UNQUOTABLE QUOTES - Oral Roberts - "Today Is Jesus' Day"

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un-QUOTABLE QUOTES

ORAL ROBERTS

DAILY GUIDE TO MIRACLES from Oral Roberts Ministries
Friday, August 18th, 2006
www.orm.cc

TODAY IS JESUS' DAY!
Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts Ministries
www.orm.cc

"The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead has a powerful message for us today (John 11:1-44). Martha sent word to Jesus that her brother, Lazarus, was sick. But the Lord delayed His coming. When Jesus arrived four days later, Martha greeted him with words of despair. 'If only You had been here, Lord,' she wept, 'my brother would not have died.'

'Your brother will rise again from the dead,' Jesus assured her. 'Yes, I know,' said Martha. 'He will rise up in the Resurrection at the Last Day.'

Martha had faith for yesterday and for tomorrow, but none for the present crisis. To her, God was too late. It was then impossible for even the Lord to help her brother.

Don't we often think the same way? We say, 'God might have been able to heal this cancer in its early stages, but now that it's spreading throughout my body, not even He can heal me.' But Hebrews 13:8 NKJV says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What He did yesterday, and what He will do in the Resurrection at the Last Day, He is fully able and willing to do now!

Jesus asked Martha, 'Do you believe?' Her words are immortal: 'Yes, Lord, I believe.' Her confession of faith impacted the spirit of Jesus, and He raised Lazarus from the dead.

To unlock the power that is present in Jesus Christ takes faith. When you activate your faith, the power of God starts moving in your direction. Today is Jesus' day! The day when He wants to bare His mighty arm of power to bring you the miracle you're longing for. Now is the time to say, 'Yes, Lord, I believe!'

ON DOCTRINE NOTE:
The question for Oral Roberts and everyone else who would adopt his explanation is, What did the faith of Martha have to do with the resurrection of Lazarus?

Martha was not present when Jesus received the message that Lazarus was sick, however the message was sent to Him by the two sisters, Martha and Mary, "Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, 'Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick,'" John 11:3 (NKJV).

The Scripture is clear that both Martha and Mary believed that Jesus had the ability and would have healed Lazarus if He had been present, "Now Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died," John 11:21 (NKJV), and Mary said, "'Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died,'" John 11:32 (NKJV). Since Martha and Mary believed that Jesus could heal, and would have healed Lazarus if He had been present, then why was Lazarus not healed of his illness before he died?

Perhaps what Oral Roberts is attempting to claim is that Martha and Mary did not have sufficient faith or faith pointed in the right direction for Lazarus to be healed, apparently because they believed that Jesus had to be physically present at the bedside of Lazarus for him to be healed. That is the only conclusion that can be derived from what Oral Roberts is saying. Apparently Oral Roberts considers the illness of Lazarus, resulting in his death, to be the fault of Martha and Mary because of their lack of proper faith. This is what he states in relation to his explanations why everyone is not healed under his ministry . . they don't have sufficient faith to receive their miracle.

However, Oral Roberts leaves out a key issue in the story, What about the faith of Lazarus? Where is the indication that the illness and death of Lazarus was a result of his lack of faith? If he was sick unto death and not healed, was that not a result of his lack of faith? So, that must have been his fault and not that of Martha and Mary. But Oral Roberts places the blame on Martha, and also on Mary by implication. But that is a cruel assertion, because was not Lazarus responsible for the consequences of his own unbelief or lack of faith? Apparently that is not the case in Oral Roberts' estimation. What Oral Roberts does is twist the Scripture so that it will conform to his "Seed Faith" doctrine, and in order to do that, the guilt for the death of Lazarus must fall on Mary and Martha, because he wishes to claim that Martha's subsequent recovery of faith caused Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead.

Are there members of your family who are sick and not healed or have died because of some particular illness? Then that must be your fault because of your lack of faith according to what Oral Roberts is teaching. In order to be healed, have you prayed to God, used a prayer cloth from Oral Roberts Ministries, placed your hands on the TV set as "a point of contact," or contacted family and friends to "come into agreement" with you, but you were not healed or a loved one died? According to Oral Roberts, the reason that your prayers were not answered is because you are like Martha who did not have faith and so God can do nothing for you since He cannot act without faith. God is powerless and impotent to carry out His will if you do not exercise faith on your own behalf or on behalf of others, according to Oral Roberts.

Oral Roberts leaves out the main point of the story of Lazarus, because it does not suit his purpose and reveals that what he is teaching about Martha and faith is false. Jesus stated exactly the reason that Lazarus died, and it had nothing to do with the faith of Martha, Mary or Lazarus:

"When Jesus heard that, He said, 'This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.' . . These things He said, and after that He said to them, 'Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.' . . Then Jesus said to them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him'" John 11:4, 11, 14 (NKJV).

The reality of what Jesus said refutes what Oral Roberts claims in relation to the faith of Martha. The death of Lazarus occurred in order that the Glory of God would be expressed and that Jesus Christ would partake of that glory, vs. 4. Not only that, but Jesus says that He was glad that He was not present when Lazarus was sick, so "'that you may believe,'" vs. 14. The reality of what His statement indicates is that if He had been present when Lazarus was sick, he would have been healed and the resurrection would not have occurred. Martha's faith is not even an issue, but the Glory of God and the glorification of Jesus Christ is the reason that Lazarus became sick, that he died and that he was resurrected from the dead. The Glory of God and the glorification of Jesus Christ transcends any presumed action on the part of any human being that would prevent or hinder that from taking place.

Oral Roberts would have his readers believe that it was the faith of Martha that brought about the resurrection, "Her confession of faith impacted the spirit of Jesus, and He raised Lazarus from the dead," the implication of his statement being that there would not have been a resurrection if Martha had not expressed faith. He makes the same claim in relation to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, stating that it was the faith of the women who came to the tomb to anoint the dead body that caused God to act and raise Him from the dead: SEE: They Believed Anyway. However, Martha's confession of faith did not include an affirmation of belief in a resurrection that Jesus Christ would perform at that time. Jesus said to her, "'Your brother will rise again,'" vs. 23, but her response was that she believed that he would be resurrected in the future, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day," vs. 24. Jesus' response was to affirm who He was, "'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. do you believe this?'" vs. 25. Martha's response missed the point, because she was still thinking about resurrection at the last day, so she responded by leaving out what Jesus claimed about the fact that He was the resurrection and the life, when she said, "'Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is come into the world', vs. 27. Martha claimed to believe what Jesus stated, but she did not comprehend the reality of what He was saying, so in relation to His claims, Martha was not believing for a miracle to occur through which Lazarus would be raised from the dead by Jesus Christ within minutes.

This is confirmed by Martha's response when Jesus asked for the stone to be removed from the doorway to the tomb in which she said, "'Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days," vs. 39. If she had actually been believing for a miracle of resurrection, then the removal of the stone would have been seen by her as a positive act rather than a negative.

Oral Roberts substitutes his claim that Martha's faith brought about the action of Jesus Christ whereby He was moved to raise Lazarus from the dead, in place of the biblical statement that it was accomplished for the glory of God and Jesus Christ, and he does so in order to insert his "Seed Faith" doctrine into the narrative. If Oral Roberts taught what the Scripture actually says, in relation to the purpose for which Lazarus died and was resurrected, then his "Seed Faith" application would not properly fit into the narrative. The death of Lazarus was planned by God and known by Jesus Christ prior to its occurrence, and, in fact, Jesus Christ purposely delayed His appearance at Bethany for the specific reason that the illness of Lazarus would culminate in death. Far from Lazarus, Martha or Mary being the cause of the illness and death of Lazarus, it was God's plan and the specific actions of Jesus Christ that brought about his death and a resurrection that was planned prior to His arrival in Bethany and prior to the day that Lazarus became sick, and it was all, "'for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.'"

In Oral Roberts' version of the miracle, the glory belongs to Martha, whose faith is claimed to have caused Jesus Christ to act. In the biblical version of the miracle, the glory belongs to God and Jesus Christ in which the resurrection was accomplished through a sovereign plan of God and act on the part of Jesus Christ. Who is the legitimate authority in the matter, Oral Roberts or the Scripture?

SEE:
ORAL ROBERTS
"Dead Faith"
"Living Faith"

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