By Peter
March 13, 2012
Chapter 3
In the previous article, we presented some of the main points of agreement among the healing evangelists, one of which is that the power of healing is available to all Christians.
Another key point they teach is that one of the primary purposes for the gift of healing is as a tool for evangelism—that praying for the sick is a means of opening the door to preach about Jesus and bring people to salvation.
While they do pray for other Christians who need healing, they each make the point that healing is a very effective means of preaching the Gospel. When you pray in the name of Jesus for someone who is sick and they are healed, it’s a powerful testimony that what you preach about Jesus is true.
Don Dunkerley wrote the following about the effectiveness of healing in evangelism:
Using healing prayer in evangelism is a major emphasis in developing countries and is a reason for the meteoric rise of Pentecostal and charismatic churches in the twentieth century.
Missionaries observe that in many places the churches that grow most rapidly are churches that incorporate the ministry of healing into their normal church activities. This naturally raises questions about churches that downplay healing and also do not grow particularly well. Is there a correlation?[1]
My advice to missionaries is to pray for the sick and distressed on every appropriate occasion. Pray for the healing of believers, and pray that unbelievers will be healed and saved.
Healing prayer is a key to growth in numbers of churches throughout the world. And using healing prayer as a means of evangelism is popular in churches around the world.[2]
Jesus seemed to expect that this kind of evangelism would continue because He announced shortly before His ascension, “These signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands: and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”[3]
Wayne Grudem, a theologian, has this to say about healing and its purposes, including evangelism:
As with other spiritual gifts, healing has several purposes. Certainly it functions as a “sign” to authenticate the Gospel message, and show that the kingdom of God has come. Then also healing brings comfort and health to those who are ill, and thereby demonstrates God's attribute of mercy toward those in distress. Third, healing equips people for service, as physical impediments to ministry are removed. Fourth, healing provides opportunity for God to be glorified as people see physical evidence of His goodness, love, power, wisdom, and presence.[4]
Curry Blake states it succinctly:
The teaching for the Divine Healing Technician [those he is teaching healing to] is … for Mark 16:15. It’s for the street.[5]
Praying for those who are in need of healing is a method of evangelization, which can be very effective. It’s something Jesus told those who believe to do and has given them power to do. Some missionaries have begun to incorporate healing prayer into their regular witnessing and are using it as a powerful addition to their mission outreach.
It’s God Who Heals—Give Him the Glory
The next foundational point that each of these healing evangelists preach is that it is God who heals, not the person doing the praying. One must always give credit to God, as all healing should glorify God.
Has there ever been a human heal anybody? No! Who did it? Jesus. It was actually the Spirit of God. Jesus said, “Even the works I do, even I don’t do them but it’s the Spirit of My Father. He does them.” Even Jesus didn’t take credit for the works He did. He gave the credit to the Spirit. So every healing that ever took place, one person did it. The Spirit. Right?… There has never been a healing, ever, there has never been a raising from the dead, there has never been a miracle that took place that the Spirit that is in you didn’t do.
I started realizing, this thing is easy. Why? Because the One that has the full knowledge of everything, the One that knows every situation and has healed every sick person, every bit of it, lives in me. And when I realized that, then I realized it wasn’t about who was laying hands on that boy. It was about the Spirit of God that healed that boy, and what I was feeling was the Spirit of God.[6]
John and Sonja Decker write:
God gets the credit. Moving from surprise encounters to authentic manifestations of God’s healing power was a process that took over ten years. We observed all kinds of healings. Some were questionable and some were obvious. Some were routine and some were spectacular. Regardless of who was ministering or how they prayed, we learned one vital truth. We are very careful to always point to an awesome God who receives all the credit and glory. We receive no acclaim on how we or anyone else achieved the various healings. Prolonged intercessions with fasting may have played a part. However, the ultimate reason for the healing lies in a compassionate God who is willing to heal those who rely on His Word, His mercy, and His grace.
Be aware of people with religious spirits announcing that you are special. Avoid allowing people to “puff you up” by praising you for what is happening. Respond by having everyone lift their hands and voices in praise and thanksgiving, glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ for what He is doing.[7]
As Christians We Are Engaged in Warfare Against Satan
As has been commonly taught by Christians throughout history, those who follow God are at war with Satan.[8] Each of those involved in healing whose material I read teaches about the warfare between the kingdom of God and Satan and his demons. They see the fight for the healing of souls and bodies as spiritual warfare.
Don Dunkerley puts it this way:
Everyone doing healing evangelism is engaged in spiritual warfare. It is by the power of the kingdom of Satan, after all, that people are afflicted with sin, disease and demons. And as the Kingdom of God advances, the kingdom of darkness is pushed back and people are set free. So in order to understand healing prayer, we need to understand spiritual warfare and the role of prayer in that warfare.
When engaging in healing prayer [privately, before beginning to pray for people], rebuke spirits of infirmity specifically as Jesus did (Mark 9:25). Break their power and command them to loose their victims. You might pray something like this: In the name of Jesus I take authority over all spirits present that are not of Him. I particularly rebuke you spirits of infirmity and command you to loose your victims. By the power of the blood of Christ I command you to depart and go where Jesus sends you. I invite the healing power of the Holy Spirit to burn out all impurity.[9]
Curry Blake states:
This whole thing goes back to warfare, it’s all it is: Warfare between two kingdoms—the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness … If you could take that and just grow from that, that’s everything you need to know; that’s it in a nutshell. … They are the sick. They are the oppressed. They are a prisoner of war by Satan. … The prisoner of war is never the problem. It’s his guards that you have to deal with. [10]
Praying for the Sick Sometimes Puts You in a Position that Requires Casting Out Spirits
Before going into what the healing evangelists teach regarding casting out spirits, I want to make it clear that Maria and I, and these healing evangelists as well, don’t feel that every illness—whether physical or mental—is due to oppression or possession by demons or evil spirits.
According to the experiences recounted by these healing evangelists, at times they are faced with people who are hindered by an evil spirit, and when the healer begins to pray for the person, the spirit manifests itself and hinders the healing. At such times, the evangelists claim deliverance for the person. This seems to be fairly rare, but it is something that happens sometimes when praying for the sick. Since I am covering those things which these healing evangelists hold in common, and since they all spoke about finding themselves in situations where the person who needed healing also needed prayer against a hindering spirit, I felt it was important to include mention of this. While not a pleasant subject, it’s part of what they face from time to time.
They all wrote or spoke with compassion for those needing this type of prayer, and their main concern is setting people free from the bondage of Satan. They weren’t linking every sickness to the need for deliverance from a spirit. They spoke about prayers of deliverance in a matter-of-fact way, stating that there are sometimes occasions when such a prayer was needed. In such cases, people needed prayer for their physical healing, along with prayer against a troublesome spirit.
When they pray against spirits, the evangelists claim God’s Word and know that because God has given Christians power over evil spirits, the spirit must obey when they command it to leave. They speak about times when more than one spirit is hindering the person and they have cast them out one by one.
Jesus gave His disciples authority to cast out demons, and He said that He’s given that authority to believers.
These signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues.[11]
He called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.[12]
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!”[13]
They went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.[14]
There is also mention of some of Jesus’ followers being healed of evil spirits and sickness.
The twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.[15]
It should also be noted that the Gospel speaks of healing in reference to both infirmities and evil spirits. Jesus healed the sick and He healed those who had evil spirits. What was important to Him was setting people free from whatever ailed them. I found it interesting that Jesus had people with Him who had been healed of evil spirits and sickness. He didn’t stigmatize them no matter what their problem had been. They were healed and accepted.
In the book Doing What Jesus Did, John Decker shares an experience where he had to pray for someone who was hindered by a spirit. He concludes with:
I left with a different attitude about demonized people. It was as if I was allowed to experience what Jesus did so many times as illustrated in the Gospels. To Him, the demon-possessed were viewed in the same category as the brokenhearted, sick or those in pain. They all needed to be free and well. In Luke 4, Jesus Christ's mission is stated clearly. He wants His followers to continue the same mission:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”[16]
Our mission is fulfilling the Great Commission by doing the same things Jesus did. We are to preach, heal, set the oppressed free, and give Jesus Christ all the credit.
We are to set at liberty those who are oppressed of the devil by removing the demons that are oppressing them.[17]
Dunkerley says something similar:
Evangelistic teams today, like those Jesus sent out long ago, are not only to preach the Gospel but to heal the sick and cast out demons.
Because we have the biblical mandate to do these things, we also have the power. … In what we call the Great Commission, Jesus told the disciples to teach all nations “to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). Since Jesus commanded these very same men to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons” (Matthew 10:8), doesn't it stand to reason that those acts are among the “everything” that He commanded them to teach the nations? If so, then we should be doing those very things.[18]
When we witness, when we engage in the mission in any form, we are engaging in spiritual warfare. Our goal is to win souls, to bring people to salvation, and in doing so we are fighting against Satan’s hold on humanity. This holds true when we pray for the sick—when we use the authority given to us through God’s Word to heal people physically through divine healing, and when we help heal people spiritually through guiding them to salvation.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.[19]
When Jesus sent His disciples out, He gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. As Christians carrying the message of salvation to the world, we too have power and authority to both heal the sick and cast out demons.
As disciples we are called to fulfill the Great Commission. Doing so involves spiritual warfare. Whether we are contending for someone’s salvation or their healing, we are fighting for the kingdom of God.
(Next in this series: Healing Is in the Atonement)
[1] HE 20.
[2] HE 21.
[3] HE 25.
[4] Systematic Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids: InterVarsity Press, 2000. Page 1064.
[5] CB Audio 7.
[6] CB Video 8.
[7] DWJD 3.
[8] For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
(Ephesians 6:12–18 ESV).
[9] HE 95.
[10] DHT Video 9.
[11] Mark 16:17 ESV.
[12] Luke 9:1–2 ESV.
In their Gospels, Matthew and Mark state the same:
He called to Him His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction (Matthew 10:1 ESV).
He appointed twelve (whom He also named apostles) so that they might be with Him and He might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons (Mark 3:14–15 ESV).
[13] Luke 10:17 ESV.
[14] Mark 6:12–13 ESV.
[15] Luke 8:1–3 ESV.
[16] Luke 4:18–19 NKJV.
[17] DWJD 6.
[18] HE 43.
[19] Ephesians 6:12 ESV.
Copyright © 2012 The Family International.
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