The Australian national co-ordinator of JGLM, Enzo De Vincentis, will be in Singapore (or around this area) from around 16 to 25th March 2012 or so. As my readers know, I’ve been hugely impacted by Curry Blake and JGLM and I’ve written a lot of blog posts on the teachings by Curry Blake (Overseer of the John G. Lake Ministries) and JGLM. It’s been 1.5 years since I first heard the 19 mp3 series Divine Healing Technician (DHT) by Curry Blake which transformed my thinking on (and practice of) healing and my life. I’m a huge believer of drawing from different people and not following just one and I’ve drawn from many other teachers / practitioners when it comes to healing – people like Joseph Prince, Roger Sapp, Andrew Wommack and Bill Johnson. But if I had to choose one message on healing, the choice would be easy. It would be by Curry Blake and JGLM. When it comes to healing, I do feel his message is the most biblical one. If you want to know why, you can read my previous posts like Why You Should Eat Your Curry (Blake) Before Paying The Bill (Johnson), Bruce Latshaw On Vineyard’s vs. John G. Lake’s Healing Model, Two ways to minister? – Part 1, Curry Blake of John G. Lake Ministries and Curry Blake’s Divine Healing Technician (DHT) training course – Part 1.

The reason why Curry’s and JGLM’s healing message has impacted me so much is because it’s different. I’ve been around charismatic circles for a while but I’ve never heard healing taught the way it’s taught by Curry. It’s radical. Most healing messages are NOT like what you’d hear from Curry. In fact, Curry destroys a lot of sacred cow teachings on healing or related to healing that is prevalent in charismatic Christianity and which has held a lot of us back from moving in the power of God. It’s Curry’s message which has challenged so many people to step out and practice healing. Curry is not a big name simply because a lot of people cannot accept the message he teaches and the way he destroys a lot of sacred cow beliefs. So he doesn’t move in the big name circuit like Bill Johnson (who, by the way, I love) but over the last few years he’s slowly built a following because of the impact the message has produced in people’s lives. One of the areas where his impact has been felt a lot is on Facebook where hundreds of people all over the world are connected because of their passion for healing which, for many, first began after having heard Curry.

Having said all that in praise of Curry Blake’s ministry, let me just say I’m not affiliated with his ministry in any way and I’m sure I don’t agree with everything that he teaches or says – I think if anyone agrees with everything that any other person teaches, it’s either because the person isn’t very smart or doesn’t have a mind of his own. I know some stuff I would say differently or even believe differently. But I love JGLM because I have not heard as biblical a message on healing (overall) as I have from there.

Anyway, I wrote all of the above because many have not heard of Curry. If you haven’t, you need to listen to his 19 mp3s on healing (see above). You may not agree with everything, but you’re guaranteed to be challenged to think more about what the Bible says about healing.

Hosting JGLM in Singapore

OK, anyway, the main point of this post: In March 2012, a group of Australians led by the Australian national co-ordinator of JGLM Australia will be coming to minister in Singapore. Because Curry or JGLM isn’t yet well-known here, I’m helping them to find ministry opportunities here. If your small group or your church is interested to find out more about hosting this group of people from JGLM Australia, let me know and I could put you in contact with them. The dates again are 16th to 25th March. I’m trying to arrange for a trip for them to Johor and Batam during that time. But Singapore comes first! They can do a 1-2 day healing conference. Regarding expenses, I probably can get some people to cover most, if not all, of the expenses, so this shouldn’t be a great concern. So you can contact me at jonathan at stillhaventfound.org to find out more and I’ll be glad to chat more and share with you more about Curry Blake and JGLM.

It’s the end of the year again! This year, I’ve written very little – only 7 posts before this one. But there’s been a lot of stuff that’s been brewing in my mind that I will share a bit here, but will do so more hopefully next year in longer posts.

Street Healing in Singapore

I started to get serious about healing early 2010 after listening to Curry Blake’s Divine Healing Technican (DHT) course (go to my Healing Resources to get the course) – and having read Bill Johnson for a few years previously. Most of my posts have been about healing since then. A group of us Singaporeans passionate about healing soon got together (we’re now on the Singapore Healing Room Facebook Group) to meet from occasionally to regularly. We met pretty regularly the 2nd half of 2010 (up to weekly in some months) but slowed down starting from 2011. In April, we invited Roger Sapp to Singapore, Malaysia and Batam early this year. Before that in March, some of us attended Randy Clarks’ mini School of Healing and Impartation at Cornerstone Community Church. By the way, Randy Clark and Bill Johnson will be in Singapore for a full School of Healing and Impartation next March (2012) – find out details here at Kingdom Invasion and many of us are excitedly looking forward to it.

As mentioned here on a post Street Healing in Singapore, a group of South African youths came to Singapore to visit New Creation Church in January. We met up with them and also spent time doing a treasure hunt at night in Geylang. This led to contact with some migrant workers we prayed for who got healed there. They contacted me July this year to pray for their friend and we went to a square in Little India to pray for them and saw literally dozens of people flock to us for prayer for healing.  Since August, the group has met about 8 times from August to December to minister to these migrant workers in Little India and organized a BBQ for about 20-30 migrant workers on Deepavali. You can find out more about this ministry at Singapore Healing Forum.

In 2012, we’re planning to meet alternate weeks: one week to minister healing in Little India and the other at a member’s home to discuss healing, study the Bible on healing, pray for people’s healing and just grow in our ministry of healing. This group consist of Christians from various Churches and some of them are helping out in different “Healing Rooms” in Singapore. You are definitely welcome to join us.

I know at least two other groups who go to the streets of Singapore to minister healing and also prophesy. God is indeed doing something new these past few years and it’s wonderful to see the Church go out into the world and the streets to demonstrate the love of God as Jesus did.

Preaching and Teaching

I wrote last year that I hope to start preaching and teaching to young people this year. I specifically said “young people” because I’m not that old and I guess I feel more comfortable relating to young people and also because of my relative lack of experience. Well, I actually preached a total of 4 times this year – ranging from 10 minutes to about an hour to between 15 to 100+ people – but the crowd was a normal crowd, not specifically a younger crowd.

It was definitely a challenge for me to preach – but a challenge I gladly took because I love to challenge myself and I know this is something I want to do more of in future and something I do believe God has called me to. I prepared a lot and was definitely a bit nervous as anyone would be! But I do enjoy sharing what I’ve been learning – I have received a lot over the years throgh many people’s teaching and preaching and I want to give out through the same way. While I still have so much to learn in terms of how to preach and share, I am happy to have gotten started.

I know I have my own unique way of approaching preaching and teaching. My Christian journey has allowed me to appreciate very good solid theology because of my non-charismatic Reformed background. I’m also an Arts and Social Science graduate who loves to do research and understand different perspectives and who  has written lots of argumentative essays. In other words, I’m very left-brain dominant and a perfect candidate for membership in any non-charismatic church whose messages are comparatively more theoretical, intellectual and theological than sermons in charismatic churches. But I’m not like that.While I do find a lot of charismatic teaching and preaching too shallow for my liking, I also find a lot of non-charismatic and Reformed teachings too theoretical. So I’m very much in between, appreciating the strengths of the charismatic and non-charismatic worlds of Christianity. And I’ve been like that for 15 years and many times I’ve felt like a misfit where I am. But I’m already used to that.

While I can’t stand a lot of charismatic teaching and preaching, that’s not to say I don’t listen to them. I listen to all kinds of charismatic teachers and preachers (although I’m selective) because I think I can learn from everyone and everybody has different gifts. And I also don’t think the way I like to learn (as a left-brain dominant person) is a holistic way. We all need to be balanced in terms of functioning in the left and right brain. Because I’m left-brain dominant, I’ve been trying to be more open to functioning with my right-brain. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere (Hearing God’s Voice Again), I believe prophetic people and those who flow more in the Spirit tend to be right-brain dominant. And that’s why I want to be open to tap on the right-brain. Prophets and prophetic people, because of their inclination to being right-brain dominant, also tend to be really bad teachers and preachers. This is of course not always true – I think Kris Vallotton is a good preacher.

I’m also more postmodern (or maybe more accurately critical-realist) in outlook in that while I believe in absolute truth, I also believe we human beings interpret the Word through our own biased lenses. I don’t just accept anything taught by anyone (even my favourite preachers/teachers). I find many Christians (especially charismatics because of their bent to the anti-intellectual and anti-theoretical) too accepting of teachings they’re taught by their pastors or favourite teachers. Because of my background in Reformed theology and my reading of many different Christian traditions, I tend to be more critical and I would acknowledge different perspectives and views and the fact that I don’t know many things. God’s truth is absolute but our interpretation can easily be flawed. I find no place for a lot of dogmatism I see in the Church today, which to me has sparked the growth of the emerging Church movement and the anti-institutionalism of many modern Christian movements. However, in relation to preaching, while I understand a lot of it is our interpretation (and I don’t want to mistake my view of things for gospel truth), I know many times in teaching and preaching (especially) you sometimes have to speak in absolutes if not you don’t really get anywhere.

Anyway, out of all the ministers who have influenced me in recent years and who hold on to beliefs that are similar, I think Andrew Wommack is one of the best teachers of the Word. He’s charismatic (in beliefs), yet teaches in a very solid, logical and organized way that has benefited many people around the world. I think the organization of his teaching is one of his great strengths and the reason why so many have benefited from his ministry. I think Joseph Prince is one of the best preachers. His teaching is also very good, although many times it tends to be very disorganized. However, when he preaches a message that is more or less organized, he’s one of the best preachers in the world. Joseph Prince is probably more holistic in his balance of preaching/teaching skills, though I think Andrew Wommack is more holistic in his message (he touches on many important topics and not just focus on grace). By the way, I’m defining ‘teaching’ here as something that’s slightly more left-brain oriented that appeals more to the mind and logic and ‘preaching’ as slightly more right-brain oriented that appeals more to the emotions.

I’m still very new in teaching and preaching but I do want to improve. My strength is more on the teaching and left-brain organization and logic (as people can see from this blog and my writings) and I want to improve more on the right-brain aspects to sharing – appealing to emotions, using stories, being led by the Spirit, prophetic preaching, etc.

My heart has always been doing ministry full-time. And I do intend to move into that in future after prospering in my businesses. I don’t want to work for a Church or ministry and be beholden to the politics of institutional Christianity. I want the financial freedom to be able to minister where I feel God wants me to go – and to minister freely especially to the marginalized and the poor and disciple them in their identity in Christ. Now is the time of learning and applying what I’ve learned. The essential message that’s been brewing in my heart these few years is “identity in Christ”. Topics like grace, new creation, new covenant, finished work, sonship, Daddy’s love, etc., is all related to that. And this message of a new identity in Christ ought to be applied in all areas. I want to focus on the healing ministry in future. But right now, I want to apply that message in my life especially to prosperity and my businesses. Eventually I will do more preaching and teaching and I can’t wait for that to happen, but I’m enjoying my time right now too.

On Dr. James B. Richards

I’ve learned many things this year. I continue to encounter new ministers to learn from. Before 2011, the people who have had the biggest impact upon my theology and Christian life in recent years have been Joseph Prince, Bill Johnson, Curry Blake, Andrew Wommack, Roger Sapp and Dave Roberson. Probably the person who has had the biggest impact upon my Christian life and theology this year is Dr. James B. Richards of Impact Ministries. I’d seen his book Grace: The Power To Change around in various bookstores for a few years but never picked it up. I knew he was a grace-based preacher, but I thought he was probably like others and maybe didn’t add anything radically new to what I’ve already learned from others so I resisted getting into his teachings. Actually, right now, though I love his teachings, I still haven’t read that particular book. But I’ve read and listened to dozens of hours of his teachings and interviews and have gone through his Heart Physics program.

I think the first teaching of his I got into was his Anatomy of a Miracle which touches on Quantum Physics. I had been interested in Quantum Physics and its relation to faith and miracles and his book was all about that. I’ve become interested in recent years in the relationship between science and the Bible and Quantum Physics has a lot to say about this. So I read that and went on to his other materials. James Richards is definitely very different from many grace-based preachers. He has degrees in theology, human behaviour and medicine and thus he brings  different perspectives to things and that sets him apart. I’m someone who reads widely myself and thus I love it when people brings in the perspectives of other disciplines as I think it makes things more holistic and it gives us greater insight to the workings of the world and humans.

I do plan to write more fully (and also do an email interview) with James Richards in 2012 so I won’t write much here except to say that I think he’s brought in a missing piece to the faith message and that is the importance of meditation, which to him consist of physical relaxation and using of imagination. Anyway, I can’t say I agree with everything he advocates (I’m not sure yet) and some of his stuff is pretty controversial. But generally I like what he teaches and I think what he specializes in (his essential message is about the heart and the use of meditation to persuade one’s heart) is something that would really bless many Christians.

Other teachers

Having a similar message (on meditation and persuading the heart) to James Richards is Dave Martin. I’ve listened to a lot of his stuff and also do his meditations. I started to read the books of Jay Snell this year after having known of him for a while but not having the motivation to finish reading any of his books. I don’t know much about him but his first book on Abraham’s Blessings is a book to re-read and study. His other books are quite hard to follow. I’ve started to read E.W. Kenyon and listen to Charles Capps’ stuff. Both are from the faith tradition. I actually got more into Kenyon’s stuff after I read Donald Mann of Covenant Peace Ministries.

Donald Mann is one interesting guy. As James Richards majors on meditation (imagination) and really believes in that, Donald majors on meditation in the form of confession/affirmations and really believes in that too such that he advocates confessing Scriptures at least 2 hours a day. Like James, Donald also brings in the science of the mind. I got to know him recently and communicated a bit with him through email. I want to follow up with him to get to know him more and also read his 3 books which look really good. He’s been influenced by Curry Blake I believe and his books are full of mainly Scriptural confessions. All about good identity in Christ stuff. He also seems to have ministering healing working well in his life.

The Exchanged Life tradition

One Christian tradition that I found this year which is very grace-based is the Exchanged Life tradition. This tradition is all about union with Christ and is very grace-based. It is a pretty non-charismatic Christian tradition, but I’m interested to learn more from it because unlike the many grace teachers that’s been impacting the world recently, this is a tradition that’s been established longer and consist of non-charismatics – which generally means they handle the Word of God better. As a more established tradition/movement, there’s a lot to learn from them. For example, Steve McVey, who is a big name in the grace movement, I believe has benefited a lot from that tradition. I really like the writings of John Best of Abundant Living Resources. He’s written a lot of solid theological books that relate to many topics related to grace. While I do appreciate a lot of the new grace-based authors that having been writing good books, I’m a big believer in also drawing from the Christian tradition and understanding the perspectives of the past and building on them. To ignore how much we can learn from the past is being really stupid – because truly there’s nothing new under the sun. I learned a lot about grace from the Reformed and Lutheran tradition (there’s a lot of mixture there too) and also the Redemptive-Historical Biblical-Theology tradition. The important thing is to draw from as many people and be aware of the different arguments because all this has actually been around for a long time. There’s a lot of good stuff in the newer authors and preachers and they bring their unique gifts and interpretation of things. But it’s best to combine the new with the old – building on the foundation of the past, yet not letting it restrict you.

A group of Singaporeans before embarking on a night of Street Healing (6th August 2011)

Introduction

I thought I’d provide a little update on what’s been happening over the past 6 months regarding Street Healing in Singapore. For those not familiar with all this Street Healing business, the Street Healing movement has exploded all around the world in the past year or so – about the same time I started to get involved. I, along with many people in Singapore and around the world, took a huge leap into practicing Street Healing after listening to Curry Blake of John G. Lake Ministries (JGLM), whose teachings I’ve written quite a bit about on this blog. Since the middle of last year, a group of Singaporeans from different churches have gotten to know each other through mutual appreciation for Curry Blake’s teachings and our desire to pursue and grow in the healing ministry. We’ve met to discuss and practice healing (i.e. pray for each other and our friends who need healing). We’ve also attended healing events in Singapore like Randy Clark’s School of Healing and Impartation at Cornerstone Community Church in March 2011 and The Elijah Challenge in October 2010. We’ve brought some friends over to Singapore to minister and learn from like Jessie Campbell of Australia in November last year and Roger Sapp in April this year.

South Africans ministering healing in the streets of Geylang

South Africans and Singaporeans in a restaurant in Geylang before our Street Healing / Treasure Hunt adventure (January 2011)

In January this year, a group of about 20 young Christians from South Africa came to Singapore and we had a great time of fellowship with them too. I’m going to share a bit of what happened here because I haven’t done so in this blog before and the testimony below is sure to encourage many. In addition, what we did with this group of South Africans that day eventually led to what the group of us are doing in Singapore now, which I’ll share later on.

Anyway, it started when I got to know James Preston, a pastor in a South African Church, last year. Both of us are bloggers and we have similar beliefs, having been impacted by Christian leaders like Bill Johnson, Andrew Wommack, Rob/Ryan Rufus, Joseph Prince and Curry Blake. We were (are) grace-based and into the supernatural (healing and the prophetic) and believed in Street Healing. We also had a mutual appreciation for a theologian called Michael Eaton. That was how I got to know about him: he wrote about Michael Eaton on his blog and I wrote him about it. I read Michael Eaton’s book No Condemnation about 13 years ago and it impacted me a bit. The book is a very scholarly take on some important aspects of the grace message – the doctrine of assurance and also the role of the 10 Commandments in the Christian life. Michael Eaton is the kind of theologian I like a lot as just like his good friend RT Kendall, he’s scholarly and yet charismatic – combining the best of Word and Spirit.

It’s amazing how God connected us. James was planning to bring a group of about 20 young Christians from his church to Singapore for the primary purpose of visiting New Creation Church. So we arranged for the South African and Singaporean group to meet up together for fellowship and some ministry. So in January this year, a group of us Singaporeans met up with their group and had a good time of fellowship, discussion and prayer one night. We thought of bringing them to Geylang the next night to eat and do some Street Healing. So the following night we all met up again and did some Treasure Hunting / Street Healing after dinner.

I want to share this testimony provided by James, who partnered with one of our Singaporean friends Joseph when walking the streets in Geylang:

Did Joseph tell you what happened at the Massage Parlour with him and I? It was amazing, and actually one of the most powerful encounters I have had doing such ministry! I hope you don’t mind, I will get into some detail here…

We saw the wavey blue neon lights Graham had prophesied about earlier, and we hovered around waiting because we knew God wanted to do something.  Nothing happened.

So we walked around the block again, and on our second time coming up to the restaurant with the wavey neon blue lights, Joseph spotted a lady sitting at the counter of a massage parlour wearing a pink shirt and with black hair and a pony tail. With 4 of the words of knowledge confirmed (Blue lights, pink shirt, black hair, pony tail) we knew God had an appointment.

So we stepped inside saying we had a “message from God”. We were immediately greeted with a cold response saying “massage only” as obviously Western men have a bad reputation around there. With a big smile we assured her we didn’t want her services, but wanted to bless her with a message. (At this point I had no idea what the message was, but I knew for sure God had one, as He set this up, so I spoke as though I did have a message, because God did.)

She was still very reserved, and then her boss walked in, a Chinese doctor. He took a seat behind the counter, and she moved over to a smaller chair. We said we had a message of blessing for him and his business. (This was the first thing that came to mind, and I know that as a Son of God a business should naturally experience blessing if I speak it out over it. Whether this is conditional on what type of business it is, I don’t know. I was going with what I was feeling.)

The doctor asked how much we would charge, or what we wanted in return. I assured him we wanted absolutely nothing, and that we were messengers from God with a message of blessing for him and his business. At this point the lady in the pink shirt (who was completely switched off) started looking a lot more interested. Let me just say everything was being translated through Joseph. Without him I doubt we would have seen the same results. I was blessed to be partnered with him.

Anyway… so the Chinese Doctor was quite surprised we wanted nothing in return, and openly received prayer for his business from us. I asked if we could all hold hands, which him and his pink shirted assistant agreed to. We held hands and I started praying over the business (without translation if I recall correctly). As I started drawing the prayer to a close, I had a word of knowledge (by way of impression on my heart) that the assistant had pain in her left leg in her thigh area. She looked totally healthy and around 20 something yrs old, so it certainly wasn’t by looks. She said she did have pain and that she had a sort of rheumatoid arthritis which caused her pain down her left leg, so this opened her up. It’s amazing how the prophetic does that. I guess that’s what the gifts of the Spirit are for!

I then felt to pray for her legs, to see if one was shorter than the other. Which was interesting for me, because I have never done that in ministry before! But did it, and it seemed like one was just slightly shorter than the other. So we prayed, and when we opened our eyes, it looked as though they were completely in line! Even the “DR” inspected it and seemed amazed! So this naturally built faith for her leg. So I asked her to lay hands on her leg where the pain was, and I would lay hands on her hand. I didn’t want to lay hands directly onto her leg (even though she was wearing jeans) our of respect.

So we prayed, and declared the pain to go and the life and power of Jesus to flow through into her body. She started giggling and saying she could feel heat going through her body and tingling! We told her that was the Power of God flowing through her and healing her. By now she was smiling and laughing, and full of faith. So much so that she asked us to pray for her left arm, because she had injured it and she couldn’t move it above half way behind her back. She had seen and felt God heal her already, and so wanted full healing in all her body!

So Joseph and I laid hands on her left arm and prayed again. Very simple, declarative, authoritative, loving prayers, and she felt the same thing. Heat and tingling. She tried to do something she couldn’t do with her arm, and she was completely healed! Praise God!

By this time, the DR had seen all this and was stunned. He then mentioned Joseph that he had had a stroke 2 years ago and the right side of his body had become lazy. So we sat him down, and we prayed with him, Joseph taking the lead here, and again just declaring all pain to go and life and healing to flow into his body. We asked him to stand up and walk around a bit, which he tried to, but he said he was only “a bit” better, so we prayed again. Short and sweet, and he started walking again, this time better but saying he was about 50% better. So we prayed again and he tried to walk again and this time he said he felt much better and stronger!

I don’t always make a call or suggestion to receive Jesus, but we both felt like Jesus had something further to do, and so Joseph asked them if they knew who healed them. He told them it was Jesus, and he asked if they wanted to receive Jesus into their lives. With big smiles on their faces they both agreed! It was such a privilege to lead them right there and then through a prayer of accepting Jesus as their Saviour, and then praying for them to both be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

We left it at that.  By then it was half an hour over time to meet back, so had to get going, but took their card to hopefully stay in touch with them in the future. What a testimony of God’s goodness! God loved these two so much, and he had a plan to meet with them that night. And they were both so ready to receive the Love of God!  For me, this is what it is all about!

Street Healing in Little India

There were other testimonies also of healing and God’s love being poured out in Geylang that January night. Esther and I ministered to many Bangladeshi migrant workers on the streets of Geylang. We approached a couple of people sitting down and asked if they had any pain. As they had pain in various parts of their bodies, we laid hands on them and prayed for them. Pain started to go away and other Bangladeshis walking by who saw this unusual sight of Chinese Singaporeans laying hands on their fellow countrymen started standing still and observing what was happening. When the Bangladeshis told of their healing, more people asked for prayer and we managed to pray for others and see quite a few healed.

We kept in touch with these people and told them to call us if they have any problems or need any healing. In June, one Bangladeshi called us and invited us to his apartment in Geylang to pray for his friend’s sickness. And then another Bangladeshi called us in July and we met up with him in Little India. We ended up praying for his friend for a long time as the pain wasn’t going away. Gradually, many migrant workers started observing us close by and we asked if they had any pain in their bodies. Many of them had pain because a lot of them were involved in physical labor jobs. For the next 45 minutes or so, Esther and I prayed for between 20 to 30 migrant workers and the majority of them had their pain healed. As it was getting late and we didn’t prepare to pray for so many people, we had to leave with dozens still left not prayed for but we promised to come back the following week.

Since that time, we’ve been to little India three times in the past two months, bringing other Singaporeans. Each time, it’s been very exciting and we’ve gotten to see many migrant workers healed. We’ve also been able to make friends with many migrant workers and thank them for their services and work in Singapore. Some Singaporeans in the group came for the very first time to see what it’s all about and they went beyond observation and got into the act of praying for the sick and actually saw God use them to heal people in the streets for the very first time in their lives – and that’s been exciting for them. We believe that every Christian is called to heal the sick and resurrection power is already within them (Ephesians 1:18-19) to do so. A lot of us (all ordinary Christians and not pastors) have gone through this journey of ministering healing for the past year. We’ve still got a lot to learn and grow in this area, but we are glad to come alongside other Christians in Singapore to encourage and empower them to begin this journey of healing.

I believe God is restoring the supernatural and healing to His Church as the end draws nearer. His Church was always meant to move in the supernatural and even do greater works than what Jesus did (John 14:12). The Church was always meant to go out into the world to demonstrate God’s love to the world and do the works of God, and not just rely on bringing the world into the Church. This Street Healing movement that’s been sprouting up all around the world in the past year or so is something no one could have fathomed 5 years ago. God is doing something powerful and we want to invite any Christian in Singapore reading this to join us. You’ll definitely be transformed by the experience of praying for these people. And you’ll realize how easy it is to see God heal many through your hands. By no means do we get everyone healed, but we have seen so many healed and we’ve begun an exciting journey.

Let me end with 3 testimonies from various ordinary Christians who have been praying for the sick in Little India the past month or two and seeing results:

Testimony from Esther:

…after i’ve prayed for a few people, i believe some got healed. i was honestly SURPRISED that they got healed. HAA! but that encouraged me and made me see that wow… if i can do it, ANYBODY CAN!

this sat i prayed for a girl with pain from her calf down. after prayer, she tested her leg out and without even speaking to me, she went straight out and spoke to her brother (who brought us to her). she was completely healed and was surprised that the pain would leave her completely

there are still many who didn’t get healed and i know its a journey, to learn to have faith even when healing doesn’t happen, and to discover why they don’t.

and its only gonna get more exciting!

Testimony from Robert:

Hello, I wanted to share a little bit of my experience. As I began to pray, there was actually a feeling of unworthiness inside, but I just continued to see my righteousness in Jesus Christ. Anyway, it’s not about me, it’s about Jesus and His love for them.

I did not listen much from Curry Blake, but learning from Roger Sapp and Jon, I started the prayer with a reminder of Jesus’ work on the Cross not only for them but also for me, as it could be my faith also that will heal them. And then I started commanding the pain/sickness to be gone as what Jesus taught about commanding to the mountain. And then I ended with again a confirmation that healing belongs to the person.

About 90% whom I prayed said they are getting better/healed. Many answers not in a very convincing way,as if they are also unsure about it. But at least there were 2 instances where I really see a big smile after I prayed for, one when I prayed with Esther, and another when I prayed alone. The person even saying with a big smile, “It is good!”

The challenging one is when a person is asking for a prayer where there is a bone coming out a bit in his hand, while there is no pain at all. I am not so sure either, I was praying for something similar with my own hand, but did not see the result yet. So I just kept convincing myself that nothing is impossible in Christ. I even prayed that God’s power comes so that the people can see how great He is. Nothing happened, and after two to three times, the person’s friend asked him to leave.

I was not sure what to do when healing did not come, I saw how Jonathan did and I think it’s a good way to end with the faith that God is still working and the healing could happen tomorrow or the day after, so we should keep on believing for the healing to come!

It’s an awesome experience, more people should join us and experience it. God is working!

Lastly, a testimony from Michael:

Praise God Praise God! I am writing this to encourage all who had not turned up for the healing prayer at Little India. My wife Sandra came with me for the first time and nothing prepared us for the surprise God had for us… :D

… We prayed for a young man who complained with a toothache which to his surprise (and ours) left almost instantly! And he started to shared excitedly with his friends… :) There were many with back problems and GOD IS SO GOOD…….He healed them!

One had pain on both heels……Tony, Sandra and I took turns to pray for him. When the pain from one heel (foot) left he was quick for the other to be healed (by laying of hand). And we claimed healing for the other as well and Jesus healed that too! To make sure he did not politely fake it, I got him to walk briskly with me…

“Any pain? “……”No pain!” By which time I was over the moon! I was rejoicing and thanking God for His amazing love…..

There was one guy who in his broken English asked…..”What profit you to do…… this?” It is the love of God for them to see them free from pain…… we replied.

I am sharing this to testify of the goodness and awesome love for people….. For all we know, some of these workers may be living in sin….. our own lives may also be altogether with doubts and unbelief…… even.

Yet God in His love and sovereignty sees beyond all that.

HE IS FAITHFUL to what His Son Jesus Christ has done ! And he healed more than 90% of those who came forward to be prayed for.

Indeed the name of Jesus was magnified and glorified that night……All Glory to Him

I was so happy when the Holy Spirit turned up with so much love and power!

Just to encourage anyone who is wondering if God will use him/her. I was like that once. Remember this God IS good….and that is His glory….. Exodus 33:18-19.

…God heals not because we are good but because He is good. We obey by being available for His goodness to flow through……… with His love, His joy and His peace….. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches……. John 15:5

For those interested in coming alongside us, growing together in the healing ministry and loving and blessing the people in Singapore, we welcome you! Drop me an email at jonathan at stillhaventfound.org.

I recently purchased some of Steve Thompson’s messages online. Really good stuff! Thanks to Brandon Lee who put a lot of Steve’s videos up on YouTube which got me interested in Steve. Good grace-based, supernatural stuff!

One thing that really struck me was his description of MorningStar University’s “faith courses”. In the first part of his first message in his “Developing a Sustainable Supernatural Life” series, Steve said regarding these faith courses:

We don’t push people, we gently encourage them and we provide an opportunity for them. But we provide increasingly significant and risky opportunities. We would send our students out on what we call our “faith courses”. Faith course 1 required them to go really around the city and to attempt some different kinds of ministry or some different types of exploits. They would have to go out and to prophesy to someone at the bus station. Or they would have to go and pray for somebody. We weren’t looking for them to have success to begin with, just that they could step out and attempt something. Because for a lot of people who have been caught in fear, the attempt itself is the success they need to have at that point.

Faith course 2 – they would go out maybe 1 hour / 1.5 hours away.

Faith course 3 – we would send them out in teams of two or three into cities within about a 6 or 8 hour drive of the city. They would have a list of items they would have to complete over about a four or five day period. They had to prophesy to a government official. They had to heal a homeless person and record the healing either on audio or video and bring it back. Now, not pray for their healing – they had to heal them. Other things they had to do. They had to get a hundred dollars worth of groceries for a needy family and then get the name or the address of the needy family by prophetic revelation and go and deliver it to them and then tell them that was from the Lord and encourage them, bless them. They would also have to get two or three room nights at a three star hotel or better for free – in other words, without using their own money to pay for it – while they were on the trip. Breaking and entering was not allowed!

It was a very cool sort of environment. How many of you would say, “That would make me nervous a little bit”? Ya, sure it would… We consciously set an environment that was helping people confront and get past their fears, and to develop an understanding that God would show up on their behalf. That God would meet them if they’re willing to take some risks. (2:43 onwards)

Wow! This is the first time I’ve heard of these “faith courses”. Friends from Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) tell me there’s a culture of encouraging the supernatural and risk-taking like people going up to you to give you a word of prophecy, etc. It’s a culture of risk, yet also a culture of grace because people fail and you’re still accepted. And that’s really cool because I do think it’s important to have an encouraging, challenging and grace-filled culture in order for people to grow in their faith in these areas. Such a culture will enable people to overcome their fears and take the risk to do crazy stuff like prophesying over strangers – because you know that if you fail badly, there’s always grace available!

MorningStar’s “faith courses” and the assignments the students have to do really challenges me to believe God in a greater way! I mean, getting a two or three nights stay at a three star hotel for free!!?? That’s outrageous! But that’s totally possible – everything is possible for him who believes!

Since listening to Curry Blake on healing and being with people in the United States doing the stuff on the streets last July, I’ve grown in my faith to pray for people for healing on the streets. I’m no longer afraid of approaching people on the streets and praying for their healing. I’m starting to slowly move out to prophesying to people and I hope to improve in this area over the next year. It’s still something that’s a challenge for me especially since I’m not that much into “general” prophecies (vague ones which you don’t know whether are inspired by the Holy Spirit or just something anyone could probably come up with that would apply to most people because it’s so general and hard to miss) and so I do have high standards for myself in this area. And now I hear of these “faith courses” and some of the ridiculous stuff that people are asked to believe God for!

Being in the charismatic church for a long time, you hear a lot about people sharing about how God told them to do this or that. Which is really cool! But all this also kind of makes you feel that unless you have some specific direction from God, you shouldn’t do things that require faith like trying to heal everyone you see or believing God for something big. Last year when I encountered Curry’s teaching on healing, it made me realize that you don’t have to have a so-called “rhema” word from God to pray for someone’s healing and expect them to be healed. You can just lay hands on the sick and believe God wants to heal this person and that the person should get healed based on His eternal and unchanging Word (i.e. the Bible). Since then, my paradigm of what we can do in Christ has shifted and is continuing to shift. I’m learning we don’t have to have some clear word or direction from God to do crazy and ridiculous things. God sometimes does give us a clear direction but I’m starting to think that he gives clear direction not because that without it (i.e. the clear direction) He wouldn’t show up if we had mere faith alone (and no clear prophetic revelation) because somehow our faith wasn’t based on His “rhema” word… No, I believe He totally would show up! After all, the Word of God says everything is possible for him who believes. It’s about faith.

Of course, sometimes God does give us clear directions, but that’s probably just to encourage us in our faith and prod us on. Without them, we could achieve the same things if we could believe for it. That’s what the Bible says, after all! The people whom Jesus praised for their faith didn’t get their healing because they had some “rhema” word that said, “Go, my child, to Jesus and He will heal you.” On the contrary, they went by faith based on their knowledge of how good Jesus was and in response to what they have been hearing about how Jesus healed everyone who came to Him. God didn’t give them a word to go to Jesus! There was no supernatural leading for them. Just as in their day they heard reports about Jesus, in our day we go by the eternal Word of God.

These faith course assignments confirm the fact that it’s about faith. We move by faith. God will honor our faith. The fact that the MorningStar leaders decided that they’re going to challenge their students to believe God for some crazy stuff speaks volumes. In the first place, the leaders seem to believe that everyone can achieve the assignments. Of course, no condemnation if some groups don’t. But the assignments are there to be achieved. I’m sure God didn’t tell the leaders, “OK, for this upcoming faith course, I want you guys to get the students to do these assignments…” (If God did tell them, it was probably to tell the leaders about what kind of assignments would be at the students’ level of faith so more would be successful, rather than anything else) These assignments probably weren’t based on specific revelations from God, but the general principle in the Bible that everything is possible for him who believes. They could have come up with different crazy assignments. It wouldn’t have mattered because I’m sure the assignments weren’t based on supposed specific revelations from God of what God will do for these students.

Seeing what we can do for God from this paradigm and perspective is very liberating indeed! We don’t need specific revelation from God to step out in faith. We don’t need specific revelation to pray for this person on the street and expect them to be healed. We don’t need specific revelation from God to rebuke hurricanes and storms and expect our words to carry authority and power. No, the Word of God already tells us we ought to be healing the sick, using our authority and power (it’s God’s but He’s in us!) for good and it also says everything is possible for him who believes. Everything includes believing God for a two/three night stay in a hotel for free! If we believe for that and it doesn’t happen, does that mean we were wrong to believe for it because God didn’t give us a specific word to do so? I don’t think so. I think it just means we need to grow in our faith. As simple as that. No condemnation and let’s slowly grow in our faith.

But what about Jesus saying the He “can do only what he sees his Father doing” (John 5:19)? Doesn’t this seem to mean Jesus (and therefore us) need to wait for specific divine directions everytime before we heal people or do something that required faith? Steve Thompson addresses this issue in his message “The Bottom Line” in his “Developing a Sustainable Supernatural Life” series:

I’m going to go out on a limp a little bit here. But this idea that Jesus only did what He saw His Father do. The Scripture says in John that if all the miracles were written that the world itself could not contain the books of the things that Jesus did… My translation is that Jesus did a boatload of miracles… He only did this stuff three years or three and a half. And so in a 24 hour time frame He couldn’t have been having this instantaneous vision all the time to do what He saw His Father do. Here’s what I believe. I believe Jesus would see somebody sick and He would go, “Oh, I could see my Father healing him.” And he just walked up there and healed him. Not that He saw it in a vision. But He could see His Father doing that because He could see His Father’s heart. (23:55 onwards)

I know many charismatics do have an interpretation of the above passage (and others similar) that makes them wait for God on some specific direction or revelation or vision or word before they act. I think that’s the wrong interpretation of the Bible and it contradicts what faith is all about and the power and validity of the written Word of God. It also doesn’t take into account the fact that Christ is in us and that we’re one spirit with Him. We’re united to God. God will back us up whatever we do because we and God are one! Of course this can be abused, but the abuse of this relationship with God doesn’t mean this relationship doesn’t exist. God is more gracious than we can think. Sometimes people use their faith for stupid and wrong things and God still blesses them. Why? I won’t get into all this but I do think God is more gracious than we could ever think. That doesn’t mean we abuse our relationship with God. It ought to make us want to please Him more.

Anyway, for those who have been through MorningStar University’s faith courses, I would love to hear from you guys. I love to hear testimonies of God responding to faith as it encourages me. So do share your stories in the comments section. Thanks!

P.S.: I was told by Tim Jorgsensen (who wrote a very good book entitled Spirit Life Training) that MorningStar got the faith course idea from Trevor Yaxley’s “First Wave Army” training from Lifeway College in New Zealand, where Rick Joyner and Steve Thompson also teach.

The First Wave Army training is described in their website as a “one year catalyst for the call of God on your life designed to challenge you physically, spiritually and mentally, preparing for influence in all spheres in society.” I think the training activities they do are very interesting – and not your typical stuff included in a Bible College. It includes “physical outdoor training and activities designed to promote greater discipline and character”. And it seems that students have to wake up at 5:30am every morning! :)

Listening to Curry Blake and then reading Tim Jorgensen’s book (forwarded by Curry) has made me think about the relationship between the physical and spiritual, and the importance of physical discipline in the pursuit of the spiritual.

Those who’ve followed this blog will know how much Curry Blake has influenced my thinking on healing in the past year. The other person whose teachings on healing have impacted me is Roger Sapp – I wrote a post about his teachings here. Both are similar in desiring to “train” people to heal the sick, rather than be seen as a great man of God who moves in healing that you and I probably can’t move in. Both also have a firm belief that it’s God’s desire to heal everyone all the time. And both also would disagree with the typical “list of hindrances to healing” that most charismatic churches would teach that tends to result in disqualifying ourselves for healing – rather than in what we should be doing which is looking to Christ and seeing how we’re 100% qualified in Christ to be healed. And from what I know, both seem to be very successful in healing the sick.

The main difference would probably be in emphasis: Roger focuses more on the finished work of Christ (and resting on that) while Curry tends to stress the authority believers have over sickness – and the resulting aggressiveness we need to have. Roger’s teachings focuses slightly more on the faith of the sick to receive healing while Curry focuses slightly more on the faith of the person praying for the sick – and how we should be able to heal the sick on our own faith.

I’ve learned from both and will continue to do so. One thing I really like about Roger’s ministry is his relaxing style which is really in keeping with his focus on the finished work and resting in that. Just watch this:

For where you can get more resources (some free and downloadable) from Roger, check out the “Roger Sapp” section of my Healing Resources page.

Roger will be teaching his Christ-centered Healing Seminar (and of course also demonstrating healing) in Malaysia, Batam and Singapore from 15th to 24th April 2011. For those interested to attend his seminars, here’s the information:

1) 15th to 17th April in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at The New Covenant Church.
2) 20th April in Batam, Indonesia. Singaporeans who wish to go to Batam can contact me – we’ll be in Batam the whole day for a teaching for pastors and leaders there.
3) 22nd to 24th April at Christian Gospel Mission in Singapore.

I’ll be there for all his meetings so anyone can contact me for more information if you’re interested to attend.

I’ll end with a testimony on Roger Sapp’s healing journey:

Testimony from Roger Sapp

In the winter months of 1972, I received Christ as my Savior, Lord and Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. I can honestly say that I believed in divine healing from the beginning of my walk with Christ, and even had a number of personal healings and a few creative miracles of my own in my developing relationship with Christ in the two decades leading up to 1992. Reflecting back, I can see now that my theology of healing was very complex and impractical. I also occasionally suffered from sickness, and healing did not always seem available. My experience of healing during those two decades seemed mysterious, generally unreliable and unpredictable. This was true of my own experience as well as my prayer for others.

In 1992, I had a breakthrough in healing that transformed my thinking on this matter. In the summer of 1992, while praying about another matter, the Spirit of Christ unexpectedly said this to me:

Why don’t you receive Me as your Healer in the same way that you received Me as your Savior?

By asking me this simple question, Christ initiated in me a series of events and a renewed interest in what Scripture said on this matter. I began to meditate on Scripture and came to new conclusions on healing. I began to discover that my healing theology of twenty years was not really based on Scripture, but on my erratic healing experiences and what others had taught from their erratic experiences. Because my experiences had matched theirs, I accepted what I heard as being the truth, without serious examination and comparison with Scripture.

Because my experience of healing was unpredictable, unreliable and often seemed mysterious, I had adopted popular modern healing theology that reflected that experience. However, I was unaware that I had accepted many aspects of unbelieving philosophy on these matters that are common in western culture. I had socially acceptable, but scripturally wrong explanations for why healing did not occur. Inwardly, I knew there was something wrong with my experience. However, my intellectual explanations of healing, or why God did not heal, certainly matched my experience.

As I began to examine my beliefs in 1992, I could not reconcile what I then believed with Scripture. It was apparent that my beliefs were not in harmony with what Christ demonstrated and said about healing. I realized that my theology didn’t focus on Christ’s example and teaching, but somehow had set Him aside as a special example, one that could not instruct me. Because of this, my theology of healing relied heavily upon the Old Testament and a few New Testament verses regarding the lives of the followers of Christ. Subsequently, I knew more about Paul’s thorn in the flesh and Job’s sufferings than I knew about the many detailed Gospel accounts of healings and miracles in Christ’s ministry. I knew more of the cultural explanations for the value of sickness than I knew of Christ’s words to the suffering people He encountered.

However, Christ did not allow me to continue in that mindset. In a matter of a few months, not only was my theology of healing transformed, but my experience as well. First, I was completely healed of a thirty-year problem with chronic sinus infections and the blinding headaches they caused. Secondly, my wife Ann experienced healing of frequent migraine headaches that would last two or three days. She was also healed of severe asthma that required serious daily medication. My family’s overall health improved dramatically. All of us experienced a reduction of suffering from illness and pain.

Within a short time, I began to see healing and creative miracles on a much greater scale in my public ministry. In some situations in my traveling ministry to local churches today as many as 85% of the people attending are healed of some sort of condition. Many of the healings are visible to the congregations. Normally, in these kinds of meetings, I begin by showing Christ’s willingness to heal by praying for people with injured and painful bad backs. Most often, all are visibly healed and are then able to bend without pain for the first time in a long time. When others there see this, this normally releases faith for healing of physical conditions that are not necessarily visible. Some healings are minor conditions simply causing discomfort. Some healings are very serious conditions which are extremely painful and often life threatening.

While the Lord grants healings as I travel today, the main focus of our service to Christ today is not healing the sick, but is rather equipping others to heal the sick. Every equipped servant of Christ ought to be teaching, discipling and leading others into the experience of ministry rather than just demonstrating their gifts. If a minister knows how to heal the sick, then that minister ought to be teaching the people of God how to do this. If he knows how to cast out demons, then he should be teaching others how to do this rather than just doing it himself. If a prophet knows how to accurately prophesy, he should be teaching the people of God how to accurately prophesy. Likewise, the evangelist should be teaching others how to evangelize rather than just doing the work of evangelism himself. Therefore, I am focused on releasing believers into the Christ-like ministries of healing the sick and performing miracles. My hope is that those that we train will excel in helping the suffering find healing and therefore glorify Christ by doing the greater works that He speaks of in John 14:11-14.

The end of the age draws near. The Church must come to maturity and complete the harvest of souls. Christ-like power in healing and miracles must accompany the Gospel to bring the masses to Christ.

You aren’t in the process of trying to get anything from God. Everything you’ll ever need in the Christian life is already present in its entirety in your spirit!… The rest of your Christian life isn’t learning how to get from Him but rather discovering how to release what He’s already placed within! (Andrew Wommack, Spirit, Soul & Body, p. 9-10, 16)

Continuing on from here, one way of reconciling and understanding how one can have everything in Christ yet still need to ask for “more” is through understanding Andrew Wommack’s Spirit, Soul & Body model. I call it Wommack’s model not because it originated from him or because it’s unique to him, but because he’s one of the clearest exponents of it that I’ve come across – and I learned it from him. Wommack argues that when we’re born again, our spirits are perfected but not our soul and body. All the New Covenant truths are true even if we don’t feel it – because they are true of our spirits. We may not experience or feel the perfection because what we feel is normally in the realm of the body and soul, whereas the perfection is in our spirit. That’s why we still struggle (in our soul and body) a lot and don’t minister like Jesus, etc. To experience more perfection in our soul and body, we are to grow and bring these from the spirit and into the soulish and physical realms.

Therefore, the “more” and the “growing” is all about living out that perfection that is already in our spirits – i.e. bringing more of that perfection from our spirits into our soul and body. We’re not getting “more” of something we don’t already have in Christ in our spirit. We have everything in Christ already in our spirits. The “more” is in releasing more (of the everything we have in Christ in our spirit) into our soul and body. That’s why Mike Reyes’ response to me about the place for asking more was that the “more” is in “seeing” more, not in “getting” more – for we already have everything in Christ. But how do we “see” more (perfection, healing, joy, peace, etc.)? We’ll see more healings when we get more of the everything we have in our spirits to flow out of our spirits (through our minds – that’s why renewal of the mind is imperative – Rom. 12:2) to our bodies and into the other person’s body. Wommack’s tripartite model of spirit, soul and body is an interesting way of looking at it. As in all models, it may not be perfect, but could help in us understanding things. And it helps us understand what the “more” is. Whether one adopts Wommack’s model or not, one can’t deny that there is still a sense in which there’s “more” for Christians. Yes, we have everything in Christ, but there’s still somehow “more” for us – more of releasing or tapping upon this everything that’s already in us.

I’ll try in a subsequent post in this series to touch on how one can release and live out that perfection that is already in our spirits. While I like the theoretical stuff, I love the practical too and this (how one can live out that perfection) is something I’ve been reflecting upon and learning about the past few months – and trying to practice too!

P.S.: At this moment in my Christian life, I’m quite influenced by the above model and way of seeing things. Of course there’s so much to learn about this area (as in all areas!). I’m aware that there are different views out there in relation to this topic (which is closely related to Sanctification). In the first place, many theologians – e.g. the Reformed-Charismatic Wayne Grudem – would argue against viewing a person in a tripartite fashion. I’m sure that different views result in different applications and practices for the Christian and so it’s important to get one’s understanding right. I’m certainly no expert in this area, nor have I reflected enough on this. But I think in general Scripture does point to the New Covenant truths of having everything in Christ, yet also points to the need for “more” in a Christian’s life. And I think Wommack’s model is helpful when trying to understand how to reconcile the two.

Three church associations that have been influential in my Christian life and thinking are Vineyard, Sovereign Grace Ministries and Newfrontiers. I first became familiar with Vineyard (in the mid 1990s when God changed my life) through their worship songs (Vineyard were “in” before Hillsong came along!) and also the Toronto Blessing (the Toronto Airport church was initially a Vineyard church). John Wimber (one of their founders) was a giant in Charismatic Christianity and I was really attracted to their balance of Word and Spirit – as well as their heart for the poor. I came to know Sovereign Grace in the late 1990s when they were still called PDI – see here and here. What attracted me to them was the fact that they were both Reformed in beliefs, yet Charismatic in practice. At that time, I was very attracted to the Reformed / Calvinistic tradition because of their solid teachings. I considered myself Reformed and Charismatic then and Sovereign Grace / PDI was really at the forefront of this growing “movement”. I probably know the least about Newfrontiers but my impression over the years (for various reasons) has been that it’s a church association that’s strong in both the Word and the Spirit. All three have some Reformed influences – the most being Sovereign Grace Ministries. I’ve actually moved away from the Reformed tradition, but understanding this rich heritage has helped me a great deal in terms of my understanding of Scripture. Not that I agree with a lot of the distinctives of the Reformed tradition, but it’s given me a great foundation to build on.

Right now, I don’t really follow much of Sovereign Grace Ministries because I think it’s too Reformed and not very charismatic at all – which I think is sad. They also seem to have a lot of problems with control and authoritarianism. However, I love their cross-centeredness and their music is pretty good in terms of having meaningful and biblical lyrics. As for Vineyard, I still greatly respect them and they have a lot of good resources and a good balanced charismatic heritage to learn from. I find myself still learning from this very broad “tradition” and my only regret is that they don’t have more resources available for free on the internet.

But I want to talk here a bit about Newfrontiers. Admittedly, I don’t know a lot. But I’ve always had this strong impression that if you compare UK Christianity with American Christianity, UK Christianity somehow is more balanced in terms of Word and Spirit. I think this is partly to do with the rich theological heritage in that part of the world. So you actually get a lot of charismatics that are very well-grounded in the Word and aware of various historical traditions, which I think is the strength of Newfrontiers. In America and elsewhere, you get lots of charismatics without any familiarity with past Christian movements to build on and that’s why many go astray so easily or they focus on the wrong things – not so much the Vineyard, but more so for a lot of independent charismatics. In the UK, many charismatics appreciate the past and want to build on it and thus they are somehow better able to combine Word and Spirit. After all, this is the place that gave us people like Martyn Lloyd-Jones and RT Kendall, respected leaders that are strong teachers of the Word of God yet open to the Spirit.

I’ve listened to a lot of Joseph Prince, Andrew Wommack, Bill Johnson and Curry Blake over the past few years. I’m hoping to complement all these charismatic teachings with listening to (and reading) some teachings that can be found free at Newfrontiers’ Resources page – especially their take on different aspects of charismatic Christianity and other stuff that I haven’t been focusing a lot on (I’ve been focusing on healing a lot the past few years, and while that’s an important element of God’s Kingdom, there are other things to be learned). They have lots of good resources there – browse the past events for many interesting teachings. To get a closer look at where Newfrontiers is coming from, look at their Book Store and you’ll see that while they sell books by prominent Charismatic leaders like Bill Johnson, Mike Bickle and Mahesh Chadva, they also sell lots of books by good non-charismatic evangelical leader like John Piper, DA Carson, Tim Keller, etc. I think that kind of balance is awesome! I don’t necessarily agree with John Piper and DA Carson on a lot of things, but I respect them and I think there are things to learn from them. I wouldn’t go near what they have to say regarding charismatic beliefs like healing, but I do believe God has granted them wisdom in other areas – and most definitely God has not deposited all wisdom and revelation only in the charismatic Christian world!

While I’m pretty independent in my thinking, love learning from many individual ministers and am very open to new teachings and revelations, I also do believe in learning from communities and groups like Newfrontiers and Vineyard. You know you can’t go too far wrong with these two established groups – and in fact, you can learn a lot from them.

Admittedly, with all groups, there’s generally less freedom to be radical in one’s beliefs and there’s that need to conform. That could be bad. Tradition can be limiting and I don’t want to accept something just because many people have always believed in it that way. For example, my view on healing at the moment is more radical and I’m sure would be different from Newfrontiers and Vineyard. On the other hand, I think it’s important not to go at it too much alone (just me and the Holy Spirit, thank you very much!) or think that we can survive without the community of believers and learning from the past or other traditions in the present. In my opinion, this could be equally as dangerous as being limited by tradition. I believe God gives truth to community and there’s safety there. This is not to say we are to be beholden to what others think, but God is surely at work in communities and there is much we can learn from different ones. Let us learn from different groups and traditions without being limited by them.

A friend of ours, Jessie Campbell from Perth, Australia, is in Singapore and will be holding a meeting next Monday 7:30pm at the Teresa Ville Condominium function room. Some of us from the Singapore Healing Forum have been encouraged by her ministry and sharing of her experiences of street healing. Jessie is active in the street healing scene in her city and also on Facebook where she is a respected citizen (haha!) and shares a lot of her healing experiences among people interested in healing there. (Yes, there’s a pretty active group of people on Facebook passionate about healing that interact a lot on healing). She also actively prays for healing through Skype! Her website is triumphministries.

She’s got a wealth of experience to share with us for those of us who want to move more in God’s healing power. She’ll also be praying for the sick. Here’s the info:

Date and Time: 29th November (Monday), 7:30pm. No food will be provided so have your dinner first :)

Location: Teresa Ville Condominium function room (not sure which one, but just go there and find us!)

How to get there: Teresa Ville (1001 Lower Delta Road) is a condominium near both Harbourfront MRT (VivoCity) and Tiong Bahru MRT. To get there from VivoCity, take bus number 65 or 855 opposite VivoCity. The bus stop has a big green grassland behind it. Stop 4 stops after you get on.To get there from Tiong Bahru MRT, take bus number 123 or 195 from opposite Tiong Bahru MRT. Stop 3 stops after you get on.

Those who are going, please drop me an email at idealist at stillhaventfound.org. Thanks!

As I’ve been on the topic recently on the different models of healing, I’d like to share some insight on Vineyard’s vs. John G. Lake’s healing model by Bruce Latshaw. I got to know Bruce through his website when searching more on John G. Lake. Bruce is the senior pastor of Vineyard Christian Fellowship at the Barn and the founder of two healing rooms. He also conducts a seminar on The Healing Secrets of John G. Lake.

Many people (including myself) have learned a great deal on healing from Curry Blake, the prophesied successor of John G. Lake and General Overseer of the John G. Lake Ministries. Bruce Latshaw seems to be another person who has studied John G. Lake’s writings, life and healing ministry extensively and so I thought I could definitely learn much from him about healing in general and the healing beliefs and practices of John G. Lake in particular. I’m a big believer in learning from as many people and as many views and traditions as possible, believing that most/all traditions and perspectives have something to teach us. Of course, ultimately we go back to the Word of God. Even as I’m currently formulating my own beliefs and practices regarding healing, people like Curry Blake, Joseph Prince, Andrew Wommack, Bill Johnson, Roger Sapp and Mike Endicott have greatly influenced me. Bruce Latshaw intrigued me not only because he’s studied John G Lake and healing extensively, but also because he’s a Vineyard pastor and familiar with the Vineyard perspective on healing. This is interesting to me because I have a great respect for the Vineyard church association and John Wimber and his vision of every Christian (not just great men of God) being able to “do the stuff”. After all, Wimber and Vineyard have had a huge impact (and I think a pretty positive one) on Charismatic Christianity. Having said that, I’ve also been moving away from the Vineyard’s view on healing as I know it the past 6 months.

I’ve got permission to quote the email exchanges I’ve had with Bruce and so below will be quotes from Bruce interspersed with my questions and some of my comments too.

Our email conversation took off when I responded to his statement that he’s “not sure the teachings of Lake are entirely kosher with Vineyard’s theology of healing but they are almost identical to Wimber’s in Power Healing” by asking him to elaborate on how he thought Vineyard and Lake’s view on healing differed. I like comparing different models because it gives us clarity on what’s at stake and the different perspectives available and all this aids us in formulating our own view. Also, I had already been observing a difference between Vineyard’s model and the model I’ve been learning from Curry and some others so I was interested to hear his perspective. He responded:

My comparison/contrast of Wimber to Lake regarding the current Vineyard view of healing is very preliminary. Wimber himself, at least in statements from his book Power Healing, seems very close to Lake’s. However, in the practice of healing, it does appear to me that Wimber (and Vineyard healing practitioners currently) depended (and depend) primarily on the operation of the Spirit’s gifts of healings to minister healing.

I think something very fundamental we need to understand in our healing ministry is exactly where we go to in Scriptures for the biblical promise to heal. Curry talks about various ways of healing – e.g. our Commission given by Jesus (e.g. Mark 16:18), Holy Communion (1 Cor. 11), gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12-14) and getting the elders to pray (James 5:16). In the above, Bruce seems to be saying that the primary Scripture Vineyard people go to is that on the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12-14). This seems to line up with some Vineyard and other documents in the past.

In a The Briefing article written in 1990, it was written of John Wimber and his view on healing:

Given the very low percentage of healings, we asked John Wimber if he considered that his healings were like Jesus’ or the Apostles’. He quickly and rightly saw that they were quite radically different. We asked about the claims of his books and his previous teaching that the powerlessness of evangelicals lay in their failure to pray for and claim the Signs and Wonders of the Kingdom, seen in Jesus and the Apostles. He replied that thanks to the advice of Jack Deere, he had come to understand that the current miracles fit into the New Testament not at the point of Jesus and the Apostles and the coming of the Kingdom, but in 1 Corinthians 12-14 and the gifts of healing.

Jack Deere wrote a Vineyard response to the above article, mentioning:

Wimber was trying to explain to the men that he himself did not claim to move in the power of Jesus and the apostles, and that he now recognizes that there is a difference between the ministry of the apostles and the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are given to the whole church. The apostles and a few others walked in an extraordinary realm of power in the Holy Spirit. The quantity, quality, and consistency of miracles in their ministries, according to the New Testament picture, is on a different level than the giftings given to the whole church in the first century. John was trying to explain that he no longer was teaching that the whole church could move in the same quality of miraculous ministry that Jesus and the apostles moved in. However, the whole church could move in the gifts of the Spirit. If the church were to do that, much of the powerlessness and deadness in the church would be remedied. This change of mind, therefore, was not about the cause of the powerlessness of the church today, but rather about the precise way in which that powerlessness is to be remedied.

In the above, it’s clearly seen that Wimber changed his mind after talking to Jack Deere (a theologian). Rather than going to say the Commission passages by Jesus (e.g. Mark 16), he now (or then) went to the 1 Corinthians 12-14 passages on the gifts of the Spirit. It’s interesting that it seems that one of the reasons for his change of mind is because the quantity, quality and consistency of miracles and healings he sees doesn’t seem to be up to the level of the Apostles – and supposedly this lower level of miracles seems to fit in well instead with the spiritual gifts passages. I think this is extremely significant. I don’t know if this belief is still held by Vineyard today, but I think it really matters where you go to in Scriptures to find your belief in healing for today.

I would disagree with Wimber here. I don’t want to allow my experience to inform my interpretation on Scripture. If we don’t see much consistency in the miraculous today as compared to the Apostles’ ministry, the solution isn’t to justify that by going instead to the spiritual gifts passages (which he sees as justifying the lower quantity and quality of miracles). A consequence of going solely to the spiritual gifts passages (and saying the Commission in a sense doesn’t apply to us anymore) is that you’ll lower your expectation and that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Is our miracle healing ministry at the same level of Jesus or the Apostles? No, definitely not. But this just pushes me to want to see that Scripture becomes a reality here and now. It makes me want to see our experiences live up to that of Scripture, rather than causing me to allow our experiences to inform our interpretation of Scripture.

Bruce continues:

…This is evidenced by the five-step prayer model’s emphasis on “seeing what the Father is doing” and waiting on God for specific leading from the Spirit before one diagnoses or administers healing. During the healing process the Spirit’s other gifts of words of knowledge and discerning of spirits are often utilized as well. Ex-Vineyard pastor Randy Clark’s healing methodology emerged from Wimber’s perspective and depends a great deal on the Spirit’s gifts, specifically words of knowledge.

This is in stark contrast to Lake’s assertion that the healing he moved in and trained others to move in was NOT dependent on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The healing he ministered, he maintained, was based on two “elements”: faith in God’s word, and the power of God released through the healing minister via his/her saturation in the Holy Spirit. (For Lake, fluctuations in healing result were caused by differences in the measures of faith and power released by healing minister(s) in a healing event. For Vineyard, why some people are healed and some are not is explained by absence of the fullness of the coming kingdom of God, not deficiencies in humanly mediated faith and power.) As Wimber and Vineyard healing ministers prayed (and pray) for the sick, they pray and watch what the Spirit is doing as if the Spirit is wholly independent of them – that they are there only to invite the Spirit to come and act apart from the healing minister. Personally I do not think this is what happens when healing occurs in a Vineyard context, but the language used and understandings advanced produce this perspective, in my judgment.

Lake, on the other hand, saw healing virtue flowing directly from the Holy Spirit located in the spirit of the believer, released through the operation of faith in his/her soul, and often using his/her body as a kind of conduit of spiritual power. (Lake’s favorite mode of healing was laying on of hands because he saw his hands as “contact points” between heaven’s “lightning” distributed through his spirit out into the being of the one needing healing.) Rather than occurring apart from him, healing came through the believer, whose spiritual condition and capacity to contain and release the Holy Spirit were vitally important to healings and miracles.

I think one could legitimately summarize Wimber’s perspective as “healing by the spiritual gifts of healing” while Lake’s is “healing by faith in and obedience to the word.” To me both are effective forms of healing that God uses. I move in both as directed by what I sense to be the leading of the Spirit in specific situations. I see the two complementing each other wholistically, two parts of one complete healing ministry.

Also, in seeming reaction to the abuses of the “faith/prosperity” teachers (of which there have been many), Vineyard healing ministers can discount the place of biblical faith in the healing process. I believe in some cases faith for healing is not even considered necessary for the Christian to pray for the sick since the believer’s job is just to invite the Spirit to come and do the healing by Himself. By contrast, Lake was very insistent that faith is, biblically, deeply connected with healing. However, unlike some healers mistakenly taught in his day and still teach today, Lake never required the sick to have faith. (If they did, all the better, and he did want them to develop faith for healing as much as possible). But Lake did require his healing ministers to have faith if they expected to be successful in the healing ministry. In the same way Jesus located the reason his disciples could not bring healing in some cases as their “smallness” of faith. The Greek indicates not that they had no faith but that they had insufficient faith. Could this mean that faith is spiritually quantifiable? That more of it exists in some Christians than in others? And that insufficiency of faith may be at least one real cause of the sick not getting healed?

The modern church does not like to hear this. We prefer to believe that we basically don’t have much at all to do with what God does or does not do on earth because we don’t enjoy being accountably on the hook for anything. Personally I feel this is primarily the result of hyper-Calvinistic theology that over-emphasizes the sovereignty of God while ignoring the co-partnering of God with man–and man’s place of responsibility in that partnership. Vineyard itself, it seems to me, is predominately Calvinistic, not Arminian, in its understanding of the Bible. So the movement suffers, in my view, from passivity stemming from its theological foundations. This has bled over into its theology of healing as well.

The irony is, of course, that when it came to “doin’ the stuff,” Wimber was amazingly activist. There was not a passive bone in his body when it came to healing the sick. He showed incredible perseverance, bold action, and deep, radical faith in the truth of God’s word concerning sick all who are sick. I believe that he exemplified quite well the understanding Lake promoted concerning healing. But the prevailing view of Lake I receive from today’s Vineyard ministers is something like, “He was an early Pentecostal, right? We don’t buy that Pentecostal faith and prosperity stuff and all the hype that goes with it.”

One thing I got from the above is that while it’s good to be led by the Spirit, sometimes that can actually justify us shrugging off our responsibility to have faith (and power) for the healing. By all means be led by the Spirit and operate in the gifts of the Spirit, but the more foundational way to get healing done ought to be by faith (and power), which I elaborated more in my previous post Why you should eat your Curry (Blake) before paying the Bill (Johnson). Related to this is the issue of whether the Spirit operates wholly independently of us (Vineyard’s model) or in a way more dependent on us  – i.e. our spiritual condition and faith (Lake’s model). I tend to favor the latter model which I think generally results in a more active faith.

While there may be a negative tendency for those who focus on the role of faith for healing to blame the sick for not having enough faith when they are not healed, this doesn’t mean we avoid speaking of the role of faith for healing. Perhaps this abusive tendency and the primary focus on the Spirit (rather than our faith/authority) to heal has led Vineyard to be a bit more passive and downplay the role of faith in healing. However, emphasizing the active role of faith in healing doesn’t mean we blame the sick if they are not healed for like Curry, Bruce states that Lake would never want to blame the sick for a lack of faith – he’d want to see the person praying to have faith for the sick. A focus on the responsibility to have faith for healing is thus not at odds with a compassionate ministry if we take it upon ourselves to have faith for the sick and never blame the sick person’s faith for not getting healed.

I’ve been reflecting on the hypothesis that there are two ways to get people healed:

1. By faith/authority and this comes through renewing our minds with the Word of God. This is something that people like Curry (and Wommack, Sapp, Endicott and the Word of Faith movement generally) seem to emphasize a lot on.
2. By the power of the Holy Spirit flowing out from us into the sick body we’re praying for – one may want to call this the anointing or presence of God or whatever. This seems to come through spending time with God and being intimate with Him. This way is something that people like Bill Johnson seem to emphasize a lot on.

So I asked him to comment on my thoughts above and he wrote:

Concerning the combining of the faith and power dimensions in healing, Lake actually taught that faith and power (Holy Spirit power of course) were the two vital “elements” in the healing dynamic. This is why I trust Lake’s writings. I believe that he ministered out from a balanced approach to healing even though he is lumped, unfairly, into the early Pentecostal “faith teachers” like Bosworth and Kenyon.

He seems to be saying that Lake is balanced in seeing both faith and power as vital elements and we shouldn’t separate them and minister by just one of the elements as some may do – I think he’s implying Bosworth and Kenyon (and perhaps also the faith teachers nowadays) focus solely on faith.

I also asked him how we can increase our faith. His response:

I believe we increase our measure of faith by abiding much in the Word, particularly in those passages related to healing – meditating on them, asking the Spirit to reveal truths to us concerning them, and by practicing over and over what we become convinced of. Also I think our faith is increased as we place ourselves into spiritual “atmospheres” of healing, where the faith of a person or a group is strong toward healing and we then witness manifestations of healings, which build our faith. These generally happen in a conference or seminar context, though some churches, like Bethel or some Vineyard churches when Wimber was alive, are steeped in an atmosphere of expectant faith for healing.

What I got from the above: the importance of meditating on passages related to healing (what Roger Sapp does in his good book  on healing, Performing Miracles and Healing which can be purchased at his website All Nations Ministries, and what he did for 1-2 years for hours daily before he really flowed in healing). Also, what Bruce talks about above regarding immersing oneself in spiritual “atmospheres” of healing is I think the more corporate version of what occurs when one is mentored by a man of faith and then letting the faith and everything rub off him onto you as you associate yourself with him. One can grow in faith through constantly being in such corporate spiritual atmospheres or through also going alongside a mentor and learning from him and catching his faith and spirit through association.

How about the way we can increase in power, which according to Lake is tangible? Bruce replied:

Lake taught that the Christian could increase the measure of Holy Spirit power in his/her own spirit by 1) cultivating intimacy with God – speaking to and listening to Him – through prayer, and 2) declaring the truth the Word over his/her life – what we would call now “confessing” or affirming the truth of our identity in Christ. Lake also said, “Praying in tongues has been the making of my ministry.” So praying much in tongues was a key for him too. To me personally, prayer is the key to power. Of course there are many biblical kinds of prayer, all of which are edifying. I find that for me prayer that is vocal, declarative, and authoritative is the kind that best builds up and releases God power through my spirit.

OK, the title of this post is a bit corny. What I’m trying to get at is simply that I think those who want to move in healing should learn from Curry Blake before going on to Bill Johnson. I love both people and both people have blessed me and continue to bless me in my journey. However, there are clearly slight differences in teachings and emphases between the two that make me say that one should listen to Curry’s 19 series Divine Healing Technician (DHT) training before reading or listening to Bill Johnson. This is not to say that one is better than the other. At this moment of my journey, I feel both complement each other and it’s not an either-or thing. I’m still learning from both and reflecting upon the implications of both views. But I do feel that Curry’s teachings on healing are more foundational and will inspire greater faith to actually step out and start one’s practical healing journey.

I’ve mentioned a few times already on this blog that I was introduced to Bill Johnson by my cousin (based in Australia) in 2008. Reading Bill and knowing what had been going on in his ministry got me interested in healing. However, it was only in 2010 when I encountered Curry Blake’s teachings that my journey accelerated and I started to pray for the sick. Before that, I read almost all of Bill’s books and I listened to tons of his messages but I still felt I was not yet ready. I thought I would be one day. But I felt I still needed to get closer to God and be led more by His Spirit. However, a few months after first getting to know Curry’s teachings and getting to know others greatly influenced by them, I was praying for people. I still have a long way to go but Curry’s teachings got me started and stepping out and that’s very important. I place a high value on stepping out and practicing because progress and growth accelerates the moment one steps out.

My cousin with whom I wasn’t really in contact during this time dropped me a message recently which confirmed my experience. He wrote:

One of my friends recently introduced me to Curry Blake’s stuff, and I got his DHT and I have been going through it when I do get time. (Work has really been limiting me exploring all this stuff further). What I like about Curry Blake’s stuff is how rooted he is in the Word, and focusing on the fact that you have Jesus and the Holy Spirit and therefore you can do the stuff by virtual of who you are and what you have, and that healing people is your duty. If you don’t heal the sick, you are actually being disobedient!! This point was not as clear to me (to me anyway) when I was going through stuff by Bill Johnson/Todd Bentley/Randy Clark and co., when there was more of a focus on words of knowledge, and healing by the manifest power of God/word of knowledge, rather than by raw faith. This wrongly gave myself and my friends an excuse when we went out on a Treasure hunt, and we went by a person limping etc, to chicken out and not pray for them. We would think –> God gave us a word for a shoulder, not a leg, therefore it must not be the “right timing” for God to heal them, rather than stepping out in faith, and correctly thinking that God wants everyone healed all the time, at any place, as he has already commanded us to go out and heal the sick.

Like my cousin said, Curry’s focus is on healing by raw faith (and authority) and obedience to the Word (our commission). I think that should be the foundation for healing if we’re to get ordinary Christians involved. Words of Knowledge (WOK) and the manifest presence/power  of God are all awesome and aids healing greatly, but not everyone is going to move like that in the beginning. Too much focus on WOK and one may feel that they ought not to pray for the sick unless they have a WOK about it. And when you hear wonderful testimonies by those influenced by Bill that include specific leadings of the Spirit through WOK and visions, etc., that result in amazing healings, you kind of wonder whether you can actually pray for the sick and get them healed since you know you don’t get those sorts of experiences. This is how my cousin felt (at least in relation to WOK) and this is also how I felt. Sure, I believed that I ought to be healing the sick, but because I didn’t have such amazing spiritual experiences and leadings, I thought I wasn’t ready yet. That’s why I never stepped out for years.

Let me be clear. I don’t think Bill actually says you shouldn’t pray for the sick unless you have a WOK or leading of the Spirit, or that you shouldn’t expect healing unless you have all that. In fact, I think he would probably believe the opposite – that you should pray for the sick and expect them to be healed whether or not you have a WOK or leading. For example, in a recent sermon (10th October 2010) entitled Being a Bride, Bill said:

So many times people would just tell me they were waiting on the Lord. It sounds spiritual but its usually a laziness that comes out of the absence of faith… The Apostle Paul had a heart for Asia. So the book of Acts tells us that he was going to Asia and the angel of the Lord stopped him and said, “You’re not to go there”. So he went, “Alright, I’ll go to Bithynia.” So he starts to go to Bethynia and the Lord stops him and says, “You’re not to go there”. What does that tell you? It tells you he’s responding to the word that said, “Go”. Many people won’t go till God visits them. How much more does He have to do to make it clear what we’re supposed to do with our lives. I can tell you out of experience there are many times I have to operate out of a gift, not out of the inspiration for a moment. It’s a raw obedience to a call. The Word of the Lord x amount of years ago was this. I feel no anointing, no special inspiration for the moment. But in pursuing His will out of obedience to His declared Word as revealed in Scripture, in this pursuing of the Word comes the presence, the inspiration, the power, the anointing. Oftentimes He affirms those acts of obedience just because we say, “Yes”. We’re basically saying to Him, “You don’t need to give me goosebumps all along the way for me to obey. I will obey you regardless.” (12:50 onwards)

In the above, he’s very similar to Curry in recognizing that we don’t need a leading of the Spirit to step out to pray for the sick – simply because we ought to do it in obedience to the declared Word of God (although I dunno what he meant about him having to operate out of a “gift”). However, this is a very recent sermon and I’m not sure if he’s saying all this to correct the misimpressions he’s given in the past through his past sermons. Maybe or maybe not. I think perhaps he’s always believed the above, but he’s also touched a lot on things in relation to healing like the prophetic and the presence of God. Therefore, while he does believe in the above, the important point I’m trying to make here is that because a lot of the healings in his ministry and those influenced by him come as a result of WOK or some specific leading, many people get the misimpression that one ought to experience those things as normal before one can go out healing the sick with confidence.

On the other hand, no one can listen to Curry and not feel that we should be healing everyone that is sick. Bill moves strongly in the prophetic but Curry doesn’t. Curry goes by the Word of God. He wouldn’t rule out the prophetic – he just doesn’t flow strongly in it and doesn’t depend on it to get him to pray for the sick or to get him to expect healing when praying for the sick. Moving in the prophetic is definitely helpful and it’ll aid one’s healing ministry dramatically I’m sure. The three down sides I think of focusing too much on the prophetic or the tangible presence of God in relation to healing are:

1. There could be a tendency for those moving strongly in healing through the prophetic or the tangible presence of God to expect healing when praying for the sick only when directly led by God. Or even worse, to pray for healing of the sick only when directly led by God.
2. Even if such people still pray for every sick person (and not only for those for whom they have a leading), because they are so used to healing through the prophetic or tangible presence of God and focus so much on that, they may subconsciously lower their level of expectation of healing when they pray for healing of a person without that tangible presence or leading of the Spirit. For example, Roger Sapp shares here how “most of the healings I had… were related to the WOK. I would get a WOK… and then my expectation would be raised… If I didn’t have a WOK, I didn’t really have much expectation in the area of healing.” I believe WOK is used by God to aid the healer or the recipient’s faith. However, an over-reliance of WOK could actually result in the healer actually lowering his/her faith in the absence of WOK.
3. There could be a tendency for believers who don’t move in the prophetic or experience regularly the tangible presence of God to not step out or not pray for healing with expectation because they feel that they need such experiences to pray for healing or to expect a healing.

Please don’t get me wrong. If I could regularly attend any Church in the world to learn from them, it would be Bethel (Bill’s church). I have so much to learn from him and his church. And I would love to attend Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) one day too. But I believe that foundation-wise, Curry’s teachings are much better – and I think a bit more grounded in the Word.

Listen to both, but listen to Curry first. Then step out and start praying for the sick. Continue to listen to Curry and also learn from Bill and others. I believe that as you proceed on your journey, you’ll have lots to learn from Bill. The prophetic and hosting the presence of God are all good stuff (and trust me, I desperately want a more intimate relationship with God and to experience more of the prophetic and His tangible presence), but I don’t think they should ever be the foundation or the predominant emphasis of a healing ministry. In fact, I will also add that these should also never be the foundation or the predominant emphasis of the Christian life in general because we’re called to live by faith, and not by sight or experience. I may be wrong, but that’s where I am at this moment in my journey.