The following is a Facebook post by Roger Sapp. I have some disagreements when it comes to Roger Sapp's theology of healing, but I generally recommend his materials on divine healing which encourage people to have faith for divine healing.
I believe it's not always God's intention to heal "all things CONSIDERED." But "all things BEING EQUAL" God's general will is to heal. It's always God's will that we have faith. That unless God gives a special revelation otherwise, it's always God's will that we exercise faith to strive for our healing by supernatural means, and that God is not opposed to doctors. Rather God affirms their crucial role in society. That it's a vocation and profession to be respected. Luke, the author of the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts is
called the "beloved physician" in Col. 4:14. There's no indication that
Luke stopped being a doctor. The fact that he's called the "BELOVED
physician" suggests he was beloved precisely because he was known to BE
(even at that time still) a competent and caring doctor. I have more Roger Sapp Materials HERE. Though some of the links are dead.
This is a short excerpt from "Is There a Conflict Between Divine Healing and Medicine?"
Again, taking a Christ centered approach to this subject; we need to observe what Christ had to say about doctors. There is one statement from Christ about doctors that appears in all three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). The context of the statement is the Pharisees condemning Christ for his ongoing eating of meals with sinful people. Christ says in response to them:
"It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick." (Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31)
Hopefully, any honest reader can note that Christ is certainly not condemning physicians. This is a positive statement about medical care. Christ expects the Pharisees to acknowledge this common sense about doctors.
Christ is saying that "Sick people need a doctor." Christ does not expect His opponents to argue with this common sense about doctors as some unwise Christians will do today. The Holy Spirit seems to want to emphasize this statement by causing it to appear three times in the Gospels.
In saying this, Christ is identifying with doctors in a positive way. Christ is declaring Himself to be a physician to these people. There is not a hint of condemnation of doctors or medicine in this statement. It is an endorsement of both. Additionally, there is another positive statement by Christ about medicine or doctors. It only appears in the Gospel of Luke. Luke writes:
"And He (Christ) said to them, "No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your home town as well.'"" (Luke 4:23)
Again, Christ identifies with physicians in a positive way as He notes the sharp criticism of His ministry. Christ quotes an apparently well-known proverb among Jewish people of the First Century. The First Century Jews believed that physicians were involved in healing. (They did not believe that doctors were sorcerers.) Christ says that they will "no doubt" quote the proverb about Him.
While these people were challenging Christ to do in His hometown what He had done elsewhere, neither they nor Christ were being negative about physicians. Quite the contrary is true. Christ and His hearers believed that physicians were involved in healing people and should heal themselves as well.
Beyond this, Christ does list sins in some passages. He does not mention practicing medicine or using medicine as one of these sins. If it is wrong to go to a doctor, then Christ would address this as sin but He does not do this.
Christ - who is deeply committed to supernatural healing - does not condemn physicians. This should be convincing evidence. The fact of His validation of physicians by His statements should be enough to settle this matter with any reasonable person.
Occasionally, someone will innocently but ignorantly think that there were no Jewish doctors in the First Century. However, this is simply not true. In Christ’s statements, He certainly expects His hearers to understand exactly what a doctor does in healing. The New Testament does record doctors functioning among the Jewish people. For instance, the story of the woman with the issue of blood begins with this piece of information:
And a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse, (Mark 5:25-26)
Mark does not indicate that going to a doctor was a sinful thing for her to do. The passage does not refer to these doctors as "sorcerers" when it could have done so. Later, when she encounters Christ, He does not address her going to doctors as a sin either.
Despite the fact of their ineffectiveness in helping this woman, she had access to "many physicians." In discussing this verse, the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible says:
"The Rabbis ordained that every town must have at least one physician, who was also to be qualified to practice surgery, or else a physician and a surgeon."
These physicians were not considered "sorcerers" in any way by the Jews. They were fully accepted as physicians by Christ Himself as He did supernatural healing ministry.
The New Testament Greek Word for "Physician" Literally Means "Healer." It is the Same Positive Word that Often Describes Jesus.
This is another short excerpt from "Is There a Conflict Between Divine Healing and Medicine?"
There is no relationship between the Greek word for "sorcery" and the Greek word for "physician" in the New Testament. They do not appear together in any passage. The New Testament does not say anywhere that physicians are practicing sorcery.
The Greek word translated "physician" in the New Testament is "iatros." It comes from the root word "iaomai" which means "to heal." In other words, in the Greek New Testament, the word for "physician" literally means "healer."
The root word "iaomai" is found 26 times in the New Testament. In most of these texts, this Greek word refers to Christ healing the sick. This Greek word - that means "to heal" - never refers to something evil. In other words, when the New Testament speaks about physicians, it uses a word that comes from the same root word that is used repeatedly in describing the supernatural healing in Christ ministry.
The writers of the New Testament could have used the Greek word for "sorcerers" but chose to use the always positive Greek word that means "healer" to describe those involved in medical practice. This is very significant. Those that teach or suggest that doctors are practicing sorcery are dangerously wrong.
Paul Writes of Luke the Physician in an Entirely Positive Way
Because we are Christ centered, we start with Christ as the foundation of what we believe and practice. Then we observe what the rest of the New Testament says. What does the rest of the New Testament reveal about doctors and medicine? The author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles is Luke, the physician.
Some may not be aware that Luke was often a companion of the Apostle Paul as he traveled throughout the Roman Empire. Paul does identify Luke as a doctor. Luke was present and traveling with the Apostle Paul when Paul wrote this:
"Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings..." (Colossians 4:14)
Again, the absence of condemnation of the medical profession is certain here. Quite the contrary is apparent. Paul is supportive of Luke's profession as a doctor. Paul did not have to mention that Luke was a doctor. He would not have mentioned it if he had thought negatively of doctors and wanted Luke to cease being a doctor. Yet, the Apostle Paul makes it plain that he approves of Luke being a doctor.
Paul does not distinguish Luke as a different kind of physician who doesn't really use medicine because he believes in healing. That idea is certainly not present here. That idea cannot be added to support someone's negative view of doctors when that idea is absent from the New Testament..
By the fact of Luke continuing to be a physician and a strong believer in Christ, it does support our view that it is entirely possible to believe the Lord for supernatural healing while under the care of a doctor. It is also possible to be a doctor, like Luke, who believes both in natural and supernatural healing. I have personal relationships and acquaintances with a number of Christian doctors who both practice medicine and pray successfully for the sick to be healed. The idea that you can't do both is certainly erroneous and not found in the New Testament.
In order to continue to condemn doctors, you really have to disregard the fact that Paul does not condemn his companion Luke and does approve of him being a doctor.
This is another short excerpt from "Is There a Conflict Between Divine Healing and Medicine?"
The Apostle Paul writes using the Greek word "pharmakeia" in Galatians Chapter 5. That passage says this:
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)
The Greek word "pharmakeia" is translated as "sorcery" in the above verses. Because this word "pharmakeia" meant at that time "the use of medicine, drugs and spells." Some have become fearful that any use of drugs, such as in modern medicine, is sorcery.
This would be pretty frightening if it meant that taking two aspirins for a migraine headache was enough to cause you to not inherit the Kingdom of God. It would hardly be consistent with the gracious God that Christ reveals for someone having a serious heart attack who receives medical help to survive would be excluded by God from inheriting the Kingdom. This negative view of God is very wrong.
We need to look a little deeper at this word. It appears in several places in the New Testament and is translated as "sorcery" or "sorcerer" in modern versions of the Bible but never as "medicine" or "physician."
Vine's Dictionary of New Testament Words says this about this Greek word:
"The use of drugs, whether simple or potent, was generally accompanied by incantations and appeal to occult powers, with the provision of various charms, amulets, etc., professedly designed to keep the applicant or patient from the attention and power of demons, but actually to impress the applicant with the mysterious resources and powers of the sorcerer."
These "sorcerers" that Paul is describing were involved in pagan religious practices and calling on false gods for spiritual power. These sorcerers were creating intoxicating drugs with the purpose of entering the spirit world through visions and hallucinations. They provided these intoxicating drugs for others to do the same thing. This is, of course, similar to people taking drugs today to get "high."
Since the passage lists "drunkenness" as a sin of the flesh, it fits that taking drugs to become intoxicated perhaps could be considered "sorcery." However, modern drugs – taken only for the purpose of intoxication - do not have the element of pagan worship attached. Likewise, the word "sorcery" follows the word "idolatry" in the verses above and they are certainly related. In this case, "pharmakeia" means the use of intoxicating drugs and spells to practice an idolatrous pagan religion.
It is fairly obvious that Paul drew a distinction between what Luke was doing as a physician and what sorcerers were doing. It is also clear that Christ was making that distinction. The Jewish doctors in the First Century were not practicing sorcery. They were healers. Western doctors today are not practicing sorcery any more than Jewish doctors were in the First Century. Doctors today are healers in the same way as they were in the First Century.
The modern word "pharmacy" being “borrowed” from this ancient Greek word centuries later does not mean that modern creation of drugs and modern use of medicine is sorcery. People go to doctors today to get well or to stay well. The great majority of people do not go to doctors today to obtain intoxicating drugs to enter the spirit world. They go to doctors today to get well.
Medical doctors are not calling on false gods to heal people. Sorcery cannot be done accidently as God looks at the heart. In order to be a sorcerer, you must be calling on false gods intentionally. Most doctors in the West are secularists and are not spiritually oriented at all. Most doctors have little or no interest in the spiritual realm.
While the modern word "pharmacy" does come from the same Greek word, it is reasonably certain that you will have difficulty finding a modern pharmacy that has medications on hand that have the sole purpose of allowing you to enter the spirit world through hallucinations and visions. It is also reasonably certain that you will have trouble finding a physician that will write you a prescription for a drug so that you can enter the spiritual realm.
The idea that someone going to a doctor with a sinus infection - who receives an antibiotic to deal with the infection - is involved in sorcery and the doctor himself is a sorcerer is simply ludicrous. Just because someone “borrowed” this Greek word in more recent times to describe a place to obtain healing medications - a pharmacy - does not mean that it is the same idolatrous pagan thing that Paul was describing.
Words, over long periods of time, do obtain new meanings and new usages. Despite the same Greek word being the root, the meaning of the word has changed in modern times. A "pharmacy" is not involved in a practice of pagan worship of false gods. It exists to aid physicians in healing their patients. It does not exist to aid sorcerers in the practice of idolatry.
To illustrate, the Olympic Games were originally Greek athletic contests. These contests were held to honor the false Greek gods such as Zeus. To say now that when an athlete participates in the Olympic games that they are involved in the worship of false gods simply because these contests originated that way would be simply unreasonable.
It is the present spiritual content of a practice (and not its origin) that makes it righteous or evil. The athletic contest remains but the honoring of false gods has completely disappeared over the centuries. Likewise, the use of medicine remains but its connection with pagan idolatry has long disappeared and was never a part of modern western medicine. Doctors are not sorcerers and pharmacies do not aid sorcerers today.
Quit being afraid. Your gracious Savior and Healer Jesus does not punish people for going to doctors. He still heals them.
