Declaring in the name of the Lord

[RaiseMeUp]

So as some people on this forum know - I am in a situation where I am in a Pentecostal Program that I must complete. Being Catholic in this program does sometimes get hard. Im often looked at as a rebellious one. I guess its shows in my body language that I reject some if not most of the things the pastor teaches - specially when he he refers to Catholic tradition as “religious law & bondage” and its teachings have “been taught wrong for centuries”. Now I do my best to be obedient and respectful while I am here - I even have some great friends here. But this Sunday they will be doing communion and I will not be participating in it. Which is causing some tension but this is not what this post is about. What I dont understand is when he calls the sick up or the people with bad backs or real medical problems up to the alter. And he will place his hands on them and pray and say things like " In the name of Jesus the spirit of pain MUST flee - and let healing come upon you" <----- which okay… I believe in praying for the sick and anointing the sick. BUT then hell ask them on a scale from 1 to 10 what the pain is now? And usually if it was a 9 now its and 8 or 8.5. But isnt his method wrong? Declaring healing in the name of the Lord? What if it isnt Gods will?? Ultimately He has the call on what is and whats not. If anything I feel this is so misleading to new believers. Because they put all their faith into this and then when the healing doesnt come as he declared it leaves it open as another disappointment to them and can lead them back away from the Church. IDK… if i am wrong Im open to being corrected…

 

[CrispSnowflake]

“Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.”- James 5:14

“He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.”- Mark 3:14-15

I hope that helps!

 

[Church_Militant]

Any ole body can pray for the sick, but that’s just typical Pentecostal “faith healing” stuff. Not being priests and not anointing with blessed oil, their prayers may not be as efficacious as they could be, since the word “elders” in James 5 is where we get presbyters, which is the root for the word priests, so there’s that.

Aside from that, if it makes 'em happy, take it for what it’s worth and be aware of the difference.

It’s unfortunate that they talk smack about the Church like that, but they are generally very badly ignorant of both history and the Bible. Many are self trained and even self “ordained” because they say they have “heard a call” from God.

When I was a Deacon and Sunday School teacher in the local Assembly of God (many years ago), I used to ask my students how they knew what was right about the Bible. The most common answer was “because the preacher says so”, which is a woefully inadequate, especially for people who say that the Bible is their authority. It really just indicated that they were not actually reading their Bible like they should have been and so were easily prey for “the teachings of men”. It also meant that they were useless in explaining and defending their Christian faith when encountering cults like the JWs or Mormons and so couldn’t give good answers. It was pretty sad.

Hang in there. BTW, you’re absolutely correct not to take their communion. If they ask why, then your best answer is that you because you are Catholic, you do not want to give them false witness that you believe the same things about communion that they do because that would be wrong. For Biblical responses, if needed, you might check out my article, The Eucharist IS Scriptural

 

[Sirach2]

RaiseMeUp:

What I dont understand is when he calls the sick up or the people with bad backs or real medical problems up to the alter. And he will place his hands on them and pray and say things like " In the name of Jesus the spirit of pain MUST flee - and let healing come upon you" <----- which okay… I believe in praying for the sick and anointing the sick. BUT then hell ask them on a scale from 1 to 10 what the pain is now? And usually if it was a 9 now its and 8 or 8.5. But isnt his method wrong? Declaring healing in the name of the Lord? What if it isnt Gods will??

I have done a great deal of study on healing, notably from Francis McNutt who was a Catholic priest that wrote two books on it: Healing, and Power to Heal. These books are very orthodox, written at a time when he was very successfully involved in this ministry and these have, IMO, expressed clearly the Catholic position on healing.

When this person uses the scale to judge the efficacy of his declaration, sometimes it helps him to know if more prayer is needed - and that is a good thing. Otherwise, he is tooting his proverbial horn.

What I would suggest is this. If the minister declares healing, usually the Holy Spirit will confirm it interiorly to the sick person, who receives the word with the Peace of the Holy Spirit as the true Umpire. If this is missing, most likely the minister is strumming up his own charism and will produce nothing in the way of healing. In that case, the individual may be shattered, thinking his faith is deficient in some way for not believing the word of knowledge given to him. Be prudent - there are charletons in some of these ministries.

You have no way of knowing at this point how the sick person received the declaration, or whether he sensed from the Holy Spirit the truth of it interiorly. So beyond that, we cannot assume his ministry is a sham. True healers will become recognized quickly by the effects, that is, healing. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and those who have the Spirit through their baptism are also able to receive His gifts. There are a few well-known Catholics who have been blessed with this ministry. The Church asks that we use them for building up the Body of Christ.

 

[vbc777]

A person in the healing ministry normally receives the gift of compassion for the person who is supposed to receive the healing he desires. If this feeling of compassion is not present, the sick individual is not healed, no matter how the minister declares that he is healed. The real conditions for healing are the sick perspn’s strong faith in the Lord, and his belief that he would be healed.