Dead silence” describes a time without any noise. Silence can sometimes yield comfort, but it can also produce a feeling of awkwardness, even anxiety. People try various means of avoiding dead silence: talking to themselves; having conversations with friends or family; looking at television, movies and online or print content; or listening to music, podcasts and other broadcast material.
Today we face a dead silence I want to address head-on, one that concerns me deeply. It is a silence of the government, medical establishments and the church in the area of disease prevention. This silence concerns our stewardship of the temple or “earth suit” God has given us and the powerful environmental and spiritual forces that affect it. In this article, I hope to destroy and dismantle this dead silence by discussing both spoken and unspoken words related to health and giving some practical direction and prescriptions of action designed to generate better overall well-being.
Shatter the Silence
In this new year, many of us have set new and worthy goals with fresh affirmations and proclamations. Often, these involve spoken or written resolutions pertaining to physical or spiritual improvements. However, statements only take us to the door of our goals. We need action to open the door to realize those goals.
The following Scripture comes to mind:
“If you refrain to deliver those who are drawn unto death, and those who are ready to be slain; if you say, ‘Surely we did not know this,’ does not He who ponders the heart consider it? And He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to every man according to his works?” (Prov. 24:11-12).
A contemporary paraphrase puts it this way:
“Rescue the perishing; don’t hesitate to step in and help. If you say, ‘Hey, that’s none of my business,’ will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know—Someone not impressed with weak excuses” (Prov. 24:11-12, MSG).
In other words, if we, as disciples of Jesus Christ, see others being led down paths of destruction and death (the potential shortening of life and, therefore, diminishing of God’s ultimate purpose), we should say or do something. As true Christ-followers, our level of care for our fellow man must increase, expand and grow. We cannot in good conscience use the excuse, “It’s none of my business.”
The church, government and medical establishments rarely mention anything about what our lifestyle is doing to our physical health. We hear a lot about deadly viruses, hospitalizations, sickness, fear of death, loss of jobs, elections and economic collapse. But what about some conversation on how to avoid needless disease processes, how to live and speak faith through works, education on the dangers of medication dependence and healthy lifestyle protocols?
Every government official and church leader (for that matter, every disciple of Christ) should both teach and broadcast these truths. In fact, our failure to boldly proclaim them has caused more and more people to be “drawn unto death” and “ready to be slain.”
Friends, now is the time to wake up from our slumber, see through the darkness, arise out of our deceptions and stand up, step up and speak about true stewardship of the temple God has given us.
We must not stay silent. We must both speak and act. We cannot wait any longer for this message. In our era and under our watch, dead silence is resulting in increased illness and far too many deaths.
Speak the Truth
If we truly believe God and His Word, we must also believe His Word is true. If we believe even one word is false, we must also believe all is false. So let’s examine what He lays out about His creation in the beginning—the first chapter of Genesis.
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ Then God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is on the face of all the earth and every tree which has fruit yielding seed. It shall be food for you'” (Gen. 1:27-29).
When we unwrap this Scripture, we find these truths:
We are created in the image of God. His image is perfect. So we are perfectly created, not lacking anything.
God provided food grown from the earth to sustain His creation. He also created the appetite (draw) toward that food which He created.
God gave us dominion (authority) over the earth, which would include the physical body He created from the earth.
Therefore, if God made us perfect and provided all we need, we have no need to live in a state of fear and anxiety. Instead of focusing on sickness and a fear of death or virus, we must concentrate on living a life of fullness and completeness in God. Additionally, if what we put in our mouths does not meet the criteria of God’s intent—coming from the earth in its original packaging—we have disobeyed what He says in His Word about His provision.
As we know, the current pandemic has been perpetuated by our failure to follow these simple truths. But it has also shown us our weaknesses—spiritual, emotional and physical. To examine this area further, let us ask ourselves these questions:
Do I view my life as lacking anything? Do I believe God made my immune system poor and inadequate?
Am I feeding my body correctly? Do I repeatedly ingest food that is not food at all? Do I have a sedentary lifestyle?
Have I allowed God to have true authority in the renewal of my mind? Do I speak or repeat words that do not line up with His truth?
Taking inventory and revisiting foundational truth brings solidity and confidence into our lives. This godly confidence yields a life that shines like the brightest star in the darkest night. Let’s all shine brighter each day.
Walk in Health
As we take inventory and listen to honesty, I think it is clear we all can and should do better.
Our immune system is one of the most extraordinary defense mechanisms ever created. Straight from the hand of God, this effective war machine has the power to defend our bodies from threats both inside and outside. Simply put, if anything gets in or on our bodies with the intent of creating harm, God has equipped the immune system with the ability to kill, neutralize and disable the threat. Further, this remarkable system has the ability to adapt to changing threatening environments by creating antibodies.
We have responsibility for several factors that will build up our immune system. We also have the ability to take actions that will weaken or even destroy it. So let’s first discuss a few measures that will prepare our immune system to do the amazing job God designed it to do:
1. Consume real foods. These would include well-sourced quality fats and organic (where possible) fruits and vegetables.
2. Get sufficient sleep. Our bodies require seven to nine hours each night.
3. Manage stress effectively. This involves finding a balance between stress-inducing events and relaxation-inducing events.
4. Take time for adequate exercise. We all need a minimum of 150 minutes per week of dedicated activity. One can easily begin with a walking program.
5. Add appropriate supplements. Additions to a healthy diet will include the following: zinc, vitamin C, vitamin D, omega three fatty acids, colostrum, sulforaphane-yielding broccoli sprouts and magnesium. Others are important as well, but these make a good starting point.
The following factors will weaken the immune system or perhaps destroy it altogether.
1. Consuming any processed foods, sugars, soda, fried foods and MSG. Other problematic nutrients include soy, corn, breads and all grains.
2. Failing to allow time for sufficient sleep. The average adult gets only 6½ hours per night, which is woefully inefficient. Keep in mind, as we age, we produce less melatonin, which decreases sleep duration. Those over 40 years of age may need to consider melatonin supplements.
3. Living in an environment of chronic stress, anxiety or fear. Speaking of fear, thinking on fear and perpetually listening to fear destroy rather than build up our immune function.
4. Failing to move. Inactivity is, unfortunately, the norm today. Our world is becoming increasingly obesogenic and sedentary. We need movement to live. When we stop moving, we start dying.
5. Failing or refusing to take necessary supplements. Those listed above are unequivocally missing even in the best diet. Failing to take them is choosing to withhold supplies for the immune system’s use.
Now is a good time to go through the checklist for the five builders and five destroyers. Where do you stand and where do you need to improve?
Eat for Life
Through our wellness center and other outlets, my wife and I are often asked to provide dietary guidelines and protocols to our community. We get asked questions such as: Which diet is best? Should I eat for my blood type? How many carbohydrates, proteins and fats should I consume? How many calories should I eat?
With that as our backdrop, allow me to address these head-on. First, diets do not work. Dieting is a bad idea. Never go on a diet. Second, the science of counting calories for dietary guidance is faulty and has long been disproven. A calorie in one person’s body does not have the same effect as in another person’s body. Third, counting calories and consequently lowering them in the belief that weight loss will result lowers the metabolic rate and yields less energy, which is counterproductive to our purpose. And fourth, never use weight loss as a target to health. Scale weight tells us nothing; body composition tells us everything.
For anyone who wants 100% success with nutrition and a better bodily healing process as a result, here are some surefire guidelines for success:
Eliminate all breads, sugars, rice, processed foods, fried foods, sodas, soy and corn.
Consume unlimited amounts of all above-ground vegetables, including spinach, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, field greens, collard greens and so on.
Limit fruit to two half-cup servings per day.
Use the following guidelines when selecting protein: grass fed and grass finished, hormone and antibiotic free, wild caught, free range and organic.
Consume generous amounts of healthy fats, including olive oil, avocado, macadamia and coconut oil.
There you have it. This plan will work with 100% certainty. Don’t believe it? Ask the thousands of people we have helped across the globe. When we adjust our thinking and our nutrition, great things begin to happen, including the healing of our physical bodies, created by God to fulfill His divine purpose and destiny.
It is never God’s will that we walk around in a state of sickness, but this lifestyle has become all too common. Let’s change that by making these adjustments now and have the best year—and coming years—of our lives.
Mark Sherwood is a naturopathic doctor who, with his wife, Michele L. Neil-Sherwood, D.O., provides resources to help people live well.
This article was excerpted from the January-February issue of Charisma magazine. If you don’t subscribe to Charisma, click here to get every issue delivered to your mailbox. During this time of change, your subscription is a vote of confidence for the kind of Spirit-filled content we offer. In the same way you would support a ministry with a donation, subscribing is your way to support Charisma. Also, we encourage you to give gift subscriptions at shop.charismamag.com, and share our articles on social media.
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