Ask Father Paul...022708

Answers to your questions about life, religion and the Bible

Pastors get some of the darnedest, most interesting questions from people in their churches and people they meet. Here are a few that I’ve gotten over the years of my ministry and via email since this column started.

Dear Father Paul: Your church evidently believes in healing. I see where second Sundays there each month include special prayers for the sick. I have had a long-term painful ailment that, while not life threatening, has given me a lot of grief. I have prayed to be healed, but so far nothing has happened. Your thoughts/advice. — Mary

Dear Mary: God does indeed heal today just like he did in the Bible. He does other miracles too. He’s supernatural, has always been supernatural and will always be supernatural. As a supernatural being, he does supernatural things, like healing ... it’s his nature ... it’s who he is ... it’s what he does.

I’ve seen hundreds of people healed during my years of ministry. My own wife Judy was healed of a life threatening heart condition five years ago. When we took her to the Cleveland Heart Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio her Jewish cardiologist there said, “lady, you are a miracle!” She just recently went on a grueling three-week mission trip to Mongolia.

God heals in lots of different ways. He certainly uses doctors. Thank God for doctors and other health professionals. He also sometimes heals people instantly ... miraculously. They often report a feeling like an electric charge running through their body. Many times he heals slowly, over weeks, months and even years. But the point is God heals.

I believe that our healing as-well-as our eternal salvation was purchased for us by Jesus in his atoning sacrifice on the cross. St. Peter was referring to the prophecy of Isaiah when he said in I Peter 2: 24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live to righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”

Unfortunately there have been many abuses by ungodly men who claim to have a “healing ministry” but who fleece the sheep and whose services take on a circus atmosphere. These abuses, however, do not mean that God does not still heal people today.

The antidote for sickness and disease is faith...either the faith of the sick person or the faith of the person praying for him/her.

I’d suggest that you do two things, Mary. If your own faith is weak, then find someone or a group of people with strong faith to believe for your healing. And, second, persist in your prayers for healing. If a doctor told most of us who are sick, “I can cure you, but you’ll have to come to my office once a week for the next three months for treatments,” most of us would go without question. But too many people will only give God “one shot” at healing them, and if they don’t get instantly healed, they say, “God must no longer heal today,” and they stop asking God for their healing. So persist, Mary. Don’t give up, persist. The Bible says that “he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek him.”

Dear Father Paul: In a recent column you blasted “half truths.” Isn’t a half truth at least partly true and thus of some value and worth? — John

Dear John: The problem with your premise is that I, at least, struggle with which half to believe.

Dear Father Paul: I’m going through a really rough time right now. I’m a believer, but the situation is still almost unbearable. I need encouragement. — Tizza.

Dear Tizza: You do need encouragement. All of us do. But what you really need is a touch from your father, God.

I recall that just before Jesus was arrested, scourged and executed he agonized over his situation in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane outside Jerusalem. He cried out to his father in his distress.

The Bible says in Luke 22: 43 that as Jesus earnestly prayed, God sent an angel from heaven to strengthen him.

I believe Tizza, that when you (we) get as serious with seeking God as Jesus did in the Garden, he will send one of his angels to strengthen you (us) too. You will note in the passage that the disciples who were with Jesus in the Garden fell asleep instead of seeking God. When the angel came they missed his strengthening ministry.

Got a question for the column? Email me at paulmassey@earthlink.net or call at (678) 457-3050

The next “Healing Sunday” at Church of the Holy Cross is March 9.