I appreciate your gentle reply. You must not have written what I have written about my friend, Nydia. She was very involved in the Word Faith about the time I was totally disabled with Rheumatoid Arthritis. She and her band of merry WoF people spent a lot of time laying hands on me, praying for my healing.
When I was not healed, they blamed me for having a lack of faith. Despite the fact that the way the Greek is worded in James 5:13-16 places the fault of not being healed on the elders who prayed, not the person who was sick. So I got blamed, and I went into deep depression, that my walk was God was bad. And because of that, it became not just bad, but non-existent.
I stopped going to church, and for the first time in 20 years, I stopped reading the Bible through. I stopped praying. That is a pretty harmful doctrine. They damaged me in my spirit, you have that right!
But fortunately, God used it for good. First, he had me just read the Psalms. I read 5 chapters a day, for 2 years. That is a read through every month. I heard a completely different story that the Word of Faith lies. I heard people crying out to God because they were hurting -physically, emotionally and in every way. I learned that people even got depressed in the Psalms, which made me realize I was not such a failure.
"Why am I so depressed?
Why this turmoil within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him,
my Savior and my God." Psalm 42:5 HCSB
(I preached a sermon on Psalms 42 & 43 last year, if you want to know why this version is a bit different than the normal versions, and what God's word says about mental health problems. I can email it to anyone wanting to read it. Several people here really enjoyed it!)
Then, God began to use doctors to get me back to almost 100% normal, although I still had deformities. I really reclaimed so much more than the life I had been living. I became a road biker - I rode daily, and one summer, put 2000 km on my bicycle. God called me to seminary. I had not heeded his call the first time, but what an incredible experience of learning the Word of God, and growing closer to him, and learning how to minister to God's people, as a chaplain and pastor.
But in the midst of that long process of recovery, that Kenneth Copeland ordained pastor, friend of mine, who told me I didn't have enough faith to be healed, got breast cancer. She would not accept medical treatment. Was it the false doctrine of "pharmakea"being sorcery that scared her off? Or just her being so entrenched in her investment in Copeland's false doctrine, she could not swallow her pride and arrogance and get the chemo and radiation"
She died very quickly. Sadly, the cancer went into her brain, and she ended up insane before she died!
And you think my friend wasn't saved? She had been my mentor for the first 10 years I was saved. She was an evangelist and lead thousands to the Lord, in BC, California and many foreign countries, where she ministered with her husband. The man of God, who ended up committing adultery on my friend and walking out on her, and spending his evenings in the casinos and bars, before coming home at 4 am. Oh yes, and he preached on Sunday. So, yes, sometimes they are not right with God. The catch is - he didn't get sick, my friend who loved God with all her heart. I know there was no sin in her life. She was a great believer in confessing sin and repenting. But this WoF lie about claiming healing, she just couldn't repent and let it go. So sad.
I think you have fingered a couple of issues. But this condemnation by Wassup of people who are sick, is judgmental and evil. And Wanderer also saying people are following the devil, men of God who love Christ more than life itself.
That is beyond irksome, and just acts of horror. Those are the words from the devil. And yes, the "twisted" Scriptures that people use to say that healing is in the atonement. I wish that was the title of this, so maybe we could day on track. Because, the fact is this WOF heresy goes far beyond healing - to wealth, and false prophecy, false doctrine etc. Stephen63 had a good bunch of posts on page 17, I believe.
As for you and being cancer free - praise the Lord for this testimony. I hope and pray it does not return. It was obviously God's will that you be healed.
