SHOULD DOCTORS TALK ABOUT JESUS WITH THEIR PATIENTS?

Sir Thomas Sydenham was a physician who practised in London during the 17th century. He gave the following advice,

“Whoever takes up medicine should seriously consider the following points:

1) He must one day give an account of the lives of those sick men who have been entrusted to his care,

2) That such skill and science as, by the blessing of almighty God, he has attained, are to be specially directed towards the honour of his maker, and the welfare of his fellow creatures.

It is a base thing for the great gifts of heaven to become the servants of avarice or ambition.”

Such a Christian faith should influence all that doctors and others in the health professions do.

Some years ago their was a conference for Christian doctors, and a seminar on this question was held. There were thirty seated in a circle. They were each asked what their opinion was on whether doctors should evangelise their patients. Twenty five of them thought that we should not. A variety of reasons were given which included,

a) There is no time

b) It doesn’t help the dignity of our position

c) Patients won’t trust you again

d) It is not what we are paid for

e) It is not right to get at people when they are down and susceptible.

When you hear how some doctors understand it is possible to understand this view. A young lady went to see her General Practitioner with frequent headaches. It did not take him more than a few seconds for him to reach a diagnosis. She obviously felt guilty and needed the gospel. The rest of the consultation was spent in telling her that she needed to become a Christian. He did not take a reasonable history, he did not examine her, nor did he measure her blood pressure. That girl rightly left the surgery rather angry.

We are not talking about evangelism as a substitute for medicine, but as a part of good medicine. There are compelling reasons why these skills should be developed by all caring Christian doctors.

1) The Gospel is Therapeutic

People go to their doctors with a wide variety of symptoms, many of which are grossly amplified by psychological problems, which may come from mental distress and often a spiritual void.

An Irish student nurse, who had recently become a Christian through joining in a Bible study group led by one of the surgical registrars, was feeling increasingly tired and anxious. She couldn’t concentrate in her revision for her final exams. She had already failed twice and this was to be her last chance. She plucked up courage to go and discuss this with her G.P.. After listening to her problem and discussing the possible explanations, the doctor quietly asked her,

“Do you have any faith to help you tackle this problem?”

The nurse then hesitatingly explained how she had recently become a Christian. The G.P. smiled encouragely at her.

“I’m a Christian too,” he exclaimed.

He then pulled out of his top draw a Bible and turned to Philippians 4 v. 6.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The two of them discussed what this meant and then they prayed together. That nurse left that surgery walking on air. She felt she had not only met someone who obviously cared about her, but she also received much more help than a quick prescription for Valium would have given her. She did pass too!

A first year student at university went to see the university medical officer, and immediately started weeping. He was feeling very low indeed. He had recently got over an attack of ‘flu, he wasn’t sleeping, he was well behind on his work and was stressed because of this, and he was very lonely. When he was asked,

“Do you have a faith to help you in all this?” the doctor then asked.

“No, I have no real direction or purpose,” he replied.

The medical officer then drew a little picture of a spiral, at the bottom of which was a circle which he called the ‘slough of despond’.

He explained how problems of either the body, the mind or the spirit can press a person down this spiral of depression. Indeed the word ‘depression’ comes from the Latin de-pressere which means ‘pressed down’. They discussed how each of the three groups of problems could be resolved. He was given a two week supply of sleeping pills to help overcome the sleepless fatigue. He contacted his supervisor and arranged for him just to do one essay instead of the five outstanding, and then he took him to a local Sunday tea party held every week by some nurses and students at the London Hospital. They befriended him, and soon he was joining them at the evening evangelistic services at St. Helen’s Church in Bishopsgate. He joined them on their houseparties and after a few months this young man was not only coping with his studies, he also became a Christian. He is still going on well with his Lord.

Tom was a man of about 50 who was dying of a rare recurrent inoperable pelvic tumour. He was beginning to have persistent pain and was started on regular morphine. His consultant had discussed all the implications of this with tom and his wife. One day, when they were talking the consultant asked,

“Tom, do you have a faith that helps you go through all this?”

“I wish I did,” Tom replied

The surgeon took out the Gideon Bible from the locker and read Psalm 23 to Tom and his wife. They then prayed together, and later Tom was given David Watson’s booklet ‘Start a New Life’. They had several further discussions over the following weeks. Tom died peacefully at home. A little later he received a letter from Tom’s wife,

“Thankyou for all you did to help Tom, but thankyou especially for the way you helped him spiritually. He had such peace before he died.”

A few months later Tom’s wife came to an evangelistic supper party, she subsequently joined an inquirers Bible study group and then she put her trust in the Lord Jesus.

To be really effective doctors we must treat the whole person, Body, Mind and Spirit. This tripartite aspect of man is recognised in the Bible, God is concerned with all three and therefore so should we. (see 1 Thessalonians 5 v. 23) There are some problems in which there is largely a physical dimension, but there are also spiritual problems. In Sophocles ‘Tragedy’, Ajax rightly says.

“It is not for a wise physician to wail charms over a wound that needs the knife.”

Neither is it for a wise doctor to wave tranquillisers before a patient when the major problem is spiritual. Unfortunately this diagnosis is seldom made.

The psychiatrist C. J. Jung wrote towards the end of his lifetime,

“During the past thirty years, men from every civilised country in the world have come to me for consultation. Among all my mature patients there was not one whose problem did not spring from a lack of religious world outlook. I can assure you that each of them had become ill because they had not that which only a living religion can give to a man, and not one of them will recover fully unless he regains the religious view of life.”

People do need to know the true explanation and answer to life in order to have a full, satisfying existence. Jesus is that answer.

2) People need to be converted

Jesus himself said,

“Whoever believes in him (God’s Son) is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already.” (John 3 v. 18)

It is therefore vital that everyone should put their trust in and commit themselves to follow Jesus. How can they do this if they have not been told the true story of what God has done for us in Jesus? To say that it is unkind to keep this from people can only be called an understatement!

3) For the sake of our own spiritual lives we need to talk about Jesus.

Nobody, and certainly not doctors, are exempt from the injunction to openly acknowledge Jesus.

“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10 v. 32)

It is only the person who is telling others about the Lord who experiences the full joy and excitement of the Christian life. This is why Paul talks about the need for this when he writes to Philemon.

“I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” (Philemon v. 6)

It is true that if we are not evangelising we are fossilising!

Queries

1) Is it right to get at people when they are susceptible?

Having problems seems to be one of the few ways that we ever learn! A child who has everything their own way will become an insufferable spoilt brat. similarly adults will only stop and think when life is not going as they want. C. S. Lewis wrote in his book, ‘The Problem of Pain’,

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. They are his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. We are perplexed to see misfortune falling upon decent, inoffensive, worthy people, or capable, hard working mothers, or diligent, thrifty little trades people. Let me implore the reader to try and believe that God, who made these deserving people may really be right when he thinks that their modest prosperity and the happiness of their children are not enough to make them blessed, that all this must fall in the end, and that if they have not learned to know him, they will be wretched.”

Jesus was willing to use tragedy to help people think about eternal issues. There had recently been a disaster in Jerusalem when the tower of Siloam had collapsed on a group of people and eighteen were killed. There would undoubtedly have been considerable mourning. Yet Jesus asked,

“Do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13 v. 4-5)

Suffering is meant to be learnt from. Jesus experienced the same tension that Christian Doctors face. There was for him a seemingly unending stream of people wanting to be healed physically. Yet Jesus knew that a greater need was for them to be taught the lessons of God. Read Mark 1 v. 32-39 to see how he resolved the dilemma! There obviously has to be a balance between the two.

Jesus also used his healing ministry to draw people back to God. On one of Jesus’ journeys down to Jerusalem he was entering a village on the Galilee/Samaritan border when he met ten leprosy sufferers. They called out to him for help, which he willingly gave. They were told to go and show themselves to the priests. It was only as they went that they realised that they were ‘cleansed’. The reason that this story is passed on to us is because of the response of just one of the people, who was a Samaritan. He returned, praising God, and through himself at Jesus’ feet. Jesus exclaimed,

“Was no-one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? Then he said to him, ‘Rise and go, your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17 v. 18-19)

Jesus was not just interested in seeing people cleansed physically, he wanted them to be healed spiritually as well.

2) Can we not leave this work to others in the church?

This is a most disturbing way to think. In this country 80% of the churches of our Saviour are becoming smaller and older. We are making little impact. And yet some want to leave the struggle to others! The great commission was originally given to the eleven disciples to ‘go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28 v. 19) These new Christians are then to be taught “to obey everything I have commanded you.” So the great commission does belong to us all, even the doctors! It is this seeming apathy that has led to the present weakness in the church.

Pierre Berton was a renowned journalist, author and commentator in Canada. Although an agnostic, he wrote a book called ‘The Comfortable Pew’, in which he gives his testimony.

“I did not reject the church. God remained a real if somewhat less effective figure. I attended church and Sunday School regularly, though as I grew older I found myself fidgeting through a service grown monotonous with familiarity. The church was also for a youth rapidly moving into puberty, a colossal bore. Thus began a slow drift away from the church unmarked by any real violent anti-religious convictions. Mine was a rebellion born of apathy.”

The majority of adults in this country are like this - the church structures are failing. It is up to all of us, and particularly to those of us ‘to whom much has been given’ to work to remedy the situation. There can be few groups of people who have the opportunities of being in the front line and meeting the unconverted public face on, and who are still trusted, as the medical profession.

What is the church primarily for? Is it to attend meetings and sing hymns? No! We are here that others may be saved and then built up as disciples of Jesus Christ, to prepare us for heaven. Every Christian needs to seize the opportunities we have to achieve these ends.

I strongly suspect that the reason people do not get involved in sharing the gospel with those they meet is because they find it very difficult and embarrassing, and consequently they rationalize why they should not be involved. At the seminar of Christian doctors that I started this article about, only five out of thirty felt it was right to use our position as doctors to evangelise. I asked this same group later how many of them had ever led someone else to faith in Christ and you can guess the result. It was the same group of five who felt it was a good thing to do. The obvious assumption is that the others had always found this difficult, even when students, and had consequently found reasons to justify their position. The other possibility that they have no interest in the great commission that Jesus gave us is too horrible to contemplate, it means they are not yet Christians!

The enemy now holds the ground. Even 100 year ago Christian teaching and ethics were orthodox, but no longer. In Tom Stoppards play, ‘Jumpers’, one of the characters called George says,

‘The tide is running the atheists way and it is a tide which has turned only once in human history. There is presumably a calendar date, a moment when the onus of proof passed from the atheist to the believer, when, quite suddenly, secretly the noes had it.’

It is now us, the Christians, who are back on our heals and on the defensive. We all too often feel embarrassed to acknowledge to others that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour, and that the Bible is the Word of God which really is worth studying.

How did all this happen? It was by the hard dedicated work of a group of atheists, who undermined a poorly taught, uncommitted church. One such man was Charles Bradlaugh, who was one of the leading nineteenth century rationalists and secularists (i.e. people sceptical of religious truth and opposed to religious education). He was a boisterous man with boundless energy. In 1866 he founded ‘ The National Secular Society’. In one year alone he addressed over 276 meetings, and in those days travel was much more difficult. He attacked and shocked the religious establishment. One of his meetings was advertised as follows’

“The Bible, What is it? Being an examination thereof from Genesis to Revelation, intended to relieve the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge from the labour of retranslating the Bible, by proving that it is not worth the trouble and expense.”

The damage is now done. Something radical is needed. All Christians are required to join battle. Why don’t we? Professor Henry Drummond once said,

‘The crime of evangelism is laziness!’

We do need more good preachers, but an even greater need is for every Christian to sign up and be an active personal worker for Christ.

The cost may be the occasional loss of prestige or respect, or gaining a reputation for being ‘keen’, or even a crank. It was Shoemaker who wrote in his book ‘Small is Beautiful’,

“I don’t object to being called a crank, it is small, but it causes revolutions!”

It is certainly a revolution that we need. We staid professionals must learn to sensitively share the gospel. What Jesus taught suggests that many people in our society are heading for hell ! Do were care enough to indicate that Jesus reaaly is the God given answer we all need.

I remember when I was studying for the final FRCS, I attended course in orthopaedics at Rowley Bristow Hospital. Mr. Graham Appley, the famous orthopaedic teacher who ran the course demonstrated patients to the whole group. One patient was a retired soldier, General Sir Arthur Smith, who had a stable pseudoarthrosis of his left tibia which intermittently discharged. When Mr. Appley had finished discussing his case, the General, then aged 92, asked if he could say something to the large group of doctors there.

This is what he said in his military public school voice,

“I sustained this injury when I was hit by a piece of shrapnel at Ypres, during the Battle of the Somme. My foot was just dangling about. I was taken to a field hospital, a Nissan hut, and was put in the last bed at the end. Everyone was very worried about my foot, they thought I would have to loose it, but I asked them to patch it up as best they could. I didn’t know what would happen. The next morning I read my ‘Daily Light’, which for those of you who don’t know consists of portions of the Bible, God’s Word to us, by which I live my life. I read for that day the words,

“The Lord is thy confidence, He shall stop thy foot from being moved.”

The whole group of us burst out laughing at this point, we were gripped by this story.

“At the base hospital,” the General continued, “a doctor said that it would have to come off. ‘Not so,’ I exclaimed, and to this day I have my foot to remind me of God’s faithfulness. I do hope that all of you young men here will come to find that God is faithful, and that you can trust him.”

The group of spontaneously erupted into a combination of applause and enthusiastic laughter. On the way back in the train we all talked about the testimony of that courageous old soldier. I shall never forget him.

It is vital that all Christian doctors get over our embarrassment and learn to talk to others about Jesus. When first attached to a gynaecology firm as a medical student I found it extremely embarrassing to take a history from the ladies. How often I blushed and was tongue-tied. Yet because I had to learn the art, I slowly overcame the problems, so that now I am no longer coy, and subsequently I don’t think my patients are so awkward either. It is just the same in talking about spiritual matters, where it is even more important that we learn to overcome being embarrassed. To be embarrassed about doing this is one thing, to be ashamed of Jesus and of the Bible is another. It has eternal consequences for us.

Jesus said,

“Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory.” (Luke 9 v. 26)

How can doctors talk effectively about spiritual things?

1) Take a spiritual history.We are very used to taking a full medical history which includes a history of the present condition, a drug history, a past history and a social history. Why learn to briefly ask a spiritual history. A very useful question is,

“Do you have a faith to help you at a time like this or aren’t you sure about these things?”

I learned that adding the “ . . or aren’t you sure about these things” prevented my patient from feeling trapped and so often led to an interesting conversation as they can then reply with answers such as:

“I wish I had.”

“I used to have.”

“How can a person know?”

When I was first a house physician to Dr. John Wright at ‘The London Hospital’, as it was then called, I started to take a spiritual history when clerking in patients. One of my first patients was a dear old cockney lady who presented with anorexia, weight loss and later vomiting. When taking the history I asked her if she had any faith that helped her at a time like this. She replied,

“Oh yes dear, I believe in God.”

I was a bit perplexed as to what to say next, so I blurted out,

“Do you read your Bible?”

“Oh no dear.”

That seemed to be the end of that so we moved on to discuss some other subject such as her bowels! Later that week I was wandering around my patients during visitors time. When I approached this ladies bed it appeared as if a considerable proportion of the East End were visiting her. She introduced me to them as her doctor and then added,

“This is the man who told me I ought to read my Bible!”

I blushed and wished a hole would appear in the floor. To save face I smiled at the visitors and weakly asked if they read their Bibles. Then I moved on to the next bed.

A few days later that dear ladies’ daughter brought in a new Bible for her mother. She was proud of it and I would suggest passages she could look at. There just happened to be a Christian Staff Nurse doing night duty on that ward and every night they would go over the passages together. The lady was diagnosed as having cancer of the stomach. She died within a few weeks without going home. She did however tell her daughter that she had become a Christian.

Brian was a patient of mine who had just been diagnosed as having secondary cancer in his liver causing him to become jaundiced. He and his wife realised that the outlook was not good. After talking about possible treatment options, I asked Brian,

“Do you have a faith that helps you at a time like this?”

He turned to his wife and asked, “Do we, dear?”

As there didn’t appear to be much concern about spiritual things I simply said,

“For me, knowing that there is a God who loves us and cares for us is the only thing that makes sense of problems like this”, and changed the subject.

The following week I met Brian as he sat in the waiting room for a blood test. He said,

“You know what you said last week, it is strange but my next door neighbour, who is a Christian, asked us if we would like to go to church. What do you think?”

“I think that is lovely, but honestly Brian I wonder if sitting through some hymns, prayers and a sermon is what you most need at the moment. I would guess what you most need to know is “How can I get right with God?””.

There was a two second pause before Brian looked up and asked

“How do I get right with God?”

We arranged to meet up the following morning at his home and there we went over the basics of the Christian faith. After a few days, first Brian and then his wife became a Christian. Amazingly Brian remained alive for eight months during which he and his wife joined our ‘Christian Basics’ course and became grounded in the faith.

Such experiences have made me certain that there are a growing number of people who, although disillusioned with churches, have many questions they would like resolved. Even the atheist Bernard Levin has written in “The Times,”

“There are probably more people today seeking some larger meaning or purpose in their lives and in life in general than there have been, certainly in the west, since the day of unquestioned faith.”

2) Follow up any openings

This week I have been treating a young lady with breast cancer. When chatting together alone after the operation she admitted that she had seriously contemplated suicide, so concerned was she about being deformed.

“Are you ready to meet God then?” I gently asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it seems to me to be a crazy thing to do, to commit suicide, and bring yourself face to face with God, if you are not certain that you can face him with confidence. It may even be that this happening to you will help you sort these things out.”

We then discussed other matters, but I did return to see her the next day and left her a copy of ‘Start a New Life’, the evangelistic booklet by David Watson, as a present. I don’t know how this will work out, but I do know that she has at least thought about the gospel and the forgiveness the Lord wants her to have, and she has met Christians who are convinced it is true.

3) Open evenings

In a busy life and in busy clinics, it is not possible to open conversations about spiritual matters with many patients. We held twice yearly supper evenings in our home, to which selected patients, usually those who seemed to appreciate me, were invited. We also invite medical colleagues and friends. After a good buffet supper, everyone is seated and a guest speaker is introduced. We were very careful whom we invited to speak, knowing that most of those coming had no interest and were often doubtful about churches. Some were invited by mouth, or by phone, but most were invited by a letter. This letter explained clearly that ‘these evenings are put on to give people an enjoyable evening out, but also to give us all a chance to think again about the Christian life in a way that is interesting, without any cringe factor.’ As my wife and her friends can only cope with just over a hundred guests at a time we had to have two or even three consecutive evenings to cater for those who want to come. Recently we have hired a local school hall, but have limited the food to gateaux and coffee! After the first two evenings many said,

“That was lovely,” or “It makes you think, doesn’t it.” But we saw only one or two make commitments to Christ. What was missing? There was nothing arranged to help those who were interested to inquire further without compromising or embarrassing themselves. We then learnt to use these evenings as just ‘a taster’, and that those interested in going further needed to join in a ‘Christian Basics’ course. We ran five or so such five week courses a year, in conjunction with our local vicar and his wife. It is at these groups that people really understand the gospel and many were converted.

Sometimes in the clinic, I will ask patients,

“Have you ever been invited to one of our open evenings?”

The usual reply is,

“No, what are they?”

“They are regular get togethers in our home with a good buffet supper but there aim is to help people to think again about Christian things. Since we have been living in this area we have met so many people who are disillusioned by the churches for many reasons, often finding them rather boring and irrelevant, but who deep down know there is a God who is important. These evenings are there to fill that gap, so everyone can have the chance to look at the essentials of the Christian faith without any embarrassment.”

It is interesting not only how many come but also how many return.

Political Pressures

Some years ago a District Nurse, Mrs Caroline Petrie, was suspended without pay by her employer, North Somerset Primary Care Trust for offering to pray for a 79 year old patient whose wound she had just dressed. The patient declined the offer but did not complain. The Trust justified their action by saying,

“The Nursing and Midwifery Code Council Code of Conduct makes it clear that nurses must not use [their] professional status to promote causes that are not related to health.”

After an outcry in the media she was reinstated. Modern research has shown that there is a clear link between having a livng faith and physical and psychological health. In several trials the advantage is approximately ten per cent. In medicine it is widely heald that if a certain course of treatment gives just a five per cent advantage it should be discussed with patients. On this basis having a faith should always be discussed!

In his report for 1997 called ‘On the State of Public Health’, Sir Kenneth Calman, the Chief Medical Officer emphasised that ‘concern for the individual’ should be a pre-eminent concern for those making decisions about health. He goes on to explain what he meant by this and included,

“. . . holistic aspects to cover physical, social, psychological and spiritual aspects of life”.

There is no doubt that to have a faith does give us a purpose, strength and moral basis for life and that Professor Calman is right to conclude that spiritual aspects of life are important in both an individual’s and a nation’s health. Having a faith often helps patients and their relatives cope with illnesses. The chaplains in our hospitals are not simply social workers but are there to help satisfy these spiritual needs of patients and their families. This country is still officially a Christian country there is much evidence that the Christian faith is true, really true. Modern medicine is still based on Christian principles, individuals matter and truth matters.

Furthermore the General Medical Council considers that it is not improper for doctors to express their personal convictions to their patients. In the 1993 Annual Report (page 4) they concluded:-

“The Council has hitherto taken the view that the profession of personal opinions or faith is not of itself improper and that the Council could intervene only where there was evidence that a doctor had failed to provide an adequate standard of care. The Committee supported that policy and concluded that it would not be right to try to prevent doctors from expressing their personal religious, political or other views to patients. It was agreed, however, that doctors who caused patients distress by the inappropriate or insensitive expression of their religious, political or other personal views would not be providing the considerate care which patients are entitled to expect. This view was supported by the Council . . . .”

What a wise view this is.

In our society there are many practices that go under the broad umbrella of ‘complementary medicine’ and many are indeed encouraged in National Health Service hospitals. How can it be wrong to offer people the opportunity to find an orthodox faith for themselves, when by common consensus that faith is both helpful and true?

In our hospitals there are many practices that encourage people to find or deepen their faith. Nurses are asked whether they have ‘satisfied the spiritual and ethnic’ needs of their patients. Chaplains and lay chaplaincy staff visit patients to discuss, pray or give communion. Patients are invited to chapel services, sometimes by letter or printed invitation.

An Example

I was on a teaching ward round with my firm when we came to a very pleasant lady in her 50’s who had been admitted for terminal care. She had liver secondaries and was feeling very weak. She asked if she could have a private talk with me later. When I returned she said,

“I am finding this business of dying very difficult. Could you speed it up for me?

She clearly wanted ‘euthanasia’. I replied,

“We don’t do that, but what is it that is really troubling you?”

We went on to have a discussion about what she was finding difficult and the things we could do to help her. I wondered if there was some spiritual problem underlying all this so I continued,

“I wonder if there is a reason that God is keeping you going like this. Do you think you have got everything ready?”

“I think so,” she replied, “I have cleared all my cupboards at home.”

“Yes, but on a deeper level, are you sure you are ready to meet God or aren’t you sure about these things?”

“Oh! I think I’m ready, I’ve never done anyone any harm.”

Here was this lady about to meet her maker and she wasn’t ready. Fortunately our hospital has Gideon Bibles in the bedside lockers so I asked if I could show her a few things.

“I would like that,” she replied.

The first thing she needed to be clear about was that when we die we will face judgement. I wondered about using the passage in 2 Thessalonians 1:8-10 but decided that the wording was too aggressive for this lady so we looked up Hebrews 9:27.

“. . . man is destined to die once and after that to face judgement.”

The great attraction of using this verse is that the adjoining verses both talk about Jesus died to “take away the sins of many people.”

I illustrated this by placing a book on my open hand, and explained that this represented my sin, which acts as a barrier between God and myself. My religion, which was illustrated by my fingers actively moving under the book cannot help get rid of the barrier. She seemed to understand this so we went on to talk about sin and to show that no-one is naturally good enough for God. Her claim about ‘not doing anybody any harm’ was both untrue and certainly inadequate. So we looked up Romans 3:11.

“There is no-one righteous, not even one; there is no-one who understands, no-one who seeks God.”

She then agreed that being right with God was never something she had bothered about at all. We also looked up Isaiah 59:2,

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden your face from you, so that he will not hear.”

As we talked she began to understand her problem.

“How can I get right with God?” she asked.

Sitting on her bed we talked about the Lord Jesus. We talked about his death on that cross and how he died to take away the consequences of our sin and to enable us to be right with God. We then turned to 1 Peter 2:24.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”

As we talked it all seemed so clear to her, the Holy Spirit was convicting her of sin and righteousness and judgement in a non-aggressive way. She then said,

“I need to be forgiven by Jesus. Will you pray for me now?”

At this point the nurses sitting at the adjacent nurses station jumped up and pulled the screens round even though they give hardly any privacy. They must have been listening. I prayed thanking God for what he had done for us on the cross, and asking that, just as he had promised, he would put her name in the ‘Book of Life’, forgive her sin and give her his Spirit. She was very grateful. I left her with a list of the verses we had looked up as well as two more on assurance,

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has passed over from death to life.” John 5:24

The Lord gave her great joy that continued. Her husband phoned me up the next morning.

“Are you the doctor who spoke to my wife yesterday?”

“Yes,” I replied rather hesitantly as I didn’t know what was coming.

“We are not a religious family in any way, but I would like to thank you for spending the time with her. She has such peace. Would you mind explaining to me what you said to her?”

He phoned me at home a few days later at the weekend and came for tea. I was interested to see that somehow he had obtained a large unused Gideon Bible, Authorised Version, which had the words, ‘Headmistress’ printed in bold type on the outside. We went over the gospel in a very similar way. He wasn’t ready to commit himself but I gave him a copy of ‘Cure for Life’ and said he could phone at any time.
His wife moved to the local hospice where I visited her on one occasion. She was holding firmly onto her Saviour even though she was sleepier from the drugs. We looked at Romans 8:1 which is another great verse on assurance.

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,”

To make this simpler to understand, I wrote her name on a piece of paper and placed it inside the Bible.

“Let this Bible represent the Lord Jesus and this piece of paper represent you. Because you are now ‘in Christ’ when you meet God he will not see your sins at all, he will see that you are in Christ and have ‘his righteousness’. Furthermore Jesus is now in heaven and because you are in Christ he will take you to be with him there.”

The nurses told me that she later asked them to read her the whole chapter of Romans 8. About two weeks later I had a phone call from her husband to say that she had just died. Apparently one of the last things she said to her husband was to ask him to become a Christian and made him promise to “go to the doctor’s church”. He did faithfully come and he later attended a Basics course when he also committed himself to Christ.

Conclusion

There are obviously many ways to introduce people to Jesus. The real problem we have is commitment to the task. Billy Graham wrote,

“We are guilty of spiritual lethargy. Sometimes we sit about like overstuffed toads and we croak and grunt at the right place with a sleepy ‘Amen’ and a weak ‘Alleluia’.

We Christians hold the answer to life, yet we are loathe to pass it on. It may be because it makes us seem arrogant. G. K. Chesterton once said,

“What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction, where it was never meant to be. A man is meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth. This has been reversed.”

What do we most need to be more effective in winning others for Christ? Is it,

a) More knowledge, to convince ourselves and them?

b) More winsomeness, so that we appeal more to them?

c) More Prayer, so that God will work in spite of us?

d) More courage, so that we will speak up for Christ?

Prayer must be fundamental. I have yet to meet someone who regularly prays for opportunities who does not find open doors. We will then want to be more winsome, and to know more so that we are more convincing. It is no coincidence that the Holy Spirit was first given to the early church in the form of ‘Tongues of Fire’. His prime role is to help us speak up for Christ. Some of the last words of Jesus were,

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1 v. 8)

Spiritual problems are all around us. It has been rightly said,

“If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.”

Some years ago there was a Bible Reading in the Union of Cambridge University. It was a missionary weekend and there were two speakers booked, each having half an hour to speak. Unfortunately the first speaker went on and on, so that the second speaker, Jim Broomhall had only three minutes left. He stood and read his text.

“There are some who are ignorant of God, and I say this to your shame. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 34.”

He looked at the clock and then said,

“I have just got time to read this to you again, “There are some who are ignorant of God, and I say this to your shame”.” He then sat down.

One young man listening was so struck by the words of that verse that he committed his life to telling others about Jesus. His name was David Wheatley-Price. He eventually went to Kenya as a missionary. Some ten years later David was back in that same Union and he recounted this story, reading out the same verse. Another student, Peter Pattison who had been converted in his first year was very much impressed by the same verse. He likewise committed his life to sharing the Christian gospel with others. It was he who told me the story when I went to give a talk at the first Open Evening that he and his partners in General Practice held in their surgery.

The great Christian surgeon, Sir James Simpson, who introduced Chloroform, was once interviewed by a newspaper reporter who asked,

“What was your most important discovery?”

“I discovered that I was a sinner and that Christ was my Saviour,” he immediately replied.

This is the Spirit and unction that we need to find again.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, said to clergymen who failed to make a clear stand for the Lord Jesus said,

“You dare not because you have respect of persons. You fear the faces of men. You cannot because you have not overcome the world. You are not above the desire for earthly things. And it is impossible . . . . until you desire nothing more than God.”

Many are now against the Lord Jesus, the creator and Saviour of the world. Lenin said,

“Every religious idea, every idea of God, every flirtation with the idea of God is unutterable vileness.”

Professor Richard Dawkins is so fervently atheistic that he called theistic belief,

“ . . . ignominious, contemptible and retarded.”

The Queen once said to Paul Burrell, the previous butler to Princess Diana,

“Be careful Paul, there are powerful forces in this country of which we have no knowledge.”

This is certainly true for Christians - there is a great adversary but we have an even greater Lord.

Do you remember the catchphrase of General Tommy Franks, the American General in charge of operations against the Taliban? He said,

“Freedom is not free.”

The Scriptures call all Christians to ‘fight the fight of faith’, to ‘put on the full armour of God’, and remember this includes having ‘your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace’.

Martin Luther King, the Civil Rights activist said,

“If a man hasn’t discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”

Consequently we doctors and other professionals are called to give glory to Christ by living increasingly Christ-like lives which will include sharing the good news of salvation to those who want to know.

The question is therefore not ‘Should we tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ?’ but ‘How should we tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ?’

BVP