Articles

Do I Believe God Heals Today – Divine Healing from a Medical Practitioner written by Dr John Glass, Leader, River Fellowship, Aboyne

What a title to be given to expand on! Before going fully into the subject I feel it would be useful to give some background on myself. I come from a non-medical family; trained in

Scotland

and now am a General Practitioner in rural Deeside. I was brought up in a Christian home and was well grounded in the Bible. I became a Christian at a young age and despite ‘blips’ have tried to keep Jesus central in my life. I was taught about the Holy Spirit but did not grow up in an atmosphere where the gifts of the Spirit were regularly practised or seen.

I first became interested in spiritual gifts while a student. I remember talking about healing to a more mature Christian and being told that he could not see how I could possibly believe in this and still study traditional medicine – in other words don’t be silly! I find it interesting that negativity to Divine Healing is often stronger from church members than from those who do not go to church.

About 15 years ago I had a very personal experience of the power of the Holy Spirit and since then I have been very aware that there is so much more which we as Christians have access to - and often don’t explore and use. My wife and I attend CLAN regularly and are excited to see how God wants to, and does, use His people in miraculous ways including healing. Our Church has developed from this ethos and our small group decided to go forward in faith and explore and use the Spirit’s gifts. We offer healing in the streets and encourage anyone and everyone to come for prayer for divine healing.

How does all this stand with me being a General Practitioner?
All my training has given me great respect for God and His creation of the human body. I am thankful for the traditional skills he has given me and have no doubts that I am to continue to use these skills. Even those who have been miraculously healed in the past come to the stage where the body requires care. Traditional skills have much to offer and we are fortunate to live in an age where medicine has progressed so far.

Does traditional medicine have all the answers? - no it doesn’t and there are occasions where we can feel inadequate as doctors. Patients are looking around for other answers – e.g. alternative medicine, in many forms including in the spiritual realm. This has the worrying effect that patients are potentially exposing themselves to powers that can have eternal results, leading them away from God.

What is the answer to this?
The devil is an imitator and the reason that patients are putting themselves in potential danger is that the church is often not allowing the Holy Spirit to work through it and bring Divine healing to those who need it. I believe that we all have the responsibility and privilege as church members to offer prayer for healing and as a result attract others to God.

Now some of the awkward questions:

What do my patients think? – I find most of them accept who I am and have not flocked away from me! I am often surprised how open they are to consider prayer.

Do I offer prayer in the surgery? – not generally. I respect my partners and do not want to cause any possible friction in the surgery. I will however bring up the subject in consultation and give advice as to how prayer can be obtained.

How do I know who to offer prayer to? – I wait for a ‘nudge’ from the Holy Spirit and act on it (most of the time!). I always offer this gently and will back away if I feel any negative vibe. I am now trying not to just go for ‘easy cases’ but allow God to work in any situation. It can be difficult to pray for someone when your scientific mind tells you it is hopeless but these are the cases where God will gain most glory.

Does anyone get healed? – yes we have certainly seen Divine Healings but not as yet in the numbers nor in the range of illnesses which we expect to see. It’s easy to have feelings of frustration when healing does not appear to occur but we realise God is sovereign and respect that. We however continue to pester Him to show His power through us for His Glory!

Are we offering false hope? This can be a difficult feeling to deal with – it again is a fight between the scientific and spiritual parts of ourselves as we prepare to offer prayer. Even if no obvious physical healing occurs we feel a sense of peace as we pray and often feel God is performing a deeper healing. I have not seen any adverse reactions to prayer. It is a case of doing what we feel God wants us to do and let Him honour this in whatever way He wishes.

In summary, do I believe in Divine Healing? – definitely yes.

I feel as a doctor I must use the traditional skills which I have been given; but I believe that God has given us a responsibility to work with Him and as a result allow divine healing to take place in our community. I Feel divine healing is a powerful gift to bring people to Jesus. Who knows, not offering this to those around could possibly be seen as medical negligence in heaven – not a charge I would like to defend!

EVANGELISM IN THE POST MODERN ERA written by Irene Barrie, Elder, Bishopbriggs Community Church

I think that the most effective way that I can deal with this subject is to look at several initiatives that I have been involved in and try to show the reasoning behind them and what lessons have been learned and are being learned, as God is involved in lifetime learning.

ALPHA OUT WITH CHURCH PREMISES

While driving passed some high flats in Glasgow I felt that God was saying that I should start an Alpha course in a high flats situation. To cut a long story short I managed to get a room in the Women’s Counselling Centre in Red Road and having got a team together we set off full of excitement on the first night and waited and waited but no one came. We all felt that this was not the end, although part of me was saying, “ you knew that this would happen” and sure enough the next week we had a few people, two of them from Glasgow City Mission. The people who came were looking for hope and had heard that it could be found in the course. One guest who stands out was a middle aged man who was just out of prison and when he came at first was suicidal; by the end of the course he had started on a journey with God and been filled with the Spirit. Most of those who attended the course had multiple problems and would not have come to a church service although one of them had tried but had not felt comfortable in that setting. On the last night of the course we could have switched the lights off as the guests faces were shining as we sang, ‘I cannot tell how He whom angels worship.’

Out of this we were asked to put on an Alpha course at Glasgow City Mission where again our guests were addicts, homeless people, those who were abused in all kinds of ways and even an ex-soldier who could not come to terms with his memories of the things he had been involved in on the battlefield. The course had to be tailored to the needs of the guests, for example we found that peoples stories were more effective in many ways than the talks and so we give more time to the testimony givers than would be usual. Music plays a great part in their lives and therefore we try to have music in a style that is acceptable to the guests.We have found that relationship is key to people continuing to come and now that we are on to the fourth Alpha (we have dropped the word course as it suggests study or even being literate) we find that people are coming back to visit us or they have gone back to their addictions and are ready to start again. We encourage them to keep coming back no matter what. Our main message is that they are loved and accepted by God and they are loved and accepted by us and no matter what situation they find themselves in things can change.

We have not yet cracked the on going discipleship of the people who have become Christians as trying to establish them in churches has not worked. We do a follow up group and three people have been baptised but have not found their way into a Christian community. We try to get the guests from one course to return to help at the next one but their chaotic lifestyles makes it difficult.

NEW AGE

Here again I felt that this was something God was asking me to get involved in and I do so with prayer backing from intercessors in our church. I am taking this forward by speaking to people in shops and the stall holders in the Body and Soul Fairs held in the Glasgow Concert Hall. My approach is that I am doing research to help me in the Alpha courses I run to better understand where people who have a different faith background are coming from. I have met many lovely people who are very open and willing to talk about their beliefs and I have in fact, gathered a small group to listen in on the conversation I was having and asked if I could come back.

What I have learned is that on the whole those who believe that they communicate with fairies or angels can give evidence to support their beliefs and those who have gone through regression therapy or many of the other therapies on offer will speak highly of the benefits they have received.

I have found that when I ask how Jesus fits in to their belief system they are on the whole very positive in fact one lady told me the she channelled Jesus in order to effect her psychic healing. While, obviously, not accepting this position it is interesting that the name Jesus is respected within this community.

I am now at the stage where I am looking for the way forward. I know that other groups and individuals e.g. Healing Rooms are involved and Light and Life. However, I feel that there can be other options. I don’t know if getting a “New Age” Alpha is the answer but I think that individuals or groups have to listen to what God is saying to them and not rely on past experience or even experience of others – one sows one waters but God gives the harvest.

PRAYER BOXES

This is a small group initiative where we have placed boxes in local shops and a community centre inviting people to let us join them in speaking to God about the things that concern them. To date we have got upwards of sixty requests; none of them have been rude or trivial. Here we are hoping to communicate that God is interested in the every day lives of ordinary people. One interesting factor has been that people are asking how much it costs!!!!!!

We undertake to pray for one week for each request and again we are asking God about what comes next.

I’m sure there are others more knowledgeable and experienced than I am in each of these areas and I will be open to listening to their experience and counsel.

THE WORSHIP OF WORSHIP by Bill Nisbet, North Berwick Christian Fellowship

My journey in worship and worship leading began in the early 1970’s. I came to Christ out of a rock and blues background and music has played a big part in my life since I was 14. Two road crashes led to the end of my rock music ambitions but helped me discover the Rock.

One of my early role models was Dave Bilbrough, who showed what could be done with one voice, one guitar, a capo and a catalogue of songs which expressed what God was doing in his church at the time. In those days, the Holy Spirit was revealing that we were part of one body, one church, one people; Dave’s songs, plus the songs of others, (remember Bind us Together?) helped communicate that wonderful truth to God’s people, underlining the fact that the people of God get their theology as much from the songs we sing as from the sermons we preach. (That’s scary!).

Since then, things have changed – big time. By the way, that’s not a complaint and the book of Ecclesiastes warns against the dangers of comparing these days with those days; ’ Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not wise to ask such questions. (Chapter 7 verse 10).

We now have every worship resource we could possibly need, there is a whole universe of new songs ‘out there’ on the ether, many Christians have their favourite (and non-favourite?) worship leaders and in terms of what goes on in the so called ‘new churches’ we’ve got it made, we have arrived, we have it all. Or have we?

Something has crept into the ‘new church’ worship domain (the only domain I can realistically speak about) which we might characterize as the worship of worship. Fundamentally it’s an unhealthy pre-occupation with the how of worship rather than the Who of worship. If I was trying to describe it in biblical language I might say that it’s a focus on the creature rather than the Creator, which is a complete reversal of what worship is meant to be about! So-called ‘big name’ worship leaders have attained near celebrity status, form and style have become everything and it can’t be ‘good’ worship if it doesn’t leave me feeling good.

Consumerism, one of the strongest trends in our Western culture is all about giving the customer what he or she wants, when he or she wants it and how he or she wants it. Car manufacturers aspire to give their customers good feelings when they purchase the latest model. Not only is the customer driving the latest model, the customer is feeling good.

Before we attempt to take the consumerism speck out of the world’s eye, there’s a huge plank in our own. Spiritual consumerism is alive and well in the church, it is just as potent as the other kind and it affects many areas of church life including worship. Spiritual consumerism is all about me and it’s all about how I feel and it’s all about me feeling good. The area of worship is not immune to this trend, in fact it’s in this arena of church life where spiritual consumerism is most readily observed. How many times have you said (or thought) ‘I didn’t enjoy this morning’s worship because _______ (fill in the blank). Or ‘I prefer it when _____ (fill in the blank) leads the worship, or ‘I didn’t like the first two songs we sang this morning but I got into the worship when we sang the final two……..’  What do those kinds of comments reveal?

They reveal that we put a lot of store on ‘enjoying the worship’ as if worship is a commodity, a spiritual product. We put a lot of store on our personal song and worship leader preferences, but perhaps most of all we are viewing worship as an experience which must tick our subjective boxes. Now it would be okay if we made those kind of statements coming out of the cinema, but worship isn’t about what we like, it’s about Who we worship. Here I quote Geoff Bullock, former music pastor at Hills Christian Life centre, Sydney; ‘…I am absolutely convinced that it’s not the worship that God wants us to enjoy. It’s him’.

Now we might want to moderate that statement somewhat and say that its perfectly legitimate to ‘enjoy’ worshipping God but I take his point – ultimately worship is for God, not us and if we are honest, we often make judgments on corporate worship based around our subjective preferences, forgetting that worship isn’t about our preferences, it’s about the One we worship. Am I free from this subjective, consumerism trend? Sadly, no. The fact that I am a musician makes me even more picky – a fact I hate to admit, but it’s true. It’s possible for me to focus on the musicality of the worship band rather than the living God. Confession over!

In closing I think it would do us good (especially worship leaders) to reflect on what worship is really about and above all, on the question of who it is for. To help us, here’s a test question; if there was a power failure at next Sunday’s meeting, would we still be able to worship God together?

Answers on a postcard please.

Bill, along with his wife Sally, serves North Berwick Christian Fellowship and enjoys walks on the beach, Italian food and Radio Scotland, especially Sportsound. He likes Fender guitars.

The Gospel and Community by Chic Lidstone, Senior Leader, Gateway Community Church, Perth

What do you want to be when you grow up?

The end is the beginning

What we call the beginning is often the end

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

The end is where we start from.

……………

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time T S Elliot

The end has far greater shaping over our lives than the beginning. It is not the first cause (the kick that gets us going) but the final cause (the lure that pulls us to the finish) that is uniquely and ultimately decisive. We are not intricately engineered genetic chips that when functioning properly make the economy prosper, but are unfinished creatures ravenously hungry, alive with possibilities. For humans the future is the most creative and most essential aspect of time. Human life is that paradoxical reality which consists in deciding what we are going to do, therefore in being what we not yet are, in starting to be the future.

The bible spends a few pages in establishing the conditions of our beginnings then hundreds of pages cultivating in us a taste for the future. ¹

The end is community, a God centred community.

Our beginnings are a God centred community - Trinity, and our end is a God centred community, and the narrative between the beginning, or is it the end, is one of invitation to be part of this Community. A Community with Christ at the centre, the light, with no sun needed. We do not create community; we join in with the Divine Community.

The gospel and community are inextricably linked. And to think outside of this is broken thinking. To be in harmony with God’s narrative, we must engage in community.

The beginning is community David, in 2 Samuel 6 made a tragic mistake when he tried to bring the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem on a cart pulled by oxen. A mistake, no matter how new the cart or how excellent the cows. David should have known the instructions to the priests in Numbers 7 where carts and oxen were given to the Gershonites and Merarites to do their work in carrying the tabernacle, but to the Kohathites who were called to carry the Ark etc, no cart or oxen were given “because they were to carry on their shoulders the holy things, for which they were responsible”.

The Ark, the Promise and Presence of God, was designed to be carried on peoples’ shoulders.

In carrying the Ark on a community of shoulders through the Jordan into the Promised land, a prophetic declaration was being made that the promise would be realised through people’s lives in community.

We see the reality in Jesus, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us”. Jesus came to invite and bring us into His community, the Trinity. The ultimate Promise was carried on a Man’s shoulders in Community.

Paul’s heart cry in the epistles seems to be that the church would know what it is to live in community. For instance in Colossians 3:

There is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.

Really living

What if the church really began to live like this, letting the peace of Christ rule in our hearts? What if we really began to demonstrate another way of living, which we call Kingdom; the presence of the King? We have seen that the Presence of God, is carried in ordinary lives, where forgiveness and grace are lived. Community!

Relationships and the need to work at them, is not a diversion, or bother, to the real task of preaching the gospel, whatever that may mean, but is actually one of the main aspects to a healthy church community bringing the Kingdom in a healthy way to their community. We cannot bring the good news of the Divine Community and the invitation made through Christ to be part of it, until we ourselves are seeking to be in community.

Top Gear,

Have you noticed that popular car programmes, no longer deals with the oily bits of a car, the technical specifications etc. These are essential, but understanding is not needed to drive and enjoy! Instead they concentrate on the performance, styling, the fun; what it does! For years, have we been caught up in the technical aspects of our salvation? Explaining in great detail about justification etc, getting into mind bending details about why it works, and arguments about what is best, but forgetting to enjoy the ride, being “wowed” by the shear beauty, and exhilaration of driving!

What would happen if we got this incredible gift of God out of the garage and just drove it around the streets of our town, enjoying it, letting people see it, turning heads, and drawing longing looks?

What I mean is actually living it! That means community.

The Promise and Presence is brought in to our communities, not through programmes, or structures, but in peoples lives living in community. I don’t know about you, but I am tired of trying yet another model sold by zealous religious salesmen. It’s time we finally turned our backs on the latest “sexy” cart, with go faster stripes and alloys, and settled down to living incarnational lives, carrying the promise and presence of God in our lives into our communities.

¹From Answering God, by Eugene Peterson.