Experience Pandemic Protection

THE KEY TO A STRONG IMMUNE SYSTEM:  A HEALTHY GUT
“Within every human body on the planet God has installed the best defense system against viruses, bacteria, and plagues of all kinds.  This defensive team is called the immune system, and it is brilliantly effective and capable of adapting to meet new threats,” Dr. Colbert writes early in his new book. We all have two main types of immune systems, the innate, with which we’re born, and the acquired, which develops in response to the invaders present. He goes on to explain the various types of cells that compose the immune system, which provide layers of protection from invading bacterium and viruses: white blood cells, antibodies, enzymes, toxins, and other proteins.  “If a virus is novel enough that nobody’s immune system has encountered it before, it can spread thorough a population like wildfire” he states. “That, is the definition of a pandemic.”  Seventy-five per cent of the body’s total immune cells are found in the gut, Dr. Colbert points out, which is why gut health is crucial to the body’s ability to fight off disease.  Quoting the ancient physician, Hippocrates, he emphasizes his point:  “All disease begins in the gut.”   

HOW TO HAVE A HEALTHY GUT SAFELY AND NATURALLY
Dr. Colbert goes into great detail about many factors which produce good gut health:  good sleep, peace, joy, laughter, exercise, supplements, herbs, peptides, and the main one, a diet which “feeds the good and starves the bad.”   “The good,” as he terms it, consists of:  cruciferous vegetables as his top recommendation, followed by nuts, good carbs (e.g. sweet potatoes, yams, yucca, taro root, cassva, jicama, green mangos, green bananas, and millet bread), good bacteria (found in yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, tempeh, kimchi, miso, kombucha, pickles, buttermilk, natto, and select cheese, like Gouda, mozzarella, cheddar, cottage, and feta), prebiotics, resistant starches (those which are not digested until they reach the colon), mushrooms, and garlic.  He defines “the bad” this way:  Enemy #1 – gluten, whether or not a person has a known negative reaction, followed by a high-sugar, high-carb diet, dairy,
and saturated fats.  Dr. Colbert also recommends intermittent fasting, i.e. eating within an eight-hour window during the day, which strengthens the immune system.       

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT PANDEMICS
Dr. Colbert looks to Scripture to interpret health catastrophes, and learn how God’s people are to respond them.  He points to Revelation 6, which warns of a plague that will kill one-fourth of mankind, and reminds us that we can prepare for such cataclysmic events.  The proper response of the faithful, he says, is found in Isaiah 26:20-21:

“Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.  See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins.  The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.”

While the Lord’s judgment may be one reason for a pandemic, Dr. Colbert believes another may be the awakening of His people.  Quoting Anne Graham Lotz, he writes, “…there may be a blessing in the coronavirus and God might be using the pandemic to get our attention so that we will listen to His message.  This might spark a national spiritual renewal.”  Lotz cites 2 Chronicles 7:13-15 to support this idea:

“When I shut up the heavens so there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land, or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  Now My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered.”

Dr. Colbert exhorts us not to fear in the face of this pandemic, or any future one that may come.  He refers us to Joel 2:21-23 for encouragement:

“Do not be afraid, land; exult and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things!  Do not be afraid, beasts of the field, because the wild pastures flourish, because the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their abundance.  And children of Zion, exult and rejoice in the Lord your God, because He has given to you the early rain for vindication.  He showers down rains for you, the early rain and the latter rain, as before.”