Signs of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 36. (9/14/1915)

Signs of the Times

Sep 14, 1915

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 14, 1915

The Physician on the Gospel Frontier

By Francis Monroe Burg

RELIEVING SUFFERING AND DISEASE IN DARK HEATHEN LANDS—AN OPEN DOOR TO THE CHRISTIAN PHYSICIAN AND NURSE—HOW THEY OVERCOME SUPERSTITION AND DESTRUCTIVE ERRORS

By FRANCIS MONROE BURG

Professor of Biblical Exegesis, College of Medical Evangelists, Loma Linda, California

The primary objective in the coming of Christ to our world to tabernacle with the human family for thirty-three years was the revelation or manifestation of God in the flesh. “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.” 1 Tim. 3:16. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:14. And thus the Saviour said to Philip: “If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him.” John 14:7.

The world had so far lost the knowledge of God that the words of the prophet were fulfilled, “Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.” Isa. 60:2. The people of all countries had “changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” Rom. 1:23.

ENTRANCE TO SANITARIUM DEPARTMENT, COLLEGE OF MEDICAL EVANGELISTS, LOMA LINDA, CALIFORNIA

Being unacquainted with the great I AM, the one and only true God, and having become strangers to the soul-uplifting experience of faith in the infinite attributes of Him who otherwise is invisible and unapproachable, they followed the natural trend of their limited senses toward that low plane of moral depravity where vice was virtue, and sensualism, lust, and excess had loose rein. The natural concomitant was such indescribable wickedness, misery, suffering, ignorance, and superstition as have in all the ages characterized the people of every country where the knowledge of the living God has not entered to effect its marvelous and desirable transformations.

The one characteristic of the Deity that distinguishes Him from the gods “that are no gods” is His love—His pity and sympathy and tenderness toward His creatures. Says the psalmist, “For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee.” Ps. 86:5.

This characteristic of the Christian’s God is unknown in the religions of the benighted nations. The devotion of the Hindu mother who sacrifices her darling babe by throwing it into the river to be devoured by a crocodile is wrung from her by her fear of the gods and to appease their wrath. The same motive prompts the blind devotee who lacerates his body until the blood flows in streams, or in other cruel ways afflicts himself, in order to win the favor or turn away the anger of his god.

Here is where the medical missionary—the Christian physician or the Christian nurse—finds his open door to the dark hearts of these unfortunate victims of ignorance and superstition.

The primary aim of the gospel worker is to bring the knowledge of God to those who know Him not. How better can he accomplish this than by following the example of Him who, as a missionary from heaven to our dark world, “went about doing good” and “healing all manner of diseases”?

FINDS OPEN DOORS

Says John Lowe, F. R. C. S. E., author of “Medical Missions, Their Place and Power”:

“The Christlike nature of medical missionary work, the opportunities which it affords for the practical manifestation of the spirit of the gospel—the doors, otherwise closed, which it opens in pioneering a way for the entrance of the truth—these are features of this department of work which cannot fail, if intelligently apprehended, to commend the cause to the hearty sympathy and support of the friends of missions.

“As a means of overcoming prejudice, and of gaining access to heathen and often exclusive communities, medical missions present strong claims to the sympathy and support of the friends of missions. The suspicion and prejudice with which the Christian missionary is often regarded in Mohammedan countries, as well as in many parts of the heathen world, render our endeavors to reach the people, and to introduce the gospel among them, a work of great difficulty, and often even of danger. Gross ignorance, superstition, and fanaticism, caste, social habits, and national prejudices, are barriers which the mere missionary finds it difficult to overcome, and which may compel him to remain for years isolated and shunned, if not despised, and thus the opportunity for doing good for which he yearns is utterly denied him; whilst to the missionary physician the hovel and the palace are alike opened at his approach, suspicions are allayed, prejudice is disarmed, caste distinction, for the time at least, is overcome; even the harem, where the brother may not intrude, is not too sacred for the ‘infidel’ when he enters as an angel of mercy to the sick and dying. Thus, as the missionary pioneer, he opens and holds open many a door of Christian usefulness. To these he introduces his brethren, thus enlarging their sphere of service as well as his own.”

NO SUPERIOR MEANS

This author quotes Dr. Parker, who was a leading factor in the formation of the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society, as follows:

“I have no hesitation in expressing it as my solemn conviction that, as yet, no medium of contact, and of bringing the people under the sound of the gospel, and within the influence of other means of grace, can compare with the facilities afforded by medical missionary operations.”

Quoting further from Dr. Lowe: “The evangelization of the world is Christ’s own work; and those who, as His instruments, are called to engage in it, are commissioned to represent Christ—to represent Him in all His tender pity for the lost, His loving sympathy for the afflicted, His care for the sick, His compassion for the suffering. We turn therefore to Christ’s ministry on earth for the interpretation of His own commission, ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.’”

TOUCHED BY THE SUFFERING MILLIONS

The world is a veritable lazar house. The cries and groans of its suffering millions touch the pitying heart of Him who looks down from His sanctuary in heaven. He sent Jesus “to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” Isa. 61:1. In His life here were perfectly blended the teaching of truth and the tender ministry that told as words could not the boundless love of the One who sent Him. As proof of His divine Sonship and His Messiahship, He sent the message to John, “The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.” So in giving His commission to those who were to represent Him after His departure to heaven, He commanded them “to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.”

The hands of a suffering world are outstretched, calling for the relief that comes from this double ministry.

MEDICAL MISSIONARY TRAINING

By J. A. Burden

What It Stands For

Physical Ailments Must Often Have First Attention—The Master So Taught and Practiced—The Church Should Be Active in Helping the Sick in Body as Well as Soul

By J. A. BURDEN

Business Manager College of Medical Evangelists, Loma Linda, California

As a preparation for missionary work, all things being equal, no other education can excel a medical missionary training. Christ, the greatest of all missionaries, recognized this principle in His labors, and also in the training of His twelve disciples. He spent more time in ministering to the physical needs of the people than in simply preaching the gospel.

TOUCHED THE HEART BY RELIEVING PAIN

A GROUP OF MEDICAL STUDENTS AND NURSES AT LOMA LINDA COLLEGE OF MEDICAL EVANGELISTS

In ministering to the physical ailments of the multitude, He found access to their hearts, and their minds were open to receive the divine truths He presented.

When sending out the twelve disciples on their first missionary tour, He instructed them to combine physical healing with their gospel teaching. By following this plan of ministry, their labors would be more successful.

He commissioned the seventy to heal the sick as well as to announce the advent of the promised Redeemer. “The gospel that Christ taught was one of spiritual life and physical restoration. Deliverance from sin and the healing of disease were linked together.” At the close of His ministry, when He commissioned His followers to go into all the world, He said they should lay hands on the sick, and they should recover. Through their ministry of healing in His name, they would testify of His power to heal the soul. To many of the afflicted Christ said, “Sin no more,” thus indicating that there is a close connection between sin and disease.

NEEDED IN THAT FIELD

So great is the world’s need of gospel medical missionary evangelists, that all who are prepared by study and training, from the graduate nurse to the most efficient physician, can find an open field of labor either at home or abroad. The world is becoming a vast hospital, and there is need of an army of soul winners who have been trained in this double ministry.

“God is calling for young men and women in the strength and vigor of youth to qualify themselves with His ministry of healing, not with drug medication, but with nature’s remedies, ever realizing their dependence on God. As they unite the work of teaching and healing, they will reap a rich harvest of souls.” “And while God is calling upon young men and women who have already gained a practical knowledge of how to treat the sick, to labor as gospel medical missionaries in connection with experienced evangelistic workers, He is also calling for many recruits to enter our medical missionary training schools to gain a speedy and thorough preparation for service. Some need not spend so long a time in these schools as do others, whether three or four or five years in preparation before beginning to engage in active field work. Some, after studying for a time, may develop more rapidly by working along practical lines in different places under the supervision of experienced leaders than they could by remaining in an institution. As they advance in knowledge and ability, some of them will find it to their advantage to return to one of our training schools for more instruction. Thus they are to become efficient in medical missionary work.”

“Every physician, every nurse, who has anything to do in God’s service, must aim at perfection. Nothing short of this standard is pleasing to Him who has called us to be co-laborers with Him. And especially should those who are in training for medical missionaries turn resolutely from every temptation to be satisfied with a superficial knowledge of their profession. Let them rather reach upward toward perfection. There is the most exalted calling, and their preparation must be painstaking and thorough.”

The cause of Christ would have been far in advance of what it is, had the church been more active in the training of nurses who, in addition to their acquirement of more than ordinary skill in the care of the sick, had also learned to labor as evangelists in soul-winning service.

WHY IT WAS FOUNDED

“It is for the training of such workers as well as for the training of physicians that the school at Loma Linda has been founded. In this school many workers are to be qualified with the ability of physicians to labor not in professional lines as physicians but as medical missionary evangelists. This training is to be in harmony with the principles of true higher education. The cause is in need of hundreds of workers who have received a practical and thorough education in medical lines, and who are also prepared to labor from house to house as teachers and Bible workers. Such students should come out of our schools without having sacrificed the principles of health reform or their love for God and righteousness.”

Those who take advanced training in nursing, and go forth into all parts of the world as medical missionary evangelists, cannot expect to receive from the world the honor and the rewards that often come to fully accredited physicians; yet as they go about their work of teaching and of healing, and are linked up closely with God’s servants who have been called to the ministry of His word, His blessing will rest upon their labors, and marvelous transformations will be wrought. In a special sense they will be His helping hand.

The Healing Art in Gospel Work

By H. M. Lee

By H. M. LEE

SINCE Jesus is the Master Teacher and Physician, it would seem that the gospel work must not overlook the importance of ministering to the pain-racked and suffering bodies of men. Jesus desired to demonstrate to men that God is love, and that sin and its consequence, disease, excite His pity and love. And as He healed their bodies, He made them feel that He was One who could relieve the soul of its moral defilement and misery.

He wished His message and work to be understood aright, so He spent more time in the practice of it than in the preaching of it. Thus His works themselves became the clearest kind of sermons, and the words He spoke were deeply impressed upon the hearts of men.

“The Saviour made each work of healing an occasion for implanting divine principles in the mind and soul. This was the purpose of His work. He imparted earthly blessings, that He might incline the hearts of men to receive the gospel of His grace.” (“Ministry of Healing,” page 20.) This ought every gospel worker to do. Above all should the foreign missionary follow this line of work, that the heathen may see the beneficent outworkings of true Christianity.

The accompanying photograph shows the dispensary at Soonan, Korea. In this dispensary, many thousands have found relief through the ministration of kind Christian hands. Some have been led to Christ, and all have received impressions which will lead them in their future decisions.

The building is of substantial brick construction, 24x36 feet in size, and suitably arranged for its purpose. One room is for baths and for water treatments. To most patients is first given a bath, followed by one or two simple treatments. In many cases, these efforts produce a marked change for the better in the physical condition. For those who are inpatients, Christian services are held daily, that they may learn the principles of Christianity. Also much literature is given away, and in this way many receive the news that Jesus is soon coming. Thus the preaching of the gospel is accompanied by the practice, and souls are influenced to believe in Christ.

Training Christian Youth for Responsibility

“The Christian youth should be trained to bear responsibilities with brave heart and willing hand. He should learn to encounter the trials of life with patience and fortitude, to follow maxims of worth, and to confirm himself in habits that will enable him to win the victor’s crown. There is no time more favorable in which to acknowledge the power of Christ’s saving grace and to be controlled by the principles of the divine law.”

Avoiding Contagious Diseases

By Leslie Swift

By LESLIE SWIFT, A. B.

With the modern means of studying such diseases as diphtheria, measles, mumps, chorea, la grippe, tuberculosis, smallpox, infantile paralysis, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, and yellow fever, our understanding of the means of transmission of disease has been very materially increased.

In practically all these diseases, there are certain specific microorganisms, which can be seen under a high power microscope, and which can be isolated and grown outside the body, and which are capable of producing the same disease in another person when he is inoculated with them. In this way, it is possible to experiment with these different microorganisms until we have a clear understanding of how they get into the body, of the surroundings which are suitable to their development, as well as those conditions which are unsuitable or fatal to them, and the best means of keeping them out of our system.

HOW CARRIED FROM ONE TO ANOTHER

These so-called germs are carried from one individual to another principally by fingers, food, and milk.

With the possible exception of tuberculosis, none of them are carried by the air to infect another person, except as one person may cough or sneeze in another's face, and the particles or spray of sputum carried from the mouth may also carry the disease and infect the second individual.

Such infections as measles, mumps, la grippe, tuberculosis, diphtheria, and smallpox are spread largely by the use of the public towel and drinking cup, and to an almost equal extent by the use of dishes and silverware that have not been placed in boiling water after being used by a diseased person; also by the common practice of putting the fingers in the mouth, or picking the nose, or getting the fingers infected from the handkerchief, and then handling articles that are to be handled subsequently by other persons, who, after getting their fingers contaminated, thoughtlessly place them about their lips or nose.

The intestinal diseases, cholera, dysentery, and typhoid fever, are taken by the use of drinking water that has been contaminated with infected human discharges, by eating fresh green vegetables washed or irrigated with infected water, by the use of food or milk infected by flies from infected garbage or sewage, or by handling a typhoid patient and neglecting to wash the hands in some disinfecting solution before touching food or the face. In fact, these are the filth diseases, and are contracted only upon taking into the mouth substances contaminated with infected fecal discharges.

OUR MEDICAL MISSION DISPENSARY AT SOONAN, KOREA

Malaria and yellow fever are carried by the mosquito; the intestinal diseases, and probably also infantile paralysis, by the fly.

INCREASING RESISTANCE OF THE BODY

The normal human body has a certain degree of resistance against all these diseases; and unless the germs are taken internally in large numbers, the system is able to destroy them before they multiply to sufficient number to cause harm. This body resistance is greatly increased by a moderate amount of physical exercise, by plenty of fresh air and sunshine, with deep breathing, and by a plain, wholesome diet. Of course, it should be mentioned that vaccination or antitoxin also very greatly increases the body resistance toward the disease against which the inoculation is made.

When any of the contagious diseases, as typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, diphtheria, or scarlet fever, are in the community, all water and milk should be boiled before using for drinking or for the washing of eating utensils, and the hands should be washed always before eating. The eating apartment and the kitchen should be well screened against flies, and general war waged against them.

The persons standing and dressed in white are the group of workers connected with our medical mission in Kalyan, India. Elder A. G. Daniells and wife are seated. Professor Salisbury, standing at the right, is the superintendent of our work in India.

SUNSHINE AS OUR FRIEND

Sunshine is the friend of man, and the enemy of disease-producing bacteria. In case of sickness, as a rule it is well to let all the available sunshine into the sick room, as by this means many of the germs are killed which otherwise might live and later infect other persons.

For those who are caring for the sick, it is of special importance that they use no dishes used by the patient; that they keep their hands away from their faces; that they disinfect their hands often, and always before eating, in some such solution as soapy water, followed by a one per cent solution of lysol, and then rinse in water; that they take regular sleep and fresh air exercise; that they disinfect discharges from the mouth and nose of the patient, in case of tuberculosis, by burning, and in case of the intestinal diseases, disinfect stools and urine in three per cent chloride of lime; and that in all these diseases, they instruct the patient not to cough in others' faces, and to avoid, as far as possible, contaminating body and clothing with discharges from the body.

Effects of Eating Too Much

By Claud E. Steen

By CLAUD E. STEEN

MANY persons think that when they have laid aside meat, coffee, tea, and some of the other deleterious things, then they are at liberty to use without limit the abundance of perfectly good food with which the Lord has blessed us. But as surely as they do, they will have to suffer.

The Lord said through Paul, in 1 Cor. 9:25, “Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.” What is temperance? It has been defined as the absolute nonuse of all things injurious, and the moderate use of things good.

The affection of any one of the numerous organs and tissues of the body spells the name of a disease. The primary cause — overeating — explains the beginning of most of them.

Science has as yet failed to disprove the results of the many experiments carried on by Professor Chittenden; that is, that man eats far in excess of what he should for the best of health and happiness, not mentioning the greater amount of work accomplished when one eats less, and the saving on the pocketbook.

Many people say, “We will store up food and energy for future work.” But this is not so, for the body can use only enough for immediate requirements. All above this amount must be handled as waste. Man does not live on what he eats, but on what he digests.

Overeating may be (1) temporary — the result of an occasional “feed” or “drunk,” as we might call it — or (2) chronic.

Temporary overeating may apply to the excessive consumption (a) of a mixed diet, or (b) of particular articles of food. Many troubles may follow either one or both of these causes.

Chronic overeating brings in its train Bright’s disease, gout, rheumatism, appendicitis, congestion of the liver, biliousness, constipation, and many other diseases.

It is proper to depend upon a normal appetite to give information as to when to stop eating. The appetite is the conscious call of the body for food. The body will call for food until it is satisfied. But how shall we know when the needs of the body are supplied? One cannot eat until the stomach digests food enough to supply these needs, although this is what most people try to do.

The appetite sends out its signals through the taste. In other words, when the taste has been obtained from enough food, the desire for food is gone. Nine persons out of every ten — yes, possibly ninety-nine out of every hundred — swallow food, taste, and all, and of course only lack of capacity cuts short their pleasant repast.

In the acute form mentioned above, the body generally has some reserve power to help digest and throw off the excess; but in the chronic form, a constant stress is placed upon the eliminative organs, which sooner or later give way under the strain.

Let each one study these principles, and apply them to his own life, and all will recognize the wisdom of the Creator in the words recorded in 1 Cor. 10:31: “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

Worst Medical Practice on Earth

By George Thomason

Right Methods Win Success and Give Influence — The Paramount Need of Medical Missionary Training

By GEORGE THOMASON, M. D.

If it was essential for Jesus to spend much of His time in dealing with the sick, the suffering, and the dying, when doing His work upon the earth, such a course is, if possible, even more important in the work of God in the world to-day. Sickness and suffering are much more prevalent in our day than when Christ was upon the earth. In spite of the great advances in hygiene and sanitation, in medical and surgical knowledge and proficiency, disease and physical and mental degeneracy are constantly increasing.

JUSTIFIED BY UNIFORM SUCCESS

It has been well said that “the history of medical missions is the justification of medical missions.” Dr. Parker, through whose influence the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society was formed, and whose long experience in medical missionary work in China gives weight to his testimony, says, “I have no hesitation in expressing it as my solemn conviction that as yet no medium of bringing the people under the sound of the gospel and within the influence of other means of grace can compare with the facilities afforded by medical missionary operation.”

GARDEN BACK OF OUR SANITARIUM AT STANBOROUGH PARK
NEAR LONDON, ENGLAND — GARDEN BACK OF OUR SANITARIUM AT STANBOROUGH PARK NEAR LONDON, ENGLAND

Dr. Parker began his work in Canton in 1835. By his own hand he brought physical blessing to many hundreds of thousands. Dr. Kerr, who later took charge of the work started by Dr. Parker, attended seven hundred thousand patients, and performed forty-eight thousand operations.

Efforts are now being made to raise the standard of medical practice in China; but most of the medical work in China has been and is quackery of the worst type. The Chinese materia medica is perhaps the worst on earth. Their ignorance of the first principles of physiology is said to be marvelous; and the “medicine man” is deceitful and unscrupulous in playing upon the credulity and superstition of the people. Here is a sample prescription:

Powdered snakes .................... 2 parts Wasps and their nests ............... 1 part Centipedes .......................... 6 parts Scorpions ........................... 4 parts Toads ............................... 20 parts

Grind thoroughly, mix with honey, and make into pills.

In many places in India, the sick are dosed with putrid Ganges water, or suffocated with charcoal fumes.

In India is the largest medical mission in the world. In 1899, 110,000 cases were treated. Here the gospel is preached to thousands of people while they wait for treatment. Scripture texts are pasted on the medicine bottles, and literature is distributed.

BREAKS DOWN CASTE

Medical missionary work destroys caste. Every day, in the dispensary waiting rooms in India, sitting side by side, may be seen Brahman, pariah, devil worshiper, Mohammedan, and Protestant. Persons of all castes and creeds, while waiting their turn to be examined, are listening to God’s word and the preaching of the gospel. Thousands of these otherwise would never have opportunity to hear the tidings of salvation.

CAMEL’S LIVER AND BURNING

The Arab swallows bits of paper containing certain written words. A man in the last stages of consumption takes a prescription directing him to feed for a fortnight on the raw liver of a male camel; and fresh raw liver not being obtainable, he continues the use of this meat in a putrid state until he dies. The Arabs’ most common remedy for disease is the burning of the skin entirely around the seat of pain with a red-hot iron.

In Africa, the natives are largely at the mercy of the witch doctors, who, by the “smelling-out” process, by throwing bones, and by practicing the “poison test,” attempt to diagnose and treat disease.

NEVER FAILING SUCCESS

Dr. Post, of Syria, says: “One thing is perfectly certain; namely, that medical missionary work never fails. Other work may fail; but this affording of relief for physical suffering goes on the debit side of Christianity in all cases, and opens the way for other work to follow.”

THE HEALING ART IN SUPREME DEMAND

It is now a serious question with all missionary societies as to whether any missionary should be sent out without some knowledge of the healing art. The medical missionary is honored and welcomed always and anywhere in the foreign fields. National and religious prejudice vanishes before him; and in one year he can do what it would take another missionary many years to accomplish. Many who are studying the great problem of the evangelization of the world agree that the consecrated medical missionary and the well equipped hospital are most important elements of success in the foreign fields.

Dr. Livingstone said, “God had only one Son, and He gave Him to be a medical missionary.”

Continue reading: Taming Outlaws Through Medical Missions