Greetings!
Throughout the years, the Lord has given me messages that have helped many people. One of my favorite that I share at each BellaVita 10-day session is called "Spiritual Digestion." This lesson is sure to deepen your relationship with Jesus as you learn the parallel between physically eating food and spiritually eating the Word of God.
Being the father of five beautiful children, I learned early on that the study of anatomy and physiology would teach them about the wonderful Creator we worship. Anatomy and physiology are the study of the structure and function of the human body. Psalms 139:14 says: "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; for my soul knoweth right well."
Yes, we certainly are "fearfully and wonderfully made". The crowning act of God's creation, the human body, is truly amazing right down to the very cells where life begins. Cells make up tissues, tissues make up organs, and organs make up systems. Take the respiratory system with the alveoli--a small air-containing compartment of the lungs in which the bronchioles terminate and from which respiratory gases are exchanged with the pulmonary capillaries; the lymphatic system with 250,000 miles of lymphatic vessels; the nervous system with its electrical charge exchanging bits of information in a flash; and the musculo-skeletal system with 600 muscles and 206 bones. The human body is truly "wonderfully made".
One system within our bodies that I would like to address now is the digestive system. The organs of the digestive system form an irregular-shaped tube, open at both ends, called the alimentary canal or the gastrointestinal or GI tract--a hollow tube about 29 feet long that begins in the mouth and ends in the anus.
- Mouth - Food enters
- Teeth - Used to break down food called mastication; crushing and grinding food before it is swallowed.
- Salivary Glands - Produce approximately a liter of saliva a day. Saliva moistens food and contains digestive enzymes called amylase which begins the chemical digestion of carbohydrates.
- Tongue - The food is them pushed to the back of the mouth in little balls called bolus so that it can be swallowed.
- Esophagus - The chewed food then passes through the pharynx down a muscular tube called the esophagus by peristalsis (wave-like action) on its way to the stomach. Powerful enough to move food along even if you are standing on your head.
- Stomach - Food enters the stomach through the cardiac sphincter at the end of the esophagus and by contractions of the stomach's muscular walls and the gastric juices, hydrochloric acid and enzymes, the food is broken down into chyme.
- Small Intestine - After approximately 3 hours, the chyme passes through the pyloric sphincter into the first part of the small intestine called the duodenum. The small intestine is roughly 20 ft. long. Food passes through different sections of the small intestine: first the duodenum, then the jejunum, and finally the ileum. The mucus lining of the small intestine contains thousands of microscopic glands called intestinal glands that secrete the intestinal digestive juice. The circular folds of the intestine called plica are covered with thousands of tiny fingers called villi (if laid out flat they would equals the size of a tennis court). Nutrients, amino acids, fats, and carbohydrates are absorbed from the chyme through the villi.
- Liver - The largest gland of the body, 3 lbs. In the process of digestion, the liver produces bile (a pint a day), which breaks up or emulsifies fat globules into smaller particles. The bile is stored in the gallbladder which is stimulated by a hormone to contract and secrete its contents into the duodenum. Liver cells play a major role in the metabolism of all three kinds of foods.
- Pancreas - Secretes pancreatic juice--the most important digestive juice. It contains pancreatic enzymes--protease, trypsin, lipase, and amylase for the further breakdown of protein, fats, and carbohydrates and their absorption into the bloodstream where the nutrients can feed the cells.
- Large Intestine - The large intestine or colon is 5 ft. long and forms the last part of the digestive tract where the undigested and unabsorbed material, called fecal matter, is eliminated from the body. Even in the large intestine, materials that escaped digestion in the small intestine is acted upon by bacteria and additional nutrients may be released from the fiber and absorbed. The bacteria perform other important functions such as the production of some of the B Complex vitamins and vitamin K. Once formed, these vitamins are absorbed from the large intestine and enter the bloodstream.
We have studied the digestive system, but there is another phase that must take place in our bodies before ingested food can become flesh and bone. Let me explain by telling you a story. When I purchased Lodi Health Food Store many years ago, I inherited three older women in their late 70's named Mary, Sophie, and Teena. All three were SDAs and vegetarians. Mary was quite a woman and knew the health message very well. One day she said to me, "You are what you ..." I quickly interrupted her and said "Eat." She shook her head from side to side and said, "No, Danny, you are what you digest! If you do not digest the food you have eaten it will be of no value to you."
About 10 years later, I travelled to Mexico searching for an alternative cancer treatment facility after learning that my mother-in-law had breast cancer. I decided to make a documentary of my trip and made appointments at three alternative hospitals--American Biologics, the Oasis of Hope, and the Gerson Hospital. I was most impressed with Gerson because the patients where treated with organic produce and 13 live juices a day as their "medicine". When I asked Charlotte Gerson if I could film her presentations, she looked at me strangely and said: "And what TV station are you from?" She thought I was there on a hidden agenda and to report her and the treatment as quackery.
When Charlotte began her lecture, she said, "You know, you are what you ..." In an effort to redeem myself, I immediately thought of Mary's answer and interjected, "Digest." Charlotte stared at me and scowled: "You need to start thinking at cellular levels young man. You are what you assimilate!" Once more I was embarrassed, but the daughter of the infamous Dr. Max Gerson taught me that there was more than just eating and digesting food, especially when it comes to natural healing of so-called incurable diseases.
Webster's Dictionary defines the word assimilate as follows: "To convert ingested food into substances suitable for incorporation into the body and its tissues. The conversion of absorbed food into the substance of the body." Think of the plants--the fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, legumes, beans, and seeds, through digestion and assimilation, becoming our flesh and bones. I once read that"those who eat flesh are but eating grains and vegetables at second hand; for the animal receives from these things the nutrition that produces growth. The life that was in the grains and vegetables passes into the eater. We receive it by eating the flesh of the animal. How much better to get it direct, by eating the food that God provided for our use! ... The grains, with fruits, nuts, and vegetables, contain all the nutritive properties necessary to make good blood." Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 313.
Now I understand why the Gerson therapy recommends 13 live juices a day--one 8 oz. glass every hour on the hour. Charlotte taught me that many times cancer patients have poor digestive systems and the juices make it easier for them to assimilate the nutrients and reach the cells--the very life of the body.
Now that you better understand the digestive system, let us move on from physical food to spiritual food. In the Bible we read: "When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? ... There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? ... And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would." John 6:5, 9, 11. So, in feeding the 5,000 Jesus worked a miracle and fed all that had come to see Him. He had ample provisions for every person present.
The next day the people crossed over the sea toward Capernaum seeking Jesus. "And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you." vss. 25-27. One spiritual author, Ellen White, comments: "Let it not be the chief effort to provide for the life that now is, but seek for spiritual food, even that wisdom which will endure unto everlasting life." Desire of Ages, p.385.
John 6 continues: "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." vss. 31, 32, 34-35.
"The giver of the manna was standing among them. It was Christ Himself who had led the Hebrews through the wilderness, and had daily fed them with the bread from heaven. That food was a type of the real bread from heaven. The life-giving Spirit, flowing from the infinite fullness of God, is the true manna. Jesus said, 'The bread of God is that which cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world.' John 6:33, R. V. ... Still thinking that it was temporal food to which Jesus referred, some of His hearers exclaimed, 'Lord, evermore give us this bread." Jesus then spoke plainly: 'I am the bread of life.'" Ibid, p. 386.
"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." John 6:53-56.
"Only the day before, the great multitude, when faint and weary, had been fed by the bread which He had given. As from that bread they had received physical strength and refreshment, so from Christ they might receive spiritual strength unto eternal life. ... They had seen Christ by the witness of the Holy Spirit, by the revelation of God to their souls." Ibid.
Ellen White continues: "To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to receive Him as a personal Saviour, believing that He forgives our sins, and that we are complete in Him. It is by beholding His love, by dwelling upon it, by drinking it in, that we are to become partakers of His nature. What food is to the body, Christ must be to the soul. Food cannot benefit us unless we eat it, unless it becomes a part of our being. So Christ is of no value to us if we do not know Him as a personal Saviour. A theoretical knowledge will do us no good. We must feed upon Him, receive Him into the heart, so that His life becomes our life. His love, His grace, must be assimilated. Ibid, p.389.
Now parallel eating, digesting, and assimilating food with eating, digesting, and assimilating spiritual food--the Word of God. To take food into the mouth isn't enough, it must become part of us. Our very cells are made up from what we eat. Likewise with the Word of God, to take it into our minds, the theoretical knowledge, isn't enough--it must become a part of our being. Christ's life must pass into the eater (the reader) and His life must become ours! White comments: "As our physical life is sustained by food, so our spiritual life is sustained by the word of God. And every soul is to receive life from God's word for himself. As we must eat for ourselves in order to receive nourishment, so we must receive the word for ourselves. We are not to obtain it merely through the medium of another's mind. We should carefully study the Bible, asking God for the aid of the Holy Spirit, that we may understand His word. We should take one verse, and concentrate the mind on the task of ascertaining the thought which God has put in that verse for us. We should dwell upon the thought until it becomes our own [assimilated], and we know "what saith the Lord.
"In His promises and warnings, Jesus means me. God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that I by believing in Him, might not perish, but have everlasting life. The experiences related in God's word are to be my experiences. Prayer and promise, precept and warning, are mine. '... As faith thus receives and assimilates the principles of truth, they become a part of the being and the motive power of the life. The word of God, received into the soul, molds the thoughts, and enters into the development of character. Ibid, p. 390.
"By looking constantly to Jesus with the eye of faith, we shall be strengthened. God will make the most precious revelations to His hungering, thirsting people. They will find that Christ is a personal Saviour. As they feed upon His word, they find that it is spirit and life. The word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to the soul as a Comforter. By the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the disciple; he becomes a new creature. [Did you know that your entire body totally rebuilds itself in less than two years?--98% in less than one year, a new brain in 1 year, blood in 4 months, skeleton in 3 months, DNA in 2 months, liver in 6 weeks, skin in 1 month, and stomach lining in 5 days.} Love takes the place of hatred, and the heart receives the divine similitude. This is what it means to live 'by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' This is eating the Bread that comes down from heaven." Ibid, p.391.
"Christ used the figure of eating and drinking to represent that nearness to Him which all must have who are at last partakers with Him in His glory. The temporal food we eat is assimilated, giving strength and solidity to the body. In a similar manner, as we believe and receive the words of the Lord Jesus, they become a part of our spiritual life, bringing light and peace, hope and joy, and strengthening the soul as physical food strengthens the body. It is not enough for us to know and respect the words of the Scriptures. We must enter into the understanding of them, studying them earnestly. . . . Christians will reveal the degree to which they do this by the healthiness of their spiritual character. We must know the practical application of the Word to our own individual character-building. We are to be holy temples, in which God can live and walk and work." Lift Him Up, p. 105.
"God's people are to reflect to the world the bright rays of His glory. But in order for them to do this, they must stand where these rays can fall on them. They must cooperate with God. The heart must be cleansed of all that leads to wrong. The Word of God must be read and studied with an earnest desire to gain from it spiritual power. The bread of heaven must be eaten and assimilated, becoming part of the life. Thus we gain eternal life. Thus is answered the prayer of Christ, 'Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.' John 17:17." Our High Calling, p. 213.
I remember my Bible teacher telling me that Seventh-day Adventists were once known as the people of the Book. May we all commit to studying our Bibles more, and learn to assimilate the promises of God, especially as we near the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. As I think about the name God gave to this ministry--Modern Manna--the word manna has two meanings: physically it means the health message from heaven as He leads His people into the Promised Land, and spiritually the manna or Bread of Life is Jesus Christ and the life He imparts to us as we feed upon His Word. Quickened by the life-giving Spirit, we become transformed by its life-giving power into new creatures as sons and daughters of God.
Prayerfully studying and assimilating His Word,
Danny Vierra |
