The Great Pretenders - Part 2 by Tracy Schell (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/5685/pretend.htm)
This article appears at the url above on the webpage of the North
Courtenay Avenue Church of Christ in Merritt Island, Florida.
Do The Healers Today Have The Power of God?
Are the miracles allegedly being wrought today the type of miracles read about in the Bible? As I have learned from firsthand experience, they are most assuredly PRETENDERS. It became evident to me when I first started studying the Scriptures and comparing the nature of miracles in the Bible with what I had seen.
Many faith healers today claim to heal the deaf, but do any do as Jesus did? He restored a severed ear. (Luke 22:50-51.) They claim to make the blind see, but how do we know if the subject was truly blind? Why don't they heal Ray Charles or Ronnie Millsap? These are two well known singers the world knows are blind. Why don't Oral Roberts, Robert Tilton and Benny Hinn heal them? Recently Benny Hinn claimed to heal a woman with AIDS. I don't know if she had AIDS or not. But we all know that Magic Johnson has AIDS. Let Hinn heal him.
The Cry for Money
They are always raising money to feed the hungry of the world. Could they not feed the hungry the way Jesus did in Matthew 14:15-21? Why do they even need to ask for money? Can they not get it from a fish's mouth as Christ did in Matthew 17:27?
The Difference in Then and Now
Who among today's healers raises the dead? I am not talking about someone who was "clinically dead" for a few minutes. I am talking about someone dead and buried. When Lazarus died, Martha met Jesus at the outskirts of Bethany, and she expressed belief that had he been there while her brother yet lived, he would not have died. Jesus promptly told her, "Thy brother shall rise again." Martha thought he spoke of the resurrection at the last day. It did not occur to her that he would be raised within moments. Even when Christ commanded them to roll away the stone, Martha said, "Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days." His flesh had already begun to rot, Martha thought, and it was too late. But not for Jesus. "He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth." (John 11:20-44.)
No so-called healer of today ever did anything of this magnitude, much less in front of so many witnesses. Does the shoe pulling parlor trick of W.V. Grant lengthening a supposedly shortened leg compare with the inspiring account of Jesus making a withered hand whole? (Mt. 12:13.) Do the silly antics of Benny Hinn blowing on people compare with the miraculous feeding of 5000 men with just 5 loaves and 2 fish? (Mt. 14:5-21.) Robert Tilton says you have to "plant" a faith seed by making a pledge of at least $1,000 to get your miracle. Did Christ or any of his disciples ever ask for money before or after performing a miracle? No, in fact, Jesus commanded them to perform miracles freely. (Mt. 10:6.)
Some people ask about all those people who go on stage and are "slain" by the spirit? Are they all liars? No. But they are all caught up in the same psychological state of mind. It can best be explained by an old fable I recall.
The Pretenders' Nakedness
There was once a king who was preparing for a great parade before his subjects. He ordered his tailor to prepare him a magnificent suit. This troubled the tailor for he had no fine fabrics. So he devised a story for the king about a magic cloth only the wisest could see. The king "saw" it for he was the wisest of the wise. So a proclamation was made to the people telling them of the special suit that was made. The day of the parade came, and there went the king down the main street naked as a jaybird. Yet the people remarked one to another about what a wondrous suit the king was wearing, for only a fool could not see the suit, and none wanted to be a fool, so none could admit the truth. Finally, a small boy, still in the simple innocence of childhood, said, "The king is naked."
The king was naked and The Pretenders are impotent, but who will say so? Their sick stay sick and the maimed are still maimed. But the crowd plays along. In reality, healers do not even fare well when compared to the magician, David Copperfield. He has made Lear jets and the Statue of Liberty disappear before our eyes, levitated a train car, and walked through the great wall of China, or so it seemed.
Conclusion
The difference between magicians and "miracle" workers is simple. Magicians promise entertainment, hurt no one, make no pretenses, and blame no one but themselves if they fail. They are magicians. "Miracle" workers promise healing, put themselves forward as great powers of God, and leave multitudes sick, suffering and disillusioned, and blame the disappointed sufferers for the failures. Yes, they are The Great Pretenders.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
I Am The Bible - Author Unknown (contributed by B. Cain)
Give From The Heart by Sharon Williams
When we look with our heart and not with our eyes, it is surprising how much more we see; for then it is Jesus looking and not you or me.
There's A World To be Won For Christ - Author Unknown (contributed by B. Cain)
It is unbelievable, but if all the unsaved people in the world were lined up single file at your front door; the line would reach around the world 30 times. And horror of horrors! This line would grow by twenty miles each day! If you were to drive 50 miles an hour for 10 hours a day, it would take you 4 years and 40 days to get to the end of the line of lost souls. And by then it would have grown to 30,000 miles! Look out your front door! Do you see lost souls?
EARLY MORNING PRAYER (contributed by L. Dillinger)
TAKEN FROM THE CAREPOINT,INC. WEBSITE
(http://www.ionet.net/%7Edgordons/morning.htm)
[Editor's note: Thanks to the various contributors for these short inspirational items that we print under the Food For Thought heading. Each one is designed to make us stop for a moment and think.]