Letters From Grandpa #263
LETTERS FROM GRANDPA # 263
Dearest grandchild,
Today’s letter will deal with a Bible verse, and a best selling book about it. The verse is: “If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you” (Ex. 15:26).
The book is “None of These Diseases”. It was first published in 1963 and has since been republished, revised and enlarged. More then a million copies have been sold. The authors, Dr. S.I. McMillen, and Dr. David E. Stern, believe the Bible and find it a source of a source of health and hygiene far superior to anything else in the ancient world. Moses, as you know, was raised as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. According to Acts 7:22 he was “educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians”. Yet, what Moses wrote is dramatically different from the ignorance and superstition of the Egyptians.
The following information is from that book. Here are a few medical remedies recommended by the Egyptians. The authors found these in the Ebers Papyrus which is dated at 1,500 B.C. This is precisely the time when Moses was alive and “Educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians”.
m To cure baldness doctors applied a mixture of six fats (from the horse, hippopotamus, crocodile, cat, snake, and wild goat).
m Other prescriptions included statue dust, beetle shells, mouse tails, cat hair, pig eyes, dog toes, breast milk, human semen, eel eyes and goose guts.
m For splinters Egyptian doctors applied a salve of worm blood and donkey dung. The “theory” involved the “purifying” influence of pus. Thinking that pus was good well meaning doctors killed thousands of patients by deliberately infecting their wounds with manure.
m Egyptian doctors felt that epidemics were caused by “disease demons” and victims were treated by waving vulture feathers and chanting incantations.
m Etc.
Moses, by contrast, commanded things that helped the Hebrews not to have the diseases suffered by the Egyptians. For example, Moses ordered that sick people, such as lepers, be quarantined and isolated (Lev. 13:46). Those who touched a dead body were unclean for 7 days (Nu. 19:11). Purification involved washing and exposure to the sanitizing rays of the sun. When the Hebrews had a bowel movement they were commanded to go outside the camp, dig a hole, and then cover up their excrement (Deut. 23:12,13). Following these and many other similar rules made the Hebrews healthier than the Egyptians. This is how they avoided the diseases that plagued the Egyptians.
Unfortunately, these simple rules of hygiene and health were totally ignored by people outside the Jewish community. Dr. George Rosen describes the horror of leprosy during the Dark Ages. “Leprosy cast the greatest blight that threw its shadow over the daily life of medieval humanity. Fear of all other diseases taken together can hardly be compared to the terror spread by leprosy. Not even the Black Death . . . or the appearance of syphilis . . . reproduced a similar state of fright” In 1873, however, Dr. Armauer Hansen discovered that leprosy was a contagious disease. The disease was eventually controlled and eliminated by going back 3,500 years to the quarantines commanded by Moses. Dr. Rosen noted: “The church took as its guiding principle the concept of contagion as embodied in the Old Testament . . . following the precepts laid down in Leviticus the church undertook
the task of combating leprosy . . . and it accomplished the first great feat . . . in methodical eradication of the disease.”
While many debate the practice of circumcision, statisticians indicate that circumcision in the U.S. prevents as many as 10,000 urinary tract infections per year. This saves an average of 200 lives each year. Further, circumcision is 99.9% effective in preventing penile cancer and also helps to reduce cervical cancer in women. Interestingly, God commanded that boy babies be circumcised on the 8" day (Gen. 17:12). It was not until the early 1900s, however, that we discovered why. Vitamin K and prothrombin are two essential ingredients for the coagulation of blood. We now know that newborn babies don’t start producing vitamin K until they are 5 days old, and on the 3™ day an infant only has 30% of the normal supply of prothrombin. On the 8" day, however, the prothrombin level jumps to 110% of the adult level and the child has more vitamin K than on any other day of his life.
17 year old Randy Rohl made the headlines in 1979 when he and Grady Quinn were celebrated as the first same sex couple to attend an American High School Prom. Sadly, there was no celebration 14 years later when Randy died of AIDS. The epidemic of STDs such as AIDS, herpes, HPV, PID, and cervical cancer are a direct result of disregarding the Laws of morality proposed by Moses 3,500 years ago. In this regard wise King Solomon wrote: “Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished” (Prov. 6:27-29).
Those who believe and obey the Bible are happier and healthier because they do. That’s at least one reason why you should also believe and obey the Bible.
I love you,
Grandpa Boyce