Praying to the body/cancer cells?

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fabio_rocha

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I’ve noticed that other Christian religions has this “prayer method”… quoting an example:

From Charles Capps’s book God’s Creative Power of Healing

"Jesus bore the curse for me; therefore, I forbid growths and tumors to inhabit my body. The life of God within me dissolves growths and tumors, and my strength and health is restored. (Matt. 16:19; John 14:13; Mark 11:23.)
Growths and tumors have no right to my body. They are a thing of the past for I am delivered from the authority of darkness. (Col. 1:13,14.)
Every organ and tissue of my body functions in the perfection that God created it to function. I forbid any malfunction in my body in Jesus’ name. (Gen. 1:28,31.)
Arthritis, you must GO! Sicknesses MUST FLEE! Tumors can’t exist in me, for the Spirit of God is upon me and the Word of God is within me. Sickness, fear and oppression have no power over me for God’s Word is my confession. (Mark 11:23.)"

I’ve never heard catholics praying like this… why? Is it a little “silly”?
 
It’s not just because it sounds “silly” that Catholics don’t pray that way. It’s because it’s very presumptuous and is destined to lead to situations where people are told they’re not praying well enough simply because they have cancer (or arthritis or a sinus infection).

Catholics often pray intercessory prayers. We ask God for things as Jesus said (see Matthew 7:7-11). We even ask for the saints to pray for us, too. But we don’t presume to tell God what He must do.
 
Those are affirmations and they do seem presumptuous.

“Jesus bore the curse for me; therefore, I forbid growths and tumors to inhabit my body. The life of God within me dissolves growths and tumors, and my strength and health is restored. (Matt. 16:19; John 14:13; Mark 11:23.)”

Yet sickness and suffering are still part of our spiritual journey and cross

“Growths and tumors have no right to my body. They are a thing of the past for I am delivered from the authority of darkness. (Col. 1:13,14.)”

Spiritual drakness but not material darkness.

“Every organ and tissue of my body functions in the perfection that God created it to Iunction. I forbid any malfunction in my body in Jesus’ name. (Gen. 1:28,31.)”

Is that like , forever? “I forbid in the name of Jesus” but what if Jesus has another plan for us?

Far better to pray, “Thy will be done”.

I will never forget a conversation with a good Catholic lady who was dying of cancer. She said, " I am ready and at peace. I know my time is coming. I guess my faith isn’t strong enough to beat this."

I told her it seems to me your faith is stronger than your wants and fears. It goes deeper than getting what you want.

Faith isn’t about believing strong enough to get what we want, but more about trusting and accepting what God wants.
 
Michael_Mayo said:
Faith isn’t about believing strong enough to get what we want, but more about trusting and accepting what God wants.
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Amen to that.

What really strikes me about the prayer in the OP is that, even though it is full of Scripture references, it is not at all a Scriptural prayer. Nor does it resemble any of the prayers found in Scripture: the Psalms, the canticles, the Our Father.
 
fabio_rocha said:
I’ve noticed that other Christian religions has this “prayer method”… quoting an example:

From Charles Capps’s book God’s Creative Power of Healing

"Jesus bore the curse for me; therefore, I forbid growths and tumors to inhabit my body. The life of God within me dissolves growths and tumors, and my strength and health is restored. (Matt. 16:19; John 14:13; Mark 11:23.)
Growths and tumors have no right to my body. They are a thing of the past for I am delivered from the authority of darkness. (Col. 1:13,14.)
Every organ and tissue of my body functions in the perfection that God created it to function. I forbid any malfunction in my body in Jesus’ name. (Gen. 1:28,31.)
Arthritis, you must GO! Sicknesses MUST FLEE! Tumors can’t exist in me, for the Spirit of God is upon me and the Word of God is within me. Sickness, fear and oppression have no power over me for God’s Word is my confession. (Mark 11:23.)"

I’ve never heard catholics praying like this… why? Is it a little “silly”?
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Well taking scripture out of context I would say.

We have no power to forbid anything. We have no power to command anything.

We can ask in the name of Christ anything we want. And we can receive whatever we prayed for if Christ wants.😃

Anotherwards we need to learn to ask Christ to help us, and go back to our roots the our Father THEY KINGDOM COME THY WILL BE DONE.

So when we pray we must ask Christ our will, but also pray for the grace to accept his will. If his will and our will are the same. It will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

What people forget someitmes God says NO!
 
rinnie said:
Well taking scripture out of context I would say.

We have no power to forbid anything. We have no power to command anything.

We can ask in the name of Christ anything we want. And we can receive whatever we prayed for if Christ wants.😃

Anotherwards (In other words - sorry, that was driving me crazy :)) we need to learn to ask Christ to help us, and go back to our roots the our Father THEY KINGDOM COME THY WILL BE DONE.

So when we pray we must ask Christ our will, but also pray for the grace to accept his will. If his will and our will are the same. It will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

What people forget someitmes God says NO!
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Yes, we must follow Christ’s example. Not my will but yours be done. This does not preclude us from praying for healing. It just means that we must pray for God’s will at the same time. Suffering has salvific value.
 
SteveVH said:
Yes, we must follow Christ’s example. Not my will but yours be done. This does not preclude us from praying for healing. It just means that we must pray for God’s will at the same time. Suffering has salvific value.
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Yes, I remember when my brother got a brain tumor, I prayed so hard for God to let him live. When he suffered for a year I prayed for God to let him live or take away his pain.

That is when God took him home with him and took away his pain, It was not what I wanted it was what God knew had to be done.

Do I understand Why? No. Do I understand it was the best thing for my brother? Yes.

Maybe it is a plan of God to see if we love what we want more then what others need? I don’t know.

But I do know, mind you it took awhile, God and my Brother taught me how to trust God and his will and not my own.
 
rinnie said:
Yes, I remember when my brother got a brain tumor, I prayed so hard for God to let him live. When he suffered for a year I prayed for God to let him live or take away his pain.

That is when God took him home with him and took away his pain, It was not what I wanted it was what God knew had to be done.

Do I understand Why? No. Do I understand it was the best thing for my brother? Yes.

Maybe it is a plan of God to see if we love what we want more then what others need? I don’t know.

But I do know, mind you it took awhile, God and my Brother taught me how to trust God and his will and not my own.
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We share a similar experience. My younger brother died of cancer four years ago. Watching him suffer was more than I could bear at times. I remember actually screaming “Please God, take away his pain”. Thinking about it now brings tears. But there is a silver lining. God allowed him to let me know he was alright. About a half hour before he died, after being in a coma for three days, as I was sitting at the end of his bed he suddenly sat up and looked at me and said “hey Steve”. We smiled at each other and as I hugged him he slipped back into his coma and was gone a half an hour later.

He offered his suffering to Christ. I’ll never forget that moment. Somehow that changed everything about his disease and gave him incredible courage. But I learned the same lesson that you did. God’s will be done.
 
All that being said, I think it is ok to visualize cancer cells disintegrating and being flushed from the body.
 
fabio_rocha said:
I’ve noticed that other Christian religions has this “prayer method”… quoting an example:

From Charles Capps’s book God’s Creative Power of Healing

"Jesus bore the curse for me; therefore, I forbid growths and tumors to inhabit my body. The life of God within me dissolves growths and tumors, and my strength and health is restored. (Matt. 16:19; John 14:13; Mark 11:23.)
Growths and tumors have no right to my body. They are a thing of the past for I am delivered from the authority of darkness. (Col. 1:13,14.)
Every organ and tissue of my body functions in the perfection that God created it to function. I forbid any malfunction in my body in Jesus’ name. (Gen. 1:28,31.)
Arthritis, you must GO! Sicknesses MUST FLEE! Tumors can’t exist in me, for the Spirit of God is upon me and the Word of God is within me. Sickness, fear and oppression have no power over me for God’s Word is my confession. (Mark 11:23.)"

I’ve never heard catholics praying like this… why? Is it a little “silly”?
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After hearing about people who believe like the above, what baffles me is — do they think they’re not going to die? or do they think they’ll just fall asleep some night and wake up in heaven? :confused: All very strange, and not at all what Scripture teaches.
 
Nita said:
After hearing about people who believe like the above, what baffles me is — do they think they’re not going to die? or do they think they’ll just fall asleep some night and wake up in heaven? :confused: All very strange, and not at all what Scripture teaches.
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It helps to know your 19th century American religious history. In the 1800s within the more radical sectors of evangelical Protestantism, there was this big fascination with divine healing. Whole sects rose up defined by their belief that “healing was in the atonement.” It could be described as an “over-realized eschatology.” The basic idea was that Christ’s atoning work not only provided for our spiritual healing but our bodily healing as well–in this life.

Now, these sects took this belief to its logical conclusion–they refused all medical care as an act of faith in Christ. Christ was their physician. The prayer of faith would heal the sick. Pray for healing and if God healed, then praise the Lord, and if God did not heal then praise the Lord all the same. Of course, people today really don’t maintain the rejection of medical care. They say that Christ’s healing is in the atonement, but they don’t see receiving medical care as a lack of faith in Christ’s sufficiency.

Then in the 1950s up until now, you have the rise of the Name It and Claim It movement. This builds on the “healing in the atonement” doctrine, but it replaces the traditional “prayer of faith” for God to heal like the older movements believed he had promised with more of a **“claiming by faith the healing that you already have in Christ.” **

The above is an important distinction. The old view was that someone got sick and after prayer God would respond by fulfilling his promise to heal. The newer view says that a believer with faith “is already healed whether he still suffers from sickness or not.” It’s called **“positive confession,” **and it has more of a basis in New Age kind of thought than it does with the Bible.
 
ltwin said:
Then in the 1950s up until now, you have the rise of the Name It and Claim It movement. This builds on the “healing in the atonement” doctrine, but it replaces the traditional “prayer of faith” for God to heal like the older movements believed he had promised with more of a **“claiming by faith the healing that you already have in Christ.” **

The above is an important distinction. The old view was that someone got sick and after prayer God would respond by fulfilling his promise to heal. The newer view says that a believer with faith “is already healed whether he still suffers from sickness or not.” It’s called **“positive confession,” **and it has more of a basis in New Age kind of thought than it does with the Bible.
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I’m sure there are variations in the different groups today.
I have a friend who is a hospice worker. One of her assignments last year was a really nice young married woman in her 30’s who had fatal cancer. The woman was convinced she would be healed because of her strong faith. (Failure to be healed meant to her that her faith was insufficient.) The woman passed away several months later from her cancer.
 
Nita said:
I’m sure there are variations in the different groups today.
I have a friend who is a hospice worker. One of her assignments last year was a really nice young married woman in her 30’s who had fatal cancer. The woman was convinced she would be healed because of her strong faith. (Failure to be healed meant to her that her faith was insufficient.) The woman passed away several months later from her cancer.
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The idea that your faith is not sufficient if you are not healed is an extreme example, but I have heard horror stories of people becoming ill and then when they needed their church family the most, the church accuses them of either (1) not having faith or (2) having unrepentant sin in their life.

I am very familiar with these types of churches. I can say that they don’t usually teach that someone is dying because they don’t have faith (they do recognize the obvious that not everyone is healed for no obvious reason like lack of faith or unconfessed sin), but their preaching and teaching often leads people to that conclusion for logical reasons.
 
ltwin said:
It helps to know your 19th century American religious history. In the 1800s within the more radical sectors of evangelical Protestantism, there was this big fascination with divine healing. Whole sects rose up defined by their belief that “healing was in the atonement.” It could be described as an “over-realized eschatology.” The basic idea was that Christ’s atoning work not only provided for our spiritual healing but our bodily healing as well–in this life.
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The genesis of the gospel of prosperity?
ltwin said:
Now, these sects took this belief to its logical conclusion–they refused all medical care as an act of faith in Christ. Christ was their physician. The prayer of faith would heal the sick. Pray for healing and if God healed, then praise the Lord, and if God did not heal then praise the Lord all the same. Of course, people today really don’t maintain the rejection of medical care. They say that Christ’s healing is in the atonement, but they don’t see receiving medical care as a lack of faith in Christ’s sufficiency.
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They should not have discarded the Deuterocanon books:

Sirach 38:1
Honor the physician with the honor due him, according to your need of him, for the Lord created him;

Sirach 38:3
The skill of the physician lifts up his head, and in the presence of great men he is admired.

Sirach 38:12
And give the physician his place, for the Lord created him; let him not leave you, for there is need of him.

Sirach 38:13
There is a time when success lies in the hands of physicians,

Sirach 38:15
He who sins before his Maker, may he fall into the care of a physician.
ltwin said:
The above is an important distinction. The old view was that someone got sick and after prayer God would respond by fulfilling his promise to heal. The newer view says that a believer with faith “is already healed whether he still suffers from sickness or not.” It’s called **“positive confession,” **and it has more of a basis in New Age kind of thought than it does with the Bible.
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Christian Science - pain and suffering, in fact the physical world - is an illusion, being the product of bad beliefs and thoughts.
 
po18guy said:
The genesis of the gospel of prosperity?
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It certainly contributed to it, but the divine healing movement is a lot older than the health and wealth gospel. Also, the divine healing movement of the 19th century was not nearly as shallow as the prosperity theology.
po18guy said:
Christian Science - pain and suffering, in fact the physical world - is an illusion, being the product of bad beliefs and thoughts.
Click to expand...
There are some surface similarities; however, Christian Science is a very different animal as far as I know.

The most radical adherents of positive confession (and there are extreme and non-extreme versions) view “faith” as a force. To them, God is not the object of faith, but he needs faith just as much as we do. God, they say, created the world and does everything by faith. It follows then that if we have faith (by which they mean “positive confession”), we can do what God does–speak things into existence–“call things that are not as though they were.” We can, in faith, “bind on earth and loose in heaven.” This includes “binding” up demons (of poverty and disease) and “loosing” blessings.

This is why such Christians often pray, “I bind up the spirit of cancer” or “I bind up the spirit of fear” or whatever the problem is. It is also why some place such an importance on knowing the exact sickness or disease one suffers from. The logic goes, “you can’t rebuke the spirit of cancer if you don’t call it by its name.”

As a child, I grew up hearing people pray over sickness in such a way. Even now, I still find myself automatically praying, “I bind you satan in the name of Jesus” when I am in a bad situation. Even though I know that “binding” demons is not what that scripture is about, it can be a hard habit to break.

Obviously, the verses they use are taken out of context. The preachers should know better (though often they are self taught or taught by prosperity preachers themselves), but the lay people in these churches often don’t study the word for themselves and only consider the proof texts that their pastors preach to them about. This is why context is so important.
 
fabio_rocha said:
I’ve noticed that other Christian religions has this “prayer method”… quoting an example:

From Charles Capps’s book God’s Creative Power of Healing

"Jesus bore the curse for me; therefore, I forbid growths and tumors to inhabit my body. The life of God within me dissolves growths and tumors, and my strength and health is restored. (Matt. 16:19; John 14:13; Mark 11:23.)
Growths and tumors have no right to my body. They are a thing of the past for I am delivered from the authority of darkness. (Col. 1:13,14.)
Every organ and tissue of my body functions in the perfection that God created it to function. I forbid any malfunction in my body in Jesus’ name. (Gen. 1:28,31.)
Arthritis, you must GO! Sicknesses MUST FLEE! Tumors can’t exist in me, for the Spirit of God is upon me and the Word of God is within me. Sickness, fear and oppression have no power over me for God’s Word is my confession. (Mark 11:23.)"

I’ve never heard catholics praying like this… why? Is it a little “silly”?
Click to expand...
We should all pray that they read and understand the role of what contributes to Cancer and what protects against Cancer…
Arch Iran Med. 2013 Jun;16(6):358-65. doi: 013166/AIM.0010.
Environmental and lifestyle risk factors of gastric cancer.
Lee YY, Derakhshan MH.
Source1)Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK. 2) School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia.Mohammad.derakhshan@glasgow.ac.UK.
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Abstract
Effective prevention and early diagnostic strategies are the most important public health interventions in gastric cancer, which remains a common malignancy worldwide. Preventive strategies require identification and understanding of environmental risk factors that lead to carcinogenesis. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is the primary carcinogen as this ancient bacterium has a complex ability to interact with its human host. Smoking and salt are strong independent risk factors for gastric cancer whereas alcohol is only a risk when it is heavily consumed**. Red meat and high fat increase the risk of gastric cancer however fresh fruits, vegetables (allium family) and certain micronutrients (selenium, vitamin C) reduce the risk,** with evidence lacking for fish, coffee and tea. Foods that inhibit H. pylori viability, colonization and infection may reduce cancer risk. Obesity is increasingly recognized as a contributory factor in gastric cardia carcinogenesis. Therefore, modest daily physical activities can be protective against cancer. Foundry workers are at risk for developing gastric cancer with dust iron being an important cause. Other risk factors include Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), possibly JC virus and radiation but the effects of these are likely to remain small.
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ltwin said:
It certainly contributed to it, but the divine healing movement is a lot older than the health and wealth gospel. Also, the divine healing movement of the 19th century was not nearly as shallow as the prosperity theology. Obviously, the verses they use are taken out of context. The preachers should know better (though often they are self taught or taught by prosperity preachers themselves), but the lay people in these churches often don’t study the word for themselves and only consider the proof texts that their pastors preach to them about. This is why context is so important.
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Once you open Pandora’s box of private interpretation, the possibilities are endless. Not only do we need scripture’s context, but its fulness. The bible is a coherent whole, not just a box of theological chocolates from which we choose.

And, just where did they get the “God needs faith” from? Sounds much more like an invisible man than God. Spirits are definitely involved, but not in the manner they think. They themselves are following worldly spirits. Did Job ever once attempt to oppose God’s plan that good be brought from his devil-caused affliction? Do any of these wellness gospel preachers consider that they might be opposing God’s plan? Did Paul rebuke the spirit of suffering? Nope. He put suffering to work.
 
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