I’m vegging out waiting for the festival to start. Vawz – who came in on the midnight flight – is asleep in our room while I tap away up here.
Andrew lent me a copy of a very interesting and provocative DVD entitled ‘Finger of God‘ that looks at the miraculous intervention of God in our world – everything from gold teeth and gold dust to healings and dead people coming alive. Pretty wacky stuff… but what if?… What if God really does do things that are so far outside my paradigm that I can’t even comprehend them?
My skepto-meter does go off like a banshee when I hear of gold teeth and similar ‘what the?!’ kind of experiences, but I admit I do the see the world thru a ‘God who doesn’t give gold teeth’ framework.
Its a very well made DVD and well worth a look. But be prepared to be disturbed. It raises the question – does God want to do miraculous stuff more often than we know and we miss out because we are not conditioned to see it or ask for it?
Then there is disturbance in the other way. Cam
has written a brilliant post on his ongoing battle with multiple myeloma. He is ‘terminally ill’. There is no cure for his form of cancer – just a buying of time thru chemo etc. He has been prayed over for healing, but last night a well known big name ‘healer’ came to town and he went along…
Read his reflections hereroad to perdition divx online
Hey Hamo,
Your comment “What if God really does do things that are so far outside my paradigm that I can’t even comprehend them?” has been on my mind a lot lately. This is mainly because I have been deep in conversation with some people who have opinions on healing that are quite black and white. I sometimes wonder if I am going to ‘miss out’ on healing because I am just missing the ‘requirements’. This leaves me in a dilemma of wondering if I need to study up on healing before it will happen. Call me old fashioned, but it seemed a lot easier in the olden days when all you needed to do was reach out and touch the hem of a Messiah.
Anyway, here is an earlier entry that may give a little more background to this recent one.
http://www.thewalkbeside.com/2007/09/09/when-the-faith-hits-the-fan/
I have a few comments and questions on this. I don’t think it appropriate to comment on Cam’s blog as I don’t want my negativity mixed in with the comments of encouragement that he has there.
Although the preacher and venue were not mentioned, judging by the description of the event I can pretty confidently say I was there as well that night. I went along fairly reluctantly, accompanying my wife who had attending this preacher’s conference earlier that week. I am what I would describe as a struggling Christian, whereby I am at a stage in life where I am trying to carefully examine what I believe, what I ‘should’ believe and whether any of it actually makes sense. One thing I struggle with is in the area of healing and whether miracles really do occur. I am probably too cynical for my own good, but I have seen and heard so much over the years that makes me doubt the reality of the truly miraculous. It always seems that all manner of claims are made that simply cannot be backed up by facts. It seems that most of the time, things that are claimed as miraculous can be easily explained as being medical or natural healing. But as soon as you ask for proof then you are accused of lacking faith.
So given that background, I attended the event with a highly skeptical mindset. I am guessing that there would have been about 1000 people there, and at the end they counted 189 raised hands as indications of healing occurring that night. I have considered writing to both the visiting pastor and the pastor of the host church whether they have received any medical verification proving that truly miraculous healing did occur, but I really think that it would be a waste to time. The visiting pastor and a few of his team took call out various ailments and ask people with those to raise their hand. Now to my way of thinking if you say that you feel there is someone in the audience who has had an ankle problem that never healed properly, your odds amongst 1000 people are pretty good. So it went on like this for some time, people prayed for others and we ended up with 189 healings. And it seemed like 999 people happily believed it all to be true, with 1 skeptic sitting there thinking that many people are going to be very disappointed if and when they see their doctor next.
So what do you guys think, is my skepticism reasonable or do I just lack faith?
Simmo,
I was also there that night (and the previous two days) and in answer to your question I would honestly have to say “both”. I believe the same is true for me in that I think some of my skepticism is justified but I also have a severe lack of faith for a whole host of reasons I won’t go into.
I think it is great to get medical verification of healing and as far as I am aware this happens on a regular basis by the people getting ministered to by the people from the church of this “nameless” visiting pastor.
Personally, I think there was probably a mix of genuine healing, hopeful healing, emotion, disappointment and joy all going on during the evening and in the days following.
A friend of mine was healed during this evening and was so full of joy that later that night she prayed for a lady in a fast food place who had an arm in a sling and who was subsequently blessed/healed as well.
My response at the moment is to lighten up on the evaluation/skeptical bent which comes all too naturally to me and pursue a God of miracles and healing, praying that my faith in him will increase along the way!
If anyone wants to watch the “Finger of God” film Hamo has referred to in a public group setting, it will be showing at Concordia church (cnr Glengarry and Hepburn – Duncraig) on Sat 3rd May beginning at 7pm.
P.S. Am I allowed to advertise on your site Hamo? 🙂