Medicine Versus Herbs: The Test of Mortality

I ran into yet another article about using natural remedies. A child was suing their parents due to them seeking natural remedies before the doctor and now is suffering lifetime effects from the illness the child had which was curable if they had used modern medicine. What I find most interesting out of all these comments they typically state their position that "medicine" is a gift of God that should be used first. While I don't advocate entirely forgoing all medical care I also disagree that medicine is necessarily the preferred method God wishes us to use.

Here is what Joseph said,

Sunday, Sept. 5, 1841. I preached to a large congregation at the stand, on the science and practice of medicine, desiring to persuade the Saints to trust in God when sick, and not in an arm of flesh, and live by faith and not by medicine, or poison; and when they were sick, and had called for the Elders to pray for them, and they were not healed, to use herbs and mild food.—DHC 4:414. - Joseph Smith

The order is as follows:

1. Faith
2. Seeking Healing
3. Herbs and Mild Food

In fact nowhere does Joseph include "medicine" in that list. This belief comes from the Doctrine and Covenants.

42:43 And whosoever among you are sick, and have NOT FAITH to be healed, but believe, shall be nourished with all tenderness, with herbs and mild food 

48 And again, it shall come to pass that he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed. 

God has given us HERBS as a gift and mild foods. Not pharmaceutical companies that releases altered substances, with side effects that covers pages of information. Anyone has seen commercials with these substances where fine print is always written on the screen with the commercial ending giving a brief, yet long, summary of the side effects and who shouldn't take them. The Book of Mormon has given us more information regarding this matter.

Alma 46:40
And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year were very frequent in the land -- but not so much so with fevers, because of the excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases, to which men were subject by the nature of the climate --

God has given us herbs and plants to cure diseases. God has given us the Word of God where we can obtain faith by nourishing and experimenting upon The Word until we have faith to come unto Him and be saved. The Lord desires all of us to be healed. In Zion there will be no sick because they will no longer need to be subject to the ill effects of the mortal body having learned what it is God has sent us to learn. The rich has given us pharmaceutical drugs. Billion dollar organizations promote these drugs.

When the Lord visited the Nephites he asked the following.

7 Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy. 

8 For I perceive that ye desire that I should show unto you what I have done unto your brethren at Jerusalem, for I see that your faith is sufficient that I should heal you. 

9 And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their blind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him. (3 Nephi 17:7-9)

15 And it came to pass that after he had ascended into heaven—the second time that he showed himself unto them, and had gone unto the Father, after having healed all their sick, and their lame, and opened the eyes of their blind and unstopped the ears of the deaf, and even had done all manner of cures among them, and raised a man from the dead, and had shown forth his power unto them, and had ascended unto the Father— (3 Nephi 26:15)

I don't advocate entirely ignoring doctors or hospitals when needs arise. But I also don't believe that medicine is as inspired as people think it is. There is always opposition in all things. Satan is just as able to conjure up his own "inspirations" or revelations as God is because there must be good and evil to choose from.  As the Book of Mormon states, "some revelations are of man: and some revelations are of the devil". I don't think all medicine is evil and in many cases saves many lives but I think there are many drugs that are outright evil. The only true cure for our failings is repenting of our ignorance and returning to face God. It is through our ignorance we continue to make foolish acts that we think are pleasing to God.

World Believes Him Not
The world at large crucified the Lord. The world at large was destroyed by water in the days of Noah. The world today is "even as the days of Noah". What the world thinks is never what the Lord has in his mind or in congruent with His will. This world Killed the Lord. The Lord walked among the world and they at large never noticed Him. He walks among us again and we hardly notice him except the few humble followers using the term seen in the Book of Mormon (2 Nephi 28:14). Satan always sets up his counterfeit kingdom to the kingdom of God that comes without observation.

It is only now almost 2000 years later that the world now pretends to believe the Lord was crucified but when he actually comes among us while declaring they believe in Him, they walk right past Him without a second glance. I image in another 1000-2000 years the world will than believe what is actually taking place in this generation after it has already transpired.

Same Test For All
The same Gospel will require the same test of all who will be saved. Nothing will vary in the challenges from one generation to the next. The kingdom of God will always arrive as unwelcomed and unheralded as a thief in the night. Isaiah 53: "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" The Truth is always delivered in a manner to make it possible to dismiss. For truth to be spoken down here in mortality, there will need to be an entire chorus of people yelling in opposition. There needs to be smooth arguments. There needs to be dignified opponents. There needs to be institutional opposition. There needs to be rejection. There needs to be an entire army of skeptics, opposed to whatever the Lord is doing, to make the test always be equal. Who is going to believe the report? Who is going to see the arm of the Lord?

Choose Good
Think about what it means to be given the power of God. Think about what it means for God to be able to do all things, including sustaining you from moment to moment by lending you breath. With that great power, God says to us, “You are free to choose to do whatever it is that you choose.” Think of the patience of our God. Think of the meekness of our God. And think about the test you are presently taking to prove who and what you are. Ask whether or not, in the circumstances of this test, you are proving that you can be trusted to have the meekness, to have the patience, to endure in humility what must be done. Will you endure the abuses God allows to take place in order to permit His children to gain experience? Do you respect God’s plan so that in the long run we can all ultimately know the difference between good and evil? Will we voluntarily choose to love the good and to stay away from the evil.