DIVINE HEALING
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION AND PREFACE
CHAPTER I
In the Beginning
Natural Theology--Our First Parents--Enter Sin--Enter Law of Cause and Effect--Humanity As Seen by Man, etc.
CHAPTER II
Redemption Scheme Launched
A Rainbow in the Sky--A Double Fall--A Complete Restoration--A Perfect Savior--Physical Help in the Blood--God With Us--Unfoldment of His Name--There Can Be No Change
CHAPTER III
Perfection Through Christ
The Babe of Bethlehem--A Perfect Plan--A Perfect Law--Perfect Salvation--Perfect Health
CHAPTER IV
A Savior With a Twofold Purpose Revealed
Unimpeachable Testimony--Luke’s Convincing Argument--A Startling Statement--Benefits of Atonement
CHAPTER V
The Resurrected Christ
The Christ of the Forty Days--Confirmative Signs--After His Ascension--The Lame Man Healed--A Perfect Healer--Tidings of Great Joy--The Supreme Miracle--Apples of Gold
CHAPTER VI
How to be Healed
How Healing Comes--Thoughts On Faith--How Faith Increases--Examples of Faith--She Would Not Let Go--Rome’s Greatest Soldier--The Substratum of Faith--Unlimited Power of Faith
CHAPTER VII
Miracles and Healings of Today
Cancer--Tumor--Tuberculosis--Heart Trouble--Goiter--Pneumonia--Ear Trouble—Gallstones--Gravel--Mental Trouble--Typhoid Fever--Tonsillitis--Severe Burns--Floating Kidney--Chronic Stomach Trouble--Sinking Spell--Stroke of Paralysis--Rheumatism--Whooping Cough--Convulsions--Fits--Membranous Croup--Blindness--Erysipelas--Appendicitis--Diseased Joint--Bubonic Plague--Other Remarkable Healings
CHAPTER VIII
Vital Facts on Health
The Human Body--Six Laws of Health--Correct Eating, Drinking, Breathing, and Thinking--Opinions of Great Men--How to Keep Well--Foods and Organs They Assist--Conclusion.
INTRODUCTION
I first met the author of this book at Rootville, Pennsylvania, in the year 1897. It was during a series of meetings that I was conducting there. On this particular night the following text was the basis of the sermon: “For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together” (Matthew 24:28). J. Grant Anderson, then a student of the State Normal School at Edinboro, Pennsylvania, walked four miles on muddy roads to hear that sermon. He was at this time also studying certain works of theology with a view of some day entering the ministry. That one sermon gave him a clear conception and lasting conviction of the imperative need of unity among all God’s people. As he then expressed it, “I clearly see the bride, the Lamb’s wife, the one exclusive church of God.” From that time an intimate friendship grew between us.
Following this he taught school for a number of years, during which time tubercular troubles developed, and this grew worse until he was taken to Spencer Hospital, Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he remained 367 days. Here he was given up by the physicians to die, as his case was pronounced incurable from the medical standpoint. At this time we lived twelve miles distant, at Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania. It was after his friends called and bade him their supposed last farewell that he sent me word to come to the hospital and anoint him and pray for his healing. However, smallpox broke out in the institution, and I was hindered from reaching him. I shall never forget the day and hour that my wife and I fell upon our knees in our home and wrestled with God for his recovery. We stayed there until we received the assurance that the Lord had heard and answered. That was on February 8, 1903. On that very day Brother Anderson was instantly and permanently healed. He tells you the details of this marvelous cure in his own language in this book.
On the nineteenth of April, the same year, in my presence he preached his first sermon. He was ordained to the work of the ministry at the General Assembly of ministers of the Church of God convened at Moundsville, West Virginia, on the eighth day of the following June. From this time until 1909, a period of over five years, we traveled together almost continually in evangelistic work, holding revivals in cities and rural districts, covering a number of States. It was during this time, while holding a meeting at Franklin, Pennsylvania, that I was instantly and miraculously healed of an affliction of seven years’ standing. There is probably not another man in the ministry today with whom I am so intimately acquainted, as with the author of this book.
For twenty-two years, J. Grant Anderson traveled in constant evangelistic work. He has written several valuable books that have brought help to individuals and households all around the world, has contributed several hundred articles to our leading church magazine, and has carried on a world-wide correspondence, besides bearing the responsibilities incumbent upon him as a member of the Gospel Trumpet Company, a director of the business of this publishing institution, and also as an active member of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Church. No man, unless possessed with a strong physical constitution, could carry such a load. His work requires a great amount of energy. His ability to perform it proves that healing in his case is not an empty theory, but a demonstrated fact.
Surely no one could tell others better how to be healed of leprosy than the ten lepers whom Jesus cured. None would be better able to tell the blind of the Savior’s power to open his eyes than Bartimæus, who was made to see when Jesus, passed along the dusty road at Jericho. It was after the demoniac was delivered that Jesus said to him, “Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.” What minister can better feed the church with food than he who himself has tasted thereof? The writer, in this instance, like the husbandman of old, has first been a partaker of the fruit.
In a way that expresses his wealth of talent and with a line of convincing argument, he shows that divine healing is scriptural, reasonable, and obtainable. You will find this volume just a little different from any you have yet read on the subject. The reader will not go far into the book until he discovers that the writer is strikingly original and powerfully in earnest. That is what makes it so interesting. No one can read these pages without admiring the sincerity, thoroughness, and positiveness of the author. He speaks from knowledge. With all my heart I commend this volume to all.
Herbert M. Riggle.
November 17, 1925.
PREFACE
In preparing this treatise upon divine healing, we have consulted all available literature upon the subject, and desire to give special credit to books published by the Gospel Trumpet Company and for material gleaned from the writings and sermons of Gordon, Torrey, Bosworth, La Rose, Byrum, and Lindlahr.
Our objective is that God be glorified and that afflicted persons understand and obtain the privileges and blessings made possible through the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
The Author.
Meadville, Pa.,
December 1, 1925.
IN THE BEGINNING
Behind the misty curtain of the mystic past, in that remote age, that dateless date which Moses called “the beginning,” the blue-print of creation was laid out by Jehovah-GOD. Inspiration made known to holy men of old that the creative God reveals himself as a God of action and of love, and we find that his government is the omnipotence of right. He is capable of seeing the end from the beginning and wise enough to foresee the remotest effects of the laws he put into operation by his will. God’s decrees are beyond the reach of our finite minds.
NATURAL THEOLOGY
Natural Theology has been defined as that department of study which treats of the existence and attributes of God as these are revealed to us in the world of nature. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” The same person might say the same thing about an atom. The defender of the atomic theory supports it because he finds that it gives a sensible explanation and justification of a multitude of known phenomena and is consistent with well ascertained facts. In like manner the theory of the existence of God and the reality of a future life finds its justification in all that is now ascertained of a material universe and of human life in this great world of ours. In the 19th Psalm David wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.” Stupendous indeed is David’s, conception of primary force and infinite will. All nature tells us there is a God. To this agree the words of the great apostle Paul, “The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.”
OUR FIRST PARENTS
Adam and Eve, the first parents of the race, when formed were pronounced “good” by our heavenly Father. It is stated that God made man upright, which means that he was morally, mentally, and physically perfect, or in other words every organ of man’s whole being performed its natural function. Man fresh from the hand of his Creator, was in perfect harmony with God and with nature.
ENTER SIN
It was a sad day in the history of mankind when the seeds of disorganization were sown in that long-ago age. No doubt angels of mercy wept as that first pair were driven from that first paradise. Adam was the first man—the common stock from which all human beings have sprung—and he was made in the image and likeness of God. No matter how humanity is today or how it appeared as it emerged out of the darkness of prehistoric ages, there stands that original fact of human life, undeniable, unchangeable, and full of hope—that man was perfect in the beginning.
The story of the fall of man is simply a story of willful disobedience, of separation from God. Sin is an awful fact. It is not a local disorder but it has affected the whole man. Like the bite of a poisonous reptile which reaches every organ of the body, so sin has upset and deranged the moral, mental, and physical faculties of the race. It is not intermittent like some diseases that skip a generation or two only to reappear in a grandchild, but it has descended with unbroken entail down through hundreds of generations—“in Adam all die.” In Romans 5:12 we read, “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
ENTER LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT
Man is a worshipful creature, and being cut off from the true God he sought out human methods and began to worship created things rather than the Creator. Having lost sight of God as a Spirit he bowed down to idols; living things such as trees, animals, birds, and human flesh; inanimate being, such as sun, moon, stars, and gods made of gold, silver, and iron. As a result of forgetting God came superstition, bondage, all kinds of false religions, Satanic influence, lust, hatred, war, sickness, destruction, and awful woe.
God revealed to Isaiah the prophet that the race was in a backslidden state, in these words: “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupters, they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores” (Isaiah 1:4–6).
The nations of earth, like an individual, possess a consciousness, a character, a responsibility, and will receive a retribution. God saw humanity like an awful avalanche rolling madly downward, and also before each individual soul he saw a destiny stretching out as endless as the eternal years of God. No wonder the loving heart of our heavenly Father was moved.
HUMANITY AS SEEN BY MAN
Paul declared that death reigned from Adam to Moses, and every schoolboy knows that death has reigned from Moses up until the present time. Statistics should cause the reader to think. The population of the United States in 1925 was 120,000,000. Over one third, or about 40,000,000 persons, are physically unsound. Over 300,000 die annually with venereal diseases in the United States. There are over 300,000 prostitutes in the United States.
The most fatal diseases in the United States are heart disease, cancer, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. One out of every twelve dies of Bright’s disease. One woman out of every twelve past the age of forty dies of cancer. Over 1,500,000 die annually. Over 1,000,000 cases of tuberculosis, now exist in the United States. Three million are sick in bed while I write these lines. Not one third of the children born have strength to survive the third year.
When I consider that God can see what lies behind the curtain of secrecy, and when I meditate on the fact that there are vital forces and proximate elements, which in time will be transformed into the millions yet unborn, elements that are floating today in the form of the poison of nicotine, elements latent in blood made hot by passion where love is unhallowed and God blasphemed, I tremble for my country and for the millions yet to be.
REDEMPTION SCHEME LAUNCHED
Immediately after the fall of man the great scheme of redemption was launched, and in the same Book in which evil is portrayed in its blackest colors and dire consequences pronounced, we read the following promise: “And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, . . . I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Thus the candle of hope was lighted, and mankind looked expectantly down the ages for the One who would be “bruised for our transgressions, wounded unto death that we might be healed,” to appear as the Emancipator of a fallen race.
A DOUBLE FALL
God had forewarned our first parents concerning the forbidden fruit, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” They ate and were cut off from God and died a spiritual death. The seeds of physical death were also sown and Adam died a literal death at the age of 930 years (see Genesis 5:5). The first Adam was of the earth and gave to mankind quantity of years, but the second Adam—Christ was to give to the world eternal life.
A COMPLETE RESTORATION
In the 49th Psalm inspiration moved the great musician to write: “Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: both low and high, rich and poor, together. . . . None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (For the redemption of their soul is precious).” Paul declares emphatically, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). Physical man is to be redeemed also: “For the earnest expectation of the creature [material bodies wrecked by sin] waiteth . . . for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:19–23).
TO BE A PERFECT SAVIOR
The people of earth were led to believe that the Shiloh of Genesis, the Man Child of Isaiah, the Messenger of Malachi, was to be a blessing to both soul and body, for we read in Psalm 103:1–4: “Bless the Lord, O my soul . . . and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who HEALETH ALL THY DISEASES; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction.”
PHYSICAL HELP IN THE BLOOD
The evangelistic Prophet in Isaiah 53:1–12, realizing there were doubters, said: “Who hath believed our report?” and after describing the manner in which this “man of sorrows” would be despised and rejected, he exclaimed: “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his STRIPES WE ARE HEALED.” This inspired prophet when seeing by faith those glorious prophecies fulfilled in the coming years exclaimed: “Behold your God will come . . . he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.”
GOD WITH US
During every age the almighty God has used every possible agency to reveal himself and his love to a lost world. He has got as near to men as possible and man not be consumed. He has revealed his mighty power and gracious love in thunder-tones from the mountain-side; in the phenomena of clouds, fire, and earthquake shocks. He has shaken the earth terribly and then condescended to men of low estate. In every age the love of God has beamed from the mountain-top, from the ocean wide, and from the smallest flower in the valley. His voice has echoed from every created thing from pole to pole and from east to west, but those precious words of tenderness and power were never fully translated until “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” Then “we beheld his glory” (John 1:14). Since Immanuel’s coming we more clearly comprehend the significance of the names God used when trying to reveal himself to man in the long ago. God knew that no part of man (moral, mental, spiritual, or physical) could be saved outside or apart from the atonement plan; hence the names he gave as applying to his character and purpose all pointed to that one great achievement—redemption.
UNFOLDMENT OF HIS NAME
Wonderful indeed is God’s plan and patient his method in dealing with the people of earth. In ancient times he was known to men by the name God Almighty. About 1500 B. C., the Lord appeared to Moses and said: “I AM the Lord: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them” (Exodus 6:2, 3). The name I AM, or Jehovah, as revealed at the burning bush and elsewhere was to be used as a credential by Moses if his mission was disputed by either enemy or friend. The name Jehovah is from the Hebrew word that means “self-existent One.” According to Jewish tradition, the name was so significant and sacred among the Jews at one time that it was pronounced but once a year, by the high priest on the Day of Atonement, when he entered into the holy of holies. That our God desires mankind to hold his name in reverence is found in his revealed law: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” That commandment the voice of Infinity thundered from Sinai.
THAT ALL-POWERFUL NAME
There are seven redemptive names of God which not only reveal his sovereign power but also his gracious love and will in providing a certain and complete remedy for all the needs of man.
First (Ezekiel 48:35)
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH—“Jehovah”—“self-existent One”; “Shammah”—“The Lord is there,” or, “the self-existent One is there.” That name revealed to them and it reveals to us the redemptive privilege of having his presence with us. The real “Lo I am with you always”—redemption made us sons and daughters of the Almighty, and like members of a family, we enjoy the benefits and pleasures of being at home with our Father. There is something in n name.
Second (Judges 6:23, 24)
JEHOVAH—SHALOM—“The Lord our peace,” the name reveals that his presence with us brings peace. Redemption’s privilege guarantees the security of that blessing, and Jesus said, “My peace I give unto thee.” “Great peace have they that love thy law.” Yea, their peace is like a river; their feet are guided in the way of peace, and if they follow after the things that make for peace they will also die in peace (See Jeremiah 34:5).
Third (Psalm 23:1)
JEHOVAH-RA’AH—“The self-existent One is our shepherd”—the Lord is the One who led our forefathers in green pastures and beside still waters in the long ago. It was he who led them up into the mountains high and put keepers over them who would feed the flock. Redemption’s privilege fulfilled God’s guarantee when the Master declared: “I AM the good Shepherd. I AM the door of the sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep. I AM the way, the truth, and the life.” Thus the great I AM slowly unfolds himself and his plan.
Fourth (Genesis 22:14)
JEHOVAH-JIREH—“The self-existent One will provide.” God made that promise to Abraham and also to the whole world, which promise was fulfilled by (a) a ram in the place of Isaac and (b) a Lamb in the place of sinful man. The great apostle Paul when comparing the blessings of the old and new dispensations declared, “God having provided some better things for us” (Hebrews 11:40).
Fifth (Exodus 17:13–16)
JEHOVAH-NISSI—“The self-existent One our banner.” God proved himself to Moses when he led Israel forth to victory against the Amalekites. While the battle was raging fiercely Moses, sat with uplifted hands. When the clouds of battle were swept away, Moses erected an altar, a memorial to posterity, of the gracious assistance of Jehovah-Nissi, who never has allowed defeat to those who trust in his arm of strength. Christ, as a revelation of the I AM declared himself to be a conqueror, a leader, and a savior. “He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.” He rode forth to victory. He overcame the enemy of all mankind. He gave man power to overcome everything that had made man a slave. When meditating upon the benefits of atonement, those benefits in redemption so helpful for man, Paul exclaimed in rapture, “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Praise the Lord, O my soul, and may my whole being give honor to his matchless name. Let every redeemed soul unite with Paul and the angels in acclaiming honor and glory and power and majesty unto him that sitteth upon the throne forever and forever. The saints of old overcame their enemies through the power of his name, through his blood, and “by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
Sixth (Jeremiah 23:6)
JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU—“The Lord our righteousness.” Our righteousness was like filthy rags until we were redeemed. One of old in prayer declared: “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness.” “Righteousness exalteth a nation,” Paul declared. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Seventh (Exodus 15:26)
JEHOVAH-RAPHA—“I am the Lord, that self-existent One, thy physician.” Oh, wonderful revelation! O mighty Jehovah! all mysteries are solved, all needs are supplied, in the unfolding of THY NAME.
In a synagogue in Nazareth Jesus quoted from a prophecy in Isaiah concerning himself, as follows: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to HEAL THE BROKEN-HEARTED” (Luke 4:18).
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of SICKNESS and all manner of DISEASE among the people” (Matthew 4:23, 24).
Afflicted reader, can not you see in the seven redemptive names of God his power and willingness to heal the body as well as to heal the soul? Ask yourself the question: Has the unchangeable God changed? Have the blessings, privileges, power, and willingness revealed to us in his unfolding name, his eternal plan, his unspeakable gift, been withdrawn or its benefits withheld from us in this “better age,” this “better dispensation”? Let every creature that can utter a remonstrance emphatically say “NO!”
THERE CAN BE NO CHANGE
“I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
“Being born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever” (1 Peter 1:23). Jehovah, the self-existent One, comprises the Godhead, the Deity, and these three—Father, Son and Holy Ghost—are one in character, power, and plan. Holy men in other days were inspired by Jehovah-God to reveal to mankind their will and we find that will expressed in the Bible—the Word of God.
IT IS GOD’S WILL TO HEAL
We read in God’s Book (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20): “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” It is plainly evident that Christ’s death was for the purpose of destroying the works of the devil in both body and soul. The Psalmist said, “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).
It is positively stated that Christ bore our sin and sicknesses on the cross (Isaiah 53:1–7). As explained by A. J. Gordon, “He bore not in sympathy—a suffering with; but substitution—a suffering for.” Thank God for such an atonement—so perfect, so needful, so sure. It stimulates my individual faith when I consider that if “his mercy endureth forever,” surely his compassion has not been modified in these last days of time.
In following chapters it will be proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that the gospel of healing was included in Christ’s last commission which gospel was to be preached in every nation, to every creature, unto the very end of time and earthly things.
PERFECTION THROUGH CHRIST
What is known to historians as “Israel’s dark night” was over, and there rose a star over a village in Judæa—Bethlehem by name. A woman of rare character nursed an infant child, a man of holy mien attended on both, while shepherds looked on in awe, and celestial beings sang. The child was the nation’s hope. Twenty centuries have failed to detract from that scene. Christians all over the world acknowledge him as their Savior, philosophers look upon him as the greatest human force the world has produced; and pagans are willing, on Christmas Day, to celebrate a birth that marked the renewal of a race.
He was reared to manhood in a highland district of Galilee, and lived among a people of a mixed race. When about the age of thirty, feeling that inherent urge, one day he laid by his carpenter tools, brushed the shavings from his clothes, and began to preach sermons that upset the philosophy of the Greeks, revealed the hypocrisy of the Jews, and caused the great Sanhedrin to adjourn sine die. He went forth doing good. He walked the flinty hills of the land of sacred history, planting the seeds of emancipation, visiting the rich and poor alike, and in the synagogues of the Jews he interpreted the Scriptures, from Genesis to Malachi, proving that he was the fulfilment of the world’s desire.
He studied and mastered the Jewish Scriptures and during his whole life on earth he constantly taught that he was the fulfilment of the prophecies of former days. His message was the message of former days fulfilled. He said “Think not that I am come to destroy the law; or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17). He said to those who criticized him for breaking with the historic past, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he, saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56). Christ’s teaching, life, death, and resurrection were the fulfilment of the plan God had already set in motion, only the old agency of Israel—willful, reluctant, wayward, selfish, disobedient, was set aside; and the new agent the Christ, God’s Son—faithful, willing, obedient, blameless, and perfect came into view. Christ revealed the character, will and true purpose of the Godhead in three ways: (1) through what he was, (2) through what he said and (3) through what he did; or in other words, through his life, his words, and his works.
NOTHING WAS LEFT UNFULFILLED
1. What he was—His resurrection proved who he was (Acts 17:30, 31).
2. What he said—It is just as easy for him to heal the body as to save the soul from sin (Luke 5:1–26).
3. What he did—(a) “Thy sins are forgiven” (Luke 5: 20), (b) He healed all the sick who came to him (Acts 5:16).
“IT IS FINISHED”
A perfect God: “As for God, his way is perfect” (Psalm 18:30).
A perfect Christ: “Who knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
A perfect plan: “For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did” (Hebrews 7:19).
A perfect law: “Whoso looketh into the perfect law” (James 1:25).
A perfect salvation: “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost” (Hebrews 7:25).
A perfect healer: “And his name through faith in his name . . . hath given him [the lame man] this perfect soundness” (Acts 3:16).
Note especially that:
Nothing is left unsaid to come later.
No additions or subtractions are allowed.
“The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”
“As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:9).
A SAVIOR WITH A TWOFOLD PURPOSE REVEALED
Like as the beams of mellow light, harbingers of the corning day, light up the eastern sky, so John the Baptist announced to the world that the time was fulfilled and that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. One day he saw Jesus walking on the bank of the River Jordan and declared, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
UNIMPEACHABLE TESTIMONY
Luke, a physician and converted Gentile, wrote as follows: “Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eye-witnesses, and ministers of the word; it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed” (Luke 1:1–4).
Then this educated man takes up a line of historical argument and proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Jesus was the very Christ, the Son of God. His virgin birth, the establishment of his kingdom, his twofold purpose—to save the soul and to heal the sick, his death, resurrection, and ascension, are set forth in holy dignity.
LUKE’S CONVINCING ARGUMENT
To prove to all the world that Jesus was the very one whom the prophets had foretold, Luke prepared and gave the following undeniable proofs:
1. Power to cast out devils—Luke 4:33–35.
2. Power to heal “great fever”—Luke 4:38.
3. Power to heal “divers diseases”—Luke 4:40.
4. Miracle of draught of fishes—Luke 5:1–6.
5. Purpose in coming to call sinners to repentance—Luke 5:32.
6. Healing a withered hand—Luke 6:6–12.
7. Teaching love to enemies—Luke 6:37.
8. Teaching men to build on the solid rock—Luke 6:49.
9. Healing of centurion’s servant—Luke 7:2–10.
10. Power to raise the widow’s son from death—Luke 7:11–15.
11. Condemning professors who “bring no fruit to perfection”—Luke 8:14.
12. Power to cast out seven devils from Mary Magdalene—Luke 8:2.
13. Casting out legion of devils from the man at the tomb—Luke 8:26–36.
14. Power to transfigure himself and call the saints of old from paradise—Luke 9:28–36.
15. Power to heal a woman who had been afflicted for eighteen years—Luke 13:11.
16. Teaching to consider the impassable gulf beyond the grave—Luke 16:19–36.
17. Foreknowledge so he could foretell his own death—Luke 18:31–34.
18. Healing blind Bartimæus—Luke 18:35–43.
19. Giving salvation to Zacchæus—Luke 19:1–10.
20. “Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases, and he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:1, 2).
21. Teaching that there is no marriage in heaven—Luke 20:34–36.
22. Giving signs of the last days—Luke 21:25–36.
23. The resurrection of Christ—Luke 24:1–53.
DAY OF MIRACLES IS NOT PAST
Some who believe that healing was dispensational—to the Jews only—have decided that the day of miracles is past, but they are mistaken.
Jesus, in Mark 7:27, calls healing the “children’s bread,” i.e., the Jews’ bread, for the person here desiring healing was a Gentile, looked upon as a dog.
Christ’s casting out of devils, healing or the sick, and raising of the dead were used by his disciples as facts to prove that he is divine—the promised seed.
Nicodemus, a member of the great Sanhedrin, said “We know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him” (John 3:1, 2).
“Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind” (John 9:32).
Inasmuch as the prophets of old had promised healing to the Jews when Christ would appear, they looked for it, and the disciples used every case of healing to prove to the Jews that the one they rejected was he. But after Christ’s resurrection an additional argument was used, namely:
“And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:30, 31).
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).
The apostle Paul began his letter to the Romans with a statement of basic truth: “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle . . . concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, . . . declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:1–5).
Before Christ’s death the disciples argued his divinity from the standpoint of his supernatural power to heal and raise the dead to life, but after his death they went everywhere preaching his resurrection, believing that had Christ been an imposter God would not have raised him from the dead. Still Christ continued to heal the sick through his people.
A STARTLING STATEMENT
Jesus preached the word of God in Galilee and great multitudes came out to hear the gracious words that fell from his lips. The truth he taught spread rapidly. Great miracles were performed, lepers were made clean, and other diseases healed. Upon one occasion a man with the palsy was lowered to him through the roof. Christ said unto, him, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.” The time had arrived for the Master to reveal his twofold purpose i.e., to forgive all their iniquities and to heal all their diseases (see Psalm 103:3). The statement caused an uproar that brought out the following words of our Lord, which have caused the heart of many a poor sufferer to leap for joy: “What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them” (Luke 5:22–25). The Master forgave his sins and healed his body, and told the Jews he could do one as easy as he could the other. The, writer of Hebrews declared: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
BENEFITS OF THE ATONEMENT
All of the blessings and benefits which come to humanity through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ may be considered as accruing from his atonement. Atonement points God-ward, and its effect, redemption points man-ward. Redemption—to redeem, to buy back, to ransom, to reinstate to a former state and position—was Christ’s purpose in coming to earth. To fulfil that purpose his salvaging work must reach and save from all the effects of sin. The benefits of Christ’s blood can reach and redeem the soul from the deepest mire of sin; can balance the mind of the one hopelessly (from an earthly viewpoint) insane; can cause the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk.
THE RESURRECTED CHRIST
There can be no additions to perfection; hence, when a perfect being or law is altered it must, of necessity, be lowered. It was at a great sacrifice that “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Paul wrote: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9). He died and was buried but the grave could not hold him longer; so he burst the chains of death and arose triumphant from the tomb. He cried in a voice that startled the world, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Revelation 1:18). That voice of Infinity is still thundering down through the corridors of time.
THE CHRIST OF THE FORTY DAYS
He must needs hurry, for his life’s work was about done. The time soon passed, and one day he appeared to his disciples and said unto them: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following” (Mark 16:15–20). Never were so many promises given to man in so few words; and all of them hang upon a single stem—faith. Without moving in his steps or changing his voice the Savior almost in the same breath gave the promise and conditions of (1) salvation for the soul and (2) healing of the body, and made both contingent on faith. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” and “these signs shall follow them that believe.”
SIGNS TO CONFIRM WHAT?
The casting out of devils, speaking with new tongues, and healing the sick were to be signs that he was confirming his word and working with them (verse 20).
AFTER HIS ASCENSION
The forty days are now past. Christ is no longer with his people visibly. Pentecost also has passed into history with its miraculous signs,—three thousand souls saved, and the speaking in new tongues. It is Luke again who gives us an account of the marvelous scenes of Pentecost, and in the next chapter of his book (Acts 3:1–16) he reveals another of the signs
fulfilled.
fulfilled.
THE LAME MAN HEALED
The place was “at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful.” The ministers were Peter and John. The man needing help had been a cripple from birth. He asked for help. Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand,and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.” The people were astonished and filled with amazement.Then Peter recounted God’s premise to Abraham and his seed, and how they had denied Jesus and put him to death; and in masterful language declared, “Ye denied . . .and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we arewitnesses. And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all” (Acts 3:14–16). Thank God for such a complete statement ofGod’s gracious will concerning us, his children.
PERFECT HEALTH
The doctor’s definition of perfect health would be: Every organ in the body performing its proper function. That is exactly what the Word of God holds out to the afflicted ones. We read that they brought to him sick folk, and he healed them all. “He called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases” (Luke 9:1). Note in a few instances what divine healing brought to sufferers:
1. “Made this man strong.”
2. “Perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”
3. “He leaping up stood.”
4. The blind saw.
5. The lepers were cleansed.
6. The blood ceased to flow.
7. The withered hand was restored.
8. The lunatic was brought back to his right mind.
9. “The deaf heard.”
10. “The dumb spake.”
What more could the sufferer desire or expect? This is divine healing.
TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY
Just a few years before the fall of Jerusalem, Inspiration dipped her pen and wrote through the hand of James one of the most blessed promises of all to afflicted souls (James 5:8, 14–16). Read this carefully: “Be ye also patient, stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. . . . Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.” Many books have been written from this promise alone, but why lengthen out in argument? The promise is plainly stated, and the poor afflicted ones are admonished what to do, let us jealously cling to this great promise and not surrender to infidelity this primitive birthright of the church.
THE SUPREME MIRACLE
The same Bible that teaches the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the one great miracle also teaches that through faith in his name all who will may be saved from sin, and healed of bodily affliction. Our Savior said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” The principle of Christianity is a going on, a development of faith from little to much, and therefore our faith being reinforced daily should become stronger rather than weaker. Let us hold these principles as perpetual in the church.
APPLES OF GOLD
Solomon wrote in Proverbs 25:11: “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” A proper word of encouragement spoken to a sick person at the right time is indeed a mighty lifting force. Let the afflicted reader of these pages consider well that God is no respecter of persons, but that “all for whom Christ died are entitled to all the benefits and blessings for which he died,” and we have clearly proved that (1) “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him,” and (2) that “himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” As if to hold the mind of the sin-sick or bodily afflicted one with a reinforced anchorage, we are told in the Bible that this full atoning benefit comes to us (1) through faith (Ephesians 2:8; James 5:15), (2) in his, name (Acts 4:12; 4:10), (3) through his divine power (2 Peter 1:1–3).
Remember that God is Lord over all, and he does not recognize a line fence. To him there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, and if he ever healed one person, in any age, of leprosy, palsy, fever, blindness, deafness; if he ever restored a sin-sick soul or a withered hand; if he ever stopped the mouth of lions, the sun from going down, or a tempest on the sea, he is able to do the same today. Blessed be the name of the Lord. If we have the favor of God resting on our soul, we are entitled to everything he has purchased through the death of his Son. If it were possible for one person to be afflicted with leprosy, fever, blindness, deafness, to be devil-possessed, a raving maniac, dumb, and have an issue of blood, the promise of healing would be for that person, and “through faith in his name” he could be made whole-restored to a normal mind and body. Wonderful and great is our God—his power is unlimited and “his mercy endureth forever.”
The days of healing are not past, for the promise in Mark 16 as embodied in Christ’s last commission is to all believers. It was given after his divinity had been proved by his resurrection and after the Holy Spirit had begun his tenure of office. Has Christ’s power become less since he was given “a name above every name” and since he ascended to the right hand of God? Has there been a retarding of supernatural energy since the Holy Ghost took his office as a leader and amplifier of the church and Word? Has the Comforter ceased to comfort since A.D. 63 when James wrote, “The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him”? Let everything that hath breath say, “No! No! No!”
HOW TO BE HEALED
Explicit instructions as to how to appropriate the blessing of divine healing are given in James 5:14, 15. First, let the sick person “call for the elders of the church.” It should be kept in mind that at the time these instructions were given there was but one church, one body of called-out ones, one family of God, one household of faith. Paul left Titus, his son in the faith, in Crete to “set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city” (Titus 1:5). Those elders believed in divine healing and knew what to do when called upon by afflicted ones.
Second, anoint the sick with oil (commentators agree that it should read “Pray over him having anointed him,” etc.).
Third, “the prayer of faith shall save [cure] the sick.”
If these instructions are followed the sick will be healed. What God says in his Word is his will.
It might so happen that there are no elders near and only two or three persons available, but provision has been made for such: “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18:19). Note: “It shall be done.”
The sick person may be entirely alone; what then? “Is any among you afflicted, let him pray.” James assures us that “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.” Hezekiah prayed earnestly when he was sick (2 Kings 20:1–3) after all human hope had fled, and the Lord said: “I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee,” and Hezekiah lived fifteen more years. God says of himself: “I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). Since God does not have respect for persons, he will hear and answer the prayer of faith whenever and wherever it is made.
HOW HEALING COMES
The disease stands rebuked when the Son of God speaks.
Recovery from its effects may be sudden. “And there he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately (Acts 9:33, 34).
Or the recovery may be slow. “The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. Then inquired he of them [servants sent with a message] the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him” (John 4:49, 50, 52). Verse 54 states that it was a miracle. Based upon the hundreds of testimonies received, we are convinced that in order to retain healing the afflicted ones ofttimes must stedfastly resist the apparent returning symptoms of disease to quite an extent, just as the saved person must stedfastly resist temptations to go back into sin. While it may not apply primarily to a sick person, yet the principle found in Hebrews 10:35, 36 is worthy of consideration: “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward, for ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”
THOUGHTS ON FAITH
Faith means simply believing. Evangelistic faith means believing God to the saving of the soul or for healing of our bodies. Faith is the dynamo of all religious life and the mainspring of a substantial progress. Faith was the dominant keynote or the old dispensation; the highest tribute given to Abraham was that he “believed God.” Spiritual forces, often elude us because we demand evidence or proof, and in our day, even a sign from heaven, before we accept them. They must pass through the laboratory of theology, and be sifted. Faith takes hold on forces that are infinite and enduring; it stands high above dogma, has no elements of uncertainty, is well grounded, and bespeaks spiritual sanity.
Faith is not a spasmodic force, but an assurance of contact between the soul and its God. It should grow stronger, brighter, and undiminished with the passing years. Faith, sad to say, has become so identified with creeds that sometimes when a cripple presents himself to be healed by the power of God a certain shyness amounting almost to embarrassment creeps over the elders and looks (heaven forgive me) seem to indicate a “fear and trembling” instead of a spiritual boldness like Peter had when he said to the cripple at the Beautiful gate, “Such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.”
We believe that two plus two equals four, no more and no less. The Bible declares that the promises of God are “yea, and in him Amen unto the glory of God by us,” i.e., they will be fulfilled. What is needed in the world today—we might say the paramount need—is not more expensive churches, more artistic music, greater eloquence in the pulpit, finer literary or social attainments, but more of the mighty moving power of God; more faith in God’s Word, and more trusting in Christ’s atoning blood. We need more of the old-time religion and mighty manifestation of God’s supernatural power in definite religious experience and in the sick and afflicted ones made well. “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).
Oh! for a faith that will not shrink,
Tho pressed by every foe.
HOW TO INCREASE FAITH
Our faith will increase as we meditate upon the power, wisdom, and compassion of God and of Christ. It was said of a certain class that their faith grew exceedingly. We should be thankful that it can expand; that if our faith is weak today it may become stronger tomorrow. As the power to analyze becomes stronger, and as the muscles of the arm grow more powerful through use, so faith increases through exercise.
Faith in an automobile is based upon its ability to pull what it is supposed to pull in climbing a hill. Stability in business is based on such things as banks doing business for a period of fifty years and never becoming insolvent, the integrity of servants—employees who are always on hand and who never falsify. We have faith in the person whose religion and conduct walks hand in hand year after year.
It is not hard to believe, mathematically, that the square root of the sum of the squares of the base and perpendicular equals the hypotenuse; or the laws in physics that gravitation pulls, fire burns, and water wets. It is not difficult, historically, to believe that Columbus discovered America in 1492, or geographically, that Cuba is an island in the Atlantic Ocean. It is not hard to believe the almanac’s statement concerning signs of the Zodiac, eclipses, etc., and why can not we believe the Word of God? The promises of men sometimes are not fulfilled, the automobile might refuse to pull, the bank might fail after fifty years, but the promises of God have never been known to fail—not once in all history has one promise failed that the Lord has made.
EXAMPLES OF FAITH
A poor woman who had been afflicted with an issue of blood for twelve years slipped up behind the Master in the crowded street. She meditated thus: “If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.” Taking no medicine, making no public profession, and performing no ceremonies, she simply touched the edge of that garment and she was healed. The Master, having felt that touch of faith, called for the one who had touched his clothes. The woman, knowing what had been accomplished, acknowledged it, and he said, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague” (Mark 5:25–34).
Hers was that simple, childlike confidence which lovingly casts itself into the arms of him who gave his head to that crown of thorns, those hands to the cruel nails, and that heart to a gleaming spear.
Blessings are sometimes withheld for a time, for there are rods in the house of God. “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you” (1 Peter 5:10).
SHE WOULD NOT LET GO
A woman whose daughter was tormented with a devil, having heard of Christ’s power and willingness to heal, besought him to restore her child. The Master heard, but he paid no attention. Again she pressed her request, but he still refused. Yet again she importuned and he said, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to the dogs.” Undaunted, she again told him of her one great desire. It touched his loving heart and turning to her he said, “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour” (Matthew 15:22–28).
The first thing necessary to a substantial procuring faith is knowledge. But that is not enough—one must believe, must give assent, must obey.
We open the Bible to a certain page and admit that it is the Word of God; we believe and will obey its commands, and thus we are entitled to all its promised blessings. For example: on page ten we may read, “Have faith in God,” and further on read that, “He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” We admit that we believe in him; decide we will obey him, and now look for the reward. On page fifteen we may read, “Thy faith hath saved thee.” On page twenty we may read, “Sanctified by faith.” On page twenty-five we may read, “We walk by faith” and on page twenty-six we may read, “The prayer of faith shall save [cure] the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him” (James 5:15). Question: Why do we not believe what God said on page twenty-six the same as we believe what he said on page fifteen? God’s promises are all equally true. His ability and willingness to perform stands back of every promise he has made.
The man who fell overboard into the ocean might know and give full assent that the life-saver attached to a long rope is an excellent and successful invention, but notwithstanding, he will drown unless he avails himself of its saving power by placing it around his body, or by holding fast to it with his hands. It is a part of the man’s faith to know that there is a saving device; it is also a part of faith to believe that the rope will hold his weight, but the essential part of faith is its saving powers—the agency or device must be appropriated to men’s needs. All the benefits of the atonement hang upon that one word F A I T H, for we are told over and over that works can not save.
A GREAT SOLDIER
In Matthew 8:5–13 we read the account of a Roman soldier—a Gentile—clothed with absolute power, and yet a tender master, a considerate citizen, and a lover of God. The most valuable pearls sometimes are found in the darkest places, and rarest flowers sometimes bloom where one would least suspect. This wonderful man’s name would have never been known outside of a limited territory had his poor servant not been sick.
Approaching the Master, he said, “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant [who is now sick], Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. . . . And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.”
The servant was afflicted with palsy—considered incurable—but that did not stagger the faith of that humble, God-fearing man, for he looked beyond man’s diagnosis and man’s prescriptions to the mighty power of God. He seemed to comprehend the fact that the God who spake and the world was created need not move in his steps—need not even visit the sick man, but need speak the word only. Thank God for this wonderful example! In the depths of his humiliation he reached the mountain-top of faith.
The skeptic’s unbelief does not weaken or alter the power and efficacy of Christ’s blood, nor does the hesitancy of lukewarm professors diminish the omnipotence of Jehovah or restrain the compassion of his love. There were no drug-stores in Eden where patent medicines were dispensed, for God’s pharmacy is for the sick. His bread is a balanced ration for the soul, and those who drink of the water he dispenses thirst no more. It is impossible to exaggerate the benefits of the atonement, for in Christ all fulness dwells.
THE SUBSTRATUM OF FAITH
We find symbolic emblems pervading all nature, showing the true doctrine of the spiritual life, and the true foundation of a constructive faith. Samson did not live because he was strong, but he was strong because he had life. The beautiful flower of the chrysanthemum is a product of life, but not the cause of it. The same is true in man. Works are simply an effect and not a cause. The beautiful graces do not save, but “he that hath the Son hath life.” A man might build a costly mansion; his right to occupy it would not depend upon the architecture, but upon the title-deed. The guarantees to man of salvation of soul and of healing of body do not rest upon the works of righteousness seen or the amount of miracles recorded in history, but they rest secure in the ATONEMENT: in a crucified Christ. “He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5, 6).
“Truth crushed to earth shall rise again.” So faith, which has been crushed by dogma and tradition, faith which produces healing, will revive and come into possession of its own heritage and be free as it was in apostolic days. The enemy of faith can not be bound or fettered long, but faith shall burst from its human barriers, overleap the creeds and limitations of carnal men, and raise its standard high, and the nations of the earth shall be informed, and the islands of the sea shall hear its tidings and be glad.
UNLIMITED POWER OF FAITH
It was faith that impelled Noah to build a ship when as yet there was no sign of a flood; that caused Moses to refuse, riches and honor in Egypt’s proud days; that caused the walls of Jericho to fall down, and Enoch to be translated that he should not taste of death. Faith seizes upon the promises of God and will not let them go. Philosophy, science, theories, and inventions of men, attract our attention, arouse our curiosity, and invite our inspection, but the soul—that immortal part of man—quickly casts them all aside and lays hold on eternal virtues with inherent, instinctive FAITH. Without analysis, comparison, or elucidation, the trusting soul approaches Jehovah-God with empty hands, receives from him the blessings promised in his Word, and goes his way saved from sin, healed in body, and satisfied.
MIRACLES OF HEALING OF TODAY
If followers of Christ had endeavored to keep afresh in the minds of men the doctrine and benefits of divine healing as they have those of the salvation of the soul, there would scarcely be a need for writing this present chapter, but we are certain that the following bona fide statements and testimonies of persons healed through the prayer of faith will be a mighty stimulus and encouragement to those who may be afflicted in body, mind, or soul.[1] As the Master had hoped, the evidence herein contained presents a strong line of confirmatory argument attesting that the days of miracles are not past, that the blood of atonement has lost none of its power, and that “Jesus Christ IS THE SAME yesterday, and today, and forever.”
CANCER
Cancer is one of the most terrible diseases known to mankind. At this writing medical research has failed to locate its cause or to discover a cure. Persons thus afflicted, please read the following bona fide cases of perfect cure in answer to prayer.
An affliction of some kind not understood caused me to be confined to an invalid’s chair for seven long years. At the end of this period the doctors discovered my trouble to be cancer of the spine, and no one but the Lord on high knew how I felt when that discovery was made. My suffering was mental as well as physical. The cancer grew worse, and my condition was terrible—more terrible than can be expressed. For seven more years I never lay down once upon my back, but sat in my chair. The continual gnawing of the cancer as it slowly ate its way is indescribable. During those long fourteen years I never was without pain. My diet was bread and hot water for years. Doctors said my case was hopeless. I sent for ministers who believed in divine healing, and when they prayed a mighty vibration passed through my whole being, and I was thoroughly healed of every affliction. Since that glad day I have not suffered pain. I eat whatever I want and do my own house work. I am truly a thankful woman.
Mary A. Speelman,
Dayton, Ohio.
E. E. Byrum.
After months of suffering my disease was diagnosed as cancer of the stomach. I was taken to a hospital and lay in a critical condition for eight weeks. My suffering was terrible, and I was given up to die. My husband learned of a people who practised divine healing and they visited me in the hospital. After hearing them read the promises made to afflicted ones, I asked for prayer for my poor, suffering body. The minister asked the Lord to heal me, and I was instantly healed of that awful disease. The next morning I got out of bed and dressed myself. The doctor scolded me for so doing. Three days later I was dismissed from the hospital as cured. One. week later I was able to attend a revival service and in thus doing rode over one hundred miles. I write this for the glory of God.
Mrs. Nora Parsons,
Indiana.
J. R. Hale.
In the year 1920 I was taken very sick, and our doctor pronounced my disease as fibrous tumor and cancer, and stated I could not live long unless an operation was performed. My skin became the color of an orange and my stomach became so deranged that I could neither eat nor drink without terrible pain. Ministers came to see me and obeyed James 5:14, 15, and I began to improve from that hour. Now I am able to eat three meals a day, and I consider myself a well woman.
Mrs. Willard Warner,
Detroit, Michigan.
E. E. Byrum
C. E. Brown.
A small pimple appeared on my lip, which soon began to grow rapidly. A doctor who examined it stated it was a cancer, and advised that it be cut out. This I refused to have done. It grew to the size of an egg before it bursted and began to decay. The terrible odor and mental suffering of such an affliction are difficult to describe. I was anointed and prayed for as the Bible instructs and was healed. Doctors told me it would return, but three years have now passed and I am still cured. The cancer was cured by faith and prayer.
J. G. Gordon,
Palco, Kansas.
Willie McGill.
Early in 1924 a peculiar lump began to grow in the palm of my left hand. Soon it broke open and bled so badly that I went to a doctor in the city of Sacramento, California. He treated it for a time, but we soon discovered it was a cancer of the most malignant kind. The doctor cut it out, but it began to grow again. I went to a specialist in San Francisco, California. Four doctors examined it, gave me treatment, and said it would soon be all right. I returned to my home in Tulare, California, but the affliction grew worse. I suffered terribly and was compelled to carry my hand and arm in a sling. My folk were alarmed and many thought I could not live long. In August, 1924, my pastor, Harry Tyler, and Bro. J. Grant Anderson visited me. My hand at the time was badly swollen and had several ulcers on it which were discharging a green fluid that was very offensive. My arm pained me severely. In September, 1924, my pastor requested prayers for me at the ministers’ meeting at Visalia and I got the witness that day that I would be healed. On September 14 I went to church, but my pain was terrible. I said, “Lord, I will believe thy promise.” The next morning the cancer was paining me so terribly I asked husband to agree with me in prayer. About 10 A. M., my arm and hand stopped paining me suddenly and I removed the bandages and there lay the cancer in the cloth. Oh, how my heart rejoiced! One year has now passed and there is not one sign of its return. I can say that the power of Christ’s blood is unlimited. Oh, praise his name!
Mrs. Salmon (Sampson) Keck,
Tulare, California.
Harry Tyler,
J. Grant Andersen.
A lump came on my breast, which undoubtedly was a cancer. An X-ray picture revealed that my whole body was in a very bad condition. My pain was almost unendurable, and my food would not digest. I resorted to every means available, but received no relief. As a last resort I called for ministers to come and pray for me, and they obeyed James 5:14, 15, and I was touched by God’s mighty healing power. I felt it go through my body and I knew, as did the woman of old, that I was cured of that awful plague. I began to amend from the hour of prayer and since that time I have given birth to a strong, healthy child and am well in body and thankful in heart. The Lord also healed our little son of a bad sore on his leg which caused a high fever and considerable pain. I trust this testimony will encourage some afflicted one to trust more fully in our Great Physician.
Mrs. F. S. Hughes,
Portland, Oregon.
H. A. Schlatter.
A cancer attached itself on the inside of my nose and ate away the bridge. It was a terrible affliction to have in a place where one could smell it all the time. The doctor who examined it also took a blood test, shook his head, and said nothing could be done. Prayer was offered for me in that critical time when hope, from an earthly standpoint, had fled, and I was healed by God’s mighty power. Later I had the same doctor examine my nose again and when I told him how I had got rid of the affliction he said, “Keep on trusting for the Lord did what man could not do.” Oh, how I do thank God for saving me from death in that terrible way!
Mrs. W. M. Cox,
Ridgefield, Washington.
H. A. Schlatter.
A lump on my face kept growing until finally we knew it was the deadly cancer. My friends urged me to have an operation performed, but I was afraid to do so. It continued to grow larger and more painful. I wrote to Anderson, Indiana, for prayers. One night before going to bed I knelt and earnestly prayed that the Lord would deliver me from such a plague and death. When I awakened in the morning the cancer was entirely gone and no sign of its returning has appeared.
H. D. Carpenter,
Chesaning, Michigan.
About six years ago I became aware that something was wrong with my health. A number of my people on both paternal and maternal sides had died with the dreaded cancer. A doctor examined me and found cancer in both breasts. This developed rapidly, and I became a great sufferer. Sometimes the pains were like the sting of bees, and my flesh would itch so I could scarcely endure it. My arms had to be above my head or on pillows, and I could neither eat, rest, nor sleep. The cancer spread to my neck and under both arms. I was unsaved, but providentially I got in touch with those who believe in prayer, and so the elders of the Church of God here in Toledo, Ohio, came and prayed for me. I began slowly to amend, and today I am saved and healed. Had I not met God’s true people I no doubt would have been in my grave today.
Mrs. Grace Valentine,
Toledo, Ohio.
J. W. Ruehle,
W. J. Paxson.
TUMOR
A lump began growing in my abdomen several years ago, but I thought perhaps it might stop of its own accord, as growths sometimes do. My people desired that an operation be performed, but this, I would not allow. Those who examined me when the tumor was at the greatest size declared it would easily weigh forty pounds, and I was in terrible distress and a sight to behold. At last I got in earnest and called mightily upon the Lord and was healed almost instantly in answer to prayer. The tumor began to shrink and soon was gone entirely and now I am a well woman. For this I thank the Lord with all my heart.
Mrs. C. F. Pfisffer,
Dayton, Ohio.
E. E. Byrum.
After suffering pains I knew not the reason for, for several months, I was examined by a number of good doctors and they agreed I had an internal tumor and advised that an operation was necessary if I were to live. It was a wonder that I lived, for I suffered agonies of a nature untold. I was in a stupor most of the time caused by drugs; was given up to die by doctors and friends. I was in a backslidden condition; so Bro. H. A. Schlatter came and prayed for me in the night—about midnight—and I was completely and instantly healed. I felt the healing power of God go through my body and the tumor, stiffness of limbs, shortness of breath, and all signs and symptoms were gone. I was hungry for the first time in three months. In less than ten days I was not only out of bed, but out-of-doors, and assisted some in putting in our garden seeds. I believe the Bible where it says that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”
Mrs. Ida Harsey,
Portland, Oregon.
H. A. Schlatter.
In the city of Beirut, Syria, a sister of a brother in the church was seriously afflicted with a large tumor. She was examined by several doctors, who declared that an operation alone would save her life, but that it would be very serious, with no guarantee of health. Electrical treatments and medicines all failed, and she grew worse. She was confined to her bed. The church at Beirut were praying earnestly for her. One night she dreamed an operation was about to be performed and all things were ready. She dreamed that a wonderful Personage stood beside her bed and said to her, “I am to perform the operation.” She awoke and called the nurse, stating that she was healed. In fact, she cried, “I’m healed, I’m healed.” And it was true. In telling me about it her face shone with the joy of her wonderful experience. She attends our services regularly and does not complain of any affliction. One day she gave her testimony and said, pointing downward where she used to be so large, “See how nice I am!” It was a striking and effective testimony of God’s wonderful power and willingness to heal.
Nellie S. Laughlin,
Beirut, Syria
John D. Crose.
Without one exception my sister had the largest tumor I have ever known. One could scarcely believe the testimony of his eyes when looking upon her. My husband and I were not saved at that time; so had but little faith that my sister could or would be healed in answer to prayer. On her way to attend a certain meeting where divine healing was taught and practised she stopped to bid us good-by, for the doctor had declared she must be operated upon or die. She returned within two weeks and stopped again; to our utmost surprize the tumor was entirely gone and she was a well woman. That sight convinced us, as unsaved people, that divine healing is Biblical and obtainable now. That happened twenty-nine years ago and my sister is still alive and no symptoms have ever returned.
Mrs. Edith B. Anderson,
Meadville, Pennsylvania.
J. Grant Anderson.
For twelve years a tumor was growing in me, and I suffered terribly both in body and in mind. I consulted sixteen different doctors during the twelve years (including the Mayo brothers) and all agreed I must have an operation, but my heart was in such a bad condition that it could not be safely done. In September, 1925, I was prayed for by Brother and Sister Parker, in Kirksville, Missouri, and I was healed instantly, and the tumor is all gone. Now I can ride about and suffer no pain.
Mrs. Ora Gill,
Liberal, Missouri.
TUBERCULOSIS
This disease is known as the “white man’s plague.” It carries away millions every year. Read carefully what the power of God can do for these thus afflicted.
When I was thirteen months old my father died of tuberculosis, and as I grew older my lungs became weaker. I was not strong at any time, but grew up to womanhood. My parents being dead, I was compelled to work harder than I should, and while clerking in a store I contracted a severe cold, which settled in my lungs. Soon a dry, hacking cough developed and I had continual pain under my shoulder blades. Soon I began spitting blood and that developed to severe hemorrhage. Five different doctors examined me, and finally when an X-ray picture was made, I was sent immediately to the country. At night I would sweat until my bed was wet. After long months of suffering and mental forebodings I gave up to die. But about that time I learned about people who believed in divine healing and also I had an aunt who had been healed; so I went to Anderson, Indiana, and called for the elders of the Church of God to pray for me, which they did, and I was healed. I had to resist the symptoms for a long time, and Satan tempted me again and again, but I maintained my integrity with the Lord and held on to my healing, and now I am as well as most women. Now I have a good husband and have been blessed with four sweet, healthy girls, and I rejoice each day in the love of my dear Lord and Savior. I trust that this, my wonderful healing, may be a blessing to those who may read these pages.
Mrs. Anna G. Brail,
Columbus, Ohio.
E. E. Byrum,
J. Grant Anderson.
My son, George, had a lump the size of a hickory-nut behind one of his ears, which seemed to thwart his growth; so we took him to a specialist, but he could not help him much. My boy grew weaker and weaker and spent most of his time in a stupor. By and by he began having sinking spells and would grow cold and his eyes would seem to be set in his head. At last his disease was pronounced tuberculosis, and with a sad heart and many misgivings I called for our pastor, Brother Ludwig, to come and pray for my boy. He was anointed and he began to amend from that hour. His temperature went down from 103 to normal and soon he was himself again. He is a happy boy now, and I am a happy mother.
Mrs. L. W. Craven,
Council Bluffs, Iowa,
J. S. Ludwig,
John L. Williams.
Consumption may not be inheritable, but several of my relatives died with that consuming plague. During the month of May, 1920, I, too, was given up to die with that disease. It is a terrible thing to know one must slowly consume, become weaker and weaker, and at last struggle into the jaws of death. So I had all but given up when I decided to attend the divine healing services being held at the International Camp meeting of the Church of God held annually in June at Anderson, Indiana. There, faithful, earnest, God-fearing men and women prayed for me, and I was healed perfectly and have been well ever since. To God be all the praise.
H. L. Berryman,
Logansport, Indiana.
The author was healed of tuberculosis in Spencer Hospital, Meadville, Pennsylvania, on February 8, 1903, after having been afflicted over five years and given up to die by doctors and family. At the end of 367 days in this hospital the Lord completely and definitely healed me of that awful disease. Some one wrote me some time ago asking if my healing was permanent, and I answered by stating that immediately upon being healed God called me to preach his gospel, that for twenty-two years I had obeyed, having only missed four Sundays from service because of minor troubles during the time. I was present when H. M. Riggle, a well-known minister, was healed of the same disease and immediately began to gain in flesh—his weight increasing from 123 pounds to over 200 pounds. We were witnesses of each other’s healing.
J. Grant Anderson.
John L. Williams,
I. S. McCoy,
S. L. King.
My mother died of tuberculosis. I have a sister in a sanitarium now. I was in one for a short time. The doctors pronounced my affliction as hereditary consumption. After my marriage I was in a hospital during nearly the whole period of my first pregnancy. In 1923, I attended a tent-meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, held by Bro. J. S. Ludwig and his wife. They taught and practised divine healing. I told them of my severe sickness, was anointed, and during prayer was instantly healed of all my afflictions. I am a normal woman today.
Mrs. L. W. Cravens,
Council Bluffs, Iowa.
J. S. Ludwig,
Mrs. J. S. Ludwig.
In 1922 I was a very sick woman. Doctors who attended me pronounced my case as lung trouble and gave me no hope of getting well. For many months I could scarcely sit up in bed, and was weak, pale, and a great sufferer. Brother and Sister Ludwig came to our home and prayed earnestly for me and I was healed, got out of bed, and went about my work. I am truly thankful for what the Lord has done for me.
Mrs. Umbenhomer,
Ovid, Indiana.
J. S. Ludwig,
Mrs. J. S. Ludwig.
Lingering Consumption
In April, 1905, my health began to fail. I could not stand long enough to wash my dishes. I was compelled to give up my music and work as song-leader. No longer could I care for my husband and two babies, By September I could not speak above a whisper. I had lost so much flesh I was simply a skeleton. Realizing that the Lord must help quickly, I called for those who believed in prayer, and when they prayed I was healed instantly. When I was able to get up I weighed only 110 pounds. I improved so rapidly that by Christmas I weighed 150 pounds. My voice came back to normal, and now twenty years later I am a well, strong woman. The writer of this book visited me here in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during November, 1925, and can vouch for my present health.
Mrs. Elsie Bailey.
Our son was very low with catarrhal tuberculosis of the bowels. He was twenty years of age and was reduced to eighty-seven pounds in weight. He was a mere skeleton and so weak sometimes I could count from eight to ten between his heart-beats. We watched daily for him to die. For eight days and nights I sat by his bedside without rest, only as I would doze a little now and then. At last our people (thirty-one in number) gathered to see him die. I had written E. E. Byrum and had received an answer that God would surely answer prayer in behalf of our son. At midnight I received the witness that he would be healed. It came like a flash of lightning. Instead of dying, he rested well till morning. The next day he sat up in bed. He could eat and gained forty pounds in two months, and people scarcely knew him. Two months ago his heart-beat was forty-four; now it is seventy-two. The doctor acknowledged that a miracle had been wrought.
Mrs. A. F. Summerhill.
Around six years ago I began to fail in health, and it was so serious in its nature that all despaired of my life. I consulted four or five doctors, but none of them gave me any hope. I lost in flesh and became so weak I could not speak above a whisper. I traveled for my health and sought for relief from every available source. At last a minister who believes in divine healing visited me and soon I saw that Christ’s atonement purchased healing for my body as truthfully as it brought salvation to my soul. The pastor of the church here in Toledo, Ohio, prayed for me, and I was healed. During the next three months I gained twelve pounds in weight. I am indeed thankful.
Mrs. Mary Moorman,
Holland, Ohio.
J. W. Ruehle.
An old lady whom I knew was at the point of death with lung trouble. She was unconscious a considerable part of the time, and the family watched momentarily for her death. We anointed her and offered prayer, and she sat up in bed and in a short time was doing her work. Her grandson had mastoid trouble and the doctor said he only had one chance in five hundred to live. We prayed for this grandchild and he was healed. In a few weeks he was well as ever.
Leroy and Della Sheldon.
HEART TROUBLE
For two years I suffered untold misery with the dreadful disease of leakage of the heart. Being a minister of the gospel, I was in a hard place. Many times I was compelled to hold fast to the pulpit to keep from falling when those smothering; dizzy spells would come upon me. I was examined by two doctors. Following is their exact diagnosis:
(a) “May 8, 1923. Mr. C. R. Featherston came to my office for examination and I find he has a serious case of heart-leakage. I advise medicine and rest and an X-ray picture of the heart. R. E. Padfield, M. D., Wichita, Kansas.”
(b) “July 2, 1923; Functional murmur at apex; enlargement of the heart; decreased expansion left lung. I advise complete mental rest; light physical exercise. Dr. H. A. Elkins, Mt. Carmel, Illinois.”
Discouraged I gave up and believed I would never be strong again. However, I went to the camp-meeting at West Frankfort, Illinois, was anointed, and prayer was offered, and I was healed. Today I am strong and fulfilling the strenuous work of an evangelist. To
God be all the praise.
God be all the praise.
C. H. Featherston,
Mt. Carmel, Illinois.
H. A. Delay.
On the 9th of August, 1925, my heart played out, and I had a sinking spell from which I never expected to recover. I was cold, helpless, and in the jaws of death. I felt the earth slipping from beneath my feet. Alarmed at my condition, they sent for the elder of the church in Portland, Oregon, and I was anointed, prayed for, and the Lord raised me almost from the dead. I am well today.
Hugh Clark,
Portland, Oregon.
H. A. Schlatter.
During the spring of 1920 I was very low with heart disease, and the doctors gave me up, for they could help me no more. I did not want to die. So grasping for the last straw, I sent for the elder of the Church of God, was anointed, and when prayer was offered I was completely healed. No symptoms of that awful affliction have ever returned.
Rose Hoffman,
Garden City, Kansas.
J. R. Hale.
For ten long years I suffered with rheumatism of the heart, and no one knows what I endured. Doctors offered me no hope. The pain was so severe at times I thought I could not stand it longer. During a divine healing service held near my home I presented myself to the brethren and the Lord and was entirely healed in answer to prayer. I am indeed thankful for relief. I can not praise the Lord enough.
Mrs. Hanson,
E. E. Byrum.
NATURE’S HEALING OF HEART DISEASE
The following testimony came to me which I believe to be valuable and full of good advice:
“When I was taken to the hospital my pulse was 140. My case was diagnosed as myocarditis. At the end of four weeks I was discharged from the hospital as incurable and warned that I was liable to drop dead any minute. I am 5 feet, 10 inches high, and weigh 130 pounds. I was so weak that if I would walk two squares I would sleep three hours from weakness. I slept eighteen hours each day. I took digitalis three times a day until it poisoned my stomach and gave me chronic bowel trouble. I stopped taking medicine and quit drinking tea and coffee. For breakfast I ate a raw egg in buttermilk, ate only whole-wheat bread, and went to bed as soon as I ate so as not to overwork my heart. I took sponge baths slowly, took very light exercise before an open door, kept my windows open wide at night, and through hygiene methods, proper eating, right thinking, and no “doping” of medicine I slowly began to amend. Now, to the surprize of doctors and friends I can walk, work, eat, and am normal in heart, liver, and bowels. I recommend this cure especially to those who have no faith in medicine or in the Lord.
John Doe.
Dr. La Rose.
GOITER
This disease is a chronic enlargement of the thyroid gland and is found in all parts of the world.
Ella and Chelchea Price, of Conemaugh, Pennsylvania, were healed of chronic goiter of several years’ standing in answer to prayer and obedience to God’s Word. The next day after prayer was offered the affliction was entirely gone.
J. W. Strotman,
Kittanning, Pennsylvania.
I was afflicted with goiter for a number of years, and the Lord healed me, and it has disappeared. That was over a year ago, and I am well today.
Erma Warner,
Omaha, Nebraska.
E. E. Byrum.
I was a sufferer from chronic goiter, which was slowly choking me to death. It gave me terrible smothering spells. Remembering God’s goodness to me in the past, I prayed and he healed me completely, so that the goiter is a thing of the past. I have proved it over and over that our Lord not only can, but will heal his people.
Mrs. E. A. Reardon,
Anderson, Indiana.
J. Grant Anderson.
I suffered greatly from goiter; also had a severe case of peritonitis. I was totally disabled to go about my work. I ran a temperature at times of 105. I sent for ministers to pray for me, for the doctor said he could do nothing. Bro. E. E. Byrum, of Anderson, Indiana, came, anointed me, and I was instantly healed. The Lord has been very good to me.
Mrs. Erma Dallas,
Anderson, Indiana.
E. E. Byrum.
I was sorely afflicted with goiter in 1921. It caused me pain as well as discomfort in appearance. Sister J. S. Ludwig and another sister anointed and prayed for me and I was entirely healed. The goiter left, and I am well.
Mrs. Umbenhomer,
Anderson, Indiana.
PNEUMONIA
In January, 1921, I became very sick, and the doctor diagnosed my case as double pneumonia. I asked him if I had any chance of living (this being my second case) and he honestly told me that I had only one chance in a thousand. I sent for the pastor of our church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was prayed for, and was healed immediately. The doctor called the next day and pronounced me a well woman, to his surprize and to my pleasure.
G. W. Henry,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Tiffany Flynt.
In Sharon, Pennsylvania, I became very sick with pneumonia. It seemed I could live but a little while. My friends also believed I would die. In my agony and distress they called for the elders, and I was healed in answer to prayer. It was a miracle, for I got out of bed and was well. I went to church that night.
John Horevay,
Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
John C. Racketa.
I had pneumonia, and was very low. It seemed I could not live. Our pastor prayed for me, and I was raised almost from the gates of death.
Steve Kerns,
Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
John Horevay.
Our daughter, Nora, eight years old, was taken seriously sick with pneumonia in April, 1924. The doctor gave us but little hope of saving her life. Her fever kept around 104 to 105. In our distress we sent for our pastor, and he prayed, and our child was healed. Her temperature dropped immediately to normal. Fifteen minutes later she was sitting up in bed and was playing with the rest of the family the next day. It was instantaneous. It was divine healing.
Mrs. Mervin Angus
Mineral Point, Pennsylvania.
J. W. Strotman.
One prayer-meeting evening in 1921, a prayer request came over the telephone. The sick person was Flora Stayler, and she had pneumonia. We prayed earnestly for her. We called upon her the next day, and learned that she had been healed while we prayed. She said she felt the power of God go through her body while we prayed.
Mrs. J. S. Ludwig,
Omaha, Nebraska.
My son, Charles, had pneumonia in one lung, which would not clear up. He lay sick for three weeks and then double pneumonia developed. He lost consciousness, and we thought he would die. We called for the elders of the Church of God, and the moment they prayed he was instantly healed and asked for something to eat. The next day he went out-of-doors to play.
Mrs. G. L. Welling,
Anderson, Indiana.
H. A. Sherwood.
EAR TROUBLE
Our son, Paul, was left after a severe sickness with an ear that discharged poison continually. After a number of weeks we took him to an ear specialist who stated that unless he got help soon he would in all probability lose his hearing or it would he badly affected. We called for Bro. E. E. Byrum, and when he and his wife prayed for Paul he was instantly healed. There was no discharge from the moment of prayer, and he has been well since that time.
Mrs. R. R. Byrum,
Anderson, Indiana.
E. E. Byrum,
Mrs. E. E. Byrum.
Twenty-four years ago I fell on the ice and bursted the drum of my left ear, causing total deafness in that ear. I fell so heavily that I was unconscious for a time. I was prayed for by those who believed in divine healing and was perfectly healed in August, 1925. Now I can hear a whisper or a clock-tick plainly. I am indeed thankful.
Mrs. Opal (Shoop) Williams,
Laredo, Missouri.
Mr. and Mrs. Parker.
Festered Ears
My old mother, seventy-nine, was severely afflicted with festered ears, which would swell, break and run and would cause much annoyance and great pain. Sister Anna Cheatham and others were at our home one day, and when prayer was offered mother was completely healed. From almost an invalid she gained in strength so that in a few days she rode 140 miles with us in an automobile and suffered no evil results from it. We believe God’s Word, and we are willing to practise it.
Clark H. Wilson,
Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
GALL-STONES
I was severely afflicted with gall-stones for a number of years. The pains returned about every two weeks. Doctors gave me but little relief. I thought my case was hopeless. We were living in Portland, Oregon. I was a new convert in the church of God. One night when my husband came home from his work I could not get his supper. I told him I had no way of getting word to the pastor of the church, but had prayed all day that he might come. Husband went to the garden to get vegetables for supper and while he was gone a knock came at the door. I said, “Come in.” A voice said, “Is your husband at home”; and when I answered in the affirmative a man walked in, and who was it but our pastor, H. A. Schlatter. Husband then came in and we both wept for joy, knowing that our prayers so far had been answered. Brother Schlatter told us he was so burdened all day that he was almost compelled to call on us. After explaining God’s promises to me, our pastor prayed an earnest prayer, and I was instantly healed. I have not had one attack from that day to this.
Mrs. Chas. H. Raney,
Gresham, Oregon.
H. A. Schlatter.
During a revival in March, 1925, Mr. Oscar Garrison took violently ill. A doctor who was called pronounced it a severe case of gall-stones. He was suffering so much that the doctor gave him a hypodermic and left some medicine. He got no relief. I never saw such suffering in all my life. He was rolling and tossing on his bed and the sweat was pouring from his body. He was writhing, it seemed, in the agonies of death. I got Bro. H. M. Riggle, and we anointed him and prayed for him, and he was instantly healed. He got out of bed, and such a thankful person you never saw. From the torments of death one minute to freedom from pain the next. He has never had one symptom to this day. Surely the Lord is true to his promises.
M. A. Monday,
Bedford, Indiana.
I had suffered for a long time with chronic gall-stones. No one who has not had such an affliction understands its awful torment. At last, almost in despair because of that and other severe ailments, I called for our pastor and his good wife. They prayed for me and I was healed.
Mrs. Joe Milbourn,
Omaha, Nebraska.
J. S. Ludwig.
Nine years ago I had an operation for gall-stones. Three years later I began having the same kind of attacks again. Sometimes they would be a month apart and sometimes not so long. I was in constant dread of them. Two years ago I had a severe attack and was in bed about ten days, suffering intensely. We feared another operation. I had the folks call for our pastors, Brother and Sister Ludwig, and while they were praying I felt the mighty power of God go through my body. As soon as they left I arose and dressed and have not felt a sign or a symptom of gall-stones since that glad hour.
Mrs. Mae Milbourn,
Omaha, Nebraska.
J. S. Ludwig and Wife.
GRAVEL
While living in Edenboro, Pennsylvania, I took ill with a severe attack of gravel. In all my life I never suffered such awful pain. The doctor could not help me. When the attacks came on I would walk the floor and scream at the top of my voice. Perspiration would wet all my clothes. People on the streets would stop and listen to the groans and cries caused by the intense pain. My brother, S. L. King, and nephew, J. Grant Anderson, prayed for me time and again, but I seemed to get no relief. One day my brother prayed thus: “O Lord, make the passage large enough for the stones to pass through, or break it up into pieces and please do it now, and stop the awful pain.” God answered every word of that prayer and the passage opened, and the stone came out in pieces and the pain stopped that moment. Never was a man more thankful than I was. I have never felt one pain of gravel since that day, and my heart overflows with gratitude to God for the miracle for it was a miracle that was wrought in my life. The days of miracles have not passed.
W. B. King,
Union City, Pennsylvania.
S. L. King,
J. Grant Anderson.
MENTAL TROUBLE
In the year 1920 I began to suffer in my head. Gradually my mind was going from me. My friends thought my case was all but hopeless. I learned, during the time, of a people who believed and practised divine healing. We moved to Portland, Oregon, and attended a revival held by J. Grant Anderson. At my request the brother prayed for me one day, and I began to amend from that hour. I am, indeed, thankful that I found the one true church of God, and a Savior who can heal today as he did in the long ago.
Mrs. L. M. Sanders,
Portland, Oregon.
H. A. Schlatter.
A certain woman whom we knew became diseased in brain until insane. She was healed in answer to prayer and is well and strong today. Her healing took place over eighteen years ago.
C. H. Wilson,
Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
BLOOD POISON
Mrs. Mary Cody of Detroit, Michigan, had blood poison following childbirth. At the hospital, blood was put into her veins from her husband, who was healthy. It failed. Then they gave twenty-five dollars for some blood from another man. It only added to the poison. So she was sent home from the hospital to die. As a last resort she called for prayer, and the Lord healed her. That happened one year ago, and she is well today.
Leroy and Della Sheldon.
Three weeks ago I hurt my hand severely with an ice-pick. It did not bleed; so I thought nothing much about it. About two weeks later it began to swell and pained me badly. The pain grew more intense and went up to my shoulder, and finally spread to my whole side. I began to chill and could not get warm. A doctor was called and said I had blood poisoning and urged that I go to the hospital immediately and take the serum treatment. He said I must hurry. I told him I believed it would be more safe to trust it in the hands of the Lord, and he sneered at me. We called for Brother and Sister Ludwig, and when prayer was offered I was fully and absolutely delivered from the poison and all of its effects.
Ella Falls,
Omaha, Nebraska.
MISCELLANEOUS
Typhoid Fever
Some marvelous healings have been wrought here at Mount Carmel, Illinois. A sister was healed of paralysis; another of an issue of blood; a brother of internal injury; one of typhoid fever; one of abscesses. The work here has been raised up largely through so many persons being healed. I have been healed of several afflictions, for which I am thankful to the Lord.
Edgar M. Powell,
Mt. Carmel, Illinois.
Tonsillitis
My daughter-in-law was very sick with a complication of diseases. She could not eat and was not able to be out of bed. She suffered terribly with headache and pain allover her body. Her throat was swollen nearly shut with yellow cankers. She was in awful distress. When Brother and Sister Ludwig prayed for her a soothing sensation went over her whole body, and she was healed of that terrible tonsillitis.
Mrs. Mary Milbourn,
Omaha, Nebraska.
Severe Burns
Our little daughter’s night gown caught on fire from the gas heater, and she burst into our room with her clothes all in flames. Husband tore her garments off as quickly as possible, and there she stood, greatly frightened and with great burned spots on her little body. We had prayed for others and now we had the opportunity to exercise faith towards our own loved one. We agreed in prayer for her and in a moment she said, “It doesn’t hurt a bit.” The burns healed rapidly and she felt no more pain.
Mrs. J. S. Ludwig,
Omaha, Nebraska.
Floating Kidney
In 1918, seven years ago, I was severely afflicted with a floating kidney, which the doctors declared could not be cured without an operation. I sent for our pastor, Tiffany Flynt, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and when he prayed for me I was perfectly healed and have never felt one symptom since that day.
Jennie Kummsee,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
L. T. Flynt.
Chronic Stomach Trouble
I was in awful distress most of the time and was reduced from a well, strong woman to a mere skeleton. I thought my time had come to die and wanted to go. I could not work, eat, or sleep, and life was a burden. I called our pastor, Bro. H. A. Schlatter, and when he prayed I was healed.
Mrs. L. Stone,
Portland, Oregon.
Sinking Spell
Our boy became very sick and kept growing worse until he knew nothing, and the only way we knew he was still alive was that he kept warm, for we could scarcely see any movement. We sent for our pastor, S. W. Joiner, and as he prayed the prayer of faith our boy revived and was soon playing with the rest of the children.
Frank Dixon,
Norton, Virginia.
Stroke of Paralysis
On May 12, 1925, Bro. W. H. Lewis was suddenly overtaken with a severe illness. His mind became blank, he became speechless, and he lost control of his body. His people sent for me and I found him lying in bed, eyes closed, and motionless. Soon he began to revive, but his right eye and right side were helpless. We agreed in earnest prayer for his recovery. Scarcely had we closed our prayer when he opened both eyes and exclaimed, “Praise the Lord, I’m healed.” Three months have now passed and no symptoms have developed.
A. F. Gray,
Yakima, Washington.
Rheumatism
In 1923 I was sorely afflicted with rheumatism and suffered untold agonies. Four doctors said they could do nothing for me. At last Bro. L. T. Flynt (our pastor) and Sister Jennie Kummsee, came and prayed for me, and the good Lord healed me completely. I am a firm believer in the power of prayer.
Ralph McFaddan,
West Allis, Wisconsin.
Whooping-cough
In 1920 I was called to pray for three children in a neighbor’s family who were sorely afflicted with whooping-cough. There must have been other complications, for they had a high fever and one they thought was dying. Wife and I prayed as childlike a prayer as, we could and all three were completely healed insomuch that that peculiar cough stopped immediately.
John Horevay,
Johnstown, Pa.
Convulsions
While services were going on a child in the congregation suddenly took sick. It was so severe that our services were stopped, and the child was taken out-of-doors. Neighbors gathered around until the street was filled, and nearly every kind of treatment known to humanity was suggested. We offered prayer in the street amid the uproar and God answered and the child arose and was well. We then returned and finished our services with a stronger purpose of heart and mind to believe and practise divine healing than we ever had before.
John Horevay,
Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Fits
The son of James Heartman had from two to seven spells a day for over seven years. One can imagine what that would mean in a family. I was conducting a series of meetings at a place called Nanty Glo, Pennsylvania, when the child was brought to me for prayer. I never shrank from my duty, and believing the promise of healing was in my commission, without one fear I anointed and prayed for the child, and God healed it. That was over two years ago and the boy has not had one spell since that day. I believe and teach that Christ has never changed.
J. W. Strotman,
Kittanning, Pennsylvania.
Epileptic Fits
For many years I was bothered with those terrible spells from three to four times a week. I was under the care of a number of good doctors and specialists, who took photographs of my head, but to no avail. Five months ago I called for our pastor, L. T. Flynt, and was permanently healed, and have not had one spell since. Thankful am I to God and the brethren.
Brother Westland,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Blindness from Birth
During the special week of divine healing services conducted in Omaha, Nebraska, by E. E. Byrum, of Anderson, Indiana, a girl named “Betty,” blind from birth, was brought to them to be healed. Proceedings were under way at the, time to send her to a school for the blind. Sister Paulson had taken great interest in the child and it was through her labors, to a great extent, that the child was brought to the attention of the ministers present. The child was anointed according to instructions given in James 5:14, 15, and as soon as prayer was offered she reached her hands to obtain a cracker ten feet away. Her healing stirred the whole medical fraternity of the city and the Lord was magnified and his name pronounced great.
J. S. Ludwig,
Omaha, Nebraska.
E. E. Byrum.
Appendicitis Healed
Mrs. Lillian Ronk, of Detroit, Michigan, was suffering awful pain and was about to die with appendicitis. She was so far gone that her husband who was holding her during her struggles laid her down on the bed to die. Her arms and limbs were as cold as death, and her mouth terribly drawn out of shape. They called for wife and me, and we offered prayer, and she was instantly healed. She soon got up and dressed and is well today.
Leroy and Della Sheldon.
The Dreadful Erysipelas
In December, 1924, I was taken very sick and soon my face was covered with erysipelas. Those who have had it know of its pain and suffering. I was in a terrible condition. My wife sent for the elder of the church here in Akron, Ohio, and when he and a number of the congregation came and offered prayer I felt relieved. The following Friday I was saved and have been a member of the Church of God ever since. I was completely healed. The Lord also delivered me from the habit of using tobacco that I had had for over fifty years.
E. F. Rinehimer,
Akron, Ohio.
E. E. Shaw and Wife,
J. E. Faihr,
Sister Hetrick.
Membranous Croup
In April, 1925, I was called to visit the child of a brother and sister in our congregation who was very sick. The doctor diagnosed the case as membranous crop and said there was no hope for the child. He gave antitoxin but said the child would die before it could take effect. We called mightily upon God, and he healed the child, and it is well today.
C. H. Wilson,
Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
Saved From Death
Our child became violently sick and we despaired of her life. Sister Koch, our pastor’s wife, declared our child was dead, and we could neither hear nor see any signs of life. Bro. D. T. Koch and all of us laid our hands on the child and as soon as we prayed she got up and in less than an hour was as well as ever. We are thankful to our God.
Mr. and Mrs. R. R. Huges,
Columbus, Ohio.
D. T. Koch.
Diseased Joint
I had been a cripple for three years and had gone to ten different doctors. None gave me any encouragement. I had spent hundreds of dollars doctoring and had got no better, but rather had grown worse. I finally went to Chicago and was a patient there for four months. Then the physician in charge of my case told me my hip-joint was badly affected, had turned black, and was corroding. I had hopes of living only a short time. I knew my case was beyond the reach of any earthly help. I thought it was just a matter of time with me. But when the earthly physicians failed, my heavenly Physician stepped in and reached out a helping hand and began to heal me. When I went to Chicago, in December, 1923, for treatment, I was not walking on crutches, but when I left four months later I had to walk with two crutches. In the following June, Brother S. W. Joiner anointed me according to James 5:14, then he with others, of the saints earnestly prayed for me. The healing touch did not come at once, and I felt no radical change then. But God’s dear ones were still praying and his promises can never fail. After eating dinner at the home of my niece, I rose from the table, took both crutches in one hand, and walked all over the house. Praise our God, my faith took hold, and the work was begun. Then twice more I walked all over the house and went to meeting that night without any crutches. I now do the work for a family of eight. I do all my own house-work except washing. I am happy in the Lord and rejoicing in the wonderful healing he has given to unworthy me. I give God all the praise and glory for the wonderful things he has done for me. Yours in Christ,
Mrs. A. M. Vicars,
Wise, Virginia.
S. W. Joiner.
Bubonic Plague
During the dry season of 1922, that dread disease, bubonic plague, was raging among the natives of the Abasotso tribe near Mt. Elgon in Kenya Colony, British East Africa. Many of them were dying of this terrible malady.
Nzanza, one of the boys at our north station who had just a few months before given his heart to the Lord and himself to the mission was living in a hut near the mission home. His wife and one child lay in the hut dead of the plague. Nzanza, himself, being stricken, lay on the cold, bare floor praying to “Nysayi” (God) for help for some time after the sun had made its disappearance in the west and all was dark and quiet on the outside except for the distant yell of a hyena or jackal, or possibly the doleful sound of a funeral horn coming from some sad hut on a distant hill, telling of another victim who had just passed into the great “migulu” (beyond).
Presently a voice seemed to call from the outside, saying, “Nzanza, Nzanza, arise.” He listened. Again the voice spoke, repeating the same words. He being unable to walk, dragged himself upon his hands and knees to the door and pushed the mat aside to look out. Instead of the darkness of that awful African night greeting him, some one seemed to lay his hands upon his head and at the same time say, “Nzanza your prayer is heard and I am come to heal you.” Immediately he sprang to his feet and the buboes and swelling disappeared and Nzanza realized that it was “Jesu Christo” who had touched and healed him. When this experience was being related one could not help but know that Jesus is nigh to all who will call on his, name in faith.
Some days after this his chief, Wambani, offered to make him one of his head men if he would leave the mission and go to his court, but Nzanza refused telling the chief that he was now “head boy” for “Jesu Christo” (Jesus Christ). He is still with the mission and head cook for Brother and Sister Bailey.
S. W. Joiner.
Results of Childbirth
In the year 1916 I passed through an unusually severe ordeal of childbirth. I had requested that all lacerations should be repaired immediately. After being delivered, however, my condition was so critical that the attending physicians said they did not believe the stitches would hold and that the better plan would be to wait and send me to the hospital for an operation at some future time. Their final decision was to respect my wishes and they took care of the lacerations as best they could under the circumstances, having but little hope that the stitches would hold or that the lacerations would heal.
After I had regained consciousness we had earnest agreement in prayer. The lacerations healed well and my condition remained normal insomuch that I did not show any symptoms of fever, which the physicians had feared. Both physicians and my nurse were astonished at my wonderful deliverance.
After a few years I overworked myself while assisting my husband in pastoral work. Ulcers appeared on my womb where two of the scars from the lacerations were located. The physician who examined me advised an operation, fearing that cancer might ultimately develop. My mother had died of cancer of the womb. Bro. E. E. Byrum and others prayed for me, and the Lord healed me so that those tissues were pronounced perfectly normal by a competent surgeon who made a thorough examination sometime after I had been anointed and prayed for.
I still continued to suffer, however from a severe pain in my right leg. It seemed that the suffering became more intense with the passing years. At times the pain was so excruciating that in order to rest at night I kept a pillow under the bed clothing to relieve my toes from their weight. I could not bear the least weight on my leg, and I could not rest on my right hip. It was so difficult for me to walk that in going upstairs I was forced to go slowly—one step at a time. I was often made to cry out from the sudden and intense pain. Many times I was prayed for and relief often came. Then the suffering would return. At last I became very much discouraged,
More than a year ago, while Bro. M. A. Monday was visiting the Anderson Bible School and Seminary, I was sitting at the dinner-table, when my suffering became so intense that I could scarcely finish my dinner. My husband requested special prayer in my behalf. Brother Monday anointed me, and while he prayed my faith took hold of God’s promises, and, praise the Lord, he healed me! It was just a few minutes until my pain was gone and now I can walk up and down the stairs the same as I did years ago.
Mrs. H. A. Sherwood.
HEALINGS IN THE MINISTRY OF H. M. RIGGLE
For more than thirty years I have preached and practised divine healing. During this time I have witnessed thousands of healings by the power of God, and many notable miracles. I, myself, was a sufferer for seven years with catarrh of the stomach and tuberculosis of the bowels. During those years of severe affliction I suffered more than human tongue can express. The author of this book was present when I was instantly healed by the mighty power of God; and for more than fifteen years there has not been a sign of that old affliction. Halleluiah!
In 1895, while conducting meetings at Dawson, Pennsylvania, a man brought to us a child terribly afflicted with eczema. She had been given up to die by seven physicians. Her entire face and head were covered with scabs, her eyes and her ears were closed. She certainly was a pitiful sight. We offered the prayer of faith in the name of the Lord. The father carried the child home that night, placed her in bed and the next morning, when they looked the scabs had all fallen off in the bed, and the child was perfectly well. About seventeen years later, while holding meeting at Vintondale, Pennsylvania, a young lady came to the altar and was converted. After the services were over, she informed me that she was that child. From the day of her healing not a sign of eczema had ever appeared on her body.
In December, 1913, while Bro. E. E. Byrum and I were conducting meeting in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a man came forward and handed us a handkerchief, saying, “My wife is violently insane in the asylum. She is a raving maniac. I have a large family of children. Please, brethren, anoint this handkerchief and pray earnestly that my wife may be restored to me.” We laid the handkerchief upon a chair, poured olive oil upon it, then laid on our hands, and offered the prayer of faith. Two months later when we were returning from the Pacific Coast and had reached Denver, Colorado, for an evangelistic meeting, at the close of the first service a man came forward saying, “Do you recognize me?” We told him no, only that we remembered his face. He said, “I am the man who brought the handkerchief the last night of the Oklahoma City meeting. I went to the asylum, applied the anointed handkerchief to my wife’s body, and instantly her mind came to her perfectly, and here she is as a witness to, the fact.” He then introduced us to his wife and children, saying, “We are on our way to the State of Idaho to make our home there.”
On this same trip we met a woman at Oakland, California, who had been born blind. She had never seen the light of day. At the time we met her she was about forty-three years old. In answer to prayer this woman’s eyes were instantly opened. I ate my dinner at the same table with her, and saw that she waited on herself the same as the rest of us, having perfect use of her eyesight.
Wife and I spent 1921–23 on the mission fields in Syria and the Holy Land. The religion of that country, irrespective of creed is more ceremonial, dead, and formal than that of our Western countries. I was made to realize that nothing would penetrate the formalities so prevalent but a real demonstration of the gifts of the Spirit in the midst of the church. For this we most earnestly prayed for several months. In July, 1921, while holding meeting In Aleppo, Syria, I preached a bold sermon in defense of divine healing. One of the leading physicians of the city was present. A few nights later, near midnight, this physician sent a message for me to come at once, saying that his child was dying. When we reached the home the house was full of friends weeping and the child was lying upon the floor. The physician remarked, “My child is beyond medical assistance; we can do nothing for her. I heard you preach on healing, and unless God helps my child must die. If the Lord heals my child I will consecrate my life to his service forever.” We knelt in humble prayer, laid our hands on the child, and it was instantly healed. After this the doctor came to the meetings and told everybody that the Lord had healed his child in answer to prayer. This, caused excitement to run high, and from that time on while I remained in Aleppo scores and scores of people came from different parts of the city to be prayed for.
On September 9–19, 1921, we took a short vacation at Zahleh, Mount Lebanon. We stayed at the home of Sister Areka Salibian of Beirut, who was spending the summer there. One morning this sister made a strange request of us. She said, “I am deprived of the privilege and blessing of bringing forth children, and I desire to have a baby very much.” She had been married many years and said that the doctors had told her that such a thing was impossible in her case, and she requested us to join with her in prayer that the Lord might overrule, as he had done in the case of Sarah, and grant her the one great desire of her heart. We had prayer, and in ten months from that time she gave birth to a baby girl. Sister Salibian testified to what the Lord had done before a large congregation in Beirut. Mrs. A. Abdo, a Roman Catholic woman, was present. She, too, had been married many years and had no children. Hearing the sister’s testimony, she prayed God to overrule the defect, and she also was healed and gave birth to a child. Because of that remarkable manifestation of God’s power, her husband and her father-in-law both were saved and left the Church of Rome.
February 7, 1922, while holding meetings in Minyara, Syria, Brother Ibrahim Shehda Maloof and I went out calling on the people. We entered a home where a woman was in bed suffering terribly with sciatic rheumatism. Her name was Mrs. Jamili Moketsay. She was suffering the most excruciating pains, all drawn up in the bed. In an instant the Holy Spirit whispered to me, “Fulfil your commission.” We laid our hands upon her and offered prayer. She was instantly healed and arose and I took her photograph on the house top in the afternoon. She came to meeting that night. The news spread rapidly through the village, and it seemed that all the afflicted people of that place sent for us to pray for their healing. This woman now lives in Jacksonville, Florida.
On August 11, 1922, while we were conducting a series of meetings at, Safita, Syria, the pasha of the city sent for us to pray for his child. This child had been given up to die by two doctors, one of them Dr. Bashour, of Tripoli. Both these physicians pronounced the child a hopeless case from a medical standpoint. It was Dr. Bashour who advised the pasha to send for us to pray. While I was holding meeting at Tripoli at a later time Dr. Bashour informed me that the pasha’s child had been instantly healed and was entirely well.
[1] The names of dependable Witnesses are given for these testimonies. These names appear in italic.
VITAL FACTS ON HEALTH
THE HUMAN BODY
Scientific research has made great progress in the last few years and through chemical and microscopic analysis it has discovered that the human body is composed of sixteen elements:
Oxygen Hydrogen
Nitrogen Phosphorus
Carbon Iodine
Sodium Fluorine
Sulphur Calcium
Silicon Magnesium
Iron Chlorine
Potassium Manganese.
Common sense teaches that through constant use these elements wear out and must be replaced. There are but three ways in which they can be replaced, namely: (1) through what we eat, (2) through what we drink, and (3) through what we breathe. The average person could live forty days without food, about seven days without water, but without air he would die in less than ten minutes.
SIX LAWS OF HEALTH
No matter how old or young, high or low, rich or poor, no person can escape the law of cause and effect, and the most wonderful machine in the world—the human body—will disintegrate and fall to pieces just the same as any ether piece of machinery if neglected long. The six laws of health are:
Right Eating Right Thinking
Right Drinking Right Exercising
Right Breathing Right Sleeping
Failure to obey any of these laws will result in suffering, disease, premature old age, and finally death. No words of magic, doctor’s drugs, or even prayer, will cause the law of nature to cease to function, and penalties will follow and overtake the transgressor before long.
RIGHT EATING
There is no written law against committing suicide through gluttony—overeating—but when a person dies from that cause will not the Lord who knows write suicide over against that death? If one would but stop and consider that it is a mistaken idea that vitality increases in proportion to the amount of food consumed but that it increases only in proportion to the amount digested and assimilated—he would eat less, be happier, and live longer. It is a fact that overeating tends to rob the body of vitality instead of supplying it. Even the most wholesome food eaten in excess and in wrong combinations clogs the system and puts out vital fires the same as too much coal will dampen and extinguish the furnace fire. Proper eating will accomplish many things.
Eating slowly is more satisfying, makes the food more digestible, satisfies the demand with less amount, saves the stomach unnecessary work, assists in elimination, allows the brain to work more clearly, and saves from disease.
RIGHT DRINKING
Great life insurance companies have millions invested in risks on how long men live, and thus the longer men live the more money they will amass. Recently one of these companies wrote a pamphlet stating that upon investigation they found that about 72 per cent of the human body is composed of water, and that if men desire to live long, they should put back into their bodies as much water as they consume. Backed with a long row of figures and nearly one hundred years of investigation, that company (the Metropolitan) assures us that if we should drink from two to three quarts of water each day—whether we thirst or not—years would be added to our lives. The writer has overcome chronic constipation through following this advice. When possible he drinks a pint of hot water about thirty minutes before each meal and plenty of cold water often during the day. It washes impurities from the stomach, flushes the kidneys, assists the bowels, and replenishes the needs of the body. Physiology teaches that 72 per cent of the body is composed of water; so we believe that most people would be healthier, happier, and would live longer if they would follow the insurance company’s advice.
RIGHT BREATHING
Oxygen is the important substance we derive from the air we breathe, and it is absolutely necessary, for when deprived of it we die in a few minutes. We are taught that every drop of blood in our bodies passes through our lungs every three minutes; hence we should wash our blood of impurities through a three minutes’ exercise every morning as regularly as we wash our face. The oxygen we breathe into our lungs oxidizes the poison out of our blood. The poison we exhale from our lungs should not be inhaled again; hence, fresh air should be allowed to flow freely into our sleeping-rooms and places of work. Deep and plenteous breathing of pure, fresh air all but guarantees freedom from tuberculosis, “the white man’s plague,” and many times fresh air will cure where doctor’s medicines have failed.
RIGHT THINKING
The subject of right thinking belongs to physiology as well as to morals. The more we study the anatomy, physiology, and psychology of the human organism, the more we become amazed at its wonderful complexity and ingenuity of structure and function. From a human point of view, innumerable miracles are performed every day we live. The animal creation is able to take care of itself almost immediately after birth, for it inherits faculties and functions necessary for its maintenance almost fully developed; whereas the human, newborn babe possesses little more than a sense to swallow food put into its mouth. The mind is, in a sense, a blank slate to be inscribed gradually through conscious voluntary action.
The activities of the human organism are governed by two different systems of nerves, namely, the sympathetic and the motor. Heart action circulation of the blood, respiration, digestion, assimilation of food, and all other involuntary activities and functions of the human body are governed and controlled principally by the sympathetic nervous system and that system is the conveyor of vital force to the organs and cells of the body. Thoughts of fear, of sudden death or of love, will cause the heart to beat much faster, and thoughts of other kinds will send the blood rushing to organs of the body in a moment of time. “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,” both morally and physically, in more ways than one. Thinking of fear or hate will change the mother’s nurse from food that upbuilds to a poison that will kill her child. A strong man was once warned against marrying a certain woman to whom he was engaged. When informed of the reason for such advice, the shock so affected his stomach that he became violently sick and was compelled to lie down or faint.
The relationship of the mind and body is so intimate that good health depends to a great extent upon proper thinking, a proper state of mind. It has been proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that continual thinking upon sickness does create the symptoms if not the condition itself; and contrariwise, proper thinking will greatly improve the general health, if not at times even banishing what otherwise might result in severe sickness.
A prominent physician told the writer that 50 per cent of sickness was not based upon organic trouble, but upon a despondent state of mind. To cure the mind in such cases, results in a cure of the body. That explains why so many “faith cures” flourish in our land today. Even Arthur Brisbane, who comments in a column called “Today,” urges mankind to think properly and to take less drugs. Proper thinking stimulates blood circulation to all parts of the body evenly, and aids digestion and assimilation. And correct thinking will also lead us to trust in Him upon whom life depends. Such reasoning will compel us to consider, “Why not fully trust the One so wise, willing, and benevolent?”
This twofold nature justifies a twofold attitude toward our bodies; first, obedience to God; and second, obedience to the laws of nature. The individual who thinks correctly can subscribe:
“I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul”
OPINIONS OF GREAT MEN
Dr. R. C. Cabot, Harvard Medical School.
We have listed in medical science 407 different diseases and out of the 407 only six are curable by drugs.
Dr. W. J. Mayo, Mayo Brothers, Rochester, Minnesota.
There are fifty thousand surgeons operating in the United States, and only ten thousand of them are qualified to operate.
Dr. William Osler, of John Hopkins University.
Most drugs have no effect on the disease for which they are given.
Dr. W. Hutchinson.
No drugs, save quinine and mercury, will cure a disease; only rest, food, sunshine, and fresh air can do that miracle.
Elbert Hubbard, author.
And drugs and medicines that work while you sleep are a little later going to prevent your working while awake.
My father practised medicine for sixty-seven years—but he never practises on me.
Dr. E. E. Lee, of New York.
The present state of medicine is scientific insanity.
Dr. S. W. Mitchell.
Back of disease lies a cause—and that cause no drug can reach.
Dr. Richard Cabot, of Harvard.
Fifty per cent of diagnoses, are wrong.
Dr. L. F. Kebler, United States Bureau of Drugs.
Already the number of preparations devised by the chemist for the drug treatment of diseases exceeds seventy-five thousand different remedies. The array of material from which to select is so great as to constitute a perpetual riddle in medicine.
Dr. C. S. Carr, Columbus Medical Journal.
If I take medicine for my liver, it is probably doing harm to my stomach and other organs.
Dr. Charles H. Brown, medical examiner for the army.
All we hope from medicine is to hold the disease in check until we can get the patient into the right state of mind so Nature can cure the disease in her own miraculous ways.
HOW TO KEEP WELL
If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, then we should learn how to take care of our bodies. The following suggestions are authentic and reliable and if studied and put into practise, they will prove a blessing.
Hydrogen is a necessary element to maintain life and health. It is obtained from the water we drink. To carry on digestion properly for one day only, fourteen pints of digestive juices are required for each normal person. It is evident that all of those needful liquids can not be obtained from two or three glasses of water. Not a day should pass without each person drinking from two to three quarts of water—not tea, coffee, cocoa—but WATER.
Oxygen is obtained from the air we breathe, and each person should take into his lungs each day the amount of sixty barrels of air. In ordinary breathing only about 60 per cent of the lungs are used. In order to get the full quota of air—oxygen—needed each day to keep in perfect health, one should take time each morning to breathe deeply with arms raised and lowered above the head. Three minutes of such exercise before an open door or window will thoroughly change all the air in the lungs and wash and purify the blood. Reading this advice will amount to nothing unless you put it into practise.
Iron is very essential to keep in health, and the way you get that element into your blood is not through taking patent medicines, but in the food you eat and digest. Nature has a full storehouse of iron, and you will get more digestible iron into your system in eating spinach, artichoke, or a handful of raisins each day for one week, than in ten thousand dollars worth of any concocted iron medicine under the sun. Note well that iron in your blood is the element that takes the oxygen out of the air and carries it to all parts of the body. Without iron the oxygen could not move into the blood, and without blood you could not live.
Iodine is needful. Its lack causes the dreadful disease known as goiter. Iodine is obtained through eating sea foods—fish, oysters, clams, etc.
Potassium is needed to strengthen the heart. Cooking drives that element out of most foods. Heart-disease is increasing rapidly in the United States, and largely because of modern methods of preparing food—subjecting it to such great heat. To obtain potassium, uncooked food of some kind should be eaten each day. Predigested foods are mostly devitalized. The word “vitamin” is taken from a Latin word meaning life, and inasmuch as heat kills life, so cooking kills the vitamin in food. Practically all milk sold in cities today has been pasteurized—heated to that temperature in which vitamins are destroyed, hence, to make up the loss, some uncooked food should be eaten each day. A diet of raw apples, raw onions, uncooked vegetables, fruits, lettuce, raw milk with whole-wheat bread, and butter, has been known to cure heart-troubles that physicians had given up as incurable. Uncooked foods furnish potassium that builds up the heart.
It is estimated that eight hundred thousand people die annually in the United States from preventable diseases. Wise physicians are giving less medicine and urging patients to go back and obey Nature’s laws of correct eating and living.
Foods and Organs They Assist
Milk is almost a balanced ration.
Whole-wheat flour is the best material for bread.
Hot or cold water is the best drink.
Lettuce contains iron that assists stomach and nerves.
Onions build up the blood and assist the nerves.
Figs are excellent food that assists the liver.
Celery and fish are excellent brain foods.
Dates are rich in vitamin. They assist circulation.
Asparagus is good for the lungs.
Olives and olive oil are good for bowels and stomach.
Prunes are one of the most valuable foods.
Tomatoes contain vitamin lacking in pasteurized milk, and assist kidneys and liver.
Oranges, limes, and grapefruit are especially strong in vitamin and are excellent blood purifiers. Dr. Copeland (U. S. Senator) says, “Mashed potatoes, fried eggs, fried bacon, boiled cabbage, and products made from refined (white) flour are not foods, and should not be eaten.”
CONCLUSION
It can be proved beyond successful refutation that every thought and emotion has a direct effect upon the physical condition of the body, or in other words, mental and emotional vibrations become physical, and discords in the mind are translated into disease in the body, or may become so. Thus, emotions of harmony, of hope, faith, cheerfulness, happiness, love, and health create in the physical body a corresponding condition—or may do so. Right thinking causes emotions in alignment with the constructive principles of nature and opens wide doors for the inflow of healing force.
Emotions of fear, hate, worry, anger, envy, and revenge, and jealousy are destructive and affect the chemical composition of the tissues and secretions of the body. Selfishness, anger, and worry contract and congeal the blood vessels and the nerve fibers, and impede circulation and assimilation, lower vitality, and bring on disease. Health conditions must first be established in the mind. The afflicted person should form a mental picture of a person in perfect health, strong, robust, with reservoirs of natural forces overflowing, Dr. Coue was not far from truth when he taught the afflicted to repeat:
“Every day in every way
I’m getting better and better.”
For the mind to send a message to all parts of the body that a feeble, anemic, ghostly, deathly body is soon to be their heritage, would throw the little workers that build us up into a panic and thus they would be incapable of performing their wonderful building project. We must use our wills in conformity with Nature’s intent and not against her, if we would be sound in both mind and body. We positively affirm and believe that with an abiding faith in God and a, will to obey the laws of nature, the sick will be cured, the weak made strong, the lame made to walk, the leper will be cleansed, and the blind given his sight. Moderation, self-control, obedience to God and nature will, like a master-key, open the doors to a healthy body now and the gates of that heavenly country in the great beyond. But to gain them we must watch, work, trust, believe, and obey.
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