Can Change the World Again
With a Praying People.
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Is Coffee to be Avoided In Our Day?
Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or
To answer this question we must consider:
1. People Drink Coffee and Therefore Justify it Today.
If we answer this question in view of the prevailing practice of the modern world and the majority of the professing church, the answer practically is no. Coffee is a beverage found everywhere, and everywhere it is found people must approve of it. However there is now enough information given to the public by experts that people generally admit that it is something that really is not the best for them. While most admit that it has harmful effects upon our systems and long-term performance, many pragmatically justify it by its immediate benefits. It is also generally admitted today that most people do not care to consider all areas of their lives to learn whether such matters as eating and drinking pertain to obedience to God. Still further, it is in fashion today to suppose that disobedience to God has very little serious effects on our destiny. However we look at it, people today generally do not think God cares about whether we drink coffee or the like. What do you think?
2. What is the Nature of Coffee and its Affects upon Man?
In order for us to properly consider whether the world is right in thinking that God does not care about coffee at all, we must first consider what it is and what it does to us. Even if the whole world approves, we certainly cannot righteously decide upon what God thinks about something before we have even considered its nature and effects. For, as the apostle Paul once uttered—what has repeatedly happened in history: "Let God be true and every man a liar." Popularity does not determine truth. And the broad way can often lead to miscalculation or deception. Let us therefore consider the following facts from a typical health expert:
Improving Health After Years of Drinking Coffee, Regular or Decaffeinated. By Donna F. Smith, C.C.N., N.D.
"UNDERSTANDING WHY COFFEE AFFECTS THE BOWELS
"Most people are aware of the ill affect of drinking coffee because it contains caffeine. Actually, coffee is a narcotic beverage. The caffeine in the coffee belongs to the same alkaloid group of chemicals as morphine, cocaine and strychnine. It is no surprise then why people have such a difficult time, at first, letting go of coffee, and replacing it with healthier beverages. Caffeine combines with the stomach's hydrochloric acid and forms a potent toxin, caffeine hydrochloride. As this toxin is absorbed into your portal circulation and hits your liver, bile is released in an attempt to flush the toxin from your system. This accounts for the increase in bowel "regularity" of which many coffee drinkers boast. If you are one of these people, you might ask yourself, "Is such a toxin-induced flush really very health promoting? Or Isn't there a healthier way for me to be regular?" The answer, of course, is "No" to the first, and "Yes" to the second question...
COFFEE CONTAINS HARMFUL CHEMICALS
"Drinking decaffeinated coffee is no better than drinking regular coffee because of the large concentration of the chemical Trichloroethylene. It is used mainly as a de-greasing agent in the metal industry and as a solvent and dry cleaning agent in the clothing industry. Trichloroethylene is related to plastic chemical vinyl chloride, which has been linked to certain types of liver cancer. Columbian coffee planters have regularly used deadly pesticides on their plants for over 20 years. Some include Aldrin, Dieldrin, Chlordane and Heptachlor. Some speculate that coffee beans are the most significant source of these deadly toxins in U.S. diets.
The extreme temperatures in the roasting process of coffee beans depletes the beans of its natural oils. Though it may enhance their aroma, high heat actually causes the oils to become rancid.
The chlorogenic acid found in coffee has also been linked to toxic side effects.
COFFEE OVERWORKS THE ADRENALS AND SLOWS SPORTS PERFORMANCE
"Coffee has an acid-based oil which is an irritant to gastric mucosa. It simulates the secretion of gastric acidity and this results in secretion of adrenalin. The secretion of adrenalin stimulates insulin secretion with consequent secondary hypoglycemia. The end results are tension, mild rise in blood pressure, 2-3 hours later a craving for sweets, low energy and mood levels, and over working of the adrenal glands. All of which negatively affects health, exercise and sports performance.
COFFEE COUNTERACTS MEDICATIONS FOR PAIN, OBESITY, HYPERTENSION AND DEPRESSION.
"The secondary rise in plasma epinephrine due to the low blood sugar will undo whatever good medications are doing to counteract the hyperactive dopaminergic system in patients suffering from pain, obesity, hypertension or depression. A few minutes after drinking coffee, the stimulation of the dopaminergic system results in cold extremities along with simultaneous rise in deep (visceral) temperature. A patient with high fever is harmed by coffee, but helped by tea and lemon juice. The decaffeinated coffee contains the same acid oil, and thus is no better than regular coffee.
COFFEE CAUSES NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES
"Heavy coffee drinkers create Thiamine (B-1) insufficiency. Symptoms of B-1 insufficiency range from fatigue, nervousness, general malaise, general aches and pains to headaches.
Regular use of coffee prevents some of the nutrients in your food from being absorbed effectively in your small intestines, which leads to further vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
THE "BUZZ" FROM COFFEE
"The "buzz" or stimulation you get from coffee actually contributes to re-bound fatigue when the stimulating effects wear off. Repeated stimulation can contribute to the exhaustion of key organs like the liver, pancreas and adrenal glands. If you still want that "buzz" you get from coffee and strong teas, try Chinese Jasmine Green Tea, instead. It has an effective stimulant without many of the negative health effects.
HEALTHY ALTERNATIVES TO COFFEE AND STRONG TEA
"If you would like a beverage with a coffee taste without the side effects, try Nature's Sunshine Products' "Herbal Beverage." I have recommended Herbal Beverage to my clients for years with continued positive feedback. You may also enjoy other herbal blends with a coffee-like taste found in health food stores.
Besides coffee, some of the strong teas we grew up with also contain caffeine. These are still being served in most restaurants. A better alternative would be Traditional's Dinner Mint Tea. Blackberry Tea is another good choice. After having used strong tea and coffee for many years, you may think some herbal teas taste weak and have no flavor in comparison when you make the switch. You must realize, first, that your taste buds have been conditioned for "strong" beverages. It will, also, take some weeks to detoxify your tongue of the chemicals in strong beverages so that you may truly enjoy the wonderful flavors and variety of herbal teas. To help you during this transition, try this suggestion: use 2-3 herbal tea bags, instead of one, and let it steep for a longer period of time. This will help to make the herbal tea stronger tasting.
Be sure to read labels and ask questions whenever you are served traditional tea and coffee. Keep healthy tea bags in your purse or wallet and request a cup of hot water when dining outside the home...
LONG-TERM COFFEE DRINKING MAY PRODUCE A TOXIC LIVER
"Because of the overload on the liver to detoxify chemical residues, long-term coffee drinkers often have a toxic, congested liver and impure blood. The function of the liver is to filter the blood so the blood can nourish the cells. Just like your car's oil filter, filters the oil that gets distributed through your automobile. When the liver is congested, it cannot function properly. The blood does not get filtered and it circulates through the body depositing impure blood into the cells. The cells, then, can not regenerate and grow healthy tissue. The long-term effect, when cells cannot regenerate, is its opposite — degenerative cells which leads to degenerative diseases.
"An example of a toxic, congested liver is dark spots on the skin as the person gets older. Some people refer to them as brown or liver spots. In later years, these spots merge to the point that they no longer appear as spots, but discoloration of skin. Other examples include a lack of absorption of minerals resulting in gray hair, a protruded stomach, constipation, spastic colons, irritable bowels, a swollen or enlarged gall bladder, and high cholesterol and triglycerides, even after faithfully following a cholesterol-free or limiting diet. In fact, many new clients come to me frustrated because they have been watching their cholesterol intake for months, even years, and still have high cholesterol. This is a definite sign that the liver is congested and over-producing cholesterol."
After reading the above article it is safe to say that at the very least coffee should be avoided, and that people generally know this. And as people usually put things like sugar in their coffee, we wish to add some more quotations from another article that gives us a similar revelation of the nature of refined sugar. It is safe to say that almost all people who approve of coffee approve of sugar, and think God feels the same way they do about both. We therefore wish to consider the nature and effects of both in our estimation of whether people do actually eat and drink to the glory of God today, or whether they think that even matters.
Sugar: Powdered Poison. By Michael Dye.
"... By any reasonable definition of terms, refined sugar could be categorized as a poison and an addictive drug rather than a food. That is, of course, assuming your definition of food requires it to provide some form of nutrition.
"Taking a quick look at the facts about refined sugar (sucrose or C12H22O11), we see:
"Sugar is refined from plant material (beets or sugar cane) so that 100 percent of all nutritional value is removed. Not only does it have zero nutrients (only "empty calories"), but when sugar is consumed, it actually robs nutrients from the body, particularly from the teeth and bones. Sugar also is harmful to the stomach lining and can interfere with digestion of nutrients from other food.
"Sugar consumption requires the body to need more nutrients than would otherwise be needed without consuming sugar, therefore it has been classified by some as an 'anti-nutrient.'
"Sugar is addictive like a drug, can cause drastic mood swings like a drug (from hyperactivity to depression) and has withdrawal symptoms like a drug. And the common combination of sugar and starch leads to a fermentation in the digestive process that breaks down to alcohol (a drug) and other toxins. Considering all its adverse effects on human health, and the fact that refined sugar has zero nutrients, it becomes difficult to defend the common perception of sugar as a food rather than a poison or an addictive drug..."
"Because bad teeth are so apparent, it has become common knowledge that sugar causes dental decay. Practically everybody knows that sugar rots teeth. What becomes apparent later is that sugar rots the rest of the body too. In Sugar Blues, William Dufty notes, 'Dental researchers have proven that the teeth are subject to the same metabolic processes that affect other organs of the body...'
"In Sugar Blues, the classic documentary on sugar, Dufty explains how our emotional state is affected by sugar intake: "The brain is probably the most sensitive organ in the body. The difference between feeling up or down, sane or insane, calm or freaked out, inspired or depressed, depends in large measure upon what we put into our mouth. For maximum efficiency of the whole body — of which the brain is merely a part — the amount of glucose in the blood must balance with the amount of blood oxygen." He then quotes Dr. E.M. Abrahamson and A.W. Pezet from Body, Mind, and Sugar as further explaining, '… When we take in refined sugar (sucrose), it is the next thing to being glucose in our bodies. The sucrose passes directly to the intestines, where it becomes 'predigested' glucose. This in turn is absorbed into the blood where the glucose level has already been established in precise balance with oxygen. The glucose level in the blood is thus drastically increased. Balance is destroyed. The body is in crisis.'
"Sugar consumption causes a series of emergency reactions by the body in an attempt to maintain this balance. First, Dufty explains, the brain registers an imbalance and sends a message for the adrenal glands to secrete hormones to keep the blood glucose level up, then insulin from the pancreas begins working against the adrenal hormones to keep the glucose level down. Dufty adds, 'All this is reflected in how we feel. While the glucose is being absorbed into the blood, we feel 'up.' A quick pick-up. However, this surge of mortgaged energy is succeeded by the downs, when the bottom drops out of the blood glucose level. We are listless, tired; it requires effort to move or even think until the blood glucose level is brought up again. Our poor brain is vulnerable to suspicion, hallucinations. We can be irritable, all nerves, jumpy. The severity of the crisis on top of crisis depends on the glucose overload. If we continue taking sugar, a new double crisis is always beginning before the old one ends. The accumulative crisis at the end of the day can be a lulu.'.."
"Dufty also cites the work of Dr. William Coda Martin in the 1950s, which was intended to make the distinction between what is food and what is poison. Coda's working medical definition of poison was very simple: "Any substance applied to the body, ingested, or developed within the body, which causes or may cause disease." The dictionary definition of poison is "To exert a harmful influence on, or to pervert." Dufty adds, 'Dr. Martin classified refined sugar as a poison because it has been depleted of its life forces, vitamins, and minerals.'
"So, when a substance is classified as a poison, has no nutritional value, is known to rot teeth, cause numerous physical and emotional problems, and is addictive, indeed it becomes compelling to ask how it came to be that we feed this harmful, toxic substance to children.
"Sugar Blues contains a fascinating history of sugar, from the early days when sugar trade was dependent on slave labor to modern times when it is still an unholy alliance of merchants, government and medical authorities that profit from the use of this unhealthy product..."
Thus we have indisputable proof that both coffee and refined sugar and their equivalents (such as decaffeinated drinks and corn syrup, etc.) are by definition and observation non-foods, anti-nutrients, poisons, that harm the body causing multitudes of complications. What reasons can we have for taking them at all?
People have suggested various verses in the bible as a defense for such indulgences. Verses to the effect of not asking questions about what is presented to them, or about our food being sanctified by thanksgiving and prayer, or even that meat and drink have nothing to do with the kingdom of God, etc. Hardly are the verses even properly quoted by such people, and never is their context considered. And certainly if their claims and justifications were correct then they would absolutely contradict our text: Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. If health had nothing to do with God, then what could this verse mean? Such people would do well to consider the context of the verses they use to invalidate the clear exhortations to health and abstinence from unclean or doubtful indulgences. They would soon discover that the debate and allowance back then was not concerning unhealthy foods—that the kingdom of God was not concerned about healthy or unhealthy diets—but that the great issue was whether people should eat meats that were once offered to idols, and secondarily whether Christians should keep the Mosaic restrictions concerning unclean foods. In fact there was no processed or junk food back then. And the apostolic example we have is uttered by Peter to our Lord: "I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean."
Let us pass from all the unfounded biblical objections to healthy eating by the authority of our text, and by the fact that they are entirely uninformed and out of context. But we must make one further remark to these objections. I well remember when the great absurdity of such defenses struck me most amazingly. I had been presenting similar thoughts to one who was making such objections as the kingdom of heaven was not of food and that any insistence upon health was legalism or some other bondage or mistake. I had spent some time countering each statement when another friend made a simple statement that ended all talk on the subject. In fact I see it now as so simple as to end all discussion or consideration of such support of unhealthy eating. My friend simply said: "But the problem with your arguments is that you are assuming that anything you eat is food." The fact is "food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food." Poison, drugs, toxins, luxury, strife, lust, hatred, greed, belong not to the belly but are for the pit. The belly was no more made to receive these evils, even though we can swallow them, then that pure ancient Tabernacle was to receive an impure sacrifice. (I have often suggested for serious people to do a study on health by comparing the word and use of temple in all its uses in the bible.) Just because we can swallow gasoline, or take in cocaine, does not mean that our bodies were made for these substances. It almost seems today that we have such greedy appetites and are so anxious for the world to revolve around us that we have not progressed from infancy in supposing that everything must go into the mouth and be permissible. Let us remember then what every doctor and dictionary will tell us: Food is nutritious or healthy. Food is that which is meant for the body and not merely what goes to gratify taste, anxiety, thrills, pressures to stay awake, or any other of the multitude of lusts of the flesh.
It is true that many good foods are mixed or contaminated with such anti-nutrient substances, and it is often hard to detect just what is or how much something has been spoiled. Sometimes foods have been only partly ruined and still have enough nutrient to justify its intake. It is often very difficult to wean ourselves from the world and its lustful corruptions. But let me ask you: Is this only a personal matter? What I mean is, if you allow a little bit of sugar and an occasional cup of coffee with your foods because you suppose the Eastern philosophy that the good will outweigh the bad, do you not see that you are still supporting an article from the world that was sanctified for the purpose of gratifying the lust of the flesh, sustaining the pride of life, and which advertisers are hooking people by the lust of the eyes? Have you ever thought that these substances precisely meet the description of "the world" in the bible? (1 John 2:15-17) And do you not see that all use of such only helps to increase production and slavery of billions of people? It is undeniable that bad health by means of these substances tempts people to sin one hundred times more than a healthy diet. My friend, will you support that in small amounts which causes millions to sin, and multitudes to be rendered weak or useless? Again, what purpose do you have in using any drop of it? What reason can be found when we are absolutely exhorted hundreds of times in God's word to love Him with all of our being, to improve ourselves for His highest glory and use, and to avoid every appearance of evil and stumbling our neighbor. Who does not know that it causes sore temptation to a glutton to see another taking a little sugar. And shall we destroy our neighbor merely because we like things a little tastier, and cannot find the time to reflect enough to consider any reason against it? Would you not agree that this world would be a whole lot better if we rid it of such tempting artificial substances? Behold the trillions of dollars wasted upon articles that only ruin health and souls! And shall we give them our two cents? My friend, have you ever stopped to consider any of these things? When you bow your head in prayer for your food, will you thank the Lord that you can eat these things for His glory? And will you contemplate these things the next time you utter the Lord's prayer: Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven! Or, Give us more than our daily bread!
3. What do People Today think Disobedience to God is?
Again, it is manifest today that people either think disobedience to God is only a rare thing among criminals and immoral people, or they think it is so common that it does not really matter. People that support these doubtful indulgences will be found in one of these categories. In the former you see them suppose that God's grace is so great that it almost entirely dispenses with justice and righteousness, so that most people are merely victims that need to be pitied for their state of heart and life. Surely God will not consider their minor sins when so much has happened to them, and when they so intend better, or do many good things! But these poor souls have not understood the gospel—neither the saving power nor the penalty for neglecting it. They will often drift into the later position and privately confess that there are really many things that they do which is actually disobedience. Perhaps they will not call it that, especially if they are from a strong authoritarian background. Then they will call it 'short-comings' or 'needs.' Anything to take away the eternal perspective or criminal nature out of it. And the idea of penalty is especially removed from their choice of words and manner of communicating these doubtful indulgences. But take any one of their doubtful or negligent practices more or less confessed in prayer meetings or laughed about at the dinner table, and measure it with the word of God, and what shall we find? "Therefore, to the one who knows the good and does it not, to him it is sin." But don't you dare apply this to them lest they judge you for judging them! Perhaps they will quote Romans 2:1 "Therefore you have no excuse, any of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things." I once knew a deluded young man that stopped preaching against smokers because he knew his unhealthy eating was not anything essentially different. Well all that would be fine if we were to stay in our sins, but the Lord calls us to walk in the light and expose the darkness (Eph. 5)—whether big or small. But consider the full context of Romans 2 which these people neglect to quote: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them: for God made it evident to them... For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie..." (1:18-25) And just so people in the church do not excuse themselves did Paul give us verse 2:1 which is quoted above. But let us now consider after all that has been revealed above whether God thinks drinking coffee and consuming sugar or the like is glorifying to Him or rather disobedience which He judges impartially:
"And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who do such things. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who do such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, no knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds; to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortaility, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation... For there is no partiality with God." Finally he says later along similar lines: "But he who doubts is condemned (or damned) if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin." My friend, put away the world and all of its arguments, and follow Jesus by faith wherever the truth leads you to glorify Him.
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Rick Friedrich 1350 Parkway Dr. NE 303 Grand Rapids, MI 49525 (616) 447-8124