The Plan of Man in Health and Healing

What do you do when you get ill? What do you do when your child becomes ill?

Do you automaticaly pick up the phone and call the doctor or do you  consult  the internet or your guide on herbal or natural remedies?  What about healthy eating?  Homeopatic remedies?  Ayurvedic medicine? Healing frequencies? Linen garments? There are so many  different possibilities out there. What do we choose ? What can or should we as believers in YHVH do when we or our family members get ill? We are His set-apart people. Can or should  we as His set-apart people be putting our faith in any of the above or should we turn to YHVH in prayer? I believe that we need to first and foremost seek YHVH in prayer in order to know what we should do and then act in obedience. Doing anything other than that is idolatry! That is quite a harsh statement. Let us explore this further.

Jeremiah 17:7
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in YHVH And whose trust is YHVH.

Psalm 28:7
7 YHVH is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.

In the above quoted verses it is quite clear that we shall be blessed and helped when our hearts trust in YHVH.  The reverse is also true:  In Jeremiah 17:5 YHVH says that we shall be cursed if we trust in mankind and makes flesh our strength.

Look at the progression in this verse:  you making flesh your strength and this then results in your heart turning away from YHVH.

Jeremiah 17:5
5 Thus says YHVH,
“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from YHVH.

The word “flesh” can also be translated as: mankind, myself, all living things,
(Strongs 1320 בָּשָׂר [basar /baw·sawr/] )

Mankind can also mean people or man’s ideologies and ideas. It can also mean trusting in myself – my own ideas or plans. Putting my trust in any or all livings things: plants or animals, healthy eating, herbal remedies, vitamins, wearing linen garments to name a few.

Also look at these verses:

Psalm 146:3
3 Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.

Isaiah 2:22
22 Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?

Isaiah 30:1
1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares YHVH, “Who execute a plan, but not Mine, And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, In order to add sin to sin;

When our hearts are turned away from our Creator – where is it turned to? It is turned towards someone or something else.  It means we have transferred our trust in YHVH to something or someone else. Is that not idolatry?

We are told very specifically that we are to worship nothing or no-one other than YHVH. It is stated very clearly in the Bible:

Exodus 20:3–5
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, YHVH your Elohim, am a jealous Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Is there any connection between trust and worship?  When we look at the account of Daniel who was thrown in the lion’s den and also Daniel’s three friends who were thrown into a burning furnace.  In each case they were forced to worship an idol – they refused. They chose to worship YHVH therefor putting their trust in Him. If we choose to worship YHVH, we should be putting our trust in Him.

Daniel 3:28
28 Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, “Blessed be the Elohim of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own Elohim.

We learn from the above that we are to trust in YHVH for everything. We need to pray to YHVH and ask Him for guidance.  We should not be putting our faith blindly in any and all kinds of new information or people – even doctors- promising healing.   Sometimes you hear about a new remedy or new research done in a specific area. You might think: wow! Maybe this is an answer to my prayer! Before you run off to buy it and try it, consider this:  Which treatments or “science” is “kosher” and which are actually pagan or have pagan roots? How do we discern right from wrong?  When are we just benefiting from science and when are we practicing idolatry? Can idolatry just be wearing the mask of science? Wearing linen or using homeopathic remedies, even listening to certain frequencies that are claimed by “scientists” as having “healing power”. Who is guiding us if the core of these practices are occult?

YHVH will not guide us towards using anything contrary to His Word. For instance He will not guide you to use homeopathic medicine – which are occult to it’s very core- (see notes underneath “What is homeopathy?”) I also doubt that He would guide you to go to a New Age Holistic healer. That would in a sense be for me like instructing you to use witchcraft which is against Torah. Some use the logic that all was created by YHVH, so how can it be wrong. “It was stolen by the enemy and perverted for his use” is often said. That is simply not true – witchcraft was not created by YHVH! Using remedies with occult roots are wrong – has always been and will always be.  It is said in the book of Enoch that these practices were taught to man by the fallen angels.

Enoch 7:10
Then they took wives, each choosing for himself; whom they began to approach, and with whom they cohabited; teaching them sorcery, incantations, and the dividing of roots and trees.

Enoch 8:3
Amazarak taught all the sorcerers and the dividers of roots.

We should gain proper knowledge of what we get ourselves into prior to just jumping in and trying every new trend especially in healthcare. Healthcare has always been and still is very connected with spirituality. The roots of some alternative health care practices are very occult and can just be the door Satan uses to pull you into occultism.

Hosea 4:6
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being My priest.
Since you have forgotten the law of your Elohim,
I also will forget your children.

It has become easier to follow the newest healthcare trends than it is to pray, read the Bible and do proper research. We want to belief the media. We do not want to repent and follow YHVH’s ways. Man’s way is easier and more trendy to follow.

2 Timothy 4:3–4
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths

If one pursue health and healing for the sake of health and healing, one has not attained much except just another form of idolatry. We should pursue health and healing in order to be able to -without hindrance of illness- use our time to acquire knowledge of YHVH and most importantly getting to know YHVH personally. This basic concept is also taught in Judaism by Rambam.

I have made some excerpts of some of the topics out of a book by the name:  Basic questions on alternative medicine : What is good and what is not?. Stewart, G. (1998) to shed some light on some of the alternative therapies out there,  it’s origin and the belief system behind it. This is by no means an exhaustive list and I will add to it as I research further. I have attached these excerpts to the document for your easy reference here:

Excerpts from Basic Questions on alternative medicine