Less than 5 gallons. Less than 5 minutes.
Proper Use of Water
This is the next in the series on the Laws of health. This is so important. We are, "Dying for lack of knowledge." as the Bible says. I hear about people all the time that are dying from cancer, and their not old, and they can't understand why. They are so careful about their diet, many of them vegetarians, and even vegans. Of the seven laws of health, proper diet is only number 6. This doesn't do much for you without the others. "A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link." They are all linked together. If you break one you break them all. James 2 : 10. Here is the whole list.
1: Fresh air. 2: Sunlight. 3: Rest. 4: Exercise. 5: Abstemiousness. 6: Proper diet. 7: Proper use of water.
Then is number 8. Trust in divine power. Positive attitude. This is ideally involved in all the 7.
At the other end of the spectrum is zero. Which would be total carelessness. Kind of like the 7 colors of the rainbow. Zero is black, the absence of color, and 8 is white, like white light. If you spin a wheel with all 7 colors there equally, it will look white. You can see all of these in a natural open fire. Everything from black to white.
This is quite a delicate subject. With our unlimited supply of hot water and plumbing and energy, no one wants to think about living without it, and they sure don't want anyone to tell them they are too clean.
True to form, we are going to start, with a look at history.
Our so called civilization, started with Babylon, Biblically speaking the first world power. It was the Romans ( 4th world power.) that really implemented a worldwide system of roads, canals, architecture, politics, and their hierarchal slave system.
All over the old Roman empire, and especially Europe are the remnants of their hot bath houses. Made with rocks or bricks and the concrete mortar they used that was invented in those times. These were for the ruling upper class. You can imagine how much it cost to keep all that water hot, and how many slaves to keep the fires going, and how they stripped the forests, just so they could soak in hot water.
This was the beginning of the white races of people. Only slaves worked out in the sun and were smelly and sweaty and dirty. The aristocrats sat around in the shade and soaked in hot water! Sure there were always lighter and darker shades of people, but they were just different shades of brown.
There are serious comparisons to the fall of the Roman Empire and what we are doing today in modern civilization.
The first is destructive farming practices. The Romans made the Sahara desert, with their slave power, clearing and burning new land so they could feed their people and their armies and grow their cotton. Now the whole world is adopting American (The sixth world power.) farming methods, all dependent on artificial fertilizer herbicides and pesticides, developed from fossil fuel. Now we even have the added attraction of "Frankenstein" genetically altered farming.
Second is chemical poisoning. The elite Romans had expensive lead cookware. They even added powdered lead to their food. Their expert scientists said it was a good supplement. I'm going to try not to write a book here about our modern scientific tampering with Nature and the evolutionistic idea that God didn't create anything but we will evolve to the point where we will.
No one believes that real food is any good anymore, which is true for the most part, however no one could possibly know what to add, let alone how much, and no more is not better. Extra vitamins, supplements, and stimulants create other problems from imbalances, not to mention the strain on your liver and kidneys. You think eating lead was stupid? We are killing ourselves with innumerable contaminants from aluminum and plastic, to chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Third is their hot baths. They theorize that diseases were growing and spreading in these communal hot houses. They didn't have chlorine, BUT WE DO!!! We are so smart.
This created a reaction that produced the opposite effect. Rome fell into decline, overrun by dirty smelly barbarians that were healthier and stronger. Earthy people always are. There own slaves would have been healthier and stronger if not for the problem of being over worked. You will notice in the list of health principles, rest is before exercise.
For many years after this, a lot of people believed bathing would make you sick. Even in George Washington's time most people only took a bath once or twice a year, although this is better than soaking in hot water everyday, that is if you have clean laundry.
In the mid to late 1800's, and even until the mid 1900's in many places, clean people took a bath once a week. I want you to understand why they weren't really clean, and why they were just getting whiter. Now we have millions of people with no complexion. Some are even allergic to the sun.
Do you have any idea what soap and hot water does to your skin? Sure, it gets you real nice and clean for about one minute, by then you've totally exposed your skin to deeply absorb a myriad of dirty critters. All it does is break down your skins natural protection, leaving it wide open. Well, of course now we have plumbing. We can take a hot soapy bath everyday. Do you know how toxic and caustic soap is? If you don't believe me just put the smallest amount in your mouth, or get it in your eyes. Just a small concentration in a river or lake will break down the protection of the skin of fish. Just hot water alone turns you to mush. Great warriors of the past knew this. From Alexander the Great to John L. Sullivan. They only bathed in cold water. They say there are more bacteria on your skin than there are people on the earth, and a hot shower makes them grow and multiply!!!
When my wife was little, her mother took her and her little brother and sister to the doctor. They were sick all the time. The doctor said, "They are too clean. They need to play in the dirt everyday." That was 45 years ago. Just two years ago I heard about a study that showed a definite link with the use of soap and cancer in children. The sicker we get the more paranoid we are and the more sterilants we use.
Anyone can see we are creating an opaque race, devoid of pigment, and vulnerable to the sun. I should receive the Noble Peace prize for preventing cancer and saving water and energy. Instead, I'm crazy because I'm the only one telling you this. Who wants to hear that germs are natural, soap is bad, hot water is debilitating, and sunshine is good?
I know, "Of the writing of books there is no end." There's just too much too learn or unlearn on this subject. We need to look at the Biblical perspective. The Bible gives us everything we need to know about every aspect of life. In all the council given to Moses by God for sanitation and hygiene, cold water was the only prescription for cleaning anything. The word soap isn't in the Bible. It does mention the fuller or soap maker. Soap belongs in the laundry. The Jews were always known for their healthy complexion and odor, and their hard work. It's not like they were lazy and smelly.
What about today? Do we have any up to date counsel about how to bathe? Yes we do. It's what the Bible calls the Spirit of Prophecy. What is it? Let me explain, that is if you aren't tired of reading my bath book. The Spirit of Prophecy is the Spirit of inspiration that gave us the books of the Bible. Even though it was written by various human instruments (Prophets), it was "God breathed." The Bible also gives several criteria for testing a true prophet. Mainly that they agree with the Law and Moses. Isaiah 8 : 20. Everything has to be based on the Ten Commandments, especially the way we interpret the Bible. You can't build anything on the sinking shifting sands of human opinion. I Corinthians 14 tells us that the gift of prophecy is the greatest gift in the church. Do you know why Paul was inspired to say that? It was because God's professed people had murdered most of the prophets and had rejected the Messiah, the greatest prophet of all.
Nothing has changed. Very few today would accept a modern prophet, for the same reason. They were all imperfect humans. Even if they were perfect they would not be perceived as such. Look at what they did to Immanuel.
From the beginning of the Advent movement in the early 1840's until her death in 1915 at the age of 87. Ellen White had over 2000 visions and wrote more than any other author on health and fitness, medical insights, hydrotherapy, diet, the dangers of caffeine, tobacco, drugs, etc. etc. Like I said in her day, clean people took a bath once a week. She said to take a bath everyday. Unfortunately many people never read the whole story. Here are the other important quotes from her pen. "Frequent hot baths of a long duration are debilitating." "Cold water is beneficial, and tones the system." She took a short sponge bath every morning. This makes much more sense than stewing in hot soapy water once a week.
I take a quick hot cold splash every morning. In the winter here the water is nice and cold. I swish the tub out until my feet start to ache. Then a hot splash under the arms, etc. Then the cold rinse. I really feel grimy if I don't get a good cold rinse. This closes your pores, kills germs, and stimulates your circulation and lymph system. The hot and cold really gets you clean. I never get water on my back. In the spring I still have some permanent tan left. I tan right up nice, early in the spring without getting burned. First you learn to negotiate, then appreciate cold water.
Showers are evil and gross. It takes more time to clean them adequately than the time it takes to shower. They never get cleaned unless you have a butler or maid. They rain down from the top and ruin your skin from the top down. In a tub you submerse the worst and wash from the bottom up. This can be done with very little water and effectively, because you rinse with cold clean cheap water. You preserve your hide on top where you need the protection from the sun beating down.
This is so foreign to modern man. Just remember, if you never took a bath, but had clean clothes to put on everyday, you would be cleaner than most of the people who ever lived.
The Natives used to have fun, all they had to do was steal a cowboy's clothes and he'd burn up in the sun. Being a pale face is a sad story. Statistics show they have about 10 times greater risk of skin cancer. Dark skinned people absorb sunlight more readily if they get out, but their cancer is more internal. Most fair skinned people would never dream of getting a tan, even if they knew how. They say, "That's the way I am, I'm just a Caucasian. Did you know that the Australian Aborigines are Caucasian.
What can you do? Let's take a look, and review some.
To begin with, start young. It's so critical what happens when your young. Whether it's diet or exercise or schooling. Mental, physical, or spiritual. "From childhood you have learned the Holy Scriptures that make you wise unto salvation." II Timothy 3 : 15. Children should play outside in the sunshine and dirt all summer. Instead of spending days in the water and chlorine getting burned on their face and shoulders. This is the time to gain a complexion for life. Kids only need a couple of inches of hot water in the tub. Then you pull the plug and turn on the cold water and let them introduce themselves. In many cultures, mainly the poor primitive ones, children played outside all summer naked, until they were 5 or 6. I know it sounds so "uncivilized." It's easy to imagine though, out in the wilderness. Clothes were just scarce. Diapers were a real nuisance. This also satisfies youngsters curiosity about the opposite sex while they are still innocent.
Stay out of the water, especially hot or chlorine water. If you are short on color you really can't afford it. Here is something else most people don't know. One of the ways you get vitamin D and other nutrients from the sun is when your skin absorbs your own sweat, especially in the sun. "The best bath you can take is a sweat bath, and the best sweat bath is a sunbath."
Do you know the best thing to put on a sunburn? NOTHING!!! Don't forget this. There is nothing that helps a sunburn. Any kind of lotion or aloe just seals in the heat and messes up the chemistry of your skin. You don't want to dilute the tanning juices with water either, while they are doing their job. I know it's hard to do, but that's just the way it is. When I get a little burned, just enough to turn into a tan, I put on a soft cotton T shirt. In the summer when I get sweaty and dirty, I just put on a clean T shirt, unless I'm real hot and dirty, then I take a quick cold splash.
Eat your carrots, and other fresh yellow and green things, and even cooked squash like the Indians did. This provides vitamin A, and color, and helps produce melanin, and makes up for a multitude of evils.
I've mentioned this before. Don't wear a stupid duckbill hat. You need a tan on your forehead. This is vital if your face is turning red instead of tanning. Those hats shade your eyes, but your ears and neck and nose are toast. If you have to be out in the sun and your getting baked and fried, you need a full wide brim, maybe even with a curtain in the back. In the winter I can't stand anything that blocks the sun. I wear what we call a sherpa or Inca wool stocking type hat. The ultimate is the Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, coonskin cap. I have one that I made from two raccoons. It's a $500.00 hat believe it or not. If it's really cold I put that thing on and my head is so warm I feel like I'm in by the stove. I'm sure it would prevent head aches, head colds, baldness, and grey hair!!! I can't believe how many wear those stupid baseball hats all winter, they don't even take them off to eat. I wonder if they sleep with them on, the way their hair sticks out the hole in the back.
Another thing that needs to be addressed is, underarm odor. Your parents or grandparents probably told you when you got older, to go back in the shower with the soap and not come out until you didn't smell anymore. There's a few things to know about this too.
Some people have a strong body odor and still smell when they get out of the bath. If they soak in enough hot water it gets the impurities out well enough for a few hours. They still have to have deodorant. The best deodorant I've found is alcohol. I use it to wash under my arms with tissue real well. Usually just once a week before church. Maybe for some other get together. Once a week will kill those bacteria before they get out of hand, if you get cold water every morning and wear wool. Sometimes a cotton T shirt will make me smell right away. In old times some people used strong wine or whiskey. Naturally, you will smell better if you put the alcohol under your arms instead of down your throat! The most important though is diet, knowing good habits of eating and drinking. If I eat onions it will take 3 days for it to get out of my system. Eat real food and drink water. This is the best prescription for everything. Now I'm getting into "#6. Proper Diet." I will write that book later. Onions and garlic are toxic. They can be medicinal obviously, when they will kill most everything but you. They can poison livestock. I call them Nature's chemotherapy. You don't want to be on a steady diet of that kind of medicine.
