What About Olive?

If you don’t know the details about a little girl named Olive who passed away suddenly, you can read about it here. Her parents, as well as their church community, are believing that God will raise her from the dead.

Their belief is based on several examples in the Bible, such as: Jarius’s daughter (Mark 5), Tabitha, also known as Dorcas (Acts 9), the widow of Zarepath’s son (1 Kings 17), and the widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7).

At the writing of this article, it had been four days, and Olive is not yet living.

The response by the Christian community at large is, predictably, a cynical “I told you so” attitude. Some have become so tainted and embittered that they feel the need to “rescue” people from having too much faith, and believing what the Bible says. Because of course, this has turned into a debate about divine healing and miracles.

To be honest, I feel that there’s a sense of satisfaction from many who want Olive to remain dead so that it can prove their personal belief system to be true. “See, I told you that stuff isn’t for today. It’s not God’s will for everyone to be healed. It doesn’t matter how much faith you think you have.”

And from the outside in, it appears they’re right.

I hear that “extreme” faith is simply a way to cling to hope in the face of tragedy. It has no bearing on reality. It’s no wonder many choose to leave Christianity after unanswered prayers leave them disheartened. Weak-minded Christians would prefer not deal with grief and pain, so they hold to a misguided faith in hopes of avoiding it. And that makes little sense in the face of the circumstances that constantly surround us.

Further more, how can we reconcile the fact that Jesus and Paul were able to heal everyone, no exceptions, but yet today, it’s more of a rarity to see a miracle than not see one.

Many people simply can’t reconcile that fact, nor do they ever want someone to feel their lack of faith ultimately doomed them. So the solution is to believe that God’s will is mysterious. Some get healed, and some don’t. Praying extra hard is futile, because the outcome will inevitably be the same.

But are Olive’s parents wrong for believing their little girl can become alive again? Is it wrong to believe that the miracles recorded in the Bible can still happen today? Is there enough evidence to believe that they can’t?

If you don’t believe that fervent faith releases miracles, is it because you’ve seen evidence to the contrary? Or is it because there’s a fear that the miracle won’t happen, so it’s easier to believe that it’s not supposed to? Do you need to make sense of everything before you believe it?

“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” – Luke 16:31

Bethel church is now viewed as “irresponsible” for allowing this to continue. How dare they deceive so many people into believing a heresy.

If you’re interested, here is my belief: It’s far more deceptive to promote the conclusion that we can’t take God at His word.

“He said, “If you listen carefully to the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.” – Exodus 15:26

Do I understand why some prayers are answered and some aren’t? That some are healed and some aren’t? No, I don’t understand why. Attempting to explain the supernatural realm with natural reasoning will never work. However, I can’t justify letting that become an excuse to stop believing in the promises of God.

What I do understand is that there is a devil, an enemy of our souls, an accuser of the brethren, who wants to destroy the children of God.

I am often surprised at the fierce denial of miracles that I see from so many Christians. The vitriol, and the venom spewed at any faith teacher is sometimes shocking. And I don’t believe that it’s a lack of faith in God persay, but rather, a misunderstanding of His will.

“Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.” – Psalm 103:2-3

If you don’t believe that it’s God’s will that we be healed of all sickness, then should we assume that we’re not forgiven for all sins either? If Jesus already bore it on the cross, why would we decide to bear it ourselves?

“When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities, and bore our diseases.” – Matthew 8:16-17

What leads anyone to believe this was just to establish the authority of Jesus Christ on earth? Is there another part to the verse that says, but “this stops being true once Biblical times are over, sorry.”

There is no set of circumstances that should cause me to doubt the will of God, nor can I change His will according to what I see or don’t see. That’s not how it works. Is your personal experience the measure of truth? Or is God’s Word the measure of truth?

Look at this quote from T.L Osborn:

The same commission in which Jesus commanded His disciples to Go to all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, adding that the one that believes and is baptized shall be saved, also commands us saying, they (believers) shall lay hands on the sick, and they (the sick) shall recover.

As long as it is scriptural to preach water baptism and salvation by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, it is also scriptural to lay hands on the sick so that they may recover.

It is strange to me that so many say that the days of miraculous healing of the sick are past, but they still baptize in water those who profess to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Both are in the same commission. I wonder who told them that the days of laying hands on the sick for healing are over and that, therefore, the sick should no longer expect to be healed by the power of God?

I wonder the same thing. Why is healing different than salvation, forgiveness of sins, baptism, prayer or communion? All are Biblical foundations. Are all applicable for today? None of them? Just a few?

I read this on Twitter today: “We have the ability to pray for anything, but our prayers should always be submitted to the will of God. We cannot speak anything to existence.”

The will of God is always for our healing. We can speak out and declare the promises of God according to His Word. Yes, and amen.