Guidelines for Maximized Health
BOOK REVIEW

By Stanley O. Williford
Director of Publications

Dr. Leslie L. Bostick is first a Christian and second a medical doctor.  She makes clear the doctor’s position in the introduction of her book, Guidelines for Maximized Health: The Power of Faith and Medicine, when she writes:

“The doctor cannot control what happens in a patient’s body, but God can. This in no way diminishes the role of the doctor, but doctors are not healers; only Jesus is.”  

The first line of the first chapter makes the doctor’s position even clearer:

“Many believers have the mistaken perception that when a disease or a symptom is present in their bodies, they have a choice between seeing a physician or believing God for their healing. There is no such choice, because the two are not comparable, but complementary.”

That statement should be a warning to those who put all their faith in medicine and none, or very little, in the healing power of God when, in fact, Jesus is the healer. And it should also be a warning to those who are so afraid to see a doctor that they let their condition deteriorate to the point where they need a miracle to recover.

Dr. Bostick cites Acts 3:1-8, which records an incident where the disciples Peter and John encountered a man who had been lame all his life. He sat at the gate called Beautiful everyday begging for money.

Peter told the man that he had neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I offer you. Then he told the man:

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

And he took him by the right hand lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them – walking, leaping and praising God.

The power of Jesus healed the man. That power is in His Name.

Concerning disease, Dr. Bostick notes:

“Physicians treat disease.  They do not heal disease.  Doctors treat the symptoms before the disease gets out of control and destroys the body.”

This was evident in the woman with the issue of blood, found in Mark 5:25-34:

The woman had a flow of blood for twelve years and the doctors had not been able to heal her.  But when she touched Jesus’s garments, the Bible records this:

Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.

What did Jesus say to her when he found out she had touched his clothes?

And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

“By believing in Jesus as her Healer,” Dr. Bostick continues, “she received healing for her body. My point here is that if the woman had not been treated by her doctors over those twelve years, she might have died from her condition before learning about Jesus.

“One of Satan’s greatest deceptions is to convince believers that if they see a doctor for a symptom or a condition, they are not acting in faith.  He convinces them that their faith is weak if they don’t simply believe God for their healing.”

Chapter 2 of Dr. Bostick’s book is titled Nutritional Guidelines.

She reminds the reader that man is a tripartite being: “He is a spirit, he has a soul, and he lives in a physical body. To grow and develop, the spirit man must have a steady diet of God’s Word, just as the physical body must have a steady diet of natural foods for optimum growth.”

She discusses the four basic food groups:

1. Fruits and vegetables
2. Whole grains and breads
3. Milk group (low-fat milk and low-fat cheese)
4. Meats and legumes

She cautions that no more than two servings of meat products should be taken per day.

The fat and cholesterol in meats are what cause hardening of the arteries, which leads to high blood pressure and heart disease. Among those foods that are high in cholesterol are shellfish – shrimp, lobster, scallops, oysters and clams. “Other foods high in fat and cholesterol include organ meats (such as liver), sausage, bacon and processed luncheon meats,” she writes.

However, she does not propose a vegetarian lifestyle. To those who maintain that Adam and Eve’s diet consisted only of herbs, grains, fruits and green vegetables, she reminds them that that was true before Adam and Eve fell. She reminds the reader that “when the Lord’s angels visited Abraham . . . he served them calf meat, which is very high in protein (Genesis 18-8).” Also, “when God was preparing Elijah for war, the ravens brought him flesh.”

In Chapter 2, Guidelines for Achieving and Maintaining Good Health, she makes these twelve recommendations:

1. Every adult person should be seen by a physician for an annual physical exam to check his or her blood pressure, bowel regularity, cholesterol level, diet, and glucose (sugar) level.
2. Every woman should perform a breast exam on herself every month.
3. Every woman should be seen by her obstetrician/gynecologist (OB/GYN) on a regular basis to have her reproductive organs examined.
4. Every man over the age of 50 should have an annual prostate exam and prostatic specific antigen (PSA) blood test by his doctor to detect early prostate cancer.
5. Everyone should exercise at least twice a week.
6. Infants and children need regular physical exams, which include updating of immunizations.
7. Medications for high blood pressure, asthma, seizures, or any other medical problems, should not be discontinued or taken less frequently until instructed to do so by a physician.
8. Any physical changes noted in the body should be brought to the attention of a physician.
9. Ask questions about procedures and possible outcomes of these procedures. Physicians are obligated to tell their patients and/or loved ones all possible outcomes of a disease.
10. Medicine has its limitations based on scientific knowledge.
11. Medicine does not heal chronic diseases to the point where they are no longer present.
12. Everyone should practice a preventive lifestyle.

This book is filled with biblical references, medical wisdom and just great advice.

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