Is this why Jesus told us in the Great Commission (Mark 16:17-18) to lay hands on the sick and they shall be healed???
Is this why James 5:14,15 says "Is any sick among you? 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 shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up"?
Is this why 1 Peter 2:24 says "Jesus carried our sins in his own body on the cross, so that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed"?
Is this why Matthew 8:17 says "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet (speaking of Isaiah 53:4, 5), saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses"?
Is this why Proverbs 4:20-23 says "Attend to My words; incline your ear unto My sayings....let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart....for they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh"?
Is this why Exodus 23:24-26 says "You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do their works: but you shall utterly overthrow them, and destroy their images. And you shall serve Adonai your God, and He shall bless your food and drink; and I will take sickness away from the midst of you"?
None of this has anything to do with any "wof movement"... this is God's Word concerning what Jesus Christ did at the Cross. God even had provisions for His people to be well under the OT before Jesus came, so it's not God's will for His people to be sick...
As to WHY many of His people are in fact sick and die early and spend thousands and thousands on medical services and remain sick... is a hole different discussion.
I've been a Christian for over 30 years now and once I found it was God's will for me to be well (which took about 5 years to discover), I have no been sick in about 25 years... that's right, spent nothing on doctors and medical sciense because, where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty IF... IF one agrees with His Word and walking in it refusing to accept anything other than what God has promised.
Sure I've been attacked with all sorts of odd and strange feelings in my body cause satan is trying to choke God's Word out of my life (see Mark 4:13-20).
Yes, I agree there are many un-godly things TV preachers have done and and doing as they live in excess putting the things of this world as their top priority in this life and that is so obviously wrong... but as for me, I'm not going to let the activities of some false TV preachers shake me in to throwing down God's promises.
And, yes I'm considerably above the median income here in the US but I got that by that little 4 letter word many don't like to hear... W-O-R-K, and if it were not for the Lord, my work would not have prospered. But, it did cause the Lord taught me what having a little extra money is for which can be found in Deut 8:18
It's so sad that many Christians get in the ditch n one side or the other... some believing to excess causing them to live for the things of this world, and some believing Christians are sup-posed to be poor, sick and living on barely get by street.
How about some balance based on scripture???
I just wanted to comment on the bit in bold. Generally speaking from youth to middle age, unless you are
genetically predisposed towards some sort of illness, it is the norm for people to have this amount of time
without having anything major wrong, apart from the odd virus cold etc. Even non Christians can claim that!
Men especially should remain healthy longer as they do not have the complications of monthly cycles
to deal with, giving birth, menopause etc.
Until the age of 37 I had no medical problems.
My cousin who is 57 and is not a Christians has never had anything wrong with him.
On the other hand I know a Christian who refuses to go to doctors unless she is really bad,
even then she still prefers to pray and believe for healing and only uses any prescription as a last
resort. She is very much a WOF person. She tells everyone to pray for healing and to anoint
themselves with oil. She always tells people God always heals her and she never gets ill.
I know however that what she says and thinks is not reality, she has suffered from depression,
shingles, pneumonia, she currently has cataracts. She also has glaucoma - I did have a problem with
pressure in my eyes and she told me all I had to do was pray for healing. I didn't point out what
about you, why do you still have glaucoma as im not that cruel!
This is the problem WOF people like to hide behind reality. They tell you just pray and if you are
not healed they say it's because of unbelief, but many of them are not healed either! So either
God is wrong or they are wrong and unrealistic.
Can I ask is everyone in WOF churches without sickness, is everyone rich, is everyone
having their needs met. If not why not! That's what WOF teaches isn't it. What does happen
is people in these churches get disillusioned with God (due to the over emphasis
on these things) then when it doesn't work for them, they leave. They end up with a false
expectation of God. They chase after experiences instead of a relationship with God.
For the record I do believe God provides and God heals and that He meets our needs. But
our needs and our wants are two different things. Many Christian were fed to the lions and
persecuted and Peter was crucified, do you think any of them wanted that! Do you think
Job wanted his family destroyed and wanted to lose everything.
To give you a more balanced view here are some examples.
1) A fantastic lady who currently leads a women's ministry across the UK and has done lots of
missionary work had a serious car accident a number of years ago. She ended up quadriplegic.
People really prayed and so did she, after several months she got the use of her upper body back
but was still in a wheelchair with no feeling in her legs. During that time she learnt much about
patience, humility, judging, faith, priorities, leaning on God. Then some years later the rest of
her body was healed.
She was ecstatic but she questioned God as to why it had taken so long.
She felt God told her that while she was only interested in her body, her spirit was of more
importance to Him. Now as I say she leads an amazing women's ministry and that might not
have been possible without the lessons learnt and the spiritual growth while in the wheel chair.
She says this herself when she comes to our church, this is her own testimony.
Did God cause the crash, absolutely not but what Satan meant for destruction, God turned
around for good. Is God faithful Yes. Is He true to His word Yes.
However if she had been in a WOF church they would have told her she must be unbelieving
or not living in a right relationship with God.
2) At age 37 I became extremely ill with Graves' disease, overactive thyroid. My levels were off the
scale they could not measure them they just plug 100 plus (should have been between 12-16).
For first two and a half years I had to go to hospital every 6 weeks for checks they could not get
the balance right. I had doctors urging me to have radioactive iodine treatment. Basically you
swallow a radioactive tablet and it chemically destroys the thyroid gland. You then end up
underactive and end up taking thyroxine for life.
I kept refusing the treatment as I felt God was telling me I would be healed. This wasn't
a false expectation from man. This was a real expectation from God. Then one night I
had a dream (God often speaks to me in dreams). It was of a man with dark curly hair
he came to me in the dream and said it was coming to an end. That's all nothing else.
Next time I went to hospital I was told my bloods were the best they had been! It took
another year of going back and forwards before everything was completely normal so
even then it was a gradual healing. But that dream was the turning point.
Yet WOF would have told me I should have been instantly healed and when I was
eventually healed they would have claimed it was their faith teaching, but this was
entirely God and not man.
3) My elderly aunt who I care for was hospitalised 3 times last year. Then in Oct last
year she ended up in hospital again, I was told there was no hope she was dying.
To go home and leave my phone on, they would tell me when her heart stopped.
I had a dream that a man was bending over her in hospital sprinkling her with water.
He had his head bent down so I could not see his face but I believe he may have been an
angel. Next day I took some oil to hospital and put it on her.
Four days later she was still alive so the hospital began to treat her as a patient rather than a
dying person. The original issue likely to cause death began to resolve itself but she was
still very ill with many other things. They discovered she had two very mild strokes, she had
reduced kidney function below 20%. The catherter caused severe water infections. She had
delirium was hallucinating.
It took 12 weeks before she came home, even then it was a good 6 months before
she was back to her normal self. The hospital did in the natural what they could do.
God did in the supernatural what they could not. It was a gradual mixed healing.
She still has many health issues but God has been good to us. As a result of her
illnesses we are getting so much more help than we ever did before. She is doing
well despite her various medical issues. All that happened without the benefit of
WOF doctrine. It happened because it was God's will and plan. Yet WOF would
say only they know the truth about healing.
I could give numerous other examples where I have had warnings of things.
Or where healings have taken place some instant some delayed.
All have been under the amazing loving provision of God. I could also give many examples
where people are not healed.
Just simple trust in God and His promises and simple prayers are the key. Sometimes
prayers said out of desperation. The key I think is being real before God, not just
repeating verses parrot fashion like some kind of mantra or good luck charm.
You don't get faith by speaking words. It's deeper than that it's about having a
relationship with Jesus and surrending up the real you to God. That's why
WOF does not work. The bible is not a good luck charm.
Sometimes we are not healed God knows the reasons why. But I know
our spiritual state and emotional state are important to God, it's better to
be healed spiritually and spend eternity with Him, than to be healed physically
and be lost.
Re the issue of blessings and prosperity. God has always gotten me through regardless
of circumstances. I'm no millionaire, I live in a rented council house so don't own my
own home. I'm in work but have had a spell of unemployment.
Im definately not physically rich! But God's provision does not guarantee physical
prosperity it never did. The riches in Christ are spiritual!