Healthful Living thru the Eyes of Grace

Announcer: This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message: Healthful Living through the Eyes of Grace, part one. Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up-to-date with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: My topic today is God’s gift of healing through the eyes of grace: the need of the gift, the origin of the gift, the purpose of the gift, and the reception of the gift. Let’s pray. Father, as we open Your word and study about heaven’s gift of healing, we pray that You’d open our eyes. Take us from the dim miasma of earth and transport us to the heavenly portals of the eternal world. Give us a new view of the need of the gift, the origin of the gift, the purpose of the gift, and the reception of the gift. We pray this in Christ's name, amen. The dawn of the 19th century was filled with promise. The union of states was now organized into a loosely knit conglomerate, and America was rejoicing in the presidency of George Washington. Then something extremely serious happened that hung like a dark shadow over America: the beloved president was ill, and America wondered what would happen to their leader. When the White House staff learned that George Washington was ill, the first thing they did was call for a bleeder, not a physician. And as the bleeder appeared in Washington's room, he quickly determined that what was needed was to slit the president's wrists and bleed him because his fever was quite high. That indicated, of course, in the medical parlance of the 19th century, that he had too much vitality. If you have a high temperature, you have too much vitality. The only cure for that is bleeding, so they bled him and drained 14 ounces of blood. When his physician came there the next morning, he recognized that he needed a consult, so he called two of the most renowned physicians of Washington, D.C. Before they came, the physician bled Washington again. When the two learned physicians came, the three in consult—because, of course, three are better than one—determined that they would bleed him a third time. This time, 32 ounces of blood were drawn. Washington was so weak that he pleaded with his physicians to let him die in peace, which they did. Now, the next morning after the death of George Washington, I want to read you the words that were carried in the popular press in Washington, D.C. "The beloved leader has died, but he has received the best of medical care. His untimely death occurred in spite of all that human knowledge and medical genius could accomplish and in spite of all the skill that we could do to arrest the course of the disease." What was the condition of medicine from 1800 to 1850? What was the climate in which the Adventist health message grew in? What was the backdrop to the origin of the Adventist health message? We learn a little bit about that backdrop in a medical journal written in 1858. Dr. Washington Hooker wrote about modern medical practices in the 1800s and in the 1850s, and he listed five of the major medical practices in the 1850s. Number one: the combination of calomel and opium is of great value if you have an inflammatory disease. So if you lived in the 1850s, you would want this combination of opium and calomel. Secondly: mercury is one of the best remedies for chronic disorders. Mercury. One of the best remedies. Thirdly: bleeding is very effective if it's used judiciously. Fourthly: if a patient has a fever, you need to get them to sleep, and the best way to get them to sleep is give them alcohol, because it will put your patients to sleep. Fifthly: if you have colic or intermittent fever, use quinine because quinine is the most effective. Dr. Chapman wrote a home remedy book in 1835. He talked in the home remedy book—which was called "The Family Medicine Chest Dispensary"—and said every home in America should have "The Family Medicine Chest Dispensary." Now, one of the remedies he gave there for lungs, for any lung diseases, was cigars and cigar smoke. This is what "The Family Medicine Chest Dispensary" says, 1835: "The patient should frequently draw in the breath of cigar smoke freely, so the internal surface of air vessels may be exposed to the action of vapor." 1835. The Adventist health message grew in this context. If you don't understand the context, you can't fully understand the gift of the message. Now, in 1863, Dr. J. Boyd developed a unique treatment for children who had high fevers. If your child living in the 1850s and '60s had a high fever, this is what Dr. J. Boyd said: "Let the little patient be bled freely at the commencement of the case." Your child is three, four, five years old, you slit their wrists. Now, this is no off-beat medical cure. This was the popular medical cure of the 1830s, 1840s, 1850s. "Let the little patient be bled freely at the commencement of the case. Then give the child, if they're three years old or upwards, wine mixed with emetic tartar. If necessary, repeat every half hour in giving them wine with this emetic tartar." You know, emetic tartar, that's to get you to vomit. That's the whole function there. "If the second dose does not cause vomiting, double the quantity of wine and emetic tartar unless the case is very mild. The vomiting should be encouraged if you have a fever by warm drinks," that is warm drinks of this liquid of wine and tartar, "and so the nausea is continued for a few hours." This is the setting of the Adventist health message. Now, can you understand why from 1844 to 1863, many of the early Adventist leaders were incredibly sick and ill, and some of them were dying too young? In 1863, at the age of 34 years old, J.N. Andrews—who Ellen White said was the ablest man among us, who later wrote the history of the Sabbath, who memorized—J.N. Andrews was asked, "We've heard that you've memorized the whole Bible, is that true?" And Andrews' response was, "I could not reproduce the Old Testament, but the New Testament I can certainly reproduce from memory if it were lost." Andrews spoke six languages. He taught himself Greek and he taught himself Hebrew. Ellen White said he's the ablest man among us. Here is where he was at 34 years old. I quote Andrews: "My general strength is easily exhausted. I find it difficult to perform the labor which devolves upon me as a preacher, and sometimes I'm so sick I can't even get to the pulpit." That is 1863. Now, Andrews talks about his own health practices and his own health habits, and this is what he says: "I supposed that oldish cheese was good for digestion. So the older the cheese, the more moldy, the better I thought it was for my digestion, so I consumed large quantities. As to meat, mince pie, and sausage, I thought they were not harmful, they were healthful. I loved hot biscuits, butter, donuts, pickles, preserves, tea and coffee, and pork in every form I commonly used. But I was so sick at 34 years old I could not even get to the pulpit." J.N. Loughborough. Now, Loughborough was on his deathbed, but do you know ultimately lived to 92 years old because of God's gift of health? Here's what Loughborough said about his health. Loughborough begins to speak about his health, and he says when he was 18, he had cigars prescribed by a physician, and he became hooked on cigars to cure up his lung deficiency. Loughborough goes on to say that he loved pork and pork gravy, and he said he ate pork in the morning, meat consumed in large amounts for noon, and slices of pork and beef in the evening. He ate almost no vegetables and almost no fruit. He existed largely on a fat meat diet. Loughborough and Andrews and James and Ellen White, as well as many early Adventists from 1844 to 1863, were suffering the consequences of abusing their bodies, and they were dying. Heaven knew it must act. Heaven knew it must move. Heaven knew that if this message was to be taken to the ends of the earth, that if God did not intervene with these early Adventist pioneers, that many of those brilliant minds like J.N. Andrews would die young.
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Mark Finley: So it was, in June of 1863, at the home of Aaron Hilliard in Otsego, Michigan, that a young woman now in her thirties knelt before God and prayed. She prayed for light and prayed that God would move. Heaven drew close on that beautiful June morning in Michigan, and heaven was opened. As it was, Ellen White was taken off in vision. She wrote about that vision in her own handwriting, and we still today at the Ellen White Estate in Washington, D.C., have the original letter, the original document that Ellen White wrote as she described that vision that saved many an Adventist pioneer. And here's what she wrote: "I was taken off in vision. I saw that it was a sacred duty to attend to our health, that this was a godly responsibility." She said, "It is not safe nor pleasing to God to violate the laws of health, then ask Him to care for our health and keep us from disease when we are living contrary to our prayers." God showed her that there would be deleterious practices that would come in that would destroy the health of His people. He urged her to teach the value of fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetables; the value of exercise and fresh air and sunlight. It was at that meeting in 1863 that heaven gave the gift of health to this church to save early Adventist leaders from destruction. The message of health is not rigid legalism given by an austere God, where men and women gloomily march to heaven with sadsack faces, gritting their teeth, trying somehow to live in harmony with all those health laws that have been given, I don't know if there are that many, so that they can be saved. The health message given to this church is a gift of grace. It's a gift given by a loving heavenly Father because He desires for you and me to live the most abundant life possible. Now, a careful study of scripture reveals there are four basic purposes outlined in scripture for the health message. I'd like to study them with you this morning. First, the health message is a gift given to God's people at a time of need, and it's given to accomplish four basic purposes as rooted in scripture. Purpose number one: God is a God who longs to enable us to have good health and the best quality of life. The first purpose of the health message is to produce health. The first purpose of the health message is to produce health. God longs for you and me to live the most abundant life possible. The reason I follow the health message, one of the first reasons is, because although I am 61 and am a troubadour around the world for the Lord, I would have a lot less energy than I do if I didn't. I want to be climbing mountains when I'm 90, playing tennis when I'm 100, if Jesus does not come. The purpose of the health message is not a legalistic requirement to grit your teeth so that you can finally somehow achieve 347 health laws given by the Spirit of Prophecy so that you can achieve heaven. Not at all. Every one of those principles is a gift of grace, given to us by God who wants every nerve and tissue in our body to be healthful. Deuteronomy the fourth chapter, the 40th verse. Here it is, it's a classic. This enables us to understand the character of God in the light of health and all of God's commands. Deuteronomy chapter four, verse 40: "You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today." Why? Why do I keep His statutes? Why do I keep His commandments? Here it is, Deuteronomy 4, verse 40: "You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you this day, that it may go well with you." What's the purpose of all of God's commandments? That it may go well with you. God wants it to go well with you. And what else? "And with your children after you." You follow the principles of health and build it in every—in the genetic fabric of your body. You pass on to your children, and you bequeath to your children, a positive health lifestyle. One of the greatest motivations to be done with drugs and alcohol and unclean foods and live a healthful lifestyle is to pass genetically on to the next generation. We are understanding some amazing things about genes today. One of the students in medical school shared with me that there is some evidence that's beginning to come into the medical community that some forms of cancer may actually be genetically transmitted. Fascinating studies. That there may be a cancer gene in addition to lifestyle practices. I'm not sure whether that's true or not, but I know this: proclivity to alcohol can be genetic. I know this, that there can be various genetic predispositions to make people more capable of having a heart attack. What as physicians do you do? One of the first things you do when you talk to a patient, when you take a history, you say is there any heart attack history in your family, right? God says that if you follow the principles of health, that it may be well with you and your children. To your children. God has a desire that we pass on to the next generation, if Jesus tarries, sound bodies and sound minds so that they can understand the things of eternity. But look here, verse 40: "You'll therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you this day, that it may go well with you and your children after you, that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord God is giving you for all time." God says, "I give you My commands, My health message, so that it goes well with you today, but so that you prolong your days." The health message is a gift of grace. I love John chapter 10, verse 10: "I've come that they might have life and they might have it more abundantly." Why did Jesus heal? One of the reasons Jesus healed is because He wants people to have the more abundant life now. What is the purpose of the Adventist health message? It is to give you and me and our patients the most abundant life possible. Today. Today. It is not a denial to keep off alcohol and tobacco. It is not. Sure, people who are addicted, one must deny themselves. But it is the pathway to the happiest, fullest, most abundant life possible. Four biblical reasons why God gave the Seventh-day Adventist church the health message. First, to live the most abundant life here, to be the most radiant, the happiest people here. When I see some proponents of the health message who look as if they are ready to criticize you and examine every single thing you eat with a microscope, they are not very good advertisements for the most abundant life here. One of the reasons for the health message is so that you will radiate, so that I'll radiate health and joy and happiness and communicate that to everybody around. Second reason: God is a God that longs for us to have deeper fellowship with Him. And since our health habits affect our spiritual life, God is interested in our health. The Holy Spirit does not communicate with your big toe. He communicates with your brain. And if the quality of food and the quality of your exercise program and the habits of your life pollute the blood going to your brain, the Holy Spirit cannot communicate as fully. There is an integrated and intimate relationship between the physical health and the spiritual health. And so, since human beings are not compartmentalized as Greek philosophy teaches, since we are not separate units of mind here and body here and spirit here. You know, the Greeks believed that suicide—actually the Romans who accepted Greek philosophy believed that suicide—was an honorable release because you could do nothing to inhibit and affect the soul. So they said, well, if you die, the soul leaves the body and mind and body and soul are separate and distinct. Seventh-day Adventists believe that we're an integrated unit. That what affects your body and the quality of blood that goes to the brain affects your relationship with God. We understand the integrated unity of the physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions of life. We recognize that the brain is nourished by the quality of blood. It’s nourished by what we eat.