The Health Reform has very specific goals and a firm grounding in biblical-theological convictions that addresses one of the most fundamental problems of the human experience, namely, disease, illness, and their associated human suffering. “It is not simply about what to eat or not to eat; it is about the impact of sin and evil on human beings as well as on their rationality and physicality. It is about the apparent absence of divine sovereignty in the presence of sickness and suffering. It is about God’s justice in the setting of the cosmic conflict.”
The Health Reform’s “purpose is to secure the highest development of body and mind and soul.” God calls us back to Eden and Jesus Is in the restoration business of the SOUL.
“He restoreth my SOUL: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:3)
What is “my SOUL”? Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living SOUL.
The FORMULA FOR LIFE has two components. A soul is a combination of two things : body + breath = body + Spirit of God. A soul cannot exist unless body and breath combined. NOT THAT WE HAVE SOULS BUT WE ARE SOULS.
And our bodies are temples which the Lord Himself has fitted up DESIGNED for the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19) You see, to make God’s grace our own, we must act our part. Grace is given to work in us “to will and to do”, but never as a substitute for our effort. We are to cooperate. Anything is possible with God! Note, not for God but with God. We do our part while by yielding to The Holy Spirit leading.
“Every human being is under obligation to preserve the living machinery that is so fearfully and wonderfully made. The physical organism should have special care…The health should be as sacredly guarded as the character. “ Healthful Living, 10
“Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. ( 1 Corinthians 6:20 )
This living organism is God’s property. It belongs to him by creation and by redemption. We are God’s workmanship, and His Word declares that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” And He has prepared this “living habitation” for the MIND. The mind that is “curiously wrought”. And the mind was designed to control the body.
“There is an intimate relation between the mind and the body, and in order to reach a high standard of moral and intellectual levels, the laws that control our physical and mental being must be exercised and developed.”
Exercised and developed!!
So Health requires work. It takes efforts to obtain knowledge that can help us to correct our errors. Health may be earned by proper habits of life. Remember, habits also form the character. And all our actions, good or bad, have their source in the MIND. It is the mind that worships God. Therefore the battle is for your mind!!
Yet many of us spend all our lives without becoming intelligent in regard to “this living machinery.”
“Many, even of those who profess to believe the special truths for this time, are lamentably ignorant with regard to health and temperance. They need to be educated, line upon line, precept upon precept.” Counsels on Health, 499.1
“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. “ (Romans 12:1 ) Reasonable because you want to live in a healthy body, don’t you?
Just as “reasonable service” in English is comprised of two words, so also the Greek uses two words to express the idea of Gods thought behind it. The Greek noun “latreia” It has both a general meaning of “service,” “ministry” as well as a technical meaning of “temple ministry,” “priestly service,” “sanctuary work” or “worship.”
In type it was the priests’ duty to carry out the temple service correctly to maintain this abundance and security. To achieve this purpose, priests had to fulfill strict purity regulations; otherwise, their worship might not “count” and the divine blessings might not come. As Gods “priest’s” in antitype we must ask ourselves:
How shall I as an individual treat the temple that God has given me so it’s not defiled?
For the warning is giving. In 1 Corinthians 3:17 we read “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
But I suggest God does not need to destroy us, we let the devil to destroy ourselves, by walking according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit. Many times willingly or in ignorance we let our bodies control the mind because of lack of knowledge. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6 )
God desires us to reach the standard of perfection made possible for us by the grace of Christ. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48. He calls upon us to make our choice on the right side, to connect with God, to adopt principles that will restore in us the divine image.
In His Word and through the Spirit of Prophecy He has revealed the principles of life. He revealed our identity in Him. But It is our work to obtain this knowledge of these principles, and by obedience to cooperate with Him in restoring health to the body as well as to the spirit.
“The obligations we owe to God, in presenting to Him clean, pure, healthful bodies, are not comprehended. We have special duties resting upon us. We should become acquainted with our physical structure and the laws controlling natural life. …The study to which we should give thought is that which concerns the natural life, a knowledge of one’s self. “ The Kress Collection, 45.3
“The Creator of man has arranged the living machinery of our bodies. Every function is wonderfully and wisely made. And God pledged Himself to keep this human machinery in healthful action if the human agent will obey His laws and cooperate with God.”
So what is the key to all health principles? It’s the Source of Healing.
“For in Him we live, and move, and have our being;” ( Acts 17:28 ) “…for without me ye can do nothing.” ( John 15:5 )
The 8th law of natural laws for men is “TRUST in divine POWER”. Jesus in His miracles revealed the power that is continually sustains and heals us. All life-giving power that comes only from Him.
“The SAME power that upholds nature, is working also in man. The SAME great laws that guide alike the star and the atom control human life. The laws that govern the heart’s action, regulating the flow of the current of life to the body, are the laws of the mighty Intelligence that has the jurisdiction of the SOUL. From Him all life proceeds. Only in harmony with Him can be found its true sphere of action. For all the objects of His creation the condition is the same—a life sustained by receiving the life of God, a life exercised in harmony with the Creator’s will. To transgress His law, physical, mental, or moral, is to place one’s self out of harmony with the universe, to introduce discord, anarchy, ruin.” Ed 99.2
“I am the Lord that healeth thee.” (Exodus 25:26 ) When one recovers from disease, it is God who restores him.
“…He healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils” (Mark 1:34). But When Jesus healed the diseased, He warned many “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” (John 5:14)
What does it teach us?
This teaches us that we had brought diseases on ourselves by transgressing His physical and moral laws that govern our whole being. And that health could be preserved or restored only by obedience to these laws that He has established for our good ALWAYS!!
The key to all health principles is obedience to His laws: His laws natural and moral laws that reveal God’s will, His character to us. And this obedience is a matter of personal duty.
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13 )
On condition of obedience He assures us “And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases.” (Deuteronomy7:15)
Today many of our suffering are the results of hurtful practices. BUT THE CHOICE IS OURS.
Stay tuned…