Guardians of the Orthodoxy

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I binge-watched Season 4 of Dallas Jenkins’ The Chosen.

In general, I tend to thoroughly enjoy this series. I have few, if any, problems with their portrayal of events actually recorded in the Gospels, including its accounts of miraculous healings.

On the other hand, I do have a serious problem with his underlying agenda regarding divine healing — and I’m not the only one who does. Here’s what I mean by that: he keeps superimposing his own unbelief in modern healing miracles onto the biblical narrative. This tends to occur whenever he inserts characters, scenes, and/or situations into the show’s storyline which are not actually recorded in Scripture. Within that extra-biblical context, he then goes terribly awry when addressing God’s will concerning supernatural healing.

Jesus Healed Literally Thousands of People

Before I proceed further, let me be perfectly clear about an inescapable scriptural truth:

Jesus healed everyone who came to Him for healing/deliverance as well as everyone to whom the Father sent Him without exception.

Nowhere in the Scriptures does it say otherwise — or even hint at it. Not only did Jesus perform the slew of notable healings specifically recorded in the gospels, but also countless other healing miracles too innumerable for the writers to recount individually. Here’s just a brief sample of such verses:

Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Matthew 4:24

And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. Matthew 12:15b

And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. Matthew 14:14

And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there. Matthew 19:2

Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. Matthew 21:14
Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.
Mark 1:34
For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him. Mark 3:10

When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret and anchored there. And when they came out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, ran through that whole surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard He was. Wherever He entered, into villages, cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made well. Mark 6:53-56

When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. Luke 4:40

And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all. Luke 6:19

I could go on and on with many more citations, but I think you’re getting my point by now. As the Apostle John records in his gospel:

And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
John 21:25

And the healing of multitudes didn’t end with Jesus’ ascension to the Father, either. Luke records in Acts:

Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. Acts 5:16

Modern-day People Who Don’t Get Healed

Some Christ-followers do not receive their healing in this life despite all the confessions of faith, multitudes of prayers, and diligent fasting made both by themselves personally as well as on their behalf. A salient example of this very kind of situation is the death from cancer of Beni Johnson, the wife of Bethel Church’s senior leader, Bill Johnson, a tragic event now 2 years in the past. Eric Johnson, their son, is profoundly hearing-impaired and has yet to receive his healing, despite the fact the Holy Spirit has moved mightily through him to miraculously heal others — including other deaf people.

Bethel has championed divine healing for decades now and has witnessed literally thousands of miraculous healings in both their services as well as their multitude of worldwide outreaches and missions — including the very kind of cancer which took her life — yet the wife of the senior pastor died and their son remains almost completely deaf.

As it turns out, Dallas Jenkins has a chronically ill daughter. From what I can discover, no one outside the family knows whether they have prayed anything other than “if it be Thy will” concerning her healing (such a prayer displays zero faith in God’s promises, I might add). While I have compassion for them as they all walk out that struggle, it still doesn’t give them license to do what I’m beefing about in this article.

Divine Mysteries

Such anomalies are mysteries. Those exceptions do not — indeed cannot — negate God’s promises to heal. They simply remind us that we do not — indeed cannot — know the answer to that universal question of “WHY!?”

As I have said many times elsewhere here on Miscellaneous Ramblings, God reserves certain things to Himself and we will never know this side of glory what the real answers are. Our ability to tolerate such mysteries without obsessively demanding answers is a direct barometer of our childlikeness before our Heavenly Father. In such cases, all we can do is steward those moments by offering the sacrifice of praise while pressing by faith into the Truth of His goodness.

What we are never permitted to do is pervert what the Bible plainly states and God clearly promises to explain away such events in our flesh-compelled demands for an explanation.

No one can make such situations intelligible. I cannot explain those examples I just cited concerning others nor can I explain to you why God has handled my healthcare issues the way He has. He supernaturally healed my right knee whereas I had to undergo surgeries to deliver me from kidney cancer, rebuild my badly torn right rotator cuff, and replace my cataract-afflicted lenses. But God healed me in every one of these situations and more besides. My right knee remains healed, I am still cancer-free 12 years later, my right shoulder now works better than my left, and I am no longer legally blind without glasses. Go figure! 😊

Many modern-day ministers and so-called theologians encounter similar circumstances. They actually loathe them because both the victims of terminal or incurable illnesses as well as their surviving relatives and caregivers are going to ask that dreaded “WHY!?” question. Answering “I don’t know” throws shade on their own ministries; proclaiming it wasn’t God’s will neatly shifts the blame and gets the minister off the hook. Their catch-all response is piously quoting a poorly-exegeted phrase from Isaiah:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9

What they neatly ignore is the following verses which give the ones I just cited some of their context:

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void,
but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-12

Rather than that first citation giving God an out to not fulfill His promises, when it is viewed in its context with the second one, God Himself is saying His Word will indeed be fulfilled over time (seed being watered so it grows and produces a harvest) and will indeed be accomplished whether we can understand how He does it or not.

SO instead of pressing on regardless and obediently praying in faith for other people’s healings, they chicken out and commit hermeneutical violence on the Scriptures, vainly attempting to drive the square peg of what the Bible clearly promises about divine healing into the round hold of their corrupt perceptions and finite human understanding. They cannot simply accept why something God has clearly promised all Christ-followers didn’t happen, so they feel compelled to defend God in such a way that all their Greco-Roman theological categories are neatly sorted and binned, with zero blurriness, anomalies, or loose ends.

They then label those who refuse to compromise in the same way on the topic of healing as false prophets and heretics so they can shift public focus off of their own unbelief.

Back to The Chosen

Like I said earlier, it is the extra-biblical situations where such corrupted-by-human-reasoning doctrine rears its ugly head.

The first example of their mishandling of healing took place last season. It concerned one of Jesus’ disciples, specifically James, the son of Alphaeus aka James the Less. They’ve nicknamed him “Little James” in The Chosen. Point-of-fact: the entire New Testament says nothing about Little James other than to list him as one of the original twelve. So everything Jenkins depicts about him in the script as well as all the dialog written for that character are absolutely fictional.

During an episode in Season 3, Little James is portrayed as having a deformed leg. During that same episode, Jenkins wasted quite a bit of our time having Jesus explain to him why he wasn’t going to receive healing for his skeletal deformity. Moving on to Season 4, Little James is depicted throughout as experiencing extreme pain from his misshapen leg, yet Jesus is never once portrayed as having mercy on him and healing him.

A similar kind of situation repeated itself in Episode 3 of Season 4. Rhema, a fictitious female disciple of Jesus who had very recently become engaged to Thomas, was murdered by a crazed Roman prætor who had run her through with a sword. Rather than healing her of her mortal wound on the spot or raising her from the dead (either in that place or after they had later departed Capernaum), the script had Jesus saying, “My time has not come yet.”

Interestingly, the Greek word rhema is the same one used in Ephesians 6 where Paul talks about the sword of the Spirit being the Word (rhema) of God. So in a classic case of exquisite irony, Dallas Jenkins literally killed off the Word. 🤪

Naturally, all of His retinue were shocked and dismayed — and rightly so! — after witnessing so many other healing miracles. And that’s not to mention one specific miracle which had taken place immediately prior to her murder where Jesus had healed a blind man along with its aftermath with the Pharisees as recorded in John 9. To put a cherry on top of that “not My time” nonsense, the season ends with Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead as recorded in John 11. In the script, they portrayed Jesus’ motivation for raising of Lazarus almost entirely about His coming out as Messiah.

The Question Demanding Answers

I do not presume to know the mind of God. Such knowledge is so far above my pay grade, that distance is beyond human measurement. All that being said, the Apostle Paul states how we, as Christ’s Body, have been given His mind (see 1 Corinthians 2:16). I’ve been hanging out with Jesus for over 50 years and counting so far and that portrayal is not the Lord Who I love and serve.

Which begs the question: why are certain folks so opposed to divine healing? While it’s a simple question, the answer is not. I’m going to spend the rest of this article exploring some possible answers. As with God, knowing the hearts and minds of other men is also way above my pay grade. That being said, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (see Matthew 12:34 & Luke 6:45) — and they have indeed spoken!

As I was reading 2 Kings during my quiet time, I encountered the following verse which the Holy Spirit quickened to me concerning this very topic:

They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods…
2 Kings 17:33a

Here it is in a few other translations:

And though they worshiped the Lord, they continued to follow their own gods…
2 Kings 17:33a NLT

They honored and worshiped God, but they also kept up their devotions to the old gods.
2 Kings 17:33a MSG

This verse was a mind-blower for me. Prior to encountering it, I had presumed the fear of the Lord precluded even the possibility of following after other gods, yet this verse clearly proclaims otherwise.

So how does this apply to the situation at hand? I believe it’s this: the folks who work so long and hard to refute modern-day healing miracles and criticize those who God uses to perform them are indeed fearing the right God, but they are in fact devoted to and serving their “old gods.” I define their old gods as their cherished devoid-of-power doctrinal statements, their mired-in-the-ancient-past church traditions, and their very real fear of the opinions of others.

Jesus addressed this very issue in the Gospel of Mark:

And Jesus [repeatedly and expressly] charged and admonished them, saying, Look out; keep on your guard and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod and the Herodians. Mark 8:15 AMP

When you dig into this a bit, we can safely conclude those leavens are two flavors of the fear of man. The leaven of the Pharisees is focussed on the religious realm and that of Herod & Co. is all about politics. Not only do we see the fear of man demonstrated throughout the Gospels by the Pharisees, but also the Sadducees and scribes, where they are either afraid to act against Jesus or answer His questions “for fear of the people.” On the Herodian-leaven side, Herod Antipas beheaded John the Baptizer because he feared what folks would think of him if he broke his promise to Salome by obeying his conscience.

The modern-day equivalent of those folks are the pastors and spiritual leaders within Christendom (the institutional expression of Christianity in the earth) who fear the worldwide revival now in progress as well as the supernatural signs, wonders, and miracles resulting from it. Such critics are terrified of disappointments (what if it doesn’t work?), the potential resulting aftermath (people will abandon our church/ministry/Jesus!), and jealousy (if revival isn’t happening through us, it cannot possibly be real!). To protect themselves, they abandon hope (biblically defined as the joyful anticipation of good) and retreat behind walls of false doctrine piously labelled as “wisdom” and “sound doctrine.”

Tragically, in their unbelief, they are also walling out what God is currently doing, thereby excluding themselves and their followers from participating in and benefiting from it. Satan is more than happy to reinforce their position with lies masquerading as wisdom, prudence, and doctrinal orthodoxy (see James 3:15-16).

As I was watching the episode where the blind man was healed as recounted in John 9, the arguments raised by the Pharisees concerning that healing sounded just like Jenkins had lifted them intact directly from the anti-healing rhetoric prevalent on social media. The Holy Spirit used that remarkable similarity to prompt me into writing this article.

Apologetics

This kind of behavior is especially prevalent within the apologetics community. Rather than confining themselves to their actual task at hand, defending the faith against skeptical outsiders, they aggrandize themselves by awarding themselves the title of this article.

Using this presumptuous act as their casus belli, they then turn against fellow Christ-followers having the temerity to disagree with them doctrinally. They castigate them publicly as being “less-than,” calling them names, imputing evil motives to them, labelling them cultists, and a host of other ad hominem attacks. Without exception I’ve ever encountered after listening to them for well over a decade now, they cannot even accurately articulate what the healing community is actually teaching, much less refute it using the Scriptures rightly divided.

Their constant mantra of “What if it doesn’t work?” coupled their concerted efforts to distance themselves by attempting to discredit its participants through labelling them as heretics are both prima facie evidence of this very attitude. This is also the primary driving mindset of social media “heretic hunters” who gleefully bash whoever opposes their personal prejudices on religious orthodoxy.

Apologists are folks who profess to using logic and reason to defend the faith by exposing the biased thinking and logical fallacies of atheists and other skeptics. In their blind hypocrisy, they in turn display in themselves the selfsame biases and fallacies they oppose in others whenever dealing with anything outside their closely-held doctrinal statements and revered traditions of men.

In almost every case I’ve encountered, such folks are are deeply rooted in traditional non-charismatic denominations founded centuries ago during prior moves of God which have become lifeless hulks of their former selves over the ensuing years. Just sayin’…

By Their Fruits…

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies , envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21

I’m not exactly sure what “will not inherit the kingdom of God” means exactly, but it is abundantly obvious that it is not a good thing to happen to us! Now let’s explore those 6 words I emphasized from that list using the Greek lexicon:

contentions (eris): contention, strife, wrangling‭
jealousies (zelos): excitement of mind, ardour, fervour of spirit‭
1. zeal, ardor in embracing, pursuing, defending anything‭
2. zeal in behalf of, for a person or thing‭
3. the fierceness of indignation, punitive zeal‭
4. an envious and contentious rivalry, jealousy‭
outbursts of wrath (thumos): passion, angry, heat, anger forthwith boiling up and soon subsiding again‭
selfish ambitions (eritheia): apparently, in the NT a courting distinction, a desire to put one’s self forward, a partisan and fractious spirit which does not disdain low arts‭; partisanship, fractiousness‭
NOTE: This word is found before NT times only in Aristotle where it denotes a self-seeking pursuit of political office by unfair means. Paul exhorts to be one in the mind of Christ not putting self forward or being selfish (‭see Philippians 2:3‭). James 3:14‭ speaks against having selfishness or self-promoting in your heart.
dissensions (dichostasia): dissension, division‭, sedition
heresies (hairesis): a body of men following their own tenets (sect or party)‭
dissensions arising from diversity of opinions and aims‭
‭

Please note the definitions for the word “heresies.” In the Greek, heresy does not mean a false doctrine violating orthodox essential Christian doctrine, it means folks who divide the Body of Christ over their personal opinions and agendas.

‭Also please further note that nowhere in the New Testament are exceptions made for folks claiming to be defenders of the faith. Point-of-fact: they are commanded in their marching orders to do precisely the opposite:

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear ; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.
1 Peter 3:15

meekness (prautes): mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, meekness
fear (phobos): fear, dread, terror‭

Personally, I think that admonition concerning fear has to do with the fear of the Lord, but that’s my personal opinion and is, accordingly, subject to debate. I’m open to alternative opinions expressed in the comments section below.

Those who vociferously oppose the divine healing message sound a whole lot like those 6 words I emphasized in Paul’s list of the works of the flesh. On the other hand, those I’ve heard proclaiming the healing message tend to act more like this:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control . Against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:19-21

See For Yourself

By all means, don’t take my word for this even for a second. Simply back-burner the issue of healing itself for a bit. Then carefully listen to each side while focusing on the tone of their words, their attitudes, and their demeanor — their spirit, if you will — rather than the actual content of their message. Then ask these 2 crucial questions:

Which side sounds more like Jesus?
Which side is exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit?

I invite you to view the Bill Johnson message embedded here. Please note the humility and grace he exhibits towards other Christian leaders who have so vociferously criticized him. You might find it eye-opening!
If the embedded link here doesn’t work, click here to view it on YouTube.

In Closing

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn-bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Matthew 7:15-20

While I am nowhere near labeling opponents to divine healing as false prophets, the underlying principle remains the same: “by their fruits you will know them.”

It’s time to land this plane and in doing so, I would like to make some final observations from the Scriptures.

Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins.
Proverbs 10:12

Whoever hides hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.
Proverbs 10:18

The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.
Proverbs 11:9

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.
Proverbs 12:15

By pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom.
Proverbs 13:10

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Proverbs 14:12

The simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps.
Proverbs 14:15

It is honorable for a man to stop striving, since any fool can start a quarrel.
Proverbs 20:3

Human pride will be brought down, ‭and human arrogance will be humbled. Only the Lord will be exalted ‭on that day of judgment.‭ ‭For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies ‭has a day of reckoning. ‭He will punish the proud and mighty and bring down everything that is exalted.… Human pride will be humbled, and human arrogance will be brought down. Only the Lord will be exalted on that day of judgment.‭
Isaiah 2:11-12,17

Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.
Romans 14:4

Hear this, opponents of the healing message: if divine healing indeed has no doctrinal legs to stand on, your divisive and abusive rhetoric is completely unnecessary and is actually detrimental to both your message and those you profess to protect. Calmly, politely, and lovingly make your points using the Scriptures rightly divided, remain civil towards those who disagree with you anyway, then let the chips fall where they may.

But I’ve yet to hear even one of you do this and, please trust me, I’ve been listening for over 4 decades!

Selah!

Thanks for reading!