AMEN Australia 2020 Conference: Centres of Influence

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Adventist Medical Evangelism Network Australia

Aaron Koh

Go Ye Therefore

My topic today is, Go Ye Therefore in the midst of a pandemic.

Before we start, shall we bow our heads in a word of prayer as we ask the Lord and the Holy Spirit to be with us this evening.

Our Father in Heaven, we thank you so much for bringing us all together here.

Father, we know that this is your divine intervention, that you brought each and every 1 of us here in various professions to come together, to hear, and be encouraged, and to be inspired to go forth with the medical missionary work.

You have blessed us with the right arm of the gospel.

Father, I pray that this evening as I share, may your Holy Spirit be with us, guide us, teach us, lead us, inspire us, that we may live here different from how we came.

Thank you so much for hearing our prayer.

We submit this presentation onto your hands.

We pray all this now in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, the year 2020, it's indeed a year to remember.

COVID-19 has hit us fairly rapidly and it needs no further introduction.

And we all have witnessed the global effects wiping across the globe, affecting every family in its path, either directly or indirectly.

It also has been a year of a division of race.

It also has been a division of political unrest where confusion could be felt across the globe as the world watched on who will be the next president of the United States.

But regardless, brothers and sisters, our mission God has entrusted onto us as Seventh-day Adventists must still go on.

But it turns out that more than 150 years ago, in 1863, it was also a year to remember.

In 1863, the year opened with a civil war, also in the United States, sparked by the issues of slavery, which had actually reached a point of concern of the newly organized Seventh-day Adventist Church.

In addition to the crisis, Moses Hall, 1 of the few ministers of the church, has actually left the ranks to join the spiritualists.

4 Adventists in Kaitland, New York, has died of a dreadful disease, diphtheria.

Well diphtheria is a rare disease that we don't see these days and I certainly have not seen any of them in my whole of my career.

Typically because it's been essentially controlled by the the vaccinations that we have.

Diphtheria can be a mild disease, but it can be quite severe as well.

And typically symptoms like having a fever, sore throat, and they have a very, very distinct plaque, a white plaque or a gray plaque on the back of the throat that can essentially swell and obstruct the airways, not only affecting the airways, it can also affect the nerves causing inflammation, paralysis, as well as myocarditis, which is the inflammation of the heart causing arrhythmia and subsequently death.

So this disease had been raging throughout the country in the United States to an alarming extent and also to a greater extent it baffles the skills of the physician.

The disease is confined almost exclusively to children, but once it has gone underway, death is almost certain to be the result.

It passed through towns and missing hardly any family, and in some instances whose families of children has been swept away.

For the medical world at that time, and for almost everyone, these were the days of great ignorance in the health lines.

Bacteria and viruses at that time were typically unknown, and when diseases struck, the symptoms were treated with poisonous drugs, alcohol, blisters and bleeding.

And there was anxiety in every home, in particular in the town of Battle Creek where Ellen White lived.

And then it happened in the first week of February, 2 of James and Ellen White's 3 boys complained of severe sore throat and high fever.

And they could hardly utter a word undeniably, frightening symptoms of diphtheria.

Fortunately, with the providence of God, James and Ellen White had in their hands a journal by Dr.

James Jackson, entitled Diphtheria, Its Causes, Its Treatments, and Its Cure.

And James and Ellen White eagerly flipped through the pages of the journal and immediately put into practice.

The treatment was rather simple, and essentially what they only need was a wash tub, towels, sheets and blankets and essentially demanded diligent and earnest labor and they were attained these treatments were attained by simple means which we call hydrotherapy today with proper baths, rest, fresh air and above all, the absence of anxiety.

Jackson reported over a period of years, the employing means in hundreds of cases involving young and old, and not 1 patient has been lost.

Has 2020 been a year for us as Adventists to proclaim our health message?

Have we not seen the scientific evidence that has repeatedly shown to us the benefits of sunlight, increasing our levels of vitamin D, has shown to decrease the mortality and morbidity of COVID-19.

And having exercise and boosting our immune system and importance of having fresh air and ventilation has also been something that Ellen Huan has been talking about for more than 150 years.

But it was also in June 6 in 1863 where the first major health reform vision was given to Sister Huan, a mere 16 days after the first general conference was organized.

Our church is not inexperienced with epidemics and pandemic because it's about a hit in 1918, we were hit with the influenza pandemic.

The article written by Michael Campbell in Adventist and 1918 influenza pandemic reflected about how this pandemic actually impacted our church.

Specifically, how did we respond to this pandemic?

1918 to 1919, the influenza pandemic has 3 major waves in the United States, the second of which was the most virulent and caused the most deaths.

I think we kind of saw that similar to in Melbourne.

Most of the church and school closures were based upon the advice of local health and government officials with the strong support from church leaders.

Rubble, the director of the denomination's health work at that time, wrote several times how he felt that the denomination was caught unprepared by this epidemic.

He wrote, every young person, yes, every member of our denomination, old or young, male or female, he wrote, might have been busy day and night during the present epidemic if they have been prepared.

On the number of other occasions, particularly towards the end of the epidemic, he bemoaned how the epidemic has brought them 10 times the number of opportunities to do missionary work, if only they have been ready.

While churches and schools were closed, as Adventist evangelists were no longer able to hold public meetings for those who are willing to be flexible and adapt they could now more than ever before be a living witness of hope and faith to their sick friends and neighbors.

Here in Melbourne, Victoria, 2020, we've been met with very harsh lockdown and witnessed the state of emergency being declared, travels being restricted to 5 kilometers unless, you know, where you live, unless you have permits to go to work.

Churches and schools were closed, groceries at 1 stage were flying off the shelf, in particularly, quite peculiarly, you know, toilet papers.

Stockpiling of medications reported on my patients struggling to find, to get Ventolin off the pharmacist at the chemist.

Malls were closed and streets were empty.

There was law enforcement being imposed, fines given to those who break the law.

Pastors and church leaders unable to reach out to the community physically.

Literature evangelism, Door-to-door knocking prohibited.

Some of the very areas where outreach were only possible were in hospital and medical clinics.

How profound is this that this has actually happened again, and I will not be surprised that it will happen again sometime in the future because Ellen White actually told us in the book of Evangelism, I wish to tell you that soon there will be no work done in ministerial lines but medical missionary work.

Could this year of 2020 be a test of our readiness for medical evangelism?

And on reflection, how did we fare in our ministry as healthcare workers, as doctors, dentists, nurses, allied health, lay workers, members of our church, how do we assemble ourselves to reach out to continue the mission that God has entrusted us?

Could we have done better in our outreach, given the fact that we have been through epidemics and pandemics in the past?

How could we have partnered better within our church in fulfilling the work that God has bestowed upon us.

The spirit of prophecy tells us that we have a higher calling due to the uniqueness of our position, the position of influence.

Ellen White wrote, the Christian physician has a high calling.

With his full knowledge of the human system and its laws, he is in a position to preach the gospel of salvation with much efficiency and power.

She continued to write in medical ministry, you greatly need divine wisdom to enable to serve in how many positions?

1 as a skillful physician and the other the preacher of the gospel.

There must be a daily conversion in order to blend successfully the work of body and soul.

You know, this quote actually hit me quite hard when I was thinking, how do I blend this?

Ellen White has talked about the gospel, the right arm of the gospel must blend with the gospel itself.

And it says here that we can't do it on our own, even though we understand the concept of all these things, but we need divine wisdom.

Simply by spending time with God on our knees and pray and ask God to show us and lead us and guide us and we must step up in faith there must be a daily conversion within our hearts with the desire for mission and soul winning in order for this to blend successfully for the work of the body and soul.

And Ellen White says, I can't tell you in detail just how this should be done, but I know that you can do an important work in ministry of the word, in instructing the souls for whom you labor to believe in Jesus Christ.

And nurses are also called to go forward, to awaken the truth.

And Ellen White wrote, there are many lines of the work to be carried forward by missionary nurse.

There are openings for well-trained nurses to go among families to seek, to awaken an interest in the truth.

We have the ability to give patients hope as we place our healing hands upon them.

You know, we can offer a glimpse of hope and share the gospel of Christ.

As a missionary nurse care for the sick and relieve the distress of the poor, they will find many opportunities to pray with them, to read to them from God's word, to speak of the Savior.

You know, 1 of the things I've learned over the years is this, you know, and I always wonder how do I reach out to my patients?

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Go Ye Therefore

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