Hidden Bible Health Secrets: Achieve Optimal Health and Improve Your Quality of Life Naturally

Most CHARISMA HOUSE BOOK GROUP products are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchase for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, and educational needs. For details, write Charisma House Book Group, 600 Rinehart Road, Lake Mary, Florida 32746, or telephone (407) 333-0600.

HIDDEN BIBLE HEALTH SECRETS by Reginald Cherry, MD

Published by Siloam

Charisma Media/Charisma House Book Group

600 Rinehart Road

Lake Mary, Florida 32746

www.charismahouse.com

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are from the Amplified Bible.

Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked AMPC are from the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition. Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked TLB are from The Living Bible. Copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2017 by Reginald Cherry, MD

All rights reserved

Cover design by Lisa Rae McClure

Design Director: Justin Evans

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Names: Cherry, Reginald B., author.

Title: Hidden Bible health secrets / Reginald Cherry, MD.

Description: Lake Mary, Florida : Siloam, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017005192 | ISBN 9781629990958 (trade paper) |

ISBN 9781629990965 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Holistic medicine. | Alternative medicine. | Health--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Classification: LCC R733 .C483 2017 | DDC 615.5--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017005192

Portions of this book have been previously published by Siloam as The Bible Cure, ISBN 978-0-88419-535-1, copyright © 1998, Bible Health Secrets, ISBN 978-0-88419-937-3, copyright © 2003, and The Doctor and the Word, ISBN 0-88419-513-9, copyright © 1996.

This book contains the opinions and ideas of its author. It is solely for informational and educational purposes and should not be regarded as a substitute for professional medical treatment. The nature of your body’s health condition is complex and unique. Therefore, you should consult a health professional before you begin any new exercise, nutrition, or supplementation program or if you have questions about your health. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be liable or responsible for any loss or damage allegedly arising from any information or suggestion in this book.

People and names in this book are composites created by the author from his experiences as a medical doctor. Names and details of their stories have been changed, and any similarity between the names and stories of individuals described in this book to individuals known to readers is purely coincidental.

The statements in this book about consumable products or food have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The recipes in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the consumption of food or products that have been suggested in this book.

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Section One—Spiritual Secrets for Health and Healing

Chapter 1 Your Unique Pathway to Healing

Chapter 2 Dietary Laws for Today

Chapter 3 The Faith and Medicine Connection

Chapter 4 Prayer—the Bible’s Ultimate Health Secret

Section Two—Your Diet and How It Affects Your Health

Chapter 5 God’s Nutrition

Chapter 6 The Fallacy of Fad Diets

Chapter 7 Healthy Eating With the Mediterranean Diet

Section Three—Natural Health Secrets for Curing Disease

Chapter 8 Balance the Immune System

Chapter 9 Diabetes: Starving in the Land of Plenty

Chapter 10 Beat Heart Disease

Chapter 11 Lower Blood Pressure—Naturally

Chapter 12 Find Relief From Gastrointestinal Disorders

Chapter 13 Protect Yourself From Colds and Flu

Chapter 14 Treat Headaches and Dizziness

Chapter 15 Remedy Vision Problems

Chapter 16 Fight Prostate Disease

Chapter 17 Find Hope for Preventing Breast Cancer

Chapter 18 PMS: Stop the Monthly Plague

Chapter 19 Beat Symptoms of Menopause

Chapter 20 Discover Freedom From Depression and Anxiety

Chapter 21 Treat Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Memory Problems

Chapter 22 Use Natural Solutions for Arthritis

Appendixes

Appendix A Recommended Doses for Basic Nutrient Support

Appendix B Recipes for Healthy Living

Appendix C Healing Scriptures

Notes

Selected References

Index

INTRODUCTION

MANY OF YOU are familiar with God’s covenant with us for supernatural healing. But did you know that God’s original ideal plan for healing was not in the realm of the supernatural?

Let me show you what I mean. Consider this: God’s original plan was that man would never get sick in the first place. This was His plan long before He introduced these supernatural means for people to get healed. I want to show you a fascinating thing in the fifteenth chapter of Exodus. God introduced the Israelites to a concept they were not familiar with—healing!

He said, If you diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will not afflict you with any of the diseases with which I have afflicted the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.

—EXODUS 15:26

This is the first time God entered into His healing covenant with man. Do you know what’s even more fascinating? Immediately after God introduced Himself as the healer in Exodus, He started giving commandments about what the Israelites were to eat. The very next words that God spoke to Moses were, Indeed, I will rain bread from heaven for you (Exod. 16:4). In other words, God reveals Himself as a healing God and then immediately gives instructions about what His people will eat. If God is always going to heal supernaturally, why would He be concerned with what the Israelites ate? I want to show you another interesting scripture:

You shall serve the LORD your God, and He shall bless your bread and your water, and I will remove sickness from your midst.

—EXODUS 23:25

The amazing fact of this text is that God was speaking to a group of people who had no sickness at all. Did you know that? Psalm 105:37 reveals that He brought them out with silver and gold, and no one among their tribes faltered. Not one Israelite was sick, yet God chose that time to enter us into a healing covenant. Do you know what God is showing us?

God is showing us that His perfect will for our healing is that we never become ill in the first place.

Isn’t that an amazing facet of God’s will for us? I was amazed when I realized how God had positioned these scriptures revealing His perfect way of healing for mankind. This is an important principle of healing.

When we do what we can do in the natural, which means changing our lifestyle—eating habits and exercise, as well as other things—God will act in the supernatural to provide for our healing. We must keep in mind that there are both natural and supernatural means of healing incorporated into God’s healing covenant. We need to understand when and how God moves in the natural and when and how He moves in the supernatural to heal.

Diabetes is an excellent example of why God tied nutrition into His original healing covenant. Let’s look at the magnitude of this disease alone.

Diabetes is the next great lifestyle event to affect the United States and the world. Twenty-nine million Americans have the disease, and even more frightening, one quarter of those don’t know they have it. One-third of American adults are prediabetic.¹ There were 1.7 million new cases of diabetes in 2012, so it is becoming more of an issue all the time.²

Diabetes is a vicious disease that prohibits the body from using its most basic energy supply: glucose. It affects almost every body system, including eyes, the heart, kidneys, lower extremities, and skin. Diabetes launches one of the most devastating attacks of any disease against the human body.

But let’s look at the dramatic effect nutrition can have on reversing and preventing diabetes. Here are some foods with direct effects on the disease:

• Psyllium: Just one tablespoon taken per day lowers an individual’s glucose levels 11 percent on average and 20 percent after a meal.³

• Grains (oatmeal, oat bran, etc.): Just two servings per day lowers the risk of diabetes by 33 percent.⁴

• Beans (pintos, navy, etc.): The consumption of beans leads to a slow rise in insulin levels, which leads to lower insulin requirements.

• Onions and garlic: These types of produce contain antidiabetic compounds similar to tolbutamide (a prescription for diabetes). These compounds stimulate insulin production.

God enters a healing covenant with man in Exodus 15:26. He then ties freedom from disease (healing) to what we eat (nutrition) in Exodus 16. The above association with foods and healing related to diabetes illustrates God’s healing plan beautifully.

CHAPTER 1

YOUR UNIQUE PATHWAY TO HEALING

Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the LORD and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones.

—PROVERBS 3:7–8, NLT

SO MANY PEOPLE in the world today are sick. Virtually none of us will remain untouched by illness, whether it affects our own bodies or the health of those we love. When we are healthy, we give little thought to the way our bodies function, even though that is the time we should be taking steps to maintain our health. Often we wait until we are sick or until some health crisis occurs to make the lifestyle changes necessary to reclaim our health.

You may have picked up this book for a number of reasons. More than likely, you or someone you love is suffering from some illness or disease, and you may be asking yourself, Does God really want to see me healed? Or you may already believe that God will heal you, but you may be wondering why He hasn’t healed you in a particular way.

Let me answer the question once and for all: God wants to heal you! God desires for His people to be healthy and whole, certainly for their own benefit, but also to be able to take His light to a lost and dying world. However, many people seek for their healing to take place in a certain way; most of them prefer it to happen instantaneously, without any real effort on their part.

Perhaps instead of asking, Why hasn’t God healed me this way?, you should ask: Is there something that I’m doing to hinder my healing? Should I be doing something more than what I am doing now to facilitate my getting well?

God has a unique pathway for every person, including a pathway to healing. And while I believe in instantaneous healing and I wholeheartedly rejoice when such healing takes place, most of the time God’s pathway to healing takes place over a period of time as you walk in obedience to what He tells you to do. Sometimes that involves medical science; other times it incorporates the amazing natural substances that God has placed on His earth for the benefit and healing of His people. New scientific discoveries are taking place all the time that demonstrate that the very substances we need to walk in health exist within nature.

HOW I BECAME A CHRISTIAN DOCTOR

I am a medical doctor who believes in the healing power of God, but that was not always the case. As a young man I was drawn to watch Billy Graham’s crusades on television, but that was about the extent of my spirituality. I had always had the desire to help people, and I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a doctor and do what I could to eliminate sickness and disease from the world.

I attended medical school at one of the most godless institutions I had ever encountered; the people there were not necessarily evil, but they glorified science, reason, and knowledge above all else. Physicians were trained to focus only on the body and perhaps the mind of the patient, but never the spirit—that was left up to the patient’s minister or the chaplain on call.

Even so, I was fascinated in medical school with the sheer magnificence of the human body. Now I can express that fascination in the words of Scripture, which declares that we are made with fear and wonder (Ps. 139:14). The body has such intricate systems, all working together as a whole; I realized that our bodies are too amazing to have simply evolved on their own from a one-cell organism millions of years ago. There had to be the hand of a Creator involved.

After completing medical school and my internship, I began seeing patients and discovered that they had real problems, many of which had stumped the medical community. There was only so much that doctors knew to do for many of the critical diseases that people faced.

I finally accepted Jesus Christ in 1979 and was born again. Through this life-changing experience I discovered a whole new perspective on this business of making people whole. I began to see that there had to be a source of healing that surpassed what science and medicine had to offer. Jehovah-Rapha began to reveal to me that He is the source of all healing, whether it comes by natural or supernatural means. Around this time I was privileged to observe several healings take place that resulted from the direct touch of God. Although I was skeptical at first, when I observed that the symptoms did not return to these persons’ lives, I began to understand the power that God has to heal. I realized that He greatly desires to bless His children with healthy bodies and longevity in life.

I grew to accept the truth that God heals today, both naturally and miraculously. And then I began to apply that truth in my medical practice. As I began to seek with my patients the pathway to healing God had designed just for them, I watched people’s lives change before my eyes. More and more patients began to walk in health, released from their diseases and free to do what God had called them to do.

God does not want any one of us to suffer needlessly under the curse of disease! It was never His intention for mankind to live under the oppression of sin and the consequences—such as illness—that sin brought into the world. But even after man’s fall, God, in His great compassion, made provision for the health of His people. His care for the people of Israel in the Old Testament foreshadows the healing provision He has made for us today.

HEALTH SECRETS OF THE OLD COVENANT

In the Book of Exodus the Lord recorded a wonderful promise for the health of His people. He declared that He would not place any of the diseases on His people (Exod. 15:26). We understand that to mean that none of the diseases that plagued the people of that time would enter the camp of the Israelites—that is, as long as they kept the commandments of the Lord. These commandments are timeless; they still hold true for us today. Perhaps one of the greatest secrets the Bible holds for modern man is that the dietary laws of the Old Testament hold great significance for our health and well-being today.

Jesus’s death on the cross purchased our healing once and for all, but that does not mean that the dietary laws God had already provided no longer have any meaning. In fact, these ancient Hebrew documents hold fascinating truths about medicine, health, and hygiene that were centuries before their time. Modern medicine continues to prove that the teachings and the health codes given to the Israelites have great value for our health.

God introduced Himself to His people in the Old Testament as Jehovah-Rapha, the God who heals. Centuries before Christ died on the cross to purchase our salvation and healing, God was interested in the health of His people! Listen to His promise:

Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.

—EXODUS 23:25–26, NIV

God’s promise for His people still holds true for us today. But notice in this passage that He ties the blessings of good health, fertility, and longevity of life to the blessing that is placed on what they put into their mouths—their food and water. Some people believe that this verse means they can simply speak a blessing, or say grace, over a meal full of fat, sugar, and carbohydrates, and their health will somehow be protected because the food has been blessed. But what this promise is actually telling us is that God has directly tied what we eat and drink to the maintenance of health in our bodies.

I am convinced that before we receive our healing, we must obey God’s commands as to what we should eat and drink. When we choose to follow what He tells us to do, we can begin to walk in the health and blessings He has planned for us. Throughout this book we will explore some of the health secrets that can be found in the dietary laws of the Old Testament and learn how they relate to the most common and destructive ailments that we face in our lives today. Some of these health secrets include:

• Prohibitions against fatty foods

• Prohibitions against eating blood, which has the tendency to carry infection

• Healthy foods that increase longevity and help prevent disease

• Foods to avoid in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle

Proverbs 3:7–8 tells us, Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the LORD and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones (NLT). In today’s culture eating the wrong foods isn’t something that we would necessarily call evil. However, it can bring evil things, such as disease, into our lives. If we are willing to change our diets and follow God’s commands, our health can be renewed! I encourage you to keep an open mind as we explore the dietary and health laws God gave to protect His people from disease.

HEALTH SECRETS OF THE NEW COVENANT

In the New Testament God continues to provide healing for His people. Jesus Christ came to the earth and, through His sacrificial death on the cross, provided redemption for man, including eternal salvation from sin as well as healing from disease. The prophet Isaiah had foretold this wonderful redemption hundreds of years earlier:

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.

—ISAIAH 53:5

Throughout His life on the earth, Jesus healed all manner of disease. There are many verses that tell us the magnitude of His healing ministry, such as this one:

But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great crowds followed Him, and He healed them all.

—MATTHEW 12:15

It is important to notice that although Jesus healed multitudes of people, He did so in a variety of ways. There were times when a touch or a word from Jesus healed an infirm person instantly. (See Luke 4:39–40; 6:10.) But not as commonly understood by many people is the fact that sometimes Jesus used natural substances through which He caused His healing power to flow.

The most striking example of this method can be found in the Gospel of John, which relates the dramatic healing of a blind man:

As Jesus passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. . . . He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva. He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. . . . So he went away and washed, and returned seeing.

—JOHN 9:1, 6–7

As these passages indicate, healing can take place instantaneously or as a process that occurs over a period of time. In this case Jesus touched the blind man’s eyes as He placed the mud solution on him, but the man was not healed at that time. His healing was complete when he followed Jesus’s instructions and washed his eyes in the Pool of Siloam.

So many dear Christians today become disheartened if, after much prayer and petition to the throne of God, they do not receive instant, miraculous healing from their illnesses. But look carefully at what caused this man’s healing recorded in John 9. First, he received a touch from Jesus. Then he accepted the application of a natural substance onto the diseased part of his body. And finally, he obeyed Jesus’s unique instructions to him as an individual.

This blind man’s experience explains for us one of the greatest health secrets of the Bible, one that is often overlooked by well-meaning Christians. I believe it is a vitally important truth that we need to understand in order to walk in the divine health that God would have for us. That truth