Authority to Heal

by Ken Blue
Review by Jordan Henricks

A stimulating and convicting account of the church’s authority to heal, Ken Blue challenges pastors and congregations to take seriously the importance and power of healing ministries within the church in his book, Authority to Heal. Blue suggests that this book “is offered to help individual Christians and local congregations to get started and be further equipped in the ministry of healing the sick” (18). The book is divided into three parts. In the first part Blue seeks to “identify theological hindrances undermining the healing ministry in the church,” and to introduce “a positive, empowering theology of healing to replace them” (20). Blue spends some time debunking some of the myths surrounding sickness and suffering as well as inappropriate connections often made between the authority to heal and a person’s faith. Blue writes, “‘Faith formula’ thinking is based on the theory that there is a strict causality between faith and healing” (42). Blue asserts, instead, that according to the biblical witness, “God’s power is as near to us in sickness and in death as it is in healing… The biblically informed follower of Jesus Christ knows how to trust God for physical as well as spiritual healing and knows how to persist in trusting God when the effects of a fallen world continue to be with us” (49).

Part two of Blue’s book is therefore “a theological analysis of God’s intent to, and means of, healing the sick” (18). In this section Blue offers evidence that it is God’s desire to heal the sick, and that the ministry of deliverance and healing is one directly connected to the coming of the kingdom of God according to the witness of Scripture. Blue writes, “Jesus’ conquest over Satan was evidenced in the casting out of demons, healing the sick, and raising the dead. Satan continually lost ground against the advance of Christ’s kingdom rule” (81). He follows this by discussing models of Christian healing in the third part of the book, in which he outlines the five steps of a model for healing ministry. These steps are interviewing, choosing a prayer strategy, praying for specific results, assessing the results, and giving postprayer direction (125-26). Finally, Blue concludes his book with a call to obedience. He specifies this call to obedience by pointing out that obedience is not “some type of magic by which we force God to act,” but rather that we must be aware that “disobedience blocks authority to heal and simple trusting obedience is what God uses” (159).

One of the strongest arguments that Blue makes for the necessity of healing ministry within the church I believe to be the connection that he makes with healing and the coming of the kingdom of God. He writes, “The kingdom of God addresses not only our internal spiritual state but also our outward physical and social environment” (81). Too often within the church we view the message of salvation and the coming of the kingdom of God to be a “spiritual” message, and often suggest that the saving work of Christ’s death and resurrection has nothing to do with the physical and environmental reality of the world. Thus, our over-spiritualized congregations have little hope in the power of prayer or the authority to heal. However, Blue suggests that the authority to heal was and is a “weapon of assault against Satan’s pseudokingdom” (81). For this reason, that acts of healing and deliverance are part of the coming kingdom of God, I agree with Blue that such healing ministry abolishes the often over-spiritualized theology that has infected our congregations.

I do, however, take issue with Blue’s description of the nature of the kingdom of God, which Jesus brings about. He writes, “The kingdom which Jesus brings to the world is not political, but it is nevertheless concrete and worldly” (81). I believe this to be a poor choice of words, though I think I understand what Blue is trying to state. It seems he is trying to point to the nature of the Messiah as one that was not anticipated. He writes, “The Jews of the first century, including Jesus’ disciples, anticipated the coming of a kingdom which would be ethnic and geographical” (80). In other words, the Jews expected the coming kingdom instituted by the Messiah to be one that was easily visible and one that would bring about the promised change of the covenant. Clearly this was not the case, however, thus inspiring Blue’s words about the nature of the kingdom of God as “not political.”

We must ask ourselves though; is the characteristic of the kingdom of God really “not political?” In the sense that the kingdom of God is multi-ethnic and international, one would say that the Messiah brought about a kingdom that was altogether radically different than what was both expected and anticipated. However, this kingdom, albeit multi-ethnic and international, was and is most certainly political. Politics are about the institution of a system outlining how we treat one another and how we operate economically within a community. ‘Politics’ and ‘government’ are two different things that are often confused in my opinion. Jesus’ death and resurrection may not have brought about the establishment of a governmental system giving the Jews power, but that also does not mean that the kingdom of God that was ushered in was not political. As a matter of fact, I believe the healing accounts in Scripture and the mandate that we have to continue the work of healing and deliverance ministry today is evidence of the political nature of our citizenship in the kingdom of God. Thus, it would seem to me that the authority to heal is as much a political calling as it is a spiritual one. All that to say, though, Authority to Heal is a must read for all contemporary theologians and pastors, as it is a prophetic and convicting word to the church today.