War has always been present among different philosophies throughout history, and in the realm of medicine this is certainly no exception. But man can turn to a Source whose passages will enlighten the earnest seeker of truth for a correct understanding of healing methods.
God created our living machinery. Our Creator’s methods of healing would involve working in harmony with the nature He established. Through Inspiration we know that “the curse causeless shall not come” (Prov. 26:2, KJV). Disease does not randomly pick its victims. When sickness comes, there is a reason it comes. If somebody is constantly around second-hand smoke , it would most likely be the cause if they were to contract lung cancer. So then, logically, what should we do in case of illness? “The cause which I knew not I searched out” (Job 29:16). It would make sense that if disease has a cause, we should search it out. As John the Baptist said, we need to take the axe to the root, and in this case, the root of the cause, uprooting unhealthful habits. Then after putting away the wrong habits, we are to help nature rebuild the system.
As there is a counterfeit for all of God’s ways, Revelation gives us insight to Satan’s methods for “healing” the masses. In the pronouncements against Babylon, the worldwide system against God’s government, we read, “For thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived” (Rev. 18:23). At first glance, nothing special may appear. But one word is of special interest—sorceries.
At times, we may gain insight by looking at what the original meaning for a word means by using a lexicon. Looking at the Greek lexicon, we will find that the word ‘sorceries’ translates to G5331 pharmakeia. Do we see anything familiar in that word? Looking at the original definition, the picture gets clearer. The very first meaning listed for this word is “the use or the administering of drugs.” Then the second is “poisoning,” with “witchcraft” and “deceptions” trailing at the end. This word is derived from G5332 pharmakon which literally translates into “druggist,” “poisoner,” or “witch-doctor.” The common denominator is drugs, or pharmaceuticals.
The Bible plainly states that through this medium, all nations—the entire world—is deceived. This is quite a charge; could it apply to the pharmaceuticals so commonly distributed all over the globe? Can conventional medicine, also known as modern medicine, or allopathic medicine, be a mainstream tool that Satan is using to counterfeit God’s methods of healing? What would be so deceptive about them?
Let us say my brother is suffering from chronic illness, so conventional medicine will prescribe him patented pharmaceuticals that would be illegal for me take. Why would it be so bad for me take a pill? Because it could harm me or cause me to become dependent upon it. Then this begs a question that should enlighten anyone’s mind as to why pharmaceuticals are deceptive: How can a drug that will make a healthy person sick, or worse off, make a sick person better?
The underlying problem with pharmaceuticals in general is that they do not strike at the cause of the disease; they mask symptoms, all the while undermining the health. Here is well-written and timely counsel given in time past in the book The Ministry of Healing:
A practice that is laying the foundation of a vast amount of disease and of even more serious evils is the free use of poisonous drugs. When attacked by disease, many will not take the trouble to search out the cause of their illness. Their chief anxiety is to rid themselves of pain and inconvenience. So they resort to patent nostrums, of whose real properties they know little, or they apply to a physician for some remedy to counteract the result of their misdoing, but with no thought of making a change in their unhealthful habits. If immediate benefit is not realized, another medicine is tried, and then another (White 126).
Granted this was written in a time when strychnine, calomel, and mercury were commonly prescribed, but the principles remain the same. Because the patented nostrums of today are not as poisonous, their effects on the system are far more subtle. Generally, drugs do not cure disease. β-blockers do not cure heart disease, benzodiazepines do not cure nervous disorders, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors do not cure depression. Drugs generally mask symptoms and place the burden elsewhere. Instead of adopting a healthful, plant-based lifestyle that cuts out cholesterol and high-fatty foods with the natural doctors of consistent exercise and other healthy habits, they rely on the β-blockers and ACE inhibitors to bring down their blood pressure.
People need to be taught that drugs do not cure disease…in most cases the drug only changes the form and location of the disease. Often the effect of the poison seems to be overcome for a time, but the results remain in the system and work great harm at some later period…By the use of poisonous drugs, many bring upon themselves lifelong illness, and many lives are lost that might be saved by the use of natural methods of healing (Ibid. 126-7).
We can see the value of this counsel in the long lists of side effects one hears on the commercials or can find in any Nurse’s Drug Handbook. We can see the long-term fruits of drug medications if we visit the nursing homes where we will see many who started out on very few medications but the medicine cabinet grows and drugs multiply, and many of these people are found in semi-vegetative states. In the book Death by Prescription, Doctor Ray Strand cites many cases where people on their way out of the land of living thought to enjoy the remaining little time they had left and did away with their prescriptions, only to find this was what was actually needed to live. Even the FDA admits that adverse drug reactions may be the fourth leading cause of death in America.
As a side note, it is interesting that the world’s healthcare establishment uses the Rod of Asclepius as its emblem (not the Caduceus), and is seen in our hospitals. Asclepius became known as the Greek god of healing, with a pagan priesthood that used cultic arts of healing. The serpent and the staff are directly tied to the Greek word pharmakon.
I believe at this point, some words of caution are in order. Drugs do have their place. If one wishes to live like the world, they may need the world’s drugs to survive. If they wish to keep eating their McDonald’s and steaks, then β-blockers may be needed just in order to live. A strong note of caution comes in that it may be very dangerous for certain people to drop their medications because their bodies have grown dependent upon them and stopping them may result in death, such as in the case of the blood-thinner Coumadin (Warfarin—which is, by the way, put in a lot of rat poison); such medications need to be carefully weaned from. We must also remember that not all patented items from the pharmaceutical industry are created equal. There are things such as antibiotics, certain vaccines (especially for malaria), and radiation that have produced good results (yet often weakening the body in other areas). But even with these medications, there are often better ways. Also, I do not believe that everyone in the pharmaceutical industry is evil. Many who go in with the best motives and have accomplished some good.
There will always be those that say, “People that have gone the natural route have met with negative effects.” Like anything else, of course, this is true (whatever the reason may be). One can be poisoned by too much water—water intoxication—but this does not mean that water is harmful. When we put in perspective the causes and frequency of these isolated incidents in proportion to the negative effects realized by the professionals and pharmaceutical industry, we can gain a much better perspective. An article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), reports that almost a quarter of a million deaths were the result of iatrogenic (professionally-induced) incidents. Of this amount, over 100,000 were caused by non-erroneously prescribed drug medications. In a way, this puts medical professionals as the third leading cause of death in America. On September 2011, the attacks from airplanes brought the death of around 3,000 individuals, and America responded with a vengeance that sent troops overseas to wage war on terrorism. Perhaps Americans need somewhat of a shift in perspective.
In Revelation, connected with the sorceries, we are told “for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.” Whenever there is evil, we can look for the yellow brick road. The things of nature are synthesized with other synthetic elements in unnatural proportions and ways to qualify drugs to be patented. Without these patents, royalties cannot be received. To give the reader a taste of the proportion of revenues received by the pharmaceutical industry, globally its $1 trillion profits (rounded) is about half of the amount of revenues received in the entire worldwide entertainment industry.
If you are concerned only with increasing profits, pharmaceuticals may seem like the perfect business. People suffer from diseases caused from their lifestyle, and instead of taking care of the causes, they are sold prescriptions that will take care of the symptoms that will never go away but only increase over their lifespan, needing even more drugs to counteract.
A business it is. Money Talks was an independent movie produced to expose the corporate tactics that the pharmaceutical industry uses to sell its products. With a host of many professionals, they show how attractive drug reps, that know little to nothing about the products they sell, are used to wine and dine doctors to push their drugs. The book Big Pharma, by Ben Goldacre, became a bestseller that exposed how the pharmaceutical companies run their own faulty trials on their own medications and distort and exaggerate the findings to make their products look good.
We cannot improve on God’s natural methods of healing that strike at the roots of the problem. The majority are deceived into thinking that this world knows what is best for their health. Many become entangled in the web of prescriptions that break down their bodies' systems over time. Many are like the woman with the issue of blood for twelve years, who “suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse” (Mark 5:26). But there are those, like this woman, when the truth as it is in Jesus shines in their way for the path of wholeness, they will press through the crowd in faith and be made better. I have witnessed and known of many who have used natural methods and have been cured of the most grievous diseases, or at least greatly helped. Many, through adopting a healthful lifestyle, have been able to dispose of their medications and live healthier and happier lives. Praise God that we do not have to rely upon patented, synthetic, and expensive drugs in order to receive healing from our loving Creator.