Another Thorn In The Flesh
Please read the following article carefully. My personal
comments follow.
One can only feel sorrow for Demos Shakarian, Founder and
Leader of The Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International.
For years he has taught the erroneous charismatic doctrine that
healing for the body is included in the atoning work of Christ --
that a believer may always obtain healing for their body just as
an unsaved person may obtain salvation by coming to Christ. But
in 1984, Shakarian suffered a stroke which paralyzed his left
side and now, two years llater, he is forced to accept God's
sovereignty and admit that God will heal him IF that is God's
purpose. Shakarian admits that his physical affliction has
caused depression at times and that a "lot of people in the
fellowship can't understand why God hasn't healed him since so
much of his ministry over the years has focused on healing."
The Apostle Paul learned that God doesn't always heal His
children, His servants. Often He uses the "thorn in the flesh"
to demonstrate His grace and strength. Read 2 Corinthians
12:7-10. God can heal anybody, anytime. But it is not always
God's will to heal everybody, every time. Those who teach
otherwise are unscriptural in their ministry, and will experience
the same disillusionment of many in the FGBMFI.
************
ANOTHER THORN IN THE FLESH
By
Phil Scovell
Copyright (C) 1997/2003
By Phil Scovell
All Rights Reserved
Reproduction of the following is granted by the copyright holder,
Phil Scovell, if such reproduction is done in the spirit in which
it was given. It may not be reproduced and sold for financial
gain without written permission of the copyright holder: Phil
Scovell. Electronic formats may be distributed freely but this
copyright notice must remain with each copy and the text cannot
be altered in any way. For convenience, this copyright
notification may be placed at the end of the document if
reproduced electronically.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Phil Scovell
840 South Sheridan Boulevard
Denver, Colorado 80226-8017
Toll Free: 888-936-0001
Voice: 303-936-2188
Fax: 303-936-1841
Email: Phil@RedWhiteAndBlue.ORG
Web: WWW.RedWhiteAndBlue.ORG
ANOTHER THORN IN THE FLESH
By
Phil Scovell
Here's another one of these self righteous unknown authors
who have taken the opportunity to kick a brother in Christ while
he's down. Listen to what he, or she, says.
"One can only feel sorrow for Demos Shakarian, Founder
and Leader of The Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship
International."
Do you honestly think the writer of this article feels sorrow and
compassion for Demos Shakarian? Do you think the writer has
spent very much time, if any, praying for him and his condition?
Something else this writer says which I find interesting:
"For years he has taught the erroneous charismatic
doctrine that healing for the body is included in the
atoning work of Christ -- that a believer may always
obtain healing for their body just as an unsaved person
may obtain salvation by coming to Christ. But in 1984,
Shakarian suffered a stroke which paralyzed his left
side and now, two years later, he is forced to accept
God's sovereignty and admit that God will heal him IF
that is God's purpose."
I do not personally know Shakarian nor have I ever heard him
speak but if he has been preaching for years that God still heals
today, I applaud him loudly. People such as the author of this
critical piece generally are negative in everything they believe
and wouldn't know how to exercise faith if someone paid them.
They usually haven't experienced an answer to prayer for so long,
they can't remember when or for what they prayed. They are good
at criticizing others, however, for what they believe; especially
if it differs from their beliefs.
He said this teaching of the healing power of God is a
"erroneous Charismatic doctrine." Thank you for letting us know
that Jesus did not die for us physically. Why, pray tell, did
our Lord do all that physical suffering? If sin is only
spiritual in nature, why did Christ have to physically suffer for
sin? What does the apostle Peter mean, then, in I Peter 1:24
when he said "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on
the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." I suppose you
are going to tell us now that this is metaphorical and Peter,
silly old Peter, that dumb old fisherman, really was just trying
to poetically say that Jesus "healed" us from sin. The Greek
term translated "healed" in this verse is (cured). It is used
repeatedly in the four Gospels when referring to those whom Jesus
physically and bodily healed of physical illnesses. Tell me that
Jesus "cured" sins? You can't be "cured" from sin; just
forgiven.
Notice something else this unknown critic says:
"The Apostle Paul learned that God doesn't always heal His
children,
His servants. Often He uses the "thorn in the flesh" to
demonstrate
His grace and strength."
I'm not sure where this writer gets his/her information but it
certainly isn't from the Bible. First, Paul makes it perfectly
clear that this thorn in the flesh was a messenger of Satan; not
God. How does this writer get the idea that "Often He uses the
"thorn in the flesh" to demonstrate
His grace and strength." God doesn't need the Devil to show His
grace or strength. He likewise doesn't need such to teach; He
has sent the Holy Spirit to be our teacher; not the devil.
Let me back up a step and refer to something all skeptics of
God's healing power make mention of in their criticisms.
"But in 1984, Shakarian
suffered a stroke which paralyzed his left side and now, two
years
later, he is forced to accept God's sovereignty and admit that
God
will heal him IF that is God's purpose."
Again, I haven't heard Shakarian speak nor have I ever read
anything he may have written. The writer of the article,
however, seems to know him personally and seems to be totally
familiar with all of Shakarian's new beliefs. He quotes no
source though. I wonder if the author of this piece interviewed
Shakarian before making these claims. I don't see where
Shakarian is forced to believe or except anything differently
from his earlier convictions. While I'm on this, however, let me
address the question of God's sovereignty since all healing
skeptics dump God's inability to answer prayer into the black
hole of His sovereign nature.
To hear many speak, one might think that God is a random
wondering gaseous cloud of anorganic electrons bumping around in
the vacuum of deep space. Once and awhile He does something nice
like answer a prayer or heals somebody but otherwise He's a
pretty busy fellow and can't be bothered with the little aches
and pains of His own creation. This erroneous concept of God's
sovereignty probably comes from when people really need something
from God and when they pray for it once or twice and don't get
it, well, then, shoot, it must be God's will (I.E., His
sovereignty). This is a real spiritual way of hiding behind
their true feelings of anger and frustration over the lack of
God's personal interest in them. Since I was knee high, when God
didn't answer someone's prayer, it was jammed into the
sovereignty of God. It really is a nice way of saying God is God
and He can do anything He wants, which is another way of saying,
He simply didn't want to answer your prayer in the first place.
The problem with this philosophy is that it isn't even
Scriptural. It furthermore leads to a distorted view of one's
self in the light of Biblical revelation. Most people who follow
this unholy interpretation generally begin to see themselves as
less than worthy of God's love and care for them personally. "If
I were a better servant of the Lord," one begins to think and, of
course, launches off, head first, into legalism; doing and not
doing everything in the book, to please God.
The sovereignty of God has nothing to do with what God can
and cannot do. He's God. The fact is, however, God has chosen,
in His infinite wisdom, not to do some things. For example,
since He is God, He could in fact save everyone in the world and
secure their home in Heaven. He won't though. Why? He has a
plan and that plan is secured in His Son Jesus Christ. One
either comes to Christ in faith, confessing his sin and
sinfulness, and confessing Him as Lord of their life or they
can't go to Heaven. This is fixed; forever settled in Heaven;
never to be changed. I heard a knucklehead preacher once say
that since God is sovereign, He could have us go through this
whole thing about salvation, Heaven, and Hell and then at the end
of all time say, "April fools. I was Just kidding. All you
people in Heaven go to Hell." I know how stupid that sounds but
it simply demonstrates how silly people can become when trying to
understand God and His sovereignty. The sovereignty of God
doesn't mean He can do whatever He wants; when He wants. It
doesn't mean maybe He will and maybe He won't. It means He has
laid down some eternal laws which He called His Word. He has
even personalized His Word by sending His Son which He, God,
calls (The Word Of God). If we live by this Word, we can trust
God to perform what He has promised. In short, God, being God,
has limited Himself. The limitations He has placed upon Himself
is for our benefit. Interestingly enough, God's own Word is so
sovereign in nature that He has literally placed it's authority
and power above His own eternal, and Holy, nature in order to
fortify its eternality and finality: "I will worship toward thy
holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for
thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name"
(Ps. 138:2).
The author of this worthless criticism of Demos Shakarian,
apparently believes God's sovereignty is "Enie, menie, minie,
moe." Some days God heals and some days He doesn't; some days He
saves and some days He doesn't; some days His promises are true;
some days they aren't. It all depends on God and how He feels, I
guess, whether or not He answers prayer and stands behind His
Word. The issue which one must face is not if God heals today
but does God honor His Word. No matter how you decide, you
cannot jam your insecurity into God's sovereignty; it won't fit.
The unfortunate part of this person's assessment of Mr.
Shakarian's disability is that he/she is making the same mistake
that the unregenerate do when viewing the doctrine of salvation.
Many men of God have preached strongly against immorality only to
fall into the very sin they preached against. When an unsaved
person see such a thing, it is likely that they would say, "See
there. It isn't true." Fortunately the Word of God is true even
if one preaching it falls into sin. Furthermore, it should be
obvious that the devil is going to attack those taking a stand on
a particular issue more than those sitting on the sideline
criticizing others. It is of little surprise to me, therefore,
that my brother has been attacked physically since he has been
preaching God heals just like He saves.
I've finally identified Paul's thorn. It is people like the
author of the article from which I've been quoting. I have
prayed many times that the Lord would remove these thorns from
the body of Christ but since He hasn't, and because He is
sovereign, I am convinced they are given to us of God that we
might become better Christians.
Author's Note:
A year after writing this article, I heard Brother Shakarian
interviewed on a Christian television program. He was in his
eighties and though his speech was a little slurred from his
earlier stroke, he was bright, cheerful, and full of the life of
God. He was still preaching that God heals today and related a
story where he had traveled to a large conference for pastors
overseas. He had been asked to leave the meeting to pray for a
man on crutches; bent nearly double from years of painful
arthritis. I won't bore you with the details but Brother
Shakarian prayed with the man and he was immediately healed. It
doesn't sound like God has changed nor Brother Shakarian.
End Of Document
Go To HOME: The Zeneith Tube Website: RedWhiteAndBlue.org