I encourage everyone to leave this blog right now and go to The Deliberate Agrarian’s site and read his post on the Global Food Providers…it will help you understand the importance of this post much more thoroughly….it’s ok…I’ll wait 🙂
Much of what Herrick says about the Global Food Providers is also applicable to the supply of medicines. Medicine is produced by a handful of pharmaceutical companies. Do some reading to find out how this industry works and the awful truth about the “inert” ingredients in our vaccines, prescriptions and even over the counter medicines. I promise that it will turn your stomach! Did you know that some vaccines involve using the tissue of aborted babies? This has been done for over 30 years! Check out https://www.cogforlife.org/ for the full story.
Aside from the moral and ethical issues of some conventional medicines, in the future medicine may become scarce just as food may become scarce. It is always dangerous to have control of anything in the hands of a few multi-national corporations. Money becomes the bottom line – and making more of it.
I think everyone should have some basic knowledge of making simple medicines at home. Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers always had a medicinal garden for tea, poultices etc. In the days before there was a doctor’s office on every corner, the woman of the house was the healer. God states in His word that He has provided all that we need. I believe that God provided the herbs to meet the medicinal needs that we would one day have. You will find many passages in the Scriptures where herbs were used as medicines and for cleansing. As you begin to study herbs and their properties, you will see the hand of God everywhere you look.
The sad thing about herbal medicine is that this is an area that the enemy has usurped! Just take a stroll into any “natural health store” or “herbal health store” and you will find the place filled with occult and new age practices and supplies. A friend said to me, “when you finish your training you will be the first Christian herbalist I have ever heard of”….how sad. And trying to study herbal medicine from a Christian perspective…..haven’t found it offered anywhere in this country. So….you have to “eat the meat and spit out the bones”. Take the facts and learn from them and ignore all the new age/occult slop. It isn’t hard to spot!
Just as everyone should know how to grow at least some of their own food, everyone should know how to make at least some of their own medicines. What happens when the day comes,
and I do believe it will if the Lord tarries, that you can’t run down to Wally World and buy a bottle of aspirin? Did you know that there is a beautiful plant called Feverfew that can relieve a headache, especially a migraine…. as can the bark of the White Willow tree.
The first pharmacies were actually herbal shops! And a great deal of our medicine today is still derived from plants. The problem from the multi-nationals’ point of view is that you can’t patent a plant you haven’t bred (at least not yet!) so therefore you can’t patent herbal medicine. Since there is no money in it, there is no interest in research in that area. Thankfully we have many old texts from tens and even hundreds of years ago that can teach us about herbal medicines. Now, some of these herbal remedies have turned out to be folklore but some are nuggets of gold. The good news is that most of the folklore vs. gold has been researched by others….we can profit from the fruit of their labors!
Another advantage is that when making herbal medicine you are using all of the attributes of that plant. This is very important. For example, when it was discovered that white willow bark would soothe a headache, the pharmaceutical companies isolated which compound relieved the pain. Then they made a synthetic (chemical) copy of that compound and called it aspirin. We all know that aspirin can irritate the lining of the stomach…BUT….if you use the plant that God created there also happens to be another compound that will protect the lining of the stomach…voila….no irritation! At every turn, God’s wisdom puts man’s “wisdom” to shame!
We have found that people are hungry for this knowledge. I speak all over eastern Tennessee teaching about herbal medicine. I also teach classes here on the farm. I have an unusual mixture of people who ask me to teach, from garden clubs to Boy Scout Councils. When I speak at an open forum….like a farm expo…I get a mixed crowd ….lots of older people who have this knowledge or remember their Mama doing this and that….middle aged people who are fascinated but would rather buy it from me than take the trouble to make it…. and young people…..wise young people who are longing for the agrarian lifestyle and self sufficiency. They are raising babies and are wanting the best for them from food to medicine. But most of all….I get Christians…..people who want to know about the plants that God has given to us for our benefit but who don’t want the new age/occult slant that you usually find with herbal medicine. Oh, I get the occasional new ager or occultist, but they get an earful of the Scriptures when they hear me talk….and perhaps God will use that to reach their hearts.
So take a walk with me through my herb garden….let me share about some plants and what types of medicines we make (and how simple it is!)…..I hope to entice each of you to try at least one “homemade” medicine….
See you next post!
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