I CAN DO ALL THINGS (PART I)

“Going to a Butcher for Tooth Extraction”

By Akin Ojumu

Recent advancements in medical sciences have contributed immensely to the longevity of human lives. One of those modern-day medical miracles is the discovery of medicines with proven potency and efficacy to prevent, treat, or cure diseases that had, hitherto, caused untold number of morbidities and mortalities.

That said, prescription medicines are like a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they bring the much-needed relief to people suffering from all kinds of ailments. On the other hand, these lifesaving medicines can potentially cause great harm when used incorrectly.

As effective as they are in bringing relief to the suffering, their use is associated with side effects. Even in instances when they are used correctly, medicines sometimes produce serious adverse reactions. The same medicine that brings much needed relief to the suffering can also bring pain and death if misused or abused.

Because the benefits of using these medicines largely outweigh their risks, strict regulations are put in place to guide their manufacture, prescription, and use. Before a particular medicinal product is approved to be consumed by humans, it’s subjected to several preclinical testing in the laboratory setting using animals, i.e., lab rats or guinea pigs, to determine they are safe. When data is obtained showing positive results, it then proceeds to testing in humans.

The testing in humans is conducted using the golden standard of research called a randomized clinical trial. This involves three different phases namely; Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III. As the medicinal product passes through these three phases, it’s first tested to again determine its safety in humans and, subsequently, its efficacy in an increasing number of research participants under ideal environments following the principles of Good Clinical Practices (GCP). This entire process may take decades to complete and often costs the pharmaceutical company hundreds of millions of dollars. 

Despite the long years and steep costs, the medicinal product will not receive approval by the drug regulatory agencies until the randomized clinical trials conclusively show positive results with what’s known as high statistical and clinical significance. 

Even after the medicinal product is finally approved, there remains another set of regulatory hurdles that has to be jumped before it can be made available to the general public. This last set of hurdles involve the processes to manufacture it to scale. For this, the pharmaceutical companies are required to manufacture the medicinal product under the rigorous Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).

Depending on a variety of factors such as potential risks and the need for professional guidance, the now manufactured medicinal products are classified either as prescription-only (i.e., must be prescribed by a licensed physician, purchased at a pharmacy, and prescribed for and intended for use by one person) or over-the-counter (OTC) (i.e., does not require a doctor’s prescription and is purchased off-the-shelf from the stores).

And there’s yet another hurdle to jump before medicinal products are allowed into the market. Manufacturers are mandated to package them along with special written instructions known as Package Inserts. Usually included in the package of the medications, Package Inserts are documents that provide technical information for the medical professional (i.e., Prescribing Information) and plain-language information for the lay consumers (i.e., Patient Package Insert). 

While the Prescribing Information provides information for medical professionals about the chemical properties of the medication, indications, contraindications, and how to prescribe the drug, the Patient Package Insert provides consumers with clear and understandable information about their medication, including how to take it, potential side effects, and precautions.

In the United States, the government agency that regulates the development and manufacture of medicinal products for human consumption is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It’s responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation.

Isn’t it amazing that we go to great lengths to develop stringent regulatory oversight over the medicines we use for the maintenance of our physical well-being, yet significantly less attention is paid to the medicines consumed for our spiritual well-being? 

When it comes to choosing a physician, people break the bank to get the best. Rarely would you find anyone who’d deliberately consult a quack who never attended medical school to have a brain surgery. People don’t go to their barber or butcher when they need tooth extraction. No pregnant woman would consult an Obstetrician with a woeful track record of maternal mortality. There’s no mother who would willfully take their child to a pediatrician whose clinic is a place where sick children go to die.

This tendency to find the best physician to attend to our physical wellbeing applies to other areas of life as well. We always want to hire the best professional to take care of our day-to-day problems. When the roof is leaking, we look for the best roofer for the repair. If it’s our vehicle that’s acting up, we go to the most competent mechanic available. Is there an electrical issue at home, we call an electrician with a 5-star rating. Nobody touches a lady’s hair unless they are the finest hairdresser in town. We even make sure only the most skillful tailor sews our fanciful dresses.

As fastidious as we are in employing the services of the best professionals to attend to our everyday concerns, we fail, miserably, to apply the same level of rigor when choosing who we allow to teach us the Word of God. When it comes to what matters most in our life, i.e., our spiritual well-being, we drop the ball, big time. 

Instead of seeking the most competent people, who are skillful in handling the Word of God, we often entrust our spiritual nourishment to just about anyone who is able to tickle our itching ears. Recklessly, we surrender our eternal destiny to false teachers who propagate abominable heresies. And the result of such a careless attitude has been devastating. The Church is filled with Biblical illiterates blown to and fro by every wind of doctrine and incapable of discerning the Word of Truth.

Because we pay no heed to the Package Insert that instructs us on how to properly handle the Word of God, which is the medicine for the soul, what is meant to bring us spiritual well-being has often produced adverse consequences, ranging from minor to severe to lethal. Words meant to provide nourishment for the soul have been turned into a poison that corrupts our very soul. 

Corrupted, distorted, and twisted, the medicine for the soul only produces outright deception, false assurance of salvation, greed, filthy lucre, idolatry, and derailment of the faith of many. Yet, these are just a few of the serious adverse effects of consuming the poison that pours out of the mouth of the unqualified preachers who fill the pulpits of churches everywhere. This is exactly what happens when there’s no spiritual FDA to regulate what flows out of the pulpit. People tend to die painful but slow spiritual deaths when there’s no quality control. 

This commentary series is a humble endeavor to correct another anomaly among church folks. It’s an attempt to accurately, correctly, and precisely handle an often misinterpreted and misapplied Bible passage. This time around, the Bible text is one that have been used to promote and push the idea that Christians are superheroes capable of doing anything.

Philippians 4:13

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

At the conclusion of this series, my prayer is that God would have opened the eyes of the understanding of the reader to know what the Spirit of God is saying in this text.

So, fasten your seat belt, folks. Grab your Bible. Let’s plumb the depth of the riches of God’s knowledge and wisdom. See you next time.