Participants: David DeRose and John Clark
Series Code: WM
Program Code: WM000407
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00:01 The following program presents
00:03 principles designed to promote good health 00:04 and is not intended to take the place 00:05 of personalized professional care. 00:08 The opinions and ideas expressed 00:10 are those of the speaker. Viewers are encouraged 00:12 to draw their own conclusions 00:14 about the information presented. 00:34 Welcome to Wonderfully Made. 00:36 I am Dr. David DeRose. President of Compass 00:38 Health Incorporated. We're looking today 00:40 at a question, the question is, can hope heal? 00:46 You know, this subject has captured the attention 00:48 of medical professionals throughout the centuries. 00:51 And today often discussions circulate, 00:55 about the healing power of hope. 00:57 Today, joining me on this edition of 01:00 Wonderfully Made, is Dr. John Clark. 01:02 John, it's great to have you on the studio again. 01:04 Well, thanks for having me, 01:06 it's a privilege to be here. 01:08 You know, hope is something, 01:09 that really adds buoyancy to life. 01:12 And yet, is it really something in medical 01:16 circles that can make a difference, 01:17 as we deal with patients. Do you have 01:19 a quick take on that Dr. Clark? 01:21 Well, I am kind of hoping so. 01:24 Otherwise, we wouldn't be doing 01:25 a show together, right. 01:26 That's right. Actually one of the 01:29 fascinating things to me John is the whole 01:32 science of Placebo Therapy. 01:34 Oh! yeah. And for our listeners, 01:36 Placebos have often been described as sugar pills. 01:41 Things that have no efficacy at all, 01:44 but scientists are looking more closely today 01:46 at Placebos then ever before, I recently came 01:49 across an article that first appeared in the 01:52 Harvard Medical Alumni, periodical back in the 01:56 middle 1990's, they were summarizing actually data, 02:00 that had been presented some 40 years before. 02:06 And what they were talking about is a case 02:09 study of a patient, who had a metastatic cancer 02:13 apparently a lymphoma, large tumor masses 02:15 throughout his body and his doctor heard about 02:20 a treatment, a treatment protocol that was 02:22 going on. This patient was placed on it 02:25 and he had marvelous results, his tumors just 02:28 shrank, but it was found that this cancer therapy 02:33 in other patients was not beneficial at all, 02:36 and when the patient got wind of this 02:39 his cancer came back with a vengeance 02:43 Dr. Clark, I know, you're familiar 02:44 with this story as well and most people, 02:47 think well probably that's the end 02:48 of the story, he gets the treatment. 02:51 He thinks it's gonna help him, he gets 02:53 dramatic response, the cancer is going away, 02:55 he starts hearing reports, it was no good 02:58 anyway and the cancer recurs, 03:00 was that the end of the story. 03:01 Well, no it wasn't in fact his doctor returned 03:04 with a new dose of the same drug, 03:07 that was fresher then the previous dose 03:10 and convinced the patient that 03:13 this was actually a more efficacious drug 03:15 or version of the drug, gave the patient, 03:18 the injection and the results. 03:21 You're exactly right, the results were the same, 03:24 the patient had even more beneficial response. 03:28 But, finally when again after a period of time, 03:31 of remission of his cancer. He was a 03:33 well men, when the final word came out 03:36 about this drug, and by the way the fresher dose 03:40 that Dr. Clark was referring to, 03:42 was actually a Placebo, the doctor as I understand 03:46 the story just gave him sterile water. 03:48 Yes. When the patient 03:49 find out that the supposed treatment was not 03:52 efficacious, the American Medical Association said 03:56 it was no good, his cancer came back 03:59 and this time he died. Dr. Clark, no healing power 04:05 in this medication he was being given 04:07 and yet it seem both times, the drug 04:10 was administered, he was on his way toward 04:13 healing. How do you explain it? 04:15 Isn't that interesting? You know, we often think 04:18 that our drugs are what cure things. 04:20 But sometimes it's, you know there is a great 04:24 compound of faith or a belief or of as we say hope. 04:29 Hope is an incredibly precious commodity 04:32 and what we're finding is that medical studies 04:35 many times you'll see 30 to 40 percent of people 04:39 improve on a study when all they are given. 04:41 Is a so called sugar pill or Placebo, 04:44 the Placebo is illustrating the patient's hope. 04:47 Yes. I mean think about it. 04:49 you've looked at this whole subject of 04:52 avian flu, we've talked about this in previous 04:56 shows together. If I just told you, 05:00 John, you've got this deadly disease, 05:03 go home and die. What do you think 05:07 would happened to you? I wouldn't have much hope, 05:09 would I, that sounds like a death sentence 05:13 and yet you hear about patient's that are 05:15 given that kind of, you know, sentence. 05:18 Yeah, you have fatal cancer, 05:19 you'll die in six months and all of a sudden they find 05:23 a treatment often outside of the recommended 05:27 treatment regimens, that they put their hope, 05:30 their faith in and it actually has results. 05:34 You know, this has some powerful implications 05:37 going both ways, on the positive side we want to 05:41 harness the power of hope and medical studies 05:43 are showing this, I'm looking at an article 05:45 right here. It's called the Placebo effect 05:48 in modern medicine. This came out in 05:51 one of the medical journals and it's very interesting. 05:54 Listen to what these authors conclude, 05:56 they say centuries of clinical experience show 06:00 the Placebo treatments benefit patients, 06:03 patients with a wide range of disorders. 06:06 And they conclude they listen, 06:08 incorporating components of a Placebo effect 06:11 into primary care practices can minimize, 06:16 no, maximize, can maximize the effects of 06:20 traditional and alternative treatments 06:23 in ways that are both medically and ethically 06:25 sound, so researchers used to look at the 06:30 Placebo effect as kind of a do nothing harm. Now the 06:33 papers are saying, we need to do more utilizing 06:37 this power we call it, the power of hope. 06:39 You and I, they are talking about the 06:41 Placebo effects. So, that's the 06:42 positive side, is there a negative side, 06:44 to the Placebo effect. You ever see 06:47 that in your practice. Well, you know, the 06:49 negative side often comes up, when somebody 06:52 is trying to sell a product, that supposedly, 06:56 cures a disease and they are 06:58 so charismatic that they actually illicit a 07:02 Placebo response to something that may 07:03 either be inert, inactive or actually harmful. 07:09 Now this is, this is very, very important, you know 07:11 there are a lot of people out there, that are using 07:15 compounds and using supplements, they are using 07:17 things that really. If you look at the 07:19 literature, there is nothing to suggest 07:23 that they are helping every ill known to mankind 07:25 and you hear these people giving these 07:28 testimonials that it cures everything and you're starting 07:32 to wonder. How much of this is really a 07:34 Placebo effect just like you're saying. 07:37 The problem is what happens, when the Placebo effect 07:41 is experienced in one patient with rheumatoid arthritis 07:44 or a patient with cancer, let's say its a cancer the 07:47 traditional medicine has a cure for, lets say a highly 07:51 treatable cancer like testicular cancer in a 07:54 young man. There is chemotherapy radiation, 07:57 we may not like those approaches, we may be 07:59 concerned about their toxicity, but I may not 08:03 be able to say look at here's a natural regimen, 08:05 that I am confident works. So someone hears a 08:10 testimonial and in that testimonial, a person 08:13 saying yes, I had this testicular cancer. 08:15 I didn't have the conventional therapy. 08:17 I took these herbs and these pills and I was cured. 08:22 Now the person listening though may not have the 08:25 confidence in those treatments, but may just 08:27 be wishfully thinking they can avoid the other 08:30 therapies. Is it possible Dr. Clark, that the same 08:34 thing that gives a powerful element of hope to 08:37 one person, may not give that element 08:40 and they may forgo effective treatment 08:43 because of it. Oh! Absolutely and I have 08:45 seen this though in the other way 08:47 too that when people had no faith in something 08:50 that usually did work. They could have a 08:53 negative outcome from a good medicine cure 08:57 or whatever. You know there is a interesting 09:00 stories that have been told many times in 09:02 medical circles about patients that 09:04 feared treatments, that the doctors knew 09:06 were perfectly safe. Yeah. 09:08 And people even died. We call this the 09:10 nocebo effect, there's a Placebo, that when 09:14 they is actually no biological connection 09:17 between things, because of hope, it brings good 09:19 things, there's a nocebo effect and that's the 09:21 opposite. When you're worried that something bad 09:24 is going to happen, something that 09:26 is totally inert could even kill you, there are 09:29 cases of this, well established cases 09:31 in the medical literature a whole series 09:33 of patients that have been described with this 09:36 nocebo effect happening. Oh! Yeah, I've seen it 09:38 too, you had a patient that comes to the 09:40 operating room, they come in maybe after a car wreck 09:43 you have to do a quick operation on him to save 09:46 a limb or life and they come in the operating room 09:49 saying I know I am gonna die, 09:50 I know I am gonna die. And, lo and behold 09:54 a high percentage, 09:55 of them actually do I have seen them die. 09:57 So, what do you do as a surgeon and I know, 09:58 I know you're a board certified 10:00 orthopedic surgeon, what would you do if 10:03 there is a situation like that, someone says, 10:05 I know I am gonna die and it's an emergency 10:07 surgery, would you talk with them, pray with them, 10:10 I mean what can you do in that situation? 10:11 Yeah, you know I do pray with all my patients. 10:14 Before, we take them to surgery. 10:17 You try to talk to them, you might try to ask them. 10:19 But often times they are in a bit of delirium 10:22 and this is just their subconscious coming 10:25 through and there isn't much you can do to change it, 10:27 should you stop surgery, that's a whole another 10:30 topic. But it definitely happens. 10:34 So the power of the mind has a significant impact 10:39 on how we do? When it comes 10:40 to health outcomes doesn't it. 10:42 Oh! Yes, sure it does. 10:44 So, we wanna harness the positive things 10:47 that could come from mental outlook 10:50 and, you know, right here we have a book, 10:53 that God has given us in the scriptures, that really 10:57 are designed to give us hope. 11:00 Yes. You know one of the, 11:02 the scriptures John, that I think encapsulates this 11:07 so well, is in the Book of Romans, you know 11:10 Paul writes at great lengths in this book, 11:13 about if you will may be a medical diagnosis, 11:17 if you will, a spiritual diagnosis, that all of 11:20 us have sinned, we've all come short of God, 11:23 we are all in need of a savior, that savior has been 11:25 provided. Paul goes on to explain and then 11:29 he writes, later in the chapters of Roman some 11:33 marvelous practical counsel. 11:35 In Romans chapter 15th verse 4, he says this. 11:40 For whatsoever things were written aforetime, 11:43 were written for our learning, 11:46 that we through patience and comfort 11:48 of the scriptures might have hope. 11:51 Yes. God is trying to give us 11:55 hope through his word, as physicians and as 11:58 we look at the medical research we're seeing that 12:01 hope has profound benefits. Let's turn 12:04 the scales a little bit, because as an 12:06 orthopedic surgeon, you have looked at a 12:09 problem that often comes, when we don't have hope 12:12 and that is the full born rage, the full born weight 12:18 of stress coming at us, we don't have any hope, the 12:21 stressors that come at us take on 12:22 huge proportions. When it comes to low back pain, 12:26 when it comes to common orthopedic problems, 12:28 you shared with me once, that's a very interesting 12:31 orthopedic research is connected this with lack 12:34 of hope and stress, explain that to our viewers. 12:37 Yeah, you know there is a lot of people that have 12:39 low back pain, that's just kind of another epidemic, 12:42 in our country. But there was a 12:45 physiatrist that did a bunch of research on these 12:48 12345678901234567890123456789012 people, physiatrists are people who, okay, I wanted you to 12:51 explain, what's a physiatrist? Physiatrists are physicians 12:55 who basically run physical therapy units, 12:57 at hospitals, rehab hospitals, this kind of 13:00 thing, they often get a lot of low back pain 13:03 patients, the average doctor sends them somewhere 13:06 else and so this physiatrist started to look 13:10 at these low back pain patients and then the studies 13:14 also started coming out on the MRIs. You know, 13:16 we have this new tool, let's run everybody 13:17 through the MRI, they ran normal people through an 13:20 MRI from around the block and lo and behold 13:24 40 percent look like, they needed an operation. 13:28 Wait, wait, wait normal people they are healthy 13:30 they have no back pain. No back pain and so the 13:33 physiatrist started thinking, well why are we 13:36 operating on the ones, that we are operating on 13:39 and why do they have low back pain. 13:41 The backs looked the same, people with no pain 13:44 and people with severe pain that they are operating on. 13:47 Right, exactly and so he had to think this through 13:52 Well, what's going on, so he started looking at the 13:54 population of people with low back pain. 13:56 Umm! He started running 13:57 physiological tests on them, MMPIs and so 14:01 forth and lo and behold, he discovered that 14:04 these people often had underlying stress 14:08 from maybe childhood rage, abuse, especially 14:11 victims of sexual abuse. Umm! 14:14 And this doesn't mean that everybody with low back pain 14:16 has sexual abuse in their history. 14:18 Of course not. But yes, high stress life, 14:21 and then he said well you know are they just 14:23 making the pain up, because they're stressed, 14:25 this can't be and then they did the PET studies, 14:28 where they could follow blood flow, and they 14:30 found out that people with this greater stress, 14:32 especially childhood rage, were actually using 14:37 their nerves, the sympathetic and parasympathetic 14:40 nervous system to shut down blood vessels in the 14:42 back. Blood vessels to muscles. 14:45 They say they were using this. I mean, this 14:47 was not a conscious thing where someone saying I'm 14:49 gonna put less blood to my back, because I am 14:52 angry, because I am stress, right. 14:53 No, not conscious at all and if you asked them, 14:56 if they're doing that, they wouldn't believe you 14:58 or say yes. But the blood's being 15:02 cut off to a number of tissues, that when they 15:04 get low on blood, they hurt muscles, tendons 15:07 ligaments, nerves themselves, bones and so forth. 15:11 And so when he started discovering this, he said 15:14 well, what's the cure then, may be everything we do 15:17 is Placebo, physical therapy, nonsteroidal 15:20 anti-inflammatories and so forth. Umm! 15:23 And so he started to put together a program, 15:26 along with some of the psychologists in his 15:28 hospital, about educating people on what was 15:32 happening? Basically a cognitive behavioral therapy 15:36 approach, here's what happening, 15:38 here's what you are doing? And so in his seminar, 15:40 that he put together based on this. 15:42 He would go through mind, body connection, 15:45 the nerves, the pathways, the physiology 15:48 behind the blood vessels being closed off. 15:50 And then, he made it a seminar with a few extra 15:55 points on how to deal with rage and anger. 15:58 Umm! This two days seminar 16:00 had marvelous success, people with low back pain, 16:05 TMJ, fibromyalgia, carpal tunnel, 16:07 tennis elbow, anterior knee pain. 16:08 all about 85 percent after going through his 16:12 seminars found improvement and even relief. Wow! 16:16 So, in alternative to surgery. 16:18 Alternative to surgery. In alternative to other 16:20 more aggressive therapy was just addressing, 16:24 the stress factors and presumably giving people 16:26 more hope. Yes, that's right 16:28 and dealing with their, as you might say 16:30 lack of hope or depression. 16:33 Dr. Clark you mentioned something that I 16:35 think is worth spending a little bit of time with, 16:38 it's this whole aspect of the sympathetic and 16:41 parasympathetic nervous systems. You and I as 16:44 physicians know these as the autonomic nervous 16:48 system, this is the unconscious nervous 16:50 system, the nervous system, you're not aware of 16:52 and we speak of it having this two hands if you 16:54 will, the sympathetic hand that we often refer to 16:59 as the part of the nervous system that's involved in 17:03 fight or flight, the stress response. 17:06 And on the other side, we have the 17:07 parasympathetic hand. This is the side that is 17:10 involved with normal restorative functions 17:13 in the body, rest, rebuilding, digestion, 17:17 a simulation. Dr. Clark you've dealt 17:20 with a lot of conditions, you have been looking 17:23 a lot of infectious diseases. 17:25 Does this balance between the involuntary parts of 17:28 the nervous system play role in things other 17:31 then orthopedic problems? Yes, sure does, 17:33 in fact there's become a whole area of study 17:37 now dealing with those aspects of immune 17:40 system and mental factors and so immunopsychology 17:47 and so they study what happens to patients 17:49 and their mental attitudes and how it effects their immune 17:52 systems. People that are happy, I assume if they are 17:55 happy, they have more hope, maybe we're making a stretch 17:58 there, but happier people have more IGA in their 18:00 secretions like their tear drops, their mucous 18:04 membranes, IGA is one of the first immune defenses 18:07 against a known invader of pathogen 18:10 it's an antibody, they'll have better natural 18:13 clear cell activity and so definitely there 18:17 is a positive effect, that can be measured 18:19 in the immune function. You know, one of the other 18:21 interesting things when we speak about natural 18:23 remedies is that many of these agencies that people 18:27 have been using for years, really actually help to 18:31 balance the sympathetic and parasympathetic 18:34 nervous system, exercise seems to be an excellent 18:37 example in things that I've read and 18:40 work that I have done with patients. Do you feel that 18:43 exercise in your experience Dr. Clark, 18:45 is very important for this immune system balance 18:48 and nervous system balance, if you will. 18:50 Yes, it sure is, and especially exercises that 18:53 include stretching and some aerobics. When you 18:57 get fresher along with it, but there is 18:59 definitely a balance to be gained. Because when 19:02 people are stagnant, we say sedentary, 19:07 pretty soon their immune system has a hard time 19:10 working in the body, it's because if everything 19:13 is flowing slowly, well you know how it is when 19:14 you go to work and everything is flowing slowly 19:17 Well, and in your body the same thing happens and 19:20 so you can get pulling of some things in some area of body 19:23 and other components and other areas and it's a 19:26 problem. You know, what's fascinating to me 19:29 as we look at these subjects we're talking about the healing 19:31 power of hope, hope bring healing 19:34 and as we look at God's word he speaks about his word 19:38 ministering hope. It's interesting as we look 19:40 at these different lifestyle aspects, 19:42 we could find them rooted in the scriptures, 19:44 exercise for example, you know Dr. Clark 19:47 many people when they think of their ideal existence 19:50 it's laying on the beach with someone serving them 19:54 you know bringing them food and just relaxing, 19:56 no work, but God didn't set Adam and Eve in the garden 20:00 with a program of just putting their feet 20:03 up and resting. Did he? No he put them to work 20:06 and that's right, study show people who work 20:09 with the ground who get that as we say 20:11 humus in the air that actually helps, 20:13 it stimulates more negative ions in the air, 20:16 it stimulates the immune system as well, 20:18 but that's kind of beyond hope, but you know this 20:21 whole aspect of hope. I remember 20:24 hearing a preacher who was asked you know, 20:27 how do I know if I am saved or not, 20:28 somebody was trying to get their you know 20:31 hope together, they wanted an assurance. 20:32 Umh. And he turned to a text in the Bible 20:35 that Martin and Luther found hope in and that is 20:39 "The just shall live by faith." 20:41 Umh. And a lot of this has to do with hope. 20:45 You know you're exactly right. These things are 20:48 so interrelated, it's amazing. 20:50 You know, we may, it may sound like 20:52 we're coming from a bunch of tangents, 20:54 but God is ministering a program, 20:57 that's giving us spiritually hope, 20:59 it's giving us physically hope, 21:01 when he gives exercise, yeah, we can talk about 21:03 the immune system benefits, we can talk about 21:06 balancing the nervous system, but the psychological 21:09 literature says exercise induces positive emotions, 21:14 mild depression. The psychiatric literature 21:17 says exercise is an effective strategy for 21:21 dealing with these negative mental thoughts. 21:24 So, as we look at God's program, 21:26 God's lifestyle approaches, we look at the way God 21:29 created man and woman to function. 21:31 We find that there is this interrelated program, 21:34 where the things that we were doing, 21:36 the things that we we're thinking are all 21:39 ministering hope in different ways. 21:43 Now as a surgeon Dr. Clark, I have to ask this question 21:47 because you know the patients you mentioned 21:52 if they don't have much hope often don't do as well 21:55 in the surgery, I know you had a lot 21:57 of surgical training and you've trained under 22:01 lots of surgeons did you ever sense that 22:03 one of the doctor's training you didn't have much 22:06 confidence in a procedure he or she was doing? 22:09 Yes, I sure did, I remember one time we were doing 22:12 a spine surgery, we would take 22:17 and do a patient perhaps we are going to the front 22:19 in the morning and change the spine around 22:21 from the front flip him over and eat lunch and then come back 22:24 and do the back. One time we were doing this 22:27 and we were doing this big surgery on the back 22:28 and the attending we're sitting there working 22:30 on stuff and there was a lot of scar tissue, about half way 22:33 through he looked up and said well you know, 22:36 let's just leave that I'll get that next time 22:38 when we come back. Wow! I said next time 22:41 when we come back. Did you actually say that 22:43 or you're just thinking this. Oh! I said that. 22:45 And so he said well yeah you know these folks 22:49 they keep coming back and so I kind of thought 22:52 well why, you know I would go for a full cure, 22:55 I wouldn't know if I would go for it all, 22:57 but yeah he didn't have confidence that this was going 23:00 to be the home run this time. 23:02 You know, so it's interesting. 23:04 Whatever we are doing whether we are the treating 23:07 person as the physician if we don't have much 23:10 hope in what we are doing, much confidence, 23:12 it's going to effect what we do. 23:14 Yeah, yeah. So, really there are 23:18 some implications as far as the doctor, patient 23:20 relationship for the patient aren't there. 23:22 Oh! Definitely in fact, they've done studies 23:25 on physicians who are well using a Placebo effect 23:30 perhaps in the way they communicate 23:32 with a patient. So they start a patient 23:34 out with a treatment regimen, 23:36 they set him home. The patient comes back 23:38 as soon as a patients coming through 23:40 the door, they look at oh hi, 23:42 George, boy you're looking good, 23:44 look at that spring in your step come on in, 23:47 good to see and they start positively 23:49 reinforcing that the person looks better 23:52 and as a person comes in, they are told they are 23:56 looking better and whether or not 23:57 they are better or not by time they're going out you 24:00 know, they feel better. And there is actually 24:03 some benefit to that. So you're saying 24:05 that doctors should be dishonest in dealing 24:07 with their patients? You know, 24:08 it's a big question there, is it dishonesty 24:10 or is it part of the therapy. 24:12 So, maybe we would say it this way, 24:15 because we know that God desires truth 24:17 in the inward parts. Yes. We don't want 24:19 to give any suggestion in this program, 24:23 we're counting and saying deception, 24:25 but what I hear you saying Dr. Clark is if I 24:28 see something positive with a patient, 24:31 it would behoove me to emphasize the positive 24:35 rather than the negative. Certainly, that's correct. 24:38 And so we would say we're helping to harness 24:40 the person's own resources as far as healing. 24:44 That's correct. So, presumably whether 24:46 I'm a doctor or not, most of the people 24:49 tuning into the show today presumably are not 24:52 physicians can they utilize the same thing in dealing 24:55 with family members who are dealing with illness 24:57 and problems can they accentuate 24:59 the positive and expect that hope is more likely 25:02 to occur and result better medical outcomes even. 25:05 Oh! Yeah. You know, I had a teacher 25:07 in high school who was quite a talker 25:09 and he had a sister that was quite suggestible 25:13 and he went home to her house one day 25:17 and after about half hour of talking to her 25:20 and telling her she didn't look good, 25:21 she crawled in bad and fell sick. 25:23 Wow. Then he turned around and for another half hour 25:26 told her how good she is looking, 25:27 how she must be feeling better, talked her right 25:29 back out of bed. You know, 25:31 I don't suggest that, but it's just showing 25:35 the power of suggestibility 25:36 and how people minds work. So really, as we speak 25:41 about things like Placebos, things that often have been 25:46 kind of put down by the medical community. 25:49 We now see that medical scientists 25:52 who are saying hope is a powerful healing 25:55 agency and we're trying to find ways that we can 25:57 harness the power of hope. God does that 26:00 through his word, but he also does it 26:02 through simple natural remedies. 26:04 And Dr. Clark, I know you've been 26:06 an advocate of using some of these simple 26:08 natural remedies. I have interviewed 26:10 you in the past dealing with things 26:12 like the bird flu, you've talked about 26:15 how theoretically there maybe things that would 26:18 benefit the immune system 26:19 and you've looked at the literature 26:21 and talked about fruits and vegetables 26:24 and their healing properties. 26:25 The critics might say well there is no proof 26:28 that these really help in bird flu, 26:30 but I am wondering you know in the light 26:32 of our discussion today is there something 26:35 that's empowering just to go through the 26:37 medical literature and give people 26:40 some suggestions that won't hurt them, 26:42 but there is some basis for thinking 26:44 they might help. Oh! Definitely, 26:47 and you know if people went into the bird flu 26:50 thinking that if the day you got it you were 26:52 doomed, a lot more would be doomed 26:54 or as if they came into thinking you know, 26:57 there are treatment options, there is a history 26:59 of people surviving the flu given these treatment 27:03 options then they can go in and do the treatments 27:06 that have been used in the past 27:07 and feel confident that they have a chance 27:10 of survival. Amazing, no matter 27:13 whether we're dealing with chronic diseases 27:15 or modern infectious scourges. 27:18 The medical literature is saying that our mental 27:21 outlook has a profound effect 27:23 on whether we would get well 27:24 or whether we will not. God's word 27:27 ministers hope to us, but it can't minister 27:30 that hope unless we as Dr. Clark pointed out 27:33 internalize it, unless we trust him, 27:35 unless we believe his gracious promises. 27:38 We encourage you to take God's words 27:41 seriously, as you deal with challenges 27:44 in life, focus on the positive 27:46 and as you interact with others 27:48 and as you choose your health care providers, 27:50 choose those that minister hope to you, 27:53 choose those that emphasize the positive 27:55 and do the same work yourself 27:57 Look to other people give them a cheerful word 28:00 a steady shake of the hand and a prayer for healing 28:04 will go a long way not only through God's 28:07 supernatural power, but through natural law. |
Revised 2014-12-17