Doctor, Is My Medicine Effective?

Or else, "Doctor, Is My Medicine Counterfeit?"

When we fall sick, a medicine is given to cure us of that illness. This pill contains a substance that essentially neutralizes the organism or substance that is causing sickness. For example, penicillin neutralizes the bacteria that cause pus formation. An insulin preparation neutralizes the effects of high sugar in the bloodstream. Doubtless I have oversimplified what medicines do, but a treatise on pharmacology is not the point.

The point? It is essential that the correct medicine be given for the correct illness. The wrong medicine can either have no effect, or worse, have an adverse effect. Patients would rightly be outraged if a doctor gave them the wrong medicine.

Question:
Why then are we being given the wrong medicine for our spiritual condition?

Just as a serious illness leads to physical death, spiritual death is certain if we are not born again spiritually. The Bible says very clearly that man has a fatal spiritual condition – he is born with a sin nature. He is born with the bent to sin. Notice how babies can manipulate their mothers form very early in life. Notice how kids learn the bad ways quickly but find the good behaviors that much harder to do.

This inborn tendency to be selfish and to covet what others have lies at the root of what plagues society today. But God wants us to be reconciled to Him. He wants to give us a new nature – His own Spirit, to live in us and through us. But this cannot happen by our own efforts. He has given the medicine in the form of His Son, Jesus. By His shed blood on the cross, Jesus has given us the opportunity to believe and be forgiven, to renounce sin and accept His pardon. This process results in a new birth. We are born again into the kingdom of God, and receive the Holy Spirit. We have the "Spirit of Christ” in us.

But while we can become a Christian in an instant, it takes a life time of learning to develop Christ likeness. Our goal after becoming a Christian is to have the “mind of Christ”.

This growing into the love and knowledge of God and deeper into Christ like attitudes and godly disposition requires dedication and discernment. It requires feeding on the right food and taking the right maintenance medication.

Here again, the parallels with physical well being are revealed. Once a body is healthy, after being cured of a disease by life-saving medicine, the patient must look after his nutrition to keep healthy. He should eat the proper foods and avoid unhealthy diet. He may also need to take supplements or maintenance medications.

Similarly, once we are saved from the penalty of spiritual death by taking the salvation “medicine” (believing in the good news of Jesus), we need to maintain our spiritual self. We cannot remain as spiritual baby. We need good, genuine nourishment.

1 Peter 2: 2As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby

We need to feed daily on the Word of God and obey what it says. We need also to take regular “medicine” and this may involve painful corrective steps which God might require of us. For example, we may need to stop an addictive behavior that robs our time with God. Growing in Christ is a life long process that requires authentic and true spiritual food.

In this context, I want to warn myself and all fellow believers that it is easy to be deceived. In a third world country some years ago, a number of children died because they were treated for diarrhea with a counterfeit medication. Instead of making the pills with the antibiotic, the unscrupulous manufacturer used mil instead. The doctors could not understand why the children were not improving and many were dying. By the time the truth was found out, it was too late. Many young babes had already died.

The Christian world has many counterfeits that the devil has used to try and kill off spiritual babies even before they can grow in Christ. The devil has already counterfeited the gospel message by giving man a plethora of religions to believe in. Just like a sick patient, the spiritually sick man now finds an array of choices and is fooled into taking the wrong medicine. It breaks my heart to see that many people are unable to understand the simple gospel message of salvation.

Secondly, even those who believe in Christ are targeted by the devil with deceit. Numerous deviations and half truths are given to confuse believers. Many so-called ministers of religion are masquerading as Christian leaders and giving wrong maintenance or nutrition to churches. An extreme example comes for the Catholic Church, which has added praying to Mary to the simple gospel of Jesus. By this simple expedient, they have nullified the salvation message. It is like a doctor giving a life saving medication to a patient, but the effect is negated by another medicine the patient is ingesting given to him by a “friend”. By the time the truth is found out, it may be too late!

Then again, you have leaders who, among other things, deny the Bible, the deity of Christ or the salvific exclusivity of Jesus' Name. Anyone who tries to grow in such an environment will die, because they are receiving counterfeit medicine. For example, many so called Christian leaders now believe all religions are one. A catholic cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington when praying in the presence of King Abdullah of Jordan offered a concluding prayer "in the name of Allah, the merciful and compassionate.” (1). I remember the Episcopal servie after 9/11 attended by President Bush, where a priest offered a prayer to "the God of Abraham, Jesus and Muhammad"! What blasphemy!

Anyone who has been saved and then goes to these churches will quickly loose his faith. He will be led down the garden path to destruction. Why do Christians everywhere not condemn and remove such leaders? They would certainly do so if it were an errant doctor!

Then you have other pastors who have signed a document that affirms Darwin’s theory of evolution. Almost 10,000 pastors have signed The Clergy Letter Project, which says that "We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth.” (2) . About 450 churches had services to honour Darwin, who only conceived the theory because he did not want to believe in God!

This deceptions are like giving milk tablets to the children with diarrhea. They will die. Churches which affirm such blatantly antithetical theories to Christianity are likely to perish with their flocks. We have to pray for the souls who go to these churches. They are being hurt and are innocent victims of the agents of the devil, who is the manufacturer of these spiritual “milk tablets”. In fact the tablets are more like cyanide, for they will trip up even the elect Christian.

I have given two blatant examples of counterfeit spiritual teaching. Many others are less noticeable and more subtle. They are like diluted pills, or less potent pills, that may spiritually weaken but not kill immediately.

Ever wondered why your life is spiritually dull or bare?

Check to see if you are in a Bible believing church, where the truth of the Bible is faithfully preached through the grid of apostolic faith. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. God's truths never change, especially today. Do not believe those who say we can change traditional understandings and plain reading of scripture in light of new cultural sensitivities (e.g. homosexuality, abortions, pluralism, interfaith services, new age practices and exercises, etc).

Ever wonder why your previosly vibrant spiritual health is declining?

Check to see if you are receiving the correct medicine, as found in the Bible, and illuminated by the Holy Spirit. Leave any church and any leader who deviates, no matter how painful it may be. Your spiritual health, and mine, is all that matters.

Pray this prayer daily: (Psalm 83:11)

Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

I have spent a lifetime nursing physically ill patients back to health. I know what good comes of proper medication and the harm that is caused by diluted or counterfeit medicines. I have seen the same parallels in the spiritual realm.

Amen

+Dr Joshua Raj MD, ThD

References:
(1) By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff WriterWednesday, September 14, 2005; Page A14
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301810.html

(2) By Lisa AndersonChicago Tribune national correspondentPublished February 11, 2006
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0602110101feb11,1,287350.story?page=1

Doctor, Is There Hope?

Life is Eternal

A patient of mine once asked me this question before he underwent life saving surgery. He was asking whether he would survive the operation. I gave him some hope by telling him that I would do my best, and the rest was up to God.

But as I scrubbed up for surgery, I thought that he really would have had peace in his heart if his hope had been exclusively on God, for I was just another human being, blessed in this world to be a surgeon..

"Is there hope?" This question affetcs our very soul, and our destiny. Read what the following passage from the Bible says:

Psalm 90
1Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
2Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
3Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
4For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
5Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
6In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
7For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
8Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
9For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
10The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

If we are to spend eternity with God, we have to acknowledge Him to be our dwelling place forever (Ps 90:1). God created us and He is the everlasting God (v.2). This truth is a great comfort to those of us who wonder why we are here on earth. Can we take anything with us from earth when we die? The answer is no.

Yet we struggle so hard to earn money, to seek fame, or to create a “legacy”. But is any of these what we can take way? Do we really think we are indispensable? We will all die one day. That is a certainty that no one can deny (v.3). All men will return to destruction, with their physical body of this time and space returning to dust.

So many people live today thinking they are indispensable. “How will things be if I am not around?” they ask. Yet, as De Gaulle said, “The graveyards are filled with indispensable men”.

To God, the time that we are on earth is but a fleeting moment (v4). A thousand years are but a moment to Him. Too us it seems such a long time - these 70 years on earth (v.10). Yet, all our possessions and deeds will remain here on earth.

What will stay with us in eternity is whether we have set our hearts right before God (v.8), seeking to please Him in our lives. Doing good is a great thing, and is a virtue that cannot be undermined. But in and of itself, good works will not save us forom the penalty of sin. Knowing that we can never do enough good works to reach a Holy God, Jesus came to die on the cross for our sins. He took the burden of our sin on His shoulders. If we do not accept this free gift, we will spend all our days under judgment (v.9). But if we trust in Jesus, and accept His free gift of forgiveness of sins, we will spend eternity with Him.

As I continue to contemplate on the topic of death, it amazes me how little people (doctors, patients and public at large) around me think of the life after death. The Psalmist rightly says that we are like the grass that flourishes in the morning but withers and dies in the evening (v.5-6).

What is the purpose of life? Is it not a preparation for the life to come? The eternal life, with an eternal body? Think deep and hard, for whatever we decide to do, we must decide. To decide not to decide is a decision that will also have consequences.

I enjoy life in this world to the fullest. I have lots of time to spend with family, friends and God. But I know that this is also not the end, but the beginning. I enjoy the hope and know that it is so much better to be cognizant of the fact that life here on earth is the first phase of our life, the next phase being eternal life with Jesus.

Amen

+Dr Joshua Raj

Doctor, Where Am I Going?

Life after death

It is interesting that many people believe in some form of life after death, even when they subscribe to the notion that their “soul” will end up in the eternal “One” soul, and they will lose their identity in the larger entity. Even if they do come back in the hereafter, what is believed in Hinduism, Buddhism and many new age spiritualities which are based on the Hindu worldview, these persons do not know how they spent their [previous life. At best they may get “glimpses” of a past life.

But are these “glimpses” indicative or supportive of the theory of reincarnation? Many of those who have near death experiences insist that this reveals “heaven” to them. But this “heaven” is a personal one, and by this I mean that they remain their individual self, remembering who they are and even seeing themselves in a recognizable form. This surely would give cause to wonder if the “disappearance” of one’s individual soul into a massive eternal but homogenous “soul” may not be accurate. The more likely cause of these experiences is due to the release of glutamates in the oxygen starved brain, which then stimulates the brain cells to fire in areas which give a perception of the out of body experience. The right angular gyrus of the brain, when stimulated in experimental conditions can also simulate an out of body experience. What really convinced me was the incidence of such perceptions in patients who had neurolept anesthesia in the 1970’s, when we used a lot of ketamine anesthesia. The side effect of ketamine is eerily similar to out of body experiences of near death spiritual experience.

As a physician, I have dealt with death more than I care to remember. But that is my job and I have come to the conclusion that there is some form of individuality in the life to come. No patient who had these experiences has told me that they felt they had disappeared into nothing. It is likely that we will remain who we are in the after life, with our own mind, memories and body.

I find the best explanation of heaven given in the religions that talk of a Creator who made man, and this same creator God preparing a place in heaven for us. In this scenario, heaven is the place where God is. Its nature and appearance can only be postulated but not confirmed. Of these monotheistic religions, I found the revelation of God through the Bible to be the most logical way of understanding who we are and how we can go to heaven. And what will heaven be like?

Heaven will be a place of joy
Jude 1:24-25 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.

Heaven will be a place of praise
Revelation 5:13 And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:
"Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!"


I previously made the case that none of us can ever claim to be good enough to be with God in eternity. This can only happen if God wills it. And He did. He sent Jesus to earth, to reach out to us. By His death and resurrection, we have the way to heaven. We only need to believe.

Acts 16:31 "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house"

To those of you who have not taken a step of faith, let me encourage you to do so. Our purpose in life is to know God and to enjoy His presence with us. Anything else will not satisfy.

To really know God as a personal God, and Jesus Christ as personal saviour here are steps you can take. It is between you and God. No on eelse can make the decision for you.

Accept that you are a sinner
(For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God – Romans 3:23).

Jesus died on the cross to redeem you from sin and reconcile you to God
(Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace)

Accept this gift of redemption as the gift that it truly is
(John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name)

Ask the Holy Spirit to live in you and empower you to live a life of joy, whether in good or difficult times
(2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.)


Amen
+Dr. Joshua Raj