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Larry Burkett , who died July 4 in Gainesville, Georgia, was a kind of financial guru for many evangelicals. His 70-plus books sold more than 12 million copies, and his four radio programs were broadcast on more than 2,000 stations worldwide. But in recent years, Burkett's writing turned from freeing Christians from debt to freeing them from fear of disease. Two of his most recent books told the story of his own battle with kidney cancer, and his seeking treatment through both traditional and alternative means on two continents.

Burkett did not die of cancer, but of heart trouble. In fact, he received a diagnosis that he was free of his kidney cancer a week before his death. In his final book, Nothing to Fear: The Key to Cancer Survival /(Moody, 2003), Burkett laid out the lessons he learned during his treatment—including coming to terms with his own mortality.

When I was first diagnosed with my shoulder problem, I went to several orthopedists. Every one of them misdiagnosed my problem. One said it was bursitis, another diagnosed it as a rotator cuff tear, and still another said it was arthritis. The last orthopedist I saw was absolutely convinced he knew what the problem was. He wanted to do arthroscopic surgery on my left shoulder to trim some of the small bone that goes under the collarbone. He was convinced that would fix the problem. He was a nice guy and very persuasive.

We actually scheduled the surgery for about three weeks from the time I last saw him. I committed to pray about it, just to be sure I had God's wisdom and peace. However, I didn't. In fact, I didn't have any peace about it at all; the closer we got to the time for surgery the less peace I had and the more confused I was. I thought I was holding to my commitment to seek God's wisdom and his peace, but I wasn't absolutely sure that I wasn't just trying to avoid the surgery (ever feel that way?).

I called him about three or four days before the scheduled surgery and told him I'd like to cancel. He was quite irritated about it and asked why I had changed my mind. I told him that I wasn't sure—I just didn't have peace about his diagnosis. (Try that one on your average doctor.)

He sarcastically challenged my "diagnosis" and wanted to know what I thought the problem was. I had to admit that I didn't know. And that was the honest truth: I didn't have a clue. All I had to go on was a feeling. I just felt like it wasn't the problem he had diagnosed. Well, of course, he was very upset and our conversation ended. I would have had a hard time getting another appointment with him at that time.

It was a short time later that I called my friend at Emory and went over to the Emory Sports Clinic in Atlanta. I went through the diagnostic clinic and they determined that the problem was not in my shoulder. Ultimately the doctor there was the one who called for an MRI, which correctly diagnosed it as a tumor under my shoulder blade.

If I had gone through with the surgery, not only would it have not helped the pain, it would have delayed the appropriate diagnosis. Perhaps it would have caused other complications, and who knows if I'd still be here.

I believe the wisdom to refuse the procedure that was proposed by the orthopedic surgeon came directly from the Lord. God simply provided the wisdom I needed when I needed it (see Proverbs 12:15). I believe there are three essential elements to finding such wisdom while suffering from an illness like cancer.

1. Personal faith in Jesus Christ. When the woman who had been hemorrhaging came up to Jesus and touched him, she believed that Jesus was going to heal her. The Scriptures indicate that Jesus didn't know her; nor did she know him, except by observation. She didn't know the plan of salvation at the time, and we aren't even certain that she was a Jew.

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July (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47