Health Principles, Part 1.

As with most issues that are Biblical in nature, the Bible isn't necessarily crystal clear on the subject of health in that it doesn't say, "Do this or don't do that," except with clean and unclean foods. What we have to do is take what IS said on the subject and build from there. After all, God DID give us a mind to use, just like He uses His, but He also gave us something far more powerful and revealing... His Holy Spirit. It is through this spirit that, what is not evident to others reading the same Bible we read, comes to life in a way that the physical words alone could never reveal. So we need to look at some basic scriptures with proper reasoning, and try to see the whole issue of health, healing and being "spiritual" from God's perspective.

Another important item we need to look at is basic human physiology, because without a basic understanding of how the body works, we will be condemned to repeating the same mistakes, resulting in penalties we could otherwise avoid. These health penalties are quite obvious all around us, and they won't go anywhere until we come to terms with the truth on the subject. If we aren't working with the truth, in ALL areas of our lives, then we will, sooner or later, have to face the consequences of our decisions. Isn't it better to seek the truth in EVERY aspect of our lives rather than just for "spiritual" truths? Once you think about it, you will realize that ANY truth is "spiritual" truth. Our doctrine and belief in healing are biblically backed so why do we stumble over the subject of health as if it is something beyond the Bible and not backed by God's word? Have we forgotten that God DOES have health laws and principles that He designed for our own good?

There seems to be a great deal of confusion in the area of health and it's no wonder. We've all known of many cases where the experts disagree on the very same question. It's easy to think, "If they can't figure it out, how can I? We live in an age where there is certainly no shortage of information. We have libraries of information about virtually any subject, including health, but so much of that information is conflicting, misinforming, biased, and some, blatantly untrue. So who do you believe? How do you make informed, wise decisions about your or your family's health?

Let's first lay a foundation from which to begin. Unless we start from the same point and perspective, it is extremely difficult to make sense of the conflict we see in the health area. It could well be argued that this entire premise is based on "philosophical grounds." I agree with this because virtually everything we do is based on our philosophy of life. God Himself has a philosophy of life which is based in TRUTH. We are learning to base OUR philosophy on HIS philosophy. The more we do this, the better off we will be. So, in "philosophical" terms, let's hit this subject head on.

In Genesis 1, we understand God to be the designer and creator of the earth and the entire universe. No one would argue that point. Genesis 1:31 states that God saw all that he had made, and it was VERY GOOD. At the end of the 6th day, creation, including man, was a finished and physically complete work. There wasn't anything physical that was left undone save for the creation of Eve. The laws, the physics, the order, the balance were all functioning according to God's design. Those same laws and physics are still functioning today just as they were when they were set in motion long ago. The absolute fact is that physics, or "laws," which govern every aspect of the universe as we know it, including ourselves, DO exist.

In Genesis 1:26, God states , "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them rule over...all the earth..." We are a part of the physical world as much as the soil, the fish, the birds, even bacteria and fungus, because we are made up of the same material. We are made up of the same elements and function under the same laws. We have a created relationship with our environment, whether we live that way or not. What makes us profoundly different from animals is the topic of another discussion.

In Gen. 2:15, God places some responsibility on Adam and Eve, to "dress and to keep" the garden. This scripture alone is worth studying because it implies a relationship between man and the very earth he was made from. This relationship had specific guidelines that we have long forgotten. Personal responsibility is a vital aspect of man's existence that God is using to accomplish His greatest creative act of "character development". We have always understood character development to be the most important aspect of life. As with virtually every area of life, health is no different when it comes to personal responsibility and lessons we can learn.

How long, counting in physical time, did it take God and the Word to design all the details involved with the entire creation? A hundred years? A million? A few billion? I guess one advantage to studying into any physical subject is coming to see how incredibly complicated the physical creation is. A "simple" cell, for instance, is so far beyond simple, it alone is mind numbing in complexity. The basic processes of a simple cell alone take up two, 4 foot by 6 foot posters of small print just to describe. Yet God was able to place every aspect of this creation together and designed them to actually work. It is extremely complicated in design. Only God could do it.

Hebrews 1:3 tells us that God "Upholds all things by the word of His power." God literally sustains the physical universe at every moment by His spirit. He maintains the "Laws" of nature. He upholds the planets in their places. He IS the Laws of Physics. He "ordered" His spirit to such an extent that what we call "physical" came into "existence," and He placed "restraints" within this system in order for there to be consistency to what man experienced. Since creation emanates from God, He is able to "know" every detail of what takes place, from every sparrow that falls, to every hair on our heads, and including what is in the mind and heart of man.

If we really believe that God designed the entire universe, in all its complexity, then we have to assume that He knew what he was doing. After all, he himself said that all he created was "Very Good." He created the earth for man to live on, and provided the system which nourishes man, environmentally as well as nutritionally. God designed the fruits, vegetables and animals for use for food. He packaged them quite nicely, in air-tight containers. He designed the production plants from which we obtain all the countless varieties of food we have at our disposal. He gave us the perfect way to be healthy, BUT . . . man foolishly thinks he can do one up on God and he "redesigns" the entire food distribution system. He isn't quite smart enough to create life, so he depends on what "nature" gave, but then proceeds to "reprocess," "repackage," and otherwise alter what was already perfect, believing to be making it "better."

Even before Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they were given the responsibility to take care of the creation God placed them in. This "care" for the environment, though, had to be according to, and in line with, the laws and physics governing living things. The world we live in is a combination of innumerable complex processes, all functioning in a smooth operation. These laws and processes, although complete in the structural sense in the natural world, have features which are not functionally able to reach their full potential of productivity without man's interaction. This could be hotly argued by some, saying, "It is man who is destroying the natural world. It can do fine on its own." While it is true that man is certainly not being a responsible steward for God's creation, it nevertheless is true that nature needs right tending and keeping in order to fully reach its potential to benefit humankind.

For example, anyone with a yard, garden or orchard, or works in any way with the environment, will tell you it takes constant prevention, maintenance and effort to keep things either looking good or producing the best result. A good example is fruit trees. If you were to compare two trees, one which you simply did nothing with, the other you pruned it, fertilized it, protected it from damaging insects, etc. Which tree do you think would produce the best apples? Of course, the tree which had the attention. The other tree would still grow fruit, but the fruit wouldn't be as large and nourishing, or the tree as healthy. The human body and human health is no different, and needs a certain amount of care, maintenance and preservation that can't be ignored without problems developing.

Adam and Eve found this out when they were expelled from the garden and had to fend for themselves. It was at this point that man began losing the right concept of who and what he was. Our relationship and understanding of the natural world help us to understand God. There are many examples given in the Bible utilizing physical analogies describing God's spiritual work. The physical world contains countless lessons and reminders of just who we are and of the great God who created it all. A relationship with the natural world would help us to keep God in mind.

Enter Satan!

This is an evil being who knows full well God's plan for mankind and hates it and us. We will readily admit that Satan has corrupted the religious systems of the world. We would also agree that he has negatively affected the social, educational and political systems just as much. But somehow, when it comes to the health, food or medical systems, we somehow suspend our reasoning, and accept it as a "good," normal way to do things. If Satan is smart enough to pervert all the other systems man has developed, then why can't we seem to believe that these other systems are just as perverted, AND JUST AS POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS? Remember, Satan wants to destroy man's potential. He doesn't want mankind to reach his potential and is trying to interfere with this process every way he can.

Satan has inspired this perversion of God's perfectly designed food system, in subtle ways, just enough to slowly (remember, sucide on the installment plan?) achieve an end. Satan understands perfectly how mankind thinks and how to do just enough damage to each system, that it doesn't become overtly obvious to most, but on the other hand, enough to do serious harm over the course of time. By distorting our relationship with the natural world, and separating us from many aspects of a natural relationship with our environment, Satan has effectively clouded our perspective. It is his goal to divide and separate us as far as possible from any contact with God or reminder of who and what we are. Separating us in mind and body from the natural world is just one more way he is effectively doing his work.

We have slipped the track in understanding the health issues because we no longer understand that WE are nature, part of the natural system. Our concept of the natural world is an adversarial one. That is, we view the world around us as something that has to be manipulated according to what WE think it should do. Most of mankind views the natural world as a wilderness that must be "tamed", and in many ways, it IS. However, we also seem to view it as an "evolving" series of events that have no real design and plan to it. Therefore, man feels ANY intrusion into these processes is acceptable. We, as God's people, know that there is order to our world, but are we acting on that knowledge?

Mankind has come to see how nature can be manipulated. We do have a great potential to interact with this natural system, but in learning this fact, and in combination with forgetting who we really are and WHY we are here, we have ignored and overstepped the boundaries God placed within our universe and feel that anything we can do to the natural world through manipulation is perfectly fine. We are functioning as if there IS NO PHYSICAL LAW, as if there are no principles or reasons as to why the world is the way it is. Evolution leaves man with only one acceptable concept... believing that NOTHING but chance, time and a billion possibilities produced all we know and see, implies there is no foundational purpose, design or order to the natural world.

THAT is the primary reason our environment is threatened and why we now have the health care crisis that we do, in the world AND in the Church. We are throwing out the rule book, ignoring the laws and the example of nature, and bringing upon ourselves untold grief, now, and yet to come. We are assuming that we can control this power we have and can wisely use it. We have manipulated the elements and brought what God placed 93 million miles from here, into our back yards. Nuclear energy. We have dug up what was buried under the ground, pumped it up to the surface, and manipulated it to produce the myriad of petroleum products which now are threatening us in many ways. The list goes on. What does all this have to do with our health? Everything!

As we treat the natural world, we treat ourselves. In looking at the human body as something to be conquered and manipulated, we are blinded to the boundaries which God placed here in the form of laws and principles for our benefit. We look at disease as something that has to be manipulated according to OUR understanding and standards, not realizing it is caused by wrong manipulation of the natural world in the first place. Bacteria and viruses are just as much a part of the natural system as we are. Originally they were generally part of the harmony intended by God, although genetic forces, spurred on by wrong actions on our part have created a bigger problem. Because God built the system around laws, there naturally must be an event which takes place if these laws and principles are ignored. God included within the natural system the penalty, or effects, of man doing what is right in his own eyes. When we work with the system, it works for us. When we work against the system, it works against us. We need to understand this basic truth.

Man has gone so far as to be able to manipulate the genetic pool. I'm not talking about man's technology in gene splicing but of continually ignoring the natural world which is bringing wrong effects down to the genetic level of matter. We are generating negative affects down to the building blocks of life. Is that what God had in mind?

Good Health is a by-product of following the natural system. Today, however, we have strewn so far off course that, in some cases, even applying the natural system can no longer effect a positive change. From genetic weaknesses, genetic deformities and disease processes such as cancer, SARS and AIDS, man is bearing the fruit of what he has sown. We as God's people need to understand this for very important reasons. The natural system is a powerful tool to utilize in our quest for good health. Getting back to the opening statements about all the confusion, if we simply seek to understand the system God set up and provided for our best interest, we can then plug into that system and allow it to do what God intended in the beginning. God's system provides the food and packages the food. There are many ways in which the natural world supplies what is needed for good health. If we do get sick, there are a multitude of natural substances God provided that can help. These substances are provided WITHIN the system, BY the system. They function within the system as PART of the system. A very small percentage of drugs today are provided by elements of the natural system.

We need to understand that drugs are meant to be a help where natural means are no longer effective and aren't to be depended upon as primary health care. They become affective, when necessary, as a support until we get back on track through applying nature's medicines. However, today we routinely turn to man-made drugs and substances found nowhere in the natural world. Many of them are synthetic substitutes of a natural substance, and we are told they are "just as good." We try to suppress a cold or fever. We try to attack the disease with methods and procedures which ignore the natural system, and try to chemically subdue the symptoms of ill health. We view disease as a mysterious event which has no cause, and work to suppress the problem in the quest for what we THINK equals good health . . . NO SYMPTOMS.

While there are definitely dramatic effects using drugs, that is the nature of drugs. Drugs bring "instant"-relative to how nature works-effects on the body but there are penalties associated with depending primarily on helps which are outside God's system for health care. That is because these types of helps are NOT a designed part of God's creation, laws and principles. We have been conditioned to try to escape every little nose drip and ailment that presents itself and to expect it to happen immediately. It takes time and constant bad health habits to bring bad health in most cases. It also takes time to rebuild health through good health habits. When we work with the system, even in today's world, our bodies can do a lot to combat the health threats which are out of our hands. It just takes a little more effort in applying health principles and good nutrition to offset the negatives in today's environment. Anyway, why worry or fret about what you can't control? Do YOUR part, and there's plenty you CAN do.

We are routinely subjecting our bodies to substances and procedures no where matched in the natural world, in a frantic effort to escape the penalties which have come from years of neglect. Yes, sometimes surgery is necessary. That's when the body has gone past its ability to heal itself. There are times that a particular drug is very beneficial in helping to support the body during a healing process, and where it isn't able to respond quick enough to prevent more damage. However, depending solely on drugs, medications or surgical procedure as a source of health is to miss the whole picture, and it often guarantees future trouble.

If we utilize what God has provided in his system as the PRIMARY tool toward health, and where necessary, using the helps which man provides, (ideally where they are not in conflict with the natural system), we can expect good health. When we follow the blueprint of God's system, we have a great deal of control over the future of our health. We can depend on God and his creation. He hasn't left us adrift in a sea of confusion about health. The answers are available. If we HAVE gone past the physical limitations of his health laws, He also is fully able to back up his system with supernatural help. Remember, God upholds all things by His own power. He is intimately involved with every molecule of the physical universe. He knows our every thought because He is intimately involved with who and what we are. Realizing this, we can better understand how Christ could heal a withered arm, or raise the dead. God's spirit permeates everything and ORDERS everything according to set patterns. God is certainly able to intervene in His own creation and "reorder" physical matter. God can support the efforts WE make to honor his health laws and principles even when we have gone beyond the protective bounds he placed here for our good. The Bible shows He is much more apt to intervene when we are busy DOING. (James 1:25). THAT is what is called divine healing, when God supersedes natural law and restructures physical matter, which only He can do.

We have a responsibility to try to be healthy. To our wives, husbands, children and to our calling. Take the steps to do your part to stay healthy. If we, as God's people, truly believe that He is the creator, designer and sustainer of the physical creation, how do we show it? By allowing another system to have dominance in our lives to the point that we are slaves to the subsequent man-made health systems that developed in response to the damage from the first?

In other words, are we really showing honor to God, glorifying him, by ignoring the basic health laws He set up for our health? Is He pleased with us when we choose rather to partake from the table of man's kitchen, over the foods HE created for our health? We have the choice to work with or against God's designed system. God doesn't force us to comply any more than he forces us to do anything else. Our choices affect not only our lives, but our family's lives. In addition to that, we are here to be examples for the rest of the world. The vast majority of people in this world don't know how to be healthy any more than they know how to be happy or obey God's spiritual laws. Can't we ALSO show the world how to be healthy and make it a part of our belief system and practices based on God as "creator and sustainer?" Do we believe in and trust man's system of health care MORE than God's?

We have a solid foundation upon which to base our health practices. God didn't slip up when He designed His creation. He didn't apply any less love in providing for us physically, as He does in any other way. If we can't learn this lesson in today's world, how are we going to teach others in the world tomorrow? Just as we are showing that God's spiritual laws can work, even in this world, shouldn't we be doing the same regarding health? We presume that God will simply blanket heal everyone of all their health problems when Christ returns or when they are resurrected. But is there any lessons or growth in that?

Why would God tell us in Rev 22:1...

"And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

Seeking medical help COULD be a lack of faith, but perhaps not in the sense we have usually taken it in the past. Let's first remember some important facts about faith. Faith isn't something we have to "work up" in order to accomplish something. Faith comes from God, and is based on our personal relationship with him. That personal relationship changes over time and through circumstances. God has given us personal choice in how we relate to Him on a day to day basis. Seeking Him with the whole heart is vital. Daily contact is as well. As we know, we have to work out our own salvation, daily, through building this personal relationship with the Father and Christ. In this process, we grow in faith.

Part of this can be achieved by how we view the world around us. Isn't it FAITH to believe that God is creator and designer of the universe, and that He has set all of it in motion FOR OUR BENEFIT? Isn't it FAITH to act on what we believe, begin living it, despite what the world around us may think or say? Faith is expressed in action. Faith takes time to grow, but it won't grow without activity on our part. We have tended to view the subject of healing as all God's doing. In one respect, it IS all God's doing, since he is the designer of the system that keeps us alive, and can intervene in to heal as he sees fit. However, healing, in the vast majority of cases, CAN come NATURALLY out of the order God designed into the natural system. The body knows how to take care of all life's processes, but only when we actively do our part to SUPPORT these processes. THAT is an expression of faith, just as much as when we realize we are doing all we realistically can to stay healthy, and ask God for his supernatural intervention in physics to do what we CAN'T do.

If we decide to utilize man's system and efforts to bring health or save a life, AND DISREGARD GOD'S DESIGNED SYSTEM, it IS a lack of faith, or simply not knowing (or caring) about the health laws. On the other hand, the subject of "spiritual inferiority" for seeking medical help is an entirely different matter. We might ask, can ANY of God's people really be "Spiritually inferior"? The world is "spiritually inferior" simply because they haven't been offered salvation yet. THAT is spiritually inferiority, but not in a derogatory way. God's people may be at different levels of "grace and knowledge," but not inferior, since God is the one who calls us and it is HIS spirit that gives us understanding. How can anything regarding God's spirit be "Inferior?"

God's people definitely have to re-evaluate their belief system on health. We have a monumental gift that is called life. Our physical life was freely given to us. We had NOTHING to do with it. God has set the universe in motion to support that life for one purpose. To work with us, change us and bring us to the point of character that is like His. He also offers us life again, but this life is for eternity. He freely gives us eternal life, too, but we DO have something to do with this process, as the Bible plainly reveals.

Being sick is obviously a way for God to get our attention, but it isn't his CHOICE for us. He can use it for good, like he can all things. (Rom. 8:28) We simply have to remember that we have a choice. I realize that there are situations that can affect our health without our consent, but there is far more that we have the choice in, than areas we don't.

Utilizing medical, or for that matter, ANY health care professional should be based on the foundation that we are taking responsibility for what we place into our mouths and how we treat the body. The natural system has many tools for our benefit. Satan's counterfeit health philosophy leads to more problems as do all the other areas he has perverted over the millennia. Our body is the Temple of God's Holy Spirit, and God has plans for us. We limit our potential development by ignoring our health. We are instruments in God's hands and we are REWARDED for what we accomplish in this life. Are some limiting their own eternal rewards by neglecting personal responsibility in the area of health? Are we teaching our kids bad health habits, thereby affecting their future? Research, for those who feel they need proof, is growing in volumes by the day. There is plenty of research information and facts, proving to many NOT in God's church that the natural system is the best for health. Christ has told us that as we sow, we shall also reap. I fear many still don't believe that. What we feed to ourselves, our families and our neighbors DOES have an affect on health. Blessings and cursings, we have the choice.

If we understand prophecy concerning the end time, we will soon realize that present health standards and habits, personally and environmentally, will soon be playing a MAJOR role in the future of mankind. Famine and pestilence are a direct result of what man is presently doing to the earth and to himself. Satan has master-minded this scenario simply by influencing man and the environment to be the very "reservoir" for the development and propagation of disease. Disease can't rule in a healthy body or environment. It simply takes advantage of the circumstances WE provide. The more we serve the wrong system, the more the disease organisms can thrive, mutate and conquer. God's system has a balance and we are setting up a disastrous series of events for the future. It would be extremely unwise to presume that God will simply heal or protect us completely when these events begin to unfold. He certainly COULD, and it will most likely be based on our attitude NOW toward our health and what we KNOW we should responsibly do. Life is difficult enough without adding sickness to it. We need to begin to prepare for the future, spiritually, yes, but also physically, because we don't know what we will be called upon to do or face. Shouldn't we be wise stewards in ALL aspects of life, and prepare for what God has shown us is to come? Our faith can always improve.

The whole subject of health is a process of taking one step at a time. Christ said, "Blessed are those who, when the master of the house comes, he finds so doing." Let's not make the mistake of dividing "physical" things from "spiritual" things, and then viewing only the spiritual things as important. We miss an entire dimension of understanding about God, not to mention the damage we do to our health and productivity. We do have the choice, and we will reap what we sow. Let's try to be better stewards of the life God has so freely given us.

End of Pt. 1

Health Principles, Part 2: Practicle applications for good health!

Pure Health Systems has specific Research and Product information about your health and how to address it at the most fundamental levels and not spend a bunch of money chasing the magic bullet, or throwing a host of products against our health issues. Take care of the foundation, and many of the health threats simply disappear.

GodKind, Destiny of Man, and The Plan Of God Web pages created and material written by Jeffrey T. Maehr. Common Law Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved. Reproduction allowed if credit to this website is listed with material. Off site material and some articles authored as stated.