Divine healing in Christendom is a thorny subject that never fails to draw sharp and contrasting reactions. It is the fork in the road of Christian Pilgrimage that sees Christian pilgrims choosing divergent directions.
In a modern, materialistic age where the prevailing culture is rooted in the empiricism of Science and Technology, where the surreal, the metaphysical, the unverifiable, the immeasurable and improvable are treated with contempt and tacked with such dismissive labels as superstition and religious myth and consequently not given any serious contemplation, the faith of Preachers is not the least affected.
As diseases take on ever more nightmarish appearances, a large number of preachers are hushing up about their continued belief in divine healing. Faith is viewed as an obsolete weapon in the battle for life against death. Except for such small afflictions as common colds, headaches, stomach disorders, aches and pains in tired muscles and stiff joints; faith is no longer seen as the choice weapon to go into the make or break battle with diseases.
Theological books are being rewritten or revised. The newest editions pronounce divine healing as absent in the present but present in the past. That God remains the same yesterday, today and forever is seen only in radically different context.
It is reasoned that Science with its awesome breakthroughs and unprecedented insight into the mechanics of diseases that afflict the human body is the gift of God for our times: Therefore it is to be embraced with enthusiastic acceptance, without prejudice.
Brothers Dele and Stanley, two young preachers among those in the forefront of the doctrinal battle turf, whose uncompromising stance on the immutability of God in all spheres of Biblical teaching (divine healing included), are put to test on a trip to a wedding in a like minded assembly in Abidjan. Amidst the euphoria of nuptial celebration, a desperate case, personified by Sis Edith got stretchered in. God’s intervention was needed as a matter of urgency because Medical Science had declared that it was as helpless as she was.
Would God save her? Would He vindicate His word that He remains “the same yesterday, today and forever” or would He in a more convenient way let her tortured body go home to rest? The answers to these questions were unknowns in the mind of the young preachers. When they, alongside other ministers, called on God, their child like faith was being expressed. They encircled Sis Edith and prayed passionately over her. Reminding God that His Word states that He is the one who heals ALL our diseases: not just the smalls but also the biggies.
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To the natural eyes, the situation remained at status quo: no visible change. Sis Edith never ceased groaning. Cancer’s death march advanced unbroken and sure footed.
But it was only a few days after the return of Brothers Dele and Stanley back to Nigeria that they received a call. It was a call from an excited voice. It was about Sis Edith. She was recovering! In an inexplicable way her body had started to gain strength. She had been off her sickbed for days and was busying herself with small household chores.
Perhaps Divine Healing never went anywhere with the Apostles after all. Perhaps all it needed to manifest was the same faith that operated it in the early days of Christianity. God was and still is… but only to them that would believe!
