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An estimated 95,000 people (approximately 68,000 men and 27,000 women) die from alcohol-related causes annually,15 making alcohol the third-leading preventable cause of death in the United States. The first is tobacco, and the second is poor diet and physical inactivity.16 https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/alcohol-facts-and-statistics

We have talked about the importance of a healthy diet & exercise throughout this catalog, but we haven’t spent much time on Alcohol, Smoking or Chewing Tobacco. I think we’d be negligent if we didn’t encourage those who drink and smoke and chew to break away from these health destroying, expensive and terrible vices. I know I’m going to step on some toes here, but I hope that in that process, if you are a user of any of these things, that your conscience will be pricked and you will desire to be set free from their bondage, and that someday not far down the road, you won’t be angry with me, but instead, you will thank me for shining the spot light on these things and helping you to see that our bodies truly are “the temple of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 6:19) and that God says that if we destroy our bodies, He will destroy us. (1 Corinthians 3:17.)

ALCOHOL ~ the 3rd leading cause of preventable death

What claims 50 times more lives than all the illegal drugs combined? What destroys 1 in every 4 families in America? What kills over 200,000 Americans each year? Is it crack? Is it cocaine? Could it be heroin?

No, the undisputed heavy-weight champion of the drug world and number one killer of Americans is ALCOHOL!

THANKS TO ALCOHOL . . .

  • There are over 18 million alcoholics in America
  • Cirrhosis of the liver kills over 30,000 each year and rising
  • 50 percent of the people on welfare are due to killer alcohol
  • 80 percent of all fire deaths are due to killer alcohol
  • 65 percent of the drownings
  • 22 percent of home accidents
  • 77 percent of falls
  • 36 percent of pedestrian accidents
  • 65 percent of all murders
  • 40 percent of all assaults
  • 35 percent of all rapes
  • 30 percent of other sex crimes
  • 30 percent of all suicides
  • Over 80 percent of all arrests are linked to killer alcohol!

Alcohol destroys the liver and damages the brain. There is no “safe” amount of alcohol to drink. The ONLY safe practice is to NOT drink at all.

SMOKING ~ the 1st leading cause of preventable death

My mother-in-law started smoking when she was 9 years old. When Al & I got married, she was smoking 3 packs a day. 25 years later, she died from COPD.  The MEDIA is so deceptive, they show these handsome manly men in their smoking ads but they never show you pictures of men on their deathbed, hooked up to oxygen machines which is how many die who smoke.

       

I very much doubt that there are many people who need to be convinced of the harm of smoking these days, so we’ll spend a little time on the habit of CHEWING now.

CHEWING ~ The Risks: Chewing Tobacco vs. Cigarettes 

Some people who have been persuaded to give up smoking have ended up placing the tobacco directly inside their mouth instead—in the mistaken belief that smokeless tobacco (a.k.a. spit tobacco, chew, chaw, dip, plug, etc.) is less toxic and dangerous. In 2016, about 3% of American adults used spit tobacco.  This percentage is likely to increase as more public establishments enforce smoking bans across the country, alongside the rise in vaping, which can also have many harmful side effects.

Users can get their tobacco fix by “dipping” snuff (a fine tobacco, either moist or dry is held
between the bottom lip or cheek and gum) or chewing (a wad of leaves, either shredded, twisted or in brick form, is placed between the cheek and gum). If you hold an average-sized plug in your mouth for 30 minutes, you’ll end up with as much nicotine as if you had smoked four cigarettes.

What are the health risks of chewing tobacco as compared to smoking?

Smokeless tobacco includes more than 28 cancer-causing substances, including the tobacco-specific carcinogen nitrosamines. Some products also contain more than 3,000 chemicals. But that’s not all: Because tobacco often has an unpleasant taste, smokeless brands tend to be loaded with sugar, and that leads to tooth decay. The gritty material in the tobacco leaves wears down the surfaces of the teeth, stains the enamel and scratches the soft tissues in the mouth, allowing the nicotine and other chemicals to enter the bloodstream directly. As an added bonus, your gums will likely recede, and you’ll develop oral lesions, a black hairy tongue and bad breath. Some smokeless tobacco products also contain salt that can raise blood pressure in vulnerable persons and may cause kidney disease.

I haven’t even mentioned cancer yet: Long-term snuff users have a 50% higher incidence of cancer of the mouth and pharynx, as well as more malignancies of the larynx and esophagus.

And here’s something you may not have considered: Tobacco chewers must spit—and thereby spread their germs to the rest of us. (About one in three Major League baseball players chew, and if you’ve ever watched a ballgame, you know it’s not pretty.)

The bottom line? If you chew, you have not kicked the nicotine habit. https://parade.com/47772/parade/the-risks-chewing-tobacco-vs-cigarettes/

 

Some people will cry, “Moderation in everything!” That is one of the biggest lies ever.  I hope no one reading this thinks it’s OK to use cocaine moderately.  And the same thing goes for meth & heroin.  Well, alcohol & nicotine are drugs, too, and for some who use them, they are just as hard to quit as are the harder drugs, sometimes even harder. All of these drugs affect the mind, and it is through the mind that God reaches us and communicates with us. We need to do all we can to keep the mind in the clearest and best condition possible.

 

If you are addicted to alcohol or tobacco or other drugs, don’t be discouraged. Take heart! God wants to free you from your addiction and make you healthy, physically, mentally & spiritually. Ask for the free book we offer called, The Ministry of Healing. There is a chapter in it that will bring great hope & encouragement to you. “The good resolutions made in one’s own strength avail nothing. Not all the pledges in the world will break the power of evil habit. Never will men practice temperance in all things until their hearts are renewed by divine grace. We cannot keep ourselves from sin for one moment. Every moment we are dependent upon God.” Ministry of Healing, 179.

 

Before my husband was a Christian, he was an alcoholic and heavy drug user. He’s been free from the slavery of addiction now for over 40 years. He knows that the ONLY SAFE COURSE is 100% total abstinence. He has written a book titled, “THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, HEAR HIM…”  and chapter 13 is on Health, I hope you find it a blessing.

 

I hope and pray that this section of the catalog has not made you angry, but rather has inspired you to break free and help others break free, too.