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Praying for the Sick
Is
it of God, chicanery, devilish or hypnotism?
@2002 J.E.
A recent MSNBC broadcast criticized
Benny Hinn and Bernard Wanker,
partly because (1) some people at their services were not healed and (2) some
people who were apparently healed didn't stay healed. The
conclusion of the producer and narrator of the sceptic
special? Quite likely these people were experiencing a phenomenon
of mind over matter - emotionalism tempering the pain.
One particularly tragic case was
highlighted. It involved the son of an immigrant family. He had two
brain tumors that had destroyed nearly every physical function. Nine
months after attending Hinn's campaign in
Was the boy healed at all?
There are certain facts that must
be faced by those of us who believe in "divine healing" if we are to
defend it against the critics - the well-meaning ones as well as the agents of
the prince of darkness.
Fact one: Not everyone who
is ministered to for healing - in small churches or huge campaigns - are healed.
You might ask, "Isn't that
unbiblical? Doesn't the Bible teach that healing is for everyone who
believes?"
Many Christians who believe in
"divine healing" struggle with this issue - especially when it
strikes close to home. The believe God, they believe His Word, they doubt neither God's power nor willingness to
heal. They wear themselves out in prayer, fasting, anointing and
travailing - all to no avail. It is a discouraging thing to believe in a God Who heals and watch
a loved one sicken and die.
The incident recounted above was a
very rare case where Hinn actually placed his hands
on someone for healing rather than after healing.
Did Hinn
fail? Did he not believe? Did the parents not believe? Is
this whole business of "divine healing" a farce, a hoax, a terrible
taking advantage of those in dire need, those with no other hope? That is exactly what this sarcastic and biased
MSNBC special argued.
The issue, then, is "why are
some believers not healed?"
There is and can only be one
Biblical answer to that question: God
is Sovereign. Those who believe and trust Him must, first and
foremost, yield themselves to the sovereign Will of God. The Bible tells us
that God's thoughts are higher than ours as the heaven is higher than the earth
and that God's ways are past finding out (understanding) with our feeble,
finite capabilities. God sometimes
allows His children to suffer deformity, sickness, pain, suffering
and, yes, even death, for reasons known only to Him. It is also true, however, that God many times brings miraculous
restoration into the bodies and lives of His children.
What makes the difference?
What determines the result? The
sovereign, immutable, everlasting Will of God.
Does this mean then that we should
not pray for the sick? After all, if God's Will is going to be done
regardless then what difference will our prayers make?
The answer is pitifully
simple: We must pray for the sick because the Bible tells us to.
Jesus did and so must we. He said it was one of the reasons He
came. The apostles did it because they believed it was part of the
Gospel.
But, it is also a fact that Jesus
did not heal everyone. (Everyone He prayed for or ministered to did get
healed, but He didn't minister to everyone who needed it) The apostles
did not see everyone they prayed for get healed.
The widow of Nain
was likely not the only one who had suffered the loss of a loved one that
day. But her son was the only one Jesus raised
that day.
The road to and through
There were scores of sick invalids
at the pool of Siloam that day but Jesus healed only one.
Jesus was surrounded by hordes of
suffering bodies but did not heal everyone.
It wasn't lack of faith on the part
of the sufferer. It certainly wasn't lack of faith on Jesus's
part. Why did He not heal everyone? It was God's Will. Jesus
made that clear when He said He came to do the Will of Him Who sent Him.
So, some are healed and some are not - according to the Will of God.
There is a verse in the Bible that
is a clear statement of this truth, spoken by God, Himself, Exodus 33:19
says that God "will be gracious to whom" He will and "show mercy
on whom" He will. This is a clear, unrelieved statement of God's
prerogative. He will do what He will do - no matter what we might feel
about it.
"Well", the skeptic says,
"That's a great cop-out! You might pray for ten and only five get
healed but you say it was all in the Will of God!"
Exactly! Remember, five did get healed - validating the truth of it all.
Fact two: It is God that
heals, not man!
This is a very simple fact that
escapes most critics of "divine healing" How
many times have you read in the media that "Hinn
healed.." or "healed by Wanker.." or
"cured by Oral...". They and every Bible believing Christian
will tell you man cannot heal - only God can do that.
Fact three: The fact that
some do not get healed when we pray for them does not mean we must not pray for
them with "faith, believing".
This one fact alone is probably the
reason why so few Christians practice "divine healing", even in
churches where it has been traditionally taught, such as Pentecostal bodies. The believer prays for someone, they're not
healed, and right away the seed of doubt is planted and from that moment on
that believer cannot pray for anyone with faith. It is just as bad to pray for someone to be
healed "if it be Thy Will" as it is not to pray for them at
all. It is God's Will to heal - whomever He Will!
Fact four: It is not lack
of faith on the part of the recipient that determines the outcome.
When James said "the prayer of
faith shall save the sick and God shall raise him up" he was not referring
to the faith of the one being prayed for. He was talking about the faith
of the one or ones doing the praying. And right here is where
tainted Gospels, such as the Word of Faith, are destroying so many Christians.
If what they "state" does not come to pass they believe they did not
have enough faith. If they have enough faith whatever they say will
happen. Jesus also talked about the
quantity of faith. He said if you had faith the size of a mustard seed
(almost too small to see) your prayer could move mountains. Well, the faith
preachers say, then it is in how you
"exercise" your faith. Remember the man whose son was possessed
of a demonic spirit? Jesus right here touches on this fallacy of the
"Word of Faith" teaching. He told the man "if you
believe". The man responded "I believe but help my
unbelief". The boy was healed.
It's not how much faith we have or
how exercise it. The key is the FOCUS or object of our faith. If
your faith is in God and His Son, He will honor that faith, no matter how weak
and no matter how exercised.
The whole point is this: We serve a God Who
heals. When someone is not healed in
answer to believing prayer, it does not nullify that truth. All things God does in answer to prayer and
in the lives of His children He does for their good. It may not always appear so to us for we look
at things “through a glass darkly” but if we truly trust God we have no
alternative but to “cast our cares upon Him” because He truly does care for
us. We can pray for the sick, with full
faith and confidence, and then leave the results in God’s Hands. The apostle Paul suffered some physical
ailment, possibly an eye problem, and though he prayed three times God told
him, basically, to live with it. It was,
apparently, a way of keeping him humble.
There are Christians today, some in ministry, who suffer illnesses and
crippling deformities and, like the apostle Paul, they
glory in their infirmities because in their weaknesses God’s power is even more
pronounced.
Do not stop praying for the
sick. It’s biblical and it’s
commanded. You do your part and leave
the rest up to God. He will always do
what is best for everyone.
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