A Social Anthropologist’s Analysis of Contemporary Healing, Part 2

³⁶The possibility that these cold sensations are sometimes indicative of demonic activity is suggested by a different report of cold sensations which were felt in the context of ministry, at a church in Sheffield, to a non-Christian Japanese man belonging to a Shinto-derived religion named Tenriky.

³⁷In a footnote to my report on the Sheffield conference (Wimber and Springer, Power Healing, p.286) I mentioned that the Hebrew word for ‘glory’ (kābōd)is derived from a root with a primary meaning of ‘weight’ or ‘substance’ (BDB, pp. 457ff.) and might be related to experiences of the ‘falling phenomenon’. There might be a hint of this in 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 (and I Kgs. 8:10-11), when the priests ‘could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God’ (RSV). Compare also Ezek. 3:14-15, 22-23; Isa. 8:11; Ps. 32:4.

³⁸Some Christians are suspicious of ‘out-of-the-body’ experiences because in occult circles they are sometimes artificially induced. However, Dr. Richard Turner, a Christian psychiatrist, informs me that such experiences are also not uncommon ‘when an individual is experiencing a good deal of emotion’, and that in some ways ‘it can be seen as protective to the individual’. Biblical accounts of visions like those mentioned in Ezekiel 3:14-15, 2 Corinthians 12:3-4 or Revelation 1:10 are ambiguous about whether the person was within or outside his physical body, but Daniel 8:2 states that it occurred in a vision (which left him exhausted).

³⁹Fragance associated with Christ is referred to II Cor. 2:14, 16 (see G. Delling, TDNT, vol. 5, p. 495; cf. A. Stumpff, TDNT, vol. 2, p. 810) and fragance as a sign of the Spirit of God’s presence is attested in post-biblical Christian tradition (related to II Cor. 2:14, 16 by the well-known New Testament scholar, E. Nestle, “Der sÙsse Geruch als Erweis des Geistes,” ZNW 4 [1903]: 272; ZNW 7 [1906]: 95-96; see S. M. Burgess, The Holy Spirit: Eastern Christian Traditions [Peabody: Hendrickson, 1989], pp. 3-4.

⁴⁰Mentioned by Arbuthnot in part VI, on “How We Minister” in the video series Christian Prayer and Healing (Ashford, Kent: Anchor Recordings).

⁴¹Peter Horrobin, personal communication.

⁴²Jennifer Rees-Larcombe Unexpected Healing (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1991).

⁴³p=<0.001. (This means that the likelihood of this result being due to chance is less than one in a thousand. It is therefore highly significant, considering that a result with a one in twenty likelihood of being due to chance is normally regarded as statistically significant.)

⁴⁴p=<0.05 (and is virtually at the p=0.025 level).

⁴⁵See pages 64-65 of my book Healing: Fiction, Fantasy or Fact?, op.cit.; Gardner, Healing Miracles: A Doctor Investigates, pp. 84-85, 138-140; David Pytches Come, Holy Spirit: Learning to Minister in Power (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1985; published in North America as Spiritual Gifts in the Local Church, Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 1985), pp.232-239; C. P. Wagner, How to Have a Healing Ministry in Any Church (Ventura, CA: Regal, 1988), pp. 172-178; Mel Tari, Like a Mighty Wind (Carol Stream, IL: Creation House, 1971), pp. 66f.; Kurt Koch, The Revival in Indonesia (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregal, 1972), pp. 130ff.; Don Crawford, Miracles in Indonesia (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1972), p. 84.

⁴⁶p=<0.01.

⁴⁷Healing: Fiction, Fantasy or Fact?, op.cit., pp.37-38. When I interviewed this man, I also could see no noticeable limp. However, one of the frustrating sides to this kind of research was that he was afraid lest my pursuing the medical evidence might affect his legal claim to compensation from his former employers if they learned that he had been healed!

⁴⁸Healing: Fiction, Fantasy or Fact?, op.cit., pp.38-40.

⁴⁹For details, see, for instance, Gardner Healing Miracles: A Doctor Investigates, op.cit., 137-141, 175-184; Pytches Come, Holy Spirit: Learning to Minister in Power, pp.232-239; Lewis Healing: Fiction, Fantasy or Fact?, op.cit., pp.331-332; C. P. Wagner, How to Have a Healing Ministry in Any Church (Ventura, CA: Regal, 1988), pp. 172-178; Mel Tari, Like a Mighty Wind (Carol Stream, IL: Creation House, 1971), pp. 66f.; Kurt Koch, The Revival in Indonesia (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregal, 1972), pp. 130ff.; Don Crawford, Miracles in Indonesia (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1972), p. 84.

⁵⁰An example is given on page 248 of my appendix to Wimber’s Power Healing. Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the NIV®.

This chapter is from Gary S. Greig and Kevin N. Springer, eds., The Kingdom and the Power: Are Healing and the Spiritual Gifts Used by Jesus and the Early Church Meant for the Church Today? A Biblical Look at How to Bring the Gospel to the World with Power (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1993). Used with permission.

Tags: analysis, anthropologists, contemporary, healing, part, social

Category: In Depth, Winter 2009