Its interesting to note the content of the apostle’s preaching in the New Testament. They did not preach “divine healing” as such, though they certainly were used mightily by God in healing. They preached Christ as the crucified and risen Lord and Savior and summoned people to turn to God in repentance and faith. Having said this, I believe healing can certainly be a means whereby God opens people’s hearts bringing attention to His reality, in order to draw people to Himself.
Signs are meant to point to something. A road sign is put up to point people in a certain direction. The sign is not something to be wondered at or marvelled at. Its whole purpose is to point people to something other than itself.
Not all signs should be followed. If someone in Dallas, Texas (in central southern USA) wishes to get to Los Angeles (to the west), he should avoid signs that point to Florida (to the east). There are false signs and lying wonders just as there are true signs that are ordained by God. Peter spoke of “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” (Acts 10:38) God has often used signs, both in the Old Testament and the New, to point people to Himself as the one true God and to the Lord Jesus Christ, and especially to Christ’s substitutionary work on the cross for sinners.
The sign is never meant to take the place of the cross; just the opposite; its whole purpose is to point people to it. In the same way, Divine healing is a sign of God’s great heart of compassion for sinners and is meant to point people to the cross, where Christ crushed the powers of sin, death, hell and the grave.
Healing is not the gospel, but is meant to point people to it. The gospel is Christ Himself, His Person and His work, which includes His virgin birth, His sinless life pleasing the Father, fulfilling every requirement of the law of God in thought, word and deed, as well as His substitutionary death on behalf of sinners on the cross, as well as His triumphant resurrection. The Gospel includes all that He achieved because of this, and especially that although all of us have commited high and cosmic treason against God because of our sin, He has shown His great love for the world. Based on the God breathed Scriptures alone, sinners are brought into right standing with Himself (justified) by grace alone, through faith alone, in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, all to the glory of God alone. All those who put their trust in Christ as Lord will find Him to be the perfect Savior; He will save them completely for they will in no way perish but instead have everlasting life.
As wonderful as any testimony of healing is, unless it is accompanied by the gospel, it is like a sign without information; utterly useless. Jesus said, “what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?” I would also ask, “What does it profit a man if he gains healing for his entire body, if he then loses his soul? and what does it profit a man should he see even the dead raised to life, if he does not hear the only gospel that saves?”
Romans 10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Though I do not doubt God’s ability to raise even the dead, I do wish the Church at large would herald the one true biblical gospel and I very much wish it was present in this video clip (below).
After a massive heart attack took this man’s life, the cardiologist felt an overwhelming urge to pray over his body.
Man-centered. Sigh.
Brother John, This is thought provoking and being the hopeless skeptic that I am I just had to follow up on Dr. Chauncy Crandall’s story. I do believe that God can and does miracles when He choses. I witnessed before my eyes a miraculous healing of our firstborn which totally baffled his doctor. And God spared me from what should have been a fatal injury to which the surgeon looked at me squarely and stated that my survival was “miraculous”. God can surely do whatever He wants whenever He wants.
But I have to wonder why this Dr, (whose credentials bore out), would be capitalizing on a book about this story. I can understand how he might be eager to share God’s love through this sensational story, but when I listened to the trailer for his book “Raising The Dead” on his webiste, he makes this statement:
“ God’s intention through Jesus Christ to save and eventually heal everyone”
Given this story was also being promoted by Pat Robertson I have to wonder what kind of theological message comes out of such a book and message. The above quotation smacks of universalism to me.
I can’t help but remember Abraham’s words to the rich man in Hades:
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Loved all that you had to say. As to the video, “Buyer Beware” comes to mind.
Blessings!
Hi Diane,
Its wonderful to learn of the dramatic answers to pray you have experienced. I do not doubt your testimony for even a second. Surely our God is all powerful!
I fully understand your concern. Though I am not a fan of most Christian television ministers, I like to give the benefit of the doubt to people unless it is absolutely impossible to do otherwise. Its important to seek to differentiate between explicit statements and implicit ones. If someone explicitly states universalism and there is no other way to interpret the words, then of course, there is no alternative before us but to classify the person as a universalist. However, an implication may suggest universalism, but it could indeed be that further rading of the author would show us that we had misunderstood their words. An implication MAY point us in one direction but by definition, an implication does not NECESSARILY mean that we have to interpret the words that way.
You quote the statement, “God’s intention through Jesus Christ to save and eventually heal everyone” and your interpretation of this as being a statement promoting universalism COULD indeed by correct. However, it can also be merely an poorly stated Arminian expression, suggesting that God desires all to be saved and healed. I would not agree with Arminianism but at the same time, believe those who hold an Arminian position are still within the bounds of Christian orthodoxy and are not actually heretical.
Do you see my point? Though I am in no way Arminian, I do understand that Arminians are indeed Christians. By way of instance, for the first two decades of my Christian experience I myself was an Arminian (though I would never have used the term myself). I would have had no problem saying “God desires the salvation of everyone and wants to heal them,” but I would in no way have meant universalism by that, for I would say that although God desires all people’s salvation, many will indeed resist God and He will let them resist His will all the way to hell. I tend to think this might be what was intended by the statement you quote, although perhaps, if I were to read more of the author’s writings and find universalism clearly and explicitly presented, I would then have no option but to conclude that his statement was indeed meant to portray universalism.
Hi John,
Yeah, you’re right, and I apologize. That was a pretty dumb thing to say without clarification. But I did only say that it “smacked” of universalism. 🙂 I shouldn’t have said universalism, rather I should have said inclusivism. I think that wider mercy theology has gained such momentum the past decade that I guess my antennas may just be up a bit too high.
I said this because the way the statement was made in the trailer for the book just struck me as being potentially more off than just a typical Arminian type of statement. (of which I also was in my early Christian life ) But still, I shouldn’t judge someone’s theology when I haven’t even read the book!
These kinds of stories have such a big impact on so many people and hopefully for the good. But like you I can’t help but be concerned about how the Gospel is being presented along with them – which, I felt was the message you also were trying to convey in the post.
I stand (or sit in this case) corrected. 🙂
Hi Diane,
Thanks for all your insights.. they are sincerely appreciated.
Here I sit, I can do no other… 🙂