Dear Phyllis,
Four months ago, one Sunday, I was on my way to visit a friend's church. I thought I knew where it was but got lost. After wandering around every side street in Chiang Mai for 35 minutes I passed a church that looked like the one I was looking for. I went inside and asked, “Is this James church?” Wrong one. It was past 11:00 by then so I decided to stay anyway. I was in for one of the major surprises of my life. As the service proceeded I wondered, “What kind of a church is this?” Everything that they were doing was right on the money. A brother who spoke good English came over to sit beside me and give me a simultaneous translation of the testimonies and message. My heart was burning and I wanted to raise my hands to praise the Lord, but I wasn't sure if that was safe there. If it was Pentecostal everyone would have their hands in the air, but if it was Presbyterian everyone would have their hands on their laps. It wasn't Pentecostal, but it sure felt good. After the service I stayed for lunch and asked again, “Who in the world are you? What kind of a church is this?” They pointed to a heavy set somewhat senior lady and said, “She started this church”. I went to talk to Beverly and try to figure out who she was with. It turned out she was a Canadian who had married a brother from Burma that she met in Bible school. They had been missionaries in Thailand for nearly 40 years, and her husband had gone to be with the Lord six years ago. They were more or less independent. I said, “I'm not going to stay here but I want to come back once more to learn some more about you.”
The next week I went back to give it one more shot and a Messianic brother from Canada was speaking. I told you about him four months ago. Man Howdy, did we have church that morning! Since then I have wound up going every week and, consistently, it seems, every week, just keeps getting better. I told you Beverly asked me to speak there a month ago. Today was typical in being the best service yet.
The song service was unusual. It was almost a first time experience. I'm sure I am normal just like everybody else in that there are good days and flat ones. Sometimes you can sing from your heart and other times you are just uttering meaningless words. This morning, as we were praising Jesus, I had to inject after almost every line, “Amen! That true!” Every word we were singing weren't just words but expression of truth. I would like to say it was like the Lord had given me a harp to praise Him with, but I felt more like a small child that the Lord had given me a castanet to shake, with which to praise Jesus. But, oh my goodness, it was fun to shake my little castanet. That was a very unusual experience. In most song services, I feel we are standing there with empty hands singing word that have little correspondence in our heart.
The speaker was a rare one. Anthony was 80 years old and was from Malaysia. He had married a Thai woman and been a missionary in Thailand for 50 years. English was his native tongue, but his Thai was excellent. I have no idea why he choose to preach in English, but he did, and he had one first class gal interpret for him. That interpreter was so good, after the service, I told her that I didn't understand a word of Thai yet I enjoyed her Thai nearly as much as his English. I would say it was safe to say they were pretty Charismatic. I have serious reservations about a lot of Charismatics I meet but these folks were so full of Jesus I didn't care what tag they wore. Both he and his wife had testimonies of a couple of dead they had raised, and his message was on healing.
I thought his message was very good and yet I disagreed with much of what he said. One of his main points that rocked me and was a position I had never heard. He said, “The Bible never tells us to pray for the sick. Jesus just told us to heal the sick.” I thought, “Oh my goodness, that is radical”, but after checking it with a concordance I believe he is right. There is only one verse in the Bible that comes close to saying we should pray for the sick, and that is James 5:14,15 that says, “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him in the Name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick”. But in every other case Jesus never instructed his followers to pray for the sick, but simply to heal them. I would say the weight of the scripture is on his side that he is right. It looks like this business of praying for the sick is unscriptural.
The main point of Anthony's message that I would challenge is his assertion that Jesus has given to every believer authority to heal the sick and cast out demons. I believe reality and sanity would seriously challenge this claim. I believe Watchman Nee is correct when he says that the key to the Kingdom and the authority of the Name of Jesus is there, but not everyone is authorized to use it. And certainly when we look at the gifts of the Spirit, not everyone has the same gift. What Anthony said abut the power of the Name of Jesus is certainly true but but to make a blanket claim that everyone is authorized is on such thin ice I don't believe it would hold a cat.
As I sat there listening, the Holy Spirit reminded me of an experience I had had many years ago. Just as he was closing, I walked forward and asked if I could speak for three minutes. I stood on the platform and said, “Many years ago I was in Florida talking with a bother telling him about our experience of casting out demons in Japan.” This man was a brother who was just emerging from nominal-ism and reaching out to be a functioning member of the Body of Christ. He sat there with his mouth wide open as I told him about what we had seen and done with demons in Japan. He had never heard anything like that in his life. At length he said to me, “I don't have that kind of faith. I could never do that.” I replied, “Neither do I. But I know there is a lot of power in the powder of a bullet. It doesn't take much faith to pull the trigger.” My finger isn't doing anything. My finger couldn't move a bullet down a barrel very fast. Everything is in the power of the powder. When I pull the trigger the powder take over. The power is in the powder not my finger. Anthony was blown away. He thought that was a terrific illustration. That summarized everything he was saying about the power there is in the Name of Jesus. I told the folks there, it is very black and white when you are dealing directly with demons. They know exactly what we are talking about more than we do. It is significant that the, apart from John the Baptist, the first confession that Jesus was the Son of God came out of the mouth of a demonized man. When Jesus showed up the demons knew immediately who He was. But it was some time later that disciples began to catch on. His friends in Nazareth had no idea who He was, but demons recognized him immediately. The devils theology is far more accurate than ours. They know who He is.
I told the folks about Margret Dominic – that I consider to be the best person in deliverance I have ever met. I asked Margret one time, “What do you do with stubborn demons that won't move? Some are considerably more difficult than others.” Margret laughed and replied, “They all have got to move. The Name of Jesus is all powerful. It is irresistible.” Margret knew the authority that she had with Jesus Name and the demons knew that she knew it. They all came out. But if the devil can convince us that they can resist the Name of Jesus they will.
Gomen nasai. I was going to write another testimony letter this week but our service today was so unusual I thought I would share that instead. The bottom line is this: Jesus is real; all power in heaven and earth has been given to Him (Mt. 28:18); the Name of Jesus is all powerful: and He has made us to be partakers of Christ.
Oh hallelujah! Amen!
bill
Sick and Prayer
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