Taking the Option

CEBU, Philippines - Often in prayer meetings there is always a list of people who need to be prayed for so that God would touch their bodies to full recovery. I am almost, always tempted to ask what they have done to their bodies that they got sick. Is it in the food, sedentary lifestyle, abusive ways, utter neglect or proclivities for sinning?

Sometimes we don’t really get sick by accident. Our bodies malfunction because of our own doing. Getting sick is an option and what treatment to take is also an option. These days we right away go to the doctor when we somehow don’t feel well. The thing is, the doctor is not your creator nor the author of your life. God is. So when you go to see a physician before talking, immersing and communing with God, you may end up actually being sick instead of just feeling sick.

We must come to terms with a basic reality – any form or shape of disease is always systemic. Any form or shape of disease can begin with self-affliction. What you do with your body, is what you make of your health and your life. Disease is not a localized problem but a whole body phenomenon. Its growth process is affected by biological conditions, poor nutrition, lack of oxygen, environmental toxins and other factors like hormonal imbalance. Whether a disease will metastasize into something like cancer or it will heal on its own, all depends on the biological terrain of your body.

When you don’t feel well, your first line of defense ought to be for you to look inside your heart so you can understand the biological terrain of your body. If something happens to you like an accident, again understand your biological terrain to know how your body and vital organs are reacting to the trauma.

Know that there are two ways of treating a disease: the conventional treatment which means drugs and surgeries. There is also natural healing. Let it be clear that natural healing is not quackery. In what is called alternative medicine, natural healing means optimizing the internal terrain and enabling the patient’s internal system to destroy the source of the disease or the tumor. It enhances the patient’s health so that cancer cells cannot grow and multiply.

National scandal

It is because we are constantly barraged with conventional or mainstream treatment that we fail to appreciate alternative medicine. It is because we are constantly barraged with the patriarchal culture between doctor and patient that we disregard understanding the biological terrain of our bodies and for the doctor and patient to work as a team in going through the internal terrain.

One of the studies and quotes that convicted me to alternative medicine is by Dr. Allen Greenberg who said that as a retired physician, “I can honestly say that unless you are in a serious accident, the best chance of living to a ripe old age is to avoid doctors and hospitals and learn nutrition, herbal medicine and other forms of natural medicine.”

He said that “almost all drugs are toxic and are designed only to treat symptoms and not to cure. Most surgery is unnecessary. In short, our mainstream medical system is hopelessly inept and/or corrupt. The treatment of cancer and degenerative diseases is a national scandal.”

Prominent cancer researcher Dr. Hardin Jones said, “my studies have proved conclusively that cancer patients who refuse chemotherapy and radiation actually live up to four times longer than treated cases. Beyond a shadow of doubt, radical surgery on cancer does more harm than good.” Jones is also a former physiology professor at the University of California Department of Medical Physics who has been studying cancer for more than 23 years.

Never having to be scared again

So what exactly does it involve when we are talking about alternative medical treatment? It means you must look at healing in a holistic way. Healing and therapy will work only when there is a change in diet, lifestyle and psychological and emotional outlook such as proactive and positive energies. Healing by alternative medicine entails working with the body and boosting whatever immune system the patient still has.

What happens is that chemotherapy, radiation, drugs and radical surgeries can devastate the immune system. In his “Cancer Does Not Scare Me Anymore” Tim O’Shea writes, “Cancer is a disease of the immune system. It is caused by a depressed immune system. How can it possibly be cured by a therapy that further damages the immune system?”

When we look at the business of health, it involves players like drug companies, insurance companies and health providers who are out to make sure you go through the knife or go through invasive treatment that will drain you of your health and savings account. I am almost always tempted to think that because drugs is a multi-billion dollar industry, drugs tend to make the body more sick so it will sell more. Mainstream treatment through drugs is a quick-fix solution but not necessarily a lasting solution. It denies and ignores the self-healing capacities of the body. Because it tampers with God’s innate creation, something can go wrong.

Spiritual terrain

Thing is, you don’t have to invade and alter God’s creation with drugs. You just have to be non-cooperative with anything evil. Staying away from sin and from the sources of diseases is your sacred duty to your body. The other thing about alternative medicine is your spiritual terrain. To be complete, a healing system must be able to cover the entire field of human experiences – physically, mentally and spiritually. Any system which denies any part of this trinity can fail to heal. It is important to acknowledge that the author and finisher of life is not your doctor. God merely works through your doctor to heal or finish you.

You have the option. The next time you don’t feel well, walk through your spiritual terrain first and then your biological terrain and from there make an informed choice on whether to take mainstream treatment or alternative treatment. That option can change your life.