A. A. Allen’s “God Guarantees Your Healing” School
“Hold firmly to instruction, do not let go; guard it well, for it is your life” (Prov. 4:13).
Your healing, and even your entire life, may depend completely on how you “hold firmly to instruction.” The second and third chapters of this book are devoted to this issue. There is no doubt that many thousands now resting in their graves could still be enjoying life and excellent health today if they had received the necessary instructions about healing from above in time. But among those living today, there are also many whose lives are now drawing to an end because of their illness. These people will not be able to receive healing unless they obtain the necessary instructions.
A lack of faith is often the result of not having complete information about what to do. In Nazareth, even Jesus Himself “could not do any miracle” (Mark 6:5). All He was able to do was lay hands on a few sick people and heal them. He marveled at their unbelief. Without a doubt, the reason for their lack of faith was the absence of necessary instruction.
Christ understood what they needed, and “He went around the villages teaching” (Mark 6:6).
God appointed teachers in His Church and gave them miraculous powers (see 1 Cor. 12:28), and some people appreciated the benefit of good instruction and teaching. Many who come only to attend a church service for healing from above are annoyed when they are advised to first attend preparatory instruction and only then join the healing line. Others who attend the preparatory instruction do not receive the teaching they need because they believe the most important thing is to secure a place in the healing line.
They are given the opportunity to listen to beneficial healing instruction, but their hearts seem closed to it. These people do not understand the value of such instruction. Often weak in faith, they fail to master all the necessary teaching because the instruction was either not given or they were unable to receive it when it was offered. On the other hand, for those who profess consistent and effective faith, rely on God’s promise, and devote sufficient time to receiving instruction, healing from above is guaranteed by God Himself. “Listen to instruction and be wise; do not disregard it” (Prov. 8:33).
Build Your Faith
Many people suffer from illnesses for long periods. They have already sought help from several outstanding ministers of God who laid hands on them and prayed for their healing. Despite this, they were not healed. These people probably think that, in order to be healed, they only need to stand in line and feel the hands of someone healing and praying for them laid upon them. They hope that they may recover on that day.
But deliverance from illness is not a matter of chance or luck. It is a matter of faith in the unchanging and unalterable Word of God. Such people undoubtedly need proper instruction. “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for… instruction…” (2 Tim. 3:16). Those seeking healing must receive all the clear and readily available instructions offered to them—not merely to take their place in line, but to create or strengthen their faith, which will help them receive what God has promised to give them. “And without faith it is impossible to please God…” (Heb. 11:6).
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17). Those seeking healing must fill their hearts with God’s promises of healing. Read the passages of Scripture that will strengthen your faith, especially the “Acts of the Holy Apostles” and the “Holy Gospel according to Mark.” Read them and try to memorize as many verses as possible. Study the miraculous accounts of healing described in these books, and you will notice your faith growing. When you sense that your faith has come and is firm, you may consider yourself ready to stand in line for healing. Then, and only then, will you be able to receive healing.
Remove the Obstacles
In this book you will read a chapter titled “Obstacles to Faith.” Read and reread it. Do so carefully and prayerfully until each of these obstacles has been removed. Study the Word of God. God will speak through His Word only to a sincere, honest, and pure-hearted person. And when new light illuminates your path, God will want you to walk in that light; but new light also brings a new responsibility. You must become a doer of the Word, not merely a hearer. Listen to your heart and examine whether there is any malice in it. If God reveals sin in your life, you must repent of it immediately. Free yourself from it; cast it away like a burning coal. Do not be satisfied with having dealt with major sins. Part with every small sin as you parted with the great one.
Prayer and Fasting
Prayer and fasting must become an important part of your preparation for healing. As we read the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, we learn that those who became God’s outstanding chosen servants were the ones who prayed and fasted. They were filled with the power of the Lord, performed miracles, and healed the sick.
Christ Himself taught about fasting and prayer. When His disciples were unable to heal a boy possessed by a mute spirit, Jesus said to them: “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29). God chose fasting. Fasting is described in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah: “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?” (Isa. 58:6). The reward for this fast is described in the eighth verse of the same chapter: “Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily…”
Fasting, however, should not be viewed as a “magic spell” by which one can obtain healing. Do not boast about your fasting! Jesus gives you this instruction concerning it: “And when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance; for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matt. 6:16–18).
If a person fasts for God, they will not boast to others about their fast or seek to make everyone around them aware of their sacrifice. Those who boast about it are unlikely to see positive results from their efforts; most likely, the result will be negative.
If you have not yet been filled with the Holy Spirit, begin asking God right now for baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is quite possible that something hindering the Holy Spirit from coming upon you is also an obstacle to your healing. Clearly, those who are filled with the Holy Spirit can reach out to God much more quickly than those who have not yet been filled with the Holy Spirit.
Do not lose hope even if you are unable to attend a healing service on your own. God provides those confined to their beds with the necessary instruction: “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them” (Acts 19:11–12).
If you cannot come to a healing service yourself, contact those who pray the prayer of faith and ask them to send you an anointed cloth (be sure to read the passage from Chapter 11 of this book entitled “Miracles Performed through Handkerchiefs and Aprons”).
Walk in fellowship with God
“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25). A spirit of unforgiveness, a heart open to rebellion, and refusal to walk in the light of the Word of God—all these can destroy the faith that John calls “boldness.” Only the Word of God can produce effective boldness. For those who desire to obtain boldness and faith, it is very important that they humbly walk in the light of the Word of God. To obtain true boldness in God, you must fellowship with Him effectively. But you cannot have effective fellowship with God if you do not walk in the light of His Word.
Those who walk in darkness cannot have fellowship with God. They cannot even be certain that the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses them from sin. “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:5–7).
We can have effective fellowship with Christ only if we obey the Word rather than merely hear it. Those who have the closest fellowship with God also have the strongest faith. Those whose relationship with God is weak likewise have weak faith, and perhaps no faith at all. Our faith is proportionate to how close our fellowship with God is. It is no wonder that many today have weak faith, since they have little fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ.
And many have no fellowship with Him at all because of their rebellious spirit or self-will. They refuse to walk in the light of the Word of God, limiting themselves to reading, studying, or hearing it in the sermons of pastors who believe and teach the Word in all its fullness.
Without effective fellowship with God, there can be no effective faith in Him. If you continue walking in darkness after receiving light from the Word of God, you will destroy this fellowship, and the Blood of Jesus Christ will no longer cleanse you from sin (see 1 John 1:7). Therefore, a rebellious spirit or self-will will become an obstacle to true faith reaching your heart, thereby making it easier for doubt and unbelief to enter it.
Does the Word of God Work Today?
Christ Himself, speaking about the present day in our lives, asked: “Nevertheless when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). He foresaw that faith would not be able to coexist with modernism, unbelief, doubt, indifference, and skepticism prevailing in our society. That is why we would like to reflect with you on why we cannot now testify to an increasing number of people receiving healing.
We are also troubled by the fact that, instead of believers, we increasingly encounter those who are “fainting from fear…” (Luke 21:26). Speaking about these last days and the apostasy that had taken hold even of the Church, Paul noted: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, they will heap up for themselves teachers who will tickle their ears; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:3–4). Can faith be preserved in such an atmosphere? Never! And Paul continues: “Having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” (2 Timothy 3:5).
Thousands of people now attend the Lord’s churches, where modern preachers declare that the days of miracles are over and that Christ no longer heals today. They do not believe in supernatural signs or in the miraculous gifts of the Spirit being given to the Church today. They read eloquent sermons that appeal to the mind but do not touch the heart. They teach that if Christ heals today, He does so through medicine. Ask one of these modern preachers whether he believes the Bible, and he will answer: “Yes, in part.”
He will explain that he does not believe the part of the Bible that borders on the supernatural. These modernists believe everything that agrees with reason but refuse to believe what cannot be rationally explained. They deny everything supernatural. They refuse to receive baptism in the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues, as well as to believe in the supernatural gifts of healing and working miracles. They are modernists through and through.
Many of them deny Christ’s divine origin, humanity’s inherent sinfulness, redemption through the Blood, and the divine inspiration of the Bible. Instead of teaching the true foundations of the universe, they teach that man is merely a product of evolution. They do not preach about the Fall or the corruption of the human soul. Instead, they insist on human improvement. They should proclaim salvation through the Blood of Christ, but they speak about work and character. When they should defend the Bible as the Word of God sent from above, they preach certain scientific theories.
These modern preachers would like to present our Savior as an ordinary teacher. They do not believe in or promote supernatural regeneration. Rather, they teach “natural development.” Instead of preaching sanctification from above, they speak about “education.” When they should preach about the grace of God, they lecture on the “moral principles” people supposedly need so badly.
Can a person exposed to the attack of such doctrine grow stronger day by day in faith and in the teaching on healing? Of course not! If a person is to be healed, it will happen because he believes in the supernatural power of God, not because he doubts it. When you find yourself in an atmosphere of unbelief, follow the counsel God gives you: “FROM SUCH PEOPLE TURN AWAY!” (2 Timothy 3:5).
If you want to obtain effective faith, attend a prayer house where faith is taught and practiced! If you want to be healed, stay away from those who oppose it and identify yourself with people who truly believe. Go to a prayer house where people are supported in their faith in ALL the promises of God, and NOT to one where they are told: “Such a thing cannot happen today.”
Gifts of healings and working miracles
The Bible testifies that to some of us the Spirit gives gifts of healings, and to others the working of miracles (see 1 Cor. 12:8–10). Those who hunger for healing should note the significant difference between gifts of healings and the working of miracles. Usually, gifts of healings remove the causes of illnesses that harm health, and the person recovers. In some cases, relief will be complete and immediate, but more often the recovery process simply begins. These are not theoretical assumptions, but a practice documented in the Bible. Christ performed many healings in precisely this way. For example, consider the healing of the royal official’s son (see John 4:46–52).
Gifts of healings usually do not replace a missing organ that was removed during surgery or lost in an accident. Healing can restore sight to eyes that cannot see; but if the eyeball is missing, only the working of miracles can recreate it. Gifts of healings can restore hearing to ears that cannot hear; but if the eardrums are missing, only the working of miracles can recreate them.
The working of miracles is the suspension of the ordinary laws of God governing a particular situation, such as the stopping of the sun at Joshua’s command. Healing is God’s promise to ALL the sick among HIS people. The working of miracles, however, is connected only with a special situation. God, by whose Word the world was created, can recreate missing organs—and sometimes does so.
God can do everything; all things are possible for Him. But you must understand that gifts of healings do not replace the working of miracles in God’s Temple. If they could completely replace the working of miracles, the latter would not be needed. Gifts of healings are not intended to turn an old person into a young one. The aging process leaves its marks on the human body.
The face becomes covered with wrinkles, hair turns gray and sometimes falls out, energy diminishes, and bodily processes slow down. To maintain good health in later life, one needs to rest more and follow a strict diet. This does not mean, however, that all elderly people are doomed to suffer from some disease. For according to God’s promise, everything works together for the good of those who love God.
Gifts of healings, however, are not intended to eliminate death. Until Jesus appears, “...people are destined to die once...” (Heb. 9:27). “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26). Death, however, is not always connected with severe suffering from illnesses that God has promised to heal.
Healing cannot replace natural processes of life, such as brain development or physical maturation. Once, a twenty-four-year-old young man joined a healing line. He was no more than 120 centimeters tall, spoke in the voice of a small child, and his face showed no hint of the facial hair that covers an adult man’s face.
It was clear that his condition was markedly abnormal, since his parents exceeded average weight and height measurements. This man’s healing could not manifest as a beard suddenly growing on his face. Nor could he suddenly grow to 180 cm. His healing was directed at the underlying causes of the illness, and removing them would soon inevitably become evident when this young man bought himself a razor and larger-sized clothing.
A person who was deaf and mute from birth and has been healed will not be able to immediately understand the language spoken by those around him, which he has never heard. Nor will he be able to speak that language. He will have to learn to speak for a long time, following the path of a child who acquires the ability to communicate verbally during childhood. The process, however, may be somewhat accelerated by the higher intellectual development of an adult. But in all likelihood, he will never be able to master the language at the level spoken by those who learned it naturally.
Do not lose hope or accuse God of being unable or unwilling to heal you if you feel that you have not immediately received the gift of healings or working of miracles. Rely on the Word of God. Accept healing as an accomplished fact. You did not receive healing today or last week. But it happened in Jerusalem on the day Jesus redeemed your sins. Healing did not come today, but it was declared today and will certainly be realized provided that you fulfill all the instructions of the Word of God. It is being realized right now and will continue to be realized throughout your life until you receive it in its fullness: you will be delivered from sickness and sin through the redemptive mission of Christ!
