By Elizabeth Larkwor Baah
Tema, Jan. 20, GNA — Reverend Ebenezer Ayer, the Head Pastor of Priesthood Worship Centre Assemblies of God, Tema Community Six, has called on Ghanaians to prioritise medical care when ill over excessive reliance on nature-based remedies.
Rev. Ayer said such remedies could place their lives at risk and urged them to view Hospitals and trained health professionals as instruments through which God provides healing, rather than seeing medical treatment as a lack of faith.
He expressed concern over the growing trend of rejecting Hospital care in favour of untested herbal mixtures and spiritual interpretations of illnesses in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
He noted that while nature was part of creation, it should not replace professional medical diagnosis and treatment, especially in cases of serious and chronic sicknesses.
According to him, God had endowed doctors with wisdom, intelligence, and compassion to serve humanity, saying that medical professionals undergo years of rigorous training and specialisation to understand the human body and respond to various health conditions.
Rev. Ayer emphasised that seeking medical attention did not contradict faith in God; rather, it reflected wisdom and responsibility that prayer and medicine were not enemies but partners in the healing process.
He appealed to Christians to pray for healing while also visiting hospitals and following medical advice, stressing that many preventable deaths occurred because people delayed treatment, hoping that illnesses would disappear through faith alone or through natural remedies whose effects were not scientifically proven.
He cautioned against misleading teachings that portrayed sickness as purely spiritual or as punishment and urged religious leaders to encourage responsible health-seeking behaviour and to support public health education.
The head pastor also appealed to Ghanaians to reject the false belief that using medicine showed a lack of trust in God, explaining that just as people pray for food but still work to earn a living, they should pray for healing and also seek treatment.
GNA
Edited by Laudia Anyorkor Nunoo/Linda Asante Agyei