Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
July 8, 1984
Divine Healing
Philippians 2:25-30, KJV
In May of 1983 the Chicago Tribune ran a story about a young man from North Manchester, Indiana. The article had a photo that shows him as a slim man in his early 20's with neatly trimmed hair. He is standing in front of a building at Grace Theological Seminary where he was taking classes. In the article David Gilmore tells about an illness of his fifteen-month-old son, Dustin, which began in April 1978. At first the child came down with flu-like symptoms. The Gilmores took him to their church and the pastor prayed for him. Their church believed that faith alone heals any disease and to go elsewhere for help, like a doctor, shows you lack faith in God. So they followed the church's advice and only prayed faithfully as his temperature climbed, prayed when they noticed he no longer responded to sounds, and prayed harder when he went blind.
On the morning of May 15, 1978, the day after their pastor preached an especially rousing sermon about faith, the Gilmores went into their son's room. Hi body was a blue color and still. He was dead. Again they prayed, for their church also believed the power of prayer can raise the dead. But Dustin Gilmore stayed dead. An autopsy revealed the infant died from a form of meningitis that could have been treated easily.
Gilmore made his story public after five years of silence because he personally knew of twelve other children who died in similar circumstances. According to the Tribune, fifty-two others have died in five states because of this church. This was back in 1983. More have died since then, even in our own county. ABC News reports that women in the church who give birth are 900% more likely to die than the national average. Children are 400% more likely to die.
Divine healing is an intense issue these days. Publishers and television evangelists parade people before the spotlight to testify about cancer that's cured, or a lengthened leg, or deliverance from arthritis. One of the largest television ministries has files with sixty thousand reported cases of divine healing. Here in Ohio you can go up to Akron and watch Ernest Angley cure hundreds at a single meeting.
Most of the faith healers and television evangelists are not as extreme as the Gilmore's church. They wouldn't forbid you from going to a doctor. But as the popularity of Pentecostal faith healing increases, more and more people will be victimized by this teaching.
Pentecostal teaching on sickness is drawn from the Bible and Baptists can agree with much of it. The primary passages come from the gospels. Turn to Matthew 8 verses 14-17 and read:
"And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and ministered unto them. And when the evening was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils, and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses."
Most of Jesus' miracles were healings. There is no record of him not being able to heal someone. Jesus considered healing to be an important part of salvation because to him salvation involved the whole person. He also promised that his followers would have supernatural power. He says in John 14:12:
"I tell you the truth, Whoever believes in me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my Father."
Pentecostals argue that Jesus had the power to heal sickness. He passed this power on to his disciples. Since he gives us this power, it is never God's will for a Christian to be sick. To Pentecostals a sick Christian goes against the grain of salvation. Jesus washes away our sins. He bares our sicknesses. Both of these are tied up in salvation.
Since it is always God's will to heal Christians something must go wrong when he doesn't. The stock answer is simple - you lack faith. A little more faith and you'll get your healing. Jesus encouraged people to have more faith but he never put the burden on them that some Pentecostals do. They use cute expressions like "confession brings possession." This means that once you pray for healing, you should believe you possess it al that moment. Some churches teach than you should believe you are healed, even if the symptoms continue. This goes beyond "blind faith" to a faith that hallucinates about things that don't really exist. In my opinion, it tempts God.
Nevertheless, this kind of teaching is popular with Pentecostals and Charismatics. They say that healings show that God's power is still active and available today, just like Jesus promised. It's exciting. I haven't been to a Pentecostal healing service that's ever been boring. The tragedy is that some Christians are never healed, no matter how hard they pray. Joyce Landorf is a well-known Christian writer and speaker. For seven years she has suffered from a condition known as TMJ. Beginning in her jay, an overwhelming and paralyzing pain spreads across her face and head. It becomes so great she must cancel public appearances. No medical treatment has helped her and yet Joyce Landorf thinks about all the aspects of her suffering, she mentions one source of pain that is more troubling than any other - judgment from fellow Christians. They tell her to confess her sin, or exercise more faith. Their proud condemnation hurts her worse than the physical pain itself.
If you happened to be a Pentecostal yourself, sickness is doubly discouraging. When they are not healed they begin to doubt they are saved or that God exists at all. Pentecostals bring out some valid points from the Bible but I think much of their doctrine goes too far. I accept the healings Jesus performed in the Bible. These were real miracles and were essential to his ministry. One thing to bear in mind, though, is that part of the reason Jesus performed healings was to show them what the Kingdom of God would be like. He was giving a preview of the millennium.
The book of Revelation says that in the millennium, God will wipe away all tears, pain and death. When Jesus died on the cross he made sure these good things would someday happen but there's no guarantee we'll experience it right now.
Jesus himself experienced pain and death. Paul had a thorn in the flesh which was probably an illness. And in Philippians we read about Epaphroditus who was sick almost to the point of death. It wasn't because he had sinned but because he was doing the work of Christ, according to verse 30. Paul, who had as much faith as any of us can hope for, fully expected Epaphroditus to die. Instead God healed him. The healing wasn't necessarily due to someone's faith but due to the mercy of God.
I believe in faith healing. If God wants he can heal anyone. He often does it because someone has prayed with faith. I also believe healing can come by more ordinary means and this kind of healing depends as much on God as any other. Our own bodies have natural healing mechanisms which God has created. Today my throat is pretty sore. It's sore because my body is fighting off an infection and my body is winning. God has also given us wisdom so we can understand the body and assist it. This is why doctors can heal with surgery and medicine. Paul himself prescribes medicine in 1 Timothy 5:23 when he tells Timothy to use wine because he is sick so often.
God can heal by normal means or by raw supernatural power but he doesn't have to heal at all. When Pentecostals say it is always God's will to heal people, they are jumping the gun. The proof of this is found in 1 Corinthians 15:26. According to this Bible verse, the ultimate sickness is death. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. In verses 51 and following, it says that death is destroyed for Christians at the Rapture. Until then, it may be God's will for us to be sick and die. I'll believe otherwise when I see a one-hundred-and-forty-year-old Pentecostal walking around.
There is one kind of healing that I can guarantee. God is always ready to heal the sickness of sin. The cure is to repent and ask God to forgive you through Jesus Christ. Have you done this?
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Typed on October 30, 2005, by Sharon Lesko of Ledgewood Baptist Church, New Jersey
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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