[This book was found on our library
shelves and is as applicable today as it was in 1925. It provides a solid refutation of
the false claims of the so-called "faith-healers." The book is copyrighted;
however, the book is out of print and the copyright is over 50 years old. "We feel
assured the truth as set forth in this volume is greatly needed, and we believe the Lord
will graciously use this testimony for His Word, and the witness against this present-day
healing delusion." - A.C. Gaebelein, 1925]
The Healing Question
An examination of the claims of
Faith-Healing
and Divine Healing systems in the
light of the Scriptures
and History
By
ARNO CLEMENS GAEBELEIN
Editor of "Our Hope"
PUBLICATION OFFCE "OUR
HOPE"
456 FOURTH AVENUE
NEW YORK CITY
And All Booksellers
Copyright
September, 1925
To my friend
Howard A. Kelly, M.D., LL.D.
one of the beloved physicians,
with gratitude for his God given skill, which under His blessing has saved so many lives,
and brought help and comfort to the suffering, and in deep appreciation of his loyalty to
the Word of God and the Christ of God.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
The Healing Question
"Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as
a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it
flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth. For we are
consumed by Thine anger, and by Thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities
before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance. For all our days are passed
away in wrath; we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are
threescore years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is
their strength labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away" (Psalm
90:5-10). "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle" (Job 7:6). "Man
that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a
flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not" (Job 14:1,
2). "He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with
strong pain, so that his life abborreth bread, and his soul dainty meat. His flesh is
consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were not seen stick out. Yea,
his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers" (Job 33:19-22).
"For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and
then vanisheth away" (James 4:14).
These few passages from the Word of God deal with human
existence, the shortness of human life, its uncertainty and the sorrows connected with it.
The first utterance of a new born babe is a tearful cry of pain. Sickness and pain,
sorrows and [page 6] tears follow, as the common lot of the human race. Millions die in
infancy; other multitudes are swept away by disease and death before they reach middle
age; but a few attain the fourscore years. Why is it thus if man, made a little lower than
the angels, is the offspring of a benevolent God? The answer which the pagan evolutionary
theory attempts to give, we pass by as unworthy of our consideration. There is a more
satisfactory answer to this question. But who is going to tell us what happened in the
remotest past? Who is going to lift the veil which covers the cradle-history of humanity?
Primitive man has left no records. Research is unavailing. Knowledge through these
channels on the enigma of human existence and human suffering is impossible. Man has
received the needed knowledge through another source.
There is a God. Only a fool denies His existence. In His
Being He is infinite. He is eternal. He is all-wise. Omnipotence, omniscience and absolute
holiness are His attributes. Such a Being necessitates self-revelation. Ile created man
and has given him the capacity to know Him as His Creator, and to be in fellowship with
Him. If God had not revealed Himself to man He would not be God. He has revealed Himself
and spoken to man. That revelation is the Bible, the Word of God. The Bible is the only
book in the world which is supernatural, and has every possible mark of the divine
revelation of God. In it God offers to His creature true knowledge of those things which
man cannot discover by research.
In spite of all the boasting, modern infidelity in every
nook and corner of the camp of Christendom, the solid foundation of God's truth still
stands-"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Upon this
unshakable, eternal rock is built all that follows in His Word. Let them [page 7] keep on
sneering at the three chapters in the beginning of the Bible, and class them with mythical
folklore, these chapters will outtlive all the sneers and infidelity of the future, as
they have outlived all the attacks of the past. Here we find our question answered as to
man's present condition. The answer which God gives has satisfied the greatest intellects
of the human race in past ages; it still satisfies the heart of man.
Man is the creature of God, called into existence by a
creative act of God, created in His own image. He is seen originally as a creature filled
with wisdom and knowledge, understanding God's creation, whose lord he is called to
be. He was in fellowship with God. Then came a catastrophe. He transgressed. We do not
enter into the details of the birth of sin, through that being who is the author of sin.
Man became a sinner, lost his fellowship with God and his inheritance. God spake then in
His holiness. He announced the curse. Solemn are the last words He spake, "In the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it
thou wast taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return" (Gen. 3:19).
Death came into the world by sin. Human existence from the cradle is now a march towards
an open grave, and on the way is sickness, sorrow, pain, tears, and all kinds of physical
and mental affliction. God also spoke in His Love and announced Him, the seed of the
woman, who would in time become the Saviour of a lost race.
There has been a "healing question" from the
very start of history. The human race has wrestled from the beginning with sickness and
disease, and tried in some way to rid itself of these bodily afflictions. The earliest
intelligent records of the past we possess, going back several thousand years before
Christ, are the cuneiform inscriptions. These [page 8] Accadian and Sumerian records have
much to say about diseases. Disease was looked upon by these nations of the earliest times
as being the work of evil spirits. Incantations and magic were the prescribed cure, as
they are still among many nations of the world today.
Throughout this Christian age there has been a
"healing question" which is more fully dealt with in a chapter of this volume.
The "healing question" in which we are concerned
is from the religious view point. The Lord Jesus Christ healed all diseases while on
earth, He cleansed the lepers and raised the dead. Miracles of healing took place under
the preaching of the Apostles. Throughout the history of the Church claims were made of
miraculous cures through certain men. Fanatical movements sprang up laying claim to a
restoration of the gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy and the gift of healing. Relics
and shrines were also sought by the sick and afflicted, as they are still superstitiously
used in Roman and Greek Catholicism. The Camisards, called the French prophets, the
Shakers, the Mormons, the Spiritists, the Irvingites and similar sects all claim to heal
the sick. Christian Science and other metaphysical cults claim to have relief for the
physical sufferings of man.
What interests us mostly in this volume is faith-healing,
or as it is also called, "Divine healing." During the last few years a veritable
craze in healing of diseases by faith seems to have taken hold of thousands of professing
Christians. Men and women go through the land promising healing of any disease on the
simple condition of faith. Even diseases which still baffle intelligent and painstaking
research and treatment, like cancer, are claimed to vanish completely before faith. As one
faith-healer by name of Bosworth declares, "It is just as easy to be healed of cancer
[page 9] as to have your sins forgiven." These faith-healers use the Scriptures to
back up their claims. They tell us that inasmuch as "Jesus Christ is the same,
yesterday, today and forever" and inasmuch as He has commanded to heal the sick, the
same miracles He did may also be done today. The most unscripturable assertions are made
by these Divine healers. The reported "miracles" of healing have often been
exposed as falsehoods. The works and results which follow their campaigns have frequently
been disastrous. Hypnotism and deceptions of various degrees are practiced by some of
these advocates of faith healing. We feel it is about time to examine the whole question
of faith healing, or, "Divine healing," and to show its unscripturalness, as
well as to expose the false claims as to miraculous hearings. This is the reason why we
wrote this volume. We want to help the household of faith and guard them against one of
the most subtle delusions of our times.
We feel assured the truth as set forth in this volume is
greatly needed, and we believe the Lord will graciously use this testimony for His Word,
and the witness against this present-day healing delusion.
Chapter 2: The Miracles of Healing
By The Lord Jesus Christ
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