I have listened to several sermons by Pastor Wendell and their doctrine on healing has been pretty well laid out in the healing series. I agree with them that healing is for today and that God can miraculously heal today just as Jesus during His earthly ministry. I believe all healing comes from the Lord.
In listening to their sermons and it seems they feel a need to give God a PR job regarding healing. While giving their sermons they say God is a good God, and because He is good he wants to heal everyone in this life and because He is good He will never put sickness on anyone. It seems to me that they have said if God makes people sick, then He is not good. Also, if God does not desire to heal everyone in the here and now, then He is not good. Below are the reasons I think their definition of good needs to be conformed to the bible.
STATEMENT ONE: God will never, ever put sickness on anyone.
To see this is false, all we need to do is read a little bit of the Bible.
- What did God say the punishment for Israel was for not carefully observing His words?
“If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, then the LORD will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses. Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.” Deuteronomy 28:58-60
It sounds like God will make them sick…
- In Numbers, God sent a plague that killed 14,700 of the Israelites for complaining against Moses and Aaron.
- In 2 Samuel 24 God sent a plague on Israel because David performed a census of the people that killed 70,000 people.
- God struck Uzziah with leprosy for burning incense in the temple in 2 Chronicles 26:19-21.
- In the New Testament we find Christians becoming sick because of the judgment of the Lord regarding communion. See 1 Corinthians 11:29-31. Paul says if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. The only judge I know of is God.
- In Acts 5 we read of Ananias and Sapphira (Christians) who are killed by the Lord for lying to the Spirit. I would rather catch a cold that be killed.
- In Acts 13:7-11 Paul struck blindness (through the power of the Holy Spirit) on a sorcerer.
It does not take much time to see that God does put sickness on people in His sovereignty. His ways are higher than our ways, and if we don’t like an attribute of God we should not make up things contrary to how God has revealed Himself to us. I think the 2nd commandment says something about making a god in another likeness.
One analogy they use is that ‘good earthly father’ analogy that goes something like this - “what father would put sickness on their children to teach them a lesson”. The obvious answer to this is - none. But if we think about it a little further, we see that God’s main purpose isn’t to make us comfortable, but to conform us to the image of His Son. Just as parents send their children to chicken pox parties to make them immune so later in life they won’t get the disease and perhaps die, why wouldn’t God let us get sick or injured if the end result is that we are more sanctified and made closer to the likeness of His Son? What is our main goal here? To live a pain-free life or to be more like Christ?
STATEMENT TWO: It is God’s will that everyone be healed.
The main contention I have with this is that the Bible does not say this plainly anywhere. Yes, God is the God who heals us, and yes God does heal today. The problem with the idea that it is God’s will to heal everyone is that not everyone is healed. Many Christians die of sickness and disease, so does that mean God is not powerful enough to heal them? That is absolutely not the case. The only other option we have then is that we are not doing something right to get healed (lack of faith).
I think the statement above is a sad one to make at a church. They do not think through the true ramifications of their doctrine and the faith of many become shipwrecked. Those who are not healed think they do not have enough faith to be healed…do they have enough faith to be saved?
I think the City Church answer to this is comical. They quote Deuteronomy 29:29
The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
They are saying that when Christians die of sickness that since we know it is God’s will to heal everyone that when God does not heal a Christian who is praying for healing that God made a “secret things” decision.
Let me translate what they are saying “IT IS NOT GODS WILL TO HEAL EVERYONE”. They just don’t want to say it. They want a feel good God who is looking out for our health and wealth, so they make contradictory statements to keep the god who pleases them. If God decides in the “secret things” to not heal someone…it is not His will to heal them.
What is our hope then?
Our hope is in the resurrection of the dead. This world is filled with sin, and sickness and death is the result of a sin filled world. There is not condemnation on the sick, they are just dealing with the outcome of sin in our world (disease and death). If we are sick or healthy we need to continually examine our life in the light of scripture to see if we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). If we are sick, we should pray for healing and go to the elders for prayer (James 5:14).
Jesus Christ will come again and abolish all sickness and death. We will have a new resurrected body not tainted by sin, disease and death. We should have our eyes on the prize, eternal life. I think Paul said it well:
Philippians 3:10-12
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Peaching that God wants to heal everyone is a good way to fill the pews and get people riled up, but it is not true to scripture.
I think Cameron did a good job explaining the healing verses used by the pastors of the City Church in the following article, it debunks their use of 1 Peter 2:24 and it explains why healing is not guaranteed with communion.
Read The Lord’s Supper at Cameron’s Blog.
To end, I would like to say I do believe God still heals today and there are many miracles done by His hand. That is a statement to refute the claim Pastor Wendell makes that I am an “unbelieving believer”.