Invest in prevention

These days with soaring health costs and menacing insurance premiums, it seems wise to invest in disease prevention. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, literally. Many people used to scoff at the “health nuts” and now they are finding out that those nuts were worth listening to.

I will take the liberty to reword one of Christ’s most important sayings, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own [health]? or what shall a man give in exchange for his [health]?” (Matt. 16:26). Someone near and dear to me who has chronic kidney problems, has often told me she would give anything for good kidneys. Satan actually told the truth when he told the Lord, “Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.” (Job 2:4). How true!

And for those of us who want to know God better, having a clean strong body is an utmost necessity. When we’re healthy, we’re happy. How can know the goodness of God if we’re full of wounds and bruises and putrefying sores in our organs? The soul is connected with the mind and brain; and the mind is connected to the body. A healthy body is the foundation for spirituality. How can we think we can be careless with our physical health and not reap the ramifications of that in our faith and conscience and morality?

And it goes both ways. “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.” (1Cor. 6:18).

But, there is more ways to sin against our body than just fornication. We do it all the time by neglecting the 8 laws of health.

     Pure air, sunlight, abstemiousness, rest, exercise, proper diet, the use of water, trust in divine power--these are the true remedies. Every person should have a knowledge of nature's remedial agencies and how to apply them. It is essential both to understand the principles involved in the treatment of the sick and to have a practical training that will enable one rightly to use this knowledge. Ministry of Healing, p. 127.

Pure air: If you live in a city, the best time to go for a walk is in the morning early before the commuters come out. The air is fresh from the night’s air cleanser, the dew. And all the carbon monoxide and dioxide have settled down to the ground. And, too, all the riff-raff of the streets are soundly snoozing.

Sunlight: We need at least 15 minutes of sunshine every day, preferably before 10 a.m. and after 3 p.m. A friend of mine with Lupus says she got the disabling disease by not getting outdoors and getting enough vitamin D3. She has had several life-threatening episodes from her Lupus and permanently damaged kidneys. We need to get the Lord’s sunrays that have healing in their beams.

Abstemiousness: Abstinence is a subject many people get mad about. “What do you mean I have to give up my favorite foods and practices? Who do you think you are?” Some put off the decision of abstaining from a known problematic practice until the very last minute, and then often it’s too late. Our God is merciful and patient; but, He also will not alter His Laws just for “little ol’ me”. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” (2Pet 3:9,10).

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” (Gal. 6:7,8).

You might be going along, breaking the laws of health and thinking that no one is watching and you’re getting away with the perfect crime. But, the delicate systems and organs of your body are suffering under a load, and sooner or later will give up in exhaustion. Our Creator made our body so finely–tuned that it operates by hydraulics rather than gears and motors. So, we don’t hear a motor lugging under a burden or gears grinding to a halt. And because we don’t hear our organs loading down under the burdens we put on them from our food heavy in fats, sugar, and salt, it’s easy to believe that everything is all right, when the immune system is weakening, toxins are building to dangerous levels, and cancers are accumulating into life-threatening tumors. Abstinence means to acknowledge our intricate body’s need for proper treatment; it also means to submit to God’s wisdom and laws.

Rest: Between 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night, with the TV and radio and computer and lights off. Open the windows when you sleep, or at a minimum, open the bedroom door for the fresh air (if that affords privacy). We also need one 24 hour day of rest from the normal weekly enterprises—a Sabbath rest.

Exercise:  Walk or run or swim or anything that demands the whole body. I enjoy running because it give me the most exercise in the short time I can give this necessity to health. Manual labor is also very good and much better than sports in that it doesn’t so easily lend itself to injuries because the element of competition is missing (usually). Although I have found myself under pressure to please my customers with carpentry and compete with myself or with the elements or against the materials I’m using, and over-stress my muscles and nerves and tendons. The best exercise is aerobic and not so demanding that we don’t get full use of the lungs and diaphragm. I’ve found bicycling to be good on the knees and ankles compared to running, but not as good on the breathing because the diaphragm doesn’t get full freedom. Brisk walking is probably the best exercise, all around.

Proper diet: Think vegan, two meals a day, fiber, and low oils, sugar, salt. I had a dream last night that I was a pro football star (I don’t even play football!). And I endorsed, not tennis shoes, but the 8 laws of health. I had “Be Vegan!” and “2 meals a day!” on my back, and “8 hours of sleep!” on my front, and “Sabbath rest!” on my bandana. What a nice dream! (Maybe I half-consciously fed the details into my dream). Our foods need to be acidic, which turns alkaline in the body. Disease hates the alkaline environment because the white blood cells are alive and well in that environment. But, if our diets are alkaline, then the foods turn acidic in the body and disease thrives in that environment. Dairy, sugar, meat, and animal fat are the worst offenders here. More and more medical findings are proving that the cancer plague of today comes from animal fat, especially so in dairy.

The use of water: One tall glass of hot water every morning to start the day right. I get it from the hot tap and it warms the sleeping intestines and unburdens my body of its toxins and I feel a wonderful restfulness; then I go out for a run,hydrated and rested and energetic. 8 glasses of water during the day, but not with meals. We need pure water inside the body and outside, so bathe regularly.

Trust in divine power: This is the last, but by no means the least law of health. Here lies the most overlooked law of health. Many dive right into a healthy lifestyle, get all toned up and feeling good, and still get cancer. This is the argument by multitudes today for ignoring the laws of health. But, this last law trumps all the rest, so much so that Paul said, “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” (1Tim. 4:8). And Paul’s definition of godliness is not of living the posh life, holed up in a cloister, but can be seen from his question, “Why stand we in jeopardy every hour?” (1Cor. 15:30).

“Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” (2Cor. 11:23-27).

“For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.” (2Cor. 1:8,9).

Paul had a musculature carved out of stone. And so was his character, and much more. Faith in the Lord drove him to bodily exercise, to fast, to abstain and “through the Spirit [to] mortify the deeds of the body.” (Rom 8:13). “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (1Cor. 9:26,27).

It was the faith of Jesus that Paul coveted and received from Jesus. Christ, who stood head and shoulders above Paul and every other Bible hero, received of His Father the Spirit without measure. He was the stone with seven eyes, which run through the whole earth, discerning His Father’s will and travelling to meet the needs of far off children of God who needed to know that God accepted them. Knowing Jesus was Paul’s utmost desire and prize.

“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” (Phil. 3:8-11).

We can have finely tuned bodies and still die of stress. We can exercise and stretch, and still have a stiff neck because of stress and anger and anxiety. We need to know God and fall at His feet in repentance and reformation. Then we will have the peace that everyone covets but finds so elusive. Otherwise, we will contract cancer and die. Sin means death, and it is the most grievous sin to not trust our Maker.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.…

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.…

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:1-2,5-6,9-14).

Godliness―trusting in divine power―takes in all the laws of health. But, we still need to know the 8 laws in order to know what to aim for in godliness. When godliness desires to abstain from obstacles to physical health, we need to know those obstacles and the alternative that God calls us to. When godliness desires physical strength we need to be educated in the need for hydration, cleanliness, aerobics, sunlight, rest, etc. Then we will give to God what He deserves to have of our service—top notch service.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Rom. 12:1,2).

So, let’s remember the 8 laws of health, for a full, happy life in this world and in the world to come when we will develop all of our powers throughout eternal ages.

“A body hast thou prepared me.” (Heb. 10:5).