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Humble Doctors

Humble Doctors. Learn Humility and Live in it!. The Wisdom of the World. Tonight we have come to commission you to go into the world a be a Christian healer

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Humble Doctors

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  1. Humble Doctors Learn Humility and Live in it!

  2. The Wisdom of the World • Tonight we have come to commission you to go into the world a be a Christian healer • You have acquired a mass of knowledge that will in time be increased and tempered by experience to become this world’s wisdom. Do not let this achievement give rise to pride • Remember that there is a major problem with part of the knowledge you have accumulated—Paul the apostle called the problem foolishness

  3. The World’s Wisdom • Much of our knowledge, though, is not foolishness, for it is knowledge that God has revealed to us • He intended for us to use it for the benefit of mankind • So he commissioned and empowered us to proclaim the Gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead

  4. Heal the Sick • You are better prepared to heal the sick than was my generation • When I graduated from medical school there were only three antibiotics, no medications for mental disease, no steroids, no antihypertensives, no clinical cardiac catheterization procedures, only four or five anesthetic agents, a few sedatives, and only one antiepileptic drug

  5. Heal the Sick • Healing for the most part was in the hands of the surgeons, so in their pride it was no wonder that many of them developed a god complex • Some of them looked with disdain on we non- surgical colleagues • They called us psychiatrists “spooks”, and sent patients to the internists for them to “philosophize over”.

  6. Heal the Sick • They said of the dermatologists that they would treat their patients with the red paint, and if that did not work they would use the green paint, and on to the yellow, purple, etc • All of this was a reminder that we did not have much to offer patients except comfort • Sadly we did not know how to do that

  7. Heal the Sick • When I began my medical career as a practitioner I realized medicine’s inadequacy. I watched patients die of many diseases and could do nothing to heal them • When I went to work in the Dorothea Dix State Hospital we had 3500 patients for whom we could do little. We were essentially warehousing them • My compassion for these unfortunates motivated me to choose a career in psychiatry and research

  8. Heal the Sick • During my training I was blessed to have a several mentors • The first one recruited me into psychiatry. He loved me and cared for me as a son, and guided and directed my training so I could accomplish what God had planned for me • At the same time my father was praying for me everyday

  9. Heal the Sick • My career took off and I was able to achieve more than most other psychiatrists • I got the world’s recognition • But God had planned that for me because I needed academic tenure, so I could not be fired when I became a Christian • Then in the fullness of time God reached down and claimed me for his own

  10. Heal the Sick • This experience changed my worldview. Something I had not been taught about in medical school • I now had a new view of the universe, and the world • I knew that there was a God and he loved me • He had created it all

  11. Heal the Sick • I also acquired a new value system that was other directed • I also had a futurology • The most amazing change was that I could love in a new dimension. I could love my wife, my children, my patients, my colleagues and God a hundred times more!

  12. Heal the Sick • He installed the Holy Spirit in my mind and changed my entire focus on medicine • Instead of being preoccupied with things of the world I was now preoccupied with things of the Kingdom • I had a passion to know Him more, and greater compassion for the lost, and traumatized people of the world

  13. Heal the Sick • I also had a desire to know more about how my faith changed the way I thought and behaved • My research that concentrated before on clinical and experimental neurophysiology now focused on the changes that take place when a person is regenerated (saved)

  14. Heal the Sick • When other people found out I was a Christian they came to me for help, and as I treated them I realized that my patients had spiritual diseases that needed treatment • God also showed me that he provided interventions that I could use to bring about healing of their spiritual diseases • I also realized that my training had given me the understanding that made it possible to use these interventions

  15. Heal the Sick • This meant that I had to learn about God’s medical practice including psychiatry • During the ensuing years he helped me to develop a classification of spiritual disease and how to heal it • He had given me power to heal when he initially touched me, and amplified it when he filled me with the Holy Spirit • Now I could proclaim the gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead.

  16. Healing the Sick • I soon also had a reputation as a Christian professor so a medical student came to me and asked me to teach him how to integrate his faith into his practice • The Holy Spirit took over and we learned together • Other students came so I then submitted a course to the curriculum committee entitled “Christianity, Medicine and Psychiatry” • Amazingly it was approved

  17. Teaching Integration • During the next years I had 108 medical students, over 50 residents, plus many other physicians including missionaries who took the course • I later taught it in 31 countries overseas • And I am still teaching seminarians how to use their faith to heal psychospiritual problems today

  18. Practicing Christian Medicine • What do I teach? • The first thing is that we have to change our worldview. There is a supernatural dimension to existence • It is inhabited by supernatural beings • We have a supernatural dimension to our being. Our mind is supernatural • This means that supernatural beings can communicate with us in our mind

  19. Practicing Christian Medicine • They can come and be installed in our mind or influence our thoughts • They can only do so with our permission • Having a supernatural mind we also can have spiritual disease. There are four or these • To be unregenerate—It is congenital • To be in sin—It is infectious • To be possessed—It is being infected and controlled by the supernatural • To be fanatical—It is to overemphasize beliefs

  20. Practicing Christian Medicine • God has, however, given us spiritual interventions to heal spiritual diseases. They are: • Evangelism • Discipleship • Prayer for healing • Exhortation • Confession, repentance, and forgiveness • Inner healing • Bibliotherapy • Deliverance

  21. Practicing Christian Medicine • To apply these we need to know which ones are indicated so we take a spiritual history along with our medical history • We then plot a strategy in which we will use these interventions • Our strategy will begin by first loving the patient. Having God’s love we will have compassion and the patient will know we care

  22. Practicing Christian Medicine • Next we will attend to their medical problems • And when we get to know the patient and have established a relationship, we will attend to their spiritual problems • If they are unregenerate we will evangelize them • If they are in sin, (which they will all be) having confessed we can use repentance and forgiveness • If they have unresolved grief we are to resolve it

  23. Practicing Christian Medicine • If they are saved and they need discipleship we disciple them • If they are discouraged we use exhortation • We will always pray for and with our patients • If they have a load of memories from a traumatic childhood we will use inner healing • If they are demonized we are to deliver them • We will always encourage them to read the Bible and books that are written to bring about healing

  24. Obstacles to the Practice of Christian Medicine • Available time • Fear of rejection and criticism • Preoccupation with income • Lack of power–The Holy Spirit is quenched or grieved in your life • A belief that all you are called to do is heal their medical problems. Wrong! Christians are called to be holistic healers!!!

  25. Obstacles to the Practice of Christian Medicine • The belief that you do not have a call to do more than the secular world prescribes • Persecution • Believing Satan’s lies • Spiritual and intellectual sloth • Lack of humility

  26. Overcoming Obstacles • 1. Maintain your relationship with God • A. Pray unceasingly • Be in the word. Read three chapters of the Bible each day and meditate on what you read • Worship God with praise and thanksgiving • 2. Absolutely surrender and do whatever he tells you to do • 3. Never forget that you are a priest of the most high God • 4. Be humble and enjoy serving the Lord.

  27. For Further Reading • William P. Wilson MD • Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry • DUMC • Distinguished professor of Counseling • Carolina Evangelical Divinity School • www.InstChristiangrowth.org • Go to Essays, and click on Basics for Christian Psychotherapy, and Clinical Christian Psychotherapy

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