Lessons Learned: Practicing medicine with Holy Spirit, third person of the Trinity

Naturally, I met him when I joined the missionary-minded medical school faculty as Residency Training Director for Psychiatry. Our faculty at ORU were doctors called by God for what they did. A mature Christian faith and a comprehensive knowledge of Western medicine, with academic accomplishment, became prerequisites for faculty status. Since Oral Roberts had recognition as a Faith Healer, a University Founder and President, Dr. Parkhurst followed the model to a “T.” He was a founding physician, exemplifying as a hand-and-glove match for this grand joining of prayer and medicine.

There are three distinguishing features from his psychiatric practice that made me an effective healer over the next 30 years following my tutelage under Dr. Parkhurst.

First: He rose early spending time in prayer, “getting in the Spirit.” In fact, he would not leave his home until the third Person of the Trinity joined him. Physicians are to comfort always, thus gaining the services of “The Comforter” makes all the sense in the world. Our instructions from Oral Roberts were to combine in the best way possible prayer and medicine. For Dr. Parkhurst, the prayers began early and continued patient to patient. In our clinics, we teamed up with a physician healer and a minister chaplain. We called the combination “The Luke / Paul Connection,” referencing the Word of God example of Dr. Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, and the Apostle Paul, who wrote many letters included in the Bible.

Second: Dr. Parkhurst conducted the large morning group psychotherapy session. This is the linchpin session for milieu therapy. I trained under Dr. Daniel Upthegrove at West Virginia University, Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry. He was named teacher of the year the year I studied under him. How he managed a large group in a therapeutic milieu was a wonder to behold. I am forever grateful, for I later established the second-most-enrolled Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder program in the vast Department of Veteran Affairs. Dr. Parkhurst did as well and better than Dr. Upthegrove, for he added the dynamic of Holy Scripture to traditional behavioral medicine. Yes, we must keep the patient in “the here and now,” but also in the presence of the Holy Spirit as “The One Who Comes Alongside.”

Third: Dr. Parkhurst had a dual role as teacher and healer. Medical students fully educated meet high standards set by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), which is the accrediting body for medical education programs in the United States and Canada, and is recognized by the United States Department of Education.The expectation is that psychiatric theory and practice applies to all doctors, whether they eventually become surgeons or internal medicine specialists or family physicians.

How I loved this wise, great physician. Rarely has any person except my Country Doctor Dad inspired me so much as Dr. George Parkhurst did in his role as our senior faculty at ORU School of Medicine. He emphasized the Holy Spirit as a Person, not an impersonal force, but the third Person of the Trinity, a divine being.

Lesson learned is that health and wholeness require an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, also known as (just some of many describers) Counselor, Advocate, Helper, Comforter, and the One Who Comes Alongside.