Daniel's Challenge

Introduction

At 33 years of age my health collapsed and I suffered poor health for a full decade. Inspired by the story of the prophet Daniel in the Old Testament, who is my namesake, I sought out the Lord and asked Him what I needed to do in order to have my health restored to me. He spoke to me plainly as one man speaks to another and gave me instructions. I followed those instructions with exactness and came to enjoy the sweet fruits of obedience to His voice.

Since 2000 when I first receive these instructions, further instructions have been given to me from time to time to help me better understand His ways and what is required to operate His perfect plan for both body and spirit. Our greatest potential for health may only be realized as physical and spiritual laws of health are obeyed. We retain a remission of poor health as we remember the Lord always, obey His voice with exactness, and keep all His laws, statutes, and commandments.

God has a plan for each of us. The recommended 12-Step Plan deals primarily with physical laws of health. However step 12 of the plan includes instructions and a free booklet that has been written to help you lay hold upon the spiritual laws whereby a remission of poor health may be received and retained. Before going on to 12-Steps to Wholeness, let's review the story of Daniel: 

The Israelite prophet Daniel was was taken into captivity in 605 BC at the time Babylon conquered Israel. He served Babylon’s kings as a counselor for 74 years and is known for his wise counsel, prophecies, and influence that led to the granting of permission for all Israelite slaves to return from Babylon to their homeland of Israel. As a young slave, Daniel found that the palace foods did not enable the physical and mental strength or wisdom he was accustomed to. He asked the keeper of the slaves if he and his Israelite friends could eat according to their Israelite customs rather than eat the king’s meat and drink the king’s wine. A 10-day test was set up to see how Daniel and his friends would fare if they were allowed to eat pulse instead of meat and to drink water instead of wine. They were also allowed to enjoy all the fresh seasonal produce they desired from the marketplace. According to the record, which is recognized as the first nutritional food trial recorded in the annals of history, as Daniel and his friends improved their diet they became wiser, stronger, and more physically active than all other palace slaves and were thereafter permitted to eat after the Jewish customs indefinitely. 

Daniel was nearly 100 years old when the record ceases to mention his name in connection with his service to Babylon’s kings. It is likely that He would not have fulfilled his purposes on earth had his physical and mental strength been impaired by diet. Rather than becoming stronger, more active, and wiser than other slaves and counselors, he likely would not have lived as long and would have become obese, disabled, and diminished in body, mind, and spirit. His longevity as the king’s most trusted advisor would have been significantly curtailed, or may not have taken place at all.

Each of us can enable our divine health potential by following the example of the prophet Daniel who secured God’s everlasting promise of temporal and spiritual welfare and lived a long and productive life. As a nation we have forgotten God's laws of health and now experience the highest rates of obesity, disability, and self-inflicted, diet-induced diseases in the world. Sadly, most today overlook their health and thereby forfeit one of life’s most cherished possessions. Many who feel healthy do not realize what a blessing they have until they lose it. Many who lose their health cannot regain it because they do not know how to do so. Often, only those whose health undergoes a serious challenge are willing to consider a change in attitude toward physical and spiritual laws that enable vitality, longevity, and the ability to fulfill one’s greatest purposes in life. 

With so much confusion regarding dietary recommendations today, as you get started with Daniel's Challenge, consider God's wisdom and trust in He who canst not lie and whose wisdom is greater than all the earth. From holy writ we find various writings about God's diet for man, which I have summarized into the simple paragraph that follows:

“All things which cometh of the earth including grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, seasonal fruits, vegetables, and animals are made for the benefit and use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul."

To avoid diminished health from unnecessarily coming upon your body, meat of animals should be used only sparingly and with thanksgiving and judgment, and not to excess, neither by extortion (coercion). Moreover, it pleases God when man limits his use of animal-based foods to times of winter, cold, or famine. 

Accept Daniel's Challenge to trust in God's dietary wisdom, and as you do so please enjoy each of the following supportive links to Daniel's Challenge:

• 12 Steps to Wholeness: This lays out very simply how to get started, what to do, and provides a simple and successful eating pattern.

• Quick-Start Cleanse: Read this to better understand the cleansing, renewal, and healing practices of the world's most renowned healing retreats. Start immediately with the plan provided for you, which includes all you need to get started right now.

• Six-Month Plan: It takes at least six months to overcome most food allergies, food sensitivities, and food-induced diseases. After an initial quick-start cleansing period, follow this plan for a minimum of six months or longer, depending upon the length of time required to not only arrest diminished diet-induced conditions, but to also reverse them -- including allergies, food sensitivities, and diet-induced diseases. Do this for at least six months and until all diet-induced diminished health is overcome.

• Life-Time Plan: During quick-start and the six-month plan, the focus is very simple in order that you do not over complicate things initially and thereby set up likely failure. By the time you complete the Six-Month Plan, you will have mastered important basics for life. The Lifetime Plan is written to give guidance regarding other important skills you will want to master. They are not essential in order to maintain a remission of poor health, but they certainly will assist you to do so and serve to make the journey much more enjoyable.

• Weight Management Plan: Today we here much about weight loss. It has become a multi-billion-dollar per year industry. This section seeks to help you achieve and maintain your weight goals through a balanced approach that focuses upon weight management rather than solely weight loss. Once you master the essentials of weight management, retaining a remission of excess body weight is far more simple to achieve.

• The Power to Succeed: Most programs today focus upon self-will and personal discipline. Only 2% of all who shed their excess body weight or overcome disease retain a remission of these weaknesses. Self-will and personal discipline alone provide insufficient power to retain a remission of poor health. The Power to Succeed has been included that you might discover what we each must discover and receive before our weaknesses are made strong unto us forever. Enjoy this new addition to the website. It is very powerful!

• Book Recommendation: While nearly every resource on this site is provided freely, this printed book is recommended to all who accept Daniel's Challenge. As with all truth, the study of truth motivates and enables us with a measure of power to succeed and provides much needed instruction. This book is an essential and if studied often and repeatedly will provide much motivation and power to succeed. We present this book and website to you in the spirit of keeping the "barrier of entry" exceeding low for all who desire to thoughtfully consider and follow sound dietary recommendations. 

• Other Helpful Links: Finally, this page provides many popular links that are found on this site, such as 20 Fun Breakfast Ideas, or 60 Lunch and Dinner Ideas, or links showing how to properly prepare grains or to make naturally leavened bread, including free instructional videos. Enjoy perusing this page from time to time, as it will continue to grow as our services grow.