The Council Speaks

QUESTION: Some people use traditional medicine for healing when they are sick, and some go to a medicine man to put curses on people. Is it right for a Christian to go to a medicine man for healing or is it wrong. Since becoming a Christian I have gone for healing because our family needed help to live, but I prayed for the Lord to forgive me if it is wrong.

ANSWER: Your question is one that, to answer it as thoroughly as possible, would take the whole of this newspaper and more. There's a lot packaged in the question and, unfortunately, we are offered only a limited amount of space to respond. I will try and do my best but need to do so with very concise statements to help give the best response your great question deserves.

First, due to the spirituality of Native traditional ways, the medicine man must be seen as different than a medical doctor in a hospital type situation. The doctors in the modern medical world apply science as the foundation for their treatment of the sick and infirmed. The medicine man applies the supernatural in their healing practices. The word that describes the spirituality of Indigenous people is the word "Animism." Part of that word's definition includes the following: Scholars have correctly called animism a medical system, whereby the followers depend upon the spirit world in their battle with sickness and disease.

For the believer, the Scriptures must always be where we go to find answers to living for Christ in the context of our Indigenous cultures and communities. It alone provides the guidelines for all Christian faith and practice. So, what do the Scriptures have to say about delving into the old supernatural ways for any part of our new life in Christ? The bottom line is, no, we should not go back to anyone who practices the healing arts who depends upon the supernatural world for the treatment of sicknesses and diseases.

The Bible tells us that the God of the Bible is the Creator of all things, including every spiritual being found in heaven or on earth. Heaven was filled with angelic beings (it still is), but at a point in time, Lucifer, the most beautiful of all angelic beings, rebelled against God, fell, and took one third of the other angels with him in that rebellion. He is now known as Satan, himself (Is. 14:12, Rev. 12:3–4).

The two thirds of the angelic realm still in heaven are referred to as holy angels while the one third who were cast down to earth are called unclean spirits or demons (e.g. Mark 9:25). It is these fallen, unclean spirits that every human culture's pursuit of the supernatural has access to. They are more than happy to come along side shamans, medicine men and any seeker of the supernatural and manifest their presence and power. So, we must be clear, when a medicine man conjures up spiritual powers, they are not inviting the holy angelic realm to manifest their power. They deal with the only spiritual beings they have access to, in their fallen human state. And that is-the unclean spirits that inhabit the lands.

That's why before we come to Christ and seek the supernatural in our lost human cultures, demonic powers are the only options available. But when we come to Christ, we now have access to not only the holy angelic beings who serve the God of heaven and earth, but more importantly, we have the resurrected Son of the Living God we can come to with not only our spiritual needs, but our physical needs as well.

When you read the Gospel accounts of the life of Christ, which are found in the New Testament, you learn that much of Christ's earthly life and ministry involved the healing of hurting bodies. He also commissioned His Church to be the place where followers of Christ who are sick, infirmed, and diseased are to go to for prayer and anointing even to this day (James 5:13-15).

But also, there are times when, in God's sovereign plan for some of His followers, He allows pain and suffering to not only come, but to remain. It is there where God offers a deeper work of His grace in our lives, enabling us to live what I've come to experience, His Divine Health instead of His Divine Healing.

That's what Paul's letter to the Romans says about the effect of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave. Romans 8:11 says, But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (NKJV).

God allows the Christian to seek the science based medical help of the medical profession as well in our healing journeys. God allowed a beloved physician, Dr. Luke, to not only be one of His followers, but to author two books of the New Testament-Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. He surely wouldn't have had him in such a high, honored position to be a scribe of two biblical books had he opposed his medical background and experience as unacceptable.

Which leads me to end my response by telling you I am responding to your question from my wheelchair. I am a survivor of an "un-survivable" auto accident thirteen years ago. I've had almost fifty surgical procedures since then. I'm alive today by God's divine healing and He continues to sustain me through His divine health. Yes, I do rely on the medical community in my ongoing physical challenges, but my trust is in Christ alone for my earthly existence as much as I trust Him for my eternal life. That's the life Christ offers every Indigenous person seeking answers to life's complicated questions. I trust and pray you'll seek Him and Him alone in your healing journey.

-Craig Stephen Smith, Chippewa, is licensed as a Christian and Missionary Alliance National evangelist

and serves as president of Tribal Rescue Ministries.

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ANSWER: Your question brings up some important matters. Thank you for the opportunity to respond with what the Bible teaches.

Contacting the Spirit World

First of all, you ask "Is it right for a Christian to go to a medicine for healing, or is it still wrong?"

Your question seems to imply that you believe it would be wrong for you as a Christian to go to a medicine man to have a curse put on someone. You would be right in assuming this, as you would be using the medicine man to effect evil or harm against another person. This would, of course, be contrary to the scripture that teaches: "Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God . . . Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21). The Bible also has much to say about love and being kind, etc.

However, the other way that the Bible speaks to this is that you would be calling on a spiritual force other than prayer to God the Father through Jesus Christ, to bring about something that you want to happen. You would be having the medicine man contact a supernatural force other than Jesus to bring about the healing.

It is this point that needs to be examined.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew people were given the land of Canaan to inherit because the Canaanite people were so wicked in their devotion to false gods that, among many other detestable things, they would give their children as human sacrifices to a god named Molech.

In Deuteronomy 12:29–31 (NIV) God says: "The Lord your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, 'How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.' You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods."

Before that, in Deuteronomy 12:2–4 (NIV), they had been told: "Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places. You must not worship the Lord your God in their way."

The character of God is clearly seen here in that He is against His people using the ways, traditions, artifacts, idols, altars, sacred objects or names of the gods or religions that are not what He has given as part of His revelation of truth to human beings.

He even tells the Hebrew people to "be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods." God did not want them to even inquire about or become familiar with their religious rites, much less worship "in their way."

In Deuteronomy 18:9–11, God's Word is very clear about contact with the spirit world. He tells the Hebrew people: "When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.

There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead."

When people in the time of the Apostles became Christians, they were very decisive about what to do with the things related to the spiritual practices they had engaged in before coming to Christ.

In Acts 19:18–19 the Bible records: "Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone."

The Scriptures teach against engaging with the spiritual world apart from praying with the help of the Holy Spirit to the Father in the name of Jesus. When we get someone to pray for us, they should know Jesus as their Savior and be praying to God in the same way.

While there is a lot to be learned from these scriptures, it is clear that accessing the spiritual world separate from how God has designed and ordered in His Word, is something that God would not want His people to do. What we see about the character of God here in relation to the Hebrew people would also apply to Christian believers today, as there is much New Testament scripture about this also.

Prayer for Healing

This truth leads into the part of your question that asks if it is still wrong to go to a medicine man for healing. The implication seems to be that since it is a more acceptable and honorable thing to seek healing for you and your family, it might be okay to seek a medicine man for help with something like this.

However, your good intention in seeking healing is still going against the character and commands of God as seen in the scriptures from Deuteronomy that have been shared. God has established a process for Christians to seek healing through elders in the Church.

In James 5:14–15, Jesus' half-brother James writes: "Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him."

As Christians, we are not left without hope for the physical healing of our bodies. The process described in James carries with it the idea that the other Believers that are in our lives can pray for us and this prayer will be effective if it is God's will to heal us. Under the authority of the elders, the church that we belong to can pray for our healing. This is not to exclude or replace doctors and proven medicine, but many believers will testify that they have seen God answer these kinds of prayers for healing.

This type of prayer also shows that we truly have faith and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ. We have trusted Him for our eternal salvation. This is a far greater miracle than to trust Him for the temporary healing of our bodies while here on earth. Yet we are still told to pray for our physical healing in this way.

Vain Tradition

In Acts 14, two of the Apostles were in a town in Greece called Lystra and had healed a lame man through the power of Jesus Christ.

Acts 14:11–12 says: "When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, 'The gods have become like men and have come down to us.' And they began calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker."

The people thought that Paul and his friend Barnabas were the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes, also known to the Romans as Mercury and Jupiter.

In Acts 14:15 Paul responded by saying: "Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them."

The "vain things" that he was referring to here was their belief in the false gods of ancient Greece. The word translated "vain" here means "devoid of force, truth, success or result." In other words, he was saying that their belief in false gods was futile or pointless and could offer them no salvation. He told them that they should instead trust in the Creator of the universe, Jesus Christ.

This same word is used in 1 Corinthians 15:14 and 17 to reveal the importance in believing that Jesus was raised from the dead: "And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain . . . and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins."

As Christians we are told in 1 Peter 1:13 to "fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

The Bible here says that all our hope and trust should be placed in Jesus and in our coming salvation. The Lord does not want us to hope or trust in things that the Scriptures refer to as "vain" or "futile."

1 Peter 1:17–19 says: "If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

Peter used a single Greek word here that was translated "inherited from your fathers" (NAS) or "inherited from your ancestors" (NET), or "received by tradition from your fathers" (KJV). This is the only place in the whole Bible that this word is used. It literally means "what has been handed down from one's fathers or ancestors."

It is these customs that had been received by tradition from their forefathers that Peter describes as being "vain" or useless or empty. The word translated "futile" or "vain" is the same one that is used in the scriptures referring to belief in Greek gods and the futility of our faith if Jesus didn't rise from the dead.

Peter compared the things connected to these former traditions, in this case even what most people would consider to be valuable things like gold and silver, to the "precious blood of Christ." He reminded them that it is Jesus' blood that cost Him His life in a cruel death on a cross that has redeemed them for all of eternity. Because of this they are told to conduct themselves in fear during their time on earth. The NIV translates this; "live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear."

By referring to "the time of your stay on earth," Peter was reminding the Believers that as Christians, our time on earth is only temporary and that we have an inheritance in heaven (1 Peter 1:4) and that Jesus will be coming back to take us there. In 1 Peter 1:7 and 13 he refers to "the revelation of Jesus Christ," the time when Jesus returns to bring us the salvation that we have trusted Him for during our time on earth.

The grace of Jesus Christ covers all of our sins. 1 John 1:7-9 says "the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin . . . If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Your prayer for forgiveness for seeking a medicine man for healing is forgiven based on these and many other scriptures. However, the scriptures referenced here show God's character in regard to engaging in or believing in spiritual practices not found in His Word. They also reveal that God has given us a process for praying and trusting in Him for healing. The scriptures also teach that the traditions we have received from our ancestors that are apart from the revelation of Jesus Christ, are vain and futile. Finally, we are told to "fix our hope completely" on the saving grace that will be brought to us when Jesus is revealed.

Hopefully, these passages from God's Word will guide your steps and give you confidence in your faith as you face decisions like this in the future. God bless.

(Scripture quotations in this portion from the New American Standard Bible, 1995 update, except where noted).

-Randy Jackson is Plains

Cree From Goodfish Lake, Alberta, now residing in Las Vegas, Nevada, with his wife,

Evangeline. Randy is a renowned gospel musician, songwriter, recording artist, Bible teacher, and lawyer.

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ANSWER: God through His Word has revealed Himself, His character, and His nature to be holy, righteous, perfect, and sovereign (the Supreme Tuler). The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, is when we recognize how sinful our condition is compared to a holy God and how that sin separates us from Him-but in His love and grace He came to earth in the form of His Son to Jesus to pay the price for our sins.

It is by faith we accept and receive His grace and forgiveness and trust in Him, and we are made righteous through Christ. When He becomes our Savior, He must also become our Lord (King), which means trusting Him in all things because He is sovereign, and all things are in His hands.

Sin, sickness, and death are a reality in this life, and because of sin we will all struggle with these things until the day this life is over. However, when we trust in Jesus, we are trusting Him in all things-including our health and knowing that whatever we will encounter He will be with us.

As followers of Jesus our goal in this life is to become more like Him and glorify God the Father in all things, just as Jesus did while on this earth, He fully entrusted himself into the care of His father.

God wants our nature to reflect His nature and like a loving parent when we need correction and discipline He corrects and disciplines us with the purpose of bringing us into a closer trusting relationship with Him. Sometimes we will even suffer in this life, but He wants us to be fully trusting and dependant on Him and He will give us the strength and ability to endure whatever we will face in this life.

When people don't get to know who God is through His revealed Word, it is easy for them to make up a god from their own imagination-a god that they can understand or a god that they can control, kind of like a magic genie.

People who pray to a god they do not know or to a god they think they can control, like an energy force, are not praying to the true, living, holy, and sovereign God. This is idolatry, and this is sin.

Some people say they have powers to heal or that they have powerful prayers to bring healing, and it is common for many to say "I believe in the 'power of prayer,'" but power is not in the prayer itself; it is in the one you are praying to. If you are not praying to the true and living God through His Son Jesus, then you are not praying to God.

Some will pray to spirits, created beings, people, animals or ancestors-all of which are not God. The Bible tells us that Satan will masquerade or disguise himself as an angel of light to deceive people and make them think that who they are praying to is God or a god. However, those who pray to beings or things other than God do it to try and get whomever or whatever it is they are praying to, to do what they want, or try manipulating God into getting their own way. This is because they do not understand who God is, nor do they recognize, respect, and honour the fact that He is sovereign and in control of all things.

Most times people who turn to "medicine men" or "healers" or anyone who claims to operate in the spirit realm are often impatient or desperate to get a quick fix, to get "healed" or to know something about the future. But God has revealed Himself through His Word and teaches us that what is worth more than temporary fixes (which are not fixes) on this earth is our eternal relationship with Him that we can have through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

He cares far more about the condition of our soul, which is eternal, more so than the condition of our physical state, which is temporary. The Bible tells us that our faith is worth far more than gold, and value of eternal worth is far greater than the temporary physical worth. Yes, God cares about our physical well-being, but He also understands us more that we understand ourselves, He knows that comfort in this life can bring complacency and it is easier to forget about God when times are good, but when things go wrong, many pray or seek answers, so God will even allow or use suffering to bring us closer to Him.

The good news for anyone who has turned to someone or something other than God to seek healing, or answers, or information, is that there is forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells us that we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God, which is why Jesus came to save us from our sins. So we must repent and turn from our sins and turn to God and ask forgiveness. The Bible tells us that if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

We must also place our trust and faith in Jesus with all parts of our lives including our health and the future.

Does God answer prayer? Yes! Does God heal? Yes! Does God perform miracles? Yes!

But he does it according to His will, His timing, and His way.

Regardless of what happens, whether you experience a healing or not, God knows the right way to address your situation, so that your faith and trust will grow in Him if you are truly willing to believe and trust in Him. In doing so, your faith and trust will be strengthened and it will deepen your relationship with Him because He is with us in all situations, even in those darkest moments when you feel that no one is there. y

-Mario Swampy has served as Pastor for the Louis Bull All Nations Church in Maskwacis Alberta since 2014, and on Chief and Council for the Samson Cree Nation since 2011.