New Charisma article declares - "Jesus Never Told Us To Pray for Healing" - sigh...

::::::::

You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' - Isaiah 14: 13-14 (ESV)

Is anyone among you sick? 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 will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. - James 5: 14-15 (ESV)

I remember a year and a half ago there was a weekend at my church where an itinerant healer spent the weekend with us. Services on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Within minutes of the Friday service starting it was apparent he was schooled in the false signs and lying wonders movement that so many have started to follow in error. It is the heresy of Bethel Church in California. It is the belief system that says you can teach the gifts of the spirit. That God always wants us healed. It turns true prophecy on its ear and morphs it into clairvoyance. We have all seen it. We saw it recently in the heretical "Holy Ghost" movie. The false prophet stands over you and lays hands, which is dangerous since you do not know what manner of evil spirits are using him. He then starts spouting some vague predictions and sentence fragments over your life. Usually God is trying to either "birth" something in you or there is some kind of "shift" coming up. The guy who visited my former church that weekend not only had the false prophecy shtick down but also fancied himself a faith healer.

I remember there was this good brother who served in ministry next to me and he suffered from some serious ailment in his hip. He went down for the healing altar call and after the sputtering was over the fake healer made him dance around and run the length of the altar screaming hallelujah. It was a scene I am sure many of us in charismatic circles have seen before. What they do not show you however is the conversation I had with my friend the following year. Reminiscing about the previous year I asked him how his hip was. He just shook his head and said it was worse than ever and surgery was imminent. I said, "didn't you go up and get healed last year?" Yeah he did and in the moment he truly believed he was healed but in the end he was not. So it goes so often in Pentecostal churches. Emotionalism is mistaken for a move of the Holy Spirit.

Let me state up front that I believe in the gifts of the Spirit. I believe in healing. I believe God can use anyone at any time to accomplish whatever His wills. The key there however is as He wills. Not as we will. When we start to peel back the layers of deception involved here it is important to start at the beginning. We need to go back to the first set of key verses today and realize what is really going on in the spirit realm. We need to go back to when Satan himself was cast out of heaven. What was his sin? What was his transgression? He wanted to be God but the job was already taken. He said he would ascend to heaven to set his own throne. He said that he would make himself like the Most High. He said he would be God. It is the same thing that man has tried to do throughout his existence. What was the selling point to Eve in the garden? You will be like God. The devil does not change his tactics because we give him little reason to. We succumb to the same prideful, carnal thinking that he had. That is what is behind the false signs and lying wonders movement. Think about it. Bethel Church operates a school to teach the gifts of the Holy Spirit despite this verse:

All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. - 1Corinthians 12: 11 (ESV)

This is the final verse in the section on gifts of the Holy Spirit and it clearly indicates that the Spirit decides how and when the gifts will be apportioned. So when you think you can teach them, you are in fact trying to make yourself like the Most High. The same thing goes for this false teaching that says God wants everyone healed. God decides alone who will and who will not be healed. This is called the sovereignty of God and to teach otherwise robs God of His sovereignty.

(No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.) - 1Timothy 5: 23 (ESV)

Frequent ailments? Why would Paul instruct Timothy to take some wine for his frequent stomach ailments if healing was always divinely ordained? No beloved. Healing is a feature God possesses and while it is true He could choose to use us to convey His healing, that choice is always His. To say otherwise is to try and make yourself like the Most High. So we come to the latest attempt to rob God:

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/the-flaming-herald/46667-jesus-never-told-us-to-pray-for-the-sick

The title of this article is "Jesus never told us to pray for the sick." Before we get into what is specifically wrong in the article let us first deal with the flawed premise. Astronomer Carl Sagan once said, "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." What that means is that it is intellectually dishonest to draw a conclusion that Jesus never told us to pray for the sick simply because it does not appear in the Gospel accounts. Let us remember that what we see in these accounts are but a snippet of His ministry:

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. - John 21: 25 (ESV)

Jesus also never directly told us to pray for the lost. Is the author suggesting that is also a bad idea? He never told us to pray for peace. There are a myriad of things we can say Jesus never specifically instructed us to do but that does not mean we conclude that He is therefore instructing us in the opposite!. Putting that aside however, Jesus most certainly did tell us to pray for the sick. Where you might ask? Right there in the second set of key verses for today. Wait a minute preacher! That was written by James! Was it?

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, - 2Timothy 3: 16 (ESV)

One of the fundamental beliefs for us as Christians is called divine inspiration. That the entire Bible was in fact written by God and since Jesus is God, the key verses were in fact written by Jesus. Yes beloved, it is Jesus who instructs us to call for the elders and have the prayer of faith prayed to see healing manifest in our lives. Despite his false premise, the author makes several other errors in his discourse that are important to understand so we do not make similar mistakes in the future. Now pay close attention here. This is how he opens his argument:

"Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. And He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick ... So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere" (Luke 9:1-2, 6). Jesus told us to heal the sick. He did not tell us to pray for the sick. Healing should not be an isolated, one-chance-in-a-100-or-1,000 type of occurrence. Healing should be everywhere. It is part of the gospel. It is what will open the masses to the gospel. It is God's dinner bell for sinners to come and be saved. Jesus commanded us to heal the sick."

Beloved, here is a simple lesson in hermeneutics, which is a fancy word for bible interpretation. We must understand if what we are reading is a descriptive text or a prescriptive text. Is the text revealing a story being told or a timeless truth to apply to our lives. The best known example is the verse where Judas goes and hangs himself. I think it is safe to say that is a descriptive text. God is not instructing us to go and do likewise. This portion from Luke is also a descriptive text. It tells an actual story of when Jesus sent out His disciples and gave them certain authority. There is nothing in this text that indicates this authority was then magically conveyed to every believer. None whatsoever. Did you also notice that the author selected verse 1,2, and 6? What did he leave out?

And he said to them, "Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them." - Luke 9: 3-5 (ESV)

If this section of scripture was really prescriptive then all of it should be. That would mean that when we go out into the world to do this great ministry work we ought to bring nothing with us. We ought to shake the dust off of our feet against any town that does not receive us. Except we know that is silly. You cannot cherry pick parts of a passage and claim an eternal principle while ignoring the immediate context. No, Jesus did not command us to heal the sick. He commanded His disciples to do so. Here is the closing thoughts from the pulpit commentary on this portion of Scripture:

"This and the further detail of the next verse (2) roughly describe the work he intended them to do, and the means bestowed on them for its accomplishment. Very extraordinary powers were conferred on them - powers evidently intended to terminate with the short mission on which he now despatched them."

The author then cites Matthew 10 which is the same story but in a different Gospel, and Luke 10 which is another descriptive text. What he states next however reveals how deeply flawed the rationale is:

"Once again, Jesus did not tell His disciples to pray for the sick. He authorized them to heal the sick. The power is in the proclamation. Tell them what God will do. This takes boldness. Boldness produces more results."

Once again, what Jesus instructed His disciples does not automatically mean He is instructing us to do. But note how the thinking is for people under this deception. The power is not in God anymore because man is elevated to the position of the Most High. No beloved, the power is in the proclamation. Well who does the proclaiming? You do! So who has the power? You do! Who has ascended to heaven and is situated above the Most High? You have! What produces more results in this heretical thinking? Does a deep faith produce more results? Does a profound understanding of His Word produce more results? No - individual boldness produces more results. Not God; but you. Once again, ascending to the heavens. Seated above the Most High. Now the author gives a tutorial in how to convey these false healings yourself! Remember, in this mindset we can learn the gifts. The Holy Spirit no longer gives them out as He wills.

"As an example, when you see a sinner who is sick and diseased, inquire about their condition. How did it happen? How long have they been sick? Casual conversation also serves to establish a level of comfortability with them. Then say to them what Jesus told His disciples to say: "I've got good news for you today! The kingdom of God has come near you." They may look at you funny, but continue to offer them this challenge. "If you will give me your hand the power of God will go into you and heal you." Once they consent the rest is easy. Command them to be healed. Release the power of God into them. Believe that as soon as you touch them Jesus touches them."

So in order to provide divine healing we need to talk to our sick person to establish comfortability, say to them that we have good news for them and that the kingdom of God has come near them, take their hand and believe that as you touch them Jesus touches them, and the rest is easy? Just command them to be healed? Just release the power of God into them? Seriously? What is missing here? How about the sovereignty of God? How unbelievably arrogant to think that healing someone is easy once they have consented to allow you to take their hand. I will ascend to the heavens and be like the Most High indeed. The author sadly continues:

"Now here's the most important part. Ask them to examine themselves. Tell them to do something they couldn't do before. Get them to act on the word. Bend over. Twist. Walk. Move the part of their body that was in pain or immobile. Keep getting them to act. Don't stop. Keep working with them. If you have to lay hands on them again, do so."

Here is the important part. Not Jesus. Not salvation I might add. No. Get them to bend, twist, or do something so you can believe that it really worked. I think back to my friend and his hip. He was running up and down the altar but in the end was not actually healed. What's with this "lay hands on them again?" Is there anywhere in the Bible where Jesus healing didn't work and He said, wait, let me try again! This is absurd. Do you want to see what happens when you think you can teach healing? Do you want to see the end result of teaching people to then make the person bend and twist to prove you were right? Here is a video clip I have shown before from a Jesus Culture event and a mob of kids who do not understand the spiritual games they are playing laying hands on a man in a wheelchair and then dragging him around like a trophy claiming he is healed when you can clearly see he is not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryIgncKNHUU

This is disgusting and sad. We do need faith but faith in the goodness of God, not the boldness of man. God can still say no. Paul suffered from His thorn, which many believe was a physical ailment. Paul asked three times for God to take it away but did God do so? No. Was Timothy healed of his stomach ailments? No. Bill Johnson pastors Bethel, runs the school for the supernatural, created Jesus Culture and teaches God always wants to heal us yet wears prescription eyeglasses. Explain that one to me.

God is all powerful beloved. He can heal us. That does not mean He must. His primary desire is to heal us of our sin. To save us eternally unto Himself. As always we value the wrong life. Be careful who you let lay hands on you. Be careful what teachings you follow. Line them up with Scripture and see where they fall. The arrogance of the false signs and lying wonders deception is staggering. To usurp the power of God as your own and rob Him of His sovereignty would be so astonishing if we had not seen it all before. There is nothing new under the sun. These are the same prideful antics Satan tried himself and has been luring us into ever since. Chase the Giver; not the gift.

Reverend Anthony Wade - January 10, 2015

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.