A. N.E.W. S.T.A.R.
Almighty God, the Ancient
of Days
The first and most important part of physical health is to
be established with grace. "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you." Matthew
6:33. Right choices in all aspects of health will be of little
benefit if one is doing them to glorify self or someone else and not the
Lord in whom we live and breath and have our being. Spiritual health means
choosing to follow the Lord. Doing what is right in His sight results in
blessings to physical and mental health. Christ Jesus is the Great Physician
and the consciousness of right doing is the best medicine.
Nutrition
Outside of the condition of spiritual poverty, the greatest contributing
factor to poor health is a poor diet and irregular eating habits.
Meat, animal products, and sugar are not essential for health or strength
or else the Lord made a mistake when He provided food for Adam and Eve
before their fall. Fruits, vegetables, and grains have all the elements
of nutrition necessary for health and strength and the making of good blood.
Exercise
Inactivity weakens the system. Action is a law of life. God made
men and women to be active and useful. Exercise increases muscle tone,
strengthens bones and improves the health of body, mind, and spirit. Nothing
can increase the strength of the young or old like proper exercise of all
the muscles in useful labor such as gardening. Next to useful labor,
the benefits of walking to body, mind, and soul cannot be more emphasized,
especially when walking is done where one can read God's book of nature.
Nature is God's physician here on earth. Outdoor exercise amid the surroundings
of purer air, glad sunshine, beautiful flowers and trees, orchards and
vineyards, is a health-giving elixir of life. Outdoor life is the only
medicine that many chronically ill need. Its influence is powerful to heal
sickness caused by fashionable lifestyles that weaken and destroy the physical,
mental, and spiritual powers.
Water
In health and in sickness, pure water is one of Heaven's choicest
blessings. Its proper use promotes health. It is the beverage which God
provided to quench the thirst of animals and man. Drank freely, it helps
to supply the necessities of the system, and assists nature to resist disease.
Connected with water treatments, the things of nature are God's blessings,
provided to give health to body, mind, and soul. They are given to the
well to keep them well, and to the sick to make them well. The things
of nature are more effective in restoring health than all the drug medications
in the world. Because the body is 70% water, it is essential to health
to keep well hydrated with pure water and to know when to drink. Hydrotherapy
[water applied externally to the body] followed by massage increases the
circulation and enhances the immune system tremendously.
Sunlight
The sun was created by God to sustain the cycle of life on earth.
Our general well-being is much dependent on regular exposure of the body
to sunlight. The body's homonal balance and metabolism depend tremendously
on the body's exposure to sunlight. Lack of sunlight results in the
inadequate mineralization of the bones and skeleton if the diet is not
supplimented with Vitamin D. Exposure of the skin to sunlight causes
Vitamin D to be synthesized in the skin. The amount of Vitamin D
synthesized by exposure to sunlight or ultravioltet light depends on the
area of skin exposed and the time of exposure. Due to many factors that
affect the magnitude of ultraviolet light-dependent synthesis of Vitamin
D it should be considered an essential dietary nutrient. There are several
dietary sources of Vitamin D including eggs, butter, fortified cereals,
and infant formulas fortified with Vitamin D, however, the most beneficial
and recommended source of Vitamin D is regular exposure to sunlight. Some
considersations: skin with high melanin content requires longer exposure
to ultraviolet light to achieve the same degree of synthesis compared to
lighter skin; capacity of skin to synthesize Vitamin D in the elderly is
approximately half that of younger people; snythesis of Vitamin D decreases
with kidney failure.
Temperance
Temperance is, as are all good things, a gift of the LORD, who specifies
it as a "fruit of the Spirit" [Galatians 5:22,23]. God's plan for
His children is to use the good things moderately and to abstain completely
from the bad. Temperance in all good things is necessary in order
to preserve health ~ ~ temperance in labor, temperance in diet, temperance
in all good things. Our heavenly Father sent the light of health reform
to guard against the evils resulting from a debased appetite, that those
who love purity and holiness may know how to use with discretion the good
things He has provided for them, and that by exercising temperance in daily
life, they may be sanctified through the truth and know the truth of Love.
Adapted from Counsels of Health, page 120.
Air
Pure air is more important than food or water; it is the body's
most essential resource.
Proper breathing and pure air are fundamental to good health.
In order to have good blood, we must breathe well. Full, deep inspirations
of pure air which fill the lungs with oxygen, purify the blood. They
impart to it a bright color, and send it, a life-giving current, to every
part of the body. A good respiration soothes the nerves, stimulates
the appetite, and renders digestion more perfect; and it induces sound,
refreshing sleep.
~ ~ adapted from The Ministry of Healing, page 272.
Rest
How sweet is rest after a proper amount of labor. Sleep, nature's sweet restorer, invigorates the tired body and prepares it for the next day's duties. Everybody should have periods of rest, of entire freedom from taxing mental and physical labor. But these periods should not take the place of daily physical exercise. "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." Heb. 4:1, 2. Here will be seen that without faith we will fall short of true rest. True faith rests mind, body, and soul. "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of disobedience. For he that is entered into His rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did His." How did God cease from His works? He rested on the 7th day, the only day that God has sanctified and hallowed, the Sabbath day of Creation and of the new heavens and the earth made new. See Isaiah 66:22,23.