Michigan Camp Meeting 2024: As For Me and My House

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Secrets of Wellness

Ernestine Finley

01 How to Live Longer, Healthier & Happier

You are about to enjoy a presentation recorded at the 2024 Michigan Conference Camp Meeting held at Cedar Lake, Michigan.

We pray that the Lord will bless you as you listen.

Father in heaven, we pray that your Holy Spirit would dwell here.

Speak through me today and help us to follow the messages that you've given us.

We are so privileged as Seventh-day Adventists to have inside information before science has even proven it.

And so we thank you and we pray for your Holy Spirit to dwell here with us.

Bless each 1 who has come, I pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, we also want to have a deeper understanding of the Adventist health message, because we are very privileged to have God give us a message ahead of time.

And now science is proving what we have known for well over 100 years.

You see, because health is part of God's end time message.

And let's read that together in Revelation 14, 6 and 7.

Fear God and give Glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.

The 3 angels message is so important for God's people living in earth's last hour.

And so what does it mean to give glory to God?

For you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's.

So we glorify God by having a good lifestyle.

And also we are told the same thing in very specific in 1 Corinthians 10 31.

Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

So Whatever we eat, whatever we drink, we need to do to the glory of God.

So to give God glory simply means to praise Him in our lifestyle.

And so lifestyle is so important, and especially today where the diseases are rising very, very, very, very fast.

Heart disease is the number 1 killer, but cancer is number 2 and it is growing so fast that it could soon surpass heart disease and be number 1.

And it is number 1 already in some places in the world.

When we were in Singapore, I was studying the statistics there.

And cancer is number 1, and heart disease number 2.

But basically speaking, the killer diseases around the world are basically the same.

And so, But God has given us great health insights in his word.

And we have had medical enlightenment a whole century in advance.

He gave it to us because he cares for us.

He doesn't want to take anything away from us, does he?

He only wants to give us what he knows is best for us.

And so through the gift of prophecy, God has revealed the benefits of these lifestyle practices.

In fact, December 10, 1871, health educator Ellen White wrote this in Councils on Diets and Foods, page 69.

I was again shown, in other words, she was shown before.

I was again shown that the health reform is 1 branch of the great work, which is to fit a people for the coming of the Lord.

So this message is to fit us for the coming of the Lord.

And we want to be ready for the coming of the Lord, don't we?

And so it's to fit us, it's to prepare us.

It is as closely connected with the third angel's message as the hand is to the body.

And the hand is pretty closely connected to the body, isn't it?

And so the health message is closely connected to the 3 angels' message.

In fact, 1 of our early pioneers, Jay Wagner, said this.

When placed on a level with the great truths of the 3 angels' message, and there are many great truths of the 3 angels' message, by the sanction and authority of God's spirit and so declared to be the means whereby a weak people can be made strong to overcome and our diseased bodies cleansed and fitted for translation, then it, the health message, comes to us as an essential part of present truth.

And to be received with the blessing of God or rejected at our peril.

We can accept it as a blessing from God, thank you God for giving us this message, or we can reject it at our own peril.

Because you see, these killer diseases are rising so fast, and even many of them are striking our own people.

What are some of the things that we can do so that we can at least reduce the risk of these killer diseases or even reverse them in many cases, and I'm going to show you that.

But are we aware of some of these things?

As I travel around the world, I know that in many places, they're not aware of the message that we've been given from God.

And many, she says, in Councils on Diets and Foods 451, she wrote this in 1890.

And she says, many, even of those who profess to believe the special truths for this time.

She says, are lamentably ignorant with regard to health and temperance.

Not only ignorant, but lamentably ignorant.

And we are not only responsible for what we don't know, we're responsible for what we don't know and we could have known.

And so we need to study these things through.

And so Seventh-day Adventists have the Bible and the spirit of Prophecy as the basis for the true, the true health message to be presented to the world.

If it's the true message and she calls it the true message, then there must have been a false message somewhere, right?

And let's look at those medical practices in the mid-1800s and early 1900s when Ellen White was given the vision on the health message.

What was it like and why did God give Seventh-day Adventist the health message?

Well, What was medical care like during the early mid-1800s when the Adventist movement grew out of the American soil?

1844, after the Great Disappointment, then the Adventist message was growing.

And it was in 1863 that God gave the health message.

But why did God want to give the health message to Seventh-day Adventists?

Worthington Hooker wrote a medical handbook in which he recommended this.

This was the recommendation from medical handbooks.

The combination of chalomel, mercury chloride, and opium as a great value to treat inflammatory diseases.

And then mercury was used as a remedy to treat chronic diseases.

And look, alcohol was used as a treatment to help patients sleep.

And quinine, a drug used to treat malaria, was used for colic and intermittent fevers.

Death, that's a pretty serious side effect, isn't it?

Yes, and brandy and wine and other stimulants were used to increase vitality.

Now of course, brandy wine also can be used either as a sedative or a stimulant.

It's pretty stimulating when people are drinking alcohol or wine or brandy and they become so intoxicated that they become angry and that's a stimulant.

02 How to Live Longer, Healthier & Happier

Our Father in Heaven, we thank you for the messages that you've given us.

We thank you that it's even part of the 3 angels message.

May your Holy Spirit come in here today, dwell with us, and help us not only to have a head knowledge, but help us to practice these remedies for keeping us healthier, happier, and even living longer.

So we thank you and praise you, and 1 day we look forward to living with you throughout all eternity.

Well, we were having a little deeper understanding of the Adventist health message because we were given a lot of information over a hundred years ago that science is really just catching up with.

And so we were studying these 8 natural remedies and they all spell wellness, so it's easy for you to remember.

Water, exercise, love and trust in God, Lifestyle, we're gonna study that today.

And then nutrition and environment, the air and breathing properly and all of that, and sunshine and sleep.

And so we covered yesterday up to lifestyle, and so we're gonna go right into that today.

Well, first of all, it's temperance, living a temperate life.

And that's abstinence, as Ellen White puts it as 1 of the remedies, abstinence.

It's abstaining from everything that is harmful, alcohol, drugs, caffeine, all of these kinds of things, and it is using wisely that which is good.

But if we overeat or we're eating all the time, then that's not going to bring us health and endurance and energy and all of that.

So, first of all, lifestyle, having a good lifestyle means abstaining from everything that's harmful.

And of course, we know that tobacco is a major killer.

And we as Seventh-day Adventists actually have the opportunity of still having stop smoking plans in our churches.

I hope that some of you who may be – do we have health ministry directors here from your church?

It's important to have a holistic, broad opportunity for classes, and so that you even have an opportunity to help people to stop smoking.

I know in our evangelistic meetings even here in the United States every time we have evangelism We also have stop smoking seminars for people.

And so we know that that's a major killer, but most, almost all Seventh-day Adventists know that and they are not smokers.

But What about alcohol and alcoholic beverages?

Alcohol is a known brain and intestinal toxin.

And perhaps the most sobering is now the convincing data that there is no safe level of drinking when it comes to cancer prevention.

And also the Lancet, which is out of Britain, and it says that there is no safe level of alcohol, period.

And yet I know that some even Seventh-day Adventists think that it's okay to just have you know occasional wine, occasional drink, but look a growing body of research asserts that even occasional light drinking increases your risk of both cancer and death of any cause.

And so even social drinking science is showing, Particularly if you look up the Lancet, which is equivalent to the American Medical Association, they say no safe level of alcohol, period.

But then there's another drug that people are using every day and haven't really thought much about it.

They're using it all the time and that is caffeine, coffee, tea, those soft drinks that we talked about yesterday, and energy drinks that are so health destroying.

And so coffee and tea are those all-American drinks, and yet caffeine, caffeinic acid and chlorogenic acid that they contain has been associated with a number of significant health risks, including even early death.

And so there are so many, and you can find some of these references and some of these quotes in my book called Secrets to Wellness.

Why do people have to stand in line for a long time just to get their cup of coffee.

And yet we as Seventh-day Adventists have good counsel on this before some of the studies have come out even on caffeine.

And in the book, Councils on Diets and Foods 384, she says, the use of tea and coffee is injurious to the system.

To a certain extent, tea produces intoxication.

It enters into the circulation and gradually impairs the energy of body and mind.

But look, she says tea is poisonous to the system and Christians should let it alone.

The influence of coffee is in a degree the same as tea, but the effect upon the system is still worse.

And yet we see in even several Adventist churches, I've seen it myself, where they have a coffee bar and they're having coffee and donuts as people come into the church.

And yet we have so many, so so much counsel on all of this.

Well, medical researchers have discovered that there's a significant number of health risks with the use of coffee.

First of all, caffeine depletes the body's supply of vitamins and minerals, including calcium, which we need, especially as we get older, and iron and B vitamins.

Those B vitamins are the ones that help us so much with the nervous system and all of that.

And that depletes, caffeine depletes those vitamins and minerals.

And what are the problems with excessive amounts of caffeine?

It increases the risk of stomach, kidney, lung, rectal and esophageal cancer.

And it doubles the risk of bladder cancer in women.

So we're talking, you see, why did God give us all this counsel?

Not because he wanted to take anything away from us, but because he wanted us to be healthy.

So he's giving us counsel, saying, look, I don't want you to be sick, and I have some remedies that will help you to stay well.

It increases the colon cancer risk and oftentimes colon cancer is fatal, unfortunately.

There are some successes with prostate cancer, with breast cancer, but some of the cancers are actually fatal, and colon cancer is often 1 of those.

And it increases ovarian and pancreatic cancer.

But look what also it does for the major killer here in America and around the world, heart disease.

It increases the risk of heart disease significantly with 5 cups of coffee.

Someone says, well, I don't think anybody's drinking 5 cups of coffee a day.

Well, I was in getting my hair cut at the hairdresser, and I just overheard 1 of the men saying he was 1 of the employees there, and he said they were talking about having their morning coffee, and he said, oh, I couldn't live without my 10 cups of coffee a day.

And I thought, wow, I've looked up the effects of 5 cups of coffee.

And so we want to make sure that we're drinking the right beverage, and what is the right beverage?

Water is so important, at least 8 eight-ounce glasses of water every day.

And there are other caffeine alternatives as well.

The natural cereal beverages that are healthful.

You remember in the olden days when Adventism first started and they had Postum, but now they have many, many other alternatives, Peru, Roma, and even some other ones that are out there.

And then there are herbal teas also that are very, very good for us and they're health-promoting drinks.

And so the bottom line on lifestyle, my friends, is abstain from drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine, everything that is harmful, and using wisely those things that are good.

Because look, the scientific evidence is mounting.

America's top killer diseases can be reduced, not only reduced, but look, even prevented by our right lifestyle practices.

So we can not only prevent or reduce, we can actually even reverse these diseases.

And that's what's so exciting today, because we know scientifically we can reverse heart disease.

We know scientifically we can reverse diabetes too.

And now science is coming out with the fact that you can not only lower your risk of Alzheimer's, but it can even be reversed.

And so, but look, what is 1 of the important factors?

Well, more than 80% of the chronic diseases, including stroke and dementia, can be avoided with what?

So we want to make sure that we have that healthy food because look, science is showing that these telomeres that we have if they're short we have a shorter life longer longer life the Harvard at Harvard University Gazette reports that scientists at the Dana Faber Cancer Institute have found that the basic cause to age-related health decline is malfunctioning telomeres.

So they're saying, look, it's these malfunctioning telomeres.

So someone says, well, what are telomeres?

Series

Secrets of Wellness

02 How to Live Longer, Healthier & Happier

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

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