What's your opinion on healing ministries?

[Pavel Mosko]

I'm expressly against healing ministries in the vein of those who 'touch to heal' and whatnot, as I find it rooted in pagan practices and not historic Christianity, in which healings were dramatic and obviously of God and were real and lasting.

I've got a problem with the Benny Hinn types, even though I've known a few people who I respect who say they have been helped by him. But with that ministry and those that him and Kulman there are multiple problems and potential problems. In terms of my past friends I guess I see it a bit like the broken clock being right 2 times a day.


I have prayed for people, especially when I was with my best friend and they testified about being healed and those claims at times were verified by checkups by their doctor. And in general I do believe there are some legitimate people who minister in this.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Yes but in the same way big name healers don't go to hospitals - big name preachers arn't seen on the streets.

"Big name preachers" just isn't how most churches operate. We have ministers who serve, not Celebrity Personalities who get showered with money and praise.

A church that is built around the personality of the pastor is a bad church. Probably best to flee from such nonsense in the first place.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ChristIsSovereign]

"Big name preachers" just isn't how most churches operate. We have ministers who serve, not Celebrity Personalities who get showered with money and praise.

A church that is built around the personality of the pastor is a bad church. Probably best to flee from such nonsense in the first place.

-CryptoLutheran

Any church that isn't built around the Cross of Christ is a bad church. I think C.J. Mahaney would agree.

 

[rockytopva]

I can share testimonies....

 

[rockytopva]

I can share testimonies....

 

[rockytopva]

I can share testimonies....

 

[aiki]

I'm expressly against healing ministries in the vein of those who 'touch to heal' and whatnot, as I find it rooted in pagan practices and not historic Christianity, in which healings were dramatic and obviously of God and were real and lasting.

I'm of the view of many in this thread who reject the Benny Hinn-style "healing," regarding it as the exploitative thing of which the apostle Peter warned:

2 Peter 2:1-3 (NKJV)
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words...

Benny's angle in everything he does in his "ministry" is profit. That's the bottom line, I believe, with all of these people who make a show of their "healing power." And looking for this motive is a simple way of distinguishing those through whom God is truly healing from those who are actually, I believe, agents (unwitting and not) of the Evil One. When anyone who claims to heal associates, directly or indirectly, their healing efforts with profit-making, they are not serving God but Mammon (and by extension, themselves).

I am a soft Cessationist in my view on healing. I think God can and does heal today but in a much-reduced degree from that described in the NT or that claimed by modern hyper-Charismatics.

 

[W2L]

I can share testimonies....

Any from Shiners hospital yet? Or perhaps St Jude's?

 

[Jipsah]

Should not the situation you describe cause us to cry out to Him for real healings rather than have our attention drawn away into bagging the counterfeits?

Both.

 

[Carl Emerson]

"Healers" appear to be very good at curing ailments on stage, but considerably less so in hospitals. They're good at undiagnosed illnesses, an bad at obvious debilitating maladies. Short form, for the most part they appear to be frauds. Let 'em go empty some hospitals, then I'll take them seriously.

What is your response to this...

Dear friends,

I feel to share another outstanding miracle.

My dear friend Neville Logan (now with Jesus) and I, ran an inner city 24 hour drop in centre in Christchurch.

Neville would often go out among the young people and simply ask a group if anyone was sick. He would pray for the sick on the spot and lead many to the Lord this way.

One particular day he felt strongly to go to the local hospital and wait in the waiting room for further instructions.

While there, he was sharing with the patients that Jesus can heal.

A patched gang member came in with a broken nose. When he heard what Neville was saying, he blurted out "well if your god can heal let him heal my nose"

Neville extended his hand towards him and prayed and his nose was fully restored.

A woman who was sitting there behind a newspaper, and hearing all this, threw the paper down and yelled angrily "Who the H... are you anyway"

I am writing this in fits of laughter... I love what God does.

 

[W2L]

When he heard what Neville was saying, he blurted out "well if your god can heal let him heal my nose"

Dying children at St Jude's hospital are saying if your powers are real come heal me.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Any from Shiners hospital yet? Or perhaps St Jude's?

St. Jude's has enough real healing going on (medical and miracle) that Benny would be at a loss what to do.

 

[W2L]

St. Jude's has enough real healing going on (medical and miracle) that Benny would be at a loss what to do.

I partially agree, but im still not seeing anyone with the gift of healing at St. Judes hospital..

 

[rockytopva]

The big name in healing ought to be the Lord Jesus Christ and in no other name.

 

[chevyontheriver]

I partially agree, but im still not seeing anyone with the gift of healing at St. Judes hospital..

When is the last time you were there?

 

[Carl Emerson]

Dying children at St Jude's hospital are saying if your powers are real come heal me.

Is this not part of the issue... Every time we experienced this level of healing there was a particular word to be at a particular place. Without that word we cant do the things that we see the Father doing. If He said for me to go to St. Jude's there would need to be a word from Him, unfortunately the word of the children is not enough. Incidently I have no 'powers'. If He ain't in it nuttin' will happen.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

There are no such things as "healing ministries" in the New Testament. The only ministries set out are the Five Fold ministries mentioned in Ephesians 4:11.

Laying hands on the sick is for every believer, not just the 'superdupers" who are in it mainly to enhance their reputation and bank balance. Also, it is part of the role of church elder who is called upon by a sick person to be anointed with oil and have the prayer of faith said over him. Also, there are gifts of healing that can be manifested by any person in the body of Christ, and these are for the building up of the saints.

If a person purports to have a "gift of healing" which would support a "ministry of healing", then every person he prays for should be divinely healed. But, as we know, although great claims are made in mega-churches and large conferences of the healing that is supposed to happen, when the truth is known, very, very few are actually healed, and many of those are achieved by natural process or medical intervention.

In one big conference run by a "super-duper" who has since been exposed as an adulterous fraud, a whole lot of people were supposed to be healed, but when follow-up was done, none of them actually were, and one with terminal cancer who was told he was healed, died two weeks later!

If a person gets up and claims he has the "ministry of healing" then it can safely be said that he has nothing of the sort. The evidence of the manifestation of the gift of healing is that the sick person is instantly healed. This means if he had terminal cancer with a month to live, he could go back to his doctor, be xrayed and no trace of the cancer found. It is the same if a person has a Word of Knowledge about some with an illness, and prays for him, that person would have to be heal instantly for that Word of Knowledge to be from God and not just dreamed up out of the preacher's head.

I believe God heals and when He doesn't do it sovereignly, He uses ordinary "unknowns" to minister it to show that it is of Him and not through the claim of some self-style "superduper" who thinks he has something special that ordinary believers have no access to.

 

[W2L]

When is the last time you were there?

I see their tv commercial, im aware that some kids will die. I just figured that if a faith healer were present then no children would die. Perhaps im mistaken.

 

[Kenny'sID]

I'm expressly against healing ministries in the vein of those who 'touch to heal' and whatnot, as I find it rooted in pagan practices and not historic Christianity, in which healings were dramatic and obviously of God and were real and lasting.

I've never seen good evidence they were healing anything but their lack of being rich/well to do.

When I find one that shows any good evidence they do heal, I'll let you know.

 

[chevyontheriver]

I see their tv commercial, im aware that some kids will die. I just figured that if a faith healer were present then no children would die. Perhaps im mistaken.

I think it is presumptuous to think that someone who has healed one person necessarily can heal every person. Just as much a presumption as the guy who cashes in on his 'healing ministry' presuming he will actually be able to be used of God to heal even one more time. I suspect God heals who He wishes using humble healers. The rest is all hype and fake.