Gloria Copeland, wife of Kenneth Copeland and member of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, is in the news. In a recent telecast she said some things that have come under fire according to the mainstream media.
Gloria said, “Well, listen, partners, we don’t have a flu season…Inoculate yourself with the word of God.” She went on to say believers should repeatedly say, “I’ll never have the flu,” and then went on to pray for those who have the flu anyway. Those who got the flu must have missed the message on talking it away.
Gloria and her husband Kenneth have been saying things like that for years, what makes it so newsworthy now? Well she is supposedly a member of President Trump’s evangelical advisory board, and it is useful in making Trump look like a kook by association ahead of the midterm elections.
I am not a fan of the prosperity Gospel
To be clear, I am not a fan of the prosperity Gospel. Even calling it a Gospel demeans the term. A comprehensive consideration of scriptural teaching and examples of godly people in the Bible reveals health and wealth are not necessary elements of holiness.
The idea that one can recite Scripture as a sort of incantation to manipulate God to do our bidding is nothing less than bibliomancy. It is one thing to trust in the promises of God, and quite another to try and coerce Him to produce the outcome we desire.
The idea that one can recite Scripture as a sort of incantation to manipulate God to do our bidding is nothing less than bibliomancy. It is one thing to trust in the promises of God, and quite another to try and coerce Him to produce the outcome we desire.
They are fond of quoting by “his stripes we are healed,” Isaiah 53:5 (KJV). They claim physical healing was a part of the atonement of Christ and is our right to claim. While some deny that was what Isaiah was referring to, there is a certain truth here.
If, as we believe, sickness and disease are a result of original sin and the fall of man, and the atonement was meant to reverse the effects of the fall, then freedom from physical injury and disease were an integral part of the atonement.
In eternity “the first things have passed away”
The answer is in the timing. I am confident in the resurrection when as Paul said, “this mortal must put on immortality,” that our eternal life will be characterized by a glorified body without physical defect and free from any disease processes. There will be no need for wheelchairs, or eyeglasses in heaven.
Hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities will not be needed in heaven. The Father has a major medical plan that is out of this world. But that does not preclude His ability to heal us now in answer to prayer, which I believe is just a foretaste of heaven to come.
Journalist should stick to reporting the news rather than delving into theological issues they have no understanding of and trying to criticize some of those lumped in with evangelicals.
The Scriptures declare “each one of us will give an account of himself to God,” Romans 14:12. Maybe those in the news business should think about that, because on Judgment Day a flu shot won’t help.
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