Christians, Medicine, and Faith Healing

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.