How Does God and Natural Medicine Align?

And why has society and religions put restrictions on it...

If you're reading this, you maybe have stumbled on this before. Maybe you've heard that people who practice with Herbs or energy are witches or dabbling in pagan rituals. I am here to clear this up. Let's look right to the Bible (because let's face it, it's supposed to be our one source for all the answers, right?!)

Let's start with a few crazy facts to put it into perspective.

- the Bible lists 33 species

- the Bible references essential oils and the aromatic plant origins MORE THAN 500 TIMES

- the word "Herb" is in 36 verses

- "Health" in 17 verses

- "Disease" in 34 verses

- "Heal" in 149 verses

The point of the matter is, the Bible focuses a lot on healing whether it is spiritual, relational, emotional or herbal.

In Ezekiel 47:12, He says, "And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water from them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, AND THEIR LEAVES FOR HEALING."

Isaiah in 2 Kings 20:7 says, "Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover." Here God literally GAVE US AN HERBAL HEALING RECIPE. How cool is that?! I don't know about you but that actually makes me want to read the Bible to find out more recipes. It is by far more fulfilling than googling healing remedies!

I hope I have grabbed your attention so far. Understand, this isn't to say that there aren't witches and pagan rituals created around herbs, crystals, and energy. See the thing is, it is all in the context and where the heart is behind the user. Anything can be used for evil, but anything can be used for good and in the glory of God as well. Think about it, God made all the plants of the earth and he made all things and said they are good. Someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit and uses herbs, crystals and energy know that they aren't the true healers and that the true healing comes from and is willed by God, in his timing. God provided us with everything we need. In fact, there are hundreds of healing herbs in our own back yards that us silly Americans do everything in our power to get rid of. We call them weeds. Well, these same weeds may be the same thing that you're paying buku-bucks for in capsule form at the store. God has things SO well planned out that he puts EXACTLY what you need, where you need it. For example; Usually, where you find Poison Ivy, there is a plant that grows right by it, called Jewelweed, that STOPS the effects of the poison ivy sting! CAN I GET AN AMEN?!

Furthermore, the word pharmacy is from the Greek word Pharmakeia which in the Bible was the word for SORCERY. Pharmacy..... Sorcery. The word in the Bible was mainly used in the context of "dealing with poison," or "drug use." In scripture, it was used as an evil, deceptive practice. Physicians are even referred to as whitewashed with lies and useless (Job 13:4). Not that I believe all physicians are bad because I don't. But the Bible seems to be very blunt about this matter doesn't it? I could probably stop there, but there is just so much more goodness to know if you keep on reading...

As a Natural Health Professional, I will teach the concept of the foundations. If you set a house on an unstable foundation, it won't last. We work in the same way. The foundations include Clean air, Pure water, Nutrition, Natural sunlight, Exercise, Rest, Emotions, Body and Energy balance, and Spirituality. I am going to lay out exactly how each of these has a very biblical backbone...

God BREATHED into Adams' nostrils the BREATH of LIFE (Genesis 2:7). We need air to live. It is very important to have a source of clean air in our homes and at work since we cannot control the outside environment.

The best form of water is nutritionally and mineral-balanced water which actually comes from raw vegetables because of how vegetables process the minerals for us. This is spoken about in Daniel 1:12-16, where the steward took away the kings food and gave them only vegetables and water because it was proven to make men stronger and more youthful.

Genesis 1:29, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food." It goes on to say in Genesis 9:3, "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I give you the green plants, I give you everything." It wasn't until sin that God started to restrict our foods. In Deuteronomy 14:3-20 the perfect do's and don'ts diet was laid out right there for us! Yup, now all the Diet gurus are going out of business....!! Ha, but really. It says (and sorry this is long, but worth it), "You shall not eat any abomination. These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. Every animal that parts the hoof (split hoof) and has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, are unclean for you. And the pig because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you (basically they eat anything and everything). Their flesh you shall not eat, their carcasses you shall not touch. Of all that are in the waters, you may eat these: whatever has fins and scale you may eat. And whatever does not have fins and scales (shellfish, bottom feeders) you shall not eat; it is unclean for you. You may eat all clean birds. But these are the ones you shall not eat: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture, the kite, the falcon of any kind, every raven of any kind, the ostrich, the nighthawk, the seagull, the hawk of any kind, the little owl and the short-eared owl, the barn owl and the tawny owl, the carrion vulture and the cormorant, the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe and the bat. And all winged insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten. All clean winged things you may eat." I understand that the new testament took a lot of these restrictions away, but if you look at food and the problems we have nowadays with parasites, acidity, and many other things, I feel that these are still very valid and great guidelines to follow.

As for energy, everything is energy and has energy and whoever doesn't believe that is in denial of their electric bill every month. :-). Think of how you feel when someone who gives you the ee-bb-gg-bees walks into the room and the hair on the back of your neck starts to tingle. We can ALL feel it!

PRAYER IS ENERGY TOO! As believers, we know how powerful prayer is. Prayer is a type of energy frequency that resonates very highly and can heighten the frequency of other people and things. Higher frequency is a good thing. God has the highest frequency. Dr. Masaru Emoto actually uses high-speed photography and captures the structure of water at the moment of freezing. He tested it to different energy elements such as words and music and the structures changed. You can even look up a photo of water from the Fujiwara dam before and after prayer. It is completely different and more beautiful. All to that, the more people who pray together at once, the higher the frequency and power. So pray before meals, not only because we are blessed and thankful for it, but because prayer raises the frequency and nutritional value of your food. Even when you prepare food for someone out of love (frequency) it increases. I truly hope this gives you a new respect for prayer and for food and for not begrudgingly cooking meals for your husband, wife, and/or children.

Sunlight in the Bible is also mentioned in a few places. Genesis 1:16, "God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also." Job 8:16-17 says, "He is a lush plant before the sun, and his shoots spread over his garden." The sun is our best source for vitamin D and is also meant to determine our sleep schedule.

There is a really cool quote in the Bible about Exercise; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, "Do you not know that in a race all runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we are imperishable. SO I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."

Rest...ahh our favorite one... and thank goodness we have a graceful God who wants us to rest. He knows we can get caught up in life and work but he also knows how important rest is, so he set aside a special day just for that. Genesis 2:2, "and on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done and he rested." Exodus 20:9-10, "Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: On it, you shall not do any work."

Emotions have a deep place in the Bible as well. The Bible talks about being even-tempered, slow to anger, slow to speak, act humbly, be self-controlled at all times, upright and disciplined (See: Philippians 4:5, Proverbs 14:29, 15:18 and 17:27, and Titus 1:7), do not fear or be anxious. One of my favorite Christian songs by Christ Tomlin sings out,

"If the Lord is with me whom then shall I fear?"

Let's take a moment to think about that for a second before we move on to the last few foundational principals...

Let us wrap this up talking about the biblical perspective on bodywork, spiritual balance, the body-mind-spirit theme, healing, and alternative medicine vs. conventional medicine.

Body Work is displayed throughout the Bible various times where Some examples of this can be found in Acts 28:8, Mark 10:16, and Luke 4:40. With "Laying of the hands," the practitioner is like an antenna or a vessel. For example, Acts 8:17 - "then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit." There is so much evidence in the Bible of holistic approaches to health that it is undeniable. Here in Proverbs 17:22 where it says, "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones," is a perfect example of the foundation of Chinese Medicine. Emotions have such a powerful impact on our health. So much so as I could look at marks are your body that in Chinese Medicine are linked to anger and I would know that your liver is struggling. Hebrews 4:12 states, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." We have a physical presence, but we also have a soul: a spiritual presence, which is still energy and frequency. If you are still unclear what energy and frequency are, I am going to follow up on that in a future post where I will explain the science and anatomy behind it. It is really quite fascinating. (And trust me I used to think it was some voodoo hogwash before too and I would hum and close my ears to it, so if I can be convinced, then so can you. & Let me reassure you, if it's not already evident, that my heart is with the Lord.) Even though I use the tools God gave (his beautiful creation), I know that the source of the power comes from God and only he wills it. Only God truly heals. I do not take the credit. I am nearly a servant of the Lord, my father. "The power that made the body, heals the body." Alternative medicine started in the garden of Eden. Medicinal plants are a gift from the creator. These things, such as herbs, are in its original (perfect) form the way that God made it and intended it. Untouched, and unaltered by man and sin.

Lastly, I want to focus on my favorite thing a touch more. Prayer. As I already explained, prayer has the power to heal. That is not a new venture for Christians. Harold Koenig MD wrote a book called Handbook of Religion and Health where he documented over a thousand studies on the powerful health benefits of prayer. Here are a few,

-Religious people tend to live healthier lives and get sick less often.

- Hospitalized people who never attended church have an average stay of three times longer than people who attend regularly.

- Heart patients were 14x more likely to die following surgery if they did not participate in religion.

- Elderly people who never or rarely attend church had a stroke rate double that of people who attend regularly.

- People who are religious tend to become depressed less often and if they do become depressed, they recover more quickly.

reference: http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/can-prayer-heal#5

Personally, for me, my faith has grown stronger through my studies of natural medicine because it has shown me the depths God has gone to perfectly plan out everything and how unconditionally he provides for us. There is no way I could ever doubt the presence of the Father and the Holy Spirit within me.

#HarkHolistik #RootedWellnessBeautyCollective #naturalhealth #naturopath #iloveGod