Healing, Health And Medicine

In a perfect world we would all be healthy and in Heaven there is no more crying or sickness or pain. Death - the eventual and final result of sickness will be no more - in Heaven. The victory has been won. However in a fallen world God has made certain
obvious provisions for healing:

1. God designed our bodies and their immune systems to defend us, heal us and repair us. I am not a medical practitioner but I am told by them that the immune system is so good that ""its amazing that we ever get sick".
   
   
2. He has given us wisdom on how to stay healthy - especially by obeying His laws and lifestyle.
   
   
3. He has, in the answer to the prayers of millions of Christians, "given the doctors wisdom" so that at a societal level we are seeing amazing medical breakthroughs.
   
   
4. He has created certain plants which have healing properties and even in Heaven the leaves of the trees there will "be for the healing of the nations".
   
   
5. He has given the Church the mandate to heal the sick in the name of Jesus Christ.

God has designed this multi-faceted healing system so that those without the gospel might not also be without help for their illnesses.God places some form of healing within reach of every person and the most powerful and instantaneous form of healing in the hands of His Church. He is a God of compassion.

God wishes that those who call upon His name might call upon Him first when they are sick. The instructions to sick Christians are found in James (James 5:14-16 NKJV) Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. {15} And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. {16} Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Thus the first port of call for a sick Christian should be the healing ministry of the local church. However this has fallen into disrepair. Few churches have a reliable and powerful healing ministry though some do. Even in this paucity of effective healing we should call on God first of all.

Secondly God has placed within us an amazing immune system that will protect us if we keep ourselves healthy. Therefore we should remember our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and live in holiness, and with a lifestyle that is free from over-indulgence, gluttony, drunkenness and promiscuity. These three things - drunkenness, gluttony and promiscuity cause many of the health problems in Western society.

Good, Neutral and Bad Medicine

"Bad medicine"is the medicine of the witch-doctor, shaman or medicine man, the medicine of the quack healer, the New Age hypnotist, the witch and the magician. It has no intrinsic value - the medicine man's rattle will not heal anyone by itself. This kind of medicine requires some kind of occult influence such as a spell or incantation in order to work. It is witchcraft. In the Old Testament when people turned to such sources for help they were severely rebuked. It can harden the spirit to God and in some cases precipitate mental illness.

"Neutral Medicine"is the medicine of doctors, hospitals and home remedies. This medicine relies neither on God nor on spells. It works by itself. Anti-venene works in a believer, unbeliever, Buddhist or Christian. However it tends to only heal the body and not affect the soul or spirit. No-one gets saved through pills. The Bible makes no comment in general except for a few "home remedies" such as "take a little wine for your stomach.." etc.

"Good Medicine"is the healing that is available in Christ Jesus and which points to God and which can cause someone to find Jesus and be saved body, soul and spirit. It is quite capable of working in combination with "neutral medicine" but not with "bad medicine" with which it is in direct conflict.

The Health Food Shop

The question arises - is the stuff in the health food shop "bad medicine" or "neutral medicine". Here you have to show discernment. If it requires a spell or incantation to be said or is labeled as being an item for Wicca, Magic or Witchcraft then avoid it! If it is Vitamin C that works on its own then that is neutral medicine. Things like vitamins, rose-hip oil, camomile tea, and valerian are neutral - they work by themselves and are natural, plant-based medicines. I personally take the precaution of saying a quick prayer over anything bought in such a shop which goes "I bind any occult influences that may have been put on this product in Jesus name. Amen" - then I use it - providing it is neutral to begin with. 1 Corinthians chapters 8 and 10 and Romans 14 are very instructive in this regard.

Do I Throw My Pills Away "By Faith"

No. God has given people wisdom to produce pills and to diagnose and treat illnesses and we need to receive His grace through them as well as directly through the healing ministry of the local church. To argue that divine healing is the only "spiritual" way to be healed is poor theology. To be blunt - if you are going to throw away your pills why not throw away your immune system as well so you can really rely on God? If healing by 'natural' means is wrong then your immune system is wrong too! The only healing that is wrong is healing through occult sources.

 

This article may be freely reproduced for non-profit ministry purposes but may not be sold in any way. For permission to use articles in your ministry, e-mail the editor, John Edmiston at johned@aibi.ph.