FREDERICK M. ROSSITER, M. D by Frederick M. Rossiter, M. D.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 30, 1913

FREDERICK M. ROSSITER, M. D

By Frederick M. Rossiter, M. D.

The Gospel of Health—No. 5

FREDERICK M. ROSSITER, M. D

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Rom. 1:16. We are living in the days foretold by John when he said: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Rev. 14:6.

All through the ages the gospel has been only partly preached, and to a large extent this is true today. An important part of the message of “joyful news” or the message of “glad tidings” has been neglected. But we are now fully in the time when the full and complete gospel must be given to them that dwell on the earth.

The text quoted says that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It may be of interest in this connection to consider the meaning of the word salvation. Salvation comes from the word salvare which means to save or to preserve; and the root word gives us the meaning or sense of saving, to restore to soundness, to mend, to cure. For instance, Salvia, a plant, is reputed to possess healing qualities. So the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, not only to heal from sin and perfect a cure and to furnish a remedy to keep one cured, but it is also the power of God to heal our bodies and to show us how to stay cured.

This thought is expressed by the psalmist in the second verse of the sixty-seventh psalm: “That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.” The same thought is found in Luke 2:30, when Simeon

says, “For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” Again, the same thought and meaning are found in Titus 2:11, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation [or soundness] hath appeared to all men.” Another translation reads like this, “For the grace of God has displayed itself with healing power to all mankind.”

So we see that the gospel is a message of healing power to man both for sin and disease. When Adam sinned, he not only received a carnal mind which was henceforth to act as the agent of Satan, but he received a corruptible body subject to disease and death. The purpose of the gospel is to restore man to his original condition, spiritually, mentally, and physically. Health and true religion cannot be divorced. They are inseparable, still it is a fact that the majority of churchgoers today do not care to apply their religion to the uses they wish to make of their bodies, or to the matter of health. Religion, they say, is for the soul, but the body—they want to run that to suit themselves.

There is no fast and distinct line between what we call the spiritual and the physical. They are interdependent and intermingle, one influences the other in a marked degree. So the gospel is for the whole man, to heal, cure, and save him, soul and body. This idea is expressed in Ps. 103:3: “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases,” and this is just as true today as it was in the beginning, hence in the giving of the full gospel, health principles assume an important place.

A study of the four gospels clearly gives us the idea that Christ spent most of his time in healing the sick. Most of the miracles of Christ had to do with the sick and afflicted. When he sent out the seventy, he commissioned them to heal the sick first, and next to preach that the gospel of the kingdom of God had come nigh unto them. The physical health was to be first cared for in order to prepare the mind for the reception of the truth. The twelve apostles were commissioned to heal the sick as well as to preach the gospel. Christ spent more time and labor in healing the sick than in preaching. He was a great stream of health flowing through the world. Sickness could not exist in his presence any more than sin could. Christ and the disciples worked on the principle that when the afflicted body had been relieved, then they could pour in the heavenly balm.

I believe that there is a corresponding relation between real health and holiness as truly as there is between sickness and sin. It requires the same power to heal from sickness as it does to forgive our iniquities. See Mark 2:3-11. So we see that the healing taking place in our bodies is a continual pledge that God is able to forgive us our sins ought to be able to heal from sickness all who come to them. And those who claim to be able by their own power to heal diseases have just as much right to claim that they can forgive sins also. There are Antichrists in the medical world as well as in spiritual affairs. Some of the greatest deceptions of the present day are practised along lines of healing diseases, and thousands are being deceived, thinking that they are receiving new light.

There was a time in the economy of God when the priest represented God in presiding over the health of the spiritual life and of the body. Today we are far from this. The ministers have neglected to minister to the infirmities of the body, and the physicians have neglected to minister to the sin-sick. In the providence of God I believe that under the threefold message of the gospel these two are to blend and work together, and the full gospel of salvation is to be given and is being given. However, I do not believe that we have done our full duty in making prominent the health principles as a necessary factor to daily Christian growth.

Many people think that when they have discarded meat, tea, and coffee they are living health reform. As a matter of fact, this is a very small part of what it means to live for health and holiness. In Rom. 14:17 we read: “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

So the gospel of health is not all meat and drink, but it is righteousness, or right-doing in all things that pertain to the health. When the people have the peace of God and stop all the worries and fears, and fret not themselves over troubles real or imaginary,—mostly the latter,—and have real joy in the Holy Spirit in obeying all the laws of health, more will have better health than they ever had before, and there will be fewer who have leanness of soul.

In this connection let us read Deut. 28:47, 48. Moses in rehearsing before the people God’s dealings with them during the forty years, said: “Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things.” Serving the Lord in joyfulness has more to do with promoting health than whether we eat or do not eat certain things.

A large number of people have a passive knowledge of healthful living, but it is not transformed into action. God calls for action and we must study this question in the light of his Word, and intelligently take our stand upon it.

Health is not a chance nor an accident. It is the result of obedience.