Why Medical Missions

Why Medical Missions?

After I had become an ophthalmologist, Eunice and I returned to Africa in 1980. We were called to Maluti Adventist Hospital in the mountainous Kingdom of Lesotho. We learned that for 1.2 million people there were three ophthalmologists, and I was one of them. People were delighted we had come, and assured us how much we were needed. There was an operating microscope for me to use. And there was a Toyota land cruiser that I would drive to reach clinics all around the country. But beyond this, there was almost no equipment, no instruments with which to practice my specialty.

So I inquired what was my budget, how much was available to purchase the needed instruments.

"Well, actually, there is no budget. You see, you don’t even have a missionary’s budget. You will get support each year from a German charity. Beyond that you have to supply your own budget. We think you will generate lots of income; but when you do so, don’t expect there will necessarily be money for eye equipment. The hospital looks to you for income to operate not just the eye department, but much of the rest of the hospital as well."

"I guess we’ll have to do a lot of eye surgery."

"Well actually, that’s a problem too. It costs a lot of money for the wages of the operating room staff, and the sutures you will use in eye surgery.

"Yes."

"And when you take a patient who has been blind from cataract, and help him see again, he can afford to pay only $50! The typical cataract patient would get a ride to and from the hospital, a stay of two weeks, cataract surgery for both eyes, and a pair of glasses, for a fee of $100. You can expect to lose money on every operation you do."

"So how am I going to generate all this money?"

By selling glasses. It was hard to find $100 for an operation so Grandma could see again. But it was pretty easy to find $100 for a beautiful pair of fashion glasses.

So we sold a lot of glasses.

Sometimes I thought of approaching the Union Mission committee, asking what was their understanding of the term "Medical Evangelism," then asking for an evangelist’s budget. But I never did. Do you know how you measure the success of an evangelist? By the number of people he baptizes each year. And I could not afford to be measured on that scale.

As well as doing ophthalmology, I taught Bible in our school of nursing. One evening I was working in my garden, when three of my students walked up. They said, "Dr. Wresch, we want you to know that we have decided to be baptized as Seventh-day Adventists, and that you are among those who have contributed to our decisions."

So yes, there were baptisms, but I would hate to have my performance evaluated by their numbers. It has always been thus. If evangelism merely means baptisms, then Seventh-day Adventist medical missionary work is a slow, cumbersome, and expensive way to baptize people. There are many other methods that are more cost-effective.

Who was the better evangelist, Jesus, or Peter? When Jesus hung on the cross, how many successes could he count? He could count his mother, and John, and how many others?

A few weeks later, Peter preached, and a thousand were converted in a day.

Yet Jesus was a success. Let’s read from the book of John:

John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

17:4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.

If the mission of Jesus was to reveal the character of God, why did he spend so much of his time healing the sick?

Because to one who knows what he is doing, there is no more eloquent way to show people the truth about God, than the Christian practice of the healing arts:

What kinds of things might we learn?

We are responsible for our own health, physical and spiritual. Causes have effects.

The physician is a healer, not a destroyer. Is the same true of God? Or could this be a poor example, because the physician is a better person than God?

If the doctor takes something away from you, it is to make you better, not worse. Is this true of God?

The doctor can do nothing for you without your consent and cooperation. How about God?

Your faith in your doctor is confidence, based on evidence. How do you develop faith in God?

When the doctor tells you his diagnosis, no matter how scary it may be, his purpose is not to condemn you. It is the first step in healing.

Not all patients are treated alike. Should they be? "What? You got an operation? I went to the same place and all I got was a handful of pills!"

God does not treat everyone the same. But God treats everyone for his own best good.

Good medicine is based on good evidence and good reason. What about good religion?

It is medical quacks who demand that you believe without providing evidence.

False religion is suspicious of human reason. True religion treasures reason as God’s highest gift. God is the author of truth, and truth can lose nothing by close investigation.

Nobody likes to talk about death. But does a Christian have a message even there?

Let us imagine a physician speaking to his patient, who is dying of lung cancer:

"I warned you, for years, not to smoke. But you refused to quit; When your cough got worse you refused treatment. Now therefore, justice demands that I kill you, slowly and painfully."

This is a diabolical picture of God. If we become better than our God, we must become agnostic or atheist.

"It is beyond the power of the human mind to estimate the evil which has been wrought by the heresy of eternal torment. The religion of the Bible, full of love and goodness, and abounding in compassion, is darkened by superstition and clothed with terror. When we consider in what false colors Satan has painted the character of God, can we wonder that our merciful Creator is feared, dreaded, and even hated. The appalling views of God which have spread over the world from the teachings of the pulpit have made thousands, yes millions, of skeptics and infidels.

"The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines that constitute the wine of the abomination of Babylon, of which she makes all nations drink. [Rev. 14:8; 17:2]." –GC 536 (1888).

Yet even our closest Christian friends believe in eternal torture, in a God who says, "I want you to freely love me. But if you don’t, I’ll torture you forever." Now do you love me?

A physician is dedicated to healing, but even more than that, to maintain the freedom of his patient to decide. If a patient despite all evidence, breaks his appointments, refuses his prescriptions, and declines further treatment, what can the doctor do? He can only let the patient go, to reap the terrible but perfectly natural and predictable consequence of his own rebellious choice.

How is it with God?

Adventist medical missionary work has been described as the right arm of the message. Yes, it opens doors, but not so that once the door is open, we may henceforth work left-handed. If we see ourselves as every day fulfilling the mission of Christ, representing the character of our Heavenly Father and Great Physician, we are honored to continue working with the right hand every day.

I believe we are called by God to work on several levels, which may be termed Good, Better, and Best:

Good: Help people stay alive.

Let us treat acute illness with competence and compassion.

Better: Help people live longer.

Let us teach how to avoid illness, to stay healthy, to live seven years longer.

Best: Help people live forever.

Let us introduce the Great Physician, whom to know is life eternal.