John Wimber and healing

Power Healing

I have to confess I had some reservations associated with Wimber’s name. I had heard of the excesses of the Toronto blessing, and some how associated Wimber with that – with crowds seeking after the manifestation of God’s glory (I have been one of those) and worse with other independent third wave charismatic churches who seemed to get such a kick out of how their bodies couldn’t handle the presence of God that those experiences became the bread and butter of a good worship time. I don’t disparage such experiences, but living for them seems to be a recipe for flakey half-baked Christianity.

Thankfully Foster’s introduction to the book stripped away these sentiments by unexpected shock. Foster to me has always been the quintessential symbol of spiritual depth. That he was all right with Wimber was incongruous with my preconceptions. (It was like the time I went into the coffeehouse of my youth, my favorite, to notice that they leave their portafilters out of the machine loosing precious heat between brew cycles –I just don’t know what to think about them any more!) So it was with Wimber. Not knowing what to think of him, I was open to the way he stumbled upon the Spirit reluctantly, (not with flakey enthusiasm) and found his story authentically refreshing.

I have always been taught that Christ was “wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities and by his stripes we are healed.” I never before struggled with whether healing is a product of the atonement or the very stuff of the atonement. Wimber presents the arguments of theologians arguing both ways with fairness. If it is in the atonement, then why is healing not guaranteed in every case like salvation? Wimber and theologians who suggest that it is a product of the atonement find, there, room for healings not to happen. I guess I don’t need that room. Even salvation isn’t a done deal at conversion. I believe that we await the consummation of our salvation just as we may wait the consummation of our healing. Am I saved from sin? Not yet. But also yes already. I love this tension.

Another thing that caught my attention was Wimber’s treatment of various kinds of healings. I was reading some of this in the midst of a fight with my wife over my irrational fear of using the phone. It got me wondering weather this fear required inner healing (I racked my brain for memories of unresolved hurt), or if I need deliverance from demonic mischief.