I recently had a strong note from a church minister telling me that he had been to listen to some famous speaker or other who said that only ten percent of those he prayed for were healed. The man who wrote said how thrilled he was to hear someone who actually preached reality.

He went on to suggest that my preaching that Jesus in the gospels never refused to heal anyone shows a great disconcert for the disappointment in the pew. We should, he suggested, tell folks how it is, that god only does it sometimes. And not very often. That makes pastoral issues a lot easier to handle, he says.

Now, I�ve spent years teaching that God has had no problem at all with us since Calvary and that it is the church who has difficulty receiving grace. That�s 180 degrees different.

Which do we think is reality? Is it what is taught in scripture or is it a theology bent to fit our experiences? In matters of healing, these two can be very different. I so wish the church would choose the scriptures.

If only the church could be more positive about this. It�s going to be a lot easier finding ways to receive more easily than it will be finding ways to manipulate ~god to do more!

Please let me know what you think about this. Mike