But there are other ways to account for healing---the transition from sick to well. The most common is natural healing. The body has a lot of built-in provisions for warding off disease as well as handling disease and infections with its own army of biochemical weapons. To a great extent, our bodies are quite capable of handling itself. Open wounds quickly heal over with a scab in order to prevent us from bleeding to death. Glands secrete hormones that release disease-fighting cells that battle intruding disease cells. In a normal human being, the body’s natural weapons against infection and disease win their battle far more often than not. And when it appears that the natural weapons are failing, modern medical technology is standing by to help.

Medical healing not only comes to the rescue when natural healing is losing the battle or has become impossible, it also works to aid natural healing. In fact, it is possible to make a good argument for the principle that medical healing, by and large, is really natural healing that is using some outside help. Organ transplants are clearly “unnatural” healing mechanisms, but natural healing reasserts its importance during the patient’s. So we can safely say that medical and natural healing work together to keep us alive and well.

In recent years we have come to a better appreciation for the power of the human mind in the drama of sickness and healing. Generally speaking, the body’s natural healing mechanisms are influenced by glandular activity, and the brain is capable of influencing glandular activity. Therefore, the brain is capable of influencing our health. Sounds simple enough. It’s called psychosomatic healing (psycho- mind; -soma, body). The only problem is that we barely understand the underlying physical connections between our minds and our bodies. People from ancient times claim to have the necessary understanding, and mind-body healing is a rather popular pseudo-scientific pursuit today.

Personally, I have no problem with trying to manipulate forces that I do not completely understand. I don’t understand gravity from a purely scientific point of view, but I do have a working understanding that is sufficient for helping me live a longer and healthier life. For example, I do not seriously entertain the notion of learning to fly by launching myself from the roof of a skyscraper. Falling down a little bit when we are infants gives us enough knowledge and experience to avoid falling down big time when we are older…all without knowing anything about Einstein’s general theory of relativity and gravity.

In a manner of speaking, the overall status of mind-body healing today is much like our common understanding of gravity. We don’t really know how it works, but we can learn to respect and manipulate it on the basis of our experience.

Years ago, a critic of spiritual healing approached me after a very productive healing service. “This is all psychological. You tell these people they can be healed, you get them all excited about it, you give them some psychological cues [laying hands on them], and they get all emotional. God didn’t heal them---you used simple psychology!” Being younger and more outspoken in my ways, I responded, “Hey, if you believe that, why don’t you go out into the world and use that same psychology to heal people? Why let people wander around sick when you have a means for healing them?” Today I understand that a great many healings in spiritual services are, indeed, triggered by purely emotional reactions to the excitement and expectation that permeates a good healing service. These are psychosomatic healings. But I also understand that a religious healing service is an extremely powerful trigger for psychosomatic healing. Few other circumstances in our culture can pull a person’s emotions to the proper level in such a short period of time.

I can accept the fact that a good many, perhaps a majority, of healings we witness today in spiritual healing services are instances of psychosomatic healing. But I am also aware that these same people who were healed (or set onto a positive path of healing) would still be sick if it were not for the emotional triggers of those healing services. Failure to accept this reality results in lifeless spiritual services and many people remaining sick, distressed, and discouraged.

So when we are privileged to witness the many healings and testimonies in a spiritual service, we can know that some only thought they were sick and no longer believe it, and some were healed by a profound switch in psychosomatic activity. If they want to say that God touched them in the service, that’s okay. In a manner of speaking, that is always true. But the bottom line is that they came in sick and left well; and they might latch onto a more productive and satisfying spiritual life in the process. This is an example of the church properly fulfilling its mission.

Are there such things as miracle healings? Yes, but they are extremely rare. At Spirit for Today, a miracle healing is one that cannot possibly be accomplished (or accomplished only with great difficulty) by medical science or psychosomatic healing. Instantly restoring muscle tissue to the lame, instantly restoring sight to the blind, spontaneous replacement of body parts, and raising the dead from their coffins. Now those are miracle healings. And for those who claim that miracle healings are not for our day, I tend to agree for all practical purposes. I would love to witness a miracle healing first hand, but I am reconciled to the likelihood that I never will.

Most healings take place by the ordinary function of our bodies.

Medical healing is commonly used where natural healing is difficult or impossible.

Psychosomatic healing is a reality that we only partly understand, but can be successfully employed in the name of spirituality (Jesus, in our case).

Miracle healing is possible, but exceedingly rare.

There is one more important element we need to introduce into this discussion---spiritual, or divine, healing. I bring it up as the last topic for discussion because I want to fashion a definition by first describing what it is not. It is not one of the four healing mechanisms we have already described: natural, medical, psychosomatic, or miracle healing. Natural, medical, and psychosomatic healing might be involved in instances of divine healing, but the purpose is much broader.

Divine healing does not take place in order to make the individual feel better. There is always a broader purpose. Divine healing, for example, can be one of God’s calling cards that remind an otherwise busy and preoccupied population that He is indeed intimately involved in human lives. Divine healing can be God’s mark of approval on a church or ministry, thereby providing initial evidence that one might find spiritual shelter and guidance in that place. There are other, more specific purposes served by acts of divine healing. Sometimes these purposes are known only to those directly involved; more often the purposes are never clearly discerned because God is working beyond our understanding of events.

What are some examples of divine healing? One attribute is the speed with which a healing takes place. For instance, a person might have an open and infected wound closes over in a matter of moments and the signs of infection begin to disappear instantly. Or a hand that has been crippled with arthritis suddenly pops, crackles and begins to straighten. Vision and hearing problems are common and sometimes very dramatic. Such healings can happen by other means, but rarely in such short periods of time.

Another earmark of divine intervention is a consistent beating of long medical odds. Some types of cancers, heart attacks, strokes, and other devastating diseases might offer very slim chances of recovery or survival-even with good medical care and positive mental attitudes. In churches and among groups of people who expect divine intervention in their lives, you will find a strong tendency to beat the odds against those who are stricken. I am not impressed with groups that claim to be all perfectly healthy all the time because they are so spiritual. Rather, give me the bunch that suffers the same maladies as the rest of humanity, but consistently beats the odds by expecting God to intervene with divine healing, peace in their hearts, and guidance for their caretakers.

It is far better to suffer in truth and behold the hand of God, than to pretend there is no hurt and continue to grope in the darkness.

Psychosomatic or divine healing---what difference does it make. Either way, God is in charge, and He will ultimately get the glory for it.

Columbus, Ohio March 3, 2001