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| LINDSAY ROBERTS |
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DAILY GUIDE TO MIRACLES from Oral Roberts Ministries Saturday, November 20, 2004 www.orm.cc A TWOFOLD PROCESS Lindsay Roberts Oral Roberts Ministries www.orm.cc "Luke 8 tells the story of a Jewish ruler of the synagogue named Jairus who came to Jesus and asked Him to heal his daughter who was at the point of death. Jesus agreed to go to Jairus' house and pray for her, but on the way, a servant came to report that the little girl had died. When Jesus heard the news, He said to Jairus, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole (Luke 8:50). Jesus told Jairus that he not only had to get fear out of the equation, but he also had to get faith into it. Healing is a twofold process: fear has to go out and faith has to rise up. It's the same for you and me when we are believing God for a miracle. Number one, we have to drive out the atmosphere of fear. When Jesus arrived at Jairus' house, fear was running rampant. Verse 52 says, All wept, and bewailed her. So Jesus asked the mourners to leave. He was driving out the atmosphere of fear and doubt. Number two, we need to create an atmosphere of faith. Jesus kept Peter, James, and John there with Him, along with the girls' parents. The only people He wanted in the room were those who would agree with faith. he asked those who agreed with fear and doubt to leave. How can you get faith to rise up for your miracle? Romans 10:17 NKJV says, Faith comes by hearing...the word of God. Search God's Word concerning healing. Associate with people who believe the Word of God and who believe in miracles. When you get into that atmosphere, you are in the same place that Jairus' daughter was when Jesus said, Arise (v. 54). And she was instantly healed!" ON DOCTRINE NOTE: Lindsay Roberts' explanation sounds so good until it is analyzed, and it is at that point that the false foundation of what she claims is revealed. Her basis and foundational premise is that unless a person exhibits sufficient faith of their own creation, healing cannot happen. This is the same teaching exhibited by Kenneth Copeland who is also associated with Oral and Richard Roberts. His teaching about Jairus can be found HERE. If there is an example of where there was no faith exhibited, but a healing still happened, then her premise and teaching is false. In the case of Jairus, she does not deal with the issue of healing, but a resurrection from the dead, yet the context is the same. However, there is an issue of healing which Lindsay Roberts conveniently overlooks. Jairus came to Jesus Christ expecting that He could heal his daughter, which was the entire point of his attempt to speak to Him, yet, his daughter was not healed, but actually succumbed to her disease and died. So, why did the faith of Jairus not bring about the healing of his daughter when the Healer was physically present? How much more faith did Jairus need in order for his daughter to be healed? Jesus never rebuked Jairus for a lack of faith that might have prevented the healing of his daughter, and He never gave Jairus any indication of how much faith would be required. The reality is, that if Lindsay Roberts' teaching is accepted, there is a major problem with the actions of Jairus, because he apparently did not have enough faith so that his daughter would be healed, but he magically exhibited enough faith so that she would be raised from the dead. It is convenient to skip past that issue and consider the resurrection to be the healing, when in fact that was not the case at all. There is an example in which a resurrection was accomplished by Jesus Christ in the total absence of faith. The resurrection of Lazarus is found in John 11:1-45. 1. Thomas and the disciples, as a result of hostility from the Jews in Judea, said that their return there to be with Lazarus would result in their death, vv. 7-8, 16. 2. Martha's expectation was that Lazarus would "rise again in the resurrection on the last day," vs. 24. 3. When Jesus commanded that the stone be removed from the tomb entrance, Martha said, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days," vs. 39. 4. Mary said as she was crying, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died," vv. 32, 22. 5. Some of the others present said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?" vs. 37. There was no faith expressed for a resurrection of Lazarus, because the only belief by the apostles, Martha or Mary was for an initial healing or at least a prevention of the death of Lazarus. Jesus Christ said to Martha while the stone was being removed, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" vs. 40. So, was He saying that Martha believed for a resurrection or that she had conjured up enough faith within herself to believe for Lazarus' resurrection? That is not even close to what Jesus said, because Martha's belief is associated with what Jesus Christ previously said about belief, "Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to Him, 'Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the son of God, even He who comes into the world," vv. 25-27. Martha's belief was to be centered on the just who Jesus Christ was, not on what her expectations would be in relation to whatever desire she might have in relation to the future for Lazarus. The resurrection of Lazarus was known about and planned by Jesus Christ prior to the death of Lazarus and said to be accomplished prior to there being any possibility that faith could or would be exercised in relation to any conceivable thought of resurrection on the part of the disciples, Mary, Martha or any of the other individuals who would be present at the event: "But when Jesus heard this, He said, 'This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it," John 11:4.Resurrection is a pointer to the glory of God, and when His glory is the subject, the faith of an individual, whether it be great, small or non-existent has no bearing on the issue, because God is and will be glorified apart from any interference by human beings. It was immaterial that faith would or would not be expressed by any person associated with Lazarus, because he was not the issue, but the power of God and the authority and position of Jesus Christ as Deity was the issue. Jesus Christ did say to Jairus, "Do not be afraid; only believe. . ." However, He did not say that fear would prevent a healing and gave no instruction to that effect. In another example, when Jesus raised from the dead the son of the widow at Nain, he simply said to her, "Don't cry," Luke 7:13. There was no command not to fear or to believe or exercise faith. In fact the mother did not even ask Jesus Christ to heal her son or raise him from the dead. Jesus simply acted of His own volition, accomplishing at His good pleasure that which Lindsay Roberts claims cannot be done without the implementation of faith on the part of an individual, "When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, 'Don't cry.' Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, 'Young man, I say to you, get up!' The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother,"When Jesus Christ came to the house of Jairus, He did not encounter an atmosphere of fear, He found people in mourning over the death of a child who was loved by her parents and friends of the family. What was there to fear, since the child had already died? What was there to doubt, since none of the people had a reason to even hope for a resurrection? What Lindsay Roberts does is redefine the meaning of "fear" to include mourning for the dead, applying the new definition to elements of human behavior and action with which it has never been associated and does not apply. There were no expressions of what could be considered to be doubt until Jesus said to the mourners, "Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep," vs. 52. Their reaction was to laugh at the statement by Jesus, because they knew she was actually dead and not asleep. It is very likely that they did not know that it was Jesus who was speaking to them and perhaps they did not even know who He was. In any case, they believed that the statement of Jesus did not conform to reality and probably believed that He was also not conforming to reality in relation to His mental faculties. In any case, their response had no connection to any reasonable definition of fear. What they may or may not have thought is not the issue and has no relation to either the illness or death of the child. The problem with Lindsay Roberts' theology is that she keeps adding elements to the equation. She would affirm that she believes that healing is part of the atonement, but it is not actually obtained by means of the atonement the same as salvation, because she then claims that healing must be accomplished by eliminating fear, then expressing faith and then being in the right atmosphere "with others who believe in miracles." Lindsay Roberts attempts to connect those who Jesus took into the room with her belief about Matthew 18:19 and the Prayer of Agreement doctrine that she also teaches, "He wanted in the room were those who would agree with faith. He asked those who agreed with fear and doubt to leave." Jesus took three of His twelve disciples in the room, so if Judas (who was not a man of faith) is exempted, are we to presume that the other eight disciples did not agree with faith and so were left out? When a person writes their own version of Scripture, serious problems begin to appear. The claim that Jairus' daughter was in the proper atmosphere so that she was instantly healed does not make sense. Only her body was in the room, while her soul was in some other place. The reality is that the miracle was not a healing, but it was a resurrection from the dead, just like that of Lazarus and the widow's son, so the attempt to claim the incident as an occurrence of healing is a misapplication of the event. However, Lindsay Roberts apparently defines resurrection as a healing, so the question becomes, where are all of the resurrections today? There are thousands of healings that are claimed to occur through the ministry of Richard and Lindsay Roberts, but strangely enough, no resurrections. Oral Roberts claimed at one time to have witnessed a resurrection but could not provide the name of the individual or the date and place that it occurred. Lindsay Roberts uses the example of the resurrection of Jairus' daughter as an example of the elimination of fear and doubt, and the application of faith. But in today's healing ministries, there are literally hundreds of thousand of claimed healings, but no resurrections from the dead, so is faith only good for healing diseases or is it for resurrections also? If resurrections are considered to be healings, then evidence must be presented confirming the fact, which will be very difficult for Lindsay Roberts to do. SEE: "Does God Do Miracles Today?" "Does God Still Heal?" "Does God Promise Health And Wealth?" - Part 1" "Does God Promise Health And Wealth?" - Part 2" |
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