A Paradigm for "Spiritual-Charismatic-Sacramental Healing"
Jackson Snyder, October 17, 1993

Spiritual-charismatic-sacramental healing (hereafter referred to simply as "SCS healing") is recognized as a modern pastoral approach to physical and spiritual healing by the Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling. SCS healing is the variety we suppose Jesus and subsequent great healers of the historical Church employed. It functions in a three-fold manner:

The body is restored,
emotions are released and purged, and
the human spirit is renewed, edified, and advanced.

The SCS healer is spiritually gifted in both healing and discernment of spirits (1 Cor 12). A variety of processes may be involved, including washing, anointing, eucharist, exorcism, laying on of hands, tongues and praying, confessions, praise-singing, and quiet meditation. Graham theorizes that

the latent faith and desire for wholeness on the part of the ill person are awakened by the healer in the healing context, and linked with the saving and healing power of God who works through persons with special gifts.

SCS healing is an eschatological activity, as it typifies the basileia of the future enacted NOW. The paradigm model for SCS healing is the work of Jesus the Messiah, especially as he is characterized by the title "Son of Man," and all that title infers from 1 Enoch and Daniel.

New theoretical models and research findings on how the mind and body are related are helping SCS healers understand the physiological process of "miraculous" healings. The notion that emotional (i.e. psychosomatic) illness can and does cause disease is being discarded in favor of a much more holistic, systematic viewpoint that there is rather a biological and organic (not causal) relationship between the two. Such an understanding tends to legitimize those who were once dubiously called "faith healers" and thus promote SCS healing as safe, holistic, and effective.

SCS healers do not simply pray with the sick, or pray for God to heal the sick. Rather, SCS healers are healers in every sense of the word, committed to an organic theology that presupposes that it is already God's will that all creation live in health and wholeness. Therefore, there is no begging God for healing, nor is there need to wonder "if it be God's will" to heal.

The infirm body is approached with compassion and wholism, not judgmentally. Prevention of disease and proper maintenance of the body is stressed. The former includes promoting the abandonment of sinful habits that precede disease, such as eating unhealthy food or using drugs. Maintenance includes promotion of wholesome foods and nutritional supplements with an eye on new advances in biological knowledge. The SCS healer is to be informed in the matter of the mechanics of the body. 

The SCS healer promotes a healing compassion for people of all faiths, races, and nationalities, since all are children of God in a general sense. The healer also strives to be a factor in the healing of the cosmic ecosystem, which God, the source of healing power, has created and humankind is on the verge of ruining.

The following paradigm is specifically useful to the minister of God who feels a "call" to be a healer, but doesn't really know where to start. It is specifically designed for one-on-one healing outside the confines of the church service. The recommendation is that the paradigm be used for the same "patient" as often as possible until relief is experienced. Each session might last as long as an hour or more for best results.

I. Preparation (seated face to face)

A. Word of Prayer - guided by whether Eucharist is served or not.
B. Scripture
  1. Hebrew Scriptures: Isaiah 53:1-5 -> Matt 8:16-17
  2. Greek Scriptures: 1 Peter 2:21-24
C. Eucharist {optional} - "Eucharist" is a fitting description of the sacrament in a therapeutic context
  1. Penitential -or-
  2. Celebratory -or-
  3. Sacramentally: according to The Book of Discipline, the sacraments are "means of grace" "quickening, strengthening, confirming faith"

D. Psalm Singing {optional}
  1. Traditional - "Doxology," "I Will Praise Him"
  2. Contemporary - "Rise and Be Healed," "He Is Jehovah," "He Is Lord"

II. Authorization (both stand)

A. Invocation of Authority - based on Matthew 10:1: Jesus gave the authority to his students to
  1. "Throw out unclean spirits" (literally)
  2. "Heal every disease and every weakness"  {Matthew no longer calls the disciples "students" after sending them out, but apostles. The patient needs to understand that Jesus bestows authority on believers - thus an affirmation of faith logically follows.}
B. Affirmation (based on Matthew 9:28,29)
  1. Query: "Do you believe that we are able to do this?"
  2. Answer: "Yes, I believe through Christ we are able!"
C. Renunciation
  1. Of sins that may have contributed to the disease
  2. Of any unclean spirits, known or unknown
D. Exorcism {if necessary}
  1. Discernment
    a. Begins before the session in personal preparation
    b. Continues throughout interview
  2. Exhortation: "Come out of this man" (Mark 5:8 NIV)
  3. Feedback (maybe): "What do you want with me?" (Mark 5:7)

E. Binding/Loosing (Matthew 18:18,19) - As children of God and partakers in the basileia, we rule with the Messiah. Therefore, we have authority to bind the powers of evil, internal or external (see Wink, Naming the Powers), so that our attempts at healing might have greater chance at success.

F. Blessing of Oil -
  1. Olive oil should be used. This oil is a luxury. Its value can best be determined by a survey of "oil" passages in the Psalms. It is a medium and type of the holy spirit (described as holy oil in Psalms 89:20), and a symbol of resurrection healing. Olive trees never die. There are olives in Israel that are still producing after over 2,000 years. The olive tree will rejuvenate even when it is cut down.
  2. James 5:14 indicates that the community of faith that the author was involved in practiced healing by anointing with oil.
  3. Jesus blessed God and he blessed the bread. We may bless God for the oil, and transfer authority through the oil.

III. Healing (patient seated, healer standing)
A. Anointing {optional} - the oil warmed in the hand, then slathered on to the affected area of the patient's body
B. Laying on of Hands - The hands are laid on or near the affected body part. The oil facilitates contact. The hands are kept in place for as long as possible, preferably 30 - 40 minutes. It is a medical fact confirmed by over 80 research hospitals that "laying on of hands" increases the immune system response dramatically (see Longetivity, January, 1992, for an in-depth article). {Discernment exercise, if time}
C. The Prayer of Faith (James 5:15) - a "heart" prayer shared by both
  1. Asking for healing
  2. Visualization of the healing and/or of Jesus in the situation
  3. Speaking the healing into existence
D. Healing, Healing Words, Healing Time
  1. An attitude: "I'm healing; we're healing; we are one."
  2. Scripture glossa, glossalalia
     a. Jesus' Aramaic healing words might be applied as "secret" words, if appropriate. Talitha cum, ephphathah, etc.
    b. Speaking in tongues is appropriate, if the tongues are new, and the level of speech is quiet

IV. Sealing
A. Thanksgiving - seated, take hands and thank God for the authority to heal every disease, and for healing the patient
B. Fellowship (coffee or carrot juice)

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