God's Will is Always Healing: Crushing Theological Barriers to Healing Paperback – September 19, 2012

A couple years ago, I came to the conclusion that God still heals today. But I was still unsure of when God would heal someone and how He would go about doing it. Through my own studies I came to the conclusion that God's will is always healing all the time. That's when I came across this book. Even though I already knew it was God's will to heal I wanted to understand more in depth how to counter arguments or excuses used by Christians who don't want to get out there, so that they can get over their fear and do God's will.This book covers just about every excuse that a person could make against God's will for healing. There were many topics that I already knew, but I found myself learning bits here and there that helped equip me even more. This book helped explain ideas in layman's terms so that even the most novice Christian could understand. I would even recommend this to unbelievers, as seeing the first few chapters bring a gospel message that everyone could understand.If there is any book that should be read about understanding truth of gifts of the Spirit (healing and others), I would suggest this one.There is however one topic I felt needed to be addressed that I came across within the last year while reading this book that I did not fully see covered in this book. This topic would be nice for a future edition. Although the chapter on Old vs. New Covenant cleared much of it up, I still feel that the topic of God's wrath may need to be inserted either there or in Small Potatoes. I've encountered people who think that because Revelation speaks of God's wrath and judgment towards people, they still think that God will judge sinner's today rather than showing grace and mercy. This contradicts the New Covenant message of the law being wrath which has passed away and grace now abounds because God does not wish that any should perish. I understand that this might touch into eschatology a bit and take away from the overall intention of the book, so maybe that is why it's not covered here. I feel that certain eschatological views contradict a New Covenant message due to thinking that God still will pour wrath on people in the future, so we can't be sure if that's what he'll do now as well. The fact of the matter is, with the correct eschatology, we can now come to the full conclusion that God is good, merciful, graceful as well as His other facets that don't remove specific facets just to fulfill what people would call "future" prophecy that people say is in the book of Revelation.Thanks Joshua for a great book!

Why did I give five stars to a book with which I have so many disagreements? Because I believe that it is an important contribution to the literature on healing.I say this, not only as a seminary educated minister with thirty-five years in the pastorate, but also as the director of a school of supernatural ministry who regularly sees people healed (and not) when I pray for them, who also takes students out on the streets so that they can pray and see people healed.The reason I recommend this book is Joshua Greeson’s goal of refuting every scriptural argument that conflicts with his premise that God’s will is always healing, and, if healing does not take place, that it is the fault of the one ministering. Whether you agree with him or not, it was a monumental undertaking, and he is to be commended for attempting it.Here is my review of some of his refutations in the order that they are presented in the book:(1) The lame man in Acts 3 that Jesus passed by when He entered the Temple, leaving him to the ministry of Peter and John…Joshua Greeson maintains that this does not prove that Jesus did not heal all. “It is beyond plausible that Jesus never even saw this man…” (Kindle location 4002). I do not find this refutation, that Jesus never saw this man in all of His trips to the Temple, to be “beyond plausible” to borrow the term. Beggars work hard to be visible. Jesus, for whatever reason, chose not to heal this man.(2) The lame man at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5 that Jesus healed, not healing any others in the multitude of sick people there…Mr. Greeson’s claim is that the reason that Jesus did not heal any of the others was that healing that one person had stirred up the Pharisees so much that if Jesus did not run for His life right then, that He would have been crucified immediately (Kindle location 4027). Given Jesus’ boldness in healing others right in front of the Pharisees, I don’t buy into this “run for His life” argument. Jesus decided to heal only one out of the multitude at the Pool of Bethesda.(3) The boy with the deaf and dumb spirit that none of the disciples could cure…Commenting on Mark 9, the author asserts that it is the unbelief of the one ministering that is “most often the problem” and never the unbelief of the one seeking ministry (Kindle location 4077). “Jesus healed everyone, so should we” (Kindle location 4297). While unbelief on the part of the one ministering healing can be a hindrance, making that rule of thumb into a rule of law hammers the one attempting to minister healing with a crushing condemnation whenever his or her prayers for healing don’t work.(4) Paul’s thorn in the flesh…Mr. Greeson spends an entire chapter (Chapter 13) dealing with this. He lays out the evidence for Paul’s thorn in the flesh being persecution and not sickness (Kindle location 4874). I find his exegesis supporting this to be very convincing.(5) Job’s torment…The explanation given for what happened to Job was not that God removed His hedge of protection from Job, but that Job’s fear tore it down (Kindle location 5580). All God did was call Job’s lack of protection to the attention of Satan (Kindle location 5444). The author puts much weight on the demonstrative particle “hinneh” (“behold”) merely being God alerting Satan to a condition that has existed for a very long time. However Job 1:10 shows Satan probing Job’s hedge of protection repeatedly. Furthermore, “hinneh” refers to something “newly asserted” and is “often one upon which some proposal or suggestion is to be founded.” (Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, page 244). If Job’s fear had torn down the hedge of protection long before, then Satan would not have worded his demand of God the way that he did.(6) The man blind from birth…To explain why the man was born blind, John says, “it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3 NASB). Mr. Greeson asserts that the Greek has been mistranslated, and that it should read as a “command clause” i.e. “Reveal the works of God in him!” (Kindle location 6783). Unfortunately two things refute this. First, he cannot cite any Bible translation that translates it his way. Second, he mistranslates “alla hina” which Greek scholars agree should be translated “but this has happened that” – a less emphatic use of the paired words “to denote purpose, aim, or goal, ‘in order that’” (A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature, page 476).(7) Timothy’s stomach issues…In 1 Timothy 5:23 Paul tells Timothy to use a little wine because of his stomach ailments. Arguing that this does not prove that Timothy was frequently sick, and therefore that prayer for healing did not work (Kindle location 7038), the author comments that watered wine was useful for killing the microorganisms in tainted water that cause disease (Kindle location 7050) and that was what Paul recommended to Timothy – an interesting explanation.(8) Paul leaving Trophimus sick at Miletus…Mr. Greeson argues that, although Paul had to leave him ill at Miletus (2 Timothy 4:20), Trophimus must have been healed within a day or two of Paul’s leaving (Kindle location 7066). He supports this by proposing that the events of Acts 21, which he claims shows Trophimus arriving in Jerusalem within two or three days of Paul’s arrival there (Kindle location 7089), coincide with 2 Timothy 4:20. In the event that history does not support this, as he admits that it does not (Kindle location 7115), his counter is that Trophimus had to have been healed anyway because his theology says that God always heals (Kindle location 7156). Needless to say, this circular argument is totally unconvincing to me.While I applaud this book’s attempt to deal with the problem passages regarding healing, my far greater concern is the earlier chapters, of which the author is so proud. He has incorporated at least three systems of thinking that the early church rejected: Pelagianism, Manichaeism, and Marcionism.Without realizing it, the author has resurrected features of Pelagianism, and applies them to the area of divine healing. He spends the first nine chapters of his book arguing his premise that God has abdicated His sovereignty to us. God is NOT in control; we are in control, according to Mr. Greeson (Kindle location 385). Both the Apostle Paul and I are unwilling to make God into an armchair quarterback.In the tenth chapter, he resurrects features of Manichaeism – in terms of theodicy (the explanation for good and evil) – and applies them to healing. He argues that God does what we regard as good, rather than saying that all that God does is good, and that the devil is responsible for everything that we regard as bad. That makes our subjective opinion of what we consider “good” the yardstick to measure God. He calls this totally human-centered and simplistic/reductionist approach to “good” the “Kid-Check Theology Test” (Kindle location 3534). Do we really want to presume to stand in judgment of God and His doings? Job learned that lesson the hard way (Job 42:1-6).In chapter twelve, he resurrects features of Marcionism. Marcion taught that the god of the Old Testament was not the same god as the god of the New Testament. While he would not go that far, Joshua Greeson does see the behavior of God in the Old Testament as very different from the behavior of God in the New Testament. The revelation of God in the Old Testament is obsolete; the author says, “We must keep the Old Testament where it belongs – in the Old Testament” (Kindle location 4488). I think that Paul, and the rest of the New Testament writers, would cringe back from this suggestion.

I loved this book and am about to read it again. Joshua Greeson has written a thorough, organized, well-supported, and fun book to read on healing. While reading this book, I was forced to take a good hard look at the things I learned growing up in church. Frankly, when it comes to healing my education was severely lacking and misguided. For instance, I didn't know that the Greek word for salvation (soza) has several meanings, including saved, healed, delivered. Jesus paid it all, the whole benefits package. I was healed almost 2000 years ago by His stripes. He paid a heavy price for my healing, and I do not intend on letting His suffering go to waste, for me or anyone else. By grace through faith, I believe, receive, and Thank Him for it! Another revelation is that God is Good and that good means good! Oh how I used to make up convoluted definitions of 'good' so that I could try to explain things that were happening. The idea that God is not in control of everything, but gives us free will, and power of attorney over the earth has revolutionized my thinking. We live on a planet cursed by the fall, people sin, and the evil one tries to destroy our lives. I no longer blame God for some of the things that have happened in my past, but rather see how those factors came into play. How freeing is that! The good news is that God will intervene in our life situations if we ask Him. Since reading this book I have become a new creation, old things have passed away and everything has become new. Jesus lives in me, and I in Him, seated with Him in heavenly places. Hallelujah!