Hi IFellaway
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Ifellaway
Would any member openly say that they had depression for instance? Let's be clear...anything mental is surely "demonic" in nature, if you subscribe to smc learning..
I imagine a lot of SMC folk - like other evangelicals - particularly pentecostals, have a copy of Rick Warrens mega-best selling book "Purpose Driven Life". Pentecostals and in particular SMC are only too happy to wheel out their testimonies of such and such a person who was down on his luck, living a miserable life - be it alcoholism , drug addiction, gambling, depression or some other mental illness. Particularly if what turned turned them around ( more often than not - temporarily ) was "getting saved and being filled with the holy ghost".
But once "saved" things like depression still happen. And the fact that even a fine, kind, god-fearing son of mr Evangelical hero - Rick Warren - can still end up committing suicide on account of depression, it shows what an almighty sham the whole "god always answers your filled-with-the-holy-spirit-prayers" nonsense is. Was Rick Warrens son - after all the prayers were said, hands laid - still so possessed by the devil he couldn't resist those demons ? If so it just makes mockery of the claims christians make for their "Holy Spirit Baptising" god. Not to mention standard evangelical doctrine !
But - hey - "pentecostal god" works in mysterious ways. Time to go to another tent-revival meeting and forget about all these epic failures of prayer.
The pulpit loudly shouts out one thing. And life after the altar-call shouts quite another.
Pentecostal preachers like to loudly blare out their "God and the Holy Spirit will make your life better" - "turn it around". But they omit the small-print.
And we all know - there is pages and pages of evangelical-pentecostal excuse-making "small-print". The kind of thing said extremely quickly at the end of any kind of USA advert - where the seller could get potentially sued. Oh boy - if only pentecostal faith healer types COULD get sued for their sheer nonsense. Sheesh !
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Ifellaway
I Incidentally I have never come across this kind of thing among any ministers Pentecostal or other, though I do not deny that it happens. "
I think its more likely to be happening in the pentecostal churches in the African communities over here ( and in Africa itself ) where the worst kind of pentecostalism and blind faith in their wacky leaders is going on.
The only other recent examples of congregants being told specifically not to take any medication or medical care after prayer, to my knowledge - has occurred in a particular pentecostal sect or denomination based - I recall - in Oregon in the USA - where parents have been imprisoned for effectively causing the death of their own children because they refused medical treatment for their child. They literally left their lives in the hands of god.
But here's the thing. There is nothing inherently non-biblical about this. What could demonstrate more faith than obeying your religious leaders command to get out of the boat and walk on water ?. It is an act of faith that in the ordinary world would potentially kill you !.
Dont recall any example of Jesus telling someone to stop taking medical care. But If jesus had declared "you are healed" only for the leper to have gone back to his doctor afterwards one more time for medication,
how would that have looked in the scriptures ? as a fine example of faith by the leper ? Dont think so.
Edited 12 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2013 01:25AM by Clive.