692 The Spiritual Man
obstructed! Our experience tells us that such anointing may raise the
seriously sick up instantly.
At times one identifies the explanation for his illness to be his
individualism. This may well be the chief cause for illness. Some
Christians are highly individualistic. They do everything according to
their own will. They do it all by themselves. If the hand of God
comes upon them they grow sick, for the supply of the body does not
reach such members. I dare not over-simplify these matters. The
reasons for sickness can be many and varied. One sickness may be
due to disobeying the Lord’s command, refusing to carry out His
will; another may be caused by committing some particular sin; but
still another may be the consequence of individualism. Now in the
case of certain individualists God overlooks and does not discipline;
but especially in the case of those who know the church, He chastens
them with illness if they commence to act independently. The Lord
will not let these go without some discipline.
It is also possible that infirmity is the consequence of a defiled
body. Should anyone defile his body, God will destroy that temple.
Many are infirm because they have corrupted their bodies.
By way of summing up, then, no sickness occurs without a cause.
If the Christian contracts an illness he should try to locate its cause or
causes. After he has confessed them one by one before God he
should summon the elders of the church so that they may confess to
one another and pray for one another. The elders will anoint the sick
one with oil that the life of the body of Christ may be restored to
him. The influx of life will swallow up the disease. We believe in
natural causes, but we additionally must affirm that spiritual causes
have priority over the natural. If the spiritual are taken care of, the
sickness shall be healed completely.