Old Testament Health Verses * New Testament Health Verses * Additional HIM Quotes

BIBLE VERSES ON HEALTH

The Bible Verses Below Appear in the Home Page of the Hope Inspiration Ministry in Random Order, but are Listed Below in Order of Appearance in the Bible in the Old and New Testaments

With Additional Quotes by Frank Jordan and Others in the Hope Inspiration Ministry Website

OLD TESTAMENT VERSES by ORDER IN THE BIBLE

Exodus:

"He said, 'If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His eyes, if you pay attention to His commands and keep all of His decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.' "   Exodus 15:26

Numbers:

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26

Leviticus:

"For the life of a creature is in the blood..."  Leviticus 17:11  [Our blood permits physical life; His blood heals and gives eternal life.]

Deuteronomy:

"And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness..." Deuteronomy 7:15  [If you follow His commands and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior]

Joshua

"Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid nor dismayed for the Lord is with you wherever you go."  Joshua 1:9

Job:

"In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.

Psalms:

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."  Psalms 23:4

"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me."  Psalms 66:18

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities; Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit; Who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like an eagle." Psalms 103:1-5

Praise the Lord, my soul, and never forget all the good he has done: He is the one who forgives all your sins, the one who heals all your diseases."  Psalms 103:2-3

"Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He sent forth His word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave." Psalms 107:19-20

"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." Psalms 118.8 (this Verse is in the exact center of the Bible! Psalms 117 is the shortest Chapter in the Bible and Psalms 119 is the longest Chapter!  Frank's Note: Man is too often guided by greed and profit in medicine and drugs, instead of human compassion for the individual as is the nature of the Lord.)

"The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid...The Lord is with me; He is my helper." Psalms 118:6-7

"He helps the brokenhearted and binds their wounds."  Psalms 147:3

Proverbs:

"Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear and respect the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones." Proverbs 3:7-8

"How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding. For its profit is better than the profit of silver, and its gain than fine gold. ...Long life is in her right hand."  Proverbs 3:13-14

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."  Proverbs 4:23

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but when hopes are realized at last, there is life and joy."  Proverbs 13:12

"A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones." Proverbs 14:30

"When a man is gloomy, everything seems to go wrong; when he is cheerful (and full of hope), everything seems right."  Proverbs 15:15

"A cheerful heart is good medicine." Proverbs 17:22

"A man's spirit can sustain his broken body, but when spirit dies, what hope is left?"   Proverbs 18:14

"Know that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it,...there is hope and it will not be cut off."    Proverbs 24:14

"If you find honey, eat just enough -- too much of it, and you will vomit."   Proverbs 25:16  (limit sugar intake or become ill)

Isaiah:

"They will turn to the Lord, and He will respond to their pleas and heal them."  Isaiah 19:22

"You, Lord, give perfect peace even in turmoil to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you."  Isaiah 26:3

"I have carried you since you were born; I have taken care of you from your birth. Even when you are old, I will be the same. Even when your hair has turned gray, I will take care of you. I will sustain you and I will rescue you." Isaiah 46:3-4

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like an eagle; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint. -- Isaiah 40:28-31 NIV

Surely He hath borne our sicknesses [kholee, infirmities], and carried our sorrows [makob, pains, diseases]. Isaiah 53:4

"...by His wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5  (The Greek word "iaomai" is used 28 times in the Bible, always meaning physical healing.)

"Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to Me and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare."  Isaiah 55:2

"I was enraged by his [ mankind's ] sinful greed; I punished him, and hid my face in anger, yet he kept on his willful ways. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him."  Isaiah 57:17-18

"The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs...and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." Isaiah 58:11

Jeremiah:

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

"This is what the Lord says,: 'Your wound is incurable, your injury is beyond healing. There is no one to plead your cause, no remedy for your sore, no healing for you.  All your allies have forgotten you; they care nothing for you. ... But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds...'"   Jeremiah 30:12-14, 17

Ezekiel:

"This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life."  Ezekiel 37:4-6

Hosea:

"My People are destroyed from lack of knowledge"   Hosea 4:6

Malachi

"But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. 3 says the LORD Almighty.   Malachi 4:2     (FJ: Last book and next to final prophesy (final was the coming of John the Baptist) by the final prophet of the Old Testament, referring to Jesus born about 430 years later as the "sun" or light of the world and his resurrection when he rises from the dead with the eternal healing that conquers physical death.)

Old Testament Health Verses * New Testament Health Verses * Additional HIM Quotes

NEW TESTAMENT VERSES BY ORDER IN THE BIBLE

Matthew:

"You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it."   Matthew 6:27

"So don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time."  Matthew 6:34

"Ask and you will be given what you ask for. Seek, and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Anyone who seeks, finds. If only you will knock, the door will be open."  Matthew 7:7-8

When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to HIM and He drove out the spirits with His word and healed all that were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases." Matthew 8:16-17

"The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the Good News is preached to the poor."  Matthew 11:5

"Jesus...said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  Matthew 19:26

Mark:

"...He saw the heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on HIM like a dove." Mark 1:10

"He [Jesus] said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."  Mark 5:34

"...if you can do anything,...help us."  "If you can?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for HIM who believes."  Mark 9:23

Luke:

"Jesus said unto them, 'Surely you will quote this proverb to Me: Physician, heal yourself.' " Luke 4:23

"Your faith has healed you. Go in peace." Luke 8:48

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Luke 11:9

"And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting (overeating), and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares."  Luke 21:34

John:

"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes HIM who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." John 5:24

"If you hold to My teaching, you are really my disciples.  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  John 8:32

"...But I know this, I was blind, but now I see!"  John 9:25

"Jesus said, "...I have come into this world, so that the blind will see... ."  John 9:39

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."  John 11:25-26

"Now because the Spirit of Christ is implanted within Christians, we are to show great, transforming, sacrificial and unmerited love both to other Christians and to the world." John 13:35

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."  John 14:27

"If you remain [and maintain a living communion] in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you." John 15:7-8

"If you abide in Me and My Word abides in you, ask what you will and it shall be done unto you."  John 15:7 

Acts:

"...how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because god was with HIM.    Acts 10:38

"...The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet (Isa 6:9-10):  Go to this people and say, 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving." For this peoples heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'"      Acts 28:25-27

Romans:

"But we...rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Romans 3:5

"If a man's gift is serving, let HIM serve; if it is teaching, let HIM teach; if it is encouraging, let HIM encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let HIM give generously; ..."  Romans 12:7-8

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in HIM, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  Romans 15:13

1 Corinthians:

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have received from God? ... So use every part of your body to give glory back to God..."  1 Corinthians 6:19-20

"You were bought at a price [Jesus death on the cross].  Therefore honor God with your body." 1 Corinthians 6:20

"The things we see now (including illness and suffering) are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we cannot see now will last forever." 1 Corinthians 7:31.

"God keeps His promise, and He will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, He will give you strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out."    1 Corinthians 10:13

"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ."  1 Corinthians 12:12-13"

"Every part is placed by God exactly where He wants it. It functions best when it is where he placed it and performing its duty."  1 Corinthians 12:18

12: Our bodies have many parts, but the many parts make up only one body when they are all put together.  14: Yes, the body has many parts, not just one part.  15: If the foot says, ‘I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,’ that does not make it any less a part of the body.  16: And what would you think if you heard an ear say, “I am not part of the body because I am only an ear, and not an eye’? Would that make it any less a part of the body? 17: Suppose the whole body were an eye – then how would you hear? Or if your whole body were just one big ear, how could you smell anything?

18: But that isn’t the way God has made us. He has made many parts for our bodies and has put each part just where he wants it. 19: What a strange thing a body would be if it had only one part!  So he has made many parts, but still there is only one body.  21: The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.”  The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you. 

22: And some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary. 23: Yes, we are especially glad to have some parts that seem rather odd! And we carefully protect from the eyes of others those parts that should not be seen, 24:  while of course the parts that may be seen do not require this special care. So God has put the body together in such a way that extra honor and care are given to those parts that might otherwise seem less important. 25: This makes for happiness among the parts, so that the parts have the same care for each other that they do for themselves. 25: If one part suffers, all parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.”   1 Corinthians 12:12-26

2 Corinthians:

"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of HIM everywhere."  2 Corinthians 2:14 

“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.  For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” "  2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Galatians:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control."  Galatians 5:22-23

Ephesians:

"Now to HIM who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to HIM be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen"    Ephesians 3:20-21

"There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."  Ephesians 4:4-6   [A major verse in support of Holistic and Holyistic Health - Body, Mind and Spirit are one]

"From HIM the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."    Ephesians 4:16

Philippians:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

Hebrews:

"Now Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."  Hebrews 11:1

"So take a new grip with your tired hands, stand firm on your shaky legs, and mark out a straight, smooth path for your feet so that those that follow you, though weak and lame, will not fall and hurt themselves, but become strong."   Hebrews 12:12

James:

"And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." James 5:15-16

1 Peter:

"...by His wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2:24

1 John

“He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”  1 John 5:13

"If we ask anything according to God's will, He hears us and answers," 1 John 5:14,15

3 John

"...I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well."  3 John 1:2

For commentary on the Bible Health Verses above, return to the Homepage of Hope Inspiration Ministry.

Old Testament Health Verses * New Testament Health Verses * Additional HIM Quotes

ADDITIONAL QUOTES IN THE WEBSITE:

•   "The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will involve the patient in the proper use of food, fresh air and exercise."   Thomas Edison

•   "I'm not sure what the future holds, but I'm absolutely sure who holds the future - H I M!"   Frank Jordan

•   "You are as young as your hope, but as old as your despair; as young as your faith, but as old as your doubt."   Frank Jordan

•   "If God brings you to it; God will bring you through it!"     Frank Jordan

Top of Page

317 Industrial Circle, Liberty, TX 77575
Copyright © 2012 Hope/Health Inspiration Ministry
Last modified: 02/08/12

Under the head of stimulants and narcotics is classed a great variety of articles that, altogether used as food or drink, irritate the stomach, poison the blood, and excite the nerves. Their use is a positive evil. Men seek the excitement of stimulants, because, for the time, the results are agreeable. But there is always a reaction. The use of unnatural stimulants always tends to excess, and it is an active agent in promoting physical degeneration and decay.

Condiments

In this fast age, the less exciting the food, the better. Condiments are injurious in their nature. Mustard, pepper, spices, pickles, and other things of a like character, irritate the stomach and make the blood feverish and impure. The inflamed condition of the drunkard's stomach is often pictured as illustrating the effect of alcoholic liquors. A similarly inflamed condition is produced by the use of irritating condiments. Soon ordinary food does not satisfy the appetite. The system feels a want, a craving, for something more stimulating.

Tea and Coffee

Tea acts as a stimulants and, to a certain extent, produces intoxication. The action of coffee and many other popular drinks is similar. The first effect is exhilarating. The nerves of the stomach are excited; these convey irritation to the brain, and this in turn is aroused to impart increased action to the heart and short-lived energy to the entire system. Fatigue is forgotten; the strength seems to be increased. The intellect is aroused, the imagination becomes more vivid.

Because of these results, many suppose that their tea or coffee is doing them great good. But this is a mistake. Tea and coffee do not nourish the system. Their effect is produced before there has been time for digestion and assimilation, and what seems to be strength is only nervous excitement. When the influence of the stimulant is gone, the unnatural force abates, and the result is a corresponding degree of languor and debility.

The continued use of these nerve irritants is followed by headache, wakefulness, palpitation of the heart, indigestion, trembling, and many other evils; for they wear away the life forces. Tired nerves need rest and quiet instead of stimulation and overwork. Nature needs time to recuperate her exhausted energies. When her forces are goaded on by the use of stimulants, more will be accomplished for a time; but, as the system becomes debilitated by their constant use, it gradually becomes more difficult to rouse the energies to the desired point. The demand for stimulants becomes more difficult to control, until the will is overborne and there seems to be no power to deny the unnatural craving. Stronger and still stronger stimulants are called for, until exhausted nature can no longer respond.

The Tobacco Habit

Tobacco is a slow, insidious, but most malignant poison. In whatever form it is used, it tells upon the constitution; it is all the more dangerous because its effects are slow and at first hardly perceptible. It excites and then paralyzes the nerves. It weakens and clouds the brain. Often it affects the nerves in a more powerful manner than does intoxicating drink. It is more subtle, and its effects are difficult to eradicate from the system. Its use excites a thirst for strong drink and in many cases lays the foundation for the liquor habit.

The use of tobacco is inconvenient, expensive, uncleanly, defiling to the user, and offensive to others. Its devotees are encountered everywhere. You rarely pass through a crowd but some smoker puffs his poisoned breath in your face. It is unpleasant and unhealthful to remain in a railway car or in a room where the atmosphere is laden with the fumes of liquor and tobacco. Though men persist in using these poisons themselves, what right have they to defile the air that others must breathe?

Among children and youth the use of tobacco is working untold harm. The unhealthful practices of past generations affect the children and youth of today. Mental inability, physical weakness, disordered nerves, and unnatural cravings are transmitted as a legacy from parents to children. And the same practices, continued by the children, are increasing and perpetuating the evil results. To this cause in no small degree is owing the physical, mental, and moral deterioration which is becoming such a cause of alarm.

Boys begin the use of tobacco at a very early age. The habit thus formed when body and mind are especially susceptible to its effects, undermines the physical strength, dwarfs the body, stupefies the mind, and corrupts the morals.

But what can be done to teach children and youth the evils of a practice of which parents, teachers, and ministers set them the example? Little boys, hardly emerged from babyhood, may be seen smoking their cigarettes. If one speaks to them about it, they say, "My father uses tobacco." They point to the minister or the Sunday-school superintendent and say, "Such a man smokes; what harm for me to do as he does?" Many workers in the temperance cause are addicted to the use of tobacco. What power can such persons have to stay the progress of intemperance?

I appeal to those who profess to believe and obey the word of God: Can you as Christians indulge a habit that is paralyzing your intellect and robbing you of power rightly to estimate eternal realities? Can you consent daily to rob God of service which is His due, and to rob your fellow men, both of service you might render and of the power of example?

Have you considered your responsibility as God's stewards, for the means in your hands? How much of the Lord's money do you spend for tobacco? Reckon up what you have thus spent during your lifetime. How does the amount consumed by this defiling lust compare with what you have given for the relief of the poor and the spread of the gospel?

No human being needs tobacco, but multitudes are perishing for want of the means that by its use is worse than wasted. Have you not been misappropriating the Lord's goods? Have you not been guilty of robbery toward God and your fellow men? "Know ye not that . . . ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20.

Intoxicating Drinks

"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: 
And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." 
"Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? 
who hath babbling? who hath wounds 
without cause? 
Who hath redness of eyes? 
They that tarry long at the wine; 
They that go to seek mixed wine. 
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, 
When it giveth his color in the cup, 
When it moveth itself aright. 
At the last it biteth like a serpent, 
And stingeth like an adder." 
Proverbs 20:1; 23:29-32.

Never was traced by human hand a more vivid picture of the debasement and the slavery of the victim of intoxicating drink. Enthralled, degraded, even when awakened to a sense of his misery, he has no power to break from the snare; he "will seek it yet again." Verse 35.

No argument is needed to show the evil effects of intoxicants on the drunkard. The bleared, besotted wrecks of humanity--souls for whom Christ died, and over whom angels weep--are everywhere. They are a blot on our boasted civilization. They are the shame and curse and peril of every land.

And who can picture the wretchedness, the agony, the despair, that are hidden in the drunkard's home? Think of the wife, often delicately reared, sensitive, cultured, and refined, linked to one whom drink transforms into a sot or a demon. Think of the children, robbed of home comforts, education, and training, living in terror of him who should be their pride and protection, thrust into the world, bearing the brand of shame, often with the hereditary curse of the drunkard's thirst.

Think of the frightful accidents that are every day occurring through the influence of drink. Some official on a railway train neglects to heed a signal or misinterprets an order. On goes the train; there is a collision, and many lives are lost. Or a steamer is run aground, and passengers and crew find a watery grave. When the matter is investigated, it is found that someone at an important post was under the influence of drink. To what extent can one indulge the liquor habit and be safely trusted with the lives of human beings? He can be trusted only as he totally abstains.

The Milder Intoxicants

Persons who have inherited an appetite for unnatural stimulants should by no means have wine, beer, or cider in their sight, or within their reach; for this keeps the temptation constantly before them. Regarding sweet cider as harmless, many have no scruples in purchasing it freely. But it remains sweet for a short time only; then fermentation begins. The sharp taste which it then acquires makes it all the more acceptable to many palates, and the user is loath to admit that it has become hard, or fermented.

There is danger to health in the use of even sweet cider as ordinarily produced. If people could see what the microscope reveals in regard to the cider they buy, few would be willing to drink it. Often those who manufacture cider for the market are not careful as to the condition of the fruit used, and the juice of wormy and decayed apples is expressed. Those who would not think of using the poisonous, rotten apples in any other way, will drink the cider made from them, and call it a luxury; but the microscope shows that even when fresh from the press, this pleasant beverage is wholly unfit for use. [WHEN THIS STATEMENT WAS MADE IN 1905, IT WAS COMMON PRACTICE TO MANUFACTURE CIDER AS HERE DESCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. TODAY, IN PLACES WHERE THE PURITY OF FOODS IS NOT CONTROLLED, APPLE CIDER MAY STILL BE MADE THE SAME WAY. BUT WHERE CIDER IS PRODUCED UNDER SANITARY CONDITIONS, USING GOOD, SOUND FRUIT, OBVIOUSLY THE OBJECTIONS DISAPPEAR.--PUBLISHERS.]

Intoxication is just as really produced by wine, beer, and cider as by stronger drinks. The use of these drinks awakens the taste for those that are stronger, and thus the liquor habit is established. Moderate drinking is the school in which men are educated for the drunkard's career. Yet so insidious is the work of these milder stimulants that the highway to drunkenness is entered before the victim suspects his danger.

Some who are never considered really drunk are always under the influence of mild intoxicants. They are feverish, unstable in mind, unbalanced. Imagining themselves secure, they go on and on, until every barrier is broken down, every principle sacrificed. The strongest resolutions are undermined, the highest considerations are not sufficient to keep the debased appetite under the control of reason.

The Bible nowhere sanctions the use of intoxicating wine. The wine that Christ made from water at the marriage feast of Cana was the pure juice of the grape. This is the "new wine . . . found in the cluster," of which the Scripture says, "Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it." Isaiah 65:8.

It was Christ who, in the Old Testament, gave the warning to Israel, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." Proverbs 20:1. He Himself provided no such beverage. Satan tempts men to indulgence that will becloud reason and benumb the spiritual perceptions, but Christ teaches us to bring the lower nature into subjection. He never places before men that which would be a temptation. His whole life was an example of self-denial. It was to break the power of appetite that in the forty days' fast in the wilderness He suffered in our behalf the severest test that humanity could endure. It was Christ who directed that John the Baptist should drink neither wine nor strong drink. It was He who enjoined similar abstinence upon the wife of Manoah. Christ did not contradict His own teaching. The unfermented wine that He provided for the wedding guests was a wholesome and refreshing drink. This is the wine that was used by our Saviour and His disciples in the first Communion. It is the wine that should always be used on the Communion table as a symbol of the Saviour's blood. The sacramental service is designed to be soul-refreshing and life-giving. There is to be connected with it nothing that could minister to evil.

In the light of what the Scriptures, nature, and reason teach concerning the use of intoxicants, how can Christians engage in the raising of hops for beer making, or in the manufacture of wine or cider for the market? If they love their neighbor as themselves, how can they help to place in his way that which will be a snare to him?

Often intemperance begins in the home. By the use of rich, unhealthful food the digestive organs are weakened, and a desire is created for food that is still more stimulating. Thus the appetite is educated to crave continually something stronger. The demand for stimulants becomes more frequent and more difficult to resist. The system becomes more or less filled with poison, and the more debilitated it becomes, the greater is the desire for these things. One step in the wrong direction prepares the way for another. Many who would not be guilty of placing on their table wine or liquor of any kind will load their table with food which creates such a thirst for strong drink that to resist the temptation is almost impossible. Wrong habits of eating and drinking destroy the health and prepare the way for drunkenness.

There would soon be little necessity for temperance crusades if in the youth who form and fashion society, right principles in regard to temperance could be implanted. Let parents begin a crusade against intemperance at their own firesides, in the principles they teach their children to follow from infancy, and they may hope for success.

There is work for mothers in helping their children to form correct habits and pure tastes. Educate the appetite; teach the children to abhor stimulants. Bring your children up to have moral stamina to resist the evil that surrounds them. Teach them that they are not to be swayed by others, that they are not to yield to strong influences, but to influence others for good.

Great efforts are made to put down intemperance; but there is much effort that is not directed to the right point. The advocates of temperance reform should be awake to the evils resulting from the use of unwholesome food, condiments, tea, and coffee. We bid all temperance workers Godspeed; but we invite them to look more deeply into the cause of the evil they war against and to be sure that they are consistent in reform.

It must be kept before the people that the right balance of the mental and moral powers depends in a great degree on the right condition of the physical system. All narcotics and unnatural stimulants that enfeeble and degrade the physical nature tend to lower the tone of the intellect and morals. Intemperance lies at the foundation of the moral depravity of the world. By the indulgence of perverted appetite, man loses his power to resist temptation.

Temperance reformers have a work to do in educating the people in these lines. Teach them that health, character, and even life, are endangered by the use of stimulants, which excite the exhausted energies to unnatural, spasmodic action.

In relation to tea, coffee, tobacco, and alcoholic drinks, the only safe course is to touch not, taste not, handle not. The tendency of tea, coffee, and similar drinks is in the same direction as that of alcoholic liquor and tobacco, and in some cases the habit is as difficult to break as it is for the drunkard to give up intoxicants. Those who attempt to leave off these stimulants will for a time feel a loss and will suffer without them. But by persistence they will overcome the craving and cease to feel the lack. Nature may require a little time to recover from the abuse she has suffered; but give her a chance, and she will again rally and perform her work nobly and well.

Home • Article Archive