AMEN 2005: Reviving Medical Evangelism

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Adventist Medical Evangelism Network (AMEN)

AMEN 2005 Plenary Sessions

Mark Finley

Seeing Patients through Jesus’ Eyes, Part 1

There are some people in your life that you may not know very well at all, but they have a great impact on your life.

You may meet them once or twice, but that impact from that brief encounter is deeply impressed upon your mind.

I've only met Johnny Erickson Tata on a few occasions.

I interviewed her for It Is Written television.

But the imprint that she left on my life is remarkable.

The fingerprints that she left on my soul are there even to this day.

John Erickson Tata was paralyzed in a diving accident and today she's a quadriplegic.

She can't use her hands, she can't use her feet.

Somebody has to feed her, somebody has to brush her teeth, somebody has to put her blouse on and button it.

But she's a sought after speaker, a talented musician, a gifted orator.

And I remember 1 of the first times I met her, I sat in her office and she was doing pencil sketches and I was putting the different colored pencil into her mouth and I said, what's the most difficult thing for you, Johnny, on the pencil sketching?

And she said, it's the taste of the pencil.

She said, I get so, I have to hold it so tight in my mouth that as I hold it, it tastes so ugly.

When you look at her paintings, they are some of the most, and pictures, they're some of the most beautiful that you have ever seen.

She is an unusually bright woman, a radio personality.

On 1 occasion I was talking to her about divine healing And we discussed why God didn't heal her.

And she said, you know Mark, early in my life, after I had gotten the accident, she was in the accident when she was in her late teens, she said, many people came to me and said, Oh Johnny, if you just had more courage, you would be healed.

If you just had more faith, you would be healed.

And she said, I had faith, I had courage, I believed for healing, but I was not healed.

I believed, but my hands still wouldn't work.

I believed, but I still needed somebody to feed me and somebody to comb my hair and somebody to brush my teeth.

And she said, then I discovered a magnificent truth in Mark chapter 1.

And if you have your Bible, I'd like you to take it and turn to Mark Chapter 1 because what Johnny Erickson Tata shared with me that day in her study between sketches with her mouth pencil while she was doing her mouth art, actually transformed my life in an understanding of divine healing.

The setting in Mark chapter 1 is Capernaum.

He touches the blind eyes and they're opened.

He touches the deaf ears and they are unstopped.

And gladness and joy sings through the land.

Husbands have their wives who were dying and on their deathbed restored to them.

Parents see their little children dance and play again and their palsied limbs are healed.

Even Peter's mother, who was dying, feels the touch of Christ.

Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.

But Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever, and they told him about her at once.

So he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her, and she served them.

Verse 32, Now at evening, when the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick and those who were demon possessed.

And the whole city was gathered together at the door, and he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out demons.

As you see the story, hundreds, thousands were gathered there and Jesus began His work of healing.

It's 1 of the rare instances in the New Testament where Christ heals a whole village.

And as that healing took place that day and as the sun set that night, that town was a happy place.

The next morning, Jesus according to verse 35 rose up a great while before day and He went out to pray.

And while Christ was praying, Simon and many townspeople were searching for Christ.

Verse 37, when they found him, they said to him, Everybody is looking for you.

In other words, Jesus, your medical missionary work has captured the attention of the whole town.

Jesus, you are the most popular person around.

Your fame has spread through all of Galilee.

Jesus, look, there are children dancing in the streets.

Jesus, look, husbands have been restored to their wives and wives to their husbands.

Jesus, look, you've healed parents that have been aged and they're going to die.

Jesus, you're the most popular person around, but there are more people yet to heal.

And the most amazing thing possible happens, all the people are waiting to be healed, and Jesus walks away.

He leaves the deaf with their hearing impaired.

He leaves the dumb and they still don't speak.

He leaves those with withered arms and those shaking head to toe with the palsy.

And the disciples are saying, Lord, they're all here.

As John Erickson taught, it told me that story.

She said, Pastor Mark, do you know why Jesus walked away?

The next verse, Mark chapter 1 verse 38 tells us, but he said to them, let us go to the next towns that I may preach there also because for this purpose I've come forth." Jesus the great medical missionary did not primarily come forth to open blind eyes.

He did not primarily come forth to open deaf ears.

Jesus the great physician came forth as the minister of the soul.

The overarching purpose of his life was to heal the soul as well as the body.

Now Ellen White comments on this amazing passage with these words.

She says, Ministry of Healing, page 300, page 31 rather, in the excitement which then pervaded Capernaum, There was danger that the object of his mission would be lost sight of.

Jesus was not satisfied to attract attention to himself as a wonder worker or as a healer of physical disease.

He was seeking to draw men to Him as their Savior.

Jesus knew that if He stayed in Capernaum and healed, that His mission would be lost sight of.

He was willing to sacrifice popularity as a physician.

He was willing to walk away from the misunderstanding of who he was so he could get about his true mission.

It is possible today that in the 21st century a physician can become so busy with their practice that they miss their purpose.

And the practice can overshadow the purpose.

It's possible to become so busy today with ministering to the physical needs of men and women that we have little time to listen to their heart cry and minister to their spiritual needs.

The true medical missionary physician understands that their overriding purpose, that the supreme goal of life is far more than physical healing.

Jesus' goal was not to make healthy sinners who would live longer because He healed them to burn longer in the lake of fire.

Jesus' goal was to minister to the soul as well as the body.

His goal was not to make a name for himself.

His goal was not to make an earthly fortune.

His goal was not fame, position, a title.

Philip Samaan

The Groanings of the Spirit

It's just a bit too high for me, but it's OK.

I really want to thank Tini Finley for being so engaged in helping with the IMAN program.

It doesn't have to be a general conference program.

So you have Mark and Tini and Rebecca all helping you out.

And the message last night, wow, that was really something.

Whoever says evangelists just get people excited, They teach you something as well.

He's done a lot of study and research, and I certainly learned a lot from that.

And his ideas about prayer resonate with my ideas as well.

And yesterday we talked about the much fragrant incense of Christ's life and His intercessions.

I know this morning I saw you that you all smell so good for Jesus.

It's not because of the shower you took, but because the fragrance of Christ's life saturates your life.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could pastor this church here?

Now, many of you talked to me about this idea of fragrance.

Of course, the type of that is in the Old Testament and the end of time is a New Testament.

In the Old Testament we have the lamb that was slain, fragranced with incense as a sacrifice representing Jesus.

But on the cross of Calvary you have the Lamb of God.

Why would the Apostle Paul say in Ephesians 5 and verse 2 that he was offered as a sacrifice unto God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

And then Revelation 8 as we studied, that that incense, precious incense representing Christ's perfect life and intercessions was consumed.

Even in praying for us Jesus gives of himself.

To me that's the only real way we can pray for people.

A way with the memorized prayers, a way with canned prayers, a way with just the formal prayers that bore the angels.

If we talk to each other like we talk to God sometimes, we would not have many friends around.

This is the kind of prayer that engages your heart with the heart of Jesus.

This is the kind of prayer that makes your heart throb with the heartbeat of Jesus.

That's how we become intimate with Christ.

Now I want to share with you an experience that gave me a glimpse of Revelation 8, about the much fragrant incense mingling with our tainted prayers.

When I was a child, 1 thing I remember, my mother praying for me.

Now, I was only 4 years old and I would notice my mother would go to her room and she'd be talking passionately to somebody in the room.

And being a child I thought she was talking to 1 of my sisters, maybe my brother, maybe my father, maybe my uncle, I don't know.

You know when somebody is talking to God as to a real person.

So after she left the room, I would go in, and I would search the room for people.

Behind the cupboard, even up in the closet, I would look behind doors.

Who was that mystery man that my mother was talking to?

I got to be 5 years old, build up some courage.

And while she was talking to this mystery man I would sneak in and see what was happening and my mother would be kneeling Raising her hands to heaven, tears coming down her face, crying out to God in prayer.

Oh, my mother is talking to a real person.

And I thought to myself, wow, she must be praying about something very important.

She must be praying about someone very important.

As I listened, lo and behold, she was praying for me by name.

Wow, you mean all these days my mother passionately crying out to God, I am the subject of her prayer?

It made an indelible mark on my life till this day.

How much as parents, we need to cover our children with prayer, like Job did.

Even if they're OK, cover them with prayer.

I met parents with the best kids who get themselves in trouble because we live in a very, very troubled world.

You know, I told you I was born in Syria, south of the biblical city of Antioch, where the followers of Christ were called Christians for the first time.

I left that part of the world when I was a teenager to come to the United States.

Because of the political turmoil and religious persecution, the adventure is outlawed in Syria.

My parents were never allowed to go out, get out.

And here, Philip Saman studied in America, got his degrees, was a missionary in Africa, done many things in my life.

My mother never failed to pray for me, passionately.

I could even use this text to apply to my mother.

She ever lived to make intercessions for me before God.

And then when I was working at the General Conference, I got a phone call from some friend in Loma Linda saying that your mother is about to die.

And I very much want to go to the funeral, but I was not allowed to because of political situation.

But 1 thing that brings a smile to my face, by the way, my mother never met my wife, never met my daughter, never heard me preach, never read any of my books, but there's so many things for me to tell her when I see her in the clouds of heaven when Jesus comes.

And people tell me, well how do you have closure?

I mean after all you didn't see, you were not at the funeral.

You know I don't know if psychologically that makes any sense, but I believe the Bible helps with our psychology.

Like Mark Finkeley was saying last night, you know how the Bible helps my psychology?

The promise of the Bible are true and sure that I look forward, this is my closure, I look forward to see my mother in perfection.

When Jesus comes I'll meet her in the clouds of heaven.

I'm looking forward to that because there are many things I want to share with her.

My mother died and then my father followed her in death 6 months later.

And my father prayed for me, but somehow my mother's prayers to me were more memorable.

But the reason I'm sharing this with you, because I'm told, in that part of the world, when somebody is coming close to death, you have what you call a vigil.

Not in a hospital, but in a home, where you have all the loved ones and friends around you.

And they sing songs and share promise from the Bible, and that's how they say goodbye.

And my mother, just before she breathed her last, she started hallucinating.

And she began to imagine that finally her son Philip came from America to visit her and to say goodbye.

And as she began to imagine that, she was happy and she started praying.

And she kept praying for me until she breathed Her last breath.

Michael Duehrssen

Here Am I, Send Me

Well, it's a pleasure to be here, the first Amen conference.

Let's just bow our hands just for a word of prayer.

Dear Lord, be the butterflies I have, God.

Lord, speak through me, God, as I share my experience.

And may somebody benefit from my experience.

I thought I'd tell you my experience and how I really became a Christian.

And how finally I said, here am I, send me.

Cluckity clunk, cluckity clunk, cluckity clunk, cluckity clunk, cluckity clunk, cluckity clunk.

Faster you go, the wind starts going through your face.

But you're coming up to this huge spiral loop.

And as you go up, the screams, they're tremendous.

And you get up there in 0 G's and now you dive to the ground faster and faster.

And then you finally come to the barrel rolls and do 1 roll and another roll and another roll.

But it keeps going and going and going and doesn't seem to stop.

Eventually you start feeling the pit of your stomach, start getting nauseated.

Finally, after an eternity, clickety-clank, clickety-clank, clickety-clank, clickety-clank, clickety-clank, clank, it stops.

How many of us today are riding the roller coaster of life, especially as professionals?

Things seem to get more hectic as time goes on, more disasters, New Orleans, 9-11.

We seem to be caught in the rut of the US dream of pleasure and money.

And I was definitely caught in that dream.

Graduated from Loma Linda in 89, didn't know what I wanted to do.

Applied to internal medicine, OBGYN, and family practice.

Spent a year in OBGYN, still didn't know what I wanted to do.

Graduated from family practice, but started doing all my electives in emergency medicine.

So when I got out of residency, I thought, you know, what do I want to do?

So, selfish ideas, I went and skied freestyle mogul competition with a tire ride bump team.

Started doing emergency medicine on the side, full-time in Cortez, and later became the director for the Cortez ER in southwestern Colorado.

But my life really didn't change to about 7 years ago.

I was asked to go on a mission trip with Union College and we went down to South America to Brazil and we were on the Amazon And I remember 1 night after treating patients, 1 of the patients came and invited us to their home to eat, my wife and I.

And I don't know how many of you have been down to Brazil or been in any of those little dugout canoes.

So I remember the seven-year-old girl coming to pick up my wife and I and I remember it was that night we had our headlights on and we're gliding through the water and she must have taken us the scary route so went by these huge nine-foot alligators.

But as we slowly went we came to this path and she parked the boat.

We went up the dark path to this tiny little house.

We went up the steps and they had this tiny little entrance room where my wife and I waited with our knees hitting each other.

And finally the door opened to the house and we were invited into the house.

It was an 8x8 room with a thatched roof and wooden floor and signs.

And they had a little candle on the table and a little candle in the corner.

And they sat there and they gave us this feast and they didn't eat at all.

Being extremely poor we kept trying to get them to eat but they were not.

But I looked into their eyes and there was something in the eyes of these people that I did not have.

They were Christians and they were happy.

Here I am a physician making over 200, 000 a year.

I have 131 acres that overlooks a beautiful lake where we have our ski course on.

And I was not as happy as these people looking at me that had a dugout canoe and an 8 foot square building.

Why am I not as happy as those people down there in this little tiny room?

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Series

AMEN 2005 Plenary Sessions

Seeing Patients through Jesus’ Eyes, Part 1

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

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Recorded

Parts

Seeing Patients through Jesus’ Eyes, Part 1

49m

The Groanings of the Spirit

58m

Here Am I, Send Me

32m

Seeing Patients through Jesus’ Eyes, Part 2

1h 15m

The Heart Cry of the Son

17m

Back to the Future: Lessons Learned from Six years at Community Health Care of the Palouse

1h 13m

Healing the Right Arm

1h 12m

Seeing Patients through Jesus’ Eyes, Part 3

55m

In the Footsteps of the Great Physician: My Journey to Medical Evangelism

49m

Sound Doctrine