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[The following material is from O Timothy magazine, Volume 12, Issue 11, 1995. David W. Cloud, Editor. This material cannot be stored on BBS or Internet sites without permission from the author. Any articles which are redistributed by e-mail or print must be left intact and nothing must be removed or changed, including these informational headers. All rights are reserved. O Timothy is a monthly magazine. Annual subscription is US$20 FOR THE UNITED STATES. Send to Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org. FOR CANADA the subscription is $20 Canadian. Send to Bethel Baptist Church, P.O. Box 9075, London, Ontario N6E 1V0.]
By David W. Cloud
The latest newsletter from the "Happy Hunters" (Charles and Frances Hunter) contained an article entitled "Helpful Hints in Healing." Consider:
"Spinal Stenosis: A narrowing of the spinal column around the spinal cord. ... Recommended Prayer: Command the spirit of arthritis to come out in the name of Jesus, command the spurs to dissolve with no problem to the spinal cord and command the spinal cord to open up in the name of Jesus. Then command the spirit of pain to leave in Jesus' name.
"Schizophrenia: A doctor had done research on Schizophrenia and discovered an inadequate blood supply to the thalamus gland, in the brain, when the patient is asked to think. Recommended Prayer: Command an adequate supply of blood to the thalamus gland so the patient will be able to think. Command the spirit to come out in the name of Jesus."
Some of you might think this is a joke. The fact is that the Hunters are very serious about these things. They conduct healing crusades and seminars throughout the world and distribute their seminars on video and audio tape by the multiplied thousands. They believe that every Christian has the ability to heal sicknesses and they encourage every Christian to get involved with a healing ministry. They are also deeply involved with the "Laughing Revival," and have written a book by that title which we have described in our book on this subject.
The Hunters are deeply deceived. They claim that it is God's will to heal every sickness. In their book How to Heal the Sick they claim: "Yes, it is God's will for you to be healed. You do not bring glory to God by walking around sick, saying, I am being sick for the glory of God. Sickness does not bring glory to God--healing and health bring glory to God!" (How to Heal the Sick, Charles & Frances Hunter, p. 18) The same book teaches that every Christian has the power to heal others.
But the Hunters can't even heal their own sicknesses. While conducting a healing crusade in the Philippines in 1987 Francis Hunter contracted conjunctivitis ("pink eye") and had to go to the doctor. She admitted, "I could not get rid of it in spite of all the healing teams over there" (Charisma, May 1988). Just recently, during a 1995 healing crusade in England, Mrs. Hunter broke her right heel and had to be brought home in a wheel chair!
The Hunters claim that on the flight home from England God performed various miracles, in spite of the fact that Mrs. Hunter could not get a healing for herself:
"We asked if any of the other female flight attendants had carpal tunnel syndrome and none of them did, but one had a back problem and the other one had a neck problem so Charles went up to the galley and grew the one stewardess' leg out and her back problem was instantly healed. She was so overcome because she saw her leg grow out and felt the release of pain in her back that she screamed, 'Oh, my God!' Charles said, 'That's right, that's the One who did it'" (Charles and Frances Hunter, From the Heart newsletter, Happy Holidays edition, October 1995, p. 9).
All of this reminds us afresh that many of the Charismatic doctrines are false and dangerous. Contrary to the teaching of Charismatics such as the Happy Hunters, the Bible does not promise that Christians will always be healed of their sicknesses, nor that every Christian can heal others. We know God does heal in answer to prayer many times, but there is no promise that He will always do this, and indeed, He does not always heal. In fact, contrary to the teaching of the Happy Hunters, the Bible plainly teaches that sickness does at times glorify God!
The Apostle Paul had a physical sickness, and though he prayed fervently that God would remove it, he was told that the illness would remain and not be healed. Paul was told that the sickness was something God was allowing to remain in his life in order to help him. There was a divine purpose in Paul's sickness as there often is in the lives of other Christians (2 Corinthians 12:7- 12). This is a very important passage about healing. It tells us that God will not always heal the Christian's sickness. It tells us that God often uses sickness for His purposes. It tells us that even the most godly Christian will suffer sickness and ailments which will not be removed. It also tells us that the gifts of healing as exercised in the first century among the churches were special gifts of the Apostles (verse 12).
The Holy Spirit here calls them "signs of an apostle." The Apostles did their assigned work and died, and they were not replaced. Nothing in the New Testament indicates that their office was passed on to others before their death. In fact, the Bible teaches clearly that their special position was not passed on to others. There were only 12 of them, as we see in the fact that the eternal city, the New Jerusalem, has only twelve foundations and in each foundation the name of an Apostle is written (Revelation 21:14). Though we have apostles today in the sense of church planters and missionaries, for all eternity there are only 12 Apostles in the same sense as those men chosen by Christ to work among the first churches. And those 12 special Apostles were given sign gifts to be able to prove their special calling, sign gifts which passed away with the Apostles and are no longer at work in the churches.
God heals today. I have seen God heal in answer to prayer. I have practiced James 5:14-15 and seen God heal, and I know many others who have done the same. But this is in the context of the local church and its own leaders, not special healers who come from outside such as the Happy Hunters or Oral Roberts or John Wimber and those associated with him to have special seminars, crusades and meetings. And though God does heal through prayer many times, He does not always heal. We must submit ourselves to His will, whether it be health or sickness. The perfect wholeness that was purchased in the Atonement of Jesus Christ will be enjoyed in eternity, not in this life (Romans 8:18-24).
Paul instructed godly Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach's sake and his often infirmities (1 Timothy 5:23). This reminds us of two things: First, God also encourages the use of medicine, and wants Christians to develop wise eating and drinking habits and wise use of hygiene and cleanliness such as treating polluted water and keeping one's body clean. Second, some Christians can expect to have many sicknesses no matter how godly they are. Godly Timothy did. The Bible says he not only had stomach problems, but "often infirmities" of other sorts. Do not be deceived by the false promises and false teachings of popular charismatic leaders. Follow the Bible and avoid those who promote such error and confusion. They can't even heal themselves! In the book How to Heal the Sick, the Hunters supposedly give instructions on how to heal baldness. This is interesting--because Charles Hunter is bald! They give instructions on how to heal eye problems--but Frances Hunter wears glasses to correct her eye problems! I repeat and plead with our friends, do not be deceived by these unscriptural leaders, these false teachers.
Some Pentecostals and Charismatics have criticized us for painting the entire movement with a broad brush. We understand that not every Pentecostal and Charismatic agrees with all of the crazy things going on in their circles (laughing revival, "little god" teachings, Oral Roberts' visions, Catholic "renewal," spirit slaying, etc.), but the fact is that the leaders of these movements rub shoulders with the most extreme representatives and refuse to rebuke them and separate from them.
The Happy Hunters, for example, conducted their seminars at the massive charismatic/ecumenical conferences associated with the North American Congress on the Holy Spirit & World Evangelization. This editor attended two of the meetings with press credentials: New Orleans (1987) and Indianapolis (1990). (The reports on these meetings are contained in our book Charismatic Confusion in Indianapolis.) Fellowshipping with the Hunters at these same meetings were many of the well-known Charismatic, Pentecostal, and Evangelical leaders: Jack Hayford, James Robinson, Oral Roberts, Vinson Synan, Karl Strader, Rienhard Bonnke, Bob Mumford, Larry Lea, Bob Weiner, Carl Richardson, Jamie Buckingham, Floyd McClung, Peter Wagner, Bill and Gloria Gaither, John Wimber, Joy Dawson, Charles Kraft, Loren Cunningham, E.V. Hill, Paul Cain, etc. More than 200 organizations and 40 denominations were represented. These included Youth With A Mission, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Christian Broadcasting Network, Charisma magazine, Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship, Women's AGLOW Fellowship, and World Vision. Billy Graham sent a video greeting to the New Orleans gathering. He said, "I thank God for the vital role that your movement is having in bringing about a spiritual awakening in this country." Roughly 50% of the attendees were Roman Catholic, and a Roman Catholic mass was conducted each morning at both meetings. Catholic priest Tom Forrest, one of the pope's right- hand men in charge of the Catholic Evangelization 2000 program, brought the closing messages at both meetings.
The fact is that the charismatic/ecumenical movement IS a conglomerate end-time movement which is one of the chief glues for the apostasy of the last hours. The Happy Hunters, with their weird and unscriptural teachings on the Holy Spirit and healing, are accepted by most Charismatic leaders because they are following the same unscriptural spirit.
Do I hear someone protest, "But they love Jesus and they believe in the Holy Spirit and they preach the gospel."
Do not be deceived; do not be gullible. The Apostles warned even in their day that there were false Christs and false spirits and false gospels.
"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth ANOTHER JESUS, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive ANOTHER SPIRIT, which ye have not received, or ANOTHER GOSPEL, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him" (2 Corinthians 11:3,4).
The "Jesus" loved by the majority of professing Christians today is not the Jesus Christ of the Bible. The mass wafer Jesus of Romanism is not the Jesus of the Bible. The slaying Jesus of the charismatic movement is not the Jesus of the Bible. The radical socialistic ecumenical Jesus of the World Council of Churches is not the Jesus of the Bible. The naturalistic Jesus of the Modernist is not the Jesus of the Bible. The Santa Claus Jesus of the masses is not the Jesus of the Bible.
[From "Digging in the Walls," O Timothy magazine, Volume 12, Issue 11, 1995. Editor, David W. Cloud. O Timothy is a monthly magazine which is available by subscription from Way of Life Literature, 1701 Harns Road, Oak Harbor, Washington 98277. Subscription price is $20.]