Healing

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The following is a letter I wrote to a Pentecostal preacher who teaches the Suffering Doctrine (names omitted).


Dear Brother *****,

I have found much in your ministry to be a blessing, and a wake-up call to God's sleeping church. I enjoyed reading your book *******when I was a young believer. Through your vital ministry to lost urban youth, you proved that with faith in God nothing shall be impossible.

But there are a few things which give me cause for concern. I read some things on the Internet about your present-day beliefs and school of ministry. I feel led to say this: Judging from material I read and teachings in your book ****** I get the impression you are addicted to suffering and get a buzz out of it. Just like those young people were hooked on heroin in New York City, you are hooked on the Suffering Doctrine. You seem to imply that it is our personal suffering that makes us pleasing to God, not the redemptive work of Christ.

A case in point was this incident I read about. In the attached article, I read that there was a certain student at your school of ministry who had two badly decayed teeth. His fellow student took up a collection to help him pay to get them pulled, since he was too poor to pay the dentist himself. But a week after the collection, the charitable student was rebuked for interfering with the Lord's alleged dealings with the suffering student. There might have been lessons the Lord wanted to teach that poor kid through suffering dental pain! But did it ever occur to you that the Lord might have used that case to exercise compassion through the student who took up the collection? James chapter 2 deals with practical ways to meet the need of hungry, poor Christians. It doesn’t say to leave them in that sorry condition so they’ll glorify God through their wretched suffering!

Brother *******, have YOU ever been too poor to afford dental care? How would YOU like it if every bite you took was excruciatingly painful? I know the frustration of being unable to afford necessary dental care. I worked night and day when I lived in America and most of my money got eaten up by rent and utilities. I could not save up enough money to get a root canal done to save a badly decayed tooth, though I worked like a donkey.

Maybe I'm no rocket scientist, but I'm not stupid. I know that if it were YOUR child with a decaying tooth you would empty your pockets to take care of the problem. What kind of a dad would you be if when one of your kids was little you'd said: "I'm sorry, honey, but I won't take you to the dentist. Jesus sent you that toothache to make you a stronger Christian, and it would be very unspiritual to get your tooth fixed."Ever notice though, rich TV preachers have picture-perfect teeth? Not only do they get regular dental checkups, but they go for cosmetic dentistry so they can grin real pretty for the camera! But it's no skin off their back if the poor peasants out in TV Land can't get their aching teeth repaired, and the less money poor pew warmers pay to meet their own needs, the more money can go to rich preachers to keep them up in the style to which they've become accustomed!

The devil uses false spirituality to hoodwink Christians out of their healing and deliverance. What a crock of lies he's feeding the Body of Christ:

1. If you truly love Jesus, you'll stop wasting time being concerned about your own health. After all, we're only here on this earth a short time and our sinful old carcass isn't worth God's concern anyway. But just WHAT is the Temple of the Holy Ghost (I Cor.6:19)?
2. It is selfish to want to be healed, because when you pray for yourself you aren't spending that time praying for somebody else. My, how the devil specializes in religious guilt to spread his lies!
3. God is glorified most perfectly when others watch us patiently suffer satan's attacks. What a selfish sack of sin you are when you'd rather be healed than "glorify God" in your ability to patiently endure pain. As if God savors our pain like we'd enjoy a hot fudge sundae!
4. Instead of joyfully feasting at the Father's table, Christians should camp out in his woodshed and have a miserable, withered look on their face all the time because it makes them look holier. Regular, vigorous beatings are proof of a father's love…or, could it be the father of lies, satan, who is distorting your concept of God?
5. Divine healing and other miracles were only for the start of the Church Age to attract unbelievers, but now it is immature and carnal to want to see these wondrous works of God. Anyone who harbors the desire to see the supernatural workings of God is accused of wanting to turn church into a circus side show.
6. We have to earn our way to heaven through patiently being the devil's doormat. Whatever gave me the idea satan was supposed to be under OUR feet (Rom.16:20)?
7. Our suffering is what empowers us for service (so why did God bother to send the Holy Spirit?).
8. We are nothing but miserable, sinful worms unworthy of God's love (II Cor.5:21 must be a mistranslation, eh?)
9. We enter into the intimate bliss with Christ only through our miseries. Suffering makes us strong, and the more tears the better. Whatever happened to the JOY of the Lord, which is our strength (Neh. 8:10)?
10. A sea of souls will forever be lost unless we "lose our identity", put on a crushed brokenness and flagellate our inner selves continually. Brother, are you enjoying your walk with Christ, or are you supposed to just endure it?
11. Personal suffering is the primary means God uses to perfect us, and we suffer nasty trials as the penalty for being born descendants of Adam and Eve. So what about the mortal saints who will live during the 1000-year Reign of Jesus Christ? (see Isaiah 65:16-25). They too will be descended from Adam, but they will live in a near-perfect world, with life-spans close to a thousand years. What means will God use to perfect those Millennial saints descended from surviving Tribulation believers? Isn't the offering of Christ sufficient to perfect us in holiness ? (see Hebrews 10:14). Do we really need to contribute our sinus problems and headaches to pay for our redemption when Jesus declared from the Cross: It is finished (John 19:30).
12. According to Suffering Theology, good is now bad and bad is now good. Was Jesus fighting against God's best will as He went forth to heal the multitudes? Did Peter rob folks of the chance to grow through suffering when he healed every sick person in the crowd (Acts 5:16)? What signs are supposed to follow them that believe (no expiration date is put on Jesus' final words to His disciples in Mark 16:15-18).
13. Suffering to "glorify God" is touted as being exquisitely sweet and what a privilege it is to sacrifice all personal happiness. So what exactly is your concept of heaven, ****? A woodshed with razor straps hanging on the walls?

If the Gospel means Good News, then what kind of good news was it to that poor kid with the toothache that he ought to have gone on suffering till his teeth rotted out? Is THAT the kind of gospel which should be presented to dope addicts on the street? What would you say to a poor homeless guy about to die of a terrible illness? That sickness and death is God's best will for humanity? If so, why should you be surprised if the street people say, "No thanks, man. Life is bad enough without catching what you've got."

Sincerely, Patricia

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