Let’s talk 🤗
When I casually mentioned that I was learning Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), one friend immediately chided me saying “Christians should not engage in TCM!” Very concerned, she said, “you are exposing yourself to the demonic.” I didn’t feel comfortable asking questions or sharing my thoughts and experiences. It was an outright NO.
Taking her warning seriously, I searched the net and watched videos by Christian leaders and social media influencers. There are those who share my friend’s conviction. There are those, however, who are strong advocates of TCM including Christian leaders.
I have been to five four-day training workshops since my first accidental exposure to TCM in February 2025. Not once in those sessions did my two teacher-pastor-physicians conduct any rituals or chants or invoke strange spirits for healing. The training was methodical, systematic, and professional.
I did not take my concerned friend’s warning lightly. I certainly do not want to incur God’s anger. I felt it was only right to seek God, to take time to examine TCM, and to come to my own convictions about whether I should or should not use TCM. I want a reasonable explanation for why I do or not do what I do.
I am currently reading Dr. Pak-Wah Lai’s thoughtful and scholarly books on TCM. He is Biblical Graduate School of Theology’s Principal and Lecturer of Church History and Historical Theology.
What is TCM?
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is all about restoring balance to keep your organs functioning at their best. Think of your body’s 14 meridians as an intricate MRT network, where energy (Qi 气) acts as the trains keeping everything moving smoothly. When one MRT station breaks down or gets blocked, it causes a massive delay that disrupts the entire line. Similarly, a blockage in your Qi can throw your whole body out of sync, leading to illness.
There was an art and a science to what we were taught at our TCM class. That science was new to my western frame of understanding.
Wrestling with Illness
As a family, we wrestled with illness in our family. My father suffered eight major organ failures. He was in coma for two months in the ICU. Once we rushed down to the hospital because we were told he might be breathing his last. Each time the doctor gave us bad news, God miraculously brought him out of death. God used mainstream medicine and prayer to keep my father. He lived another seven years.
My sister went through a long drawn 20-year battle with Lupus from the age 17 to 37. We relied on western medicine and many other kinds of treatments recommended by well-meaning friends. Cynthia went for many healing services. In the last few hours of life on her death bed, her good friend who visited tried to comfort me. “Angeline, God can raise your sister up right now.” I told her we were in a sacred place and that she should just be quiet or leave.
Like Peter at the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus, we often do not know what to do or say in the face of the dying. I have not lost hope in my Father in heaven who cares deeply for me and the people I love. I do not doubt his ability to heal. I also know we cannot be presumptuous that we understand his mind or his plans. He didn’t heal the apostle Paul. He also did not spare Jesus from the cross.
We have much to learn from renowned motivational speakers Joni Eareckson Tada (video below) and Nic Vujicic who was born without limbs.
East or West?
How does western medicine heal? How does Chinese medicine heal? What makes western medicine legitimate and superior and legitimate? Have we not heard of medical injuries? We’ve never talked about it as a family but in my recollection, it was the allergic reaction from a western medicine that kickstarted my sister’s Lupus.
As a Christian and also as someone who has wrestled with the question of sickness, healing and death, we should not hesitate to employ TCM if God has and can use TCM to bring relief and healing.
By now you may have already read between the lines that I am open to TCM (since I’ve invested in attending five training sessions.) I know that just because something works doesn’t make it right (or wrong). Our knowledge is always partial and developing. At best, I can say I am open and learning.