Bible-Believing Churches That Don’t Believe the Bible
Today, Divine Healing Network (DHN) will interview Bill Tonman, pastor of God’s Church Denominational Assembly in Nazareth Springs, Arkansas.
DHN: I read in your statement of faith that you believe that the Bible is the Word of God, and is the infallible standard for conduct and doctrine. It’s good to see that.
Bill: Yes, our entire denomination believes the Bible. It’s in our statement of faith.
DHN: I also understand that your church believes in divine healing.
Bill: Yes, of course we do! Unlike most denominations, we include divine healing in our statement of faith as well.
DHN: Now I’ve seen some churches say that they believe that divine healing is active today, but they stop short of saying that it belongs to everyone. How exactly does your statement read?
Bill: Our statement says, “Jesus Christ bore our sicknesses as well as our sins. Therefore every believer has the right to divine healing.”
DHN: Nice! That certainly makes it clear. I imagine that you must see a lot of miracles!
Bill: Well, actually, I don’t know that we’ve seen anything we’d call a miracle, but some people have recovered after we asked God to heal them.
DHN: What conditions have you seen healed recently?
Bill: Our choir director and our associate pastor both had colds a month ago. We asked God to heal them, and they are perfectly healthy today!
DHN: Now what about sinners who had colds a month ago and don’t have them today? I’m not trying to nitpick, but wouldn’t colds go away on their own anyway after a month?
Bill: Well, you don’t know for sure. But I know for sure that those two were healed of theirs!
DHN: Did the symptoms leave immediately?
Bill: No, they clung on for another week or two, but we kept on asking God to heal them and they’re fine now!
DHN: Do you have any cases of something more notable, like cancer, being healed?
Bill: Well, Gladys Sover, our head greeter, came down with cancer, and we had long prayer vigils and asked God to heal her, but God had other plans for her. But you know, she’s healed now in heaven, so He really did answer our prayers to heal her when He took her home. Death is the ultimate healing.
DHN: Please pardon me for being a little confused, but if divine healing is the right of every believer, how can you say that God had other plans than to heal her? Didn’t you say that the Bible affirms that Jesus bore our sicknesses so that we don’t have to? If the Bible is your standard for doctrine, and the Bible says that God heals all our diseases, how could God turn around and decide not to heal Gladys?
Bill: Well, when you’re the CEO who writes the rules, if you make ’em, you can break ’em.
DHN: Are you saying that God can make exceptions to what He said in the Bible?
Bill: The Bible teaches that God is sovereign. That means that He can do whatever He wants, and who are we to question His will? He didn’t heal Gladys in this life, and that was His choice to make.
DHN: Wait a minute. Are you saying that because God is sovereign, He can act contrary to the Bible?
Bill: God is above everything. He is free to make exceptions at His divine whim. It’s His world to run.
DHN: So in effect you are saying that God is not obligated to keep His promises. He can violate His Word any time it suits Him. How can you believe that, when the Bible says that He has exalted His Word above His name and that His Word is forever settled in heaven?
Bill: We DO believe His Word. We all get healed now or in heaven. It’s up to God’s sovereign will if the time is now or not.
DHN: But when I read your statement of faith, I get the definite impression that healing is the right of every believer in THIS lifetime.
Bill: Well, no, of course not, because by definition God never heals your FINAL illness! He heals every believer in this lifetime WHEN IT’S HIS WILL.
DHN: Do you NOT believe that believers shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover?
Bill: They shall indeed recover – when it’s His will!
DHN: What about the Bible, which you say is infallible, saying that God is The Lord Your Healer?
Bill: He acts as your Healer – when it’s His will!
DHN: Are you actually denying that the Bible is a revelation of God’s will?
Bill: It shows us what His will is in general, of course. But He is free to make exceptions because He’s God.
DHN: If someone answers an altar call, will God only save him if it’s His will in that particular case?
Bill: I don’t know why you’d ask such a silly question. Jesus’ blood was shed for EVERYONE, so anyone can be SAVED!
DHN: No exceptions?
Bill: Of course not! Jesus said that anyone who comes to Him, He will by no means cast out. God would have to break His Word to refuse salvation to anyone.
DHN: So when it comes to being born again, you don’t believe that God makes exceptions to His Word on a case-by-case basis?
Bill: No! The Bible is plain that WHOSOEVER calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
DHN: This is really getting confusing, Pastor Bill. If God can never break His promises when it comes to the new birth, how can He break His promises regarding healing all your diseases just as He forgives all your sins?
Bill: Well, that’s different! People who ask to be saved always get saved, but we’ve had a lot of people ask God to heal them and He didn’t, so He must have some reason for not healing them.
DHN: But I thought that the Bible was your final authority. It sounds to me like you’re saying that you’re basing your divine healing doctrine on people’s experience, not on the Word. Does the Word say that God has the right to turn anyone down for healing? If He didn’t want everyone healed, why would He lay our sicknesses on Jesus and make Him suffer physically in our place?
Bill: I guess that you’ll have to ask God that question. The secret things belong to Him, you know.
DHN: Yes, but that same verse says that the things that are revealed belong to us and our children forever. Doesn’t your very statement of faith show that God has revealed that divine healing is the right of every believer based on Jesus’ bearing of sickness? Doesn’t the Word show us that we should all be in health and prosper?
Bill: I understand your confusion. Our denomination put out a new position paper to clear that up – our new position is that divine healing is the right of every believer – subject to God’s will in the matter.
DHN: But that is not what your denomination ever taught before. It was always clear that it was ALWAYS God’s will to heal.
Bill: ALL believers get healed! Some in this lifetime. I know that “back in the day” they taught that God could never make an exception, but back then lots of people were getting healed, too, so it was easy to claim that.
DHN: Is the Word different today?
Bill: No, but our understanding of it keeps getting better with every generation.
DHN: So today no one is getting a miracle, but back when your group taught that everyone can receive healing as a right in Christ, a lot of people were getting healed. How is that an improvement?
Bill: We’ve learned to be less presumptuous when it comes to God’s sovereignty. We ask for healing but accept His answer. We have a more balanced view now.
DHN: This confuses me as well. If healing has been PROVIDED already, why would you ASK God for something that He has already granted? Wouldn’t you just RECEIVE it when you pray? Isn’t that what Jesus taught? And how could God’s answer ever be “No” when all His promises are Yes and Amen in Christ by us?
Bill: There are a lot of things that we just won’t understand in this life.
DHN: But if something is in the Bible, and the Bible is infallible, how could God ever not stand behind His very own words? I thought your denomination got its doctrine from the Bible. Is God not faithful to keep every promise He made in the Bible?
Bill: I don’t have all the answers. I’m only human. I’m just a man.
DHN: Well, thank you for your time, Pastor.
Bill: You’re welcome, and may the Lord bless you richly – if it’s His will!
I was in an interesting position once after paying to rent a Spirit-filled denominational church’s sanctuary to host miracle meetings. When I went to return the key, I ended up in the hallway with a church member and the pastor. This church’s statement of faith was as clear as the one above. I probably don’t have this word for word, but I can give you the gist of it. The church member said, “Now if I want to be healed, I just have to receive it when I pray, right, as was taught in the meetings?” The pastor interjected, “When it’s His will!” The person said, “But I thought that it WAS His will,” and turning to me said, “What do YOU say?”
I felt like Jesus being asked if people should pay taxes to Caesar or not. I could not deny God’s Word for anyone, no matter who was there. On the other hand, it is horribly bad manners to correct a pastor in front of His people. I sought the Lord for a good quick answer, and He gave me one I’ll never forget. “I believe your church’s statement of faith that says that healing is provided in the atonement and is the privilege of every believer.” Now the pastor would have to admit that he believed contrary to the official statement of faith (grounds for termination) if he said otherwise. He didn’t say anything else.
It concerns me that many “Bible-believing” churches really don’t believe the Bible. They add the footnote “if it’s His will” to seemingly everything. If we REALLY believe the Bible, we should stand on everything it says and believe that God will back His own words. If God can break a single promise He made “in His sovereignty” then He is as bad as the devil and should be impeached! Making a promise and not keeping it means that you LIED when you made it. God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). He CANNOT alter the word that has gone forth from His lips.
Psalm 89:34:
My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
Nothing is more certain in all creation than the words that God spoke and recorded for us. If we would all teach people that God NEVER breaks His Word, our congregations would rise up and receive in faith, knowing that God could never turn them down when He says that something is already theirs. I hope that you get a revelation of the verse above. If you do, it will change your praying forever! You will approach God in confidence to receive what you need rather than “asking” Him to keep His own Word!