Recently I discovered your website as I was searching for some clarification on Andrew Wommack who was making me feel increasingly uneasy. Many thanks for that.
So, over the last few weeks I’ve intensively read a tiny sprinkling of your articles (that’s one large website!), mainly to check out whether I felt you were “kosher” or not. No insult intended: I’ve been lied to so many times by “church leaders,” “Bible teachers” (including Wommack) and “Christian” websites, and I’m slowly learning to be wary. Having said that, I’m not at all confident that I’m qualified to judge—much goes over my head. And so while there are, admittedly, certain teachings you’ve published which I don’t altogether understand, I haven’t found much with which I actually disagree. I’ve even found some things which I’ve long suspected but have never heard teaching on at all, so that’s good
. I may want to get back to some of that later, but for now the main things that struck me were, firstly, your confident personal knowledge of Jesus Christ, in what seems to be an almost conversational relationship. Secondly, I think I understand you to state that sickness/illness/injury are (at least normally) caused by individual sin: your “Holy Waters” piece.
I have a deep and intense personal interest in both of these points because I first “accepted” Jesus’ lordship of my life, over thirty-two years ago, specifically in order to have that intimate relationship, because that’s what the preacher was talking about (er, no, not repentance). I just longed to hear His voice and to live for Him. I’ve spent the last 32 years searching intently to get there, and failing. I’m beginning to suspect that my natural attraction to the written word has kept leading me back to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, rather than the Tree of Life because so many of the better educated “Christian” writers have produced books, and I have been drawn to Andrew Murray, Watchman Nee, A W Tozer, Jessie Penn-Lewis, and so on.
In all that time I’ve only met ONE person (truly, just one) who ever impressed me that she seemed to have that relationship with Jesus I longed for, and she died of cancer before I could get to know her, so who knows? So when I read your articles and Paul’s, claiming exactly that, you can see why I was instantly alert. I want what you seem to have more than anything!
On the sickness front, three years ago the doctors discovered a growth within my spinal column which had damaged the spinal cord and I was forced to stop work. Five surgeries later I am now sitting in a powered wheelchair all day, completely incapable of walking or working, with serious toiletry issues. lol. If this is due to sin then I need to find out what I’ve done and get repenting as it’s not only spoiled my quality of life, but that of my wife and family too.
What would you need to know from me and about me in order to be able to give me some personally specific guidance? Or can you just pray about my situation and hear something pertinent?
Here’s some background which might help:
My wife and I “came to faith” in 1986 and joined a lively Anglican church in North London. We soon found ourselves expecting our second child and committed it (him) utterly to the Lord. When he was born he had Downs’ Syndrome, which, though something of a shock, we gratefully accepted as from the Lord who ‘gave’ me his name: “Raphael,” meaning Healing of God, by ‘highlighting’ the name in the baby names book when I asked Him. Raphael is now 29 and has not been healed at all.
Some five years ago, my eldest (then in his mid-twenties) decided he was going to be an atheist and directly, and very aggressively, challenged not only our faith, but also our intelligence, for not falling in with science’s “proven” views. As a result of trying to defend myself—at least in my own mind—I delved a lot deeper into what the Bible says and what “science” says, and strengthened my own faith a lot. Possibly not what he intended. At least we don’t argue any more as my wife and I refused to get drawn into trading insults, though he hurt us deeply at the time. We always kept the door open, but he’s still pretty challenged by being the only member of our family who is not, at some level, a believer.
Our third son got married at 18 and they seem to be reasonably strong Christians, though probably not by your terms, and our youngest, our daughter, is trying to be, though she clearly struggles, and the enemy seems to be out to destroy her—most recently by trying to drown her off a Brazilian beach.
Over the years, due to moving around, we have joined and attended a number of “churches,” including Nazarene, Pentecostal, and Vineyard in England. Most failed us one way or another. The latest was the Vineyard which started to promote IHOP, Bethel, and the Dominionist teachings of the NAR. I took the trouble to warn the leader that this was dangerous and unscriptural ground and was openly rejected, as he said he needed people who would sign up to his leadership. We’ve not been back. My spinal problems flared up over the following 18 months.
Please let me know if you can help at all, and particularly if there’s anything the Lord brings to your spirit which might apply.
Many thanks for your time and may the Lord bless you and your ministry,
Geoff Andersen
) That’s the Lord I’m seeking! One Who is holier and purer and mightier and more magnificent than any man could possibly be. I’d always wondered why He had no empathy or mercy. As you say, we, as fallen men, wouldn’t wish eternal suffering even on our enemies. I always felt that eternal anything, without Jesus, would soon be Hell; from sheer boredom if nothing else. And I couldn’t think of anyone I would wish that on—especially as we are told to forgive if we want to be forgiven.