Sunday, August 10, 2008

How valuable Soy Beans are in this endtime?

How valuable Soy Beans are in this endtime?

Agape Foundation (Agasoft)
August, 2008


“Eat right before the doctor comes in and gives you an expensive hospital bill!
Don’t wait for treatment time, start at eating time!”

“Junk foods and empty calories may seem to be cheap and affordable at buying time, but at disease-reaping time, they are found to be so expensive and costly, especially when health is lost and life is the final cost!”

“Diet is proactive and preventive.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Medicine to cure, including herbal, is quite reactive… and oftentimes too late. ”

Diet, not Rx!
Preface


Diet, not Rx!


“Eat right before you get sick and the doctor comes in to give you an expensive hospital bill!
Don’t wait for treatment time, start at eating time! Diet before tablet.”



Jesus Christ is called the “wisdom of God”, even as God the Father is the Love. Jesus came to be a “light” unto this blinded dark world, lest we shall be lost forever. Father is to the heart, Son is to the Mind.

As Mind or Wisdom of God, one of the particular things Jesus told us about was to be wise as a serpent without losing the loving-kindness, meekness, and innocence of the dove.

He urged His followers to beware because the children of the world, such as the worldly profit-minded businessmen and their scientists and chemists, are shrewder than the children of the light – that in the last days (now!) they will make things so difficult, slippery and fill the world with temptations that “even the Elect would be deceived if it were possible”.

The sad fact is that a large number of the so-called Christians or followers of Jesus Christ have fallen into the subtle trap the wily serpent had laid along the way with his cohorts.

One is in the area of food or health.

Satan succeeded in particular in making Christians complacent and negligent in this area, instead of being vigilant as in any other areas. Satan was able to persuade us Christians to never mind the food we eat because “the kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking” which is a phrase extracted from the apostle Paul’s epistle.

So, we focus our sight on the development of the spirit, leaving Satan and his cohorts to destroy our body which is the temple of God’s Holy Spirit.

Is this correct? Is it God’s will for us to neglect our body’s health in order to focus our efforts to the salvation of our soul? Are we to swing to the other extreme? Do we have to allow the food manufacturers or doctors or the Big Pharmaceuticals to destroy our body or health in order to be saved? Or is it not another wrong extreme?

Getting the whole perspective of the Holy Bible, it is not God’s will to destroy the body because it is the temple of His Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, Paul seemed to indicate that to harm or destroy the human body is a greater sin because it is a sin against self.

Let us quote him.

“Know you not that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you from God? Thus, you are no longer of your own, but God’s, being bought with a price? Therefore, use your body as well as your spirit to glorify God.”

“Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defiles (or harms) the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God (that is, our body) is holy, which temple you are.”

Which of these verses show us that it is God’s will to expose our body to any type of harm? To the contrary, we are to take care of our body more than ever in order to sanctify or exclusively use it in His service and for His glory. We are no longer ours.

While Paul in all cases discuss about misusing our body in harlotry or sexual immorality, the application extends farther and includes all other kinds of harm.
Jesus laid the premise, namely: That we are to love ourselves as well as our neighbors. “Love your neighbor as you love yourselves,” He commanded.

Nowhere in the Bible or Holy Scriptures can we find that we are to harm or destroy our body or self in order to attain spiritual salvation. The statement of Jesus about plucking one’s eye or cutting one’s hand that caused one to sin adding “it is better to enter God’s kingdom with one eye or maimed than for the whole body to be cast into hell” is a metaphor of the need to avoid the situations where you, in your weakness, will be tempted again to sin.

I am in favor of putting secondary importance to the health and well-being of our physical body in order to give priority No. 1 to the health, healing and salvation of our soul and spirit. And I think that is the right approach and the right balance. But to neglect our body such as to allow others to harm and destroy it with their subtly delicious but harmful food and drinks, that I consider as the other extreme which is as wrong as the first extreme of making our physical well-being the No. 1 priority, neglecting our soul-spirit.

The apostle John made it clear: it is right to seek the prosperity of both body and spirit. “Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers,” John wrote in 1 John 1:2.

He talks about three things here: a) economic prosperity, b) bodily physical health and c) soul’s salvation and development.

So, the right mind frame is to seek the health of body and soul. Other than that is not of God. To seek the health of the soul while neglecting or harming the body is not in accordance to God who had purchased our body to become the temple of His Holy Spirit.

Yes, there are times when our body may be destroyed such as by martyrdom, but it is not our own doing, but the enemy’s who persecute us. Let it be far from us to intentionally destroy or harm the temple of God’s Holy Spirit. Under normal circumstances, as much as possible, we must take good care of our health so we can serve God actively and productively.

When Jesus said “Greater love has no one than to lay down one’s life for his beloved friends,” it could mean either dying for love (abrupt martyrdom) or living for love (e.g., gradual laying down of one’s life through a life of service and sacrifices). But it does not mean harming unnecessarily our body.

***

Does Romans 14:17 call Christians to hate themselves and harm their health?

Romans 14:17 states: “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

Does it mean we are now to neglect our health, now that we are Christians and supposedly have our soul’s salvation assured by Christ’s sacrifice? Is Christianity equated to bad health, sickness, diseases, physical death?

Does Romans 14:17 mean that now that we are Christians, we are no longer to take care of our health?

Taking the answer from God’s main law “You shall love God above all and your neighbor as yourself,” the answer is “No.” NO, we are still to remain loving ourselves, e.g., taking good care of our health. Jesus said we are to proceed loving others, as we love ourselves. Jesus never said, Stop loving yourselves and start loving others. He said, Love your neighbor as you continue to love yourself.

Our own health and well-being (love of self) is still a goal in Christianity, although love for God and love for neighbor are the higher goals. In a sense, love of self becomes the means to the higher ends of loving God and loving neighbor. The new Christian perspective is: Take good care of your self so you can love or serve God and neighbor.

That is new. That is different to the old pagan mindset which makes love of self the only value and the ultimate goal, excluding God and neighbor.

In Christ’s mind frame, love of self, love of God and love of neighbor are all valuable and precious, only the degrees are different, where love of self should be lower than love for God and is equal to love of neighbor.

In this case, love of self becomes the lesser goal and in a sense also the means. It is a means to attain the higher goal of loving God and neighbor. Our being healthy in particular or our love of self in general is, under the new Christian mentality, a means to serve and love God and neighbor.

Our motivation to take care of ourselves now takes new and broader dimension. If in the past we only take care of ourselves because we want all praises, all glories and all happiness to be ours, now it is different, or rather, more mature: we now take care of ourselves because, aside from self, there is a Father (God) and there are fellowmen (brothers) whom we love and whom we intend to serve.

We no longer live for ourselves only or primarily but for God and others. It is far better – far better than the old selfish myopic perspective of selfish love.

A positive twist

Strange as it may seem, the initiative of a convert-to-Christ to change his focus from self to others, does not and will not actually reduce personal well-being, but rather, increase it because health and happiness comes from God and fellowmen! The more you love them, the greater that health and happiness will you receive.

The old pagan approach of making self the exclusive beneficiary (selfish self-love) was actually a state of self-deception. It was a state of self-deception because over-loving (read: indulging) yourself with wine, women, food (gluttony) would lead you to diseases caused by drunkenness, sexual immoralities, and gluttony.

Let’s take the case of food. Rich people do not share to the poor. They indulge in rich food – filled with delicious cholesterol (fats) and sweets. What happened as results of this gluttony and selfishness? They got sick with cardio-vascular diseases, cancers and diabetes. They died of heart attack, stroke or gangrene or cancers.

The pagan line of thinking was “love yourself alone or above others” which take us to the state of forgetting God and taking advantage of others – for the sake of the self.

Now, has this precept, rule and philosophy of life led to real benefit of the self? Or did not it lead to God’s withdrawing His blessings and protection from us, exposing us to all kinds of dangers and harms? And did it not lead the fellow men to seek also our harm and destruction, avenging our own deeds that harming them?

So, selfish self-love that does away with God and neighbor is not a real love of self. It is self-deception. It is subtle self-destruction. You destroy your own self by cutting off your life-line with God, the source of life, and by provoking the powers of your fellowmen to work against you!

To follow Christ’s precept to love God above all and your neighbor as yourself is a positive twist towards true benefit of self. It is the path to true love of self. For if you truly love your self, then, why do you displease God and provoke your neighbors, both in possession of powers that can either benefit or harm your self?

The true path to genuine security and benefits for the self – the right kind of self-love – rests in the law of Christ, “You shall love God above all and your neighbor as yourself.” Only when and if you are able to love God above all will you find absolute protection, guaranteed security, and genuine salvation, as well as countless of benefits including freedom, happiness, abundant life, you name it.

So, we have to cast all our fears and plunge without hesitation to “loving God above all and our neighbor as ourselves”! Let us not remain cold, still less, lukewarm, swinging to and fro or tossed to and fro by the winds of doubt, lest God will spew us out!

Now that we had put our hands on the plow, let us not look back! For he who looks back is not fit for God’s kingdom!

Like Peter, let us walk on the water in faith. But unlike Peter, let us not allow the waves of doubts to cause our faith to waver, lest we sink! Like Peter, let us hone our faith to become firm and solid like a rock!

Misinterpretation of Romans 14:17 led to Revelation 16:2

Romans 14:17 states: “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

Putting the wrong meaning into this verse has led to the first plague in Revelation 16:2!

That is how dangerous is wrong interpretation!

Instead of giving proper care of our health so we can run the Christian race more effectively, we neglected our own physical well-being in the following specific ways, causing us to run like a sick man:

1) We allowed the scientists-chemists to formulate artificial counterfeit fertilizers that at first additional size and quantity to the organically naturally fertilized plants and fruits that our forefathers cultivated under God’s natural ecosystems. We did not know that those sudden expansion of the size of our corn and yield of our rice was a hoax made by those chemicals they call fertilizers. Now, our naïve ancestors way back in the 1960, were persuaded and so they adopted the commercial artificial counterfeit fertilizers. Nothing was suspect; nothing was indicative that these chemical fertilizers would destroy God’s Nature and Ecosystem, kill His earthworms and micro-organisms, those natural decomposers who are the makers of organic, natural fertilizers, keeping the soil fertile. And so our grandfathers adopted the chemical fertilizers and pesticides beginning 1960. Nothing did they know that some 20 years, then some 30 years, then some 48 years later (2008), it would be clear that these chemical fertilizers would have largely destroyed our Ecosystem, killed our micro-organisms (makers of organic natural fertilizers), so that farmers can no longer grow plants and obtain yields unless they use these chemical fertilizers; the soil has died. Now by-products of these artificial fertilizers, such as nitrates and nitrites, have crawled over the ovaries and breasts of our women (actually via the food chain), form the deadly carcinogen nitrosamines by combining with amino acids, causing them breasts cancers and cervix (womb) cancers! And because it is the breasts and womb that these fertilizer-originating carcinogens are attacking, our children who first are nurtured inside those wombs and later on fed by those breasts, will suffer the most from those cancers! They would be born with various deformities, and will become victims themselves of cancers. What world will it be populated by cancer victims?
2) We allowed the grain millers to remove the all-important multi-nutritious bran and germ off God’s rice, wheat, corn, etc., leaving the polished, white refined grains with only 2 nutrients, instead of the original 30 or so nutrients (vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, etc.) that the whole grain still possessed before being mill-refined. Thus, our staple food is the first to have become “mal-nourished” or “un-nourished” and “non-nutritious”. Already at this point, we lost our first defense against diseases that would be caused by chemical substances, germs and viruses.
3) Because we misunderstood Romans 14:17’s “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink,” we forget that God was health-conscious already in the Old Testament about which Jesus said: “I have come not to destroy the Law in the Old Testament but to fortify, magnify and fulfill them” (Matthew 5). In Leviticus 3 & 7 for example, God clearly prohibits the eating of blood and fats. Now, our independent medical and scientific studies and investigations have led us to find that cholesterol is a component of what we call animal fat. Cholesterol or more correctly, the cholesterol that we eat from animals together with the fat and meat, has been singled out as the one which gets stuck in the arteries of our hearts and other locations of our blood vessels. This caused heart attack if this cholesterol completely clogged our heart, stroke if it completely blocks the blood going to the brain, and gangrene if it happens to the feet. Because there was no microscope in Moses time and the people did not yet know the chemical-biological composition of the human body, or of the circulatory system in particular, God used other reason why He prohibited the eating of fat: “Fat is for the burning sacrifice to serve as incense, giving sweet aroma.” Now, after thousands of years of independent scientific and medical investigations, we found a second reason why God Jehovah repeatedly told the Israelites and all: “Do not eat fat of any animal.” And what is that reason? Independently discovered, the reason is: ANIMAL FAT, cholesterol in particular, causes heart attack, stroke and gangrene, among others! In short, ANIMAL FAT KILLS! You can use it for any other useful purposes, but never eat it, God told Moses and the Israelites.

Now, the big businessmen have made great profits using the “sweet aroma” of animal fat which we love and eat despite God’s warning. Cholesterol in particular and fat in general taste delicious and fragrant to the smell. Both nose and tongue are served well by cholesterol. And that is the areas shrewd businessmen exploited or used to make big sales of products laced or filled with animal fat.

In what ways, for example, does animal fat make food more delicious, aside from being eaten directly with the meat? The most common uses of animal fat is as shortening, that is, as lard, margarine and butter. Besides that lard, margarine and butter adds flavor and aroma, they also serve as shortening, meaning: they make your biscuits, cookies, or lumpia crispier and flakier.

One Sabbath keeper who observes the laws on good meat in Leviticus 11, has wondered why she still got the first plague of Revelation 16 (e.g., obesity) when she did not eat pork, or any animal fat.

The answer lies in the fact that the businessmen of this world are shrewder than the children of light, e.g., they had changed the color and appearance of the animal fat and called it with other names, such as: lard, margarine, shortening. Go and look at almost all biscuits and junk packed foods in any stores, and you can read in the list of ingredients the name “shortening”.

So, in this area of fat, we have been deceived. Jesus floated the statement, “For false saviors of the people will arise and shall do great things, such as marvelous scientific wonders, to deceive many, and if possible, even the very elect.”

Have the elect been deceived? You might asked. In the area of fat and cholesterol, almost all of the elect have been deceived. And so, they suffer the first plague of cancers (the grievous sore of Revelation 16:2) which are fed by sugars and fats. It leads us to say that obesity caused by fats-cholesterol lays the foundation for cancers to grow and thrive. Fats including cholesterol as well as sugar (the chemical and chemically processed sugars) are feeds of cancers cells.

Have the elect been trapped without their knowledge? Yes! That is why God calls them to “come out of her (evil system) My people, lest you will share in her sins and plagues” (Revelation 18:4). This statement proves that many of us are already sucked to join into the evil harmful system. It says that even though we are the elect, we will share the plague that is supposed to fall only upon those who worshipped the beast and observed the evil 666-economic and political systems (Revelation 16:2). But if we join them, then, we will also suffer the consequences, such as the plague of cancer, gangrene (diabetes) and other disease that consumes the flesh.

4) In modern terms, oxidants or free radicals caused cancers or other form of oxidation. To the man on the street, that is difficult to understand. What is oxidation which happens in cancer, gangrene, TB and other diseases of consumption? Oxidation, from the term itself, is the act of oxygen burning or melting a matter, such as flesh. In short, this type of oxygen called oxidants or free radicals caused the flesh to decay or turn from solid to liquid and gas (invisible, the solid flesh disappears!). And this process of oxidation (decay) happens with great pain (burning like a fire) and foul odor (rancidity). This disease is described in Deuteronomy 28 as “disease of [flesh] consumption” – the flesh is consumed or eaten up by small invisible crab-like germs aptly called canker (see the picture of a crab in your zodiac sign of cancer!). In one angle, they appear as deranged oxygen molecules called oxidants or free radicals wreaking havoc like a mad man running amuck, massacring, stabbing healthy cells with a “knife” but later, crab-like germs eat up the flesh. I imagine the great pain as coming from the ‘cute’ sharp bites of these tiny crabs as they cut every little vein or capillary in our cells or flesh. How painful must it be! Whatever the real picture is in this microscopic world, it is suffice to quote James that men and women with so much gold and silver which can buy many “food rich with fats, sugars and chemicals or carcinogens” – all of which are contributors to cancers. Read how James makes the link between riches and cancer and pain like burning fire: “Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire.” Those who are suffering cancers will testify the same burning fire pain. If it is already painful to prick your skin with a tiny needle, how much more painful must it be if it is a tiny crab to bite and cut your tiny veins (capillaries)? And millions of them doing that at the same time! So, the pain you feel by intentionally but mildly pricking your skin with a needle is multiplied a million times! That is why the most powerful pain reliever should be administered on cancer patient, lest they will not be able to endure the pain.

The following verse continues to glow everyday and its meaning and relevance seems to come clearer and clearer.

“If any man worships the beast [human government: particularly the US government system] and his image [e.g., false messiahs such as science or scientists and chemists who led in processed foods] and receives his mark [that is, 666 = 600fold love for self + 60fold love for neighbor and only 6fold love for God, which underscore the economic system of capitalism] in his forehead [mind, as a philosophy or practice] or in his hand [work, actions, methods of business], the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God [e.g., the 7 last plagues in Revelation 16, especially the first plague in verse 2: cancers, diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, etc.]…and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb [not just in the beyond but already here on earth by the plague of cancers et. al.] And the smoke of their torment [suffering] ascends [note the present tense] up forever and ever [or for the long time of suffering] and they have no rest day and night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name [666]” (Revelation 14:9-11).

This verse seems to refer to cancers as penalty – read: consequence – of worshipping the human government, its messiahs [who propose scientific-chemical solutions to food crisis and ‘over-population’, etc.] and for adopting their 666-system of politics (democracy) and economy (selfish capitalism).

“And except those days should be shortened, there would no flesh be saved; but for the sake of the elect, those days shall be shortened” Jesus declared in Matthew 24:22.

The Lord has to hasten His return to shorten those difficult days. For even His elect, yes, many of them have been deceived – read: outsmarted by the shrewder children of the world, so that He calls them: “Come out of her My people, lest you partake of her sins and share in her plagues” – the seven last plagues of Revelation 16 – so-called God’s wrath, but which are actually evil consequences for their sins, misdeeds, abuses.

5) Chemicals. Definitions of chemical: 1) any element or compounds or substance or mineral that did not go through God-designed natural toxin-purification process using the sunlight called the photosynthesis inside the leaf of the plant; 2) any element or compound or substance or mineral that was taken from the dark earth and took instead the artificial ineffective ‘cleansing’ process called chemical-synthesis, as opposed to photosynthesis, in their counterfeit plant, the chemical plant; 3) finally, any nutrient resulting from photosynthesis but were extracted using chemical from the fruit or leaf where it was and is made into capsule, tablet, etc; hence, chemically processed – read: chemically corrupted. To prove the dangerousness of the third type of chemical, righteous scientists have found that friendly vitamins A, C & E which are anti-oxidants in their natural state, turn into evil pro-oxidants after they are extracted from their community and isolated, packed into capsule or tablet as vitamin supplements!

At first, these chemicals served as additives only, such as artificial flavorings, artificial colorings, preservatives, texture enhancers, fragrance enhancers, therefore in smaller amounts. These were added to the natural food harvested from the farm. So, in canned or packed foods or cooked foods, they are only in trace amounts, which nevertheless, are already dangerous over the long run, say, 20 to 40 years in a person’s life. But what is recently more dreadful is the success of those evil chemists to do away with natural carrots, natural lettuce, natural spices, natural banana, natural pineapple, etc, you name it, and their total replacement with carrots, lettuce, etc. made from 100% chemicals!! In this case, chemicals are in large dosages!!!

Expect the worst from this latest development!

Chemicals are dangerous because they contain anti-life, anti-health powers or properties, which we call toxins or poisons. They destroy our cells, our tissues, our body. They cause our cells to mutate and become cancerous. They cause our flesh and body organs to decay.

God help us. We have to come out of Babylon’s evil system.

Lord Jesus, please have mercy on us!

For even we, the elect, have been deceived – read: outsmarted by the enemy. His chemicals are white or colorful, fragrant and delicious. We did not see its poison.

Eating and drinking can endanger our share in God’s kingdom

Paul’s statement “the kingdom of God is meat and drink” should not be understood – read: misunderstood – as to mean “eating and drinking can not endanger our place in God’s kingdom”. No, Jesus said that even innocent and useful acts like drinking and eating can endanger our salvation if we are not careful.

Read Matthew 24:38. All people except 8, were drowned in Noah’s flood because of what? Because they were pre-occupied with “eating, drinking, marrying (sex) and giving up1 marriages (divorce in order to enjoy sex with new other ones)”! See, as innocent an act as eating can deviate us from the path leading to God’s kingdom. And let us beware because the Lord has likened this end-time generation to that of Noah’s! It means to say that most of us, too, will miss salvation because of pre-occupation with eating, drinking, sex, and other kinds of merriments.

Along with sexual immoralities such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, prostitution, harlotry, etc., NO LONGER EATING GOD’S PURE NATURAL PLANT FOOD, namely: the seeds (grains, legumes, nuts, etc.) AND FRUITS WITH SEEDS IN THEM (Genesis 1:29) IN THEIR NATURAL FORM IS SINNING AGAINST HIS OWN BODY (1 Corinthians 6:18). He violates the law “you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself”!

True, it is sin not to love God above all.

And true, it is sin not to love one’s neighbor as one’s own self.

But also true, not to love one self is also a grievous sin!

And loving one’s self means loving his whole person – body, soul and spirit.

In this matter, one’s own health and the protection of his physical life is everyone’s duty. A duty of love. Much as God commanded “Thou shall not kill” regarding the fellowmen, He also said the same towards self. He also commanded “Thou shall not kill yourself”!

Therefore, in the light of what the apostle John wished, let it also be our effort and striving that we “prosper and be in health even as our soul prospers”!

In this light, our effort to attain health and long life is within God’s holy perfect order based on His love. Economic prosperity, health and long life – all love of self as the means to love and serve the Father above all and our neighbor as ourselves.

So right attitude and right practices based in God’s Ten Commandments, Statutes and other laws – these are acts of obedience, proactive approach, preventing the evil consequences and invoking the positive fruits to happen, invoking blessings, avoiding curses.

And right diet for the health and strength of our body is one of those right practices.

God’s Menu

From God’s Word, especially in the Old Testament, we come to know that His menu for mankind consists of (1) seeds (e.g., grains, legumes, nuts, etc.); (2) fruits with seeds in them – Genesis 1:29; and (3) the clean meat enumerated in Leviticus 11.

With this short guideline, we could already build a strong foundation for our health and long life.

So, our approach is preventive, before sickness can occur.

“Eat right before the doctor comes in and gives you an expensive hospital bill!
Don’t wait for treatment time, start at eating time!”

“Junk foods and empty calories may seem to be cheap and affordable at buying time, but at disease-reaping time, they are found to be so expensive and costly, especially when health is lost and life is the cost!”
“Diet is proactive and preventive.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Medicine to cure, including herbal, is quite reactive…and oftentimes too late.”

Diet before tablet.

Diet, not Rx!

****

What does Romans 14:17 mean?

Romans 14:17 states: “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

What does this verse mean?

Reading the whole chapter of Romans 14 along with 1 Corinthians 8, we can see the context, namely: That it was not about health that Paul was talking about but rather it was about CONSCIENCE especially that of a brother who was weaker in faith.

“Food” merely happened to be one of the objects or examples or subjects of discussion and illustration that caused the weak conscience of a brother to get offended. The other object used by Paul was the Sabbath or holy day of rest. He said that some believe that the Sabbath is the only holy day of the week, while others consider all days equally holy. Here Paul said that if you are in the position of being the mature Christian, that is, your knowledge and understanding about the subject is deeper or more correct, you should be careful not to offend in any way the conscience of your weaker brother. It is us mature ones who should adjust for the sake of our weaker brother’s conscience.

Also, Paul said elsewhere that the different viewpoints and thus belief on something or anything should not be allowed to cause division among Christians or in the Church. Love should unite everyone, despite the still differing understanding, opinion on many topics and subjects. For there will come a time when everyone will come to complete understanding; but before that day comes, differences in understanding, opinion and views should be tolerated for the sake of unity and for the sake of the conscience of the weaker brothers.

Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 in general and Romans 14:17 in particular do not talk about health in any way. Paul was talking about CONSCIENCE and not using anything, be it food offered to idols, vegetarian menu or meat menu, or Sabbath, to offend someone else’s conscience. That is it our duty as Christians not to do something nor eat something that might cause the conscience of our weaker brother to stumble, that is, commit a sin or weaken in his faith in God or cause doubts to bother him. So important is CONSCIENCE that Paul said, “If my eating of meat causes the conscience of my brother to get offended, that is, if by my eating of meat offered to idols, for example, my brother mistakenly believe that I worship idols whom I know don’t exist but whom he thinks exist thus he thinks and accuses me that I serve idols, or my brother was himself led back to idolatry, then, in my whole life I will never again eat meat!” (1 Corinthians 8:13).

Taking Romans 14:17 out of context, misguided people misapplied it to health issues to mean specifically that “Christians should concentrate on the spiritual things and never mind the physical things, such as the health of the body.”

Here, the shrewd children of the world (e.g., chemists, food processors, businessmen, etc.) found an opening (opportunity out of the Christians’ ignorance or complacency) to do business with delicious chemicals to pose as “food” or “food additives” but are actually dangerous to our health, if not immediately but surely in the long run! The people of the world are shrewder than the children of light, Jesus once said. They have outsmarted us with regards to chemicals, fats and cholesterol used as shortening (lard and margarine), sugars and anything and everything that destroys our health, poisons our minds and renders us disabled or ineffective in our work and service to God!

It is wrong to say that because as Christians we focus on our soul’s salvation, we may or should neglect our health.

Nay, that is wrong – wrong because according to God, if the soul’s salvation is the end or goal, then, the body’s health is the means or one of the means. The physical body is a tool – read: one of the main tools – of salvation. Just as we need Christ’s blood to save us, we also need or most of all need the physical body to complete the process of salvation. The body and its health is important because it is a means to a spiritual end (salvation and perfection).

In Paul’s words, the physical body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The physical being used as the means of the spiritual. Now, if there is no body, where shall the Holy Spirit take abode? Or if the body is sick, how can the Spirit effectively work in such a case where its tool of implementation and action, that is the body, is weak and sickly?

Therefore, as correct Christians, we should take care of our health as a means to our spiritual goal of salvation and of loving God above all and our neighbor as ourselves.

It is wrong to say that now that we are saved by Christ and the focus is spiritual, we can now forget about anything that affects, either in a negative or positive way, the health of our body.

This is not the right perspective of Christ and Christians. The right perspective is this: WE SHOULD THE MORE TAKE GOOD CARE OF THE BODY OR BE NOW MORE CONCERNED OF OUR HEALTH BUT NO LONGER FOR ITS OWN SAKE BUT FOR THE SAKE OF GOD WHO WILL USE OUR BODY TO DO HIS WORKS AND FOR THE SAKE OF OUR FELLOWMEN WHO NEED OUR SERVICES!

That is the new perspective which refutes the two wrong extremes: 1) pagan “Eat and drink for tomorrow we will die and there is no tomorrow after death”; and 2) false Christian’s “Focus fully on salvation of your soul and never mind the health or welfare of your body.”

In closing this point, may I quote again the statement of the apostle John that puts the matter straight: That it is God’s will that both our body and soul prosper: “Beloved, I wish above all that you will (economically) prosper and be in health (of your physical body) as your soul prospers (grows and develops)” (1 John 3:2).

Therefore, physical health and soul’s well-being are according to God’s will. The first is the means to the second. Romans 14:17 does not say we can neglect our health. In that verse as well as in the whole chapters of Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8, Paul was discussing not about health or well-being of our body, but about conscience and our duty never to allow anything, food or day etc., to cause the conscience of a weak brother to get offended. Furthermore, Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 say that we must not allow petty things or different views of petty things like food, day, circumcision, etc., to cause division in the church of God. Love and unity are the more important things as well as peace, joy, righteousness and the protection of everyone’s conscience.

So the next time you are in conversation about food, nutrition and health issues and some professing Christian quotes Romans 14:17 saying “the kingdom of God is not meat and drink”, tell him straight that: he is misapplying it, and that that verse is about conscience, and not about health, therefore, it should not be used in health and food and nutrition topics.

It is time now that we change our wrong perspective. Or else, the wicked and shrewd sons of this world will continue destroying our body, the temple of the Father’s Holy Spirit! And we become their co-destroyers of our own bodies!

Oh, how many of the elect are deceived!


Four Great Values of Soybeans


A. Superb Cancer-fighting agents or substances
B. Superior Quality Protein
C. Soybeans has been recognized as the main cause of health (disease-free) and longevity in Japan and China
D. Creates anti-cancer environment


A. Soybeans’ Superb Cancer-fighting Agents

“For centuries the soybean has been prized as one of the best sources of protein available in the world, but its most important attribute may be that it is a superb cancer fighting agent.”
- Dr. Jau-Fei Chen, U.S. scientist and nutritional immunologist, Nutritional Immunology, p. 72

Anti-cancer PHYTOCHEMICALS found in soybeans and soy products:

1. Isoflavones – help prevent the growth of hormone-dependent cancers such as breast and prostate cancers.
2. Genistein – superb cancer-fighting agent, is like a plumber who cuts the supply lines (that is, our capillaries or small blood vessels which are like pipes or tubes delivering nutrients and oxygen to every cell) – capillaries that the cancer cell had previously seized and installed upon itself, thus, Genistein starves the cancer cell, not just making it more difficult for cancer to spread but causing its eventual death;
-- promotes cell identification among cancer cells which means: healthy cells made cancerous forget their identity which makes it difficult for treatment or for these cells to get restored to health. Genistein ‘wakes’ them up and remind them of who they were (namely: as healthy useful cells) – that they were not cancer cells from the beginning, thus, leading them back to health.
3. Daidzein – another phytochemical that promotes cell differentiation and inhibit growth of cancer cells.
4. Protease inhibitors – is described as a ‘universal anti-carcinogen’ because it works to prevent or inhibit a wide range of cancers, from liver cancer to colon cancer to breast cancer;
-- blocks the action of protease, enzymes that may promote tumor growth;

5. Phytic Acids – is a chelator, that is, it binds with certain metals that promote tumor or cancer growth;
6. Saponins – kills colon-cancer cells.


B. Superior Quality Protein

What is soy protein?

1. It is as complete as animal protein but without the dangerous saturated fats and cholesterol in meat which cause cancer, diabetes, heart attack and stroke.
2. Soy is found to ‘one of the best sources of protein in the world,’ ‘an excellent source of protein,’ ‘the quality of soy protein is superior,’ the only plant protein classified as ‘complete proteins’.
3. ‘soy milk is a complete substitute for cow’s milk”
4. in a gram-for-gram comparison, soy protein is: twice that of meat;
5. soy protein is 4 times that of eggs, wheat and other cereals;
6. soy protein is 5 to 6 times that of bread;
7. soy protein is twice that of walnuts and other nuts;
8. soy protein is 12 (read: twelve!) times that of milk!


C. Soybeans: main cause of health and longevity in Japan and China

Comparison of Effects Japanese-Chinese ‘Soy Protein Diet’ vs. American Meat Protein Diet:

1. Japanese – longest lifespan of any nationality;
2. Japanese - lower rates of colon cancer and lung cancer than Americans;
3. Japan has the lowest rate of death from heart disease for men in the world and the 2nd lowest for women;
4. American women are 4 times more likely to die from breast cancer than Japanese women;
5. American men are 5 times more likely to die from prostate cancer than Japanese men;
6. Consistent No. 1 killer disease in America and also in the Philippines: CVD or Cardio-Vascular Diseases which includes heart disease, heart attack; hypertension, high blood pressure; sclerosis, stroke; etc. – due to saturated fats such as: a) animal fat, b) transfat (or so-called hydrogenated fat which was liquid plant oil hardened by the chemical process called hydrogenation) and c) synthetic (chemical) fat ;
7. The Chinese are said to be “singularly free from several of our most deadly disease such as CVDs, cancers and diabetes” ;
8. Chinese men have one-tenth (1/10th) the rate of heart disease as American men;
9. Chinese women die from breast cancer at one-sixth (1/6th) the rate of American women, while in the U.S., 8 out of every 10 Americans will suffer from heart disease (CVD) or cancer at some point in their lifetimes;


Comparison of Japanese-Chinese and American consumptions of protein:

1. The Japanese eat 50 – 80 grams of soy a day in different forms, e.g., soy milk, tofu, tempeh, natto, miso, soy sauce, kinnoko flour, soy oil, etc.;
2. Chinese diet is 95% vegetable protein esp. soybeans and only 5% animal protein (meat);
3. Americans eat only 5 grams of soy food daily, hidden or mixed in foods;
4. American protein is at least 55% animal protein (meat);


Conclusion: “A plant-based diet (especially soy) clearly leads to a stronger immune system…” that leads to disease-free or disease-less health and long life.
- Dr. Jau-Fei Chen, U.S. scientist, Nutritional Immunologist

Fact: Animal Protein found or mixed in animal meat is linked to CVDs, cancers and diabetes. Fats are feeds to cancer cells.
 Nutrition and Diet Therapy, Sue Rodwell Williams
 www.mercola.com

Solution: Replace your animal protein (found in meat fats) with soy protein.


What is Protein and how important it is to our health and life?

What is protein?

Protein is one of the 7 nutrient groups which are essentials of life. The other six are: carbohydrates, (including fiber and sugar), fats (including cholesterol), vitamins, minerals, water, and phytochemicals.

Like carbohydrates and fats, proteins have a basic structure of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. But unlike carbohydrates and fats, which contain no nitrogen, protein is about 16% nitrogen. In addition, some proteins contain small but valuable amounts of sulfur, phosphorus, iron and iodine.

Protein is made up of amino acids which carry nitrogen, an essential element needed for human life. There are 22 kinds amino acids. 12 of them are manufactured by the body. The remaining 10 cannot be, therefore, must be absorbed from food, animal and/or plant. The 10 are: methionine (plus cystine), threnine, tryptophan, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, valine, phenylalanine (plus tyrosine), histidine, taurine.

These 10 are called “essential amino acids” because the body does not manufacture them and must be absorbed from food.

What are the types of protein?

1. Simple – example: serum albumin, insulin, and the enzymes;
2. Complex – is simple protein plus some other non-protein groups

Examples:
a. Nucleoproteins – one or more proteins plus acid, such as DNA, protein complex in cell nuclei;
b. Glycoproteins and mycoproteins – protein and carbohydrates, such as mucin, found in secrations from mucous membranes;
c. Phosphoproteins – protein and a phosphorus-containing radical other than phospholipids or nucleic acid, such as casein in milk;
d. Chromoprotein – protein and a chromophoric or pigmented group, such as hemoglobin in red blood cells;
e. Lipoproteins – protein and a triglyceride or other lipid, phospholipids, or cholesterol-lipid transport package traveling in the bloodstream;
f. Metalloproteins - protein and a metal (mineral) such as copper or iron, suich as heme, the iron-bonding portion of hemoglobin;

TISSUE PROTEINS: proteins classified in broad categories according to their role in body structure and metabolism, namely:

1. Structural proteins – ex. Collagen (connective tissue)
2. Contractile proteins – ex. Myosin (muscle)
3. Antibodies - ex. Gammaglobulin
4. Blood proteins – ex. Albumin, fibrinogen, hemoglobin
5. Hormones – ex. Insulin
6. Enzymes – all the enzymes


How important is protein? What is its relevance or role in the body?

1. TISSUE BUILDING – is the primary function of protein. No protein, no form or structure to pair with the skeletons. Of the traditional groupings of food into GO, GROW and GLOW foods, protein consists the GROW food group.
2. CALORIES or ENERGY. Protein sometimes provide energy. When carbohydrates (first source of energy) and fats (second source of energy) are exhausted as first sources of energy, such as during fasting, sickness, or in extended physical efforts such as marathon, protein provides energy through its residue, glucogen to be converted into glucose (body sugar) which the type the body insulin hormones convert into energy. Calories or energy comes from only 3 of the nutrients groups, namely: carbohydrates, fats, protein. Vitamins, minerals and water contain no calories.
3. PERFORMS VARIOUS SPECIFIC ADDITIONAL PHYSIOLOGIC ROLES – e.g., precursor of B Vitamins, hormones, etc.
4. IMMUNE SYSTEM. Protein makes antibodies, one of the body-produced “army” which help fight infection;
5. Transports nutrients and oxygen both in the blood and in and out of cells;
6. Regulates the balance of water, acids and bases (alkaline);
7. METABOLISM. Regulates the chemical and physical processes in the body (metabolism).
8. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) - Inside the nucleus of every cell is deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a tightly coiled molecule that contains genes. Genes determine all the features found in living things, such as eye color, the pattern on a butterfly’s wings, or the color of a flower’s petals. DNA is protein-based, carries the genetic “blueprint” of a living beings such as man passed from one generation to the next or characteristics of parents to children.


3 Myths & Deceptions about Protein:

Myth No. 1: Animal (meat) protein contains all of these essential amino acids (except taurine); therefore, animal protein (meat) is called complete protein and high-quality protein.
Fact/Truth: Complete does not necessarily mean high quality and safe. Animal (meat) protein is the single main cause of cardio-vascular diseases that claims the most number of lives in the U.S., the Philippines and other meat-eating countries.

Myth No. 2: Meat is the only source of protein.

“Many people, often under the mistaken assumption that meat is the only source of protein, eat too much of it. Two-thirds (2/3) of the (US) nation’s protein comes from animal sources and (only) one-third from vegetable. In 1909, half came from animal sources and half from vegetable.

“…the change in America’s dietary habits (from low-fat, high fiber diet before the 19th century to high-fat, low fiber diet) is unfortunate and undesirable for several reasons:

“1. Red meats high in fat (saturated fat) and cholesterol, both are mainly responsible for cardio-vascular diseases (CVDs), the No. 1 killer disease in the US, other advanced countries as well as in the Philippines;
“2. Meat protein is the most expensive protein to produce. Cows must be fed 21 pounds of vegetable protein to produce one pound of usable meat protein. An acre of cereals can produce 5 times more protein than an acre devoted to meat production. An acre of legumes produces 10 times more, and an acre of leafy vegetables produces 15 times more.”

Fact/Truth: Protein can be found in fish, seeds (grains, legumes, nuts) and vegetables.

Myth No. 3: Meat is the only source of high-quality protein.
Fact/Truth: Proteins from soybeans equal or even exceed the quality of protein in meat, not only because it is as complete as meat protein, but also soy protein does not have cholesterol and other saturated fats that are responsible for CVDs (Cardio-Vascular Diseases), one of which is heart disease, the consistent leading killer disease in the U.S. and the Philippines.


D. Creates anti-cancer environment
Soy has the unique ability to create a favorable hormonal environment that can help prevent cancer.

Here’s how it works.
Estrogen - useful
The hormone estrogen produced mainly in women’s ovaries controls the development of secondary sexual organs in women such as breasts, pubic hairs, etc. Estrogen is also a major player in the female menstrual cycle. In a delicate interplay with other hormones, estrogen stimulates the development of ovum (unfertilized egg) and helps grow the lining of the uterus, where the egg will implant if it is fertilized.

Estrogen turns harmful

But if cells in breasts or cervix have been damaged or wounded by free radicals (unstable oxygen molecule) and turned cancerous, estrogen becomes a traitor and takes a harmful role as feeds or stimulators or promoters to these cancer cells. Thus, the more estrogen a woman has, the greater that chances that cancerous cells can multiply and spread very fast. Here the free radical is the initiator or cause of cancer cells while estrogen becomes the promoter – read: feeds! – to cancer cells!

Solution: limit estrogen.

How?

Let soybeans supply phyto-estrogen, to replace estrogen!

How soybeans help in preventing hormone-dependent cancers?

Breast and prostate cancers are called “hormone-dependent cancers” because hormones like estrogen can stimulate their growth .

Soybeans contain abundant phyto-estrogen (plant estrogen) called EQUOL that can be converted to estrogen in the body. When equol is abundant, ovary-produced estrogen decreases. Phyto-estrogen like equol is anti-cancer; estrogen is pro-cancer!





BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. Nutrition and Diet Therapy, Sue Rodwell Williams
2. Parents’ Guide to Nutrition, Dras. Susan Baker and Roberta Henry
3. Nutritional Immunology, Dr. Jau-Fei Chen

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