Sermon Illustrations

False Healers

Shortly before I came to the United States in 1983 I attended a “healing” meeting in Cape Town, South Africa. It was winter and the meeting was held outside in a very large tent. We all wore winter coats. The preacher, who had a large following in South Africa, preached a message that even I, as a yet-untrained theologian, found problematic. At some point during the meeting he started calling people up to get healed. I will never forget a young girl, about eleven-years old, sitting in front of me. She had the worst case of skin eczema I have ever seen. I could only see her hands and face but they were oozing with pus. At one point she turned to her mother and said, “Miskien vanaand, Mammie. Miskien vanaand,” which means, “Maybe tonight, Mommy. Maybe tonight.” That poor girl never got healed—at least, not that night. She had the misfortune of listening to a false teacher who was like waterless clouds—promising much, but delivering nothing.

Maybe you are saying to yourself that I am being a little harsh on that preacher. A year or two after I was in the United States I heard that a medical physician challenged the preacher to produce tangible evidence that people were getting healed. Apparently, the preacher saw an opportunity to gain more attention. So, he agreed to have the doctor examine people who were healed when they attended a meeting. Well, the meeting came with great anticipation and apparently a great deal of national attention. The meeting began at 7:00 p.m. and by midnight no-one had been healed. The preacher had been shown to be a false teacher.

So, false teachers are like waterless clouds.

From a sermon by Freddy Fritz, Illustrations of False Teachers, 5/29/2010

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