The word “perfect,” as a legal action, can be defined as correctly or completely following a required procedure to record a claim or a right to a piece of property.

This definition is quite interesting when combined with a simplified definition of a trust. A perfect trust is a legally binding trust (to preserve our bodies for His service) that has defined and correct procedures to follow. Is it really something that God will require of us as legally binding?

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (1 Corinthians 3:16, 17).

“The moment a man loses sight of the fact that his capabilities and possessions are the Lord’s, that moment he is embezzling his Lord’s goods. He is acting the part of an unjust steward, provoking the Lord to transfer His goods to more faithful hands. God calls upon those to whom He has entrusted His goods to handle them faithfully, to show to the world that they are laboring for the salvation of sinners. He calls upon those who profess to be under His supervision not to misrepresent Him in character. . . . He daily loadeth us with benefits. . . . Let us glorify Him by imparting to others the abundance He has bestowed upon us.”2

The solemnity of life in the form of a trust given to us by God is brought out by the following Scripture: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

This also applies to the area of health. God has given clear directives to this generation about how we should care for our body temple in order to preserve our physical health and promote our spirituality. He has given important information in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy that help us maintain and restore good health. If we follow the procedures He has established and requires of us, we will in turn reap the wonderful blessings He has in store for us. Let us consider His instructions on nutrition and temperance, for example. Appetite is something upon which we are daily tested. Heaven is watching how we follow God’s directives.

“Grains and fruits prepared free from grease, and in as natural a condition as possible, should be the food for the tables of all who claim to be preparing for translation to heaven.”3

“Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables constitute the diet chosen for us by our Creator. These foods, prepared in as simple and natural a manner as possible, are the most healthful and nourishing. They impart a strength, a power of endurance, and a vigor of intellect, that are not afforded by a more complex and stimulating diet.”4

As we see God has given the correct food for the preservation of body and soul. Choosing to eat only this food is a progressive work; one that requires constant upgrading, for there may be customs and habits of the past that will need changing.

“The light given me is that it will not be very long before we shall have to give up any animal food. Even milk will have to be discarded. Disease is accumulating rapidly. The curse of God is upon the earth, because man has cursed it.”5

“Many a mother sets a table that is a snare to her family. Flesh meats, butter, cheese, rich pastry, spiced foods, and condiments are freely partaken of by both old and young. These things do their work in deranging the stomach, exciting the nerves, and enfeebling the intellect. The blood-making organs cannot convert such things into good blood. The grease cooked in the food renders it difficult of digestion. The effect of cheese is deleterious.”6

The seriousness of the effort of God to preserve our health may be understood from the following quotes.

“Will men and women be warned? Will they cherish the light, or will they become slaves to appetite and base passions? Christ presents to us something higher to toil for than merely what we shall eat, and what we shall drink, and wherewithal we shall be clothed. Eating, drinking, and dressing are carried to such excess that they become crimes and are among the marked sins of the last days and constitute a sign of Christ’s soon coming. Time, money, and strength, which are the Lord’s, but which He has entrusted to us, are wasted in needless superfluities of dress, and luxuries for the perverted appetite, which lessen vitality and bring suffering and decay. It is impossible to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God, when they are filled with corruption and disease by our own sinful indulgence.”7

“The uncontrolled indulgence and consequent disease and degradation that existed at Christ’s first advent will again exist, with intensity of evil, before His second coming. Christ declares that the condition of the world will be as in the days before the Flood, and as in Sodom and Gomorrah. Every imagination of the thoughts of the heart will be evil continually. Upon the very verge of that fearful time we are now living, and to us should come home the lesson of the Saviour’s fast. Only by the inexpressible anguish which Christ endured can we estimate the evil of unrestrained indulgence. His example declares that our only hope of eternal life is through bringing the appetites and passions into subjection to the will of God.”8

There will be times in this life when disease will come upon us. Sometimes this is from our neglect. Or it could be an opportunity to flee to God, as was the case of Elisha.

“With the counsel and encouragement given Joash, the work of Elisha closed. He upon whom had fallen in full measure the spirit resting upon Elijah, had proved faithful to the end. Never had he wavered. Never had he lost his trust in the power of Omnipotence. Always, when the way before him seemed utterly closed, he had still advanced by faith, and God had honored his confidence and opened the way before him.

“It was not given Elisha to follow his master in a fiery chariot. Upon him the Lord permitted to come a lingering illness. During the long hours of human weakness and suffering his faith laid fast hold on the promises of God, and he beheld ever about him heavenly messengers of comfort and peace.”9

Regardless of the reasons for the illness, the opportunity is the same—to come to God in full assurance of help and comfort. In fact, this is “trust.”

“‘Because I live,’ [Christ] says, ‘ye shall live also’ (John 14:19). This is the life we are to present to the sick telling them that if they have faith in Christ as the restorer, if they cooperate with Him, obeying the laws of health, He will impart to them His life. This is the true science of healing for body and soul.”10

This true science of healing for body and soul has some correct procedures mentioned also, so we are compelled to examine this. Our level of obedience to God’s directions reveals the level of our trust in His wisdom and power. Remember, we need to cultivate perfect trust in Him, not partial trust.

Specifically then, what procedures are acceptable to God in reference to healing?

“There are many ways of practicing the healing art, but there is only one way that Heaven approves. God’s remedies are the simple agencies of nature that will not tax or debilitate the system through their powerful properties. Pure air and water, cleanliness, a proper diet, purity of life, and a firm trust in God are remedies for the want of which thousands are dying; yet these remedies are going out of date because their skillful use requires work that the people do not appreciate. Fresh air, exercise, pure water, and clean, sweet premises are within the reach of all with but little expense; but drugs are expensive, both in the outlay of means and in the effect produced upon the system.”11 Here in this quote we are given the parameters in which God will work for the healing of this entrusted body. He will use the simple things of nature (the 8 laws of health) to facilitate healing, and he warned us of that which He disapproves—drugs.

Why are drugs so harmful? To answer that question we must first understand what disease is.

“Disease is an effort of nature to free the system from conditions that result from a violation of the laws of health.”12

“Those who make a practice of taking drugs sin against their intelligence and endanger their whole afterlife.”13

Disease is our body trying to cure itself from what we have done to it. Disease being the cure, what folly it often is to use drugs to stop the cure. God’s method is to aid nature in her work by the common blessings of pure air, sunlight, water, and so forth.14

“People need to be taught that drugs do not cure disease. It is true that they sometimes afford present relief, and the patient appears to recover as the result of their use; this is because nature has sufficient vital force to expel the poison and to correct the conditions that caused the disease. Health is recovered in spite of the drug. But in most cases the drug only changes the form and location of the disease. Often the effect of the poison seems to be overcome for a time, but the results remain in the system and work great harm at some later period.

“By the use of poisonous drugs, many bring upon themselves lifelong illness, and many lives are lost that might be saved by the use of natural methods of healing. The poisons contained in many so-called remedies create habits and appetites that mean ruin to both soul and body. Many of the popular nostrums called patent medicines, and even some of the drugs dispensed by physicians, act a part in laying the foundation of the liquor habit, the opium habit, the morphine habit, that are so terrible a curse to society.

“The only hope of better things is in the education of the people in right principles. Let physicians teach the people that restorative power is not in drugs, but in nature. Disease is an effort of nature to free the system from conditions that result from a violation of the laws of health. In case of sickness, the cause should be ascertained. Unhealthful conditions should be changed, wrong habits corrected. Then nature is to be assisted in her effort to expel impurities and to reestablish right conditions in the system.”15

We must become wise in the procedures that God has provided, and in return we will develop a trust that can endure any test that may come our way. It will become a practice or habit to flee to God for refuge and strength of body, soul, and mind.

“Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall” (Malachi 4:2). R