A well-meaning lady came to pray for me. She’s a member of the infamous healing ministry of Jean Lim. The first things this lady asked was whether I have accepted Jesus Christ, have I been baptised, do I read the bible and pray, do I go to church, and whether I have accepted the Holy Spirit.
I felt that it was strange of her to question me this way. Yes I go to church, I have been baptised five years ago, I do pray and read the bible.
Maybe she thought that since I hadn’t received healing from God, I must be a not good enough Christian.
During our meeting, I tried to keep my thoughts clear, my mind open and listen what she had to say. She attested that she has seen people with cancer getting cured. “Perhaps so”, I reminded myself to listen. If I ask God more earnestly, I might just get cured.
As I recalled our meeting last night, something I have long known occured to me. She mentioned Cancer, which is curable today. When cancerous cells which contain a mutated DNA are killed and eliminated, none would be left behind to proliferate and healthy cells can thrive. Many of the people whose cancer went into remission are not even Christians! So, I asked her in an e-mail if it’s possible that those cancer patients who claimed to have been cured by the Holy Spirit were in fact healed by nature.
I bet many NF patients worldwide are Christians but none have claimed total healing so far.
My NF2 friend named Rebecca Dufek sent an e-mail which I read just now. It’s about another of her marathon runs to raise funds for NF research. It’s always encouraging to read about Rebecca’s quests so that ail of us can be cured one day, not just for herself.
Do you have the heart to tell Rebecca that the Holy Spirit will heal her if only she spends more time praying and reading the bible?
I don’t. I can’t help feeling judged.
And I still believe that the best thing we can do for people and for God is through service, serving people. Like the hospital I go to.
St. Vincent Medical Center, I blogged about it here.
Cancer as most people know it, proliferates to replace healthy cells. The proliferation can be stopped. But in NF patients, every cell already has a mutated DNA. It doesn’t require cell proliferation before we develop tumors.
I’ve never asked God to cure my NF, nor would I. I do believe He can and does cure people’s diseases though. I’d just rather He concentrate on others rather than me. Whenever you’re going into surgery I ask Him to guide your surgeon’s hands, your nurses’ care, and esspecially for your quick recovery and return to strength. I have a real problem with people who say one hasn’t been cured because their faith is lacking or maybe non-existant. I’ve been known to say some pretty hurtful things to them. It’s even more fun if they have some minor physical imperfection (and this is the only time I’d ever do this) I can point out to them and ask why God did that to them and what wrong they commited. I believe God has His own reasons for the Miracles He performs and I don’t question. Nt long ago a friend asked me if he could lay hands on me and ask God to cure my NF. I told him he could (I didn’t want to disapoint him) but while he was praying I was silently asking God to help someone else. I appreciated my friend’s concern and prayer but I feel that NF (and mine is really pretty mild) is my own journey and I’m curious where it might lead. I consider it not really a blessing, but it’s been a way to learn a lot about myself, my shortcomings, annd how I treat and respond to others around me.
Mark
I think the sad thing is many people equate religion with healing of diseases. It not only involves cancer, NF2 etc
There were a few cases in NZ, where the parents of the child refused to seek medical attention for their sick child but instead relying on “prayers”. Of course, in the end the child dies. There were some where the state managed to interfere and made the sick child a ward of the state, hence allowing the state to make any medical decisions because of the negligence of the parents.
While we know most parents mean well for their child, but when their irrational thinking is jeopardising their child’s health and recovery because of religion then it becomes a problem.
Scientific research has shown that people who have faith tend to do better in recovery, unfortunately faith alone doesn’t help in the healing. And surely whether or not you are a good Christian is not the answer.
So I just like to think that we need to see religion and recovery as separate entities. It can work in conjunction of one another, but I don’t think it’s wise to say because you have one, you will have the other.
Mark: I share your senstiment. After so many years living with this condition, we’d learn to look beyond our own needs and live inspite of the illness. I would remind myself that NF is not the worst thing in the world. Other people may be suffering much more and in greater pain. This world is so big that me and my problems are really tiny. Once we have come to accept our illness, we can see that we are the sum total of all our experiences with the illness. So when someone tells me to have more faith in order to be healed, it’s almost like questioning my existence.
Sabrina: The case you mentioned reminds me of the U.S. Bible Belt. It can get very scary when parents mix religion and child-rearing.
I was into faith healing for a bit. I can’t say that it was a total wash. I learned some valid things like positive speaking in accordance to the Word, and others. I am still open to healing, but now, I am more “mature,” seeking His Will than out for me and MY healing. I am more understanding that my purpose is to live for Him, however He has called me, however He wants to use me. I don’t need a full restoration here on earth to know that God has and will give me the strength to face what ever the issue or obstacle.
To comment on parents using prayer in lieu of medical treatment, it’s a difficult subject, well, it can be. There are the obvious fanatics but there are also the genuine parents. My parents were big on faith healing but I did seek medical treatment when NF2 was discovered. They definitely prayed and believed Jesus’s hands were guiding the physicians during surgeries and so forth. I was a teen and did not have the faith and character to stand on my own. Now, my wife and I feel comfortable forsaking medical intervention for a more “whatever happens, happens” (obviously with more spiritual substance).
I was born with NF type 1, and I also prayed for my healing as well. I would have christians tell me “pray more” “have more faith” “just accept it” “its God’s will”
“Stop drinking and smoking and sleeping around and you’ll get healed” well okay those three are bad for me but it will not block a healing. God heals everyone just the same. sober or not, “saved” or not. (God is no respecters of persons) Those christians are still living in the Matrix. Those people are still living by sight and not by faith. How dare they tell us to pray more for healing. Really? Like God doesn’t hear our prayers. How rude.
My point is that while I may still have the signs of NF on my body I live in the future and know that I’m healed completely from NF. I’m waiting the natural world to catch up with the supernatural world. The prayers that we’ve prayed for have been answered. We have planted some serious seeds that need time to mature and can’t be harvested yet. I’m the ONLY one in my family that has this.(the genetic mutation) I don’t want anyones else to have it. I’m planting an acorn seed of faith. Now I pray and hope (Hebrews 11:1) it won’t take a 100 years for this seed to come to harvest, but I know that I’m already healed.
There were days That I got discourage when I would hear of people getting cured of stage 4 cancer and I would think “When is it my time God?” It took some maturity on my part to realized people are still getting cured of STAGE 4 CANCER. My time is just around the corner. God is still on the Throne.
I hope this encourages someone. Live out the Matrix. God Bless