She was "a woman of the highest social standing in her community,"
but disaster had struck. She was dying from a disease that would not
respond to any known medical treatment. Two choices were available to
her: she could have surgery, or she could accept no treatment. Either
way, death was inevitable.
On the advice of an eminent doctor who was a family friend, Innocentia
chose to refuse treatment for her breast cancer. But that doctor didn't
realize this godly woman had access to resources he knew nothing of.
In a dream she was told by the Lord to "wait on the women's side of the
baptistry until the first of the newly baptized women would approach,
and then ask her to make the sign of Christ on the affected
breast." She was instantly healed.
The doctor was amazed. His previous examination showed clearly that the
tumor was malignant. What special treatment had she received? He
was anxious to hear about the miracle medication.
When he heard her story, his lips and face expressed nothing but
contempt, and she was afraid that he was going to begin blaspheming
against Christ. The doctor controlled his anger, but sarcastically
said, "I had hoped you might have told me something significant."
Innocentia was shocked by the doctor's attitude, but her reply was
prompt and penetrating: "Well, for Christ to heal a cancer after He
raised to life a man four days dead is not, I suppose, particularly
significant."
What makes this testimony of God's healing power so remarkable is that
Innocentia lived in the fifth century when medical science was in its
infancy. Anesthetics had not been invented to give to patients before
surgery.
Even more profound is the fact that the one who told this story was
Augustine, the famous bishop of Hippo in northern Africa and he had
believed miracles did not happen in the age in which he lived. This is
one of the classic illustrations of the man who dared to change his
mind about healing.
Augustine had a Madison Avenue flare. He was "positively angry" that
such a great miracle had not been publicized across the city of
Carthage. Innocentia had been so silent about the incident that even
her closest friends "had heard nothing of the affair."
Augustine made her tell her story in detail "while her friends, who
were there, listened in immense amazement and, when she was done,
glorified God." [1b] The
important question is: What caused
Augustine to change his mind about miracles?
The
doubter becomes a believer
This famous bishop
and theologian of the church was a man with a checkered career. Before
his Christian conversion he was wild and reckless. He
indulged in drinking, cheating, stealing, and all kinds of
illicit sexual activities. To use his own words, he was "a slave to sex
rather than a lover of marriage." [2]
But he was a searcher for truth. At the age of 32 his life was
dramatically transformed through an encounter with Jesus Christ.
Augustine became the most important Christian writer and
preacher of his time. His teachings profoundly affected the church for
about a thousand years. "Salvation by grace alone" was the foundation
of his ministry, preparing the way for the Protestant reformers in the
1500s.
Like many people today, Augustine had a problem with the supernatural.
He knew that the miracles of Jesus were real, but he had doubts about
whether they could happen in the day in which he lived. He believed
"miracles were not allowed to continue till our time, lest the mind
should always seek visible things." [3]
But about four years before his death he changed his mind: "What I said
is not to be interpreted that no miracles are believed to be performed
in the name of Christ at the present time. For when I wrote that book,
I myself had recently learned that a blind man had been restored to
sight in Milan . . . and I knew about some others, so numerous even in
these times, that we cannot know about all of them nor enumerate those
we know." [4]
Augustine the doubter once questioned: "Why, you ask, do such miracles
not occur now? Because they would not move people, unless they were
miraculous; and if they were customary, they would not be miraculous."
[5]
Later he revised that statement: "I meant, however, that such great and
numerous miracles no longer take place, not that no miracles occur in
our times." [6]
Why
the change?
At the close of one of his most influential writings, The City of God,
Augustine tells of a man who was healed of gout; another was instantly
cured of paralysis and hernia; evil spirits were driven out of others
by prayer. [7] A youth whose eye
had been dislocated from its socket
and severely damaged, had his sight restored to perfect condition
through the prayers of the believers. [8]
A child, dying after being crushed by an ox-drawn cart, was
miraculously "returned to consciousness, but showed no sign of the
crushing he had suffered." [9]
The son of Augustine's neighbor died, "The corpse was laid out; the
funeral was arranged; everyone was grieving and sorrowing." A friend of
the family anointed the body with oil. "This was no sooner done than
the boy came back to life." [10]
In his latter years this prominent church leader was witness to, or
heard about, demonstrations of God's supernatural power that were
reminiscent of the New Testament church. He had to admit: "If I kept
merely to [telling of] miracles of healing and omitted all others. . .
I should have to fill several volumes." [11]
What caused the dramatic turn around in his beliefs? Augustine explains
that it came about when "I realized how many miracles were occurring in
our own day and which were so like the miracles of old, and how wrong
it would be to allow the memory of these marvels of divine power to
perish from among our people. It is only two years ago that the keeping
of records was begun here in Hippo, and already, at this writing we
have nearly seventy attested miracles." [12]
In spite of initial skepticism, Augustine faced honestly what was
happening in his parish. He had to admit that God was at work in the
power of the Spirit because of what he saw. To other doubters he
recommended: "At least, such people should investigate facts and, if
they find them true, should accept them." [13]
For Augustine, the transformation in his thinking was amazing. "It is a
simple fact, then, that there is no lack of miracles even in our
day. And the God who works the miracles we read of in the
Scripture uses any means and manner He chooses." [14]
But for Augustine, miracles were not sent primarily by God to relieve
pain (although that was a benefit), or to create a spectacle that would
attract crowds, or to provide stories that would make a national
best-seller. "Miracles have no purpose but to help men believe that
Christ is God." [15]
Miracles demonstrate that Jesus Christ is
alive and well – they validate the resurrection. He said "the
miracles were made known to help men's faith." [16]
The miracle that left the most lasting impression on Augustine and his
congregation was one that took place in their church one Easter
weekend. "It was no more remarkable than others . . . but it was so
clear and obvious to everyone that no one who lives here could have
failed to see it, or, at least, to hear about it, and certainly no one
could ever forget it."
A brother and sister who were both suffering from convulsive seizures
came to town. "Throughout the city they were a spectacle for all to
see."
On Easter morning before the service, the young man was in the crowded
church when he fell down as if in a trance. Fear swept across the
congregation. But in a moment the fellow stood to his feet and faced
the congregation, perfectly normal and well.
The believers erupted in a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord. Many
reported the events to Augustine, and there was a striking similarity
in all of their stories: the Lord had performed a miracle before their
eyes.
Three days later Augustine stood before the congregation with the
brother and sister (he was well; she was still trembling with
convulsions), and read the young man's statement of healing.
The sermon that followed was interrupted by loud cries from the woman
who was praying in desperation about her condition. God answered her
prayer at that moment. She had the same experience as her brother, fell
to the floor as if in a trance, but rose to her feet healed.
Augustine described the scene that followed: "Praise to God was shouted
so loud that my ears could scarcely stand the din. But, of course, the
main point was that, in the hearts of all this clamoring
crowd, there burned that faith in Christ for which the martyr Stephen
shed his blood." [17]
Implications
Why is Augustine's
change of mind about healing so significant? First, there are many fine
Christians today who believe the biblical-style miracles ceased with
the death of the original twelve apostles. Augustine's writings
clearly disagree with that position.
Second, this famous church leader gives a clear example of what
Christian maturity involves. He was flexible enough to change his views
when presented with evidence that could not be disputed. Like the
apostle Thomas (John 20), his doubt was turned to belief by what he saw.
Third, miracles multiplied in Augustine's ministry and parish when he
was open to such supernatural possibilities. There was little to report
about physical healings in his writings when he took the position that
miracles were not for his time. God requires people to trust Him for
the impossible if the miraculous is to occur.
Christians need to stand firm on biblical principles that never change.
But there comes a time when one has to be big enough to admit that a
personal interpretation was wrong. Near the end of his life, Augustine
revised 93 of his writings and changed "anything that offends me or
might offend others." [18] He had
the mettle to admit his mistakes in
public and make necessary changes. He dared to change his mind about
divine healing.
Notes
[1] This
article was originally published as, "The man who dared to change his
mind about divine healing," in the Pentecostal
Evangel, September 11, 1983, pp. 18-20.
[1a] At the time of writing
this article, I, Spencer D. Gear, was an
ordained Assemblies of God minister who was then pursuing doctoral
studies in counseling psychology. I am an Australian family relationships' counselling manager,
doctoral student in biblical studies, an active Christian apologist, and
may be
contacted
at: P. O. Box 3107, Hervey Bay 4655, Australia.
[1b] Saint Augustine, The City
of God, translated by Gerald G. Waigh and Daniel J. Honan,
volume 24 in the series, The Fathers
of the Church (Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of
America Press, 1954), pp. 437, 488.
[2] Mildred Tengborn, "The
Saint and His Saintly Mother," Eternity
(January 1983), pp. 46-47.
[3] John A. Mourant, lntroduction
to the Philosophy of Saint Augustine: Selected Readings and Commentaries,
(University Park, Pa.: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1964),
pp. 64-65. Quoting from Augustine's "On the True Religion," chapter
25:47.
[4] Saint Augustine, The
Retractions, translated by Sister Mary Inez Bogan, volume 60 in
the series, The Fathers of
the Church (Washington D.C.: The Catholic University
of America Press, 1968), p. 55.
[5] Saint Augustine, "The
Advantage of Believing," in Writings
of Saint Augustine,
translated by Luaime Meagher, volume 2 in the series, The Fathers of the Church (New
York: Fathers of the Church, Inc., 1947), p. 438.
[16] Saint Augustine, The City of God,
an abridged version from the translation by Gerald G. Walsh, Demetrius
B. Zema, Grace Monahan, and Daniel J. Honan- Edited, with an
introduction, by Vernon J. Bourke (Garden City, N.Y.: Image Books,
1958), p. 513.
Copyright (c) 2007 Spencer D. Gear. This document is free
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License (OPL) version 1.0, or (at your option) any later
version. This document last updated at Date: 6 May 2007.
The
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