Article November 8, 1969 Issue

Can I Heal the Sick?

PETER WILLIAM-POWLETT

Can we heal the sick through prayer? If we ask ourselves this question, do we answer it in the way Christ Jesus expected his followers to answer? On the cover of the Christian Science literature is found Jesus' command to his followers: "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons."^{Matt. 10:8, American Standard Version;}

Let us examine some of the arguments that may produce a negative answer. Perhaps it is a feeling that we are not good enough and so cannot heal. Were the disciples of Jesus extraordinarily good men when the Master was teaching them to heal spiritually? It would not seem so from some of their actions. Once when their Master was refused lodging in a village, two of the most prominent of them were apparently so filled with resentment and indignation that they wished to bring down fire from heaven and destroy these villagers. Jesus, knowing that the real man's nature is good and only good, rebuked them saying, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of."^{Luke 9:55;}

Yet these very human men, when they were imbued with the spirit of Truth that flowed from Jesus' example and teachings, without question healed the sick.

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