Ebola and Torah Observance

In the Bible are many rules for how we ought to live our lives.  Some of these rules are extremely practical and were years ahead of science in the effectiveness of what they accomplished.  Many of these rules are forgotten or ignored today.  We are told that we no longer have to follow those old rules because they have been done away with or that we are no longer "under" them.  I say in this time it might be important to look at and consider following some of them.  It may not be for your eternal salvation, but it may be for salvation in this life.


By now, I think most people have heard of Ebola and have seen it spread first in Africa, and now to various other countries including the United States.  This is a very serious deisease and despite the taking of some precautions, has spread to others who have been in contact with still others.  Whatever the reasons given for this spread, and the mutations possible, mistakes, etc... I would argue that it comes down to this, people do not know and are not following the laws of God.


There were many rules about clean and unclean things.  People with diseases were set apart from the camp.  Women when menstruating were unclean.  Anyone who touched a dead person or animal was unclean.  All soldiers had to have a shovel so they could bury their human waste.  Washing of hands, keeping storehouses clean, and other such ideas were all contained in Jewish law and tradition given to them by God.  If we look at how the Ebola and other diseases are spread, following Torah rules would help in preventing the spread.


Isolation seems to be a key ingredient to holding down the spread of disease, biblically.  For many reasons folks would have to separate themselves from the community when they were "unclean".  They would also have to be inspected before they could return to the community as "clean".  We seem to be ignoring this during this Ebola outbreak and have even seen leaders say that such isolation would be "inhumane".  Inhumane?  It only makes sense, but I guess if you do not follow God, anything is OK.


During the middle ages when the black plague pandemic killed of huge populations in Europe, there was one particular group of people who were far less effected by the plague than everyone else.  It was the Jewish people.  It was precisely because of their observance of Torah that allowed them to survive in greater numbers where others perished.  It was their laws of clean living that prevented them from having the conditions present for the spread of the disease in the Jewish communities.  As a result, they became economic powerhouses and gained the wealth that the dying had left.   Because of their survival, the remaining who survived blamed the Jews and accused them of poisoning the water to take control of the countries.  They were then expelled from the nations, or faced death.


If this Ebola grows into a pandemic, it may be those very laws in the Torah that allow you to survive.  Keeping yourself clean, you area clean, and if society won't isolate the sick, we may have to isolate ourselves. 


Even if Ebola does not grow into a pandemic, living this way will certainly keep you healthy and help you to live rather disease free, for the most part.  It is a promise from God.  And if that is not enough, all of it is verified by the science we know about.  While we are not saved spiritually by looking to observance of the law, observing the law can save you.  It might be time to take another look at the law and what it says. 


Exodus 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.


Psalm 91 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.  Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.  He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.  Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.  Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.  Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.  They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.  He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.  With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

Dietary Reaping and Sowing

Galatians 6:7

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Normally when we think of this verse, we think of people who have done some very bad things.  I see this verse often used with adulterers, or thieves, or some other such obvious criminal or sinful behavior.  This is a principle that goes far beyond just the obvious though and can be very subtle.  Even things that don’t seem so bad can have consequences that are quite negative that sneak up on a person. 

 

One of these things is our diet.  We hear all the time about what we are supposed to eat, but we are bombarded with what we can eat.  For the Bible believer one reads about what to eat and what not to eat in the scriptures, but tells himself that it no longer applies.  We are free from the law and can eat whatever we want to eat as long as we eat it by faith.  I’ve heard that.  I’ve even said it myself a time or two.  We are not as free as one would think though, when it comes to dietary law or principles found in scripture.  We reap consequences from eating unclean things.

Food today is far removed from the food people used to consume even 100 years ago.  It is processed with all sorts of chemicals that are foreign to the natural state of the food.  We even create foods today that do not occur naturally.  All of these unnaturally processed and unnaturally generated foods were not designed to work in the nourishment and strengthening of our body.  The intent may be there, but our bodies were not designed to function with these unnatural items.  

 

Many people today have a McDonalds and microwave diet.  They are in a hurry and just are thinking of filling the belly while they are on the run to do something else.  They are not thinking about the food, what is in it, how it was made, or what it might do to them.  Just fill the gut and run.  We as a people are reaping the results of that in record obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, and many other maladies that is related to the food we eat.  I am not immune myself and am reaping some high blood pressure as a result of years of eating non-foods.

Many of the foods we eat today are not designed to keep the body running so much as they are designed to keep us buying a particular product.  I read an article once that a company researched that best configuration of a sugar molecule that would be the most appealing to people so they could cram their product with it and subconsciously get people addicted to the product.  Repeat sales is the name of the food business.  
 

In recent years, companies like Monsanto and others have even been making unnatural combinations of foods in a laboratory, genetically altering plants and animals in ways that could never occur naturally or even with selective breeding.  They have cornered our market with their unnatural foods that other places in the world will not even allow into their countries.  No studies have been done to see what effects these foods might have on humans.  Looking at the rises in various diseases that were once rare gives at least a clue.


I am going to meet what I have sown by putting my trust in the Lord.  In the Bible is outlines a diet that is good.  God would not order a diet that was bad for us.  God wants the best for us so I am (finally) going to trust Him on His word and learn to eat the way God intended us, and had ordered his chosen people to eat.  Going by the reaping and sowing principle God set, I expect that this change to cure me of my high blood pressure and take care of most any other malady that I may have as a result of poor nutrition.  Forgive me Father for not recognizing this sooner

We Are The Evil Empire

There was a time where the United States of America stood for freedom, justice, Godly morals, love thy neighbor, and that which was good in man.  It really was not that long ago.  It was in my lifetime.  When I look at the country now, I don’t know who we have become.  We are unrecognizable now from the moral super power we once were.  Not only are we unrecognizable; but we are living a delusion, thinking we still are the moral super power.

IN my lifetime, we used to believe that every child had the right to live.  That changed in 1971 and now we have slaughtered over 50,000,000 people on the alters of liberalism.  How can we speak to others of human rights when we do not even value the lives of our own humans?  The souls of the murdered scream for vengeance.

In my lifetime, we used to value ourselves and our bodies.  Sex was viewed as a sacred thing given only in love to a partner of the opposite sex in a lifelong bond.  Now we live in a society of sexual deviants that only cares about self-gratification in the moment.  We have devalued the bond between two people of the opposite sex that we feel it is ok to have intercourse with anyone, without consequence or responsibility.  Entire industries have sprung up to serve the self-serving instant gratification seeking spoiled brats, including the murder factories mentioned above. 

In my lifetime, you could not even show a belly button on the screen.  Today it is almost impossible to find a movie without a pornographic sex scene between unmarried people.  The themes of movies were once good vs evil where the good triumphed in the end compared to today’s films of special effects and gore where you can’t tell the good guys from the bad guys and you are never quite sure which one won.  How can we speak of being a moral people when our pop icons are barely more than porn stars who have flashed their private areas to millions to gawk at?

In my lifetime, sex between two people of the same sex was considered a perversion and a mental illness.  Today, not only is it considered normal, but we are redefining our social institutions to accommodate this perversion of nature.  Now that this is normalized, we have people who want to have sex with little children wanting to be recognized and accepted into society as normal as well.

In my lifetime, Foods could be mostly trusted to be what they were naturally.  The beef, chicken, fruits and vegetables were closely related to the exact same things we had eaten naturally since our beginnings.  Today we have these scientifically produced monster foods that are destroying the very environment we need to survive in and may even be killing us off slowly.  In a sick need for greed we are putting our entire existence on this planet in jeopardy just to create a few more bucks into a corporations coffers.

Doesn’t it seem a little odd that today, in the country we once considered the evil empire just 30 years ago, Russia, Bibles are allowed and taught in their schools, and sex is at least recognized as only normal between a man and woman?  And that this evil empire considers what we are doing to our food supply so dangerous to the existence of people on this planet that they are saying war may result from our tampering with the food chain?  Maybe Russia is not the evil empire any more.  I think we have taken up that role, and most don’t even see it.

No More

At the end of June, I made an important life decision.  It was one that I had toyed with for some time, and even attempted a time or two without success.  The reason for the lack of success was mainly because I was only toying with the idea.  What did I do? I stopped smoking.  I just quit cold turkey, except that it really wasn’t I who quit this time.  Another reason for previous failure.  This time, it was God. 
This brings up the interesting and elusive question about how does one give something up to God, or how does one let God work in your life?  Those are tough questions I always seem to struggle with myself.  I think the first thing is to acknowledge that you need God’s help.  Previous attempts at will power failed or were temporary.  I’m pretty strong willed, so to admit that is a pretty big step for me, lol.
The second thing I did in this was to confess it to someone I trust in the Lord.  Where two or more are in agreement, God is in the midst.  Mathew 18:19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.  This does not say may be, or might be, it says shall be.  So, more so than having just an “accountability partner” as I hear so much in churches today, I have the word of God that promises that if we agree in Him, It is a done deal.
Has it been easy?  Nope.  As I sit here typing right now, I feel like I should be having a cigarette.  It comes across my mind at every juncture where I would smoke before.  My sleeping has gotten messed up and is only the last couple nights gotten a little more normal again.  Every time I stop at a gas station for a pop or fill up, I still want to ask for a pack of smokes.  Despite all of that, I already know that this is a done deal.  The bible tells me so.
My reasoning is pretty simple, really.  The Bible says we need to be wise stewards of what we have been given.  Luke 12:42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?  This is one of several verses and parables that speaks on being wise stewards with our money.  Psalms 24:1 The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.  We are only temporary caretakers here.
Just doing a bit of simple math, at current prices it costs almost $200 a month to smoke a pack a day.  That’s $2400 a year blown on essentially nothing.  If I put that aside; after 20 years I will have $75,000 in the bank.  And that is at low rates of return.  Just for fun I put rates at the 1970s levels of 18%.  That would yield nearly half a million.  With wise investment, ¼ million is not impossible.  All that just from not smoking.
There are of course the health benefits that everyone is told of.  Many of the attributed health issues attributed to smoking are also tied in to a myriad of other factors too, such as processed foods, pollutants in our ground and drinking water, chemical compounds in packaging, and a million other things.  The real benefits will come by getting off my keester and doing something, rather than sitting around inhaling smoke.
I sit and wonder though, will these little thoughts always be here with me?  10 years from now will I sit down and have the thought that it would be nice to have a smoke?  I’ll find out if, Lord willing, I get there. The bottom line though is that it is already finished.  I have the promise of God to stand on.  I don’t have to do what my body feels, or some random thoughts say.  I have been freed from the bondage that cigarettes held over me. 
John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Offering Solutions for Health Care

I just read a blog where the blogger was complaining about people opposing the government paying for her health care. Her argument was that she had a child with mental issues and the bills were piling up despite her job having insurance coverage for her that she pays $300 out of $900 a month on. The first part of my response was as follows:

Who pays the government for the government to pay your medical expenses? Taxpayers. Your advocating taking more money out of MY pocket so YOU don't have to pay YOUR expenses? No Ma'am. I feel ya but I got enough of my own expenses. Maybe the govt can get a car insurance option that will keep my car running for free?

Not being the kind to just complain, I offered my opinion on what would make things more affordable in health care. I will delve deeper into the details here.

If they really want to drive down cost, let insurance companies cross state lines and compete with one another. People will choose the ones with the lowest cost/best quality. Currently insurance companies have to be licenses state by state and cannot cross state lines without holding multiple licenses. This stifles competition and causes prices to rise, especially in states where they may be taxed more. Why should the same insurance coverage cost 30% more than the state right next to it? Competition drives down prices.

Get rid of HMO's that limit your care options to certain doctors and hospitals so people can shop around for the best prices in health care. Prices will drop to stay competitive. Again, we go back to free market economics. If you need an operation, why should you pay $30,000 for said operation when the hospital in the next town over you can get the same operation for $25,000? And so on. You will go where there is both lower price and equal quality. In an HMO, you cannot. For my stomach problem I had to see 5 different doctors because they kept leaving the HMO or changing to a different one. As a result I had to repeat the whole process each time and it cost much more money.

Take regulations off insurance companies to cover elective services like face lifts and sex changes. Keep insurance for those who really are sick. It used to be that insurance would only be for catastrophic issues such as car accidents and operations, broken bones or serious illness. Now every little doctor visit is covered. We used to have to pay the $50 for a physical ourselves. Now that same physical costs $300 plus dollars, but we only pay maybe $25 of it. If we had to pay for it, we would be outraged at $50 for an aspirin, and other such outrageous charges. We’d buy our own aspirin for $5 for a whole bottle at the Osco. Elective surgeries were just that, elective and not covered. Part of our insurance payments go for tummy tucks and adadicktome’s. That’s fine if people want to do those things, but having it covered by insurance means I am paying for it in my premiums.

Insist that doctors fix problems instead of prescribing pharmaceuticals that just mask symptoms. If we took the time to really find the problem instead of just writing prescriptions, we would have healthier people long term. This would drive down cost as less people would need care. What they call it is managed care. In other words, keep the people on the pills for life and never really fix the health issue. Pharmaceuticals are making billions on people being sick, not people being well. We don’t complain though when we only pay a $5 co-pay to just feel better. If we had to pay the $25 per pill, we’d be up in arms and want to be healed so we wouldn’t have to take and pay for the stupid pills.

The more insulated we are from the costs of health care, the more out of hand the cost will get. We all pay for it in the end, whether it is higher premiums or higher taxes. Nothing is for free