The Christian Paradox

We recently attended something called a healing crusade in Peru.

In summary, this event consisted of worship, a sermon, an altar call, and then hundreds of people lining up to receive prayer from a man who claims to have a healing annointing from God. It was something fairly new to me and naturally, I was a bit skeptical.

Not skeptical because I don’t believe God heals. I wholly believe He does and have seen it happen in my life, my friends lives, and in testimonies of real life miracles only God could have appointed. No, I was skeptical because the healings were paired with a message that resembled that of the prosperity gospel.

This, to me, was off putting.

First, let’s talk about the ‘prosperity gospel?’

The prosperity gospel has been popularized, mostly in America, as a gospel presentation that communicates the idea that all God wants for you- and in fact His will for your life– is to be happy, healthy, and wealthy. It promotes the picture that Jesus died on the cross to give you an abundant life; which includes that of prosperous finances and no suffering.

While this may seem like a small mistake by pastors and teachers, any gospel that is not Truth is quite damaging and a very serious offense against Christ. Paul warns us of false teachings in 2 Timothy 4:3 as he says, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”

On the contrary, the bible communicates the opposite of a prosperity message. The bible tells us that “in this world you will have trouble (John 16:33)” that “it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him (Philippians 1:29),” and actually “everyone who wants to live a life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12).” Disproving the idea of a prosperity gospel that puts worldly happiness as the purpose of Christ crucified rather than sanctification and reconciliation.

Long story short, I despise the prosperity gospel and believe it is one of many heretical gospels circulating our world today.

So, imagine my difficulty in hearing this man preach a prosperity gospel and yet claiming to have a healing annointing from God. I was confused.

While I am not somebody who believes God’s will is for all his people to have a physical healing in this life (because Scripture does not support that); I do believe God can physically heal if He wills it. And right in front of my eyes that night I witnessed a boy, no more that 7 or 8, go from unresponsive hearing to suddenly responding to the sounds around him.

Now, I don’t know that boys condition and did not speak with him after the prayer. All I know is that as I watched him closely, he went from not responding to sounds to having an utterly amazed look on his face when the Pastor began to snap his fingers in his ears.

I immediately was confused with God. How? Was this You? Is this of You? Or is it a Matthew 7:21-23 situaiton? I couldn’t fathom how a man could preach a heretical gospel in one moment and then perform a miracle in the name of Jesus in the next.

It didn’t seem right.

Then, I got hit in the face with a very real truth that I had to surrender to.

What makes me worthy of doing work in the Lord’s name?

This stung a bit.

This is the ultimate paradox we exist in as Christians. That God has always and will always use imperfect and undeserving humans to carry out his perfect and holy plan on this earth. God gives and takes away as he pleases. Who are we to question God?

While this was a hard truth to swallow while judging someone on the outside; it made me profoundly grateful for the ways I have been shown grace, mercy, and favor from God in my own life.

Healing or no healing, the whole night sent me into a whirling spiral of praise to a God who would mercifully and deliberately allow me a small part of His grand and perfect plan of redeeming His rebellious creation.

With that being said, it hasn’t been an easy surrendering with the Lord. I am still questioning the whole event and am praying that above any physical healing that might have occurred, that little boy’s name is now written in the Book of Life because he trusted in Jesus that night.

We got the chance to speak with the Pastor after the crusades and through a very cautious and respectful conversation, we were able to challenge him in his messages to present a gospel more centered on Christ crucified. I hope he listened to our concerns and I am forever fallen back into the sovereign hands of God when it comes to salvation, conviction, and a right understanding of God’s word.

While people will inevitably continue to gather for the bright and shiny opportunity for physical healings, I hope that as a Church we remember that the most miraculous event that could ever happen in our life is the act of turning our rebel hearts back to God. As I move forward, trusting God to build the Church aback broken people; I stand in awe of the opportunity to serve God throughout all of my own failures.