The Great Omission, Part 6:

Mark 16:18; “..they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover”.

Now we get to the final, and arguably most debated and controversial part of this entire study. And, once again, we run headlong into a passage that gives us as believers a command with a promise attached to it. This is not a suggestion, not merely a good idea, but a mandate.

Let’s take a closer look. They WILL lay hands on the sick. “They” speaks not of the apostles of that day and age, but of ALL subsequent believers, up to and including you and I. Use of the word “will” clearly indicates a command or a mandate and not merely a passing suggestion. It goes on to offer both us and those we lay hands on a promise for our obedience to God’s command; and they WILL recover.

So, to get a clearer picture, lets restate that passage the following way. They (the believers) will (obedience to God’s command and not an option) lay hands on the sick, and they (the sick) will (the promise in exchange for the obedience) recover. Pretty amazing and powerful stuff.

Have you ever obeyed God’s command to “lay hands on the sick”? What was the result?

Flamboyant TV preachers, often dubbed “faith healers” have gotten a bad rep over the years and this has also caused the whole notion and concept of divine, miraculous healing to take a hit as well. Undeservedly so.

I can’t speak for any others, but back in the 70’s, my dad had an encounter with probably the most famous of all “faith healers”, Oral Roberts. My dad told him he admired his ministry and what he did. Bro. Roberts said this “Jim, thank you for that, but you must know, I have NEVER healed anyone in and of myself or my own strength. I can’t. I am not capable. I am thankful that the Lord has blessed me and trusted me enough to be a channel of His healing power to this generation.” All healing comes from God, not men.

Oral Roberts was a man of God whose heart was in the right place. How dare agenda driven individuals, even some so-called Christian ministers, make fun of him and others who believe accordingly and thus make a mockery of God in the process. Just because someone may not agree with his style or that of Benny Hinn or anyone else with a healing ministry, this does in no way invalidate their ministry nor the concept of divine healing. In fact, depending upon who it is that so vehemently disagrees with it, may in fact lend more credibility to them. We are known by those who support us, but we are defined by those who oppose us.

Have opinions about TV faith healers shaped or affected in any way, your belief or disbelief in miraculous, divine healing?

The undeserved bad rap healing gets from the media and society at large because of the TV preachers is not its biggest or even most pervasive obstacle. It is resistance and opposition from others who also call themselves believers. I have often wondered how someone can honestly and sincerely call him or herself a believer when they willingly choose to reject or disbelieve certain parts God’s Word just because it doesn’t fit in their comfort zone. They are partial believers at best.

Its one thing if a person is a new Christian and has not grown in their faith enough to know what to believe beyond salvation, but for those who have been believers for years, even decades, to reject and ignore parts of the scripture and claim to be believers makes no sense to me. Either ALL of the Bible is true, relevant, and applicable to our lives today in some form or fashion, or none of it is. We don’t get to pick and choose or cherry pick the parts we like and discard the rest.

And, healing in today’s time cannot be explained away. There is no expiration date in the Bible for any of God’s miraculous wonders and if anyone tells you there is scripture that says so, they are lying to prop up their own misguided agenda. Demand that they give you chapter and verse. They will no doubt, instead of pointing you to the Bible, point you to some obscure book somewhere written by someone no one has ever heard of or who has zero credibility. This begs the question, who is more trustworthy, God, or some random guy?

Have you or anyone you know been victimized by false teaching that claims God no longer heals people today?

Many of today’s mainstream churches have adopted or embraced what is called cessationist theology. In other words, they believe that ALL miraculous signs and wonders ceased to occur with the involvement of human beings, at the death of the last apostle. They ceased. This is wrong on so many levels and we will look at some of them in the next few paragraphs.

There may be a tiny bit of wiggle room given one’s definition of what is and is not a miracle. These people can readily accept the “miracle” of birth, but not of divine healing. Maybe they don’t consider the birth of a child a miracle.

They can also wholeheartedly acknowledge and embrace a doctor’s role in someone’s healing, but not the role of a believer who believes God and obeys His Word. Sounds like selective belief to me.

Do you believe there is still in this day and age a human component to God’s miraculous works? Why or why not?

Think carefully about your answer to the previous question. If you said no, then what about salvation? Is salvation not a miracle? There has to be a human component there. Someone (a human) has to share the gospel with a lost person (another human). That is how God chooses to operate in EVERYTHING He does, through us. You would not be saved today if someone, whether a friend, family member, church staff, whoever had not shared the gospel with you at some time in your life. You may have been alone when you actually prayed the prayer to accept Christ, but there was human involvement before that. Ready to rethink your answer now?

You may be asking, other than the assertion that both healing and salvation are miracles of God, what does one have to do with the other? I’m glad you asked. Let’s look at Isaiah 53:5 for a bit.

As you will see, this passage, a prophecy from the prophet Isaiah, inexplicably links salvation and healing to Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross. There is no way around it. The same selfless act that bought and paid for our salvation, covered our sins in the Blood of Christ, also bought and paid for our healing. The work is already done! All we have to do to be saved is accept the work He did and the salvation it purchased, and claim it as our own. All we have to do to be healed is acknowledge that the same act that gave us eternal life, also provided for our healing, and claim the healing as our own.

It really is that simple. It ain’t rocket science. Yet for decades, preachers, teachers, and so-called theologians have tried to pass it off as one the great mysteries of the faith that we can’t possibly understand. It actually takes more effort, energy, and dare I say even more faith to NOT believe in healing than it does to believe. And that is the mystery to me. How someone can accept salvation, but reject healing when both were paid for by Jesus’ blood at His crucifixion.

Do you find it easier to believe, or to disbelieve in healing through what we have covered so far?

God is a kind, caring, and compassionate God, and has made a way for those who, for whatever reason don’t believe in miraculous healing, to be healed anyway. That’s why we have doctors, medicine, and medical procedures. As I stated way back, no human being can EVER heal another human being. Any doctor worthy of his lab coat and Hippocratic oath will acknowledge God’s hand in every thing they do. There are always going to be the egocentric, self-centered types who believe, and in some cases even assert that THEY ARE GOD. These clowns though are irrelevant. Just as no TV faith healer has ever healed anyone in and of himself by his own power or capability, neither has any doctor. All healing comes from God, He just sometimes chooses to use different methods of delivery.

One final way God sometimes chooses to heal people is through what I call the ultimate healing. That is when a born again believer dies and goes to spend eternity in Heaven and gets his glorified body. A body that will never again ever experience pain, sickness of any kind, or even minor discomfort. These things are not allowed in Heaven. My friends, you cannot get any more healed than that.

Do you believe God still heals miraculously today, with or without the component of human involvement?

Have you or anyone you know ever been miraculously healed through the laying on of hands?

To reject God’s healing power in this day and time is an ill-fated attempt by feeble-minded, narrow-minded people to put God in a box and limit His power. As soon you find a box big enough and strong enough to contain God and hold Him back, you let me know. Okay Sport?

Don’t waste your time. There is no such thing. Who are we as mere mortals, as created beings, to try to tell our Creator what He can and cannot do? Are people really that arrogant? Sadly yes. And many of them are behind our nation’s pulpits week in and week out. Others are indoctrinating students in denominational theological cemeteries across the world. And yes, I said cemeteries on purpose.

I will close with this story. When I was a young teen, maybe even a pre-teen, my dad ended up in the hospital after he was overcome by chlorine gas on his job. The gas filled his lungs. That coupled with the fact that he had smoked since he was a teen made the x-ray of his lungs not a very pleasant or encouraging thing to look at. It looked bad. Our pastor was called immediately and he rushed to the hospital as did my mom and I. The three of us laid our hands on him prayed the prayer of faith over him as scripture commands.

Later that same day, doctors were perplexed and confuzzled as a subsequent x-ray showed his lungs were crystal clear. As one doctor put it “he has the lungs of a teenager, not of a man who has smoked for thirty plus years and just inhaled a large amount of chlorine gas”.

They were at a loss. We weren’t. We knew just exactly what had happened. God honored our faith and obedience to His Word and kept His promise. It was not because I have some supernatural power in and of myself, nor does my mom, nor did Pastor Marshall Williams. God did the healing. The next day, my dad got up and walked out of that hospital and went back to work. So spare me the “God doesn’t heal today stuff”, okay? You have come just a bit too late to convince me of it. And, I have something even stronger and more powerful than my own personal experience to base my steadfast belief in healing on, God’s Holy Word.

Next time a friend or family member is in need of healing, based on this discussion, will you obey God’s command to lay hands on them and watch Him keep His promise to heal them?