, what could be the long term result? Nobody knows, but following are a list of disorders that some scientists are studying in relation to these flavor-enhancing compounds: Neural degenerative diseases such as Lou Gehrig’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, seizures, headaches, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Probably by now, if you are still reading this article, you are asking the question, How can I know which foods that I am eating are containing these flavor-enhancing compounds? Unfortunately, this is a difficult question to answer since these compounds are found extensively today in almost every type of processed food, but in the next paragraph an attempt will be made to list some of the most common foods where the health seeker will need to be careful.

Soy milk naturally contains much glutamate, but what could become too much of a good thing is if your soy milk has more glutamate added or if it has more hydrolyzed vegetable protein added. Kombu, miso, and soy sauce have MSG added. Sports supplements and weight loss products often contain Nutrasweet (which, of course, contains aspartate). So, one must not think that a product is harmless, just because he or she obtained it from a health food store, or because it is labeled as “organic.” Hopefully, the reader who is thinking analytically will conclude on his own that so-called health foods are not necessarily healthy and may be some of the most dangerous foods in his diet. The so-called “meat substitutes” or “meal analogs” commonly contain large amounts of these flavor-enhancing compounds. Any drink or diet food which has a sweet taste but contains little or no sugar—obviously there is something in the drink that gives it that sweet taste; if it is not sugar, it has to be a flavor enhancer of some type, (common ones are aspartamine or aspartate). For the person who is interested in health, a healthy skepticism of food flavoring agents in general, and especially food additives, is certainly in harmony with present scientific knowledge. Beef or chicken flavoring, extracts, “broth” and “stock” commonly contain MSG and often other flavor-enhancing compounds, and as stated at the beginning, the problem is not that the product itself is bad; many of these products occur naturally in nature and are essential for the body, but too much of a good thing can be dangerous, as hopefully you now understand. Any time the food that you are eating is described on the ingredient list as containing plant protein extracts or sodium caseinate or calcium caseinate or yeast extract or textured protein or autolyzed yeast or hydrolyzed oat flour or hydrolyzed plant protein, you should assume that it contains flavor enhancers. If you commonly eat in restaurants it is probably going to be impossible for you to avoid these things in your diet, and so it becomes even more important for you to see that your intake of these things is as close to zero as possible when you are preparing your own food.

For the reader who would like to study a more systematic and thorough approach to this subject, a book that the writer referred to for additional information for this article that the reader could purchase and study for himself is Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills, by Russell L. Blaylock, M.D., published by Health Press, P.O. Drawer 1388, Santa Fe, NM 87504. ISBN 0-929173-14-7.

Restoring the Temple – Fruits, Cereals, Vegetables

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The Lord intends to bring His people back to live upon simple fruits, vegetables, and grains.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 322.

“The Lord desires those living in countries where fresh fruit can be obtained during a large part of the year, to awake to the blessing they have in this fruit. The more we depend upon the fresh fruit just as it is plucked from the tree, the greater will be the blessing.

“It would be well for us to do less cooking and to eat more fruit in its natural state. . . . Eat freely of the fresh grapes, apples, peaches, pears, berries, and all other kinds of fruit that can be obtained.” Ibid., 309.

An Adequate Diet

“Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables constitute the diet chosen for us by our Creator. These foods prepared in as simple and natural a manner as possible, are the most healthful and nourishing. They impart a strength, a power of endurance, and a vigor of intellect, that are not afforded by a more complex and stimulating diet.” Ibid., 310.

“Those who eat flesh are but eating grains and vegetables at second hand; for the animal receives from these things the nutrition that produces growth. The life that was in the grains and vegetables passes into the eater. We receive it by eating the flesh of the animal. How much better to get it direct, by eating the food that God provided for our use!” Ibid., 313.

“It is a mistake to suppose that muscular strength depends on the use of animal food. The needs of the system can be better supplied, and more vigorous health can be enjoyed, without its use. The grains, with fruits, nuts, and vegetables, contain all the nutritive properties necessary to make good blood.” Ibid.

“We are built up from that which we eat. Shall we strengthen the animal passions by eating animal food? In the place of educating the taste to love this gross diet, it is high time that we were educating ourselves to subsist upon fruits, grains, and vegetables. . . . A variety of simple dishes, perfectly healthful and nourishing, may be provided, aside from meat. Hearty men must have plenty of vegetables, fruits, and grains.” Ibid., 322.

Temporary Fruit Diet

“Intemperate eating is often the cause of sickness, and what nature most needs is to be relieved of the undue burden that has been placed upon her. In many cases of sickness, the very best remedy is for the patient to fast for a meal or two, that the overworked organs of digestion may have an opportunity to rest. A fruit diet for a few days has often brought great relief to brain workers. Many times a short period of entire abstinence from food, followed by simple, moderate eating, has led to recovery through nature’s own recuperative effort. An abstemious diet for a month or two would convince many sufferers that the path of self-denial is the path to health.” Ibid., 310.

Abundantly Supplied

“Nature’s abundant supply of fruits, nuts, and grains is ample, and year by year the products of all lands are more generally distributed to all, by the increased facilities for transportation. As a result, many articles of food which a few years ago were regarded as expensive luxuries, are now within the reach of all as foods for everyday use.

“If we plan wisely, that which is most conducive to health can be secured in almost every land. The various preparations of rice, wheat, corn, and oats are sent abroad everywhere, also beans, peas, and lentils. These, with native or imported fruits, and the variety of vegetables that grow in each locality, give an opportunity to select a dietary that is complete without the use of flesh meats.” Ibid., 313, 314.

Cereals

“Grains used for porridge or ‘mush’ should have several hours’ cooking. But soft or liquid foods are less wholesome than dry foods, which require thorough mastication.

“Some honestly think that a proper dietary consists chiefly of porridge. To eat largely of porridge would not ensure health to the digestive organs; for it is too much like liquid. Encourage the eating of fruit and vegetables and bread.” Ibid., 314, 315.

The Staff of Life

“Bread should be thoroughly baked, inside and out. The health of the stomach demands that it be light and dry. Bread is the real staff of life, and therefore every cook should excel in making it.

“Some do not feel it is a religious duty to prepare food properly; hence they do not try to learn how. They let the bread sour before baking, and the saleratus added to remedy the cook’s carelessness makes it totally unfit for the human stomach. It requires thought and care to make good bread. But there is more religion in a good loaf of bread than many think.” Ibid., 315, 316.

“Bread should be light and sweet. Not the least taint of sourness should be tolerated. The loaves should be small, and so thoroughly baked that, as far as possible, the yeast germs shall be destroyed. When hot, or new, raised bread of any kind is difficult of digestion. It should never appear on the table. This rule does not, however, apply to unleavened bread. Fresh rolls made of wheaten meal, without yeast or leaven, and baked in a well-heated oven, are both wholesome and palatable. . . .

Zwieback

“Zwieback, or twice-baked bread, is one of the most easily digested and most palatable of foods. Let ordinary raised bread be cut in slices and dried in a warm oven till the last trace of moisture disappears. Then let it be browned slightly all the way through. In a dry place this bread can be kept much longer than ordinary bread, and if reheated before using, it will be as fresh as when new.

“Bread which is two or three days old is more healthful than new bread. Bread dried in the oven is one of the most wholesome articles of diet.” Ibid., 316, 317.

Dangers of Sour Bread

“The stomach has not power to convert poor, heavy, sour bread into good food; but this poor bread will convert a healthy stomach into a diseased one. Those who eat such food know that they are failing in strength. Is there not a cause? Some of these persons call themselves health reformers, but they are not. They do not know how to cook. They prepare cakes, potatoes, and graham bread, but there is the same round, with scarcely a variation, and the system is not strengthened. They seem to think the time wasted which is devoted to obtaining a thorough experience in the preparation of healthful, palatable food. . . .

“Many have been brought to their death by eating heavy, sour bread. An instance was related to me of a hired girl who made a batch of sour, heavy bread. In order to get rid of it and conceal the matter, she threw it to a couple of very large hogs. Next morning the man of the house found his swine dead, and upon examining the trough, found pieces of this heavy bread. He made inquiries, and the girl acknowledged what she had done. She had not a thought of the effect of such bread upon the swine. If heavy, sour bread will kill swine, which can devour rattlesnakes, and almost every detestable thing, what effect will it have upon that tender organ, the human stomach?” Ibid., 317, 318.

“We have been going back to Egypt rather than on to Canaan. Shall we not reverse the order of things? Shall we not have plain, wholesome food on our tables?” Ibid., 319.

Ellen G. White (1827–1915) wrote more than 5,000 periodical articles and 40 books during her lifetime. Today, including compilations from her 50,000 pages of manuscript, more than 100 titles are available in English. She is the most translated woman writer in the entire history of literature, and the most translated American author of either gender.

Survival in the 21st Century

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God’s moral law not only involves spiritual and mental health but also physical health. The sixth commandment states, “You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13.) This means not to commit homicide, which is to kill somebody else. It also means not to commit suicide, which is to kill yourself.

There are two basic ways a person can commit suicide: with an overdose of sleeping pills, a knife, a gun, etc., or a much slower way that might take twenty or thirty years, but nonetheless, suicide.

Every cigarette a person smokes shortens the life an average of six to ten minutes. If a person smokes forty a day for twenty years, his/her life is shortened by 3 ½ to 5 ½ years on average. This does not include extra sicknesses the person could suffer during his/her lifetime from cigarette smoking.

It is important to know how to survive in the 21st century and to find the path to real health. It seems to many that health comes in a bottle or by making sufficient visits to a physician. Our greatest need is for a new lifestyle. Health is not a matter of chance and does not come out of a bottle or a pill. Everybody wants health, but few people have it.

How can we find health? The Bible is the greatest book that has ever been written about health. It shows the path to good mental, spiritual, and physical health.

Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.” John 10:10.

There is a startling message sent to the people living in the last days. This message involves a message about health. Revelation 14:6, 7 says, “And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”

The people of earth are called to worship God because He is the Creator. The crowning work of creation was man. “And God said, Let us make man in our own image, and in our own likeness.” Genesis 1:26.

The Bible is very clear that we did not evolve from some lower creature. We were created at the beginning in the image of God.

David said in Psalm 139:14, “I will praise you; for I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made: marvelous [are] your works; and [that] my soul knows very well.”

It is very serious to destroy the most wonderful thing God made in this world.

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] you are.” I Corinthians 3:16, 17. (Literal translation.)

In I Corinthians 6:19, 20, He asks, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit [who is] in you, who you have from God, and you are not your own?”

Why are you not your own? “For you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

The Bible says that you were bought with a price so, “Whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” I Corinthians 10:31.

Our lifestyle is killing us slowly. The devil’s plan is to get us into habits that will destroy us. He has a counterfeit for everything God has made and a plan to destroy our health.

When God made air it was fresh, but all kinds of ways have been invented to pollute the air. At Slone-Kettering Institute for cancer research, substances are extracted directly out of cigarettes, painted on the skin of white mice which then develop skin cancers. Some of the diseases that cigarette smoking contributes to are:

  • Heart diseases—three times as many heart attacks among smokers
  • Strokes
  • Various forms of cancer—twenty times as much lung cancer
  • Emphysema
  • Premature births
  • Poor circulation
  • Shortness of breath

Smoking affects your health, and also that of your loved ones. New evidence links smoking to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). God doesn’t want us to kill somebody else or ourselves. He says, “You shall not kill.”

Some think smoking is a hard habit and impossible to get over. However, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Many have been delivered from all sorts of bad habits. The Lord wants you to have better health. Proverbs 20:1 says, “Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink [is] a brawler: and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”

Alcohol is deceptive, addictive, and destroys brain cells. When I was in Graduate School, a visiting lecturer said, “If you were to watch an autopsy, you would easily tell by looking at the human brain with your naked eye, without a microscope, if that person was an alcoholic.” Alcohol destroys so many brain cells that the brain smoothes out and you can tell the difference between a normal brain and the brain of an alcoholic.

Every drink destroys brain cells and dramatically affects the ability to reason. The Bible says, “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it gives its colour in the cup, [when] it moves itself. At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder. Your eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.” Proverbs 23:31–33.

The Bible says it is best to abstain.

“Well,” somebody says, “aren’t there places in the Bible where we are advised to drink some wine?”

The Bible uses the word “wine” to refer to two distinct grape beverages. One is unfermented and the other fermented. The Hebrew word in the Old Testament and the Greek word in the New Testament can mean either the fresh unfermented juice of the grape, or the fermented intoxicating drink. You have to look at the context to see which it is talking about.

Actually, the Bible says in no uncertain terms, not to use alcoholic beverages, but it does condone the use of unfermented grape juice which it calls wine, fresh wine.

The Lord said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in his sight, give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have brought on the Egyptians: for I [am] the Lord God who heals you.” Exodus 15:26.

What kinds of diseases were these people suffering from in ancient Egypt? We know from studying mummies that they had a problem with atherosclerosis and their arteries were clogged up just like people today. They suffered heart disease, strokes, obesity, cancer, tooth decay, and stress.

When God created the world He gave to Adam and Eve a diet. He told them what they were to eat. “And God said, Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of the tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat (or for food).” Genesis 1:29.

Unfortunately, our first parents not only ate these things, but they ate from the forbidden fruit and were sent out of the Garden of Eden. When man sinned, God made an addition to His diet. Unfortunately, many of our children today do not like this addition to our diet but by its omission, millions of people have developed osteoporosis and other afflictions.

What was this addition? “You shall eat the green herb of the field.” Genesis 3:18. Things like spinach, Swiss chard, turnip greens, mustard greens, and all those things are not our children’s favorite food, but the literal translation of Genesis 3:18 is, the Lord told our first parents they were to eat the green herb of the field. At first, the people lived on this diet and they lived many years. “And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty nine years: and he died.” Genesis 5:27.

During the first ten generations before the flood, people lived between 750 and 950 or so years. The Lord told Noah, “You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female: and two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female.” Genesis 7:2.

Prior to the flood the people knew the difference between clean and unclean animals. After the flood, God gave His people permission to eat some flesh foods. However, in the book of Leviticus, it is made very clear that there are some things that should never be eaten. “It [shall] be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.” Leviticus 3:7.

My grandparents did not know about that verse in the Bible for a long time, so they ate things like blood pudding. The very things that God said not to eat, is what the devil wants you to eat. The devil has a counterfeit diet. God told the children of Israel that there were certain things they were free to eat. God said, “Speak to the children of Israel saying, These [are] the animals which you may eat among all the animals that [are] on the earth. Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, have cloven hoofs [and] chewing the cud, that you may eat.” Leviticus 11:2, 3.

Some animals they were told not to eat. The Bible says, “Nevertheless of those that chew the cud or have cloven hoofs, you shall not eat such as these, the camel, the hare, for they chew the cud, but do not have cloven hoofs; they are unclean for you. Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hoofs, yet does not chew the cud: you shall not eat their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.” Deuteronomy 14:7, 8.

The devil wants everybody in the human race to eat exactly what God said not to eat. But remember what the Bible says: “No good [thing] will he withhold from those that walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:11.

If God tells you not to do something, there is always a very good reason for it. Every instruction given by God is for the benefit of man.

There are many health related problems with eating pork. It is loaded with saturated fats and cholesterol. Cancer in the pig’s skin, kidneys, lymphatic system, and other internal organs is common. Pork products are regularly preserved with nitrates which are known to produce cancer producing compounds. Pork also contributes to numerous digestive and stomach problems.

Looking under the microscope at the flesh of pork, we find things like worms. People who eat a lot of pork will often get these little worms, trichina worms which embed themselves in the human muscle causing neuralgia, and different kinds of muscular problems.

The Lord said there are other foods that “you shall not eat.” Some fish they were told were clean and could eat and others that were unclean and not to be eaten. “These you may eat of all that [are] in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the river, that you may eat. But all in the seas, or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water, or any living thing which [is] in the water, they [are] an abomination to you.” Leviticus 11:9–10.

In 1988 nearly 300,000 Chinese of Shanghai developed Hepatitis A from clams which the Bible describes as unclean seafood. In addition to fish, the Lord told the people that there were some things that flew in the air that were scavengers, or birds of prey that were also an abomination to eat: “The eagle, the vulture, and the buzzard.” (Leviticus 11:13–20.)

The Bible talks about three different kinds of diets. First, is the ideal diet given to man when he was created. Then an acceptable diet with the use of clean flesh foods from clean animals, birds, or fish and also a diet that is unacceptable, one using unclean meats.

Some though may question that the health laws of Leviticus were nailed to the cross allowing the freedom to eat and drink anything you please. Some quote the story where God told Peter to not call any meat unclean.

A closer look at that story in Acts 10 sees Peter in a trance or dream seeing a sheet let down from heaven, tied at the four corners. In this sheet were snakes and all kinds of four footed creatures, and birds, and as he was looking at this, he was told to arise and to kill and to eat.

Peter, while in this trance told the Lord, “I’ve never eaten anything common or unclean.” Verse 14. He had never heard from Jesus, either before or after the resurrection, that it was all right to eat unclean animals, and he remonstrated with the Lord and said, “Look, I’ve never done anything like that.”

An angel appeared to a Roman centurion named Cornelius and said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up before God. And you are to send to Joppa, to a man by the name of Simon Peter, and he is going to come, and he’s going to tell you what you need to do.” Verses 31, 32. So he sent his servants to Joppa to get Peter. And as they were approaching the house where Peter was living, God gave Peter this dream and Peter was wondering what in the world does this dream mean?

Then the voice spoke the second time and said, “What God has cleansed, don’t call common.” Verse 15. And this was done three times and then the sheet was taken back up to heaven again.

And while that happened, the men from Cornelius came before the gate. The Holy Spirit spoke to Peter and said, “There’s three men seeking you, go with them. Don’t doubt anything because I’ve sent them.” Verses 19, 20.

They told him about what had happened with Cornelius and so Peter is going to go with them. It says, “And then he invited them in and they lodged with him, and on the next day Peter went away with them and some brethren from Joppa went with him.” Verse 23.

It says the following day they came to Caesarea and Cornelius was waiting for them and he had called his friends and relatives. Verse 24.

“Then he said to them, You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with anybody of another nation; but, God has shown me that I should not call any man uncommon or unclean.” Verse 28.

Peter did not start eating unclean foods at this point. He understood that God was trying to teach him to not call any man common or unclean.

Jesus said that it is not what goes into a man that defiles him; but what comes out. (Matthew 15:11.) Those things that come out are, “evil thoughts and murders, and adulteries, and thefts, and blasphemies.” Verse 19.

Everybody has some habits that are undesirable, that cause discouragement, realizing they are hooked and are slaves to those habits. So how can a person have victory over their undesirable habits?

Mark Twaine said, “It is not hard to quit smoking, I’ve quit a thousand times.”

We become slaves to these habits. The Bible says that people become bound, or enslaved, by their sinful habits. But God can deliver you from your evil habits. The Bible says, “But as many as received him, (that is, Jesus) to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” John 1:12.

Some people think it doesn’t matter what the food is, as long as you have prayed over it. A clergyman one time took this position and there was a young lady who said, “All right, I’m going to test this out.” This lady fixed a dish, and invited the clergyman to dinner. She said, “Before you eat this food I need to tell you something. I have put some strychnine into the entree, but pray over it and bless it, and you will be able to eat it.”

The clergyman decided not to eat that day. God wants you to have good health, but He needs your cooperation and to remember the reason He said to stay away from certain foods and chemicals. It is so you will not suffer the consequences of using them, and get the diseases that go with their use.

Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.” John 10:10.

He wants to give you eternal life, and very soon He is going to come in the clouds of heaven to give you eternal life. But right now, before He comes, He would like you to have good health.

Maybe there is somebody saying, “I’m such a slave to my evil habits, I cannot get free.” You may not be able to get free, but God can set you free. The Bible says, “The things which are impossible with man are possible with God.” Matthew 19:26.

God wants to set you free. “Beloved,” John wrote, “I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health.” III John 1:2.

You can be delivered from evil habits, and have better health if you can believe that “all things are possible to him who believes.” Mark 9:23. Jesus wants to set you free from every habit. He wants you to have health right now and if He is going to give you health right now, you need to choose to cooperate, to obey, and to live according to what is written in His word.

An evangelist was having some meetings. He presented in one meeting what the Bible said about food and drink and different things like that.

After the meeting a man came to him and said, “I have to talk to you.”

“I’m in trouble for what you said tonight, because there is almost no food that I can eat. Any kind of vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, anything, even beef, I can’t eat without breaking out in allergic reactions. There is only one kind of food that I can eat, and not get sick.”

The evangelist enquired what food that was.

“Well,” the man said, “it is pork. That is the only food I can eat. If I eat anything else, I get sick and you just showed me from the Bible that God said not to eat it. Now what am I going to do?”

The evangelist told him he was willing to go to this man’s house and take some elders with him. They would pray over him and ask the Lord to deliver him so that he could eat other kinds of food that the Lord allowed to be eaten.

The man was willing to try it so they came to his house. It was in the evening and they knelt around this man who could not eat anything but pork, and prayed to the God of heaven. “Lord, You have said in Your word that You do not want Your children to eat pork. You have said it over and over again in Your book, both in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. This man can’t eat anything except pork. We pray that You will deliver him from whatever his bodily affliction is that keeps him from eating anything besides pork without getting sick.”

When they finished the prayer, they got up and went home. The evangelist was very nervous that night. He wondered what would happen.

The man went to bed at about 10:00 at night and as he was lying in bed he was thinking, “If there is a God in heaven, and He said in His book that I am not to eat pork, and He is going to deliver me so that I don’t have to eat pork, that means that I don’t have to eat pork now and I can eat whatever I want to.”

He decided he was going to find out, so he got up. It was late at night but he went to a fast food place. He hadn’t been able to eat any dairy products for a long, long time. But he thought, “The Lord has delivered me. They prayed that the Lord would deliver me; I believe that He did and I’m just going to take God at His word. The Bible says not to eat pork so I am going to eat something else.”

He went to a Dairy Queen and he said, “I want you to fix me a banana split sundae and I want you to put everything on it; all the fixings.” They even put a maraschino cherry on top. Here it was late at night, he had a big banana split and he ate the whole thing. Then he thought, “Well, I don’t feel bad; I am going to go back to bed.”

So he went back to bed and slept all night. The next morning he was so excited. He hadn’t had any indigestion or any problem at all. He was so excited, he got up and got dressed and went straight to see the minister and told him his story.

He said, “The Lord delivered me.” And from that time on, he never ate any pork again and he wasn’t sick either. The Lord delivered him that night.

God will deliver anybody from whatever their affliction or slavery to habit is that is contrary to His word, when they want to do His will and simply ask Him for victory.

I have seen God deliver people over and over again, both men and women from their old habits. God wants you to have good health, and if you are willing to cooperate, God will work. Don’t let the devil discourage you over anything we have studied here.

Remember what God told the Israelites that, “if you will keep my laws, you are not going to get the diseases the Egyptians are getting.” What were those diseases? Heart disease, cancer, atherosclerosis, tooth decay, and all those kinds of things.

The Lord said, “You are not going to have to get those diseases if you will keep My laws, and do what I want you to do.”

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316–788–5559.

Keys to the Storehouse – The Serpent’s Meat

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Satan is filled with wrath against anyone who professes to be a follower of Jesus—the Christian. Many of us have too well felt his wrath. The only way that Satan can wound the Saviour is by ruining the souls of His saints through his deceptive devices. We need to recognize temptations in order to resist them and endure the trials.

Satan, the serpent, spreads an attractive table to lure the unsuspecting away from the Lord’s table to eat his meat. The world-loving majority is attracted by the delicacies offered there, but at what cost?

“Shall we allow ourselves to be separated from Christ, and thus lose the eternal reward, the great gift of everlasting life? Shall we not accept the enmity which Christ has placed between man and the serpent? Shall we not eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God, which means to live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God? Or shall we become earthly, eating the serpent’s meat, which is selfishness, hypocrisy, evil-surmising, envy, and covetousness?” Manuscript Releases, vol. 18, 344. [Emphasis supplied.]

We all have a choice to make. Will we eat and grow in grace at the Lord’s table, living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4)? Or will we gorge on the serpent’s fare, developing characters fit only to be tied into bundles ready to be burned (Matthew 13:30)? If you find yourself at the wrong table today, don’t finish that meal! It may be sweet in the mouth, but it will be bitter in the stomach and be the cause of much spiritual sickness, sorrow and hurt to all around you. The serpent serves morsels of profession that come to naught—the soup of evil surmising which sours all around you, stones of self-indulgence, greed, self-centeredness and unkindness with chunks of impatience, resentment, spite, grudging and discontentment.

This is the meat that the serpent provides to entice you to feast upon. Feasting at this table pleases its Satanic host, while causing untold suffering to Jesus and darkening the lives of all around. Please do not finish that meal!

“Satan is filled with wrath against Jesus. But he cannot hurt the Saviour except by conquering those for whom Christ died. He knows that when through his devices souls are ruined, the Saviour is wounded.” Ibid.

We want to resist the temptation to chew on anything that the serpent may want to offer, whether it be impatience, complaining, murmuring, selfishness or anything else that may be sour or distasteful. We are being watched to see at which table we are seated when temptations come.

“The heavenly universe is watching with the deepest interest the conflict between Christ in the person of His saints, and the great deceiver. Those who recognize and resist temptation are fighting the Lord’s battles.” Ibid.

Oh Lord: Rescue me from the serpent’s meat if I should ever thoughtlessly sit at his table and cause sorrow and heartache to all around. I choose to sup with Thee. Fill me to overflowing with heavenly fruits that I will have no room to drink the soup of evil surmising which is very sour to all around, or to crunch on the stones of self-indulgence, greed, self-centeredness, unkindness or to chew on the chunks of impatience, resentment, spite, grudging and discontentment. I come to Your table asking You to feed me and nourish me to overflowing so there will be no room for the serpent’s meat. Amen!

Food – The Optimal Diet

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In order to know what are the best foods, we must study God’s original plan for man’s diet. He who created man and who understands his needs appointed Adam his food. ‘Behold,’ He said, ‘I have given you every herb yielding seed, … and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food.’ Genesis 1:29, A.R.V. Upon leaving Eden to gain his livelihood by tilling the earth under the curse of sin, man received permission to eat also ‘the herb of the field.’ Genesis 3:18.

“Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables constitute the diet chosen for us by our Creator. These foods, prepared in as simple and natural a manner as possible, are the most healthful and nourishing. They impart a strength, a power of endurance, and a vigor of intellect that are not afforded by a more complex and stimulating diet.

“In order to maintain health, a sufficient supply of good, nourishing food is needed.

“If we plan wisely, that which is most conducive to health can be secured in almost every land. The various preparations of rice, wheat, corn, and oats are sent abroad everywhere, also beans, peas, and lentils. These, with native or imported fruits, and the variety of vegetables that grow in each locality, give an opportunity to select a dietary that is complete without the use of flesh meats.” Counsels for the Church, 221, 222.

When eating healthy is mentioned, many ideas come to mind. Some people think eating healthy involves foods that resemble twigs and taste like sawdust. Others think it is limited to just vegetables and fruits. You may be surprised to discover that the optimal diet is full of foods that taste good and are good for you.

The optimal diet has many reasonable benefits, including a longer life span and greater quality of health. The key to optimal diet is optimal nutrition. Consider the following slogans to help you know how to improve your nutrition.

Welcome whole grains—They are a good source of insoluble fiber, B vitamins, and complex carbohydrates.

Vote for vegetables—Deep-green and other deeply colored vegetables offer an array of disease-fighting nutrients and water-soluble vitamins.

Focus on fruit—Color-dense fruits contain impressive amounts of plant chemicals, vitamins, and minerals.

Load up on legumes—Legumes provide soluble fiber, protein, and B vitamins.

Power up with nuts and seeds—Nuts and seeds contain fat-soluble health fats such as omega-3, omega-6, vitamin E, and protein.

Eliminate meat and dairy—Simply put, meat-based diets are not as healthy as plant-based. In addition to soy milk, a variety of plant equivalents, from almond milk to rice cheese, are available.

For your optimal diet, each day choose a variety of foods from these food groups. For example, each week eat something from each food group: dark green, orange, legumes, starchy vegetables, and cruciferous vegetables. Also, instead of white rice, breads, and cereals that rob nutrients from the diet, choose from several of the whole grains, including whole-wheat, oatmeal, yellow cornmeal, brown or red rice, barley, whole rye, millet, quinoa, or teff.