TEACHING

The End Time Model of Evangelism

 

 

    

 

 

Pastor John of India ministers "mass healing"


Pastor John was an apostolic church-planter serving in the northeastern Indian province of West Bengal, near the foothills of the great Himalayas. On the third and final day of a Conference in the town of Kalimpong, the keynote speaker, who was from the United States, called him forward to do something he had never done before. Nearly four hundred people from all over the region were in attendance that morning, and some of them needed physical healing. The speaker asked him to minister healing to the people in the name of Christ. Of course, he had prayed for the sick before, but always through the laying of hands on people one-by-one. But this was very different. The speaker told him to minister healing to all the infirm at the same time from the front of the meeting hall without laying hands on or approaching anyone. Not only that, Pastor John was not simply to ask the Father in the name of Jesus to heal the sick. The speaker instructed him to command the healing of the people in the name of Jesus using the authority that Christ had already given believers for the sake of winning the lost.

Pastor John joined the speaker at the front with a measure of confidence that the Lord was going to use him that morning. In the first two days of the Conference, the speaker had taught the believers that Jesus had given them power and authority to heal the sick and cast out demons for the preaching of the gospel (Luke 9:1-2; 10:1,9,17). Time and time again, Pastor John had seen the Lord confirm this authority visibly. The speaker would challenge the believers, even those who had never ministered to the sick before or denied having the gift of healing, to come forward to lay hands on the sick, and almost without exception, the person would testify to miraculous healing, sometimes from years of pain and infirmity. It was indeed quite amazing, but in accord with the Scriptures in the context of proclaiming the gospel. Now the speaker had asked Pastor John to minister "mass healing" to the people.

Before handing the microphone over to Pastor John, the speaker instructed the people who needed healing to raise their hands. Hands went up from throughout the hall. Believers who sat next to these people were to lay hands on them while Pastor John ministered from the front.

Taking the floor, Pastor John said, "In the name of Jesus, I command every spirit of infirmity to leave. I command the healing of sickness and infirmity here in the mighty name of Christ…." With that, Pastor John returned the microphone. The speaker smiled at the people knowingly and said, "raise your hand if you have been healed." Hands went up again. "Those of you whom the Lord has healed just now, come forward to testify." Twenty-three men and women streamed to the front. One by one, they gave testimonies of being touched by God as Pastor John spoke in Jesus' name.

"I've had continuous pain in the back of my neck because of low blood pressure, but now I'm healed."

"For a few days my hands have been itching and burning…it's gone!"

"Something felt stuck in my throat. I've tried medicine and prayer without success, but now I don't feel it in my throat anymore."

"I've been feeling pain and irritation in my hand, but now it's healed."

"For over a year I've suffered from a headache, but now I'm well!"

"During the past 15 years, I've felt pain in my chest whenever I swallow food. But no more!"

Four years ago, some insect flew into my eye and caused injury, impairing my eyesight. But I can see clearly now!"

"I've had a toothache for a few days, but there's no more pain."

"My stomach has been hurting badly for a few days…for two nights during this Conference I couldn't sleep because of the pain. I was reluctant to approach Pastor Bill to ask for prayer…but now I'm healed!"

"From this morning I felt my stomach upset and burning…but I'm well now."

"I've had this burning sensation all over my body for six months…it's gone!"

"For three months I've had a festering sore on my leg, but now the pain and burning have stopped, and the sore is drying up!"

"I couldn't walk properly for 3½ years because my knee would be in pain and I couldn't straighten it. But the pain is totally gone, and I have complete freedom in my knee now!" (He demonstrates by swinging his leg back and forth vigorously.)

"A month ago I fell from a certain height and hurt my back…during the Conference sessions I couldn't sit up without pain. (The participants all sat on the floor.) But now I can sit up comfortably."

"I had pain in the back of my knee…it's healed."

"For the last few years I had pain in my abdomen, but I'm well!"

"I had a stomach disorder…now I'm healed."

(One testimony here not translated into English.)

"I've had a sinus condition for a few years…it's healed!"

"For a few years, I couldn't climb steps or up hills because of a bad back. After the healing ministry I went outside and was able to climb up the steep incline without pain!"
"My headache is gone."

"I'm been healed of the swelling in my kidneys, and my little girl's fever is finally gone after 3 or 4 days!"

After listening to all these testimonies, the speaker looked at Pastor John and with a grin declared, "God wants you to have evangelistic miracle crusades, Pastor!"

Turning to the Conference participants, he said, "There are other people here whom God wants to use to minister in the same way. Pray, seek the Lord, and move out by faith. Who here wants to preach the gospel with this power?"

Hands shot up into the air from all over the meeting place.

(This report is continued below)

 

 

Yours truly


I was the speaker that morning in Kalimpong. It was by no means the first time I had seen God impart His power to His servants to preach the gospel with power. I had witnessed it many times before and after that occasion, and I am certain we will continue to see it until Jesus returns.

How did this happen? And…how is it that this account makes evangelical Christians feel a twinge of discomfort on the one hand yet on the other hand remind us of familiar accounts that we read in the Gospels and Book of Acts? Why is it that evangelical Christians rarely witness the miracles that are recorded in the New Testament? Let's address these troublesome questions. It will be helpful first to refer to believers who come from the charismatic tradition. These believers have indeed witnessed this power when they proclaim the gospel.



 

Do charismatics have a monopoly on miracles in missions & evangelism?


The theology of charismatics and pentecostals allows them to witness frequent healing miracles in the context of preaching the gospel to unbelievers, especially on the mission field. Partly for that reason they are among the fastest growing segment of the Body of Christ in the world today, especially in Third World countries.

In contrast, evangelicals see relatively few healing miracles in missions. This need not be so. Evangelicals can preach the gospel with miraculous signs following without having to embrace charismatic doctrines. (This is written with the utmost respect for charismatic believers and without making any judgment on their doctrinal position. The reality is that most evangelicals have difficulty with charismatic doctrine with regard to the baptism in the Holy Spirit and gifts of the Spirit.)

Let us address this very important, yet much misunderstood issue.

There are a few variations on the evangelical position regarding healing miracles in general. On the one hand, some evangelicals believe that miracles have totally ceased since the canonization of the New Testament or the demise of the original twelve apostles. God heals only through natural or medical means. It might be said that this view no longer commands the following among evangelicals that it once did, and with all due respect will not be given further treatment here. Other evangelicals may believe that God still performs miracles through believers in accordance with 1 Corinthians 12, but that not everyone has the gift of healing as Paul states later in the 14th Chapter. On middle ground we might find still other evangelicals who hold that God indeed does perform miracles in the current dispensation, but that He is sovereign and does so entirely apart from human agency. Healing is in His hands. He may choose not to heal because He may want to deal with the one seeking healing, or He may have a greater purpose in mind for him. Simply put, healing is according to His will, not the will of any person. There are no more human "healers" or "miracle-workers."

In addition to the two views above, we may also find other permutations regarding evangelical thinking on supernatural healing.

Before I present a non-charismatic theology of public power encounters that may enable evangelicals to witness far greater power in their evangelistic ministries, I want to clarify a distinction between two kinds of miraculous healing. The distinction is between the healing of believers primarily for the sake of alleviating their pain on the one hand, and on the other hand the healing of unbelievers (or believers) primarily as signs to confirm the message of the gospel to the lost that they may believe in Christ. The former type of healing might take place in church or a prayer meeting. The latter kind will always take place in an evangelistic setting. There may be some overlap as well.

How might God heal believers in the first category, that is, for the primary purpose of delivering them from pain? The first possibility is in accordance with 1 Corinthians 12, where the Holy Spirit has given to some the gift of miraculous healing for ministering to sick believers. The gifts of the Spirit taught in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 are for the express purpose of building up the Body of Christ---for the common good of believers. And clearly, not all have this gift of ministering healing to believers. Therefore the healing of believers might be rare because few have this gift. Or, whether or not we accept the existence of such a gift, God might heal believers in accordance with James 5. Here God heals through church elders who anoint the sick with oil and offer the prayer of faith. Finally, not all believers are healed by God because He may have another purpose for them.

Now what of the second kind of healing, where God heals for the specific purpose of demonstrating His power and grace to unbelievers that they might believe the gospel? Such miracles are extremely effective when we preach the gospel to people from non-Christian cultures living in the 1040 Window. How does God heal in such instances? Is it generally His will to heal when the eternal destiny of a precious soul is in the balance? The answer is "yes!" "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things," even miraculous signs so that sinners may believe in His Son? In contrast to the uncertainty regarding God's ways in healing believers, we may have confidence that God wills to heal when that healing can bring unbelievers to repentance.

All evangelicals will agree that God's primary purpose in the gospel is to save the lost through Jesus Christ. In the four Gospels and in Acts, sinners very often believed in Christ because they witnessed, sometimes personally, a miracle of healing from Him. Jesus Himself understood this fact of human nature:

  • John 4:48 "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."
  • John 14:11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

Jesus performed miracles not just for the sake of removing people's pain, but so they could repent and receive the greatest miracle of all: eternal life. Thus we may rightly conclude that "God so loved the world" He is not reluctant to perform miracles for sinners to see in order that they may repent and turn to Him. Through whom does He perform these miracles?

  • Mark 16:15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation…. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; …they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." 19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Jesus commands all believers to preach the gospel. When these believers go out in obedience, miraculous signs will accompany them for the purpose of confirming the gospel to their listeners. These signs will include healing the sick. The above Scripture teaches that God can potentially use all believers to do these miracles in the context of preaching the gospel. If some doubt the authority of the verses from Mark, we might note that John 14:12 teaches: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also…" It is clear from the Gospels that Christ did the works of preaching the gospel, healing the sick, and casting out demons before He went to the cross. Believers are to do these same works as they preach the gospel to the nations.



 

Must evangelicals embrace charismatic doctrine to move in public power encounters?


Implicit in this theology of public power encounters for evangelicals is its independence from doctrines of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and of spiritual gifts as taught by the charismatic tradition. The prerequisite for ministering with power is not being baptized in the Spirit (according to charismatic definition), having the gift of healing, or speaking in tongues. The prerequisite is a commitment to the proclamation of the gospel. In stating this, I hope I will not be misunderstood. I am in no way devaluing charismatic doctrine.
Just as not all are saved when the gospel is preached, not all are healed. But many will be healed, and their experience of God's healing grace can bring them and others to faith in Christ.

What is important for us to understand is that the dynamic behind the healing of believers for the main purpose of alleviating their pain can differ from the dynamic behind healing for the sake of confirming the gospel to the lost. God's will in the first case may or may not include healing at the moment for the sick believer. With regard to the lost, however, we know in general it is God's will to save them, and for that purpose we can be confident that He does desire to confirm the gospel they hear, and that He will perform miracles through us. In the context of winning souls, evangelicals can minister to the sick with great boldness, confident that God will manifest His power to heal.

For the believer, healing from physical disease is not the most important issue. However, for the unbeliever who is listening to the gospel, a miraculous healing may be the key that opens his mind to receiving Christ in his heart. This has been demonstrated innumerable times on the mission field.

 

Three Kinds of Healing


In Scripture we see basically three different kinds of healing, although there is evidence of overlap. In the first kind, God strongly wills to heal someone, even apart from their faith or apart from a believer who is present and ministering healing to them. Secondly, God can strongly will not to heal someone, regardless of their faith or the faith of the one praying over them. Between these two extremes we find the third type of healing, in which faith (whether faith in Christ or mountain-moving faith) and the exercise of authority play a decisive factor in the release of God's healing grace. Most but not all of the miraculous healings in the New Testament appear to reflect this latter category. The principles taught here focus on this third type of healing. Please see the Appendix for a more detailed treatment of this subject.



 

Can a believer actually learn how to heal the sick?


Every believer needs to learn how to lead souls to Christ---this is without argument the greatest miracle of all. In the same way, believers can also be taught from Scripture how to heal the sick and cast out demons, which are in effect "lesser" miracles. If we can learn how to win souls for the gospel, we should also be able to learn how to heal the sick for the gospel. We learn it simply by studying from Scripture how Jesus and the disciples healed the sick, and then doing it just as they did. Currently we often minister to the sick following a tradition that unfortunately discourages us from following the pattern set by Christ and his disciples. Christians can be trained to minister to the sick boldly and without doubt in the name of Jesus as confirmation of the gospel to unbelievers. When we dare to use the authority the Lord has given us, we will witness the miracles as a matter of course.

In Houston Chinatown we have a "healing outreach" in a large shopping mall frequented by many Vietnamese and Chinese, most of whom are Buddhists and idol-worshippers. We post a large sign which reads "Healing Prayer" in three languages next to our table where we lay out Christian tracts. People will stop by and request healing prayer for physical infirmities. We minister to them in the name of Jesus. They experience the Lord's healing touch, and then we share the gospel with them. In this way, idol-worshippers who would not otherwise be drawn to Christ, enter the kingdom of God.

  • Luke 9:1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

It is very clear that Jesus imparted to the Twelve power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases. As verse 2 states, the purpose of this impartation was none other than preaching the gospel to the lost. It was for saving souls. Was this authority given to other believers, or only to the original Twelve?

  • Luke 10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field…9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' …17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."

These seventy-two who were sent out later were instructed to heal the sick. When they returned from their successful mission they joyfully testified to the authority that they had to cast out demons. Clearly, Jesus had also given to these seventy-two believers a measure of authority to heal the sick and cast out demons. The purpose of this impartation to the workers was to reap the "harvest," that is, to preach the gospel and save the lost. Was this power available to other believers as well, or only to the Twelve and the Seventy-Two? Is it still available today for the workers who go out to reap the plentiful harvest of the Lord?

  • John 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing…

The followers of Christ will do what He did…they will heal the sick and cast out demons as they proclaim the kingdom of God. The promise is clearly not just for the early disciples, it is for disciples of every age, especially the present one in which God wants to accelerate the pace of the Great Commission in order that Jesus may return without further delay. What is the purpose of the miracles? The purpose is to confirm and testify to the message of the gospel.

  • Hebrews 2:1 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

So exactly how do you do miracles? How do you cast out demons? First, let us see from Scripture how not to do it. Mark 16:17 tells us that in the name of Jesus, believers will cast out demons. Unfortunately, believers today rarely follow this mandate. Instead, when faced with the task of casting out a demon, believers usually pray to the Lord and ask Him to do it. This is the traditional practice taught to evangelicals in the seemingly rare event of demonic attack. But because it does not quite follow Scripture, it is at best an inefficient practice. It is far more effective to cast out the demons ourselves, in the name of Jesus. He has already given us the authority to do so in His name.


 

The Fulfillment of Luther's Reformation?


Over 500 years ago, Martin Luther planted the seeds of a Reformation that swept through the Church, transforming it and profoundly affecting the course of Western Civilization. One of the seminal doctrines introduced by the Reformation was the priesthood of all believers. The job of studying and teaching the Scriptures, of representing a Holy God before sinful men, and approaching God through Christ was no longer the exclusive domain of the professional clergy, but of every believer.

  • 1 Peter 2:5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

The modern evangelical church has taken no priestly function more seriously than the injunction for every believer to preach the gospel---known to us as the Great Commission. I believe the Holy Spirit is now in the process of completing what He began through Luther over 500 years ago. Not only is every believer to preach the gospel, every believer is to do the works that Christ did, including miraculous works as confirmation of the gospel. I am not referring to the manifestation of the gift of healing here, which is clearly not given to every believer. I am referring to the fact of physical healing in the atonement.

  • Matthew 8:16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."
  • Isaiah 53:4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

These Scriptures clearly show that the atonement which Christ accomplished for us when he died on the cross purchased for us physical healing and deliverance, as well as the greatest benefit of peace with God. When a believer preaches the atonement, both physical healing and forgiveness of sins is available. It is one package. God is perfecting the priesthood of believers, He is restoring His saints into the image of His Son Jesus Christ---not only in terms of his holy character, but also his power and authority for the preaching of the gospel.



 

Believers preach the gospel, believers heal the sick, believers cast out demons


While in Pakistan on a mission trip, I had the pleasure of being the guest of a wonderful Christian family. They had a 20-year-old daughter who suffered from infirmities so debilitating that she had missed four years of school. In and out of the hospital, she had endured a coma, high fever, seizures, migraines, shortness of breath, and sores on her legs; at times her parents feared they would lose her. Although they spent much money on medical treatment, her doctors were unable to find a cure. Concerned believers prayed to the Lord to deliver her from her sickness, and although there was improvement, she was not totally healed. As the story of her misery was relayed to me, I suspected demonic involvement. I took her aside to minister to her. But I did not pray to the Lord to deliver her. Instead I commanded the evil spirits to leave her. After about five minutes she began to cough uncontrollably, and the demons began to go. She began to recover from her infirmities, made plans to return to school.

Why did the Lord not heal her in response to the prayers of the local believers? The answer is most likely given in Luke 9:1 and Mark 16:17. Jesus has already given the authority to cast out demons to believers, and he has commanded us to cast them out in His name. We are generally not to ask Him to do it for us. Prayer to the Lord and fasting may precede the deliverance, but ultimately it is to be executed by believers in the name of Jesus.

As an everyday example, suppose you had a two-year-old child. You would be expected to dress your child every morning. In twenty years, you would expect your child to have graduated from college, fully prepared to care for herself and contribute to her community. But what if each morning she decided to call you and ask you to dress her? Clearly your child suffers from severe retardation in her development. It would be understandable if you were reluctant to dress her.

In the same way, we cannot afford to remain spiritual infants forever in this area. Jesus expects us to grow up and use the authority He has already given us to cast out demons. When we instead ask Him to do it and our prayers are not answered, we are not surprised. At best we conclude that God must mysteriously have some greater purpose in mind; at worst we accept the lie that God has not heard our prayer or is not interested. But the real explanation is more likely He expects us to cast out the demon. We fail to understand and obey the word of God to our own loss. The same may be true for healing from physical disease.

Just as we have been given authority to cast out demons, we have been given authority to heal the sick. Before we continue with this line of argument, let us pause to remind ourselves that our primary context is the preaching of the gospel. We are commanded to heal the sick and cast out demons as miraculous signs to confirm the gospel to unbelievers. This argument does not necessarily always apply to the healing of believers; although in many instances, where it is God's will to heal the believer, it may.

What is the most Scriptural way to minister healing? Most believers are familiar with the practice of "prayer for healing," in which we close our eyes and humbly request the Father in the name of Jesus to heal the sick one. We accept this practice as deriving from James 5:14-15, where "the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up." But usually our prayer for the sick is not the "prayer of faith," but rather the "prayer of doubt" which ends with "if it be Thy will." I believe we do not understand the healing ministry taught in James 5. If we study the healing ministry practiced by Jesus and the disciples in the Gospels and Acts in the context of preaching the gospel, we can understand how to minister effectively to sick believers in accordance with James 5. The basic principles should be, and in fact are, quite similar. The difference is that the sick believer is required to search his heart and repent from sin if necessary. There is no such strict requirement for the sick unbeliever. Jesus did not command people to repent before healing them. Only after experiencing his healing touch did many choose to follow him as their Messiah.

 

 

Should believers do it the way Jesus did it?


Let us examine the way the Lord most often heals in the Gospels and Acts. In these the healing miracles usually take place as Jesus commands the sick to be healed or the disciples use the authority given to them and command healing in the name of Jesus. Although in the Gospels the sick certainly did ask Jesus to heal them, the healing did not take place until Jesus ministered healing to them. We note that Jesus generally did not pray to the Father to heal them; He healed them by His command. In Acts, where many miracles were done by the disciples, they followed the pattern Jesus had left. They generally did not pray, but commanded healing in the name of Jesus.

  • Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."
  • Acts 9:34 "Aeneas," Peter said to him, "Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat." Immediately Aeneas got up.
  • Acts 14:8 In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, "Stand up on your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
  • Acts 16:18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.

In Acts there are only two recorded instances of prayer involved in healing. In the first, Peter understandably prays before commanding a dead woman to get up. In the second, Paul prays to the Lord before laying hands on an elderly man. In both instances, the prayer is followed by either a command or the laying on of hands. We make the crucial observation that the miracle occurred not during the prayer, but rather as a result of the command.

  • Acts 9:40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.
  • Acts 28:8 His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him.

Thus a very effective way to minister to the sick is to have a believer---who understands how to use his authority in Christ---to command healing in the name of Jesus. Prayer for healing to the Father in the name of Jesus should be followed by the believer commanding healing in the name of Jesus. This is a scriptural and effective way to minister to the sick.

When it is God's will to heal a sick believer, the most effective way to accomplish His will may be a command for healing in the name of Jesus with the laying on of hands. The "prayer of faith" in James 5:15 may refer to a command given with great faith, authority, and full assurance that the person will be healed. When we want to minister healing to unbelievers in an evangelistic context, we can command the healing with exactly this same confidence because we know God desires to open their hearts to the gospel.



 

In the Old Testament, the Prophets Spoke It Before the Lord Performed It


Often God commanded His prophets to speak forth what He was about to do before He actually did it. One graphic instance of this is in Ezekiel 37, the familiar chapter on the Valley of Dry Bones. God wanted to resurrect His people Israel from their graves and restore life to their bones. How did He go about doing this?

  • Ezekiel 37:4-8 4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.'"
    7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

We see the same pattern repeated as God commanded Ezekiel to speak to the breath to come into the lifeless flesh.

  • Ezekiel 37:9-10 9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'" 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet-a vast army.

God raised up this "vast army" when the prophet spoke as he was commanded by the God of Israel. In our current New Testament period, God still moves through His prophets in a similar fashion. Moreover, in the same way, God commands us His witnesses to speak in the name of Christ. What is it that we speak and proclaim? We proclaim the gospel, we command disease and demons to go in the name of Jesus Christ. Only then will the Lord save souls and heal the sick and oppressed. Of course, we must remember that God is sovereign and can move quite independently of us should He choose to do so.
Let's now examine the importance of confidence and faith in ministering healing.



 

Does it bother Jesus when believers cannot heal the sick?

  • Matthew 17:14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him."
    17 "O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.
    19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"
    20 He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

We focus on this particular incident because the context tells us that Jesus had just given to the disciples power to cast out demons in Luke 9:1-2. (Compare the above verses from Matthew with Luke 9:37-45.) If they already had the authority over demons, then why couldn't they cast out the demon? Jesus, to say the least, was displeased at their inability to heal the boy. In His reply, Jesus referred to their "little faith," pointing out that if they had faith as a mustard seed, they could indeed cast out the demon or even "move a mountain." What is this "mountain-moving faith?"

In Mark 11:12-24 Jesus on His way to Jerusalem was hungry and looked for figs on a tree. He found none, and proceeded to curse the fig tree. The tree withered, and Peter, the adventurous disciple who had a penchant for doing what he saw his master doing, wondered out loud how Jesus did it.

  • Mark 11:22 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23 "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.


 

"Faith in God" and the "faith of God" (mountain-moving faith)


In Mark 11:12-24 Jesus on His way to Jerusalem was hungry and looked for figs on a tree. He found none, and proceeded to curse the fig tree. The tree withered, and Peter, the adventurous disciple who had a penchant for doing what he saw his master doing, wondered out loud how Jesus did it.

  • Mark 11:22 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23 "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

The secret to this miracle, and in fact perhaps all his miracles, is to "have faith in God." Of course we must have faith in God. We need to have this kind of faith twenty-four hours a day; we must trust God to save us, to deliver us, to provide for us, to lead us, to teach us, and so on. We trust God to keep His promises to us; we pray with faith in God. Without faith in God we are indeed completely without hope. But this does not offer us any special insight for casting out a demon or healing the sick. If we look at the Greek manuscript behind this English translation, we find an alternate translation. The literal translation is in fact, "have the faith of God." What does that mean?

Does God have faith? What is faith?

  • Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Was God sure and certain when He said, "Let there be light" that it would really come to pass? Did he have any doubt that the light would come into being when He commanded it to be? Yes, He was certain and did not doubt that what He spoke would come to pass. This is precisely the "faith of God (mountain-moving faith)." Jesus Christ also had this faith when he performed his miracles. When He commanded healing or demons to come out, He spoke with full assurance, certainty, and without any doubt that what He said would happen. He spoke with full authority. And believers have been given a measure of authority by Him to heal and cast out demons.

When the disciples tried to cast out the demon from the boy in Matthew 17:14-20, they failed to exercise the faith of God (mountain-moving faith). They were not sure that the demon would come out in the name of Jesus. They essentially doubted their authority already given by Jesus over demons. And so they spoke to the demon without authority, and the demon refused to come out. Only words spoken with the "faith of God (mountain-moving faith)" release the power and authority that is already ours as believers in Christ.

There are at least two kinds of faith. "Faith in God" is without argument the most important kind of faith, without which we cannot even enter the kingdom of God. We must have this kind of faith continually and persistently. In contrast, the "faith of God (mountain-moving faith)" is for special use only. It is not for prayer; it is for ministry. It is for healing the sick, casting out demons, and doing miracles in the name of Jesus for the glory of the Father. It is for preaching the gospel with public power encounters as a testimony to the gospel so that sinners will be saved. In our prayer closet, we exercise faith in God. When we come out we no longer pray, but rather we wage war against the enemy by destroying his works---by proclaiming the kingdom of God and healing the sick. We destroy the works of the devil with the faith of God (mountain-moving faith). We speak healing to the sick with great authority and boldness, without any doubt. And miracles will follow us.

Just as there are two kinds of faith, we are taught that there are two kinds of revelation about the existence of God. There is general revelation from the created universe that God in fact does exist. There is special revelation through His Son Jesus Christ that reveals very specifically the nature and purpose of the Father. Albert Einstein also discovered a duality in the laws which he discovered to describe certain physical attributes of the universe…general relativity, and special relativity.



 

How to increase your "mountain-moving faith"


Jesus taught His disciples how to increase this kind of faith.

  • Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
    6 He replied, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.
    7 "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? 8 Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? 9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?

The point of this parable is that the master fully expects the servant to obey him, and of course does not thank the servant for doing what he was commanded to do. In the same way, we must learn to expect that the sick will be healed and demons will come out when we so command in the name of Jesus Christ. Since we have been given the authority, we are not all at surprised when miracles happen as we preach the gospel. We do not thank the infirmities and demons for leaving when we command them in Christ's name. We expect them to obey as if they were our servants. This attitude is conducive for increasing our faith.

The secret to doing miracles to confirm the gospel is speaking with mountain-moving faith. This faith is based on the word of God. In addition to Luke 9:1-2 and Luke 10:1-2 where Jesus gave power and authority to His disciples, we may also cite Matthew and John's renditions of the Great Commission:

  • Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
  • John 20:21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

As the Father sent Jesus with full authority, Jesus has sent us with a limited measure of that authority. We are to go and exercise that authority for the preaching the gospel and making disciples. His authority resident in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit will always be with us in this Commission. Clearly, Scripture tells us we have authority. Releasing the manifestation of that authority on earth requires speaking and commanding with mountain-moving faith.

Just as this faith is required in casting out demons, it is no less necessary in healing the sick in the context of preaching the gospel to the lost. The Gospels and Acts teach that the miracles took place when commands were issued by Jesus or the disciples in His name. Prayer, although essential, did not in itself bring about the healing. The reader is encouraged to read the accounts of miraculous healings recorded Gospels and Acts, and to follow the pattern which has been laid down for us. Jesus inserted His fingers into the ears of the deaf and placed His hands on the eyes of the blind, and commanded healing. Believers can do the same to confirm the gospel. I have witnessed such miracles many times on the mission field.

Can we minister to believers in the same way? In general, the answer is yes.



 

Prayer "for" the sick is not the same as ministry to the sick


Traditionally, believers pray to the Lord to heal them of their infirmity. Sometimes God answers directly and healing takes place, whether supernaturally or through some natural means. Often, however, God appears not to answer their prayer, and they remain in physical suffering. Even after much seeking the Lord and repentance from any sin, the infirmity remains. The believer then concludes that it is not God's will to heal them. This is not necessarily the case. Once again we return to Scripture to see how God heals the sick in the New Testament. I am firmly convinced that if believers ministered healing in accordance with the New Testament pattern, they would see many more healed than is presently the case. Certainly not all would be healed, for God is indeed sovereign and our understanding of this issue is incomplete.



 

Believers can minister healing without the "gift of healing"


Quite apart from the gift of healing, every believer has been given a measure of authority to heal the sick for the sake of winning unbelievers to the gospel. Ministering healing to a believer can also bring glory to God as the person healed testifies publicly for the sake of the gospel about what God has done. If the motivation of winning souls is present, I believe there is a greater anointing for believers to minister healing to other believers through our authority in Christ.

Along with commanding healing in the name of Jesus, we can also lay our hands on the sick person. What is the significance of this? Is it merely symbolic? For a possible answer, let's examine why Jesus sometimes laid His hands on the sick to heal them.

  • Mark 5:21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23 and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." 24 So Jesus went with him.
    A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
    31 "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?'"
    32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

Jairus wanted Jesus to lay hands on his daughter for her healing. This involved physical contact between Jesus and the sick child. The woman with the bleeding also believed that physical contact with Jesus would be important for her healing. Since her bleeding made her unclean she dared not to ask Jesus to lay His hands on her. In her desperation she decided she would simply touch Jesus without asking His permission. When she touched his clothes, Jesus felt healing power go out from His body into the body of the woman. The channel for the flow of this power was the physical contact, opened up by the woman's faith. This healing power in Jesus was by virtue of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Before Jesus' baptism in the Holy Spirit at the Jordan River, Scripture does not record Jesus performing any miracles.

Just as Christ humbled Himself to receive water baptism at the Jordan in order to set an example for us as the Son of Man, His baptism in the Holy Spirit also sets a pattern for us His followers who would minister in His footsteps. Just as Christ performed miracles through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit to confirm His identify as the Son of God, we can also do these things to confirm the gospel. Because the Holy Spirit lives in us, there is power within us to serve and glorify Christ. In particular, when we lay our hands on the sick, the Spirit's healing power can flow through this contact to heal the sick person. I believe the details of the above incident support this theory.



 

If you don't do it, it might not get done


Healing is not necessarily some mysterious proposition governed wholly by the will of God totally apart from human agency. He may indeed will to heal someone, but He may choose to use believers to minister the healing. It is the same principle with the casting out of demons. Generally, believers must do it, or it may not get done. Similarly, evangelicals agree that for sinners to receive Christ, believers must preach the gospel:

  • John 20:23 "If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

It is in general the same with healing the sick and casting out demons. Believers have been given the authority, and they must exercise that authority for the sick to be healed. There are of course exceptions---fanatic adherents of non-Christian faiths are being saved through dreams and angelic visitations, not through hearing the gospel; the sick and oppressed are healed directly by God after earnest prayer and not through human agency. But these generally happen where such people are so fanatic they will kill the preacher before he can lead them to Christ. It happens when there is no one available who understands how minister healing or deliverance to the sick believer when it is God's will to heal.



 

The devil has stolen from the church


Unfortunately, there are few evangelical believers who can minister healing or deliverance, whether to other believers according to God's will or to unbelievers in an evangelistic context. The enemy, unable to snatch away our faith in God for salvation, has stolen from us the understanding of mountain-moving faith for ministering the gospel in power to the world. (It is true that if we have mountain-moving faith, but not love, we are nothing. But this certainly does not mean that we should not seek this kind of faith with which to serve God.) Unable to kill us spiritually, he is content to render us spiritually weak, infantile, and not as fruitful as we would like for the Great Commission. In the area of the miraculous he has replaced Scripture with tradition, and the church has seemed satisfied with it. Traditional teaching is unchallenging and does not involve faith. Scriptural teaching on healing does require faith when obeyed, and risks are involved. The common objection to ministering to the sick is, "what happens if the person is not healed?" But I suspect this mantra is not so much a concern for presenting a poor witness for the gospel as it is for the embarrassment of the believers who are involved. Whatever the case, Scripture promises that when we preach the gospel, the Lord will testify to His word with miraculous signs. When we boldly act upon His word, we will see the miracles. The miracles themselves do not guarantee the salvation of the listeners, but they do help to open their minds to the reality of Christ. When they accept Christ, blessing follows. If they reject Christ, judgment will come. The miracles at the very least give the Lord a clear mandate to judge.

  • Matthew 11:20 Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21 "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."


 

The mission field: temples in your backyard


It is clear that without public power encounters, the church will be unable to win large numbers of 1040 Window people groups to Christ. These peoples have been immigrating to the United States in large numbers and building demonic strongholds in our backyards as they erect imposing temples for worship of the enemy. The Church of Christ will close its eyes and ignore them to its own loss.

Evangelicals can and must learn how to preach the gospel with the help of public power encounters. Just as believers can learn how to win souls, they can learn how to minister to the sick. The Gospels and Acts are the best manuals. In them we witness the gospel being preached by Christ and then the disciples. The methods have not changed.
Christians can be trained to minister to the sick boldly and without doubt in the name of Jesus as confirmation of the gospel to unbelievers. When we dare to use the authority the Lord has given us, we will witness the miracles as a matter of course. In the autumn of 2000 I spent nearly forty days in India and Pakistan teaching this to local believers, as well as conducting open-air evangelistic Crusades. The following is my report.



 

FORTY DAYS in India and Pakistan


During this extraordinary five-week trip, I experienced the indescribable. In Karachi I was driven from a Crusade meeting by an armedmob enraged because I repeatedly proclaimed that "Jesus is the Son of God" as the Holy Spirit performed miracles of healing in their midst. In Manipur my team and I enjoyed living quarters devoid of running water, a sink, a toilet to sit on. In Senapati I witnessed deaf-mutes hear and speak, the blind beginning to see, the lame walk, and countless other miracles as Jesus confirmed the gospel to thousands in open-air Crusade meetings. We saw storm, wind, and lightning turn away from our open-air meeting after we prayed and rebuked them in Jesus' name. The storm touched down with fury a short distance to the north and south of us, leaving the skies over our heads calm. Later that evening after the preaching of the Word, showers of blessing fell as Jesus healed many sick people and souls came to Him.

So many things cannot be recounted because of lack of space. But there were two things recurring throughout the trip I want to share with you. First, the Lord is doing a new thing. He is restoring His power for proclaiming the gospel to every believer. (Mark 16:15-20) In every city or town I visited the power to heal the sick and cast out demons was imparted to "ordinary" believers for the purpose of winning unbelievers to Christ. Miracles were multiplied as they laid hands on the sick in the name of Jesus. Even the authority to minister "mass healing," in which masses of sick people are miraculously healed through a single prayer, was imparted to believers. Houston team members Steve Austin and Donna Rienstra began to minister in this way, as well as local preachers, who are now emboldened to hold their own mass crusades to win the multitudes of Pakistan and India. I am convinced that God is restoring this authority to many believers in order that we might complete the Great Commission without further delay. And He is doing so without regard to denomination, for great miracles were done through Baptist believers in the Crusade sponsored by STABU (Senapati Town Area Baptist Union, India). Second, it is the Lord's will to confirm the gospel He has given us to preach. "Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it." (Mark 16:20) As I preached the gospel in Crusades in Pakistan and India, the Lord performed miracles that astounded me. He made me keenly aware that my own faith in ministering to the sick had little to do with the powerful New Testament miracles I saw. But He did them simply because I preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. The miracles confirmed the gospel so that those who witnessed them could believe unto eternal life. "God so loved the world..." that He will even perform miracles to draw the lost to the gospel of Christ. I saw people healed even as they were on their way to the Crusade meeting. Some were healed by the Lord as they sat listening to the Gospel. Others were healed as I ministered to them en masse in the name of Jesus after the preaching of the Gospel. Still others were healed as individual believers laid hands on them in the name of Jesus.

The response of local pastors and believers to the impartation of the power to heal the sick for the sake of winning the lost was unanimous. My host pastor in Karachi said "in his fifty years of ministry, he has never seen anything like it." He invited me to return the following year for large Crusades in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad. The sponsoring pastor in the city of Quetta, a provincial capital of Pakistan, added, "Such a ministry has NEVER BEFORE been seen in Quetta…foreign evangelists usually come to our city and [through large evangelistic Crusades] serve us fish, but you have taught us how to fish." God is doing a new thing! He invited me to conduct a retreat next year for a cross-denominational gathering of pastors, leaders, and believers. This paralleled the response of the 500 believers representing thirty churches who attended the three-day Conference in Kalimpong, India, where I was the keynote speaker. Many were so encouraged by the authority for public power encounters the Lord had given them that they committed themselves to serving the Lord as soul-winners to the Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists who live around them. The Lord is doing a new thing! In Senapati, a prominent Baptist physician and community leader asked us to return next year. On the last night in Senapati the local Baptist pastors and believers were overflowing with joy at the great miracles done through the believers resulting in an estimated 10,000 souls repenting from sin and inviting Jesus to rule over their town as their King.



 

Do it or forget it - Use it or lose it


The reader is urged to do by faith what he has read here. As you boldly do what you see Jesus doing in the Gospels, you will see the manifestation of the Spirit's power. When you have an opportunity to minister to a sick person for the sake of the gospel, do so according to what you have been taught. After you minister to the person in Jesus' name, it is important that you ask him if he is healed. When Jesus healed people, there was always a testimony to glorify God. If the person is not yet healed, or feels better but not yet completely well, minister again in the same way. In Mark 8:22-26, a blind man was not completely healed until Jesus ministered to him twice.

  • Mark 8:22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?"
    24 He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around."
    25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, "Don't go into the village."

We must also persist. Continue to minister until the person is healed or much better and can testify to God's grace. Expect a miracle. Ask the person who is healed by the Lord to testify. Use the testimony of the miracle to lead the person or others to Christ.


 

Is the ministry of "mass healing" only for a few chosen believers?


Finally, let us briefly study the theology behind the powerful ministry of "mass healing," depicted at the beginning of this Chapter and mentioned in the Report above. In this type of ministry, the believer ministers healing from a distance to more than one person at a time.

  • Luke 7:1 When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." 6 So Jesus went with them.
    He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
    9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

The centurion knew that Jesus did not need to come to his home to heal the servant. Other people usually asked Jesus to lay hands on the afflicted person. But this centurion, being a high-ranking military officer, understood well the nature of authority. Since he had been given authority to command by his commander-in-chief, he exercised total authority over the soldiers under him. His men were trained to obey his every command without hesitation. They had to obey him; they had no choice. The centurion knew this, and when he gave a command, he expected instant obedience. He had no doubt, worry, or anxiety whatsoever that his men would obey. And his authority was not limited by physical proximity or contact with his men. A 21st century general can command his soldiers from a distance, for example by radio or telephone, and their submission would be just as if he had spoken to them face-to-face. The Roman centurion understood that just as he had complete authority in the military, Jesus had the same authority in the realm of the spirit, in particular, over disease and demons. "Just speak the word, Jesus, and my servant will be healed." Jesus spoke the word, and the servant was healed at that moment from a distance.

Nor was the centurion limited to giving orders to one soldier at a time; he could give simultaneous commands to as many as could hear his voice. It is not hard to imagine that Jesus may have done the same as he spoke the word to many sick people at once, and they were all healed at the same time. Scripture teaches that one day the dead in the graves shall all hear the voice of the Son of God, and they shall all rise.



 

God is doing a new thing!


This is the theology behind the ministry of "mass healing." Believers in Jesus Christ have authority over disease and demons, and that authority is limited neither by distance nor by number. The main limitation is the extent our faith in the word of God which clearly states we have been given authority by Jesus. When we minister to the sick, we must exercise mountain-moving faith. There must be no doubt or apprehension about the outcome; disease and demons have no choice but must obey us. I have taught this to believers at every spiritual level. I have witnessed "ordinary" believers---not necessarily pastors, evangelists, or full-time servants of God---minister healing from a distance to a group of sick people. The only requirement is that they are born-again Christians, committed to preaching the good news of Christ Jesus and winning souls. This is the grace of God which is being poured out on all flesh for the sake of fulfilling the Great Commission before the return of Christ. The ministry of "mass healing" is quite suitable for mass evangelistic crusade meetings where hundreds if not thousands of people may need healing or deliverance in the name of Jesus.



 

The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will walk


When God heals the blind, the deaf-mute, the lame, the paralytics, He often does so in the context of a mass evangelistic meeting, where many people are present to witness the miracle or hear the testimony. In this context potentially many people can be saved. A very powerful healing anointing must be present for such major miracles to happen, and generally this anointing is not present in one-on-one evangelistic encounters. "Greater" miracles require "greater" power. Power of this level is generally found only in mass meetings. But the Holy Spirit may begin to move through believers in a way never before to complete the Great Commission, and mighty miracles may began to happen even in settings where few people are present. Amen.
Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation!



 

APPENDIX I: THREE KINDS of HEALING on a CONTINUUM

In Scripture we see three broad categories with regard to physical healing. First, it may be God’s categorical will not to heal, even if much faith is present. Second, the Lord