Gospel Sounders Rekindling Reformation Ministry

UNDERSTANDING THE MEANING OF MEDICAL MISSIONARY WORK

What is medical missionary Work? This is a question we should consistently ask ourselves. We need to know the mission and objectives of this noble ministerial line of work.It is to bring to the work the understanding of the true science of salvation.

Christ declares that the science, by which a heart polluted with sin may be made pure and holy, contains the sum of all wisdom. A knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ is the foundation of all true religion.  {ST, March 3, 1898 par. 2} 

Brothers and sisters we need to teach the world that the science of a pure, wholesome, consistent Christian life is obtained by studying the word of the Lord.

The world need to be given the knowledge of who the creator and redeemer is, this is the work that our Christian physicians and nurses should do.

They are two distinct persons, but one in mind, one in heart, one in holiness and justice, and purity, and one in the work of seeking to save the sinful race. To those who believe in Christ, God will give power to become His sons even to them that believe on His name. This is the science of the life that now is, and of the life which is to come. This is the true science that our medical men need to study,–the science of the saving grace of the gospel. This is the science that students must study in order to become genuine medical missionaries.  {BCL 127.3} 

 We need to understands the ways to reach people where they are. We need to understand more on what true medical missionary work entails.

God works by means of instruments, or second causes. He uses the gospel ministry, medical missionary work, and the publications containing present truth, to impress hearts. All are made effectual by means of faith. As the truth is heard or read, the Holy Spirit sends it home to those who hear and read with an earnest desire to know what is right. The gospel ministry, medical missionary work, and our publications are God’s agencies. One is not to supersede the other. But you have sought to make the medical missionary work the whole body, instead of the arm and the hand.  {13MR 303.1}

What does the medical missionary work help us to achieve?

When connected with other lines of gospel effort, medical missionary work is a most effective instrument by which the ground is prepared for the sowing of the seeds of truth, and the instrument also by which the harvest is reaped. Medical missionary work is the helping hand of the gospel ministry. So far as possible, it would be well for evangelical workers to learn how to minister to the necessities of the body as well as the soul, for in doing this, they are following the example of Christ. But intemperance has well-nigh filled the world with disease, and the ministers of the gospel cannot spend their time and strength in relieving all in need of help. The Lord has ordained that Christian physicians and nurses shall labor in connection with those who preach the Word. The medical missionary work is to be bound up with the gospel ministry. {PCO 72.4}

What is true medical missionary work and what is its origin ?

True medical missionary work is of heavenly origin. It was not originated by any person who lives. But in connection with this work we see so much which dishonors God that I am instructed to say, The medical missionary work is of divine origin, and has a most glorious mission to fulfill. In all its bearings it is to be in conformity with Christ’s work. Those who are workers together with God will just as surely represent the character of Christ as Christ represented the character of His Father while in this world.  {MM 24.2}

 This is interesting! This is a great work my friends. It is a cleansing work.

I am instructed to say that God will have the medical missionary work cleansed from the tarnish of earthliness, and elevated to stand in its true position before the world. {MM 24.3} 

 We need to place ourselves in the channels of blessings that God through His providential workings has bestowed on us. We need to live, think and pray earnestly for the sanctified life. We need also to know that there is a limit for us to accomplish this work in ourselves as well as others. Every member of the church should take the work at heart.

I wish to tell you that soon there will be no work done in ministerial lines but medical missionary work. The work of a minister is to minister. Our ministers are to work on the gospel plan of ministering. … If the proper instruction were given, if the proper methods were followed, every church member would do his work as a member of the body. He would do Christian missionary work. But the churches are dying, and they want a minister to preach to them. They should be taught to bring a faithful tithe to God, that he may strengthen and bless them. They should be brought into working order, that the breath of God may come to them. They should be taught that unless they can stand alone, without a minister, they need to be converted anew, and baptized anew. They need to be born again.  {GCB, April 12, 1901 par. 21}

WHAT DOES MEDICAL MISSIONARY WORK ENTAILS?

Medical missionary work is a broad term. We need to understand the specifics of this noble ministerial line.  It entails the practical godliness experienced and practiced in the daily lives of true gospel missionaries following the pattern of Christ who is our health, life and peace. Let us now list some of these lines of work, within the gospel medical missionary work.

1. 1. 1. Christian Farmers or Garden missionaries.

Christian farmers can do real missionary work in helping the poor to find homes on the land and in teaching them how to till the soil and make it productive. Teach them how to use the implements of agriculture, how to cultivate various crops, how to plant and care for orchards.  {MH 193.2}

1. 1. 2. There is a wide field for service for women as well as for The efficient cook, the seamstress, the nurse,–the help of all is needed. Let the members of poor households be taught how to cook, how to make and mend their own clothing, how to nurse the sick, how to care properly for the home. Even the children should be taught to do some little errand of love and mercy for those less fortunate than themselves. {RH, August 7, 1913 par. 13}
      3. Christian missionary Physicians and Nurses

The Christian physician occupies a position as responsible as that of the gospel minister, and he should have no less consecration to God. Careless words and deportment do great harm. They are a savor of death unto death. But if in your daily life you practise the pure principles of the gospel, your example will be a savor of life unto life; Christ’s holy maxims will ever be upon your lips, because they are cherished as a priceless treasure in the heart.  {PH066 7.3}

An experienced Christian nurse in the sickroom will use the best remedies within her knowledge for restoring the sufferer to health. And she will pleasantly and successfully draw the one for whom she is working to Christ, the Healer of the soul as well as of the body. The lessons given, line upon line, here a little and there a little, will have their influence. The older nurses, whether they be men or women, should lose no opportunity of calling the attention of the sick to Christ. Those who care for the sick should be prepared to blend spiritual healing with physical healing. Let the nurses in our sanitariums show that in the solemn work of caring for the sick, they do not rely on drug medication, but on the power of Christ, and the use of the simple remedies that He has provided,–the application of hot and cold water and simple, nourishing food, without intoxicating liquor of any kind, with judicious exercise, and a putting away of all injurious practices. In treatment such as this there is health for the sick. {LLM 78.5}

1. 1. 4. Home missionaries with certain skills

Woman should be trained to some business whereby she can gain a livelihood if necessary. Passing over other honorable employments, every girl should learn to take charge of the domestic affairs of home, should be a cook, a housekeeper, a seamstress.

1. 1. 5. Connected with our sanitariums and schools there should be cooking schools, where instruction is given on the proper preparation of food.

In all our schools there should be those who are fitted to educate the students, both men and women, in the art of cooking. Women especially should learn how to cook.  {SW, October 30, 1901 par. 5}

Good cooks are few. Very many mothers need to take lessons in cooking, that they may set before the family well-prepared, neatly-served food.  {SW, October 30, 1901 par. 3}

1. 1. 6. Many young people will come to school who desire a training in industrial lines. The industrial instruction should include the keeping of accounts, carpentry, and everything that is comprehended in farming. Preparation should also be made for teaching blacksmithing, painting, shoemaking, cooking, baking, laundering, mending, (typewriting, and printing)-majorly for publishing ministry. Every power at our command is to be brought into this training work, that students may go out equipped for the duties of practical life. {6T 182.2}

God would desire to make us efficient Gospel Medical missionary. Note that Word! Gospel medical missionary workers.  These are the only ones who will finish God’s work. We need to be educated on these lines. When the church shall arise to her duties by learning what True medical missionary is, then God shall pour His energizing Spirit. The message will go forth speedily and our Lord will appear in the sky to take us home.

Isaiah 58

^6[Is] not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 

 ⁷[Is it] not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? 

 ⁸Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. 

 ⁹Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I [am]. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 

 ¹⁰And [if] thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness [be] as the noon day: 

 ¹¹And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 

 ¹²And [they that shall be] of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. 

 ¹³If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, [from] doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking [thine own] words: 

 ¹⁴Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it].