How Scripture Helped Pianist John Tesh Beat Cancer
By Movieguide® Contributor
71-year-old pianist, author and radio host John Tesh recently opened up with the Christian Post about how scripture helped him with his cancer battle.
“I have found that many people don’t truly understand that there are dark forces, that the devil is after your mind. They don’t understand that,” he said.
“It’s hard to believe because there are so many movies about it and all that. Many people think that when a thought comes into their mind, it comes from them, and it’s not. It’s put there by some other force,” he continued.
Tesh says that to get rid of the devil’s influence, one’s mindset must change.
“If you have so much unbelief and doubt in your heart, it’s like two pickup trucks that are chained together going in opposite directions, and you can’t get anywhere,” Tesh explained. “A consistent prayer life is like a muscle; you have to work on it. And then, you’ll read a Scripture in the Bible and all of the sudden, you face a different challenge, and that Scripture comes alive in a different way.”
In 2015, doctors told Tesh that he had prostate cancer and that he had only 18 months left to live.
Movieguide® reported on Tesh’s response to the diagnosis:
He soon became disheartened, drinking and abusing medication to cope with his feelings. However, after hearing a CD about divine healing, Tesh realized the power of God’s love.
“God wants you well,” he explained. “It’s the other guy down below who really would like to kill, steal, and destroy.”
Tesh then delved into the scripture, and his faith expanded. A CD from Pastor Andrew Wommack helped him understand God’s nature.
“He said that the Bible says, ‘Whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says,’ and ‘For whatever you ask when you pray, believe that you receive it, and you will have,’” Tesh said. “I thought, ‘Wow, my mountain right now is cancer.’ My wife and I started digging deeper to understand the true nature of God.”
“I’ve read the Bible for years, but I never really truly landed on those Scriptures,” he shared. “And that really started a journey of dual-modality for me, science and doctors, and also, what does the Bible say about health and healing?”
Now, the award-winning pianist no longer has cancer. Since his experience, he firmly believes that medicine and faith must go hand in hand, which he teaches in his online course, “The Secret to Answered Prayers.”
“There are some churches that teach healing and only healing through faith, but that’s not what worked for me,” Tesh said. “What worked for me was using what God did for medicine, and then also being able to renew my mind and have a focus of what God really wanted for me and be able to visualize my future.”
Determined to share what he has learned with others, Tesh’s social media pages are now full of positive thoughts, scripture, encouragement and prayers.
“When I first discovered these Scriptures, I prayed throughout my day, and I believed, but I made a mistake — after my first round of three years of treatments, I decided not to get any more scans, and the cancer came back with a vengeance,” he said. “And I understood then truly that faith and medicine needed to work together. And I think it’s a dangerous thing that some churches do, where some of them don’t teach this at all.”
Tesh teaches that a positive outlook and affirmations are an important part of moving mountains, and “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
He previously shared a prayer that expresses this belief: “Father, your Word has become a part of me. It is flowing in my bloodstream. It flows in every cell of my body: Restoring and transforming my body. Your Word has become flesh; for You sent your word and HEALED me!”
“I think renewing your mind has become more revelatory for people than just hey, how do I pray?” he said. “When you’re finally able to consistently renew your mind, then you can start with belief and not unbelief. That’s really one of the biggest things that people say is, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve been able to renew my mind, and I can see more clearly what God wants from me.’”
Now, after a renewal of faith and several years with his cancer battle, Tesh doesn’t have fear about the cancer’s possible return or what lies ahead.
“I feel like I have so many weapons at my disposal that fear is entirely absent. And once you understand where you’re going after this life, you just don’t have any fear,” he said.
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