The Gifts Part 11
Healings continued...
So what do we know about the gifts of healings, or about the supernatural gift to cause one to become sound or healthy again?
The first thing that we know about the gifts of healings is that it is freely given, and likewise freely received. I wanted to discuss this first and foremost because there are allot of unscrupulous souls roaming about who attempt to convince God’s people that in order to receive their healing, in order to become sound again, they must first and foremost give a certain amount of money or sow a seed faith offering.
From the guys with the handkerchiefs who tell you it’s free, then inform you upon receipt of said handkerchief that in order to activate the healing powers you must send them a sacrificial gift, to the more unscrupulous who tell individuals that the reason they haven’t been healed is because they didn’t give enough, there are many who prey on the hurting, and it is a practice that I find repulsive, reprehensible and abhorrent.
Matthew 10:8, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”
These were the instructions that Jesus gave to His apostles, they were to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons freely, for freely they had received the gifts that were operating in them.
It would have been one thing if Jesus would have said ‘heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and cast out demons for a price, or in return for twelve easy monthly payments on your Visa or Master Card’, perhaps then these wolves, these charlatans, these unscrupulous workers of evil would have an excuse or a justification for doing what they are doing, but Jesus said, ‘freely you have received, freely give.’
From the onset, I want to get this point across and make it very clear to anyone who happens to be reading these words, if anyone asks you for money in return for healing, if anyone asks you for compensation in return for laying hands on you, or anointing a handkerchief, run the other way. No matter how many testimonials he might have on his television program, no matter how many people tell you they felt a tingle when they placed the handkerchief over their heart, if money is a prerequisite for you receiving your healing, it is a lie, a deception, and the only thing that will come of it will be the shattered hope that always seems to accompany such men.
This is the most disturbing thing of all, at least to me, that men could be so heartless as to prey on the hurting, get their hopes up, swindle them for as much money as they can, and then feel no remorse as the hope they inflated artificially shatters into a thousand pieces.
Tragically, I’ve known individuals who began to grow bitter toward God because they’d allowed themselves to be deceived by such men, never laying the blame at the feet of the responsible party, but somehow blaming God for not doing what these men had promised. At the very least such an experience leaves a bad taste in your mouth, at the very worst, people turn their backs on God because they fault Him and not the men who deceived them.
When God calls an individual to ministry, and endows them with a gift, especially one as needed as the gifts of healings, it is that individual’s duty to faithfully and dutifully perform the tasks to which he has been assigned without thought or expectation of monetary compensation.
Although I’ve been in ministry for over twenty four years now, I still find it strange that when someone calls me to come and speak in their church or to their congregation the first question I am asked is ‘how much do you charge?’ My calling is that of an evangelist, I was called to preach the gospel of Christ, and if I started charging people money, if I required compensation in order to perform the calling to which I have been called, then I would no longer be worthy of that calling.
You go because you are sent, you speak because you are commanded, and you labor because it is your duty, not because someone is paying you. When God calls you, when He sends you out, He will provide for your needs, but it’s one thing to have someone bless you in your travels, and another entirely to say that unless you are paid a certain amount you will not show up.
Money does not activate the gifts of healings, nor will pledging more than you already have. Men who insist that you compensate them monetarily so that they might intervene and plead with God on your behalf are nothing more than profiteers and charlatans.
Why are they so popular? Why do so many individuals flock to such men? Because these men only ask for money, while God asks for something infinitely more difficult to contend with in order to be healed. There are countless souls who would rather be duped into giving copious amounts of money and seeing nothing in return except empty promises and amateurish parlor tricks, than submit to the authority of God, and follow the guidelines set forth in the Word as to what we must do in order to receive healing.
James 4:13-16, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
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