If you were sick and needed to be healed, would you seek Jesus or Binny? Christ or Copeland? Jesus or Joyce? Unfortunately, today the TBN network is pushing an aggressive pool of health, wealth, and prosperity preachers who are in love with money more than the gospel. They are more interested in the surface level needs of physical problems than the heart issue of sin.
In John 4:43-54, Jesus is approached by a nobleman who had a sick son. The boy was at the very point of death and the man was desperate to see his son healed. Evidently he heard that a man named Jesus who performs miracles was nearby (about 16 miles away). So, he traveled there in order to make a desperate appeal – that his son would be healed.
Jesus scolded the crowd for their lack of true faith. They had a surface level desire to see a show from Christ. They wanted to see a miracle, so they were gathered around him and following him from place to place. The nobleman insists that he was not there for those reasons, he was there with a desperate heart to see his son healed. He even went as far as telling Jesus that He was the only hope – if Jesus did not come to his house and heal his son, he would die. So, Jesus did something very interesting. Jesus healed the boy without going to his home. Without stirring a crowd. Without anyone around Him seeing the miracle. Jesus did not feed the self centered appetites of those seeking a show. He simply said, “Your son lives.”
The nobleman returned home the following morning and was met on his way by his servants. They told him that his son was cured. He was then told that it happened at the seventh hour which was the exact moment that Jesus told him to go home because his son lives. In this story, we see some interesting things that seem contradictory to the health, wealth, and prosperity teachings.
1. Jesus healed the boy from a distance. He did not need any preacher or divine healer type to do the miracle for him. That would mean that He is capable of doing the miracle from His throne in Heaven without the miracle workers of today.
2. Jesus never mentioned anything about money to the nobleman. It seems that every miracle worker today has something to say about the connection of money, giving, sowing seed gifts, and receiving a blessing financially or healing as a result.
The nobleman would have been willing to lay down everything he owned in order to gain the healing of his son. Therefore, the issue is not money – it is about the divine plan of our God!
3. Jesus evidently had a more deep and spiritual reason for the healing of the boy. It was not in order to grow his name, sign autographs, or be invited to preach on TBN. It was in order that the nobleman, his son, and their entire household would see the frailty of life in the midst of tragedy and be turned to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
God will evidently allow people to experience tragedies in order to open their eyes and crumble their own power and hard sinful hearts to the point of saving faith in Christ. That is exactly what happened here in this story. Although each tragedy cannot be related to sin, as we see clearly in the story of Job, we can however see God at work in the suffering and tragedies of people. It may be more helpful to conclude that the tragedies can be placed into three broad categories:
- To bring a sinner to salvation (as in the nobleman and his household).
- To bring a sinning saint to repentance (as in those who were in fear after Ananias and Sapphira tragic death).
- To bring glory to God. In some cases – God will allow tragedies in our lives completely unrelated to the need for salvation or repentance of sin (as seen in the case of Job).
Conclusion:
The Bible tells us that we do not have any mediators today that stand between us and our Savior. The veil has been ripped at the death of Christ. There is no need for a priest or preacher to stand between a person and the Sovereign God. 1 Timothy 2:5 – For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. God still heals. God still performs miracles. But, God does not need a preacher on TBN or any other network telling us to place our hands on a screen and claim our healing. If anyone is going to be healed, God can do it – He is a big God who is not limited by time and space. He can hear our prayers as we call out to Him.
Some day, each one of the health, wealth, and prosperity preachers shall have their time before the throne of God. It will be on that day, if not before, that they will all learn that the gospel is not about money – it is about the glory of God. It is my prayer that these health, wealth, and prosperity teachers will be enlightened to their errors before they stand before God. It is my prayer that God will use the economic situation of 2009 to bring about economic tragedies in the “ministries” of these “preachers” in order that they could experience bankruptcy and see clearly that Jesus is the gospel – not money. How could I make such a statement? While these people may do some good things, they are preaching the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel – which is no gospel at all.
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.
Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.
For the glory of His name!
Josh Buice
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awesome site!
Josh,
I agree completely. The sermon I just finished writing concerns a set of the plagues on Egypt. Interesting that the plague of boils is an attack on the magicians who claimed they had the power of healing. After God struck them with plague they were unable to stand before Moses.
While we oppose prosperity Gospel, we certainly should affirm that God does heal not only soul, but at times body.
Unfortunately this “health, wealth & prosperity doctrine” is sneaking into even conservative circles. There are a lot of misconceptions about why a Sovereign God allows / brings suffering and sickness into our lives. When people get a bigger, more accurate picture of who God is, they aren’t always so quick to “escape” the situation. May God get the glory He alone is worthy of in our lives!!