Greetings!  In today’s study we shall look into the mysteries of Vitamin A and discover present truth!

 

 

 

Vitamin A

‘Vitamin A is essential for life, health, and growth. It is indispensable for the maintenance of normal epithelium.’ The epithelial cells have been explained by Dr. G. K. Abbott in the next paragraph.

‘The parts of the body which are built of epithelial tissues are the skin and its appendages, the hair and the nails, the sweat glands and the oil glands, the mucous membranes of the nose, mouth, sinuses, throat, trachea, bronchial tubes, and air sacs of the lungs. The enamel of the teeth, the salivary glands, the mucosa of the esophagus, the stomach, and all its glands, the liver, the pancreas, the tubules of the kidney, the kidney pelvis, the ureters and bladder, all the ductless glands of the body, the nervous system the brain and spinal cord, are also governed in their development, structure, and function by vitamin A. For these reasons a deficiency of vitamin A produces a host of diseases-over ninety main types with many more subtypes, and many infections which are enabled to gain entrance to the body because of the breakdown of the entrance barrier presented by the skin and the mucous membranes.’

Cells Degenerate

When Vitamin A  is deficient the cells flatten, become hard and horny with a tendency to slough off. They then of course lose all power of normal function. As an example, tear gland cells cannot produce tears and the eyes will be dry. Again, the mucous membrane in all the places mentioned above will be unable to secrete its accustomed fluid.

Bacteria Find an Open Road

Furthermore, healthy mucous membrane does not allow bacteria to pass through into the blood, but as this deficiency of vitamin A continues these cells slowly lose their power to stop bacteria and then they may follow infections of many kinds like those of the respiratory tract, broncho-pneumonia, inflammation of the intestine, infection of the kidneys, gall-bladder, reproductive glands, and so on throughout the body.

Fifty-three per cent of a certain group of tubercular patients were found to be deficient in vitamin A. Infection in the kidney is understood to be a factor in the formation of kidney “stones.” One authority contends that the formation of these stones can be prevented by vitamin A, and that after such stones have formed they will disappear in 50 to 107 days by giving sufficient vitamin A.

Full protection against pneumonia has been worked out upon mice in the laboratory. One hundred-fifty thousand Americans die annually of pneumonia to which man might be more nearly immune if he lived as he ought to live.

Sinusitis

The same thing has been done with sinusitis in rats in the laboratory. ‘The work of Shirley and Daniels is revolutionizing our conception of what constitutes sinusitis. The control rat in the same case and exposed to the same organisms as the rat on a deficient diet does not develop sinusitis. Daniels has shown that every rat fed on a diet deficient in Vitamin A there is Hyperplasia (too rapid increase) of epithelial cells and a metaplasia (change to another kind of tissue) of these cells in different parts of the body, such as at the base of the tongue, in the submaxillary gland, and in the pelvis of the kidney. These changes precede infection.

“It is not unreasonable to suppose a deficient diet does not cause infection of the sinuses; it changes the integrity of the epithelium membrane, which leads to stagnation of the sinuses and subsequent infection. A similar pathology might be produced in allergy (produced by reaction to a foreign protein).”

“Shurley has shown that gram negative organisms in the nose and throat other than meningococcus become pathogenic when injected into animals fed on diets deficient in Vitamin A, and that the control rat is not affected. He has also shown that virulence of organism plus resistance of cells determine the degree of infection.”

From the Natural to the Spiritual

Similar to Vitamin A, there is a subject essential for our spiritual life, health, and growth. “The subject of the sanctuary and the investigative judgement should be clearly understood by the people of God” EV 221. If we are deficient in possessing the great testing truths for this time, our experience will be flat and hard, with a tendency to slough off; like those Vitamin A deficient cells! Power would be lost in stopping bacteria (sin) and infections of many kinds would follow. Tears of repentance may be no more.

Just like how Vitamin A is indispensable for the maintenance of the epithelium. The clear understanding of the the sanctuary and the investigative judgement, is indispensable in establishing and maintaining a home sanitarium and other institutions alike in an Outpost Center.

Furthermore, there is a difference between professing a knowledge of Vitamin A and actually possessing this essential nutrient in daily life. One may not notice at first, but time will surely tell… In like manner, it’s not enough to have a knowledge of the sanctuary and the investigative judgement; we must also co-operate with our Great High Priest in His finishing work (putting away sin from our lives). This calls for a genuine heart experience; something that is like Vitamin A, beyond the surface. Is this your desire?

“A profession of faith and the possession of truth in the soul are two different things. The mere knowledge of truth is not enough….the heart must be converted.” ((The Greatest Lessons of Life p.30)

By God’s grace, let us wholeheartedly embrace what is essential for both our physical and spiritual health. Tell a friend and join us next week , as we look into some important sources for vitamin A and discover more spiritual truths!

 

*Study adapted from the book Abundant Health, by Julius G. White