[6]

EAT THE BOOK

By LILIAN B. YOEMANS, M.D.

"I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little book. 'Take it,' he said, 'and eat the whole of it.'" Rev. 10:9-10 (Weymouth).

People say sometimes that we think too much about eating.

I disagree with them.

We cannot attach too much importance to the matter of eating. Everything hinges upon it.

We turn, into what we eat.

So important is the matter of right eating that the Bible abounds in instructions regarding it.

Begin at the beginning; of course that means go back to Genesis. There we find the following instructions: "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 which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." Gen. 1 : 29.

A perfectly clear dietetic instruction, what they were commanded to eat. A definite dietary, a mandatory menu.

Do you ask, "Hasn't dietetics made tremendous strides during the last quarter century or so? Isn't it a very complicated business nowa-

Yes, dietetics has made progress, and scientists labouring in the field of nutrition are beginning, as the result of faithful and laborious research and investigation, to get us back a little nearer to God's great, all-wise provision for His people's bodily upkeep. But there is still much land for them to possess.

'' But what about calories, minerals, vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and all the rest?"

Our Father has placed all the calories, minerals, vitamins, and all the other things that scientific investigators have not as yet discovered, in the plants, fruits, nuts, fish, and

flesh. He has created them for our use, and commanded us to eat. In Gen. 9 : 2-3, you will find the instructions regarding fish, fowl, and flesh.

They are specific and perfectly understandable. All you have to do ia to follow them. All the principles of the science of nutrition are embraced in them.

With a varied diet, "every herb, every tree," fowl, fish, and flesh, you cannot miss your iodine, calcium, iron, sulphur, or any other minerals that you need, and are sure of your vitamins from A to Z.

"Raw food in proper proportion?" Of course.

All kinds of fruit and vegetables are provided for in abundance and profusion, and the law of God written in our physical beings causes us to desire to eat fruit, and even vegetables, raw.

Who doesn't know what it is to eat raw carrots? Some of us know what it is to get spanked for doing it, too. Some old fashioned mothers didn't know any better. The scientists hadn't caught up to the Bible on that yet.

I drive through great Japanese market gardens very often, and sometimes feel that I could envy a herbivourous quadruped turned loose in them, while they are sparkling with dew. Our Father knows how to garnish His table.

Our first parents were also told what not to eat. One tree only was forbidden to them—"The tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

I don't believe in making fanciful laws about what we may not eat. Let us adhere to the instructions in the Bible. They are explicit enough. Romans 14 makes it very clear that we are not to enter into controversy about these matters, and we have no authority to impose restrictions upon

[7]

anybody concerning things not expressly forbidden in the Bible.

Let us take our freedom, and remember that the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

To return for a moment to Genesis —Did our first parents obey the dietetic instructions given them?

No; they disobeyed, and refused to be satisfied with the food provided for them, partook of that which was forbidden. As a result they brought the entire human race under the condemnation of Almighty God, who sentenced them to eternal doom, the sec-ond death that never dies. He could do nothing else and remain God.

Am I old fashioned? Well, so be it, I am in good company. I stand with Charles Spurgeon, who said when he occupied the foremost pulpit in the world, "I believe in a topless heaven, a bottomless hell, eternal salvation, and everlasting damna tion."

Ever after he was nicknamed "Brimstone," but, like Paul, he kept the faith.

Now I come to the gist of my message.

A man may be well fed, so far as his physical being goes, and yet starving to death.

"Man doth not live by bread only, but by EVERY word that proceedeth out of the mouth, of the Lord doth man live." Deut. 8 : 3.

Please underline, capitalise, emphasise in every conceivable manner that word "EVERY."

The other day I was meditating brokenheartedly over the appalling atrocities, the unbelievable outrages being committed in Spain at the present moment, and the words '' Famine sufferers" floated to me. "Famine sufferers"? "A famine not of bread . . . but of hearing the words of the Lord." Amos 8 : 11.

I recall the awful things that have been done in famines of natural bread. People even falling upon and devouring their own loved ones! And

how infinitely worse is a famine of the Word of the Lord.

Man is triune, made up of Spirit, soul, and body, and the Bible plainly teaches that the spiritual part of man must be fed. Doctors furnish us with formulae for the diets of our babies, and God has not forgotten His babies: "As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby." I Peter 2 : 2. We have explicit instructions as to the food required by those who are born of the Spirit, from babyhood to the completion of the race, the finish of the fight of faith. It is imperative that they be followed to the last jot and tittle.

Just as plainly as God told Adam and Eve what to eat for the maintenance of their bodies, He has specified our Spiritual food, has furnished us with a spiritual menu.

What is this provision for the nourishment, growth, and development of the inner man?

THE WHOLE WORD OF GOD, THE UNDILUTED, UNADULTERATED, SCRIPTURE OF TRUTH.

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.'' 2 Tim. 3 : 16.

Eat the Book, the whole Book. That means that you are to take every word for yourself individually. People don't eat what doesn't belong to them. Every warning, every rebuke, every promise, every love word, is yours, just as truly as though you were the only person in the universe.

You are to take the Word, and appropriate it by introducing it into the very core of your being. You sent it into your spiritual digestive apparatus from whence it is distributed to every spiritual organ, and thrown into the blood stream. It becomes lightning in your nerves, seeing in your eyes, thought in your brain, and (Continued on Page 23.)

[23]

EAT THE BOOK.

(Continued from Page 9.) purpose in your heart. AND YOU ARE CHANGED.

If you are unsaved when you eat these "Wonderful Words of Life" you find yourself born again of incorruptible seed, which is the Word of God. If you are sick you are made every whit whole, for "He sent His Word and healed them.'' Psalm 107 : 20.

If you are powerless eat the promise, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." Acts 1 : 8. You will receive, as they did in Acts 2 : 4.

But remember that Word must be received into your inmost being. The words "belly" and "bowels" (Eze. 3 : 3 and Rev. 10 : 9) are somewhat obsolete, so far as polite society goes, though they may be used with propriety in scientific parlance, but I firmly believe that they warn us against a merely intellectual eating of the word.

It is with the heart, not the head, that man believeth unto salvation. And it has to be the WHOLE WORD. Not in spots and streaks. No pocketknif e used on it!

Spiritism, restitutionism, bloodless healing cults, etc., have come from our neglect of some portions of the Bible. We cannot afford to neglect one thing in divine Revelation. Nor may we fill ourselves with one aspect of divine truth almost to the exclusion of other aspects. If we do this, masses of our fellow beings, "lame ones," may be turned out of the way, failing to have their spiritual hunger satisfied, partly famished, they turn to garbage heaps for sustenance.

GOD'S people can only be united, "one as He and the Father are One.'' or, the basis of the WHOLE BIBLE.