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 NINETEEN - TENSION VS. TRUST1- As we have mentioned already, man is a four-dimensional being. Only when these dimensions are in good balance can man attain life's great and worthwhile goals. One of the most interesting studies is the close relation between the mind and the body. We know now that these are really inseparable. Every physical illness affects the emotions and the mental attitudes of an individual. On the other hand, more than two thirds of the patients in the doctor's office are there for illness brought on or aggravated by mental stress. 2- Of course, we are all familiar with simple reactions between the body and the mind. For example, embarrassment will make one's face to turn red. Anger will make your mouth dry. Nervousness may make your hands sweat. These are all simple, visible reactions. Perhaps, you did not know that emotional and mental stress cause most ulcers, asthma, high blood pressure, strokes, intestinal diseases, and even arthritis—to name only a few. 3- You see, the emotional center of the brain has nerve fibers which go out to every organ of the body. Because of our complicated nerve connections, it is understandable how anything that disturbs the emotional center can send out impulses which can cause anything from a headache to itchy feet! For example, a child who gets sick the first day he goes to school. Sometimes a child or adult is just too tired to do some job he really dislikes, but suddenly has plenty of energy when turning to something interesting. 4- Let us take a look at what actually happens in the body when our emotions are stirred. There are three main effects that you can easily remember: 5- (1) The amount of blood flowing to an organ is changed. As already mentioned, embarrassment can cause the blood vessels to open and the face becomes red. (2) On the other hand, fear can drive the blood away from the face and send it deep into the body. (3) Anxiety or hate can cause the blood vessels of the brain to enlarge, increasing the blood to the skull so much that headaches or vomiting can occur. (4) Emotions can affect the secretions of certain glands. Perhaps you have had experience of being called upon to speak before a group. When you got up your mouth was so dry that you could hardly talk. 6- Our emotions change the tension of the muscles. We all have experienced how our muscles tighten up when we become angry or frightened. 7- Actually, our emotions should protect us. When we see, hear, or feel something that can harm us, the emotion of fear or alarm creates an instant chain reaction in the body that prepares us to meet the emergency and enables us to do things we could not do normally! We can fight, run, or do whatever is best to do under the circumstances because adrenalin makes extra energy available instantly. Our heart beats faster sending more energy to the body cells. Breathing is deeper and faster, sending more oxygen to the body. Our pupils get larger so that we can see better. The mind is more active. 8- But your emotions can also hurt you. If you let your mind be occupied with thoughts of guilt, anger, or worry, or if you habitually experience unnatural excitement, your body goes through the same alarm reaction as if you were in the actual situation! The frequent production of these reactions over weeks and months results in harmful effects. That which was intended by God to be a protection to you can turn out to be a means of self destruction. 9- Now, we all have emotions, love, hate, fear, jealousy, happiness etc., are all emotions. There is nothing wrong with having emotions, and we would be mere machines without them! We would miss out on the great pleasures of life, if it were not for our emotions. What we need to learn is how to handle them. If we learn to control circumstances instead of letting them control us, we will find our minds at peace instead of being in a state of tension. 10- One writer states that a troubled person is his own most feared enemy. Friends, there is nothing more true than this fact. There can be no rest in the mind when such feelings as grief, anxiety, distrust, guilt, jealousy, hatred, resentment, envy, selfishness, or insecurity control us. It is not only the mind that suffers, but the body as well. 11- Too many people today find themselves imprisoned in invisible walls. The invisible walls of the mind can be more terrible than walls of the strongest stone. They cramp the mind and destroy this wonderful body God has made. They smother the love, joy and peace and rest of mind, and body that God intended for us to continually enjoy. 12- Physical rest is imperative if one is to be healthy and strong. But mental rest is just as imperative. In order for you to possess the true mental rest that it is your right and privilege to have, you must learn to recognize the importance of the spiritual dimension of man. 13- Jesus said, "Come unto me .. and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28-10. God's answer to physical and mental tension is found in the rest that Christ offers you tonight. Yes, God is concerned about our rest. We have already studied in our previous lesson where God says, "Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: In it thou shalt not do any work; thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant nor thy cattle nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." Exodus 20:8-10. 14- God wants that all should rest one day in a week, and that day God has specified. It is the Seventh day or Saturday. And why should it be only Saturday and not any other day? Let us read. "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the Seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Exodus 20:11. 15- The first thing we are to remember is-God rested on this day. Secondly, God blessed this day; and thirdly, God has hallowed it or made it Holy. The Sabbath day was made on the seventh day after the Lord finished creating the world in six days; The Sabbath was set aside as a memorial of God's creation. It shows us that it is God who created this world and all that are in the world. It makes us to understand that we are beings created by God. 16- The Sabbath is one of the oldest institutions coming down from Eden. It was intended to be forever. As long as there is God's creation, His sign, too, will be there. By keeping the Sabbath, we acknowledge God as the Creator of everything. If the Sabbath had been kept by all, there would be no atheists today. We may well ask, "When does the Sabbath begin and end?" Leviticus 23:32 says, "from even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath." It begins at evening and closes the next evening. 17- Our next question is when is the evening? Let us read from the Bible-"At even, at the going down of the sun." Deuteronomy 16:6. So, the evening is sunset. That is to say, when on Friday, the sun sets, the Sabbath begins and when on Saturday the sun sets, the Sabbath closes. A complete day of 24 hours. First the dark part and then the daylight part. 18- What is the day before the Sabbath called? The Bible says, "And now when the even was come (that is when the sun had set) because it was the preparation, that is the day before the Sabbath." Mark 15:42. So, Friday is called the Preparation Day in which to get ready for the Sabbath. Before the Sabbath comes, all our secular work should be completed. Such work would include such things as chopping fire wood, washing clothes, cleaning the house, taking baths, marketing, hair cutting, polishing shoes, reading newspapers, listening to radios, traveling, playing etc. No work is proper on the Sabbath that can be done the day before. Even work that seems so very important such as planting the crops at the right time, or harvesting at the right time, must not interfere with Sabbath keeping. 19- Whenever God says anything it is only for our good. He knows that rest is important for our physical as well as spiritual life. Our safety is in obeying Him. There is a great blessing in keeping the Sabbath holy. Sabbath keeping reminds us of our heavenly Father every day. It tells us that we are under His continual care. 20- What is the name of the day after the Sabbath? Let us read from the book of Mark:-"And when the Sabbath was past . . And very early in the morning the first day of the week." Mark 16:1,2. This was the day Jesus was resurrected and the world calls this day-Sunday. If Sunday is the first day, then Monday would be the second day and so on. This way we can easily know Saturday to be the Seventh-day. This is the only day God wants us to keep holy, not any other day. 21- There are so many things that we can do on the Sabbath day. Let us see what Christ did on the Sabbath day. "And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read." One of the things we do on the Sabbath day is to go to church for worship. 22- In Matthew 12:12 Jesus Himself says, "Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." Visiting the sick and caring for them, all are good works that we can do on the Sabbath days. We can take our family out in nature and meditate upon God's beautiful creation. We can spend time studying the Word of God. 23- Sabbath is also a sign or seal of sanctification—"Moreover also I gave them my Sabbath, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify them." "And hallow my Sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Ezekiel 20:12,20. 24- By keeping the Lord's Sabbath, we become His subjects and He becomes our God. How can we expect to be in His kingdom and yet not have the sign to show we are His subjects? It cannot be. We want to go to heaven. Heaven is God's dwelling place. We can be there only as we acknowledge Him now as our Lord and Master. And the only way we can do this is to keep His day Holy which is the Seventh day or Saturday. 25- He is coming soon. We have to make the necessary adjustments in our experience. It might be hard for those of us who have never kept this day holy before; but with His help we can do it. He says, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." When we are yoked with Jesus, burdens will no longer be burdens. Friends, pray about it and God will strengthen you. He wants you to be saved but He cannot force you. You have to choose to be saved. Accept Him, follow Him, obey Him, and He will give you rest. Here is additional information about the Bible Sabbath: At the Creation: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the Seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the Seventh day from all His work which He had made. "And God blessed the Seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made."-Genesis 2:1-3. The Fourth Commandment: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work. "But the Seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; "For
in six days the Lord heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,
and rested the Seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day,
and hallowed it."-Exodus 20: 8-11. LESSON TWENTY - POWERFUL POISON1- Why Poison Yourself? That sounds like a strange question, does it not? Who in the world would want to knowingly poison himself? Who would choose to commit suicide? Who would choose to be an invalid during the most productive years of life? Yet many people do just these things! 700,000 a year in the USA alone do it when they decide to start smoking cigarettes. 2- Cigarette smoke has 500 distinct chemical substances in it. Twenty-five of those are so poisonous that if the amount of poison in two cigarettes were concentrated it would kill a 150 lb. man! Because the effect is slow, it is no less dangerous. Life insurance figures have calculated that the life expectancy of a smoker decreases by about 18 minutes per pack of cigarettes! It may not be suicide by sudden death, but it is suicide by degrees. 3- Cancer and heart disease are two of the biggest killers in the world today. A person who smokes 1 pack of cigarettes a day, increases his chance of dying from cancer by 10 times. If he smokes 2 packs a day, his chances are 20 times greater than those of a-non-smoker. 4- The tobacco leaf contains hundreds of chemicals when burned at 1600 degrees F. Among these are 25 gases. Carbon monoxide is one of them. The presence of Carbon Monoxide makes less oxygen available to the body. The brain especially suffers from this oxygen loss. There is a 10% mental handicap in a smoker! 5- Aside from damage from chemicals and gases, there is formed a black sticky substance called tar. Eight of these will produce cancer when applied directly on tissue. A person who smokes and inhales 2 packs a day will trap one quart of tar in the lung passages in a year. It is this irritating action of the tar on the tender lining of the lung passages which paralyzes the lining and eventually begins a cancerous growth. 6- Lung Cancer is increasing faster than any other form of cancer. It killed 55,000 people in the USA alone last year. Dr. Alton Oschner, a famous chest surgeon said, "All cigarette smokers are likely to die of lung cancer unless they die of something else first." 7- Lung cancer is an extremely deadly type of cancer. 95% of people with lung cancer die of it within 3 years. The average person will die within a year of the first symptoms, and within 3 months after it has been found by a doctor. Smokers have 20 times greater chance of having lung cancer than do non-smokers. Cancer of the lung is not the only cancer associated with smoking. Cancer of the larynx (voice box), and esophagus, (food passage), is almost entirely due to smoking. Cancer of the mouth and throat is 3 times as common in smokers as in non-smokers. 8- A smoker has a greater chance of dying from heart disease—the greatest killer—than a non-smoker has. 9- Many countries of the world realize the great danger of smoking. England, Russia, Holland, Sweden and finally the USA have all put restrictions on advertising of cigarettes and required that each package of cigarettes state on the label that smoking is injurious to health. 10- In spite of all these facts, and efforts to cure smoking, smoking is still on the increase. Why? Simply because smoking is a form of addiction similar to opium addiction, and young people who do not have the knowledge of these facts begin smoking at an early age. They believe the false advertising. Many still consider it the "in" thing to do. To be "one of the crowd" is a frequent reason for smoking when in reality, it is the one who does not smoke who is considered lucky, and is looked up to. He is the picture of health without a barking cough, bad breath, dirty fingers and teeth. Also, the nonsmoker is saving thousands of hard-earned dollars, as well. 11- Because of the addicting properties of tobacco, many who would like to quit cannot. The most-important chemical which produces an immediate effect in the body and is responsible for the addicting properties is nicotine. Nicotine is a deadly poison. 60 milligrams of nicotine (found in 2 cigarettes) would kill a man if injected into him. Why do not 2 cigarettes kill then? Only because most of the nicotine is burned up in smoke, and is not absorbed in the body, and the body disposes of most of that which is absorbed. 12- But—and this is very important to remember, enough Nicotine is held in the body to produce certain effects. You may remember the first cigarette you ever smoked. Probably you felt ill with dizziness and vomiting. As the body builds up tolerance it requires more nicotine to calm the nerves and satisfy the craving. You see, nicotine acts both as a stimulant and later—as a depressant to the sensitive nerve cells. This explains the initial "life" one gets, and then later the 'let down" which demands another cigarette. 13- Through the effect on the nerve cells, nicotine speeds up the heart rate, raises blood pressure, constricts or narrows the blood vessels to the arms and legs causing drop in temperature. A special X-ray machine used at the University of Oklahoma Medical College shows in color the drop in temperature in the fingers when only half a cigarette is smoked. As the blood is forced away by constricting blood vessels the color is blue, showing loss of temperature. It reduces the digestive juices and the activity of the stomach and muscles. It diminishes the eye reflexes and closes the vision. It dries the skin, and has other effects throughout the body. Also, smoking on an empty stomach is one way of asking for ulcers. 14- Smoking mothers produce an effect on the unborn child. Premature delivery is more common. Babies of smoking mothers have a lower birth weight, and miscarriages are more common. Women who smoke, spend 17 more days per year ill in bed than non smokers. If you want help in stopping smoking and want to enter a new phase of good health and abundant living, we can give you 10 rules to help you. It is never too late to stop. The time to stop is NOW. 15- Man has taken an innocent plant of the field; tobacco—and turned it into a means of disease and death. But all this is part of another power that is out to destroy mankind—body and soul. It has deceived people for a long time. 16- It was Satan in Eden who spoke through a serpent medium and it is the same evil one who is still deceiving the world but through a different medium. Satan's policy is to remain concealed. Therefore, he does his work through different mediums. His main purpose is to turn people's attention from God to himself. If only somehow he can take away the sign of allegiance to God, he has accomplished his purpose. 17- In the Bible Satan is symbolized as a great red dragon. In Revelation 12:10, we read, "And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." 18- Since he is a deceiver and does not want to be seen as he is, Satan tries to work through some one else. He chooses another power, represented in Revelation 13:1 &2, as a great beast. To this power Satan gave his power and great authority. 19- In Bible Prophecy, a great beast is a symbol of a great earthly kingdom, so we read in Daniel 7:25, "The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth." Now we can understand that in Revelation 13:1.2, Satan is shown as giving power and his seat of government and great authority to a great earthly kingdom. 20- This great kingdom represented by this beast is not only a political kingdom among the nations of the world, having its own king, its territory, its soldiers etc., It is also a great religious power, because Revelation 13:14 says, "And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast and they worshipped the beast, 'So, through this religiouspolitical kingdom Satan deceives the people of the world and leads them into worshipping himself through their worshipping the religious, political kingdom represented by the beast. 21- We remember that when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, one of the temptations was that Jesus worship Satan as recorded in Luke 4:7. Jesus answered, 'Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve." However, through this great religious political power, Satan has succeeded in deceiving almost the whole world into falling to the temptation of giving to Satan worship and service, which rightfully belong to God. 22- As a narcotic, like tobacco binds its victim to its use so strongly that it is almost impossible to break the habit, so, Satan has from the very beginning used force to bind people's worship and service to himself. Just outside the gates of the garden of Eden, Satan stirred up the murderous anger of Cain against his brother, Abel, because Abel's obedience to God's commands were a constant reproof to Cain’s disobedience to the same commands. 23- However, the first religious political power is not by itself for we find a second power or reaction coming up in Revelation 13:11. He exercises all the power of the first beast. There is one outstanding difference. This power does not seek to attract the worship of people to itself, but it leads the whole world to worship the first beast or power. 24- In Revelation 13:14-16, the second power makes an image or likeness of the first power, so it must develop a religious political appearance for it also demands worship-It also enforces on pain of death, conformity to a certain mark on the forehead or hand. 25- God has a mark or sign for His people. He says in Ezekiel 20:12, "Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them." Since the powers we are studying about are under the control of Satan, and he has deceived them into worshipping him instead of God, we would expect his sign or mark to be the observance of a day similar to God's Sabbath, yet not God's Sabbath. 26- When we see a religious group trying to establish the observance of the Sabbath on a day that is not God's Sabbath, (the Seventh day of the week, or Saturday), by the power of the political government, we shall know that we are seeing an effort to establish the mark of the Beast, that is, the mark of a great power that has received its power and authority from Satan. 27- When the mark of the beast is established, it will come as a great deception. Most people will not understand what it really is. The only way we can be sure of avoiding it is to have God's sign in our foreheads. The observance of His Holy Sabbath Day, the Seventh day of the week. 28- This is the day God says His people will observe throughout eternity. Isaiah 65:22,23. "For as the new heavens and new earth, which I will make, shall remain, and it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, said the Lord:' Let us prepare to be among God's people in that day by observing His day and receiving His mark now. Here is additional information about the Seventh-day Sabbath: "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."-Revelation 22:14. "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.” -Isaiah 66:22-23. Read Isaiah 58:12-14, which predicted that the true Sabbath would again be restored at a later time. This matches Daniel 7:25 which predicted its desecration by the little horn. |
