HEALING

FAITH OR MEDICINE?

John M. Conrad

     

     Yeshua declares in John 8:32 “Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” In John 14:6 He refines this statement saying “I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life;” These pervasive declarations imply that Yeshua is not just theological truth, but that He is all truth. As Paul says in Romans 1--His invisible attributes are clearly seen in what He has made.  To successfully follow our Messiah, a love of truth is a prerequisite.

Sometimes truth is easy to apprehend—we merely need to observe. It was a bad day for the Flat Earth Society when the astronauts in space snapped a picture of our beautiful planet—a blue, green sphere. Other times truth is multifaceted and requires more research. The topic I will address falls into this category. The place of doctors and medicine in the life of a believer.

     The story of King Josiah, one of the really good kings of the southern kingdom of Judah, points to a formidable obstacle in receiving truth. When faced with a traditional and scriptural foe, Neco the King of Egypt, Josiah could not hear the truth. God spoke through Neco and told Josiah not to fight Neco as Neco’s opponent was not Josiah but the king of Assyria. Because of his failure to hear the truth from Neco, Josiah died. I fear many view modern medicine as the enemy and prefer death to hearing the truth from the mouth of modern medicine. 

     I am the child of a mother who had a fierce and unchanging faith in God. Her example of resolute  faithfulness inspires me. However, Mom believed that doctors and faith were inimical—mutually exclusive. You were either healed by faith or by leaning on the arm of flesh, i.e. doctors. Part of this came from negative experiences with doctors especially through the birth of eight children, six of the births caesareans. One of her doctors treated her so dismissively she refused to see him again until forced to do so by the emergency birth of my younger brother. My mother was not allowed to see her baby for a week because of some medical precaution she viewed as revenge. She did not like doctors.

     Also, Mom’s skepticism of medical procedures proved justified in some cases. When she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, the doctor told her she needed anti-inflammatory steroids and a diet consisting of highly refined flour and bland food. No chance. She ate whole wheat bread, fruits and vegetables. Late in life when she developed Alzheimers there was no trace of colitis. Of course, we know now that a bland diet is contraindicated in ulcerative colitis. Doctors can be wrong. Sometimes what seems to be common sense is dead wrong.

     Growing up in a small Christian community, I was subjected to a series of home-style therapies: Sore throats swabbed with Merthiolate, bread and milk poultices for ingrown toenails, mustard and onion plasters for lung congestion, an awful assortment of teas for every disease imaginable—wormwood, sassafras, yarrow, Brigham, etc. To this day hearing the word “tea” triggers tremors of revulsion within me.

     A love of science and animals directed me to the study of veterinary medicine. I was curious about the attitudes I saw growing up—both in my mother and other people. The founder of our fellowship was a chiropractor and naturopathic physician. He convinced my mother to forego polio vaccinations on our family. I didn’t think too much about this until I was introduced to a classmate, Janet, who had one leg significantly shorter than the other. She was a bright girl but required crutches to get around—a victim of childhood polio who had not been vaccinated.

     As I studied medicine in college, I immediately recognized that a lot of the information I learned growing up was either wrong or at least biased. A good doctor, whether human or veterinarian, is like a farmer. He tries to put the body in a position to heal itself—he is unable to heal bones, fix impaired organs, or cause skin to cover a defect. Through knowledge of the body’s internal healing mechanisms he works with the body to help it restore normal function. 

     A doctor is no more anti-faith than a farmer. No farmer sits in his house and prays for a crop of alfalfa. He plows and discs the ground. He sows seed and fertilizes. He either irrigates the crop or prays for rain. He takes measures to reduce weeds and pests. He works hard to ensure a good crop. But he can’t make one seed germinate or one plant grow tall and strong. God alone can do this. He uses his knowledge of the crop, the ground, the environment to give him the best chance of success. In the end it all depends on mysteries that only God controls.

     Medicine studies the body and its processes—what makes it work and run smoothly. Many of the things I had been taught to regard with suspicion actually save lives. Vaccines, antibiotics, and the cursed “drugs” can be valuable in alleviating pain and allowing healing to occur. Before throwing your hands up in disgust, just let me mention a couple of specific areas where misinformation permeates the thinking of many.

     I have a book from a man prominent in the natural theories of disease. He professes a Ph D in microbiology. However, he talks about cell walls in animals—they don’t exist. Any high school biology student with a microscope knows this. He talks about pleomorphism—bacteria changing into yeast, yeast into fungi, fungi into bacteria. Impossible—what determines the nature of an organism is its DNA. Like begets like—this is Biblical truth. He then speaks about the basis of disease as being an acid/base balance. When we are too acidic the bad forms grow and produce toxins. Alkaline or base physiological systems are more healthy and prevent tumors and other diseases from assaulting our bodies. Here again, his ignorance shows. He has obviously never measured the pH of a physiological system. He thinks he can tell your acid/base balance by measuring urine salts. Our pH is regulated within a very narrow range of 7.35 -7.45 with 7.0 being neutral. This means the body is always slightly alkaline. When outside this range we immediately evidence disease symptoms and outside 6.8 or 7.8 death comes on rapidly. Some of his dietary recommendations are helpful—more vegetables—but some things he proscribes—meat, whole grains, fruits—are very good for you.

     The truth is that disease is always a result of at least three factors: the host (you), the agent (bacteria, virus, yeast, injury, etc.) and the environment. The reason that common viral rhinitis is called a “cold” is because it is so often seen when inclement weather compromises our resistance and we fall ill to viral invasion. While some diseases are not mediated by germs, many are. The germ theory of disease is in no danger of being overthrown. Consider the following true story.

     Dr. Semmelweis was in charge of the maternity wards at the Vienna General Hospital in 1846. He faced a perplexing situation. Women giving birth in the wards attended by midwives experienced 4% death rates due to puerperal (childbed) fever but 10% died of the condition in wards attended by physicians. Semmelweiss observed doctors coming directly from autopsies to attend maternity patients. He deduced that something on the surgeons hands or gowns  was making the women sick. So he asked the surgeons to change their gowns and wash their hands in chlorinated lime before attending to their maternity patients. Voila! The death rates dropped to less than 1% in some wards. Sadly because the germ theory of disease was not yet understood he had no rationale to back up his protocols. It irritated surgeons and doctors to alter their routines. Thus they refused to change their practices. So women continued to die.

     Louis Pasteur is the one who perfected the germ theory of disease and showed that microscopic life forms frequently caused disease. He developed a rabies vaccine that could be administered to people even after exposure to rabies through animal bites. In 350 cases of exposure to rabies Pasteur’s vaccine failed only once—and then because the virus had already attacked the victim’s nervous system. Up until the time of Pasteur’s vaccine, rabies was 100% fatal.

     Smallpox devastated much of the old world for millennia. It is thought 7 million people died of the Plague of Antonine (smallpox) in 108 CE and that this plague may have contributed to the weakening of the Roman Empire. Depending upon various factors, mortality rates ranged from 20-60 % in the 18th century with rates in infants approaching 100%. Although about a third of survivors went blind, a positive was noted for those having the disease. They were resistant to new infection.

     The led to a practice called variolation or inoculation. A small amount of the material from a small pox pustule was introduced by lancet into the skin of an uninfected person. Generally this caused a local lesion but prevented later disease in most cases. In the American colonies the practice was introduced. “During the great epidemic of 1721, approximately half of Boston’s 12,000 citizens contracted smallpox. The fatality rate for the naturally contracted disease was 14%, whereas Boylston and Mather reported a mortality rate of only 2% among variolated individuals (12). This may have been the first time that comparative analysis was used to evaluate a medical procedure.” Proceedings of the Baylor University Medical Center January 2005 v.18

     Edward Jenner made use of folk knowledge in 18th century Britain. Dairy maids appeared to be immune to infection from small pox. Upon investigation it appeared the immunity was being conferred through infection with cow pox a common udder disease of dairy cows. In 1796 Jenner injected a young boy, James Phipps, with matter from a cow pox lesion. Later when he injected him with matter from a small pox pustule the boy suffered no ill effects. Thus the modern discipline of immunology and vaccination was born.

     In 1922 a British scientist made a chance discovery while viewing bacterial colonies in a Petri dish. Accidentally his nose dripped onto the colonies. The bacteria were instantly killed. Alexander Fleming had discovered lysozyme, an enzyme in saliva and tears that killed bacteria but which did not harm the person.

     This discovery spurred Fleming on a search to find substances which could be used to treat bacterial infections in people without harming or killing them. By accident in 1928 he discovered that the mold Penicillium produced a substance that killed all the Staph colonies that came into contact with it. Not being a chemist he had no idea how to use this substance practically. It was not until 1940 that an Australian scientist Howard Florey working with a German refugee scientist Ernest Chain developed a practical process to produce massive amounts of penicillin. This proved to be life saving for thousands of wounded soldiers in WWII and also proved useful in treating diphtheria, tuberculosis, and pneumonia.

     I have spent a little time showing the development of medicine in a few of its disciplines. However, it is impossible for anyone to begin to measure the impact of these discoveries upon human wellbeing and longevity. The reduction in childhood deaths and overall mortality rates was staggering. Medicine can be good. Yeshua referred to physicians saying, Matthew 9:12   “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.” In Colossians 4:14 Luke is referred to as the “beloved physician.” These references clearly are not pejorative nor do they paint physicians in a bad light.

     One area of concern for many people is the origin of the word pharmaceutical or pharmacy. We find the Greek root for these terms used in the Bible 5 times. Twice as pharmakeia Strongs 5331 (Galatians 5:20 and Revelation 18:23) and three times as pharmakeus Strongs 5332 (Revelation 9:21, 21:8, 22:15). In the King James version the word is always translated sorcery, sorceries, sorcerer or as witchcraft. In the NAU the word is invariably translated as some form of sorcery. 

     NT:5331 pharmakeia (far-mak-i’-ah); from NT:5332; medication (“pharmacy”), i.e. (by extension) magic (literally or figuratively): KJV - sorcery, witchcraft.

     NT:5332 pharmakeus (far-mak-yoos’); from pharmakon (a drug, i.e. spell-giving potion); a druggist (“pharmacist”) or poisoner, i.e. (by extension) a magician: KJV - sorcerer.

     A pharmaceutical product, often called a drug, is medicine. If it can be shown that sorcery or witchcraft is any part of its compounding than clearly we should avoid it. However, a word does not mean what it came from, it means what the hearer takes it to mean now. In Proverbs 17:22 we read “A merry heart is good medicine.” This seems to say both a merry heart and good medicine are desirable. 

Dihydrogen oxide, hydrogen hydroxide, and “H 2 O” all refer to water. Changing the name does nothing to its chemical composition or its impact in the body. The terms pharmakeia, drug, medicine, herbs, minerals, vitamins must be more specifically defined to decide if we want to take them into our bodies.

A totally arbitrary delineation has to do with “natural” and “synthetic.” Our bodies can’t distinguish water we drink from rain (naturally distilled) from water going through an extensive chemically purifying process such as desalinization. Both end products are good and useful. Hemlock is natural and will kill you quickly. I have seen many animals die of nitrate toxicity from frozen sorghum and oats. It is a natural toxin but they are still dead. Sometimes these same plants will contain cyanide—again natural but extremely toxic. 

     Penicillin is a natural substance produced by a mold. Why does it become “pharmakeia” when we synthesize it and make vast amounts of it? Most antibiotics are discovered in nature and then synthesized—in general they are natural substances. Aspirin was discovered when it was found that tea from the bark of the willow tree was very effective in curbing inflammation and reducing fever. I know people who refuse to take Aspirin because it is a drug but will take other herbs with far less efficacy because they are “natural.” The leaves of the foxglove plant were found to help people with dropsy (edema due to congestive heart failure.) When you purify the active ingredient you have digitalis—one of the most effective cardiac products still in use today for many cardiac conditions. The difference between herb and pharmaceutical drug is often only one of chemical purity.

     There was a radio program in our area that promoted natural healing solutions. Many of their ideas were good and helpful. However, they constantly derided the medical profession as “Dr. Demon and Dr. Dum-Dum” and talked about the poison the medical profession conspires to give unsuspecting patients. The programs spoke of herbs and natural products that were good for different body systems. Sometimes they may have been right. However, no one recommending the products or making them had ever seen a liver, viewed it on an ultrasound or other diagnostic device nor had they ever looked at a panel that measured liver enzymes to know what actually improves liver function. We should at least demand some level of accountability in our natural health providers.

     At least use caution when listening to this kind of advice—it could cost you your life. Also be careful of any medical advice that speaks of toxins or poisons and does not identify specific toxic agents or mention dose ranges. A poison is often just a necessary nutrient that is given at too high a level. Selenium is an essential trace element necessary for good health. However, at too high levels it is very toxic and can cause sickness and fatality. Vague notions of toxins are usually unsubstantiated and an excuse to sell you something you don’t need. We do not have toxins roaming around in our digestive tracts nor lingering next to our skin nor the soles of our feet. 

     The long and short of it. The name of something and how it was made are not determinative. The questions that must be answered are: Does it work? Does it have long term detrimental impact on the body? Certainly, as believers, we want nothing to do with anything magic or occult.

     My plea to those of you reading this is to learn to love the truth above all your prejudices and long term biases. Don’t be afraid to check with a doctor when you are sick. Get another opinion if you don’t like either the diagnosis or the treatment. Doctors can be wrong. Also in our instant gratification world, doctors tend to prescribe short term fixes for problems that demand long term changes. If you are overweight, consume vast amounts of sugar and highly refined food, you know at least one thing you need to do. Discipline your body—eat right and exercise. 

     Another big fallacy is to advocate use of a treatment or regimen through testimonials. Testimonials have very limited value in determining what we should take or prescribe. Winston Churchill smoked cigars, drank hard liquor excessively and consumed fatty, rich foods. He lived to be 90. His lifestyle could seem to be a testament to the longevity conferred by these habits. However, if we examine a population of 1000 people who follow Churchill’s regimen and compare it to 1000 other people who are very similar to our first 1000 people except they forego cigar smoking, heavy drinking and consumption of fatty, rich food we begin to see the actual impact of his lifestyle. Demand this type of proof when evaluating possible therapies or treatments.

     If you remember the statistical analysis of the smallpox epidemic in 1720’s Boston, 2% of those inoculated died compared to 14% of those who contracted smallpox. To the 2% who died inoculation was a failure. To an epidemiologist inoculation was a very good idea and had a strong positive statistical advantage. While we would never tolerate 2% fatalities from vaccines today, all medications have side effects and sometimes result in death. To help put this in perspective most of us ride in cars, trains, and fly in airplanes. These means of conveyance get us places with much less effort and much faster than our legs or horses. However, there were approximately 34,000 deaths from car accidents in 2012. This does not include numerous serious injuries and permanent physical impairments also caused by car accidents. As terrible as these results are, we as a society have decided that we will take the risk because of the overwhelming benefits of modern transportation. In fact we must admit that modern means of transportation also save many lives.

     Just as you may choose not to drive 80 on an icy road or fly into a hurricane, there are medical procedures that you may choose to forego. Evaluate all your options—listen to your chiropractor, your naturopath, your family doctor and your surgeon and decide what is in your best long term interests. Don’t fall into Josiah’s trap—don’t discredit advice because of historical antipathy to its source. 

     In Deuteronomy 30 God sets before Israel a choice. This choice boils down to life and death. While the context is certainly spiritual and religious it makes sense to make decisions that are best for our bodies. As temples of the Holy Spirit our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made. Part of honoring God with our bodies is treating our body well. My prayer is that none of us would decline life saving treatment out of fear or a sense that God would prefer that we suffer. May He bless us all.