10:10 Wellness

A More Excellent Way

One of my Saturday morning regulars recommended a book to me:  A More Excellent Way to Be In Health.  As you probably know, I'm a sucker for titles like that, and I had no qualms about dropping about $20 to get it.  We all have our weaknesses.

It's a very large/long book originally published in the early nineties and written by Henry Wright a lay person who has created a ministry and company to promote concepts of biblical health.  His primary assertion is that 80% of all disease has a spiritual root.  Because he uses so much scripture in his writing, I have to tell you that I was quickly infatuated with the material.  It provides an explanation, supported by lots of God's word, as to why so many suffer from sickness and disease.

A recent Google search brought me to a sobering review at Bible.org.  It's kinda long, and a great piece to read if you've read Wright's book, but it does not review it favorably.  The author of the article acknowledges connections between our spirits and our health, and he also acknowledges that Wright is sincere in his teaching; but he pretty much throws his teaching under the bus.  In a nutshell he points out that much of the scripture used is taken out of context to support a point Wright is trying to make.

There's much more to his critique than that, but I wanted to share one quote from the review that I loved:

"God promises us the abundant life. According to the health and wealth preachers, the abundant life is only being healthy and wealthy. That is an earthly (unbiblical) perspective. The biblical perspective is that the abundant life is being able to have joy in the midst of trials – whether sickness, poverty, prison, or whatever. The abundant life is not found in circumstances. It is found in relationship with Christ, the Lord of and over our circumstances."

I think I'll keep searching for a more excellent way.

 

 

 

Are you on acid? Part 2

In part 1 I introduced the concept of pH as one of measures that's used by many in the natural cancer treatment community, and I offered one of the community beliefs "cancer cannot survive in an alkaline environment".  I also offered a weed analogy of how cancer spreads (or metastasizes - that's medical lingo for the spread of cancer), and I suggested melanoma spreads like a dandelion. 

Probably the most knowledgeable of my readers on such a topic, Cynthia Calisch, a dear friend, Sarasota Chapter president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, and my raw milk supplier (for my cat of course) told me she was saddened by my use of such an analogy.  She reminded me this was only theory, and that other explanations are more plausible.  Her response is on her blog, Yikes! I have cancer!.  If you pay attention, you learn something every day.

Anyway, in part 2 I want to help us understand what pH is and how it affects us.

Are you on acid?

Sorry it's been a while.  I hope you're doing well.  The hot brunette and I have left sunny Florida to hang out in Roswell, GA (Atlanta) for a while.  For those of you who keep up with such things, you'd know this is our third home in 2 years.  This mobility started with an empty nest exploration but has most recently occurred for family reasons - that family being my bro Jim.  I wrote about his situation last August.  (What are you supposed to do?). 

If you read about Jim in August, you'd recall he has melanoma cancer.  While all cancer is dangerous, melanoma is one of the worst because of its ability to spread.  A good analogy for this cancer could be weeds.  Some weeds (most cancers) spread only from their origin with offshoots or vines.  Melanoma, on the other hand, spreads more like a dandelion where seeds can be released from the plant and be carried by the wind to far away places.  In a human body that wind is our bloodstream.

God Wants You Well (Conclusion)

So we live in a fallen world, and people get sick.  But God wants us well.  There's a disconnect there.  Maybe we could say there's a battle.  Of course I want to be on God's team, but sometimes I can't help looking at the scoreboard and seeing that we're losing.

Here's where faith comes into play.  Faith is that mysterious component that separates believers from tire kickers.  It's the thing I struggle with most with my non-believing friends.  It's something I want so much for them but will never be able to offer; because faith doesn't come from me.  Faith comes from surrender.  It means I will believe and trust in something even if I can't see it with my eyes.

When we flip a light switch we demonstrate faith.  I don't really have a clue how electricity works, how it's delivered to my home, or how it illuminates the light bulb that enables me to see my keyboard right now.  But I know it works.  Any believer would describe their faith in the same way.

So when I look at the world's scoreboard, the one that's telling us that half of you reading this will get sick with cancer in your lifetime, it doesn't matter.  The game is already over.  God wins.  Of course you and I have to keep playing - meaning there's still time on the clock.  But I know through faith that we've already won.  It is finished.  Isn't that how Jesus put it just before he died on the cross?

Since there's still time on our clocks, and because there's still a lot of sick people, I'm gonna keeping fighting - fighting for life.  Abundant life at that!

Are you in?

God Wants You Well (part 6)

Andew Wommack, author of God Wants You Well, put it this way:  "The Lord used healing like a bell to get people's attention and to prove that he did have power on earth to forgive sins".  He used the paralyzed man on the mat to illustrate.

The story begins with a display of faith.  Jesus had come to a town, another one of those where the people flocked to see this celebrated preacher man.  He was preaching in a home that was so full of seekers that people were crowded around the doors and windows hoping to get a glimpse of Jesus. 

God Says You're a Fool?!

When you pamper, promote and protect the part of you that will only live seventy or eighty years and neglect the part of you that will live on in either heaven or hell, God says you're a fool.

Don't Be a Fool

God Wants You Well (part 5)

So near the end of his short life, Jesus spends about 3 years sharing all the truths about the Kingdom of God.  If you've never read these stories, you should - it's truly good reading.  I'm talking about the "gospels" which are those books in the New Testament of the Bible:  Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

The story of Jesus' ministry reads better than any novel ever written.  Some may argue that it's not better, but no one can argue that any thing's been more read.  In the gospels we learn of how Jesus came to be and how God wants us to live.  Throughout these books we read of countless miracles he performed - most of which were healing sick people.

God Wants You Well (part 4)

The story of Adam and Eve demonstrates that we all have a "sin nature".  That simply means that if we're put in a situation and told not to do something, eventually you and I will do that thing.  The Bible describes and/or mandates what those don't things are.  As a Christian, it's my belief that God inspired people to articulate those things into written word so that we can now study and learn and practice them.  Just as a parent tells a child not to touch a hot stove, God tells us to avoid certain behavior for our own good.  And just as a child eventually touches that stove and gets burned, so we taste those forbidden fruits and suffer consequences.

So continuing past the story of Adam and Eve, we come to that part of the Bible where God gave us instructions and rules on how to live.  He (God that is) used Moses for this purpose.  That's how the 10 Commandments came about.  "Thou shalt not..." is how we often here them.  My Bible reads "you shall not..." as the thous come from the classic King James translation which btw was an amazing accomplishment since the Bible was only available in Latin or Greek at the time.

God Wants You Well (part 3)

OK, so I left off saying I would explain the universal Christian belief that "Jesus died for our sins".  I fully realize that this is like having a 6 year old explain quantum physics.  My only hope is that there're some 6 year olds that will read this.  And I'm going to make this explanation without any scripture quotation - cause I'm lazy.

First, we have to believe in God.  Why?  You just do.  To comprehend quantum physics you have to believe that atomic and subatomic particles exist - even though we can't see them.  "I can see them under a microscope" some may retort.  Whatever.  I'm not here to try and convince anyone that God exists.  It's my belief that it takes more faith to believe in a randomly formed earth and universe than in an intelligent designer - but I digress.

God Wants You Well (part 2)

Great news.  God hasn't struck me down for admitting that I'm less than sure about TV evangelical healings.  So I can expand on what I learned from God Wants You Well.  As I said I was expecting a book on Biblical habits that will make us healthy - not eating bottom feeders type material.  It had none of that.

Let me preface this discussion with an admission that I'm still very green in Bible study.  I like to believe and try to have a child-like faith - which can in some ways be naive.  Perhaps later I'll unpack that.  I don't plan to provide a book review here - I just want to share how this book changed my belief about healing - divine healing in this case.