The most natural, reliable, and permanent way for a person to receive healing is to teach him the word of God, so that he can have faith and receive healing for himself. He can decide to receive healing without another person’s prayer, or on the occasion of another person’s prayer, such as with the laying on of hands. Most of the healing miracles Jesus performed occurred when the sick people came to Jesus, and not when he went out of his way to prove something. There is no record of someone who came to Jesus in faith and failed to receive. Everyone who asked in faith was healed. On the other hand, the Bible says that when there was unbelief, Jesus did not do many miracles (Matthew 13:58, Mark 6:5-6). If the main purpose of miracles was to prove himself, then he should have done more miracles when there was unbelief. But the opposite happened. God performs most miracles in response to faith, not in response to desperation or skepticism.

When Jesus himself initiated the healing, sometimes only one person out of a large crowd received, as when he healed the invalid at Bethesda (John 5:1-15). Think about it: even after the invalid was healed, the Bible does not say that the rest of the sick people swarmed Jesus to receive healing from him. He was able to slip away from the crowd (v. 13). Why? They were waiting for the pool to heal them! Now both Christians and non-Christians look to medicine. I do not condemn people for using medicine, because I condemn them for not looking to God in faith, and this is such a terminal condemnation that I would not need to condemn them for anything else. When we are attacked for teaching the biblical doctrine of healing, we have the duty to forcefully counter that the fault is not in the gospel or in us, but in the critics who seek to excuse themselves. For each criticism, we can easily answer the argument and cause it to backfire a hundredfold. For every attack on our orthodoxy, we have multiple angles from which to challenge their very salvation. They complain that we are severe, but they have no knowledge of the kind of restraint that we have already exercised.

Although we have answered it before, the above addresses the foolish argument that if Christians can perform healing today, then we should be able to empty out entire hospitals. Some would attempt to explain why we are unable to do this, but even if there is some truth to what they say, it is a misleading reply. I will offer the critics no satisfaction. YES, I CAN DO IT. I guarantee that I can do it — under the same conditions as those illustrated in the Bible, or the same conditions that applied to Jesus. If I can receive complete authority over each person in a hospital and teach him the word of God for as long as I want, then each one who accepts what I say and who has faith to receive for himself will be healed. If I can convince him to have faith in Jesus, then he will receive from Jesus. I will then not credit my gift or ministry, but I will credit the person’s faith, as Jesus did. This was how it worked then, and this is how it works now. I have been in smaller settings in which all of the people were healed, even while some doubted, but when most believed. Several times I was left standing there confused, because I did not realize that there were no more sick people. Otherwise, the situation might be like Bethesda and Nazareth. That is, some people will still be healed, but not every one.

Would every one of them believe the word of God on healing? Apparently not, or there would be no opposition to the doctrine, and we would not need to discuss this. There are those who cling to cessationism regardless of the gospel, and there are those who hate Jesus regardless of what you say. On this issue, the church is now worse than Bethesda and Nazareth. Most of the people at that time at least had a supernatural worldview. “Christians” today often believe in the supernatural only on paper, or in history. Thus even if we can capture their attention for a while, it might take more time and effort to teach them. It will demand more skill on our end to plant the seed of faith and to water and protect it as it grows. However, I believe that the Spirit of God can do a mighty work, and in some people uproot unbelief in a moment.

Still, a number of them might receive healing by the gifts of the Spirit without their own faith. This is a different spiritual operation, and as mentioned, not every person will be healed this way, not even in the ministry of Jesus. In any case, a hospital would not allow a preacher complete access to its patients, with unlimited time to speak to each person and pray for each person. And it would not allow a preacher to repeatedly gather all its patients in large gatherings to preach to them and pray for them. So the challenge is useless, except to expose the fact that the critics are ignorant of spiritual operations (1 Corinthians 12:1). They err because they do not know the Scriptures or the power of God (Matthew 22:29). They cannot engage in intelligent discussions or make relevant objections.

[email]