In this
post, I am not exegetically analyzing the argument against healings or speaking
in tongues. There are many important
passages and theological concepts, which I do not address. These are just some
of the inconsistencies I have seen in the Pentecostal movement, especially the healing
movement, over the last few years. It is rather generic. So if you know
Pentecostals who are biblically grounded then praise God. I am addressing
excesses, but they are excesses, which are common enough to need to be
addressed. I do mention speaking in tongues, but the focus is on healing.
Inconsistency in Application
Pentecostals
are usually inconsistent in their application of the Bible. For example, they
claim that the Bible teaches we can still speak in tongues. However, I have rarely
met a Pentecostal who uses an interpreter.
They like the verses in I Corinthians 14 or Acts that talk about
speaking in tongues, but they do not like the verses in I Corinthians that
demand an interpreter. (I Cor. 14:6-19)
You cannot have it both ways. If you take the Bible seriously and believe
it still allows speaking in tongues then you must also have an interpreter.
Otherwise you are simply cherry-picking the Bible for verses and forcing them
into your mold, instead of letting the Bible mold you.
Here is
another example. Many Pentecostals use Mark 16:15-18 to prove that healings are
still a valid part of Christian ministry. But this proves too much. If this
passage teaches healings, it also teaches that we can drink deadly poison and
not die. How many Pentecostals are willing to do that? What about picking up
serpents? My point is not to mock, but to show that they cannot have it both
ways. Either it teaches all of these things are valid for the Church today or
it teaches something else.
One more
example will suffice. Often the various healings in Acts will be used to buttress
their view that healings and miracles are still valid today. However, if one
reads Acts he realizes quickly that what we see in Acts is nothing like what we
see in the Pentecostal church. First, Pentecostals do not raise the dead. This
occurs twice in Acts. (9:36-43 and 20:7-12) If the other gifts are valid why
would raising the dead not still be valid? Second, Pentecostals have never
healed in the same manner as the Apostles. In Acts 5:15 it says that even
Peter’s shadow had healing powers. How many Pentecostals would claim this? Add
to this the astounding statement in Acts 19:11-12 that even clothes taken from
Paul would heal the sick and drive out demons. Are the Pentecostals willing to
show us their handkerchiefs healing people? If the answer is that they do not
believe this kind of power is still available, then I would ask why not?
We see the
same syndrome in the Pentecostal movement that we see in much of the Christian
church today. They take the verses that fit their viewpoint and reject those
verses that do not fit their view.
The Public Nature of
Miracles and Healings in the New Testament
Most miracles done by Christ and
the Apostles were public. This is one of the most problematic aspects of
Pentecostal miracle working. Their
miracles are often done in a controlled, semi-private environment. When was the
last time a Pentecostal went out in public and healed a Vietnam Vet who was in
wheelchair? What about healing the blind man begging in downtown Pittsburgh or Chicago ?
These are the types of miracles the Apostles worked. The first miracle in Acts is in chapter 3. It
was a public healing of man lame since birth. Everyone in the community knew
the man. And they all knew he had been
healed. (3:10) Paul also heals a man born crippled in Acts 14. This healing by
Paul is public and causes the people of the city to worship him. Whether or not
someone was healed was rarely, if ever, in question. The healings were beyond
debate. They could argue about the power behind the healing as they did in John
9. But everyone knew the person had been healed. The private and controlled
nature of most Pentecostal healings cast suspicion on their validity. Jesus and
the Apostles did not have healing services. They went out into public and
healed in such a way that there was no debate about the power of God.
Also Paul
blinds a man in Acts 13. Is this still
valid? If we can still heal like Paul, why can we not still blind like Paul?
Not a Part of Church
Ministry
If healings and other sign gifts
were supposed to be a regular part of the ministry of the Church until Christ
returns, one would expect to find the leaders of church exhorted to stir up
these gifts and probably to even have these gifts. However, when we look at the
New Testament data we find that elders/overseers/pastors are never exhorted to
have these gifts or stir them up in the churches. Look at Acts 20:18-35, I
Timothy 3:1-13, I Timothy 5:17-25, Titus 1:5-9 and I Peter 5:1-4. In these
passages, Paul, Peter, and Luke are laying out the character traits of leaders
of the Church. If one reads through I Timothy, II Timothy, and, Titus Paul goes
into great lengths about what a minister is supposed to be doing. Healing
others is not part of the job description. Paul does mention healing in I
Corinthians 12. But outside of that Paul or Peter do not mention healing as a
part of the leaders’ task. The exclusion
of this from addresses to and about the leaders is odd if these things were
supposed to be a vital part of the Church’s ministry through the ages.
James
5:14-16 talks about the elders coming and praying over someone who is sick. The
passage is about sickness related to sinning. From 5:15-20 the focus is on a
wayward brother. Healing is mentioned in the passage, but it is connected to
confession of sins, not to some magic worked by a man up front. I have not
thoroughly exegeted the passage, but it looks James is telling us that if we
have a sickness directly connected to sin we can confess that sin and be
healed. The passage does not teach that if we just pray with enough faith we
will always be healed.
Of course,
God can heal miraculously, if he so pleases. And we should pray for healing.
There is nothing wrong with lifting our voices to heaven for an ailing brother
or sister. But we cannot pull God’s strings to get him to do what we want. Nor
is he obligated to heal this side of Heaven.
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