CAN WE INFLUENCE HEALING POWER?
By David Paulson
"We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed." Jer. 51:9. Healing power is always present in the human system; for it is divine power that maintains all the vital functions of the body. The principal healing agent is the blood, which is the life. Gen. 9:4. This fluid bathes every portion of the body, for the purpose of repairing and building up tissue, and transferring the resulting waste products to the various eliminating organs. Every organ and each tissue in the body are constantly undergoing more or less change; but there is scarcely any tissue which is so short-lived as the blood. Millions of new blood-corpuscles have to be created every few minutes to replace those that have outlived their usefulness. But the blood is made from the food which is eaten. It is difficult to imagine a stream rising higher than its fountain-head, and it seems equally impossible to conceive that God should continue day by day to make pure blood out of impure food; for "who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean" thing? Infinite wisdom has so arranged that the most important products of digestion must pass through the portals of the liver before they are allowed to proceed to the different parts of the body. One of the important duties of the liver is to neutralize, store up, or destroy various poisons which may have been taken into the system, either ignorantly or deliberately, or those equally serious poisonous products frequently produced within the alimentary canal as the result of unwise diet or unsuitable food combinations. This faithful organ can, however, become so overwhelmed by the unnatural tasks which are imposed upon it that it practically gives up the struggle. The blood becomes flooded with toxic substances of various kinds, and then, instead of carrying life and healing power, it becomes a messenger of disease and death to various parts of the human body. It is a part of God's plan that the blood should always be a healing agent; but He allows us to have our own way to such an extent that if we are determined to eat improper food, He is made to serve with our sins. Isa. 43:24. This is sometimes carried so far that the blood becomes a destructive agent. It is not alone by diet that we have the power to influence this healing agency; for by exercise and appropriate hydrotherapeutic applications, we may increase to a remarkable extent the activity of the circulation of the blood. There are large blood spaces in the interior of the body, wherein the circulation of the blood is naturally less active than in other parts of the body. Through nervous connection with these internal organs, short, vigorous applications of cold water to the surface of the skin causes their blood-vessels to contract, and, as a result of the reaction which should follow such treatment, if properly applied, a larger quantity of this blood is brought into active circulation, thus increasing its healing possibilities. Recent scientific investigations have clearly demonstrated that after a cold bath has been taken, the blood has in it a much larger percentage of corpuscles than it had previous to this application. Cool sponges, sprays, or baths, followed by vigorous friction, are physiological stimulants; they increase the efficiency of the heart's action, and arouse the activities of every cell in the system. There is a marked difference between physiological and artificial stimulants. The longer the natural stimulant is used, the more efficient it becomes; while the longer the unnatural one is used, the more disappointing it is in its results. Thousands fail to live in harmony with God's plan for them physically; and, as a consequence, they are continually living so far below the disease line that they are an easy prey to any germs which may be in the immediate vicinity. Such persons may wonder why they do not receive the benefits of the healing gifts promised to the people of God, when all the while they are absolutely neglecting to utilize the possibilities of the healing agencies God has already committed to them. The use we make of what God gives us to-day determines how much He can intrust us with to-morrow. When an individual who is eating "for drunkenness" asks the Lord for strength, he will find that the way to receive it is to eat "for strength." Eccl. 10:17. And the Lord is always willing to impart His Spirit to all who desire it, to instruct them how to use this strength to His glory. "If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them." Mark 16:18. Certainly, this promise does not apply to those who persist in drinking liquor, tea, or coffee, simply to please a perverted appetite. Furthermore, those who have had committed into their hands the knowledge necessary to enable them, by suitable applications of rational remedies, to influence the healing agencies within our bodies, if they reject these, may be reasonably sure that God is not preparing them to experience the possibilities of Mark 16:18: "They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." The faithfulness which we manifest in utilizing the possibilities that God has already committed to us for the service of humanity, will be the best indicator as to how much greater possibilities may be committed to us.