WHY ARE SO MANY SO SICK?
“…I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” So claimed Jesus in John 10:10, but did He intend that abundant life to be so full of the sicknesses many experience today? Psalms 119:73 says: “Your hands made me and fashioned me.” We might ask ourselves, if I am the product of a perfect God, why do I feel so bad? And if we read the rest of the verse, it might put us on the right track, “Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.”
Who’s To Blame?
Hosea 4:6 gives us the answer: “My people are destroyed because they don’t know me, (or, for lack of knowledge) and it is all your fault, you priests, for you yourselves refuse to know me; therefore, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten my laws, I will ‘forget’ to bless your children.” (Hos.4:6 AMP) And back in verse 4 God is even more direct, “Don’t point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame to him! Look, priest, I am pointing my finger at you.” The ministers may be at fault, but does that relieve us of the consequences of our actions? I think not.
God’s Promise
But God promises, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.” (Exodus 15:26) And in Exodus 23:25-26, “But you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will remove sickness from your midst. There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.”
But Does That Apply To Us?
Paul specified: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
God is consistent and therefore dependable, “For I, the LORD, do not change” (Mal 3:6). Paul also tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Proverbs Provides Much Needed Wisdom
“My son, do not forget my teaching, But let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you” (Prov. 3:1-2).
“Listen, son of mine, to what I say. Listen carefully. Keep these thoughts ever in mind; let them penetrate deep within your heart, for they will mean real life for you and radiant health” (Prov. 4:20-22).
Cause and effect, for every effect there is a cause. Proverbs 26:2 reminds us that, “The curse, causeless shall not come.”
Why ask for healing if we keep doing the thing that made us sick? “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.”
The Creator has set certain laws from the beginning that will always be in effect. Man has never yet broken one of those laws; he just breaks himself against them, but the law remains.
God’s laws set in order many things both physical and spiritual. There are laws of physics, like the law of gravity, or the law of thermodynamics, which proves that anything left to itself will simply degenerate back to its original state. There are laws of agriculture, even the land needs to have a Sabbath rest every seventh year (Lev. 25:1-7). There are health laws that we constantly ignore and then ask God to heal us, and then we ignore them again.
The Lord honors cleanliness
Leviticus tells us of things God holds to be clean and unclean, what He designed for food and what He created to clean up the earth. That is His determination not ours. Deuteronomy 23:13-14 reveals a law concerning sanitation: “Each man must have a spade as part of his equipment; after every bowel movement he must dig a hole with the spade and cover the excrement. The camp must be holy, for the Lord walks among you to protect you and to cause your enemies to fall before you; and the Lord does not want to see anything indecent lest he turn away from you.” Many armies have caused their own defeat by ignoring this simple law of hygiene, and perhaps it caused God to turn away from them as well.
London’s Cholera Epidemic
In 1847, London suffered a devastating epidemic of cholera because they would not apply this principle taught by the Bible. A man by the name of Edwin Chadwick was put in charge and was finally able to clean up the open sewers and cesspools that plagued all of London. He brought the plague to an end through cleanliness; but, he had to step on many political toes and made so many enemies that he was universally denounced. When he first accepted the job of cleaning up London he wrote in his diary, “It will involve trouble, anxiety, reproach, abuse, unpopularity, I shall become a target for private assault and public press—God give me strength.” Such is the fate of anyone who attempts to change the status quo. Yet many of today’s cities still use the methods he developed.
Norway’s Battle with Leprosy
In the 1700’s, Norway was losing a battle with an epidemic of leprosy. Finally someone read, believed and acted on Leviticus 13:46, and isolated those with the disease. By the 1800’s leprosy was under control; but surely it couldn’t have been those silly biblical superstitions that stopped it. It must have just run its course. And so the enlightened ones, who knew that the Old Testament was meant only for the Jews, then allowed lepers to wander freely throughout the cities. Guess what? Once again leprosy flared out of control. Will we ever learn?
A Storage Bin for Poison
We are told in Lev. 7:23 not to eat the fat. It’s referring to the hard fat in particular that lies just under the skin around the out side of the muscle, or meat. We now know that that is where the body stores much of the poisons, infectious diseases, parasites and anything harmful to the body that the body can’t get rid of any other way. But fat makes things taste so good when it’s used to cook with. Umm, smell that aroma! Is the taste test dependable for determining healthy food?
Appetite has been the downfall of mankind as far back as the Garden of Eden; when Eve, as we do today, decided God couldn’t really mean what He said.
We are also told not to eat blood. We now know that blood not only delivers nutrients throughout the body, but it also acts as the body’s sewer system and carries off waste products. Surely you would not knowingly eat from the sewer. Ever tasted blood pudding or blood sausage?
It’s been said, we dig our graves with our spoon. How true. Most of the meats we consume have not been bled properly and we are inadvertently eating blood. Soaking meat in salt water before cooking does help to draw the blood out. I’m sure restaurants take the time to do that, don’t they?
Why Did God Create Scavengers?
Let’s not ignore the great house cleaners the scavengers, God’s garbage collectors, purposely designed to keep land and waters clean, but are they for human consumption? God calls them unclean for good reason.
God has much to say about Swine, “the other white meat,” in all its many forms. The flavorful, aromatic, tasty meat that is so popular. Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to avoid pork? When you start reading labels you will be surprised at where you will find the many byproducts of the swine. One would think there is an evil agenda being perpetrated here on earth, hmm? But the modern method of raising pigs has eliminated the health problems of eating swine, right? Wrong! The pig was not designed for human consumption and no matter what man does to make it clean, God still knows that it is unclean. Consider what God says about the eating habits of some in the latter days.
“Those who [attempt to] sanctify themselves and cleanse themselves to enter [and sacrifice to idols] in the gardens, following after one in the midst, eating hog’s flesh and the abomination [creeping things] and the mouse, their works and their thoughts shall come to an end together, says the Lord” (Isa 66:17 AMP).
The cow eats grass, yet the food that is eaten is filtered through four stomachs before it gets into the cows body. The pig will even eat its own excrement and what it eats goes through a very short digestive system and then directly into its flesh, mostly unchanged.
In an experiment at M.I.T., hogs were fed various refuse, and within two hours it was found unchanged in the flesh of the pig. In another experiment, infected pork was heated to extremely high temperatures in a pizza oven to see if the trichina worm could survive. Most died, but some lived. So much for cooking your pork chops well done.
We now know shellfish and other bottom feeders were put on earth to clean up polluted waters. Oysters, clams, lobsters etc, will actually purify waters that have been polluted by industrial wastes or any other poisonous wastes. Where do the poisons go? In you, if you are careless enough to partake of those fine delicacies. God didn’t change our digestive system at the cross.
Instructions from the Manufacturer
God asks “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live” (Isaiah 55:2-3).
In Mark 7, Jesus chastised the religious leaders for emphasizing their physical traditions over God’s spiritual law. In verses 15-23 He explains that observing physical laws alone will not produce spiritual cleanliness. Verse 19 does not say, or imply that Jesus is declaring “all foods clean” as many new translations insert. Jesus was making the point that what you eat will not make you spiritually clean or unclean, but what comes out of your heart will. The Jews were depending on physical rituals to make them spiritually clean, review verses 20-23.
There is so much more that needs to be discussed. Such as the four white killers, white flour, white sugar, white salt and white fat. Remember: your health is your responsibility!
Some will read this article with a ho-hum, Laodicean, lukewarm attitude, as described in Revelation 3:14-22. Study that passage prayerfully and buy from Him gold tried in the fire!
©Del Leger