A Christian Doctor’s Perspective on Healthcare at a Time of Global Crisis
(by Dr Ernest F Crocker BSc (Med) MBBS FRACP DDU FAANMS)
My name is Dr Ernest Crocker. I am a specialist physician in Nuclear Medicine. I am not a theologian. I am a doctor, a scientist, a husband, father, and grandfather but most of all, a follower of Jesus Christ. I hold the position of NSW State Chair of The Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship of Australia. The comments expressed in this paper are however entirely of my own volition.
I became a Christian in Sunday school at nine years of age and confirmed that decision at the Sydney Billy Graham Crusade of 1959. My prayer each day now is that God will lead and direct me by the power of His Holy Spirit, that I may live and walk by the Spirit, and that the fruit of the Spirit will be manifest in and through me. My identity both professional and personal is found in my relationship with Father God.
For many years I have worked as director in a major Sydney teaching hospital and more recently in private practice. I have engaged in short term mission outreach to China, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
As a young medical graduate and a Christian, I found myself doubting God’s ability or willingness to provide supernatural healing in the modern era. One evening I challenged Him as to whether He heals today.
The next evening, I found myself unexpectedly covering an emergency after hours’ medical service for a friend. Just after midnight, I was called to the home of a woman in Sydney’s inner west, who gave all the symptoms of acute myocardial infarction (heart attack).
Within fifteen minutes of my arrival, she suffered a cardiac arrest. The situation was desperate. Despite all my best efforts which included CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and finally, intracardiac adrenaline, she died.
It was then that I heard that still small voice, which I shall always recognise as the voice of God (John 10:27). ‘Now is the time. Now is the time.’ The words sounded loud in my spirit. Kneeling at her side on the bedroom floor, my hands still on her chest, I prayed for her. Her body shuddered but then … nothing. The ambulance driver was delayed. It seems that he had misplaced details of the call, but finally arrived and confirmed that the patient was deceased. The emergency staff had been alerted and were waiting in the ambulance bay. They confirmed that the patient was dead and suggested that she be taken to the mortuary.
However, I managed to persuade them to admit her to the ED (Emergency Department) and stood back as they recommenced CPR. To my astonishment within minutes, she registered a normal sinus rhythm on ECG. She then regained consciousness and complained of chest pain, which I suspect related to several broken ribs. She had been pulseless for approximately an hour but exhibited no brain damage. She recovered completely.
I have pondered this remarkable healing event over many years and come to regard it as a ‘gift of faith’ to me during a time of deep questioning. It became an Ebenezer, a landmark in my life that will always remind me of God’s continuing presence. However, just recently, as I recalled the events of that evening, He spoke once again in that still small voice: ‘If I can raise a woman from the dead,’ he said, ‘I can do anything.’
My personal definition of modern medicine is ‘our progressive understanding of the structure and function of the human body as God reveals it to us, our ability to monitor and maintain its welfare and to intervene to bring healing and wellbeing as He allows us to do so.’ It is a wonderful gift. To compare its relevance with the prayer of faith is in my mind, to question His provision. The two are not in conflict and work perfectly well hand in hand.
I have been witness to God’s interventions throughout much of my life. I have seen miracles; I have seen prayers answered and prophecies fulfilled. I have experienced his direction through His Word, in dreams and by His quiet voice within. I have verified the words of C. S. Lewis that ‘God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.’ (C.S. Lewis, ‘The Problem of Pain’, copyright CS Lewis Pte Ltd 1940)
I now regard myself as an ambassador for Christ and have taken the stance of Luke the physician as a writer to provide an ‘orderly account’ (Luke 1:3) of those things that I have observed in my own life and witnessed in the lives of others. Over ten years I have written three books recording the intervention of God in the lives of sixty people. They include professionals, academics, a train robber, a surgeon facing decapitation for his faith, a Christian songwriter and those who have escaped the ravages of war. One invented the bionic ear; one was saved from a firing squad. I have interviewed each one and verified their stories. Many are personal friends. Each has proven for themselves the truth of the words: ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.’ (Matthew 7:7)
Healthcare workers today, and Christian healthcare workers in particular, are faced with many challenges. The COVID pandemic has placed enormous strains on them. Many face exhaustion and burnout. Globally, many have died. The situation has been accentuated by mass confusion and ignorance over matters of vaccination and pandemic control. Please pray for strength, wisdom, and courage for these people. Pray also that the truth be known, and that people work in unity and harmony to defeat this plague.
The Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship of Australia has recently produced a YouTube video on the truths surrounding COVID and its management from a Christian perspective. I strongly recommend it.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocqg_WXNHgw&feature=youtu.be
Please pray also for those who are suffering, for healing and resolution of symptoms and for those who are bereaved.
Other issues impacting heavily on healthcare workers are those evolving from our broken ‘woke’¹ society, in particular, devaluation of life as seen with the introduction of late-stage abortion and voluntary assisted dying. Matters of gender fluidity and the move toward conversion therapy in those wishing to undergo sex change are also of great challenge to health workers. A doctor may face criminal charges if he or she fails to comply with the laws being introduced by our state and territory governments.
We are doing our best to combat much of the legislation now being introduced or at the planning stage in our parliaments and would ask that Christians stand with us in prayer as we make representations in court and to Government. Pray for courage, wisdom, and the covering of the blood of Jesus for those in conflict with authorities over their faith and convictions.
Please pray also for Christian healthcare workers in general. They are a broad church drawn from different traditions, cultural backgrounds, and each with their own expectation of what God may achieve in and through them. Pray for unity, harmony, that God’s truth be known to them and that they learn to walk daily by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Dr Ern Crocker BSc (Med) MBBS FRACP DDU FAANMS,
ernestcrocker.com
¹ ‘Woke’ is an African American term meaning awakened that originally referred to awareness about racial prejudice and discrimination. It subsequently came to encompass an awareness of other issues of social inequity, for instance, regarding gender and sexual orientation.
Dr Ernest Crocker is currently the New South Wales state chair of the Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship of Australia (cmdfa.org.au). He holds the following degrees and qualifications: Bachelor of Medical Science (BSc.Med), Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP), Diploma of Diagnostic Ultrasound (DDU), Fellow of the Australasian Association of Nuclear Medicine Specialists (FAANMS)
Dr Crocker has written three books dealing with the intervention of Almighty God in the lives of men and women. These include:
‘Nine Minutes Past Midnight’, Authentic media Ltd 2011.
‘When Oceans Roar’, Authentic Media Ltd 2016.
‘The Man in White’, Authentic Media Ltd 2020.
All are readily available through regular outlets including Amazon, Apple books and Christian bookstores. ‘The Man in White’ now available as an audiobook through Audible, Amazon and Apple books. In Australia books may be purchased on his website.
Prayers for Health and Wellbeing During the Month of October
(prepared by Lilian Schmid)
The scripture teaches us that with the Spirit we can contact God, with the Soul we can recognise our emotions, our soul, and our intellect, and with our body we can feel our physical pain.
So who am I?
- I am a Spirit Being,
- I have a Soul,
- I have a Body.
The whole human being is affected by sin; therefore we need restoration in all aspects of our Human Being (Spirit, Soul & Body).
“But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
In ‘Prayer, Healing, and the Medical Community’, Rev. Thomas R. Rogers, Ph.D. shares that stories about people who were healed through prayer are abundant.
Christine Hughes, a nursing student at the University of Texas with an interest in the holistic approach to nursing (involving mind, body, and spirit) did a case study on a patient whose cancer tests revealed abnormal cells. The woman went to her church and was the object of healing prayers there. On her subsequent tests, her cells had returned to normal. Hughes was impressed.
Then, the case led her to an even more extraordinary story. Hughes learned that the woman’s grandmother had once been diagnosed with advanced cancer and had been the object of healing prayers. Her advanced cancer also disappeared (Hughes, 1997).
Witnessing these kinds of results leads to the question, “Why aren’t people who are in the healing professions more involved with prayer to promote healing?” Hospitals usually do welcome the clergy to pray with patients and that they usually maintain a hospital chapel, it is also true that not many of us can attest to healing sessions that involved prayer with the medical personnel of hospitals.
We need both Healing and Medicine. God gave His blessings upon doctors, nurses, Health researches, and many people in the Health industry to show His glory. Let us pray:
Dear Lord,
We thank you for each person who has chosen a medical career that involves caring for the health of others.
You are the Great Physician, and when anyone steps into a healing profession to offer care to others, help them to recognise that they are participating in Your role as the Healer and be submissive to Your will and wisdom.
We pray for all who are putting their health on the line for the sake of others.
We pray for doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, first responders, hospital workers and nursing home personnel. We pray for all administrative, therapeutic and diagnostic people who support them and their patients.
We ask for you to protect them and their families. We ask for your wisdom and clarity of thought as they make moment-by-moment decisions. We ask, Lord, that they would extend grace, patience and strength to everyone in this field.
As each of these workers strives to give care, peace and healing to others, may they receive Your care, Your peace and Your healing touch today.
Be glorified through them we pray,
Amen.
A special Prayer for COVID patients and the doctors, nurses and all medical staff who are looking after them:
Father!!
We plead the Blood of Jesus on your people in the Health sector.
We plead the Blood of Jesus against any diseases, illnesses or sicknesses.
Father, in the name of Jesus, we have full faith and belief that the Blood of Jesus will always protect us and heal us.
Father, we surrender ourselves completely and unreservedly in every area of our lives to You.
We put ourselves into Your hands and we are more than willing to let You find a way to release Yourself through us.
We believe in you Lord and we have faith that you are the healer and the deliverer.
Heal us now in Jesus name.
Amen.