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Faith Healing - Good Intentions, False Theology The Healing Rooms believe they are fulfilling Lake's vision. Lake had two important prophecies- one is called the PORTLAND VISION (May 20, 1920). Lake: “He could not sleep so he walked in the shadows of the tall trees in Mount Tabor Park. “Through the park is a foot-path coming down through the trees that leads out to the street where we live, and in my vision I was seemingly out in the street, at the foot of this foot-path, and as I looked up in the park I was attracted by a quite brilliant light far up in the park. It was very slowly coming down the pathway to the street. I stood somewhat surprised, supposing it was some night man on some duty in the park, probably searching for something or somebody. As it approached I discovered that, instead, it was an angel presence, and the brilliance was an illumination surrounding him. He stood a few feet from me, and said to me, `I have come to answer your prayers. Come with me.”' Three wreaths: black, pink white. One dropped in San Francisco. One in Honolulu. He said: “Through great suffering, through much tribulation, these have conquered.” China: A man, a European, was lying on the ground. Close by lay his wife. On one side of her a boy of about seven or eight and on the other side a girl of about ten or twelve. Turning to me the angel said, “These have given their all for the Lord and His Kingdom.” He took a white wreath and as he held it in his hands tears fell upon the wreath and each tear turned into a diamond. It was covered by sparkling diamonds. He dropped the wreath and it lit by the head of the dead missionary. Johannesburg, South Africa: “The heart of Jesus was once gladdened here through the Glory, the grace and the power of God manifested here. But human pride, formalism and lack of faith have brought disappointment to the heart of Him we love. But the Glory will return, and the tried and true, those who have suffered and labored and prayed, will be rewarded. But all self-seekers shall be dethroned.” He discerned the heart of the Angel was overburdened. In answer to this the Angel said, “Human selfishness and human pride have consumed and dissipated the very Glory and Heavenly Power that God once gave from Heaven to this movement as you have beheld tonight.” We were now at the foot of the pathway again. He took a step or two away, and in a sort of despair my heart cried out, “Angel these are all struggling for want of an ideal. What constitutes real Pentecost? What ideal should be held before the minds of men as the will of God exhibited through a movement like this?” During all this time I had carried my Bible in my hand. Reaching for the Bible, he opened to the Book of Acts, ran his finger down over the second page, that portion where the Spirit of God , came down from Heaven. Proceeding through the Book of Acts to its great outstanding revelations and phenomena, he said, “This is Pentecost as God gave it through the heart of Jesus. STRIVE FOR THIS. CONTEND FOR THIS, TEACH THE PEOPLE TO PRAY FOR THIS. For this, and this, alone, will meet the necessity of the human heart, and this alone will have the Power to overcome the forces of darkness.” Prayer alone, much prayer persistent prayer, is the door of entrance into the heart of God.” White wreath is God's best - Pink second best. Black for those who have failed in the fight.” (From: John Lake his life, his sermons, his boldness of faith. p. 139 Kenneth Copeland Productions and Pamphlet: Healing Rooms Honolulu-Perpetuating the Vision of John G. Lake) The angel spoke these words from the book of Acts: “This is Pentecost as God gave it through the heart of Jesus. STRIVE FOR THIS. CONTEND FOR THIS. TEACH THE PEOPLE TO PRAY FOR THIS. For this, and this alone, will meet the necessity of the human heart, and this alone will have the power to overcome the forces of darkness.” “As the angel was departing, he said: PRAY. PRAY. PRAY. Teach the people to pray. Prayer and prayer alone, much prayer, persistent prayer, is the door of entrance into the heart of God”. (http://www.evanwiggs.com/revival/portrait/lake.html also John G. Lake, His Life, His Sermons, His Boldness of Faith, Kenneth Copeland Publications, Revised 1995, page xxx) This sounds too similar to the spirit that claims to be Mary that urges Catholics to pray fervently. This may be called a vision but it was an encounter with an angel and some of the things said by the angel and Lake are questionable at best (see Gal.1:6-9). It was Jesus who sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost almost 2,000 years ago, they were not told nor did they need to strive for it (Acts 1:5), He is a promise that was to be sent. It meant salvation for 3,000 Jews and the baptism of the Spirit continues to all since then. We do not pray for Pentecost, everyone is baptized in the Spirit when they believe- it is a salvation experience (Acts 2, 10). Does not the Bible teach that we overcome the forces of darkness by the Gospel? As believers we already overcome by salvation and by walking in the light by faith (Jn.3:16-19; 8:12;12:46; Acts 26:18; 2 Cor.4:6;Col 1:13;1 Pt.2:9). We need to question what kind of angel this is to be communicating this message. Healing rooms in Hawaii I mention Hawaii not only because I live here and I’m concerned but because of its importance as being part of the vision of Lake. The Lord told John Keough to start a healing ministry in Hawaii (1999). They tell the story of Pastor Bob Chin, a spiritual descendent of the missionaries, asked to pray and welcome John and Bob into the Islands. The prayer was to bless us and welcome our calling to the Islands as a genuine work of God. He spoke forth a blessing from the Lord so powerful that John had to grab hold of the parking meter so he would not fall over. I had my staff to hold on to, but was not able to stand up right. I was bent in half from the power of God touching us. Those standing around us were also experiencing the Lightning power of God as Pastor Bob Chin prayed.” Why do all these people have trouble standing up? All we hear is about them buckling under power everywhere they go. We don’t we hear this about the apostles? Lake's message of the kingdom is apparent - they want to see all crime, sickness and disease gone, based on the believe Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever. Keough speaks of the cross - on one hand Jesus paid for our salvation the other side for our sickness by the stripes on his back. (no such thing taught in the Bible- Benny Hinn also teaches this) on impartation they teach “we lay hands on people and impart into them what was in us” (Olelo TV. Feb.26 2005). (see article on Isa.53) Better to have the anointing from the Spirit that comes from Jesus than from man. Kainoa Iranon who appears to be in his twenties relates to John Keough who is hosting the program on the local TBN here in Hawaii, how he was taught to go to heaven in a class and that he went 300 times. The last time he went he met Aimee Simple Mcpherson who knows of him, and personally sends angels to him (Oct.25, 2006 TBN). Of course he met a famous healer in heaven as he relates of his journey in heaven where space ends to those who are into healing. Hearing stories like these just confirm that these people are not grounded in sound Christian doctrine andt if they are actually experiencing this then there is real spiritual concern. The Healing Rooms teach "God is revealing His Word for today to His Third Day Church, the Church that will bring in the final harvest through the Kingdom Message, through Divine Healing and Divine Health. We believe it is God’s will to equip the church for an awesome end time display of HIS presence and power.” (http://www.healingrooms.com/index.php?src=training) This again has the message of Joel’s army from the Vineyards prophets. Where does the Bible say the church will do all these miracles? Divine healing is biblical- divine health is not. The Healing Rooms state “Sickness is the result of an oppression of the devil.”“Acts 10:38 says , “...and Jesus went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him.” And cite Matthew 13:2 &21--”When we receive the Word on healing and are prayed for and a healing takes place, we receive it with joy, but it must become firmly rooted in us because the devil will always try to inflict us with the very same symptoms to change our minds. Verse 21 says because of the Word, this affliction will be brought against us once again to cause us to fall away.“The devil will once again bring the symptoms of the sickness to try and convince us that we are not healed.”(Healing Rooms website- underline mine) This is nonsense. When someone was healed as recorded in the New Testament they did not get faked out to think they were not healed or lose their healing? The healing lasted for the rest of the person's natural life, it did not wear off because of a lack of faith afterwards, nor did the person need to go back to see Jesus or an apostle. Anyone who tells people they SHOULD all be healed, that it is always Satan that is responsible for illness is WRONG. Says who? God, the Bible. People should try reading the Bible in CONTEXT before they listen to the faith healers jive. Consider Exodus 4:11, where the Lord speaks to Moses: “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?” Whether the devil afflicts us or we receive a disease through humans, God is the one who allows it.Many quote Exodus 15:26: “For I am the LORD who heals you.” But the whole Scripture reads, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.” This is not promoting supernatural healing; rather, God told Israel to be obedient because it was He who afflicted the Egyptians with their sicknesses and He can do the same to them if they are disobedient. There are numerous examples of God punishing saints in the Scripture: In Numbers 12 Miriam was afflicted with leprosy because she disobeyed the Lord. In 2 Samuel 6:6-7 Uzzah put his hand out to stop the Ark from touching the ground and God struck him and he died. In 2 Samuel 12:15-18 the Lord took David’s son because of his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba. In 1 Chronicles 21:15 God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 21:14-15 says: “Behold, the Lord will strike your people with a serious affliction–your children, your wives, and all your possessions; and you will become very sick with a disease of your intestines.” Deuteronomy 32:39: “Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal.” Exodus 15:26 and Deuteronomy 7:15, 28:60, 30:19-20, and 32:45 all teach that God can afflict people for chastisement. In fact, the New Testament teaches that if God does not chastise you then you are an illegitimate child. The whole teaching that God always heals is brought to nothing in one Scripture, where Paul had a thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. It was in his FLESH, it was a PHYSICAL infirmity and Jesus said NO to his request for healing three times. There are times God does allow disease, sickness and afflictions in our flesh to achieve His purposes… God had a specific purpose in giving the apostle Paul that “thorn in the flesh”… to keep him humble so Paul would be more useful to God in the propagation of the gospel. The sooner we can accept God as sovereign and Lord over our lives the sooner we can be at peace and have faith in any circumstance.Cal Pierce: “NOW IS THE TIME FOR MIRACLES--BY THE RESURRECTION POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ”
“In the past, we were waiting for
God to do something, not realizing God doesn't have to do something. He is
something. In other words, God doesn't have to work miracles. We do.
We can do it because it has already been established. It is established
because it is God's will for us. In I Corinthians 12:10, Apostle Paul is teaching on the gifts that the Holy Spirit has bestowed upon us, and he tells us that one of the gifts is the working of miracles. In Strong's Concordance, the word “working” means to “operate or show forth, to be active in with power.'' Then in verse 11, it says, “as He wills.” The question we sometimes have is, “Is it His will to work miracles?” We have a tendency to interpret the will of God based upon our condition, rather than the position the Word of God instructs us to take. When we look at verse 6, we are told that God works all things in all people. Remember in Matthew 8, a leper came to Jesus, bowed down, and said, “You can make me clean if you are willing.” Jesus answered, “I am willing .” If we are the Body of Jesus, why wouldn't Jesus want to fulfill the will of the Father for His own Body? It is always God's will to fulfill His own will for us.”It’s obvious that Healing Rooms is teaching what Lake said is kingdom authority. Bruce Latshaw has a Seminar Series where he teaches the Latter Rain impartation method-“Receive a Fresh Impartation of Healing and Miracles When John Lake equipped others for ministry, they found themselves experiencing the Holy Spirit anointings he received from the Lord. As we absorb his words, we too will partake in those anointings and grow in our healing ministries. Bruce Latshaw wants to Equip your church for an effective healing ministry. As the senior pastor of Vineyard Christian Fellowship the founder of Healing Rooms in Southern Chester, PA, and in Wilmington, DE He offers Lake Seminar Series. He advertises his seminar ‘Understand key points of Lake’s theology such as: The Total Atonement of Christ: Full Healing for the Whole Person. How to Grow in Healing Anointing. Identifying Hindrances to Healing The Christian's Authority and Dominion in Healing” “Hundred-Fold Consecration. The “Scientific Formula” for Healing Learn How to Effectively Minister Healing to the Sick” Discover how to minister to the sick as Lake learned to do.” The Lake Seminar reveals these healing secrets in a clear, practical way, ideal to be put to use immediately by those who minister in the Name of Jesus.” Latshaw’s affiliation with the Latter Rain is evident by the words and terms he uses. Unfortunately he is wrong- there is only one anointing, so any other added could not be the one from God. Promoting healing as a scientific formulae seems to depart from what the Scripture actually teaches of healing being a miraculous intervention of God’s grace upon a disparaging human condition. One newspaper interview stated: “There’s no charge, and it’s open to anyone from any spiritual background or religion – or those who don’t have a religion, Wise said” (Faith Covenant brings Healing Room to Concord 31 July 2007 By Beth FeebackStandard & Times http://www.standardandtimes.com/page.php?id=42 I thought Jesus healed those who had faith and could not do any miracles where there was no faith. Whose faith is it? If it’s the healers than there should be no failures, he’s a trained technician. “What We Believe” “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years or if due to
strength, eighty years. (Psalms 90:10) Is it God’s will for everyone to be healed? No one ever said to the apostles or Christ "by your (Chist) stripes I’m healed" until modern times when faith healing came in. They didn’t claim this as a promise when Jesus was on earth (read article on Isa.53). Jesus provided healing in the atonement. This part is true, but what is not true is that everyone is to be healed physically as they are spiritually. It is because of the atonement that we will get resurrected bodies. Does this mean we can claim them now? Sin causes sickness and death - death is the last enemy to be conquered. It is conquered because sin is completely removed. Until then we will have both sickness and death. If healing were in the atonement then everyone when they are saved would also be healed. You would not have to pray for healing separately from your salvation (as we see done). There is no promise in the New Testament of “that whosoever believes will be healed from all sickness” like the promise of salvation. It is not a standard promise to all believers for the present time. God is not obligated to heal like He is to save. Otherwise, He would be obligated to resurrect us now, and not later.How many times does one have to pray in response to the gospel to be saved? Only once, so why would you have to pray more than once to be healed if it is part of the atonement? No true believer is without the possibility of divine healing but it is not a written guarantee in Scripture like many think (in Isa.53. If God heals our body today it’s by intervention of His mercy, it's because of His grace and His Will. Healing is in the atonement in the ultimate sense and that will only fully be realized in the resurrection when we will receive new bodies that will not age or become sick ever again. The fact is, reports show that Lake did not heal everyone/ CRM reports “The Spokane Library had only a few old newspaper articles on Lake. The Spokane Historical Society had less.” “There were a number of cripples and paralytics who did not appear to have received” (The Oregonian, May 24, 1920) The article in a Spokane paper in 1923 said, “Miracles Fail, Imp of Tragedy Stalks In Tent. Hope grows dim in eyes of many as faith cures are not accomplished” “They brought to Mr. Lake idiots, epileptics and paralytics. There were no instances last night of any improvement….” (The Spokesman Review, July 18, 1924) “No healings were witnessed of blind, dumb and deformed, only disappointment…. The tragedy of it all left him [the reporter] suspended in a whirl of emotions somewhat the same as those experienced by theatergoers who have just witnessed one of Shakespeare’s tragedies .” (The Spokesman Review, July 23, 1924) -Researched and posted by CRM- Greg DesVoignes.With grandiose claims of healing - 100,000 people, prophecies of an end time revival from this healing ministry and “spiritual” experiences, one must be prudent and question what is trulystated by going to the Bible to see if it is indeed so. There are some obvious and not so obvious unbiblical, questionable practices that gives one caution when it comes to this ministry. They may mean well but it is a mixture. ‘“In an article titled “X-ray Belies Healing” out of the Oregonian in Portland, we find a story of Lake claiming to heal the broken leg of a young girl. After the “healing”, the girl got worse but the mother refused to take the girl to a doctor. A judge finally ordered medical treatment. The article said: “The X-ray photograph disclosed a very bad fracture of the thigh, which if not treated would have made the young girl a hopeless cripple for life.” (The Oregonian, Nov. 27, 1920) Researched by CRM- Greg DesVoignes. This is a documented diagnosis after Lake's healing claim. If this girl had not been diagnosed she would have been crippled for life. Yet it was Lake who said he had the ability to diagnose what even the doctors could not (pt.1). Remember this is a town that Lake was popular in, a town of whom the US government called “the healthiest city” because of him, so there would have been no reason to have had a bad report unless it was an accurate one. I cannot say that everyone associated with the Healing Rooms is way off. Some may have good intentions and really want to see people healed and became involved in the only avenue they know of. Others may have a different story. I think, however, that they should all hear another side, one that looks at the evidence with discernment and does not summarily believe every word but do as the Bible admonishes us “test all things, hold fast to what is good.” I hope I given some people something more to consider. Pt. 5. Was Spokane ever the healthiest city in America or the World?
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