Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A Critical Appraisal of Christian Healing Ministry in Nigeria (2020)
A Critical Appraisal of Christian Healing Ministry in Nigeria (2020)
i
NWAOZURU
i
NIGERIA
BY
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DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to Nwabueze, Osita Emmanuel who motivated me to write this
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Predictably, I want to first of all acknowledge and thank the Almighty God, the
author and finisher of my faith, for all his goodness and mercies in my life and for his
unfading love, provision and protection throughout my first degree in the university. I
also appreciate my parents Mr. and Mrs. Enyeribe Promise Nwaozuru, and my relatives
such as Chigozie Christian Nwaozuru, Engr. C. Joel, Sorochi Ugoala, Vincent Iheajuru,
George Okorafor Nneji and many others, for their collective efforts in assisting me
during my first degree in the university. Special thanks to Rev. and Rev. Mrs. Obinna
Chinwe Agu, Prof. Oliver O.C Uche, Rev Fr. Prof B.A.C. Obiefuna, Very, Rev. Prof.
P.E. Nmah, Prof. (Mrs). E.O. Ezenweke, Ven. B.O.S. Udezo, Rev Fr. Dr. C.B.J.G
Okpalaike, Rev Fr. Dr. D.C. Obielosi, Dr. K.L. Nwadialor, Dr. I.L Umeanolue, Dr. (Mrs)
A.M. Chukwuma-Offor, Mrs. C.N. Chigbo, Mr. J.C. Ihetu, Amah, Johnson, Ejike, Jude,
Emmanuel, Okafor, Amarachi, Nwokedi, Godswill and Prince Onyebuchi Sunday they
have been of immense help to me. Finally, to all those who in one way or other have
helped me I say a big thank you and that may God bless you all. Amen
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page i
Copyright ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
Table of Contents v
Preface vii
REFERENCES 84
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PREFACE
Africans value good health and make sure that anything that causes harm to health
is avoided. Sickness is inimical to health thus Africans can spend a lot to treat
themselves when they are sick. Africans seek for holistic healing of which Christian
healing ministry can offer through the power of Jesus Christ. This makes some Africans
who are sick to patronise Christian healing ministry with the aim of attending holistic
healing. Christian healing ministry has been helpful in the society as some Pentecostal
churches that practice healing have contributed to national development of Nigeria and
some sick people have received divine healing. It has also help in spiritual revival of the
church and has made Christians to develop their spiritual gifts to exhort the church.
Presently, it has been observed that some fake healers who claim that God has
called them, hide under the cloak of Christian healing ministry to materially and
spiritually exploit sick people seeking for divine healing. It could be observed that many
practices of some Christian healing ministries are contrary to the teachings of Christ in
Matthew 10:8 "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You
received without paying, give without pay". Some faith healers commercialize religious
objects (selling of olive oil, holy water, handkerchief and many more at exorbitant rate),
encouraging their members not to visit hospitals when they are sick which has led to the
death of many sick people. Some of them give prophecies that has resulted to family
crisis while others emphasis much on demon possession on the sick person and
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suggesting for the sick person to undergo deliverance which they use as medium to
materially exploit the sick person for deliverance services. Some involve in
performing of fake healing miracles to attract people to their ministry. The practices of
Christians. Some believers go to church not for salvation nor to seek for Christ but for
healing miracles and the person performing it. Since it seems like the practice of healing
miracles attracts more members some men of God who do not have the gift of healing
and performing of miracles seek for powers from evil source in order to get more
members.
Others only regard and respect ministers with gifts of healing and working of
miracles as they consider others without these gifts as inferior. These do not mean that
there are no genuine healing ministries in the society but it is just that the fake ones are
more than the genuine ones. Therefore Christians should be careful not fall into the hand
associated with Christian healing ministry yet Christian healing ministry has been of
veritable tool in spreading the gospel, spiritual revival of the church, church growth and
Chapter one opens with introduction to the book. chapter two examined ill-
health, healing and health. chapter three emphasized on dimensions of Christian healing
ministry starting from Christianity and healing emphasis, healing ministry of Jesus,
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purpose of Jesus healing ministry, healing ministry in the early church, healing
ministry in post apostolic era, Pentecostalism and healing ministry, early missionary
thrust and the quest for healing and African indigenous prophetic healing movement.
Chapter four appraised Christian healing ministry in Nigeria touching its positive and
negative impact in the society. On the positive side it includes; church growth, spiritual
and commercialization of religious objects, family crisis and pastoral care in Christian
healing ministry. Chapter five brings the book to a conclusion. The book sheds more
light on pastoral care in Christian healing ministry to achieve the purpose of which
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
dimension. Healing was practiced in Ancient Near East as some prophets in Israel were
not only mediators between Yahweh and God's people but healed diseases through divine
quick recovery from his illness as a result of obedience to Elisha's directive. Wesley
(2011) opines that the Church’s involvement in the ministry of healing has a theological
framework; it springs from what we believe about God, His will and purposes for
humankind. Christians believe that God’s will for His human creation is wholeness in
body, mind and spirit. It follows that healing, however generated, is a positive experience
that frees us from any abnormality that interferes with wholeness. Healing was central to
the ministry of Jesus when He was on earth. A large percentage of His miracles were
miracles of healing. Furthermore, Wesley (2011) observes that Jesus commissioned His
disciples to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal; Jesus’ commission to heal was
not just for His immediate followers but for succeeding generations of Christians Luke
9:2. In Corinthians 12:28 Paul writes of Gifts of Healings being available to Christians
while James says that those who are sick should call for the elders of the church to pray
over them for healing James 5:14. Thus, healing cannot be disassociated from
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of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church and held in high esteem by Pentecostals.
and corporate faith is strong, there is expectation that God could and is able to heal
miraculously always. According to Asuza (1992), African worldview stresses the fact
that a human being needs healing as a socio-religious entity for his whole being. It is
perhaps; in the light of this that one can understand the overall significance of Christian
developed in the church as an authentic sign of witness of faith. Thus, there is this
conviction that Christ’s call to His followers to heal the sick is still in force. So, Churches
in Nigeria are not left out in this aspect. According to Wesley (2011), throughout much of
the twentieth century there has been a resurgence of interest in the spiritual dimension of
healing. It could be seen that in this twenty first century, there are many congregations
observation, one gets the impression that those churches that practice healing seems to be
growing faster than those that do not practice the phenomenon, thereby suggesting that
there might be a link between the practice of healing and church growth. It could be
observed that churches that practice ministry gifts or whose minsters encourage and
promote the practice, seems to be growing faster while members of other churches that
do not involve in healing ministry tend to join the former or better still show dual
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membership as most of the healing ministry programmes are held on mid-week basis. In
Nigeria, this is commonly seen among the Pentecostals. Ahiabu (2011) observes that
the phenomenon of healing has become very common and central to the religious
healing ministry as testimonies of various kinds of miraculous healings are reported daily
in their various social media platforms, radio and Television stations, national dailies and
so on. In support of the above viewpoint, Asuza (1992) opines that it has reached that
magnitude whereby new churches, healing centers and prayer houses are being opened
daily, all claiming the power to heal and work miracles. Almost all the so-called
prophets in Nigeria claim to have the gift of healing and ability to work miracles.
New churches, ministries and centers so founded are usually filled beyond
capacity by eager seekers for God’s immediate intervention in their lives. In a bid not to
lose out on membership and to attract new ones, many of the mainline churches have
surprising that there are many healing programmes and service ongoing in various
Churches in Nigerian society, it is observed that where there is poor medical facilities as
found in many parts of Nigeria there is bound to be high rate of diseases and illnesses.
Thus, there will be high desire for divine healing by the populace. Hence, Kalu (2008)
elucidates that “Africa is a fertile ground for faith healing practices" (p. 263). Faith
worldview good health is the utmost value and must be protected to avoid damage which
could be caused by sickness. It is believed that sickness that defy medical treatment
one of the means God helps Africans in curing sickness beyond medical control. Hence,
this has given rise to the establishment of healing ministry in nooks and crannies of
Nigeria.
It is realistic that sickness causes pains, agonizes and finally death if not properly
cured thus, the whole creation groans in its need for deliverance which could come from
Christ. Healing ministry has become very popular among Nigerian Pentecostal churches
in recent times, with large numbers of people attending these activities. However, this
practice has been incorporated into the church with the aim of evangelizing people as
well as responding to the needs of its members and the general society. Hence, when
people face physical ailments, they visit healing ministries hoping to witness the power
of Christ’s healing in their lives, they want God to intervene and restore their physical
Recently, it could be seen that some of these healing ministries are now
exploiting people both spiritually and materially. They deceive, defraud, commercialize
religious objects and have caused many problems in families and the society at large.
This is contrary to the teachings of Christ in Matthew 10:8 "Heal the sick, raise the
dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying, give without pay”.
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Therefore, this book aims at appraising Christian healing ministry in Nigeria, pointing
key terms in this topic. Key terms worthy of definition are; appraisal, healing, healing
Appraisal
Healing
Martin (2014) defines healing as broad concept, which covers a whole range of
Healing Ministry
Ukanwa (2017) defines healing ministry as a religious concept and the service of
Faith Healing
through the power of belief and prayer. In this context, it could be seen as God's ability
CHAPTER TWO
It is undeniable fact that not many things in this world interest humans quite as
much as health. People do not only talk about health in public and in private, but also
spend a great deal of resources and energy on it in one way or the other. It is not
surprising that many governments allocate huge chunks of their resources for providing
good healthcare systems for their citizenry. Morton (1973) opines that United States of
America alone spends billions of dollars to preserve health and prolong life even in
Nigeria, efforts are made to improve the health sector for prevention of diseases and
sustenance of good health. This observation is evident in the resources that individuals
and corporate social organizations invest in ensuring wellbeing through health care
importance of health not only to secular societies but also to religious organizations such
seems to be the practice of healing in one way or the other. Although the processes and
approaches to the practice of healing may take different forms, one can hardly deny the
need of the practice in the church. The practice has since been identified as a key
component of the ministries of Jesus Christ and has continued to make its strong presence
in contemporary Christian practices. In Nigeria, the practice of healing is not only found
in Pentecostal churches but it is also fast spreading in some mainline churches. Examples
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include: Rev Fr. Ejike Mbaka’s Adoration Ministry of Enugu Nigeria (AMEN), Rev. Fr.
Emmanuel Edeh and his Catholic Prayer Ministry of the Holy Spirit (CPM), Rev. Fr.
Emmanuel Obimma’s Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry (Ebube Muo Nso), Rev. Fr.
Ahiabu (2011) defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social
well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Unlike the traditional system
scientific methods of investigation. Scientifically, health and healing are explained from
phenomena are derived from a single fundamental principle. In this context, health is
chemistry and physics. Engel (1981) states that this scientific method of reductionism in
understands that unless there have been injuries caused by external circumstances, the
cause of a disease can be reduced to a specific micro-organism. Laura (1990) points that
terms. Thus, from the biomedical perspective health is a theoretical concept which is
understood basically to be the absence of diseases. Boorse (1976) argues that the chief
components of health are biological and statistical normality (the ability to perform
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in this model are perceived as deviations from the norm of health; they are internal states
which depress functional ability. As a result, healing is mostly limited to the kinds of
sicknesses that are identified through scientific investigations. Ahiabu (2011) notes that
healing to measures that aim at restoring only scientifically proven causes of ill-health
other forms of treatments such as; taking rest, doing exercise and regulating one's diet.
Yet there are illnesses that defy medical treatments thus, scientific or medical healing is
not the only source of obtaining cure from diseases especially holistic healing.
One cannot understand and explain the Christian perspective of ill-health without
thoroughly examining the Christian concept of man. This is because in Christianity there
is the believe that when ill- health occurs, it affects certain aspect of the human person.
There are divergent Christian views about the composition of the human person.
According to Ruby (2011), on one hand, the Christian believes that humans are
composed of three basic elements; soul, spirit and body. Others believe in the bipartite
nature of humans. Ferguson (1988) states that alluding to biblical account on the creation
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of humans, humans were created from an existing physical matter. However, it is the
bringing in of the spiritual component, which is the breath of God (Spirit dimension) by
God that makes humans living beings. The spirit element of humans is identified with
God and serves as the divine element and the source of life for human existence.
Ferguson (1988) further asserts that the physical element known as the body serves as the
embodiment of the spiritual component. This is based on the assumption that the two
components of the human person do not function in isolation of each other. This means
that anything that affects one aspect including ill-health will consequently affect the other
component. Ahiabu (2011) opines that from the Christian worldview, sin (which is
of ill health. This believe is strong in Jewish worldview. The Old Testament also shows
that sickness can come to man if he fails to keep to the law or tries to harm the ministers
of Yahweh like the case of Miriam. Even Yahweh told the children of Israel that if
they keep His law, He will not allow any of the diseases that tormented the Egyptians to
come to them Exodus 15:26. When the disciples of Jesus saw the man born blind they
asked Him who sinned? Is it the mother or the father? This question confirms that Jews
consider sickness as a result of sin. From biblical point of view, Ahiabu (2011) contends
that maintaining a right relationship with God and fulfilling the righteous requirements of
the law has a causal link with health. It is, for instance, believed that people were sick
and some died prematurely because they did not participate in the Lord's Supper in a
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proper manner (1 Corinthians 11:29-30). In another case, Jesus was reported of warning
the man beside the pool of Bethesda to stop sinning or something worse may happen to
him (John 5:14). These cases are indication of the belief that some people become sick as
a result of the consequence of sin. For Jubilee (1998), this does not mean sin is believed
to be the only cause of sickness. Neither is every ill-health situation linked to sin
according to the Christian point of view. This is true as there are situations where people
seemed to have suffered with perpetual illnesses, during the times of the apostles.
In 2 Corinthians 12:7 shows that there was a thorn in the flesh of Paul, 1 Timothy
5:23 - Timothy is encouraged to use wine for his recurring ailment. In the ancient
times, wine was viewed as a medicinal ingredient. In fact, the Jewish elders
recorded in 2 Timothy 4:20. The fact that he was left behind in Miletus because
Therefore, illness is not something we can completely obliterate. Even for the
apostles, who were powerfully used by God in healing and the performing of many
miracles, illness was a reality they could not just pray away.
It could be said that although there are modern medical facilities in the form of
hospitals and clinics in Nigeria, there is much recourse to religion for the purpose of the
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sustenance and restoration of good health. This ideology is very strong in traditional
African society. In African worldview, ill-health is not only associated with physical
sickness but other aspects such as spiritual, material and so on. Kofi (1981) sees ill health
as a state of disharmony in the whole body and even in the whole society. This viewpoint
resonates with the idea of Idemudia (2012) who opines that the common element in the
African belief system is simply that physical and mental illness is the result of distortions
or disturbance in the harmony between an individual and the cosmos, which may mean
his family, society, peers, ancestors or a deity. In discussing ill- health among humans,
two major things come to mind. These are the nature of humans and the factors that
account for ill-health. Africans generally believe that man is a tripartite being while
Ahiabu (2011) states that, the human is composed of physical and spiritual elements and
none of these elements lives in isolation of the other. The health of one affects other and
vices versa. That is to say that there is an interaction between the spiritual components
with the physical components of man. According to Kofi (1981), there are two major
sources of ill health which he described as natural and preternatural. Kofi (1981) further
writes that:
substances. In other words, man has a body, which is tangible and spirit, which is
intangible. The body is the part which perishes when a man dies, but the spirit
survives, and links him with the creator. These two parts may be further divided
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them concerning the unity of man’s personality. The idea that there must be
complete harmony between the body and spirit is basic to African thought; for it
is believed that either part, when damaged, will have effect on the other. In case
aspect but to the spiritual causes as well, for good health and well-being can only
be attained when both body and spirit are taken care of.(pp.120-121).
However, in traditional Igbo society, the cause of ill health could be classified
into following; evil spirits, manifestations of the anger of the earth goddess (Ala), and
existence of Ekwensu (Satan), Ogbanje, witches and wizards, ghosts which sometimes
can cause disease to man as Martin (2014) affirms that some African illnesses believed to
be caused by witchcraft and by evil spirits are not treatable by scientific medicine.
Thus, they call on their ancestors and Chukwu the Supreme Being to protect and heal
them. Also, when one commits taboo such as incest, stealing a yam, bestiality, killing
another man, homosexuality and so on such a person will incur the wrath of the earth
goddess which could cause ill-health. Furthermore, it is also believed that good morals
enhance fellowship with the Supreme Being, the earth goddess, ancestors and foster
good health. Bad morals are considered sins and separate the community from the
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Supreme Being leading to disruption in the well- being of both the individual and the
community in which he or she lives. Ahiabu (2011) asserts that all these positions boil
down to one strongly held view in Africa that biology alone does not explain disease
causation. And as such, any attempt to find remedy to ill-health in the form of healing
(1998), in the Old Testament, health was understood in terms of longevity and strength.
Moreover, it has been found that the words health and life in biblical thought were used
interchangeably and synonymously and implies survival and well-being. Thus, the
biblical view of health could be construed primarily as physical in nature although this is
pursued in the broader context to mean human well-being. This understanding of health is
similar to African traditional religion’s view that health is also associated with material
concepts such as life, fertility, plenty, prosperity, rain and the possession of assets.
Ahiabu (2011) opines that these views on ill health and health support the argument that
the Bible has a holistic view of health, revolves around the concept of shalom (peace)
which appears to be the nearest word to health. This in turn to confirm that the Old
Testament concept of health is holistic and indeed not only related to the state of the
In the New Testament, the texts contain no dynamic equivalent to the word
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health but content themselves with terms for healing. As such, these texts limit
instances of healing to three areas which are tangible physical healing, the casting
out of demons and the raising of the dead. In the light of these, it could be argued
that the New Testament understanding of health comprises physical and mental
well-being, the absence of illness, physical disability and the expulsion of demons or
evil spirits which could have an effect upon the physical and mental health of
persons. (p.7).
Jesus understood the importance of restoring good health to the sick thus, He
incorporated healing in his earthly ministry and mandated His disciples to carry on the
Great Commission along with it. Jesus never turns away those who come to him for
healing, rather he is always ready to heal them of their sicknesses and set them free from
their problems. The healing acts of Jesus were themselves the message that he had come
to set men free not only from sin but from sickness.
Both African worldview and Christianity advocates for holistic healing which is
beyond restoring the physical health of man and can only come through divine means.
According to Yang (2011), holistic healing is not an absence of disease physically, but
the process of not only recovering from disease, but also being a healthy person as a
whole being through a holistic and lifestyle approach focusing on all parts of the
individual. If someone asks many doctors and nurses of a hospital the meaning of the
term healing, their responses may be more inclined towards focus on the scientific
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dimension of the physical components of the person. In other words, they most likely
There is a difference between the meaning of the terms healing and cure, and it is
one that calls for explanation. Michael (2008) views that the term cure is rooted in the
Latin curare meaning, to take care of. The term developed to mean a medical course of
treatment for a body ailment while the term healing, on the other hand, is rooted in the
Old English hal meaning to make sound or whole which rectifies a disease or a disorder
in one component of the triune being, while healing addresses the integration of these
three components into a single entity, and is independent of the extent to which an
individual’s physical body is cured. Many people think that healing is simply defined as
the absence of disease. And disease, sickness, pain and suffering are things to be avoided
instead of seeing them as messages to embrace. In this line of thinking death is seen as
the final defeat. However, healing is more about relationships with oneself, with others,
well- being, mental functioning, and spiritual vitality. Holistic healing may also refer to
the process of reconciling broken human relationships and to the development of a just
social and political order among races and nations. Holistic healing is also the process of
gaining holistic health. According to Bernard and Roberts (2010), health is a dynamic
state of complete physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being and not merely the
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absence of disease or infirmity. In this definition, social well-being is included for human
health; thus, in order to gain holistic health, the health condition of society is also crucial.
Holistic healing is a lifestyle approach, taking a holistic approach when seeking treatment
for imbalances and choosing to live a more balanced lifestyle. Holistic healing focuses on
all parts of the individual, not just the physical aspect of a person where manifested
illnesses are most apparent. Physical illnesses are the symptoms of a greater imbalance
that may or may not have a root cause in the physical. Physical symptoms can be
alleviated by taking medication; however, unless the whole person is treated, the actual
problem still exists. Holistic healing goes beyond merely treating symptoms, and instead,
uses them as a guide to address the root cause of the problem. Yang (2011) asserts that
the healing ministry in the church should be effective and efficient to allow the
weakness, and brokenness. Holistic healing is associated with faith healing in both
It is very important to examine healing from the biblical point of view since the
Bible is believed to be the Christians’ guide to faith and practice. A survey of the Bible
(2010), the earliest trace of healing in the Bible recounts the story about Abraham who
was reported to have prayed and Abimelech and his household were healed. In the
accounts of healing reported in the Old Testament, it is used not only in reference to the
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healing of humans but it also includes natural phenomena from which humans derive
their existence and livelihood. For instance, Elijah prayed for rain in Israel for there to be
plentiful harvest since there was famine as a result of drought. Elisha used salt to heal
the unproductive land of Jordan in order for it be fruitful. These show that the Old
Testament usage of healing does not only mean physical sickness of people but also has
to do with the immediate environments in which people live and derive their existence
and livelihood. It could be observed that that healing was one of the obvious
characteristics of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. The teaching and preaching of what
Jesus describes as the gospel or good news went hand-in-hand with the healing of the
sick and the casting out of evil spirits from people suspected to be under demonic control.
It is also evident that the Gospels showed evidences of Jesus’ practice of healing and
recorded that Jesus commanded his disciples to do same. Maragh (2006) elucidates that
Mathew, for example, portrays Jesus not only as a teacher and preacher; but also a healer
who was portrayed to have practically and clearly demonstrated divine power in his early
ministry by casting out devils, healing the sick and raising the dead. After His death and
ascension, the early disciples obeyed the command to heal the sick as part of their
ministry this is witnessed in the book of Acts where the Apostles performed many
healing and miracles in the various places they preached the gospel.
person who serves. The office of service can be socio-political, economic, it can also be
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religious. Achtemeier (2002) enunciates that “while ministry was an obligation of all,
certain persons were ministers in special ways” (p. 639). These persons include the
priests who ministered in the Old Testament and in the New Testament they include the
healing spiritually on people in the name of Jesus Christ; and not medically as in the
ministry of health. Healing ministry is one of the ministries of the Church, and it
addresses the issues of sickness and health. It is the Church’s process of restoring health
holistically through prayers and anointing with oil. Whitehead (2002) states that it is a
situation where healing is preached, expected, ministered, and experienced. Thus, healing
healing of an individual. In the church, there are believers who have the gift of healing
collective responsibilities between the practitioner and the client. The prerequisites
include; prayer, total faith in the healing power of Jesus, forgiveness and repentance,
accepting Christ as personal Lord and Saviour and many more. Prayer is a veritable tool
Healing is primarily a prayer ministry does not suggest that other factors do not
contribute to the healing process. The healing ministry of the Church recognizes
many other dimensions in the healing process, including the use of symbolism
and sacramentals. Thus Scripture, praise, the Eucharist, the laying on of hands
and anointing with oil all play a role in the ministry of healing. But the basic
Jesus began to perform healing and other miracles after fasting and praying in the
wilderness. The Apostles prayed, the Holy Spirit descended on them and they performed
many healing miracles. Thus, prayer is necessary for divine healing to take place.
Faith in Christ is another core prerequisite for a sick person to experience divine
healing . This is shown in some of the healing stories of Jesus such as healing of Blind
Bartimaeus, the Centurion’s servant and many more. Faith healing serves as the
hallmark of Pentecostal theology. The theology and doctrine of faith healing is the
emphasis on faith in the Lord Jesus as the key to receiving healing. Ukanwa (2017) states
that at the heart of the theology of faith healing is the condition that physical sickness
was atoned for when Christ died on the cross. Christ’s substitutionary death paid for not
only sin of humankind, but also for the disease of humankind. Warrington (2008) opines
that the faith referred to is described as a belief that God will answer the prayer as it has
been requested, some thus choosing to claim the answer to the prayer. Ukanwa (2017)
further opines that every prayer for healing is faith-based, and the will of God applies;
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but it seems that in the Pentecostal faith-healing, there is nothing like if it is the will of
God, because God has already purchased healing for his children through Christ’s
atonement on the cross, it is always his will. Faith is seen as the key to receiving healing.
The emphasis on faith for healing has led to the belief that lack of faith is responsible for
cases where people do not receive healing. This emphasis on faith also is the reason why
the Pentecostal theology calls this exercise of healing in the name of Jesus, faith healing.
It is well known that without faith it is impossible to please God hence, every Christian
should endeavour to develop a strong and firm faith in Christ not only to for healing but
to please God.
The Jews believe that some sicknesses, sufferings and misfortunes are connected with
sin, and Jesus recognized it in His earthly ministry. Domingues (2000) observes that:
Sickness and misfortune were often seen in connection with sin, in the global
context of the mystery of evil and suffering that burdens man and that Jesus
sickness in connection with sin. Jesus contrasted the sicknesses caused by sin
from sicknesses of natural occurrence just like in the case of the man born blind.
(pp. 75-80).
Ukanwa (2017) asserts that forgiveness and healing of the paralytic lowered by
his friends to Jesus through the roof. This is one of the passages where Jesus showed
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acceptance of the Jewish cultural and religious view on the connection between sin and
sickness, and suffering. Jesus’ acceptance of sin as cause of sickness made him to say to
the man; your sins are forgiven. It portrays Jesus as one who has authority to forgive
sins and to heal the sick sinners. Domingues (2000) opines that it is on this point of
authoritative forgiveness and healing that differentiate Jesus from his contemporary
First and deepest kind of healing that Jesus brings is the forgiveness of sins. It is
heals persons (the giver and receiver) spiritually, emotionally, and even
physically. Forgiveness is a wonderful and effective tool for healing, and that is
what Jesus gives believers; the forgiveness of their sins. Repentance from sin is a
requirement on the part of the penitent or sick- sinner. For example in story of the
prodigal son, when the young man came back to his senses, he repented of his
actions and returned home and implored his father’s mercy and forgiveness,
which healed him. This was the healing of his emotions which he wounded with
teaching and practicing a healing ministry to the sick. He maintains that Irenaeus, Justin
Martyr and Tertullian viewed passages such as Mark 16:15-18 and James 5:14-16 as the
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church's mandate to pray for the sick in expectation of their healing. Warner further notes
that in the third century, Gregory Thaumaturgus or Wonder Worker (. 213-c. 270) was
credited with many miracles, among which was healing. Cunnigham (1990) observes that
the Waldensians were practicing faith healing while the sixteenth-century Protestant
Reformation brought with it a revival of prayers for the sick. Luther himself believed in
praying for the sick and later Protestant groups continued this apostolic practice. The
Catholic Church has maintained the Sacrament of anointing of the sick since the eleventh
and twelfth centuries, with healings reportedly taking place. However, in popular
medieval thinking, the sacrament was regarded as a preparation for death (extreme
unction) rather than a sacramental means of healing grace. Cunnigham (1990) elucidates
that other means of miraculous healings have been recognized by the Catholic Church,
whether they take place by means of sacraments such as prayers or blessings, by healing
saint. Certain individuals within the Catholic tradition, such as Francis of Assisi, Bernard
of Clairvoux and Patrick of Ireland were credited with their spiritual gift of healing.
awakenings throughout the history of the Christian church, the present-day faith-healing
movements look to the late nineteenth century for their immediate antecedents. The
practice of faith healing particularly associated with the Pentecostal movement is based
on the belief that Jesus' promise of healing recorded in Mark 16:18 is for every
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generation of believers. This new wave of interest in faith healing eventually influenced
the American revival tradition. Warner (1990) further enunciates that by the late
nineteenth century, religious figures such as Charles Cullis, Carrie Judd Montgomery,
Dowie and R. Kelso Carter were teaching and practicing faith healing in America. But
among these practitioners there were differences in interpretation and practice of healing.
While some taught that healing is part of the atonement and as readily available to
Christ's atonement, but not a guarantee of physical wellbeing. The latter group looked to
the resurrection for the fullness of healing. On the other hand, conservative theologians,
particularly those of a dispensationalist persuasion, maintained that the gift of healing had
ceased with the apostolic age. This explains why the missionaries to West Africa did not
over emphasis on healing and other miracles which the indigenous people yearned for
but could not obtain them, until the era of African prophetic revivalist movements.
According to Cunnigham (1990), despite these divergent views on faith healing, some
religious individuals like J. A. Dowie held the most radical view of faith healing. He went
further, teaching that medicine and faith healing were incompatible. As a result his
Although Christ has given power and authority to those who believe in Him to
heal diseases yet, Ahiabu (2011) states that not all ministers can do healing effectively.
This is because although certain activities have been identified as components of the
healing practice, healing go beyond ordinary adherence to these principles. Despite the
the church have developed diverse but similar approaches to it. The dynamism in the
different impartation by the Holy Spirit on the lives of the ministers. This could be
observed from the varying levels of experiences and encounters the ministers have had in
the course of their ministrations in the various congregations. Though the genesis of
there are other grounds in the Bible, particularly in the new testament for which
teach, belief in, and practice of the gifts and manifestations of the Holy Spirit with strong
consider Jesus Christ as the ultimate model in its approach to healing ministry. Gbordzoe
(2010) opines that, Jesus practically engaged in healing ministry on earth. He further
explains that at the start of Jesus ministry, He cast out many demons from people and
healed them. For example, He cast demons out of two men in the Gaderenes, delivered
the daughter of a Canaanite woman, cured a demonized man and cast seven demons out
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of Mary Magdalene as well as some other women followers. It could been observed that
Jesus spent more time healing and casting out demons than preaching. The Pentecostals
draw their inspirations from these biblical evidences in their healing practice. In the case
of Africa, the period of silence on faith healing continued with the type of Christian
tradition presented to the Africans until the practice of evangelization and spiritual
healing resurfaced through the initiatives of some African prophets such as Jehu Appiah,
Willams Harris, Garrick Sokari Braide and so on. Although healing is no longer new to
It has been observed that, Christian healing ministry in Nigeria has in doubt lead
to increase in membership and growth of Pentecostal churches. One could say that during
Jesus ministry on earth many followed Him not only because He was a teacher of God's
word but because of the mighty healing miracles He did. Martin (2014) indicates that
the healing ministry of the early Church helped in the spreading of the Gospel. The
present Church is not excluded as Ahiabu (2011) states that upon observation, one gets
the impression that those churches that practice healing seems to be growing faster than
those that do not practice the phenomenon, thereby suggesting that there might be a link
between the practice of healing and growth. Hence, there is need to examine Church
growth in line with healing ministry. Church is simply put as the body of Christ.
nature, function, structure, health and multiplication of Christian churches as they relate
and make them my disciples (Matt 28:19-20). There various dimensions of Church
The growth of the church by the addition of new converts is the fundamental
dimension of growth, but there are obviously many other areas of growth that relate to the
nature, function, structure, health and multiplication of Christian churches. Roy (1984)
notes that church growth embraces more than an interest in numbers and includes a
concern for quality. Roy further suggests holistic expansion as a suitable term to describe
the multidimensional growth of the body of Christ, and points out four dimensions.
According to him, in order for church growth to be considered holistic expansion, it must
encompass four major areas namely the numerical, organic, conceptual and incarnational.
The numerical growth has to do with an increase in numbers of the membership of the
church. According to Kwabena (2005), this can occur through biological, transfer,
restoration and conversion. Firstly, the biological growth occurs when the children of
Christian parents come to a personal faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and join
the church, usually by a rite that recognizes their status as responsible members. This
may be by confirmation, believers’ baptism, putting on and any other means by which
converts are identified with the community of believers. Roy (1984) is of the view that
even though biological growth is good and biblical, it can sometimes be very slow and
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often not equal the population growth since non-Christian part of the world seems to be
growing faster than that of Christians. The second is transfer growth which Costa
transfer from other congregations. This may be due to movement of Christians from one
area to another but occasionally may be as a result of social or doctrinal reasons. The
third is restoration growth. This describes the phenomenon where some Christians who
have withdrawn their active participation in religious activities are successfully brought
to fellowship with Jesus Christ and into active church membership. The successful
growth. Roy (1984) describes this kind of growth as growing more in number; it takes
place when those outside the church are brought to repentance and faith in Christ and join
a local church as responsible members. Ahiabu (2011) observes that although this
dimension of church growth comes from obedience and commitment to the Great
Commission, it only materializes after the evangelized have become responsible and
committed members of the Christian community- the church of Christ. The point of
emphasis here can be linked to the task of evangelization. Roy (2011) identifies another
maturity. This dimension of growth describes the personal and corporate development of
the Christians’ understanding of his or her faith. Roy (2011) further defines conceptual
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growth as the degree of consciousness that a community's of faith has with regard to its
nature and mission to the world. This idea is similar to Gbordzoe (2010) whose
proposition is that the church grows when its activities are aimed at fulfilling the Great
Commission which is making disciples for Christ. For Roy (2011), the Great
Commission includes the teaching of disciples as a fundamental activity and offers the
opportunity of learning the faith as first duty. The early fellowships of believers were
constituted on the basis of the Lord’s teaching through the Apostles. Moreover, Roy
(2011) stresses that the local church is a community formed and nurtured by the
preaching and teaching of the word of God. The progress of preaching the gospel and the
growth of the church are even described as the increase of the word. According to
Ahiabu (2011), this is to say that the key factor in conceptual growth is the word of God.
How much knowledge has the Christian about the word of God? To what extent is the
believer able to apply the word of God to practical life situations? Conceptual growth
points to the Christians’ ability to interact with the word of God meaningfully in order to
discover the will of God for their lives and order their lives accordingly. Therefore the
progress of a church in every age and all cultures may be measured against this yardstick
may gauge the maturity and ministry of every Church throughout history. another
community. He notes that while becoming and being a Christian are entirely dependent
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upon an intimate and personal relationship to Christ, the Christian faith can only be lived
in a relationship with and in service to others. Roy (1984) strongly argues that
describes the formation and functioning of this communal life of the local church. Roy
leadership and types of activities in which its time and resources are invested.
The church, according to Kwabena (2005), also has another dimension of growth
degree of involvement of a community of faith in the life and problems of her social
environment. For Morton (1973), that is the church's participation in the afflictions of the
world in which the church finds itself, it’s prophetic, intercessory and liberating action on
behalf of the weak and destitute, the intensity of its preaching to the poor; the broken-
hearted, the captives, the blind and the oppressed. This kind of growth describes the
Christ’s ministry. Roy (1984) views that a local church should engage in a healing
ministry even if many within the church rejects the miracle that underlines the messages
and the wonders that signify the Lord is with his people. Roy's ideology may be a strong
reason why many pastors in Nigeria insist on paying much attention to healing ministry
than other church activities in their various churches. According to Kwabena (2005), The
church, therefore, must learn to tap by prayer the unlimited spiritual resources available
for the progress of God’s mission. It is in respect of this that, Christians are called to
stand against the forces of evil and the rebellion of men. Ahiabu (2011) says that the
churches ability to discover the various spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit among the
members of the church and their mobilization, development and the subsequent
utilization of these gifts to the benefit of the members of its community is a crucial factor
to her growth and the healing ministry could speed up this growth.
(1977) list these steps which include; discovering church growth principles, respecting
evangelism, rightly discerning the body, rightly discerning the community, finding new
parenthood, structuring for growth and risking for growth. Roy (1984) identifies constant
released resources as signs of growth. Roy (1984) discusses them as signs because they
are observable phenomena that accompany genuine church growth. Furthermore, Roy
(1984) indicates that these signs are not exhaustive and explains that though a growing
church may exhibit several of these signs; it may not necessarily exhibit all of them.
Moreover, Roy argues that churches grow when they pray constantly, respect the
authority of the Bible, appoint effective leaders, mobilize their membership, worship God
develop genuine community life; allow spirit-directed change and release the resources of
God for God’s mission. McGavran and Winfield (1977) explain that a church growth
principle is the universal truth which, when properly interpreted and applied, contributes
states that to discover a church growth principle, one must observe where the church is
growing, where God is blessing the efforts of his servants with factual, actual church
growth, where the number of members is increasing and new congregations are being
born and where men and women are introduced to Jesus Christ, committing their lives to
him, and becoming responsible members of his Church. Thus, to know how to grow a
church, one must critically study churches which are growing so as to discover the
biblical principles which account for the carefully observed growth. When one sees
where God is blessing the church with growth, it is important that one investigates why
and how the growth is occurring. Norman and James (1994) asserts that when one
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observes and studies the various factors such as efforts, prayers, witness, passion,
teaching, education, biblical base and outreach from which this growth emerges and then
carefully analyzes and truthfully describes the findings, one is bound to find one or more
church growth principles. In Nigeria, healing ministry with its deliverance and other
CHAPTER THREE
The idea of divine healing has been in existence before the founding of
Christianity. It could be that the first report of healing in the Old Testament is cited in
Exodus 16: 26 where Yahweh instructed the children of Israel to keep his command in
order for him not allow the Egyptian diseases come upon them. Also, reports of healing
Namaan’s leprosy, Miriam restoration from the plague of leprosy and many more. Jesus
in his time also performed healings stressing the fact that his power of healing is from
God. He commissioned his disciples to carry out the Great Commission along with the
there is the need to examine history of healing ministry in the Christian Church starting
The practice of healing was witnessed in Jesus earthly ministry. Healing the sick
was the hallmark of Jesus' ministry. Rice (2004) states that Jesus' miracles affirm the
value of physical health and provide a basis for endeavors to relieve suffering and heal
the sick. Physically Jesus cured blindness, deafness, leprosy, and paralysis. Jesus also
provided physical food for the 5,000 plus multitude. Rice (2004) goes on to address the
spiritual dynamics of Jesus' healing when He dealt with spiritual and physical needs
together. For example, the healing of the paralyzed man in Mark 2 shows both the
physical and spiritual healing of Jesus. Jesus healed the man from paralysis (physical)
and he said to him "Your sins are forgiven" (spiritual healing). According, Maragh
(2006), Jesus' entire ministry was directed toward spiritual ends. Its primary objective
was to restore human beings to proper relationship with God. Emotional needs of people
were also addressed by Jesus. Jesus showed his feelings to the woman who had an issue
of blood; He called her daughter, and listened to her story. Jesus was also attentive to the
emotional needs of His closest followers. He once told His disciples to come apart from
the crowd and rest awhile (Mark 6:31). Jesus also dealt with the social aspects of healing.
Rice (2004) elucidates that "we see the healing of communities in a number of Jesus'
miracles, as well as his teachings on forgiveness. Each of the individuals He raised from
the dead was restored to a bereaved family— Jairus' daughter, the son of the widow of
Nain, and Lazarus of Bethany" (p. 24). Jesus healed diseases that caused social
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discrimination. For example, in Luke 17 Jesus healed ten Samaritans who had leprosy.
The person with leprosy was excommunicated from society and forced to shout, unclean,
unclean. White (1961) comments on ministry as it pertains to the poor, home dynamics,
the use of remedies, and healing the soul, just to name a few. White says that during the
ministry of Jesus He did more healing than preaching. Jesus dealt with the mind and
soul. The Saviour made each work of healing an occasion for implanting divine
principles in the mind and soul. This was the purpose of His work. White (1961) also
comments on the paralytic's. She states, "He needed health of soul before he could
appreciate health of body. Before the physical malady could be healed, Christ must
bring relief to the mind, and cleanse the soul from sin" (p.77). When Jesus said, "Your
sins are forgiven," instantly the man was restored spiritually. Jesus' ministry was holistic
in nature and not just limited to the physical aspects of healing the sick. There are three
aspects of Jesus' ministry to the sick and dying that should be noted. According to
Maragh (2006):
First, He recognized the vulnerability of the sick, in their need for care. Jesus
touched those who were sick both physically and spiritually. He touched the leper
(Mark 1:41), laid hands on the blind man (Mark 8:22), and took the hand of the
daughter of Jairus (Luke 8:54). Second, Jesus brought "outcasts" back into human
society through His healing word and touch. He challenged the notion that
sickness is the result of sin. The diseased were thought of as unclean, punished by
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God and cut off from God's holy people. When his disciples asked, "Lord, who
sinned, this man or his parents, for him to be born blind?" (John 9:2), Jesus
replied, "Neither he nor his parents sinned." Jesus' ministry was holistic and dealt
with the sick and outcast. Finally, Jesus reaffirmed the need for spiritual healing.
The paralytic lowered through the roof is first healed of his sins (Mark 2:5), while
the man by the pool at Bethesda is warned, "Give up your sins so that something
worse may not overtake you" (John 5:24). It is important to note that in Jesus'
healings death was not excluded. Death itself, the ultimate affront to humanity,
was overcome by Jesus. He raised Jairus' daughter (Luke 8:49-56), the widow of
Nain's son (Luke 7:11-17), and Lazarus (John 11:38-44). His healing ministry
consisted of not only the sick, but also those who were dead. God's compassion
for all his children is revealed in the human touch of Jesus, in the restoration to
community of those considered outcasts, and in the salvia healing of sin and
integration for people of different walks of life. He cured prostitutes, lepers, servant of a
centurion, the demon-possessed and so forth. Jesus' miracles and healings were not
merely acts of good deeds; there were deeper significance to them. It is therefore
Christ did not involve in his healing ministry without any reason. A proper
understanding of the reason Jesus involved in healing ministry will enable us know why
Christian emphasize on divine healing. There are different scholarly views on the
purpose of Jesus healing ministry. Martin (2014) suggests that the healings were a way
that Jesus demonstrated God's love and sympathy to the suffering people. He was never
indifferent to suffering, but was always moved by compassionate love (Matthew 20:34).
Christ fully understood that sickness brings agony and pains to man thus, He was
affectionate towards sick people. This portrayed the humanity of Christ. For Kim (2008),
the healing acts shows the status of Jesus as the Messiah. Kim further elucidates that
although Jesus' divine sonship is the primary focus of His miracle, there is also
significant messianic implications. For instance the miracle of Jesus healing the lame
man provides yet another aspect of the Messiah's work in His coming kingdom, namely
the healing of the blind, the dumb, the mute, and the lame in Isaiah. 35:5-6, 61:1.
According to Angelica (1999), this point is further substantiated by the fact that Jesus
wanted his miracles to be signs of His sonship and the coming of the Spirit and to
represent God as agents of healing in this world. Jesus could in many instances heal
without any demand on the sufferer's faith, thereby displaying that healing was an act of
grace and not essentially of one's faith. In fact, Jesus saw healing as a shared enterprise
where he provided an opportunity for faith and divine power to coalesce in creating a
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new order. In some of the accounts of Jesus’ healings, first of all the sick person must
have faith then Jesus would heal the person. This is an indication that faith in God is a
Morton (1973) argues that the miraculous healings and exorcism ministry of Jesus
represent the definite breaking in of the kingdom of God in triumph over the kingdom of
Satan. Whereas in various healing miracles Jesus expels the demonic powers causing
disease, in his exorcisms he cast out demons who had gained total control over people.
Martin (2014) remarks that Jesus performed healings to manifest God's power over evil,
as the world was under the dominion of evil, and the human beings incapable of defeating
this, so by God's creative and redemptive power he was attacking evil, as it affects the
moral, mental and physical dimensions of the people. The Gospel according to Mark does
not try to show the sonship of Christ through his healing recordings; rather, he wanted to
express Jesus rule over the cosmic forces and demonic world. Martin (2014) opines that:
divinity and to announce the coming of God's kingdom in Christ. They were not
just done for the sake of the spectacular or to put focus upon him. Many times, He
did not even want them to be revealed. Jesus' healings were pointing to the
confrontation of his purposes to bring hope and life against the devil's evil
intentions and control of the world. Jesus releases the healing power to heal in
fulfilling His divine mission therefore, He did not neglect it but rather was deeply
involved in it and even commanded his disciples to preach the gospel along with the
healing ministry in obedience to this Jesus' command Martin (2014) elucidates that the
Church has carried out their mission mandate including the healing practice, on the
The main feature of the Early Church was their fellowship and togetherness. The
gifts of the Holy Spirit were also given to them. Individual gifts were to build up the
body unto maturity (Eph. 4:11-13). Martin (2014) indicates that this fellowship is
therapeutic in nature, just like being in the company of Jesus. The healing ministry of the
Early Church helped with the spreading of the Gospel. Petersen (2000) observes that:
There are many biblical texts (Acts 2:42-43, 5:12-16 and 19:11-12) and examples to
prove that healing was part and parcel of the Early Church's ministry. The signs and
miracles of the apostles parallels that of Jesus in many ways, such as the popular
interest for what was taking place ( Mark 6:35). The layout in James 5:14-16 reflects
an important portion of how the healing sacrament was officiated in the Early
Church. This Scripture reads: Is any of you sick? He should call the elders of the
church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the
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prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If
he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray
for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful
This shows that for the healing ministry to be efficient and effective there is need for
the church to cooperatively and collectively have strong faith in God and love to enable
them bear one another’s burden especially in the aspect of ill health. According to Mays
(2000):
The readers of James are reminded that their lives are shared by mutual affection, as
a result of their shared relationship of Christ. Prayers of faith and praying for each
other has the potential not only to heal the individual spiritually, but also to benefit
the community as a whole. Christians are encouraged to call elders when they are
sick. This is not speaking against going for medical treatment, but seems to suggest
that prayer should be the obvious place to start when faced with sickness. After
reflecting on James 5:14-16 previously, there are two conclusions to make: Firstly,
the sick person must call the elders, and exercise some faith that God will manifest
healing through his servants and therefore call on them. Secondly, the faith
according to James 5:14-16 that is used to bring about healing is not individual
faith; it is not the faith of the sick person or the pastor alone. It is the corporate faith
of the whole Church, involving all the leaders (elders). It is very important to note
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that God is the healer and the faith of the Church; the body of believers is merely
It is clear that the Early Church did not go around advertising healing, but
understood it to be part and parcel of their commissioning and preaching of the gospel.
The healing ministry in the Early Church's focus was a corporate ministry.
The healing ministry was not lagging behind in the post Apostolic era.
Historically speaking, the post Apostolic Church regarded a healing ministry as essential
to the life and work of the church. According to Yang (2011), Justin Martyr spoke of the
gift of healing as one of the charismata still received in the church and refers to the early
Christians’ responsibility to care for the sick at their own expense. Irenaeus of Lyons
referred to such works of healing as giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf;
casting out demons; curing the lame, the paralytic and all physical ills; and raising the
dead. Gusmer (1974) elucidates that the patristic period there was a strong belief in
healing, although the more traditional Protestant view would refute this by contending
that miraculous healing ceased with the apostolic age. Yang (2015) further remarks that
Gusmer (1974) views that deacons were designated to serve the sick and to inform the
bishops to pray over them; healing took place by prayer, invocation of God’s name,
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signing of the cross, exorcism, laying on of hands, anointing with oil, and a visit from the
for being a candidates for ordination. Though it is too early in the history of the
church to consider this unction, most scholars agree that the earliest liturgical
source for the consecration of oil for the sick is from the early third century. The
oil was thought to have power to strengthen the body, the soul, and the mind.
Although during the 300s the Church became an official healing place through the
use of the charisma of the Holy Spirit, since then, healing through baptism of the
Holy Spirit was often no longer expected. Healing stories were bused to prove the
divine origin of Christianity, but they got separated from their context and the
(300-400) taught that the material world and body was either evil or unspiritual and that
the soul was essentially spiritual and good. This caused Christians to doubt the validity of
a healing ministry yet, Augustine, one of the great leaders of the early church, was not
taught to pray for healing but later in his Retractions he talked of how he experienced
healing and affirmed its validity. These influenced the practice of Christian healing
ministry. Paul (1987) observed that at a point, anointing with oil was no longer allowed
to be done by lay people; only Bishops and priests were allowed to anoint, and only for
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the healing of the soul and the whole person. This offered more effective occasion for
healing. Therefore, healing by the Christian church fell into disuse as the church yielded
Morton (1973) states that at the beginning of the 20th century, the new Pentecostal
movement, called “First Wave,” drew participants from the holiness movement and other
movements in America that already believed in divine healing. Morton (1973) further
opines that the first Pentecostals in the modern sense appeared in Topeka, Kansas, in a
Bible school conducted by Charles Fox Parham, a holiness teacher and former Methodist
1906 through the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, led by William Joseph Seymour.
Vinson (2009) reports that all kinds of sick people were healed during the Azusa Street
meetings and by the year 2000, this wave had grown into 65 million Pentecostals in 740
Pentecostal denominations, including the Assemblies of God and the Church of God in
Christ. According to Yang (2011), the charismatic renewal wave, called the “Second
Wave,” was larger than the first wave, with 175 million people in all the major
denominations such as Catholic and Protestant. Agnes Sanford, a key figure in the
Charismatic Movement in the United States during the 1960s through to about 1980, is
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considered to be one of the preeminent spiritual healers of the twentieth century. These
Christians who have had a charismatic experience have mostly stayed (75 percent) within
the parent churches to form organizations that host annual conventions; however, some
charismatic churches. These now number around 100,000, loosely organized into 3,700
denominations or other groupings. Jung (2010) states that the Third Wave were mainly
made up of faith healers who traveled with large tents for large, open-air crusades.
Furthermore, Jung(2010) points that the extraordinary phenomenon in this Third Wave
is the great success of the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, which in the late 1990s
became the number one tourist attraction in Toronto, Canada. Thousands of visitors,
including many pastors, came to see and experience healing, basking in the intense
presence of God. Jung (2010) opines that Oral Roberts was one of the most famous
people in spiritual gifts movement after 1960s, continued with faith healing until the
1980s. For more than thirty years, he held more than three-hundred major healing
crusades, and he laid hands on more than one million people. Oral Roberts was a pioneer
medium to gain a wider audience led others to follow suit. His ministry had a worldwide
impact second only to Billy Graham. His divine healing ministry called for prayer to heal
ministry started with the activities of the indigenous prophets and their spiritual
movements such as Garrick Sokari Braide, Harris Willams and others as Yang (2014)
observes that healing ministry was widely conducted and was an integral part of
spreading the new faith which the people yearned for that the mission churches could not
Nigerian society.
Nwadialor (2016), the first missionary enterprise to Nigeria was between 14-15 century
in Benin and Warri kingdom by the Portuguese missionaries but the missionary activity
was not successful due to reasons such as language barrier, financial difficulty,
unfavourable weather condition and so on. But by the nineteen century, Church
Missionary Society led by Henry Townsend first arrived to Eastern Nigeria then extended
their missionary work to Abeokuta where they established their first missionary station;
coupled with the efforts of other missionary groups, Christianity spread to other parts of
Nigeria. Mafukata (2017) observes that missionary theology was neither prophetic nor
miracle healing oriented. The reason behind this could be according to Warner (1990),
that the conservative theologians in nineteenth century maintained that the gift of
healing had ceased with the apostolic age. It was this period that the missionaries came
to West Africa so they did not over emphasis on healing and other miracles. The
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missionaries understood that Africans were educationally and socially sick thus, they
established schools, hospitals and provided other social amenities to better the life of the
people. Ukpong (2007) analyzing the religious scenario of the period observes that:
country. Their religious problems were not met adequately by the liturgical
ceremonies of these churches as expectations from the churches were not met.
The missionaries of the older churches failed to address the type of questions the
African situation raised for them: witchcraft, demon possession, haunting by evil
spirits, the cult of ancestors; the use of protective charms, talisman; sorcery and
the traditional dancing form of worship at the shrines. The tendency among the
pre-scientific mentality This general dissatisfaction opened door for new religious
Ukpong (2007) further states that in a church where theology and spirituality do
not meet these yearnings, do not take into consideration these dispositions and impulses,
and do not articulate them at the level of practicability and functionality, the Christian
faith becomes ineffective and could be thrown away. The missionaries were not in
support of the revivalist movements centred on miracles and healing activities carried
out by African prophets therefore, many of them broke away from the mainline churches
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and established their own churches that were miracle and healing oriented. Thus, lack of
operating the healing ministry together with the gospel by the early missionaries gave
It could be observed that in Africa, healing ministry started with the revivalist
brought by the missionaries failed to address issues such as demon possession, witchcraft
and so on raised by the Africans which the missionaries considered unscientific and
unrealistic. Therefore, the early missionary's failure to bring spiritual healing gave
rise to indigenous African prophets and their spiritual movement such as Garrick
Sokari Braide, Williams Wade Harris, Jehu Appiah and so on. The spiritual movement
According to Clarke (1986), Garrick Braide began his activities in the Niger Delta
pastorate. CMS required thorough preparation, including the memorizing of the Creed,
prayers, catechism, and hymns in administering the people. Garrick Braide tried more
radical and practical methods; he did not insist on literacy, his chief method was to
organize a crusade against charms, fetishes and idols. His demands were: Destroy
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fetishes, Confess your sins Put absolute faith in Jesus Christ and Stop drinking gin. He
promoted some pious exercises like daily prayers, fasting and singing hymns of praise to
God. He also discovered that he possessed healing power. He had a great impact, brought
about a spiritual revival and took the Gospel to the areas not reached by Christianity
before. Clarke (1986) further stated that the tension between him and the CMS
authorities caused a break that led to a separation in 1918. The initial success of Garrick
Braide showed that the people had some spiritual needs and wanted something that the
Ayandele (1966) enunciates that William Harris became a prophet in 1911 when
he was about 47years old. Harris was a catechist and teacher in a school of the Episcopal
Church. He was imprisoned for political activities (hoisting the British flag). While in
prison, he felt himself called to give up all political activities and to follow his new
mission for God. His missionary activities from 1913 to 1915, he walked and preached
in Liberia, Ivory coast and Ghana. He was successful in his evangelical crusade.
Everywhere people flocked to him, fetishes were ruthlessly burnt; evil spirits were cast
out, tens of thousands were baptized and Sundays were henceforth observed as days of
religious rest. Ajayi (1965) opines that there were tensions with the church authorities
and the French colonial administration in Ivory coast. In 1915 Harris was expelled from
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the Ivory coast. He continued his missionary work in Liberia, at his old he was
Jehu Appiah
Clarke (1986) states that Jehu Appiah started a prayer group within the Methodist
church in Ghana in 1919 called Faith society. In 1922, it broke away from the Methodists
and established itself as the Musama Disco Church- Army of the Cross of Christ church.
His followers meet on Thursdays for seeking the holy spirit as the apostles did. They
insisted on divine healing, not to use any medicine for treatment, for the Lord is the
healer. The Bible was considered as the unerring guide for life and worship. The church
These indigenous prophetic spiritual movements were accepted by the people not
just because that they were Africans but because their mission responded to the spiritual
yearnings of the people. Such spiritual movement is still in force today in the form of
healing ministry. Le Roux (2011) explicitly states that “the indigenous prophetic
revivalist movements and Pentecostal movements have gone a long way towards meeting
the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of African people, offering solutions to life’s
problems and ways of coping in a threatening and hostile world” (p. 126).
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Generally, the practice of faith healing has proven to be a powerful tool for
Anderson (2002), historically, faith healing practices for Pentecostals have almost
exclusively been about praying for healing of the sick. Healing crusades or healing
services are popular in Nigerian society, as many people flock to such gatherings to be
cured of various illnesses and diseases. Martin (2014) points that faith healers promise
people deliverance and healing from all kinds of illness emphasizing the fact that Jesus
Christ is supreme over every disease and that his name is higher than any other name,
including names given to all kinds of dreaded illnesses. They contend that healing is
designed to continue with the mission of Jesus Christ. Jesus did not only preach the
message of salvation for eternity but also attended to the very needs of people He
encountered on his mission. According to Ahiabu (2011), one of the popular texts used
by healing experts is Matthew 4:23-25 which reads "And he went about all Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every
disease and every infirmity among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria,
and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains,
demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed
him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the
Jordan”. From the above viewpoint, some of these healing ministers argue that healing
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was one of Jesus' practical earthly ministries. They maintain that Jesus effectively
combined teaching, preaching and healing to meet both the spiritual and physical needs
of his audience. This approach to ministry, they stress, attracted a lot of followers to him.
This understanding of the practice of healing is common among the Pentecostals. Hence,
they organise revivals, conferences, crusades, retreats, seminars and so on all geared
towards healing. Ahiabu (2011) observes that these practice also prevent many
Christians from visiting African indigenous religious practitioners in search for solutions
integral part of the church’s activities in Nigeria, the Pentecostals hold it as an utmost
value. Thus, they encourage their members who are endowed with the gift of healing as
well other gifts of the Spirit not to hesitate to explore them for the edifying of the church.
It could be observed that most of the Pentecostal churches hold their healing ministries on
During such service Ahiabu (2011) identifies that activities such as praying,
singing of songs, preaching the word of God, laying- on of hands, anointing, counselling,
and testimonies take place. During healing section, prayers such as “I command you to
leave this body in Jesus’ name! and I set you free by the power of the Holy Spirit” is
made. Also Another common prayer is “receive your healing in the name of Jesus!” and
the sick ones will respond “I receive it”. Martin (2014) observes that faith healing
movements emphasize positive confession and attitude when praying for healing. Thus,
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CHAPTER FOUR
The church as a religious institution has been positively affected severally by the
activities of healing ministry. The effect of the practice of healing has brought about
society. Also, there is no doubt that Christian healing ministry has negative effects
as to achieve total wellbeing. Ahiabu (2011) observes that the practice indicates that
healing is fashioned not only for those who are physically sick but also for anyone who
aspires to attain holistic wellbeing. As Africans, ensuring our wellbeing goes beyond
being physically healthy. Ahiabu (2011) further states that Africans could really be
said to be well if all other aspects of their lives including marriage, children,
employment, good harvest in the farm, promotions at work places, protection against
physical and perceived spirit powers, success in job interviews, absence of bad dreams,
success in examinations, victory over court ligations, peace of the family and the
community, successful journeys, protection against evil spirits and many other life
situation of Africans are without problem. It could be observed that many people who
attend the healing service are not physically sick but they consider it necessary and
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important for them to attend it. This could be because as long as one continues to live,
one may encounter challenges of one sort or the other. The healing service, therefore,
serves as a significant medium for dealing with both spiritual and existential needs of
people. In fact, Martin (2014) says that the ministry of prayer and healing is meant to
enable the person who is hurt physically, emotionally and spiritually to experience the
Lord meeting her/ his need. Thus, Ahiabu (2011) affirms that the healing ministry has to
some extent responded to the African understanding of health and wellbeing. According
to Kwabena (2005), For Pentecostal churches, true conversion must permeate the total
conversion among the Pentecostal churches implies not being a slave to sin, sickness,
that trample on living fulfilled lives as humans. It is against this that healing services are
designed to help members overcome these human existential challenges through activities
such as studying scriptures, prayers and songs of praises, laying on of hands, counselling
Owing to the significant role healing ministry played during the time of Jesus
Christ, the practice of healing has become one ministry which every prospective minister
would want to be trained in. Thus, training in the ministry of healing is very important
for all upcoming ministers in the Christian faith. For Ahiabu (2011), a minister can
impact positively on the lives of his/ her members and others when he/she develops a
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holistic approach to ministry as that of Jesus' to meet both spiritual and physical needs.
This is possible through the healing ministry. This is because it is through this ministry
that many lives can be transformed and people are helped to achieve total and holistic
salvation. The above view, as expressed by Ahiabu only indicates a shift from being
trained mainly only to teach the word of God and administer sacraments to practically
demonstrate the saving power of God through healing in meeting the spiritual and
physical needs of people. Furthermore, the healing ministry has helped to win souls for
organised with the purpose of winning many people to faith in Christ. Hence, As
Kwabena (2005) finds out that most of the evangelists insist that the victim must always
be led through the process of accepting Christ before healing takes place. Through that
Church Growth
Healing ministry has contributed to the growth of the church in various ways.
Numerically, Ahiabu (2011) views that ministers with healing and other gifts appear to
draw more people into the church than those without the gift. When people are healed,
they may end up becoming a member of the church where they got their healing. The
healing ministry of Jesus also contributed to the conversion of many people to the faith.
Same applies to any church whose healing ministry is active. Healing ministry influences
growth in physical wealth of the church. The growth of the church can again be measured
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in its physical wealth and hence, ability to provide infrastructure to meet the demands of
ability to build a sizeable place of worship for its members, office spaces for workers in
the church and all other logistics necessary for running the church in its administrative
and spiritual dimensions. Ahiabu (2011) suggests that healing serves as an effective tool
for mobilizing material and human resources for infrastructural development of the
church; these resources are derived from pledges and donations clients sometimes
voluntarily make towards infrastructural development of the church. It could be said that
received from many people in appreciation for what God has done for them through the
healing ministry. Ahiabu (2011) enunciates that healing ministry is not particularly
fashioned to develop the infrastructure of the church; however, the practice indirectly
affects the lives of people who also use their resources to improve upon the
infrastructural growth of the church. The healing ministry has contributed immensely not
There is no doubt that healing ministry has contributed to the financial growth of
many Churches through thanks-giving offerings. Apart from giving testimonies, which
is a key component of the healing process, members and clients further give certain
things including money to seal their appreciation to God and to tap anointing . This is
biblically even Christ was unhappy that out of the ten lepers he healed only one came
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back to appreciate him Luke 17:11-19. According to Ahiabu (2011), in this case,
although, giving of testimony is meant for appreciating God for his goodness in the lives
of people as well as encouraging other clients to trust in God for receiving solutions to
their problems, the activity further serves as a source of revenue generation for the
church. Ahiabu (2011) further notes that monies offered as thanks-giving to God for
healing is not a demand being placed on clients after they have been healed.
Moreover, healing ministry has helped to build and strengthen the faith of
revivals, camp retreats usually involve healing section which has helped to transform
the lives of people and to enhance their faith in Christ. It could be said that seeing is
believing therefore, when believers see that sick ones are restored, this reignite their faith
to stand firm in the Lord. Hence, Musgrave and Bickle (2003) state that the healing
ministry can be a sign of hope and trust that enable revival of faltering faith. The
continuous prayer habit at the healing services does not only develop members to respond
appropriately to life situations but it also further equips some of them to take up
responsibilities of becoming ministers and others servants whose services are needed in
the house of God. In addition, corporate prayer helps to unearth spiritual gifts of
Christians which could be considered very important and critical for church ministry
development. Ahiabu (2011) suggests that through corporate prayer as it is normally done
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by prayer warriors as well as healing team members before, during and after healing
services, members further identify their spiritual gifts which when developed prepares
them to be more useful spiritual resources to the church. Healing ministry extends
beyond the services to include activation and promotion of cooperate prayer life among
Christians. The ability of a church to mobilize, train and to develop its members in the
habit of prayer is another mark of its spiritual growth. Gbordzoe (2010) states that the
healing practice which has prayer as one of its strong components strengthens Christians
to pray at different levels. As noted with the aim of inviting the Holy Spirit to intervene
in the affairs of people, these regular and persistent prayers indirectly develop in
participants the desire and ability to relate with God both at individual and collective
levels.
position which presupposes that all believers have the same privilege and are all qualified
to work in one capacity as priests in the house of God. The belief is also based on the
assumption that each and every believer is endowed with one gift of the Holy Spirit or the
other which when explored can be used to the benefit of the church. It is against the
background of this belief that the Pentecostals endeavour to create avenues for recruiting
members, identifying their gifts of the Holy Spirit, developing these gifts so as to explore
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them for the benefit of the church. The adoption of healing ministry has become an
developing the gifts and their utilisation occur. Ahiabu (2011) states that healing in
development and use of these gifts by individuals in the church has helped to revive
believers to true worship of God. This confirms the fact that, spiritual gifts can help both
Supernatural Healing
Some sick people in Nigeria have recovered from deadly diseases that could have
terminated their lives as a result of Christian healing ministry activities carried out by
Nigerian Pentecostal pastors and faith healers. Rotimi (2010) opines that many healing
miracles are claimed to have been recorded in open revivals and faith clinic homes. For
example, the annual and monthly Holy Ghost revival of the Redeemed Christian Church
of God under the leadership of Pastor E. Adeboye is of great value in this regard. Many
sicknesses that are beyond the ability of medical doctors are claimed to have been healed
in some of the Pentecostal Churches. Although some of these acclaimed healing miracles
are controversial due to the number of fake faith healers and their healing miracles yet
one cannot deny the fact that divine healing witnessed in the bible is no longer possible
today this because it is the same Jesus who did it then that is present in our
Nigeria such as Christ Embassy, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Living
Faith Chapel, Deeper Life Bible Church, Synagogue Church of All Nations, Salvation
Ministries, Lord Chosen Charismatic Renewal, Omega Fire Ministries, Dunamis Gospel
Church, Church of God Mission, Chapel of Faith Bible Assembly International and
many more are deeply active in healing ministry yet they have established so many
banks, supermarkets, petrol filling stations, water factories, bookshops, estates and hotels
among others. They offer social services to the host communities, rehabilitate drug
addicts, while praying for divine intervention for a holistic healing on the sick people
who attend their healing service. These projects put together can cover much land space
which is a way of speeding up the development of the Nigerian nation. Sometimes they
do these with finance realised from people who gave in appreciation to God for healing
pointed out.
Rotimi (2010) states that in 1997, the Living Faith World Outreach provided
food, clothing and other relief materials to the indigenes of Koma in Adamawa where
of the leaders of the Pentecostal Churches are involved in the campaign against
partnership with the National Agency for the control of AIDS, (NACA). T.B Joshua is
well known for his care of the poor, destitute and returnees from Libya slave trade
rescued from human traffickers. Ayeku (2008) observes that the RCCG is involved in
alleviating of poverty of its members in particular and Nigerians in general through some
economic empowerment programmes. This programmme is called the Tree of Life for
the Economic Healing of the Nation. The Zion Needs Management is the body in charge
of the economic ventures and programmes of the church. RCCG has established
Jubilee Development Foundation in 2002, in order to enlighten and mobilize its members
for economic empowerment and development. RCCG also established Jubilee Co-
operative Society, so as to enhance the economic power of the members and Nigerians
RCCG has made efforts to establish Habitation of Hope Foundation which sets
out to evangelize and rehabilitate street children in Lagos. The first point of call is
Kuramo Beach that housed child prostitutes, drug addicts and criminal gang.
Again, the “Freedom Foundation” of This Present House Church, Lagos devotes
her resources and efforts towards rehabilitating specifically street girls and male
drug addicts. This endeavour has yielded positive result as most of the former area
boys and prostitutes are now transformed and are serving as committed members
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of This Present House Church, Lagos, forming at least 80% of the Church total
the years been improving on the quality of life of the people of Obalende, Lagos.
This Foundation has renovated a large state-run secondary school and provided
meals each week for 800 children and 70 widows. The Foundation has equally
sunk many boreholes in six streets and is currently providing health care services
(2010) opines that T.B Joshua’s football academy provided two players to the Nigerian
U-17 World Championship in 2009. So also Mike Okinawa’s football team is assisting in
fishing out capable Nigerian football players. Bishop Dr. Emeka Nwankpa of Chapel of
IsialaNgwa North especially in his home town Umukalu Ntigha Autonomous Community
IsialaNgwa North and promises to assist young talented footballers to fulfill their dream.
building schools such as Rhema University, Covenant University and many more. Some
of them give scholarship to indigent students. Kitause (2015) affirms that Synagogue
Church of All Nations (SCOAN) grants scholarship to the less privileged in the society
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from primary to tertiary level in addition to distributing food items and other basic
commodities to the people. These institutions no doubt have given many Nigerian
Nigeria. The competition in the public Universities is too keen and cannot accommodate
the increasing number of applicants every year. In other words, many Nigerians are
observed that there is an un-interrupted academic calendar in such schools, and Christian
Obasanjo (2009) remarks that the multiplier effect of job creation of the Nigerian
Christian universities and schools in Nigeria is worthy of note. So far, many have been
turned out of these schools as graduates as well as being gainfully employed by these
institutions as teaching and non-teaching staff alike, which indeed has assisted in
politics. Apart from being actively involved in national call for prayer and fasting to
create a very conducive atmosphere for democracy to thrive, some of them are taking
practical steps towards ensuring the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria. Some of the
members of Pentecostal churches have vied for one political position or the other.
and Pastor Enoch Adeboye prayed for him, possibly for victory in 2011 election.
It was also reported that many influential Christian pastors campaigned for him in
their churches. For example, Pastor Paul Adefarasin asked his members to vote
for a Christian President when Jonathan visited his Church in Lagos. (p. 120).
Rotimi (2010) points to Rev. Chris Okotie presidential candidate of the Fresh
Party in the 2007 general elections, others are Pastor Tunde Bakare (Latter Rain
Assembly) former running mate of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2011 under the
2016 election in Edo state, Bishop Dr. Emeka Nwankpa (Chapel of Faith Bible
Assembly International) contested for governorship in Anambra State in 2011 and also
contested for IsialaNgwa North House of Assembly Constituency under All Progressive
Grand Alliance in 2019 general elections. Both the 2015 and 2019 general elections,
Buhari picked a Pentecostal pastor and Professor, Yemi Osinbajo of RCCG as his
running mate and they won in the general elections respectively. Yemi Osinbajo is
Roy (1984) portrays that on one hand Christian healing ministry provides means
for people to overcome the problems of ill health, on the other hand it creates avenue for
developing human resources for the church who provide services to other members of the
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community in which the church is situated. Thus, Christian healing ministry has brought
intervene and alter human destinies for good or ill. These spiritual forces are believed to
work in miraculous ways, through signs and wonders that confound the human mind.
Adetunji (2010) opines that this religio-cultural setting encourages the desire for miracles
to cure diseases and resolve other distressing situations. Today in Nigeria, there is hardly
a well-known denomination that is not linked with the performance of miracles and
healing service. It could be said that some of the healing ministries are capitalizing on
this belief element in African thought and culture, to peddle and propagate their
fraudulent activities. It could be observed that there is spiritual and material exploitation
of those seeking healing miracles by some of these healing ministries in the society.
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Abuses
healing ministries, had created prejudice against genuine healing ministry. According to
Martin (2014), the elevation and veneration of the faith healers, their lack of humility,
their dependence on tools and techniques, the preoccupation with large churches that
hinder real relationships between people, and the flow of people into healing services
with little follow- up are some of the challenges that need addressing. Anderson (2004)
observes that:
Unfortunately, the focus from Christ is lost and shifted to the miracle and the
miracle worker. This is where the opportune time is missed as so many people are
drawn by miracles to healing crusades but are not pointed to the giver of the gift,
Jesus Christ. Salvation is a holistic concept that embraces healing, but the
methodologies employed in faith healing often do not exalt Christ as much as they
portray the faith healer as the wonderful man/woman of God. (p. 495).
In Nigeria, it could be observed that many people are drawn to faith healers for
Firstly, faith healers promise to heal people of all kinds of illnesses and epidemics
through fervent prayers. Faith healers are powerful and charismatic personalities
African culture is spirit- centred and has a high regard for spiritual powers and
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forces, Africans are amused by supernatural and are therefore drawn to healing
illness, especially to the poor masses, who do not have access to specialized
Faith healers often create high expectations of healing to people suffering with
illness by making promises to heal people through faith healing practice. People are
prayed for by faith healers at “miracle crusades” and what happened after the prayers are
solely left in the hands of the individuals. Martin (2014) decries that despite fervent
prayers, the laying on of hands and anointing with oil, all are not healed. This creates
faith conflict and emotional crisis for people when they are not ultimately healed. Thus,
the indiscreet use of faith healing practices leads to pain and hurt for some genuine and
well-meaning Christians in need of help from physical ailments. This affects such
peoples' emotional, psychological and spiritual state of wellness, leading to pain and
trauma with serious spiritual and emotional effects. People who are not healed after being
promised healing by faith healers may experience additional ongoing ill-health conditions
and psychological suffering. This is confirmed by Theron (1999) when he states that
apparently such people suffer from guilt-feelings and even rejection because of their
situation. This may discourage them and cause them to backslide in the things of God
Furthermore, Theron (1999) observes that many genuine and sincere Christians who
are prayed for, however, are not instantly healed from their illnesses as promised by faith
healers" (p.57). People who are not healed after receiving faith healing prayers may be
subdued to inner pain, inner hurt and faith conflict. This may be unexpressed, yet may
severely torment the victim. Promises of healing that faith healers make and the way the
healing services are advertised to offer guaranteed results, cause high expectations. As
such, when persons are not healed after healing prayers it becomes a mental and spiritual
battle to make sense of why they are not healed. The quest for miraculous healing by
many sick people has led them to be exploited by fraudsters claiming that God has called
them to deliver those held captive by the devil. Some of the sick people pay huge sum of
money for the healing ministers to perform exorcism and deliverance in order to be
healed since Africans believe that any sickness that defy medical treatment needs
supernatural cure.
Maragh (2006) states that both Jesus and Apostle Paul performed exorcism. wood
(2002) states that today’s Christianity is often preoccupied with emphasis on health,
wealth and prosperity thus, sickness must be decisively dealt with. Nowadays many
Pentecostal pastors over emphasis on the influence of demon possession and use it as a
means of exploiting those who have one illness or the other that come after them. Some
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of them discourage their members from visiting hospitals when they are sick but
encourage them to opt for deliverance to experience supernatural healing. Most of them
have failed to properly educate their members on the need to be eating balance diet,
adequate rest which when a person fails to do could cause sickness. In support of the
above viewpoint, Ahiabu (2011) asserts that while church believes in the extraordinary
medicine in curing diseases. Therefore, pastors should organize health seminar for the
members to learn how to properly take good care of their health while they depend on
God for illness that defy medical cure. It could be said that over emphasis on demon
possession by some Pentecostal pastors has created fear in many believers that they now
seek deliverance for every slightest change in their body system. One thing that is a
common characteristic of those who are seeking religious healing is the desire to get well
thus, could fall into the hands of fake miracle healers and wil be exploited, so now
fraudsters who claim to be miracle workers or healers now charge money before
conducting healing or deliverance service to the sick people. This is against Christ order
healing process. Ukanwa (2017) observes that there is abuses and excesses in the use of
the Church’s sacraments and the sacramentals by the faith healers in the healing ministry.
Obiefuna (1996) states that: “today we find people using holy water, incense, oil and all
sorts of things as sacramentals simply to gratify the senses and emotions of their clients
and thus spreading doubts and confusions among the faithful” (p.3). Artelias (2005)
states that healing is of a sacramental nature; it is a gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12: 7-
11) that the church exercises through baptism, ordination and holy unction. The Eucharist
Christ's redemptive action in the lives of believers and for the life of the world. In
primary. With its etymological roots in solus, the Latin word for health,
salvation, thereby imply bringing about health and wholeness. (p. 483).
The Eucharist preface above, invoking Christ as healer, frames Jesus' death and
resurrection in terms of the assured promise of final deliverance from bodily and
presently as "comfort and healing, strength and hope, forgiveness and peace." The
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sacrament of anointing the sick, especially when celebrated with an assembly of the
difference in the lives of those who are experiencing the turmoil, physical,
It is also to grace (transform) the community with greater faith through their
interaction with the sick and suffering, who become living witnesses for them of a crucial
dimension of the gospel, namely, that in the raising up of the lowly God's reign is known.
A critical look into both Old and New Testament certain things such as salt, sand, cloth
and so on were used by ministers of God to perform divine healing. A good example is
Paul's clothes was used to heal a sick person (Acts 19:11-12). Based on this, some
preachers are now making inappropriate use of sacramental or religious objects in their
various healing ministries. They commercialize religious objects in the name of selling
anointing for healing and other miracles. Iheanacho (2009) observes that some pastors
who perform healing miracles and sundry religious services attach financial charges just
to make quick money. Obeta (2006) enunciates that people are fraudulently asked to pay
and expect miracles that never arrive. Most of these religious objects are price tagged and
many sick people buy in expectation of instant healing which probably may not happen.
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Faith healing is the greatest threat to scientific medicine and health-care delivery
in Nigeria. Sick persons are supposed to go to the hospitals early in their disease
conditions and not to seek healing in the healing ministries primarily but reverse is the
case in Nigeria. It could be said that medical treatment to cure diseases should be sought
first but whereby the sickness defy medical treatment, divine or spiritual healing can be
sought for. Healing ministries that profess miracles through prayers to heal sick persons
have caused many sick people not to seek for medical treatment as they wait for
miraculous healing which in most cases do not take place. According to Agu and Eze
(2016), this causes so much delay before the search for appropriate medical solutions. By
this time, a varying number of them may not respond positively to treatment because of
the late presentations. This shows the problems caused by healing ministries whose
modus operandi are the use of prayers and miracles to solve all medical conditions and
inadvertently cause delays in accessing proper medical treatment by the patients, thus
common knowledge in Nigeria. This has caused the proliferation of healing ministries,
which play hosts to some members and non-members of their congregations who are sick
for the sole purpose of healing them through prayers and miracles. Some healing
ministries do not accept medication but teach prayers as solution to ill health. Agu and
Delaying patients from getting the appropriate medical care often leads to the
then, recovery is either slow or may be impossible. This activity of the healing
the malady. Late treatment of patients is mainly contributory to the high mortality
According to Igwe (2006), if there are indeed people with supernatural powers
to heal the sick, raise the dead, and cure all ailments, why are human beings suffering
from various sicknesses and dying? It is quite obvious that some claims of miracles and
faith healing are fake. Ukanwa (2017) narrates that in 1980s, there was a couple who was
a member of Faith Tabernacle, who lived as tenants in my village in Nguru Mbaise. The
husband, Hezekiah, claimed he was a pastor, and he and his pregnant wife refused to go
for antenatal, and did not go to the hospital for delivery nor took any drug. They were
praying for divine delivery; but she lost her baby and her life. So, faith healers are just
taking advantage of the African predicament. They are cashing in on the desperation and
gullibility of Africans to enrich themselves and to promote their churches. Hence, the
fake promises of some healing ministries on sick people make them not to access
adequate medical care which has contributed to the death of many sick people in our
society.
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` The quest for healing miracles by many Nigerian Christians has led to the neglect
of the original concept of Christianity which is following the foot step of Christ to
following the self-acclaimed miracle workers and faith healers. This has resulted to
decline in spiritual commitment, morality and practical Christian living. Salvation and
holiness messages are no longer preached rather prosperity gospel and healing miracle
messages. It could be observed that the people do not seek Christ for any worthy
motive; but for healing miracles. According to Adetunji (2010), people can spend a
whole day in churches seeking for miracles and visions for their insurmountable
problems. Thus, healing miracles attract people to church rather than the need for
salvation of their souls. Abogunrin (2004) states that people appear in their thousands in
churches and crusade grounds (both Christians and non-Christians), not seriously seeking
after Christ but for miracles . . . healing miracles have actually become the real thing or
the most current issue in Nigerian Christianity. Contemporarily, some Christians consider
only ministers with healing and miracle gifts as the most relevant in the church. Adetunji
(2010) asserts that many of the so-called miracles today are fabrications intended to
attract crowds and make money; the majority of the so-called miracles are used as baits to
lure people to the various healing ministries. The quest for power to heal and perform
miracles has led some preachers to acquire such powers from occult means. Some of
them have been reported to consulting Juju priests to possess the power of visions,
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dreams, healing miracles and prophecies to attract authority and popularity to themselves,
and to make their healing ministries boom. Ukanwa (2017) states that:
An Ifa priest, Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon disclosed how some pastors consult him
to seek power. A lot of Christians, even pastors come to me to consult Ifa and use
Aguda, Lagos, identified as sign fireman, whose real name is Ofuche Ukoha, was
involved in a ritual murder of a virgin girl Bose, aged 12. The said pastor offered
to pay one of his members, Ikechukwu, who went to him for help, the sum of one
Ikechukwu who was caught in the act testified against him. The pastor is well
known for miracles in Lagos. On April 28, 2017, a pastor of Christ Apolistic
Church (CAC) identified as Moses Abiodun was arrested by the Ondo state
command of the Nigerian security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for burying
These few instances demonstrate the extent some desperate self-proclaimed faith
healers can go to possess the power of vision, prophecy, the power to heal and perform
other miracles. With the power they got from juju priests, ritual murdering and fetish
practices. Ukanwa’s above viewpoint is in agreement with Matthew 24:24 “ For many
false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if
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possible the even elect”. This does not mean that there are no genuine men of God in our
It could be observed that some of the faith healers are engulfed by the quest for
materialism. Rather than find solace in the Christian hope of eternal life, signs of total
large in healing ministries. Iheanacho (2009) states that the spiritual growth and moral
sanctity towards better eternity is fast giving way to material craving, as the new idea of
fulfillment of life and ultimate reality. The level of material quest by healing ministries ,
especially faith healers is radically in deviance and inimical to the values and life of the
early Church. Some pastors who perform miracles, blessings, and sundry religious
services attach financial charges just to make quick money. Some of the faith healers
advertise for harvest of healing miracles on the media and billboards, during such
programme it turns out to be harvest of money and many sick people would be exploited
Family Crisis
It could be said that some of the faith healers have been causing problems in
families and communities. Their visions and prophecies have always centered on the
machinations of enemies who want to kill their clients by inflicting deadly sickness on
them, stop their progress or exchange their destinies. This has resulted to family crisis in
many homes, because there clients tend to physically confront their family member
whom they think is the cause of their sickness or misfortunes according the description
given to them by the faith healer. In some families today, siblings are no longer in good
terms with each other, one considers the other as the evil one who is trying to eliminate
him. Ukanwa (2017) observes that so many false prophets have deceived some people in
our society for many years, claiming to have the power of healing the people, but using
methods that are nothing else than old heathen, customs covered by the cloak of religious.
This is a very big danger for the Christian religion, as the problem of transferring occult
rituals into Christian healing, some faith healers are going back to traditional religion to
their patronizers whom they pay. This is popularly known as “ arrangee miracle”. These
forms are bringing doubts and suspicions on the genuine healing ministries in the
society.
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It is known that healing ministry is where people with various kind of diseases
frequent to get healed by divine means. Thus, during this process pastoral care should be
administered to them. Martin (2014) observes that in the context of a vibrant and
growing faith healing practice, there is a need to investigate the spiritual and emotional
impact of faith healing on healing seekers, especially when the desired healing does not
materialise; it is only pastoral care that could serve as a solace to them. According to
Louw (2008), pastoral care aims to guide people suffering with illness to discover hope
and meaning on their journey to healing and restoration. The primary goal of pastoral
care is to strive to enable persons facing illness to make sense of life and its challenges.
Pastoral care aims at bringing hope and help to sick individuals. The importance of
pastoral care is to guide and support people to be equipped for possibilities of living for
the rest of their lives with illness. Pastoral care is geared towards supporting and
sustaining of the inner strength of a sick person, in the midst of adversary. It is to help
people to face the reality of illness with the available resources and courage to persevere
through the trauma resulting from illness; with the hope to be gradually restored to
productive living. Pastoral care is more than simply helping those in need; it is also about
care givers sharing their lives, times and energy with their patients. It is well known that
the desire of every sick person is primarily to get healed thus, the concepts of healing
and cure are integral to pastoral care ministry for people grappling with illness and hurt
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that need cure. Martin (2014) opines that the healing practice seems to be an easier and
pastoral care and counselling mandatory. In addition, Ahiabu (2011), states that the
counselling services offered to clients during healing practice promote their spiritual
lives. Counselling, which forms part of pastoral care activities, creates avenue for the
minister to best understand issues that confront sick members and thus, inform him on
what measures to take in dealing with the people’s challenges. However, according to
Gbordzoe (2010):
In the course of the counselling, sick members are not only made to
understand their problems in the light of Christian teachings but they are also
have resulted from their own misconducts are given precautionary measures to
with the teachings of the Bible, a phenomenon that facilitates and improves
Ahiabu (2010) observes that pastoral care through counselling has developed
measures by which common challenges that confront its members and the generality
of human society are either prevented or solved including ill health. It has been found
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that during counselling, ministers do not only gain knowledge about problems that
confront their members but also become aware of each and every day physical and
spiritual challenges that confront their members and the human society at large.
Martin (2014) opines that the church that is able to position itself against both
material and spiritual problem of the society does not only become significant to the
lives of people but it also demonstrates its preparedness to purge itself of problems
which have the potential of drawing the church as a social and spiritual institution into
disrepute. Through pastoral care offered in healing ministry, members could be able
to overcome the problem of drug abuse, addiction to alcohol, premarital sex and so
on which could cause illness to them . Thus, regular holding of pastoral care in
healing ministry services and active participation of church members would provide
them with the requisite measures to overcome their personal moral weakness. It
could be considered that applying pastoral care of hope and compassion is one way of
responding to sick ones which prompts a response that is geared towards positive
ways to manage ongoing illness and not see themselves as people rejected by God and
Louw (2008) states that the fact that God identifies with the fate of a person
suffering with illness and his/ her vulnerability, is a strong basis for pastoral ministry
of hope and compassion to console them with words of encouragement for them to
know that their predicament is not the end of life. Encouragement to the sick will
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strengthen his emotional and psychological state. This is because people that are sick
need to be consoled and encouraged always. This will give them support to manage
the sickness until there is divine intervention. According to Martin (2014), faith
healing involves offering fervent prayers on behalf of the sick. This is done with solid
conviction that prayers of righteous person will avail and heal the sick from his/ her
infirmity yet prayers alone is not enough therefore, supporting structures and follow
up programmes to support people who are being prayed for should be done. This
will help them to cope with their condition. Martin (2014) further notes that that
people suffering illness need teaching about the character of God, the virtues of
patience and endurance, and how to stand in faith in midst of illness. This holistic
caring approach would seriously respond to emotional and spiritual challenges of sick
adequately utilized in dealing with sick people. It would help to revitalise the strength
of the sick people as they wait for divine healing. Pastoral care when properly
administered will ensure that biblical principles are properly followed in officiating
healing ministry in the church and would help to curb abuses ongoing in Christian
healing ministry and sustain its biblical mandate of total restoration of man.
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CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION
Africans value health and could spend all they have to secure it, but sickness
damages good health thus, healing is inevitable. Africans make recourse to religious
perspective for holistic healing. The church was instituted by Christ not only to serve God
but to relief man from suffering, pains, agony and for restoration of abundant life. Ill-
health is associated with pains and that which cut life short. Hence, holistic healing is an
antidote to sickness. This could come through the healing ministry which focuses on
different activities, it is the effectiveness of these activities that contributes to the well-
The Christian healing ministry has also become an evangelistic tool in winning
many souls into the church and could be said to have brought some form of
transformation among the members of the church and development of Nigerian society.
Although there are abuses by fraudsters who claim that God has called them into the
ministry yet Christian healing ministry has contributed immensely to the society in its
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(2) . The Menace of Petroleum Pipeline Vandalism: A Case Study of Osisioma Ngwa
Local Government Area, Abia State Nigeria. (2019).
(3). The Menace of Baby Factory in Nigeria: A call for Prompt Action. (2019).
(4). The Survival of African Traditional Religion Amidst Foreign Religions in Nigeria.
(2019)
(13) A clarion call for proactive participation in politics by Nigerian Christians. (2020).
(15) My NYSC experience (focuse on some cultural practices of Mambilla and Kaka
ethnic groups) (2020).
ARTICLES
(2) Biblical support to the use of plants for medicinal purposes: In African
perspective.