Water Treatments and Simple Herbs—The Lord has taught us that great efficacy for healing lies in a proper use of water. These treatments should be given skillfully. We have been instructed that in our treatment of the sick we should discard the use of drugs. There are simple herbs that can be used for the recovery of the sick, whose effect upon the system is very different from that of those drugs that poison the blood and endanger life.—Manuscript 73, 1908 (Manuscript entitled “Counsels Repeated”).
(2SM 288.1)
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Remedies That Cleanse the System—Christ never planted the seeds of death in the system. Satan planted these seeds when he tempted Adam to eat of the tree of knowledge which meant disobedience to God. Not one noxious plant was placed in the Lord’s great garden, but after Adam and Eve sinned, poisonous herbs sprang up. In the parable of the sower the question was asked the master, “Didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?” The master answered, “An enemy hath done this” (Matthew 13:27, 28). All tares are sown by the evil one. Every noxious herb is of his sowing, and by his ingenious methods of amalgamation he has corrupted the earth with tares.
(2SM 288.2)
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Then shall physicians continue to resort to drugs, which leave a deadly evil in the system, destroying that life which Christ came to restore? Christ’s remedies cleanse the system. But Satan has tempted man to introduce into the system that which weakens the human machinery, clogging and destroying the fine, beautiful arrangements of God. The drugs administered to the sick do not restore, but destroy. Drugs never cure. Instead, they place in the system seeds which bear a very bitter harvest....
(2SM 288.3)
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Since the fall in Eden, the race has been degenerating. Deformity, imbecility, disease, and human suffering have been pressing heavier and heavier upon each successive generation since the fall, and yet the masses are asleep as to the real causes. They do not consider that they themselves are guilty, in a great measure, for this deplorable state of things. They generally charge their sufferings upon Providence, and regard God as the author of their woes. But it is intemperance, to a greater or less degree, that lies at the foundation of all this suffering.
(2SM 411.1)
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Eve was intemperate in her desires when she put forth the hand to take of the fruit-forbidden tree. Self-gratification has reigned almost supreme in the hearts of men and women since the fall. Especially has the appetite been indulged, and they have been controlled by it, instead of reason. For the sake of gratifying the taste, Eve transgressed the command of God. He had given her everything her wants required, yet she was not satisfied. Ever since, her fallen sons and daughters have followed the desires of their eyes, and of their taste. They have, like Eve, disregarded the prohibitions God has made, and have followed in a course of disobedience, and, like Eve, have flattered themselves that the consequence would not be as fearful as had been apprehended.
(2SM 411.2)
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Man has disregarded the laws of his being, and disease has been steadily increasing. The cause has been followed by the effect. He has not been satisfied with food which was the most healthful; but has gratified the taste even at the expense of health.
(2SM 411.3)
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God has established the laws of our being. If we violate these laws, we must, sooner or later, pay the penalty. The laws of our being cannot be more successfully violated than by crowding upon the stomach unhealthy food, because craved by a morbid appetite. To eat to excess, of even simple food, will eventually break down the digestive organs; but add to this the eating in too great an amount of food, and that unwholesome, and the evil is greatly increased. The constitution must become impaired.
(2SM 411.4)
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