Case No. 143: Traditional Medicine Vs The Church

Traditional healers are frowned upon by the church yet the word of God clearly states that it is acceptable for Gods people to use traditional medicine. I bet you didn't know that.

It is written: “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing (Ezekiel 47:12)." This was a message from the Angel of God to Ezekiel a prophet concerning the future of the Israelites and how they were to conduct themselves when they returned from exile in Babylon.

What does this tell us? It tells us God by nature intended that human beings use trees not only for food but also for medicine.

It’s okay to be healed by faith and all but what about all those who don’t believe in God? How will they be healed? And how many of the believing Christians themselves have the necessary faith for a healing to take place or a miracle healing? Think about it, isn’t the taking of traditional medicine in itself an expression of great faith? I mean you just look at a root of some tree or powder grounded from another tree and expect it to heal you, what greater faith can there be than that? Using traditional medicine says something about your faith, it says you have faith that you can get better.

So what is wrong with using traditional healers and medicines? It’s only that the healers today try to take advantage of you by having you perform fantastic rituals that can lead you to sin e.g. sleeping with your daughter, women having sexual relations with animals like snakes, and the use of magic (all are sins in Gods sight). The bad stuff healers can do to harm other people automatically brands them as sinners in the sight of men. But in the sight of God not all healers use their gifts for evil, and those are acceptable in his sight. If it’s acceptable in Gods sight then that has to be good enough for me.

So yeah am going to visit the traditional healer, and am going to take what he gives me and am gonna drink that stuff, bath that stuff and rub it all over me as and per his or her instructions. I mean am in the process using the tree roots, leaves and bark and powder as per Gods instructions aren’t I? It’s not like am asking him to disappear a pregnancy or repay an evil done to me or worse kill some one.

The modern church says I shouldn’t go to a Nsin’ganga, used usually to mean either a traditional healer or witchdoctor. You do what you want to do but I have told you what the word of God says. If you do choose to visit a healer as well as take his medicine then make sure you do so out of pure motives. He might approve of using traditional medicine but God will never approve of you using such medicine to harm other people.

Take note that a Traditional Healer will only take tree roots, tree bark, tree leaves etc and give them to you with a formula as to how to use them e.g morning, noon, night. A Witchdoctor on the other hand will do all those things and in addition will commune with spirits. Communing with spirits is a sin (Leviticus 20:27), so take special care that if someone is taking you to a Medicine man you know how they do their work, whether or not they communicate with spirits. If they do avoid them.

Special note must be made here also that the Christian’s use of trees extends to food and medicine only. Any use of trees and traditional healers to influence life by acquiring luck, protecting property and repaying an evil falls under magic and as such is frowned upon by God. It is written: Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead(Deuteronomy 18:10).

I still afford my church my respect, obedience and allegiance but I respect the word of God more than I respect what the churches of men say.