Young and old will enjoy robust physical and mental health in tomorrow's world.
There will be exciting sports and games,
intriguing hobbies and a host of other challenging and invigorating recreational activities for everyone.
Happiness and well-being will abound.
This article tells what it will be like.
IMAGINE a world where everyone will grow up with a strong, healthy body fit for hard work and play. Imagine a world where everyone will possess a sound, balanced, happy mind capable of clear, disciplined thought.
Sound too good to be true? Well it isn't! Such a world is coming — soon!
It will be a world where infectious, crippling, paralyzing diseases will disappear. It will be a world where degenerative, debilitating sicknesses will vanish — along with ailments caused by malnutrition and dietary deficiencies. In tomorrow's world "civilized" diseases caused by high tension, pollution and wrong living habits will no longer exist. Human blights, from birth defects to venereal diseases, will be wiped out. Cancers, tumors and heart problems will be ailments of the past. Flu, fevers and colds will be rarities — together with poor eyesight and blindness, hearing loss and deafness, dental problems, back troubles, obesity and scores of other major and minor ailments, disorders, sicknesses and diseases. Even accidents will virtually disappear. And mental illness and emotional disturbances will be as rare as physical disorders. What a healthy, happy place tomorrow's world will be!
But how will these wonderful conditions come about? Will it be through the achievements of medical science?
The Future Envisioned by Medical Science
Staggering though some feats of medical science may seem today, they are just the beginning of what is envisioned for the years ahead.
For example, in the area of "preventive" medicine, frequent and exhaustive examinations by means of complex automated instruments are being planned. We are told that heartbeat, blood and urine chemistry, temperature change, metabolism, blood pressure, skin and muscle tone, brain waves, soundness of bone and nerve tissue and many other factors will be able to be measured by utilizing a variety of ultra-sophisticated techniques from electrochemistry to lasers.
It is anticipated that before the end of this century, all mechanisms of health and disease — along with methods of treatment — will be analyzed by computer programs. In less than five minutes a three-dimensional picture will be put together of how the 60 trillion cells are working throughout the body. When this automatic and computerized examination is completed, the information will be put on tape and compared by computer with the last examination. This way any irregularities or danger signals can be noted so that computer-prescribed treatment can be given.
A hospital anywhere on earth could be linked by computer to an international data-processing center which has medical researchers from around the globe constantly feeding the results of their work into it. This up-to-date information could be used for the best possible treatment. This complex machinery will give rise to a whole new breed of biomedical technicians and engineers.
Tomorrow's Surgery
For emergency and surgical purposes, machines have been or are being built which can duplicate virtually any of the body's essential functions while it is undergoing repair.
The pencil-like "tyro-probe" with its tip cooled to 110 degrees below zero to kill diseased cells by freezing them to death, laser and other high-energy beams that can flash for 1/1000th of a second several times to vaporize a tumor, the "plasma scalpel" with its super-hot 20,000-degree cutting point that does bloodless surgery — these techniques are already being used, though not yet perfected. In the future it is expected that their use will expand greatly.
When it comes to replacing tissues and bones rather than removing them, it is hoped that transplants — including animal transplants into humans — will be the answer. Some visualize vast freezer vaults which would preserve for years such spare parts as lungs, eyes, hearts, nerves and other vital tissues. However, unless the "rejection response" which occurs when tissue from one body is transplanted into another can be overcome, many doctors feel that artificial organs and parts hold more promise. Because there is no rejection problem with one's own tissue, others feel that when a person is born, some of his cells should be grown and stored in a cell bank until needed for repairs later in life.
Battery-powered electronic devices to assist damaged organs are already used by many thousands of Americans. The possibility of minute devices which would use nuclear or other types of power is being investigated. In the future, researchers envision devices which will enable the movement of artificial limbs with much the same flexibility as that supplied by nature. Some feel that by the end of this century sensing devices will be available that will give some sort of sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf.
Not even the enzymes and hormones which are involved in some 100,000 chemical reactions have escaped man's scrutiny. Laboratories around the world are feverishly at work synthesizing, or artificially making, these chemicals so that problems caused by their absence or malfunction can be "corrected." There is even talk of going deeper into the life process, down to the level of the genes, to gain some control over problems of heredity. By performing surgery on "defective" genes it is hoped that perhaps some of the sixty or more genetic disorders that can produce mentally retarded children will be prevented.
The brain has not been excluded from man's probing either. It has been discovered that certain areas of the brain control specific emotions and that stimulating a particular area causes a definite response. This leads man to believe he can control certain mental problems by using electrochemical treatment based upon the manipulation of electricity and chemicals in the brain. Mind drugs for changing one's mood or mental state may be just a matter of a prescription, we are told.
By understanding the electrical patterns of the brain, some feel it may be possible to use electrical learning methods to feed large amounts of knowledge into the mind in just a matter of minutes. Others talk of "get smart" pills which would speed up or improve the learning process.
Aging — what it is and how to prevent it — is another problem that is destined to receive a lot more attention and research. (Source of information in this section is The World of Tomorrow by Goldstein)
Facing the Facts
But as spectacular as all this sounds, where does it leave us? For the answer we might ask where present medical science has left us. Impressive though a few isolated feats have been, medical science has been utterly incapable of coping with today's worsening health crises.
What makes us think that the dreams of medicine of tomorrow — even if they could become a reality — would have a better effect on human health? And who would want to get "health" by the methods just described anyway???
It's high time we shake off the delusion of man's dream world and wake up to the reality of what is happening around us!
With our exploding population and its attendant problems of increasing malnutrition and starvation comes the macabre threat of disease epidemics of massive, worldwide proportions. Already officials warn of the threat of vast epidemics of cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis, flu and even the dread "black death" (bubonic plague) that took the lives of millions in Europe during the 15th through the 17th centuries, and ravaged England in the 1660's.
Bible prophecy reveals that very shortly this threat will become a fearful reality. It will result in the death of fully one fourth of mankind! (Rev. 6:8) When that time comes, man's medical and surgical accomplishments are going to look awfully inadequate. And the glowing predictions we have just read are going to look awfully irrelevant.
But how, then, will the picture of health and well-being described at the outset of this article ever come about? The answer is: by the intervention of Almighty God and the establishment of His Kingdom on this earth.
Sickness and Disease Finally Conquered
In tomorrow's world sickness and disease will finally be conquered — but not in the way man is attempting today. Man ignores the CAUSE of disease and then seeks to treat only the EFFECT. He continues to break laws which God has made to operate in the human body and then tries to prevent these laws from exacting their penalties.
How foolish! How much better to simply quit breaking these laws! That way the CAUSE of the problem is removed.
How do you get rid of the "filth" diseases? You get rid of the CAUSE of these diseases — you clean up the filth that allows these diseases to flourish. How do you get rid of the many sicknesses and ailments caused by pollution? You take away the CAUSE — quit the use of cancer-causing tobacco, forbid the use of pesticides, insecticides, and poison sprays; alter, replace or outlaw the internal combustion engine and other power sources that befoul air and water; and stop industry which belches all kinds of poisons into the air.
How can venereal diseases be eliminated? Wipe out the immoral, illicit and wrong uses of sex which cause them.
How can diseases of deficiency and malnutrition be eradicated? Practice natural methods of farming which build up the soil, make wholesome foods available, and educate people about proper diet. God designed certain foods for good health. Some things that grow are not designed for food. Some are poison.
EDUCATE people to properly utilize sanitation, hygiene, fresh air, pure water, required amounts of sleep, sunshine, exercise, proper diet, etc. As a result the vast majority of our health problems will disappear!
People need to be taught that God did not design the human physical body so that it must be getting sick all the time, catching continual diseases. It is not natural to be sick — it is Unnatural. Yet it is utterly amazing how totally uneducated most are today about even the most elementary health laws.
Dr. Richard L. Wilbur of the American Medical Association says: "The myth is that doctors can keep alive people who smoke two packs a day and drive fast cars and get exercise only when they change TV stations."
A sad predicament faces today's medical profession. As one doctor put it: "We physicians have been kept so busy treating sicknesses and diseases that we haven't had much time to do extensive study and research into the CAUSES of these troubles."
In today's world it is impossible to remove many of the root causes of sickness and disease because to do so effectively would require a drastic change in every facet of society — in industry, agriculture, education, business, the social order, government, etc. In TOMORROW'S WORLD, however, God will have swift and sure control over ALL of these areas. He will make sure that the entire society is geared to human health and happiness.
Miraculous Healing
When people, in spite of education and counsel, do get sick or catch a disease (due to their own negligence), there will be healing — God's way. Actually, Christ's healing is forgiveness of sin.
But does God, then, prevent His laws of nature from working — from exacting their penalty? Oh, no — not at all. Upon repentance and faith, God forgives the sin and removes the penalty. How? Why? Because Jesus Himself "took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses" (Matt. 8:16-17). And Peter explains that by His stripes we are healed (I Pet. 2:24).
Before Jesus was crucified (paying the death penalty for spiritual sin in our stead), He submitted to being beaten. thus paying in our stead the penalty of physical sin. God does not prevent His laws from working. Christ paid the penalty for us. In God's way the penalty was paid — not nullified.
Christ said, when He observed the faith of some friends of a man with palsy, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee" (Mark 2:5).
When the people didn't understand Christ's statement, He said: "Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins . . ." (Mark 2:8-10).
When Jesus Christ becomes the great Ruler of this earth, He will use that power for the benefit of all mankind.
The combined force of right education about true health, and instant healing of all sickness (when its cause is repented of) will mean perfect, utopian health.
Speaking of tomorrow's world, the Bible says: "Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing . . ." (Isa. 35:3-6).
"And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity" (Isa. 33:24).
"Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily . . ." (Isa. 58:8). God promises, "For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Eternal . . ." (Jer. 30:17).
Why should we be so willing to believe such a perfect state of health and joy is impossible?