{"id":99,"date":"2011-07-14T23:07:55","date_gmt":"2011-07-14T23:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/preacherskid\/?p=99"},"modified":"2011-07-14T23:07:55","modified_gmt":"2011-07-14T23:07:55","slug":"believe-in-healing-yes-faith-healers-not-so-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/07\/believe-in-healing-yes-faith-healers-not-so-much.html","title":{"rendered":"Believe in healing? Yes. Faith healers? Not so much"},"content":{"rendered":"

To be the son of the Pentecostal minister is to believe in the possibility of divine healing. And, I do.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

However, a lot depends on how broadly you define \u201chealing,\u201d and that, in turn, depends on your willingness to not<\/em> limit how, when and where healing takes place.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
. . . here it comes!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What I have trouble believing in are the self-proclaimed \u201cfaith healers<\/a>.\u201d<\/em> Some are well-meaning. Others, na\u00efve. A lot of them, though, have made this \u201cministry\u201d a profession –a deceptive, cynical one that preys on the desperate \u2013 and makes a mockery of the gospel of compassion and love.<\/p>\n

SO, brace yourself. I have a lot<\/em> to say.<\/p>\n

Even as a wide-eyed child, I seemed cursed with the ability to keenly observe. One of my earliest memories was when I was five years old, sitting with my mother in Bakersfield, California \u201chealing service\u201d when the evangelist proclaimed, \u201cThe holyghost is in this place, moving among you right now!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I peered into the rafters, looking for . . . something<\/em>. A cloud perhaps, a mist, something<\/em>. I was scared, and fascinated, my heart pounding with anticipation. The only \u201cghost\u201d I was familiar with was \u201cCasper the Friendly Ghost<\/a>.\u201d<\/em> I half-expected to see something like the cartoon figure; maybe bigger, probably with a halo and, of course, a more serious visage.<\/p>\n

After all, people did some unusual things, I had noticed, when holyghost<\/em> enveloped them. Danced. Laughed. Cried. Spoke in tongues. Fell in blissfully backward into the arms of designated \u201ccatchers,\u201d<\/em><\/a> who had blankets nearby to safeguard the modesty of women who were \u201cslain by the Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, I quit looking for the holyghost<\/em>. (Yes, one word, as I\u2019ve mentioned before about the old-time Pentecostal dialect). Mom, anxious to quiet my squeaking inquiries, had explained He <\/em>was invisible, and that His work was something mysterious and internal, anyway.<\/p>\n

Made sense. It had to be that way.<\/p>\n

Flash forward and I was 12, attending a \u201ccamp meeting\u201d prayer service. I got close enough, finally, to see the \u201cholyghost bump<\/em>\u201d for what it was: a loser rendition of a martial arts \u201copen palm\u201d strike. Instead of being delivered to the nose, chin, solar plexus or groin with kiai<\/em> battle cry, though, the evangelist might shout, \u201cHeal!\u201d<\/em> or \u201cHere it comes!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Anyway, I saw the poor guy being prayed for take a shot to the forehead, stumble backwards and look a bit confused and stunned as a red blotch deepened and spread across his supraorbital ridge.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

And yet, I believe<\/em>. A miracle, that. Over the years, I\u2019ve witnessed surgeries and treatments succeeding beyond even the most optimistic expectations; unusually rapid recoveries, and spontaneous remissions of cancers that even baffled physicians. A common denominator: prayer. In some of these cases, doctors just shrugged; others used the \u201cM\u201d (miracle) word.<\/p>\n

Healing<\/em>, though, is what the grateful recipients of prayers believed had happened.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thing<\/em>: None of those healings I knew of came via some faith healer\u2019s head blows, or generic, widely-applicable \u201cword of knowledge\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/a> aimed at the desperate and gullible, or after hearing the inevitable, apocryphal tales of veritable acts of Christian magic being performed in some distant land *.<\/p>\n

(* India and South America seem favorite locales for these stories. Recently, I heard of a young faith healer telling his rapt audience of supposed \u201chealings\u201d of not just a decapitated man, but a dismembered one as well.)<\/em><\/p>\n

More dangerous than such tales, though. are those who see it as a sign of faith<\/em> to quit medications and treatments without seeing their doctors first (to hesitate, in the first instance, or to be examined, in the second, are obvious signs of disbelief<\/em> and will earn you the feigned look of horror reserved for the rankest of heretics).<\/p>\n

Years ago, one of finest Christian men I\u2019d ever met died of colon cancer. Dave lived his religion more than anyone I\u2019ve known other than my own father. Dave prayed for healing, and for him, the answer was no. He accepted that because his trust in God was the foundation of his faith.<\/p>\n

Chemotherapy gave him one more good year, and he never wavered in his love of God and people. The time came, though, when cancer resumed its march. His family urged him to attend a local tent meeting put on by a traveling preacher with a \u201chealing ministry.\u201d But this fellow wanted nothing to do with a sallow, frail Stage Four cancer patient. Eventually, though, he reluctantly laid hands on him, “coming against”<\/em> the cancer.<\/p>\n

In the weeks ahead, Dave got worse. The healer? He blamed . . . Dave.<\/em> Not enough faith, obviously. After all, how many times had Jesus told the healed, “Your faith has made you whole,” right? (Actually, Jesus, Peter and Paul are recorded in scripture with healing people who weren\u2019t believers, let alone brimming with faith . . . but that just complicates the equation)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And oh, the man told Dave this, too: If you had \u201csin in your life<\/em>,\u201d you\u2019re out of luck. Now there\u2019s an ironclad escape clause, since honest Christians readily admit they are<\/em> sinners in constant need of grace.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think he\u2019s right? Is that why I wasn\u2019t healed?\u201d <\/em>Dave asked me.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d<\/em> I said, choking up. \u201cNo one could meet those standards, and this jerk knows it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Dave smiled and shook his head. After a while, he sighed: \u201cWell, it\u2019s all right. I\u2019m ready. I\u2019m at peace with this.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

A few weeks later, he slipped away, his family and friends around him. It was a celebration. That hospital room felt like a holy place. Time itself stopped for a few minutes and love ruled. Call it the Presence of the Lord. (Eric Clapton’s song by that title had an interesting origin<\/em><\/a>, by the way).<\/p>\n

And we knew, Dave had been, finally, healed.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To be the son of the Pentecostal minister is to believe in the possibility of divine healing. And, I do.\u00a0 However, a lot depends on how broadly you define \u201chealing,\u201d and that, in turn, depends on your willingness to not limit how, when and where healing takes place. What I have trouble believing in are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,14,8,68,70,72,5,7,9,3,69,1],"tags":[73,74,75],"class_list":["post-99","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alternative-healing","category-ethics","category-faith","category-faith-healers","category-healing","category-holy-ghost","category-pentecostal","category-pop","category-prayer","category-pks","category-slain-in-the-spirit","category-uncategorized","tag-casper","tag-healing-frauds","tag-tent-meetings"],"yoast_head":"\nBelieve in healing? Yes. Faith healers? Not so much - Preacher\u2019s Kid: Honest Faith, Real World<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/07\/believe-in-healing-yes-faith-healers-not-so-much.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Believe in healing? Yes. Faith healers? Not so much - Preacher\u2019s Kid: Honest Faith, Real World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"To be the son of the Pentecostal minister is to believe in the possibility of divine healing. And, I do.\u00a0 However, a lot depends on how broadly you define \u201chealing,\u201d and that, in turn, depends on your willingness to not limit how, when and where healing takes place. What I have trouble believing in are…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/07\/believe-in-healing-yes-faith-healers-not-so-much.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Preacher\u2019s Kid: Honest Faith, Real World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-14T23:07:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/preacherskid\/files\/2011\/07\/headslap.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"remims\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Believe in healing? Yes. Faith healers? 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