Principles & Practice of Health Evangelism
Chapter 4
Raising the Dead
Textbook pages 20-23
Who are the clients and patients who come to health evangelism programs for help with their habits and addictions? They are often seen as people who formed bad health practices at an early age. We see people as being trapped in a harmful environment. Often, there has been abuse as a child or as an adult. Others never learned the right way to live. All who come to health programs present special challenges and unique educational opportunities.
I have found it helpful in my health ministry to apply the Biblical diagnosis to those who come for help. The correct diagnosis is that they are, DEAD, DEVILISH, DISOBEDIENT, and DEPRAVED. This is not my particular prejudice, for the diagnosis is made by the Bible.
Those who come to health programs are not just uneducated, sick, trapped, or addicted -- they are DEAD. The Bible says that they are “dead in trespasses and sins." Grasping this fundamental truth about human nature makes all the difference in the approach we take in trying to help a person.
Education is thought to be the key to behavior change. A person can unlearn bad behaviors and through education learn new healthful behaviors. Education consists in enlightening a person as to the harmful effects of current behaviors and sharing the scientific evidence that a change in behavior will result in better health. Unfortunately, education is totally worthless if a person is DEAD. A person who is dead will have to be brought to life before education will be effective.
Setting a good example is thought to be important in helping people change. If they can see that you are living the right way and you are healthy and happy, they will be more likely to copy your good example and be motivated to live right. Setting a good example is totally irrelevant if the person you are trying to help is DEAD.
Likewise, encouragement doesn’t help the dead. We like to coach those who are struggling with a bad habit. We say, “Keep it up,” “You can make it,” and “Hang in there.” Unfortunately, encouragement doesn’t help those who are DEAD.
In desperate cases we remove a person from a toxic environment and place them where they can be transformed, far away from the negative influences at home or work. Lifestyle Centers were designed for this purpose. But a new environment will not help those who are DEAD.
So, education, example, encouragement and environment are not useful tools in trying to reform people who are dead.
The Bible further adds to the diagnosis of death the fact that people are controlled by the devil, “walking…according to the prince of the power of the air”. Transforming the life of a person controlled by the devil is an impossible accomplishment by human effort alone. You may make positive changes for a while, but if the devil is in control of your life, the prospect for permanent change in behavior is bleak. The Bible says that those with a harmful lifestyle are “walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.” This is the devil. People with bad habits cannot control themselves because their lives are directed by the devil.
The Bible also diagnoses people as “the sons of disobedience.” People cannot do what they are told to do. They disobey the laws of health. They disobey common sense. They disobey their doctor’s advice. They disobey their spouse’s advice.
The pubic that comes to a health program may look like washed, well clothed, and decent people, but the Bible says that they are depraved. The text above says, “we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
Depraved people follow the “desires of the flesh.” They cannot say no to food. They cannot say no to cigarettes. They cannot say no to alcohol. They are trapped -- slaves to their perverted and depraved desires.
The solution to the problem is provided in the next verses in Ephesians:
God can make all things right once again. Not because we are worthy but because of his great mercy and because of his great love for us. God makes us alive with Christ. We are not saved by our own efforts because if we were we would take credit for our accomplishments. But God has the power to recreate us with the ability to do what is right.
This is the heart of traditional (gospel) evangelism, and it is the heart of health evangelism. Jesus saves us from our sins. Jesus saves us from our bad eating habits. Jesus saves us from tobacco and alcohol. We are cheating the public out of the most wonderful news regarding their bad habits if we keep this good news from them.
If we see the people who come to a health evangelism program as being dead, it will help us realize the critical importance of introducing them to Christ who can raise the dead and give them new life.
I have found it helpful in my health ministry to apply the Biblical diagnosis to those who come for help. The correct diagnosis is that they are, DEAD, DEVILISH, DISOBEDIENT, and DEPRAVED. This is not my particular prejudice, for the diagnosis is made by the Bible.
- And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath (depraved), just as the others. Ephesians 2:1-3 (NKJV)
Those who come to health programs are not just uneducated, sick, trapped, or addicted -- they are DEAD. The Bible says that they are “dead in trespasses and sins." Grasping this fundamental truth about human nature makes all the difference in the approach we take in trying to help a person.
Education is thought to be the key to behavior change. A person can unlearn bad behaviors and through education learn new healthful behaviors. Education consists in enlightening a person as to the harmful effects of current behaviors and sharing the scientific evidence that a change in behavior will result in better health. Unfortunately, education is totally worthless if a person is DEAD. A person who is dead will have to be brought to life before education will be effective.
Setting a good example is thought to be important in helping people change. If they can see that you are living the right way and you are healthy and happy, they will be more likely to copy your good example and be motivated to live right. Setting a good example is totally irrelevant if the person you are trying to help is DEAD.
Likewise, encouragement doesn’t help the dead. We like to coach those who are struggling with a bad habit. We say, “Keep it up,” “You can make it,” and “Hang in there.” Unfortunately, encouragement doesn’t help those who are DEAD.
In desperate cases we remove a person from a toxic environment and place them where they can be transformed, far away from the negative influences at home or work. Lifestyle Centers were designed for this purpose. But a new environment will not help those who are DEAD.
So, education, example, encouragement and environment are not useful tools in trying to reform people who are dead.
The Bible further adds to the diagnosis of death the fact that people are controlled by the devil, “walking…according to the prince of the power of the air”. Transforming the life of a person controlled by the devil is an impossible accomplishment by human effort alone. You may make positive changes for a while, but if the devil is in control of your life, the prospect for permanent change in behavior is bleak. The Bible says that those with a harmful lifestyle are “walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.” This is the devil. People with bad habits cannot control themselves because their lives are directed by the devil.
The Bible also diagnoses people as “the sons of disobedience.” People cannot do what they are told to do. They disobey the laws of health. They disobey common sense. They disobey their doctor’s advice. They disobey their spouse’s advice.
The pubic that comes to a health program may look like washed, well clothed, and decent people, but the Bible says that they are depraved. The text above says, “we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
Depraved people follow the “desires of the flesh.” They cannot say no to food. They cannot say no to cigarettes. They cannot say no to alcohol. They are trapped -- slaves to their perverted and depraved desires.
The solution to the problem is provided in the next verses in Ephesians:
- But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:4-10 (NKJV)
God can make all things right once again. Not because we are worthy but because of his great mercy and because of his great love for us. God makes us alive with Christ. We are not saved by our own efforts because if we were we would take credit for our accomplishments. But God has the power to recreate us with the ability to do what is right.
This is the heart of traditional (gospel) evangelism, and it is the heart of health evangelism. Jesus saves us from our sins. Jesus saves us from our bad eating habits. Jesus saves us from tobacco and alcohol. We are cheating the public out of the most wonderful news regarding their bad habits if we keep this good news from them.
If we see the people who come to a health evangelism program as being dead, it will help us realize the critical importance of introducing them to Christ who can raise the dead and give them new life.