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I had taken our trash to the county waste site in my old beater pick up truck. I was near the bridge going into Kingston, and on the side of the road I saw a man selling fresh corn off of the back end of his pick up truck. I could not resist. I stopped, and I bought a dozen ears for supper. The man looked very troubled. I talked about the Lord Jesus a while, and the man warmed at once to this. I asked him if he had something on his mind he needed to talk about. Tears came to his eyes. He told me he was scheduled to go in for a scan of his face. He said that the doctor had found sores in his cheek that looked like they could be cancerous. |
He then told me he had chewed tobacco for many years, and he was terrified that he had mouth cancer. He said this would mean that the whole side of his face would have to be removed.
Then, it was my turn to cry.
I cannot describe how such a story hit me as he told it. He looked like a decent and very typical good old boy from Tennessee, and my imagination told me that he might soon look like a character from a horror movie. The man asked me to pray for him, and I did just that as we stood there. He said he started chewing tobacco during his teen years to be cool with his friends. He had now stopped, but was it too late?
I got back in my truck, and all the way home my heart ached for the man.
What follows is the evidence, all you need, to tell you that using tobacco for smoking or chewing is deadly, and a true Bible believer will want to leave it behind. I am not laying Fundamental Baptist law on you. I am not your judge. But, I feel responsible to God to tell you the truth. The conclusion is between you and the Lord.
Why
did God create tobacco?
http://www2.labs.agilent.com/botany/cp/list/cp94alld/2123.htm
Nicholas Culpeper in his 1681 The English Physician Enlarged recommended tobacco juice to kill lice on children's heads, a very early reference to the use of tobacco as an insecticide poison. Black Leaf 40, an environmentally safe and biodegradable agricultural insecticide used around the world, is 40 percent nicotine sulfate. Farmers have been using nicotine sulfate insecticide since the early 1800s. To make it, all you do is boil tobacco leaves in water with a little sulfuric acid (the same acid as in a car battery).
Steve Van Nattan's formula: Buy a tin of cheap pipe tobacco. Put it in a kettle of boiling water. Add about six fresh chopped garlics. Add several crushed pods of the hottest chili around, like habanero. Boil at a simmer for at least one hour. You will want to have the windows open or do this outdoors or else your house will smell like something you stepped in. Strain the solids out with cheese cloth or use a coffee filter. Put the liquid in a pistol grip spray bottle. Use on indoor plants against aphids and other insects especially during winter infestations of house plants. Use on outdoor plants any time. Use to spray the trunks of saplings to prevent girdling by critters during winter. Smart animals will not come near tobacco. Hmmmmmm
KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN !! This is a highly toxic mixture.
If your child drank this mixture, you should call a poison control center at once or head for the ER at the hospital.
You may want to add a bit of sulfuric acid toward the end of the boiling process to give the mixture a kick. If so, you MUST work outdoors. I also have to wonder if a bit of lime would help, but in that case, use NO sulfuric acid, and add the lime AFTER boiling and cooling the mixture but before straining.
Acts
of desperation by the tobacco industry:
http://tobaccodocuments.org/landman/?field_value=Effects%97Smoking+
Behavior&resource_id=20916&field_id=7
You
will need to hit "translate" to read the page.
Lead
arsenate is used on tobacco as an insecticide. Now, there is a double whammy!
Here
are the chemicals in tobacco, and in second hand smoke:
https://web.archive.org/web/20041025031333/http://www.dimensional.com/~randl/tchem.htm
More:
http://www.quit-smoking-stop.com/harmful-chemicals-in-cigarettes.html
Even Worse complete list:
http://www.blowingsmoke.arizona.edu/web%20articles/chemicals_cigs.htm
Rat Poison in cigarettes
http://medicolegal.tripod.com/coumarin.htm
Philip
Morris-- They call for regulation by the Feds-- Cute trick
http://www.etch.iptelecom.net.ua/news_c.shtml
And ministry personnel (of St. Lucia Island) have intensified their work among youth, who have been found to be increasingly prone to start smoking, while at the same time drawing attention to the connection between smoking and AIDS. The health personnel pointed out last week, for example, that people who have tested HIV positive and who smoke are more prone to contracting full blown AIDS than those who don�t smoke. READ MORE
Cancer
started by mutations in the DNA:
http://www.sanger.ac.uk/news/view/smoking-pack-day-year-causes-150-mutations-lung-cells
Smoking causes mutations in the genes that control the way cells mature and divide. The thousands of chemicals in cigarettes act on the DNA of the cell which chanes it's behaviour. Normally a cell only reproduces when it receives an order to do so, and it stops when it receives the order to stop reproducing from the body. It should stay in contact with other cells of it's kind to form a tissue. When the normal genes are damaged the cell becomes atypical and with time and exposure to more cancerous material then it becomes dysplastic. Dr. Auerbach documented the changes that occur in cells i dogs that were exposed to smoke from cigarettes. The cells continue to multiply in an erratic way, which eventually turns into a cancer. There are many sites of interest on the internet dthat discuss the issue of smoking and lung Cancer. READ MORE
Only
a fool would ignore this data from non-christians.
http://medicolegal.tripod.com/toxicchemicals.htm
Vaping,
electronic cigarettes, is not safer. It is deceptive and causes addiction
http://www.newsmax.com/thewire/surgeon-general-vaping-risks-youth/2016/12/08/id/762999/
The
CDC on youth smoking:
https://web.archive.org/web/20070210033424/http://www.cdc.gov/
tobacco/research_data/youth/stspta5.htm
Pitiful
story of addiction for life:
https://web.archive.org/web/20051221001546/http://www.edifyingspectacle.org/
health/smoking.shtml
While I was in college I had to work part time to pay my tuition and board. I got a job at a Mobile Oil gas station near the school. This station was very high end. Our prices were always higher than almost any other station in the area, but we were always busy. There was a good reason for this.
Our gas station was not merely "full service." We had so many men per shift that we could send a minimum of two men to serve each car, sometimes three men. One filled the tank, one cleaned the windshield and checked the oil, and if anyone was free to, the third man chatted with the driver. The upper middle class in our neighborhood loved the pampering.
We also had a very busy service bay. The main thing we did was oil changes and lube. We went to the home of the customer, picked up his car, drove it back to the station, serviced it and returned it to the home. We did a lot of extras on a regular oil and lube. We checked virtually everything that could be checked, including the differential. We also gave the car a wash job, and one man cleaned all the windows inside and outside. That was the terrible part.
The inside of the windows of a smoker are coated with a layer of tars from the cigarettes. This layer also caused the car to stink badly. The stink we could not deal with, but we cleaned the tars off the windows. It was absoltely wretched. The tars were like glue on the windows, and we had to use strong solvents to remove them completely. This made me realize that removing the tars from a peson's lungs would have to be a serious trick. I learned years later that it takes fully ten years for the tars to be cleansed out of the body when someone stops smoking.
When you inhale tobacco smoke, you are laminating a layer of tar on the inside of your lungs, and when I say tar, that is exactly what it is. Tar is sticky. Go pick up a dab of it on a hot summer day in a parking lot, and see how long it takes to work it off of your finger.
VERY CONVINCING DEMOSTRATION OF WHAT GOES INTO THE LUNGS OF A SMOKER
https://youtu.be/-DbFBu_I_lARESEARCH ON PARTICULATE MATTER IN CIGARETTES IS UNREGULATED
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/f-sf-tch100112.phpGRAPHIC INFORMATION ON TARS INTAKE
https://youtu.be/1MF4sCvkAAA Second Demo https://youtu.be/T3tFxeZ9a14VIDEO DEMONSTRATION OF LUNG ACTION OF SMOKER AND NON-SMOKER
https://youtu.be/yskYG-EVlBY
WHAT DOES THE WORD OF GOD SAY?
1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
1 Corinthians 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Aside from the health risk to you and anyone who inhales your second hand smoke, consider the filth factor. Chewing and spitting are a disgusting habit. There is possibly nothing more revolting than to have to take a spitting fool seriously. When someone picks their nose or farts in public, at least we can try to deal with it as the result of natural causes from God's creation. Eating beans is not bad for your health. But, tobacco is a poison and killer, and to have to deal with the blackened teeth and the spitting in public is the result of a rebel attitude in a crass slob.
Smoking is accompanied by an attitude in most people. They feel they have a right to fill the air with smoke. They have a right to be kissed by their wife and kids and the victims are supposed to feel romantic about the stench. They have no consideration for the health of others nearby, and in the past they didn't care if they spoiled your appetite in an eating establishment. They leave filth around in the form of ashes and ash trays to be emptied. And, finally, smoking results in millions of dollars of damage annually due to fire started by mindless idiots who flip their butts around.
The breath of a smoker reminds me of barnyards I have walked through. Any one who smokes smells like the back end of a heifer, and I say that charitably of course. To have to use an out house on a hot summer day is a luxury compared to having to try to carry on a serious conversation with a smoker.
Because of the gross aspects of smoking, and because it kills the user, I find it very hard to believe a smoking or chewing man is born again. I know it is possible, but the social and personal insanity in the habit shows a total disregard for the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
As to cigar smokers, my psychology professor in college, Dr. Emerson, said that research showed that men smoke cigars because they were weaned too early or were not breast fed. This implies that cigar smokers are sucking on a surrogate nipple. That just about says it all folks. And, there is your cigar smoking buddy, Rush Limbaugh. If Dr. Emerson was correct, then this would be another very good reason to nurse a new baby naturally, right? Get the sucking out of his soul the God-given way.
I had an older fellow working for me long ago when I was working in a paper company. We was the union man, and I was the low management man. We were the only two in our area, and we got on great. But, it burdened me greatly that he smoked a pipe. Actually, he smoked two pipes, for he had one always cooling while he smoked the other. He had lived to 63 I believe, but he virtually oozed the odor of tobacco, and he was skinny and frail. He retired at 64 from the paper mill, and he died nine months later. I believe he paid the price in that he was sickly and died before he should have.
Pipes come in many clever and valuable varieties, and there is indeed one small advantage in that the smoke can be cooled somewhat before entering the mouth and lungs. Pipe smoking gives a veneer of sophistication to killing oneself with the infernal weed. Pipe tobacco is laced with aromas which make people believe the smoke is in fact charming and pleasant. Yet the poisons are still there, and the second hand smoke is still deadly.
It must be added that a hookah is somewhat of an alternative. The water collects some of the tars and nicotine, and using a hookah reduces a raging addiction to a social event where nervous energy is not ruling. But, the practice of passing the hose around a group is a serious risk of spreading disease.
What shall we say about a woman who smokes or dips snuff? She stinks like a whore or a bar fly. She is a filthy trashy walking dirt pile. Her skin is ghastly and pale. She has to hate her children, for she is telling them that Mommy wants them to be smokers one day. She deserves to die the horrible death of cancer, and the sooner the better. Her death by the horror of lung or throat cancer might frighten her kids so that they will not smoke. I have seen this happen more than once.
What do you think about these mad dogs who tell their kids, "I don't want you to smoke like I do?" How would that be different than a Daddy saying, "I don't want you to chase whores like I do." One vice is no less deadly than the other.
Furthermore; there is the cost of smoking. There is no other way of committing suicide which is more financially destructive.
Analysis shows smoking is a leading cause of fires and death from fires globally, resulting in an estimated cost of nearly $7 billion in the United States and $27.2 billion worldwide in 1998.
Research measures the total cost of smoking in Ontario is US$2.91 billion. Associated with these economic costs are health-related harms: 69,318 hospital separations; 1,007,647 days stay in hospitals; 11,648 deaths resulting in more than 171,443 person-years lost.
The cost of smoking in terms of healthcare at one Irish hostpial is estimated: the hospital's budget was about $177 million per year, and about half the 500 to 600 patients were there because of smoking.
Report: Smoking, tobacco costs Medicaid $12.9 billion annually Report measures the national Medicaid cost of smoking and tobacco at $12.9 billion/year; more than the tobacco settlement payments will cover.
CDC report; every pack of cigarettes costs $3.45 for medical care attributable to smoking and $3.73 in productivity losses, for a total cost of $7.18 per pack.
The total cost of caring for people with health problems caused by cigarette smoking is about $72.7 billion per year, according to health economists at the University of California.
In 1994, smoking caused an estimated 44,000 male and 19,000 female U.S. deaths at ages 15-54, leaving 31,000 fatherless and 12,000 motherless youths.
THE COST OF SMOKING, OR WHAT YOU LOSE
My wife's uncle stopped smoking in his later years, and he put the same amount he spent on tobacco into a savings fund. Every year he and his wife took a bus tour to various parts of the USA on the money saved. You need to decide whether you need to burn leaves when you could treat your wife a lot better on the cash.IF YOU MUST SMOKE, GROW YOUR OWN TOBACCO
You will pay a fraction of the price in only paper tubes. And, you will not be inhaling the 400 governemnt approved chemicals and pesticides used in farming and processing tobacco. You will also have a highly valued item to barter during crisis events. Just be sure not to sell your tobacco without a license from the Government.What a legacy that is! And, as a non-smoker, I resent having to help pay for these fools' medical expenses. I resent having to pay higher insurance fees because smokers like to burn their homes down. Take your fags and go burn them on your own time please.
How can one have victory over smoking? Just stop. Diabetics have to stop eating sugar and starch. I have to limit my use of caffeine. We all learn to stop something for health's sake. Tobacco use is always deadly, so if you are a born again Christian, you will stop for the glory of God and as an example to the kids who watch you.
Ed Arnold smoked, and he did not think much about it. He was a leader in a local church, and he smoked with moderation. One day he was walking downtown and met a lady with her young son who were from his church. He was smoking at the time. They greeted and visited for a few minutes, and then they parted. As Ed walked away he heard the young boy say to his mother, "Mommy, smoking must be OK. Uncle Ed smokes, and he is a good Christian." Ed quit cold turkey. He decided that he did not want to be that kind of example and subvert that mother's instruction to her son. Ed was not frightened of the health factors. He only quit because he realized he was doing harm to a Christian home by his liberty. If that were the only reason to quit smoking, it would be a very good reason.
1 Corinthians 8:10 For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols;
11 And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
12 But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
13 Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.Let us suppose you grow you own tobacco with no tobacco company additives. And, you smoke only a couple roll-your-owns a day. You feel safe and moderate in your liberty to smoke. What if that Mom and her son knew you smoked, and what if the kid was using you as his example and model for smoking? Would you quit smoking in order to assist that Mom in ordering her home and raising her kids the way she believes honors God? If not, you are in violent rebellion against New Testament teaching. There are a thousand ways to amuse yourself that would be just as satisfying as a couple cigarettes a day.
My uncle Bud smoked maybe maximum four cigarettes a day. It was not a habit, and he smoked as a sort of moderate luxury. When he stopped smoking it was without any fanfare or battle. He just stopped reaching for the Marlboros. My aunt noticed that the cigarettes had laid untouched for several weeks and asked uncle Bud about it. He told her that he was not very excited about smoking anymore because he felt there was something to the health question.
WHAT WOULD JESUS SAY?
Let us look at this thing and ask, "What would Jesus do?"
I think that is a fair question, that is, if you really are born again. Here is the scene-- It is late in the day at Peter's home. Jesus has healed Peter's mother in law, and she is now downstairs getting the evening meal ready. Many people during the day have been healed, and many delivered of devils. Jesus is tired, and so is Peter. Jesus turns to Peter and says, "Peter, we are both tired. Can we go up on your roof patio and relax for a while before supper?" Peter says, "That's a great idea Lord, and I will bring us a couple of cigars to enjoy as we watch the sun go down." Jesus says, "_________."
What do you think Jesus would say?
If you are truly born again, you have seen the glory of God in Jesus Christ. The glory of God is all through the Bible from Genesis One to Revelation Twenty Two. Have you looked into the face of Jesus? Can you visualize tobacco juice all over Jesus' teeth? Can you smell the odor of the tobacco habit on Jesus breath? When you walk up to the throne of God one day, can you see YOU lighting up a fag and blowing smoke all around the throne of God?
2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Is Jesus' glory shining in your heart? Have you looked into his face and come away determined to be like him? That is not the exception-- It is NORMAL Christianity, my friend. When you look into Jesus face, do you want spit a chaw in the corner? Do you want to ask Jesus, "Gotta light?"
You say, "I am born again, and I know it. Anyway, smoking will not send a man to hell." I agree. But, it sure will make you smell like that's where you came from. When you pass through the door of death, and on the other side the first thing you see is a spittoon, friend, you can mark it down-- You are in the wrong place.
Just stop smoking, and stop whining about how addicted you are. Your big battle, with all the tricks to stop smoking, shows the world that you are a stupid wimpy slave of sin and don't really want to quit. If you really are born again, you have the power to stop:
1 Chronicles 29:11 Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.
12 Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
13 Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.So, you cannot quit smoking? Who is your god anyway, Buddha, or the American Indian tobacco god, or is your god like Allah and is out to lunch? Jesus, as we see above, is the head of all, and that means he is the head of you, and it also means he is the head of tobacco. He created it, as we saw above, to be a powerful and effective bio-degradable pesticide. YOU are the one who perverted it, and Jesus has the power to get the tobacco weed out of your mouth and lungs.
But, you do have to decide to repent of your rebel line of Bull Durham, and ask Jesus to cleanse you now. He will, for he has the power to do so. There is NO bondage Satan can get you into which Jesus is not able to break and deliver you. But, Jesus will only help you if you WANT help.
Why do YOU smoke? What a fool you are to kill yourself that way, and what a perfect jerk you are to dump all that cash down a rat hole. Think of all the financial blessing you are missing. Think of the cash you could send to missionaries. Are you even born again?
JUST STOP IT
DO YOU THINK FILTHY HABITS ARE COOL?
MORE LINKS ON THE INFERNAL WEED:
Educational video - Patrick Reynolds
What am I inhaling? (Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada)
Repace Associates - Fact sheet on secondhand smoke
A List of Tobacco-Related Internet Sites
Industry's Own Words - Nicotine as a Drug
USA Today Tobacco Settlement Stories
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