Since the fall of man in the garden of Eden disease and death have been a reality. We are all affected by it. Since the fall, man has searched for cures to alleviate the reality of illness and suffering. In the darkest part of an aboriginal society, witch doctors have potions and approaches to curing disease. Likewise, the most sophisticated, complex hospital in the world is doing the same thing. Through the history of Western civilization, man has continually searched for cures for the terrible reality of disease and suffering. Today there is a frantic search for a cure for "aids."
There are many believers today seeking certain gifts, contrary to the clear teaching of scripture. For the most part, the gift sought after is the gift of tongues. However, if I could receive the gift of my choosing I would choose the gift of healing. I have been in many intensive care units, I have been there as a patient and as a pastor, and have experienced the heartbreak of illness and suffering. I have visited friends and loved ones, young and old, and have experienced the pain that illness brings. I have on many occasions wished I had the gift of healing. Think of how rewarding it would be to be able to heal with a word or touch, to instantly end a person's suffering.
Why is it that the people who claim to have the gift of healing today never leave their tents or auditoriums? Why do they have to perform their gift in a controlled environment? Why aren't they in the hospitals? I'll tell you why. It is because they don't have the gift of healing. The gift of healing was a temporary sign gift for the authenticating of the apostles and others as the messengers of God.
What is the "gift of healings" mentioned in 1 Cor. 12: 9?
1 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV) to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,
Well, I believe this is the gift of being able to restore to health, and it is in the plural referring to different kinds of diseases which need different kinds of healing (cf. Matt. 10:1).
There is a difference in Scripture between God's healing of individuals and the gift of healing mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12. If this were not so we would find no healing recorded before Pentecost. But we see God healing many people in the OT. In Exodus 15:26 God calls himself "Jehovah Rapha." He says, "I am the LORD that healeth thee." God has always healed independently of any gifts of healing bestowed upon an intermediary. God healed Abimelech in Genesis 20:7; Miriam in Numbers 12:14; King Hezekiah in Isaiah 38:4-5. They were all healed in answer to prayer. All through the OT God graciously intervened in the sickness of men and healed them.
With the gift of healing God was now doing a new thing. He was endowing individuals with the ability to heal as Jehovah Rapha heals. Peter had this gift.
Acts 5:12-16 (NKJV) And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon's Porch. 13 Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. 14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. 16 Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
The gift of healing was an endowment of specific individuals who could exercise the gift at will, independent of faith or expectancy in the individual being healed.
Acts 3:1-12 (NKJV) Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us." 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them; walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed. 12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: "Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
There was absolutely no expectation of healing on this man's part. Neither is there any question of whether he had faith to be healed; he wanted money, not a healing. Faith is not mentioned. According to verse six Peter exercises this gift and heals this man independent of anything in the man.
What was the purpose of the gift of healing? Did God want everybody to be healthy so they could enjoy life more? Does God want everyone to be healthy and wealthy? Absolutely not! The gift of healing was a sign!
Mark 16:15-20 (NKJV) And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 "they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." 19 So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
"These signs" .... "they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." The gift of healing was a sign gift. The Greek word used for sign is semeion, (say-mi'-on) which means a mark, an indication or a token. It is used of miraculous acts as tokens of divine authority and power as verse 20 indicates. We see this same idea in Acts , in 2 Corinthians, and in John.
Acts 2:22 (NKJV) "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know;
2 Corinthians 12:12 (NKJV) Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.
John 20:30-31 (NKJV) And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
The signs selected proved Jesus to be "the Christ", the Son of God. The gift of healing was given as God's signature on the Christian gospel to demonstrate that it was of Him. Let's go back to Acts and see the rest of the story.
Acts 3:12-15 (NKJV) So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: "Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14 "But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 "and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
The key to this healing starts here. Peter got the crowds attention and then began to preach Christ. The purpose of the gift of healing was not to keep Christians healthy. It was used as a sign to unbelievers when it was necessary to make the proclamation of the gospel effective.
The gift of healing was temporary. When the purpose was fulfilled the gift was no longer needed.
Joshua 5:11-12 (NKJV) And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day. 12 Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.
Once they could eat of the fruit of the land the miracle of the manna in the wilderness was no longer needed. The same is true with the gift of healing. The miraculous sign-gift is no longer needed since we now have the written word. So, as the purpose for which the gift of healing was given ended, the gift itself was withdrawn.
Based upon several Scriptures we could conclude that the gift of healing could have been progressively withdrawn or these Scriptures could simple indicate to us that the gift was not intended for Christians. I don't know of a single time where the gift was used to heal a believer.
1 Timothy 5:23 (NKJV) No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities.
2 Timothy 4:20 (NKJV) Erastus stayed in Corinth, but Trophimus I have left in Miletus sick.
Philippians 2:27 (NKJV) For indeed he was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
The reason we want God to heal everyone who is sick is because we don't understand the purpose of suffering. We view it as a curse, and it often causes us to question the goodness of God. People will often ask, "If God loves me than why am I suffering?" We desperately need to understand that suffering is as much a part of God's eternal purpose for our lives as is believing in Christ. Look with me at a strange verse.
Philippians 1:29 (NKJV) For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,
The words "has been granted" or "it is given" are one word in the Greek, it is the verb charizomai, the noun form is used for spiritual gifts. Vine says that charizomai primarily denotes to show favor or kindness, to give freely, bestow graciously. Suffering is a grace gift. Salvation is a grace gift of God and so is suffering. He doesn't say that suffering is punishment or that it is something that has happened to you by chance. God gives suffering as graciously and lovingly as he gives you the faith to believe in his son.
What is a gift? Something that reveals the giver's love for you, something that is undeserved, not earned; a gift should cause thankfulness and gratitude. Now if this is the nature of a gift then how can Paul say that suffering is a gift of God? For God to give suffering as a gracious gift doesn't make any sense to us. That we should be grateful for it, that it should make us feel honored and blessed, that we should see it as a manifestation of God's love, that doesn't make any sense to us. Yet this is the clear teaching of the NT. The NT saints rejoiced in suffering, they knew that it was a gift of God's grace. Suffering is not a curse, it is in fact a blessing. Get that, it is a grace gift. It is of the essence in the Christian experience. Remember: it's through suffering that we are brought to maturity in the faith. Evidently suffering in some form or degree is essential to the formation of Christian character, it helps us grow spiritually, thus increasing our eternal reward.
James 1:2-5 (NKJV) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Now someone might ask, "If the gift of healing has ceased what about the present claims of the faith healers?" For 1900 years of church history the gift has been absent. Is it back now? Those who say that it is back must prove biblically that the sign gifts will start up again during the church age and that today's phenomena are this reoccurrence.
A question we need to ask is, "do the gifts claimed today match the Biblical pattern of Christ and the apostles?" If it is the same gift it should have the same pattern. Christ and the apostles healed with a word or a touch; Matt. 8:5-15, Acts 3:1-11, 9:32-35. They healed instantaneously; Mark 7:31-35, Acts 3. They healed totally; Matt. 8:15, Acts 9:34. They healed everybody;
Luke 4:40 (NKJV) When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.
Acts 5:14-16 (NKJV) And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. 16 Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
Who does this today? Today, the supposed healings are selective. Jesus and the apostles healed organic disease, the deaf, dumb, blind and crippled. They also raised the dead. I submit to you that this pattern of Christ and the apostles is not found today.
Many years ago I went to an Earnest Angely crusade and during the healing line a man in the audience had a heart attack and the paramedics came in and took him to the hospital. Go figure! Many today claim to be able to heal, but can they? Dr. William Nolen in his book "Healing, A Physician in search of a miracle," has a section on Charismatic healers. He writes, "Finally it was over. There were still long lines of people waiting to get onto the stage and claim their cures, but at five o'clock, with a hymn and final blessing, the show ended. Miss Kuhlman left the stage and the audience left the auditorium. (If you had the gift of healing would you quit while there were still sick people there?)
Before going back to talk to Miss Kuhlman I spent a few minutes watching the wheelchair patients leave. All the desperately ill patients who had been in wheelchairs were still in wheelchairs. In fact, the man with the kidney cancer in his spine and hip, the man whom I had helped to the auditorium and who had his borrowed wheelchair brought to the stage and shown to the audience when he had claimed a cure, was now back in the wheelchair. His cure, even if only a hysterical one, had been extremely short lived.
As I stood in the corridor watching the hopeless cases leave, seeing the tears of the parents as they pushed their crippled children to the elevators, I wished Miss Kuhlman had been with me. She had complained a couple of times during the service of the responsibility, the enormous responsibility, and of how her heart aches for those that weren't cured, but I wondered how often she had really looked at them. I wondered whether she sincerely felt that the joy of those cured of bursitis and arthritis compensated for the anguish of those left with their withered legs, their imbecilic children, their cancers of the liver.
Two years ago I began looking for a healing miracle. When I started my search I hoped to find some evidence that someone, somewhere, had supernatural powers that he or she could employ to cure those patients we doctors, with all our knowledge and training, must still label "incurable." As I have said before, I have been unable to find any such miracle worker."
Yes, many today claim to be able to heal but can their claims be verified? Or are they just hype?
The Saint Louis-based organization "Personal Freedom Outreach" (PFO) says faith healer Benny Hinn's version of mass healings at an Ontario hospital in 1976 is more fiction than fact. Hinn describes the healings in his new book, "Welcome, Holy Spirit." G. Richard Fisher, writing in the summer issue of PFO's "The Quarterly Journal," labels Hinn's "wildly embellished account" a "tall tale."
In the book, Hinn claims that he and other clergy began to anoint patients in a Catholic hospital with oil, and they "began to receive instant healing." Hinn, pastor of the 10,000-member Orlando (Fla.) Christian Center and host of television's "This Is Your Day", adds, "One by one, they began to testify of miracles that were taking place." He writes that "you could feel God's spirit all over the building. Within a few minutes the hospital looked almost like it had been hit by an earthquake. People were under the power of the Holy Spirit up and down the hallways as well as in the rooms."
Fisher reports, however, that Lois C. Krause, director of community relations at General Hospital in Sault Ste. Marie, challenges Hinn's descriptions. "No such events have ever occurred at General Hospital," says a hospital statement reported by PFO. Hinn's "pronouncement can neither be verified through the medical records nor by testimony from past or present personnel of this hospital. Mr. Hinn's claims are outlandish and unwarranted."
Claims to healing are cheap. Proof is scarce. I believe that the gift of healing today can be successfully challenged. Yet people continue to run to these healing services. Why? There is a certain desperation that comes with disease. Satan knows this, that is why he said, "Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life." (Job 2:4).
How do we explain the claims of healing today? It can't be denied that things happen at their services and on their programs. People fall over, supposedly slain in the Spirit. People jump up from wheelchairs, shouting that they are healed. What exactly is going on? How do we account for all of this?
1. The healings may be Psychosomatic, this word literally means "soul and body," referring to the close relationship of body and spirit. The soul affects the body, and the health of the soul may be an indication of the health of the body.
Dr. Nolen explains that physicians as well as Charismatic healers can often influence a patient and cure symptoms of disease by suggestion, with or without the laying on of hands. These cures are not miraculous but result from corrections that patient makes in the function of his autonomic nervous system.
Nolen also mentioned that all healers- faith healers and medical doctors- use hypnosis to some extent. Nolen admitted that when he gives a person a pill or shot, he often makes a point of telling the patient that the medicine will make him feel better in twenty-four hours- because that medicine "always works well." He gets far better results saying something like that than he could by saying, "Well, I don't know about this medicine...sometimes it works pretty well, sometimes it's not so hot. We'll give it a try and hope for the best." As Nolen pointed out, there is a lot of power in positive thinking, especially where functional disorders are concerned.
Dr. Nolen makes particular distinction between what he calls "functional" disease and "organic" disease. A functional disease is one in which a perfectly good organ does not function properly. An organic disease is one in which the organ is organically destroyed, maimed, or crippled. According to Dr. Nolen, infections, heart attacks, gallstones, hernias, slipped discs, cancers of al kinds, broken bones, congenital deformities, and lacerations are all included in the organic disease class. According to Nolen, the organic diseases are the ones that the healers cannot heal.
Nolen makes the point that Miss Kuhlman did not understand "psychogenic disease"- disease related to the mind. In simple terms, a functional disease would be a sore arm. An organic disease would be a withered arm or no arm at all. A psychogenic disease would be thinking your arm was sore. "Search the literature as I have," wrote Nolen, "and you will find no documented cures by healers of gallstones, heart disease, cancer, or any other serious organic disease. Certainly, you'll find patients temporarily relieved of their upset stomachs, their chest pains, their breathing problems; and you will find healers, and believers, who will interpret this interruption of symptoms as evidence that the disease is cured. But when you track the patient down and find out what happened later, you always find the cure to have been purely symptomatic and transient. The underlying disease remains."
Dr. Nolen believes that when healers or those claiming the gift of healing try to treat serious organic diseases, they can be responsible for untold anguish and unhappiness. Sometimes they keep patients away from possibly effective and live-saving help.
There is a condition called "Pseudo Psyeesis" which illustrates Psychosomatic conditions. It is where a woman thinks that she is pregnant, and not only thinks it but begins to show all the signs including actually swelling up and looking pregnant when there is no real pregnancy.
I think we all somewhat understand the power of suggestion. I once had to get a spinal tap and was doing fine during the procedure until one of the doctors asked me if I was having trouble breathing. Once he asked me that question I began to have trouble breathing. One summer a friend of mine wanted to try out my dive gear. He put on my scuba tank and mask and began to swim around in the pool. After several minuets he came up and said the mask was hurting him. I took the mask from him and walked away for a moment , then came back with the same mask. I said "Try this one, it's a lot more comfortable". After wearing it for sometime I asked how it felt. He responded, "Much better."
If a person imagines he's sick he can also be convinced that he's well. In many cases no real healing took place at all, in a miraculous sense. As A.W. Criswell puts it: "But how do these professional miracle workers succeed and continue? For the simple reason that eighty-five percent of all the sick will get well anyway, and to the other fifteen percent the divine healers can blandly and piously say, 'You do not have the faith.' It is a sure-fire racket, far more certain than betting on horses at the race tracks or playing the game tables at Las Vegas. If the odds are eighty-five percent in your favor, how can you lose?"
George Shaw delivers a timely warning: "Divine healing" was never a doctrine preached by the apostles, and, as far as the records of their preaching go, it never had a large place in their thought. We are in danger these days of reducing the great gospel to a mere question of healing the body, the great doctrines of the gospel are being lost or at least neglected in the strong emphasis laid on healing.
What would you say if you were told that there is a teaching sweeping through evangelical churches in our day that not only has made changes to, but has also taken out the very core of the Gospel? Such is the message being propagated by many so-called faith healers such as, Benny Hinn, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Marilyn Hickey, Charles Capps, Fred Price, Robert Tilton, Doyle "Buddy" Harrison and Ray McCauley. (These people have international followings numbering thousands, several having their own TV broadcasts.) Many believers who see these ministries at a distance know that something is not right about them, but most see them as the Gospel plus healing and prosperity on demand. They think these people for the most part are sound but have just added health and wealth to the Gospel. But the truth is that these so-called Faith-healers mock sound theology, calling it traditional church, and so on. Paul Crouch, the head of Trinity Broadcasting Network (the world's largest Christian TV network) has hardened himself against all attempts at correction: "To hell with you! Get out of my life!" was his response on one occasion. He referred to sound theology as "doctrinal doodoo" and in the same broadcast said "I refuse to argue any longer with any of you out there! Don't even call me if you want to argue doctrine, if you want to straighten somebody out... criticize Ken Copeland... or Dad Hagin. Get out of my life!"
On 8 June 1992, Hinn told his "Trinity Broadcasting Network" TV audience that those who spoke out against "Word-Faith" teacher Kenneth Copeland were "attacking the very presence of God." Yet Kenneth Copeland teaches things like this: "Jesus said 'I didn't claim to be God when I walked the earth.'" Copeland teaches that Adam was "created" as a physical extension of God. After forming Adam's body from the dust of the earth, God then literally duplicated himself by incarnating His own Spirit into Adam. Adam, therefore, was the divine offspring of his Father, and the natural world was given to him as his kingdom. Copeland goes on to teach that the physical death of Jesus on the cross was not sufficient for the atonement, but that He also had to die spiritually, thereby becoming a satanic incarnation as did Adam in the Garden in order to identify with man's fallen nature. Redemption, therefore, was purchased, not on Calvary, but in the pit of hell, where Jesus suffered as a sinner for three days and nights. Copeland teaches that following Jesus' suffering in hell, He was regenerated, or "born again," and thus regained His former divine status as the Son of God.
Of course, not all that the 'Faith' healers say is wrong - that is not the point. But the areas in which their teaching deviates from orthodoxy are not secondary issues, but primary ones involving the Nature of God, the Nature of Man, the Atonement and even the Nature of Faith itself. Yes, the great doctrines of the gospel are being neglected in the strong emphasis laid on healing. Can something so unbiblical be of God? Does God work through false teachers? I think not.
2. There are some real healings going on today, the work of Jehovah Rapha. When they occur they are independent from any healer or healing meeting. Distinction should be made between miracles and healings and the gifts of miracles and healings. The spiritual gift is the God-given ability to perform healings for the purpose of serving Him. However, the healing may be done apart from the exercise of the gifts. Therefore, it does not follow that if we consider the gifts of healings temporary, we are also saying that God does not heal today. We are simply stating that the gifts are no longer given because the particular purpose for which they were originally given (to authenticate the apostolic message) has ceased to exist.
To sum it up, there is a difference between the gift of healing and God's generalized healing. God heals today but not through the gift of healing. God has always healed and always will, but the gift of healing was temporary.
As long as we live in these unredeemed bodies we will have sickness and disease. May God help us to have the attitude of the apostle Paul toward sickness.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NKJV) And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Paul was more concerned with God's golry than his own health. May God help us to have this attitude. May our attitude toward sickness be like that of the Norwegian Theologian Ole Hallesby who prayed the following prayer: "Lord, if it will be to Your glory, heal suddenly. If it will glorify You more, heal gradually; if it will glorify You even more, may your servant remain sick awhile; and if it will glorify Your name still more, take him to Yourself in heaven."
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