Free Is There a Conflict Between Divine Healing and Medicine? by Roger Sapp Page A

centered message on receiving and ministering healing. After I would teach, the entire group would minister to those who wanted to receive ministry. On one Tuesday evening, a young man came who was very sick with cancer. He was also suffering nausea because he had taken chemotherapy that day. He was diagnosed with two large cancerous tumors. One tumor was under his ribs and one in his hip.  His facial color was gray from the chemotherapy. We laid hands on him and within moments, his color changed to pink and he was warm all over. The nausea was completely gone and we were fairly sure that he was healed. He went back to his doctor and after some x-rays, his doctor in amazement said that one of the tumors was completely gone and the other was half the size that it was previously. After a second time of prayer with him, he was completely free from cancer. Now, keep in mind that this man was under medical care both before and after his healing. Obviously, Father did not require him to refuse medical care. There is no call to repentance from seeing a doctor or using medicine for the purpose of healing recorded in the New Testament despite there being thousands of healings being recorded.
     
Christ Speaks Well of Doctors
    Again, taking a Christ centered approach to this subject; we need to observe what Christ had to say about doctors. There is one statement from Christ about doctors that appears in all three Synoptic Gospels. The context of the statement is the Pharisee's condemning Christ for his ongoing eating of meals with sinful people. Christ says in response to them:
 
    " It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick."  (Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31)
     
    Hopefully, any honest reader can note that Christ is certainly not condemning physicians. This is a positive statement about medical care. Christ expects the Pharisees to acknowledge this common sense about doctors. Christ is saying that "Sick people need a doctor." Christ does not expect even His opponents to argue with this common sense about doctors as some unwise Christians will do today. The Holy Spirit seems to want to emphasize this statement as it does appear in three of the Gospels.
     
    In saying this, Christ is identifying with doctors in a positive way. Christ is declaring Himself to be a physician to these people. There is not a hint of condemnation of doctors or medicine in this statement. It is an endorsement of both. Additionally, there is another positive statement by Christ about medicine or doctors. It only appears in the Gospel of Luke. Luke writes:

"And He (Christ) said to them, "No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your home town as well.'"" (Luke 4:23)
     
    Again, Christ identifies in a positive way with physicians despite noting the sharp criticism of His ministry. Christ quotes an apparently well known proverb among Jewish people in the First Century. The Jews believed that physicians were involved in healing. (They did not believe that doctors were sorcerers.) Christ says that they will "no doubt" quote the proverb about Him. While these people were challenging Christ to do in His hometown what He had done elsewhere, neither they nor Christ were being negative about physicians. Quite the contrary is true. Christ and His hearers believed that physicians were involved in healing people and should heal themselves as well.
     
    Beyond this, Christ does list sins in some passages. He does not mention using or practicing medicine as one of these sins. If it is wrong to go to a doctor, then Christ would address this as sin but He does not do this. Christ - who is deeply committed to supernatural healing - does not condemn physicians should be convincing evidence. The fact of His validation of physicians by His statements should be enough to settle this matter with any reasonable person.
     
    Occasionally, someone will innocently