What is so special about this Man???
In 2008 it was my pleasure to meet and have lunch with Reverend Otis Grandville Clark. At the time, Reverend Clark was 105 years old. He still had all of his teeth, didn’t wear glasses and his vision was great. Reverend Clark still had a driver’s license and drove to the meeting I had with him. Was Reverend Clark just lucky to have great genes? Not a chance, Reverend Clark did something that gave him an advantage over almost all of the people he outlived and we are going to share with you what that something is. But before we do you need to hear how amazing this man was and how amazing you can be.
When I met Reverend Clark, he was living in the state of Washington and was making regular trips to Africa for mission work. The reason for our meeting was to discuss our common work in Zimbabwe. Below is a picture of Reverend Clark, ministering at a church we support in the city of Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe.
One year after I met him, he traveled to Texas, and on a Sunday morning attended the largest church in the United States; Lakewood Church, pastored by Joel Olsteen. After the service Reverend Clark waited and spoke with Pastor Olsteen. Joel found him so energetic and alive that he made a point to include him in his bestselling book, Everyday a Friday. Here is what Joel had to say…
“I recently met an older man that appeared to be in his seventies. I was surprised when he told me he was 106 years old. It wasn’t just his unlined face and healthy appearance that threw me off, he was so happy, so mentally sharp, so engaged with everyone around him. He stood in line nearly forty minutes, waiting to visit with me. I told him we could have pulled up a chair so he wouldn’t have to stand. He told me “I don’t need to sit down, when I grow old I can sit down”. He was a good-natured and handsome African American man. I said “I can’t believe you are 106, you don’t have a wrinkle on your face. He replied “Joel, black don’t crack”. Then he told me two or three more jokes, we laughed and laughed. When he walked away he turned around and said to everyone “I’ll see you next year”. I had no doubt he would live another year. He seemed so healthy, he spread joy everywhere he went. He had a sense of humor, he loved to laugh.”
So what was Reverend Clark’s secret? Reverend Clark obeyed almost everything the bible says you need to do to live a sickness free long happy productive life. Each week in this blog we will share with you what we, Reverend Clark and numerous other people have discovered about abundant healthful living. Reverend Clark lived to be 109 years young and full of life.
In Deuteronomy 33:25 God states that he wants our “strength to equal our days” Reverend Clark’s strength was equal to his days. The bible states, “Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. Deuteronomy 34:7
I am here to tell you that you can do it too! Why? Because God has said it, and other people are experiencing it, why not you? Someone is going to live to be a hundred and healthy, might as well be you!
So let’s start with the most important thing Reverend Clark did. He ate red meat twice a day. I know you have been told that red meat is bad for you. Have you noticed that the people who are telling us that, and avoiding red meat, have all kinds of health problems when they get past 60. So forget what the so called “experts” say and listen to and follow God’s Word.
“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Say to the Israelites: Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: You may eat any animal that has a split hoof completely divided and that chews the cud.’” Leviticus 11:1-3
God must have felt that this was important because it is the first food mentioned in the law. The animals included in this list are cattle, bison, deer, antelope, elk, sheep, and goats. These animals provide us with the food we call red meat. Just a note; there are many differing opinions as to what constitutes red and white meat, so when we use the terms, red meat or white meat, we are using the criteria found in Leviticus 11:1-3. So we would call beef, elk and sheep red meat as opposed to pork, horse, cat and dog which are white meat because they do not chew the cud or they do not have a split hoof.
In a study done by the University of Chicago, weanling rats were fed two diets. Half were given a perfect vegan diet of 100% grains, fruits and nuts, while the other half were fed the same grain, fruits and nuts with the addition of red meat, milk and eggs. The vegan rats lived an average of 555 days and the meat-eating rats lived an average of 1020 days, almost twice as long. 4
Some people have complained about that study because they point out that we aren’t rats. They have a good point, though our digestive system is similar and is the reason rats are used as an indicator for humans in tests.
So to put that argument to rest, a study was done by the state of Colorado, which is probably one of the most conclusive studies done to determine what it takes for humans to live long healthy lives. This study proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that God’s laws concerning eating red meat were for our benefit. This study was published in the Denver Post.5 The people conducting the study interviewed all the known centenarians living in Colorado (people who were more than 100 years old). What they found was astonishing. They sat down with all 415 of them; the oldest was 115 years young. They asked them five pages of questions to determine what factors, if any, might have contributed to their long lives. The questions included such things, as “are you male or female, what nationality or race are you”, along with other genetic factors. Then they asked them environmental questions, such as what they ate, how physically active they were, etc. Of all the hundreds of questions, there was only one question that they all answered the same. Every one of them ate lots of red meat.
There wasn’t a vegan or vegetarian in the bunch. In fact, they all said that they ate red meat at least twice a day. Not one of them was on the Mediterranean diet (fish, foul and vegetables), not only had their consumption of red meat not hurt them, but instead, it proved that… eating red meat is the very thing that must be done to live past 100.
I mentioned earlier that I had the pleasure of having lunch with Reverend Otis Clark who was 105 years old when I met him. At lunch I mentioned the Colorado study and asked if red meat was a part of his diet. Before he could answer, his daughter exclaimed, “not only does he eat red meat, but he has it twice a day” just like all the other people in the Colorado study. “He has steak and eggs every morning and some form of red meat for dinner every night.” You may find this odd in a health blog but we were having lunch at Burger King in Longview Washington. Reverend Clark was eating a hamburger patty without the bun and drinking milk, no white bread, no condiments, just red meat and milk. Otis Clark has been pursuing this Biblical lifestyle since the 1920’s. Otis has simply obeyed God’s word about food, thinking, prayer, rest, etc…and it has allowed him to live a full, loving lifespan.6 If you follow us every Saturday we will give you all that God says about living large, happy productive lives. The truly sad fact, and the reason we feel this blog is so important is that a lot of Christians are dying young. Many of them have been serving Jesus right up to a disabling illness or premature death. They missed a full lifespan because they were never taught what the bible says about food, specifically red meat.
Many people say they don’t want to live long because they think they wil be a burden on others. Another fact about the Colorado study is that 82% of the centenarians in the study were still physically active, working and living productive, enjoyable lives, past the age of 100. 5
A study that looked at depression in adults determined that people who do not eat meat are 30-50% more likely to suffer from depression than people who do eat meat.7 The Journal of the American Medical Association published a study that said with a 9% increase in red meat intake you could expect a 45% decrease in your chances of a stroke. 5
So if you want avoid strokes and depression or if you want to have any chance of living healthfully past 100, you’re going to have to take the Bible’s advice and eat red meat. Most people I talk to are delighted to hear this. God does warn us in Leviticus 3:16-17 not to eat the fat or the blood of these or any animals. Blood and fat are full of toxins. It is presumably for the same reason we are not to eat organ meats, (kidneys, intestines, heart, brain, etc.) so lean red meat, not organs, at least twice a day is a great start toward a healthier longer life.
Stay tuned to this blog each Saturday join us and the Wellness Gospel Team. Together we will help our families and friends “remove all sickness from them and live a full lifespan”
God’s “Plan A” – is Divine health.
The only consistent path to sickness free living, is to spend time each day with the great physician, Jesus Christ, and follow his advice.
Exodus 23:25-26 says that if we obey God’s commandments, He will… “take away sickness from among you” and that He will… “give you a full life span.”