Alternative Medical Treatments: Science or Sorcery?

For decades now, alternative medicine has been gaining steam. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there are a variety of practices that fall under the umbrella of “alternative medicine” and some of them should be avoided. I'm particularly interested in discussing the spiritual angle. One of the biggest problems that I see with the alternative medicine movement is that Christians with little discernment end up practicing things that are rooted in the occult and demonic realms. There's also a lot to be said about the “quackery” of some of these treatments, but there are plenty of scientific studies and material out there, so I will only briefly touch on that. Let's take a look at the origins and practice of some alternative treatments.

Homeopathy

Homeopathic medicine often uses herbal remedies diluted to such a degree that there is statistically none of the herb left in the dose. This is because homeopathy is based on the philosophy that plants have a mystical “life force” that can be used to re-balance the life force within a person. Homeopaths attempt to isolate and concentrate life force while minimizing the physical presence of the plant. Therefore, the whole practice is rooted in eastern mysticism. It would not be a stretch at all to categorize this as what the Bible would term sorcery. Obviously, this is something that Christians should completely avoid.

Acupuncture
As with homeopathy, the philosophy of acupuncture is firmly rooted in eastern mysticism. In short, the practitioner attempts to promote health by inserting needles into your body at key points in an attempt to improve your “chi flow” or “spiritual energy”. Again, considering the attempt to manipulate spiritual energy, this is easily classified as sorcery. Some practitioners claim acupuncture as a purely material science, but in reality they are just attempting to distance themselves from the spiritual roots of acupuncture.

Yoga
Yoga is sometimes thought of as simple relaxing exercise, but at its core it is a non-Christian religious practice. There are various schools of yoga associated with buddhism, hinduism, and more, but in each case yoga is a central part of the religion. Yoga supposedly brings one on a path of enlightenment, to become one with the universe. In some forms of these religions, they even believe that they achieve salvation through yoga. This stands in complete opposition to Christianity. Therefore, a Christian doing yoga “for health reasons” is kind of like a group of atheists baptizing each other because it feels good, or Muslims taking communion because it's yummy. If you want to do stretching exercises, that's no problem. But be aware that yoga is a specific religious practice that should be avoided, even if divorced from the religious context.

Chiropractic

Getting your back cracked seems innocent enough, right? Believe it or not, Chiropractic is also rooted in a terrifying amount of mysticism. Daniel Palmer, the founder of chiropractic, believed in a concept very similar to “life force”, which he called innate intelligence. He was also a spiritist who claimed he “received chiropractic from the other world” – obviously a demonic spirit. To Palmer, chiropractic was essentially a religion. His 'life force' position used to be standard among chiropractors, but these days most chiropractors reject these ideas and view their practice as a purely material thing.

A Christian absolutely shouldn't be involved in chiropractic based on Palmer's philosophy. As for the purely material view, use your conscience. Personally, I wouldn't play with something that originated from a demonic mind, even though it is trying to distance itself from its origins. Beyond that, I offer a bit of wisdom. Studies on the efficacy of chiropractic treatments show mixed results. There's no conclusive evidence that chiropractic can help anything other than temporary back pain. Also, some data suggests that the treatments which help the acute back pain can actually lead to chronic back pain. This would explain why someone who starts going to a chiropractor usually ends up going regularly. In my experience, it's uncommon for someone to have one or two treatments and then be 'fixed'. For all these reasons, I don't recommend chiropractors.

Vaccines

The anti-vaccine movement seems to have a strong foothold in certain Christian sub-cultures. While this isn't a spiritual issue, it's another area in which Christians need to show some discernment. These days, much of the anti-vaccine movement stems from the belief that the MMR vaccine can cause autism. This has been shown to be false in many studies. Just last month, an ambitious study of nearly 100,000 cases was published, which focused on children at risk for autism. Yet again, it was shown that there is no link between autism and the MMR vaccine.

So how did this start anyway? Back in 1998, Andrew Wakefield published a paper in a major medical journal suggesting a link between MMR vaccines and autism. It took the journal over 10 years to fully retract his paper, after much investigation. It was found that Wakefield was paid a lot of money to “find evidence to use against vaccine manufacturers”. He failed to disclose this conflict of interest, and was found to have manipulated his data. In short, Wakefield was a total fraud. However, the damage was already done. The media had already reported on his study. Thus, the anti-vaccine movement is still alive and well today.

Herbal remedies

It's becoming increasingly popular to reject modern medicines in favor of herbal remedies. There's generally not a spiritual issue here, but I must recommend caution. Herbal remedies can be good, and sometimes can even work well as a substitute for over the counter drugs. However, there's also a lot of misinformation out there. As a general rule, the bigger the claim, the more skeptical you should be. I've seen books where the author advises cancer patients to stop going to their doctors and to do their 'herbal cleanse' instead. That's tragic, irresponsible, and evil. Is traditional medicine perfect? No. Are traditional doctors and researchers your best bet for treatment? In almost every case, yes. Herbal remedies should not be used as a substitute for your doctor, but they can work together. Most doctors are open to herbal remedies these days and they can give you advice on which remedies are likely to help, which ones probably won't help but are worth trying, and which ones are harmful.

Radical diets 

This is another fad that has risen in the last few years. Unless you think you can get closer to God by following dietary laws, there's really not a spiritual issue here. Yet, as with herbal remedies, beware the absurd claims. You're not going to cure cancer by eating a lot of carrots (or other food). There's really no such thing as a detox diet (for a fun experiment, ask them to name a single toxin the diet supposedly removes). And the Daniel diet is not a Biblical weight loss program. The issue in Daniel was his desire to remain obedient to God's law (Jews had dietary laws, gentiles don't). In fact, Daniel gained weight during this time (Dan. 1:15). With all that said, I'm for proper diet. Obesity is a huge problem in America and the increasing attention to diet is probably a good thing. Not to mention that gluttony is in fact a sin. Honestly, most of us could do with a little exercise and a better diet. Just find a balance and don't get sucked in by absurd claims.

In conclusion, there are alternative medical treatments that are worth exploring, but we should exercise wisdom when approaching the topic. Mainly, I hope to draw attention to several popular alternative treatments (homeopathy, acupuncture, yoga, chiropractic) that are rooted in occult practices, which Christians should absolutely avoid. It's one thing to partake unknowingly, but to dabble in sorcery with knowledge is certainly a sin.

Shepherding a Child's Heart, Neglecting Their Soul

After 10 years, Tedd Tripp's “Shepherding a Child's Heart” is still one of the most popular books on parenting in Christian circles. My wife and I recently worked through this book to glean some things we can use on our own adventures in parenting. I didn't know anything about Tripp, but had heard good things about this book.

In the beginning, I really liked this book. When it comes to practical advice on raising children, I think Tripp mostly does a good job. I was happy to see that he rejects pop psychology and attempts to adopt a fully Biblical perspective. I especially appreciate his emphasis on communication throughout the book. In short, the purpose of discipline is to bring the child to repentance. Snap angry judgments and spankings are almost always unhelpful. Tripp makes the case for reasoned discipline. This means setting clear rules, and enforcing those rules with discipline, not angrily, but explaining to the child what they did wrong, why it's wrong, trying to figure out why they did it, etc. Essentially, punish the behavior, but also get to the heart of the matter. This teaches the child the important concepts of sin and its consequences.

Great so far, but still, I have a major problem with this book. Tripp completely whiffs on the most important thing: the salvation of your children. Tripp's attitude is most plainly seen on p.44 where he puts “saved children” in his list of unbiblical goals. To be fair, he's mainly criticizing manipulative evangelism and the sinner's prayer in this section. I'm fine with that part. Parents are seriously harming their kids by encouraging superficial professions of faith and accepting such as genuine salvation. However, for parents who correctly understand salvation, shouldn't we do everything we can to help them come to repentance and faith in Christ? Of course! Once they are old enough to understand, parents should have regular conversations with their kids about their spiritual state. Make sure they understand sin, the gospel, and what they must do to be saved. Explain repentance and faith. Plainly ask them if they've repented. Watch them and ask yourself if they are bearing appropriate fruit. Have they been born again? These should be our main thoughts as parents.

Tripp couldn't be more wrong when he says the salvation of our children is an unbiblical goal. Not only is this bad parenting, it shows a lack of understnding of salvation and Christian living. It gets worse on p.54 when Tripp suggests how to rework the goal of saved children. He says, “one of the problems with this perspective is that it looks for a major spiritual event of salvation and misses the spiritual process of nurturing your children.” Major spiritual event...you mean like passing from death to life, becoming a new creature, and being taken out of the Devil's family to become a child of God? (2 Cor. 5:17, Eph. 2:1-3, John 5:24) Of course there is growth and discipleship, but Tripp seems to completely neglect the child's need to be born again. The new birth is the beginning of a Christian's life. Before their salvation, your child is, at best, a well-behaved lost person. Don't expect that to last long. You can try to teach your lost child all you want, but until they've been born again, they will never really “get it”.

I imagine that if I were having this argument with Tripp, he would say that salvation is not a main goal, but is the outcome of a properly shepherded child. But this puts the cart before the horse. Sure, salvation doesn't mean that your child instantly becomes perfect, but it means they have a chance. No matter how well you shepherd their heart, until they've been born again, their chance of living a fruitful life pleasing to God is exactly zero percent. To say it again, your first real task as a parent is to make sure your children come to repentance and faith in Christ. After that, the task of discipleship can truly begin.

When you neglect to directly deal with the salvation issue, your kids may miss it. Churches are full of teens and adults who are moral, religious, and lost. Why add your child's soul to that number? That's the risk of teaching them to act Christian without being sure they are born again. All of your work to teach them good character will mean nothing if they go to Hell when they die. Even if your kids do get saved somewhere along the way, what have you taught them? If you had no urgency to share the gospel with your children, do you think they'll feel any urgency to share the gospel with the lost around them? So, even if they do get saved along the way, you may still cripple their growth.

There is a simple reason that Tripp is so horribly passive when it comes to dealing with your child's salvation and it comes down to his theology. Tripp is infected with the theological poison of Calvinism. This is most painfully shown on p.199 where, in reference to children internalizing the gospel, Tripp says, “While you dare not presume upon His sovereign mercy, you may labor with expectation that the gospel is powerful”. Or to put it more plainly, in Tripp's theology, God may have already arbitrarily damned your child to Hell before they were even born. No matter what they do, no matter what you do, your child cannot be saved and all your work is in vain. Of course, we can be happy to know that this is nonsense. God extends his love and mercy to all. You can be confident that if your child repents and believes the gospel, he will be saved.

In conclusion, Tripp gives some solid practical parenting advice in “Shepherding a Child's Heart”, but this is completely overshadowed by the fact that he fails to correctly address your child's pressing need for salvation. This means that his advice may lead you to raise religious, but unsaved children. Parents must avoid manipulative evangelism techniques, but should also do everything they can to ensure their children are born again. It's right to train your kids before their new birth, but they will not really "get it" until they know Christ.

The Suffering Christian part 2: Dealing with Trials

As the title suggests, in this article I'm going to continue discussing the topic of suffering, this time focusing on how we can learn from suffering, and practical ways to deal with it. As with so many things, there is no magic formula, but I will share some things that I have found helpful in my experience. More importantly, I'll share some principles straight from Scripture. I'll assume that you understand why suffering happens and that you have an idea of how your situation fits into the 'big picture'. If not, I refer you back to my previous article when I discuss the question of “why?”. Make sure you get that part settled in your mind. It's difficult to move forward and heal without understanding why things are happening as they are.

Learning from suffering
You're probably familiar with several verses that mention having joy during trials, James 1:2 being one of them. James then goes on to say in verse 4, “let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” In other words, let your trial teach you patience and let it run its course. Don't wimp out before your trial is done, or you'll miss something. James then says to ask God for wisdom if you lack it (v.5). God will help you understand your trial and to learn whatever it is you need to learn. You should come out wiser in the end.

Trials and suffering should also produce hope (Rom. 5:3-5). As you experience trials and suffering, you will also experience God guiding you through these things, and as you come through the trial, you will experience the “love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us”. As you experience these things it gives a greater degree of certainty to your faith, and strengthens your hope in the resurrection. Similarly, 1 Peter 1:7 talks about trials refining our faith to a greater degree.

Now, let me give a bit of advice from my own experiences. Stay in Scripture. Not only will it help you learn from your trial, it will keep you encouraged, and give you perspective. Do whatever you can to keep the Bible in your mind. If you have difficulty reading or concentrating, listen to an audio Bible. I can say from my current struggles with sickness, there are days that my symptoms prevent me from reading much if at all. Audio Bibles are a great tool for times like those. We live in a privileged age. Whatever your situation, you can almost certainly find a tool to help you stay in the Bible.

A quick word on audio Bibles...they can get you into trouble just as much as any corrupt Bible text, so be careful. You don't want the reader to add characterization/tone to the passage. Adding an angry voice where it doesn't belong or making Jesus sound like a sissy little girl is just as bad as changing the words themselves. Find an audio Bible where the reader maintains a mostly neutral tone of voice. Also pay attention to if the reader is following punctuation. Again, adding or removing pauses in a sentence can alter the meaning. If you're planning to use an audio Bible and have found one you think you like, I recommend that you do a dry run, following along in your Bible to make sure that the reader isn't messing with the text through tone/pauses, etc. Again, audio Bibles are a great tool, just be cautious. They're not a substitute for Bible reading, but can be a great help if you're having trouble reading.

Practical advice to get through trials
The best advice that I can give to anyone struggling with a trial is to focus on others as best as you can. It sounds strange I know. When you're sick, you just want other people to take care of you, right? That's fine, and there's nothing wrong with accepting help, but you should also never cease to try to help and serve others (Phil. 2:3-5). In practice, this will help by forcing you to take your mind off your own situation. Instead, you'll be thinking about others, or about serving God and the glory to come, or about the plight of those around you still lost in their sins. It puts things in perspective doesn't it? Who is worse off; the Christian whose suffering, no matter how severe, is only temporary, or the lost sinner who might be fine now, but will suffer an eternity in hell unless they repent? So, fight through your trial and help someone. Encourage a fellow Christian, give the gospel to a lost person, etc. Just find something productive to do, even if it's small.

On a similar note, it's important to be flexible. Especially if you're going through an illness, you may not be able to work/serve in the same capacity that you used to. Maybe you used to hand out 100 tracts every week, but now you can only do 10. Or maybe you can't get out at all, so you start mailing tracts to people. Whatever the case, don't let it get you down, just keep being faithful as you are able. As a friend of mine says, “do what you can, don't do what you can't”.

I'll also say, don't give up on asking the Lord for strength to serve. He may provide some special opportunities. I'll briefly share an example in my life. After I started to struggle with illness, there was a major event at the local campus which was always a great evangelistic opportunity each year. I really wanted to go, but knew there was no chance I'd make it, even on a good day. I prayed, telling God how much I wanted to do this, and begging Him for strength. I prepared for the event and was ready to go. The day of the event, I had an amazing amount of energy and my symptoms were almost non-existent. Not only was I able to make it, but I handed out even more tracts than I had in previous years. Almost immediately after I was done, the energy faded and my symptoms returned, but I was so thankful that God had allowed me that time.

Now, I want to switch gears a bit and talk about grief, sorrow, and mourning. These emotions are absolutely appropriate, especially if you've lost a loved one. Be patient with people who don't understand. Some will say “just cheer up”. Help them to understand to “weep with them that weep” (Rom. 12:15). Though we might mourn, it should not be in the same manner as the world. They have no hope, but we have the hope of the resurrection (1 Thess. 4:13-18). As stated in v.18, we should comfort each other with these facts.

Although grief and mourning are appropriate, they can turn into self-pity which is rooted in selfishness and is a sin. How can you tell if you have appropriate grief or sinful self-pity? Do some self-examination. Ask yourself, “Am I upset because of the situation and/or because I miss my loved one, or am I upset because something bad happened to me?” In other words, are you upset about what happened, or are you upset about how it affected you? Analyze the kinds of thoughts and emotions you have about the situation. If you find yourself repeatedly saying “I” or “me”, you've probably crossed the line and need to repent of your selfishness. Maybe you are grieving as though there's no hope. If so, repent of your lack of faith, and ask God to help you trust more in his promises. Do some study on the resurrection, second coming, and heaven.

One final suggestion: be honest in prayer. So many people have what I call “Sunday school syndrome”. Just like in Sunday school, you give the right answer even though it may not be what you really think or feel. If you're angry, don't just push it aside because you know anger is wrong, but bring it to the Lord. Confess your anger and ask the Lord for patience. Maybe your situation has you questioning what God is doing, or it doesn't seem fair. Don't accuse God of unrighteousness, but bring your concerns to Him humbly (see Jer. 12, Gen. 18:23-33).

Conclusion
When you find yourself in the midst of a trial, learn everything you can from it. Stay connected to God through Scripture and learn to trust more in his promises. Allow your suffering to cause you to look forward to the glory to come with even greater hope. Continue to encourage your brothers and sisters and preach the gospel as best as you can. If you find yourself unable to serve in the same way that you have in the past, be creative about ways to reach out to others with the gospel. Don't drop out of the war for souls just because you have some battle scars!