The Cause of Illness & Disease

If we can find the cause of illness, we can obtain a cure. Let’s go back to the beginning before sickness and death occurred. After the Creation of Man, we are told in Genesis 2:8, 9 that God planted a Garden and placed man in it. And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food.”

From this, we understand that all the trees were beautiful and all the trees produced food. There were no barren trees in the garden of God. In the midst of the garden grew the Tree of Life. This tree was called the Tree of Life because as man ate the fruit of this tree, it maintained and supported his physical life. Man had no sickness or disease, only life, strength, and vitality.

The Tree of Life offered nutrients that supported man’s physical life, but it did not give life. The only source of all Life is Jesus Christ. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men,” John 1:1-4. So this lets us know that Jesus is the source of all life.

However, Jesus chose to work through the Tree of Life to perpetuate man’s life.  As long as man had the privilege to eat from the tree of life, he could live without interference with his well-being. In other words, man maintained perfect health and Life. Man’s privilege to continue to eat from the tree of life was based on his obedience to his Father. Life was and still is based on obedience.

There was another notable tree in the garden. This tree was called the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  This tree was as beautiful, and its fruit looked as luscious as all the other trees. There were no visible defects in the quality of the tree or its fruit. Having this tree in the garden gave Adam and Eve a choice.

Would they believe, obey and trust that their Father, their Creator knew what was best for them? God was straightforward with Adam and Eve. He gave them choice, but He told them not to eat from this tree, or they would surely die. God did not say He would kill them; He said they would surely die.

This dietary choice of eating from the tree of Knowledge of good and evil was a choice of life or death. Adam and Eve knew the consequences of their choice because God told them the day they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die.

God could have prevented them from eating from the tree but doing so would take away their ability to willfully make their own choices. God is pleased by and accepts only willing obedience and service. Willing cheerful obedience to God’s Word shows our love and trust for Him. God says if you love me, keep my commandments,” John 14:15.

The Bible tells us what happened in the garden; man sinned. Sin is the transgression or breaking of God’s law (1 John 3:4). Man chose to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. By eating from the tree, man relinquished his right to eat from the tree of life and surrendered his right to health and life. God no longer allowed man access to the tree of life.

Being cut off from the tree of life also cut them off from Jesus, the source of all life. God warned them the day they ate from the tree of knowledge, they would surely die. It was that day man started to deteriorate.

Surely die encompassed not only physical death (first death) but also Spiritual death (second death).  Being deprived of the nutrients they received from the tree of life brought about physical death, and being deprived of their connection to Christ through their disobedience brought about Spiritual death, a death that we cannot return from; surely die.

Man gained knowledge of things God would never have willfully given him knowledge of. Such as heart attack, cancer, stroke, obesity, aging, violence, poverty, and finally, sorrow and death.

In being expelled from the garden, Adam and Eve not only lost the nutritious food that they received from eating from the trees, but they lost all the benefits that the garden had to offer. Trust and rest in God, the provider of all their needs. They now feared God, they hid from him. They lost access to the fresh air and sunshine purified and filtered by the trees. They lost their temperate spirit and joyful exercise they received through working in the garden.  And they lost access to the pure, clean water that flowed from the throne of God.

The tree of life continues to be God’s chosen medium to perpetuate man’s life. We know this because Revelation 22:14 says, "Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."

In the garden, the power of choice was lost through sin. Satan gained control of man’s will. We were born into the consequences of our first parents' choice.   But In the love of God, Jesus came and died to restore our right to choose. We now have the ability once again to make a decision to obey God and live or to disobey God and choose to die as our first parents did.

Our first line of defense, our immune system, has been damaged through disobedience to God’s health principles. But it is written, “We are fearfully [and] wonderfully made,” Psalms  139:14. By the grace of God, through obedience to God’s laws, we can be healed. If you are ill, it is with more diligence that you must strive to obey God’s health laws. God says, “Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die,” Ezekiel 23:11.

If we want to live, a change must come, and a choice must be made. Choice is a life-changing experience. It is not only a matter of good health that we take care of ourselves it can be a choice of eternal life. We must obey God to Live a fruitful life in this world and in the world to come. Your life will not change until you change your life! Choose life!      

Man’s access to the Tree of Life, the tree which promoted health and life was lost through man’s disobedience in eating something God specifically told him not to eat. Man immediately started to die.

So it would stand to reason since man lost life and access to the Tree of Life through disobedience to God, to regain life and access to the Tree of Life, man must obey God. It's a simple solution to the problem of sickness and death. Through obedience to God’s commandments,  man would receive the reward of physical life now. And continued obedience to the Word of God would lead to eternal life and the right to eat from the tree of life forever.

"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," Matthew 4:4. Every Word is a concept that we must understand. Every Word God utters is Law. Everything God says, we are required to obey.

So each of us individually has a choice to make. We can obey God and live or disobey God and die. Deuteronomy 30:19, it is written, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live.”