Dr. Romo (Left behind the desk) conducts a seminar for students in one of the villages in Chiapas. They are gathered in a public building under the auspices of a local community leader. Dr. Romo did not stay in the village long enough to train the students to any great depth, but the seminar teaching method is very useful for introducing the villages to Christian natural medicine. I use the term Christian to distinguish what we are teaching from Tribal medicine. Though Christians and Shamans use many of the same botanicals, there is a great difference between them spiritually, methodically, socially, and the purpose served by treatment. Tribal medicine is all about the glory of the healer (who is energized by demonic spirits); Naturopathy is all about the great Physician, Jesus expressed through teaching, preaching, and healing by the power of the Holy Spirit. All healing (that truly is healing) comes from God. The body is designed to recover from illness and remain sound if it is protected from harmful inputs and given what it needs to build and maintain health. The fundamental requirements for health are: Proper nutrition, Exercise, Pure water (for hydration, cleansing, and heat transfer), Sunshine, Self control, Pure air, Rest, and Faith in God (The God of the Bible).
The seminar teaches: How wholeness differs from Illness, What the body needs, Substances and practices that harm health. Safe methods of cleansing the body, methods for recovery from disease, proper diet, water purification, sanitation, and an introduction to Jesus [the Great Physician, the Water of Life, The great Resurrection, the Judge of all the Earth]. Some seminars are taught in a single day, while others are taught over a period of weeks. Herbal medicine is not taught in detail in the shorter seminars, since the foundation of health is the eight laws of health mentioned above. Herbs help the body to stabilize and heal, but they do not substitute for a healthy lifestyle. In fact, no herb or medicine can overcome a destructive lifestyle.
This training is well received by many of the villages, since they have sparse access to medical care of any kind, and their recent experience with COVID has taught them that Orthodox medicine falls short of keeping them safe and well. Natural remedies have proven more than sufficient in preventing and treating the COVID flu including the cardiovascular complications related to the spike proteins, so the tribal people are quite interested in the education offered by Harvest Ministries, which enables them to take care of themselves.