Bibical Principles of Good Health

I'd like to begin the sermon this afternoon with a quote from U.S. News and World Report Magazine that came out June 4, 1962, 50 years ago. The unhealthy American, a doctor's diagnosis. It brings out in this article that it is generally recognized that America is the most over-medicated, most over-operated, and most over-inoculated country in the world. I don't know if we still are that way 50 years later, but it could still be the same.

We're flabby, overweight, and have a lot of dental caries. Our gastrointestinal system operates like a sputtering gas engine. We can't sleep. We can't get going when we're awake. We have neuroses. We have high blood pressure. Neither our hearts nor our heads last as long as they should. Coronary disease at the peak of life is at epidemic proportions. Suicide a leading cause of death. We suffer from a plethora of the diseases of civilization. Americans think health is something that can be bought rather than a state to be sought through an accommodation to the norms of nature.

In other words, obedience, keeping the laws of good health. We are the wealthiest nation in the world, and yet one of the unhealthiest countries in the world. Well, that was his prognosis of the nation's health 50 years ago. I doubt that things have changed all that dramatically, and in some areas they have gotten worse. We still have a lot of heart disease. We still have debilitating arthritis. Diabetes has grown and increased in recent years. It's become a major national concern in the last decade or two. And health care now consumes one out of every six dollars spent in the U.S. 16%. We read alarming articles every day about our state of health. We'll read some more as we go along.

One leader in one part of the country wants to outlaw oversized soft drinks. Well, that would be a start in the right direction, actually. The Disney Corporation does plan to stop their junk food ads on their children's programs. We read articles about America's obesity problems. And so you can read alarming reports often. But what about us in the United Church of God? That's what I would like to zero in on. Let's narrow it down to us. What about our health? Do we have the same health problems as in our nation? Are we doing all that we should be doing to take care of our own health?

Are there ways that we could improve and do better? You know, maintaining health has been a part of our message down through the years and the decades. I would like to next quote from an article by Mr.

Armstrong written in the Plain Truth magazine in December of 1967. It goes back a long time. He says, The Almighty God made the human body so that even though composed a material substance from the ground, its normal condition is one of robust, invigorating, radiant good health. Sickness and disease are abnormal. They are the penalty of violation of natural laws. And a little bit later, he says, the very first trouble with our deteriorating physical status is that we take sickness for granted.

We seem to assume sickness is natural and necessary. We are in ignorance of the causes. Modern society treats the result but ignores the cause. I want to come back and read some more from this article a little bit later on one of the laws of good health once we get to them. And another article that came out in the Good News magazine, 1954, many or some may not realize that at one time we had a Good News magazine in the Church of God under Mr.

Armstrong during the 50s and the 60s and the 70s. I don't know exactly how far that went, maybe even the 80s, but I think that at one point it was discontinued. I can't remember exactly when that was. But the Good News magazine was basically for members of the church with articles that would help the members of the church, whereas the Plain Truth magazine was with articles for the public. So this article is from the Good News magazine and the title of the article is Fasting for Health.

In the article, Mr. Armstrong says, man ought never to be sick. The Creator made the human organism to run and to keep running for a natural lifetime, not to get sick or break down. And a little bit later he wrote, the knowledge of how to live should be the first interest of every person. That knowledge is divided into two phases, the physical and the spiritual. How to be in vigorous, clear-minded, perfect health, which depends upon the physical laws of nature, and how to live in proper relationship with God and neighbor, which depends upon the spiritual law summed up in the Ten Commandments.

So, you know, God does want us to be in good health. One verse says in 3 John 2 that he wants us to prosper and to be in health. So we have written a lot about health in years past. The reason I'm choosing to speak about this topic this afternoon is because it was addressed at the General Conference of Elders in May.

Our chairman, Mr. Melvin Rhodes, gave a presentation. Oh, probably, well, it seems like it must have been around 45 minutes, as I remember. It may have been longer. But he gave a presentation on maintaining our health under the theme of this year's conference, transforming lives by the Spirit and Word of God. And the idea was that we need to also think about our physical health as far as transforming lives.

We need to take care and maintain our own health. And remember, he was speaking to ministers there at the conference. All of the ones there were ministers and their wives, ministers and elders of the church. And he was saying, basically, we need to be concerned about our health. We need to find ways to maintain our health. Maybe improve our health. And he joked a lot, even about himself and about the church. He said, one of the big curses we have in the United Church of God is our potlugs.

He said, you can go along the table, and here are a few vegetable dishes and a few salads. But get down to the other end, the dessert part of the table, and here they are. He was joking about this. Was it a carrot cake or something that somebody made that was so delicious? And he had such trouble resisting it.

And how we need to be very careful, you know, just how many of those desserts and things we do eat. Well, he was joking about himself and some of the health problems that he has had, because he has had some health problems in the last year, and was not even able to go to the Feast of Tabernacles, because he had this infection that he actually got the infection while he was at the hospital for a surgery on something on his, I believe, on the heel of his foot.

But he brought out many, many things about how we need to be concerned about our health. He said that he said to the ministers and their wives that we represent United Church of God as our church organization.

You know, that is so true. Each of us represents United Church of God.

And we also, of course, at a larger level, we represent the Kingdom of God and its values and its teachings.

And this is true in the area of health as well as the spiritual laws. So how well do we represent the church in maintaining our health? That's what we want to think about.

Mr. Rhodes did turn to 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19. Let's turn to that verse. And this verse does exhort us to take care of these physical bodies. We need to do that.

Of course, it only makes sense that we would, because we're going to feel better. We're going to function better and be able to accomplish more and be able to live longer, perhaps.

And be blessed along the way. 1 Corinthians 6, verses 19 and 20.

Do you not know that your body, this physical body, is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own?

Our physical bodies is where God's Spirit resides.

It resides in particular with our minds.

And it joins with our mind and strengthens us in our minds.

And verse 20. You were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. So we should take care of our physical health. It's a way, well, it's expected of us because it is a way by which we also glorify God. In chapter 3, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, and verse 19, we also read 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 16. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

So God does expect us to take care of our physical health and our physical bodies. It is the temple of his Holy Spirit. It's where his Holy Spirit resides within us and our physical bodies.

Well, I'd like to go over some of the basic laws of good health.

And I know that many of us are very much aware of what will be brought out in this sermon. Yet I doubt there's not a single one of us that cannot learn more.

And so, and cannot improve in the way we maintain our health.

Number one, perhaps the most important of the laws of good health, is proper food and diet.

That certainly would be very near the top of the list as far as a law that we want to keep and very carefully, well, and be knowledgeable concerning proper food and diet.

Where do we begin with food and diet? You know, we could begin with Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14.

And those chapters are about what? Clean and unclean meats. Well, certainly that is vital knowledge.

And it has been discovered, as pointed out in our booklet about clean and unclean meats, that the unclean animals are scavengers.

Their flesh is actually not good for human consumption.

And so, you know, God revealed this knowledge at a time that, down through history, man would not be able to discover. But it has been, those who have studied have found that these animals as scavengers, their flesh is not really good for humans to eat.

Of course, some of them just make sense. Who wants to eat a rat? A skunk.

A possum.

Well, I talked to one man years ago who ate possum, and he said, he said, boy, that's some delicious stuff. He said, you'll lick the pot.

Well, I'll never know.

But certainly God has revealed them which meat is clean and good for human consumption and which is not. But where do we go from there? That's not the only law of food and diet.

There are other laws and principles that we need to follow.

One principle, let's go to Leviticus 7 and verse 23, that is very important.

Leviticus 7 and verse 23.

Speak to the children of Israel, saying, you shall not eat any fat.

So it's a law that God has put in motion. Verse 25, whoever eats the fat of the beast of which men offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, the person who eats it shall be cut off from his people.

And so God does instruct us in the Bible not to eat the fat. And of course, the blood also is mentioned in verse 26. The blood carries all kinds of nutrients, of course, but it also carries the impurities to be taken out of the body.

So the blood is not to be eaten either.

So the fat of an animal has what is called the saturated fat. And that presents problems when it is taken in the body year after year after year.

There is a principle here that we need to be careful then that we do not eat the fat of animals.

Now, this fat can be hidden if we're not careful.

If you eat any kind of ground meat, it can be any type of meat that has been ground up. You cannot tell just how much of that may be lean meat and how much of that may be fat. So you have to be very careful with it. We know that a lot of hamburger meat has a lot of fat. Why? Because it's sold by the pound.

And the more pounds a butcher shop can sell, the more profit, the more money they make.

And so we have to be very, very careful about how animal fat can slip into our diet.

And this doesn't necessarily cause any harm right away.

That is noticeable.

But over the years, down the road, will there be heart problems that develop? Will there be cardiovascular problems? Will there be artery blockage?

These things that begin to form, it certainly could happen.

Now, one thing that we could add to this, this would be an extension of not eating fat, is that we do need a certain amount of fat in our diet.

We need, for example, olive oil has fat content and eat peanuts. There's even peanut oil that is extracted from peanuts. So there is oil in many of the foods that we eat.

But the fat needs to be of a type that our bodies recognize and is able to process and digest.

Let me read to you from an article that shows that today many people are in violation eating a type of fat that is very harmful to them. And what happens is that there are cardiovascular problems that develop.

This article came out in USA Weekend, March 2-4, 2001.

The title of the article is, From the Fat Front.

Once considered a heart saver, trans-fatty acids, like those contained in margarine, are now blasted as heart enemy number one, even more lethal than animal fat.

Let me read just a bit from the article. Your government wants you to cut down on trans-fatty acids. So do the American Heart Association and virtually every other health authority.

Trans-fats are created when liquid oils are solidified by partial hydrogenation, a process that stretches food's shelf life and profit, we might add, and changes safe, unsaturated fats into dangerous ones.

Trans-fats are concentrated in stick margarine, solid vegetable shortening, donuts, crackers, cookies, chips, cakes, pies, some breads and foods fried in hydrogenated fat.

One nutritionist, Walter Willett, blames trans-fats for at least 30,000 premature deaths a year.

Several decades of research show consumption of trans-fatty acids promotes heart disease, cancer, diabetes, immune dysfunction, obesity, and reproductive problems.

I'll just skip on through various parts of the article. What's bad about trans-fats? When it comes to the heart, just about everything is bad about trans-fats, Willett says. Mainly, trans-fats increase bad LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, bad LDL insulin levels, and reduce beneficial HDL cholesterol, promoting heart attacks.

Special villain, margarine. It accounts for about 20 to 25 percent of all trans-fats consumed.

Trans-fat margarines are twice as bad as butter. Actually, butter is a natural product used in moderation. The body is able to process it without harm to the body.

So we should be very careful. You should carefully read ingredients. So many products are made with partially hydrogenated oils.

And don't eat the fat. Don't eat the wrong kinds of fat either. The kinds that have been processed so that the body is not really able to digest it and it causes harm. It just clogs up the system in the long run. So that's one area of food and diet that is very important. I'd recommend that you do more reading on it. You know, there's a lot of knowledge out available today. If you read daily newspapers, if you read weekly news magazines, if you listen to the news on television or the radio, or if you go on the internet, you can find a lot of information about all of these things. Do some study on it. It's available. It's amazing the knowledge that is now available that point out some of the pitfalls that we need to avoid. You know, another problem that we need to be concerned about as far as proper food and diet, let's turn over to Proverbs chapter 25. There is a principle here from which I want to bring out some other things that certainly are very important and I believe are causing another of our major health problems that has grown so much in recent years, diabetes. In Proverbs chapter 25 and verse 16, have you found honey? You know, honey is a good product and we're not putting down honey now at all. We have honey. I like honey.

But notice it goes on to say, eat only as much as you need. You know, if you're going to get out and dig a ditch and work hard all day, you probably can eat more because you'll need the energy. You'll be burning it up. But if you're sitting around like a couch potato all day, you don't need that much energy, do you? So you eat as much as you need, as much as you're going to burn up, lest you be filled with it and vomit. And then in verse 27, it goes on to say also, it is not good to eat much honey. It's a very rich food. It's very high in calorie or energy content. So, you know, eat what you need, but don't eat more than what you need. I want to take off on that and say that our diabetic problem has developed in recent decades and there is a cause for it. Americans have been eating more sugar and more sweeteners or sweetened food. I want to read to you from an article that brings out, of course, we know that Americans are consuming more cane sugar than previous generations. I don't have the figures. I should have looked those up. But compared to our ancestors, we are using a lot more cane sugar than they did. It's just an amazing amount more. But guess what? In more recent years, there has been a turn as a sweetener in many foods to what is called the what is named the high fructose corn syrup. And this article is from AARP Bulletin, April 2004, on page 18. Your health was worse than sugar. Experts warned that high fructose corn syrup is making us fat. I'll read just a bit from this article. By the way, you find this in so many products, as we'll see. High fructose corn syrup is not the bottle stuff you buy at the grocery store to make pecan pie or jelly. It's an additive that's cheaper and easier to use than sugar, making it the leading sweetener in sodas and fruit juices. A lot of sodas have it and a lot of fruit juices also. High fructose corn syrup. You'll see it listed in the ingredients area. So this makes it the leading sweetener in sodas and fruit juices. It turns up in everything from pizza and yogurt to breakfast cereal, baby food and beer. And let's see over in this section. Ketchup and fig newtons and just about anywhere they want sweeteners, just about, you'll find it. Total consumption, total annual consumption of the sweetener was about half a pound in 1970. And as of this writing in 2004, the annual consumption was above 60 pounds per person in this country. So it's amazing, isn't it? And it goes on to describe this particular sweetener and how it affects the body. Sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

Let's see. High fructose corn syrup is created through an intricate process that transforms the corn starch into a thick, clear liquid. And the syrup contains 5% more fructose than sugar. Not a great amount, but significant because fructose is sweetener and studies suggest digested differently. Interesting here than the cane sugar. The cane sugar is broken down in the digestive tract and processed in the cells. But the high fructose corn syrup goes directly to the liver. Research has shown that the liver releases enzymes that instruct the body to store fat. That may elevate triglyceride and bad cholesterol levels. This fructose may slow fat burning and cause weight gain. And Anderson goes on to say that lowered cholesterol levels caused by the sweetener may be linked to type 2 diabetes, a gradual failure to produce insulin. Obesity can also contribute to the onset of diabetes.

So, you know, the problem we have with weight as well as with diabetes certainly, you know, there's a cause for it. And we need to be educated about it. We need to understand what's happening. There's a wealth of information that is available again, if you want to do some study on it. I'd like to read from the article again that I read from earlier by Mr. Armstrong, the personal from the editor in the Plain Truth, December of 1967.

He brings out that, well, we are literally what we eat and the food that we eat that has a great influence upon our health. What happens to the excess of carbohydrates that people are stuffing down into their stomachs? Well, and these are very highly processed. In most cases, they are refined. If they're sugar content, they have either sugar or too much sugar and sweetener there. But it becomes too much of this develops into a poison or a toxin in the bloodstream, gets into the muscles in the joints. After a while, we catch a cold or a fever.

The cold or fever is merely a sudden, violent elimination of toxins and poisons. Your body is trying to get well again. We've stuffed a lot of wrong stuff into our body. It's all clogged up.

Our body is trying to get well. It throws everything in the high gear. We get a cold, we get a fever, we get the flu. The body is just trying to get rid of all those toxins and poisons that we've injured. Our body is a wrong diet, which are broken God's physical laws. Or the accumulation of toxins may result in rheumatism, arthritis, or other disease.

And it goes on down to say a little bit later in this article that many children are raised on a diet of white bread, jellies and jams, potatoes with greasy and starchy gravy, a little meat, pie and cake, and cookies and pastries, candy. Some will ask, well, what else can we eat?

Well, eat more vegetables. Green, leafy, raw salad vegetables, unspoiled by injurious dressings, non-starch vegetables, cooked at low temperatures, about 180 degrees, and served with only butter and a little salt, fresh fruits, clean, lean meats, no fat, whole grains, fresh, raw, unpasteurized milk, if you can get it, butter, cheese, eggs, and clean fowl. So, you know, what we eat has a great deal of influence upon our body health, and it influences our body in so many, many ways.

Potlucks were mentioned at the GCE session. You know, at our potlucks, why not bring the most wholesome foods that we can possibly bring? It is much better to get the fresh ingredients instead of to buy foods or meat, dishes of food already prepared. There may be some that are superior to others, but I doubt that anything can beat just buying the fresh natural ingredients, maybe some of them grown in your own garden even, and preparing them fresh from scratch, from start. But our potlucks should represent the United Church of God. They should represent good wholesome food. They should represent good, proper diet that is going to help people to be healthy. So, I think I encourage each and every one of us to think about this. This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as diet and proper diet and food is concerned. But there's a lot of information available if you want it. A lot of information. Basically, the rule of thumb is that you eat the natural wholesome foods unrefined, the least refined and touched by man, the better you are likely to be. And the reverse of that would be the more refined and touched and edited by man, the more problems you're likely to encounter. The less quality will be there in the food.

So, that's the first basic law of health. I'd like to get to the second one, and that is, and Mr. Rhodes also brought this out at the conference, that many of us are just not exercising enough. We're not active enough. We sit around and I look at myself. I can sit in my car hours and hours and hours driving, sit in people's homes, sit at my desk at home, sitting, sitting, sitting. We just have to make sure we have enough activity. We cannot have physical fitness without activity and exercise. It's very important. The Bible supports it. Turn to 1 Timothy 4 and verse 8. This verse, when we understand what it's saying, does promote body exercise. It mentions body exercise. It's important. 1 Timothy 4 and verse 8. For bodily exercise, it is getting out and walking, getting out and jogging, getting out and playing a sport, getting out and working in the yard, or working in the garden, doing something anyway that is of a physical nature. Just out walking is one of the good exercises, especially as you get older. Bodily exercise profits. It does profit a little.

But he goes on to say that godliness is profitable even to eternal life. That goes on forever. But the bodily exercise does profit for a little while, just for a short time. But we need to keep it up every day, exercising, take the Sabbath off. But we need to make sure that we get enough physical activity. Now, some jobs have a lot of physical activity, and certainly less exercise, walking would be necessary. But exercise stimulates the heart and the cardiovascular system, the lungs. It gets blood to flow and oxygen to all parts of the body.

Do you know that exercise and a more active lifestyle play a role in recovery from disease?

I have a book at home by Dr. Dean Ornish. The title of the book is Reversing Heart Disease. Pretty thick book. This doctor has done a lot of research showing that people with blockages, 50%, 80%, have been able, 90%, have been able to reverse their blockages and get their cardiovascular system back in good health again through proper diet and through exercise, and also through another law we'll get to in a few minutes, a peace of mind, a tranquil mind, a happy heart and mind that plays a definite role in good health.

So this doctor has demonstrated, and he does take heart patients and works with them, monitors them, that he's been able to return them to good health again. And exercise and a more active lifestyle has helped to be one of those things that help. Be careful not to overdo it. You know, if you have a heart problem or a health problem especially, you might need a doctor's monitoring or guidance, but be careful that your activity and exercise fits your health and your age. But certainly the body needs some physical activity, and exercise does profit for a little while. The third law of health I'd like to consider is sleep and rest. It's one we also fall short on.

Articles have come out. I should have done research on this one too, but I've read articles that Americans today on average are getting, what is it, an hour or is it more? Hour, hour and a half seems like less than our ancestors, less sleep per night. Why? Because there's so much going on. There's so much to do. We have our electronic gadgets. I just heard something on the news this morning about that. This program was advocating getting more sleep, and they said our electronic gadgets have to be laid aside so that people get in bed and get their seven, eight, nine hours. Let's go to Psalm 127 in verse 2. Yes, these principles of good health are based on the Bible. The Bible does have things to say about it. In Psalm 127 in verse 2, it is vain for you to rise up early and to sit up late and burn the midnight oil, getting up just having and getting very little sleep, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he gives his beloved sleep. God wants us to sleep then. In other words, He wants us to spend about one third of our life unconscious, sleeping. How about that? But that's because the other two thirds will be so much better if we do it that way. Let's also read Proverbs 3. Proverbs 3 beginning in verse 21. Proverbs 3 in verse 21, My son, let them, God's laws and God's principles, not depart from your eyes, keep sound to wisdom and discretion. They will be life to your soul and grace to your neck. Then you will walk safely in your way and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet. If we keep God's laws, we can relax and He will bless us with sleep at night. Why is sleep so important? Well, our body is just like a battery. They need recharging every day. And at night, our body is recharged. You go to bed so tired, you're exhausted, you drop in bed, you conk out. It's been shown that the, well, this morning on the program I was listening to, going up to Roanoke, they brought out that the deepest sleep normally takes place the first part of the night, the first half or first third of the night. The REM, the rapid eye movement, usually takes place at that time. So the deepest sleep takes place early in the night and is very important. And how then our bodies then are repairing, actually, any damage that has been done and is charging us up for the next day. And you wake up the next morning after a good night of sleep and you're charged up. You're just like a battery. You're wound up for another day.

And you get out and do your work and enjoy and appreciate the day and worship God. So sleep and rest are very important. Now, from time to time, it's a good idea to take extended rest. Take a little vacation break. Even a week or so is good if you can do it. Americans many times don't really take as much time off of work as some of the other areas of the world. And, but yet it's good to have enough time for rest and sleep. It's one of the laws of health. Let's go to number four as far as the laws of health, sanitation, and hygiene. The old saying is that cleanliness is next to godliness. And God instructed the Israelites to keep the camp of Israel clean. Keep it holy. I remember very well at one of the Feast of Tabernacle sites many years ago. It was back in the early 1950s or early 60s. And Mr. Armstrong heard that some of the people were not keeping the campsites where they were staying for the feast in Big Sandy. They came in with their tents and they were not keeping it clean. And he stood up and he really thundered out that God instructed the Israelites to keep the camp of Israel clean. Keep it holy. Deuteronomy 23 and verses 9 to 14. You know, sanitation is certainly God's way of doing things.

It is mentioned in the Bible, even in the spread of disease, that there are laws that regulate and encourage sanitation. There are laws of quarantine for people that have communicable diseases such as leprosy. And the Black Death of the Middle Ages was brought under control. Some of the other diseases were brought under control because of understanding sanitation and quarantine.

We should practice quarantine. If we have a contagious disease like the flu, we should stay home and not bring it to church and give it to somebody else. There's a book that is very good. I have it at home, not with me. None of these diseases. It shows that the laws of God in the Bible actually, given 4,000 years ago, well, 30, 500 years ago in the time of Moses, that God already was far ahead of medical science as far as of all of the laws of good health that man has discovered. So the Bible is far ahead anywhere you look. It's ahead in how much sugar we should take in. We should not take in so much that we cause health problems like diabetes. It's ahead as far as fat intake. We take in the right fat and not the wrong fat. It's ahead even in the amount of food that we eat. One verse quoted by Mr. Rhodes in his presentation, put a knife to your throat. Don't eat more than you should. You can go to these places today and get a plate of food, a big old plate, eat it, go back and get another plate. Even the waitresses will bring empty plates out. All you've got to do is grab it and go up there to the buffet line and go through again and again. You can gorge yourself. Many people are doing it. But that's against the principles of the Bible, too. But getting back to sanitation and hygiene, there are many verses in the Bible. You'll find many of them in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. What about us, though? Are we clean? Do we practice good hygiene? What about our bodies and clothing? Our house, our yard, our bathroom, our kitchen, and food areas? What about washing our hands? Very important. Very important. When you shake someone's hand and then you put that to your mouth, or if you turn a doorknob where someone that is infected has just touched, and then you put your hand to your mouth, then you have that virus in your body internally. Whereas if you're careful, we all have to open doorknobs. Sometimes, though, I use my jacket. You can turn the doorknob that way. Or if it doesn't require turning a doorknob, I'll use my elbow instead of my hands. So, you know, to not touch what people have touched, because there are viruses and bugs around. It's just a wise thing to do. Wash your hands before you eat food or put your hands to your mouth. So sanitation and hygiene are very, very important. There are many principles in the Bible about it.

The next one, number five, positive mental attitude. PMA. You must have been discovered that a high percentage of sickness is emotionally induced, what is called psychosomatic illness.

You break psychosomatic down. You know what it means? Psycho means mind, and somatic means body. Mind, body. The mind then causes disease, or we could say well-being. You know, if we are happy and joyful, we'll read some verses about that in just a moment. So our minds can make us well, or they can make us sick. Psychosomatic illness or wellness. Our emotions automatically produce certain changes in the body for good or for bad. And if it's bad, if it's stress, stress triggers, when your body gets under stress, it triggers the adrenal glands. The heart rate increases.

The muscular system readies itself for action. Breathing deepens because you'll need more oxygen.

And these type of continued stressful situations and negative emotions will cause the body to break down and become sick. Yes, our minds can make us sick. It's been discovered. Let's read right here in Proverbs. So again, God is far ahead of that. In Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 7. Proverbs 3 and 3 and verse 7. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil.

If we obey God's laws, then what will happen? Verse 8. It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. Let's go to Proverbs chapter 12 and verse 25. Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression. When we're under stress, it will get us down. But a good word, something encouraging makes it glad. That lifts us up. It's good for us.

Proverbs 13 and verse 12. Hope deferred. Someone with a sad of heart and melancholy and a lot of disappointment. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. But when the desire comes, then it's a tree of life. In Proverbs 14 and verse 30.

A sound heart is life to the body. But envy is rottenness to the bones.

So you see our emotional state, whether positive or negative, does have influence upon us. Proverbs 15 and verse 17. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fatted calf with hatred. It's not good to sit down with anger and hatred to eat a meal.

Proverbs 16 and verse 24. Pleasant words are like a honeycomb. Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. That's what we want. Sit down and have pleasant words, pleasant conversation. Well, that just does the body good. It's healthy. In Proverbs 17 and verse 22.

A merry heart does good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.

So yes, let's work hard then for emotional happiness and peace of mind and balance.

They contribute more to good health than we realize. I would say, let's laugh more and fret less. How does that sound? Let's go to number six. I know my time is moving on. Number six is caution and avoiding body injury. This is so important. Very important as far as a law of health, because one careless moment, one parent trying to maybe take care of a child, somebody trying to swat a fly that's in the windshield, these have caused deadly accidents.

Someone trying to text. There was just a case last week, not this past, but the week before, where someone will spend time in prison because they were texting and they caused the death of someone else. I think they came out okay themselves, but they will spend time in prison and they killed another human being that will always have to be on their minds. So, one careless moment. We should always try to be very, very careful. We should always be looking ahead. We should consider the dangers, whether we're driving, working around the house in the kitchen. Many accidents take place in the kitchen. People get burnt. They cause fires in the kitchen.

So, wherever we are, we need to be very, very careful. Always striving to be careful. Many times, people try to lift too much that cause back injury. I doubt very many hands would go up here of people that don't have back problems. My hand would not, because I've tried to lift too much, and more than my body could, and in the wrong way.

There are daredevils who do things just to see how far they can go.

Let's go to Proverbs 22 and verse 3. This is a good verse on being cautious.

Always be careful. And you know, let me just return to you there. Accidents happen before we know, don't they? We don't know until the accident is over. But it's smart to apply Proverbs 22 and verse 3. A prudent man foresees evil. He realizes the dangers that are involved, whether driving, whether working in the kitchen, working in the workshop, working around the yard.

He foresees the danger of the evil, and he hides himself. He prevents the problem, a problem from developing. But the simple don't really think it through. They pass on, and they are punished. So always be cautious and look ahead. Be cautious at home, be cautious at work, be cautious everywhere. Number seven, and that'll be the last one, and I'll bring out a few other general ones, but not go into them. But number seven, obedience to God's laws of morality.

Do you know that today, venereal or sexually transmissible disease is on the increase?

STDs? On the increase? I heard a report recently that seniors, I think it was in one of the retirement states. I can't remember if it was Arizona or Florida, but STDs are on the increase among seniors. Why? Because seniors are more active, more promiscuous, sexually. They're just becoming more free-wheeling themselves. And so like young people, they are paying a price for that.

But obedience to the laws of morality would prevent sexual disease. A person that would be true before marriage and save himself for marriage and then be faithful in marriage, then will not have any problem as far as a venereal disease.

So, brethren, there are many principles out there of good health. We can mention others. What about regularity in body elimination? That maybe fits into diet and exercise because a good diet would have fiber in it. We've heard a lot about that lately. You can read articles about it. Most Americans don't get enough fiber. They get these refined foods. The grains that they eat, in many cases, they've had the bran removed, the wheat germ, or the germ removed. And so they're just getting the white starchy part, but the bran is there for a purpose. It has minerals and vitamins, but it also helps as far as fiber so that food can pass on through the body. So proper elimination is very important based upon a certainly good diet and exercise. Moderation with stimulants, like coffee tea, also alcoholic beverages, that's very important that we have moderation.

What about special care for the teeth and eyes? I wish I'd done a better job. How about you?

Proper care. You only get one set of teeth after the permanent teeth come in. That's it. They don't grow back when you lose them. And so special care of the teeth, part of the human body, that's very important. Special care of the eyes. What about plenty of fresh air and sunshine? Many people do not get enough fresh air and sunshine. That's important, too.

What about avoiding chemicals that cause body harm? There are many of those around. Asbestos is one thing that we all are aware causes harm. Many other chemicals that cause harm to the human body. So I'm sure that you could come up with many other principles of good health. But the thing I'd like to end on in the next few minutes, who should be the supervisor of our health? Should it be your doctor? Should it be just running down to the emergency room? You know, just depending upon that. Or should we not take ourselves an act of hand in obedience to the laws of good health and avoid the problem in the first place? Prevent. You know, so much of man's efforts is in treating the cause. Think about it. Treating the cause, not eliminating the cause. I should say treating the effect. And instead of, let's say, getting to the cause and making changes. So we should be the supervisor of our own health. Not somebody else. We should be in charge. We should read, study, and certainly become an expert on maintaining our health. There are many books and articles on proper diet and foods. There are articles even on the value of wine. You know, wine in moderation.

I have two or three articles in my health file. I have a health file. I recommend that everybody have one. But the articles bring up that wine in moderation is good. Well, that's not a surprise either, is it? Paul told Timothy, drink no longer water. Use a little wine for your stomach's infirmities. Wine then in moderation is good. You'll find articles on how to avoid or control diabetes. There are articles on exercise and physical fitness that you can discover.

You can find also articles about the trans fatty acids, about partially hydrogenated oils, about obesity and eating disorders, articles on coping with stress, articles on emotional balance and health, articles on how to control high blood pressure if you have it.

There are many books. There's a lot of information available. Now, not all information might be correct. We have to use good judgment, and there are health fads, so be discerning. Sometimes a doctor can be helpful. Doctors have a lot of knowledge about the human body. We do not discourage the use of doctors. Use them to your advantage. But still, you're in control. Not them. They might try to be in control, but you still have the final say. There's a verse in Hosea that says, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. This certainly applies in the physical area, as well as it does in the spiritual area. So, brethren, let's take charge of our health.

One of the biggest ways it's proper diet. Just recently in Time magazine, there was an article on the Daniel... well, that wasn't the title of the article, but it brought out the Daniel plan. The Daniel plan stems off of Daniel and his three friends in Babylon. They had this rich food. It may have been something like we have today on the average American plate. I have an idea.

And Daniel and his friends said, no, just give us vegetables and water. And they were healthier at the end of the days than the others. They did not want to eat the wrong kinds of food and pollute their bodies. And so the Daniel plan in this article... actually, in this Time magazine article, the Daniel plan diet is a diet exercise. These other principles of health, many of them, it all is, you know, pretty balanced overall. It seemed overall. So, you know, certainly we should take charge, then, of our own health and strive to improve and make it better. What if we have already certain health issues? Deal with them and see what you can do with them. Do the best you can with obedience to the principles of good health and try to improve your health and get the handle on it. What if you have certain hereditary weaknesses that have been passed on to you? Well, take that and take the weak hand that you have been dealt and play the best game you can with it. You know, that's the right way to do it. And ask God to bless you. Ask God to help you.

So... and He will. We certainly do have our part, I believe, in maintaining and hopefully improving our health. But we should be the one that is in charge of our own health. If we live like the freewheeling world around us and people want to stick anything into their mouth, and if it tastes good, they say, boy, that's good. It may not be good at all, but it tastes good. That's their only criteria. But maybe it's not good once it gets into the stomach. So if we live like the freewheeling world around us, we can expect to suffer the same diseases and sicknesses as the world.

But if we carefully follow God's laws and principles, maybe we'll be blessed to escape the sicknesses and diseases all around us and that God will bless us. We should certainly, should we not, do the best that we can do to maintain our health and to strive to improve our health and to glorify God in our bodies, the temple of His Holy Spirit.