Everything Jesus did when He walked the earth in His flesh was the will of God made manifest. Regarding healing the sick, Jesus’ ministry revealed that God chooses to heal via the speaking forth of His will (e.g. “Be healed,” or, “Come out of him,” etc.) and believing that God’s will to heal/deliver is accomplished in Christ (e.g. Luke 7:1-10, and Matt. 15:21-28), OR via the literal touch of faith in Christ (e.g. Mark 5:25-34). Jesus never administered pharmaceuticals, and never referred a sick or demon-possessed person to a physician/psychiatrist. Therefore, neither did His disciples.
It wasn’t because physicians didn’t exist at the time. Scripture records physicians existing as far back as the time of the patriarchs (Job 13:4 and Gen. 50:2). Luke was a physician, of course, and he wrote only of Holy Spirit-empowered healings and deliverances in his gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Despite Luke traveling extensively alongside Paul, neither one ever recorded this physician-turned-disciple acting as a physician, administering pharmaceuticals, or performing a surgical operation on someone. For example, when Luke describes Paul being bitten by a viper on the island of Malta after their shipwreck there, his laying hands on the chief official’s father who was sick with fever and dysentery, and ALL the sick persons on the island subsequently being cured, Luke never describes any of the sick being referred to or healed by his knowledge and practice of medicine – all were healed via Paul’s faith in Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you (see Ex. 15:25 and Acts 28:1-9).
God’s way of healing is through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ – physical healing is included in the atonement, as He shows us via multiple witnesses: he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” (Matt. 8:16b-17 quoting Isaiah 53:4 (see Septuagint)); “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24). As Jesus Himself put it, Which is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk”? (Matt. 9:5, Luke 5:23; also Mark 2:9).
Studying what God says of physicians and pharmaceuticals is very revealing. Searching for Scriptures which include the words physician(s) and doctor(s), we learn only ten Scriptures contain these words. Please take time to click on this link to view the results of that search, and study all ten (each in its context, of course).
You will see that in two or three of the ten Scriptures, God actually speaks negatively of physicians/doctors: Mark 5:26, Job 13:4, and 2 Chronicles 16:12-14. Furthermore, in studying the latter, it is apparent that King Asa, in seeking help only from the physicians and not from the Lord, died within two years of being so afflicted. God wanted King Asa to seek help from Him, not via physicians.
Many Christians today erroneously believe that God calls some specifically to become physicians and practice medicine. A physician myself (repentant, no longer practicing), I will show you that He does not, but rather we Christian physicians have misinterpreted God’s call to deliver HIS miraculous healing and deliverance; deceived by the worldly system (sin), we try to help the sick via practicing medicine instead. This way, unlike God’s, usually brings us worldly riches: financial security, accolades, and the respect of men. Truthfully, neither the patients nor the healthcare providers give God all the glory (if any) for the very costly care rendered. Of course it is the Lord who heals many of the patients in spite of this. However, as the ministries of Jesus and His foolish and lowly disciples reveal (see 1 Corinthians 1:27-29), we highly educated and revered physicians simply are NOT God’s chosen instruments of healing the sick and infirm – we’re to repent and do it as amply demonstrated in the New Testament.
So what does God have against the practice of medicine?
In the vast majority of cases, physicians, nurse practitioners, etc. use pharmaceuticals to treat the sick. The same is true for surgeons, unless they operate without applying anesthesia (either themselves, or indirectly via anesthesiologists or anesthetists) and don’t prescribe medications for pre- and post-operative pain relief and care.
Now, prepare yourselves for this: the New Testament reveals pharmaceuticals are contrary to God. This is because they invoke other gods, and thus involve idolatry. That point is huge. I won’t get into the details of that at this time – it involves exploring what “Rx” means and what gods that actually invokes, regardless of whether the physicians, pharmacists, etc. involved in the process are aware of all the supernatural details. Perhaps the Lord will lead me to cover it later (I’d rather He not!); you can research it yourselves. I will, however, lead you to discover for yourselves what God says about pharmaceuticals in His word.
Are you ready to receive the truth?
The New Testament Greek word for pharmaceuticals (medicine, drugs) is φαρμακεία, which is transliterated pharmakeia in our alphabet. It is Strong’s G5331. Please click on that blue link (or look it up yourself in Strong’s concordance), and take time to carefully note the many details therein, including Strong’s definition of it, the English translations of it, and the outline of it’s Biblical usage. (You will need to click in the appropriate boxes once you are viewing the link to Blue Letter Bible.) Studying the Scriptures in detail this way is necessary to eat His “solid food” and not just drink the “milk” gleaned from others!
Likely, you were shocked by what was revealed in studying those details of God’s New Testament word φαρμακεία. I was, when the Lord revealed it to me, one who had “practiced medicine”! (I must say, though, I never liked drugs/pharmacology; this had much to do with why I started off in general surgery and then switched into pathology – but I digress!)
For those who didn’t look it up, the matter is so important, I’ll spell the abbreviated version out for you: God is revealing to you that He considers pharmaceuticals (drugs, medications), to be “sorcery, witchcraft”. Now, please go back and click on that link and study Strong’s G5331!
His word is truth, of course (John 17:17), regardless of what we think or how it makes us feel. Importantly, the more we are aligned with God’s word, the more Christ Himself is made manifest in and through us! (Please see The Importance of Seeing from God’s Viewpoint if you haven’t already.)
So, please take time now to read the three New Testament passages which contain the word pharmakeia to learn what God warns about it: Gal. 5:19-21 (the word is in v. 20), Rev. 9:20-21 (in v.21), and Rev.18:21-24 (in v.23).
Did you note that the Rev. 18 passage reveals that all the nations were led astray by the magic spell (pharmakeia, that is, pharmaceuticals) cast by Babylon the Great, the subject of that chapter (see v.2)? Isn’t that the truth in these end times?! (In the US, television audiences are assaulted during mainstream media “program” broadcasts with advertisements for costly prescription drugs by pharmaceutical companies.)
Next, please study likewise Strong’s G5332 and Strong’s G5333, the two New Testament Greek words which denote the person involved in administering, prescribing, or concocting the pharmaceuticals. Note that God calls these persons sorcerers. Please read the two New Testament passages which contain those words as well, noting the fate of those who do not repent of administering pharmaceuticals / practicing sorcery: Rev. 21:8, and Rev. 22:12-15 (the word is in v.15).
Wow!! So does this mean that all physicians, nurse practitioners, etc., pharmacists, and those who take pharmaceuticals will suffer this fate? No, praise God: in Christ we are saved from suffering this eternally, and those who are not yet in Christ can repent and receive His salvation, healing, and deliverance today! Hallelujah!
Once a believer in Christ is alerted to the fact that he is engaging in such sin, however, our Lord calls him to repent of it, of course. Praise God, all believers can put off the old man and his practices and put on the new – we can choose to eat from the tree of life instead of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and walk in accordance with the Spirit!
It is towards THIS goal that God is teaching what is abhorrent to Him about pharmaceuticals: that we Christians repent of our sin on this important matter from this day forward and receive complete healing and deliverance via faith in what Christ has already accomplished 2,000 years ago for us BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT! Thank You, Lord Jesus!! (If you haven’t already, please see Dan Mohler on Healing – Powerful! and/or the Bible study Looking Into God’s Word on the Cause and Eradication of Disease and Testimonies of Miraculous Healing for more.)
Of course, always seek the Lord! Talk with Him about such matters, ask questions, and ALWAYS do only what the Holy Spirit is counseling and guiding you to do. This applies to the physicians reading this as well, of course; as the Lord reveals truth, He graciously enables us to walk it out in accordance with His Spirit, one step at a time. Praise God, we do our part, work[ing] out [our] salvation with fear and trembling, [yet] it is God who works in [us] to will and to act according to His good purpose! (Phil. 2:12-13).
The Kingdom of God is [very, very] near. Repent and believe the good news! (Mark 1:15)
So very much love in Christ our Healer and Deliverer, your sister deanna
The Lord Is With Us 