Mrs. Jones, did you hear what that Adventist minister did yesterday to Dickie Ayers? Everybody is talking about it."
"No. What in the world did he do?"
'Why, he went to call on Mr. and Mrs. Avers about some kind of Bible correspondence course they took, and when he got there they were so worried about Dickie's being sick that they couldn't talk about anything else. And do you know what that preacher did? He said, 'I am not a doctor, but I have helped in medical work, and if you wish, I will do the best I can with a simple, harmless water treatment, to relieve your child.' They liked the way he said it, and asked him to go ahead.
"The minister went to his car and brought in—of all things—a big cold-pack canner pot, with some squares of blanket and some heavy folded cloth—he called them steam packs—and towels, and a big piece of plastic. He asked Mrs. Ayers to put some hot water in the bottom of the canner while he wrung the packs out of warm water at the sink. He laid them on the rack in the canner up out of the water so that when the water boiled, it got the packs full of steam. When they were good and hot, he spread the plastic on the sofa to keep it dry, folded the packs inside a square of blanket and laid it on the plastic. He covered the hot pack with several thicknesses of blankets he had with him and covered the whole thing with a big towel, and put Dickie on it. It reached from his neck to his thighs. They let him lie there for nearly half an hour while they all had prayer and talked about the Bible. By the time they got through Dickie's fever was gone and he said he felt all right, and wanted something to eat. Mrs. Ayers says he is perfectly well today, and they think it is wonderful."
"Well, what do you know about that," remarked the neighbor. "It seems a little unusual, but I think it really is wonderful that a minister can do that kind of work. You know, come to think of it, that is the way Jesus did, for He went about doing good. I think I would like to have that kind of minister."
You, too, may think it is somewhat unusual, especially in this age when the public has been taught to believe that only a doctor is supposed to know what to do about sicknesses, even very minor ones. The following statements by the messenger of the Lord may surprise us:
It may be necessary for ministers to go into the homes of the sick and say, "I am ready to help You, and I will do the best I can. I am not a physician, but I am a minister, and I like to minister to the sick and afflicted." . . . if our ministers would work earnestly to obtain an education in medical missionary lines, they would be far better fitted to do the work Christ did.... Begin to do medical missionary work with the conveniences which you have at hand.---Medical Ministry, pp. 238, 239.
A gospel minister will be twice as successful in his work if he understands how to treat disease.—Ibid., p. 245.
True, it might create a sensation if our ministers were actually doing such work, but what kind of sensation? It might bring about a revival.
They will all the while be receiving fresh, new ideas, and there will be a wonderful revival of gospel medical missionary work.—Ibid., p. 257. The minister will often be called upon to act the part of a physician. He should have a training that will enable him to administer the simpler remedies for the relief of suffering.—Ibid., p. 253. (Italics supplied.)
This is not saying that we do not need doctors, for we do. We must have doctors for the more serious illnesses that require a doctor's greater training and skill. But when the Lord Himself through His servant bids the laity use the simple treatments He has given for the multitude of less serious illnesses, let us take courage and move into this field, carefully and studiously, but do let us move. Our qualified physicians should lead out in training ministers and laymen for this work, and our ministers should make bold to ask them for this help.
If every Adventist minister carried a cold-pack canner and steam-pack outfit in the back of his car, and knew how to use it, what effect do you suppose it would have on his ministry? He would be "twice as successful." 'Would that be worthwhile?
A leading American physician is saying repeatedly that though the United States is the best place in the world in which to have a serious illness, it is one of the worst countries in the world in which to have a nonserious illness, because we are the most overmedicated, most overoperated, and most overinoculated country in the world. American medical practice is prone to use its drastic serious illness devices on all the lesser ills that could much better be treated by the simple methods God gave us, without the need for a doctor or a drug.
This is the field the medical missionary minister and the competent members of his church should be trained to occupy and encouraged to cultivate. If our medical workers would lead out in this work and sponsor and develop it, it would add incalculable impetus to our missionary activities. Literally thousands of successful lay medical workers could be trained and sent forth to win access to hearts for God's truth through the healing message. Many times God's messenger has indicated to us that hydrotherapy and diet therapy are to spearhead our evangelistic labors. Soon the epidemics of the last days will overwhelm men. Then what? Are we as a people preparing to capitalize on the opportunity to preach Christ through our health ministry?
This is hard work. It calls for sacrifice of time, strength, ease, and means. But it is the work that will lead us up to the sealing, the latter rain, and translation. God is making the call and giving us our authorization. Do we actually believe what He is telling us? Shall we not arise in faith and move quickly into this most promising field?
