Disease is a terrible blight upon the human race. Nobody enjoys suffering or being handicapped by one or more of the hundreds of maladies which fasten themselves upon us and eventually drag us down to death. In ancient times little or nothing was known of scientific medical treatment; and this gave opportunity for witch doctors and other unscrupulous practitioners to exploit the people, taking advantage both of their fears and superstitions, and of their very understandable desire to be relieved of pain.
Today the situation is somewhat different. Tremendous progress has been made in medical science, yet withal there still remain millions of incurables who continue to hope against hope that some day a remedy will be discovered, or a means found to restore them to normal health. This understandable hope of finding a cure exposes many of the unfortunate members of the human family to exploitation today, even as in ages past.
Government control over traffic in drugs helps to protect some from being victimized. The licensing of physicians, dentists, and others whose work it is to relieve human suffering is a further protection of the public against exploitation. But these provisions are only a partial safeguard against the evil practice of preying upon the unfortunate and taking advantage of their plight, for selfish purposes.
When medical science fails to relieve pain, cure disease, or restore sight, many begin to wonder about the possibility of a miracle being performed for them. Those who have no faith in a higher power are not tempted along this line, but those who do believe in God and have faith that he is able to do all things, are often easily convinced that they should expect him to heal them. With this thought in mind, they appeal to God for help, either directly, or through the assistance of a faith healer. Sometimes improvement is noted. In many other cases the “patient” is sorely disappointed, for no “miracle” takes place.
The healing of disease without the use of medicine or surgery is not new. It was practiced by the magicians of ancient Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. Holy men of India perform what they claim are miraculous cures. They did in the past and are still doing so.
In various countries today the idea of treating ailments of the mind and body through psychiatric methods is becoming more and more popular. It is described by some as mind over matter. Sometimes hypnotism is employed. It is said that some physicians and dentists, for example, are able to hypnotize their patients before treating them and thus do away with the need of certain anesthetics.
We are calling attention to these various methods of curing disease and killing pain that are outside of the realm of medical orthodoxy, not with the thought of either condemning or condoning them, but rather to show that, quite apart from professions of belief in Christ or in the power of God to heal disease, phenomenal things have been, and are still being, accomplished. Obviously, this leaves us with the necessity of admitting that professing Christian faith healers are accomplishing nothing more startling than are others who, in their practices, do not call upon the name of Christ at all.