Objection: TEMPORARY Relief in Healing Crusades Is Often Caused by a Release of Endorphins, Serotonin and Adrenaline

I might shock you with this, but I agree!  What I do NOT agree with is that ALL healing that goes on in healing crusades falls into this temporary category or that healing ministers deliberately choose to see people receive temporary healing in these ways by getting people worked up emotionally.

Much has been written about the “placebo effect” actually working, despite the fact that there is no apparent medical reason that it should work.  There is such a thing as people “psyching” themselves into feeling temporarily better.  However, a healing crusade should not be a “psych rally” or a “mass hypnosis meeting” as they are sometimes accused of being.  I want people to believe that they receive and leave the meeting in faith believing that they received what they needed.  If they truly did, their healing won’t be temporary!

Someone’s excitement when being ministered to COULD produce a temporary fleeting good feeling.  I’ve had times myself when I felt better after hands were laid on me, only to end up feeling as bad as before afterward because I really was not in faith when hands were laid on me.  I think that most Spirit-filled Christians have had similar experiences as they were learning faith.

Sometimes it was almost a blessing NOT to feel anything, as it kept my focus on the Word and not on my sudden improvement.  I’ve sometimes felt WORSE after hands were laid on me, but gotten healed anyway!  In one case, I was the only person in the prayer line who did not fall over.  (I went up expecting to receive my healing, not expecting to fall over.  I think a lot of people were expecting to fall over.)  Yet as far as I know, I was the only person in that line who actually received my healing and had my body verify it.  It was NOT a temporary improvement caused by a chemical rush in the exciting atmosphere!

Jesus expects us to minister believing His words, not using earthly persuasion.  When He said that we would lay hands on the sick and they would recover, He didn’t mean temporarily!

People can experience temporary relief for another reason that is more important than endorphins and adrenaline!  What people experience is the anointing.  The anointing is the best pain-killer I’ve ever encountered.  You can’t be allergic to it, it has no life-threatening side effects, and you don’t even have to ask your doctor if the anointing is right for you.  (It is.)  It is not unusual to feel really good when you are in a service where the anointing is flowing tangibly.  I’ve occasionally been on the ministry end of things and felt rotten before the service, but then felt absolutely fine after the anointing started flowing!  Sometimes I felt awful afterward.  I’m not saying that’s how it SHOULD be; I’m just being frank with you.  Thank God, we can grow in these areas.

When Jesus ministered, people got more than temporary relief, and He said that we would do the works that He did and greater.  That means that we will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover, not just get temporary relief!