When I went to the kitchen one morning about six o'clock to get a drink, there was no water in the faucet. I went to the bathroom, and found none there either. What had happened? Was the whole neighborhood without water or was it just our house? Questions began to race through my mind, and I stood in the middle of the kitchen wondering what to do next and what we could use as a substitute for water for bath and breakfast. Then I began to have a faint recollection that around midnight of the night before, I had heard water running outside. I had gone to investigate, and in my sleepy condition I had turned off and on several faucets around the outside of the house. Could I at that time have shut off the water to our house? I wondered. I soon found that this was what had happened, and when the right handle was turned we again had water.
This experience started me thinking about natural laws and the effect of their violation. It seems as though everyone is looking for healing -without restricting their desires in any way in order to obtain it. The Ministry of Healing, page 127, gives this definition:
Disease is an effort of nature to free the system from conditions that result from a violation of the laws of health. In case of sickness, the cause should be ascertained. Unhealthful conditions should be changed, wrong habits corrected. Then nature is to be assisted in her effort to expel impurities and re-establish right conditions in the system.
When something happens in the physical world that deviates from natural law as we know it, we call it a miracle, or something miraculous. It is an abnormal event brought about by a superhuman agency or power.
Here is a simple illustration: I can hold a book at arm's length and it will not fall to the floor because the life in my arm will counteract the law of gravitation. Now, if my arm should suddenly become paralyzed, the law of gravitation would take over and the book would fall. But suppose that when I let go of the book it would float around in the air several feet above the floor with nothing holding it up—this we would call miraculous.
There are two powers working in the world, God's power and Satan's. God is seeking to establish His kingdom on this earth and is looking for citizens who will get ready for such a world. He is prepared to use supernatural power in unlimited amounts to help people who are working with Him in the establishment of this new order.
On the other hand, we find Satan warring against God and trying to keep people from following God's program, so they will not be ready to be citizens of the new world. He also has the ability to do many miraculous things and to deceive if possible the very elect.
The two kingdoms are opposite in principles. Let us take a quick look at each of them. God's kingdom is founded on law and order, love and harmony, serving and giving, unselfishness and natural simplicity. 1VIan is prepared for citizenship in God's kingdom not by works but by willing obedience to God's requirements and faith in the righteousness of Christ.
Satan's kingdom is founded on the opposite —disobedience to God's commands, jealousy and hatred, selfishness and self-seeking, a do-asyou-please program, and the artificial and manmade. According to his program, man can work out his own salvation and still live forever; he will never die!
All through the Bible God's plan has ever been that mankind should obey and live, disobey and die; and man has been at perfect liberty to make the choice. Satan came to the Garden of Eden and told our first parents they did not have to obey God and that they would not die, and he has been working ever since then to establish this as the truth.
God has formed laws which govern our constitutions, and these laws which He has placed in our being are divine, and for every transgression there is affixed a penalty, which must sooner or later be realized. . . .
Physical life is not to be treated in a haphazard manner. Every organ, every fiber of the being, is to be sacredly guarded from harmful practices.—Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 19.
It is not the greatness of the act of disobedience that constitutes sin, but the fact of variance from God's expressed will in the least particular.—Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 51.
We cannot disregard one word, however trifling it may seem to us, and be safe.—/bid., p. 52.
In Exodus 15:26 God gave a wonderful promise to the children of Israel—that if they would obey Him, He would not allow any of the diseases of the heathen to come upon them. And if we will turn to Him with our whole heart and follow His health program, He will heal our diseases also. The Ministry of Healing, page 127, gives a very brief outline of God's health program:
- Sunlight.
- Fresh air, which includes proper breathing, good posture, and voice culture.
- Pure water.
- Exercise.
- Rest.
- Good food—the right kind (nuts, grains, fruits, vegetables), not too much; nothing between meals; nothing late at night; minimum of fluid at mealtime, especially no ice water; food not too hot or too cold; no food when too tired or hurried.
- Total abstinence from all harmful things, and moderation in all good things. S. Trust in divine power.
Cleanliness is also emphasized in other places.
If every family realized the beneficial results of thorough cleanliness, they would make special efforts to remove every impurity from their persons, and from their houses, and would extend their efforts to their premises.—Spiritual Gifts, vol. 4, p. 141.
The wretched condition of the world at the present time has been presented before me. Since Adam's fall, the race has been degenerating. Some of the reasons for the present deplorable condition of men and women, formed in the image of God, were shown me. . . God did not create the race in its present feeble condition. This state of things is not the work of Providence, but the work of man; it has been brought about by wrong habits and abuses, by violating the laws that God has made to govern man's existence.—Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 23.
God certainly has a health program and He will work miraculously in behalf of those who will follow it, but let us never forget that Satan also has a program for those who get into trouble healthwise from disobeying God's commands. Satan made the statement in Eden that man would not surely die as a result of disobedience, and he also has a health program for those who disregard and violate God's laws.
There are several different areas that Satan is using in his counterfeit healing program. Here are a few:
I. Faith healers. These are multiplying rapidly, and are being shown on TV and advertised in the newspapers and magazines. Do you think their power is coming from God or Satan? Do they speak and practice according to the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy?
2. Spiritualistic healing. This type of healing is sweeping over the world. Modern churches are investigating its claims. Some very interesting things are developing in this area, and I believe we can expect to see more and more spectacular and miraculous healings of this kind. I would like to refer you to Elmart Folkenberg's article "Spiritualism's 'New Look'" in the July, 1958, issue of THE MINISTRY magazine.
3. Hypnosis. There is an increasing interest in the use of hypnosis in the medical field. It is being used by many dentists, and more and more medical doctors are using it in surgery and obstetrical cases.
We have been given clear and definite warning against the practice of hypnosis.
Men and women are not to study the science of how to take captive the minds of those who associate with them. This is the science that Satan teaches. We are to resist everything of the kind. We are not to tamper with mesmerism and hypnotism, —the science of the one who lost his first estate, and was cast out of the heavenly courts.—Medical Ministry, pp. 110, 111.
We do have some protection against this practice, in that one cannot be hypnotized without his consent. However, it is a well-known fact that once hypnotized, it is easier to be hypnotized the second time, and eventually the person can be made to go in and out of the hypnotic trance at the will of the hypnotist. In other words, a person experimenting in this forbidden field will soon lose his independence and control over his own will. Because of the keen interest in this field it would be well to read again the instruction given in The Ministry of Healing and Medical Ministry on this subject.
4. The promiscuous use of drugs. This includes the wholesale use of aspirin, tranquilizers, sleeping pills, and now the pep pills that have recently come on the market.
Gunnar Gundersen, M.D., president of the American Medical Association, had an article in This Week magazine (June 23, 1958) entitled "Danger: Drug Resisting Germs!" In this article Dr. Gundersen attempts to unsell the American public on taking antibiotics and sulfa drugs for every minor ailment that comes along. He states that "human immunity is kept at a safe high level only by exercising it. The body has antibody resources constantly on the alert to combat invading infections. Unless these defenses get a workout now and then, they may forget how to perform their tasks. I would say there is very little risk involved in letting our bodies carry on some of this defensive action, without using 'wonder drugs' at the slightest sign of trouble."
Aldous Huxley, in the Saturday Evening Post, October 18, 1958, predicts there may soon be a drug that will deceive people into believing they are happy when they are actually miserable. He predicts also that a "revival of religion" will come as the result of drugs. Such a revival certainly would be spurious, a fraud and a deception, brought about by the great deceiver.
God is waiting to work on our behalf if we will come back to His plan in all areas of living. It is a well-balanced plan.
We are infinite debtors to the Lord and should unhesitatingly comply with the least of His requirements.—Testimonies, vol. 4, p. 253.
The Lord has given me light that when the Israel of today humble themselves before Him, and cleanse the soul-temple from all defilement, He will hear their prayers in behalf of the sick and will bless in the use of His remedies for disease. When in faith the human agent does all he can to combat disease, using the simple methods of treatment that God has provided, his efforts will be blessed of God.
If, after so much light has been given, God's people will cherish wrong habits, indulging self and refusing to reform, they will suffer the sure consequences of transgression. If they are determined to gratify perverted appetite at any cost, God will not miraculously save them from the consequences of their indulgence.—Ibid., vol. 9, p. 164.
In conclusion let me suggest three things we should do:
- Begin to obey all the physical laws we know with regard to the care of the body, and to study more of how to take care of this wonderful house we live in.
- Change our attitude toward God's requirements. "Instead of looking upon an observance of the laws of health as a matter of sacrifice or self-denial, . . . regard it, as it really is, as an inestimable blessing."—The Ministry of Healing, p. 147.
God's laws are for our protection, and we should feel privileged, not deprived, in observing them.
3. Begin to work for others, and we will forget ourselves. Then Isaiah 58:8 will be fulfilled in us and our "health shall spring forth speedily."
