God’s Mind/Body Medicine

God’s Mind/Body Medicine A Look at the Mind/Body Connection 1

An Important Subject • Scientific studies reveal powerful healing properties in the mind on the body • Interest in mind/body techniques is growing • Completed a rotation with the Program in Integrative Medicine at U of AZ, Tucson • Actively enlisting the powers of the mind for healing 2

Rising Interest not Accidental • Now playing the end-game of the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan • Satan is seeking to thwart saving faith • His final grand deception not crude or obvious - would deceive the very elect, if it were possible (Mk 13:22) • Spurious healings will bring SDAs to the test (2SM 52-53) 3

The Mind/Body Connection • Control for the placebo (“to please”) effect • Pilot study on arthroscopic knee surgery for arthritic pain by J. Bruce Moseley, orthopedic surgeon for Houston Rockets • Challenge by colleague Nelda Wray that surgical benefits were due to placebo effect • Bigger the intervention, bigger the effect - big pill better than little pill, surgery biggest 4

10-Patient Pilot Study • Moseley was intrigued - finally agreed to do a double-blind study • 2 patients to have standard arthroscopic surgery with scraping and rinsing • 3 to have arthroscopic rinsing only • 5 to have pretend surgery - three scalpel incisions to produce look-alike scars • Didn’t know until the OR who having what 5

All 10 had Positive Outcomes • Six months later none knew what surgery they’d had • ALL reported much less pain • None were unhappy with their surgery or their results • Study too small to prove anything but led to larger study with 180 patients (results due in October) 6

Mr. Sylvester Colligan • 76 yo WWII veteran with right knee pain for 5 years • Diagnosed with arthritic pain and referred to Moseley • Was impressed with Moseley as Rockets’ surgeon and agreed to participate in study 7

Mr. Colligan’s Outcome • Not that impressed about placebos but knows his surgery was merely three shallow incisions • More importantly, he knows his knee has never bothered him since the surgery two years ago • Points out Moseley on TV during Rockets’ games “there’s the doc who fixed my knee” 8

Internal Mammary Ligation? • Surgical procedure commonly used 40 years ago for angina • Small chest incisions to tie off two arteries and increase blood flow to the heart • 90% of patients reported improvement • Cardiologist Leonard Cobb conducted trial of making incisions without tying arteries 9

No Internal Mammary Ligations • When Cobb compared outcomes with placebo surgery, there was NO difference • 90% of patients still reported improvement • And the Internal Mammary ligation was soon abandoned 10

Placebo Effect is Huge • Anywhere between 35% - 75% patients benefit from dummy pills in studies • British biotech company Peptide Therapeutics’ share price dropped 33% when 75% of control group taking inert tablets reported same allergy improvement as experimental group taking the medicine 11

More Placebo Effects • Merck halted development of highly touted MK-869 antidepressant when dummy pills worked just as well in controlled studies • VEGF (cardiac growth factor by Genetech) study showed patients could walk 26 sec longer on treadmill with low doses, 32 sec longer with high doses (+ dose response) • Go figure--walked 42 sec longer on placebo 12

Such Studies Raise Many Issues • Just how powerful are the effects of the mind on the body? • With effects this strong, and up to 75% of patients benefiting, should we ignore this as a valid medical therapy? • Raises difficult, knarly problems for medical ethicists and practitioners 13

Also Issues for Christians • How do we as Christians relate to these study results? • Alternative practitioners quick to point to this as undiscovered capability of the mind • One they urge should be thoroughly utilized • Is it ethical do deny treatments shown to help most people just because we don’t know how it works? 14

A Convenient Explanation • Critics are quick to point to religious faith as the strongest placebo known • They credit supposed effects of prayer, etc. to the “placebo effect” • How about it - is divine healing attributable solely to placebo effect? • How can we be sure? We have to agree the placebo effect could be involved... 15

Not Just Placebos - More Studies • Investigators touting benefits of spiritual healing are evaluating the phenomena with scientific medical studies • Oct 25, 1999 Archives of Internal Medicine study randomized 990 CCU patients to either a remote intercessory prayer group and a control group without prayer • First names given to volunteer prayer group 16

Prayer Group Did Better • Prayed for patients daily for 4 weeks • Prayers did not know or meet CCU patients • Patients unaware of being prayed for • Remote intercessory prayer was associated with lower CCU course scores • (Lengths of stay not significantly different) 17

Not Surprised, Right? • No one who believes in and practices intercessory prayer is all that surprised it was shown to work, but • Is this how God really works? • Let’s not be too hasty • And there are more studies... 18

Prayer for Fungi in Petri Dishes • In another study on the power of prayer, fungus colonies growing on petri dishes were randomized to three groups • 1st group was prayed to grow well • 2nd group was prayed to grow poorly • 3rd group (controls) not prayed for at all 19

Prayer Works on Fungi, Too • At the end of the study period, prayer was found to result in a measurable increase in growth in 1st group compared to controls • Prayer was also found to result in reduced growth in 2nd group compared to controls • This objective, randomized, prospective study is claimed to prove that prayer works 20

Prayer for Mindless Organisms • As Christians, what are we to make of this? • Should we quote this study as proof to prayer doubters and skeptics? • Assuming the technique was sound, this study at least proves prayer can alter fungal growth 21

Caused a Prayer Pause... • Was enrolled in a Biochemistry course when I first learned of this study • Suddenly became acutely aware of my prayers regarding my classwork • Caused me to wonder about my mother who was praying for her son’s success in school, asking God to bless his lab work 22

Let’s Consider the Possibilities • Challenges our basic understanding of life if we assume this to be placebo effect - mindless organisms can have no such effect • Must be something other than placebo • But what? 23

How Much Do We Know? • Enough to make an informed judgement • As Christians we have insights into the power of Satan and the great controversy raging behind the scenes • We are not the only beings on this planet - fallen beings that excel us in mental and physical power were cast out of Heaven down to this earth (Rev 12:9) 24

This is an Essential Perspective • These superior beings are seeking not our good but our harm • Any evaluation of the data that leaves out these essential facts is flawed and prone to lead to misinterpretation • Data must always be evaluated in the proper context 25

All Are Given a Measure of Faith • “Thy faith hath made thee whole” (Mk 5:34) • “According to thy faith be it unto thee” (Matt 9:29) • Could the placebo effect be a kind of “residual effect” of faith? • We can have faith in things other than God and still produce an effect (a counterfeit) • Only one genuine, saving faith - confident trust in a loving God 26

Is It Really God? • Who circumvents normal physiologic response to burns sustained on feet of those in trance who walk on hot coals? • The tissues sustain damage from the heat, but not from a normal inflammatory response - there is none • Is God responsible for this? 27

The Way, the Truth and the Life • It is not sufficient to just believe in something, or in just anything • There is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12) • No man cometh unto the Father but by Me, Jesus declared (John 14:6) • Some say this is too narrow, too hard 28

Is Jesus Being too Narrow? • Is God more benevolent and loving? • Should we adopt a more open attitude? • Can people be saved by believing in whatever they personally choose? • Is this how scripture reads? • “Ye search the scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they that testify of Me,” Jesus said (John 5:39) 29

Is but One Way to the Father • “I am the door; if anyone enters by me, he shall be saved” (John 10:9) • “My sheep know my voice and follow me” (John 10:4) • “He that entereth not in by the gate is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1) 30

Sole but Abundant Provision • Jesus is the only provision God has made for our redemption from rebellion and sin • Let us not make the same mistake as the Jews in rejecting our promised Redeemer 31

God’s Miracle-Working Enemy • The Devil is come down unto you with great power (Rev 12:9-12) • He walketh about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour • With his lying wonders he seeks to deceive the very elect, if it were possible • He knows his time is short 32

Satan Has Studied Nature • Is the bible reliable when it describes his power to control swine, even causing them to commit suicide? (Matt 8:32) • Is it reliable when it describes his power to control human beings like the demoniacs, even against their will, after once gaining control? (Matt 8:29-32) • How do evil angels exert their power today? 33

A Dilemma for God’s People • How and where does Satan exert his power? • Are we not foolish and naïve to assume scientific observations are free from his power and influence? • We have been warned we shall have to accept the plain testimony of the Word in opposition to our own senses (GC 563) 34

A Warning for Our Time “Antichrist is to perform his works in our sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement and every miracle must be tested” (GC 593) 35

Greatest Strategic Advantage • What strategic advantage will both sides in wartime go to great lengths to secure? • The element of SURPRISE -- to be unexpected by the opposition • Satan is a far wiser and diligent general than any celebrated hero we might name • He has labored long and hard to gain the advantage of surprise 36

He has Succeeded all too Well • Folks accepting the conclusions of so-called scientific studies as fact, whether they are in harmony with scripture or not • Satan is just as real an enemy as Christ is a Savior • To claim to believe in and accept Christ as Savior while denying or rejecting the reality of Satan is to fool ourselves and believe a lie 37

God’s Genuine Article • If there is a counterfeit, there must be the real thing • What is God’s mind/body medicine like? • How is it different from what the world (who neither believes in Satan nor understands the great controversy) sees as mind/body medicine? 38

Beholding Him We Are Changed • So simple a child can understand and implement it • By beholding [Him] we become changed [into His likeness], from glory unto glory • Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus (Phil 2:5) • Be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds (Rom 12:2) 39

God’s Mind/Body Medicine • Based upon loving response of submission to His will revealed in our minds • Results in our ready, willing obedience • Produces a state of health and optimum benefit in our bodies for service • Like bullock ready to be offered as a sacrifice or to be yoked to the plow, we submit ourselves to God’s revealed will 40

Our Goal is to Glorify God • Physical health is NOT our primary object • Our first purpose is to honor God and cooperate with Him in manifesting His will in and through our physical beings • Ready for healthful service or for service in our death • “Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done,” Jesus prayed (Matt 26:39, 42) 41

Submissive Initiative • Using our God-given abilities and trusting in His promise to guide our minds • We take submissive initiative, seeking to accomplish His will as revealed to us • He empowers us through His Word • And His Creative power works through us 42

In Summary • Placebo effect demonstrates power of mind - “residual effect” counterfeit of faith? • Saving faith much more powerful than placebo • Unleashes not merely the manipulative power of man’s mind, but the creative power of God’s Mind that spoke worlds into existence 43

In Summary • External power capable of altering biologic systems acclaimed as from God • In reality, God declares miracle-working powers to be from Satan • “Believe them not” “Go ye not after them” (Mk 13:21-22) 44

God’s Mind/Body Medicine • Is nothing like that touted by the world • Enables us overcome evil with good • Even our faith - a faith that worketh by love and purifies the soul • Faith in Jesus Christ, the only name given among men whereby we must be saved 45

Some Gems of Truth “Wonderful scenes, with which Satan will be closely connected, will soon take place. God’s Word declares Satan will work miracles. He will make people sick, and then will suddenly remove from them his satanic power. They will then be regarded as healed. These works of apparent healing will bring SDAs to the test.” (2SM 53) 46

Some Gems of Truth “Antichrist is to perform his works in our sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement and every miracle must be tested” (GC 593) 47

An Important Subject • Scientific studies reveal powerful healing properties in the mind on the body • A growing interest in mind/body techniques • Enlisting the powers of the mind for healing • Subtle, unsuspected counterfeit • Part of Satan’s final great deception • Genuine: By beholding we become changed 48

God’s Mind/Body Medicine