It’s a brief history: The world, the universe, mankind, all creatures big and small, have been here just 150 generations or so.  For just over 6,000 years, what we see and know has existed, has history.  To the everlasting God—who is eternal, who is from everlasting to everlasting—this span of time is barely a blip on the radar screen.  Walking with Christ Jesus and sitting in heavenly places, being aware that the heavens are God’s throne and that the earth is His footstool (Isaiah 66:1), that men are as grasshoppers and nations but a drop in the bucket, bring things into perspective. 

The only thing of real value are eternal souls.  Accumulation of great wealth, power, or beauty, etc., returns to the dust from which it has come.  Soon we will all die.  Mortality will have had its way, or the great taking up of the church will have happened, and all of the redeemed, the born-again, will meet King Jesus in the clouds.  Those who reject Christ will die in their sins and go on to their reward.  In any case, we will have been transformed from mortality to immortality.  This brief history ends and eternity begins.  To some, this marks the beginning of glorious, beautiful, eternal life, but to others (the very most), it marks the beginning of eternal, damnable, cognizant doom (and this eternity never ends).  God puts only two options before man—life or death—and He asks us to choose.  Have you chosen life?  Have you chosen eternal life in Jesus Christ?  Do it today while you still have time.  Click onto “Further With Jesus” for an immediate solution.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Deuteronomy 8:7-9:

7.  For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;

8.  A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;

9.  A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.      

MAN SAID: The Bible has no real relevance for today’s enlightened society.  Its teachings are just wrong-headed.

Now THE RECORD.  The subject today is olive oil.  This is the fourth feature article on the topic of God’s magnificent olive oil.  The features that preceded this one are truly astounding.  They’re listed at the end of this article for your review.

In nearly 200 instances in the Scriptures, God speaks of oil, and when He identifies it, we find that it’s olive oil.  When God endorses something so heavily, the wise embrace it.  GodSaidManSaid first published the truth about olive oil nearly 35 years ago, long before the concept was cool.  We are not here because it is now popular.  We are here because it is God’s Word and His Word is truth.  Lining up with the Word of God is a demonstration of our love for Him, and the colossal benefits of this lining up are a demonstration of His love for us.  It is so utterly amazing!

When the scriptures are so emphatically clear, why does man insist on disobedience?  The answer is so very obvious to the students of God’s Word.  It’s a matter of inheritance; like mother, like daughter; like father, like son.  Great-Grandma Eve, in an act of unbelief and disobedience, chose Satan’s lies over her Creator’s truths.  It’s easy to believe a lie and reject truth.  It just comes naturally.

The horrendous damage measured in lives, pain, sorrow, and financial cost caused by carnal wisdom’s chronic casting off of the Word of God concerning things like olive oil, butter, eggs, honey, whole milk, salt, and so much more, is staggering.  When one rejects truth, he inherits the results of his disobedience.  Galatians 6:7:

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

The following list of benefits, lifted from GodSaidManSaid’s first three articles on this highly God-endorsed product, will hopefully convince you to replace the bad look-alike products in your pantry with olive oil:

• Olive oil is a monounsaturated fat.

• It improves cholesterol levels.

• It reduces coronary heart disease.

• It lowers the bad LDL cholesterol.

• It reduces the need for blood-pressure medication.

• Olive oil knocks the popular sunflower oil for a loop.

• Increased consumption of olive oil reduces rates of arterial hypertension, obesity, and diabetes.

• Residents of Crete have the lowest rates of heart problems, cancer, and obesity in Europe because they use large amounts of virgin olive oil.

• Olive oil protects against breast cancer, while polyunsaturated fats in vegetable oil seem to enhance the risk.

• For every 10 grams of monounsaturates (olive oil) that a woman consumes daily, the risk of breast cancer falls 55%.  However, that risk increases by almost 70% for every five grams of polyunsaturates consumed per day.

• Olive oil creates the sensation of fullness.

• Olive oil improves digestion.

• Olive oil inhibits gastric acid secretion and has proven useful for gastric and duodenal ulcer patients.

• Olive oil is useful in decreasing gall stones.

• Olive oil delivers distinctive advantages over corn and sunflower oils.

• Olive oil reduces insulin requirements in diabetics and improves their lipidic profile

• Higher consumption rates of olive oil deliver lower levels of colon cancer.

• News story headline: “Olive Leaf Extract: A New/Old Healing Bonanza for Mankind.”

• Olive leaf extract fights HIV, Epstein-Barr, herpes, the flu, sore throats, and chronic sinusitis.

• The Hungarian government adopts olive leaf extract for its medicare system as its official anti-infectious disease remedy.

• Oleuropein (ah‑leh‑YOUR‑ah‑peen), found in the olive tree and isolated from the leaf, is credited with the phenomenal long life of the olive tree, which is said to be able to live for thousands of years.

• Olive leaf extract has been found to be effective against nearly 90 viruses. 

As science continues to plumb the depths of the secrets of God’s olive oil, the benefits continue to mount and dazzle in surprising ways.  The following paragraphs are from an article in the May 2007 issue of USA Weekend, written by Jean Carper:

It’s well known that trans fats—commonly found in commercially fried and baked food—can increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes.  But there’s another unexpected danger to younger women, finds a new Harvard study.

Eating too many trans fats could dramatically increase a woman’s odds of being infertile.  In fact, researchers determined that getting only 2% more calories from trans fats than from monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil, more than doubled the risk of infertility.  And getting 2% more calories from trans fats than from carbohydrates increased a woman’s risk by 73%.  [End of quote]

The latest article in the September 2007 issue of Life Extension magazine refers to new research that has rediscovered and reconfirmed some of the things already published on GodSaidManSaid.  It also highlights new discoveries that promise much greater things to come.  The following excerpts are from the Life Extension article, “Olive Oil:”

New research suggests that by incorporating healthful virgin olive oil in your daily diet, you may be able to protect yourself against not only cardiovascular disease, but also cancer and inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.  While many olive oils crowd the supermarket shelves, studies suggest that unrefined virgin olive oil may confer the greatest health-promoting benefits due to its high content of beneficial polyphenols. 

Abundant evidence supports the role of virgin olive oil in protecting against cardiovascular disease.  While it has long been known that olive oil helps decrease total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels, new research is shedding light on its additional cardiovascular benefits.

A recent study set out to measure the effects of three different classes of olive oil (containing low, medium, or high content of polyphenols) on plasma lipid levels and measures of oxidative stress.  In a crossover, controlled study design, 200 healthy men were randomly assigned to consume 25 mL of each type of olive oil each day for three weeks, preceded by a two-week washout period.  Levels of LDL, HDL, blood sugar, triglycerides, and oxidative stress markers were measured following each intervention.  While triglyceride levels decreased similarly with all three types of olive oil, the polyphenol-rich virgin olive oil produced the greatest improvements in HDL level and the most dramatic decreases in oxidative stress markers.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, “Eating about 2 tablespoons of olive oil daily may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.  To achieve this possible benefit, olive oil is to replace a similar amount of saturated fat and increase the total number of calories you eat in a day.”  

Recently, oncology researchers were excited to discover that oleic acid, the main monounsaturated fatty acid in olive oil, may fight cancer by interacting with the human genome.  Oleic acid actually works to suppress the over-expression of a well-characterized oncogene that plays a key role in the etiology, invasive progression, and metastasis of several human cancers.  This remarkable finding could lead to the development of novel olive-oil-based cancer therapeutics.

Increased olive oil consumption has been linked with a decreased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease characterized by inflammation and pain, particularly in the joints.  A clinical trial revealed that rheumatoid arthritis patients who supplemented with olive oil and fish oil experienced greater improvements in clinical measurements of the disease than did patients who supplemented with fish oil alone.  These exciting observations suggest that olive oil alone could help prevent rheumatoid arthritis and may restore mobility and function in those already affected by the disease.

Scientists have discovered that olive oil contains an anti-inflammatory substance called oleocanthal.  During preliminary studies, they noted that oleocanthal displayed a similar anti-inflammatory potency and profile to ibuprofen (Advil®), which is frequently used to relieve aches and pains.  These promising findings suggest that consuming olive oil might lessen the need to use common pain relievers.

Preliminary research showed that virgin olive oil contains compounds that exert “strong bactericidal activity against eight strains of Helicobacter pylori, three of which are resistant to some antibiotics.  These results open the possibility of considering olive oil a chemopreventive agent for peptic ulcer or gastric cancer,” reported the researchers.  [End of quote]

In the early 1970s, when we first reported on olive oil, alternative products such as lard, margarine, shortening such as Crisco, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, trans fats, etc., were promoted and endorsed by modern academia.  All these products are now tagged as known killers.

Those who disregard God’s Word incur damage.  Thousands of years before science began to know the reasons why, God said olive oil – wisdom that only the Creator would know.  This is just another proof that God is.