March Madness

Every year at this time, fans flock to college basketball tournaments often referred to as March Madness. However, a new kind of craziness has affected this and other events. For the last few days, the airwaves have been dominated by reports concerning the coronavirus. Sporting events have been canceled. Schools are closing. Flights to the U. S. from Europe have been halted. Stores are being depleted of toilet paper and other necessities. I can imagine things like this happening after the church is raptured.

Some churches have canceled services in response to political leaders discouraging large gatherings of people. However, believers who know their authority in Christ can resist all diseases including the coronavirus. Back in 1910, a plague swept through portions of Africa. An American missionary named John G. Lake went over there to help and the plague never touched him. A doctor asked Lake what he’d been doing to protect himself. Lake replied…

“Brother, it is the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. I believe that just as long as I keep my soul in contact with the living God so that His Spirit is flowing into my soul and body, that no germ will ever attach itself to me, for the Spirit of God will kill it.”

Lake invited the doctor to take the foam from the lungs of a deceased plague victim and put it under a microscope. The doctor found masses of living germs. Then Lake told the doctor to spread the deadly foam on his hands. The doctor did so and the germs died instantly!

President Trump has declared today a national day of prayer. Instead of repeatedly sharing problems the coronavirus has created, let’s glorify the Solution to all this madness.

“Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling” - Psalm 91:9-10

Not On My Bucket List

The latest Internet craze to go viral is the Ice Bucket Challenge. By dumping a bucket of cold water on their heads, people from all walks of life have raised awareness and funds to fight Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. ALS (also known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”) is a progressive degeneration of the central nervous system, leading to the weakening of muscles and paralysis. 

My friends have expressed mixed reactions to the Ice Bucket Challenge. Some have participated believing it’s for a worthy cause. Others oppose it because many ALS organizations conduct embryonic stem cell research, which results in the killing of pre-born human life. A few God-fearing participants of the challenge have specified their donations go to pro-life organizations like the John Paul II Medical Research Institute in Iowa, which uses adult stem cells.

As for myself, I’ve chosen not to participate in the Ice Bucket Challenge. I’d rather give my time and money to organizations that minister divine healing. God can heal all kinds of diseases including ALS like what happened to one Michigan woman.

Incidentally, this is not meant as an attack on the medical community (I have an uncle who’s a doctor). Medical research can be beneficial to society when done ethically. However, it should be pointed out that during Jesus’ earthly ministry, He never referred anyone to Dr. Luke or some other physician. Whenever someone came to Him for healing, Jesus healed that person directly without the use of drugs. When Jesus hung on the cross, He was offered a type of drug to ease His pain but refused it. 

Under the New Covenant, believers are commanded to heal the sick. While healing can still manifest through doctors and medicine, I believe it’s God’s best for His people to walk in divine health. In 2 Chronicles 16:12-13, King Asa died because he sought help from the physicians instead of the Lord.

One Facebook friend offered this challenge that I will embrace: “Let’s spend one hour a day in the morning with Jesus and pray, worship and seek Him and He will dump a bucket of oil on your head.”

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.” - Psalm 23:5

A Vow to Cherish

Christian television can be beneficial to one’s spiritual growth in addition to attending regular church services. Nevertheless, one shouldn’t blindly accept everything said by any preacher. We must be like the Bereans who “…searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

Recently one well-known minister was asked on TV for his counsel regarding a man whose wife suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Because the wife didn’t recognize her husband anymore, this man started seeing another woman. The minister replied by saying, “I know it sounds cruel, but if he’s going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her.”

The minister’s co-host reminded him that marriage vows include taking care of each other “for better or for worse” (the marriage vow also specifically mentions “in sickness and in health”). His immediate response to that was, “If you respect that vow, you say ‘til death do us part...This [Alzheimer’s] is a kind of death.” He went on to talk about a man he knew whose wife also had Alzheimer’s but still saw her every day until she died. In addition, the TV minister encouraged the viewer to “…get some ethicist besides me to give you the answer because I recognize the dilemma.”

While I honor this minister as a man of God, I must take exception to his initial advice. It’s one thing to divorce a spouse who is unfaithful and not willing to make the marriage work. But it’s another thing if your spouse becomes incapacitated. Jesus said in Luke 6:31, “And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.” If you were married and suddenly became bedridden, wouldn’t you want your spouse by your side?

This reminds me of the Terri Schiavo case in Florida a few years ago. In 1990, Terri collapsed due to cardiac arrest and was in a near vegetative state for 15 years. Terri’s husband Michael repeatedly petitioned the courts to have his wife’s feeding tube removed against her parents’ wishes. In the meantime, Michael Schiavo moved in with another woman and fathered two children out of wedlock before Terri died in 2005. Although one might sympathize with Michael’s desire to have normal marital relations again, he still committed adultery.

I also recall Billy Graham’s film ministry releasing a movie in 1999 called “A Vow to Cherish.” Ken Howard played the part of a business executive caring for his wife (portrayed by Barbara Babcock) whose memory was failing due to Alzheimer's. While I personally found the movie depressing, I liked that it showed a husband willing to remain faithful to his wife despite his brother and a new female friend suggesting he “move on” with his life.

God is bigger than any disease and can bring healing to anyone including the elderly and those with Alzheimer’s. As long as a sick spouse is breathing, there is still hope for recovery.

“Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.” - Deuteronomy 34:7