The Scriptural method is given to us in James 5:14, 1514Is 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: 15And 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. (James 5:14‑15), "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." But this method will not suit lovers of the spectacular. It will not draw the crowds. It will not bring in the money.
What do we find today? Pentecostal healing meetings are conducted pretty much as follows. The service is begun by the singing of catchy, lilting, jazz-like choruses accompanied by piano, violins, guitars, as the case may be. In the case of Principal Jeffreys' Easter meetings in the Royal Albert Hall, London, there was a choir of nearly 2,000 voices. Is this like the methods employed by the early disciples, who HAD the Pentecostal gifts without a doubt?
The singing goes on, the catchy choruses are repeated again and again, till the audience is excited and emotional. Such methods go down with the crowds. Mass-suggestion is a well-known psychological method of working.
No wonder the crowds flock. The entertainment is equal to the music hall and cinema without having to pay for the seats. The following extract is culled from a volume, written by a Foursquare Gospeler, and is supposed to be a point in their favor: " An experienced, well-traveled man, who is also a full graduate in arts, and has been a stage manager, came to one of the services, and was so deeply impressed that he said, ' Only from the entertainment point of view it is the best show in London. It is the real article. So, instead of going the usual round, I went twice to the Surrey Tabernacle [where Pastor Jeffreys was conducting the services] and gave to the collection what I intended to pay for enjoyment and recreation elsewhere. And it was worth it.' " (Miracles of To-day, p. 8).
Is this like sending for the elders of the church to the home of the sick person, and quiet, fervent prayer, the prayer of faith being offered up?
It is just this spectacle of healing that constitutes a great draw to the services.
What an absolute contrast to the real methods of the Holy Spirit. One is ashamed to think of the prostitution of spiritual things as indicated by the above extract. Surely to print that as a commendation is to glory in their shame.
But even then we find things different from the way the Lord healed, which these Pentecostalists profess to repeat. He healed them ALL. He did not ask who were believers and who were not. Yet in Miracles of Today we read, " Pastor [Stephen] Jeffreys proclaims with no uncertain voice: ' If there are any of you coming for Divine Healing, who have not given your lives to Christ, my strong advice is, Go to the best doctor you can find, explain your case and accept his treatment. God bless him, and may he do you good: but don't come here till you are converted " (p. 50).
And though they say healing of the body is in the atonement, here we are told that sinners must not come for it. If it is in the atonement, what an insult to the Lord to tell sinners to go to the doctor. If the doctor cures his unconverted patients he gives them, according to Pentecostalists, what is in the atonement, though they may remain unconverted. Healing without forgiveness, and yet they say both are in the atonement.
The Lord healed them ALL. He turned none back. What a contrast to the Divine methods these present-day healers adopt.
Then when the sick and crippled are before them what is the method of healing?
In " George Jeffreys, a Minister of the Miraculous," the author of the book has given a press account of some meetings held by Principal Jeffreys, as to the way the healing service was conducted. The account says, " The Pastor prays with each sufferer, and lays his hand on their head, and usually the person prayed for seems to stiffen out and fall prostrate, lying on the ground in a state of semi-consciousness " (p. 180). This is given without any challenging of the description, so we may take it as correct. Another unchallenged press account says:- " After repeated singing of Revivalist hymns, Pastor George Jeffreys began healing the sick. A woman of 35 years of age came before the Pastor. He put his thumb on her ears, and his fingers at the back of her head, and held them there, once shouting ' hallelujah.' A. few seconds went and then the woman fell back stiffly, showing every sign of losing consciousness. A minute passed, and there rang through the hall three screams. She had been cured of deafness, and the noise which she had heard, although almost nothing in volume, was enough to cause her acute pain." (pp. 584, 585).
An eye-witness writes of Pastor George Jeffreys' mission at Bournemouth:- " I have seen much of the movement connected with the so-called Foursquare Gospel, and the more I see the more am I convinced it is ' another gospel: which is not another.' There may be some show of healing, but it is not the ' power of God,' and does not last. Personally I have not been able to trace one authentic case of healing, and firmly believe the entire movement is of Satan. When down at Bournemouth I saw hundreds go under the power,' but not one suffering from malignant disease was healed. I believe the power is hypnotism, magnetism or mesmerism. It is a lamentable failure, if claimed to be the power of God."
One experienced Christian worker, who attended Pastor Stephen Jeffreys' meetings in the Colston Hall, Bristol, told the writer that he was convinced that the power was hypnotism. Another eye-witness said that the Pastor would take the head of the sufferer in his hands, jerk the head this way and that way for a moment or two, and then the person would fall stiffly to the floor, more or less unconscious. The testimony printed by themselves as to Principal George Jeffreys' methods points the same way.
Does not this testimony point to hypnotism? The Scriptures instruct the elders to anoint the sufferer with oil, and pray, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and he shall be raised up. Nowhere in any description of healing in the Scriptures is there any manipulation of the back of the head by the healer. It is a well-known fact that manipulating the back of the head is one of the ways that hypnotists practice to bring about the cataleptic state.
When Peter cured the lame man sitting in the Gate Beautiful of the Temple by the power of the name of Jesus Christ, we read that he took him by the hand and lifted him up, and that the cripple immediately leaped up and walked, praising God. There was no handling the back of the head, and falling to the ground in an unconscious state.
The Lord told the palsied man at the Pool of Bethesda to rise, take up his bed and walk, and the man immediately did so. He was not manipulated at the back of the head, and struck down in a cataleptic condition.