Holistic Healing

Diagnostic machines are now on a dominant role in the healing ministry, analyzing blood, urine, sputum samples and taking pictures of hearts, lungs, livers and kidneys to determine what has caused the various ailments that confine men to hospital beds.

Yet, these machines are not trained to trace the damage caused by the malfunctioning of the glands and other organs triggered by murderous thoughts, anger, bitterness, jealousy, selfish rivalry, maddening lust, thwarted ambition or heart breaks and frustrations.

Until the 19th century, medical writers rarely failed to note the influence of grief, despair, or discouragement on the onset and outcome of illness, nor did they ignore the healing effects of faith, confidence, and peace of mind.

Spiritual teachers and saints of the past had written a lot on the powerful influence of love on health and well-being. According to Gary Zukav, American bestselling author, people will come to understand eventually that " love heals everything, and love is all there is."Without love we lose the will to live. Our mental and physical vitality is impaired, our resistance to sickness is lowered and existence becomes drab and dreary.

Sir William Osler, the Canadian physician and medical historian said that the outcome of tuberculosis had more to do with what went on in the patient's mind than what went on in his lungs. He was echoing Hipporates, who said he would rather know 'what sort of person has a disease than what sort of disease a person has.'

Scientific research and clinical experiences of great physicians of the past go to show that the state of the mind changes the state of the body by working through the central nervous system, the endocrine system, and the immune system.

A positive attitude stimulates favourably the immune system and a negative attitude depresses it. Emotions create chemical alterations in the brain. Negative emotional traits such as low self-esteem, feelings of envy, hatred, hostility, guilt and anger depress the immune system.

Positive emotional attitudes like love, happiness, peace and spiritual exercises improve the process of healing. Contentment used to be considered a prerequisite for health. So too an attitude of thankfulness to God and fellow beings and a firm faith in the power of the Creator to intervene even in an impossible situation aid the healing process.

"As a man thinketh in his heart so is he" declares the Bible. Our destiny is shaped by the kind of thoughts we entertain. But man is yet to invent a fool-proof system by which control could be exercised on the thought process. Unfortunately the heart, signifying the center of all thinking, is the root of problems. " For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile the man." (Mark 7:20,21)

If your inner thoughts are dominated by "gripe" and "groan" if you are a consistent bellyacher or worrier, you are shortening the years of your life just as surely as you are growing older by the day. An unwillingness to forgive others for the real or imaginary wrongs they have done us is a poison that affects our healthâ€"physical, emotional and spiritual.

Depression, mental or emotional illness, fear, anger, bitterness, turmoil, alcoholism, drug addiction, perversity, lust, grief, jealousy, selfishness – these are all things which can destroy life. If one or more of these things is a part of your life, it is stopping you from enjoying the fullness of life

The Bible is a book about healingâ€"healing of the total man, body, mind and spirit, the healing of relationships, the healing of society and the healing of the nations. The Biblical philosophy of life, when acted upon, increases health. "Fear the Lord and depart from evil; it shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones."(Proverbs 3: 7,8)

Healing comes when we live in harmony with ourselves and our environment, maintaining a balance in the face of change and developing our own innate healing factors. The body's self healing mechanism is activated by nutrition, exercise, environment and stress management, writes Dr A K Tharien, founder of the Fellowship Hospital at Oddanchatram in Tamil Nadu. He quotes a five year study done in 'Wickenberg in the United States which revealed that :20 per cent of the patients benefited through drugs, surgery and scientific technology; 35 per cent by 'Placebo effect', 15 per cent by Hawthorne effect (let off steam effect) and 30 per cent by unknown factors such as prayer and spiritual exercises.

When we turn within, transform our thinking, God will heal our sickness of mind and the body.

Then of course we must not forget God can heal. He dwells within us. Stuart Gramenz, in his book, How you can heal the sick quotes Ephesians 3:20 to illustrate a great truth. "God can do anything we ask or think; exceeding abundantly, if we release the power within us." In New New Zealand a woman came to him for prayer. She wished to give birth to more children but because of infection one of her fallopian tubes had been removed. The other had since become affected the same way. "We laid hands on her believing that the infection would clear up in the one remaining tube."

The woman, unsure of her healing, went ahead with her surgery appointment. During the operation the doctors were amazed to find that not only had the affected tube cleared up but the one that had been previously removed by them had grown back. She experienced a complete restoration miracle; much more than we asked for.
We serve a God who is able to do much more than we dare to think or ask. To quote the Bible verse:" Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us ."