The reason we have those who merchandise the anointing and the patently fake prophets and pastors is that the church places a premium on miracles and by extension the wealth and health gospel.
Until we expunge those two elements from our core concern, the charlatans will continue to bring opprobrium to the church.
They know people want health and wealth. They want a miracle. But if people know miracles are just like the icing on the cake and not the real deal, they will pay less attention to the fakes.
It is safe to just pray for people after every teaching session and trust God for their healing. We don’t need to make a drama of people’s situations.
Unfortunately, those we see as signposts of the Church place so much emphasis on miracles. They advertise miracles and ask people to come get their miracles.
By that they mean people should come and get both their needs and their wants which have nothing to do with their souls. But which miracle is more than the salvation of one’s soul?
Miracles are real
Jesus performed miracles. He did not preach miracles. And he did not ask us to preach miracles. He asked us to heal the sick, raise the dead. That is different from making miracle messages our core concern.
Today, we spend quality time talking about miracles and working people up to fathom change in their circumstances without a change in their hearts.
It’s so bad that some have been taught to believe if they don’t get a miracle they don’t belong to God. That is the extreme of these miracle mongers.
But do we spend time thinking about this craze for miracles? Pastor Nick Vujicic, the Australian evangelist born without arms and legs is a classic case of a man who has a deep understanding of God when it comes to issues about miracles.
He made a profound statement that is more of words on the marble. He said, “If you can’t get a miracle be the miracle.” There are countless Christians over the years whose lives in their “miracle-less” state have been a blessing to humanity.
Many deformed individuals never got a miracle and yet are doing exploits for the Lord.
What the gospel is not
The truth that should sink into our heads is that wealth and health are not the gospel, they will never be the gospel. The gospel message has nothing to do with those two elements. Health and wealth have been in existence ever before Jesus came.
Jesus did not come to die so we have health and wealth. Far from it. The concern of Jesus was the soul of man. And that is why he said in an emphatic tone: What shall it profit a man if he loses his soul and gains the world?
Come to think of it, if health and wealth are elements of the gospel, then anybody who has any health challenge that defies a miracle no matter how spiritual can’t claim to be a Christian. And the poor too can’t claim to be Christians.
Let us get off this “come get your miracle horse” and embrace the simplicity of the gospel. Jesus died to save us from sin and reconcile us back to God. Simple. It is not more. It is not less.
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Anybody who believes in him will have eternal life, not eternal wealth, not good health. Everything about wealth and health has long been provided for the whole human race by God.
God is kind to all
The rain falls on both the good and bad. The soil does not discriminate between the seed planted by a Christian and the one planted by an atheist. They will both grow. The Christian however enjoys special grace in some circumstances. But that is not the rule.
In Bible language sickness and disease are sometimes used to mean sin. By His stripes we were healed is not about physical healing. It is about healing of our soul. But then, Jesus gave us the power to heal the sick and raise the dead.
These are the fallout of our operations in the field as purveyors of the gospel. But they are not the gospel. We can’t preach the gospel based on that. That is why Billy Graham was a successful evangelist despite not preaching miracles in his crusades.
One is not by any stretch saying miracles are not necessary. Those who go through pain want miracles. And they should be encouraged that God will visit them.
But it should not be overstretched. God intervenes in the affairs of men on his terms. And not by our forceful manipulation. There is a place of faith in healing. But there have been instances where people don’t even have faith and yet they get healed miraculously.
It’s so bad that some have been taught to believe if they don’t get a miracle they don’t belong to God. That is the extreme of these miracle mongers.
We should pray for the sick to get healed. But if the healing is not coming, we should wait on God while they seek medical help. Paul despite the great anointing upon his life told Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach ailment.
Why did he not pray for Timothy to be healed? But then there are records of God using Paul to raise the dead and heal the sick. Peter’s shadows healed the sick. But he did not because of that set up a healing chapel where the concern is about physical healing.
It is safe to just pray for people after every teaching session and trust God for their healing. We don’t need to make a drama of people’s situations. It is a big distraction from what we have been called to do.
*Osinaike is the Publisher, Church Times
