HAVE you ever watched twentieth century divine healers pack the crowds in? Seeing the masses jam tents and halls almost causes a covetous spirit to possess me. True, the antics and general confusion present at most of these healing sessions are rather distasteful and at times sacrilegious. Yet, the eager crowds in attendance always intrigue me.
I used to dream of an Adventist divine healing program. One operated in a dignified fashion yet appealing in nature. But how could it be done? Quite by accident--- providential accident---Dr. Wilbur Nelson, Dr. and Mrs. L. H. Lonergan, R. C. Williams, and I found ourselves together in Davao City, Philippines. This self-proclaimed "biggest city in the world" was an ideal center to put into practice some concepts the Lord gave to this church scores of years ago.
The evangelistic team was seeking to make discoveries in soul-winning techniques as it sought to follow more closely the Di vine Blueprint of evangelism. The only intent of this story is to inspire you with the trustworthiness of God's commands and promises especially those related to using the "right arm" to open doors.
As a starting point let's note the powerful influence of a doctor over his patients. I know of no group of human beings who carry more weight with people than medical practitioners. Imagine a man scribbling a few hieroglyphic-like words on a small sheet of paper and then signing his name at the bottom. He hands this note to another person who in turn delivers it to a drugstore in exchange for a bottle of pills. With unquestioning obedience the person goes home and swallows the pills for better or for worse. Or take others who, with fear mingled with confidence, submit to the surgeon's knife. The point is, when a man is sick and most are he will place unbounded confidence in those he believes can help him. This is a basic reason why God has told us that medical missionary work is to play the part of "the right hand ... to open doors through which the body may find entrance." Medical Ministry, p. 238.
Of course, every soul winner uses certain health principles in his work, such as teaching people to quit smoking, using spirits, and eating swine's flesh! But there are at least two great weaknesses in our traditional use of "the right hand."
1. We don't use the hand as a door opener. All too often we start using the hand after we have smashed down the door by brute body force. It is far easier and logical to use the hand to turn the doorknob and then let the body enter in a genteel, courteous manner.
2. If and when the hand is used it generally is deformed. Some of the fingers are missing. A survey of Adventists today would probably reveal that health reform is equated with the non-use of tobacco, alcoholic beverages, pork, and possibly tea and coffee.
Instruction regarding a balanced diet, dangers of common drugs such as headache pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizers, and pep pills; the perils of overeating, the evil of wrong food combinations and eating be tween meals, the results of excessive amounts of sugar in various forms, the need of exercise, the hazards of overwork, the benefits of proper breathing and proper posture, the detrimental effects of condiments of all sorts we could add much more to the list---but this is sufficient to show that there is much more to our health mes sage than is generally taught in public evangelistic meetings. The sad fact is that the "right arm" is in a deformed and withered condition due to misuse or disuse.
With my interview with Ellen G. White as a background let me continue with the Davao story. Our first work was to present the health approach concept to the 28 members of our evangelistic field school team. Representatives from all three Philippine unions were on the team, with the major representation from the South Philippine Union. We were grateful for the cooperation of all the unions in supplying us men and means to conduct this experiment. Pastors C. S. Rosco, L. E. Montana, and C. A. Galang joined our overseas group as leaders in this experiment.
After studying the health approach concepts from the Spirit of Prophecy writings, our entire team embarked on a strong pro gram of healthful living. Sore muscles and a few aching backs testified to the need of a balanced physical fitness plan. Jogging, balanced diet, proper rest, and all that goes with God's health plan for man was faith fully adhered to.
The meetings were held in a tabernacle erected near the center of the city. We named it the Better Living Center. This attractive auditorium was packed night after night, with an average of 1,000 people in attendance. Perhaps the most unique feature of the program was an attempt to weld the physical and spiritual talks together. Pastor Wilbur Nelson, assisted by Dr. and Mrs. Lonergan, representing Loma Linda School of Public Health, carried the health part of the program. We aimed to build bridges between the physical and the spiritual. Sometimes we would start the meeting with the spiritual theme first, and then the health part would come in, and finally the service would climax with the spiritual. Sometimes an exchange of this nature was made more than once during a service. We had no set pattern.
This attempt to integrate our talks was rather easy with some subjects but difficult with others. In some instances we felt it worked so well that the audience had difficulty recognizing where one theme ended and the other began. The health part was not tacked on to the program as a separate entity. The object was to present a balanced picture of the happiness achieved with the proper blending of the mental, physical, spiritual, and social faculties of man. As the weeks went by, the convictions of the entire team grew deeper as to the effectiveness of this combined program.
Our advertising was a simple handbill stressing the advantages of a balanced life. We made positive promises to those who would attend and follow the instruction. Promises were made of greater security, freedom from fear, a new experience derived from healthful living, and even financial savings. These practical promises were coupled with those dealing with the spiritual side of life such as a knowledge of future events and an interpretation of world happenings. We stressed life at its best and the joy of living!
Visual aids played a prominent part, and those who know Mrs. Lonergan know that we had some very interesting and attractive visual aids. One night she presented the various types of vegetables she had bought at the market that day. Everyone was surprised at the numerous kinds of vegetables available in that area, most of them quite inexpensive.
We made it a point to teach the people how to use what they had. There was no fanatical promoting of foods or diets that were out of reach of the people. Further more, we were careful not to take anything away from the people without putting some thing in its place that they could easily use.
During the sixth week of meetings we began cooking schools. These were held during the morning. We felt that it would have been better to have started the cooking schools during the second or third week of meetings. We ran no cooking school or cooking demonstration in connection with the night meetings. In a mixed multitude there are those who are not interested in the cooking aspect but are still intrigued with the health talks. Those most interested in cooking schools, usually the ladies, will come out to a morning cooking school. In a society where many women work, Sunday morning cooking schools could prove to be advantageous.
The health section at the beginning of the meetings took approximately 60 per cent of the time while 40 per cent was given to the spiritual side. As the meetings progressed, the time allotted for spiritual things increased while that of health decreased. We attempted to make the meetings short and to the point. Even with translation, the aver age meeting lasted an hour and a half which included all special features, musical' numbers, et cetera.
The entire team visited from eight to twelve in the mornings and in the afternoon a period of two hours was allotted to classwork. Loma Linda University gave credit to those taking courses in health evangelism. The major portion of the teaching program was carried by Dr. and Mrs. Lonergan. Wilbur Nelson and I divided our time on subjects pertinent to soul winning.
We found in our visitation program a deep interest in the health program but not to the exclusion of Bible doctrines. Many questions were asked dealing with the physical nature, but the philosophy of a balanced life, which included the spiritual, was never lost sight of nor did it ever take second place! In fact, the health aspect was deeply spiritualized.
Questions involving health were always directed to Dr. Lonergan, who in turn would counsel with the interested person either in the home or after the night meeting. Today we have a number of people rejoicing in our church whose interest was captured through this approach. Several cases of strong prejudice that was broken down through this method could be cited. The people knew that we were there to help them in every way possible, and not just to persuade them to change their church membership.
I am firmly convinced that the use of our total message for the total man yields results not only quantitatively but qualitatively which cannot be gained in any other way. Frankly, I would hesitate to ever enter into another major series of public meetings without using this approach.
355 Baptisms
To date, 355 souls have been baptized. Since this was a totally coordinated program we are happy to give credit to a faithful army of literature evangelists who covered the entire town with literature. More than 300 of these souls that were baptized were contacted by our literature evangelists. Our church members performed marvelously well in bringing their friends to the meetings. After nearly eight weeks of meetings, Pastors Montana and Rosco finished up the series with a Bible-marking program. This fine follow-up work doubled the baptisms. Another fruitful by-product of this approach was the invitation to a number of different schools, colleges, and universities to present messages dealing with smoking to their students. About 9,000 students were reached in this manner. We were introduced as Seventh-day Adventist doctors and ministers and the Better Living Center was well advertised through this medium. These invitations included Roman Catholic colleges, to which we never would have gained admittance if the traditional type of evangelistic program had been used. We feel that the impact on the entire city was of such a positive nature that all outward opposition was eliminated. This is a unique blessing in a strong Roman Catholic city.
Perhaps the greatest contribution received from following the Lord's counsel is the inspiration gained by the evangelistic team. Many of us have gone back to our respective fields of labor to put into practice the things learned during this field school. Whether this plan will work in all areas, I don't know. But the Lord has told us to work along these lines. Try it, and leave the results to Him.
