Epaphroditus - PH62-01

Advanced Bible Doctrine - Philippians 2:25-30

The charismatic movement, of course, has gained great credibility for its claims to healing by the commendation of influential non-charismatic leaders. This commendation may be no more than simply appearing on a television program with the charismatic leaders, and thereby lending personal acceptance to what they are doing. Your personal prestige and your personal influence with the Christian community is now imposed upon the charismatic leader.

Hal Lindsey certainly has notably done this. Hal Lindsey seems to have a personal sympathy and a personal affinity for the charismatic movement, and has given it great dignity by his associating with it. One of the reasons Mr. Lindsey does this, as he declares in his book on Satan, is that he believes that what the charismatics are doing today, in the way of tongues and healing, is real. In other words, he believes that miracles are operating today in that instantaneous New Testament fashion. On page 136 of his book on Satan, Lindsey says, "I had previously believed that all of the sign gifts (such as healing, miracles, tongues, and prophecies) ceased as bonafide gifts of the spirit about the end of the first century just after the New Testament was completed." Then he goes on a little later and says that he believes that what is taking place today is a resurgence of the gift of tongues. You notice Mr. Lindsey even said he believes prophecies are operational today.

A prophet can only be identified in one way, and that is that he tells something in the future (far enough in the future), and it is fulfilled. Then, you know that someone has the gift of prophecy. These idiots who stand up today in church services and say, "I am now going to bring a prophecy," and they repeat something that sounds like it came out of the King James Bible, are claiming the gift of prophecy, but they have not been proven to be prophets. They're falling back on that old hack that, "Well, a prophet also expresses the message of God," which he did. We've got it all recorded here in the New Testament now. That's why there are no more prophets in our world. Unless you can predict the future, you're not a prophet. Prophecy is telling what is coming to pass that no man could know without the information from God. Yet, Mr. Lindsey says, I think prophecy is going on today. I'd like to ask him, "Where's the information coming from God concerning the future?" We ought to write that down because that would be very important. That's like Scripture.

The point is, he does believe that miracles, such as tongues, are actually in operation again today, and the miracle of healing is actually in operation today. So if you would speak to Mr. Lindsey and say, "What has happened when you attended meetings of Kathryn Kuhlman," with whom he has had considerable association? He would say to you, "I've seen people healed. I've seen healings take place in Kathryn Kuhlman's meetings.

Billy Graham, of course, has done the same thing in publicly commending Oral Roberts. On a Johnny Carson program, Oral Roberts commented how Billy Graham had said to him that God has given to Oral Roberts a great gift of prayer for the healing of people. Of course, there's no such thing as a gift of praying for healing of people. Every Christian can pray for the healing of people. That's not one of the spiritual gifts. In a book that I read by Oral Roberts, he pointed out that Billy Graham had said to him on another occasion, "Oral, I had an aunt who was healed in one of your meetings."

This sort of thing then lends credence to the claims of charismatics. After all, the average Joe church member listens to men like Lindsey and Graham and says, "There must be something to what Kuhlman and Roberts are claiming, and what the whole charismatic movement claims." So is it any wonder that the public in general is confused on miracle healing.

You may say, "Well, I think that what you need to do is just look to the Lord and be sincere in these matters, and He will guide you." However, God is not going to tell you that you can do something that he has already condemned in his Word. Suppose that you have a great deal of trouble with your mother-in-law. You say, "Father, could I put a bullet right between her eyes, Lord God? It would bring such peace into my life. Lord, what would your will be in this matter?" Obviously, God has already talked to you about murder. So don't be a fool and go say, "I'm going to pray about whether I can do somebody in. The Bible is God's final voice. If you do not learn that God will not show you and will not tell you anything beyond the Word of God itself, you are going to find yourself in a great deal of difficulty.

God has told us about the purpose of the gifts of the New Testament which were temporary–their authenticating purpose, and their phasing out time. He has already done that in his Word. Now, this is certainly confirmed for us in Luke 16–this principle that God does not go confirming beyond his Word. There is the rich man who found himself suffering in Hades after he died. He has found Lazarus in Abraham's bosom in paradise, enjoying the blessings of God, while he was suffering the torments of Hades. Here is the principle very clearly stated. God does not re-authenticate His Word by miracles or by experiences. Once the Word of God is written, you believe it, or else. It is an act of faith. You accept it or you reject it.

Mr. Lindsey has come to the conclusion (as you will also read in his book) that the reason he believes tongues are operational today in their gibberish form is because God is proving to people that the Bible is true, and that the Bible is His book. He is Authenticating His Word. Yet when this poor rich man said, "In God's name, I've got five brothers. They're living it up, and they're all younger than myself. I don't want to see them here in hell with me. Send somebody back and let them know." The only answer they got was not an experience, and not a re-authentication of the Word of God: "God has spoken, and if they don't believe Moses and the prophets, then they have no other recourse–no information beyond that."

Well, naturally, all of this would lead us to say, well, then, can't we just settle this once and for all? What's all the furor? If somebody comes up to me and says, "I have now healed you of your disease. I have taken that cancer which has grown around your liver, and I have removed it." Then all I have to do is go to my doctor and say, "Has the cancer around my liver been removed or not? Tell me." Then I will know that I have indeed been healed, and that the claims of Kathryn Kuhlman to have healed me of my cancer indeed are true.

William Nolen

This man, as I said, is just a doctor. He is a neutral man. He's a Roman Catholic. He is neither for nor against the charismatic movement. However, he does have some very impressive credentials as a medical man. On the flyleaf of his book entitled Healing: A Doctor in Search of a Miracle, it says that, "He was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and graduated from the College of the Holy Cross and Tufts Medical School. His five-year surgical internship at Bellevue was the basis for his first book, The Making of a Surgeon. After completing his surgical training, he settled in Litchfield, Minnesota, where he is currently in practice at the Litchfield Clinic. Dr. Nolen is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and is chief of surgery at the Meeker County Hospital. He was formerly an attending surgeon at the Hennepin General Hospital in Minneapolis, a teaching hospital associated with the University of Minnesota. He is on the board of editors of the Minnesota State Medical Journal. His articles have appeared in both medical journals and leading American magazines. His column, 'A Doctor's World' appears monthly in McCall's magazine. Dr. Nolen and his wife Joan have three sons and three daughters."

This man is an authority in the field of medicine. He is not just some orderly who's carrying samples up and down the corridors to the lab to be analyzed. He knows what's going on. He's been in the game; he's qualified to know a case of illness when he sees it; he knows a terminal case when he sees it; he knows when it's going well; when it's going badly; when it's been reversed; and, when it hasn't been.

So we've got a doctor on our hands who is not an antagonist to the charismatic movement. This man can be trusted. He's got no ax to grind. This analysis, I think, is of monumental importance, both for the charismatics and for those of us who are non-charismatics. This man has done the Christian world a tremendous service. This book is what we have been looking for for a long time. I'll tell you why it's such a great service.

There are three classes of people who will be benefited by Dr. Nolen's survey. First of all, those of us who believe that the spiritual gift of healing is no longer in operation have been done a very great service by him. We are declaring that the charismatic healers cannot perform organic healings as they claim they're doing. They cannot deal with the cancers; the broken bones; the cavities in your teeth; or, your blinded eyes. They just can't do it. It is important for us to have medical confirmation of our position. What Dr. Nolen has done is exactly this. We are condemning what a vast number of people in Christendom are claiming to be the case.

Then he has done a great service to those who believe that the spiritual gift of healing is operating today through people like Kathryn Kuhlman and Oral Roberts. I have discovered, in speaking with charismatics and in reading, that the charismatics are plagued with a certain inner doubt. A certain inner doubt gnaws at the charismatics. After the emotion of the meeting is over, they're lying in bed at night in the quiet of the night; they're not able to fall asleep; and, they start thinking. Again and again into the charismatic mind creeps a doubt: "Am I kidding myself? Is this for real? Did this thing really take place or am I trying to psych myself?" How much better wouldn't it be for them to have the confirmation of an unbiased, neutral medical man like Dr. Nolen concerning the healing claims? Wouldn't it be a source of great internal emotional relief just to have a medical man come up and say, "You know what? You people have really got it. You are doing exactly what you say you're doing." So if Dr. Nolen came to the conclusion that Kathryn Kuhlman's healings are real, then he has done the charismatics a tremendous service.

There is a third group who would be served–those who do not have convictions for or against the charismatic movement and their claims, but are trying to decide. This is the vast body of ordinary Christians in the various denominations. They include both believers and unbelievers, especially those with organic illnesses who are at the end of their ropes, and they're looking for somebody. They're looking for something. These people are bombarded with spectacular reports of healings, and with the testimonies of those who claim to have been healed. So they're wondering, "What's it all about? I don't know. I don't know one way or another. Is this, or isn't this? I haven't come to a position." Dr. Nolen's survey will give this group the answer concerning the claims that the charismatics make–answers which they should, but can't, get from their own pastors.

So this study is of monumental importance. The New Testament healings were instantaneous, complete, verifiable organic disorders, including people being raised from the dead. So if the charismatics are exercising the New Testament gift of healing, then their healing should be instantaneous; they should be complete; they should be permanent; they should include raising people from the dead; and, they certainly should be verifiable by whomsoever would choose to examine it.

So here's what Dr. Nolen did. I want to read to you the introduction from an article in McCall's magazine of September, 1974, which he wrote before he wrote his book. It's called "In Search of a Miracle." It is his explanation as to why he got into this. I think that's important. He says:

"Anyone who works with sick people, as I do, knows that there are many unpredictable ill-defined factors that affect the healing process–the will to live, for example. A patient who gives up; refuses to eat or get out of bed, or, refuses to take medicines will, in all probability, die in spite of the doctor's efforts. The will to live isn't anything that can be weighed or measured, but it certainly exists. Ask any doctor. Faith too plays a role in healing. Deliver me from any patient who doesn't have faith in my ability to help. I may be able to treat such a patient successfully, but it will be a much more difficult chore.

"A couple of years ago I began to wonder how great a role faith plays in the healing process. Is faith in someone or something enough, by itself, to affect a cure? There are hundreds of thousands of patients who claim that faith alone has cured them–often after doctors have failed to do so. Sometimes it is faith in a healer, but often it is faith in God. Almost invariably, physicians have discounted these reports without ever bothering to investigate them.

"I decided to take a closer look at the healing that was reportedly being done outside of the traditional Western School of Medicine. I knew that since I had been trained in a traditional medical school, it might be difficult for me to recognize that there could be other methods of healing as effective as those with which I was acquainted–possibly even more so.

"But because of my Roman Catholic background, I was already convinced that faith played some role in healing, and so I was certain I could approach the subject with an open mind. Since Kathryn Kuhlman is certainly the best known, and probably the most highly regarded, of the Christian faith healers, I decided that my investigation should begin with her. Kathryn Kuhlman is an ordained minister. She has been healing since 1946. In an average year, she holds 125 healing services, and treats approximately one-and-a-half million patients. Her services are held in the largest auditoriums in the biggest cities in the United States. At each service, hundreds of sick people claim to have been cured. Miss Kuhlman has written three books. She herself has been the subject of magazine articles and books in addition to a radio program. She has a widely known syndicated television show."

That is the background of what led him to this investigation. Very wisely, he began at the top with Kathryn Kuhlman. Here is what he discovered. I'm reading from his book beginning on page 46. He has joined the usher core at a Kathryn Kuhlman meeting. He has been briefed on what to do in handling the sick people as they come forward in the meeting for various reasons:

"Every usher was allowed to bring one guest to the miracle service. I decided to invite George Dougherty. George, a Boston Irishman who immigrated to the Midwest in 1950, is a good friend of mine. Four years ago, when he was 50 years old, George had a heart attack–a bad one. He was in the intensive care unit at the hospital for three weeks, and in a regular hospital room for another month. When he went home, Dr. Mitchell Murphy, an internist who was working with our Litchfield Clinic Group at the time, said, "George, you take it easy for another month. Then we'll see about letting you go back to work on a part-time basis."

"Two years later, early in 1972, George had another heart attack. The first one had been bad. This was far worse. Twice during the first week, his heart stopped, and he had to have electric shock to get it restarted. It seemed to all of us who had anything to do with the case that the odds on George's surviving were 10-to-1 against. He made it. Ten weeks after his heart attack, Michael sent him home, again with instructions to take life very slowly.

"Since his doctors had given up on him six months earlier, I decided that George could really use Kathryn Kuhlman's help. As you'd probably guess from his name, George is a Catholic and not a believer in Kathryn Kuhlman. When I explained what the service would be like, and asked George to come with me, he said, 'I'd love to go. It ought to be interesting, but I sure as heck don't believe she's going to make me any better.' 'No problem,' I said. 'Kathryn Kuhlman says in her book, I Believe in Miracles, that faith in her doesn't seem to matter. Skeptics come to her miracle services and go home cured. Believers come and she doesn't help them. There is no way she can predict who will be helped. So you're as much of a candidate for a cure as anyone else.'

"On Saturday, George came over to the clinic, and we ran an electrocardiogram as a control. It showed all the changes one expects to see in an EKG of a patient who has had two severe heart attacks. Sunday morning, George and I drove to Minneapolis, arriving shortly before 11:00. Even at that time, two hours before the service was scheduled to begin, there were long lines outside every entrance. At the wheelchair entrance through which we entered, I'd estimate that there were at least 100 people waiting.

"George found a seat in the section near the stage–the section reserved for the clergy and guests of the ushers. I was surprised to see among the former several nuns and two priests. Ecumenism is indeed a reality."

I thought that was a perceptive remark on the part of the doctor. He didn't understand what he had said, but, of course, the charismatic movement is the sealer (the binding force) of the ecumenical movement today, and will be in the tribulation period. Continuing:

"I went off to meet my fellow ushers. Wally Hansen, our leader, quickly divided us into three groups. One group was to bring the wheelchair patients and their attendants, if any, to the elevator. There was a second group to which I was assigned, whose job was to guide the wheelchairs from the elevator to the auditorium entrance. There was a third group which would finally arrange the wheelchairs in their reserved section of the auditorium. It was also the job of those in the third group to tie matching identifying tags to the wheelchair and on the patient who was sitting in it.

"I have seen some sad sights in my life, but few that could match the one that greeted me when the doors opened, and our first charges arrived. The freight elevator they were on was jammed with about 30 wheelchair patients and their attendants. Some of the afflicted were elderly men and women, drooling from a corner of their mouth. There was an arm lying loosely and uselessly on a paralyzed leg. These were the stroke victims, and they were numerous.

"Others were children: six; eight; or, ten years of age, crippled by birth defects. The head of one little boy was nearly as large as his body, and it rolled from side to side, his neck too weak to support its weight. He obviously had hydrocephalus–water on the brain with severe mental retardation. Another child, a girl about 15, kept flapping her arms in uncontrollable jerks. I hadn't seen a case in years, but it looked to me like Sydenham's chorea, a disease that causes loss of muscle control, and possible idiocy. A third child, a boy about 8, seemed to be intelligent and aware, but there was a bag containing urine in his lap, connected to a catheter in his bladder. His legs were withered and paralyzed. I guess he probably had meningocele, which is a defect of the spinal cord that had left him paralyzed below the waist.

"There were men and women of middle age as well. Some had the pale, wasted appearance that a doctor learns, through experience, is often associated with widespread cancer. Others had paralysis or disfiguring defects–withered arms or legs that could have been either congenital or the result of injury. Every patient I saw, except, of course, those who were retarded, had the desperate look of those who have all but given up, who are nearly but not quite resigned to their fate.

"I offered to help a man of about 40 whose son sat, eyes vacant, collapsed in his wheelchair. 'Let me push this for you,' I said, I'll take you to the wheelchair entrance.'

"'Thanks," he said wearily. "I'm kind of tired.'

"As we started down the corridor, I asked, "Do you mind telling me what's wrong with your son?'

"'Not at all, he said. 'Jimmy had measles when he was seven. It affected his brain. Before that, he was a strong, bright kid. Now he can't do anything for himself. He can't even talk. Doctors tell us there's nothing they can do–that we ought to put him in an institution. But me and the wife just can't do it. We keep remembering him as he was, even though that was 8 years ago. A friend of ours told us about Kathryn Kuhlman. Our friend had arthritis in her knees, and she claims Kathryn Kuhlman cured her. So when we heard Miss Kuhlman was going to be in Minneapolis, we decided to drive up here from Des Moines. It's a 450-mile drive, and it took us most of the night. My wife is exhausted. She's with some friends of ours, now sleeping. But I came right over, so I'd be sure to get Jimmy in. Kathryn Kuhlman, I guess, is our last hope."

Now, leapfrogging the book, one of the things that Dr. Nolen concluded (one of the things he observed) is that he was appalled at the heartlessness and the cruelty that is involved in what Kathryn Kuhlman and the charismatic healers are doing. He wondered whether they realized the depth of the cruelty that they were engaged in on dashing hopes of people that they had no right to raise their hopes for. Continuing:

"By now, we had reached the entrance to the hall. So I turned the wheelchair over to one of the other ushers; wished the father well; and, went back to the elevator. I felt like crying. In the next crowd that got off the elevator was one man in his middle 60s who didn't have a wheelchair. Somehow, he had gotten lost downstairs, and had wandered onto the freight elevator by mistake. As he walked off the elevator, I could see him wincing with pain. He limped badly, so I offered to help him to the auditorium. 'I'd appreciate that,' he said. 'My back and hips hurt like the devil. I've got cancer of the kidney. I had it operated on two years ago, and I've been taking pills ever since. Now the doctors tell me it's in my spine and in my hip bones. They give me pain medicine to take, but it doesn't do me much good. I'm hoping Kathryn Kuhlman will cure me.'

"As he shuffled along, I asked him, 'Did you tell your doctor you were coming here?'

"'I mentioned it to him. He said that was my business. He didn't recommend her. He didn't knock her either. He said it was entirely up to me.'

"During the course of the afternoon, I asked this question of many patients. Their answers were essentially the same. None of their doctors had advised them to go to the service. None made any attempt to dissuade them from attending. Apparently, even if the doctors weren't believers, they weren't anti-Kathryn Kuhlman either. Before I left this man with his kidney cancer, I found a wheelchair for him so he wouldn't have to walk back to the elevator when the service ended.

"The first aid station, a small room containing a cot, a few Band-Aids, and several stretchers was adjacent to the wheelchair entrance to the auditorium. I was the only M.D. in the usher group. I was probably the only M.D. in the auditorium. Though Mr. Rice had assured me that no one ever became ill at Kathryn Kuhlman's services, I was called to see my first patient before the service had even begun. It wasn't a serious problem. An elderly woman had fainted, probably a result of the heat. But she didn't come around as quickly as I would have liked. When I checked her blood pressure, and found it 80 / 60 (average is 120 / 80), I decided she'd better go to the hospital. Someone called an ambulance and she departed."

Now, that would have been humiliating to the apostle Paul, to say the least. I certainly hope they had the good taste to sneak the ambulance quietly without the siren in and out. Continuing:

"Soon after, again before the service began, I had to go out into the auditorium to see a very heavy black woman whom I had noticed when she came in because she was wearing a hockey helmet–a rather unusual sight, I expect you'll admit. This woman had fallen and now complained of pain in the knee. I examined the knee, and could only say that it might be either a fracture of the patella (the kneecap), or a bruise. We'd need an X-ray to be certain. I asked her, "Would you like me to call an ambulance?

"'Not if I have to go,' she said. Can I wait till the service is over and see how it feels?'

"'Sure,' I told her. If it's broken, you may need a cast or an operation, but a four-hour delay won't affect the treatment. If you're not having too much pain, you can stay.'

"'The pain is not bad,' she said. 'I'm used to falling. That's why I wear this hockey helmet. I've got epilepsy, and I take a lot of medicine to control it. You can see how sleepy I am, but I still have a lot of seizures. Sometimes I fall from the seizures, and sometimes just from the medicine. I'm tired of it, and I want to see if Kathryn Kuhlman can help me.'

"The third patient I had to go and see was a young black man who was sitting slumped down in his wheelchair. I asked him, 'What's the matter?'

"'Just weak,' he said. 'I'm not used to sitting very long. Do you think I should lie down?'

"'Sure,' I said. 'I'll get a stretcher.' With a couple of the other ushers, I loaded him onto a stretcher, and by shifting a few wheelchairs around, we were able to find a space for him on the auditorium floor.

"'Thank you,' he said. 'That's much better.'

I asked, "What's your problem?"

"'I've got cancer of the liver,' he told me. 'My belly keeps swelling up.' I put a hand on his abdomen, and easily confirmed the diagnosis. He was as swollen as a woman in the ninth month of pregnancy. In the upper half of his abdomen, I could feel stony, hard lumps–deposits of cancer in his liver. He was obviously in the terminal stages of his disease. 'You take it easy now,' I told him. If you decide you want to leave, just let us know.'

"'I don't want to leave,' he said. 'Not if I can help it. I want to be cured.'

"As I was walking away, a young girl who'd been standing nearby came to me. She said, 'Sir, are you a doctor?'

"'Yes, I am,' I told her.

"She said, 'I'm Mrs. Whalen. That's my husband you just saw,' she said. 'I had been married a year. Six months ago, Richard got sick, and like he told you, the doctors say he's got cancer in his liver. They keep sticking needles into him to take away the fluid, and they give him medicines to take that make him vomit and feel awful sick. He don't know it, but they told me that he can't live very long. They can't cure him. What do you think?'

"I answered, 'It's hard to say without knowing what the doctor's tests showed, but I'll have to agree it doesn't look very good. He's an awfully sick boy.'

"She said, 'But he's only 21, doctor.' She was almost in tears. 'How can that be? Isn't cancer something that kills old people?'

"I said, "Not always, I'm afraid. It can strike anyone. Sometimes we can operate and remove it. Sometimes we can cure cancer with medicine. But when it starts in the liver, there's usually nothing we can do. I'm afraid that's the kind your husband has.'

"'Oh, God,' she said. 'I hope Kathryn Kuhlman can help us.'

"At 12:00 o'clock, the choir volunteers from the churches all over the Minneapolis area began to sing. To my untrained ear, it sounded fine. There was lots of melody sung with feeling. The singing kept everyone entertained until Kathryn Kuhlman appeared on stage, which she did at 1:00 o'clock. She wore a flowing white robe, and came out waving her hands and smiling. Kathryn Kuhlman is about 5 feet, 8 inches tall; thin; with brown hair. She's not particularly beautiful, but she has that indefinable quality known as presence. When Kathryn Kuhlman appeared on stage, every eye in the auditorium was quickly on her. It was apparent from the very beginning that she is a superb actress. I'm not saying this disparagingly. Anyone who gets things done, and I include physicians, has to be an actor. Some of us are better actors than others. Kathryn Kuhlman is an expert.

"'It's so beautiful to see you all here,' she said. 'I just know the Holy Spirit is going to work miracles. Wouldn't it be wonderful if every single one of you were healed today?' Everyone applauded wildly. Then Kathryn Kuhlman played a little trick on the audience. 'This is a huge auditorium,' she said. 'I know that some of you way up high may not be able to hear me. If you can't, tell me. "Will you shout amen? There was a chorus of amens from the balcony, followed (as soon as everybody realized what they'd done) by generalized laughter, which Miss Kuhlman joined in.

"'Now,' she said, 'let's try it once more. Those of you who can't hear me, shout amen.' This time there was absolute silence. 'That,' said Kathryn Kuhlman, 'is what I call a large scale miracle.' There were gales of laughter again. It was sort of cute.

"So the meeting went. Dino, dressed in tails, played the piano. Jimmy McDonald, also in tails, sang hymns in a strong full baritone. Both, as far as I could tell, were capable performers. Catherine gave them both rousing introductions, and informed the audience that their albums were available for sale in the corridors of the auditorium.

"Between their performances, Kathryn talked to us all. She didn't preach. She talked. She told us how wonderful the Lord is, and how grateful she is for the works the Holy Spirit performs. And often she commented on the burden she feels in being His instrument. 'The responsibility, the responsibility,' she cried. 'You see me up here and you think, how glamorous. But it isn't. I cry for those that don't get out of their wheelchairs. For those who won't be cured today, I ask, am I at fault? Oh, the burden of it all? Sometimes it seems like more than I can bear.' At this point, she buried her face in her hands, sobbing momentarily, while we all sat there, almost embarrassed to be watching her.

"But then she recovered. 'Is it worth it? Oh, Lord, yes, it is. It's worth the price when you see one cancer healed; one child made better; or, one woman get out of a wheelchair. These moments more than repay me for the anguish of the awesome responsibility I feel.'

"It's hopeless for me to try to convey in words the charisma of the woman. You have to be there to see her stride across the stage; watch her gesture; see her pose with arms outstretched; listen to the emotion in her voice as she cries and prays; watch her face light up in rapture; and, above all, see her smile. You have to be there to fully understand how she captures and holds her audience. Like all great evangelists, Kathryn Kuhlman is first and foremost a wonderful performer.

"This happened to be one of those days when she did not forget the offertory. After the piano playing; the singing; and, some praying, she said, 'Now we're going to take up the offertory–the money we need so we can come to you people and help the sick and needy everywhere. I want 20 people out there to write one check for $100. I want 50 people to write checks for $50. I want 100 to write checks for $25. We need that money. But if you can't give $100, or $50, or $25, we're not going to forget you. Just give whatever you can. I'm not going to ask for a show of hands. I'm just going to pray.'

"At that point, the ushers hustled the waste baskets into the crowd; the crowd broke into the offertory hymn; and, Kathryn Kuhlman prayed. The offertory hymn took about ten minutes. When it was over, and the baskets were being passed to members of the choir, Kathryn Kuhlman gave her sermon. She talked mostly of the wonders of the Lord and the Holy Spirit. Nothing was really different from the sort of conversation she'd been carrying on all through the meeting, though she began to talk more about healing. 'I don't heal anyone,' she said more than once. 'I'm a nobody. I have no power. But the Holy Spirit heals. I'm only His instrument.'

"Suddenly she paused. Eyes shut. One leg thrust forward. It was a tense dramatic moment, and the audience was silent. 'The Holy Spirit is healing someone right now,' she said. 'It's a woman–a woman down here on the ground floor, about halfway back. She had a cancer–a cancer of the lungs. And now, ... and now, she is being healed. You know who you are. You can feel the Holy Spirit working in you. Stand up and come forward, and claim your healing.'

"When no one came forward immediately, Kathryn suddenly pivoted and pointed toward the balcony. 'There's another healing. Oh, praise the Lord. There's another healing. There's a man in the balcony who has bursitis in his shoulder. He's had it for some time now. Now it's gone. He can wave his arms. Stand up and wave your arms. You've been healed.'

"There was a note of frenzy in her voice, and up jumped a man waving his arms. The audience gasped. Then magically, healings began to take place all over the auditorium. 'Don't come to the stage unless you've been healed,' Kathryn said. 'But if you've been healed, come up and give praise to the Holy Spirit.'

"'There's a woman with a bronchial condition in the chorus. That bronchial condition is now gone. There's a man down front with a heart condition. I rebuke that heart condition. There's a child with diabetes. The sugar is gone from his body. There's a young girl with a skin rash over here on the left side of the auditorium. In three days, that rash will be gone. There is someone in the audience who has a tumor. The tumor is in the lower half of the body. They are supposed to have an operation in a week. Now the tumor is gone. They'll never need that operation. Praise the Holy Spirit.'

"Kathryn has an assistant and a companion, a woman named Margaret, about whom I could find out nothing. 'Nobody knows anything about her,' one usher told me, 'except that she's very devoted to Kathryn.' Maggie appears to be in her late 50s. Apparently, one of Maggie's jobs is to start the cured patients flowing to the stage. At least she was the one who got them going on the Sunday I was there. First, she spotted a woman who had looked around bewildered when Kathryn mentioned lung cancer. Maggie went over to her and spoke for a few seconds; she finally got up; and, with Maggie holding her by the elbow, walked toward the stage.

"Next, a man cured of bursitis was found, again by Maggie, and started on his way. A few seconds later, the cured heart condition was making his way to the front. Once the first few started forward, dozens of others quickly followed. Soon there were lines of people on both sides of the auditorium waiting to get up on the stage and tell Kathryn Kuhlman their stories and give praise to the Lord. When they reached the stage, the patients were guided by Dino or Jimmy or another of Kathryn's assistants. One at a time they were led to Kathryn.

"'You,' Kathryn said to a woman who was claiming a cure, 'what did you have?'

"'Lung cancer,' the woman answered.

"'Oh, good lord, we thank you,' Kathryn said, looking toward the ceiling. 'Now,' she said to the woman, 'Take a deep breath.' The woman did. 'Did that hurt?'

"'No, it didn't' the woman said.

"'You can see her,' Kathryn shouted into the microphones. 'Lung cancer, and now she can breathe without pain. The Holy Spirit is surely working here today.' Then she put her hands on either side of the woman's face. After Dino had positioned himself behind the woman, she collapsed. The power of the Holy Spirit had knocked her right over."

Because you are not as well acquainted with charismatic circles as I am, you may not understand what this is. This is known as being slain of the spirit. In charismatic meetings, if you don't need healing, you do come forward to be slain in the spirit. This is true of both men and women, but particularly women. That's why someone in the charismatic meeting is always assigned with these small little aprons. They're like little towels. The woman is first psyched and prepared for this moment, and told to repeats several times, "Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord."

The healer says, "Thank God. Are you ready? I believe the Spirit of God is now going to strike within you." And he says, "And now, in Jesus name," and he will strike her on her forehead. That snap comes, it's just shocking, and the woman falls over. The base of the neck releases control; the solar plexus down in the stomach takes over; and, she faints–usually in convulsions, and the mouth perhaps babbling. The point of the little cloths is to cover up the legs for modesty sake. It is then nothing to see a whole big room like this with women and men lying all over the floor in various stages of loss of control of their physical bodies in a so-called ecstasy of praising God.

Well, the thing about it is that when you come out of this, you feel great. That kind of an emotional release has a physically, exhilarating, emotionally, relaxing quality to it. That's why it is viewed as being a happy experience. So what Kathryn Kuhlman did was put the icing on the cake after the women claimed healing. And, as you know, anybody with lung cancer can breathe deeply, and it does not always hurt. So that didn't prove anything. However, she had the crowd so psyched, and she put the icing on the cake with this woman who sincerely believed that she'd been healed, by giving her the blow, being slain in the spirit. Continuing:

"Every few minutes. Miss Kuhlman would pause between cures; turn, as if she had heard a voice; and, point out into the audience. 'Back there,' she said, on one occasion, 'way back on the right, there's a man with cancer in his hip. You're cured. Your pain is gone. Come down and claim your cure.' Someone back in the hall struggled to his feet, and slowly worked his way down the aisle as the crowds applauded. Behind him came one of the ushers carrying his wheelchair. When the man got closer to the stage, I could see that it was the fellow I had talked to earlier–the man with cancer of the kidney. When he was up on the stage, with his wheelchair behind him, Kathryn Kuhlman said, 'Is that your wheelchair?'

"'Yes, it is,' said the man, bewildered.

"'And now you're walking. Isn't that wonderful? Praise the Lord.' Turning to the audience, Kathryn asked, 'What do you think of that?' Enthusiastic applause. 'You've had cancer in the hip, and now your pain is gone.' She asked, 'Is that right?'

"'Yes,' he answered.

"'Bend over so everyone can see.' He bent over. 'Walk around.' He walked around. She sighed, 'Isn't the Holy Spirit wonderful?' And Dino helped the man off the stage. 15 or 20 times scenes like this were repeated. Patients in wheelchairs were delivered to the stage. Patients were put through running, bending, or breathing paces, depending on the nature of the cure. Applause after each performance. Patient and wheelchair returned to the aisle: asthmatics; arthritics; and, multiple sclerosis patients all ran through their new tricks."

Then one of the most amazing now comes up. We're going to pause here, and continue in the next session. I think you see enough from what we have read to understand why it is that people are confused. We are not antagonistic to those who are seeking a deeper and a finer relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. In Mr. Lindsey's book on Satan, one of his remarks is that no one has the right to deny these people (meaning the charismatics) their new found joy in the Lord. What Mr. Lindsey means is no one has the right to go around and tell charismatics, "You're not speaking in tongues in the New Testament sense of tongues. You are not healing people in the sense of organic healings," because that is to rob them of newfound joy in the Lord that makes them read the Bible more; attend church; and, give more money.

Well, there's a good deal more that's involved in joy in the Lord than this, which can be cranked out by the delusions of emotions poured up from the sin base of the old sin nature. This is a monumental cruelty which is being performed in our day and imposed on people–people who just don't know what the answers are.

The reason I'm taking time to do this is not because I'm an opponent of the charismatic movement, but because I want to give you a chance to have the answers as to the reality of these claims on a basis that cannot be refuted. I think when we're through, you will know the truth concerning the charismatic claims. You'll be able to deal with them for yourself personally. Best of all, when the doctor tells you that it's all over for you, the last names on earth that will ever come to your mind are Kuhlman and Roberts. But the first thing that will come to your mind is the living Son of God, and your access to Him in your time of need.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1973

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