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GLENN HODDLE'S admission of reliance on a faith healer has renewed debate on a subject that has faded from media view since New Age became old hat.
Faith is a part of everyone's life; no one has the opportunity to prove every supposition they build their life on. The question is, faith in what?
My own 15-year practice of Christian healing has been reassuringly down- to-earth and effective. It started when I was healed myself. Operations and medication failed either to cure the physical conditions I was suffering from or to control the bouts of sickness, pain and unconsciousness.
In desperation (and nothing else would have made me do it) I contacted a lady recommended by a friend of my husband's, who had a gift for healing. After a year or so, when I was almost well, I began healing other people.
It started with an intuition about someone I didn't know very well - a conviction, that got stronger when I prayed, firstly that he had a problem with drugs, then the name of the specific drug, then a particular psychological problem, then other problems within the family. I thought I was going mad, but the person listened to me and confirmed that it was true. Then his wife started to ask about herself; I went off and prayed, and gave her the answers that came to mind and, again, she confirmed them.
A friend of theirs came for help. Then another friend. Then some members of a local prayer group. At first that's all I did: pray for the person, listen, and tell them the answers I was given. If it didn't sound right to them, or didn't help, I prayed again. It only helped the person identify the problem: I wasn't much help in doing anything about it.
Laying on hands was something I'd heard of but never seen anyone do. But when one person came to the house in severe emotional distress, then another with a splitting headache, it seemed the right thing to do. I was more shocked than relieved when the first person reported experiencing a deep sense of peace and the second one's headache went.
After a while, it seemed natural. I prayed more but worried less. If people didn't like the answers they received, I no longer lay awake all night agonising that I was either deluded or demonic. I owe a debt of gratitude to the lady who cured me of that: she became furiously angry about the problem I suggested she had, spread imaginative rumours about me for seven years, then came back and told me that the message had been correct but she hadn't been ready to accept it just yet!
People don't necessarily get healed in the way they anticipate. The more obvious problem, like arthritis, may take second place to the healing of something less tangible - like a tendency to drive oneself to overachieve. Where I lay my hands depends on the person, and not everybody needs it. Usually, I will place them on the back of the head or the shoulders. You don't need to touch the person; sometimes I would place my hands on the injury. Sometimes when I place my hands on the person, I feel something, like a tender bruise on an apple; it's a vulnerable spot. Then you concentrate until it feels better. On occasions there might be a burning sensation, or cold, or electricity.
People worry if they don't feel anything, but it really is not relevant. Because the healing is spiritual, it changes people at the deepest level, in their spirit. Physical, mental and emotional improvements are side- effects and are difficult to predict because everyone reacts so differently. The word healing originates from the Old English "haelan" meaning "whole, wholesome or holy". The word spiritual means "concerning the spirit" as opposed to focusing on the material.
It is reasonable, then, to expect the purpose of spiritual healing to be to restore the person to a wholesome life, in spiritual terms. Given that, it is surprising how many people who ask for spiritual healing don't want to be involved in anything spiritual and don't want to be healed, in the sense of making their lives more wholesome. Wholeness means much more than a symptom-free body or a sound mind, and involves the entire network of relationships within which each person operates, beginning and ending with the relationship with their Creator.
People do claim to have healing powers without being in a relationship of total surrender to God. They either rely on their own powers, or are involved with the occult, which can be incredibly destructive to anyone on the receiving end of their ministrations. I don't doubt people's natural ability to heal. But it's not safe to use this ability except under the rule of God.
I would be sad to see anyone put off receiving genuine spiritual healing, but too many people rush to the first person who claims to have healing powers and don't ask enough questions - either of the healing minister or of themselves, about whether their expectations are realistic.
When my vacuum cleaner breaks down, I need to know whether it is because it is useless, or whether my use of it has been inappropriate - like sucking up stray Maltesers from the back of the sofa.
In the same way, if someone expects me, as a "spiritual healer" to heal their sore foot, instantly and without affecting them spiritually, they may have the wrong expectations and end up disappointed.
Ditto, if they want me to guarantee the success of their football team.
Sorry, Glenn!
(First published in The Independent newspaper April 24, 1998)
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