Part 3 of 6: Pentecostalism … IS HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT?

By David W. Cloud

“And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them: Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see; and they glorified the God of Israel.” Matthew 15:30-31

“And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. … Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.” Acts 5:12, 15-16

One teaching which seems to attract many to the charismatic movement is the idea that physical healing is promised in Christ’s atonement. It is commonly taught by charismatic preachers that if a person is saved and right with God he never has to be sick. Healing is guaranteed, so to speak, for those who exercise faith.

Oral Roberts, one of the pioneers of the “faith healing” ministry, gave a classic statement of charismatic doctrine in the September 1976 issue of Abundant Life magazine:

“For the knowledge of the truth look toward Jesus of Nazareth who himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses. If Jesus took our sicknesses we need not bear them any longer. Sickness is part of the curse and Jesus came to destroy the curse. He suffered in our stead because he did not want us to suffer disease. He took our specific diseases and infirmities upon his own sinless, perfect body in complete payment for the penalty of sin.”
“I know it is God’s highest wish for you to be in health.”
“Sickness is not part of God’s plan and not devised by God’s will.”
“One of the things I have always appreciated about physicians is that they are all against disease and they work to bring healing. You see, doctors are not hung up on theology. Yet some ministers and many Christians are not quite sure where sickness comes from. I mean they are still asking the question, Is it God’s will to heal? Some ministers are still praying, Father, if it be thy will, heal. I wonder if they could be sued for theological malpractice? Well, it’s a thought.”(Oral Roberts, “Why I know that God wants to heal you,” Abundant Life (September 1976).>

Kenneth Copeland, popular charismatic evangelist, states this in his paper:
“Sickness is of the devil … God has never used sickness to discipline His children … I don’t care how old we are, it’s His will to take us home healed, well, whole, and delivered.” (Calvary Contender, September 15, 1989)

This philosophy is also held by Charles and Francis Hunter. In an article in Charisma magazine entitled “It’s the Hour of the Believer,” Francis Hunter is quoted as follows:

“The Bible does not leave any doubt. It does not say some of you, or just a few of you who believe; it simply says that all those who believe are going to be able to lay hands on the sick, and the sick are going to recover.” (E.S. Caldwell, “It’s the Hour of the Believer,” Charisma, October 1987, pp. 19-24)

Not all charismatic preachers believe exactly as Copeland or the Hunters do, and there are many variations on the healing theme. Some believe medicine should not be used; others recognize the value of medicine. The fact, though, is that most charismatic healers claim that healing is in the atonement and is therefore promised by God.

What saith the Scripture?
Let me say up front that I do believe in divine healing. I believe in James 5:14-15:
“Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”
This passage gives clear instruction for the sick in this church age. We believe in this, and we practice this, and we have seen God heal in answer to prayer. I have experienced healing in this way.

But note that these Bible instructions do not lend any support for a faith healing movement. The sick Christian is not instructed to attend a special healing meeting or to seek the services of a faith healer, but is to call for the leaders of his own church. Note, too, it is the sick person that is to take the initiative to seek the prayer of his church leaders. The emphasis is not on the gift of a faith healer, but on the prayers of humble church leaders.

I repeat, I believe in healing, but I do not believe in the charismatic healing movement. It is not based on Scripture. The Bible does not promise healing and perfect wholeness. The Bible does not speak of healing meetings.

Further, the Bible does not allow women to preach and usurp authority over men, but that is exactly what has been happening in the charismatic movement for more than a century. Women such as Phoebe Palmer, Carrie Judd Montgomery, Maria Woodworth-Etter, Aimee Semple McPherson, Maria Wing Robinson, and Kathryn Kuhlman have played a major role in the movement. The Scriptures forbid this.

I do believe in divine healing. But I don’t believe God always heals, and I don’t believe that healing is in the atonement. I also believe that the charismatic healing movement has caused untold harm. Consider:
THE HEALING OF CALVARY IS, FIRST AND FOREMOST, SPIRITUAL HEALING

Isaiah 53:5 is often quoted as a proof text for the idea that physical healing is in Christ’s atonement. “… with his stripes we are healed.” The primary meaning of this passage, though, is that we are healed from sin through Christ’s death.

This is what 1 Peter 2:24 says: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye are healed.”

The Apostle Peter applies Isaiah 53:5 to salvation from sin. The healing spoken of in Isaiah 53:5 is spiritual healing of the soul from sin.

THE PHYSICAL PART OF SALVATION IS A FUTURE HOPE NOT A PRESENT REALITY

There is a physical part to salvation. There is a physical wholeness; there is a glorious kingdom; there is a wonderful, trouble-free life promised to the child of God–but it is something we look forward to by faith, not something we presently possess. This is clearly what Rom. 8:22-25 teaches:

“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”

The Apostle Paul was a spiritual giant, yet his condition was that of groaning within himself, waiting for the redemption of the body. He said the redemption of the body is a hope, not a present possession. In verse 10 of Romans 8, Paul says the body is dead because of sin. The Christian has eternal life; his sins are forgiven; his name is written in Heaven; he is a child of God. But the Christian lives in a body that is under the curse of death, and the Christian lives in a world which is still under the curse of God for sin, a world which “groans and travails together until now.”

Thus, while the Christian can live a life of victory and fruitfulness through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, he is still under the influence of the troubles and pains of this wicked world. This includes sickness, depression, sorrow, trials, difficulties, sweat, tears, hurt, old age, weakness, death. These things are the lot of the Christian just as they are for the non-Christian. The release from the troubles of the flesh will come at the “redemption of the body”–the resurrection and second coming of Christ.

Thus, it is at death or at the rapture that the Christian will gain liberty from this body of death and will have that perfect physical healing and wholeness that is so intensely desired.

THE HEALING MINISTRY OF CHRIST WAS UNIQUE–TO PROVE HE WAS THE MESSIAH

It is popularly taught in charismatic circles that Jesus healed as an example for Christians to follow. Jesus’ healing ministry is held forth as an example of what healers today are doing. John Wimber, Charles and Francis Hunter, and many others are saying every Christian can heal, that Jesus’ healing ministry is an example for all Christians.

This idea ignores the fact that Jesus healed as a sign that He was the Messiah, the promised Savior, the Son of God. Jesus’ healing ministry was not an example for us to follow, but was part of His unique credentials as the Christ. This is plainly what the Bible teaches. Consider the following Scriptures:

“And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” Jn. 20:30-31
“But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.” Jn. 5:36
“If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.” Jn. 10:37-38
“Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.” Jn. 10:25
“Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.”Jn. 14:11
“If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.” Jn. 15:24
These verses leave no doubt as to the purpose of Christ’s miracles. They were not done as examples of what every Christian can and should do, but were done to demonstrate that He was the promised Holy Son of God. This explains the fact that no one before or since Christ has ever been able to perform the healings He performed. He healed every type of disease, cast out every type of devil, raised the dead, and He did these miracles repeatedly, at will. He healed perfectly. He never failed to heal those who were brought to Him. Not once did he fail. Who can say that today?

It is true that the apostles did some wonderful miracles, as recorded in the book of Acts, but their miracles were also performed for a special, unique purpose as we shall see in the next heading.

Some point to Christ’s statement in the following verse as “proof” that Christians are to do the same miracles as Christ did.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” John 14:12
What does this verse mean? Some today are saying it means the greater works will be fulfilled prior to Christ’s return–through the signs and wonders movement.

The fact is that since the time of the apostles, Christians have not been able to do great sign miracles. It is a fact of history that the sign gifts ceased with the passing of the apostles. That is a fact! The only “sign miracles” witnessed in church history since those days are those of spurious individuals and groups involved in strange and unscriptural doctrines. Among the faithful people of God through the centuries since the apostles, sign gifts ceased. Instead, God’s people have enjoyed the power of God to live holy lives in the face of a godless generation, to withstand persecution, and to preach the Gospel. That is a fact. God’s people have continued to experience miracles, but not sign gifts.

Along comes the charismatic, claiming that God is giving sign gifts today. But it isn’t true. There are no true sign gifts among the charismatics. Those who claim to be healers cannot heal–at least they cannot heal any more consistently than can any faithful pastor who prays at the bedsides of his people. Those who claim to be prophets cannot prophecy inerrantly. They make all sorts of embarrassing mistakes and thereby identify themselves as false prophets. Those who claim to be apostles cannot perform the signs of an apostle of which Paul witnessed in 2 Cor. 12:12–“Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.”

What then? What about John 14:12? I believe the promise of Jesus Christ in John 14:12 was fulfilled in the ministry of the apostles as is recorded in the book of Acts. Since those miracle-filled days there have been no more periods in church history of true, honest-to-God sign miracles. That, dear friends, is fact. Those who deny it are flying in the face of Scripture, of history, and of present reality.

The Happy Hunters can’t heal like Christ and the apostles could. John Wimber can’t heal like Christ and the apostles. Reinhold Bonnke can’t heal like Christ and the apostles. Oral Roberts cannot heal like Christ and the apostles. No one today can heal like Christ and the apostles did! Those who claim they can are self-deceived or worse.

In understanding divine healing, it is crucial that we know that Christ’s miracles were for the purpose of verifying his Messianic claims. This is no longer necessary and that type of miracle has ceased.

THE HEALING MINISTRY OF THE APOSTLES WAS UNIQUE–TO AUTHENTICATE THEIR WORK

We’ve already referred to this, but to be sure that we cover all bases, let’s see what Scripture says about the miracles of the apostles.
“Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.” 2 Cor. 12:12
“And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils.” Mk. 3:14-15
“And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.” Acts 2:43
“And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.” Acts 4:33
“And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people … Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.” Acts 5:12,15
“And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.” Acts 19:12

Note that the miracles of the apostles were special and were for the purpose of marking them as the apostles of Christ. They had miracle-working power to authenticate their unique ministries. That is what Scripture says. All Christians could not do the sign miracles of the apostles. The only exceptions were a few men upon whom the apostles had laid hands. There was no general miracle-working experience among the first churches. If there had been, Paul could not have pointed to his miracle-working ability as a special sign. His would have been just another miracle-working Christian ministry if all could have performed such things. But all could not. If all could have performed miracles as a matter of course, the Christians would not have called for Peter to come and raise Dorcas from the dead (Acts 9:36-42). Peter’s miracle that day was the “sign of an apostle.”

It has never been God’s will for all Christians to be running around performing sign miracles and healing everyone. That has never been the case, and will never be the case in this age. Don’t be deceived. Don’t seek that which God has NOT promised and thereby leave yourself open to the deception of the devil.

Jesus warned that an evil generation seeks a sign. Let’s not be identified with evil. Let us seek those humble things which God HAS promised and which He wants to do in and for and through us to the glory of Christ. Seek to live holy, gentle lives. Seek to preach the Gospel and see souls saved and lives changed for the glory of God. Seek to be looking and longing for Christ’s return. Seek to be obedient, fruitful Christians.

GOD DID NOT ALWAYS HEAL

If physical healing is to be expected as the heritage of the saints in this life, we would see this in the New Testament account of the early churches. The problem, though, is that the New Testament shows cases in which God did not heal Christians of their sicknesses.
1) The case of Timothy.
“Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.” 1 Tim. 5:23

1 Timothy 5:23 tells us that Timothy was sick frequently, and the Apostle Paul told him to use a little wine for his stomach’s sake and his often infirmities. God did not heal Timothy supernaturally or permanently from his sickness.
2) The case of Trophimus.
“Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.” 2 Tim. 4:20

In 2 Timothy 4:20 we learn that another of Paul’s coworkers, Trophimus, was left behind in Miletum sick. He was not supernaturally healed even though an apostle, Paul, was with him when he had to be left behind because of illness.
3) The case of Paul.
“And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” 2 Cor. 12:7-10

In 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 we read of a situation in which the Apostle Paul was afflicted with some sort of infirmity. Three times he asked God to take away this problem, but the Bible says God refused to do so. He was told that this infirmity was something God wanted him to have for his spiritual wellbeing. Upon learning this, Paul bowed to God’s will and wisely said:
“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor. 12:10).
This is a perfect example for Christians today. We should pray for healing, but when God does not heal, we must bow to His will and accept that sickness or trial as something from the hand of God. This is not lack of faith; it is obedience to the sovereignty of God.
CHARISMATIC HEALERS CANNOT HEAL THEMSELVES

The hypocrisy of the faith healing movement is amazing. It’s leaders teach that healing is promised in the atonement and that it is always God’s will for the Christian to enjoy wholeness. Yet these very leaders do not enjoy such wholeness!

We will use Charles and Frances Hunter as an example. They teach that healing and wholeness is a guaranteed part of the Christian life. Yet consider that they both wear glasses. That is not perfect health. Both of them are bald. (She wears a wig.) That is not wholeness. While conducting a healing crusade in the Philippines, Frances Hunter ended up in the doctor’s office after contracting conjunctivitis, or “pink eye.” She testified, “I could not get rid of it in spite of all the healing teams over there.” So she went to a medical clinic for help. “I nearly fainted when I walked in because the first thing I saw was a copy of the book How to Heal the Sick, and I thought, ‘What am I doing in a doctor’s office when Charles and I wrote that book.’ With embarrassment, Frances told the nurse about her sickness.” (Charisma, May 1988)

Let me remind you of what Frances Hunter says about healing: “The Bible does not leave any doubt. It does not say some of you, or just a few of you who believe; it simply says that all those who believe are going to be able to lay hands on the sick, and the sick are going to recover.”(E.S. Caldwell, “It’s the Hour of the Believer,” Charisma, Oct. 1987, pp. 19-24)

What amazing hypocrisy! The faith healer is conducting a healing crusade and seminar, and is teaching that every Christian can lay hands on the sick and expect them to be healed. Yet the faith healer gets sick and no one can heal her. She goes to a doctor!

Mrs. Hunter excuses this problem by claiming that she performed two healings while in the doctor’s office–a neck pain and tonsillitis. We don’t know whether any healings were performed, but we do know that Frances Hunter does not enjoy the health she claims is a part of the atonement, and she and her husband and followers cannot heal the sick as they claim.
We have witnessed the Hunter’s healing meetings and have seen the wheelchair patients leave disappointed, just as sick and crippled as they were when they arrived.
CHARISMATIC HEALERS CANNOT HEAL OTHERS

The fact is that modern faith healers cannot heal anyone, not themselves, and not others. They cannot heal as did Christ and the Apostles. They simply cannot do what they claim to be able to do.
The following statement is made by J.H. Montgomery, former editor of Oral Roberts’ Abundant Life devotional. In his book The Enemies of the Cross he says this:
“I make the following statement after serious thought and consideration. I first attended a healing campaign in 1949, and in the intervening years between then and now I have attended a great many of these great meetings. … But I have yet to meet one man or woman who had the power of God to perform miracles as Jesus performed them.”
Paul Locke comments on this as follows: “Now this man was there. They are not miracle workers; they are master salesmen. The power of these master salesmen has not been the power to heal the sick and cast out devils. It has been the knack of getting great crowds together. Any little evangelist who has prayed for the sick has had as much success, percentage wise, as the greatest evangelist in this movement. And if a pastor prayed for 5,000 people in his church and only 100 of them or less were healed, he would become so discouraged that he would be ready to throw up his hands and quit. And this is the great problem.”

The faith healers simply cannot heal any more effectively than any godly non-Pentecostal pastor can heal. This is not only true of Oral Roberts, but of all the others, as well. Consider some of the heavy weights:

William Branham

William Branham conducted great healing crusades throughout the world and was one of the father’s of the modern healing movement. The Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements says this about Branham: “The person universally acknowledged as the revival’s ‘father’ and ‘pacesetter’ was William Branham. The sudden appearance of his miraculous healing campaigns in 1946 set off a spiritual explosion in the Pentecostal movement which was to move to Main Street.”

Yet Branham did not have great success in healing. Alfred Pohl was a worker in one of Branham’s crusades in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Pohl was right by Branham’s side during the meetings and attended Branham when he prayed over the bedridden cases after the evening healing services.
Alfred Pohl makes the following statements about this crusade in an interview with the editor of O Timothy magazine, February 21, 1990:
O Timothy: Now, did many claim to be healed, or did it seem that many were healed in the meeting?
Pohl: In the meetings? Ah, yes, there were those that claimed to be healed, and there were those people that thought they saw healings, or thought they saw miracles. But, when you were on the inside, you saw that some of those things that were supposed to be miracles, were not miracles at all. From the outside, you would think that something had really happened; but having been right close to Branham, and working right with him, I discovered that a lot of those supposed healings or miracles were really not miracles after all. …
O Timothy: Right. So there were many that he proclaimed healed?
Pohl: Yes, yes. Practically every one as I recall, standing beside these various bedsides–practically everyone was pronounced healed. But the tragedy is that so many of those died after Branham was gone. So there was something wrong. …
O Timothy: There was a newspaper that tried to investigate the healings. Can you tell me something about that? What were they able to confirm as far as healings?
Pohl: Yes, in Winnipeg. Branham came to Canada at that time and he preached at a number of Apostolic churches in Canada. The first church was the church of our moderator in Winnipeg, who brought him into Canada. And Mr. Branham had his campaign there. Then he came later on to Saskatoon.
When the campaign was in progress in Winnipeg, the newspaper (one of the large city newspapers) was giving considerable coverage to the meetings, and they indicated that there were a lot of people healed. They were favorable to this church, and advertised it and gave news reports that quite a few people were healed. But later on that same editor sent out some reporters to check on some of these people that they had written up in the paper weeks before. [The reporters were] to check up and see whether these people who were supposedly healed at that time, were still healed, were still alive, or whatever.
And when these reporters went back, they discovered that these people had died, or were in the same state or in a worse state than they were before. So, the editor then put it in the paper that these cases had turned out to be phonies, and that these people weren’t healed after all, and there was something wrong with these so-called miracles and healings.

When the pastor of the church saw these reports in the paper, he went to the editor rather disturbed and not very happy about the situation, and he confronted the editor: “Why do you do this to our church? You’re hurting the reputation of our church, and you shouldn’t do that to us.”

And the editor said words, something to this effect, “Well, pastor, if the healings are genuine, you don’t have to worry, do you?”

I thought to myself later on when I heard this, well, that editor certainly had a lot of common sense, because if they’re genuine, why worry? If they’re not, well then they should be exposed–which is what the paper did.

And the editor said, “Pastor, we gave you good coverage when Mr. Branham was here.” The pastor had to admit they did. “Now,” he said, “we owe it to our people to give them the rest of the story.” And he said, “That’s what we found.” He said to the pastor, “I’ll tell you what I’ll do, if you can bring me one genuine case of a genuine healing, I’ll give you the front page.”

And I was told right in that pastor’s home that they couldn’t find one.

O Timothy: Not one?

Pohl: Not one. … I stood beside bed after bed, person after person who was pronounced healed and yet, where were they? They passed away. So there was something very wrong with this type of healing.

Kathryn Kuhlman

Another famous healer was Kathryn Kuhlman. She popularized the “miracle services” concept, during which she would call out supposed disorders that were being cured in a certain area of the auditorium, and it would be received by the appropriate individual. Yet Kuhlman could not heal.
Consider the following testimony of Dr. William Nolan, a physician and surgeon who took two years to study the matter of divine healing, then wrote a book titled Healing: A Doctor in Search of a Miracle. Dr. Nolan spent months investigating Kathryn Kuhlman’s healing meetings and following up the results on people who were healed or were told they were healed. He was appointed an usher of the wheelchair division of Kuhlman healing services in Minneapolis with the approval of Kuhlman. Dr. Nolan, who at first was sympathetic toward the work of Kuhlman tried to find evidence of people who were actually healed but found none. He writes in his book:

Occasionally Miss Kuhlman would turn and say, ‘Someone with a brace… a brace on your leg … you don’t need that brace any more. Take it off, come to the stage, and claim your cure.’

The first time she called for a brace there was a delay in the proceedings. No one came forth. The audience began to grow restive; you could sense that they all felt this was most embarrassing for Miss Kuhlman. Finally, after what was probably a minute but seemed an hour, a very pretty young girl limped up the stage. She waved her leg brace in the air and stood, with her pelvis tilted badly, on one good leg and one short, withered leg. Kathryn Kuhlman questioned her.

‘How old are you?’
‘Twenty.’
‘How long have you worn the brace?’
‘Thirteen years. Since I had polio at seven.’
‘And now you’ve taken it off.’
‘And,’ she said, ‘I believe so much in the Lord, I’ve prayed and He’s curing me.’

Everyone applauded. The girl cried.

This scene was, to my mind, utterly revolting. This young girl had a withered leg, the result of polio. It was just as withered now as it had been ten minutes earlier, before Kathryn Kuhlman called for someone to remove her brace. Now she stood in front of ten thousand people giving praise to the Lord–and indirectly to Kathryn Kuhlman–for a cure that hadn’t occurred and wasn’t going to occur. I could imagine how she’d feel the next morning, or even an hour later, when the hysteria of the moment had left her and she’d have to again put on the brace that had been her constant companion for thirteen years and would be with her the rest of her life. She was emotionally high right now; soon she’d be emotionally low, possibly despondent.

This case shook severely what little hope I had left that Kathryn Kuhlman was, truly, a ‘miracle worker.’

I had accepted as a misunderstanding the deception that went with ‘Not yours, surely?’–referring to the wheelchair–even though I knew the man hadn’t been in a wheelchair until that afternoon; I had chalked it up to innocent error when the ability to take a deep breath was passed off as evidence of a lung-cancer cure (even though I knew most patients with lung cancer can breathe deeply); I had assumed that it was simple over-enthusiasm that enabled Kathryn Kuhlman to call a multiple-sclerosis patient ‘cured,’ even though she obviously still walked with the multiple-sclerosis gait; but this episode involving the girl with the brace was pure, unadulterated, flagrant nonsense. For Kathryn Kuhlman to really believe that the Holy Spirit had worked a miracle with this girl, it seemed to me that Kathryn Kuhlman would have had to be either blind or incredibly stupid, and she was obviously neither. Was she, then, a hypocrite or a hysteric? I didn’t know, but I had begun to seriously question her credibility and that of her organization.

Not once, in the hour and a half that Kathryn Kuhlman spent healing, did I see a patient with an obvious organic disease healed (i.e., a disease in which there is a structural alteration). At one point the young man with liver cancer staggered down the aisle in a vain attempt to claim a ‘cure.’ He was turned away, gently, by Maggie. When he collapsed into a chair I could see his bulging abdomen–as tumor-laden as it had been earlier.

One desperate mother managed to work her child’s wheelchair down to the front of the auditorium. The little girl in the chair, about five years old, glassy-eyed, hydrocephalic, could barely sit upright. The mother, weeping, lifted her daughter out of the chair and attempted to get her to walk to the stage. The child, with the mother holding her, made two pitiful attempts to walk, both times nearly collapsing on the floor before the mother could catch her. Finally, weeping, the mother put her imbecilic child back in the wheelchair and pushed her away down the aisle….

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 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 for those left with their withered legs, their imbecilic children, their cancers of the liver.

I wondered if she really knew what damage she was doing. I couldn’t believe she did. (The Christian News, Aug. 2, 1976)

Oral Roberts

Oral Roberts is one of the pioneers of the “faith healing” movement, but his ministry has been examined by men of God and has been proven bogus. We offer the testimony of Pastor Carroll Stegall, Jr., pastor of the Pryor Street Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. 

This is told by David Edwin Harrell, Jr., in his biography of Roberts:

Probably the most damaging religious attack on Oral ever published appeared in the Presbyterian Outlook in 1955. The article, written by Carroll R. Stegall, Jr., pastor of the Pryor Street Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia, was later republished in a widely circulated tract. It was Stegall’s tract which preceded Oral to Australia and fanned opposition to him.

Stegall’s curiosity was piqued by the March 1952 issue of Healing Waters, which featured a cover picture of “three great medical doctors congratulating Oral Roberts.” Stegall and Donald Grey Barnhouse, noted conservative Presbyterian pastor in Philadelphia, addressed an inquiry to the American Medical Association that “brought the answer from their bureau of investigation that not one of the men mentioned … could be identified as doctors of medicine … One of the three men was found operating in Phoenix as a ‘naturopathic physician’ [meaning he was not a licensed medical doctor]. No organization headed by ‘Dr. J.H. Miller, an outstanding medical doctor and president of a medical society of over 20,000 physicians,’ was discovered.”

Stegall later attended a number of campaigns, interviewed Oral, and did some follow-up interviews with those who had passed through the healing line. He concluded that Oral was not “as bad as some others in the miracle business,” but found no basis to support his claims. “I have never seen a vestige of change. I challenge any honest investigator to follow my technique and see whether his findings do not agree with mine.” Stegall concluded: “So far from glorifying God with this they (the healing evangelists) cause His name to be blasphemed by the world by their excesses. So far from curing, they often kill. Far from blessing, their arrival in a city is rather a curse, a misery, a racket, a destruction of faith in simple people.” (David Edwin Harrell, Jr., Oral Roberts: An American Life (Indiana University Press, 1985), pp. 163,164)

Stegall’s assessment was followed by other reports which demonstrated the duplicity of Roberts’ ministry:
Writer John Kobler interviewed two individuals recommended to him by Roberts as “the most striking instances of cures” and reported that while both believed themselves healed, one had never visited a physician, and the other had subsequently undergone surgery to remove a cancer. W.E. Mann reported that a Toronto, Canada physician had examined thirty persons who passed through Oral’s healing line and found no case of healing “that could not be explained, in terms of psychological shock or straight hysteria.” At least one had died. Oral’s critics repeatedly charged that he “covered up his failures,” particularly because the television tapes were edited to show only the most favorable cases. (Oral Roberts: An American Life, p. 164)

Foreign Healings
Many of the stories of charismatic healings come to us from foreign lands, particularly from Africa. Popular healers report of amazing healings and miracles during their overseas crusades. We do not believe these reports. Consider the following testimony of a British medical doctor:
More recently my friend Duncan Leighton, an evangelist, obtained a Kodak traveling scholarship to go to Africa and America. He wrote an article entitled, ‘Signs? One Wonders,’ in which he tells of his own investigations of miraculous healings:

“In Africa in 1984, I followed the Derek Prince team through Zambia where they claimed thousands of miracle healings. We found none. Dr. Eric Rea examined one miracle leg-lengthening and pronounced it a hoax. My letter asking Mr. Prince for detailed information was passed down the line until it reached Brian Bentley who knew someone whose sinus was cured.”

Duncan Leighton then went to California where he looked at some of the healing groups there. Roger Ziegler, a Californian chiropractor who is a Christian man, said after one healing meeting, ‘Almost half the bad backs I deal with have already been healed in this place.’…

So many of the success stories which we hear amount to reporting from a distance, but the physicians on the spot see a different picture. Those who have read Canon Michael Green’s book, I Believe in the Holy Spirit, will know that he quotes instances of healing in Africa, in places where there had been great healing meetings. You may be interested to know the views of a missionary doctor who had been working in that area for many years.

 He wrote:

“During my career in this country from 1944, there have been many reported healings, particularly in the area on both sides of Lake Nyasa, now called Lake Malawi. The 1973 outbreak in the Dares Salaam area was the only one which I have heard of outside the Lake Nyasa area. All the outbreaks I have come across have followed the same pattern, that is, tremendous popularity initially with thousands of people being attracted to the meetings, followed by gradual thinning out of the attendance. When the popularity has waned the outbreak ends and the organisers move to another area. My own impression is that there is nothing to these healings, and that the initial popularity of the meetings decreases as the actual results become known. I have not come across a single case of undoubted cure proved by medical examination of the clinical condition before and after the alleged healing.” (Verna Wright, MD FRCP, “A Medical View of Miraculous Healing,” quoted by Dr. Peter Masters, he Healing Epidemic, pp. 215-224; Professor Wright is chief of rheumatology at Leeds University, England)

John Wimber
John Wimber is a popular healer of our day and holds signs and wonders seminars throughout the world. He claims healing is in the atonement and that God wants His people to be well and whole. He teaches that every Christian should learn to lay hands on the sick and expect to see them healed. In a message at the North American Congress on the Holy Spirit & World Evangelization, held August 16, 1990, in Indianapolis, Wimber said this:

And after he has given you his Son, why would he withhold healing from you? He’s given you the most precious thing he had, the Father. … he’s torn his very Son out of his heart and sent him to earth, that he might die for you. Why would he withhold healing from you? A simple thing like physical healing?

Up in heaven the angels rejoice when they see the servants of God on earth doing the deeds of the Son and ministering in the power of the kingdom. … I believe right now that the Lord is releasing healing angels among us and that they are here to minister on his behalf, and that these ministering angels are here for the purposes of God to unfold and be completed, and that the task of God might be accomplished.

Yet when Wimber’s healing movement is examined, it quickly becomes clear that his success rate is pathetically small. He even admits this.
Five medical doctors attended a Wimber healing crusade in Leeds, England, and made the following assessment:
All the five doctors, one of whom is a leading psychiatrist in England came to one diagnosis: “[It was] a very expert performance containing all the textbook characteristics of the induction of hypnosis. are very likely in the short term to respond to this treatment. Relief of pain as in dental extraction or childbirth is relatively commonplace with hypnosis. In the Wimber team’s meeting we saw no change that suggested any healing of organic, physical disease. … To encourage techniques which produce hypnosis and hysteria, and to teach that one is learning how to exercise Kingdom rule over demons, disease and nature is false; it is a misrepresentation.

This conclusion was concurred with by Dr. Verna Wright, chief of rheumatology at Leeds University, England.
Recently John Wimber was in Leeds where he conducted in St. George’s church one of his evening meetings. Five of my colleagues who go to that church were present. They were so incensed by what they saw that they afterwards wrote an account of their reactions [quoted above].
I cannot emphasize my agreement with this conclusion too strongly. All the detailed analyses which have been made of healing claims over the years have failed to produce evidence of cure being achieved, except for the kind of disorders which in medicine we call functional states.(Dr. S.H. Tow, Read-Pray-Grow, Holy Spirit III (Banner Publications: Singapore, May 1988).>
During a question and answer session in Australia in March 1990, Wimber was asked about the success rate of his healing ministry. His answer was interesting. He admitted that not all diseases are equally responsive to his healing ministry. He claimed a high success rate for headaches and backaches, but admitted that he cannot heal mongolism. Of the 200 Down syndrome children Wimber has prayed over, none have been healed. Though he claimed one of these has reached the lower end of the normal range in educational achievement, doctors say this is not remarkable. (Phillip D. Jensen, “John Wimber Changes His Mind!” The Protestant Review, July 1990).

In other words, Wimber can “heal” sicknesses which are unobservable–and therefore untestable–but he cannot heal observable disease. Friends, this is bogus. The Lord Jesus Christ healed every form of disease; no one was turned away; all were healed. Christ never failed to heal. Today’s “faith healers” simply cannot heal like this. They do not have special gifts. None of them do.

If healing is in the atonement, as the healers say, and if God is giving the sign gifts of healing today, why can’t the great faith healers heal! The fact that they can’t negates their claims.

FALSE MIRACLES IN THE LAST DAYS

According to many charismatic teachers, the modern sign gift movement is a fulfillment of prophecy. They teach that a revival of sign gifts is prophesied before the coming of Christ. 

Not only is this not true; it is exactly contrary to what the Bible actually teaches about the last hours of this age. Scripture doesn’t foretell a revival of miracle sign gifts in the churches. Just the opposite. The Scripture prophecies of a leavening apostasy which will grow within the lump of Christendom until the whole is leavened (Matt. 13:33). The mystery of iniquity will increase over the course of the church age until the final revelation of the great Harlot of the seventeenth chapter of Revelation. 2 Tim. 3:13 warns that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” This is a prophecy of increasing apostasy, not of revival.
The signs and wonders spoken of for the last hours are deceiving signs. Consider some Scriptures:
“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Matt. 24:24
“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.” 2 Thess. 2:7-9
“And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast…” Rev. 13:13-14

In light of these warnings it is crucial that the Christian be wary of any signs or wonders movement in these last hours. The signs and wonders movement prophesied in Scripture for the hours prior to Christ’s return is one of demonic deception.

TWO KINDS OF FAITH

“And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: AND OTHERS had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented.” Heb. 11:32-37

There are two kinds of faith mentioned in this passage in Hebrews–overcoming and enduring. Some heroes of the Bible overcame sickness and troubles by faith, but others whose faith was just as real were not delivered from their troubles. Yet all find their place equally in the record of God’s heroes of faith.

We all want overcoming faith, but it simply is not always God’s will to give deliverance. Many times we are given faith rather to endure sickness or problems for God’s glory.

God’s Word, then, does not guarantee physical healing for Christians. Sometimes He heals; sometimes He does not. This is the clear example of the New Testament and is the honest experience of godly Christians of every century. God sometimes has purposes in our sicknesses, and as long as we are in this body we will be subject to infirmities, weaknesses, disease, old age, death.

The teaching which says God always heals if we pray in true faith has resulted in much confusion, for it is a cruel error. Many have believed this false idea and have become discouraged and confused when God did not heal. It is crucial to understand exactly what God promises and does not promise about faith and healing. We must rightly divide the Word of God.

I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES

Some might be protesting all of this, saying, “You just don’t believe in the miracle-working power of God.” That accusation is not true. I believe in a miracle-working God.

You see, I DO believe in miracles. My God can do anything. He created the world in six days. He destroyed the ancient world by a great flood. He parted the Red Sea so the millions of the children of Israel marched through on dry ground. He brought Jesus into this world through the womb of a virgin. He died on the cross for my sins, and He rose from the dead the third day! He has saved multitudes of all nationalities from eternal hell and brought them into the kingdom of His dear Son.

My God can do ANYTHING. But my God also does what He wants when He wants! And He isn’t flooding the world today, nor is He parting the Red Sea today, nor is He dying on a cross today. And He is not giving a new Pentecost today. That part of His glorious plan has been accomplished, and He is marching on toward the End.

My friends, I want to march in step with God. We must be satisfied with what He IS doing, not carnally seeking after that which He has done in the past and that which we WISH He would do!

I can still hear the protests, though, saying, “Yea, you just believe in miracles for the past, not for today.” That’s not true, either. I have personally experienced some wonderful physical healings in answer to prayer. I have experienced all sorts of miracles, in fact, since I was converted in 1973. I couldn’t count the miraculous answers to prayer I’ve witnessed from the hand of God.
And we fellowship with Christians who believe in the power of God. An example is Paul Timmerman, a deacon in our church. This brother knows about the power and blessing of God today. Recently he told me of a miraculous healing he experienced when he was flying seaplanes in the Coast Guard, and I asked him to share that for our readers:

Hello, I’m Paul Timmerman. I give the following as testimony of the great power that our God has to heal a person. I personally have had several instances of divine healing in my life that were just plain miracles that could be explained no other way. These were attested to by federal medical personnel and flight surgeons, and the healings that I have had are a matter of my own military record.

The one that I would like to share for this moment happened in 1971, when I was serving with the United States Coast Guard. I was stationed at Port Angeles, Washington, [at the] Coast Guard Air Station there, flying seaplanes and single engine helicopters at that time. While stationed there, I developed a very sore wrist condition, whereby the use of my hands was badly impaired, and I had growths on the insides of my wrists that started growing up and came about a half an inch high or so on each wrist. It would keep my wrist from moving, became very painful, and the doctors checked it out, and, after X-raying and all, said that it was a tissue growth called a ganglian. They tried several different medical ways to remove them, and to stop the growth of them, and to give me back the use of my wrists, and these methods failed. So they sent me to a specialist at the Army hospital, Madigan General Hospital, Fort Lewis, Washington. There the medical staff again X-rayed and examined my wrists and set up the date for surgery because there was no other alternative that they had at that point to remove the growths that were quite visible, and very sore, and hindering the use of my hands. They set up the surgery date, and the day before my surgery I had to report to the hospital for prepping, for pre-surgery examination. And the surgeons examined again the X-rays and my wrists, and saw the extent of the damage, and prepared me for surgery for the following day.

However, that evening, after the doctors left, I was in my hospital bed there waiting, studying my Bible, and just relying on the promises of the Lord, and I turned sincerely to the Lord and asked Him–knowing full well He had the power to heal through surgeons or through divine healing–and I just asked Him to work a miracle, and take these away, that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ would be magnified and glorified throughout that hospital, due to the miracle that had been worked.

In the morning, much to the surprise of the doctors when they came in, the growths were completely gone from my wrists. I had full use of my hands, my wrists. And to this day, almost 20 years later, I have never had a recurrence of this phenomenon on my wrists. The doctors then were totally baffled by what happened, thinking perhaps they had the wrong patient or whatever. I simply witnessed for the Lord Jesus Christ and told them that I had asked the Lord to work a miracle a night before if it be His will, knowing full well that He could, and that He had decided that it was for the glory and honor of Jesus Christ that He did. And He healed me that night, and like I say, it has never recurred. I went about the hospital just praising the Lord Jesus Christ and glorifying His name, telling others about Him, witnessing the great miracle that took place there. And the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ went throughout that hospital to many military men, and the doctors, of course, had nothing to say but that they certainly had done nothing to change that, but that condition was totally healed.

Isn’t that a blessing! You don’t have to follow charismatic errors to believe in the power and blessing of God.

I believe in miracles for today. But friends, I also believe the Bible, and I refuse to force the Bible to say what I want it to say. The Bible tells me that the miracles of Christ and the Apostles were unique and were not something that will be duplicated by Christians in general. The Bible tells me that God does not always heal. The Bible tells me that sickness and trouble can be a blessing from Him. The Bible says that faith is more important than miracles. The Bible says that kingdom power and glory is yet future, and will flow through the world when Christ returns–not before. The Bible warns that the end times will be characterized by deceiving signs and wonders.
We close with the words of Fanny Crosby about the matter of health. This godly woman was blind all her life, yet she did not demand that God heal her; she did not believe that the devil had afflicted her with the blindness; she did not rebuke the devil for her trouble; she did not doubt God because He chose not to heal her. She had a different testimony:

O what a happy soul am I!
Although I cannot see
I am resolved that in this world
Contented I will be.

How many blessings I enjoy,
That other people don’t.
To weep and sigh because I’m blind,
I cannot, and I won’t.
–Fanny Crosby