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The reason why I am writing to show that the Holy Bible and Qur’an endorse herbal treatment is because many members of the two faiths, out of ignorance of the contents in the two Holy Books, believe that Almighty God is against such medication. As a result, many a Christian and Muslim have died of such ailments as diabetes or prostate enlargement and prostate cancer, which orthodox doctors have no cure for when the situation is beyond what surgery can take care of. So, there is a need to educate people to know that the Lord is not against herbal treatment.
The first place in the Holy Bible I am drawing attention to on this issue is the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel Chapter 47 verse 12 where it is written: “On each bank of the stream all kinds of trees will grow to provide food. Their leaves will never wither, and they will never stop bearing fruit. They will have fresh fruit every month, because they are watered by the stream that flows from the Temple. The trees will provide food, and their leaves will be used for healing people.”
The second one is in the New Testament Book of Revelation (of Jesus Christ) Chapter 22: 1 – 2 where the author, Apostle John, one of the 12 disciples of Jesus said: “The angel also showed me the river of the water of life, sparkling like crystal, and coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb and flowing down the middle of the city’s street. On each side of the river was the tree of life, which bears fruit twelve times a year, once each month, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations.”
The issue is discussed in Chapter 2 verse 61 in the Glorious Koran where it is stated: “And when ye said: O Moses! We are weary of one kind of food; so call upon thy Lord for us that He bring forth for us that which the earth groweth … of its herbs and its cucumbers and its corn and its lentils and its onions. He said: Would ye exchange that which is higher for that which is lower. Go down to settled country, thus shall ye get that which ye demand.”
How can the two Sacred Books of God give approval for the use of herbs in treating and curing sick people and any Christian or Muslim would object to herbal medicine? As I opined in this column two weeks ago, it is only herbalists who are idol worshippers who invoke the spirits of their deities or wizards and witches that Christians and Muslims should not go to for the treatment of diseases.
The other issue I want to deal with are the Christians who think that members of the faith should only pray for the cure of ailments and that the clerics who carry out such additional actions as pushing down sick persons, asking people to hold their hands or press them down and bending over them in making supplication, are performing magic. In this regard, I want to draw attention to how Prophet Elijah brought back to life the dead son of the widow in Zarephath near Sidon reported in 1 Kings 17: 8 – 24 and how Jesus Christ gave sight to blind men in Mark 8: 22 – 26 and John 9:1 – 12.
Prophet Elijah stretched himself on the boy three times and prayed to make him start breathing again. In Matthew 9:27 – 31 Jesus restored the sight of blind men by just touching their eyes. Ditto the two blind men he cured in Jericho reported in Matthew 20: 29 – 34. But in the case of the blind man at Bethsaida in the Book of Mark, Jesus took him by the hand and led him out of the village, spat on his eyes and placed his hands on him.
While in the incident in John 9 Jesus in verses 6 and 7 spat on the ground and made some mud with the spittle; rubbed the mud on the eyes of the man who was born blind and told him to go to the Pool of Siloam (which means Sent) to wash his face. He carried this out and began to see.
As someone the Heavenly Father has been speaking with one – to – one since Tuesday, February 18, 1969, I can assure you that Prophet Elijah and Jesus Christ acted the way they did because that was what the unquestionable Lord of the Universe told them to do on those occasions. Otherwise, they would not have achieved those feats. Just as I too would not have been cured of my diabetes in 2002, if I had refused to use my urine to drink the herbal powder – stuff He told an old late cleric in Ado Ekiti to prepare for me.
• To be continued next Wednesday
Dr. Kolade, admirable leader of utmost integrity (3) – – Alex Nwokedi’s issue (2)
Before the visit of Mr. Alex Nwokedi to the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, Ikoyi in 1977, the Head of the Current Affairs Unit was the final authority in choosing the topics for news talks and its broadcast. But as from the following day, Mr. Akpan Harrison, the Acting Assistant Director of News and Current Affairs (ADNCA), said all scripts to be broadcast must be approved by him. In the circumstance, the news talk scripts became pure propaganda praising all the policies and acts of the Federal Military Government of General Olusegun Obasanjo.
Portions of the original scripts were removed and re – written by Harrison. As a result, staff – writers in the Current Affairs Unit began to use pen – appellations in their articles because they found it shameful to have their names broadcast to the world in the doctored pieces. About a week into the new order, Dr. Kolade was angry with a news talk carried one day, that the following day he showed up at the editorial meeting of the senior staff of the News and Current Affairs Division which held every morning Monday through Friday, in the office of the ADNCA. It was the first time he did so in the six years I had been with the corporation since July 1971. His predecessor, Reverend Victor Badejo didn’t at all during his period as Director – General (1970 – 73).
For conclusion next week
