I recently read a great article on “Medical Myths“. It profiled health practitioners advocating certain remedies for particular illnesses. However, as opposed to providing answers or pointing to to potential cures, they concentrated on “masking” the symptoms.
You may be wondering why a bible teacher would be reading a medical article journal article, but it’s really simple. In life there are so many parallels. Both natural and spiritual. Often you can find something in one area that correlates to another, and that discovery opens up our understanding about life and the answers we seek.
Take spring, for instance. Looking out onto my back yard, I’m fascinated how springtime has an impact on the development of various hardwood trees. A few weeks back, there’s one tree that seemed almost dead. In contrast, all of the other trees were popping their leaves. I thought to myself, “It must be diseased”, so I considered cutting it down. Then, all of a sudden, a few leaves appeared. It still looked hopeless until this week, but now the leaves are coming out, slowly but steadily. It would have been a shame had I cut the tree down when the reality was…it just wasn’t that tree’s time to develop its leaves yet. I’m not the smartest guy when it comes to green things!
Winston Churchill once said, “A lie gets half way around the world before the truth gets a chance to get its pants on”. In the same vein, we (or should I say “I”) can be fooled by what appears to be the truth about something, when in fact, we’re staring at something altogether different. Like a tree that is alive when I think I see a dead one.
I also recently read an article on “Bloodletting”, a medical practice the world believed would “cure people” for nearly 2,000 years. I know, I’m reading weird stuff, but trust me – it’ll makes sense. At least to me it does. Anyway, the medical intervention of “bloodletting” was one of the most common medical practices until the end of the 18th century. Mind you, they thought that by “letting out” a little and sometimes a lot of blood, would help the body get “in balance”. They were, for the most part, wrong. Today, there are only a few medical conditions for which this practice is needed. For example – “hemochromatosis” is the condition of having too much iron in your blood. My wife periodically has to have a medical intervention due to this hereditary issue of having chronic hemochromatosis.
So, I think you’ll understand when I tell you…my thinking went down the path of the scripture, to when Jesus was telling his disciples how to help someone with an acute spiritual condition that was “masking” itself with physical characteristics.
Matthew 12:22-26 (NLT)
Then a demon-possessed man, who was both blind and unable to talk, was brought to Jesus. He healed the man so that he could both speak and see. [23] The crowd was amazed. “Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?” they wondered out loud.
[24] But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.” [25] Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, “Any kingdom at war with itself is doomed. A city or home divided against itself is doomed. [26] And if Satan is casting out Satan, he is fighting against himself. His own kingdom will not survive.”So in this situation, a man who was blind and mute, was brought to Jesus to be healed. Now Jesus healed lots of people before, but in this situation, Jesus points out there is a sinister plot to keep this man sick because in reality he has a spiritual problem and not a physical one. At least his physical problem is not the cause, but rather the symptom.
How often do you think we’re trying to help ourselves or others with our “problems”, and end up attacking “the wrong cause?” As smart as humanity has become, we are still groping in the dark with our brokenness. We used to us asbestos to insulate our schools to provide better and more efficient heat for our kids. Then, they found out it was slowly killing our kids all the while thinking they were helping them. Now, no school or other industry uses asbestos in an exposed way. In that case, the solution ended up making the problem worse. If we overlook the true root causes of our headaches, we’ll inevitably make our problems worse as well.
Do you think Satan has blinded our minds to the point we won’t even consider demonic causes for physical problems? You know the answer is “yes”. Even for the strongest of Christians, at the first sign of a bad headache we reach for Tylenol, Motrin or aspirin. I’m not saying those medicines are bad. I’m just stating the fact that we often “mask” the problem, and don’t do anything for the real cause of our problem.
Back to Jesus and His explanation of how to cure this blind and mute man…
Matthew 12:28-30 (NLT)
“But if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. [29] Let me illustrate this. You can’t enter a strong man’s house and rob him without first tying him up. Only then can his house be robbed! [30] Anyone who isn’t helping me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.”
In this passage Jesus reveals one of the strategies we need to consider when approaching a problem in our lives. Am I dealing with a “spiritual” issue or a “natural” issue? Is Satan or his demonic forces engaged in some way? Do I need to address the “strong man” to free myself from my problem?
I’m not one who believes that Satan and demons are in every problem, but I also know that scripture paints a more realistic picture than we do. There is a hidden war going on, and most Christians are unaware of the battle. If you don’t believe in demonic forces waging a warfare again humanity you haven’t read the bible.
Ephesians 6:10-12 (NLT)
A final word: Be strong with the Lord’s mighty power. [11] Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. [12] For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.
Questions:
Is the current “major problem” you’re dealing with rooted in spiritual issues or natural issues? Proverbs 3:5-8 is the path to take.
Is it ignorance or pride that keeps you trapped? James 4:7 is the right attitude to take.
May the Lord cause our eyes to see clearly, so that we can choose the right remedy.
Pastor Dale
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