" A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. " - Proverbs 17:22
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We are departing from our steady progression in the book of Proverbs, jumping ahead to our text this week from Chap 17, to take a look at medicine and healing, particularly in view of the pandemic, and the controversy surrounding the use of vaccines.
We will not keep you in suspense, we believe we have the Spirit of the Lord with us when we say that Christians should not be worried about vaccines from a Word perspective, or a science perspective.
Vaccinate yourself and your loved ones (if you haven't done so already, and when you are out and about, wear a mask ... it offers a little protection against spreading it/contracting it, but every little helps.
For those of you still with us, ?, lets look at both medicines, physicians, and plagues in the Word, and then we will finish up with the science surrounding vaccines, and hopefully clear up any misunderstandings there.
Just from our text this week, you can see that the Word says, medicine does good. In fact, a merry heart is said to DO GOOD ... ---JUST LIKE--, medicine .... and the effects of depression and stress are poetically likened to "drying the bones".
That is one text, lets see what other references we can find ....
Old Testament :
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Isaiah 1:6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither ----mollified with ointment---.
Isaiah 38:21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and ----lay it for a plaister--- upon the boil, and he shall recover.
Jeremiah 8:22 Is there no ---balm in Gilead; is there no ---physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
Jeremiah 30:13 There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no ---healing medicines.
Jeremiah 46:11 Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured. { This is when plagues are sent as a judgment, medicines are of no avail against God's wrath }
Jeremiah 51:8-9 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take --balm for her pain, if so be she --may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
Ezekiel 47:12 And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for ---medicine. { This is a prophetic foreshadowing of the Tree of Life in the book of Revelation in the New Testament }.
New Testament (Words of Christ only) :
The Good Samaritan : "...went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in --oil and --wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him." - Luke 10:34
"They that are whole have no need of the ---physician, but they --that are sick---- : I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Mark 2:17
"And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, ---Physician, ---heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country." - Luke 4:23 { Addressing the doubters in his home town}
"In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the ---healing of the nations." - Revelation 22:2
So the Word is quite clear. Medicines are supposed to be for good, their use is prescribed, Christ was THE PHYSICIAN and HEALER, and we see them being used even way into the future!
Some "hard-core" "high-faith" people will point to this verse ...
"And these signs shall follow them that believe; -- In my name--- shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they --drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall ---lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." - Mark 16:17,18
Does this mean that Christians don't need doctors? Using this verse out of context, and ignoring the weight of the sound guidelines given in scripture, has caused much misery.
(A) When Christ says "In my Name"... it is not a magic charm that can be used by anybody... it means you do this in ---His authority---, not on the strength of ---your beliefs!!! Think about that for a minute, and pray the Lord to forgive your presumption if you are guilty of this.
(B) The actions are all in the context of --ministering--- to OTHERS -- kicking out devils and serpents, being immune to being poisoned by enemies, and laying hands on others to make them recover. The same criteria of ---IN HIS NAME, with --HIS PERMISSION and AUTHORITY applies!
(C) There is one verse that is conveniently ignored ... " YOU SHALL NOT TEMPT THE LORD YOUR GOD "... Deu 6:16, Luke 4:12 (Christ to the enemy).
Asking God to do miracles for us, when we can quite well leverage the means available to us, is similar to Christ jumping off the temple, and asking God to send angels to rescue Him (even if that was a PROMISE FROM GOD... which is what the enemy quoted!) -------- deliberately drinking poison to prove your "faith" is not something the Lord will look kindly on at all!
(D) The laying on of hands is IN ADDITION TO, medicine.
" Is any sick among you? 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--: And the prayer of faith shall ---save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and ----if he have committed -------sins---------, they shall be ---forgiven-- him." James 5:14, 15
Do you see it? Sometimes sickness is a result of transgression, and prayer is intercession with the Lord to forgive sins and heal, over and above medicine.
Here is an example from the OT ---- "And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians." 2 Chron 16:12
The mistake we make is relying ONLY on one or the other... medicines or faith... when the best answer is to use ---ALL WEAPONS---- against the enemy that is looking to KILL and DESTROY... medicines AND faith!!!
And so the plague/pandemic.... Dear friends, this should not be a surprise to you. We have already remarked that 5 seals in the book of Revelation have been opened already, and Death, the pale horse has already been unleashed upon the earth.
In fact, if you think this is bad, it is going to get much worse.... a global earthquake, meteor showers, solar and lunar eclipses are next, and then what follows after (7 trumpets) is truly horrifying. Ironic as it seems, enjoy this time, because things are going to get much much worse!
But till that time... let's talk about vaccines.
For those apprehensive about what they might entail, we understand your concerns. After all, every ad, for every medication on TV is followed by a long, long list of potential side effects, some of which sound worse than the disease itself!!! ? ... yes, we get it!
Let us be clear --- Vaccines are NOT medicines like those TV ads, because Vaccines, BY THEMSELVES, --- DO NOT --- TREAT or CURE an illness. Vaccines EDUCATE ---your own-- ---natural body---, to PRODUCE THE MEDICINES (aka antibodies) that kill the invading virus.
Its like your body is a city, and you have troops on the wall guarding the gates. A vaccine enable those troops to see, if this crowd of people pouring into the city are normal citizens, or enemy soldiers!
IF the troops let enemy soldiers into the city, then it becomes too late... and what we see with COVID-19 is that your own troops (your immune system) is the one that kills you (physicians call it a cytokine storm) , in trying to kill these invaders!
This is why the original vaccines (from Louis Pasteur days) would use a WEAKENED/INACTIVE form of the virus (smallpox, tetanus etc.) to EDUCATE your immune system as to what the bad actor looked like.
When it shows up at the door, forewarned, the body goes after it and kills it before it can spread too far inside the body (and these viruses do reproduce like rabbits on steroids...).
With modern technology, and advances in science, educating your body no longer needs to happen with ---an inactive version--- of the virus.
We know, pretty exactly, the chemical composition and action mechanisms of this bug... and can engineer a mechanism, whereby the body is directly informed as to how to kill it. This is the mRNA technique, which DOES NOT mess with your DNA, does not go to your brain.... etc. etc.. All it does, is tell your body how to manufacture the medicine your body needs.
We implore you all.... for the sake of yourselves, for your children, for the love of those around you.... use the brains, physicians, and doctors the LORD has given you, and protect yourself by being vaccinated.
Augment it with prayers and faith that the LORD will deliver you from this plague, and out of LOVE for your fellow citizens, protect them by masking when out, while the plague still rages.
People that are encouraging people not to vaccinate are not your friends. They are pursuing an agenda of their own, some are hypocrites (saying one thing in public, practicing something else in private)... and some are publicly succumbing to this disease as a lesson to others.
We love you all, and we pray for your continued health and safety in the midst of this great evil .... In Jesus precious Name.....