No I am not breaking context. Yes, what James says is perfectly true and should be normally applied within the church context. But ordinary Christians have also being praying the prayer of faith for the healing of loved ones for ages, and frequently those prayers have been answered. Not always, but often. Kelby prayed and his request was granted immediately, just as Hezekiah prayed for himself, and his request was granted.
However, in the case of sign gifts there were no prayers being offer but the gift was being manifested by either speaking a word (frequently by the Lord Himself) or the laying on of hands. Huge crowds were gathering to Christ for this purpose, and He never turned anyone away, and each and every one was healed. Sometimes He just spoke a word. Other times, people touched the healer and were healed.
IOW we should be expecting a miracle worker in our midst, who sees the need for healing and simply heals as Christ or the apostles healed. No shenanigans, no falling backwards, or anything else. That would be a sign to unbelievers that God was at work through the healer. Then the healer could walk into a hospital and bring an end to misery and suffering while bringing souls to Christ. The so-called faith healers create a circus atmosphere, bring in the crowds, and collect major cash, but that is not how things were done in Scripture. And quite often those healings do not turn out to be genuine healings.
The other thing which we seem to forget is that regardless of denominational biases, every Bible-believing Gospel-preaching church should have AT LEAST one healer or miracle worker today, if indeed these sign gifts are currently operational. But that is not what we see at all. And because James (by the Holy Spirit) anticipated the cessation of these gifts, he gave Christians clear instructions as to how to deal with afflictions and sicknesses.
Also, that passage in James addresses the connection between sins and sickness, and the need for the confession of sins. But we have many today promoting the idea that Christians do not need to address present sins. As Joseph Prince misleadingly says "God does not see you, He only sees Christ". And since Christ is perfect you do not need to worry about your present sins, or deal with them.
However, in the case of sign gifts there were no prayers being offer but the gift was being manifested by either speaking a word (frequently by the Lord Himself) or the laying on of hands. Huge crowds were gathering to Christ for this purpose, and He never turned anyone away, and each and every one was healed. Sometimes He just spoke a word. Other times, people touched the healer and were healed.
IOW we should be expecting a miracle worker in our midst, who sees the need for healing and simply heals as Christ or the apostles healed. No shenanigans, no falling backwards, or anything else. That would be a sign to unbelievers that God was at work through the healer. Then the healer could walk into a hospital and bring an end to misery and suffering while bringing souls to Christ. The so-called faith healers create a circus atmosphere, bring in the crowds, and collect major cash, but that is not how things were done in Scripture. And quite often those healings do not turn out to be genuine healings.
The other thing which we seem to forget is that regardless of denominational biases, every Bible-believing Gospel-preaching church should have AT LEAST one healer or miracle worker today, if indeed these sign gifts are currently operational. But that is not what we see at all. And because James (by the Holy Spirit) anticipated the cessation of these gifts, he gave Christians clear instructions as to how to deal with afflictions and sicknesses.
Also, that passage in James addresses the connection between sins and sickness, and the need for the confession of sins. But we have many today promoting the idea that Christians do not need to address present sins. As Joseph Prince misleadingly says "God does not see you, He only sees Christ". And since Christ is perfect you do not need to worry about your present sins, or deal with them.