Hey all,
My Cousin and I recently watched a video of a man get healed of his injuries on the spot, presumably an Atheist, and later had a normal Bible related discussion in which she threw a question at me that I did not know how to answer properly.
She asked - "Why is God more present in some people's lives more than others? This man had his injuries healed on the spot when someone prayed over him and that was evidence of God's presence, whereas many Christians out there have never seen that level of power or confirmation from God before. The same applies to some Christians who hear from God constantly, whereas many others do not." This was not her exact wording, but it went something like that.
This really got me thinking about a similar scenario in which a man who had abused drugs almost to the point of death, shouted out Jesus' name and his life was transformed right there and then when he heard Jesus respond loud and clear. But many Christians out there who earnestly pray for something never seem to get a response... I've seen countless threads on here of people saying that their prayers remain unanswered, while many more claim God is healing, guiding, and talking to them daily. So, what's the difference? Does God favour some over others?
I'm aware the level of your faith has something to do with it, and what you pray for can also determine whether God responds or not, but how does that work with an Atheist who has no faith, and a devoted Christian who does? Many of their prayers are genuine and selfless, like healing, guidance, change of heart/situation, protection etc...
Please keep in mind I am not in any way doubting my faith. I am simply questioning how it works so I can be prepared the next time someone asks me a similar question.
Thank you!
Those are good questions. As to the man who was an atheist that got healed it was their faith, not his, that got him healed.
As for the drug addict that called out from his heart, well he was acting out of his desperation and his prayer was no doubt right from his depths and very sincere. It seems to me that once we Christians get saved, we too often get kind of relaxed and casual. That doesn't cause miracles, but leads away from them!
The whole topic of why some people get healed, and why some do not, is one I have been studying. It is very simpler and very difficult. It is simple because all you have to do is truly believe. It is difficult because, as Messiah said, of the hardness of our hearts. Yes, Christian can have heard hearts in many ways.
Also, in Churches people are extremely rarely ever hearing about healing and don't even know it is available to them. I personally have found searching on the net to be the place to go to learn the truth. Of course the Bible is the ultimate source. But Christians - and I have certainly been guilty of this - tend to listen to preachers and commentators instead of going directly to the Word and asking the Holy Spirit for guidance. Yet if we have preachers who truly stick to the Word, and we know it well ourselves, they can be way enlightening.
My favorite teachers on healing are Art Thomas, especially his vid 10 Things Jesus Never Said About Healing and Win Worley, now deceased, who was way overweight when he died, and seems like a good ol' boy type, but boy does he enlighten on the Scriptures.
Here are some examples of what happens when people "get it" about healing.
A new book called Physicians' Untold Stories lists many doctors' reports about divine intervention they have seen in their practice. In one case a woman who had not walked for years, and who was on her death bed from multiple sclerosis. was prayed over. Suddenly the Almighty told her to "Get up and walk." That she did, with the sudden appearance of new muscles in her legs. She is now leading a completely normal, healthy, life.
Now in the Bible we are told of a Man Who believed in Adam and Eve and Noah as being actual, historical figures. The Bible says He did miracles and raised the dead and healed the sick. He multiplied food out of nothing. He said we could do even greater things than He did. The Bible also describes His death and burial. Is there any actual scientific data to support those stories?
See secular news reports about Val Thomas, dead for 17 hours but now alive and normal after prayers from her family and her Church.
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See Medical Marvel Beyond Chance, from a secular source, with a pediatrician giving his report. this one attesting to a dying child's healing which cannot be explained by modern medicine, and came after a relative laid hands on her and prayed for her.
The DNA in every cell in her body was changed.
See CBN's short vid with Dean Braxton. You'll hear his critical care doctor, rated the best patient care doctor in Washington state, saying "It is a miracle...a miracle..." that Braxton is alive, has no brain damage and is normal in every way. Why? He had no heart beat and no respiration for 1 3/4 hours! His family believed in divine healing and they and others were praying for him.
. Also see CBN Dr. Chauncey Crandall Raises A Man From The Dead.
Part 1. This video is a bit faded but has the most complete information on this story.
Get Dr. Richard Casdorph's book The Miracles. There he gives medical documentation for miracles, mostly, but not all, from Kathryn Kuhlman's healing services. Casdorph came to Kuhlman's meetings to debunk her but turned into a supporter, as did other doctors. You can see him and other doctors in some of her healing services on YT. (She is now deceased.) Delores Winder is one of the cases documented in his book. You can watch her amazing story on YT with Sid Roth.
The book The Audacity of Prayer by Don Nordin lists medically documented miracles.
On Andrew Wommack's vids you can see doctors talking about "miracles" too. At the end of the book Don't Limit God you see a medical statement by a doctor saying that his patient used to have M.S. and diabetes but is now cured.
Bruce Van Natta was in a horrific accident where he lost about 80% of his small intestine. Someone he didn't even know was told to get on a plane and lay hands on him and pray for him. His small intestines grew back competely and you can see his doctors testifying to that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYwFqeHBA28&t=5036s
Here we see many witnesses reporting donated food being miraculously multiplied for people who lived in a dump in Juarez.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwsuYYIJ3Rg&t=7s
And btw do you think that Someone Who can raise the dead and heal people of deadly "incurable" diseases, Someone Who can make body parts and food out of nothing, Someone Who created time, space, matter, and energy - needed "evolution" to make life forms? No, He created them fully formed and fully functional in 6 days just as Genesis, a Book He always supported, tells you.
Then there is the Shroud of Turin. If you don't know, the Shroud is a blood stained linen burial shroud with the faint image of a crucified man on it. If you have heard that the Shroud was proven to be a Medieval fake based on carbon 14 testing, in the documentary Jesus And The Shroud of Turin you can see the very inventor of carbon 14 testing saying that the sample was invalid due to contamination.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTtDhvk_aw4
The vid demonstrates many miraculous features such as pollen from Jerusalem and faint images of flowers that are found only in the Jerusalem area during the spring, as at Passover when Messiah was crucified. With modern technology we also see that the Shroud has an x ray quality which reveals the bones and dentition of the Man on the Shroud.
In the 70s a NASA scientist noticed the Shroud's photographs had inexplicable, unique in the world, qualities. He got up a team of scientists, called STURP, to examine it in person in Italy. (No, the Shroud is not "just a Catholic thing" as the Vatican only came into stewardship of it fairly recently in history.) They used NASA, and other, high tech equipment with 100s of thousands of hours of research. Their findings are seen all over the net and were published in respected science journals.
The team was composed of 3 Jews, at least one agnostic and one atheist, and people of various faiths. They all agreed on these things: The Shroud image was not painted on, and they have no clue how it got there. It exactly matches, down to blood stains where a crown of thorns would be, the description of Messiah's death and burial as given in the Bible. The image could not be duplicated with modern technology.
About the Shroud I say "If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck, maybe it's a duck."
