A Critique of Cal Pierce's "How to Keep Your Healing"

The following is a critique of an article, written by Cal Pierce, Director of the Healing Rooms Ministries of Spokane came from Spokane Healing Rooms web site (www.healingrooms.com/keeping_your_healing.htm).

(False teacher/prophet quotes are in purple and indented, my
comments are in plain text and scripture is in teal. False teachers rarely use scripture. I have only included those portions I intend to comment on.)

"How To Keep Your Healing" Each one of us must understand how to receive healing and keep it. When we understand God's word on healing and act upon it, it brings forth a manifestation of healing in our physical bodies.

Right here, with the title of this article, we are presented with a very important question: Can a person lose a healing that is truly from God? We hope to answer that question by the end of this article.

Where does scripture say that one had to understand all about healing and how to keep it in order to receive it? You will not find it anywhere. Instead people were healed because of their faith:

Jesus speaking to the woman with the issue of blood:

"Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." (Mark 5:24)

Jesus speaking to blind Bartimaeus:

"Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." (Mark 10:52).

When these passages are read in context we can see that people's faith was focused in Christ Jesus as the healer--not faith in some man or "prophet" healing them (other than Jesus) and not faith in themselves sustaining that healing through some kind of mental effort either.

Our goal is to receive the manifestation of healing and give our heavenly Father the glory for what Jesus has done for us.

Is God really getting all the glory when someone is "healed" in these Healing Rooms or does the healer get the glory? Did Jesus charge admittance to his healing sessions, like with so many evangelists today? Did Jesus encourage those who were healed to return the favor by supporting him financially? Do people who receive "healing" from these Healing Rooms feel obligated to support that ministry financially?

And furthermore where does scripture instruct us to seek out a full time healer when we are plagued with infirmities? Instead, Scripture instructs us as follows:

"Is any one 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 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 and effective." (James 5:14-16)

And where does scripture say that we need be in the presence of a healer to be healed? Did Jesus need to be present in order for people to be healed?

A Roman Centurion requesting Jesus to heal his servant:

"The [Roman] Centurion replied, 'Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.. . . When Jesus heard this he was astonished and said to those following him. 'I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.'. . . Then Jesus said to the centurion, 'Go! It will be done just as you believed it would' And his servant was healed at that very moment." (Matthew 8:8-13)

The Canaanite woman [a foreigner and considered an enemy of Israel] requesting Jesus to heal her daughter:

"Then Jesus answered, 'Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.' And her daughter was healed from that very hour." (Matthew 15:28)

Sickness is the result of an oppression of the devil. Acts 10:38 says, "...and Jesus went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him." The devil inflicts us with sickness and doesn't like it when God's Word brings healing and destroys his work.

Is it true that sickness is the Devil's fault? What does scripture say?

"And the Lord God said, 'The man has now become like one of us knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.'" (Genesis 3:22)

Therefore, sickness is a natural degeneration of the human body. Man's sickness is a result of his own/Adam's original sin. We live in a fallen world. Sickness is as natural to us as sucking air. When we sin we fall under Satan's control.

However, not all is lost. God made a provision for us to be healed if sin is causing our illness as we saw above. If you will notice James said that WHEN we confess our sins and seek prayer from other believers THEN we can be healed. Why? Because Satan's power is then cut short when we confess our sins.

However, not all sickness will be cured by acknowledging sin, because not all sickness is the result of sin. God doesn't always heal sickness--look at Paul and his eye problem for instance. God told him "my Grace is sufficient for you," (2 Corinthians 12:) i.e., I have something to accomplish through you with your sickness, be patient.

Therefore, just because a healing doesn't take effect does not mean it is Satan's fault, or ours either. God could have another purpose for someone not being healed.

The devil will always try to reestablish his infliction by stealing the truth of the Word from us. We see this in Matthew 13:19 where it says, "When anyone hears the Word of the kingdom, and does not understand that the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road."

The enemy wants to steal the Word before it can become firmly rooted in us to produce the healing. The devil knows that the Word of God is more powerful than his work ... sickness, so he must try and cut-off the Word in us before it gets rooted. Only seed rooted can produce a harvest.

Cal is saying that it is because you don't understand the Word that is causing you to not be healed. However, this scripture is speaking of salvation, not healing. Look at the last verse in this passage:

"But what was sown on good soil is the man who HEARS the Word and UNDERSTANDS IT. He Produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." (Genesis 3:22)

What is the "crop" being referred to in the above verse? It is a crop of believers, i.e., he who hears the word AND understands it can produce a crop of up to a hundred times what was sown, i.e, your words of wisdom can affect a hundred times more people than those who actually hear them.

It was the unbelievers in the midst (those who cannot see, cannot hear and therefore cannot understand) who were deprived from the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven because their hearts had been hardened by their own choice (vs 15). Please notice it is not merely a misunderstanding, but an actual calloused heart that caused them to not hear.

Cal Pierce is apparently claiming that the "crop" is an abundance of healings, i.e., abundant miracles. However, are miracles always of God?

"Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers". (Matthew 7:22, 23)

Some miracles will deceive even the elect:

"For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible". (Matthew 24:24)

Let's look at Matthew 13:20-21 "And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this who hears the Word, and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the Word, immediately he falls away."

When we receive the Word on healing and are prayed for and a healing takes place, we receive it with joy, but it must become firmly rooted in us because the devil will always try to inflict us with the very same symptoms to change our minds. Verse 21 says because of the Word, this affliction will be brought against us once again to cause us to fall away.

What Cal is actually saying is that you must "believe it to receive it" i.e., if your healing isn't evident you are to believe in it anyway or it will be your own fault if your aren't healed. Also, please notice that Cal tries to blame a faulty healing on the Devil again. So now it's either the Devil's fault or your own, i.e., you have just had a guilt trip laid on you.

Please notice that this kind of reasoning very effectively deflects any blame on the healer for a failed healing, and a healer who can't heal also loses credibility, and thus financial support.

Did one of Jesus' apostles/disciples ever have a failed healing?

Did Jesus only heal people halfway or in a way that they were unsure if they were healed or not? Where is the verse that says that even ONE of Jesus' healings didn't take???

Who lays guilt trips on people, is the author of deception, lies and distorts scripure, God or Satan?

Not even deliberate disobedience is grounds for a healing to fail according to Scripture. Read the story of the two blind men in Matthew 9:27-31 when, after Jesus healed them, he instructed them not to tell anyone and they did it anyway. Did their healing fail because of it? No.

What could be the purpose for Cal Pierce and all these other "healers" to claim that an un-healing is the person's or Satan's fault? Could it possibly be so these people will go back again, and again, and again to the Healing Rooms (and giving them more and more money each time) in hopes that they will be healed eventually if they can just get their act together?

Some of those who sought healing from John G. Lake had to return up to 30 times (none of which has been documented, btw, despite the claims coming out of the Healing Rooms). See Greg DesVoignes in-depth research on this man whom the Healing Rooms claim is their founder in an article called, "The Revival of John G. Lake's Ministry." (sorry but this article is no longer available online)

If these "prophets" are supposedly able to heal even better than Jesus, as they claim, then they are doing a real lousy job.

The devil will once again bring the symptoms of the sickness to try and convince us that we are not healed. This is a lying vanity. The root meaning of a lying vanity is something that comes against you to change your mind. If the devil can cause us to look at symptoms instead of God's promise, he can convince us to believe his lie. When we focus on the symptoms, pain or whatever it is, doubt and unbelief come to our mind and this gives entrance for fear to re-establish the sickness. We must keep our heart and mind fixed upon God and His promise.

Please notice that Cal Pierce is now claiming that it is a "change of mind" that is causing your un-healing, i.e., you THOUGHT you were healed and now you are THINKING you are not healed. Why? Well, obviously it's because you don't see any proof of healing (which means you probably weren't healed in the first place if Cal Pierce and his ministry is operated by false healers).

This also means that Cal Pierce is promoting "Mind over Matter" or "Positive Confession." However, no matter what label you stick on it, if it's coming from somone who is distorting Scripture to try and prove his case, it can't be from God.

Cal Pierce also included a scripture from Jonah to try and prove his case but that was taken out of context also because Jonah ran from God and he wasn't even ill or in need of healing so it doesn't apply here.

And another question--why did Cal Pierce feel the need to mention un-healings in the first place. Could it be because there are a lot of them coming out of the "Healing Rooms"?

Ahhhhh. Here is the clincher:

So when the symptoms return, we must set our faith in God and his Word and tell the enemy, no matter what, we are not going to believe his lies.

Yes, indeed, the symptoms are expected to return. So much for Spokane's Healing Rooms.

The major reason people get swallowed up into false beliefs, like the one we just witnessed above, is because they don't know their scripture. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that you read your Bible daily--especially in these times of deception.

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15)

For another critique of Cal Pierce's teachings check out Cal Pierce and Spokane's Healing Rooms

Be blessed with wisdom and discernment.

Lori Eldridge
Copyright © October 29, 2000 - Updated 10-17-20.
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