There are some patient stories that stay with you. At the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, United States, I cared for a woman with acute myeloid leukemia, and we believed she was going to die. She rapidly developed respiratory failure and was transferred to intensive care. A partial chemotherapy dose nearly killed her, forcing us to stop. Her condition worsened, and we told her family there was little hope. But as they prayed, she suddenly improved. A repeat bone marrow biopsy showed she was in complete remission—a modern-day miracle! This experience led her and her family on a spiritual journey, affirming that God loves them. She exhibited that perfect peace that comes from trusting God completely (Isa. 26:3).
Sadly, her leukemia recurred after two years, and this time it was unstoppable. Nothing we tried helped. When I visited her to discuss hospice care, she consoled me, took my hand, and said she was ready to die. She was grateful for the two extra years and looked forward to meeting her Savior. Her story’s beauty was that she learned to love and trust God through good and bad times, and her faith was not dependent on circumstances.
I shared this story at a gathering of Adventist medical professionals, and afterward a woman asked whether I had recommended the health message and whether the patient had adopted a plant-based diet. I explained that because of her frailty and weight loss, I didn’t feel comfortable restricting her diet further. The woman said, “If only she had gone plant-based, she might have lived.” Her comment surprised me. Knowing that the patient was miraculously healed the first time without lifestyle change and that her spiritual journey brought her God’s peace, I wondered: Did God withhold a second healing because she didn’t go plant-based? I told the story to show God’s loving providence and His desire for us to develop faith beyond outcomes. But this woman’s take-home message was that the patient died because she didn’t eat a plant-based diet.
The Purpose of Health Reform
Our church is blessed with the health message, but its true purpose can easily be overlooked. Ellen White received her first major health vision in 1863, when her husband, James, was very ill. In vision she received counsel to help her address her husband’s health, and she was also shown that “health reform is one branch of the great work which is to fit a people for the coming of the Lord. It is as closely connected with the third angel’s message as the hand is with the body.”1 Ellen White was made to understand that “the great object of hygienic reform is to secure the highest possible development of mind and soul and body. … Obedience to [all the laws of nature—which are the laws of God]… will aid us in a preparation for the life to come.”2 Therefore, the ultimate purpose of the health message is to prepare us for Jesus’ return.
How does the health message accomplish this? According to Sister White, God designs that “the great subject of health reform shall be agitated, and the public mind deeply stirred to investigate; for it is impossible for men and women, with all their sinful, health-destroying, brain-enervating habits, to discern sacred truth.”3 Physical health is vital because it impacts our ability to discern spiritual truths that lead to eternal life. The corollary is that poor health makes it more difficult to hear and obey God’s voice. “Anything that lessens physical strength enfeebles the mind and makes it less capable of discriminating between right and wrong. We become less capable of choosing the good and have less strength of will to do that which we know to be right.”4 That is why we are told that “health should be as sacredly guarded as the character”5 and that “the body is the only medium through which the mind and the soul are developed for the upbuilding of character.”6
Seen this way, we understand that the health message is a means to an end, not the end itself. Its goal isn’t just prolonging life but helping people hear God’s voice and embrace spiritual truths that lead to salvation. God’s mission includes restoring His image in us. Jesus’ healing focused on spiritual health, with physical healing opening the way to the heart (see Luke 5:18-25).
The Health Message Distorted
A distorted version of the health message has become widely accepted—one that makes physical health the ultimate goal. This is essentially the health message without God, a counterfeit whose aim is to be as healthy and happy as possible for as long as possible. Longevity and happiness become idolized, and health becomes a bridge to nowhere.
I once cared for a breast cancer patient who was exceptionally health-conscious. When we discussed the benefits of a whole-food, plant-based diet and exercise, she became enthusiastic and said, “Dr. Shin, I’m so glad I met you, because we are totally on the same page!” She then revealed that she was not only plant-based but a raw, organic vegan. She wore power crystals, took supplements from a holistic biochemist, and received Reiki therapy from a practitioner 2,000 miles away. Though she had no religious background, she was deeply spiritual and believed we are all connected through energies. Yet despite everything, she felt something was missing and planned to visit a guru in India for more advanced “spiritual truths.” I realized her view of health’s ultimate purpose fundamentally differed from mine, even though we agreed on many principles.
Today’s culture favors health messages without God, often promoting plantbased diets and exercise better than our church has. Rather than competing, our health messaging should point to the Source of life (John 14:6).
Reflecting on that patient, I see Adventists also risk distorting the health message. Many members share remedies, supplements, herbal mixtures, or alternative therapies they believe can cure cancer. Some of these have evidence, but most do not. Many trust the treatment more than God’s providence. Like the woman who was convinced my patient would have survived if she had gone plant-based, many claim faith in God, yet insist on a regimen that will “truly” heal. With anecdotes and confidence in natural methods, they share their discoveries. When someone follows the regimen and has a poor outcome, blame falls on compliance rather than the protocol. I understand this mindset because I too once had it when my father was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2008.
Natural, Conventional, Spiritual
For much of my life I believed there were only two ways to heal: God’s way and humanity’s way. God’s way involved natural remedies and gentle, nontoxic lifestyle changes. Humanity’s way involved synthetic drugs and invasive procedures that caused adverse effects and often did more harm than good. Because of this, when my father was diagnosed with brain cancer I had no doubt how we would treat him: We would do it “God’s way.” I was so committed to this belief that I did not allow him to meet with a medical oncologist to hear their recommendations. The fact that I am a medical oncologist today is the greatest irony, and it took years for God to teach me that He can heal through both conventional medicine and natural approaches.
I prayed earnestly for God’s healing and researched natural remedies, alternative treatments, and naturopathic protocols, convinced that a cure existed. While wary not to trust everything online, I believed I just hadn’t found the remedy yet.
Despite our efforts and prayers, my father’s health worsened, testing my faith. We tried every diet, juicing regimen, and supplement, consulting naturopaths and missionaries, but nothing helped. Desperate, we took him to an Adventist lifestyle center praised for helping cancer patients (it is now closed). Upon arrival, I was disappointed—they recommended nothing new, and I wondered whether enrolling him had been a mistake.
As the program began, the physician addressed his physical and spiritual needs, discussed his depression and fears, and, at each visit, knelt at his bedside, holding his hands and praying for him and our family. These visits deeply moved us. He also spent hours giving presentations on the true purpose of health reform as shown in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. He stressed that health was about discerning God’s voice, not just extending life. These talks profoundly affected us and seemed to transform my father.
As the physician continued to minister to him, my father experienced a spiritual reawakening and decided to be rebaptized, wanting to rededicate his life to God. Sadly, the day before his rebaptism, he suffered a grand mal seizure, was hospitalized, and passed away. Despite the heartache, I felt grateful. God had answered my prayers for healing on a much deeper level than I had expected, and I found comfort knowing I would see my father again someday.
Dying for Eternity
Through my father’s illness God taught me that practicing the health message doesn’t guarantee health. Despite being a strict vegetarian, exercising regularly, and avoiding harmful habits, he developed brain cancer at 54. The injustice was highlighted during a hospital visit from an obese coworker who joked, “Hey, Kenton, no offense, but I think I’ll stick with my Philly cheesesteaks [a steak- and cheesestuffed sandwich].”
We live in a fallen world in fallen bodies, with DNA far removed from the tree of life. Even if we follow all health principles perfectly, we can still develop cancer or other illnesses through no fault of our own. Many genetic and environmental factors that we can’t always control or identify contribute to disease. Devout Adventist patients often feel guilt when diagnosed with cancer, thinking they did something wrong. They believe that perfect adherence to health principles would have prevented their disease. While lifestyle influences health—and poor choices can lead to poor health—following health principles doesn’t guarantee good health any more than obeying traffic laws prevents all accidents.
Another lesson God taught me was that He is willing to sacrifice the body to save the person. I assumed from the outset that God wanted to heal my father physically and that the only barrier was our lack of faith. My focus was on extending his life, but God’s focus was on saving him for eternity. It did not occur to me then that if my father lived another 30 years but never developed a saving relationship with Christ, he would gain nothing. Only after his death did I realize that losing 30 years of earthly life but gaining Jesus meant gaining eternity and losing nothing.
Unless the Lord returns in our lifetime, no matter how healthfully we live or what we do to slow aging, we will eventually die. Therefore, the ultimate purpose of life is not to try to obtain more time, but to use whatever time we have to know and love God. If we accomplish this, it does not matter how long we live.
C. S. Lewis wrote in The Problem of Pain, “God whispers to us in our pleasures… but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” God used my father’s illness to awaken him spiritually and reveal his need for Christ. Sometimes, as with the paralytic at Bethesda, this awakening leads to life. Other times, as with my father, it leads to death. But whether in this life or on the resurrection morning, God’s providence always results in healing.
I tell my patients that winning the battle against cancer is about, not how long you live, but how well you live whatever life you have left. This is true not only for cancer patients but for all of us. God has blessed us with His health message so we can live our remaining life as fully as possible. He gives us the gift of health and time to help us hear His voice and fall in love with Him.
Let us never forget this as we embrace the health message and seek to relieve physical suffering. No matter the method, my prayer is that our pursuit of health will always be centered on seeking Jesus and leading others to Him.
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1 Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol. 3, p. 161.
2 Ellen G. White, Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene (Battle Creek, Mich.: Good Health Pub. Co., 1890), p. 120. (Emphasis supplied.)
3 Ellen G. White, Counsels on Diet and Foods (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1938), p. 70. (Emphasis supplied.)
4 Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1900, 1941), p. 346.
5 Ellen G. White, Medical Ministry (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1932), p. 77.
6 E. G. White, Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 73. (Emphasis supplied.)
John Shin is a medical oncologist at Loma Linda University and president of the Adventist Medical Evangelism Network (AMEN), with advanced training from Loma Linda, the Mayo Clinic, and the National Cancer Institute. His research focuses on immunotherapy and lifestyle interventions in cancer treatment.
