Should Christians take medicine, or simply rely
on faith healing?
Many
Christians have died throughout the ages because they were waiting for their
faith healing. They refused to receive medical help. Recently, many have died,
and are indeed dying of HIV/AIDS because they were told that they must just
believe, and God will heal them of their HIV.
What do
you believe? Is it okay for Christians to receive medical help? Is it lack of
faith to take medication when you are sick? Is it lack of trust in God as our
healer?
Let me
start by saying that the idea that because we are children of God, God will
heal us, is a demonic idea! It is the devil's idea. It is the trick that the
devil has always used. When the son of God himself, Jesus Christ, was being
tempted by the devil, the devil used this very idea. He said to Jesus "If
you are the Son of God...." Many Christians are being sold the same old
devilish idea that "If you are the son of God, God will heal you of
whatever disease you have". Nothing can be further from the truth. To
decide not to take antiretrovirals (ARVs) because God will heal us is testing
God. Testing God is something that Jesus said we must not do.
“... ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” (Matthew 4:7 NIV)
We
should never be tempted to think we are righteous to the point that God owes us
healing, wealth, happiness or whatever it is we desire, or that we have enough
faith to receive all these things.
One of
the wisest men who ever lived, at least according to the Bible, was Solomon.
Even in his day, there were men who destroyed themselves because they believed
this demonic lie. See what he says:
"Do not be
overrighteous, neither be overwise— why
destroy yourself? Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool— why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears
God will avoid all extremes." (Ecclesiastes 7:16-18 NIV)
There
are many who are dying before their time whilst they are waiting for their
healing. Take Dineo (not her real name). She was diagnosed with cancer. She
went to her doctor, and he decided to start her on chemotherapy treatment. She
was admitted into hospital. I went to visit her whilst she was in hospital. She
was doing well with the treatment. But a friend of hers came to visit her. She
told Dineo that she knows a place where they can pray for her and she will be
healed of her cancer.
Dineo
was now bed ridden. At this point, she would do anything to get healed. The
pain, the side effects of the chemotherapy, the fear of death, she wanted it
all to stop. So she decided she will try this prayer thing. She asked the
doctor to discharge her. Her mother went to the hospital and they signed the
papers that she be discharged even though it was against the doctor's advice.
They carried her into the car as she could not walk.
From the
hospital, her friend took them straight to the "Healing House". She
spent two weeks there. I don't know what they do in that two weeks. At the end
of the two weeks, it was time for healing. They prayed for her. And then the
"miracle" happened! She jumped up from her bed and ran around the
hall. She was "healed", or so they thought. From the "Healing
House"' they went straight to her sister to show her the miracle. It was
all joy. Dineo and her mother slept at her sister's place that day.
The
following morning Dineo was sick again. She asked her mother to take her to the
hospital. They washed her and put her in the car. She could not walk again. She
was admitted again into hospital. A day later she passed away from the cancer
that she was supposedly healed of. Her mother was devastated when I went to see
her. The healing pastor was not there at the funeral to bury her. Whatever
happened at the "Healing House" was not healing.
Dineo
did not need to die. I believe this confusion also comes from ignorance about
what medicine is. Let me explain. Naturally, when we eat food, our bodies
extract all the nutrients the body needs to be healthy, that is the vitamins,
proteins, iron, etc. However, because our bodies are no longer in the state
that God created them in, sometimes the body cannot absorb these nutrients.
After a while, the body becomes sick because it is not getting the nutrients.
Or the body gets infected with a virus, and the body cannot destroy the virus
because it does not have the vitamins it requires to kill the virus.
It is at
this point when the body can no longer naturally get its vitamins and proteins
from food that the medicine becomes necessary. Medicine is simply highly
concentrated nutrients which are extracted from plants. So when the sick person
takes a tablet for flu, they are actually supplementing their diet with what
the body needs at that time, in this case vitamin C. This is one of the reasons
the doctor will advise that you take your medication with meals. There are
other reasons. Therefore, medicine is nothing else but food with a high
concentration of a specific nutrient.
The same
way we eat food to stay healthy, we "eat" medication to stay healthy
or get healthy. We don't say, "Because I am the child of God, and I have
faith, I will not eat food because God will sustain me. After all, Jesus said
man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth
of God." That would be ludicrous. Those that believe christians should not
take medication are using the same erroneous logic. In some cases when you have
flu, and it is not so serious, the doctor may advise you to eat oranges because
they have vitamin C. In that case, the oranges are medication. The truth, though,
is that all food we eat IS medication. It is what makes us well and keep us
well.
When
Jesus' disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, he said they must pray to
God to "Give us today our daily bread." (Matthew 6:11 NIV). Why? Because we need food
to stay healthy. "Bread" here means that which sustains us, whether
bread, rice, pap, potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, etc. It is food. And in this
food, God has hidden all the nutrients your body needs.
Paul,
one of the greatest apostles of the church, the one whose shadow healed people
who touched it, did not pray for Timothy to be healed of his illnesses.
Instead, this is the advice he gave Timothy: "Stop drinking only water, and use a
little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses." (1 Timothy 5:23 NIV) In another incident, he actually left his
friend sick without getting him healed with prayer. "Say hello to Priscilla and Aquila;
also, the family of Onesiphorus. Erastus stayed behind in Corinth. I had to leave Trophimus sick in Miletus." (2 Timothy
4:19, 20 MSG). What?
Paul leaves somebody sick without praying for their healing? What is going on?
Well, what is going on is that God has purposed that we eat our broccoli and
veggies. They keep us healthy. And if we fall sick, we must eat our veggies,
failing which we must take our medication, which is a concentrated form of
veggies.
Does it
mean God does not intervene in a supernatural, miraculous way to give healing?
No, it doesn't mean that. He does intervene supernaturally, but he prefers the
natural way. The natural way is also a miracle of God. For a heart to keep
pumping from the day the baby is still in the womb until 100 years later
non-stop is a miracle we cannot explain. I know sometimes good diet is not
enough. If your parents died of cancer, chances are high that you will have it
too, despite eating your veggies. But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus
became a man like us, to take our body of flesh and blood, so that he could
heal it. When he returns, we will get a body like his, with no more pain and
sorrow, no more cancer, HIV, diabetes, or any other disease that afflicts us.
However, in this body we share in his suffering, even suffering that leads to
death.
In
expressing this hope of the future without disease, John gave this encouraging
imagery in the book of Revelation:
"Then the angel showed
me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of
God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the
center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life,
bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a
fresh crop each month. The leaves were
used for medicine to heal the nations. No longer will there be a curse upon
anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his
servants will worship him." (Revelation 22:1-3 NLT)
We look
forward to that day when
"there will be no more death or
sorrow or crying or pain.”
(Revelation 21:4 NLT) Today
when we pray for food, we are praying for healing, when we pray for
forgiveness, we are praying for healing, when we pray for his kingdom to come,
we are praying for healing, when we pray for his will to be done on earth, we
are praying for healing, when we pray to be kept from temptation, we are
praying for healing.
Whatever
you may be sick of today, I pray that God the Father, by the grace of Jesus
Christ, in the power of the Spirit, may give you the healing, whether naturally
or supernaturally! Amen.
