Healing the Sick — Priesthood Blessings and How They Work
A living practice with deep scriptural roots — what it is and what it is not
The Practice — What LDS Do
When a member of the Church is sick, they may request a priesthood blessing of healing. A Melchizedek Priesthood holder first anoints the person's head with consecrated olive oil. Then one or more priesthood holders place their hands on the person's head, and the officiator, acting as voice, seals the anointing and pronounces a blessing — speaking under the direction of the Spirit about the person's specific condition and, when prompted, making specific promises about their recovery, comfort, or peace.
This is not superstition. It is not folk medicine. It is an authorized ordinance, commanded in the New Testament, practiced by the apostles, grounded in both Old and New Testament theology, and exercised through the restored Melchizedek Priesthood. Members of the Church who have received this blessing in moments of illness, injury, or grief have often reported experiences that cannot be fully explained by anything other than divine involvement.
James 5 — The NT Command
The New Testament command on healing the sick through anointing and prayer is unambiguous:
James 5:14–15
“Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”
James does not say: if the gift of healing is still operational in your era, consider asking the elders. He gives a direct instruction: call for the elders. Anoint with oil. Pray in faith. The Lord will raise them up. This is a command, not a historical description of early apostolic practice. Latter-day Saints practice it literally because they have both the command and the priesthood authority to carry it out.
Jesus Sent the Twelve With This Authority
When Jesus commissioned the Twelve for their first mission, healing was explicitly included in the authority He conferred:
Mark 16:18
“They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
Laying hands on the sick was not a special gift given to a select few with unusual spiritual gifts. It was part of the authority Christ conferred on those He ordained. The method was specific — hands laid on the sick — and the expected outcome was specific: they shall recover.
Mark 6:13 records that when Jesus sent the Twelve out on their mission, they “anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.” The practice of anointing with oil was not invented by James. The apostles were already doing it at Jesus' direction. James's instruction is the formal articulation of what the apostles had been practicing from the beginning of their ministry.
The Apostles Healed After His Ascension
The Book of Acts is a sustained record of healing performed by the apostles after Christ's ascension — by the same authority they had been given during His ministry. Peter and John healed the lame man at the temple gate Beautiful (Acts 3:1–10). Peter's shadow healed the sick (Acts 5:15). Paul healed the father of Publius and others on Malta (Acts 28:8–9). These were not exceptional moments — they were the normal operation of priesthood authority in a functioning apostolic church.
Acts 3:6–7
“Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.”
Peter's phrasing — “such as I have give I thee” — is the language of authorized transmission: I am giving you what I have been given, in the name and by the authority of the one who gave it to me. The healing was not Peter's power. It was Christ's power, mediated through authorized priesthood.
How a Priesthood Blessing Works
A priesthood blessing operates on several levels simultaneously. Physically: oil is applied and hands are laid on the head. Covenantally: the ordinance is performed by one who holds the Melchizedek Priesthood, in the name of Jesus Christ, by the authority of that priesthood. Spiritually: the person acting as voice speaks under the direction of the Holy Ghost, saying what they are prompted to say, including promises the Spirit directs them to make.
The blessing does not guarantee a specific outcome because the one giving it does not know the Lord's will in advance. What the blessing guarantees is that the person is receiving divine attention — that God is present in the moment, that the prayer is heard, that the faith of the recipient and those who love them is being brought before God in a specific and authorized way.
When specific promises are made in a blessing — “you will recover” or “you will live to accomplish this mission” — they are understood as prophetic promises given under the Spirit's influence. They are contingent on faith and on the broader will of God. When they are fulfilled, they are recognized as divine intervention. When they are not literally fulfilled, the covenant community understands that God's purposes in that person's life sometimes work through paths we did not anticipate, including death.
What the Blessing Is — And Is Not (It Is Not a Magic Formula)
A priesthood blessing is not a magic formula. The words alone do not compel God. The oil alone does not heal. The laying on of hands alone is not sufficient. The operative elements are the authority behind the ordinance, the faith of the participants, and the will of God.
This is an important distinction. Some members treat the blessing as a transaction — if the formula is correct and the faith is sufficient, the healing must follow. That is not how it works. James says “the prayer of faith shall save the sick” — but faith is not a numerical variable that, when it reaches a threshold, produces mechanical results. Faith is trust in God's will, which sometimes includes healing and sometimes includes something else entirely.
The blessing is an act of covenant love: God's people bringing their sick and suffering before Him in authorized prayer, in the method He commanded, asking for His will to be done. The healing, when it comes, is His act. The asking is theirs.
The Role of Faith
James says the prayer of faith shall save the sick. Faith matters. This is consistent with Jesus' own healing ministry — He consistently noted the faith of those who were healed: “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” He was unable to do many mighty works in Nazareth because of their unbelief (Matthew 13:58).
But faith does not operate as a performance requirement that forces God's hand. Faith is alignment — the orientation of the heart toward God's will, trusting that His will is good even when it is not what we would choose. The person who receives a blessing in faith is not demanding healing — they are placing themselves in God's hands and trusting that whatever He does in response to their prayer is right.
When Healing Does Not Come — D&C 42:44
D&C 42:44 addresses the question honestly: “And he who hath faith to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed.” The qualifier — “not appointed unto death” — acknowledges that some people who receive blessings, even blessings with specific healing promises, will die. Their appointment was to go.
This is not a failure of the blessing. It is a recognition that the blessing operates within God's sovereign purposes, not around them. Every healing the apostles performed was temporary — Lazarus was raised and died again. The lame man at the temple gate walked — and eventually died. Physical healing is not the ultimate gift. The ultimate gift is the resurrection, which is universal and permanent.
When a priesthood blessing does not produce physical healing, it does not mean the blessing failed or the faith was insufficient. It means God's purposes for that person moved through a different path than the one the blessing described. The comfort, the peace, the assurance of God's presence that the blessing provides — these are not diminished by the absence of physical recovery. Sometimes the greater miracle is the peace that passes understanding in a moment of terminal illness.
Why This Gift Still Exists
The most common Protestant explanation for why healing through anointing and priesthood authority no longer occurs is cessationism: the gifts of the Spirit ceased with the apostolic age. This doctrine is not found in scripture. 1 Corinthians 13:8 says spiritual gifts will cease when “that which is perfect is come” — a reference to the Second Coming, not to the death of John the Revelator.
Moroni 10:19 states it plainly: “And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that all these gifts of which I have spoken, which are spiritual, never will be done away, even as long as the world shall stand, only according to the unbelief of the children of men.”
Key Scriptures on Healing the Sick
- James 5:14–15 — The NT command to call the elders, anoint with oil, and pray in faith
- Mark 6:13 — The Twelve anoint the sick with oil during their mission
- Acts 3:1–10 — Peter heals the lame man at the temple gate
- Mark 16:18 — “They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover”
- D&C 42:43–48 — The revealed law of health and healing in the restored church
The gifts ceased in the early church not because God revoked them. They ceased because the apostolic authority through which they were mediated was lost in the apostasy. The restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood — through Peter, James, and John to Joseph Smith in 1829 — restored the authority that makes these ordinances valid. The gifts followed the authority, as they always have.
God is not a God who once healed the sick and now watches from a distance. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. When His authorized servants lay hands on the sick in His name and ask for healing in faith, He acts — because He promised He would, and He has not changed.