A 4th-Generation Methodist's Response - Part 5 of 5

Tuesday, 22nd July 2008

Part V of V

continued from Part 4

[3] This is what you wrote about Healing

What I had reservations about: Whilst the book speaks of Bible passages where physical healing is expected and takes place, it says nothing about the passages that accept (without surprise or anguish) that miraculous physical healing did not take place e.g. 2 Tim 4:20; Philippians 2:25-27; 1 Tim 5:23; Gal 4:13-14. Incidentally, Galatians 4:13-14 tells us explicitly that Paul did have a bodily sickness which resulted in the greater good of the Gospel being preached contra Prince’s statement that “Paul did not suffer any sickness or disease” (p. 71). The problem is not so much with what Prince affirms viz. that healing is a blessing from a God who is full of grace; the problem is with what he omits to affirm viz. that physical illness without healing on earth can also fall within the gracious providence of God. The Bible teaches us both to pray for physical healing and to be prepared to endure illness with patient endurance. The victorious Christian life is one that remains faithful to God in both times of abundance and poverty, in sickness or in health, for richer or for poorer (cf. Philippians 4:12-13). I do not know the ministry of Prince well enough to be sure of what he really thinks about healing on earth. Perhaps if you listen long enough to his sermons, you may be able to make a fairer assessment. Does he preach to help Christians cope with the onslaught of poverty and illness, or does he speak only of removing sickness and suffering by effortless faith? We need both messages, because that is the balance we find in Scripture.


This is probably a topic that is closest to my heart because of my son's condition. Previously, we would accept it as God's will for him, as well as for us. Well-meaning Christians would tell us that this is so that we will be kept humble or so that God can teach us lessons. But does God really operate that way? If an earthly mother sees her daughter playing in the kitchen, does she take the girl's hand, switch on the stove and put it into the fire, so that her daughter will be taught a lesson not to step into the kitchen? If an earthly father sees his son playing by the road, does he ask the boy to lie down, run his car over his legs, so that his son will be taught a lesson about the dangers of being near the road? Yet, we picture our Heavenly Father as giving us diseases and sicknesses so as to keep us humble?

There are yet some other people that say that sicknesses and diseases are punishment and retribution for some wrongdoing. If that's the case, then perhaps Jesus should have told the parable of the Prodigal Son this way...

When the son came back to the house, the father said to him, "How dare you come back here? Haven't you caused me enough shame and suffering already? What has happened to you is what you deserved. Now, get out of my sight before I stone you to death for dishonouring me. Anyway, my firstborn is still with me, so you can go and die for all I care."

Thanks so much for pointing out passages in Scripture that showed that miraculous healing did not take place. However, I can also show you even more passages in Scripture where they did.

The trouble with holding on to the doctrine that sometimes God heals and sometimes He doesn't, or sometimes God blesses us and sometimes He doesn't, makes it difficult for us to know how to pray or what to ask for. Imagine if an earthly father were to behave like that. One day, when he is in a good mood, he will bring his kids out for a good meal. The next day, when he gets up on the wrong side of bed, he will beat up his kids just for the fun of it. Is our God really like that?

At the end of the day, God gives each of us free will and free choice -- He will not force His blessings upon us if we feel ill-at-ease about accepting them. As for me and my household, we choose to believe that by the stripes of Jesus, my son is healed. When the Roman soldiers whipped Jesus with the cat-o-nine-tails and His flesh was being ripped apart, He could have stayed down. Yet He chose to get up time and time again, so as to ensure that every single disease and illness in the world would be taken upon His own body.

And it is already happening, praise God! We read in the newspapers that people are willing to pay even up to S$300,000 for a kidney transplant, and that was the new lease of life that my son was given on 10 April 2008, at a fraction of that price, and after nearly eight years on dialysis. We continue to claim that all God's promises are yes and in Him amen to the glory of God through us.

As a fellow Methodist, I understand perfectly the reservations you have about some of the contents of the book. But unless grace is radically preached, there can be no radical transformation. My prayer is that as you study the Scriptures more and more, God's Holy Spirit will also begin to reveal to you more about what being the righteousness of God means to the believer, and what we are entitled to claim as beneficiaries of the New Covenant. Let us not settle for anything but the best, because the best is yet to be!

Yours-in-Christ

Malcolm Loh
4th Generation Methodist
Baptismal Roll of Paya Lebar Methodist Church (Dec 1970 – Dec 1982)
Preparatory Roll of Paya Lebar Methodist Church (Jan 1983 – Nov 1986)
Membership Roll of Paya Lebar Methodist Church (Dec 1986 – Jul 2008)
On Sabbatical Leave (Aug 2008 till further notice)
LCEC Elective Steward (Sep 1991 – Aug 1994)
Honorary Treasurer (Sep 2006 - Aug 2007)
Cell Leader (Jan 2007 – Aug 2007)