Greetings! Today we will start a new segment entitled, “Health & Tobacco”. Find out what tobacco is, the effects it has on the human body, and how it hinders a relationship with God. “The smoking, the using of tobacco, it is poison, it is poison… What you want is to let tobacco alone. In all cases it is a poison. I know what I am talking about.” MS 85, 1910

Tobacco is one of the injurious items in which people popularly indulge.

That common ground of agreement should give any one a good start toward a right concerning the use of tobacco, The popular concept is that tobacco is not very harmful and that a little will not hurt a person. I want to know how much poison it takes to make poison? I contend that any poison will inflict its injury to the extent it is used. May not the claim of the moderationist be based upon the fact that the harm develops so slowly that it is not readily discovered, rather than that no harm is done?

Scientific writers on the subject are noted for their conservatism-their slowness to conclude that it is harmful. I too, am conservative-slow to conclude that it is safe; I am conservative about the use of dangerous things rather than conservative about warning the public of their danger. We cannot over-safeguard the health; danger is always on the side of questionable indulgence.

Plant Experiments: Two parts of nicotine to a thousand of water will stop the growth of some kinds of plants. Tobacco smoke will hinder the growth of certain seedlings.

Animal Experiments: The smoke of cigarette will kill a rat, or a gold fish. A turtle can wiggle his toes a week after his head is cut off, but one drop of nicotine on his tongue kills him in twenty-six minutes. One-sixth of a drop of nicotine will kill a cat; one-half a drop to two drops will kill a dog, and eight drops will kill a horse in four minutes.

When guinea pigs or rabbits are subjected to tobacco-smoke-laden air their offspring are born dead or die soon after birth. When a rooster is subjected to tobacco smoke the fertility of the eggs and the vitality of the chicks are lessened.

The Human Body: The nicotine in one cigar, if injected into the beings of two men, will kill both of them. There is more carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke than in automobile exhaust. He who smokes twenty cigarettes a day takes into his blood from one to five pints of carbon monoxide from them. This disables red blood corpuscles. There are nineteen poisons in tobacco smoke.

The Brain: Tobacco lessens the power to think, understand and remember. It lowers the scholastic grades of students.

The Nerves: At first it excites the nerves, and then paralyzes them. The slight touch of this paralysis is the soothing, calming, sedative effect; this is its narcotic effect; this is how it ‘rests’ the nerves. But a narcotic always injures. The nerves at once temporarily lose a certain degree of accuracy and precision. There may be dizziness, headache, migraine, irritability, jumpiness, trembling, anxiousness, insomnia, neuritis, sciatica, hysteria, paralysis, or atrophy.

Tobacco strikes at the ‘synapse,’ making it more difficult for messages to pass over the nerves both to and from the brain. All of the five senses are operated by nerves, and when nerve efficiency is lessened, the senses are disturbed. There is a marked decrease in the ability to see and hear after one smoke. The loss may become permanent by heavy smoking. Furthermore, the effects of tobacco hinder ones communication with God.

“The brain nerves which communicate with the entire system are the only medium through which Heaven can communicate with man, and affect his inmost life. Whatever disturbs the circulation of the electric currents in the nervous system, lessens the strength of the vital powers, and the result is a deadening of the sensibilities of the mind.” HL 194

The Heart: Disease of the heart takes more lives than any other. Heart failures are rapidly increasing and more people are dying younger in life-in the prime of life. All authorities agree that tobacco is a heart poison, yet many of these same authorities say that ‘A little won’t hurt you,’ and they smoke and let you smoke. The result is that many of them and many of you die in the prime of life of heart failure. Many of the pneumonia deaths occur because the heart has been weakened so it is not able to pull the patient through the crisis.

A Thought to Jot:

As it pertains to tobacco, many are saying that ‘A little won’t hurt you,’ but is that statement in harmony with the Bible? Nay! We find the principle in Song. of Sol. 2:15, that it is “the littles…that spoil”

A Note to Quote:

“The adversary of souls is working in these last days with greater power than ever before, to accomplish the ruin of man through the indulgence of appetite and passions. And many who are held by Satan under the power of slavish appetite are the professed followers of Christ. They profess to worship God, while appetite is their god. Their unnatural desires for these indulgences are not controlled by reason or judgment. Those who are slaves to tobacco will see their families suffering for the conveniences of life and for necessary food, yet they have not the power of will to forgo their tobacco..The cause of Christianity, and even humanity, would not in any case be sustained if dependent upon those in the habitual use of tobacco and liquor. If they had means to use only in one direction the treasury of God would not be replenished, but they would have their tobacco and liquor, for the tobacco idolater will not deny his appetite for the cause of God.

It is impossible for such men to realize the binding claims and holiness of the law of God, for their brain and nerves are deadened by the use of this narcotic. They cannot value the atonement or appreciate the worth of immortal life. The indulgence of fleshly lusts wars against the soul. The apostle in the most impressive language addresses Christians, ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.’ If the body is saturated with liquor and defiled by tobacco it is not holy and acceptable to God. Satan knows that it cannot be, and for this reason he brings his temptations to bear upon the point of appetite, that he may bring us into bondage to this propensity and thus work our ruin.” {Confrontation pg. 61}

Grab a friend and share the wealth, from what you’ve learned in the School of Health! In next week’s class, we shall look into the effects of tobacco on the blood pressure, digestion, liver and more. Until then, God bless!

Tell us what you learned from today’s class, in the comment section below!