Is It Faithlessness to Take Medicines While Believing God for Healing?
1) Direct Answer
No. Taking medicine while believing God is not faithlessness. God is the Healer; medicine is only a help. Keep your faith in God, use what help is available, and give Him the glory.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- “I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Exodus 15:26). Healing is God’s work.
- Hezekiah: God said, “I will heal thee,” and yet commanded a poultice of figs to be laid on the boil (2 Kings 20:5–7). Promise and means walked together.
- The Good Samaritan poured in oil and wine to treat the wounds (Luke 10:34).
- “Luke, the beloved physician” was honored among the saints (Colossians 4:14).
- Paul counseled, “Use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities” (1 Timothy 5:23), showing Scripture recognizes medicinal help without endorsing excess or drunkenness.
- The prayer of faith shall save the sick (James 5:14–15). The oil is a sign; God does the healing.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- You see, a doctor can set a bone, but only God knits it. Medicine can fight infection, but only God gives life and restoration. So using medicine doesn’t replace faith; trusting medicine instead of God does.
- If it were unbelief to use means, why did God direct a poultice after promising healing to Hezekiah? The issue is not the fig; it’s the God who heals.
- Keep your confession: after prayer, hold to God’s promise regardless of symptoms or prescriptions. Don’t throw away needed aids to “prove” faith unless the Lord has clearly delivered you. Faith is obedience to God’s Word, not presumption.
- Walk clean and sober. Scripture condemns bondage and excess. Be led by the Spirit, not ruled by any substance.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Now notice, God heals; means are servants. Keep your eyes on Christ, use what helps are at hand with a clear conscience, and testify that the Lord is your Healer.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Taking God at His Word
53-1103 §5
And you say, "Well, Brother Branham, I've been to the doctor. He tells me I can't get well." The man, maybe he's honest. I believe he would be, I believe any doctor that would have mercy on people. If the man's done all he knows how to do; all the intelligence God give him, he's tried to help you, he's done his part. That's all he can do. Well, he'd say, "You're going to die. There you've got cancer, you've got something, and we've operated and it won't stop it. It's still going on and there's nothing we can do abo...
Faith
61-0813 §13
So, now, this morning when you come to be prayed for, remember the Bible has said this: (This is true.) James 5:14: "If there be any among you sick, let them call the elders of the church; let them anoint them with oil and pray over them. The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and God shall raise him up." He promised, if you'll believe it. Therefore, see, healing is allotted to the individual. It was in the days of Jesus of Nazareth. He could not heal people against their own faith. He said, "I can, if you believ...
Divine Healing
54-1219M §35
When He healed the sick... What did the Bible say, the reason He healed the sick? "He healed the sick, that it might be fulfilled." Why? See? Why? It's easy to believe anything God says. If God says, "Tomorrow, that there's going to be so hot that everybody could go swimming," it wouldn't be hard for me to get a swimming suit ready. If He said, "It's going to pour down rain tomorrow all day long," it's easy for me to take an umbrella with me. Is that right? If God says, "It's going to be a good season next year, an...
Expectations
61-0308 §3
Now, medical cures... Medical does not claim to cure. They only claim to assist nature. God is the one does the healing. I was interviewed at Mayo Brothers, and that's what they told me there. Said, "We do not claim to heal people. We only claim to assist nature, while God heals." In other words, if you got a cut in your hand, well, they'll sew it up. They don't heal it. If you got a bad appendix, they can take the appendix out, but that's all they can do. If you got a broken arm, they can set the arm. Who's going...
Balm in Gilead
59-0614 §53
Remember, I'm your brother. There's not one thing about me could heal. I'm just a man. I have no powers to heal. No other man has any power to heal. There's no such a thing as a divine healer. But there's no such a thing as any kind of healing besides divine healing. God is the only One who can create, and you cannot heal without creating. When you break your arm, the doctor don't claim to heal your arm; he sets your arm. God heals it, see. The doctor can remove a growth, but God has to create the cells to heal it...