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Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Healing Ministries, and Promising Too Much

No one wants to be sick, or suffer the effects of wounds or injury. No one wants to die.

We look to Scripture for answers and comfort, and there we seem to find the promise that illnesses can be miraculously healed, if we just have enough faith.

But a lot of Christians still get sick. And die.

There's a discontinuity somewhere. Either we don't understand the process, or we're misinterpreting its meaning in our lives on Earth.

Perhaps we should adjust our focus on what, exactly, Jesus did when he walked the hills of Judea.

He healed people, yes - but He did not heal everyone, and His Ministry could in no way be called a 'healing ministry', at least the way we think about it today. Instead He performed healing miracles with a purpose - the paralytic lowered through the roof was healed to show to show the importance of friendship, the blind man was healed to prove that it wan;t the parents' evil , it was just blindness.

Could He have healed everyone? Sure.

Did He omit to heal everyone as a punishment, or to drive them closer to the Father? No. He didn't heal everyone because we have to walk in the world, and the world's a dangerous place.

We're expected to deal with those dangers with grace and faith.

Does this mean there are no miraculous healings? Of course not, and there definitely have been miracles - but we should carefully consider whether the healings were granted for a purpose other than an individual blessing. We may never know.

Bu one thing we do know - or should - and that is that a healing can't be 'fuzzy'. If we're to claim a God of Miracles, we can't tie him to questionable proof and shoddy recordkeeping. And we certainly can't tie him to lies.

A prominent TV evangelist (who shall remain nameless, as he has lawyers and I don't) commonly runs healing services in which miracles are claimed and trumpeted. But the people who are healed look normal...the folks who have cerebral palsy, or shriveled limbs, are not allowed up to the stage. They are kept off-camera, as well.

The people who are allowed up are slain in the spirit, toss away crutches or stand from their wheelchairs, and walk off. That's great, but there's no follow-up, no proof.

He has a TV show on which he'll occasionally call out to members of the viewing audience with certain afflictions, and say they're healed. "There's a man watching with liver cancer...you are healed!" Unverifiable, and ultimately empty.

Another gentleman has claimed...drum roll, please - to raise the dead. When pressed, he admitted to bringing a couple of people back for five minutes, and one for ten.

Cancel the new wardrobe. Death from natural causes is not a drop off a cliff - it's a slow descent, and it is definitely possible to bring people back for a few minutes. I've done it, and have seen it done. But it's not a resurrection.

Are these men sincere? I don't know, and it doesn't matter. What does matter is this -

When we claim to perform miracles in Jesus' name we have to be darn certain that they are miracles. We are His hands and feet.

We can';t use His hands to write lies, or His feet to travel cynically false paths.

He deserves better, by our hands.

4 comments:

  1. Ohhhh SO true!!!" When we claim to perform miracles in Jesus' name we have to be darn certain that they are miracles. We are His hands and feet."

    If a true healing has occurred, and the miracle is obvious, most people would let the one healed do the speaking, not the guy in the suit on TV.

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    1. The guy in the suit is generally speaking for his own glory, not that of God.

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  2. Back in the 1980s I worked for a period of almost 3 years for a popular televangelist. One day he called all of us employees together to announce that God had told him to run for President. After the end of his little speech he asked if anyone had any questions. One brave soul asked if God had also told him whether he was going to win the Presidential race. This famous (infamous?) televangelist replied, "Let me put it this way: God does not back losers."

    Ahem.

    When I lost my Christian faith in 1988, the hypocrisy I had witnessed while working in that large television ministry had a lot to do with it. I did not find my way back to believing in the Lord Jesus Christ until March 2003. It was a long hard road in the wilderness for me. But the great news is that God never let go of me, even though I had let go of Him.

    Today I no longer judge Christ by self-proclaimed Christ followers. I am also content to let God be God... meaning that I leave it up to Him whether to answer my prayers for healing, etc. Today I believe that praying the prayer of faith simply means having the faith to believe that the awesome God I am praying to CAN do great miracles, and also having the faith to trust Him to decide how BEST to work out His ultimate good purpose, whether His purpose can be accomplished by answering my prayer with a Yes, a No, or a Not Now.

    I have personally witnessed, and experienced, several miracles. Amazing, impossible to explain miracles. But.... I have also prayed for the health of a baby grandson who then died a tragic and senseless death. I don't understand! I don't have the answers to why some prayers are answered the way we hope, and others are not. But I have made up my mind to trust the One who does have the answers. Today I believe that God is, I believe God is love, and I believe love is kind. Even when my soul is breaking, I have my mind made up to trust Him, because I trust His love.

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    1. Lynda, that is a lovely, wonderful testimony.

      Let God be God...that really says it all. Thank you!

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