Healing vs. Sickness and the causes of getting sick

The new age view of alternative medicine is that by self-healing you can control the state of your body and avoid sickness that would otherwise be manifesting itself because of negative thinking. This view effectively works to shut out God from our lives. What do we therefore need to know about why we get sick and how we can obtain healing?

The answer to why we get sick lies with our sinful behavior in our lives. The wages of sin is death. Sickness is the cause of our body getting ever closer to the point of death. So, we know that because of our sin, we are approaching death and eventually death will overtake us.

However, it is not an impossibility for us to be healed of sickness and we need not despair if we become sick. Is there any sick among you? Let those who are sick approach the presbyters of the ecclesia (elders of the church) so that they may be restored. This admonition from St. James the Apostle is clearly one of the manifestations of oikonomos (stweardship) performed with agape (love) for those in need.

St. James the Apostle did not say, "approach the mayor", or "approach the anatomist", or "approach the university", or "approach the hospital". Most certainly, St. James the Apostle did not say, "approach a guru", or "approach the seer", or "approach the magician", or "approach the 'holy man/woman'", or "approach the doctor of medicine". No, St. James the Apostle said none of the foregoing things in this paragraph. He told us simply to "Approach the presbyters of the ecclesia (elders of the church)".

The ecclesia is the guardian of our body, soul, mind, and spirit. For our health, we need no other source. For our healing, we need no other source. For our spiritual well-being, we need no other source. But, the skeptics wonder how the ecclesia can be effective in the healing ministry without credentials from a college of medicine. For the answer to that question, we look only to Jesus Christ, Who is Alpha and Omega, the Infinite One, the All-Wise One, the Son and Word of God.

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure.

Taking as true that the wages of sin is death, let us now explore some of the causes of disease and seek to prevent sickness from manifesting itself in us. Firstly, we need to be renewed in Holy Baptism. This mysterion (only available at a Canonical Orthodox Christian Ecclesia) cleanses your body, soul, mind, and spirit from all unrighteousness and prepares one for the spiritual life to come, which is Eternal Life in Christ Jesus. Those who are baptized in Christ have put on Christ. The body of the one baptized becomes a vessel in whom the Eternal Triune God resides; thus the body is made sanctified (holy, pure, righteous) through Christ Jesus. This axiomatic mysterion called Holy Baptism is a prerequisite to our Eternal Life. Satan will deny this and has done so through the various confessions of heresy.

Once we enter in the Community (Ecclesia) of Christ Jesus and become a member of the Body of Christ, we find that in order to stay, we must strive to remain pure, righteous, sanctified, and pursue the vocation of being an effective oikonomos (steward) of the Holy Will of Christ. Nobody ever said that it is easy to carry out the two commands of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Genuine Christ, our God, Who saved us from Eternal Perdition, but nonetheless we must perform the two commandments of our Lord with all our strength being prepared for spiritual warfare by the Gospel of Christ Jesus. Then being so equipped, we become light bearers instead of a black hole, wherein there is found no light, but eternal darkness. So deciding to become light bearers set on the top of the hill wherein all the light may be visible for all to see, we become a beacon of hope for those afflicted with the black hole of their sins, and sin-destroying lifestyle.

The ounce of prevention thus mentioned above is begun with Holy Baptism at the Orthodox Christian Ecclesia, and it is continued by:

1. Give agape to God with all your heart, soul, mind, and body.

2. Give agape to your neighbor in like manner as you purpose to give agape to yourself.

Thereby, the community of Christians minister to one another and receive ministry from other Christians in the community. This is the method by which our health and membership can be maintained. By assisting each other, we promote the purity of the Body of Christ, of which we are members. Nowhere is there any limitation placed upon our abilities to perform this agape. For instance, we are given the power to raise people from the dead in accordance with our faith. In point of fact, we are admonished to perfect our faith and believe that with Christ, all things are possible in accordance with His agape. The genuine Christian will be able with the faith of the size of just a tiny mustard seed to move a mountain from point A to point B, to command gravity, to command all things (in HARMONY with God's Holy Will and agape). Thus, the genuine Christian outclasses the magician, the sorcerer, the soothsayer, the guru, the great seer from the east - Karnak the magnificent, (not needing the mayonaise jar on Funk and Wagonal's porch since noon today - LOL). Indeed the genuine Christian is able to hear God, seek and gain access to God's Holy Wisdom, and therefore some may prophesy, some may exhort, some may interpret, some may speak in other languages, some may interpret those unknown languages, some may build the Body of Christ, and still others may meekly preach the Gospel as genuine Evangelists, all these with the spirit of agape.

So, with that said, we may maintain our health by doing the things in the foregoing recent paragraph by performing the two commands of the genuine Christ as He taught us so to do, and by so doing spread the Good News of Christ to all the known world, to the lost, the suffering, the sick, the lame, the dying, the ones broken with the cares of this life, those who are searching for a better way. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that the Life we need to pursue? Yet, our bodies still die, but with an important difference - we die physically reborn into Eternal Life to reside with Christ Jesus in the presence of His Glory. All creatures great and small bow down and worship Christ Jesus, the Lamb who overcame the evil one and by His actions saved all who would believe in Him and what He did for us: the Cross, the Tomb, the Resurrection on the Third Day, etc.

The Genuine Lord Jesus Christ is Faithful and Just to forgive us of all our sins and to heal us of every infirmity in accordance with our own faith in Him. Moreover, if we keep partaking of the poisons which cause our sickness, then the healing we receive from our Lord Jesus is temporal. Thus, the Ecclesia establishes policies for Fasting (food and spiritual) which purify our bodies and enhance our body's natural healing functions that operate in tandem with the healing force from the Genuine Christ. As mentioned above, faith as the grain of a tiny mustard seed can enable powerful results in therapy. So, we need to study this all of our life long so that we can perfect these abilities as we age. Proof of this can be found in the Acts of the Apostles. Practical evidence of this kind of faith is chronicled in the lives of the saints, and in our present day when we are Blessed enough to meet a pious Orthodox Christian full of strong faith.

"And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him." Acts Chapter 28, Verse 8

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones." Proverbs Chapter 17, Verse 22

The Body of Christ works synergistically by the symphony of its members working in Divine Harmony. Thereby, knowing the power of these things, let us purpose to exercise our blind faith and dare to be an excellent diakonia (servant) of Christ, being that strong beacon of light set on a hill for all to see and behold.

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God the Father, and the Communion of the Good and Life-Creating Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.