Does God use vaccines as part of His divine healing?
PROF CHANG: Hello, I'm Curtis Chang. I'm a theologian and former pastor, and we here at Redeeming Babel have produced a series of videos to help Christians think about the vaccine, and one of the ways that God helps Christians think is through trusted leaders in our faith community. One such leader is Bishop Doug Beacham who's the general superintendent of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. Dr. Beacham, thank you so much for joining us.
DR. BEACHAM: Curtis, thank you, thanks for the invitation and opportunity to be a part of this conversation.
PROF CHANG: One of the things we ask all of our guests is this simple question, have you gotten the vaccine yourself?
DR. BEACHAM: Yes I have. Actually, I think back in February. My wife is in healthcare and so she had to take it, and so she said, "I'm gonna make sure that you get it as well." And so she did and we both took the Pfizer.
PROF CHANG: Excellent, Dr. Beacham, one of the strengths, it seems to me, of the Pentecostal tradition, is the belief that God acts to protect and heal. Now we've heard from some Christians that they feel they don't need to take the vaccine because God will protect and heal them from the virus. What would you say to these people?
DR. BEACHAM: You know, and I've talked to a lot of people across our particular movement, and I'm probably not hearing that as a reservation as much as some other things we might talk about. I would say this, because it's one of our core doctrinal beliefs, we believe in divine healing as provided in the atonement of Jesus Christ, but that is not to the exclusion of medical care. My son's a physician, my wife is a pharmacist, and so obviously, and we encourage people to use wisdom. I do have some friends who are at a certain stage of life. In fact, I've got some very close friends who are at a stage of life with what amounts to be a terminal disease, who have made it, who have told me, I've made a conscious decision, I'm not going to pursue any further medical help. I'm gonna trust the Lord, because I know where I'm going. And that's a different kind of scenario to me. And that, to me, that's sort of faith, healthy, and those are personal decisions people make, and I'm grateful that, you know, we're willing to live sort of with this, at times, tension within our movement. I think we try to remember that Luke, who wrote two of the major books in the New Testament, was a physician, best we can determine, and so I think our theological construct as a movement is open to what God is doing and providing healing through multiple means, and certainly what we would call faith healing. We do believe in that.
PROF CHANG: And just to follow up on that, do you believe the vaccine is part of what God's providing us as part of His healing for the world?
DR. BEACHAM: Sure, in my view, that's really no different than when I was a kid, we took the polio vaccine and smallpox, and like a lot of folks, I've traveled internationally in my job, so I got a lot of shots and those are, I see that as part of just the ability God's given humanity for stewardship of the earth and of ourselves. I don't see an inherent contradiction personally, yeah.
PROF CHANG: Dr. Beacham, another strength of your tradition is the practice of seeking to hear God's direct guidance, and we similarly heard from some Christians anyways, that they're not going to take the vaccine because they feel God told them directly not to. What would you say to those people?
DR. BEACHAM: You know, I think that's, you're right, within our religious tradition, people will say that, and we all certainly wanna hear God speak to us. We understand that. I think what I would say to someone, whether it was on the vaccine or anything they said to me God told me, is you really need the test that. You need the counsel of other people. And I would encourage them in this particular matter, talk to your physician, talk to your pharmacist, talk to people in the medical field that you trust and make sure that you're, that you're not, you're not hearing God out of a spirit of fear or a lack of information, so that if you genuinely believe that, you've at least done the necessary kind of accountability, discernment of what one hears in one's own spirit, which I think would be important. And again, I think some of this issue, Curtis, is not only protection for myself, but protection for others, which I think is, so it doesn't matter what kind of questions I'm asking about it, I think that has to play into the equation of how, of the decision I make.
PROF CHANG:Well Dr. Beacham, thank you so much for joining us for this conversation. We really appreciate your contribution.
DR. BEACHAM: Curtis, thanks a lot for the opportunity.