The Joy of Being a Christian Physician

Occasionally God allows us to see our role in the process of building His kingdom.  As health-care workers we are privileged to offer advice regarding the diseases that afflict our patients, bringing both comfort and healing to their bodies.  But treating the physical is only part of our calling.  God calls us to integrate our faith in the process as well as giving Him all the credit for the result.

In the International Saline course we learn about the importance of integrating faith and medicine to bring about healing of the body and healing of the soul.  We use faith flags to identify ourselves as people who believe in God and project the hope we have in Christ.

Recently, I received a call from a mother with a 10-year-old son who developed an abscess on his knee from a small wound.  She was very concerned because despite lancing the lesion and trying to remove the purulent material, the infection was getting worse.  This was quite painful for her son.  The next step would be to go to the hospital which neither the mother nor the child was eager to do.  What else could be done?

Normally, I do not recommend treating patients over the phone.   But on those occasions when I do, I tell the patient what to expect and when to call back so they don’t develop a false sense of security and delay more appropriate treatment, creating a worse situation.  I prescribed an antibiotic, warm compresses three times a day and gave specific directions about what to expect.  I told her I would be praying for her son.

After several days I called to learn what happened and this is what she told me.

“After the first day of antibiotics we were not really seeing any improvements.  I am so glad you told me to wait for the second day or I would have been very nervous.  We had two groups of people praying.  My son was really afraid to have to go to the doctor to be “cut up” so to speak.  On the evening of the second day of antibiotics, the inflammation was less and the circle of redness for the first time had started to become smaller.  Praise God!  In the morning of the third day we saw a miracle.  It was completely healed.  No redness and the opening where the pus was coming out had closed.  It was as if it had been healed a week before.  We nevertheless continued with the antibiotics.

“One of the sweet things I got to see from my son was that after each cleaning, still with tears in his eyes, he would come and hug me and give me thanks for cleaning his wound.  What an amazing opportunity the Lord gave me to see that my son understands: that we who try to heal sometimes produce pain for the benefit of our patients, as does God.  I was so proud of his courage in this ordeal.  At the end, he became stronger, he understood very clearly the power of prayer, he experienced first hand the power of medicine and he gave Glory to God for it all!

“We have been blessed!  Thank you again for direction and for the “peace” you gave me over the phone!  You have blessed me, my son and my family!  Indeed, it is by His grace and it is for His glory!”

God used my words to offer hope to this family and revealed His eternal purpose in the process to this mother and her son.

Thank you God for your encouragement and for teaching us how we can be your instruments of both temporal and spiritual healing.  May we always remember to give you the credit for our success.

Of Death, Medicine and Hope

One week ago my colleague and partner in the practice of pediatrics died after being involved in a horrendous car accident.  There were lots of unanswered questions.  He drove his car into the back of a truck parked on the side of the road.  Did he fall asleep?  Why him?  Why now?  He  did so much good and brought physical healing to so many.  Why?  Why?  Why?

It is never easy to deal with death.  As doctors we are supposed to keep people alive.  Our patients desire and expect us to restore their health and at the very least beat back the specter of death from overcoming them.  In reality, the best a physician can do is delay the inevitable.  Even this gives physicians too much credit, for it is God who enables us to provide physical healing and controls the number of our days.  And yet, those who believe and those who do not ask, why, why, why!

When a doctor dies, we can say, “Look, for all his knowledge of medicine, he could not save himself, therefore, what hope is there for me?”  In the same way Jesus was mocked by the chief priest and elders as He was dying on the cross.  “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself!  He’s the King of Israel!  Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.  He trusts in God.  Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” (Matthew 27:41-43)  Why?  Why?  Why?

But this is not the end of the story.  On the third day after Jesus died, he rose from the dead, witnessed by many and remains alive today.  As Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

As Christian physicians, we are obligated to do our best and God entrusts us with the truth.  We are reminded daily of our frailty and who is in control.  Why we ask?  So that we may reflect on the condition of our souls and those of our patients’, as well as our need for a Savior.  It is only after believing in Christ and him crucified for our transgressions that we can have true hope and offer it to our patients.  Our sadness will turn to joy knowing the peace that surpasses all understanding will bring healing to our souls and ultimately the restoration of our bodies.

Read 1 Corinthians 15.

The Value of $300

In world’s economy the value of $300 does not seem like much.  But when seen through God’s eyes the value greatly increases.  What we think as being insignificant, might be of great value to someone else.  Things we take for granted such as access to any book, on any subject, at anytime, are not common place in the rest of the world.  Such is the case with medical literature in Ukraine.  Physicians in the USA have access to hospital libraries, the latest medical journals and textbooks and of course the Internet.

So, what would bring tears combined with giddiness to a grown woman who happens to be the most knowledgeable doctor in all of Ukraine regarding the treatment of children infected with HIV?  The answer is a textbook about pediatric oncology.  About two months ago I was visiting Dr. Svetlana where she works at Okmadet the National Children’s Hospital.  When she learned of my previous training in pediatric hematology/oncology, she began to talk of her 12 year old patient who developed lymphoma and the challenges of treating a child with AIDS for cancer.  Pediatric oncologists were consulted but there is a tremendous stigma associated with anyone who is HIV positive in Ukraine.  The oncologists were hesitant to treat and slow to respond when called.  So Dr. Svetlana said, “What I need is to learn how to treat these kids myself!”  ” I need a textbook.”  “I have the money, but I can’t buy it in Ukraine.”  “Can you help?” We also take for granted a reliable postal service.

About the same time Jim and Donna Houston from the Church at Brookhills in Birmingham, Alabama were visiting with a team from Lifeline Adoption agency who I have assisted from time to time with adoptions.  After hearing the story above they promised to present this need to their church.  

After returning to Alabama and sharing the need, the Ladies Bible Study Group at Brookhills led by Betsy Parker responded to the plea.  They purchased the latest edition of Principles and Practices of Pediatric Oncology .  Six weeks later the text was hand carried to Ukraine by short term missionary from Brookhills to insure safe arrival.  With the current weight restrictions on luggage and the book being heavy and quite large this was a huge and timely favor.  When I carried the book last week to Dr. Svetlana, she immediately developed a huge smile when she saw the text and tears when I told her the cost had been paid in full. She quickly scanned the pages with delight, saying over and over I need to read about this or that.

But what of the girl with lymphoma?  Tragically, her immune system and body were just too weak.   She died just a couple of weeks ago.  But this was the opening I had been waiting, the moment to discuss Biblical medicine and Jesus Christ, who also paid the price in full so that we may have eternal life.  Only Christian physicians can offer this true hope.  Only we can explain the diagnosis of our greatest illness, sinfulness, and then offer the healing that comes only through knowing Jesus Christ.

Pray for Svetlana and her staff that the may become believers in Christ as our work at Okmadet continues,  whether teaching English to the medical staff, helping provide resources or just showing the love of Christ to the patients and their families.  We pray they will one day be able to be used by God to offer spiritual healing to their patients and families.

So what is the value of $300?  It is the proper use of what God has given us to build relationships, encourage others, advance His Kingdom and ultimately bring glory to God.   And thank you Church at Brookhills for sharing your resources.

The Healing Ministry

Physicians are called to care for the sick.  Some physicians claim to heal the sick.  John Stott offers some insight and puts into proper perspective the ministry of healing in his daily devotional, Through the Bible, Through the Year.

“The gospel writers describe Jesus’s ministry as threefold: teaching, preaching, and healing.  Teaching and preaching are not hard to grasp or to imitate, but how are we to understand the ministry of healing?

Perhaps the place to begin is to affirm the goodness of God’s creation.  that is to say, disease was no part of God’s original intention for the world, and it will be no part of his ultimate purpose either.   In the new universe there will be neither sickness nor pain nor death nor tears (Rev. 21:4).  Since, then, disease and death are alien intrusions into God’s good world, doctors and nurses are reight to wage war against them.  Moreover, all healing is divine healing, since God has put into the human body remarkable therapeutic processes.  For example, no sooner has an infection appeared then antibodies are created to fight it.  It is this conviction that led Ambroise Pare, the Huguenot physician, to say, “I dressed the wound, but God healed.”  The words are inscribed on a wall of the Ecole de Medicine in Paris.

The Gospels make it plain, however, that the healing ministry of Jesus belonged to a different order.  Like changing water into wine, multiplying loaves and fishes, and walking on water, Jesus’s healings were supernatural demonstrations of the kingdom of God.

In trying to understand them, we will be wise to avoid opposite extremes.  On the one hand, it would be absurd to put the creator in a straightjacket and declare that miracles can’t and don’t happen.  On the other hand, we have no liberty to say (as some do) that performing miracles is the normal Christian life.  for however we define miracles, they certainly belong not to the normal but to the abnormal.  If we claim to be able to heal the sick like Jesus, we need to remember tht he healed without the use of medical or surgical means, without delay, degree, or remission, but immediately, completely, and permanently, and that even hostile eyewitnesses said, “We cannot deny it” (Acts 4:16).”

Healing of the Soul and the Body

Spurgeon was a prolific preacher, who relied on gleaning gems of truth from the Scripture.  His church grew to be one of the largest in the world, all without the entertainment and experience that is passed off as worship in many of our churches today.  In the following commentary he discusses healing of the soul and the body.

It is the sole prerogative of God to remove spiritual disease.  Natural disease may be instrumentally healed by men, but even then the honor is to be given God who gives virtue to medicine, and bestows power to the human frame to cast off disease.  As for spiritual sicknesses, these remain with the great Physician alone.  He claims it as His prerogative, “I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal.”  One of the LORD’s choice titles is Jehovah-Rophi, the LORD that heals us.  “I will heal thee of thy wounds,” is a promise that could not come from the lips of man, but only from the mouth of the eternal God.  On this account the psalmist cried to the LORD,  “O LORD, heal me, for my bones are sore vexed,” and again, “Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.”  For this, also, the godly praise the name of the LORD, saying, “He healeth all our diseases.”  He who made man can restore man.  He who was at first the creator of our nature can create it anew.   What transcendent comfort it is that in the person of Jesus “dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily!”  My soul, whatever your disease may be, this great Physician can heal you.  If He be God, there can be no limit to His power.  Come then with the blind eye of darkened understanding.  Come with the limping foot of wasted energy.  Come with the maimed hand of weak faith, the fever of an angry temper, or the ague of shivering despondency.  Come just as you are, for He who is God can certainly restore you.  None shall restrain the healing virtue that proceeds from Jesus our LORD.  Legions of devils have been made to admit the power of the beloved Physician, and never once has He been baffled.  All His patients have been cured in the past and shall be in the future, and you will be among them , my friend, if you but rest yourself in Him this night.

Spurgeon on Healing

Spurgeon’s commentary on Psalm 103:3, Who heals all your diseases.

The fact is certain, that we are all more or less suffering under the  disease of sin.  What a comfort to know that we have a great Physician who is both able and willing to heal us!   His cures are very speedy- there is life in a look at Him; His cures are radical- He strikes at hte center of the disease; and hence, His cures are sure and certain.  He never fails, and the disease never returns.  There is no relapse where Christ heals;  no fear that His patients should be merely patched up for a season.  He makes new men of them: He gives them a new heart and He puts within them a right spirit.  He is well skilled in all diseases.  Physicians generally have some specialty.  Although they may know a little about almost all our pains and ills, there is usually one disease they have studied above all others; but Jesus Christ is thoroughly acquainted with the whole of human nature.  He is as much at home with one sinner as with another, and never yet did He meet with an out-of -the-way case that was difficult for Him.  He has had extraordinary complications of strange diseases to deal with, but He has known at a glance exactly how to treat the patient.  He is the only universal panacea, healing in every instance.  Whatever our spiritual malady may be; we should apply at once to this Divine Physician.  There is no brokenness of heart which Jesus cannot bind up.  “His blood cleasnses from all sin.”  We have but to think of the myriads who have been delivered from all sorts of diseases through the power and virtue of His touch, and we shall joyfully put ourselves in His hands.  We trust Him and sin dies; we love Him and grace lives;  we wait for Him and grace is strengthened; we see Him as He is, and grace is perfected forever. 

Encouragement

We often fall prey to our own fallacious thinking.  We think I am not doing enough.  We look at our scorecard and all to often find ourselves sitting miserably in the negative column.  We then begin to ask why would God choose to love me?  Who do we think we are that He would care for us?

Author Jerry Bridges states, we are never so good that we do not need the Gospel and never so bad that God’s grace will not reach us.

Therefore, let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25).

The Drama of Life

Everyday around the world the drama of life is played out.  Doctors more than most are privy to watch these  dramas unfold, indeed the actors are brought to his doorstep for consultation.  When all is said and done whether we have the best technology available or not what hope can we really offer our patients.

During the past two weeks a fellow missionary, George Markey, became ill with acute necrotizing pancreatitis.  He had served for the past 14 years in Kyiv where he successfully planted a church which is now completely run by Ukrainians.  Six months ago he and his wife moved to Kyrgyztan to begin a new work.  We have been following closely the drama and the struggle of this man’s fight for life.  We have been praying along with many others for God to bring healing to his body and wisdom for his doctors.  This illness has only a 10% survival rate.

 God’s providence is truly amazing.  What are the odds George would be admitted to a  hospital where a world reknown surgeon for this condition worked.  He was initially too ill to be transported to a facility in the West.  His children began to fly in from various parts of the world where they serve as missionaries to care for their father.  In this part of the world there is  little of the technology and care we have become acustomed to in the United States.  Typically the families provide all of the extras, such as clean sheets, observation and taking vital signs.  The families must go to a local pharmacy and purchase the recommended medicines and bring them back to the hospital.  Then the nurses, who are generally understaffed, must be tracked down to administer the treatments.  The atmosphere is definitely not the same.

During this struggle the family continued to gaze at and trust in God first,  pleading for mercy and wisdom.  Yet they recognized whether their husband and father lived or died would ultimately be decided by God.  If the outcome was not what they preferred, God would still be God, their God.  This is just like Daniel as he stood before Nebuchadnezzar and was about to be thrown into the fiery furnace.  

Despite great financial obstacles, a few days ago, George was flown by a special medical evacuation airplane to a hospital in Indianopolis where he was admitted directly to the intensive care unit.  The struggle continues but we know that his redeemer lives.  Therefore we can have and give true hope, whether we have the latest medical technology or not.  With blessed assurance we know our savior lives, the first fruit of those who have already fallen asleep.

What an encouragement to witness the faith of this family.  We join with this family in prayer that through the drama of George’s life God will be glorified and that others will come to believe in the Savior that lives and heals eternally.  This is how the Great Physician practices medicine.  He alone has the permanent cure for both body and soul.  Let us continue to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.