Principles of healthful living II

As I mentioned in that message, our mental, emotional, and physical health is really one of the most controversial subjects that you can bring up. Because each of us, as I mentioned, has our own cross to bear with certain health issues that come up. Sometimes, when we have a message like that, we can walk away feeling down or discouraged or judged or something.

As I mentioned in the last sermon, that is absolutely not the case. In fact, really, the fundamental principle of physical health, just like spiritual health, is self-examination. We should be examining ourselves, whether we are in the faith. By the same token, as I finished that last message with Galatians 6 verse 7, we should be recognizing that there are principles of cause and effect as we go along, but that God is gracious to us.

Many of us have inherited physical issues that we had no say over. Also, the effects of aging can complicate certain health issues as well. As I mentioned, just because we might look at somebody and go, well, they kind of seem very healthy, inside they may be quite torn up with all sorts of issues that they're not dealing with. We might also look at somebody and say, well, they don't look very healthy, but in actual fact, they've made enormous strides, given where they started.

In fact, inside, they are quite spiritually strong as they make progress day by day. I shared the example of my mother-in-law, in that case, who had tremendous health issues associated with her time during World War II under Nazi occupation. She really spent her whole life, really someone who might consider being quite unhealthy, but in actual fact was making progress day by day and year by year, such that now, in her mid-80s, she's probably as healthy as she's ever been and living a very good life.

I concluded the last message with a book, a citation in Galatians 6-7. I'd ask that you go there, because I want to start this message with that and read a little bit more in Galatians 6-7. This is a fundamental principle, both spiritual and physical, that Paul lays out for us. In Galatians 6-7, what he says here is that we should not be deceived. God is not mocked. That is, you can't say, well, you know, God is not true in what he says. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap cause and consequences.

And then it says here, verse 8, for he who sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. And so the principle he's describing here is, if we place our emphasis on the physical, well, you'll have that reward. You'll have a physical reward to some degree. But if we focus on the spiritual, we will have a great, powerful spiritual reward of everlasting life.

And so he says in verse 9, let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. So the fact is that there is a physical principle and a spiritual principle here of we reap what we sow. And often I have found that when I cry out to God for help in a situation that I have created for myself, God is merciful, nonetheless, to forgive and to comfort. And many times we create our own issues, don't we?

We create our own issues. And we know, just as a parent, as parents, that sometimes our kids create their own issues and then they want to get rescued from those issues. And we're fine to rescue them, but we hope that they learn the lessons from the issue that they created so they don't get into that situation again.

And so God, as our Heavenly Father, also desires that we examine ourselves and look and make changes where we need to. And so truly, again, our issues are spiritual. And if a person has an issue with whatever it might be, not getting enough rest or maybe overeating, there's often some sort of unresolved trauma that has to be dealt with and that has to be dealt with. And if it's not, then that person is going to suffer.

So I share these principles as a follow-up to the previous message that really the heavy lifting of health is self-examination. And today I'm going to get into some of the follow-on, then, physical attributes or physical manifestations of that.

We're going to talk about biblical dietary laws and diet. We're going to talk about principles of rest and de-stressing. We're going to talk about principles of sanitation and cleanliness. And finally, we're going to talk about anointing and the importance of seeking God's intervention when we get into some difficulties. So let's go into this, and I'll share a little bit of a slide here in a moment, but let's go over to Leviticus 11.

Leviticus 11 is not a place we often go, but it's a very important command in Scripture that's relevant for all mankind today, and certainly for Christians who desire to keep God's law. Leviticus 11. Here in Leviticus 11, we have the foods that God has permitted us to eat. We're going to read a little bit of it here. It says, speak to the children of Israel in verse 2, saying, These are the animals which you may eat among all the beasts that are in the earth. Among the beasts, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud, that you may eat.

Nonetheless, these you shall not eat among those that chew the cud and those that are cloven hooves. The camel, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you. The rock's hirix, because it chews the cud, does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you. The hare, that is the rabbit, and of course in France they eat a lot of rabbit, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves and is unclean.

And the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you. So he's going to go through in a lot of detail here, and God's going to share with us through these 47 verses, these commands that are important for us to keep. And then he says of fish, he says, these you may eat of all that are in the water, whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, that you may eat.

These are the basic commandments that he gives. Now, a lot of people in mainstream Christianity will say, well, this no longer applies, because the vision that Peter received made it very clear that he could eat those foods. And we see that in Acts 10. In fact, I was just speaking with somebody last Sabbath who was talking to someone who'd asked that. And that's exactly the argument they brought up. And so let's go over to Acts 10 and just make sure we're clear on that. It's always good to review that.

If somebody asks, why is it that Acts 10 has not contradicted this rule in some way, these laws? Acts 10, to set the context, verses 1 through 8, is describing the fact that Cornelius is a righteous man, and that God is going to show himself to Cornelius. And he kind of gives the backdrop to the situation. And then in Acts 10, verse 9, we see Peter's vision. Let's read this together. The next day, as they went out on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray about the sixth hour.

And then he became very hungry and wanted to eat. But while they made ready, he fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and the object, like a great sheet, bound at the four corners, descending to him, and let down to the earth.

In it were all kinds of four-footed animals to the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, Rise, Peter, kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean. I'm going to pause there for a second, because let's just make sure we understand what he just said. He recognized his Master's voice, which is why he said, Lord.

He recognized his Master's voice, and he told his Master, You know I have never eaten anything unclean. So if Jesus Christ had come to the earth and spent three and a half years teaching Peter that it was okay for him to eat unclean things, then Peter must have somehow missed that. And I don't think that would really be possible. So the theological argument says that Jesus had to observe all manner of the law to fulfill the law for us. Therefore, he would not have instructed them to not eat unclean things, even though that contradicts what other arguments.

It's quite confusing for mainstream Christians in this manner. Well, if that was the case, then this is ten years after his death, Jesus's death. So that means that after Jesus fulfilled the law, and supposedly people are released from things like Sabbath keeping, as Mr.

Willis mentioned, or clean and unclean meats, then Peter must have missed the boat as well, because he went ten years after Jesus's death and is still making this statement. So there's really no theological basis to believe that Jesus instructed his disciples that they could eat clean and unclean meats by Peter's own admission here. Alright, so he explains that he had never eaten anything common or unclean. And a voice spoke to him, verse 15 again, the second time, and said, What God has cleansed you must not call common.

Which is what people say, oh, okay, so God has cleansed these meats, right? Well, the next verse contradicts that, because this was done three times and the object was taken up into heaven again. It says in verse 17, Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision, which he had seen, meant. So if it was so obvious, Peter certainly didn't get it right away, because he didn't even know what it meant.

He was wondering what this thing meant, what this vision meant. And so then in verse 17 through 27, we see the events and how Cornelius comes, and Peter comes and he meets him. And then we finally see the meaning of the vision in verse 28. Then he, that is Peter, said to him, You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But notice now here this key point. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. There it is. God showed him through the vision that he should not call any man common or unclean.

The purpose of the vision. That was the purpose of the vision. And Peter understood once he had met Cornelius that that was the purpose of the vision. Otherwise he could not have gone to Cornelius, but he told Peter, No, go and do that. We of course know that Noah understood clean and unclean meats because in Genesis 7, he's told that he can take seven pairs of clean animals, but only one pair of unclean animals. So those who might say, well, that was something given in Sinai and removed, well, no, it was given long before even to Noah.

All right, so we have to observe the food laws as described in Leviticus 11. And I hope everybody is doing that. But that's really just the beginning point when it comes to diet. We have to go beyond the biblical dietary laws to other principles when it comes to diet. Now, if I were to ask you, for example, what was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, many of you would probably immediately go to the story regarding their sexual practices.

But let's go over to Ezekiel, and let's look here in Ezekiel 16. And let's read what Ezekiel says was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. Ezekiel 16, verse 49. Look, this was the iniquity or sin of your sister Sodom. She and her daughter had pride. Okay, number one, they had pride. Number two, fullness of food. They had fullness of food. They ate too much. They were gluttonous. That was one of their sins. Often we wouldn't think of that way, but gluttony or a fullness of food or eating too much was one of the sins of Sodom that was listed.

You know, we don't have to turn there, but Proverbs 23, verse 2 says, put a knife to your throat if you weigh a person given to gluttony. And also in Philippians 3, verse 19, we won't turn there. It describes the sinful men of the day as saying their stomach was their God. So I want to show you something up here. We'll see if it actually is up there. Okay, very good. I want to show you something up here. I showed this when I gave this sermon about seven years ago, so if you've seen this before, it might be this.

If you're listening in and you can't see my slides or you're listening to this later on a replay, you can see these slides at the CDC website, cdc.gov. This is from the Centers for Disease Control. This was a slide set that was produced that shows obesity trends from 1985 until 2016. And the obesity, just to remind everybody, is when your body mass index is over 30. And to put that in perspective, that would be a 5'4 woman who weighs more than 180 pounds, or a 5'11 man who weighs more than 220 pounds. That would be considered obese.

Not overweight. You're overweight if you're over 25, but over 30. So being obese is a pretty serious thing. We're going to look at this map state by state. Is it okay? Okay. All right. So we've got the sources up there. So what I want to share here is that in—and I thought it was going to be close enough, but it's not, so I'm going to look up here for a second.

It says here in 1990, among the states participating, it says that 10 states had a prevalence of obesity greater than 10%. Not that many, actually, in the grand scheme of things. By 2009, nearly 20 years later, no state had prevalence less than 10%. 18 had prevalence between 20 and 24—oh, sorry, 2009. Only one state had obesity less than 20%. So I want to show you this map, because this is a major trend. And I show this because as members of the Church of God, we live in a society that is influenced—we are influenced by the society around us. And so what we can see here is this difference.

So the dark green—and I think I have a pointer. There we go. So this dark red has obesity greater than 35% in those states. The red is 30 to 35. This is 20 to 25, and this is under 20. It's only Colorado in 2009. So let's just see how this progresses here. You can see the dramatic change over the years. And this has been the object of a great deal of research to find out what actually happened to the United States of America between 1985 and 2009. You see such a dramatic increase in the percentage of the population that is obese. And obesity is a major, major health risk because it leads to all sorts of other issues as we go along.

So you can see this dramatic change. Now that was 2009. This was so concerning to the CDC that they actually began more comprehensive studies. And I'm going to show you one here. They say you can't compare the data. This is 2011, so the colors have changed slightly. So what you see there, then, is again all these states in red are greater than 35%, and then the yellow here is 25 to 30, 20 to 25, and so forth. And so you see this progression continues all the way then to 2016, which is listed here.

It is estimated in the United States that by 2030, 60% of our population will be obese. 60%. And this is actually considered to be, by some estimations, a national security threat. And I'll make a, I'll quote a general who will describe that. Now, anybody here heard of the food bliss point? Anybody heard that term before? So actually all of us are subject to the food bliss point. It's actually something that all food manufacturers focus on, that we should be aware of.

They want to know what our food bliss point is, and it's a study of great amount. It's a, there's a lot of work that goes into it. I want to read to you from an article or from an interview done on Here and Now in December 16, 2015.

It says, how the food industry helps engineer our cravings. And this is, let me get the author here. Michael Moss. This is from a book by Michael Moss. He says here, I was, this is Michael Moss in the interview, he says, I was really struck by how many people inside the food industry itself hold their industry totally accountable, totally culpable for this surge in obesity that we have had in the last 30 years.

And then he says, they would hire people like Howard Moskowitz trained in math at Queens College. Okay? So the food industry is hiring a mathematician. Why would they do that? He's a mathematician and he studied experimental psychology at Harvard. Howard was one of the people responsible for some of the biggest icons in the grocery store. For example, he walked me through his recent creation of a new soda flavor for Dr.

Pepper. He started with no less than 59 variations of sweetness, each one slightly different than the next, and then subjected those to 3000 taste tests around the country. And then he did mathematical regression and he put them through his computer program and out comes this bell-shaped curve where the perfect amount of sweetness, not too little, not too much, is at the very top of the curve. So they make sure they get it just right. And it's Howard who coined the term, Bliss Point, to capture the perfect amount of sweetness that would send us over the moon and their products would fly off the shelf.

It's not that they engineer Bliss Points for sweetness for things like soda or ice cream, things we know. The food companies have marched around the grocery store adding sweetness, engineering Bliss Points to products that aren't supposed to be sweet. So now bread has sugar added to the Bliss Point. And they've actually studied. They found the Bliss Point in bread for sweetness.

Yogurt can be as sweet as ice cream for sun brands. And pasta sauce. One of the fascinating things I came across in my research is that it was none other than Philip Morris. Philip Morris is Big Tobacco. For years, it was the largest food manufacturer in North America through its acquisition of general foods. And it was none other than the tobacco managers at Philip Morris who turned to their food managers in 1999 and warned them that they were going to face as much trouble over salt, sugar, fat, and obesity as they were in at the time over tobacco and smoking.

And that has actually turned out to be quite true. This country is in the midst of an epidemic very similar to the tobacco epidemic. To avoid all this, a good rule of thumb when eating is to eat foods where you can pronounce the ingredients. This is Michael Paul, and this is one of his... You should be able to pronounce the ingredients. If you cannot pronounce the ingredients, you are probably eating some kind of synthesized food product as you go along. The other piece of advice that's often put out here that I've also found helpful is that you should eat food while sitting down.

The snack industry wants you to eat food on the go, and when you're eating food on the go, you don't tend to think about what you're eating. You're kind of doing other things, you're kind of putting things in your mouth, you're kind of thinking about something else. You should eat sitting at the table, or eat sitting down if you can, so you can focus on what you're actually eating.

The other thing that I won't go into a lot of detail on is that there's this trick when they say no sugar. You know what that means, right? It means artificial sweeteners. In artificial sweeteners, there's a lot of growing research that shows that they are quite bad. And so this leads to a really bizarre situation where people are eating enormous amounts of what they would consider food and becoming obese when actually they're malnourished. Because they're not actually getting any nutrition from the food that they're eating. Lieutenant General Mark Hertling shared his views that obesity is an emerging national security concerning the United States in his TED Talk in 2012.

He was previously responsible for the initial training of Army recruits, and he shared the following statistics in his TED Talk. 75% of civilians who wanted to join the Army were not qualified. The number one reason they were not qualified is due to obesity, and that's people who wanted to join. 60% could not pass the physical test on day one of a one-minute push-ups, one-minute sit-ups, and a one-mile run. He says, our diet has changed significantly in the last 30 years. Specifically, we are eating 30% more calories than in 1983, and 15 pounds more sugar.

15 pounds more sugar. And I think that statistic was shared in a club. If I brought up 15 pounds of sugar, and I said that's the additional sugar that we're all eating because we're eating pasta and bread that has sugar in it. We didn't used to have sugar in our bread and pasta. We would be quite concerned. Let's go over in 1 Timothy 4. Let's go to Daniel 1, verse 5. Let's go to Daniel 1, verse 5. Let's see how Daniel reacted, because chances are Daniel was put in a similar situation to what we are today. There are all sorts of really great, quote-unquote, good stuff out there that isn't actually very good for us.

Daniel 1, verse 5 says, And I think we know the story. It says in verse 8, Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore, he requested that the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now, very likely what he was being given was probably all sorts of unclean things.

That's why he talks about defiling himself. But also, as he went along, he very likely was very careful in terms of the things that he ate and avoided all of these delicacies. So I think Daniel said it's a good example for us. We would not want to defile ourselves with eating, for example, abalone or pork. We also should not defile ourselves with all these sort of synthetic creations of the food industry that's been engineered to basically hook us, like tobacco, on our foods.

I could talk about GMOs, white sugar, artificial sweeteners. I think in the past we've kind of gone a little bit overboard on those things. I'm just saying that the average American eats too much of them. So don't be the average American. That's all the message I think I'm trying to get across here. Alright, so that's diet. We can turn that off there.

Let's talk about rest and renewal. Rest and renewal. In God's church, we understand that the Sabbath was set aside at creation, and we heard about that in the sermonette, in Genesis 2. That command is reiterated in Leviticus 23, where the Sabbath is listed as the first of the Holy Days. It was kept by Jesus Christ. It was kept by the early New Testament church. In fact, there's even a prophecy, if somebody challenges you on this, there's even a prophecy that says that we should pray that our flight would not be on the Sabbath at the end time. So even at the end time, the Sabbath is an important day to consider. Finally, the book of Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 9, says that there remains a Sabbath day rest for the people of God. I'm not going through a lot of that because I think we know that subject very well. But I bring this out because it's just another indication of where keeping God's law can lead to better health.

I want to read an article from UC Davis Integrated Medicine. UC Davis, this is not a fringe organization, right? I think we know UC Davis up the street here, a few miles from here. This is from their Integrated Medicine blog, and this is on the longevity studies that have been done among Seventh Day Adventists. Now, we're not Seventh Day Adventists, but we do share something in common with them, the Sabbath. And I wanted to share what Dr. Rosanna Olivier writes. This is from May 10, 2017. In this blog, we will focus on a Blue Zone. A Blue Zone is an area in the world where people live to be very, very old. A Blue Zone based in Loma Linda, California, just down here in Southern California. A community of around 9,000 Seventh Day Adventists who live as much as a decade longer than the average American. And this has been shown over and over and over again. The Seventh Day Adventists can live significantly longer than the general population. And so, because of this, there have been a lot of studies done on them. The first study was done in 1960 among 22,940 California-added Venice, and it included five follow-up studies that took place over 25 years. The second study was done from 1974 to 1988, and it was done with 34,000 California Adventists over the age of 25. And the third study was done in 2002. It was funded by the National Cancer Institute, which should tell you that this is getting pretty serious now. People are like, wow, we need to look at what's going on within these communities. And it included 96,000 Adventists ages 30 to 112, and they went through all 50 states. And they go through in great detail all the things that they did within these studies. And based on that, they identified eight behaviors that will ensure you live longer. Eight behaviors. So if anybody would like to live longer, these are the eight things you should do. So what's the number one thing on the list according to these studies from UC Davis Integrated Medicine? Well, it's the Sabbath. It's the Sabbath. They call it, take a break.

Here are eight lessons learned from the Loma Linda. Great tactics to adhere to if you want to live a long and healthy life. Take breaks. The Seventh-day Adventists take a break, a weekly break, of 24 hours from daily life to focus on family, God, friends, and nature. They believe this relieves their stress, strengthens their social communities, and provides helpful, consistent exercise. So, amazing. The Sabbath has been scientifically shown to extend your life by up to a decade. Why isn't everybody clamoring to get in here? Why isn't everybody clamoring to keep the Sabbath? It's going to extend your life. I'm sorry, but you don't say that with Sunday. You don't say that with what's going on with the rest of modern Christianity. Now, again, we have significant doctrinal differences with the Seventh-day Adventists, including the nature of God and the belief of the Trinity. So that's why we're not Seventh-day Adventists. But they do get this right. I might mention that point number two is to maintain a healthy body mass index, a BMI. So I just discussed that. The third is to get regular moderate exercise. The fourth is to spend time with friends. The fifth is to give back. What do we hear for years and years, the way of give and the way of get? The sixth is to eat an early, light dinner. The seventh is to drink lots of water. The eighth is to eat a mostly plant-based diet. I'll let you study those on your own. But my point is the Sabbath was the number one thing that they brought out as they went through this. Let's look over at Mark 6 and verse 30. Mark 6 and verse 30. Let's see the example of Jesus Christ with respect to this. We already read earlier that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, and we already know that we keep the Sabbath. But beyond just the Sabbath, there is a concept of rest. Mark 6 and verse 30. It says, The apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all the things both what they had done and what they had taught. And He said to them, Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile.

You see, they had had a big...they had a lot of things happen. A lot of things to digest. A lot of things to consider. And He recognized they needed some rest to sort of absorb everything that had happened to them. You know, a lot of studies show that when we sleep at night, all of the emotional stress, it tends to dissipate. And when we wake up in the morning, it's like a reset. That's why rest is so important.

Now, I wanted to quote here an interview with Dr. David Linden, a professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the chief editor of the Journal of Neuropsychology...or Neurophysiology, sorry. He authored a book titled, The Compass of Pleasure. And it's a book that describes addictions. And his concern was, how do you keep people out of addiction?

And what he says here is that...this is an interview that was done on Fresh Air in 2007. He says, the most important of our life experiences that factor into addiction is stress. And when we talk about stress, you might imagine that we have moved into an airy-fairy realm of pop psychology. He says, though, that somehow this biology professor has now taken off his white coat and put on a paisley jacket. Basically, he's saying, people mock this. He says, but when you are stressed from having an argument with your sweetheart or your boss or you're fighting off an infection, stress hormones are secreted by your adrenal glands that sit on top of your kidneys and they pass into your brain. And they bind stress hormone receptors on neurons in your pleasure circuit. And they set in motion a series of biochemical steps that end up with you having cravings for whatever addiction you're dealing with. So Terry Gross says, so you're saying that stress does something biochemically that makes us crave addiction? He says, yes, it does. And this is the important, not only determining the onset of this pleasure-seeking behavior, but in addicts who are trying to stay clean. Anyone who is an addict who is trying to stay clean, who works with addicts, or has been, has one in their family, knows that relapses don't tend to happen when everything's going great. They tend to happen when there's a stressful situation. And now we understand the biology of it. And we don't need a biologist to tell us that stress is a trigger for relapse. But what we understand now is the biology. So if you're an addict trying to stay clean, you are very well served by adopting behavioral strategies that reduce stress. Whether it is playing with your dog, or prayer, he said the word prayer, or meditation, or physical exercise. This is a biologist at Johns Hopkins University telling us to pray. I mean, you know, all these thousands of years, right? It's taken us to get to this point where we can actually describe the biology of stress. And I find it amazing that we get right back to what's in Scripture about how we can reduce our stress. Simple strategies commanded by God to rest, to withdraw, and to reflect. I don't think there can be anything clear. We need to take time to rest. If we're not getting enough rest in sleep, if we're not taking breaks, if we're not keeping the Sabbath, if we're not keeping the Holy Days, we are going to be stressed. And our society is so stressed out today. And this is one of the things that God gives us to deal with stress. Now, exercise was mentioned a lot here, and I want to go to 1 Timothy 4 and just make reference to that, because the way this is translated in the New King James can be a little bit confusing. And so I want to make sure that we look at this carefully. 1 Timothy 4, verse 8, this kind of goes into the whole diet, exercise and rest, because rest and exercise actually go hand in hand. 1 Timothy 4, verse 8 says, For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Now, some people look at this verse and say, well, exercise isn't really very helpful, because it says it profits a little.

Well, actually a better translation, and I'll get back to my notes here, in this is that it actually is profitable. The NIV, if anybody has an NIV, they can see this listed as well. Let me get over to my notes. I'm sorry. Yeah, it actually is...here we go. The NIV translates this as, physical training is of some value. Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things. So let's not be confused. The Bible doesn't put down exercise. It actually says it has some value. It's just not as valuable as focusing on the spiritual things. And that's why I spent an entire sermon going through that first before we get into this. But physical exercise is important as well. So let's get to the third point here, which is cleanliness or quarantine. I'm going to go over to Deuteronomy 23, verse 12. Deuteronomy 23, verse 12. This is something that's quite obvious generally to us. But if you'll travel with me to French-speaking Africa, you'll realize it's not so obvious, actually. Deuteronomy 23, verse 12. Here is a fundamental principle that was given 3,500 years ago, roughly, that has not been practiced consistently throughout human history and is often not practiced today in many of the places that I travel to, which is why there are so many problems. It says, Wow! Such a common thing that we take for granted, but God instructed ancient Israel in this. And if you look, the United Church of God has a lot of discussion of this. Cholera has been probably one of the greatest plagues in human history, and it could simply be resolved by just following something as simple as this. And I'm going to quote here from a book entitled, None of Their Diseases from 2000, by Dr. Macmillan and Dr. Stern. It says, Used as directed, used as directed, Deuteronomy 23, verse 13, could have saved more lives than every drug ever made. Could you imagine that? Just this right here could have saved more lives than all the drugs that we've ever heard of. Used. Let's go over to Numbers 19, verse 11.

Numbers 19.

And Numbers 19, verse 11. So here's another biblical principle.

He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. Hmm, okay. We shouldn't touch a dead body. Well, there's a lot of reasons you don't want to touch a dead body. It's very well understood that dead bodies, especially if they're out for a while, carry enormous disease. After the great tsunami in Thailand, there were corpses everywhere, and it led to a lot of problems. As soon as someone dies, that body needs to be buried. Otherwise, it can lead to all sorts of diseases. He shall purify himself with water on the third day and on the seventh day, then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. You need to wash. You need to wash yourself. Wow! You have to wash yourself. Again, we take these things for granted, but in many parts of the world, this isn't understood. My first trip to Africa, I was in Ghana, and they had television commercials that were telling people they need to wash their hands after they go to the bathroom. This was in 2005. And I'm telling you, and many people know this, even today, people don't wash their hands after they use the restroom. This is a big problem. This is a very fundamental thing to wash yourself.

It says, whoever touches the body of anyone who has died and does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him. His uncleanness is still on him. So we have to wash ourselves when we come into contact with things like dead bodies. Now, hopefully that isn't something we have to deal with, but it's still a principle that's out there. Let's look at another principle in Leviticus 13, verse 46.

Leviticus 13, sorry.

Again, talking about lepers. Leprosy was a problem at that time, and it could cause problems and be spread. Verse 46, he shall be unclean. We'll start in verse 45. Now, the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare, and he shall cover his must after and cry unclean, unclean. That is, he is contagious. Verse 46, he shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore, he shall be unclean.

He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone. His habitation shall be outside the camp. So when somebody was contagious with leprosy, they had to be separated. They had to be made to be alone until their contagion was finished. And this gets to the modern, this is the fundamental origin of something we call quarantine today. In fact, the word quarantine, and this is from the New Bible dictionary on health, disease, and healing.

The word quarantine is the Jewish use of the period of 40 days of segregation from patients with certain diseases. It was adopted by the Italians in the 14th century because of the relative immunity of Jews from certain plagues. So the Italians said, hey, the Jews seem to be doing pretty well here, better than us, and they have this practice, so we're going to adopt this practice.

And so they adopted the practice of quarantine, which has come down to us today. And God's people, we should follow these principles as well. So if you're sick, don't come to church. I had poison oak. I went to the doctor. I said, am I contagious? You know, if I have any of these, he says, no, those are not contagious. You are fine. You are not contagious. As long as you have washed your clothes, and you've washed your body, and you've gotten that oil out of the way, you are not contagious.

So following that, I came. If I had been contagious, I wouldn't be here. So we have to make sure we're following this. Our homes should be kept clean. We should be washing things in our home. We should be keeping our kitchens clean. We should be avoiding the spread of bacteria in our homes, cleaning our bathrooms and our toilets and so forth. And that's an important principle of washing and cleaning and maintaining cleanliness.

Now, there's an aspect that comes out that I want to bring in here, and that is the mental illness of hoarding. People might be familiar with that mental illness. Some people have an issue of hoarding. According to the American Psychiatric Association website, people with hoarding disorder is something where they excessively save items that others may view as worthless.

They have persistent difficulty getting rid of or parting with possessions, leading to clutter that disrupts their ability to use their living or work spaces. It says hoarding disorder can cause problems in relationships, social and work activities, and other important areas of functioning. And consequences of serious hoarding include health and safety concerns such as fire hazards, tripping hazards, and health code violations. And so, if you've ever been in a hoarder's home, you know that it's really unsanitary because you can't keep it clean.

There's too many things in the house. You can't clean around it. And so you end up with a lot of bacteria and a very unhelpful situation. 1 Corinthians 14.33 says that God is not the author of confusion. And a hoarder lives in a confusing and disorderly environment, causing his living condition to be unsafe. So if you or someone you know has a compulsion to accumulate things, please get professional help. It's actually a mental condition that needs to be addressed.

It's a serious condition that can lead to a whole series of physical and mental health issues. You know, when I think back on my life, when I've gotten really the most life-threatening issues that have come up, they have been around this issue of quarantine and cleanliness. Now, you as ladies probably don't have this problem, but us as men, we think the rules don't apply to us.

Oh, poison oak's not a problem. Well, you know, that's not a problem. I have a very healthy immune system. Or, you know, I feel very strong and I'm very in good health and so forth. Well, no, that doesn't work that way. I contracted paratyphoid fever when I was in Syria as a result of ingesting infected and improperly prepared food.

And looking back on it, it was my own fault. Here I was. I was out in this area and there were some local herdsmen. This area where I was was filled with sheep. They were all over this area. And these herdsmen wanted to have a cup of tea. And they invited me to have a cup of tea with them. So I sat down and I should have known that when they threw the bread on the ground in front of me, that I probably shouldn't eat that bread. Because, of course, the ground has been pooped and, you know, I mean, it's just, it's not sanitary. Well, I picked up that piece of bread and I ate it.

And, you know, it was, you know, between their hands, the ground, and the conditions there in Syria, where, by the way, you could not buy toilet paper when we were there. You had to bring your own because you could not get it in the country. That should tell you some things, right? And the only way that you can get typhoid is by eating food that's been infected with feces.

That's the way it's spread. So I nearly died. Lost 30 pounds. The second time was when I contracted an echo virus that mimics the measles. Now, the measles in and of itself, you know, there's a whole situation on vaccinations. That's not my point here today. But the point was that I came in contact with somebody who should have been quarantined. And I wasn't thinking about it either. So both the measles and paratyphoid really set me back pretty significantly in terms of loss of eyesight, loss of hearing, and all sorts of health problems that I have even today.

So we cannot underestimate the importance of cleanliness and quarantine in terms of staying healthy and staying safe. We can claim God's promises, but if we don't follow these things, then we are truly going to throw ourselves on God's mercy to protect us. Finally, I want to talk about anointing. I want to take a look over at James 5, verse 14.

James 5, verse 14. So we, again, should not be hypochondriacs. We should not be afraid of everything that might go out there and hurt us. We have to follow these laws, but we also can have confidence that God will protect us as we do our part. Some things are outside of our control.

And so sometimes we get sick. Maybe it's our own doing. Maybe it's something that was outside of our control. Maybe it's just something that we from birth have been dealing with. And so it says here in James 5, verse 14, Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

Now, as I shared, God may not be inclined to heal us if this is something we have brought on ourselves, especially if it's something we've brought on ourselves multiple times. But on the other hand, Exodus 33, verse 19 says that God will be gracious to whom he will be gracious, and he says I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So God can be and is compassionate with us even when we bring things on ourselves.

Now, one thing that's important to note is that it doesn't say that it's anyone among you sick, let him send out a prayer request. It doesn't actually say that. Now, there's nothing wrong with sending out a prayer request. And in fact, it's quite good. We should be praying one for another. That's a biblical principle. But let's not confuse anointing with a prayer request. We're told that when we're sick, we should call for an elder of the church and be anointed.

And in fact, today I'm going to ask Mr. Karamijin if he will anoint me after church, because I have this poison oak, and I would like some healing for this. So I'm going to avail myself of Mr. Karamijin today. So that's what we're supposed to do. If we send out a prayer request for something, but we haven't actually asked for an anointing, then we've skipped a step.

And I think in our busy world, sometimes we often don't think about this. Or we might think, well, Mr. Pebworth way down here, or Mr. Karamijin's up there, or Mr. Cozer's over here. It's okay. As elders of the church, it is something that brings a great deal of meaning to our lives to come and anoint people.

It's something very, very important. And when God intervenes after that anointing, it is really powerful for both us in the ministry and the person who has received that healing. Now, we live in a difficult and complex world, and many of us live in less than ideal conditions. I worked 70 hours a week for so many years. And that's a big problem when you work so much. On the cover of National Geographic, they actually have a whole series on what they call a national experiment in sleep deprivation.

We are not sleeping enough, and I did not sleep enough, and I need more sleep because of that. So things do happen, and there's a lot of things that can come at us that can cause us to not live the kind of healthful life that we would like to live. So we do need to ask for an anointing from time to time as it comes up. So these are some of the physical things that I wanted to share with you today. If we step back, we realize the Bible is a treasure trove of guidance on healthful living.

Whether we're dealing with hygienic conditions, or mental health, or physical health, the thing we have to keep in mind is that our good intentions are not good enough. Good intentions don't count. We have to listen. And I'll again speak from my own example. Because sometimes I don't listen. I had a situation where I had an athlete's foot, I had been fighting with it for a while, and then I ended up walking around in Disneyland all day, and I got my foot infected. And when an athlete's foot gets infected, it's pretty serious. So the next day, my foot was a giant red swollen mass.

And what did I say? Ah, it's nothing. My wife's like, that's really serious. I said, no, no, it's going to be okay. You've got to go to the doctor. No, no, I'm fine. Well, you know, by the end of the day, I started having a little red streak start going up my leg.

And I'm like, oh, I should have gone to the doctor. So I went to the doctor. And the doctors got out of tape measure, and it's like, okay, when did this happen? And, you know, there's like a seriousness. And like, okay, you know, like, step away and all sorts of things were done, and you've got to come back tomorrow. And, you know, so, you know, things can pretty seriously happen.

And a lot of times it comes down to our pride as men. We don't want to get help. So if you're a man, please listen up. Listen to somebody who tells you, you need to get that taken care of. And oftentimes it also comes down to good intentions. Oh, yeah, I'm going to call about that. I'm going to call about that. And you never do. And then it goes on. Cause and consequences. Let's turn it over to 3 John. We'll conclude with this Scripture. 3 John, verse 2.

3 John, from the Apostle John, written to Gaius, who was one of the elders there in the church. He says in verse 2, he says, beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers. So just as I know spiritually, you are prospering. I want you to physically prosper as well. And I think that is a great admonition for us as we consider how we are going to live our lives. Our mind and body are connected. And that's what John is sharing here. Scholars of 3 John argue that Gaius was an influential man with a strong spiritual character. And John prayed that his physical health would mirror his spiritual health. Let this be said of us. Let's have our physical and spiritual condition go hand in hand as we submit ourselves to God and study his laws and principles of faith. And that's how we are going to live our most healthful living.