Is It Ever Right to “Hold Back” on Preaching Divine Healing?
In some cases, yes. In most cases, no.
If YOU have complete control over what you’re preaching because it’s your building that you own or rent, or it’s a public location, then you should NEVER hold back any part of the gospel. Paul, who had control over his preaching ministry, “held back nothing that was profitable” (Acts 20:20) and “shunned not” to declare “all the counsel of God” so that he would be pure from the blood of all men (Acts 20:26-27). If it’s your call, never preach a D- gospel! Never, never, never, hold back preaching divine healing because of criticism or fear of men’s opinions of you. Sooner or later, you’ll be labeled an evil cultist (as I’ve been) for preaching that healing belongs to everyone. Preach the Word anyway!
If we’re supposed to preach the whole counsel of God, why would it EVER be OK to hold back part of the gospel? Let me give you some cases and try to keep you out of unnecessary trouble.
When the Church or Ministry that Is Hosting You Doesn’t Agree with Divine Healing
I’ve preached in churches that definitely do NOT believe that healing is in Christ’s atonement. But I haven’t preached healing in those churches. That would be out of order. You see, the local pastor has the highest authority in his congregation. It doesn’t matter if I know more of the Word than he does or have been saved three times as long as he has. I am his guest. I will never knowingly preach something contrary to what I know the host pastor (or his denomination) preaches unless I clear it with him first. There was one case where I shared the Word privately with a pastor because I knew that he preached something different from what I believed. I convinced him privately of his error and he gave me permission to go ahead and preach the opposite of what he had been saying to his church. At this writing, that’s happened to me a grand total of once! Of course, I will never preach something that I believe to be unbiblical just because the host church believes it. You know, you can bless and help a lot of people if you have the chance to minister on other important topics where they can agree with you in a particular denomination! There are topics other than healing in the Bible even though healing is my personal favorite one to preach!
I would do that with any topic – if I know something will be controversial or unsettling, and thus not good for the church, I’ll avoid it. If the church doesn’t believe that all your future sins are forgiven, I won’t touch that when I’m there. I can be free in this book to say what I want, of course. And I do realize that there will be pastors who take issue with some of my views on the many topics covered in this book along with healing who may not want me around as a result. I understood that when I decided to publish this book. A lot in here will correct what many pastors – even “faith” people or “grace” people – have been teaching. But I can correct them privately through this book. I decided that there are some things that just need to be said by SOMEONE even if they cost me preaching engagements.
I would NEVER correct a pastor in front of his church – the Bible shows a different precedent. Peter had gotten involved in hypocrisy and had even dragged Barnabas into it. But Paul did not say anything about the matter in front of the church where Peter was at Jerusalem. He didn’t embarrass Peter in front of his home church. He waited and corrected Peter at Antioch, which was PAUL’S home church (Galatians 2:11-14).
If You Are Taking Over a Church that Has Not Been Preaching Divine Healing
In general, I would not pastor a church that was not OK with divine healing, but in exceptional cases, God might call you to pastor a church that has NOT taught accurately about divine healing if it will accept such teaching. It should still be your goal to preach healing there, but from a practical perspective it will take a while for the people to get to know you and to earn their trust and respect. You can’t just go in there and blast them to bits with your New Testament “cannon.” If God really called you there, He will make a way so that you will be able to preach the full gospel freely.
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