The law of Health Reform
That binds in Seventh-Day Adventist Church
“Our first duty, one which we owe to God, to ourselves, and to our fellow men, is to obey the laws of God. These include the laws of health.” – Counsels on Health, pp. 24, 25.
The so-called “Health Reform” was actually heard for the first time in this time of the end, in the Laodicean Church which is the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. This means the statement was just for the first time appeared after 1844, that it belonged to only the Seventh-Day Adventists. Nevertheless from the fact of history and experience of God’s people in the Old Testament, the so-called health reform had been for several times promoted to the people of Israel. Even up to the time of John the Baptist.
To Adam the Lord God said:
“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed : to you it shall be for meat.” – Genesis 1 : 29.
Food for men at the beginning consists of herb bearing seed, and the fruits of every tree. Although Adam and Eve have long been fallen in sin, and driven out of their splendid Eden home, their food was yet the same the Lord had instructed them to eat ever since their creation. Even up to the time of Noah the flesh food was not as yet introduced to them up to the time of the awful flood. Sister Ellen G. White said:
“Previous to this time God has given man no permission to eat animal food. Every living substance upon the face of the earth upon which man could subsist had been destroyed, therefore God gave Noah permission to eat of the clean beasts which he had taken with him into the ark. God said to Noah, “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green herb have I given you all things.” As God had formerly given them the herb of the ground and fruit of the field, now, in the peculiar circumstances in which they are placed he permits them to eat animal food. Yet I saw that the flesh of animals was not the most healthy article of food for man.” – Spiritual Gifts, vol. III, p. 76.
The first time flesh food was permitted to Noah and his posterity, was due to the lacking of natural food available on the face of the earth, as the result of the flood. However, as the posterity of Noah continued to multiply, and the criminalities of every kind continued to increase, then one of the various causes of their fall were the appetite and passion.
Intemperance was the cause of the destruction
Of Sodom and Gomorrah
“As men multiplied upon the earth after the Flood, they again forgot God and corrupted their ways before Him. Intemperance in every form increased, until almost the whole world was given up to its sway. Entire cities have been swept from the face of the earth because of the debasing crimes and revolting iniquity that made them a blot upon the fair field of God’s created works. The gratification of unnatural appetite led to the sins that caused the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God ascribes the fall of Babylon to her gluttony and drunkenness. Indulgence of appetite and passion was the foundation of all their sins.” – Counsels on Health, p. 110.
The use of flesh as food in
The time of Israel in the Old Testament
Let us now continue to the experience of the Israelites in the time of Moses. Prior to their exodus from Egypt, they had been familiar with the fleshpots of Egypt. And even some of the precepts of the Law of God, which include the observance of the Sabbath of the fourth Commandment, they had failed to obey. These were the reason why the Lord has to take them out from their bondage in Egypt, to bring them out under the leadership of Moses to the wilderness. Sister White further said,
“The diet appointed man in the beginning did not include animal food. Not till after the Flood, when every green thing on the earth had been destroyed, did man receive permission to eat flesh.
“In choosing man’s food in Eden, the Lord showed what was the best diet; in the choice made for Israel He taught the same lesson. He brought the Israelites out of Egypt and undertook their training, that they might be a people for His own possession. Through them he desired to bless and teach the world. He provided them with the food best adapted for this purpose, not flesh, but manna, “the bread of heaven.” It was only because of their discontent and their murmuring for the fleshpots of Egypt that animal food was granted them, and this only for a short time. Its use brought disease and death to thousands. Yet the restrictions to a nonflesh diet was never heartily accepted. It continued to be the cause of discontent and murmuring, open or secret, and it was not made permanent.” – Ministry of Healing, p. 311.
Due to the various discontents and murmurings of the Israelites for the flesh food along their journey in the wilderness, that God for several times and again had granted them the animal food. That means the restriction to the nonflesh food in the Old Testament time was not as yet made permanent. That is the reason why Moses later had issued the rules on regard to the flesh food as stipulated in his book of Leviticus chapter 11. He then said, the animal food was granted them not for ever up to the time of the end, but only for a short time. This is proven from the following statement of Sister White, when she said,
“Upon their settlement in Canaan, the Israelites were permitted the use of animal food, but under careful restrictions which tended to lessen the evil results. The use of swine’s flesh was prohibited, as also of other animals and of birds and fish whose flesh was pronounced unclean. Of the meats permitted, the eating of the fat and the blood was strictly forbidden.” – Ministry of Healing, pp. 311, 312.
Let us carefully pay attention to the following quotation:
“The Lord gave His word to ancient Israel, that if they would cleave strictly to Him, and do all His requirements, He would keep them from all the diseases such as He had brought upon the Egyptians; but this promise was given on the condition of obedience. Had the Israelites obeyed the instruction they received, and profited by their advantages, they would have been the world’s object lesson of health and prosperity. The Israelites failed of fulfilling God’s purpose, and thus failed of receiving the blessings that might have been theirs. But in Joseph and Daniel, in Moses and Elijah, and many others, we have noble examples of the results of the true plan of living. Like faithfulness today will produce like results.” – Counsels on Diet and Foods, pp. 26, 27.
Health Reform in the lives of
Daniel and his companions
Sister White gave us the story as follows:
“Daniel’s parents had trained him in his childhood to habits of strict temperance. They had taught him that he must conform to nature’s laws in all his habits; that his eating and drinking had a direct influence upon his physical, mental, and moral nature, and that he was accountable to God for his capabilities; for he held them all as a gift from God, and must not, by any course of action, dwarf or cripple them. As the result of this teaching, the law of God was exalted in his mind, and reverenced in his heart. During the early years of his captivity, Daniel was passing through an ordeal which was to familiarize him with courtly grandeur, with hypocrisy, and with paganism. A strange school indeed to fit him for a life of sobriety, industry, and faithfulness! And yet he lived uncorrupted by the atmosphere of evil with which he was surrounded.
“The experience of Daniel and his youthful companions illustrates the benefits that may result from an abstemious diet, and shows what God will do for those who will cooperate with Him in the purifying and uplifting of the soul. They were an honor to God, and a bright and shining light in the court of Babylon.
“In this history we hear the voice of God addressing us individually, bidding us gather up all the precious rays of light upon this subject of Christian temperance, and place ourselves in right relation to the laws of health.
“In the case of Daniel and his three companions, there are sermons upon health reform.” — Counsels on Diet and Foods, pp. 154, 155, 379.
John the Baptist, the Health reformer,
who had prepared the way for the first coming of Jesus
Sister White as the servant of the Lord said:
“John was a reformer. The angel Gabriel, direct from heaven, gave a discourse upon health reform to the father and mother of John. He said that he should not drink wine of strong drink, and that he should be filled with the Holy Ghost from his birth.
John separated himself from friends, and from luxuries of life. The simplicity of his dress, a garment woven of camel’s hair, was a standing rebuke to the extravagance and display of the Jewish priests, and of the people generally. His diet, purely vegetable, of locusts and wild honey, was a rebuke to the indulgence of appetite, and the gluttony that everywhere prevailed. The prophet Malachi declares, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.” Here the prophet describes the character of the work. Those who are to prepare the way for the second coming of Christ, are represented by the faithful Elijah, as John came in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way for Christ’s first advent.” – Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 71.
A Call for a Health Reformation
for the people of God in the time of the end
As the servant of the Lord Sister White for the first time got the message on Health Reform in 1863. And then for the second time in 1871. We have quoted for you here below several of her statements as follows:
In 1863 :
“The Lord presented a general plan before me. I was shown that God would give to His commandment-keeping people a reform diet, and that as they received this, their disease and suffering would greatly lessened. I was shown that this work would progress.” – Counsels on Health, p. 531.
What is meant by “a reform diet “could be seen from the following quotation here below:
“Again and again I have been shown that God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to His original design, — that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth.”
“Vegetables, fruits, and grains should compose our diet. Not an ounce of flesh meat should enter our stomachs. The eating of flesh is unnatural. We are to return to God’s original purpose in the creation of man.” – Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 380.
In 1871 :
“I was again shown that the health reform is one branch of the great work which is to fit a people for the coming of the Lord. It is as closely connected with the third angel’s message as the hand is with the body.” – 1 Testimony Treasures, p. 320.
We all know for sure that the third angel’s message is also known as the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14 : 6 – 9. This is the message which has come through the servant of the Lord, Sister Ellen G. White, since 1844, which is also known by the name, “The Spirit of Prophecy.” The fact is that the message of Health Reform was also given to Sister White to supplement the third angel’s message.
The relation between the Spirit of Prophecy and the message of Health Reform seemed to be so close, that Sister White likened them to a relation between the arm and the body. This means that Health Reform and the Spirit of Prophecy have inseparable relations, to prepare the people of God for the coming of their Lord. This is why Sister White had emphasized in the following statements:
“The health reform is as closely related to the third angel’s message as the arm to the body; but the arm cannot take the place of the body. The proclamation of the third angel’s message, the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus, is the burden of our work. The message is to be proclaimed with a loud cry, and is to go to the whole world. The presentation of health principles must be united with this message, but must not in any case be independent of it, or in any way take the place of it.” – Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 75.
NOTE: Presentations of health principles must be united with the third angel’s message, which is the Spirit of Prophecy. We are not allowed to teach them separately from each other. Nor even to fail them either in your presentations of the messages to others.
Living up to health reform, a requirement to be blessed with the new light of the message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1
New light in the Bible means a new product of doctrinal points of view. It is the new message of reform in the New Testament era. Martin Luther is well known up to this time by his message of reform: “The Just shall live by Faith.” It is the very first subject of the doctrines of reform in the history of the New Testament. Luther has emerged as father of the Protestant reformation during the past dark ages of religion, after the Christian religion have been destroyed and darkened by the papal power of the Roman Catholic Church for nearly 1000 years. Since he had worked only about 16 years to restore the Biblical doctrines darkened during the oppression of the papacy, it is then an undeniable fact that his struggle must be continued by some other reformers up to the end of time. It is therefore that Sister Ellen G. White as the next servant of the Lord had come as the sixth reformer with her Biblical doctrine: “The Seventh-Day Sabbath and the Investigative Judgment in the heavenly sanctuary”. And then followed by Brother Victor T. Houteff as the seventh reformer with his doctrinal point entitled: The 144.000 elects of God, and a call for a spiritual revival and a spiritual reformation. This is the last Biblical doctrine which comprises the interpretations of the whole prophecies of the Bible and the parables of Jesus in the New Testament. This is the new light or the new message of reform which is to be revealed just only in the time of the end.
Hence with the arrival of the newest light of the message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1 in 1929 by Brother Victor T. Houteff , to unite his message with the third angel’s message of Sister Ellen G. White, then the Bible began to be revealed, as wholly as well as completely. Here is fulfilled the word in Revelation 18 : 1 which was confirmed by Sister White in the Early Writings, p. 277 as follows :
“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. – Revelation 18 : 1.
“Then I saw another mighty angel commissioned to descend to the earth, to unite his voice with the third angel, and give power and force to his message. ………This message seemed to be an additional to the third message, joining it as the midnight cry joined the second angel’s message in 1844.” – Early Writings, p. 277.
With the coming of the newest message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1 in 1929, to unite his voice with the third angel’s message of Sister Ellen G. White, then the combination of the message of Health Reform and the third angel’s message only, would no more suffice to prepare the people of God for the coming of the Lord. This is understandable, because by the knowledge of the prophecies and the parables revealed, we are yet to pass through several more events in the future before coming to the great event of the arrival of Jesus.
The combination of the message of Health Reform and the third angel’s message of Sister White and the message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1 by Brother Victor T. Houteff , would result in the whole message of THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY of Revelation 19 : 10 (margin). This is the complete rules of implementation of the Law of the Ten Commandments that must be obeyed especially by the people who are now living in this time of the end. Because this is just the identity of them, who are the remnant of God in this time of the end, as stipulated in the Revelation 12 : 17; 19 : 10 (margin).
Now let it be fully understood that since the last message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1 was offered only in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, then only to them who are to meet the requirements that would be blessed with the message. To this end Sister White said:
“The work of Health Reform is the Lord’s means for lessening suffering in our world and for purifying His church. Teach the people that they can act as God’s helping hand, by cooperating with the Master Worker in restoring physical and spiritual health. This work bears the signature of heaven, and will open the doors for the entrance of other precious truths.” – Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 77.
“Only those who are living up to the light they have will receive greater light. Unless we are daily advancing in the exemplification of the active Christian virtues, we shall not recognize the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain. It may be falling on hearts all around us, but we shall not discern or receive it.” – Testimonies to Ministers, p. 507.
“Were Jesus with us today, He would say to us as He did to His disciples, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now” (John 16 : 12).” – Selected Messages, Book 1, p. 403.
The requirements that should first be met, is to live up to the light we already have. This is of course including the light on the message of Health Reform.
Chronological setting of some of Sister White statements
in regard to Health Reform
1863
“The Lord presented a general plan before me. I was shown that God would give to His commandment-keeping people a reform diet, and that as they received this, their disease and suffering would greatly lessened. I was shown that this work would progress.” – Counsels on Health, p. 531.
1864
“But since the Lord presented before me, in June, 1863, the subject of meat-eating in relation to health, I have left the use of meat.” – Spiritual Gift, vol. 4, p. 153.
1868
“Yet we do not hesitate to say that flesh meat is not necessary for health and strength. …………The liability to take disease is increased tenfold by meat eating. The intellectual, the moral, and the physical powers are depreciated by the habitual use of flesh meats. Meat eating deranges the system, beclouds the intellect, and blunts the moral sensibilities. We say to you, dear brother and sister, your safest course is to let meat alone.” – 2 Testimonies, p. 64.
1869
“If ever there was a time when the diet should be of the simplest kind, it is now. Meat should not be placed before our children. Its influence is to excite and strengthen the lower passions, and has a tendency to deaden the moral powers. Grains and fruits prepared free from grease, and in as natural a condition as possible, should be the food for the tables of all who claim to be preparing for translation to heaven.” – 2 Testimonies, p. 352.
“Flesh meat will depreciate the blood” – Ibid. p. 368.
1870
“Those who digress occasionally to gratify the taste in eating a fattened turkey or other flesh meats, pervert their appetites, and are not the ones to judge of the benefits of the system of health reform. They are controlled by taste, not by principle.” – 2 Testimonies, p. 487.
1872
“We bear positive testimony against tobacco, spirituous liquors, snuff, tea, coffee, flesh meats, butter, spices, rich cakes, mince pies, a large amount of salt, and all exciting substances used as articles of food.” – 3 Testimonies, p. 21.
1875
“The tables of many professed Christian women are daily set with a variety of dishes which irritate the stomach and produce a feverish condition of the system. Flesh meats constitute the principal article of food upon the tables of some families, until their blood is filled with cancerous and scrofulous humors. Their bodies are composed of what they eat. But when suffering and disease come upon them, it is considered an affliction of Providence.” – Ibid. p. 563.
1883
“Meat is not essential for health or strength, else the Lord made a mistake when He provided food for Adam and Eve before their fall. All the elements of nutrition are contained in the fruits, vegetables, and grains.” – Counsels on Diet and Food, p. 395.
1887
“The common use of the flesh of dead animals has had a deteriorating influence upon the morals, as well as the physical constitution. Ill health in a variety of forms, if effect could be traced to the cause, would reveal the sure result of flesh eating.” – Ibid., p. 383.
1890
“Again and again I have been shown that God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to His original design, — that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth.” – Ibid., p. 380.
1896
“Cancers, tumors, and all inflammatory diseases are largely caused by meat eating.
From the light God has given me, the prevalence of cancers and tumors is largely due to gross living on dead flesh.”
“The animals are diseased, and by partaking of their flesh, we plant the seeds of disease in our own tissue and blood. Then when exposed to the changes in a malarious atmosphere, these are more sensible felt ; also when we are exposed to prevailing epidemics and contagious diseases, the system is not in a condition to resist the disease.” – Ibid. pp. 388, 386.
1897
“The meat diet is the serious question. Shall human beings live on the flesh of dead animals? The answer, from the light that God has given is, No, decidedly no. Health reform institutions should educate on this question. Physicians who claim to understand the human organism ought not to encourage their patients to subsist on the flesh of dead animals.” – Ibid., p. 388.
1902
“If Seventh-Day Adventists practiced what they profess to believe, if they were sincere health reformers, they would indeed be a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. And they would show a far greater zeal for the salvation of those who are ignorant of the truth.
Greater reforms should be seen among the people who claim to be looking for the soon appearing of Christ. Health reform is to do among our people a work which it has not yet done. There are those who ought to be awake to the danger of meat eating, who are still eating the flesh of animals, thus endangering the physical, mental, and spiritual health. Many who are now only half converted on the question of meat eating will go from God’s people, to walk no more with them.” – Counsels on Health, p. 575.
“Those who use flesh meat disregard all the warnings that God has given concerning this question. They have no evidence that they are walking in safe paths. They have not the slightest excuse of eating the flesh of dead animals. God’s curse is resting upon the animal creation. Many times when meat is eaten, it decays in the stomach, and creates disease. Cancers, tumors, and pulmonary diseases are largely caused by meat eating.” – Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 383.
“Let not any of our ministers set an evil example in the eating of flesh meat. Let them and their families live up to the light of health reform. Let not our ministers animalize their own nature and the nature of their children.” – Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 399.
1903
“If things were as they should be in the households that make up our churches, we might do double service for the Lord. The light given me is that a most decided message must be borne in regard to health reform. Those who use flesh meat strengthen the lower propensities and prepare the way for disease to fasten upon them.” – Ibid., p. 390.
1905
“Those who eat flesh are but eating grains and vegetables at second hand; for the animal receives from these things the nutrition that produces growth. The life that was in the grains and vegetables passes into the eater. We receive it by eating the flesh of the animal. How much better to get it direct, by eating the food that God provided for our use!
Flesh was never the best food; but its use is now doubly objectionable, since disease in animals is so rapidly increasing. Those who use flesh foods little know what they are eating. Often if they could see the animals when living and know the quality of the meat they eat, they would turn from it with loathing. People are continually eating flesh that is filled with tuberculosis and cancerous germs. Tuberculosis, cancer, and other fatal diseases are thus communicated.
“In many places fish become so contaminated by the filth on which they feed as to be a cause of disease. This is especially the case where the fish come in contact with the sewage of large cities. The fish that are fed on the contents of the drains may pass into distant waters and may be caught where the water is pure and fresh. Thus when used as food they bring disease and death on those who do not suspect the danger.
“Is it not the time that all should aim to dispense with flesh foods? How can those who are seeking to become pure, refined, and holy, that they may have the companionship of heavenly angels, continue to use as food anything that has so harmful an effect on soul and body? How can they take the life of God’s creatures that they may consume the flesh as a luxury? Let them, rather. Return to the wholesome and delicious food given to man in the beginning and themselves practice, and teach their children to practice, mercy toward the dumb creatures that God has made and has placed under our dominion.” — Ministry of Healing, pp. 313, 314, 315, 317.
1913
“Both young men and young women should be taught how to cook economically, and to dispense with everything in the line of flesh food. Let no encouragement be given to the preparation of dishes which are composed in any degree of flesh food; for this is pointing to the darkness and ignorance of Egypt, rather than to the purity of health reform.” – Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 475.
Health Reform does not
make us men of only vegetarian
Vegetarian means a man who eats vegetables. This is directed to them whose menu is usually free of flesh food. Therefore though the doctrine of Health Reform basically obliges us to return to the herbs bearing seed and fruits bearing seed of the trees, which are the original crop of the earth, in selecting and preparing them for our menu, however, we have been advised to use a very careful and intelligent mind, to choose only those of good and excellent quality of herbs and fruits which are available in nature. The Lord, in His loving kindness toward us in this time of the end, would have classified all the food stuff according to each of its quality and nutritive elements available. And all these classifications should have been found in the message of Health Reform. And even to complement to the health living of men and women in this time of the end, we also have been blessed with the knowledge of Dress Reform, which is to distinguish between the people of God on the one side and the lovers of the contemporary modes of apparel of the world on the other side. The servant of the Lord said:
“To protect the people of God from the corrupting influence of the world, as well as to promote physical and moral health, the dress reform was introduced among us. It was not intended to be a yoke of bondage, but a blessing, not to increase labor, but to save labor, not to add to the expense of dress, but to save expense. It would distinguish God’s people from the world and thus serve as a barrier against its fashions and follies. He who knows the end from the beginning, who understands our nature and our need, — our compassionate Redeemer, —saw our dangers and difficulties, and condescended to give us timely warning and instruction concerning our habits of life, even in the proper selection of food and clothing.
“Satan is constantly devising some new style of dress that shall prove an injury to physical and moral health; and he exults when he sees professed Christians eagerly accepting the fashions that he has invented. The amount of physical suffering created by unnatural and unhealthful dress cannot be estimated. Many have become lifelong invalids through their compliance with the demands of fashions. …….. “ – Counsels on Health, pp. 598, 599.
The Health Reform deliberated here is just an introductory lesson to the more complete study that could be found in the publications of the Spirit of Prophecy by Sister Ellen G. White. And the directions to the Dress Reform would be provided us in the last message by Brother Victor T. Houteff.
The Health Reform
will lead to the health of Mind and Body
It should be understood that the human body is built up and formed by those things we eat. Those things we eat would first be digested in the stomach, and then turned to be blood, that in turn to flow further through the veins unto all parts of the body. The Lord is leading us back step by step to His original design that man should subsist of various original product of the earth. Fruits, vegetables, beans, and roots, should compose our menu of food. The more cleanly our food, the more cleaner our blood resulted from those things we eat. And then the more smooth the circulation of blood in the body, the healthier we are. The servant of the Lord said:
“Those who are not in health have impurities of the blood.”
“A bad circulation leaves the blood to become impure, induces congestion of the brain and lungs, and causes diseases of the heart, the liver, and the lungs.”
“By interrupting the circulation of the blood, the entire system is deranged.”
“The chief if not the only reason why many become invalids is that the blood does not circulate freely, and the changes in the vital fluid which are necessary to life and health do not take place. They have not given their bodies exercise nor their lungs food, which is pure, fresh air; therefore it is impossible for the blood to be vitalized, and it pursues its course sluggishly through the system.” – EGW. Healthful Living, 1898 Edition, p. 180.
It is now clear that the message of Health Reform does not only introduce us to the various food that is healthful, the way to prepare them, of what time to eat and what time to drink, and how much to eat and to drink, but they also give us the directions to how and where we should have exercises to get good circulation of our blood, and also about how to keep our houses clean, and how to preserve a healthy environment wherever we live. Through His mouth piece on earth the Lord warned us that it is a sin to be sick, because all kind of sickness is the result of transgression of the law. He then further said :
“True religion and the laws of health go hand in hand. It is impossible to work for the salvation of men and women without presenting to them the need of breaking away from sinful gratifications, which destroy the health, debase the soul, and prevent divine truth from impressing the mind.” – Counsels on Health, p. 445
“As Adam fell through appetite and lost blissful Eden, the children of Adam may, through Christ, overcome appetite and through temperance in all things regain Eden. Ignorance is no excuse now for the transgression of the law. The light shines clearly, and none need be ignorant, for the great God Himself is man’s instructor.” – 3 Testimonies, pp. 161, 162.
The conclusion of all things deliberated in this article could be seen from the following chart.
Meat eating was allowed
to shorten the life span of human race
“After the Flood meat-eating was allowed to shorten the life span of human race. It was allowed because of the hardness of men’s heart.” – MS. November 5, 1890
The first time ever since Adam and Eve occupied their Eden home, God had commanded Adam in the following words: “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou salt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” – Genesis 2 : 16, 17.
The wage of sin pronounced upon Adam by the mouth of the Lord Himself, is a death penalty. It is the eternal death sentence, which is the second death, from which there is no more resurrection. However, by the so-called “Saved by grace” through the process of redemption Jesus Himself had borne the death penalty for the entire human race. And as the result Adam and Eve had not died in the same day when they sinned, despite in that same day too they had been driven out of their blissful home of Eden. The death of Jesus on the Calvary cross does not mean to get the human race saved by His grace directly into heaven, but only to give them more chances to revive their faith in God. That is why Adam and Eve were permitted to live longer outside Eden that they may repent of all their transgressions of the Law prior to their death on the earth. Adam and Eve must first have witnessed by themselves the result of their transgression of the law, that they also could fully understand how deep and unfathomable love of their Maker, Who had given His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die for us on the Calvary cross.
Adam had been prolonged his life up to 930 years, and Noah was even permitted to live longer 950 years on the earth before he died. From the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY we have been informed that both Adam and Eve have been fully converted before they died.
From the same SPIRIT OF PROPHECY we know that the Garden of Eden was yet staying longer on earth for several hundreds years more, and Adam and his household had the opportunity to conduct their religious services regularly at the entrance gates of Eden, which was carefully watched by the mighty angels of God. Only after wickedness developed more and more uncontrollable that the blissful Eden then be lifted up from the earth.
The average age of man on the earth before the Flood is a little less than 1000 years. But soon after that the average age shortened markedly to only a little bit below 300 years. The average life span of human race in this time of the end seemed to be only 80 years. The words of David the prophet in his book of Psalm 90 : 10 seemed to be more fully fulfilled in this time of the end.
It is now fully testified that due to His own love toward the sinners, that He had permitted flesh of clean animals to become a part of our food menu after the Flood. It is not only to meet the hardness of men’s heart craving for it, but especially for shortening the life span of suffering of the sinners living on the face of the earth. Therefore to have flesh of clean animals to be our food is basically not sin, because it was the Lord Himself Who permitted the flesh food to be a part of our menu. And even Jesus Himself in the past had ever fed about five thousand people with bread and fish, who came to Him to hear Him preaching. However, it is undeniable that the use of flesh food has caused unnumbered sin and sufferings, and even consequent dead among men and women up to now. This is the reason why the Lord through His servant warned us in the following word:
“When will those who know the truth take their stand on the side of right principles for time and for eternity? When will they be true to the principles of health reform? When will they learn that it is dangerous to use flesh meat? I am instructed to say that if ever meat eating were safe, it is not safe now.” – Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 384
“It is a sin to be sick, for all sickness is the result of transgression. Many are suffering in consequence of the transgression of their parents.” – Counsels on Health, p. 37.
Since we are now living in the time of the end, wherein pollution are contaminating everywhere on the face of the earth, it is no more possible for those who still use flesh food on their menu to be physically as well as spiritually healthy. It is just exactly at this time the Lord has warned us to return to the law of health, to live up to its principles, and then be ready for the soon coming of the Lord.
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