BETTER HEALTH — MADE SIMPLE !Thirty-four Steps to Happier Living – A Complete Online Health Course! Published by TRAIL GUIDES - Altamont, TN 37301 USA Road maps for pilgrims traveling home
LESSON ELEVEN - CAUSE AND EFFECT FOR HEALTH1- In the old days, many people used to believe that diseases and sickness of various kinds were caused by evil spirits or vengeful gods. They thought that these gods sent diseases such as smallpox. They thought that if they could just please their gods with sacrifices then the gods would leave them alone to be well and healthy. 2- Even today, in some places, there are people who still think sickness comes from evil spirits in the air; especially night air! They think some spirits live in trees, or in some valleys or rivers, waiting to trouble anyone who neglects to pacify them with suitable offerings. They think such spirits can cause rheumatism, cholera, plague, diphtheria and other infectious diseases, as well as such things as headache, sterility and blindness. Also, in olden times, people used to believe in the evil eye. They believed that a man, woman or child had some magic power where by just looking at another person, he could cast a spell on him that would cause sickness or even death. People were so afraid of these things that they spent their lives in a round of sacrifice and ceremonies to please these various evil gods and spirits, and they lived in continual fear of displeasing these mysterious powers, and so incurring their wrath. 3- But today we know beyond any shadow of doubt, that for every sickness there is a knowable cause which is not governed by witches, wizards, evil spirits or evil eye. We know that sickness is the effect of knowable cause. When we know the cause, we can avoid the disease or even cure it. 4- For example, a disease which is spread from person to person is tuberculosis. Inside the lungs of people with tuberculosis are tuberculosis germs. Many other commonly dreaded diseases are also spread by germs; and caused by poor health habits. Some of these diseases are cholera, typhoid, diphtheria and leprosy, also malaria. We know what the different kinds of germs look like and how they behave, how they get from person to person, and how to avoid getting them. Diseases can be caused by the things we eat or don't eat, or by improper habits. Other diseases are caused by not getting enough sleep, or rest, or exercise, or work. Some diseases are even caused by the way we think! Many diseases are caused by uncleanliness. Personal uncleanness, environmental uncleanness, mental and moral uncleanness. For all disease there is a definite cause, and the disease is the effect. 5- All diseases are the result of man's breaking the laws which govern his being. Breaking either physical, mental, social or spiritual laws has a bad effect on man's being. 6- Just as it is a law of nature that when a tree is cut, it falls, so it is a law of our being that when we break the law we suffer. Overeat; you have indigestion. Eat too much rich foods and you suffer from obesity and heart trouble and artery diseases. Eat or drink unclean food; you get worms and other intestinal troubles. Overwork and worry; you get a nervous breakdown. Live in constant fear, guilt, remorse, anger and frustration; you go insane. When the cause is there, the effect is inevitable. The wonder is not that we are sick. The wonder is that so many of us are well! 7- By studying the laws of our four-fold being, and by bringing our living habits into harmony with these laws, we can have abundant life free from sickness and disease. And not only a happy life for a few years on this earth, but a happy, healthy life that will never end. As a matter of fact, now scientists tell us that there is really no reason for man's growing old and dying. He should live forever. It is only the knowing or unknowing violation of the laws of life that causes us to die. 8- There are going to be people on this earth who never die. I should like to be one of them. The Bible tells us something about them. They are going to be strong and healthy. They will be perfectly in balance in all four dimensions; physical, mental, social, spiritual. They will not only live on this earth, but they will go into space like the Russian and American astronauts. They will go further than any astronauts. They will go up past the stars, right up to Heaven, the home of God. They will see God and live. 9- The Bible tells us quite a bit about these people. It tells us that if we are among them, we shall be in heaven for one thousand years. Speaking of this, the Bible says, "And they [the saints] lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." (Revelation 20:4.) Who is a saint? He is a person just like you and me, who has brought all of his life into harmony with the laws of life through the power of Jesus. By God's grace, we can all be saints. 10- The beginning of the one thousand years, or millennium, takes place when Jesus comes to this earth the second time. We read, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven... Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." ( 1 Thessalonians 4: 16-17.) According to His own promise, Jesus will take the people from this earth with Him to heaven. 11- Heaven is a real place and is millions and millions of miles away. The sun, which is only a small star in our universe is 93 million miles away, and heaven is far beyond that. The Lord is going to take us there. 12- Through the pearly gates we will be invited to enter into the city of God. With the fruit from the tree of life and a drink of water from the river of life, we shall nevermore die. We shall even eat the leaves from the tree of life. All difference in color and race will disappear so that all people will be one nation. God says the name of this wonderful city is New Jerusalem. 13- What will the Saints do in Heaven? The Bible answers: Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world. They will judge the wicked dead. God is a god of justice. Everybody's case will be judged justly. Everyone who is not in that city will get punished according to his deeds. During the one thousand years it will be the work of the saints to decide the degree of punishment for every person who has not been saved. 14- The condition of this world during the one thousand years will be terrible. "The dragon, that old serpent which is the devil and Satan," will be bound for one thousand years. He will be bound by a chain of circumstances. He cannot deceive anyone for nobody is alive here. The saints have all gone to heaven, the wicked are all dead. Satan and his angels are alone here on earth. 15- The Bible tells us, "I beheld the earth, and, lo it was without form and void, and the heavens and they had no light. I beheld the mountains and lo they trembled and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld and there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord and by His fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, 'The whole land shall be desolate: yet will I not make a full end: Jeremiah 23:27. 16- At the end of 1000 years, the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, will descend with all the saints in it. Jesus will lead the way back to this earth. Jesus ascended to heaven from the Mt. of Olives. He will again put His feet on the same mountain. "And the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the north, and half of it toward the south: and there will be a great plain. This is where the New Jerusalem will settle down. 17- Then all the wicked dead will be resurrected. Satan will then be free to tempt them and deceive them again. Satan will be loosed, "and he shall go out to deceive the. nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, gog and magog, to gather them together to battle. The number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth and compassed the city, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.” Revelation 20:8,9 18- And the Devil, that deceiver then was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, to burn until he and all the wicked are burned up. This is the end of the wicked and the end of sin. It will be a complete end. "For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." The earth itself will melt with fervent heat. All sin will be destroyed. All dirty things will be destroyed. All bad germs and bad habits which cause sickness and disease will be destroyed. All people whose sins have not been forgiven by Jesus will be destroyed completely. 19- Then there will be a new creation. God will make a new heaven and a new earth. We shall see him do it, if we are there. On this New Earth the saints will live happily forever and Jesus will live there with them. We shall study more about the earth made new later. Do not miss any future lessons in this series. Each one will help you understand more of God's purpose for you. 20- Remember: only those who accept Jesus as their personal Saviour will be able to reach this wonderful estate. It is only the power of Jesus which can forgive the sins we have done. It is only the power of Jesus which can change our vile bodies into glorious bodies, it is only the power of Jesus which can change our characters and make us fit to live in heaven to associate with pure and holy angels. It is only the power of Jesus that will, when we ask Him, enable us to live up to all the laws of our being, the laws of life. This is a wonderful privilege. It will be your experience and mine, if we accept Him now and ask Him to take charge of our lives and to bring us into, conformity with His laws of life. Come to Him now in faith, as you are. Confess your sins and be dean. Be ready now, so that when He comes you will not be disappointed. He is coming soon. May God bless you all. Here is additional information about the Millennium and afterward: "As it was in the days of Noe [Noah], so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all . . Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed."-Luke 17:26-30. "When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape."-1 Thessalonians 5:3. "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."-Revelation 20:4 (1 Cor. 6:1-3). "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished."-Revelation 20:5. "I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years."-Revelation 20:1-2. "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished."-Revelation 20.5 . "After that, he (Satan] must be loosed a little season" Revelation 20:3 "They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Revelation 20:9. "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."-Revelation 20.14. "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away."-Revelation 21:1 LESSON TWELVE - SPICE NOT FOR LIFE1- If I could place a number of different substances on your tongue without you seeing them, you would be able to identify them by their taste. How is it that you would be able to tell me accurately what each item is even though you could not see them? Yes, you could tell by taste—with your taste buds! The taste buds on the tip of your tongue tell you when something is sweet. Those on the sides tell you when something is salty or sour. The ones at the back in the middle tell you when something is bitter. Perhaps you have noticed that your sense of smell has a great deal to do with your ability to taste. When you have a bad cold, your food does not seem to have much flavor. In fact, if you hold your nose while eating you lose much of your ability to taste! 2- Something else you may not have thought about is that whatever you taste must be wet. If you put something dry on to a dry tongue it cannot be tasted. This is another good reason why you should thoroughly chew your food; you get much more flavor as your saliva mixes with the food. 3- Many people do not realize that they are actually slaves to their taste buds. Why is it that one person likes something very much, and someone else dislikes the very same thing very much? It is because of the way the taste buds have been trained. 4- The training of your taste buds starts when you are just an infant, and by the time a child is just a few years old, he may already be the slave of his taste buds instead of teaching them to obey and be trained to enjoy the food that is good for body-building and health. Such a situation is a great pity, and is really the fruit of the parents who have allowed the child to be ruled by his appetite. Because of their slavery to their tastebuds, many people live to eat instead of eating to live! 5- There is one very good thing, however. Your taste buds can be retrained, and you can become the master instead of their slave! You can learn to enjoy the many wonderful flavors that God put into the great variety of foods He has given to us. 6- There is a saying that flavor is the soul of food, and that spices and herbs are the soul of flavor. What is the most common and important flavoring we use in almost all cooking? Salt. Without salt, our vegetables and other main dishes—yes even most cooked desserts would not be very tasty. In addition to salt, we also use other seasonings in order to add interest and make an ordinary dish a little more distinct from the rest. Let us consider some of the more common seasonings which many people use: Salt, Bay leaves, curry leaves, cinnamon, ginger, paprika, cloves, vinegar, black pepper, mustard, curry-powder, small hot peppers, and many kinds of mixed flavors such as hot sauces, of various kinds. 7- All of these items add flavor to our food. But not all of them are healthful. Hot peppers, curry powders, and all other hot, irritating spices, are quite harmful to the very delicate membranes lining the gastro-intestinal tract. 8- Their use also deadens the taste buds, making it impossible to enjoy the simple foods and their natural flavors. The result is that people with deadened taste buds want more and more highly seasoned foods. You will notice that vinegar is also in the group of foods that are not kind to your digestive system. The word "vinegar" comes from two French words "vin" and "aigre, " meaning sour wine. You have already been informed of the bad effects of alcohol, which is the main constituent of wine. The use of too much vinegar may produce effects similar to alcohol. 9- When patients are taken to the hospital with stomach complaints, the doctor orders a diet free from these irritating spices. He knows that these may only aggravate the situation. 10- But we should not wait for such symptoms to develop. Our attitude should be that when we know these things are damaging to our wonderful body temple, we will train our taste buds to refuse them. 11- It is a fact that many are deliberately destroying this structure which God so fearfully and wonderfully made. This is serious, for the apostle Paul wrote, "If any man defile (or destroy) the temple of God, him shall God destroy. " (1 Corinthians 3:17.) There is a day coming when God is going to settle up with those who have ignored His counsel, His message and commands. He settled it in Noah's day by water—but in our day it will be settled by fire "when the world burns up." 12- The fire which is going to put an end to sin and the sinners is called Hell. We read: "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." Psalm 9:17. This world will not be allowed to continue on and on and the wicked remain unpunished. "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begins at us, what shall the end by of them that obey not the gospel of God?" 1 Peter 4:17. Everybody is going to be judged according to what he has done in this life. 13- While the righteous are given eternal life, the wicked are condemned to eternal death. This is called everlasting destruction in the Bible. This destruction of the wicked is going to be complete. Nothing will remain after it has gone through this fire. 'Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power." 2 Thessalonians 1:9. "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 18:28. But the wicked shall perish and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume away." Psalm 37:20. "For while they be folden together as thorns and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry." Nahum 1:10. 14- When will the wicked be cast into hellfire? This is a question in the minds of many today. We will let the Bible answer for us: "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." Matthew 13:30. In Matthew 13:39, we read, "The harvest is the end of the world," therefore the wicked are not being burned now. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the good out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." 2 Peter 2:4,9. 15- So, we conclude that no one goes to hell or heaven now. Only at the end of the world is anyone cast into hell. Our next question is, where will hell be located? "Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner." Proverbs 11:31. "But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3:7. 16- When the thousand years are finished, the New Jerusalem with all the saints in it descends and Jesus leads the way. As soon as His feet touch the Mt. of Olives, it cleaves in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south." The New Jerusalem settles in this valley. 17- Jesus then resurrects the wicked dead whose number is like the sands of the sea. Once again Satan is let loose and leads the wicked against the city. They surround this Holy City, New Jerusalem. 18- God will then rain fire and brimstone upon the wicked and the whole world turns into a lake of fire, while the saints in the Holy City are protected. The root, which is Satan, and branch, his followers, all are consumed in this fire. Then the fire cools down. Jesus renews this world and makes it a peaceful habitation for His saints, for ever and ever. 19- My dear friends, we have only two choices. There is heaven to choose and hell to shun. God in His great love has done everything so that we might be saved. But He cannot choose for us. All those who choose to accept Jesus as their Saviour and surrender their lives to Him fully will be among His saints in the earth made new. Those who will not make this choice now, will find their place in the lake of fire. May the Lord guide you so that you can make the right choice now and thereby avoid eternal death in hell. Here is additional information about life only in Christ: "The wages of sin is death."-Romans 6:23. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."-Acts 4:12. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." John 10:2728. "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son."-1 John 5:11. "He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God bath not life."-1 John 5:12. "But I would not have you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope."-1 Thessalonians 4:13 (also 1 Corinthians 15:18,20; John 11:11-14). "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake."-Daniel 12:2 (Ecclesiastes 3:20) "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish."-Psalm 146:4. "For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not any thing."-Ecclesiastes 9:5. "For in death there is no remembrance of Thee” Psalm 6:5. "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence."-Psalm 115:17. "They dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for. . the earth shall cast out the dead"- Isaiah 26:19 (Psalm 17:15) "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first."- 1 Thessalonians 4:16. "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: 0 death, I will be thy plagues; 0 grave, I will be thy destruction."-Hosea 13:14 (fulfilled for the righteous at Christ's Second Advent: 1 Cor. 15:51-55). "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first."- 1 Thessalonians 4:16 (also 1 Corinthians 15:23). "For thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."-Luke 14:14. "What shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel?"- 1 Peter 4:17. "Sin is the transgression of the law."-1 John 3:4. "For the wages of sin is death."-Romans 6:23. "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction." 2 Thessalonians 1:9. "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."-Luke 13:3. "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall bum them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." -Malachi 4:1. "And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet."-Malachi 4:3. "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” -Matthew 5:5. |
