Objection: I’ve Seen “Healing Ministers” Push People Down and It Was No More God Than It Was Santa Claus

Guess what?  I’ve seen this too.  And frankly, it stinks.  There is no record that Jesus ever pushed anyone over.  Jesus said that his disciples would “lay hands on the sick,” not “shove the sick over like tenpins.”

However, I’ve seen plenty of cases where people fell over when the minister did not even touch them with enough force to make them unsteady.  The rest was the work of the Holy Spirit.  It is biblical for people to fall over when the anointing hits them.  It is unbiblical for a minister to make it look like it’s the anointing when he’s just shoving people down.  I can tell you from personal experience that some ministers are good at subtly throwing people off-balance to get them to fall.  I’ve been shoved plenty of times myself.  But that doesn't mean that the real thing doesn’t happen.

In some of these cases, people have complained about how hard the minister “shoved So-and-So down,” when anyone near the scene at the time could tell that this was not the case.  Beware of being too quick to criticize God’s servants.  I have NEVER shoved anyone down or even “helped them fall over” in multiple decades of ministry, but I have been accused of doing so – even when I never even touched the person in question.  Because the anointing was so strong, the person just “fell out” before I could even touch him.  (God THREW one woman about eight to ten feet before I could even touch her.  I couldn’t have thrown her like that if my life depended on it!)

I don’t stop using my driver’s license because some people make fake ones.  The fact that there are frauds in healing ministry should not stop you from attending healing services.  (You might want to check out the speaker before you go, of course.)  If there were no REAL healing services, the frauds would never make it, because all such meetings would be frauds and people would figure that out quickly.

I’ve also seen preachers lean on people for money in inappropriate ways.  This does not make taking up offerings a sin!  It just means that some preachers are greedy or use no wisdom when taking up offerings or when trying to set realistic budgets for the locale where they’re preaching.

Any REAL objection to healing ministry must be founded on Scripture.  You cannot derive doctrine from people’s actions.  Either something is biblical or it’s not.  Inappropriate behavior by a minister does not invalidate God’s promises of healing and His use of gifts of the Spirit.

Finally, some truly anointed ministers just like to push people.  They have valid ministries and miracles follow them.  They’re just pushy in the prayer line.  I don’t condone that, but the person is not necessarily a false minister just because he pushes people when he lays hands on them.