As you obey the Bible’s command to test the spirits, remember to look beneath the surface. Since claimed cures tend to be inward and unseen, they require “testimonials” to convince others. You can ask a few simple questions without being offensive. Please permit me, as the writer of this course, to share two personal experiences that illustrate the need for a second look.
EXAMPLE ONE
At a healing revival, a young man went forward to have his eyes healed so that he no longer needed glasses. (His glasses had been broken.) The healer laid his hands on the young man, and proclaimed him healed. The young man joyfully praised God for his healing. That might have been the end of the matter if there not been a second look.
After the service I respectfully asked the young man to read the large letters on a banner above the speaker’s stand. The sign was designed to be read from a distance. Yet the young man could not read it. These inquiries were made with a kind attitude and in private, so as not to embarrass the young man. No blame was discussed or implied. I simply wanted to learn more. The majority who had been present at the meeting made no such inquiries. They went away convinced that they had seen a miracle. They trusted the preacher who had confidently announced success. The young man had reacted with joy in his sincere belief that his eyesight was improving. Had they asked a simple question, however, they might have realized that nothing powerful had happened—certainly nothing miraculous by biblical standards.
Sadly, the young man’s case is not alone. Worldwide, similar cases go on every day and are just as easily checked. This is true with even the most highly acclaimed faith-healers. One of the most famous was a woman preacher. A noted surgeon, William A. Nolan, investigated 82 cases claiming to have been healed by her. The doctor found that all the illnesses were of the kind that have normal up-and-down courses and are influenced easily by suggestion. In his book, A Doctor In Search of a Miracle, he wrote, “I was led to an inescapable conclusion. Not one had been miraculously healed of anything.”
Whether or not you agree with the doctor’s conclusion, the point remains that such an allegation was never made against healings done by Jesus and His apostles. As described by the Bible, the fact is inescapable that every case was genuinely healed, as Jesus’ enemies had to admit. Today the admissions are in reverse. Faith healers have to admit that many who come to them are not healed. Those they claim as successes tend to be psychosomatic in nature—responding to positive thinking.
EXAMPLE TWO
In a discussion with followers of a sect that claimed miraculous powers, I asked about raising the dead. If they claimed to do what Jesus did, why were reports of resurrection so few? And why did they tend to be vague and far away, well beyond the reach of personal investigation. With complete confidence they replied that they knew of a man who had been raised from death, right here in our own town. An interview was arranged. At a meeting we were introduced to the man who had “raised the dead.” We would have preferred to meet the man who had been dead (see John 12:9), but that turned out to be impossible. Here is the man’s story as he told it to me and to all present:
He said, at the time of our visit, that he had been converted about a year before. Shortly after his conversion, he raised a dead man back to life. He knew virtually nothing of the Bible at the time, but he had an intense faith. Therefore, when he heard about the death of the father of a friend, it occurred to him that he ought to be able to raise the dead man. His religious teachers had told him to expect miracles in faith. With this in mind he went to the morgue and prayed over the corpse. He looked for signs of life, but found none. After taking a rest, he resumed the prayers with greater fervor. By this time, the mortician was becoming impatient. So, after having spent a considerable time, the young convert returned home. The mortician then proceeded with the funeral arrangements and the dead man was duly buried.
In his testimony, this new convert explained that he himself had not realized at first that a miracle had occurred. After he got home, he began mentally to re-visit what had happened. He remembered that he had lifted an eyelid of the corpse to look for signs of life, and that upon releasing the eyelid it had closed again. Inquiries with a doctor friend convinced him that a corpse’s eyelids cannot close on their own. Also, in retrospect it seemed to him that the corpse had started to warm. After reviewing his experience, the young man came to the conclusion that he had indeed raised the corpse back to life. He testified to his miracle at subsequent meetings of the sect and became famous as the raiser of a modern-day Lazarus.
We, of course, asked the obvious question: If the corpse had come to life, why did it not walk out of the morgue to give a truly convincing testimony? The young convert had an explanation ready: The corpse had been dead for over six hours, which had given the spirit time to glimpse heaven. The spirit started to re-enter the body (hence the hints of life), but then decided it preferred the joy of heaven.
How all this unseen activity was supposedly evident, we were not told. Whatever the source, the young convert seemed completely satisfied by his spirit-world explanation. For him anyway, it wrapped up the perplexing problem of why a resurrected man was buried without ever walking or talking among the living. It seems that the young miracle-worker forgot to contact the morgue. The evidence for the miracle was buried—literally.
Most who heard the testimonials likely heard what I had heard initially, just that a dead person had been raised—yet another example of this sect’s amazing powers. I learned more because I enquired in a considerate way.
This remarkable incident provides an insight into the sect’s mentality. The man spoke sincerely. And why not? His new religious mentors had repeatedly warned him that any doubt was of the devil. To question the reality of his miracle would amount to questioning the power of Christ and surrendering to Satan. That, of course, he could not do if he wished to stay in favor with God and the sect. So, although the physical evidence in the cemetery told its own version of the story, he had to convince himself and others of a resurrection. He had to tell his story with utmost conviction. To do otherwise would be to invite sin and eternal hell, according to the sect’s teaching. As the young man himself testified, he knew little of the Bible. How different his experiences might have been had he known Scripture’s teachings, warnings and descriptions of true miracles.