472
      
      
         Counsels on Health
      
      
        It is not safe to trust to physicians who have not the fear of God
      
      
        before them. Without the influence of divine grace, the hearts of men
      
      
        are “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.”
      
      
         Jeremiah 17:9
      
      
        .
      
      
        Self-aggrandizement is their aim. Under cover of the medical profes-
      
      
        sion, what iniquities have been practiced, what delusions supported!
      
      
        The physician may claim to possess great wisdom and marvelous skill,
      
      
        while at the same time his character is abandoned, and his practice
      
      
        contrary to the laws of health. The Lord our God assures us that He is
      
      
        waiting to be gracious; He invites us to call upon Him in the day of
      
      
        trouble.
      
      
        Furthermore, the teaching of these physicians is continually lead-
      
      
        ing away from the principles God has given us in regard to health,
      
      
        especially on the diet question. They say we are not living as we
      
      
        ought and prescribe changes that are contrary to the light God has sent.
      
      
         [457]
      
      
        Brethren, how can the Lord let His blessing rest upon us when we are
      
      
        going right upon the enemy’s ground?
      
      
        God the Helper of His People
      
      
        Why is it that men are so unwilling to trust Him who created
      
      
        man and who can, by a touch, a word, a look, heal all manner of
      
      
        disease? Who is more worthy of our confidence that the One who has
      
      
        made so great a sacrifice for our redemption? Our Lord has given us
      
      
        definite instruction, through the apostle James, as to our duty in case of
      
      
        sickness. When human help fails, God will be the helper of His people.
      
      
        “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and
      
      
        let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
      
      
        and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him
      
      
        up.”
      
      
         James 5:14, 15
      
      
        . If the professed followers of Christ would, with
      
      
        purity of heart exercise as much faith in the promises of God as they
      
      
        repose in satanic agencies, they would realize, in soul and body, the
      
      
        life-giving power of the Holy Spirit.
      
      
        God has granted to this people great light, yet we are not placed
      
      
        beyond the reach of temptation. Who among us are seeking help from
      
      
        the gods of Ekron? Look on this picture—a picture not drawn from
      
      
        imagination. In how many, even among Seventh-day Adventists, may
      
      
        its leading characteristics be seen! An invalid, apparently very consci-
      
      
        entious, yet bigoted and self-sufficient, freely avows his contempt for