I received a letter from a lady while I was ministering in Siberia. She wanted to help me understand God’s healing power. The brief letter communicated the following points:

First, I should read more carefully Isaiah 53:3-5. And so I did. Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Second, according to Matthew 8:17 Jesus bore not only our sins but our diseases as well. Matthew 8:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

Third, everyone who came to Jesus was healed. Matthew 9:35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

Fourth, God wants to give us healing. He calls healing "children’s bread" in Matthew 15:26. "But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs."

Fifth, we have been healed by the cross of Jesus and should oppose the sickness as we oppose sin by the Word of God.

Sixth, in the book of Deuteronomy, I should remember that tumors and every disease was part of a curse and Christ came to redeem us from the curse of the law. Christ redeemed us to give us the blessing of Abraham. Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Seventh, I should read attentively the blessing. It belongs to me if I believe Jesus.

Eighth, everything is possible for the person who believes. Mark 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

While there is some truth in what was written, there is much misunderstanding of some important biblical teachings.

Why did this lady write? Because I had shared with her my own battle with cancer.

Why did she write the way she did? Because she is being taught that God wants to heal everyone – and she needs healing. I found out in private that she has cancer and unless she is healed by God she will soon leave behind a beautiful five year old daughter. Is it any wonder she is desperately placing her hope in the teachings of the Word of Faith movement?

When I read a letter like this and know the desperate hope which drives it my heart is broken and the teardrops fall. I want to hug my sister in Christ and whisper in her ear, "God loves you. And, whether in life or in death you will glorify Him by faith. The Lord will love you in life and He will love you in death as He brings you to your heavenly home. Perhaps you should prepare to die if that is the clear and final verdict of God’s revealed will."

While I do not want to take away anyone’s hope for healing neither do I want to be part of religious cruelty by giving false hope of healing based upon selected passages of Scriptures ripped out of context.

When this Christian lady is ready I would want to minister to her for God has entrusted to me in part the ministry of helping people who will not be healed. I want to help those who are victims of the cruelty of the Word of Faith movement.

Eventually, every advocate of a misguided presentation of divine healing will die, apart from the Second Coming of Christ. Until then, many of the Word of Faith people are guilty of deceiving God’s people and making merchandise of the same. When they do this they are part of prophecy being fulfilled. 2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Because this is true, consider again the major points being made by the Word of Faith advocates and taught to sincere and desperate people.

First, it is said, "God wants to give us healing." The obvious inquiry is this. If God truly wants to heal all people then why does He not do it for surely He can.

That not everyone is healed is a testimony to the revealed will of God. God has many truths to teach through pain and suffering. There is a place for pain and suffering in the plan of God.

Second, it was said that everyone that came to Jesus was healed. The implication is that anyone who comes to Christ today in prayer and with great faith will also be healed, but that is not true or fair. It is a false analogy.

It is true that Jesus performed many miracles and those who came to Christ were healed. Matthew 9:35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But here is the major difference between modern healing meetings and biblical ones. In biblical healings the people were healed immediately. The Word of Faith offers to most only the hope of a progressive healing. If a person is not healed they are led to believe it is because they do not have enough faith to be cured. Such a teaching is not only cruel; it is evil clothed in religious garb. What is forgotten is that God says He is the one who makes the blind eye and the deaf ear. Exodus 4:11 And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Why? Because of His own sovereign will and in order to glorify Himself. Ephesians 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

One day, every person shall be made perfectly well and thus is fulfilled ultimately the provision for healing in the redemptive work of Christ at Calvary. One day it will be said of all that "with his stripes we are healed" (Isa. 53:5). The Christian does have the hope of the resurrection, the hope of heaven and the hope of eternal life. That is in eternity. But for now, in time, suffering is part of God’s will in order to learn the lessons of life that can only be learned through suffering.

Should we not pray for healing for ourselves and for others? Indeed we should. Galatians 6:2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Should we not ask for anointing when we are sick? Indeed we should. James 5:14 Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

Should we not believe in a miracle working God? Indeed we must believe. Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

But then, after we have prayed and been anointed and believed, if God says no to our being healed then we can kiss the hand that strikes the blow and submit to the sovereignty of God. We can hear God say to us as He said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient." 2 Corinthians 12:9 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

And we can do something else. We can learn to comfort others through whatever tribulation we have experienced. 2 Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

If you are sick and if God has not been pleased to heal you, it does not mean you are loved less. It does not mean you are children of a lesser God. It does mean that God is God and that He has a special will for your life that can only be discovered by "kissing the hand that strikes the blow".