Journal Article
1 April 2024
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Volume 20, Issue 1 (2024)Read More
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Journal Article1 April 2024
Healing (Full Issue)
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Matthew 4:23 (NIV)Editorial1 January 2024
Editorial
This issue of the Journal of Adventist Mission Studies focuses on healing in its various aspects.Journal Article1 January 2024
In Memorium: Life Sketch of Graeme John Humble
Journal Article1 January 2024
Exploring Healing Touches in the Bible
Healing touches in the Bible hold significant meaning in both the spiritual and physical contexts. Numerous biblical accounts illustrate how physical healing in connection with touch served as a demonstration of faith, connection, and divine power. These narratives depict important moments in which touch becomes a conduit for divine healing and emphasize the prominent role that touch plays in biblical accounts of healing. This paper first explores the concept of health and healing as presented in Scripture, followed by an examination of touch and healing in both the Old and New Testaments, while looking at the cultural, theological, and missiological perspectives. It posits that healing in the Bible is a multifaceted phenomenon, encompassing physical, emotional, and spiritual restoration. Additionally, the paper highlights that “healing touches” are central themes in biblical narratives, reflecting their significance across various cultures. This analysis promotes a deeper missiological understanding of the biblical notion of “healing touch,” in which touch transcends a mere physical action to become a profound expression of God’s compassion and healing, thus underscoring its spiritual importance.Journal Article1 January 2024
Shalom: Health, Healing, and Wholeness in Biblical Perspective
Health, healing, and wholeness occupy a central place within the biblical narrative, embodying God’s intent for the flourishing of the entirety of his creation. Grounded in the concept of shalom, Scripture articulates a holistic understanding of wellbeing that encompasses spiritual, physical, emotional, moral, and relational dimensions. These dimensions are interconnected, each influencing and shaping the others. In the context of an increasingly fragmented world, the biblical concept of shalom offers a firm framework for addressing the multifaceted challenges of health, healing, and wholeness. By embracing the holistic vision of health, healing, and wholeness, Christians are called to participate in God’s redemptive mission, fostering hope and restoration in a world marked by brokenness.Journal Article1 January 2024
Ellen G. White on Pain and Suffering Among Christians
Though “blameless and upright” (Job 1:8), Job’s epic losses and pain exceed our human ability to imagine. The Apostle Paul’s sufferings nearly killed him several times (see II Cor 11:23-28, 12:7-10). Christ’s pain on the cross is incomprehensible. Other biblical notables suffered mentally and/ or emotionally: Jacob, Hannah, Saul, David, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and unnamed others whose maladies were healed by Jesus. But those records seem remote—in the distant past, so when you feel pain and your suffering lasts and lasts, blurring days into nights and making routine tasks difficult, what are you to do? Even brief shocks of pain hurt; memory of the experience is not easily forgotten. Does the Bible offer any analgesic texts that function like aspirin to ease migraine headaches? Or has God simply left humans to “grin and bear it” as a curse of sin? This brief article summarizes the impact of pain and suffering on humans; in particular, Christians, and offers responses to this aspect of life.Journal Article1 January 2024
Ecclesiological Meaning in Jesus’ Sabbath Healings
The earthly life and ministry of Jesus Christ was the full incarnation of his divine identity and mission. However, certain events and situations became windows that allowed his relationship with his Father and his divine mission to be revealed with clarity to those around him. In particular, Jesus saw in the Sabbath a unique and regular opportunity to reveal both his identity and his mission. Likewise, his opponents understood, with almost surprising accuracy and clarity, what he was communicating about himself from his religiously non-conforming actions on Sabbath. However, this was not just a minor ethical scuffle between a well-studied Jesus and some slightly ignorant teachers of the law. Jesus was contending against forces that were actively misrepresenting God. In short, the healing ministry that the Gospels record Jesus performing on Sabbath sheds much light on both Christology and missiology and is a conscious effort to dispel the darkness that had accumulated with regards to the character and work of God. If it is true, though, that our Christology should inform our missiology and ecclesiology, then the question arises as to whether there is any ecclesiological meaning in Jesus’ Sabbath miracles that would guide our vision and realization of a biblically true and culturally relevant ecclesiology in the 21st century. Since the church is now the body of Jesus, which is spiritually animated by the one and same Holy Spirit to carry out even greater works of the same fundamental nature, it would be natural to assume that Jesus’ Sabbath healings provide ecclesiological precedents for us today in an embryonic form.Journal Article1 January 2024
The Purpose and Importance of Words of Knowledge When Praying for the Sick
Seventh-day Adventists are not usually known for taking authority over sickness or taking a person by the hand and saying, “In the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, arise and walk.” And rightly so, for Adventists have been counseled that when praying for the sick “our prayers must take the form, not of command, but of intercession” (White 1942:230, 1915:218). Why, because only God knows what is right and best (White 1948:148, 149). In addition, Ellen White warns against prayers that insist on God doing what people think needs to happen (1948:148) and suggests that God’s people should only pray for God’s will to be done (1915:217). However, Jesus, the disciples and the practices in the Early Church were much more direct in their interaction with sick people. Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home” (Mark 2:11, NLT). There was no statement about if it was God’s will, for Jesus knew what God’s will was in that situation. When a man with leprosy approached Jesus and said, “Lord . . . if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” Jesus responded by reaching out and touching him and saying, “I am willing . . . . Be healed! And instantly the leprosy disappeared” (Matt 8:2b, 3). Again, no request for God to heal, rather a direct command.Journal Article1 January 2024
The Missing Blue in Adventism: A Gap in Discipleship and Mission
This article comes from the perspective of a researcher, a practical theologian, and a missiologist. The title The Missing Blue refers to the idea that light consists of three colors (Green, Red, Blue), and because God is light, the analogy of light is relevant for those who believe in the Triune God. We are called to worship the Creator God (represented by the green color) as Ruler of all the universe, God the consuming fire (Deut 4:24; Heb 12:29). Jesus (represented by the red color) teaches us to come to God as our friend, our daddy (John 15:15; Mark 14:36; Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6). The Holy Spirit (represented by the blue color) has been sent to us to be in us (Acts 1:8; Rom 8:9; 1Cor 3:16; 6:19). How do we grow to experience God in all his fullness? How can our mission reflect who God really is and what he offers? Living in his light and staying radically balanced is possible by keeping our attention on all three colors of God. Moreover, by using all three colors of light (God) our mission work can bring more lasting results. The missing blue refers to a dim incomplete light where the blue spectrum representing the Holy Spirit is missing and thus the picture of reality is distorted, Christian experience is one-sided, and our mission is incomplete.Journal Article1 January 2024
Transformative Power of Healing and Dreams: A Divine Encounter with Jesus
Throughout history, countless individuals have reported experiencing miraculous healings and profound encounters with Jesus Christ in their dreams. These encounters have profoundly impacted their lives, instilling them with renewed faith, hope, and purpose. These encounters as spiritual experiences possess transformative power. In this article, I will examine the fascinating realm of healing through God-given dreams where Jesus Christ appears, brings solace, guidance, and restoration to those in need.Journal Article1 January 2024
Jesus’ Authority Over Evil Spirits: Healing Demoniacs in the Gospel of Mark
The gospel of Mark highlights nine distinct healing miracles. Among them, five involve the healing of demoniacs—individuals “possessed by demons,” or as some may prefer, “demonized.” These accounts form a significant portion of Mark’s healing narratives and are a notable theme in his Gospel, which is one of the earliest records of Jesus’ life and ministry. These stories not only demonstrate Jesus’ authority over evil spirits but also reflect his deep compassion for those suffering from spiritual oppression. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, it aims to highlight Jesus’ authority over evil spirits, as manifested in nature, animals, and people, and explore its implications for us as his disciples, especially in the context of spiritual warfare in the present age. Second, it seeks to underscore the theological and missiological significance of the healings of these demoniacs within the broader scope of Jesus’ mission on earth.Journal Article1 January 2024
Missiological Challenges and Implications of African Traditional and Christian/Western Approaches to Health and Wholeness
So often, African traditional approaches to health and wholeness are misconstrued, scorned, dismissed, if not treated as passé. There are two important entities—for the purposes of this article— which are diametrically at odds to African traditional approaches to medicine. The first is Western Medicine (WM), which because of its advances in medical, laboratory, and pharmaceutical technology, tend to ignore African Traditional Medicine (ATM) as archaic, superstitious, and non-scientific. The second is mainstream Christian religion which (largely in the past), tended to see everything demonic in the practice of African Traditional Medicine. But is it true that as far as ATM is concerned, “nothing good can come from Nazareth?” Considering the fact that Africans—including other indigenous communities the world over—from time immemorial have used traditional medicine, could the assertions that it has been of no medicinal and healing value be correct? How do we explain that the Africans have continued to use this alternative to medicine, even in the era of the most advanced medical technology? While these questions have been relegated to medical anthropologists and other interested parties, it might be a good idea to consider what their findings are. It may also be correct to say a closer look at ATM might prompt a paradigm shift in the minds of those who have diminished or completely dismissed ATM.Journal Article1 January 2024
Healing Prayer
A major theme of both the Old and New Testaments is that of healing and restoration. The Old Testament teaches that it is God who heals (Deut 32:39; Exod 15:26), while the New Testament presents Jesus’ ministry as one of healing and restoration (Luke 4:18-19). Healing was clearly a major theme in Christ’s earthly ministry with biblical scholars reporting that approximately one fifth of gospel texts relate stories of Christ’s healing miracles. The Bible teaches that not only did Jesus heal but he gave his disciples the power and authority to heal in his name, thus empowering the church to carry on his ministry of healing.Journal Article1 January 2024
Healing the Trauma: Toward a Missiology for Contemporary Russia
This article addresses the trauma of Stalinism from the standpoint of a missiological reading of Luke 4:16-21. This programmatic sermon of Jesus at Nazareth, whose meaning is unfolded in the larger context of Luke-Acts, is of primary importance for the current Russian culture, which is suffering from the consequences of a time when its culture was warped by the forces of the demonic realm. The rationale for using Luke-Acts in a post-Soviet theology of mission and the cluster of theological theses that underlie Jesus’ program of liberation are both foundational for a missiological paradigm intended for post-totalitarian Russian society.Journal Article1 January 2024
Ruqyah Shariah: An Analytical Exploration
Ruqyah Shariah—Law-Compliant Exorcism or Islamic Healing Prayer— is a spiritual and physical remedy that involves reciting qur’anic verses and authentic supplications. Rooted deeply in Islamic tradition, it offers a wholistic approach to healing and protection. Ruqyah has been a practice since the early days of Islam, with numerous hadiths documenting its use by Muhammad and his companions. This article seeks to explore the multifaceted aspects of ruqyah shariah, by examining its legal foundations, practical guidelines, and ethical implications, while seeking to provide a well-rounded perspective on its significance and application in the modern context.Journal Article1 January 2024
Implementing Timothy Keller’s Center Church Principles: Transforming Your Church into a Center of Influence
In contemporary religious discourse, the concept of a church transcending its traditional role as a mere congregation to become a dynamic center of influence within its community has gained significant traction. This paradigm shift, often fueled by a desire to engage with societal issues and impact lives beyond the church walls, finds resonance in Timothy Keller’s Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City. Grounded in theological depth and practical wisdom, Keller presents a compelling framework for transforming churches into vibrant hubs of influence capable of effecting meaningful change in the world around them.Journal Article1 January 2024
Is There a Future for the Missiological Study of Worldview? Part 1
This two-part article aims to assess the missiological worldview theory critically while pointing to implications for mission studies. It argues that the concept needs serious development to be useful for research in contemporary society. The social shifts experienced in the last decades and a lack of robust missiological critical engagement have made the model theoretically unreliable as an analytical tool. This first paper introduces the genealogy of missiological worldview theory to expose its theoretical underpinnings and identifies a departure between anthropology and missiology regarding the concept. The first task in the ensuing discussion is to unearth the theoretical foundations of the concept.Most Popular Articles
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