Cessationist Pastor Gets Healed Part 2 - Garry Nesbit Interview
I remember the fluorescent hum of a Walmart aisle on a Sunday night. It is the kind of place where you expect to find milk, bread, or maybe a discounted set of tires—not necessarily a manifestation of the raw power of the Holy Spirit. But there I was, talking with my friend Garry Nesbitt, a man who spends his days repairing windshields and his spare moments repairing broken lives through prayer. Garry has this habit, one that every believer should cultivate: he and his wife ask God every single day to cross their paths with someone who needs a touch from the Lord.
On this particular Sunday evening, they weren't looking for a theological debate. They were just picking up a few items when they saw a man sitting in one of those chairs near the front of the store, visibly twisted in pain. Beside him was his cousin. As Garry struck up a conversation, he discovered something striking: this man wasn't just a random shopper; he was an associate pastor at a cessationist church. For those of you who might not be familiar with that term, cessationism is the belief that the supernatural gifts of the Spirit—things like healing, prophecy, and speaking in tongues—died out with the last of the original Apostles.
This pastor had spent his entire life wearing a gold cross around his neck, preaching from a book he believed was closed to the miraculous in the present day. He knew the Greek, he knew the Hebrew, and he certainly knew the "proper" way to pave a church parking lot, but he had never actually seen Jesus move in the physical body of a suffering person. He was living in a world of text without the fire.
As I sat down to process this story with Garry for my podcast, it hit me right in the heart. How many of us are like that pastor? We do our religious jumping jacks, we memorize the verses, and we attend the services, but when the rubber meets the road and the pain starts screaming in our hips and shoulders, we have nowhere to turn but a bottle of Tylenol. We’ve been told a lie that the power has ceased, and we’ve believed it. But as you’re about to see, when the real Jesus shows up, your theology has to either bow or break.
The Dinner Bell to Salvation
When Garry asked that pastor if he could pray for him, the man did what most people in pain do: he tolerated it. He didn't have "great faith." In fact, Garry and I have seen this look on people's faces many times. It’s a look of polite skepticism. They aren't expecting anything to happen; they’re just being nice to the "religious guy" in the Walmart aisle. But Garry didn't need the pastor's perfect theology to move the hand of God; he just needed a willing heart and the authority given to us in the Name of Jesus.
Garry prayed right there in the middle of the store. No smoke machines, no emotional music, just a simple command for the pain to leave. And then, the "look" changed. The pastor's jaw dropped. He stood up, twisted his back to the left, then to the right. He bent over—something he hadn't been able to do without a wince in a long time. "It’s gone," he whispered. "God healed me."
That moment of physical restoration was powerful, but what happened next is why I often say that healing is the "dinner bell to salvation." The pastor's cousin had been sitting there the whole time. The pastor had been witnessing to this cousin for years, using every logical argument and every bit of book knowledge he had, and the cousin’s heart had remained like a stone. But when that cousin saw his relative get radically, instantly healed in a public place, the walls came tumbling down. Garry turned to him and asked, "Would you like to be born again today?" and the man said, "Yes."
We often try to argue people into the Kingdom of Heaven with our intellect, but one ounce of the supernatural power of God is worth a thousand tons of human logic. The cousin didn't need a better sermon; he needed to see that Jesus is alive and well. As it says in the Word: But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6 KJV).
Swimming in Syrup: The Church of Unbelief
One of the most sobering parts of my conversation with Garry was his description of what happens when you take these testimonies back into the four walls of a modern, cessationist church. Garry told me about a time he saw a woman healed of a stroke in Greenville, Mississippi. Her left side had been paralyzed; she was dragging her leg. After prayer, she started running around the room, screaming and hollering about what God had done.
Gary was so on fire that he went to a church service that same Wednesday night, thinking the believers there would rejoice. He stood up during the testimony time and recounted the miracle he had just witnessed. He expected the room to erupt in praise. Instead, he met a brick wall. The pastor looked at him, paused for a second, and then turned back to the congregation and said, "Now, don't forget, we're pouring the concrete for the parking lot this Saturday at 2:30."
It was as if Garry hadn't said a word. The miracle of a paralyzed woman running was less important than the logistics of the parking lot. Garry described that atmosphere as "swimming in syrup." You’re trying to move, trying to share the glory of God, but the spirit of unbelief in the room is so thick and sticky that it just chokes the life out of the Word.
Jesus faced this same thing. We read that He could do no mighty work in His own country because of their unbelief (Mark 6:5 KJV). Think about that for a second. The Son of God, the Creator of the Universe, was limited in His output by the atmosphere of the people around Him. Unbelief isn't just a "lack" of something; it is a spiritual force, a "demon of doubt," as Garry calls it, that takes a grip on the mind. It’s the same spirit that drove the Pharisees to ignore a man who had just been healed of blindness so they could argue about what day of the week it was.
Getting Out from Under the Building
I want to tell you about a day Garry and I spent at the VA hospital in Memphis. Atheists are always mocking us, saying, "If you have the gift of healing, why don't you go to the hospitals?" Well, the Spirit hit me one day and said, "Let’s go."
We walked into that hospital with our signs and our hearts ready. We turn a corner and see people limping, holding onto the walls. Gary prays for a lady, speaking directly to the infirmity in her knee, and she starts praising God because the pain is gone. We were pumped! We walked into the waiting room, full of people in wheelchairs, and I started asking them, "Hey, do you want to get up out of that chair? We just saw a miracle out in the hall!"
The response was heartbreaking. They said, "No." They didn't want prayer. They were actually offended by the offer. It was as if they had signed a contract with their sickness, and our offer of prayer was a breach of that contract. Many people are so blinded by the "god of this world" that they prefer the comfort of their misery over the challenge of the miraculous.
However, there was a man named Rodney. He had a cane, and he was struggling. He listened to us, and finally, he said, "I have the faith of a mustard seed." That was all Garry needed. We prayed, and Rodney didn't just feel better; he started moving toward the exit. He was limping at first, but as he got closer to the door, he started gathering speed. By the time he hit the parking lot, he was dancing and doing what Garry calls the "rope-a-dope."
Why did he have to get to the parking lot? There is something about getting out from under the roof of an institution built on the assumption that you will never get well. Hospitals and many modern churches are built on the business model of managed illness, not radical restoration. Sometimes, you have to physically and spiritually leave the "building" of your old theology to actually receive what God has for you.
Personal Reflections
I grew up in a cessationist environment. I know what it’s like to have the "form of godliness" while denying the power. In my early life, I was plagued by supernatural attacks—demons in my room, night terrors that left me paralyzed with fear.The church had no answers. They had the text, but they didn't have the tools.
Because the church was powerless, I wandered into the New Age movement, looking for anything that acknowledged the spiritual reality I was living in. It wasn't until I had a radical encounter with the real Jesus in 1995 that I realized the church wasn't wrong because the Bible was wrong; the church was wrong because they had stopped believing the Bible. They had replaced the "Job Description" of a believer—to heal the sick and cast out demons—with the job description of a social club manager.
Jesus was very clear about what we are supposed to be doing. He told His disciples that even if their lives were in danger, His priority remained the same: Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected (Luke 13:32 KJV). He knew His job. Do we know ours?
I’ve had to repent of my own foolishness many times. I’ve been that guy who looked down on people who were "too excited" about the Lord. I thought they were weird or uneducated. The truth is, I was just jealous. I was jealous that they had a fire I was only reading about in a book. Once the scales fell from my eyes, I realized that I would rather be "weird" and see the lame walk than be "respectable" and watch people suffer in silence.
If you want to have a lot of friends and be the life of every party, you probably won't be led by the Spirit. Following Jesus will rattle people's cages. It will make you an outcast in the very places you used to feel at home. But as Paul told Timothy, even when everyone else leaves you, the Lord will stand with you. And if God is on your side, you are always the majority.
Biblical References
The foundation for everything Garry and I discuss is found in the Word. We aren't making this up; we are simply trying to live out the instructions left for us.
- The Command to Do Greater Works: Jesus said in John 14:12 (KJV), Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. If we aren't seeing these works, the problem isn't that Jesus changed His mind; the problem is that we’ve stopped believing.
- Sensual Living vs. Spiritual Living: Jude 1:19 (KJV) speaks of those who are sensual, having not the Spirit. In this context, "sensual" means being governed entirely by your five senses. If you can’t see it, taste it, touch it, or smell it, you don't believe it. But the Bible calls us to walk by faith, not by sight.
- The Power of the Resurrection: We are told in Romans 8:11 (KJV) that if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. That "quickening" isn't just for the sweet by-and-by; it’s for your mortal body right here and now.
- Removing the Scoffers: In Mark 5, when Jesus went to heal Jairus' daughter, the people in the room laughed Him to scorn. What did Jesus do? He put them all out. He knew that an atmosphere of mockery and unbelief would hinder the work. We have to be willing to "put out" the voices of doubt in our lives if we want to see the daughter arise.
Key Takeaways
- Healing is the "Dinner Bell": Supernatural manifestations open hearts to the Gospel in a way that logic and arguments never can.
- Unbelief is a Force: It is a spiritual barrier that can hinder the movement of God. It often manifests as a preoccupation with the mundane (like parking lots) over the miraculous.
- We Are Ambassadors: We are called to act like our Father. Just as children naturally mimic their parents, we should be mimicking the works of Jesus.
- Faith Over Senses: Biblical faith requires us to believe the Word of God even when our senses—what we see, feel, or hear—report the opposite.
- Boldness Costs: Following the Spirit will lead to separation and even persecution from those who prefer "religion" over "relationship."
Conclusion and Call to Action
The story of the cessationist pastor getting healed isn't just an "amazing anecdote" to share over coffee. It is a wake-up call. We are living in a world that is desperate for the touch of the Living God, yet we are often offering them an empty shell of ritual and theology.
I want to challenge you today to re-examine your own heart. Are you "swimming in syrup"? Have you allowed the traditions of men to make the Word of God of none effect in your life? It is time to throw caution to the wind and actually believe what the Bible says.
Please, if this message touched you, share it with someone who needs to hear that God is still in the healing business. Bookmark the blog and leave a comment below. I want to hear your stories of how God has broken through the unbelief in your own life.
PART ONE HERE:
Suggested Reading:
Azusa Street https://amzn.to/2EWJigt
William Seymour https://amzn.to/2Wmbm2o
Charles Finney https://amzn.to/2ImMRgB
Smith Wigglesworth https://amzn.to/2K2hxqW
John Alexander Dowie https://amzn.to/2XqjyAg
John G. Lake https://amzn.to/2MxkSjB
George Müller https://amzn.to/2EVvQct
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