It is not a lack of faith to use medicine. With all the advertisements on television by law firms looking for clients to sue drug companies because of bad drugs it takes faith just to take the medicine.

Faith healers make me sad and sometimes furious. I read it in the London Daily Mail last week that some poor people had died in England because they were told to stop taking medicine in the name of the Lord. Some of the comments by readers attacked all of Christianity.

I write this because I want to show how inconsistent these faith healers are and to arm people with a few arguments against them so that the name of the Lord and his Church will not be dishonored. I once listened to a sermon by Martin Lloyd-Jones on Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Elijah jeered the prophets of Baal and thus I take my tone from him in this letter.

I have decided to listen to the faith healers and stop my blood pressure medicine and vitamin pills. There are a few conditions however before I stop, I need to see more consistency in these faith healers. First, I want see them stop eating and just trust God for their bodily nourishment. Second, I need to see them avoid the gas stations and trust the Lord to keep their cars running by faith alone. Lastly, I want them to stop asking for our money and just trust the Lord to fill up their bank accounts. Then when I see the faith healers nourished without food, their cars running without gassing up, and their bank accounts so full that they stop asking for money, I will stop using my medicine.

Jesus didn’t require people to stop medical treatment for healing. He healed a lame man by the pool at Bethesda, where the sick believed the waters would heal. Jesus also healed a blind man by applying a clay ointment to his eyes and commanding him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. It is not a lack of faith to use medicine. With all the advertisements on television by law firms looking for clients to sue drug companies because of bad drugs it takes faith just to take the medicine.

The believing farmers trust God for the harvest, but still go out, plow and fertilize. What would happen if they did nothing but pray? Weeds and seeds of the bad sort no doubt. Being treated with medicine does not indicate a lack of faith.

Until I see the faith healers show some consistency my pharmacist and my doctor can count on my business.

Jim Thornton is a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America . He lives in Johnson City, Tennessee. This article was an unsolicited Letter to the Editor.