Sunday, 20 February 2011
The Happy Case "Salvation"
On Thursday, at the ASELSI clinic, I saw a middle aged man that had a main complaint of his left hand painfully cracking and burning. When I asked him about it, he said that he had been an alcoholic for 45 years and recently quit drinking due to the problems that it was causing in his life. He thought that this is what had caused his hand problem. I asked him a little more and found out that he had been seeking God to help him with the alcoholism. He often prayed to God on his knees for help. He wanted to get involved with a church but felt he had to "clean his act up first." He spoke excellent Spanish and I was able to explain the basics of the Gospel to him. I told him that if he tried to clean things up on his own, he would never be able to do it. He first needed the Savior who then could help him with his addiction. I asked him if he had ever prayed specifically to receive Christ in his heart. He said he hadn't but he would like to right now. He was more comfortable on his knees I joined him on the bare tile floor as I led him in the sinner's prayer and then prayed for his needs. Since he could read, he was given a Bible and I suggested he start reading the Gospel of John. Lastly, I ordered some cream for his hand and hope to see him back in a couple of weeks. Praise God for His Gift of Salvation.
There is a huge problem with alcoholism in the areas in which we work. Some of our fellow missionaries support an alcohol rehabilitation center which is described at this site http://enelcorazondejesus.blogspot.com/
This is also dear to my heart as my Dad had a similar experience which he describes on his site.
The Sad Case "Hospital or Witchdoctor"
On Saturday, at the Canillá clinic, a nine y/o girl was brought in by her parents. She had been very sick for a couple of weeks with severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, and fever. We recommended she go to the national hospital as she needed intravenous antibiotics and possible surgery for what was suspicious for appendicitis. We even offered to drive them there (for free) as we would be passing right by there on our way home. They did not speak Spanish and were very culturally and apparently religiously Mayan. Through our translator, they heard the situation of the girl and the Gospel. We prayed for them and the parents even allowed the girl to accept Jesus in her heart. However, in the end, they decided that they would like to take the girl to a "Mayan healer"--what we would call a witchdoctor instead of the hospital. As a best effort for the girl we gave her a dose of antibiotics and some for the road and again encouraged them to go to the hospital. We were told by our colleagues that if she dies, they will bury her and offer her spirit up to their "gods." I haven't heard further on this. In the U.S., there are laws to protect children from refusal of treatment by a parent. No so much here.
The Interesting Case "Bad Medicine"
A week ago, again at the ASELSI clinic, we had a lady come in the following situation on her neck.
The history revealed that she had put the some type of seed extract on her neck to kill scabies. It looks like it killed more than that and she ended up with a very serious chemical burn.
This is a more rare example of the bad effects of natural medicine. More commonly, people would rather spend a lot of money on expensive vitamins or "who know what in a pretty bottle" than on necessary proven medical treatment.
We are not totally against natural medicines and herbal remedies and recommend a few of them. However, many times, based on our medical training, we KNOW there IS a PROVEN cure or treatment for a problem but the people refuse to take it.
On a spiritual note, there are a lot of "spiritual treatments" out there. Some of them have a good placebo effect. Some of them cause more problems than they help. But we KNOW the only cure for sin is Jesus.