Many similar passages could be added, showing that healings and other miracles were not only successful, but also successful instantly. Apart from the brief delay of Mark 9—while Jesus came down the mountain—there was no waiting. Never, in the New Testament record, did a miraculous healing take hours or days, much less weeks and months.
Yet delays and gradual improvements are common in the records of modern faithhealers. Further, they attempt to justify them as genuine miracles. As an example, we may return to a book written by the world-famous televangelist. In his book on miracles, he gives the example of his own childhood experience. While he identifies his healing as a “miracle,” he admits that it was a very gradual process.
A sensation of warmth began at my feet, slowly coming up through my body, working through my burnt-out lungs, then into my vocal cords, then exploding inside me…. I was engulfed with Jesus’ presence. I was not healed at that moment. My breath was still labored, my stammering was still there when I talked.
Shortly after this private experience, he went to a faith healing meeting.
I heard these words: “Thou foul tormenting affliction, come out of this boy, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” A burning sensation struck my lungs and swept up through my throat so quickly that instantly I was out of their protective arms, walking, talking, laughing, crying… my healing took a year. At times I thought I had lost it. The hurting in my lungs was stubborn, so was my stuttering. My mother, sensing my struggle, said, “Do you remember when the power of the Lord came over you and you could talk and breathe normally?” “Oh, yes,” I replied. “Hold that picture in your mind and heart and your complete healing will come.” And it did! From that hour the change began that has never left me. I still stutter some, particularly when I am excited, and my lungs still hurt occasionally after strenuous preaching and praying.
While we sympathize with sufferers, and rejoice with returning health, the point under consideration cannot be missed: This healing took several experiences and a year of gradual recovery. That is the ordinary way recovery takes place for millions of people every day. It does not reflect the kind of immediate success that characterized Bible miracles.