Dake Bible Discussion BoardWhen Christians Die of Cancer

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bibleman
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When Christians Die of Cancer

Post by bibleman »

When Christians Die of Cancer

Sickness doesn’t win when the suffering person is a Christian.

Doctors confirmed only 10 months ago that my friend Benny Benson had a malignant tumor in his spine. He underwent treatment, but in the end more tumors appeared. Nothing could stop the spread of the disease—not radiation, chemotherapy or surgery. He died on Jan. 31, and I spoke at his memorial service in New Hampshire on Feb. 12.
I still can’t believe Benny is gone.

More than 500 people attended his funeral. Many of them were college students who had been discipled through Benny’s campus outreach, which he carried out with his wife, Cindy. Like so many of Benny’s other friends and family members, these students had prayed for Benny to be miraculously healed of the cancer.
But in the end, Benny got the ultimate healing—by stepping into eternity.

Whenever loved ones are taken from us we ask hard questions. Why does God allow cancer to ravage people’s bodies? Why doesn’t He always heal when we pray? Why would He let a guy like Benny, who was only 58, get sick with cancer when he was seeing amazing results in his campus ministry?

Those of us who wear the charismatic label don’t do well when people die of sickness. We’ve been taught that God “always” heals, especially if we pray according to the latest 1-2-3 formula, if we break every generational curse, and if we bind every demonic power that might be lurking behind the surface.

Miraculous healings do happen sometimes. But when they don’t, we assume we said the wrong prayer, didn’t exert enough faith or harbored some secret sin in our hearts. We trivialize the Lord by turning Him into a genie in a bottle. We think He exists to perform miracles for us—as long as we rub the lamp the right way and say the right magic words. But that is a silly and immature way to approach an omnipotent God.

I didn’t have the answers to such heavy theological questions when I spoke at Benny’s funeral yesterday. I was mostly concerned about whether I would start sobbing as soon as I read my first text from the Bible. (Fortunately my voice only cracked a few times.)

I prefaced my remarks by admitting that I have never been a fan of the book of Job. I don’t like reading about a righteous man who lost everything—including his health. I don’t like reading about bad things happening to good people—mainly because I don’t want to face suffering myself.

But the book of Job is in the Bible. And it is near the middle of the Bible for a reason. Just as the book of Psalms reminds us that praise will get us through the hard times, Job reminds us that we must keep eternity in mind when we walk through trials. Job had to learn to see life—and death—from God’s wide perspective instead of his puny human viewpoint.

Job’s faith was tested like gold. After he experienced incredible loss, he was able to say: “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take his stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:25-26, NASB).

Job made that ultimate faith confession in his darkest moment. He stared poverty, hardship, sickness and death in the face and declared that regardless of his circumstances, he would be resurrected and would live eternally with the Lord. He was so secure in his personal relationship with God that the assaults and accusations of Satan did not shake him. He persevered. He held on to faith. And instead of focusing on his bleak circumstances he looked at his bright future in heaven.

That’s how I decided to approach Benny’s death. I refused to ask whether we prayed and fasted enough, whether the healing anointing was strong enough or whether we strained enough in our faith to produce a miracle. The greatest miracle occurred when Benny stepped from this life into the next and began an eternity with Christ. He now fully understands the words of Jesus in John 11:26: “And whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. (NIV)”

Of course we want our loved ones to be healed. Of course we should pray for miracles. But if God does not answer us the way we insist He should, we must rest in His all-knowing sovereignty and rejoice in the fact that Jesus has conquered death.

Please don’t minimize the wonder of Christ’s resurrection power. Yes, cancer happens. Sometimes it kills people. But cancer doesn’t win when the suffering person is a Christian. If the victim of a terminal illness knows Jesus, they will experience the most powerful of all of God’s miracles when they die. We will know the power of that resurrection, too, and we will join them one day in heaven’s paradise.

http://www.charismamag.com/blogs/fire-i ... -of-cancer

J. Lee Grady is the former editor of Charisma and the director of The Mordecai Project (themordecaiproject.org). His latest book is Fearless Daughters of the Bible. You can follow him on Twitter at leegrady.


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The fault in Bible complications is not with God or the Bible, but with men who refuse to believe what God says and think we have to interpret what He says in order to get the meaning. Dake Bible -Mark 11:17 note

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bibleman
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Re: When Christians Die of Cancer

Post by bibleman »

The above article made me want to throw-up!

I normally like Grady but this was about the biggest bunch of doubt and unbelief I have ever read!

Above Grady says:
I refused to ask whether we prayed and fasted enough, whether the healing anointing was strong enough or whether we strained enough in our faith to produce a miracle.
Of course we want our loved ones to be healed. Of course we should pray for miracles. But if God does not answer us the way we insist He should, we must rest in His all-knowing sovereignty and rejoice in the fact that Jesus has conquered death.
I think that is the problem. Rather that looking into our own lives in the area of faith, prayer and fasting and the anointing we just give up and make some excuse for our lack of faith and doubt filled lives.

Rest? Rest in the fact that one of our love ones has been killed by a cancer spirit and us just give up and rest and rejoice! NEVER!

Can you see Jesus resting if someone did not get healed? I can't .

Prayer, fasting and living in the Word is what Ernest Angley taught me.
God always heals when we pray according to the Word of God in faith and get rid of the hindrances is what Finis Dake taught me.
Develop your faith to the point that you can receive is what Kenneth Copeland taught me.
You can believe and receive or doubt and do without is what Kenneth Hagin taught me.
You can have what you say is what Jesus taught me.

I think as mush as I love and respect Grady I will stay with the Word of God on this one!

When will Believers wake up and believe, stand on and experience the Word of God in their lives?
When prayers are not answered for one who is in Christ, let it become a settled fact with him that he is breaking the law of faith. All the devils in Hell or any power on Earth cannot keep God from honoring faith if it is properly exercised. It matters not what has been asked of God, He will answer upon the sole condition of faith in His promises. Jesus said, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (Jn. 15:7). This is final and irrefutable. It is the all-inclusive condition of answered prayer. Make no mistake about it, this is the cause of unanswered prayer, but it can easily be corrected. All one has to do is to get into Christ and meditate on the Word of God until his heart becomes full of His promises, and then ask in faith, nothing wavering, and it shall be done. Finis J. Dake, God's Plan for Man, (Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Publishing, Inc., 2004), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 184.
It is statements like that, that makes me love Dake so much! GLORY!


God bless
Leon Bible

http://www.ministryhelps.com
http://www.dakebible.com
http://www.dakebibleboard.com
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DakeBibleDiscussion/

The fault in Bible complications is not with God or the Bible, but with men who refuse to believe what God says and think we have to interpret what He says in order to get the meaning. Dake Bible -Mark 11:17 note

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branham1965
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Re: When Christians Die of Cancer

Post by branham1965 »

Preach it Pastor. :smilecolros: :angel:



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branham1965
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Re: When Christians Die of Cancer

Post by branham1965 »

i forgot to say i like Grady too.

but Pastor your article is FAITH building. :angel: :angel:



adreampuppet

Re: When Christians Die of Cancer

Post by adreampuppet »

Thanks for this, Pastor. Jesus showed the way, and the human teachers you list here have captured the true spirit of that way. Looking inward to our faith and its obstacles requires a level of self-honesty that may lead to uncomfortable realizations about ourselves, which is why most don't want to go there.



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Re: When Christians Die of Cancer

Post by DeafManHealing »

I have the same question myself. At the schools for the deaf, many Deaf kids and adults are getting healed on the name of Jesus Christ. Some do successfully get healed, some Deaf people live with life threatening health issues and they die. That is a very hard question.

I know I am not supposed to question God but I do sometimes. I think it is natural for people to question God but have to make sure the questions in your mind are not from satan who slips in seeds of doubt & things like that. I think some doubt can be a healthy thing but not that kind of doubt that destroys your relationship with God.

Your article has helped me understand more clearly. When you go to a funeral home, it is like life has stopped and it really makes you think about things like eternity, healings and many different topics.

It is kind of funny and ironic because you never notice the funeral home that you drive by so many times on your way to work until someone who you hold dear in your life has died. You were so busy living your life which is a good thing but then sitting in the funeral home does really hit things home. Good article.



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Re: When Christians Die of Cancer

Post by graceforme »

Sin and physical disease were introduced into our world by Adam and his sin. And, it seems like disease is running rampant in our world. I personally don't know anyone who has not been affected in some fashion by cancer - either they have been or are suffering, or they know someone who has been or is suffering from this ugly, ugly disease.

I firmly believe that God can heal, and I don't think that we can blame the person who doesn't get healed. I've heard churches literally blame people who didn't get healed that they just didn't have enough faith, or they have unrepented sin in their lives. These poor people not only have to deal with continued sickness, but now they've had a heap of guilt placed on them that is totally unwarrented. When my dear Father passed away from lung cancer a few years ago, I was saddened, but I was also relieved. Relieved that he would suffer no more, and that he was at that moment enjoying fellowship with his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I don't think he died because of lack of faith - his tremendous faith was an inspiration to all who came in contact with him through his time of illness. And I know that ALL his sins had been forgiven when he trusted Christ as his Saviour. If that were not true, we would all be lost, wouldn't we?

When we think of healing, we think of a person totally recovering from whatever physical ailment they have. Of course, we want that more than anything - we don't want to give up our friends and family members. But, looking at it from a Christian perspective, if a person is a child of God, then their graduation from this earth to glory IS the perfect and ultimate healing. No more suffering, no more pain, no more treatments that are sometimes worse than the disease they are trying to cure. Joy and peace forever more. How could any earthly healing be better than that?

Can God heal? Absolutely! Does He always heal, according to our earthly thinking? Absolutely not! And we have to remember that there is always a purpose for whatever God does or doesn't do. We don't always understand it, but our faith should tell us that anything God allows has a purpose in our lives.

A few years ago, I underwent testing for lymphoma. I was terrified. Waiting for those test results was the worst, and yet the best time of my spiritual walk. I leaned on God and trusted Him completely with my well-being like never before. My husband would cling to me and cry, and I would tell him, "Don't worry - no matter how this goes, I know God will take perfect care of me." Did I pray for a good report? You bet! But I knew in my heart that God was going to do what was best for me, no matter what. And I praise Him still today that my test result was good.

Well, that is my perspective on healing. I look forward to being able to post on the board again, and fellowship with some old friends, and some new ones


"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance" Psalm 33:12

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Justaned
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Re: When Christians Die of Cancer

Post by Justaned »

bibleman wrote:
When Christians Die of Cancer

Sickness doesn’t win when the suffering person is a Christian.

Doctors confirmed only 10 months ago that my friend Benny Benson had a malignant tumor in his spine. He underwent treatment, but in the end more tumors appeared. Nothing could stop the spread of the disease—not radiation, chemotherapy or surgery. He died on Jan. 31, and I spoke at his memorial service in New Hampshire on Feb. 12.
I still can’t believe Benny is gone.

More than 500 people attended his funeral. Many of them were college students who had been discipled through Benny’s campus outreach, which he carried out with his wife, Cindy. Like so many of Benny’s other friends and family members, these students had prayed for Benny to be miraculously healed of the cancer.
But in the end, Benny got the ultimate healing—by stepping into eternity.

Whenever loved ones are taken from us we ask hard questions. Why does God allow cancer to ravage people’s bodies? Why doesn’t He always heal when we pray? Why would He let a guy like Benny, who was only 58, get sick with cancer when he was seeing amazing results in his campus ministry?

Those of us who wear the charismatic label don’t do well when people die of sickness. We’ve been taught that God “always” heals, especially if we pray according to the latest 1-2-3 formula, if we break every generational curse, and if we bind every demonic power that might be lurking behind the surface.

Miraculous healings do happen sometimes. But when they don’t, we assume we said the wrong prayer, didn’t exert enough faith or harbored some secret sin in our hearts. We trivialize the Lord by turning Him into a genie in a bottle. We think He exists to perform miracles for us—as long as we rub the lamp the right way and say the right magic words. But that is a silly and immature way to approach an omnipotent God.

I didn’t have the answers to such heavy theological questions when I spoke at Benny’s funeral yesterday. I was mostly concerned about whether I would start sobbing as soon as I read my first text from the Bible. (Fortunately my voice only cracked a few times.)

I prefaced my remarks by admitting that I have never been a fan of the book of Job. I don’t like reading about a righteous man who lost everything—including his health. I don’t like reading about bad things happening to good people—mainly because I don’t want to face suffering myself.

But the book of Job is in the Bible. And it is near the middle of the Bible for a reason. Just as the book of Psalms reminds us that praise will get us through the hard times, Job reminds us that we must keep eternity in mind when we walk through trials. Job had to learn to see life—and death—from God’s wide perspective instead of his puny human viewpoint.

Job’s faith was tested like gold. After he experienced incredible loss, he was able to say: “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take his stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:25-26, NASB).

Job made that ultimate faith confession in his darkest moment. He stared poverty, hardship, sickness and death in the face and declared that regardless of his circumstances, he would be resurrected and would live eternally with the Lord. He was so secure in his personal relationship with God that the assaults and accusations of Satan did not shake him. He persevered. He held on to faith. And instead of focusing on his bleak circumstances he looked at his bright future in heaven.

That’s how I decided to approach Benny’s death. I refused to ask whether we prayed and fasted enough, whether the healing anointing was strong enough or whether we strained enough in our faith to produce a miracle. The greatest miracle occurred when Benny stepped from this life into the next and began an eternity with Christ. He now fully understands the words of Jesus in John 11:26: “And whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. (NIV)”

Of course we want our loved ones to be healed. Of course we should pray for miracles. But if God does not answer us the way we insist He should, we must rest in His all-knowing sovereignty and rejoice in the fact that Jesus has conquered death.

Please don’t minimize the wonder of Christ’s resurrection power. Yes, cancer happens. Sometimes it kills people. But cancer doesn’t win when the suffering person is a Christian. If the victim of a terminal illness knows Jesus, they will experience the most powerful of all of God’s miracles when they die. We will know the power of that resurrection, too, and we will join them one day in heaven’s paradise.

http://www.charismamag.com/blogs/fire-i ... -of-cancer

J. Lee Grady is the former editor of Charisma and the director of The Mordecai Project (themordecaiproject.org). His latest book is Fearless Daughters of the Bible. You can follow him on Twitter at leegrady.
Wow
When I first read this I thought it was in the first person and that Bibleman had turned the corner. Then I realized it was a quote and I read the next post where Bibleman discredits the writer.
Such a shame for the truth that the writer wrote to be so discredited.
Fact the human body dies due to disease. So unless Jesus comes back each of us will die of some disease. Be it heart disease causing heart failure in our sleep or cancer ravaging the body and causing us to go out screaming. Disease will kill us. The fact remains while we may not like it we need to trust in God and know that all things even our death work to our good because we love God and are called to HIs purpose.



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Justaned
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Re: When Christians Die of Cancer

Post by Justaned »

dolph wrote:Ed, the Pope couldn't have put it any better if you wanted to pull the rug out from under some young Christian's faith. Jesus would've put you out of the room.

Leon and others, have you listened to Andrew Wommach recently? He seems to be taking the Word-Faith message to another level. Recently he's been teaching on the importance of HOPE which he defines as positive imagination, forming a vision of yourself healed with problems solved. Faith is the substance of things "hoped" for and the evidence of things not seen. Hope has been misunderstood and gotten a negative rap in the past but is an important part of the road to victory.
Dolph
Our faith should not be in our sustained existence here on earth but the fact our God, our Father has prepared us a home in which there is not sickness none. We don't need to ever be healed because in our home there is no sickness.
That is where our faith is to be. Too many focus us on this physical world. This world is temporary, Christians should not care about it, we are simply passing through.
Somehow too many losed sight of that fact and want to stay. That is the problem. Where is their faith? If you want to stay on this fallen world then you simply don't fully believe in heaven.



cpbeller
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Re: When Christians Die of Cancer

Post by cpbeller »

Interesting to me, though, that if this world is so unimportant, Jesus still healed EVERY TIME He was asked, don't you think? Was there one instance in the Gospels where Jesus told someone who asked, "No, you gotta keep that disease while you are here on earth...but don't you worry!! Healing is for you when you die and move on to heaven!!"

IF Jesus is for us (and He is, right?), the healing EVERY TIME is for us, because Jesus healed EVERY TIME.


DISCLAIMER: Whatever I say or do not say may or may not apply to you based on whether you are or are not a Christian. And whether you are or are not a Christian may or may not be based off of whatever denomination you may or may not be a part of.

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