MMW L07-a - Power Plants for Healing - Herbs

Purpose

To understand the advantages and uses of powerful plants for food and medicine.

Introduction

“And God said, behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed…” Gen. 1:29.

“He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and herbs for the service of man”- Ps. 104:14.

God Himself gave us the herbs for our nutritional healing. He has given us the trees and vines of His creation. What are herbs? All plants, from shrub to the fig tree are herbs. Cassava, maize, orange, avocado – all are herbs! When some people hear the word “herb” mentioned, what immediately and imperceptibly comes on their mind screen is a concoction of a sorcerer or someone similar! No Sir/Madam, herbs were not created by Satan for his sorcerers, but were made and mandated by God for the health of His people! Satan never created any good thing. He just uses his evil mind to counterfeit and manipulate! By the way of amalgamation (genetic modification) Satan had produced germs and poisonous plants on earth, which were not there in the genesis of time. The tares (weeds) which choke our lives and our crops, are the planting of the arch –deceiver: “An enemy hath done this…the enemy that sowed them is the devil”- Matt 13:28, 39. Both tares in the spiritual field (Church) and in the literal field, veld and forest are “GMOs”, which did not originate from the Garden of Eden or from the Ark of Noah!

“Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows. When he was suffered to afflict Job, how quickly flocks and herds, servants, houses, children, were swept away, one trouble succeeding another as in a moment. It is God that shields His creatures and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer.”- E. White – G. C. 589.

In the 1800’s mass production of herbal plants was initiated and developed by extraction followed by crystallization (e.g. pills). The German, Friedrich Serturner (1803) made white extract crystals from opium poppy. Natural herbs were turned into crystallization and synthesized medicines. In most cases these became poisonous or unnatural in the body. Usually, poisonous plants were processed, and then some new medicines arrived: Aconitine processed from monkshood, Quinine from Peruvian bark, Emetine from ipecacuanha, and Atropine from the deadly nightshade. In 1852, salicin was isolated and synthesized from willow, and further modified into acetylsalicylic acid and was launched in 1899 as Aspirin. For another example, Fluoride was extracted from a poisonous tree called “gifblaar” which sorcerers and evil people had for a long time used as a heart poison. Fluoride is mostly used in toothpastes and in water treatment, without considering the poison. Fluoride was simply certified the same way tobacco was scrupulously allowed.

Instead of investigating the bad food and drink which bring the tartar and cocci bacteria in the teeth, people may poison themselves with anything! The Pasteur theory is very much at work! Dr. Frank Bertrand’s

research proved that people with high tartar deposits were in danger of coronaries because of high levels of cholesterol. The first sign of lack of vitamin E in the body is tartar on the teeth. Vitamin E helps to control cholesterol, but whatever little Vitamin E we may obtain from whole wheat, yellow maize, lettuce, spinach, green peas, nut oils, or green veggie, it is destroyed by the very fluoride we are using to remove tartar! What a big joke! The carcinogenic behavior of fluoride is known to most governments, but again, they do not have power to ban it! At least some societies had tried a little by discommending it for water treatment: Japan’s Association of Cancer Research and the Argonne National Laboratories (USA). The Journal of Carcinogenesis, Vol. 9, p. 2279 – 2284 stated that fluoride transforms normal cells into cancer cells and enhances the cancer forming properties of other chemicals!

Now the world is poisoning itself, while unsuspected and hidden poisons are going in the forefront masquerading as wonderful health items! Therefore, the world is upside down –back –to front! If you don’t use your mind and rights to access information, knowledge and good health, you will soon say bye-bye and retire early to the premature grave!

Unfortunately, those artificially modified crystallized medicines showed side effects which were not known to be caused by the natural, original plants. Therefore, we should not isolate naked elements from natural plants (because such items are void of supportive complementary components), and then re-modify them into new unnatural chemicals. This is also true to all highly refined food and drinks, including artificial vitamins and mineral supplements. Examples:

1.When we remove the bran and grind the white endosperm we shall lose the chromium which help

carbohydrates to be admitted into the cells. We also lose Zinc and iron which help us digest the starch.

2.When we chew sugar cane stalks, we get all the enzymes vitamins, and minerals which will help us digest and absorb the glucose and fructose. But when we remove every mineral, vitamin and enzyme from the cane juice by heating, evaporation, refining and crystallization, etc., nature will question our high education!

Refined white sugar is dead, no longer the same as the cane juice! And the immune system will attack it as poison! 

Here is what happens when such naked processed sugar is eaten:

(a) When refined sugar reaches the blood, there are no “porters” or “ushers” – like Chromium, which can open the cell doors for the simple sugars to enter. This will cause a flooding of rejected sugar in the blood, high blood sugar is the sure result. The immune response (reaction) is to break it into carbon dioxide and water, and then the carbon dioxide recombines with water to form carbonic acid – causing a highly acidic blood. Therefore refined sugar is acid forming in the body, a thing which is not caused by the natural sugar cane juice! The immune reaction to that acidosis is to borrow calcium from the bones and combine it with the carbonic acid to neutralize the toxin to a mineral salt called calcium carbonate. An excess of that is said to precipitate in the tissues, muscles, blood vessels, joints, etc. to cause the untold pain of Rheumatism, arthritis, arteriosclerosis (arteries, heart problem), High BP, stroke, osteoporosis (serious loss of calcium), etc.

“We shall never understand disease until we shall understand our food”- Hippocrates.

BIBLE HERBS

Our Creator gave us the herb for food; its flower, fruit, seed, stalk, root, tuber, bark, and everything of it, for our healthy food. Then why do we fall sick so easily? It is because of our disobedience and especially our self-imposed ignorance- “Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people (His Church) recovered?” Jer. 8:22. It is this same question which we should also answer today. The Bible herbs are: Balm of Gilead (Jer. 8:22), Fig tree (2 Kings 20:7), Frankincense, and Myrrh (Esther 2:12/Gen 37:25 /Matt 2:11- which were among the first gifts to the Baby Jesus), Hyssop (Ps. 51:7- a cleanser, and in John 19:29 – a Pain killer), Myrtle tree (Isa 55:13), The Tree of Life (Rev 22:2 – eternal people will perpetually maintain health by eating the fruit and leaves of the Tree of Life in the New Earth).

Herbs are very nutritious plant foods, they contain abnormal amount of vitamin, minerals proteins (amino acids), enzymes, etc. we should not boil the herbs. Wild animals on 100% raw herbs diet have great strength, good health, maintain uniform size and colour. Have we not noticed that only our village chicken, cattle, dogs, cats, goats, etc have a confusion of colour, size and species? We have never seen a “white elephant” in our tropical Africa? No – it only exists in our spoken language. Neither do we find white lions in Africa, black zebras, etc. Among the longest life spans in the animal kingdom are the vegetarians: The elephant, horse, etc. Today’s longest human life span in the world is recorded among the Hunzas of the Himalayas, Bulgarians, Yucatan Indians, East Indian Todas, and some Japanese vegetarians. Most of those who have reached the age of 110 years were /are vegetarians or have stayed away from manufactured denatured food stuffs and chemicals. The Lapps and Eskimos have the shortest lifespan on earth – they hardly live over 30 years of age! It is not because of HIV and AIDS, but the abnormal amount of animal fat which they consume to keep themselves warm in their terribly cold climate, as they are determined to live in those frozen lands of the world!

PLANTING THE HERBS

Problems about Herbs

(1) Identification of herbs – many herbs are misidentified and misnamed. The best way is to consult colour photo herbal encyclopedia, and other herb books. The other way is to visit experienced herb growers and gatherers. You can also buy seeds and seedlings from experienced botanists and herb companies.

(2) Medicinal properties – To know what a medicinal plant can do, is another mystery. Consult encyclopedias, herb books and learn from experts, so that you know their medicinal uses, useful parts, pharmacological effects – if any, therapeutic behavior, toxicity, dosage, contraindications, side effects especially on children, pregnant or nursing mothers.

Planting the Herbs There is a reason why certain herbs do not naturally grow in some places. May be the climate, the soil’s nutrient content, altitude, etc., are the unfavourable factors. Care should be exercised when trying to plant non-indigenous plants. If forced to grow on a wrong region, they may not be all that medicinally powerful! Better have them tested, for their efficacy before dishing out weak products. I found wild yellow dock freely growing near Kikuyu, Kenya, but a Brother there who tried our Zambian yellow dock found it to be more powerful! The colour of the yellow dock will also reveal its power. Zambian soil is very suitable for many herbs and food plants. The rice, fish, etc in Western Province of Zambia is superior in taste and health giving than those from other regions. In all that we have said, it is easy to conclude that wild herbs should be respected. Also, as far as possible, native people should use their native food and herbs, rather than depending 100% on expensive imported mass-manufactured herbs and foods –especially if processed the chemical way (extracted, isolated, modified, synthesized, crystalized, etc.). Neither should we admire their place of origin, the wonderful packaging and amazing graphics used to decorate the containers! We want safe, wholesome, working products – not decorations only! However, we can work with these foreign companies not only as everlasting dependent distributors, but also to gain knowledge so that we can start our own investments. They started small also at their homes; we can do so as well! Here are some of the

important steps that we need to follow when planting the herbs:

1. Seed preparation Read the instructions on the seed pack. Depending on size and type, some need soaking for 4 to 8 hrs. Other seeds need to be frozen for a day or two in a fridge before planting. Try this latter method when other methods have failed.

2. Soil preparation and planting Make and manure the beds (composite manure the best), pots or trays. Cover and keep moist for 2 weeks or more for most of the weed seeds in the soil to germinate, then weed, and make sure the weeds have dried. Now you can water the beds and press the soil slightly firm, then plant the prepared seeds. Cover with little sand soil or no sand at all, and press it a bit. Mulch with grass and keep moist until germination has taken place, and then remove the grass. In case they are sensitive to hot sunshine, continue to use high placed semi-shade bed cover (grass) for few days, or cover only during the hotter hours of the day for several days. When germination has occurred, urgently remove the covering to make them strong. Continue to water mildly until a desired height for transplanting has been reached. Some herbs like catnip, peppermint, selfheal, feverfew, yarrow, yellow dock, etc., are easier propagated from ground shoots than from seeds. If so, spread wet, soft soil on the bushy branch stalks (of catnip, peppermint, selfheal and feverfew) and keep moist few weeks. The buried stalks will develop new roots – and that is the time to cut those branches and transplant.

Next Lesson – Harvesting the Herbs