News Archive
Ask the pastor: Does God want to heal people with cancer?
Tough and emotive subject this, requiring careful pastoral navigation, but having a Godly perspective on it is really important. Let me start from a personal perspective: A close friend and colleague Steve, going back to my early days in ministry in Rochdale, died of lung cancer at 28. My dad died of pancreatic cancer as a relatively young man. A friend has just been diagnosed with bladder cancer, and my mother-in-law, Moya, is presently undergoing tests for bowel cancer. I know many people have their own stories, indeed, at any one moment, there are people around the life of the church at HBC undergoing cancer treatments. Research tells us that one in three people will die of cancer. So why do I feel more excited than ever that our God is wanting to heal many more people of this awful disease (or any other, for that matter)? On what is my confidence based? And what should our approach be? Here’s what God has been teaching me:1. I don’t believe that disease of any type has anything to do with God. I’m especially uncomfortable with notions that God sends disease or even allows disease to teach us something. Yes, I know about the Egyptian plagues, but that was because they were contravening the covenant relationship and purposes God had for His people. Let’s face up to the fact that we live in a world of sin and conflict and one of the many outcomes of that is disease. That’s why bad things often happen to good people. We are in a war with a powerful enemy who doesn’t play fair.
2. Don’t pretend or claim healings if it’s not happening. Being in denial, or pretending that everything’s okay when it isn’t is stupid and dishonest. And certainly don’t blame the sick person’s lack of faith.
3. God uses conventional medicine to bring healing and we thank God for that.
4. It is more helpful to focus on God rather than on problems. This is a key to me and one that I’m presently journeying on, but we need to understand that:
• God can never betray his character. He is nothing other than good.
• His once for all sacrifice has fully paid the price, including all sickness, and there are, according to scripture, no deficiencies in the new covenant.
• His track record is unblemished. Both in history and experience, I’m not aware of God giving anything other than good gifts.
• Healing is not about relying on a technique or formula, but there are biblical principles around issues like grace, fasting, forgiveness and faith that increase the likelihood of healing. Perhaps a more helpful way of explaining it is to suggest that these things create an environment within which God can bring healing. Look at all the healing miracles in the gospels and in Acts and check this out.
5. God’s will is found in his word, that’s what biblically orthodox, evangelical Christians believe. We must be careful that we don’t conclude from our failures and disappointments that it must have been God’s will. I understand why people do it, indeed I’ve done it, but we must be faithful to the biblical revelation which is that Jesus never turned any sick people away, that healing is part of the atonement, that all Christians have been given authority to heal the sick and that some are blessed with the special spiritual gift of healings, and finally, that bringing heaven (where everybody is well and whole), to earth, is the main assignment of every Christian believer.
Healing is part of the Kingdom, just as feeding the poor, casting out demons and preaching the gospel are. It is not the be-all-and-end-all but it is important, indeed I long to see more healings at HBC. This is an exciting part of the church’s journey, and we must move forward with compassion, confidence, and faith in our amazing Lord Jesus.