“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” – 3 John 2
We should teach others how to preserve and to recover health. For the sick we should use the remedies which God has provided in nature, and we should point them to Him who alone can restore. It is our work to present the sick and suffering to Christ in the arms of our faith. We should teach them to believe in the Great Healer. We should lay hold on His promise and pray for the manifestation of His power. The very essence of the gospel is restoration, and the Saviour would have us bid the sick, the hopeless, and the afflicted take hold upon His strength.
Never has the world’s need for teaching and healing been greater than it is today. The world is full of those who need to be ministered unto—the weak, the helpless, the ignorant, the degraded. The continual transgression of man for nearly six thousand years has brought sickness, pain, and death as its fruit. Multitudes are perishing for lack of knowledge. . . .
But the world’s need today cannot be met fully by the ministry of God’s servants who have been called to preach the everlasting gospel to every creature. While it is well, so far as possible, for evangelical workers to learn how to minister to the necessities of the body as well as of the soul, thus following the example of Christ, yet they cannot spend all their time and strength in relieving those in need of help. The Lord has ordained that with those who preach the word shall be associated His medical missionary workers—Christian physicians and nurses who have received special training in the healing of disease and in soul winning.
Medical missionaries and workers in the gospel ministry are to be bound together by indissoluble ties. . . .
So great are the world’s needs, that not all who are called to be medical missionary evangelists can afford to spend years in preparation before beginning to do actual field work. Soon doors now open to the gospel messenger will be forever closed. God calls upon many who are prepared to do acceptable service, to carry the message now, not waiting for further preparation; for while some delay, the enemy may take possession of fields now open.
I have been instructed that little companies who have received a suitable training in evangelical and medical missionary lines should go forth to do the work to which Christ appointed His disciples. Let them labor as evangelists, scattering our publications, talking of the truth to those they meet, praying for the sick, and, if need be, treating them, not with drugs, but with nature’s remedies, ever realizing their dependence on God. As they unite in the work of teaching and healing they will reap a rich harvest of souls. (1)
Charge for the Day: Take a significant step today in learning of nature’s remedies so that you may be equipped to labor as a medical missionary.
1. Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, pp. 467-469