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September 11, 2019

Is Calvary Enough for You? A Look At Two More Blasphemous Healing Arguments

By Anthony Wade

We examine these false doctrines often because lives are at stake...

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No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. -- Genesis 17:5 (ESV)

https://charismamag.com/spirit/supernatural/42602-what-to-do-when-god-says-you-re-healed-yet-symptoms-persist

https://charismamag.com/spirit/prophecy/42632-prophesy-this-truth-into-your-life-and-watch-god-do-a-miracle

People wonder sometimes why the work of a discernment ministry may seem repetitive. For example, I just recently put out an expose on the poor Charismatic teachings regarding healing and yet here we are again today. We must understand that the enemy is relentless. This response is to two more articles on Charisma just this week that teach horrifically heretical notions when it comes to healing. We reiterate because there are always victims of these types of teachings and not everyone may have caught the piece I put out last week. It is important to remember that these are becoming mainstream teachings within Charismania. They leave a bloody trail of disbelief and wrecked faith in their wake and need to be rebuked every single time. The above two links are to two different articles. One is regarding what to do when symptoms persist despite believing God has healed you by Mark Virkler. The second is from Super-Guru in deliverance or something Kathy DeGraw, and is entitled, "Prophesy This Truth Into Your Life and Watch God Do A Miracle." Let us reason together because one day we will all face the need for healing in our lives and the lives of our loved ones and it is best to understand what the bible says about healing now, so we are not led astray later. That may seem extreme but I have seen how life and death changes faith beloved when the person is not grounded in the truth.

"Restless leg syndrome started seven weeks after open-heart surgery. I prayed for healing and then journaled, and God has told me I was healed physically. Yet the symptoms of the infirmity persist. So now what do I do? Acknowledge I still have restless leg syndrome, or acknowledge that I'm healed? It appears to me that miracles and healing occur when I hear His spoken promise to me, believe this spoken word, see a vision of the healing completed and feel the emotions of being fully restored, causing me to speak and act according to these promises!" -- Mark Virkler

This is a spiritual mess. Virkler appeals to our desire for secret gnostic information found outside of scripture. I do not believe for a skinny minute that God told him he was healed. Do you know why? Because he would be healed if that was so! He would not have had to guess why he still felt this or that. God is not ambiguous. The power of suggestion however, is an integral part of any false healing ministry. I remember once there was a traveling evangelist/healer at the church I was attending. A good brother I knew had always suffered from a bad hip and was facing the certainty of hip replacement surgery. Naturally, he went down for the "healing line" and had hands laid upon him by this huckster. My friend started dancing at the altar, running up and down and declaring the wonderful healing power of the Lord. A week later he limped up to his regular station at the sound board and I asked him what happened to his healing. Needless to say, he was never healed but he wanted to be so badly that he temporarily convinced himself he was. Thankfully, he was mature enough to not blame God but how many others did not know who to blame long after the travelling healing show packed up their snake oil and love offering and headed to the next town. Now here comes Mark Virkler to set up people to blame themselves for lack of faith or God for not delivering. It is beyond sinful.

"When I do all of the above, my healing and recovery spring forth. Abraham experienced a miracle of a promised son when he was 100 years old (Gen. 21:5). He believed God's spoken promise (Gen. 12:1, 2), held a vision of the promise fulfilled (Gen. 15:1, 5, 6) and spoke the promise. You will note that Abraham spoke his new name--"I am Abraham" (literal meaning is "father of many nations," Gen. 17:5) for a full year before his wife gave birth to their first child. Abraham felt so impassioned by this vision and promise, he was emotionally prepared to act on it by taking his son to a mountain top to slay him in obedience to the spoken word of the Lord (Gen. 22), believing that God could raise him from the dead (Heb. 11:19). This made Abraham a friend of God (James 2:23). "He did not consider his own body, already become dead, (being about a hundred years old,) and the deadness of Sarah's womb, and at the promise of God did not stagger in unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, having given glory to God, and having been fully persuaded that what He hath promised He is able also to do: wherefore also it was reckoned to him to righteousness" (Rom. 4:19-22, YLT)." -- Mark Virkler

Genesis 17:5 is the key verse today and does not have Abraham declaring his new name. God declares it. God has the power to call things that are not as though they were because He see all time. He knew Abraham would be the father of many nations. Mark Virkler and you will soon see Kathy DeGraw try to usurp this power. Yes he showed faith, which is why he is considered the father of faith. None of this however has anything to do with healing. His wife Sarah in fact died and he remarried later in life. There was no miraculous healing for her. What Virkler is doing here is muddying the waters trying to leverage the faith of Abraham becoming the father of many nations into believing in healing regardless.

"Mark, come fully out of agreement with all demonic forces who send you physical symptoms saying you still have these infirmities, which I have said you are healed from. "You overcome the demons, the symptoms and the infirmity by believing, speaking and envisioning that which I have spoken to you. Thus recovery comes. Recovery moves forward. Healing light and healing processes are turned on in your body which continue the recovery process. As long as you are believing, speaking and envisioning that which I speak to you, recovery is continuing. If you quit believing, speaking and envisioning that which I say, then recovery goes into remission. "So, keep recovery moving forward by continuously believing, speaking and envisioning that which I have spoken. As you are well aware, clear envisioning produces the kingdom emotions of gratefulness, thankfulness and compassion." -- Mark Virkler

This teaching is just evil. Not all illness is demonic in nature. Some of it comes from aging, injury, or exposure. It is all a result of our sin nature but there is not a demon behind every cough. The notion of envisioning your healing is nothing short of the visualization method found in eastern mysticism. Also, how weak is the healing of God? Yes we must have faith in who He is but where in the Gospel accounts does Jesus say His healing will stop or reverse if the healed does not visualize it correctly moving forward? Clear envisioning is not of God beloved so it cannot produce godly thankfulness or compassion. Who does this theology leave the true work of healing to. To you of course. It is a self-centered, narcissistic, and unbiblical presentation of healing.

"So now you have combined hearing, believing, speaking, seeing, feeling and acting. Together these activities move recovery forward to victory. So stand firm in what I have spoken and full victory shall be yours. You recall in the wilderness, the Israelites would not believe, speak, see, feel or act on my promise that I had given them the promised land, so they aborted this miracle I had planned for them. Learn from their mistakes. Receive your miracle." Lord, why is it so hard to confess I am healed, when the symptoms are still present? "Mark, it is because you are looking primarily at the physical world rather than the spiritual world. You need to change your gaze and gaze longer in the spiritual world and then the confession, 'I am healed' will no longer be hard to make. This is true because you see the reality of the healing in the spiritual world, and whatever you gaze upon becomes your reality. Abraham gazed at the stars in the sky, and faith grew for My promise to him that he would be the father of many nations (Gen. 15:1-6; Rom. 4:16-22). Follow the steps of Abraham, the father of faith." -- Mark Virkler

This is just vile. To compare someone not being healed to the disobedient Israelites who ended up dying in the wilderness is beyond disgusting. Did you notice at the start Virkler admitted to having open-heart surgery? Where was his visualization and gazing into the spirit world then? Please. This teaching browbeats sick believers until they doubt their own faith or maybe even doubt the God they serve. It all stems from valuing the wrong life. God is sovereign and sometimes His answer is no. When Paul writes that he can do all things he is speaking about godly contentment regardless of the situation. Paul knew he was going to be killed by the Romans but objected not. When Timothy had a stomach ailment Paul did not tell him to visualize but rather have a glass of wine with dinner. Let us check in now on Kathy DeGraw whose reliance on word faith theology knows no bounds.

"There is power in the words we speak. Proverbs instructs us, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit" (Prov. 18:21). Our words have power in the spiritual realm. Therefore, we need to be careful about the words we speak out.

Instead of saying ... Say instead ...

"I have cancer." ... "The doctor has diagnosed me with cancer, but I am taking my authority and claiming the word that by Jesus' stripes, I am healed."

"I have a headache." ... "A headache is attacking my body."

"I am a diabetic." ... "I am watching my sugar intake and how it affects my body."

"I have indigestion." ... "My body is not reacting well to the food I ate."

We don't want to take possession or ownership of our condition. We want to acknowledge it is a spiritual attack and that we believe Jesus is Jehovah Rapha, our healer." -- Kathy DeGraw

We see the same skewed theology that insists all sickness is some form of attack, when it just might be that your sick. DeGraw says to change our speech to not "own" our conditions. This reminds me of a sister who used to work for me who refused to use her reading glasses, which she desperately needed. She would say, "I am not claiming that." My response was always that she may not have claimed it but it has claimed her. Denying reality is not a Christian trait beloved. So what about the often referenced Proverbs 18:21?

Let's break this into the two parts it has. Not surprisingly, those who seek to twist God's Word will often ignore the second half of the verse and just say that life and death are in the power of the tongue. This is in relation to other people though, not how we "self-speak." Our words can cause offense to a brother who then becomes unyielding towards us. Our words can edify however and build people up with wholesome conversation as opposed to corrupting talk. Let us see what Gill's Exposition of the Bible says about this verse:

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, of witnesses, according to the testimony they bear; of judges, according to the sentence they pass; of teachers, according to the doctrine they preach; of all men, who, by their well or ill speaking, bring death or life to themselves and others; yea, judgment at the last day will proceed according to man's words, "by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned", the tongue is the instrument either of a great deal of good, or of a great deal of evil. -- Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

If we are a witness of Christ, which we all are, the power of our tongue carries life or death for the hearers. If we are a judge, our sentence does. If we are a teacher, our doctrine does. Remember beloved the Bible says we will all be held to account for every careless word. False judging does matter. False witnessing does matter. False teaching does matter. Our tongue is indeed the source of great good or great evil and thus life or death but this is always in relation to other people -- not ourselves. There is nothing that even vaguely hints at the power of creation in our words.

What then about the second half of the key verse? Those who love the tongue will eat of its fruit. Matthew Poole's Commentary succinctly summarizes this by saying we shall receive good or evil according to the quality of our speech. This is supported throughout Scripture and there is a universal precept of sowing and reaping. If we are constantly tearing people down then we can expect the same in our lives. Bitterness and anger are like acid in our stomachs eating away at us day by day. But please note, it is not the speech itself that results in what the world might refer to as karma. It is the principle God has set up. Word faith removes God and His principles from these equations. Instead of God having His way, we create our own. The power goes from God and His precepts to our mouths and the power of our own words. It is simply blasphemous. So if we find ourselves in love with the sound of our own voice, we better make sure our speech is seasoned with salt and preserves rather than destroys people.

"As you declare and speak over your life, you are prophesying into your future. You are speaking into existence what you believe will happen. Prophets prophesy into our lives, and we believe we will see the fruit of those prophesies. Prophesy into your future what you want to see happen. Write a declaration (see my book Powerful Prophetic Proclamations, which has positive declarations and includes journal pages to write your own) to call out and claim forth what you want to have manifested in your life. Here are some sample declarations you can apply to your life:

My children will come to know the Lord and serve Him.

My financial situation will change. I will become debt-free, and the financial increase will come.

My job will be stable and provide the hours and finances I require.

My body will strengthen with every step I take and every breath I breathe.

My spouse will have favor and abundance in all they do.

Revelation and visions will be in abundance, and I will grow spiritually.

Speak to your circumstances and what needs to be released into your life, marriage and ministry. My book Speak Out will instruct you on how to write your own declaration--naturally, prophetically or scripturally." -- Kathy DeGraw

What a bunch of word faith malarkey. We have zero power to declare or decree anything on behalf of God. You cannot prophesy into your future! You want to know why? Because you are not a prophet! The bible specifically says that prophecy as a gift is only given by the Holy Spirit for the purposes of edifying the church -- not personal healing. We cannot claim forth anything in our future! This is outright blasphemy and the Luciferin sin of wanting to be like the Most High. As we said at start, there are always victims of such egregious teachings. What happens when your children do not come to the Lord? What happens when your financial situation does not change? I remember once a man posting on Joel Osteen's page that the sheriffs were coming to padlock his house and he did not understand because he had always had faith, spoke it an tithed. As sad as that statement is what followed in the comments was sickening. Hundreds of people blaming the man for not having enough faith and not declaring it. You can decree all you want but the sheriff is still coming next week. What if instead of stability you lose your job? What if your body breaks down? What if instead of favor and abundance you face lack? If you want revelation and visions in abundance, then read your bible. Stop following hucksters and charlatans who mangle scripture to try and usurp the healing and creative powers of God. Listen, can God heal you? Absolutely. Will He? That is entirely up to Him. The question is will you still serve Him if the answer is no? If He calls home your spouse, your child or your parent, will you still call Him good? Is Calvary enough? If God did not do a single thing more for you, is salvation enough? Give up these word faith heresies and get back to loving God for what He has already done.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- September 11, 2019



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.

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