Proverbs 17:22 (KJV)
22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Medicine (for a cure) is obviously associated with blessing.
Ezekiel 47:12 (KJV)
12 And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.
Now medical science recognizes the good effects of fruit for food and health, as well as the leaves.
1 Timothy 5:23 (KJV)
23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.
Paul giving health advice to Timothy. The hard way to learn such things is to drink water in a foreign land except from a sealed, branded water bottle. Even then it's not insulting to ask them to crack the seal and microwave it until slightly warm. Use none of their ice. Paul doubtless encounted Greek medicine, marked by monuments to Hippocrates (somewhere around Mars Hill,Athens), whose medical observations are still amazing.
The U.S.A. has about 6,000 licensed naturopathic doctors. Read up on these experts in medicinal herbs and lots of other healing techniques your family doctor can't talk about. They endure more years of specialty training than general prac doctors concerning natural healing. Mine replaced my cholesterol lowering prescription med with a natural herbal one with the same pharm ingredient a pharicuital factory simulated, but with no known side effects, though a little more expensive. She has me taking 1/4 of former prescribed cardio meds, switching slowly to herbal supplements along with easy diet and much easier exercise than gym workouts.
Back to the Bible....The KJV used the Gr. pharmakeia as old English for "witchcraft". That word was rooted in "pharakeus" (drug), which came from "pharmakeon" (druggist). There are posaitive and negative usages of those. Usage and understanding in Greek depends on Greek grammar. There is a spiritual world between a witch doing evil witchcraft, and Mr. Hippocrates ( circa BC) discovering healing with medicines and practicing intervention medicine/healing methods to heal the sick. That was all mankind had until Jesus demonstrated then secured our healing on his last day among men.
It took me many years to realize why it didn't matter how much I or anyone else begged God for my healing. Israel had Isa 53 and other scriptures to look forward to the year 33 AD. The Church has only to trust back to that same year for what we Christians already possess. Why go to a bank begging for some of your money already on record there?
PERSONAL TESTIMONY. As for arthritic pain, I still enjoy a rescue from hydrocodone taken way past addition, getting that prescribed over and over. I met a very young man on a Christian website, who lives in India. He was then walking out from Hyderabad on days off work to preach Christ to the very poorest of the poor in tiny villages. He came in asking for American answers to answers to Bible issues hard to understand. Although I realized he was poor too, I extended an offer that should he ever somehow make it to America, visit us.
One fine day he called saying he was getting off a bus in my city. "May I meet you" he asked. I was shocked, but said "yes, let me come get you." He already had a cab arriving. My wife and I wondered. Was this a scam? The cab arrived. Onto the porch came the blackest man imaginable. When I opened the door he said "OH, I am now worthy, I'm a n***" Right then I knew he was from a British dominated area, and it had to be Satish from Hyderabad. I hugged him and let him inside. That young man spent 2 weeks with us, studying, praying, and being introduced to our church and friends. My wife and I came to regard him as our son, and he our "Mum & Dad". He came back for two weeks each of two more years, helped to secure support from as many sources as we could find. On that last week he found my precious bottle of hydroco. Holding it up he said "EVIL, it must go." I fell to my knees begging for its return. He returned it, but explained why he had been requiring so much of the spice turmeric, that yellow hot spice you wonder what else besides "curry" it is useful for. It is a natural anti-inflammatory substance. Most pain is caused by inflammation. He mailed me some as well as newly available Curcumin extract. I began taking the supplement, quickly abandoning the hydrocodone. We've been in contact by phone and web since, sending monthly support most of the years since the year 2000.
Last May we got an invititation to attend his receiving an honorary doctorate from Dallas Baptist University. We enjoyed a wonderful time there, meeting his wife and two sons at last at Our temporary digs, the Hilton Anatole. Rev. Doctor P. Satish Kumar was honored as founding pastor of Calvary Temple, Hyderabad, India. Membership is above 170,000 in the Hyderabad facility, plus billions of viewers by satellite TV and internet, now said to be the fourth largest church in the world. He was blessed to know I never take hydrocodone or even Tylenol for pain. He announced that our contribution, usually under $100 a month, amounted to millions in India, a vast fortune for him. At a special personal supper for 12 of his original supporters, my wife sat at his right hand. She was the major figure setting up meetings in the USA while I worked at my career. She was blessed that Satish served his prized chicken legs to her. All our friends share in that crown. I am sill the lowly "Dad" (& "Mum") Jim Campbell from Hot Springs to that church on the other side of Earth, a very white Caucasian the Lord is still teaching to love as Jesus loved. I stopped 'working on that', now letting Jesus finish me out.
Be open to wisdom and "good Samaritans". Blessing comes sometimes in strange ways. But above all, stop looking for a future healing. It was paid for two millennia past. Hold the church elders, who are supposed to lay hands on you and praying effectually, to your healing, to the standard of healing Jesus" way. The only people he couldn't heal were those lacking faith. Refuse any excuse as to why yu don't experience healing when believing for that, no doubting, confessing with words before witnesses. You only benefit from faith benefits when speaking it out.
