By John Thiel, The Last Generation Challenge Series, mp3

When it comes to our diet and our ways of eating and drinking we are coming to a sensitive subject. Many times our diet and drinking habits are very much attached to us, and when we come across certain subjects that are very attached to us and we discover that some of these things are different to what we are doing, we become distressed and think that maybe the person who is preaching is putting his own opinion across. This is what I want to really nail in a sure place. We are seeking the glory of God; this is what we are seeking. To seek God’s glory is often that the glory of man is laid in the dust.

As we move forward with great sensitivity, we come to the scripture of 1 Timothy. In these last days there are counsels from God that we need to take into focus.

1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats [or foods], which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God [is] good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

We sometimes wonder, this doesn’t really affect me; I am not under Satan’s deceptive, seducing practices. When we have in any way been brought up under the seductive doctrines and teachings in regards to food because that is included here in the whole scenario of the apostle’ words, where people have commanded to abstain from meats – foods – which God has created to be received with thanksgiving, and having fallen sometimes in our past history for some of these false, seductive activities of our health, we may feel in danger that someone is getting at us here. This message I am sharing is not to disparage, but to scripturally illuminate. We don’t want to attack anyone for anything they do. Apostle Paul made that very clear in reference to diet.

Romans 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, [but] not to doubtful disputations. 2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. 3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. 4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. 5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day [alike]. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth [it] unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard [it]. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. 7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. 8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

This is a subject poorly understood. Few people understand what Apostle Paul is meaning. We know that he kept the Sabbath holy, and here he says, some people regard the day and some people don’t. Does that mean that we shouldn’t keep the Sabbath holy because of what he has said here? Of course not. It is equally applicable to the eating. These words do not cancel the counsel of God’s word that say we should keep the Sabbath holy and should eat to God’s glory and should know how to eat and what to eat, etc. It doesn’t cancel this out. It simply says that if a person does something that is different to another person, leave it with him and the Lord! Don’t disparage that person, don’t judge them if they don’t eat as you do. But we should all be under the tuition of God as to what it means to eat and drink to the glory of God, just like we must be under the tuition of God with regards to whether we are going to keep the Sabbath holy or the Sunday. Don’t disparage anyone. When you meet Sunday-keepers, don’t disparage them because they’re keeping Sunday. Treat them with love; and as they are keeping Sunday according to their convictions, as we continue to witness to them, they will feel that there is no disparagement, no judgment, against them, but that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, and that we are learning unto God how to deal with all these subjects. That is what Apostle Paul is talking about. And so it is with regards to the food.

As I share the dietary practices of God’s word that teach us how to eat and drink to the glory of God, please realise that I am not attacking anyone. I am simply presenting what God’s word says, and we need to do it according to our relationship with Him.

Daniel’s Example

One record of dietary practice that is a wonderful illustration of eating and drinking to the glory of God, and it is probably the best one I can use as an illustration, is that of Daniel.

Daniel 1:8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. 9 Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. 10 And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which [are] of your sort? then shall ye make [me] endanger my head to the king. 11 Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12 Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. 13 Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. 14 So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. 15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.

In the experience of Melzar the glory of God was revealed by what Daniel and his three friends decided to eat and drink. If they were going to eat and drink of the king’s table – which was an honour to them (they were captives) – they would have dishonoured God; and to deny the benevolence of the king was regarded as an indictment. But it was to the glory of God that Daniel wanted to live. So he refused to eat the food of the king’s table and drink of the wine. What was the food that he was asking for? Pulse – it comes from the Hebrew word zêrôa, which means, grown from a seed. Vegetarianism. After the ten days’ test, there was the glory of God. By eating and drinking that kind of food, and water, they displayed the glory of God. At the end, when the king finally examined them, not only were they fairer and fatter in the flesh, but their brain was more alert.

Daniel 1:18 Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. 20 And in all matters of wisdom [and] understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians [and] astrologers that [were] in all his realm.

After the university studies they were placed before the king for examination, and they were ten times better than the others. That is the glory of God. Sadly, today, not many are actually demonstrating the glory of God. In fact, many who follow health reform ideas have been affected by these seducing doctrines, and as a result they are not glorifying God.

Let us return to the words of 1 Timothy to get this abundantly clear and see what God is saying versus what these people out there are saying:

1 Timothy 4:3 Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God [is] good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

It is sanctified by the word of God and prayer – what is the food that God has created? What in God’s word is given to us that we may be able to eat to the glory of God, that it might be sanctified by the word? And when we pray for the blessing upon the food it is not just a blessing that we are asking upon the food, but it is the word of God that gives us the correct appreciation of the food that is created.

When people read this, because we are vegetarian, they often say to us that “every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused;” so they say, “Look, the creature that people eat – meat – that’s a creature that God has created, and it’s not to be refused.” It is important to understand what is meant by this creation of verse 3, the food that God has created to be received with thanksgiving because there are teachers that go along and teach to not eat what God has created and made. What is the creature for food? This is what God has created for food:

Genesis 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat [for food].

This is a plain declaration from God, which is alluded to in 1 Timothy. Everything that God has created for food is to be received and not to be falsely forbidden. Some people command to abstain from foods that God has created to be received. This direction which comes directly from the Bible, if we will submit to the will of God, tells us that He has created fruits, grains, and nuts, for food. It’s what God has created. But people will say under false teachings, that these particular foods are not good for you.

When sin came in God increased the intake:

Genesis 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

After sin God gave them vegetables as well. “To you it shall be for food.” That is what God created. He created the herbs for the animals, but after sin, green herbs – vegetables – were given man to eat as well. They were created for food. God never created the creature-animal for food. That is what Paul is talking about in his epistle to Timothy. He is not talking about people who teach vegetarianism. He is talking about people who are dissecting the foods that God has made for food, and who are saying, It’s better you don’t eat this, or that, or the other thing. This is to be correctly understood.

Many in these days teach to abstain from things that God has created. We will rely on the Bible qualification only with regards to what not to eat and drink, not on these false teachers whom we have often been brought to listen to and who have affected us in a seductive manner. How can you seduce a person who wants to follow health reform? When you have an uncomfortable condition because of sin because of our wrong ways of eating in the past, we have developed certain habits of eating that our body has become used to. It might not have been what God wanted us to do – then we are enlightened of God and we come to Him and we see Him teaching us the health reform, and we listen to teachers that Satan has brought in. Ever since the health reform vegetarianism came in to Adventism, all of a sudden Satan has brought in seductive spirits to make us become destabilised in simple, pure health reform. They teach us, if you eat this, it’s going to affect you this way, and if you eat that, it’s going to affect you the other way; and we begin to listen and believe that.

Many people believe that the food they are eating will do them harm, and it will do them harm because that’s what they believe and they have been taught this way. But the healer of our diseases is God, not our food. This is a false teaching, that our food, that God has created, is going to do us harm. Food that God has created is going to do us good. If we have diseased bodies, they are to be handled from God’s viewpoint, not from man’s viewpoint.

We will seek to understand how to eat and to drink to God’s glory.

• Drinking

“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, do all to the glory of God.” Recall what Daniel told Melzar, that he was not going to defile himself with the wine of the king’s table. But what did he say he wanted Melzar to provide for him to drink? Water.

There was another occasion when God told Elijah that He was going to bring a drought upon the country (1 King 17:3-4), and He was telling him to go to the brook Cherith, and there He would feed him with the food the ravens would bring him, and he would drink of the brook Cherith. There is the Biblical answer to what we drink.

But there is also other drink that we can receive a blessing from.

Isaiah 65:8 Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and [one] saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing [is] in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.

Here we see that there is something else we can drink. It’s that kind of wine which is good. The old English word wine was used both for alcoholic and non-alcoholic wine. It is called here the new wine. Where is it found, the one we can drink? There is a blessing in it: As it is found in the cluster. Don’t spoil it. Don’t ferment it. There are here blessings in drinking something that comes from the vine, or from fruit, and that can used to drink – juices. We are to take them as they are, unadulterated after the juice has been extracted.

This particular statement of there being a blessing in the new wine, as it is in the cluster, is also what Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy:

1 Timothy 5:23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.

Don’t only drink water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake, and your often infirmities. Here is a counsel to drink something else besides water. It is the wine as in the cluster, where there is a blessing, to deal with assisting the body in its recovery. There we have a “Thus saith the Lord” in regards to what to drink – juices or water.

What must we not drink according to the Bible? This is the wine that we are not to drink. It’s not the new wine, not the wine as it is in the cluster:

Proverbs 23:31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, [when] it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

When wine has been fermented, it starts moving, it starts effervescing with fermentation. As you look upon it and it looks attractive, don’t drink it, there’s no blessing in it. That is not to be drunk because it will bite like a serpent and sting like an adder.

Proverbs 31:4 [It is] not for kings, O Lemuel, [it is] not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: 5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. 6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. 7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

Don’t give it to people who are God’s people and who are going to die, because they will not perish, they will live forever. But give it to those who have no hope, give them what they want, what they need to forget their misery. But it is not for kings and princes to drink this wine, because it perverts. It affects the reasoning powers. So we who are children of the King, sons and daughters of the King of the universe, are called upon to listen to this, It is not for princes to drink that.

• Eating

When Daniel was going to eat and drink to the glory of God, he refused the wine on the king’s table, and as a result, he was brighter and clearer than all who were drinking of it. And the eating of the meat of the king’s table is touched on in this following scripture:

Ecclesiastes 10:17 Blessed [art] thou, O land, when thy king [is] the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

This is now addressed to the children of the king – princes. Thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness. I love the way that the Bible puts down the genetics of the broader subject. Here are the genetics of healthy habits of eating, the blueprint of them. It says they will eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness. Let us look at these three points.

Eating In Due Season

After the regular meal is eaten, the stomach should be allowed to rest for five hours. Not a particle of food should be introduced into the stomach till the next meal. In this interval the stomach will perform its work, and will then be in a condition to receive more food. {CD 179.1}

In no case should the meals be irregular. {CD 179.2}

In due season means that you have a meal at a certain time, and have nothing in between and the next meal is to be at a regular time.

If dinner is eaten an hour or two before the usual time, the stomach is unprepared for the new burden; for it has not yet disposed of the food eaten at the previous meal, and has not vital force for new work. Thus the system is overtaxed. {Ibid.}

Neither should the meals be delayed one or two hours, to suit circumstances, or in order that a certain amount of work may be accomplished.

How many times we are driven by circumstances so that when it comes to the mealtime we haven’t got time for it? We then eat an hour or two after the usual time. This is contrary to what we are reading here. When you have a regular time of eating, for instance you have your lunchtime at 1 pm then do not eat it at 2 pm. If you’re eating at 1:30pm, do not eat it at 2:30pm, or thereafter, because you’ve been pushed away from your time. This is not correct. This is not eating in due season. It will affect us negatively. It will not be to the glory of God.

The stomach calls for food at the time it is accustomed to receive it. If that time is delayed, the vitality of the system decreases, and finally reaches so low an ebb that the appetite is entirely gone. If food is then taken, the stomach is unable to properly care for it. The food cannot be converted into good blood. {CD 179.3}

If all would eat at regular periods, not tasting anything between meals, they would be ready for their meals, and would find a pleasure in eating that would repay them for their effort. {CD 179.4}

This is what it means to eat in due season as it is mentioned in Ecclesiastes, for the princes and princesses of God. This is the counsel. There is much that is written in the Spirit of Prophecy in reference to this, but the principle is there. And if we violate that, and we have violated it, and we have practised this violation of leaving the meal until another hour or two afterwards, this needs to be corrected for the glory of God.

For Strength

The nobles and princes are to eat in due season, for strength. You have often heard me quote these words of A. T. Jones:

…you must learn to work on your victuals, instead of on your vitals. {March 26, 1893 ATJ, GCDB 515.1}

Victuals are food, nourishment produced by the food and by sleep. If we do not eat correctly for strength, and we do not have the nourishment that is necessary, will our flesh be fairer and fatter than others? Obviously not. We live today in such a time that we think that skinny is healthy, and as a result there are many anorexic people in the world. They’re as skinny as can be, they’ve got a little tummy, and they say, I’m fat. This is under Satan’s suggestion. This is not God’s suggestion. The danger of this kind of mentality affects what God has instructed us to do. The actuals words of Scripture are here enlarged:

There are many now under the shadow of death who have prepared to do a work for the Master, but who have not felt that a sacred obligation rested upon them to observe the laws of health. The laws of the physical system are indeed the laws of God; but this fact seems to have been forgotten. Some have limited themselves to a diet that cannot sustain them in health. They have not provided nourishing food to take the place of injurious articles; {CD 212.4}

So we put away the injurious articles, and the food we eat is not nourishing enough.

…and they have not considered that tact and ingenuity must be exercised in preparing food in the most healthful manner. The system must be properly nourished in order to perform its work. It is contrary to health reform, after cutting off the great variety of unwholesome dishes, to go to the opposite extreme, reducing the quantity and quality of the food to a low standard. Instead of health reform this is health deform. {Ibid.}

As we apply this to our situation today, many people have said to me, Oh, but we must have supplements, we must have this and that and the other because food is denatured today. Well, it’s true that the food is denatured today. What should you do then if the food is denatured and what you’re going to eat is not going to give you enough vitamins and proteins and so on? What should you do? Eat abundantly of it. You know, when a person has Crohn’s disease, his stomach is of such a nature that it won’t absorb efficiently anymore. Do you know what that person has to do to make sure that he absorbs enough? He has to eat more so that the nourishment that is in the food is put across the stomach lining with such profusion that he can at least get enough. And with the denatured food of today we have to make sure that we have enough, not cutting down on our intake because we think we’re going to get too fat, but having larger amounts. Sister White says it beautifully, she says we should eat an abundance of fruits and vegetables. We need to eat abundantly, so that we can get all the nutrition out of it. Therefore the idea of “for strength” means that we must have enough to give us strength and give us a healthy, robust body.

There is much written about this. People cut their meals down to two meals a day, when really three meals a day are better for them. And again she says that others are better with two meals a day. The fact is that either two meals or three meals are healthy. She says that for some people two meals a day may not be sufficient, so you give them three meals a day. This is especially the case when food is denatured; because the less food that you eat during the day, with the denatured condition it has, and the more you are going to cut yourself short for strength. So three meals a day when food is denatured, is more important. This is the counsel that we are given to the glory of God, so that we can stand in the eyes of the world as health reformers, not skinnier than others, and not overweight, but in perfect condition of health. This is the way that is to the glory of God.

Not For Drunkenness

My brother, you have much to learn. You indulge your appetite by eating more food than your system can convert into good blood. {CD 102.3}

What is the preparation of mind in this statement? A person’s appetite is ruling, and they are eating because they want to eat; and it is drunkenness. You are eating more food than your system can convert into good blood.

It is sin to be intemperate in the quantity of food eaten, even if the quality is unobjectionable. Many feel that if they do not eat meat and the grosser articles of food, they may eat of simple food until they cannot well eat more. {Ibid.}

They eat too much at one meal.

This is a mistake. Many professed health reformers are nothing less than gluttons. They lay upon the digestive organs so great a burden that the vitality of the system is exhausted in the effort to dispose of it. It also has a depressing influence upon the intellect; for the brain nerve power is called upon to assist the stomach in its work. Overeating, even of the simplest food, benumbs the sensitive nerves of the brain, and weakens its vitality. Overeating has a worse effect upon the system than overworking; the energies of the soul are more effectually prostrated by intemperate eating than by intemperate working. {Ibid.}

For strength, and not for drunkenness. Drunkenness has to do with the brain being affected. When you’re drinking wine you can’t think straight. If you eat the flesh of animals, you are eating it because your appetite wants it, and it affects your brain so that you can’t think spiritually either.

Physically we are composed of what we eat, and our minds are greatly influenced by our bodies. If we subsist largely upon the flesh of animals, the animal nature is increased in like proportion. {ST, January 6, 1876 par. 20}

And what happens? The eating of this food stimulates and excites the animal organs to activity, and

As these propensities are strengthened the mental and moral powers are diminished. {Ibid.}

We don’t want to eat for drunkenness so that our mental and moral powers are confused.

A gross diet will dull the comprehension and set the animal passions into activity. The animal nature will struggle for victory over the moral and spiritual nature. {16MR 65.2}

That is drunkenness with eating – you can’t think straight properly anymore. This is the counsel we have from the Spirit of Prophecy: that we eat for strength, and not for drunkenness, not overeating.

Disturbance is created by improper combinations of food; fermentation sets in; the blood is contaminated and the brain confused. {CD 110.6}

This is drunkenness.

The habit of overeating, or of eating too many kinds of food at one meal, frequently causes dyspepsia. Serious injury is thus done to the delicate digestive organs. In vain the stomach protests, and appeals to the brain to reason from cause to effect. The excessive amount of food eaten, or the improper combination, does its injurious work. In vain do disagreeable premonitions give warning. Suffering is the consequence. Disease takes the place of health. {CD 110.7}

Can you see how the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy give us a very balanced understanding? Not for drunkenness, eating for strength only, and not going to extremes. Here is a very important counsel:

Extremes

The carrying of things to extremes is a matter to be dreaded. It always results in my being compelled to speak to prevent matters from being misunderstood, so that the world will not have cause to think that Seventh-day Adventists are a body of extremists. {CD 210.1}

Is that to the glory of God? That’s the contrary to it. We have to be ever so careful not to enter into extremes.

When we seek to pull people out of the fire on the one hand, the very words which then have to be spoken to correct evils are used to justify indulgence on the other hand. May the Lord keep us from human tests and extremes. {Ibid.}

Let no one advance extreme views in regard to what we shall eat and what we shall drink. The Lord has given light. {CD 210.2}

Can you see the point here? We are not to judge one another. The Lord has given light.

Let our people accept the light and walk in the light. There needs to be a great increase in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. This knowledge is eternal life. An increase of piety, of good, humble, spiritual religion would place our people in a position where they could learn of the Great Teacher. {Ibid.}

Whatever you eat and drink, do all to the glory of God. What do we have to recognise? To eat in season is not to eat before or after the time, but on regular occasions. For strength is to make sure that the food is nourishing and that we are not depleted by human interpretations and human ideas which come to us. Be careful that you do not listen to counsel that does not come from God’s word. I have seen people doing this. They are not strengthened, they become emaciated. Drunkenness has to do with confusing the brain by overeating or by eating flesh, because the appetite craves it. Then there is the subject of mixtures. We must not mix fruits and vegetables together.

It is not well to eat fruit and vegetables at the same meal. If the digestion is feeble, the use of both will often cause distress, and inability to put forth mental effort. It is better to have the fruit at one meal, and the vegetables at another. {CD 112.3}

If we do mix foods together, they must be within the same category of vegetable, or fruit. We should not mix the two together. These Biblical and Spirit-of-Prophecy basic principles can be simply and intelligently comprehended. If I have problems that then call for complicated suggestions from those who teach us, we want to go back to God and ask Him for recovery, and not fall for the seductive doctrines of 1 Timothy 4 that affect us in the wrong way. I never can recover from my horror in what I saw in this person from New Zealand. She went to these extremes and her system was thrown into such chaos. It doesn’t look like it at the time, it looks like they’re doing reasonably alright, but this person became anorexic and we had to go to a psychiatric hospital to help her out of that. Although she had followed the instruction and for a time was doing well, she fell back into these wrong habits, and at the end her system could no longer digest the food. She ended up having to be fed food through her blood vessel. That’s how far these things take us when we don’t follow a “Thus saith the Lord.”

When I have bodily ailments, when I have problems in my flesh that are diseases due to my past life and errors – and we often carry these weaknesses with us – then we are to follow the counsel of God, to deal with our diseases in God’s way.

Exodus 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I [am] the LORD that healeth thee.

It’s not just what He has commanded in regards to eating and drinking; there are other things that cause my diseases – not proper sleeping, wrong ways of thinking affect our health – and God says here that we are to diligently harken to the voice of the Lord our God, to apply His word to every situation of life; then He is the one that will heal us. When we’ve made serious mistakes and our bodies are in a condition of deterioration because of our mistakes, God can still step in and improve our situation. He is the miracle-Worker. Let God be glorified.

There are rights which belong to every individual. We have an individuality and an identity that is our own. No one can submerge his identity in that of any other. All must act for themselves, according to the dictates of their own conscience. As regards our responsibility and influence, we are amenable to God as deriving our life from Him. This we do not obtain from humanity, but from God only. We are His by creation and by redemption. Our very bodies are not our own, to treat as we please, to cripple by habits that lead to decay, making it impossible to render to God perfect service. {CD 56.2}

Making it impossible to give God the glory.

Our lives and all our faculties belong to Him. He is caring for us every moment; He keeps the living machinery in action; if we were left to run it for one moment, we should die. We are absolutely dependent upon God. {Ibid.}

We today in these last days have been affected by teachings and notions of man, and not of God. And we are called upon to give Him the glory by submitting to Him and asking Him for help so that we can be a demonstration of the glory of God, as were Daniel and his three friends. They prayed, they earnestly prayed, and the Lord stepped in for them. Let us seek to do that, is my prayer, as we face the challenges in these last days.

Amen.