Recently there was a story where a mother of twins died because she refused to receive blood during her delivery which had complications. She was from a Christian group which people would call extreme. This group however would just call themselves people who are exercising faith in the Healer.
There also has been many stories about Christians who believe that in giving to the church, they would receive back manifold. Have you heard about one speaker who promised the return of gold fillings in a person's tooth if he gave money to the 'Lord'?
These might be stories from one extreme but i am sure there are also so many other stories that state healing and material blessings as a direct consequence of faith in healing and in giving.
How do you view these stories that crop out every now and then? What is your view of giving and trusting God in faith?
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Health and Wealth
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5 comments:
There are many of these general principles that people make into presumptions upon God.
It is true that in general if you follow God, you will live longer, you will have enough to live on, etc. But there are exceptions.
For example, you look at the kings of Judah & Israel. Generally speaking, those who followed YHWH lived & reigned longer. But not always. There were exceptions on both sides of the ledger.
If you take these general principles as personal promises from God, you will set yourself up for trouble the first time problems occur.
I see it more like a 'Need to Greed' process. Often times many people came to God sincerely needing Him to bless them becoz they are in dire need,eg. healing and family problems. But rather than staying contented, some of them grew to thinking that the Lord has blessed them previously becoz of their faith, if they continue to keep to this 'formula', He will do it again and again and again. Its a subtle form of greed. Very elusive. Their eyes has been taken away from the Giver to the gifts. For me, godliness and contentment is the way to go.
This is interesting. It tied in with this my reflections over this morning's Radio Bible Class "Our Daily Bread" reading:
Numbers 21:1-9
The Bronze Snake (or Brazen Serpent) was made by command of God, to be lifted up on a pole in the wilderness for the forgiveness of the sins of the Israelites and their healing from the snake bites. It was a true sacrament from God, and a foreshadowing of Jesus being lifted up on a cross for the forgiveness of the sins of the world.
Yet, later, Hezekiah had to destroy this true relic because people had made it into an idol.
This could still happen in modern times.
For example, some traditional Christians idolize the cross and holy icons, forgetting that these symbols were originally intended to help bring to mind the Gospel teachings. Some evangelicals, seeing the idolatry, then go overboard and condemn all uses of icons.
On the other side of the ledger, some Charismatics idolize speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues is a true gift of the Holy Spirit, but some Charismatics make it into an idol and insist that all Christians must practice it or they're not real Christians. Others take a milder line and say that every Christian should practice it, though some don't merely because of their own hangups. As a reaction, some non-Charismatics go overboard the other way and insist that tongues and other miraculous gifts have passed away and are not allowed to be practiced today.
So, as Dennis Fisher points out, it comes back to the central thing: Jesus is the One who can heal our soul. We have to rely on Him and Him alone. All these other things are secondary; they can help, or they can hinder, depending on whether you allow them to replace the worship of the True God.
I was in the Champagn-Urbana Vineyard when the Toronto Blessing hit. For a while, many manifestations were happening. Then, they slowly ceased! But when other people from outside our church came, they could still experience the manifestations. But not our church members. Why? The pastors & elders fell on their faces before the Lord to ask. Then they received the answer: it was because we were being distracted by the Signs instead of looking at the One the Signs pointed to. The Signs were not to be the focus of our attention -- they point us to Jesus! Since we were focusing on the Signs, rather than allowing the Signs to point us to Jesus, God stopped the Signs for us. Praise God the pastors & elders were humble enough to acknowledge their fault and confess to the whole congregation. After that, the manifestations started reappearing, but not in as great measure as before, so as not to distract us again. So, for some, the manifestations had become a "bronze serpent" that "Hezekiah" had to destroy.
What cc mentioned relates because originally, the prayer for the need was indeed sanctioned by God. But when it becomes a health-and-wealth prosperity formula, it has become an idol just like the brazen serpent did.
Well said. I agree with what was shared.
I think it's ok to take it as reassurance that God will take care of our needs. But it shouldn't be taken as 'I give because I expect God to give back to me'. His blessing us is not determined by our actions. It's by His grace. As a preacher once said, faith is just the channel through which we receive from God. our faith doesn't decide whether He chooses to bless. It's like when you give someone a present, that person must believe that you are giving it as a present in order to receive it. Or else, he will insist on paying you or reject the present. To me, that's what faith means. God wants to give us something, but if we don't believe He's giving it to us, how can we receive it?
God blesses us not simply based on our level of faith but because He chooses to bless, He is a gracious God. So often we get blessings from Him that we don't deserve. I think that's evidence enough that it's not our faith that determines whether He blesses us. So, give and trust Him because that's what He wants us to do. Not because we expect something in return as a reward.
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