What Will You Do When the Lights Go Out?

The idea that God had provided everything we need naturally on the face of the earth (not just for medicine, but for food, clothing, shelter, etc.) was pretty profound.  But there was more, because no sooner had I thought this, than that silent voice spoke again, saying, “And what will you do when the lights go out?”  

This was followed by a daytime vision.  A series of visual images flashed rapidly across my mind.  I saw images of a time of turmoil in this country during which the power gird collapsed.  I saw medical doctors standing beside fancy electronic diagnostic machines they couldn't operate because there was no power.  (I remember what these machines looked like and they looked like modern MRI machines, which hadn't been invented yet.)

Doctors also had no access to the synthetic chemical drugs they had come to rely on.  So, all around them were people who were sick and dying and they didn't have the foggiest idea of how to help them.

The images were so real and vivid that they left a lasting impression on me.  In fact, the experience had such a profound impact on me that I began an intense study of outdoor survival.  Every time I went camping, I spent hours learning to identify edible and medicine plants and to learn as much as I could about the things that our Divine Creator had provided “naturally upon the earth to keep His children healthy and strong.”

My own health, however, continued to be poor. 

All my studies of medicinal plants in the wild were driven by the idea that these natural medicines were an alternative.  They were something to use when modern medicine failed.  So, my belief in the superiority of modern medical care prevented me from “seeing” that the solutions to my health problems were growing right in front of me.

The summer I turned nineteen, I was working as a camp counselor for the YMCA.  Some stressful experiences caused me to get extremely sick for a period of about two weeks.  I had been called to serve a mission for the Mormon church in Southern California, and after a round of antibiotics failed to restore my health, our family physician gave me two shots of gama globulin to boost my immune system.  He also recommended a B-complex and Vitamin C supplement for stress.  My health improved so I could accept my missionary calling.

As I was set apart for my mission by a church leader, he gave me a blessing.  I remember only one thing he promised me in that blessing, and that was, that I would have the “health to perform my missionary labors.”  That stuck with me very strongly because I remembered thinking, “Good, I will finally have health for the first time in my life.”

What a joke!  Within two weeks of my arrival in smoggy Southern California, my sinus problems flared up worse than ever.  For over six months I was never completely well.  I was coughing, sneezing, getting sore throats and losing energy.  I kept praying for God to heal me and fulfill the promise I had been given, but I continued to get worse until I wound up in bed for two weeks with a case of walking pneumonia.  During the second week of my illness I received daily oral doses of tetracycline and daily shots of ampecillin.  When I recovered, the doctor put me on oral antihistamines that constipated me for a whole week.  That did it.  I was fed up with modern medicine and ready to try another approach.

During this same period, it had begun to dawn on me that there was a better way.  I had been given a book of the teachings of Joseph Smith, the founder and first prophet of the Mormon Church.  While reading it, I ran across the following quotation.

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.

When I read this, my mind opened up to a new possibility.  What if the means of healing that God had provided naturally upon the earth were actually superior to modern medicine?  This lead me to search the scriptures looking for information on God's methods of healing.

That search started with the Bible and the religious writings in my own Mormon faith.  However, it did not stop there. It has extended into a study of spiritual and healing traditions of numerous religions and cultures around the globe.  My search has lead me to conclude that God's knowledge of healing is not confined to any single religious tradition.  As the Apostle Paul stated, “God is no respecter of persons.”  So, I am firmly convinced that the truth about healing is available to all mankind and that everyone who asks for it will receive it and everyone who seeks it will find it.

But, again, there is more.  This knowledge wasn't given to me just for my own healing, or even to help others to heal.  It was given to me to help me prepare for what is coming, and that was reaffirmed by a second waking vision I had towards the end of my mission, which I talk about on the next page of this article.