Health from the earth: do you know what herbs and plants can do for your body?

I have been on a journey which has taken me into an interesting place.  I have found there are plants, herbs and spices which have a farther reach than just being food or seasoning on what we eat.  Let me explain.

A couple of months ago, I came across an article which took me back.  It was regarding the yellow wild flower many of us poison in our yards, dandelion.  In this article, the writer was talking about some of the food and health benefits of the pesky flower.   

Did you know there are healing properties to dandelions?  Did you know that dandelion greens are in many salad mixes?  Neither did I.  This put me on a discovery mission to find out what I didn't know but evidently someone else did.

Dandelion is a natural diuretic and helps remove excess water and toxins from the body.  Yet unlike chemical diuretics, it doesn't strip the body of potassium.  

It is regarded, by herbalists, as of the best  herbs for building the blood, relieving anemic conditions and helping to maintain normal blood sugar levels.

It is regarded as on of the better herbs to treat kidney ailments such as kidney stones.

As I read through different lists of the benefits of this plant, I gained a love for this weed.  As I read further, I found the health benefits could be extracted in a process called tincturing.  There are several different methods including glycerin, vinegar and alcohol.  I chose the use of grain alcohol as the tinctures have an incredible shelf life.  

I went to harvest a bunch from my yard, about 5 lbs which filled a 4 gallon bucket.  My wife and I washed them and chose the best of the bunch chopped them up and put them in a glass 1/2 gallon jar. We they put in 80 proof grain alcohol in covering the plant material to about 2-3" above the material. I daily shook the contents to make sure the contents were well mixed and the extraction of the good stuff from the plants could best take place.  

So that is how I have started on this road.  I have since tinctured over 26 different items from Orange peel to hibiscus flowers.  Each has incredible health benefits.  Make no mistake, this endeavor is based on coming up with natural products which will help the body heal and function correctly without the side effects of pharmaceuticals, and you know every manufactured pill has a list of potential side effects associated with them.  

I have been taking my own tinctures for over a month now.  I have noticed I am sleeping well.  I don't have joint pain which I attribute partially to the turmeric and ginger and the "pepper juice".  I haven't had indigestion with eating spicy food over the last couple of days.  One of the herbs works for headaches.  And my Saw Palmetto tincture works better than the Saw Palmetto supplements I had been taking.  

So all in all, I am pretty pleased.  

The other thing which started my search had to do with cancer.  My wife and I have watched family members being reduced to mere skeletons just prior to dying through the use of chemo drugs and radiation.  I know cancer can emaciate a person as well but these precious family members spent their final days sick and unable for much of the time to enjoy family and friends.  We have determined we will not let that happen to us and will not go through the those treatments.  We don't want that to be the last memory our kids and grand kids have of us.

Did you know there are several herbs which have tremendous cancer fighting qualities?  You might ask why they aren't being used in fighting cancer today?  I am not a conspiracy theorist by any shape of the imagination but the truth is Big Pharmacy.  Those companies that produce those chemicals are making tons of money on them.  Doctors are caught in the trap of using what has been tested and tried over what is politicized as some wizard over a cauldron.  Listen, I have several friends who are doctors and I appreciate all they do, so I don't want any of you to think I am against them or down on them. 

I found for a very long time, these herbs were used in treating and healing people.  From sickness to wounds, these herbs were there and available.  Just Google "herbs that fight cancer" and you will find there is a bunch of information available.  One sight in particular has a list of 20 herbs which have cancer fighting and killing qualities.  One in particular works along side of iron.  Cancer leeches iron from a persons system.  When iron is introduced with this herb the cancer opens for the iron and the herb gets into the cancer cells and kills them.  Not wound them, weaken them but kills them dead!  

Things as simple as the seeds in peach and apricot pits have devastating effects on cancer and tumors. 

Blood root, which is poisonous if ingested, is an incredible topical for lesions on the skin.  It only attacks the cancerous cells but does no harm to health skin and tissue.  I have used this before.  When it gets on a cancerous lesion, it burns like hell but only in the area where the cancer is.  The skin all around the area which is healthy is unaffected.

So my friends, I am on a journey.  I will share some more of my discoveries with you here in my blog over the next little while.  I will also share additional information regarding where I get my herbs from etc.  There is a lot of information to share and I don't want this to be like reading a novel.

Lastly, let me say, I am not a medical doctor nor do I claim to be one.  I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination.  There are some sages out there who have far more knowledge than me.  I hope to be a conduit to flow that information to you and will work to do so.

Blessings my friends.

Michael

Mortality

In about 3 hours we will be hosting a memorial service for a family who has lost a brother.  His death was an untimely and surprising death as he was a young man.  As always we are reminded of our temporary status on this earth.  In case you hadn't noticed, no one gets off the planet alive.  We are all terminal.  We just don't know the number of our days.

As sadness and loss envelope us, we can react asking, "couldn't have God prevented it?"  We want to keep others close and hate loss.  Yet we have loss here.  Those close to us are gone or at least out of our reach.  And we seek in the embrace and reach of others in order to find some kind of comfort and hope.  We can't fault family for these kind of reactions, but it doesn't change reality.

If our days are numbered, and they are, how can we expect to escape the inevitable end of life; death. Yet death is not an end unto itself.  We will spend eternity somewhere.  Where will it be?

Paul writes, "we aren't like those who have no hope" and we aren't if Christ is our Savior.  But if we have rejected God's provision for salvation, our only hope is no hope.  You see it's not about being good because our best is not good enough.  Good is measured by God.  It His standard.  As creator, Lord, King and judge, He gets to set the rules, not us.  So it makes no difference what I think or feel, if it doesn't follow what He has said or established, it isn't going to happen.  You can never do enough good works to garner His approval, acceptance and ultimately eternity with Him.  You can't do enough bad or evil to make Him not love you.  And because of our choices, He will loves all the way to hell if that is what we choose.  I think on judgement day, there will be tears in heaven, God's tears as all hope reconciling with some of His created ones is gone forever because they chose to reject His provision for their salvation.

So back to the memorial, none of us knows where this young man will spend eternity.  Here is the hope we have.  One day he will stand before the great and merciful judge who sees us from the inside out.  Then we will know.  We hope in Him.  He is our only hope!

The city is burning

As I write this today, the city of Baltimore is the newest target of thuggery.  I don't know the facts of what has happened that is supposed to have generated this but it is wrong on so many fronts.

Our constitution state we have the right peaceful protest.  This is not peaceful protest, much of what is being done is criminal at best and savage and barbaric at worst.  How does a civil society unravel to this place; looting, destruction of property, mugging.  How does this further the cause?  It doesn't!  It reveals the heart of a people.

I am so sick of hearing people who are supposed to know the victim, are friends or family of victim talking about how good and nice they were but in the next action throwing fire bombs, rock, beating people, looting stores, set cars and buildings on fire.  If we are known by the company that we keep how can this speak of the good of the victims or anyone else in this situations when their acquaintances are nothing more than criminals and rebels?

"Its the cops fault" is the cry of the mob.  And truly, I have seen some despicable things done by law enforcement in these incidents but there is no justification for anarchy, bedlam, rioting etc.  Again it demonstrates the heart of these masses is criminal.  Though faining outrage, they are rebellious, selfish individuals looking for an excuse to rob, steal, kill and destroy.

Please don't come back and talk to me about oppression, profiling, racism and the like.  That is a whole lot of garbage.  Its a ridiculous excuse that has been over used to the point it means little.  Racism isn't anything new.  It has been around forever; since the first time two people groups squared off and one was conquered by the other.  No one group has had it worse than any other group.  Racism is basically bullying based on our place of origin and we all hate bullying, don't we? Because we have all fallen prey to bullying, right?

So do the incidents of recent days, Fergusson MO, New York, and now Baltimore, reflect a racist culture or are they a reflection of misplaced values and misapplication of power on the part of the police and law enforcement?  Probably the latter and not the former.  But, you must answer the question of given the same set to circumstances; what would you have done in the same situation?  It's easy to judge when you don't have to walk in someone else's shoes.

What this shows me is we have a heart problem in America.  We are heart sick; sick at the heart.  Our life is tied into trying to satisfy the American dream and to get all of it we can so we step across our fellow men and women, sometimes stepping on them, in order to try to satisfy our hunger for happiness and pleasure.

Thankfulness

I woke this morning with a thankful heart.

This weekend is revelation of the great grace and mercy of our God. Jesus took what should have been mine and gave me what was His.  He took my punishment, my destiny and gave me a brand new destiny. This is the state of all human kind, "He paid a debt He didn't owe, I owed a debt I couldn't pay."

I am thankful for His great grace and mercy. Jeremiah wrote of this in Lamentations 3:22-24 (NLT),
²² The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. ²³ Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. ²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” 

Each and everyday His mercies are new, they special and individual for the day in which we live.  

Good Friday

Good Friday, a day Christians to refer to as when Jesus was crucified.  This is western thinking if we hold it to the actual day time day.

In all actuality, Jesus crucifixion took place on Thursday with His actual death taking place at the beginning of the Jewish Friday which was Thursday evening.

You might say, where did I come up with this?

Remember Genesis?  "it was evening and morning the first day" and so on.  The day of Jews begins at evening and ends at the evening following.  The scripture bears this out as the Jewish leaders came to Pilate and requested they hasten the deaths of the condemned as Passover was at hand and it would have been defiling for the bodies to have remained on the crosses during the holiday.  So it isn't really about "Good Friday" but about His death occurring at the beginning of Friday, the evening of the previous day.

Yes Jesus did raise from the dead on the Sunday, which is the first day of the week and He was definitely in the tomb for 3 days.

This time is an incredible time of God revealing His pointing to this time in history through the feast of Passover.  Tonight at our church, we will celebrate the feast in a Seder.  It is such a powerful time of seeing God's foretelling of His provision for all mankind that relationship between ourselves and Him could be restored.

Shalom

Jesus Enters Jerusalem

For a moment set aside all of what you have heard about this day called Palm Sunday.  You know the day Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.

In the American church, we have heard that Jerusalem responded to Jesus riding into it's streets with shouts of adoration and excitement.  In fact you may have heard, "they were sang His praises on Sunday and cried for His death on Thursday." This is so far from the truth it is unbelievable how we could have held such a thought.

The truth is this is the day the Passover lamb was chosen and a special lamb for Israel was paraded through the streets.  It had a tag tied around it's neck which identified it as such.  The lamb was headed through the streets of the city on it's way to the Temple where it would be on display for the next four days for everyone to look at and examine it to ensure it was "without spot or blemish".  This is what the city was cheering about.

O there were those who were part of Jesus entourage who were praising Him as they believed He was to be king.  But the masses were not praising Him.  Jesus came into the city as the procession was heading toward the headed for the temple which is where He was headed as well.  Isn't it interesting that for the next 4 days He was on display at the temple for all to test, examine and ensure that He was without fault, sin or blemish.  The Pharisees, Sadducees, lawyers, scribes, Herod, Pilate, Counsel and all of those who were there daily to hear His teaching had to say, "they could find no fault in Him."

So the stage was set for Jesus to be the Passover Lamb for all of human kind.

This is week is referred to by many as "passion" week or "holy week" as it is the week leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and culminates in His resurrection.  The events of this week are rich with application and symbolism for followers of Christ.  And it marks an event that has influenced time and much of history.  You can try ignore it as another seven days out of the year but it is so much more than that.  Please lend me the opportunity to share with you some insights into this time.  I trust it will help you see things in a whole different light.