THE FALSE DOCTRINE THAT HEALING IS IN THE ATONEMENT

 September 20, 2006 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist  Information  Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061,  866-295-4143,  [email protected]; for instructions about subscribing  and  unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the  information paragraph at  the end of the article) -

  The following is an excerpt from our new 317-page book  The  Pentecostal-Charismatic Movement: Its History and  Error, available  from Way of Life Literature:

  A central teaching of the Pentecostal-Charismatic  movement is the  false doctrine that physical healing is promised in  this present life  by the atonement of Jesus Christ.

  "The sacrifice of Christ provided not only for the  salvation of the  souls of men but also for the healing of man's  physical ailments.  Divine healing is healing accomplished by the power of  God and is  available to all who believe. the same as salvation"  (Church of God  of Prophecy Beliefs).

  "When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He redeemed us  from the curse  of the law--poverty, sickness and spiritual death. For  spiritual  death, Jesus gave us eternal life, for sickness,  divine healing and  health, and for poverty, wealth" (Rodney  Howard-Browne, The Touch of  God: A Practical Workbook, Volume 2, p. 55).

  Isaiah 53:5 is often quoted as a proof text for this.

  "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was  bruised for our  iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon  him; and with his  stripes we are healed."

  The apostle Peter applied Isaiah 53:5 to salvation  from sin. Thus,  the healing spoken of in Isaiah 53:5 is spiritual  healing of the soul  from sin.

  "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" (1 Pet. 2:24).

  Isaiah 53:5 is quoted in Matthew 8:17, in connection  with Christ's  healing ministry, but this does not support the  teaching that  Christ's death guarantees physical healing for the  believer. The Lord  Jesus Christ did not heal to provide an example for  Christians to  follow. His healing miracles were for the purpose of  authenticating  His Messiahship (Lk. 7:19-23; Jn 5:36; 6:14; 7:31;  9:30-32; 10:37-38;  11:42; 14:10-11; 15:24; 20:30-31; Acts 2:22). 

  The New Testament gives the following three examples  that  conclusively prove that God does not always heal the  believer's  sicknesses.

  THE CASE OF TIMOTHY. Timothy was sick frequently and  the apostle Paul  instructed him to use a little wine for his stomach's  sake and his  often infirmities (1 Tim. 5:23). God did not heal  Timothy  supernaturally or permanently from his sickness nor  did he instruct  Timothy to curse his illnesses or to exercise "the  word of faith"  over them.

  THE CASE OF TROPHIMUS. In 2 Timothy 4:20 we learn that  another of  Paul's co-workers, Trophimus, was left behind in  Miletum sick. He was  not supernaturally healed.

  THE CASE OF PAUL. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 describes the  apostle Paul's  affliction. Three times he asked God to take away this  problem, but  the Bible says God refused to do so. Paul was told  that this  infirmity was something God wanted him to have for his  spiritual well  being. 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 and release  from trials and difficulties, but when God does not  heal, we must bow  to His will and accept that sickness or trial as  something from the  divine hand. This is not lack of faith; it is  submission to the  sovereignty of Almighty God. Some Pentecostals have  argued that  Paul's infirmity was not a sickness, but the Greek  word translated  "infirmity" in 2 Cor. 12:9 (astheneia) is elsewhere  translated  "sickness" (Mat. 8:17; Jn. 11:4) and "disease" (Acts  28:9). To say  that Paul's infirmity in 2 Corinthians 12 was not a  sickness is not  proper biblical interpretation but an act of  desperation.

  God's choicest servants throughout church history have  suffered many  sicknesses:

  Many of the famous hymns were written by sick people.  The following  had tuberculosis for much of their lives and died of  it: William  Bradbury, who wrote "He Leadeth Me"; August Toplady,  who wrote "Rock  of Ages"; Philipp Doddridge, who wrote "Oh Happy Day";  and Sarah  Flower Adams, who wrote "Nearer My God to Thee."

  Isaac Watts, who wrote "When I Survey the Wondrous  Cross," "Marching  to Zion," and "Joy to the World," suffered all his  life.

  "Joseph Scribben, who wrote "What a Friend We Have in  Jesus," had  tragedy and sickness all his life.

  Frank Graff, who wrote "Does Jesus Care," was sick  most of his life.

  Fanny Crosby, who wrote "Saved by Grace" and "Safe in  the Arms of  Jesus" and many other popular hymns, was blind from  birth, blind for  95 years. Instead of rebuking her affliction or  exercising "the word  of faith" over it, she wisely testified:

  "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."

  Robert Murray McCheyne and David Brainard, who had a  reputation for  holiness and zeal for God's will, both died from lung  disease at the  age of 30.

  Today God does heal in answer to prayer after the  manner of JAMES 5:13-15.

  "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any  merry? let him sing  psalms. 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" (Jam. 5:13-15).

  This passage describes a private healing situation  rather than a  public healing meeting and it says nothing about  someone who has the  gift of healing; it refers simply to the elders of the  church.

  James 5 describes the method of healing that is  effective throughout  the church age, but to say that James 5 guarantees  healing in every  circumstance is contrary to the cases we have seen in  the New  Testament in which God did not heal sickness. 

  I want to state unequivocally that I believe in divine  healing  through prayer. I have experienced such healing, and I  know many  Christian friends who have experienced the same.

  Let me give one example. This is the testimony of my  friend Paul  Timmerman, pastor of First Baptist Church of  Worcester, Johnstown,  New York. He experienced a miraculous healing when he  was co-piloting  seaplanes in the Coast Guard and he wrote it down for  me in 1990.

  "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 sea planes 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 ganglia. 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 in 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 reoccurrence of this phenomena 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 reoccurred. I went about the  hospital just praising  the Lord Jesus Christ and glorifying His name, telling  others about  Him, witnessing to 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."

  Further, it is important to understand that the  Pentecostal-Charismatic healers cannot heal after the  fashion of  Jesus Christ and the apostles. There is not one  example in the  Gospels or the book of Acts wherein Christ or the  apostles attempted  to heal and failed. They could heal any and all  diseases.

  It is important to understand that the  Pentecostal-Charismatic  healers cannot heal after the fashion of Jesus Christ  and the  apostles. Their talk about living "book of Acts  Christianity" is  nothing more than talk. G.H. Montgomery, former editor  of Oral  Roberts' Abundant Life magazine, testified: "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" (Montgomery,  The Enemies of  the Cross).

  In the section on the history of Pentecostalism we saw  many examples  of "faith healers" who cannot heal. The healing  ministries of John  Dowie, Charles Parham, Smith Wigglesworth, Aimee  Semple McPherson,  Kathryn Kuhlman, William Braham, Jack Coe, Charles  Price, Oral  Roberts, Morris Cerullo, Charles and Frances Hunter,  Kenneth Hagin,  John Wimber and others were examined and found to be  bogus.

  The case of Smith Wigglesworth can stand for all of  the other  Pentecostal faith healers, because he is considered  one of the  greatest of them. He taught that God promises perfect  physical  wholeness, that the Christian has the power to command  things into  being, and that the Christian can operate in the same  sign gifts that  Jesus Christ exhibited. Even so, very few of those who  sought  Wigglesworth's healing ministrations were ever healed.  His own wife  died six years after he became a Pentecostal and his  son died two  years after that. His daughter, who assisted in his  meetings, was  never healed of her deafness. For three years  Wigglesworth himself  suffered with gallstones. We who understand that  physical healing is  not PROMISED for this present time know that such  things are part of  God's sovereign plan and we are not confused by these  events. God  often heals in answer to prayer, but He does not  always heal.  According to the doctrine that physical healing is  guaranteed in the  atonement and is a part of the gospel, though, the  things that  happened to Wigglesworth should not have occurred.  Those who hold  this doctrine tell us that sickness is never a  blessing of God, that  it is of the devil, that it has been defeated on the  cross. According  to his own doctrine, Wigglesworth's daughter should  have been healed  of her deafness, his gallstones should have been  supernaturally  removed, his wife should have been healed of the  sickness that took  her life when she was but a young woman, and his son  should have been  healed of the sickness that took him away in  childhood.

  Jamie Buckingham is a more recent example. He wrote 40  books that  sold some 20 million copies and was an editor for the  influential  Charisma magazine. In June 1990, after he was  diagnosed with cancer,  Buckingham's wife and some prominent charismatic  leaders prophesied  that he would be healed. Buckingham said that God  spoke to him while  he was in the shower and told him that he was going to  live to be "at  least 100 years of age in good health and with clear  mind, creating  and producing until the day I die in my own bed." The  October 1990  issue of Charisma featured an article entitled  "Healed!" describing  Buckingham's alleged healing. The April 1991 issue of  Charisma  featured "My Summer of Miracles," in which Buckingham  again described  his miracle healing. Ten months later, on February 17,  1992, Jamie  Buckingham died, about 40 years shy of the 100 that he  said God had  promised him.

  ROMANS 8:22-25 reminds us that we will not receive our  glorified  state until Christ returns. Until then we are subject  to the trouble  and death of this sin-cursed world, and that includes  sickness.

  "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."

  [This article is excerpted from the new book THE  PENTECOSTAL-CHARISMATIC MOVEMENTS: THE HISTORY AND THE  ERROR. I have  been examining and re-examining the  Pentecostal-Charismatic movements  for more than three decades since I was led to Christ  by a  Pentecostal in 1973 and began to seek God's will about  tongues-speaking and the miraculous gifts of the early  churches. I  have built a large library of materials on this  subject and have  interviewed Pentecostals and Charismatics and attended  their churches  in many parts of the world. I have also attended large  Charismatic  conferences with press credentials. I have approached  these studies  with an open mind in the sense of having a commitment  only to the  truth and not to anyone's tradition. I am a member of  an independent  Baptist church but Baptist doctrine and practice is  not my authority;  the Bible is. Each fresh evaluation of the  Pentecostal-Charismatic  movement has brought an increased conviction that it  is unscriptural  and dangerous. This book begins with my own experience  with the  Pentecostal movement. The next section deals with the  history of the  Pentecostal movement, beginning with a survey of  miraculous signs  from the second to the 18th centuries. We then examine  the movements  in the 19th century that led up to the creation of  Pentecostalism and  the outbreak of "tongues-speaking" at Charles Parham's  Bible school  in Topeka, Kansas, in 1901, and at William Seymour's  Azusa Street  Mission in Los Angeles in 1906. We examine some of the  major  Pentecostal denominations, the Latter Rain Covenent,  the major  Pentecostal healing evangelists, the Sharon Schools  and the New Order  of the Latter Rain, the Manifest Sons of God, the  Word-Faith movement  and its key leaders, the Charismatic Movement, the  Roman Catholic  Charismatic Renewal, the Pentecostal Prophets, the  Third Wave, and  the recent Pentecostal scandals. We conclude the  historical section  with a look at the Laughing Revival. In the last  section of the book  we deal with the theological errors of the  Pentecostal-Charismatic  movements (exalting experience over Scripture,  emphasis on the  miraculous, Messianic and apostolic miracles can be  reproduced, the  baptism of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of fire,  exalting the Holy  Spirit, tongues speaking is for today, sinless  perfectionism, healing  is guaranteed in the atonement, spirit slaying, spirit  drunkenness,  visions of Jesus, trips to heaven, women preachers,  and ecumenism).  The final section of the book answers the question:  "Why are people  deluded by Pentecostal-Charismatic error?" David and  Tami Lee, former  Pentecostals, after reviewing a section of the book  said: "Very well  done!  We pray God will use it to open the eyes of  many and to help  keep many of His children out of such deception." And  Mary Keating,  also a former Charismatic, said, "The book is  excellent and I have no  doubt whatever that the Lord is going to use it in a  mighty way.  Amen!!" 317 pages. $9.95. Way of Life Literature, P.O.  Box 610368,  Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143]