How God Protected the Israelites from Disease
Originally Posted September – October 2010
1. How God Protected the Israelites from Disease
~^~By David Stewart, PhD
The 30th Chapter of Exodus describes God-given formulas for a Holy Anointing Oil and a Holy Incense composed of essential oils and resins. Without a knowledge of modern chemistry one would conclude that the Holy Oil and Holy Incense were for ceremonial and religious purposes only. However, when one understands the special chemical composition of these aromatic recipes, you see that God had a lot more in mind for the Jews than simple ritual and religion.
Some say that you don’t need essential oils, that God and prayer are enough. They feel that they would somehow compromise their faith if they apply oils. Most of these same people willing to visit doctors, take prescription drugs, go to hospitals, and pay for medical insurance. Such people don’t consider subscribing to the pharmaceuticals and protocols of the modern health care system as being any compromise to their faith in God. They even say things like, “God works through doctors and hospitals for healing today” or “Today’s miracles are through science and medical technology,” etc. At the same time, people who make such statements do not recognize that essential oils are also God’s vehicles for healing, not just in Biblical times, but today as well.
When it comes to essential oils, the fact is that it was God, Himself, who prescribed the Holy Anointing Oil and the Holy Incense which, among other things, offered protection and prevention from disease to his people. This article will explain how that is so. If essential oils were good enough for God to prescribe for his chosen people, then what could be wrong with using them ourselves, especially since Jesus taught his disciples to use them? (Mark 6:13; James 5:14-16)
Essential oils are God’s gift to us. It behooves us to use our God-given brains to learn about them for healing. To conclude, as some Christians do, that applying essential oils for healing is not approved by God, or that using them is a compromise of one’s faith, is not a conclusion that can be supported by scripture.
The Dual Purpose of Holy Oils and Incense
In Exodus 30:22-31, 34-36, God gives recipes for a Holy Anointing Oil and a Holy Incense with instructions on their uses. The anointing oil is to be used, not only to anoint and consecrate the Levite priests, but also to clean the altar of sacrifice, all of the instruments of the altar, including the laver, a bowl of water next to the altar for washing hands between sacrifices. This cleaning ritual was done daily.
If you think about it, a place where animals were sacrificed every day, sometimes hundreds in a day, could create an environment that would promote the growth of harmful bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. These could, in turn, cause chronic sickness among the priests and personnel of the synagogue as well as epidemics among the people at large. But the Bible does not mention any instance of diseases caused by the environment of the altar and its surroundings.
It turns out that the ingredients of the Holy Anointing Oil (Oils of Cinnamon, Cassia, Calamus, and Myrrh) are all highly antimicrobial being effective against bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Because the priests and their assistants actually used the anointing oil to clean and wipe all of the articles and surfaces on or around the altar on a daily basis, a pathogenic environment was never allowed to develop. Meanwhile, as the oil was applied during the daily cleaning process the priests and assistants were breathing them into their bodies and, were thus boosting their immune systems to resist any form of microbial attack.
Thus you can see that the Holy Anointing Oil was for more than ceremonial purposes and for more than a support for worship.
But What About Airborne Bacteria?
While the application of Holy Anointing Oil on and around the altar of sacrifice killed all contact bacteria, what about airborne bacteria? Well, it seems that God thought of that, too.
The Holy Incense described in Exodus 30 contains Myrrh, Frankincense, Galbanum, and Onycha. It turns out that all four of these resins or oils are also highly antimicrobial, capable of killing bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Being diffused into the air, the Holy Incense killed all airborne microbes.
In fact, for more than a hundred years, Onycha oil dissolved in ethyl alcohol (called “Tincture of Benzoin”) was the hospital antiseptic of choice all over the world. It wasn’t until after World War II that drug companies finally persuaded medical authorities that their synthetic antibacterial agents were better and less expensive.
Synthetic antiseptics may be cheaper, but they are not as effective as those based on nature’s ingredients. The extended use of commercially antiseptics in hospitals has eventually led to the creation of resistant strains of deadly bacteria (like MRSA) against which modern medicine has no remedy. If hospitals would have continued using Tincture of Benzoin with natural Onycha, instead of man-made pharmaceuticals, to keep their premises free of harmful microbes, we would not have MRSA and the other resistant strains of pathogens that threaten us today.
So God’s plan for protecting the Israelites from any potential health threats that could have been posed by the sacrifice of animals was complete. His instructions, given to Moses, protected the Jews from both contact microbes and airborne microbes. At the same time, these fragrances lift our spirits and stimulate our pineal gland, which is the seat of our intuition in the brain and the focal point for praise, prayer, and meditation. These aromas also clarify our minds as well.
Therefore, these oils, as used in the ancient tabernacles, synagogues, and temple, supported the Jews in multiple ways–physically, mentally, and spiritually–and still do today.
NOTE: Some of the above information is found in the book, “Healing Oils of the Bible,” but the antimicrobial benefits of the anointing oil and incense are more thoroughly discussed in the book and set of DVDs entitled “Healing: God’s Forgotten Gift.” Both are available on the website: www.RaindropTraining.com
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2. The Final Analysis
~^~by Mother Theresa
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
…Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
…Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
…Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
…Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
…Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
…Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
…Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
…Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
Adapted from words of Mother Teresa on an enlarged and framed sign hung in the front lobby of her Nirmala Shishu Bhavan, the children’s home in Calcutta, India.
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3. Tapping a Treasure of Testimonials
~^~By Dr. David Stewart, PhD
If you are looking for remedies for specific sicknesses or conditions, visit www.oil-testimonials.com/261333. There are over 3,000 testimonials of success stories on that website which identify the person and their contact information in each case. You will usually find an oil solution to whatever problem you are trying to solve.
It has been said that there is no degenerative disease for which their is not a solution with essential oils. Browsing through these testimonials seems to confirm that statement. This is a resource every essential oiler needs to know about and use. It is a real treasure, and it is free.
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4. When You Don’t Know the Right Oil, What Then?
~^~by David Stewart, PhD
Those of us who regularly use essential oils are often confronted with situations for which we don’t know for sure which is the right oil to use. In some cases, we know which oil is right, but don’t know how or where to apply it. In references such as the “Essential Oils Desk Reference” (EODR) or the “Reference Guide to Essential Oils” (RGEO) there is usually a list of possible oils to use for any given problem. How does one know which ones on the list are for them to use right then and now?
Just remember that it doesn’t matter that you don’t know so long as you know that God knows. God made the oils. He, alone, knows all of their properties and applications. With faith in that fact, all you need to do is to pray quietly and ask God for his recommendations. Then as you ask, listen for his answer which will be whispered to you when your mind is still.
“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) That is the Biblical injunction. It is in stillness that we can know and hear God’s silent speaking voice. He always knows the right oil as well as how and where to apply it and he wants to tell you. All you need do is calm yourself, ask, and focus on hearing his answer within your inner stillness. It only takes a moment, even a second, of concentrated stillness during which God can drop the answer you seek instantly into your mind. And if using an essential oil is not the right thing in your particular situation, God will tell you that, too. All you need to do is allow him to inform you through your silent inner discernment.
