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Can you lose your healing?: Difference between revisions
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William Branham taught that it was possible for God to supernaturally heal a person and then for that person to lose their healing. | William Branham taught that it was possible for God to supernaturally heal a person and then for that person to lose their healing. Speaking of a person being healed, William Branham states: | ||
:''...if you start doubting again, the very faith that taken it out, unbelief will bring it back again.''<ref>HEALING.WHAT.CANCER.IS_ CHICAGO.IL FRIDAY_ 53-0904</ref> | |||
William Branham even said that if he told a person "thus saith the Lord" that they would be healed and they didn't have faith, they wouldn't be healed: | |||
:''But, no matter, '''if my word was absolutely THUS SAITH THE LORD, and you would disbelieve It, you'd die, anyhow'''. Certainly. '''Here is THUS SAITH THE LORD, and many of them receive It and die.''' Many of them go to hell, when, THUS SAITH THE LORD, "You don't have to." Is that right? ...See? It's what… '''It's all based on your faith'''.<ref>William Branham, 57-0922E - Hebrews, Chapter Seven #2, para. 267</ref> | |||
=What does the Bible teach?= | =What does the Bible teach?= | ||
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William Branham seems to be providing an excuse where people, perhaps because of excitement, adrenalin or the placebo effect, start feeling better after having been prayed for and then after a few days their disease is back. | William Branham seems to be providing an excuse where people, perhaps because of excitement, adrenalin or the placebo effect, start feeling better after having been prayed for and then after a few days their disease is back. | ||
Let's take a look at a couple of examples from the Bible where Jesus said that people were lacking in faith. | |||
The first is Peter walking on water in Matt 14:29: | |||
:''He possessed an extraordinary diagnostic gift and could identify the illnesses (sometimes even the names) of persons he had never seen. Unfortunately '''his healing prognosis was accurate only in rare cases'''. '''The excuse of healing evangelists in such cases has always been: The patient did not really believe; for they were convinced that faith leads automatically to health.'''<ref>Hollenweger, Walter J. (1997). Pentecostalism: Origins and Developments Worldwide. Baker Academic. ISBN 978-0801046605.</ref> | :Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” <ref>The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 14:29–31.</ref> | ||
Here Jesus' faith (Thus saith the Lord) overcomes Peter's fear and lack of faith, not the other way around. | |||
Try applying William Branham's explanation here: Jesus has "thus saith the Lord" for Peter to walk on the water. According to William Branham, if Peter disbelieved, he would sink, and drown - "you'd die anyhow. Certainly." | |||
William Branahm's explanation makes the victim's unbelief more powerful than God's Word, which shall never pass away. Clearly, Jesus faith was more powerful than Peter's doubt. Just as clear, we should not blame the victim for Bro. Branham's false claim. | |||
Another example is when the man brought his son to Jesus that the disciples were unable to heal: | |||
:''When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” | |||
:“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. | |||
:''Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “'''Why couldn’t we drive it out?'''” | |||
:''He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”<ref>The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Mt 17:14–20.</ref> | |||
If William Branham had faith and had "thus saith the Lord", then the mountain would move and the person would not die. Instead, William Branham excuses himself and blames the victims. When we compare the Bible to William Branham, he actually proves his unbelief in his own "thus saith the Lord" statements AND directly contradicts Jesus teaching. | |||
It is true that Jesus sometimes commends others for their faith, such as the Centurion in Matt 8:5-13 or the Caananite woman in Matt. 15:21-28. But scripture does not contain Jesus blaming victims for dying after he said they would get well. In fact, His prayers are answered in spite of others unbelief, as in the examples above, or in Matt 8:26 when he asked his disciples: "''What are you afraid, O you of little faith? Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.''" | |||
=Conclusion= | |||
In stating that people can lose their healing after he has pronounced them healed. William Branham appears to be providing an excuse for people that were never healed by God in the first place. This was a common ploy used by healing evangelists as related by Walter Hollenweger, a noted Pentecostal historian who worked as translator for Branham in one of his campaigns in Switzerland, who wrote of William Branham: | |||
:''He possessed an extraordinary diagnostic gift and could identify the illnesses (sometimes even the names) of persons he had never seen. Unfortunately '''his healing prognosis was accurate only in rare cases'''. '''The excuse of healing evangelists in such cases has always been: The patient did not really believe; for they were convinced that faith leads automatically to health.'''<ref>Hollenweger, Walter J. (1997). Pentecostalism: Origins and Developments Worldwide. Baker Academic. ISBN 978-0801046605.</ref> | |||
William Branham's views on this issue cannot be substantiated in scripture. | |||
=Quotes of William Branham= | =Quotes of William Branham= | ||
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''Just as lasting as long as faith is.''' That's right. Just as long... '''Salvation's the same way. Just as long as you got faith, you're healed. When you lose faith, you're gone.'''<ref>SIRS.WE.WOULD.SEE.JESUS_ LOUISVILLE.KY SUNDAY_ 54-0328</ref> | ''Just as lasting as long as faith is.''' That's right. Just as long... '''Salvation's the same way. Just as long as you got faith, you're healed. When you lose faith, you're gone.'''<ref>SIRS.WE.WOULD.SEE.JESUS_ LOUISVILLE.KY SUNDAY_ 54-0328</ref> | ||
''The patient then, that the evil has gone out of the patient, the cancer is dead. For a few days they feel fine. Like the cataract, tumor, or whatever it may be, they feel fine for a few days, and then the first thing you know it begins to swell, swell. And then '''if the patient isn't truly instructed in the Word of God, they'll lose their healing as sure as anything,''' because they get sick and get twice as bad as they ever was. And that's the best sign you ever had that you're healed, certainly, is swelling. It's gone away.<ref>JAIRUS.A.SECRET.BELIEVER MACON.GA 55-0604</ref> | ''The patient then, that the evil has gone out of the patient, the cancer is dead. For a few days they feel fine. Like the cataract, tumor, or whatever it may be, they feel fine for a few days, and then the first thing you know it begins to swell, swell. And then '''if the patient isn't truly instructed in the Word of God, they'll lose their healing as sure as anything,''' because they get sick and get twice as bad as they ever was. And that's the best sign you ever had that you're healed, certainly, is swelling. It's gone away.<ref>JAIRUS.A.SECRET.BELIEVER MACON.GA 55-0604</ref> | ||
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''If I prayed for a person, and I—I tell them people they're going to live. I believe they're going to live. But, no matter, if my word was absolutely THUS SAITH THE LORD, and you would disbelieve It, you'd die, anyhow. Certainly. '''Here is THUS SAITH THE LORD, and many of them receive It and die'''. Many of them go to hell, when, THUS SAITH THE LORD, "You don't have to." Is that right? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.] Sure. See? It's what… '''It's all based on your faith'''.<ref>William Branham, 57-0922E - Hebrews, Chapter Seven #2, para. 267</ref> | ''If I prayed for a person, and I—I tell them people they're going to live. I believe they're going to live. But, no matter, if my word was absolutely THUS SAITH THE LORD, and you would disbelieve It, you'd die, anyhow. Certainly. '''Here is THUS SAITH THE LORD, and many of them receive It and die'''. Many of them go to hell, when, THUS SAITH THE LORD, "You don't have to." Is that right? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.] Sure. See? It's what… '''It's all based on your faith'''.<ref>William Branham, 57-0922E - Hebrews, Chapter Seven #2, para. 267</ref> | ||