THE SINS OF AMERICA

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:16,17.

Jesus came because of love … “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.”1John 4:9 

America is accountable for a history of truth planted within our laws. “In God we Trust” noted on our currency. Statements on Public buildings based on the Bible. Just laws are based on the Ten Commandments. We should seriously contemplate this historical truth.

Those who murder babies in the womb or straight from the womb are defying God. “Thou shalt not kill.” Exodus 20:13

Mutilating the bodies, of both adults and children through the lie of transgender possibility defies God; “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”  Genesis 1:27

Immorality is a temptation we must resist. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,” 1Corinthians 6:9.

We’re a Christian country. This is a privilege. Our Biblical laws and history and the wisdom of the Word of God is the reason The United States of America is the most blessed Country in the world.

“This Is a Christian Nation”

In 1892, the United States Supreme Court ruled, "This is a Christian Nation." The ruling, issued by Associate Justice David Brewer, has never been legally disputed or overturned.

Ephesians 3:20 gives us hope: “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,” We with the power of the Holy Spirit can walk away from the culture of the world.

YOUR BODY A TEMPLE

Study Biology and the more intricacies and mystery and detail you find. Chemist, Dr. James Tour studies the physical body, the cells, and their function. Dr. Tour’s discoveries show that the more the body is researched, the more clearly it emerges that it is beyond our understanding.

https://www.drjamestour.com

Glibly or seriously, what we say and think about the body we live in is important. Because if we take the words of God in Scripture as  the truth and then live by it our daily life will take a serious turn: we will be infinitely better off.

Ask questions. What is the meaning of:

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and 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.” 1Corinthians 6:19,20. 

A high order, but since we’re told to glorify God in our body, we can do it.  Part of glorifying God is loving God. Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15 . This is a journey.

Even a beginning pursuit of the seriousness of caring for our temple will help.

Today, surprisingly, food is a serious part of it. The glibness comes in here: eating bread (processed into uselessness), white sugar, corn syrup, seed oils processed into harmful oils, all the gimmicks like low fat this and low fat that: milk, yogurt, etc. Margarine with its chemicals, instead of butter. Chemicals (now known to cause addiction; sugar being the first known culprit). Food is vital. But when food processors add harm to our vital need for healthy food, it becomes subversive at best, criminal at worst.

What you eat that is good for you is food grown by conscientious farmers (and we can’t make it without you!) It only takes care, a gratitude to God for His care in creation, and common sense. The food mentioned from Genesis One all the way to Revelation twenty-two is our foundation. Exciting. Faith building. God centered.

Join my husband and me on this life long journey of seeking wisdom from Scripture and then putting it into practice…for the lifelong benefits and health building.

YOUR BODY: A LIVING SACRIFICE

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies (body, as a sound whole, literally or figuratively) a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:1,2.

Thinking about our bodies, as we listened to our Pastor this Sunday morning, he spoke on Romans 12. When our son, Zach, his wife, Roxy, their children Lilly and Elijah came home with us this evening after dinner in a restaurant, my husband decided we should read Romans 12 before ending the evening with dessert. Then I opened a Bible devotion, a favorite book before going to bed, Romans 12: 1 was explained.

Your body, our bodies: they are a temple of the Holy Spirit when we have believed in the gospel, the work of Jesus on the cross as He died for our sins. “ Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel… how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” I Corinthians 15:3,4. 

We will be renewed, encouraged, strengthened, built up in our faith as we present ourselves to Him in full surrender. “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28.

YOUR WHOLE SELF: INCLUDING YOUR BODY

 The one body you were born with is all you will have: given as a gift; and the only one you will have the responsibility for - of living in. Is that a surprise? 

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" 1Corinthians 6:19. Is it also a new thought that how you "live" in your physical human body is important?  Is God, the Creator of heaven and earth interested? "But I'm so small."

You may feel small on the "sands of time" and insignificant, but that is only a feeling. "For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1Corinthians 6:20. 

You can glorify God in your body by living by the Word.

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1Thessalonians 5:23. Sanctify is to set apart, holy. 

Well, blameless is a hope, a try, but that is what we can try for without being perfectionist about it. You know, I know and our Creator, Jesus Christ knows that we are not blameless. On a personal note, this knowledge was drilled into me from my childhood. The fourth of eight children, my quiet, sense of being "one of the crowd" grew into an introspective, overly conscientious sense of unimportance. So that as I grew, that actually became a positive direction: I wanted to be perfect, the best I could be. This led to the health emphasis that eventually led to a belief I hold today. 

The Bible is, in truth, to be lived out spirit, soul and body. It is for our fulfillment, happiness and blessing. The Spirit of God has written to you through holy men of God. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2Peter 1:21  

Finding mentions of food in the Bible can be new inspiration for you!" And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." Luke_4:4. Mention of food is throughout the Bible from beginning to end. I believe that we will be insightful and wise to look at the context of mentions of food in Scripture. Whether it is a spiritual truth, a figurative truth or a practical one, that food is what God created for mankind. Are we discerning enough to take a serious look at that food? If it is what God created for you to take into your body are you doing it?

 

 

SAVED BY HOPE

 Often, in a world that is all at my door by the worldwide internet, a gray cloud threatens my peace and calm. A single word “hope” changes my outlook. The fear subsides. “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for?” Romans 8:24. The question: hope in what? Here is our relief: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” Psalm_42:5 .  But as if to say, “Are you paying attention?” this Psalm and the next repeat this verse three times. Disquieted is to be in great commotion, moan, cry aloud mourn.

We struggle with weight management, our health, pain, both emotional and physical. In one way or another life gets hard. But when hope in our All Powerful God, through the words of Jesus said, “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you…” hope emerges. We are saved from many of the fears, hopelessness and grief emotions that threaten to destroy us when we believe the Bible.

Months ago a struggle with pain began with a pause in concentration on a downward slope on my bicycle: I went down hard. I did it all by myself. A route I’d taken for many months, but this time I didn’t see a branch from a tree right at eye level. The accident caused three fractures put me in the ER and a wheelchair for a few months.

I gained weight and was glad to sit in that wheelchair until the very fit therapist told me to hide the wheelchair. I was shown how to walk looking straight ahead, rather than looking at the ground, practiced balance, did chair squats and got confidence back. Yes, surprises like accidents happen. Today in our culture a lack of knowledge in what we should feed ourselves (and everybody around us, if we’re the cook in the house). We slowly but surely lose our health. Our current culture has been interested much more in their bottom line than selling or serving whole food.

We do not need to be part of this. By the grace and wisdom of God through the Bible, you and I have the knowledge at hand, the wisdom and the power to get on the path that leads to abundant life. “The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10. Whole food, described in the Bible and in above Posts brought my weight down without counting calories or following a fad diet.

EAT WHOLE FOOD

Thinking about health our 51 years of marriage and growing up…

Let me help you…

It is becoming clearer: serious health problems are common in the United States, beginning with children and on we know that what we put into our bodies is critical.

Think about it for yourself: study the food you often eat. This subject began with my father as I grew up. His passion along with my mother for reading the Bible through time after time gave all eight children a keen sense of eating whole food, whole grains, real butter and milk and fruit and vegetables. You will experience for yourself that good quality food becomes as habitual as “fast food.” The highly processed devitalized food bioengineered and with chemicals added are up and down grocery stores’ shelves. Read the labels. The long lists of ingredients, sometimes so tiny and unreadable are a message: return it to the shelf.

Now, at fifty-one years of marriage and growing in understanding, it has become obvious. God has provided and put in front of us powerful things grown, natural, whole milk, butter, honey, pure olive oil, unprocessed meat, vegetables and fruit and whole grains, all in “the things He has made…” and intended for our health.

The simplicity is amazing. But it will require you to believe God and the Bible and the Truth of it to avoid “positive” and very enticing messages that differ from Scripture, which is undiluted wisdom.

The focus is on God’s Word; the food He created right within the stories and teaching through the pages of the Bible. If we read the Bible, we will find in the most surprising places in Scripture what is good inferred by God Himself. "Ho, every one that thirsts, come to the waters, and he that has no money; come, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which satisfies not. Hearken diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live..." Isaiah 55:1-3.

“A PURE RIVER OF WATER…”

After a bicycle accident three years ago, I was in a wheelchair and wasn’t walking for several months.  When I did get back on my feet, for three years the fear of riding stayed with me. Finally, the challenge to “brave it” grew strong.

Our neighborhood is extensive with thousands of homes, wide sidewalks and roads that wind. You don’t find your way here easily. Today, I got out there on my bicycle. It is hot (eighty-seven degrees). The rack I used for a water bottle had somehow disappeared in the three years off the bike. Hot weather, no water! Here is what came to my mind (as I heard my “Track my Ride” tell me it was five miles,” A great voice out of heaven…”And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Revelation 22:1.

Funny, it was hot and there was no water as I rode today…the verse about a pure river of water of life became powerful. I thought about it the last mile. As I’ve thought about food from my father and mother’s Bible reading to their eight children, the light shined into my heart about the figurative and literal importance of water. A fresh revelation of the love of God. Water! Life saving physically. And “a pure river of water of life” the eternal life saving water. 

Do you remember what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well (who was obviously in need of life saving water):

“Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14.

Jesus the “Bread of Life” and the “Water of Life” loves you and me. His nourishment is obvious and life giving. Eat the literal food mentioned throughout the Bible. Take the gift of eternal life, the spiritual food. Drink the water of life.

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9. I have.

WHOLE GRAINS...THINK ABOUT YOUR HEART

 Whole grains information:

A pungent, powerful and natural resource for your heart and health is eating whole grains. My recommendation is to leave white flour, bleached sugar behind and all chemicals behind. This information from Mayo Clinic is not to miss:

Whole grains: Hearty options for a healthy diet - Mayo Clinic

MY SIMPLE HOMEMADE WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

 BREAD RECIPE … By Lizzie

Yes, organic whole wheat costs a little more. I use it for breadmaking. After all it is for the people I love so much.

Inspiration for all of us: “And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengthens man's heart.” Psalm 104:15.

WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

Ingredients

6 Cups (or five ½: save ½ C for Kneading) whole wheat flour (room temperature. Cold mixture will not rise).

3 Cups slightly warm water

1/3 Cup Oats (soak in ½ cup warm water 10 minutes) or use cooked Oatmeal (leftover is good)

1/3 Cup Olive Oil

½ Stick Butter

1/3 Cup pure Honey

1 Tablespoon active dry Yeast

1 Tablespoon Salt

Directions:

First Proof Yeast and mixture: Mix 1 c. flour, ½ c. slightly warm water, 1/3 c. oil, 1/3 c. honey, ½ stk. soft butter, 1T. salt and 1 T. yeast. Let rise 15 minutes to proof. (Proofing is when Yeast causes mixture to begin to bubble).

When the mixture begins to bubble, (15 min.) add remaining flour (about 4 or 5 cups), water and oatmeal: it will be a soft ball.

In a large bowl, mix proofed warm water, oil, butter, honey, yeast, and salt. 

Add five ½ to 6 Cups whole wheat flour to liquid mixture. Mix well. (save one cup for adding to the kneading surface). Let dough rest for 15 minutes in bowl.

Knead

Put remaining 1 Cup flour on a kneading surface (countertop or large breadboard). KNEAD 100 X…as you work this dough into the flour, dough will not be sticky.

1. Prepare 1 or 2 cookie sheets, spread liberally with butter and flour. 

2. Cut dough into three rounds to form for loaves. Place on 1 or 2 cooking sheets.

3. Beat one egg. Add 3 Tablespoons Old Fashioned Dry Oats to egg. Mix.

4. Spread oat and egg mixture on round loaves with fingers.

5. Let shaped dough rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.

6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for about 35 minutes.

Bake until the top of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 to 20 minutes before removing from the pan and transferring to a cooling rack. Cover with towel. Let cool an additional hour before wrapping or slicing. 

STORE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE

Let bread cool completely before wrapping it.

Wrap the bread in tight container or wrap (I use plastic wrap).

It will be good for seven days at room temperature.

FREEZE

Wrap loaves tightly: Freeze.

COMFORT FOOD CAN KILL YOU

Why has the profitable food industry become so lax! So often devitalized and addictive, processed ingredients, and chemicals go into food. Called “fast food” it is not healing for your body, as food should be with large servings sometimes leaving you wanting more.

Major hindrances to your health: processed sugar, corn syrup, degermed and bleached wheat, chemical sweeteners, seed oils and chemicals.

We struggle to know how to be healthy. The first thing? Go to God, pray for wisdom, and look at your available wisdom. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." James 1:5. That is a promise to all of us who follow Jesus. Talking to His followers Jesus said, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth..." John 16:13. One example of real comfort food: "And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land." Isaiah 7:22.

The first place to look for food that is healing and natural is the Bible. In it is literal and figurative wisdom illustrated by food all through it. This is where I have gone. Food examples are to us and for us and would not be there if not an illustration of potent nutrition. Checking one dietitian and the next is going to lead you to change with a new “discovery.”  An example is the worldwide love for coffee. Growing up my father understood it to be harmful. Nutrition experts warned that it is harmful for your health. This year, reading an expert (recommended by one of our State Senators}, the dietitian said that three or four cups of coffee every day will prolong your life. 

We use extra virgin olive oil, organic honey, pure butter, salt, and whole grain cereal. Homemade whole grain bread. Vegetables, fruit, beef, chicken, salmon. In Scripture, food allowances changed four times and give responsibility to us. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" I Co.6:19.

God’s provision for us:  "And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food..." Genesis 2:9.  See the Medical News Today below:

Medical News Today

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com › articles › ultra-processed-food-consumption-linked-to-premature-preventable-death

Dietary patterns can have an immense impact on health outcomes. 

• Ultra-processed foods that go through large amounts of processing can lose nutritional value and contain unhealthy elements.

• A new study adds to a growing body of research showing that ultra-processed food consumption may cause premature, preventable death. 

 

START SOMEWHERE

For the first years of our marriage and before I could afford to buy what I liked in the grocery store, our three sons, Joshua, Josiah, and Zachariah were one to five. Eric was earning minimum wage as an Electrician’s Helper. My budget for food was $18.00 a week. The cost of much of “the healthy” food was often above my ability to pay; fruit and vegetables on sale saved us. I remember praying as I shopped and looked at the fresh fruit and vegetable departments, “Lord, I cannot buy those big red apples. They are there and out of reach. Help me to be able to buy them.” It was up to God to provide, I knew. We ate healthy low-cost food. The grapes and pears were expensive, so I looked for fresh fruit on sale. Vegetables, cut and bagged were beautiful and convenient, but I got good at chopping.

For many months I bought whole wheat flour from a friend who ground it fresh and delivered it to us. Baking bread came naturally. My mother had baked whole wheat bread often for our family of ten. Also, I could bake granola cereal with whole oats, raisins, honey, butter, and olive oil, simple ingredients. As I ground whole grains and made things from them it was from the example of my father, who strongly believed in "food wisdom" from the Bible. 

I made whole wheat chocolate cake, oatmeal cake, and carrot cake. The frosting, cooked on a double broiler with raw sugar and egg whites, then cream cheese added. Meat was for flavor: mostly beef, and chicken. 

As the years went by, my belief that simple whole food (often mentioned in the Bible) was one of the biggest benefits and offerings given to my husband and children.  

REPOSTED FEBRUARY 5, 2025

FOOD AND FAITH GO TOGETHER

REPOSTED: BLOG NOVEMBER 8, 2022

You can have a noticeable change in your health in ten days. It took Daniel, and his three friends that long to prove that “things grown” are effective quickly (in Daniel 1:12).

If food by faith is a new thought for you, think of this: the journey of your life is a one-time opportunity to do the best you can, to search for the most wisdom you can find. You can become physically, spiritually, mentally all God created you to be! It’s by faith. 

The variety provided by our Creator is vast, from cows and sheep to grains and watermelon, nuts, broccoli, and squash…how about a focus on our health!

If we believe in an all-wise Creator, eating the right food makes sense. He made everything to be for the wellbeing of all humanity: our welfare, health, and our eternal salvation. He poured love into our world through the life, crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, “The Way, the Truth and the Life….”. His love also shows in the creation of the natural things grown for you to eat…

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (I Thessalonians 5:23). Sanctified means set apart. Faith…or believing and acting on what God says is an adventure. 

Medical News Today

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com › articles › ultra-processed-food-consumption-linked-to-premature-preventable-death

Dietary patterns can have an immense impact on health outcomes. 

• Ultra-processed foods that go through large amounts of processing can lose nutritional value and contain unhealthy elements.

• A new study adds to a growing body of research showing that ultra-processed food consumption may cause premature, preventable death. 

THIS BLOG IS ABOUT HEALTH…NOT “YOU ARE RIGHTEOUS IF YOU DO THIS”

When my interest in health and finding food recommendations in the Bible stirred me to write to you about it, the thought came to me: “God mentions food throughout Scripture. This would be important to recognize.”

The Bible was written by “holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 1:21.

The challenge in our day, as I understand it, is to discern what is good and health building for us and what is harmful. Over time, the degermed grain, bleached and having chemicals added is made into bread that smells good, tastes good (is even addicting), cheap and easy to find. 

Other food, also sold around every corner in many towns, is harmful over time. Fats, seed oils, bioengineered (nonfood), “natural flavor” which is now known to have chemicals hidden behind the name, sugar that is bleached, corn syrup which is sold to sweeten food…the harm of “fast food” is clearly understood if you study how fried chicken is made.

This cheap, glamorously packaged “food” is often not food at all.

Here is the reason for my passion for healthy food: God created it for our health and wellbeing from the beginning. An incentive for me to eat food that God intended for humankind from the beginning of the creation: at eighty-two, with a long history of interest in food in the Bible. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." Genesis 1:27. 

God changed the “rules” for food four times. Read the Bible, then read it repeatedly. Notice how often food is mentioned. When Jesus said, "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." (John 6:35). The message is literal and in addition pictures figurative truth. Bread made well is a basis for good health as Jesus is the "living bread" that gives us eternal life when we accept Him. 

Jesus talked about “eating” the bread which He was! "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." John 6:51. This is offering you and me eternal life.

We have freedom to choose. They are not legal rules. Food is just there in the Bible to benefit by. "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." I Corinthians 10:31. Simply put be wise about your diet.