Fit for the Ministry – Fasting

Fasting is nothing new – it has been used for millenniums to purify mind, soul, and body.  There are many examples of fasting in the Bible for spiritual reasons.  Elijah was an excellent example of a man of superior strength and stamina.  Elijah fasted often, and for long periods of time.

Fasting can be very beneficial to your health.  Dr. James F. Balch in his book, Prescriptions for Nutritional Healing, says, “Over time, toxins build up in the body as the result of pollutants in the air we breath, the chemicals in the food and water we consume, and other means.  Periodically, the body seeks to rid itself of these toxins, and releases them from the tissues.  The toxins then enter the bloodstream, causing the body to experience a ‘low’ or ‘down’ cycle.  During such a cycle, you may suffer from headaches, diarrhea, or depression.  Fasting is an effective and safe method of helping the body detoxify itself and move through this low cycle with greater speed and fewer symptoms.  In fact, fasting is recommended for any illness, as it gives the body the rest it needs to recover.  Acute illnesses, colon disorders, allergies, and respiratory diseases are most responsive to fasting, while chronic degenerative diseases are the least responsive.  By relieving the body of the work of digesting foods, fasting permits the system to rid itself of toxins while facilitating healing.”

Fasting is helpful, not just in times of poor health, or during the body’s cycles.  By fasting regularly, you give all of your organs a rest, and thus help reverse the aging process and live a longer and healthier life.  During a fast:

• The natural process of toxin excretion continues, while the influx is reduced.  This results in a reduction of total body toxicity.
• The energy usually used for digestion is redirected to immune function, cell growth, and eliminatory processes.
• The immune system’s workload is greatly reduced, and the digestive tract is spared any inflammation due to allergic reactions to food.
• Due to lowering of serum fats that thins the blood, tissue oxygenation is increased and white blood cells are moved more efficiently.
• Fat-stored chemicals, such as pesticides and drugs, are released.
• Physical awareness and sensitivity to diet and surroundings are increased.

Due to these effects of fasting, a fast can help you heal with greater speed; cleanse your liver, kidneys, and colon;  purify your blood; help you lose excess weight and water;  flush out toxins; clear the eyes and tongue; and cleanse the breath.  It is recommended that you fast at least three days a month, and follow a ten-day fast twice a year.

Juice fasts are usually preferred to an all-water fast.  A water fast will eliminate toxins too rapidly causing headaches and worse.  Juicing will supply your body with all the nutrients necessary for optimum health and energy.  If you must have food, perhaps to take medication, eat a piece of fruit.  Bananas are very good for this purpose.

Fit for the Ministry – The Roloff Diet

Lester Roloff was an Independent Fundamental Baptist preacher best known for his radio program “The Family Altar” and his work as a pastor and evangelist.

1. Eat foods in their natural state as much as possible.

2. 75 to 85 percent of your food should be eaten raw.

3. Include a lot of green leafy vegetables.

4. Drink fresh orange and grapefruit juice for breakfast.  Eat more citrus through the morning if you are still hungry.

5. No meat products.

6. No dairy products.

7. No sugar.

8. No white flour and table salt.  (Use unbleached flour and sea salt sparingly)

9. No hydrogenated oil.  (Margarine, Crisco, peanut putter…)

10. Eat 2 meals a day.  (A large salad for lunch, a cooked meal for dinner)

11. Eat all you want, but do not eat too much at one time.  (Snack throughout the day with raw vegetables and raw fruit.)

12. Drink all the fresh vegetable juice you can.  (Feed your body the nutrients it needs.)

Fit for the Ministry – Things to Eliminate

Meat:  beef, lamb, pork, chicken… 

• By eliminating meat you reduce your risks of heart disease by over 50%.
• Decreases your risks of cancer substantially.
• Decreases your fat intake.
• Eliminates many toxins from what the animals eat.
• Lowers your blood pressure and cholesterol.

Dairy products:  milk, cheese, butter, ice cream, and yogurt…

• Humans are the only animals on earth that continue to drink milk after they have become mature enough to eat on their own.
• Humans are the only animals in the world that drink cow’s milk, other than calves.
• Stomach and colon health is improved.

Animal products in general:  eggs, lard, and gelatin…

• These are not foods in their natural state.
• Eggs are for unborn, rapidly developing chickens.
• Eliminates a good deal of the cholesterol from your diet.

Refined and bleached foods:  bleached flour, granulated sugar, iodized salt, aluminum baking soda, and enriched foods.

• Enriched is usually a process of taking 20 things out and putting 5 back in (rice, flour).
• Bleached flour (the same chemical family as Clorox).
• Stay with natural foods.

Soft drinks, tea and coffee:

• Loaded with sugar.
• Loaded with caffeine.
• Loaded with sodium.
• Loaded with colors, dyes, chemicals…

Saturated Fat:  shortening, most vegetable oils, butter, margarine…

• Saturated fat is fat that would harden at room temperature.
• Saturated fat coats your blood vessels.

Unnatural products:  artificial sweeteners, preservatives, MSG, carbonated water…

• These only trick the body, they do not feed it.

Fit for the Ministry – Basic Guidelines for Juicing

1. Juice your vegetables and eat your fruit. 

• Citrus juice in the morning is a great choice.  It is high in vitamin C and natural sugars.  It will also help your body fight allergies and colds.
• By eating the majority of your fruits, you will supply your body with all the fiber necessary for proper digestion and colon health.

2. Use organically grown fruits and vegetables when possible.

3. Properly wash fruits and vegetables before juicing or eating.

4. Invest in a good juicer. 

• Champion and Omega are very reputable brands.

5. Use California juicing carrots, they are always sweet.

6. Juice will last for a day, well refrigerated, but goes stale after that.

7. Juice a variety of fruits and vegetables for a variety of nutrients.

8. Include plenty of green vegetation.

• Spinach, parsley, celery, cabbage…

Fit for the Ministry – Juicing

Most people agree that we need to have a good supply of vitamins everyday.  Some people spend hundreds of dollars on vitamin pills.  If we give the manufactures every benefit of the doubt, we still must come to the conclusion that the pills are no longer in their natural form.  There has been some type of processing.  Not every trace mineral and enzyme makes its way into your blood stream.  Not to mention, who do you believe?  It seems that every company has a different theory on what is the best method of delivering optimum nutrition to your body.  Then there is that nagging thought that someone is making a lot of money from you purchasing their product. 

Daniel P. Ray says in his book Wonder Fruits and Juices; “With juices, you give your body what it craves in a form that it can put to use right away.” 

When you eat, it takes about a day and a half for the body to completely digest your food and eliminate the waste.  When juiced, fruits and vegetables retain nearly all of the vital nutritive elements contained in the raw version and concentrate them in a form that the body can assimilate right away.  Juices speed the plants’ vitamins, minerals, trace elements and natural sugars into the bloodstream, without pausing for the digestive system.  In other words, you get the goodness without making the body work for it!

The juicing process concentrates nature’s wondrous healing powers.  One pint of fresh vegetable juice, for example, provides the same minerals, vitamins and enzymes as two large salads.

For those who want to lose weight, fruit and vegetable juices can provide the needed nutrients without the calories or fat that cause weight gain, allowing the body to flush out fat.

Because fresh fruit and vegetable juices are packed with so much of what the body needs, without saturated fat or added salts, they are among the first items that reputable nutritionists recommend for dieters.

In people suffering from illness or disease, juice’s ability to provide nutrition without digestion gives the body a break, allowing it to focus more energy on the work of healing.  For everyone else, juices add extra vigor, putting nature’s own medicines to work.

Adding fruit and vegetable juice to your diet doesn’t mean you have to become a vegetarian.  But those who are among the growing number switching to this lifestyle will need to replace the protein in their diets that previously had been consumed through meat.

By juicing the vegetables, you will automatically increase the amount of protein in your diet that you would have consumed had you eaten the vegetables raw.  That’s because much of the protein in vegetables is locked up in the plant’s fiber, and is freed through the juicing process.

You might wonder why the same benefits aren’t available simply by eating more fruits and vegetables in their familiar forms—cooked.  The trouble is that the cooking process destroys much of their nutritional value.

Boiling leaches the nutrients into the water, cooking evaporates them into your oven.  Better to keep the nutrients in the food in their raw form—they don’t do you much good if they’re left in the saucepan or in the oven!

Our DNA and everything else in our cells is bathed in the nutrients that we eat.  There are hundreds of nutrients found in plants such as beta-carotene, vitamin C, folic acid, and at least a dozen groups of chemicals that are not nutrient, called phytochemicals.  Phytochemicals act to block damage to cells.  Scientists are just beginning to understand the incredibly complex benefits of these elements.

Phytochemicals are found in all fruits and vegetables, and cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, etc.), in particular, are saturated with them.

Juicing the fruits and vegetables gives the body the internal bath it needs to function at a high level.”

Fit for the Ministry – Stop Recreational Eating

Most of the food that Americans eat is not good for them. We are used to eating what tastes good and is readily available.  It is just too easy to grab a bag of chips and Coke or a candy bar.  McDonald’s and Burger King selling their fat loaded nutritionally bankrupt burgers and fries keep most American children fat and sick.  Most food is marketed by people interested in one thing:  your money.  If someone can come up with a new fast food and market it better than the other guy they make more money.  Very little concern is taken for the true nutritional value of the food.  In my opinion the only reason fast food restaurants offer leaner sandwiches at all is because it makes them more money.

You must stop eating as a recreational activity!  Your tongue and your stomach like the junk food you are giving them, but the rest of your body is exhausted from trying to get enough nutrients from this very poor food.  At the same time the body is dredging through fat and cholesterol trying to feed trillions of hungry cells.

The digestive system is like a mining operation.  It takes in the food and mines for nutrients.  It discards the waste and stores what it thinks it will use in the future.  If you were to visit gold mining operations you would observe some of the same functions taking place.  The gold ore is brought out for processing.  If the ore is of poor quality there are tons of waste piled around everywhere.  If the ore is of good quality there is less waste.  You will note that the mines that have high quality ore are usually the ones with new equipment and nice roads leading to them.  While the ones with poor quality are constantly in need of repair due to the fact that they are not getting what they need out of the ore.  The same is true with our bodies.  When we put poor food into our body it piles up fat in various places while searching for vital nutrients.  When we put good food into our body, it finds what it needs to feed the cells and there is very little fat piled around.

You must learn to feed your body.  Instead of eating something because it tastes good, feed your body.  Feed it the best quality food possible.  Don’t put trash in your body that will not feed it.  Instead of eating a candy bar, eat some raw almonds.  Instead of the Coke or Pepsi, drink a large glass of fresh vegetable juice.  Instead of getting that full feeling on prime rib, why not get that full feeling on fresh vegetables?  Instead of that large, fat, deadly piece of cake, why not eat some fresh fruit? 

Brother Roloff said it best:  “As long as people continue to eat foods that have been prepared of impoverished, ghostly white flour, bleached and sulphured foods, doped and adulterated food, plaster-like preparations called breakfast cereals; so long as they live on inferior food, material that has been dyed, chemically treated, doctored up so that it will look and feel fresh far past the time when it should have spoiled;”

“So long as we live closer to the can opener than to Mother Nature, closer to the baker and confectioner than to the farmer, closer to the food manufacturer than to the Almighty, closer to the butcher than to the garden and orchard, closer to the drug store than to the health food store, closer to the surgeon than to common sense;”

“So long as they try to live on poisoned, overheated preserves, scorched, pressure cooked, fried foods, food that has been altered in its chemistry, disorganized in its molecules by pasteurization, food that has been artificially treated and sulphured until the food juices, vitamins, minerals and other food properties have passed up into the blue sky and there’s nothing left but a dessicated lifeless substance sold as food in every grocery store and supermarket in the land and eaten by every man, woman, and child, including the doctors, and passed upon as meriting seals of approval by various scientific organizations;”

“So long as they mill off, peel off, pare off, and cook away from five to sixteen chemical food elements in the food and eat only the ghost-like starch, food sugar and food fat; so long as they eat food that has stood on warehouse floors and shelves for long periods of time in grime, dirt, dust, heat, moisture, and atmospheric ferments until the food properties have been injured by decomposition, toxins, age, vermin, rodents, metallic contamination, and by other agents of decay and corruption;”

“So long as they drink bottled goods, soda fountain pop, artificial fruit drinks that have not a drop of fruit juice in them, laboratory fruit juices that contain powdered dope, dyestuffs, preservatives, and glucose; so long as they eat cold storage meat that may have been put in storage when the market price was low and kept for months or even years and doped, doctored, and embalmed to be sold when the market price was high; so long as they drink chocolate, coco, coffee and tea, or eat cream puffs and grease-filled doughnuts and sweet rolls;”

“As long as they eat decomposed, rancid, lifeless, adulterated, fumigated, corrupt, foodless food material; so long as they eat fritters, fudge, syrup, soda crackers, cookies, candy, creamless ice cream, starchy noodles, pickled food, pig’s feet, puddings, and all such meals of demineralized and devitalized food products presented by the food manufacturers and technicians more interested in how their wares will perform in their assembly line food processing machines than what their ware will do for your stomach;”

“So long as they continue to procrastinate and postpone obtaining the flood of health that can be released to them through the daily use of nature’s fresh, vibrant and vital plant juices—that long will they continue to be half alive and sick.  That long will undertakers be in demand early in life; that long will they continue to sacrifice long before it’s time the greatest miracle of the universe—human life.”

“The life of the flesh is in the blood, the body must have good circulation, which comes, of course, from proper exercise.  Good blood cannot be made of white bread, embalmed beef, sausage, potatoes, gravy, doughnuts, pie, cake and coffee.”

Brother Roloff is the only person I really trust on the subject of diet.  He has thousands of men, women, boys and girls on this diet for over 25 years.  They were clinical proof that there is great nutrition in these natural foods.  He sold no books on the subject and promoted no pyramid sales scheme.

Fit for the Ministry – Biblical Eating

I don’t think that there is any question about what the original diet was—they lived in “the garden.”  “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. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.” (Genesis 1:29-30)  Humans and animals ate uncooked fruits and vegetables.

In Genesis chapter nine God introduced eating meat to man.

“Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.”  (Genesis 9:3,4)  At this time the life span of man went down by hundreds of years.

In the book of Leviticus, God gave the Hebrews a set of dietary laws.  Basically, if an animal eats only plant life it was considered clean.  The exception would be an animal who did not part the hoof or that parted the hoof but did not chew a cud.  All animals that ate flesh were considered unclean.  The same principles applied to fish and ocean life.  If it eats live fish, which eat live fish, which eat plant life you could eat it.  These fish have scales.  Other fish, such as catfish (no scales) were forbidden.  All scavengers and bottom suckers were not to be eaten.  Shellfish clean up the trash and waste of the ocean.  They contain toxins and poisons from the trash they clean up.  This also applies to fowl.  Birds that eat flesh are forbidden, such as an eagle.  Birds that eat grains and fruit were considered clean.  Even insects were judged clean and unclean on the same basis.  Grasshoppers, for example, were considered clean because they eat only plant life.

Some people are quick to point out how that Daniel ate only pulse and water.  One this diet he and his companions were fairer fleshed than everyone else.  I believe the real point of this was not the pulse and water, but rather that Daniel purposed in his heart that he would be true to his convictions.  In doing so, God provided a miracle.  The miracle was that in only 10 days God allowed this vegetarian diet to not only be effective but superior to the best food in the kingdom.

After the flood, and throughout the rest of the Bible, you will read of people eating meat, usually fish, lamb, or beef.  However, the diet of those people did not consist mainly of meat and potatoes as it does in America.  Their normal diet was that of vegetables and bread with a little meat.  Because there was no refrigeration, meat could not be easily kept.  It was usually eaten at times of feast.  But the normal diet was very simple grains, fruits, and vegetables.  In Jesus’ life we see him eating bread and fish on several occasions.  During his earthly ministry, he was constantly on the move.  His diet was probably very simple—bread, fruit, vegetables, and fish.

How does the American diet stack up to this Biblical diet?  The average American eats a lot of beef.  Hamburgers and fast food dominate our routines.  At home we eat much more meat than we need to adequately nourish our bodies.  Most of this meat has been grown on farms dedicated to the quick growth with a high fat content.  Our vegetables are usually cooked in butter and salt.  Then we top it all off with some dessert that has been preserved so well it will last for years.  Just look in the average school kid’s lunch.  Snack cakes with all kinds of unnatural ingredients and sugar. The main course is lunchmeat that is processed.  Chips and cookies loaded with fat, salt, sugar, and preservatives.  Then to wash it all down, a colored, sugared, artificially flavored drink, or even worse, a soda.  Our prosperity is killing us!

Fit for the Ministry – Basics About Dieting

There are so many different diets on the market today. Someone gets an idea and markets to a few Hollywood stars and they are making money hand over fist. Have you noticed that the diets go to the extremes? Dr. Atkins’ diet has you in the zone on protein and fat, milk, eggs and all the meat you can eat, while Jenny Craig has you eating 20 grams or less of fat a day. There is the Cabbage Diet and the Grapefruit Diet. There is the Slim Fast Diet and the Ensure Diet. A person could really ruin their health on some of these diets, not to mention die young.

In nature there are two basic diets: the grazers and the predators. Granted, there are some animals such as bears, goats and pigs that will eat just about anything, but for the most part they will fall into one category or another.

Predators hunt and kill their food. You will note that they all eat it raw except for humans. They spend most of their lives on the hunt for food. They are a very high-energy animal, or you could say athletic. You could think of a cougar on the hunt for his favorite food, an elk. He will spend a lot of energy locating and stalking the elk. Then he will exhaust himself killing the elk and dragging it to a safe location to eat. He will then gorge himself with this raw meat and sleep for a while. Usually, another meat eater, more of a scavenger, will come along and eat the remainder of the kill. The cougar is off to hunt for his next meal.

In this carnivore diet we can observe several things. The cougar does not eat very often. Yet many humans gorge themselves with meat three times a day. The cougar expends massive amounts of energy between meals. Most humans who do eat meat often do not exercise properly. The cougar did not mix complex carbohydrates with his meat (he didn’t have potatoes and gravy). Yet humans eat all the cougar eats, plus potatoes and gravy.

If the cougar ate the way carnivore humans eat, he would soon be so overweight that he would not be able to catch an elk. He would then begin to starve to death and lose weight. He would either learn how to eat right or he would die. That is exactly what most humans are faced with. You either learn how to eat right, or you die young.

Grazers eat grass, leaves, fruits and vegetables. They eat continually. These animals are the ones that produce an abundance of milk. Their bodies mine the nutrients from the plants and turn them into milk and muscle. Only these types of animals are listed in the Bible as clean. The flesh on these animals has the same amount of protein and fat as does the carnivores, yet without risks of disease and parasites. Humans also graze continually on greens, fruits and vegetables, but we also eat meat like the carnivore. If a milk cow ate as much fat proportionately as the average human does, along with all the plants they eat, soon they would not be able to walk into the barn to be milked because they would be too fat. Not to mention, that you probably could not drink the milk because of the bad taste due to the contaminants in the meat they ate. Many women experience this same problem when nursing their babies. They must avoid certain foods, such as pork, or the milk will cause the baby to colic.

If you are going to be a meat eater, then eat like the cougar. Eat meat once a day and eliminate the refined foods and complex carbohydrates and sugars. Don’t graze all through the day. Get a lot of exercise and burn off all that fat. Remember that the cougar is not eating beef raised on steroids and growth hormones. The elk he kills will probably not eat feed loaded with pesticides and herbicides. He will probably not eat chicken that has been fed arsenic to eliminate parasites. The elk have probably eaten natural foods and drank natural water all of their lives and he will enjoy that wonderful tasting meat.

If you are going to be a grazer, then eat like a horse. Eat all you want but limit it to plant life. Just think, you could be healthy as a horse, all of those living cells entering your body, replenishing your energy and life. Think of how healthy your digestive system would be, plenty of roughage, no toxins or fat. You might even “feel your oats” again. If you fed your horse a McDonald’s value meal and large Coke, he probably would not react too well to it. He would much rather have a big tub of oats and nice alfalfa hay with plenty of fresh clean water.

Both of our animal examples get plenty of exercise. Neither could last very long without the ability to run fast and hard. If you change your eating habits, but do not exercise, you will not accomplish your goal of having a healthy body. Exercise is essential to a healthy body.

The best type of exercise is the type you will continue to do. Most people who join a health club do not stay with it. You need to find some type of exercise that you can do everyday, and then do faithfully. Recent studies show that walking can be as beneficial as running. If you are overweight, it is much more beneficial than exercise that will damage your body further.

Change your lifestyle to accommodate healthy living. Turn off the television and go for a walk or a bike ride. Make a habit of going to the park or other outdoor activities. Stay involved with your children’s sports, then your grandchildren’s sports. Park your car a far as possible from the store and enjoy the walk. Go for morning walks and pray. Go for evening walks and rekindle your romance with your sweetheart (preferably your spouse). Plant a garden and work it everyday. Mow your own yard and work in the flowerbeds. Be very active and work your body as much as you can.

Fit for the Ministry – My Personal Testimony

My mentor in the ministry for several years was a wonderful man named Russell Watts. Russ was a wonderful person. He took a special interest in me and taught me countless things. Russ has always inspired me. 

Russ was overweight most of his life, however; he never let it slow him down. He fought through many health problems including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arthritis, sinus problems and fatigue related to being overweight. At the age of 58, Russ had a massive stroke. It left him paralyzed on one side. He was unable to speak clearly and could not care for himself. What heartbreak for Russ and everyone who knew him. In the prime of his ministry, he was struck down. He went to heaven at the age of 62.

As a young man in the ministry, I have not been very healthy. The stresses of the ministry, the pace of life, the unusual eating habits and the lack of physical exercise were all taking a toll on my body. While naturally athletic, I enjoyed hiking, skiing, running, basketball, baseball, swimming, lifted weights, etc. All of those activities, as well as the ability to play stringed instruments, went away. Depression was a continual problem along with controlling my weight. When I was 30, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. I tried everything. I had surgery on both my hands. I took steroids for two years. I tried sulfa drugs, chemotherapy, anti-inflammatories… Slowly I was loosing the battle. At 36 years of age, I started this diet. Within 3 months there was a noticeable difference. My Rheumatologist said the diet was doing what none of the drugs had ever done for me. Much damage has been done to my joints; however, the arthritis was stopped in its tracks.

There were many side effects to the diet. I lost 20 pounds in 60 days. Depression is a thing of the past. My energy level is higher than it has been in years. Stomach and intestinal problems are gone. I do not suffer from allergies. My overall immunities to colds and flues are very strong. I require less sleep and rest better. Headaches are very rare.

I do not claim to be a doctor or a dietitian. I am just a man who has benefited from eating healthy. The following pages will tell you how you can benefit also.

Sunday

We had a great day at Iloilo Baptist Church yesterday.  We saw about 200 saved on “Family Day.”  It was quite an experience!  The building was completely full and many people standing around the walls and outside.  They gave away about 2,000 chicken lunches.  The choir and orchestra was great – they get better every year.

During the evening service I preached from the book of Nehemiah on “the call of God” and told my testimony about Elizabeth. It was a great service with many responding to the altars and about 25 saved.  At the end of the service we dedicated the new building.  The builders, electricians, engineers, etc. were there and received a plaque of recognition. They also gave a plaque to Bellmead Calvary Baptist Church for our sacrificial giving.  It was a very special time that I will never forget.

Looking forward to being home on Wednesday.

Dr. Gerald W. McKelroy

 

Iloilo Baptist Church entrance

Iloilo Baptist Church

This is one of the overflow wings. There is one on each side of the auditorium. By the time the service started there was standing room only.

This is the right half of the auditorium. The overflow section is just beyond the pillars.

Inside the auditorium at Iloilo Baptist Church. There were several thousand in attendance for Family Day.

Preaching at Iloilo Baptist Church on Family Day.

A whole family getting to hear the Gospel.

This is a student at Iloilo Baptist’s Bible Institute sharing the Gospel with several who raised their hands during the invitation.

Sharing the Gospel during the invitation.

New building

New building (to the right by the church)