Growing Arms

I heard a sermon yesterday that really disturbed me. An ancedote was given which indicated that a group had gotten together and prayed for a man who had lost an arm in the war. As a result of the prayer fingers started to grow out of the arm and then slowly a whole new arm emerged.

Now, imagine as I am hearing this what you know must be going through my mind. How can anyone believe that this has happened? I was given the name Frances Hunter which I later looked up on the Internet. I couldn't find claims of growing a whole arm but there are claims of growing a limb under an inch. They are the Happy Hunters. I've never heard of them but they have quite the following. But I note that even the charismatic websites are starting to question these faith healers.

Forget the power of the Spirit - I'm not disputing that. I believe Jesus is God, that he died and rose again on the third day. I beleive that he rose people from the dead. I also know that he has totally changed my life around and as obnoxious as my personality may be at times, I am a different person. This is testimony enough - I don't need new arms growing off of stumps to believe.

But I'm not born yesterday. If this was true, this news story would have shot around the world. For heaven's sakes we have stories about face transplants that we all know about - a new arm growing would be quite the story. Think about how many images of Mary found on potato chips and on the sides of buildings we have heard about - why haven't I heard about the miraculous arm?

Yet, and this really gets me, pastors in my life are often not willing to criticize Benny Hinn, Todd Bentley and others for obvious errors in judgment. They are not willing to suggest that they are frauds as if this somehow denigrates the Holy Spirit. However, if you look at any of the evidence of these faith healings you will find a few ancedotal stories out of the 1000's of healings they do a year. If you want to glorify God wouldn't you want everyone to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he has healed? And if God was using you so powerfully would you not be in such a humble state and in such a fear of that power that you would feel obliged to ensure that your bank accounts are open for scrutiny. As pastors we are called to put our lives on display - broken as we are - surely the church bank accounts should be open to scrutiny if suggestions of making money off of healing causes people to stumble?

This is common sense and I don't understand the unwillingness of the holy to take a stand. If you believe that this stuff is real then work to glorify God and answer the skeptics. If you are not sure then work to become sure one way or the other. But putting our head in the sand makes us either ignorant of God's miraculous works or aiding those who are fraudsters to blaspheme God.