LESSON 22:
The Cutting Edge
1: In this lesson we are going to talk about something in your body that you may be somewhat taking for granted, until they hurt or have to be pulled out, that is! Yet they are among the wonders of your body. We are going to talk about your teeth.
2: Good teeth help to make you attractive. They help you to speak correctly and clearly. And they are very important in helping to prepare your food for digestion.
3: Have you ever really noticed how wonderfully adapted your teeth are for the various kinds of work they must do? For example, when you bite into a peach you use your eight front teeth, which are shaped for cutting into food. We call these front teeth incisors. Just to the sides of the upper and lower incisors are the teeth of a different shape and needed for a different purpose.
4: They are somewhat pointed so that they can be used for tearing and gripping as when you are eating a stalk of celery. When you take a bite, you both cut into the stalk and you grip with these sharp teeth. Those of you who have false teeth have found that you have a hard time doing this!
5: Farther back in your mouth are the heavy duty teeth that are needed for crushing and grinding your food into small particles which can be handled by the digestive juices and the action of the stomach. We call these bicuspids and the molars. Some of you do not use these important grinders sufficiently. You forget that your stomach has no teeth, and you often swallow your food almost whole. When you do this, your teeth do not get proper exercise and your food is not able to be utilized as it should be. You fast eaters cheat yourselves in every way!
6: Now, let us take a close-up look at these wonderful teeth. The outer covering is the hardest substance in your body. It is much harder than bone. It is called enamel and it is made mostly of calcium. Under the enamel is a substance that is somewhat softer than the enamel. It is called dentine. In the center is the softest part called the pulp. Here in the pulp is the network of the blood vessels and nerves which nourish the teeth. The roots of your teeth are covered by a hard substance called Cementum. The roots are deeply embedded in your jaw bones which are covered by your gums. Perhaps you wonder how it is that something so well-protected and hard as a tooth can become painful, diseased, and even have to be removed. Well, there are some important reasons that you should know.
7: First of all, harmful germs can destroy teeth, but your mouth always contains harmful germs! Even after you carefully brush your teeth, there are still many left. Then how can you prevent these germs from doing damage to your teeth?
8: One answer is to brush your teeth regularly after eating any food. You see, bacteria (germs) love food, especially starchy, rich or sweet foods. When food sticks to your teeth and gets between them, you have a fine feeding and breeding place for germs. As the germs multiply and grow, they form an acid, and that acid gradually destroys the hard, smooth surface of the teeth making it easy for the bacteria to finally go all the way inside.
9: Mothers, to let your children take cookies, ice cream, candy, soft drinks and other foods between meals is one of the best ways to ensure decay of their teeth. Not only does such food stick to the teeth, but it has other harmful effects that work from the INSIDE of the teeth! Rich and sweet foods containing sugar send the sugar into the blood. Scientists are finding out that sugar interferes with the normal movement of the fluids passing in and out of the teeth. In other words, when these fluids cannot pass back and forth to the cells of the teeth, the teeth cannot be nourished property and therefore are more easily destroyed by germs. It is a fact that nearly all decay starts from the inside of a tooth, not the outside.
10: Some mothers think that the baby teeth are not important because anyhow they drop out and other teeth come in later. This is a great mistake, mothers. These baby teeth are VERY important indeed. If they decay or come out too soon, the second teeth can be deformed and irregular. It is really pitiful to see a small child with decayed teeth. Such a child is an advertisement that the parents were either very ignorant or have allowed the child to decide what it will eat by what it likes or does not like, instead of training the child to eat what is good for it. Even the diet of the expecting mother has a bearing on the future health of the child's teeth! By the mother avoiding sugary foods in pregnancy, the child's future teeth will be better.
11: To insure a proper diet, there should be plenty of green vegetables and fruit, whole grains and some nuts and seeds in the diet. These will insure the vitamins and minerals the teeth need in order to be strong and healthy. It is true that some people have inherited poor teeth. However, this condition can be greatly corrected by taking care of the teeth and by eating a proper diet.
12: We have already mentioned good eating habits. Let us mention something about good brushing habits. Brushing your teeth is very important to keep the surface of the teeth smooth and free from food. But do you know how to brush your teeth properly? When you brush your lower teeth, you brush from the gums up. When you brush the upper teeth, you brush from the gums down. This is very important for you to remember. Children should be taught to brush their teeth properly, and each member of the family should have his own toothbrush. Never share a toothbrush!
13: There is an old saying that if you will be true to your teeth they will be true to you. For instance, children should be given a good diet and they should not eat between meals. Those baby teeth should be cared for.
14: Artificial teeth may look pretty nice; but they are never as good as the teeth God gave you. In fact, dentists say that false teeth work only about 25% as well as your own. And if you care for your own, they can last for a lifetime.
15: Remember, no substitution can be as good as your own wonderful teeth if they are cared for. Many people are carrying in their mouths evidences of delay and decay. Fillings, bridges, and dentures reveal that we have neglected God's gift of good healthy teeth. Today, as a result of ignorance, neglect, and poor diet many are living with substitutes. Friends, there are many tonight who find themselves with another substitute, a substitute Sabbath. Many now believe God changed His mind and transferred the sacredness from Saturday, the 7th day, to Sunday, the first day.
16: God does not change. His character never changes. Please note what the Bible says, "For I am the Lord. I change not." Malachi 3:6. "Jesus Christ the same, yesterday and today and for ever." "With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17.
17: Jesus with His own mouth said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." Matthew 5:17,18. Jesus did not change the Sabbath but instead He kept it.
18: In fact, He condemns those who do not keep it. "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:19. Jesus who made the Sabbath said, "The Sabbath was made for man." Adam was the first man, the Sabbath was given to him in the Garden of Eden for all men, Jew or gentile, man or woman, bond or free, everybody.
19: Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath as in Mark 2:28; Therefore, the Son of man is. Lord also of the Sabbath." He Himself kept it. "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read." Hence, the Apostle John calls the Sabbath the Lord's Day. Revelation 1:10.
20: Did His apostles keep the Seventh day Sabbath? Let us consider Paul first. "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good." Romans 7:7,12:
21: It was Paul's custom also like Jesus to keep the Sabbath. "And Paul as his manner was went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures. Paul kept the Seventh day Sabbath and taught the people likewise.
22: Let us see about Peter. "For even here unto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps." 1 Peter 2:21. He says that we are to follow Christ's steps and He was a Sabbath keeper.
23: So, we find that neither Christ nor His disciples ever changed the Sabbath. According to Daniel 7:35, we have already studied that it was the Roman power which changed this day. And the church of Rome openly claims to have done this. Let us read some passages from their Catechism.
24: This is taken from "A Doctrinal Catechism" by Rev. Stephen Keenan, p. 174: "Question: Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals or precepts? Answer: Had she not such power she could not have done that in which all the modern religionists agree with her. She could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the Seventh-day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority."
25: The first Sunday law ever made was that issued by the Emperor Constantine. March 7, A.D. 321 and reads as follows: "Let all the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades rest on the venerable day of the Sun. But let those who are situated in the country, freely and at full liberty, attend to the business of agriculture because it often happens that no other day is so fit for sowing corn and planting vines, lest a critical moment being let slip, men should lose the commodities granted by heaven." Corpus Juris, Civilia God. lib. 3, Title 12,3.
26: Sunday was actually dedicated to the Sun god. The heathen worshipped the sun on Sunday. This was a heathen institution adopted into Christianity.
27: The council of Laodicea (c., A.D. 364) forbade the observance of the true Bible Sabbath. "Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday (Sabbath, original), but shall work on that day; but the Lord's day they shall specially honour, and as being Christians, shall if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out from Christ." :A History of the Council of Church from the Original Documents, Rt. Rev. Charles Joseph Hefele. D. D. Bishop of Rottenburg, book 6, sec. 93, Canon 29 (vol. II., p. 316).
28: Thus, slowly and stealthily the observance of Sunday was introduced until 530 when it was enforced and legalized. The penalty for this offense was death. During the dark ages beginning from 530 till 1798, millions gave their lives for their faithfulness to the true Sabbath.
29: The Bishop Eusebius (A.D. 270:338) who. worked with the Emperor Constantine, says: "All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord's Day":Commentary on the Psalms, Eusebius; cited in the commentary on the Apocalypse, Moses Stuart, vol. It., 9, L 10.
30: Thus we find that the early church changed God's Sabbath and instituted the observance of Sunday. This was exactly in fulfillment of the prophecy.
31: We may read the Bible from cover to cover, but we will never find even a hint on the observance of Sunday as a Holy Day. The Bible Sabbath was to be a sign "forever." Nothing from God's law can be changed. Even on the earth made new the Sabbath will be kept:"And it shall come to pass that from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me." Isaiah 66:23. The law of God is as eternal as God Himself.
32: Friends, there are only two choices. The seal of the living God, which is the keeping of the true Sabbath, the Seventh-day of the week or Saturday. It comes from Eden and will continue in the Eden restored. Another choice is the Mark of the Beast, the observance of Sunday, a spurious Sabbath. It is a life and death question. Obey and live:disobey and perish. What is your choice tonight? Don't you want to be saved in God's Kingdom? Jesus is coming again. Do you want to be with those who keep all of His commandments, including the 4th commandment, which says to keep holy the Seventh day? God loves you, this is why He is coming back. Will you be ready to meet Him?
