{"id":56169,"date":"2006-11-24T20:52:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-25T02:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=56169"},"modified":"2022-11-24T20:55:23","modified_gmt":"2022-11-25T02:55:23","slug":"faith-healers-or-fake-healers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/faith-healers-or-fake-healers\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith Healers or &#8216;Fake&#8217; Healers?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\tby Greg Gwin\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/11\/snakeOil-300x270.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"270\" \/>So-called &#8220;faith healers&#8221; continue to claim great abilities for healing various ail\u00adments of the physical body. While we steadfastly believe in all the miracles of the Bible, including the many instances of miraculous divine healing, we are equally as strong in our denial that these modern &#8220;healers&#8221; have any God-given power in this realm. The Scriptures teach that the age of miracles has ended (I Corinthians 13:8-13).<\/p>\n<p>A personal trip to a &#8216;faith healing revival&#8217; served to illustrate the great discrepancy between the claims of a modern healer and the genuine healings recorded in the Bible. Some of the ailments that were &#8216;healed&#8217; by this person included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;swimmer&#8217;s ear&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>a sore thumb<\/li>\n<li>a root-canal problem in the teeth<\/li>\n<li>anxiety attacks<\/li>\n<li>a pulled muscle in the leg<\/li>\n<li>a dry eye socket<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Notice that all of these claimed ailments could not be verified or confirmed by those observing the supposed &#8216;healings.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Please contrast these with a partial list of the healings performed by Jesus:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>raised the dead (John 11:1-54)<\/li>\n<li>gave sight to the blind (John 9)<\/li>\n<li>healed lepers (Luke 17:11-19)<\/li>\n<li>caused the lame to walk (Matthew 9:1-8)<\/li>\n<li>restored a severed ear (Luke 22:49-51)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The significant difference is that Jesus performed miracles that could be easily verified by any interested person. Even unbelievers were forced to admit his miracle-working ability (John 11:47). This is obviously not so in regard to the &#8216;fake&#8217; healers in the religious world today.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Greg Gwin So-called &#8220;faith healers&#8221; continue to claim great abilities for healing various ail\u00adments of the physical body. While we steadfastly believe in all the miracles of the Bible, including the many instances of miraculous divine healing, we are equally as strong in our denial that these modern &#8220;healers&#8221; have any God-given power in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1121,478,363],"class_list":["post-56169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith-healing","tag-false-teachers","tag-miracles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10235,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/miracles-in-the-new-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":56169,"position":0},"title":"Miracles in the New Testament","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many claim to have miraculous gifts, just like those given in the New Testament \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It doesn\u2019t matter that you or I can show verses that state such gifts were temporary and were going to end. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It doesn\u2019t matter that most of the big time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17435,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/facts-about-faith-healing\/","url_meta":{"origin":56169,"position":1},"title":"Facts About Faith Healing","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Rick Duggin via Westvue Messenger, Vol. 29, No. 7, July 1986 Members of the Faith Assembly, an Indiana-based religious sect, have lost as many as eighty-eight members to treatable illnesses or injuries because they believe that going to a doctor is wrong. A federal and state study concluded that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86088,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/he-had-faith-to-be-healed\/","url_meta":{"origin":56169,"position":2},"title":"He Had Faith to Be Healed","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by William J. Stewart It is a common perception in the religious world that one must have adequate faith for one to be healed. This false idea has allowed many fake healers to save face when their hypnotic advantage over a would-be recipient has failed. And as sure as it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":96429,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/an-inconsistent-obituary\/","url_meta":{"origin":56169,"position":3},"title":"An Inconsistent Obituary","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 3, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Craig Meyer via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 21 No. 3, September 1995 In the July 1993 issue of Reflections On Truth,\u00a0David Padfield reports an obituary in the Chicago Tribune of May 22, 1993. It seems that William Bentley, a Pentecostal preacher, died while conducting Sunday services at the Progressive Beulah Pentecostal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25617,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/differences-in-bible-miracles-and-modern-miracles\/","url_meta":{"origin":56169,"position":4},"title":"Differences in Bible Miracles and Modern Miracles","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hiram Hutto While Jesus was on earth he made some very startling claims. He claimed to be divine, and the Jews so understood him (John 5:18; 10:33). He claimed to be the Son of God (John 10:35-37). He claimed to be the Messiah (John 4:25-26) and the Savior of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Peter-and-John-Healing-a-Crippled-Man-300x294.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22041,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-do-witchdoctors-get-their-ability-to-do-magic-and-to-heal\/","url_meta":{"origin":56169,"position":5},"title":"Where do witchdoctors get their ability to do magic and to heal?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello brother, I would like to ask where do witchdoctors get their magic or ability to heal? Answer: First, we have to consider whether witchdoctors actually have any power or abilities, such as to heal. Like the so-called faith healers and people who claim to be witches, there is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}