Before we go deeply into medical science, there are many things about health and the human life span that everyone should know.

If medical science were truly the art of healing, the number of sick would steadily decrease and life would be prolonged. After centuries of medicine, if it had accomplished what it was supposed to, all the gravest diseases would certainly have been conquered and illness would have become only a memory of the past. The reality is just the opposite. What is practiced today could not possibly be true medicine. Closely related is the human life span, which God determined when He made man. He has shown me that the natural life span should be between one hundred-twenty to six hundred years. If we had not deviated from God’s path, human life would have been much longer than it is, at least one hundred — twenty years. That would mean many more years to live, in good health, without any fear of illness. It would, in fact, be a paradise for us.

Medicine is what has led us astray from God’s path, but to help you understand how natural the “one hundred — twenty year lifespan is, let me explain with a simple illustration. We can compare human life to the twelve— month cycle of nature, of the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. Spring begins in January and New Year’s Day is the birthday of all people. January represents the time of infancy and childhood, and February, the season of plum blossoms, is the time of youth. Then, just before the cherry blossoms bloom, youth reaches its height. After youth a man becomes independent and ventures forth into the world. When cherry blossoms are at their pealc and people feel light-hearted, man reaches his most active period. In Japan, forty—two is a man’s “critical age,” symbolized by the scattering of the blossoms as in the saying, “By a sudden wind, blossoms fall overnight.” Then begins the season of fresh green grass and the many leaves of summer, the time when boughs are heavily laden with fruit. That season passes, the warm weather fades and the autumn harvest comes. So it is with man. I-us labors have at last borne fruit and he now receives public acknowledgement. His grandchildren are increasing and he enters another period, the late autumn of his life. He is happy in his children and theirs. He makes the best of his experience and for a prolonged period he can help others. With the trust they have built in him, he does as much good for the world as he can. He reaches a ripe age of ninety or so, his “winter season.” He is ready to spend his remaining years in peace, taking special delight in nature during its seasons, yet continuing actively at work as long as he wishes.

To see human life in its four “seasons” is a way to interpret the revelation that man’s natural life span should be one hundred—twenty years, and so there is nothing strange in expecting. To live at least that long when medical treatment disappears completely. Among all the methods of treatment for illness, drugs were the most heavily used until the twentieth century. Over such a long period of time, however, it has produced a multitude of diseases. Most often people tried to cure them with more medicine, causing still more disease. At the same time the number of years of life have reduced beyond even the natural minimum. If medical science were truly advancing diseases should be dying out, but the variety has actually increased in proportion to the new medicines developed and used. One more important point to think about is that if medical science could actually cure disease, doctors and their families should be much healthier than others. In reality, however, they seem to have more health problems than anyone else. It is often said that medical doctors die sooner than other kinds of doctors, and their families are generally physically weaker and more inclined to contract diseases than other persons.

If we exclude accidental death, almost all deaths today result from disease. It can be a tortured process, making one wish that the doctor could put an end to the suffering. People go through such agony simply because they are being forced to die before the natural conclusion of their life span. When leaves fall, when grass withers, when rice is harvested, each is experiencing a natural process of life. But if a branch is broken off by violence, if grass is torn out while it is still green, if rice is reaped before it is ripe, that is an unnatural death. So it is with human beings who die from disease before their allotted time. They should be allowed to live out their life to the full. But modern man has become weak, and instead of living out his normal life-span, the most he can hope for is only about ninety or one hundred years and that today is considered “natural death.” God gave us at least one hundred-twenty years of life so we may work and live those years in a perfect state of health, knowing no illness. But man was foolish and invented by himself the suffering of disease and a foreshortened life. Such ignorance inspires more than pity; it fills one with deep compassion for human blindness.