Benny Hinn’s Ministry Out of Step
Benny Hinn’s ministry – despite the miraculous things God does,
because it is a frontline evangelistic ministry – is seriously out
of step with God’s Word! They need to listen to the input of
prophets moved by God, to move back into harmony with His plan.
Meanwhile, apostate teaching misleads
people, sending them a wrong message. If you are a Benny Hinn ‘fan’,
you will not accept these words. But the devil deceives with
subtlety. It’s not that the whole teaching is in error, but it’s
emphasis is misleading.
Here are some of the latest errors of
emphasis propounded by Benny Hinn’s ministry.
Asking People For Money
Below are extracts from some of Benny
Hinn’s partner letters, illustrating deep-seated problems. [My
comments added at appropriate places.]
4th April 2009
Help Me Avoid Cancelling
Upcoming Crusades...
...The impact of
these crusades continues to spread throughout each region of the
globe, and we are hearing powerful testimonies from pastors and
leaders who are amazed at what is happening because of the great
outpouring in these services.
To God belongs
all the glory and honor for all He has done!
But while we are
seeing these unprecedented spiritual victories, we face critical
decisions concerning whether or not we should cancel several
upcoming crusades.
I have always
tried to be open with our partners and ministry friends when we
have faced challenges in the past. We cannot continue going
through all the open doors without your help today. That is why
I am sending this urgent word and personal request...
[End of excerpt.]
It is not right to request funds from
people. If you have need, you make your request to God, and
God answers according to His will (Matt 6:33). The whole book of
James highlights spiritual requirements that underlie God’s positive
response to you.
This basic principle of trusting in
God and not in man is explained in several MM publications. These
are merely some of them:
Giving and Receiving, The Bible
Speaks (5 vols),
Guidelines For Evangelists, Witnessing For Christ, Is The Lord’s Arm
Too Short? and Lessons in Faith.
The Bible is full of examples about
the conflict between trusting in God and trusting in man. God
exhorts us to look to Him, to trust in Him, to rely upon Him, not
upon the arm of flesh. Benny Hinn trusts God for the miracles of
healing, etc., so why doesn’t he trust Him for finance as He did at
the beginning of his ministry?
The answer is given in MM’s book
God’s Church – Whose Authority? Apostasy creeps up on you
insidiously, unnoticed.
Reminding People About Money
25th April 2009
Thank you for
being my partner and for all you have done (and continue to do)
for this ministry. As we move toward the midpoint of 2009, you
have never been more important or more appreciated for
everything we do together to take the Gospel to the nations
through broadcasts, crusades, and mission outreaches!
I am writing
to you today to let you know that God has led us to designate
May 25 a special Debt Cancellation Day of Prayer. We know that
amazing things happen when God's people move into His principles
of sowing and reaping, and the time of financial freedom has
never been more needed.
[End of
excerpt.]
This is another reminder that he
needs your money. What about teaching people about tithing, and then
leaving things in the hands of God, instead of badgering people with
constant reminders? ‘Partners’ complain about being bombarded with
request after request, asking for money! That is not right!
Another Wrong Emphasis
2nd May 2009
We are thrilled
beyond measure to announce the dedication of our new Benny Hinn
Ministries Miracle Prayer Center in Jerusalem! [It’s a pity God
is not thrilled!]
In this
prophetic hour God is calling this ministry to a new dimension
of prayer. [Oh yeah?!] The importance of intercessory prayer
grows by the day [true, but God moves people to
intercede]. And in response to this deeper calling we've
created our Miracle Prayer Center in the Holy City.
That’s right — you’ve created
it; not God!
God doesn’t need a building. He
doesn’t need a place. He doesn’t need it to be in Jerusalem, or
anywhere else. He just needs hearts that are in tune with Him,
submissive to Him, who allow the Spirit to guide them.
My wife is an intercessor. The Spirit
MOVES her. She links up to the Spirit. She doesn’t need Benny Hinn
or any other person telling her when to intercede, or what to pray
for – as so many ministries have a custom of doing.
When Benny Hinn, Morris Cerullo, or
any other ministry draws attention to ITSELF, under the guise of
praying to God by having a Prayer Centre, all they are doing is no
better than the Pharisees who drew attention to themselves by their
prayer practices (Matt 23:5,14).
There was a little old lady in North
Korea who wore out the floorboards in her cupboard (the only place
she could intercede) as she rocked back and forth praying in the
Spirit. Few knew about her. There was no big fanfare. She had never
heard of Benny Hinn or any other big-time evangelist. All she
‘heard’ was the prompt of the Spirit, and she responded.
THAT’S the sort of intercession that
is needed! NOT the fake substitutionary counterfeit organised by man
and not by the Spirit, and that requires a building in some unholy
city!
It’s a pity Benny doesn’t understand
how his organisation should believe and apply Jesus’ words in John
4:21-24. God’s emphasis is away from buildings, away from
places, and away from everything that man relies upon in his
misguided religious activity!
Should You seek God like This?
Now we come to another fallacy, based
on half truth. You know, half truths can be more damaging than
blatant error. They deceive so effortlessly! Most simple people
can’t see through them. (And God’s people are, invariably, simple
and not sapient. That’s not to demean them, because Paul reminds us
that God calls the weak of this world. See 1 Cor 1:27.)
Benny Hinn is claiming that God told
him to set aside a day for the cancellation of debt. He implies that
if you send him some money, truly believe that God will do a miracle
for you, that He will cancel your debts by your involvement on this
day.
There is a common thread here with
the Catholic tradition which established a day in honour of a saint.
They diverted people’s attention away from God and His truth
and onto the saint who ended up receiving worship and selfish
prayers.
In this latest twist of truth,
people’s attention is drawn away onto money / wealth – albeit
very subtly. God’s truth on the subject of money is distorted by a
wrong emphasis, and simplistic exaggeration. See what I mean:
9th May 2009
Dear Partner:
The time is
nearing for our May 25 Debt Cancellation Day of Prayer, and it
is exciting to continue to receive the many praise reports of
God's move in the lives of those who decided to trust God's
supernatural economy instead of the world's precarious financial
situations.
[End of excerpt.]
It Sounds Good
Here is Benny Hinn’s article on this
subject. It contains some good points, but equally some bad ones. It
is a mixture of truth and error. It contains half truths – the mix
of truth and error giving a misleading impression and wrong
emphasis, just like Satan achieved when he talked to Eve in the
Garden.
OK? Ready? Here is Benny’s article
[my comments added at appropriate places]:
God’s
Supernatural Economy
“It is amazing
what God has done! I knew seed-faith giving worked, but
something truly remarkable has happened recently!” (M. Brown,
Corinth, Mississippi)
[Comment:
You don’t hear the whole story, just enough to give the
impression that what Benny is teaching is truth because ‘it
works’. But our interaction with God is not according to a magic
formula, but according to relationship. There are times when
God’s people are meant to suffer in poverty, exemplified by the
church at Smyrna which was physically impoverished; see
Revelation 2:9.]
“I planted a
sacrificial gift recently. What has taken place in my life is
beyond anything I could have imagined!” (T. Graham, Sydney,
Australia)
[Comment:
I don’t discount the miraculous. God does work miracles of all
kinds, including miracles of finance. We have received them
ourselves. But He doesn’t do such things in every situation
according to such a simplistic rule: just sow a seed of money,
and reap a harvest of cash!]
“We were frankly
overwhelmed... lost employment... challenges! It looked
impossible to release our faith as we planted our seed toward
debt cancellation, but we did it anyway. Since then, God has
truly worked a series of miracles.”
(B. Briscoe, Johannesburg, South Africa)
I wish I had more time and space in this e-mail
to share the amazing miracle reports that continue to pour in,
especially in terms of financial freedom, as we prepare for the
upcoming May 25 Debt Cancellation Day of Prayer!
Lessons in
God’s Supernatural Economy
The Bible has
many illustrations of His financial outpouring, including the
widow whose late husband had been in ministry with Elijah and
Elisha. She was caught in a terrible situation of debt and lack:
Now
there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the
prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is
dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord:
and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be
bondmen. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee?
tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine
handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.
Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy
neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when
thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and
upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels,
and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went
from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who
brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. And it came
to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her
son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is
not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.
Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go,
sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy
children of the rest.
(2 Kings 4:1-7, KJV.)
Elisha had replaced Elijah as the head of the
school of prophets, so it was not unusual that the widow of one
of the prophets-in-training would come to Elisha for help after
her husband’s death. She had been left penniless. The creditors
were demanding payment and were determined to take her two sons
as bondsmen if she could not pay. (Mosaic Law gave creditors the
right to claim children of the debtor who could not pay, and
they were then forced to serve the creditors until the next year
of Jubilee.)
A major financial crisis loomed for the family,
and God heard the cry of the widow’s heart. Elisha never asked
her for anything, nor did he receive anything from her. He was
simply sent to give her a word that would change her life
forever, for God saw beyond the woman’s circumstances, beyond
the actual and factual.
Elisha did not focus on the widow’s bleak
situation and what she did not have. Instead, he asked what she
did have. God already knew what she had — a pot of oil!
Impossible circumstances call for unusual
actions!
Elisha told the widow to do something that made
absolutely no sense in the natural. She had only one vessel of
oil, but he told her to go and borrow every container she and
her sons could lay their hands on.
Imagine what the neighbors thought!
Still, she obeyed.
She was willing to do the unusual.
She had nothing to lose.
She faced an impossible situation.
And look what God did. Imagine as she poured oil
into container after container until all the vessels were
running over with oil! Think how her sons reacted, for those
containers of oil meant that they no longer had to face a
lifetime as bondsmen!
Within moments, the widow went from being
penniless and facing the loss of her sons to suddenly realizing
that everything had changed. She was told by Elisha to sell the
oil, pay off the debts, and live on the profits! Needless to
say, she wasted no time following the prophet’s instructions.
Just a pot of oil and a word from God spoken
through His prophet Elisha changed everything. Her debt was
canceled. She had enough and plenty left over.
Impossible
Situations
What about you?
You may face
dire circumstances, but what do you have in your hands that God
can use to turn everything around?
That pot of oil
— the only resource she had available — became her secret to
success and financial breakthrough. [Do you see how the
attention is subtly being diverted away from God and onto the
physical?] It would have been reasonable and understandable for
the widow to say, “Wait a minute! I’m certainly not going to let
go of the last ounce of oil I have for a prophet when I need
that oil! [That’s twisting the account. She was not asked to
give Elisha any of it. Elisha
didn’t ask for anything,
not for one drop! But the account has been distorted to support
what Benny wants.]
Even after the
multiplication of oil began, she could have whined, “That’s all
the vessels that I have in my house, and I’m certainly not going
to embarrass myself by going around to all my neighbors to
borrow pots and jars from them!”
Can you imagine
if she had refused to act in faith? Instead, the woman used her
vessel of oil and did the unusual to move into the unthinkable.
Her faith and obedience made all the difference in the world.
That pot of oil
represented her faith, [no, the pot represents her life, and the
oil represents the Spirit; God’s Holy Spirit manifests in many
other ways besides faith] and her act of sacrifice was the very
act that shattered the grip of want and poverty forever. [No, it
didn’t. There was NO act of sacrifice in this instance. Her
sacrifice was prior to this – in the loss of her husband.] What
she did with it changed her family, her fortune, and her future.
What do you
have in your house? What do you have in your hands?
If you will pour out your faith, God will
use what you have.
[Benny means pour out your money to him!]
The pot is not
a gift, talent, or money — it is your faith. What are you doing
with that faith? [No, it’s not your faith; it’s your life. What
are you doing with it?!!]
Up to the point
when she talked to Elisha, this widow had apparently ignored the
pot of oil in her house as a life-changing resource. She was
worried about the bill collectors who were going to grab her
sons and place them into slavery. That is understandable as she
became more frantic, but in doing so, she was ignoring the power
of the Lord to perform a mighty miracle.
What about you?
Are you using your faith? [This is a wrong emphasis. Faith comes
from God as a gift. Does it come automatically from God to you
when you give money? Not necessarily. He’s implying that if you
aren’t giving Benny Hinn money, then you are not using your
faith. Do you see this subtle and despicable implication?!]
Releasing it? Or are you leaving it on the shelf? [Jargon such
as “releasing it” is misleading. It implies that you have faith
already, and so you have to give him money if you are to see
that faith appear. Naturally, you want faith. All believers want
faith! So, the use of such slogans manipulates you further into
giving money. Would you feel guilty if you didn’t? Some gullible
‘sheep’ would, and that’s very wrong!]
What is in your
house, your heart, and your hands that God can use mightily?
By expressing
your faith, God will begin to multiply, for faith always fills
the situation when you begin to give it away. And if you don’t
use your faith, it will wither away.
[This is true,
but it’s twisting truth in order to give a wrong emphasis, one
that releases money to him. When Peter and John gave God’s
healing to the lame man (Acts 3), they didn’t ask him for one
cent! That’s giving faith away! Why doesn’t Benny Hinn do
that? Why doesn’t he get on his faith vehicle, stand on his
faith platform, hold his faith crusade, and by faith let God’s
healing go free – I’ll grant him, he does that bit – and then
trust in God by faith to provide what he needs to operate?!
Because he doesn’t have that sort of faith! Otherwise he
wouldn’t be asking you for money. He can’t ‘release’ that faith,
because he doesn’t have it. So why should he suggest that you
release faith you don’t have either?! The money motive distorts
everything!]
God doesn’t
look at your circumstances. He doesn’t look at your talents. He
doesn’t look at your gifts and natural abilities. He looks at
your faith. Your faith is what pleases God. [He looks at more
besides. Faith is one aspect of your spiritual character that He
is interested in. He is also interested in what is in your
heart; whether you are self-centred or God-centred; whether you
obey Him above all else, like Abraham did. There is much Benny
Hinn does NOT teach! You’ll know what I mean when you read all
MM publications.]
[He implies
that faith is the substance that creates miracles. It’s not; God
is — notice the very subtle transition! God performs miracles,
1) according to His will; 2) in accordance with your need in
relation to His will in your life. Some of Benny Hinn’s practice
and teaching is OUT OF THE WILL OF GOD! To understand what I
mean you will need to read other MM articles written about Benny
Hinn and related matters, listed at the end.]
In fact we are
told, “Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that
cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Faith pleases
God! [Indeed! That’s what Benny Hinn and his entourage need more
than the money out of your pocket. But they don’t realise that.]
God’s
Miracle-working Power in Your Life
Faith also
moves the hand of God. [This half truth gives a very misleading
emphasis.] Jesus clearly taught this: “Verily I say unto you, If
ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this
mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and
nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20). [But he
doesn’t explain what the mountain is in that analogy. It is an
obstacle to God’s will in your life.]
Do you want to
see God’s miraculous hand in your life? It is time to pour out
what you have – your faith! [Further wrong emphasis. You cannot
induce God to perform a miracle according to your whim. You
can’t just decide YOU want to see a miracle, and think that YOU
can effect it by somehow ‘exercising your faith’. Either faith
is there for the miracle to occur – because God has put it in
you – or it’s not.]
Today is a
difficult, chaotic season as the world’s financial institutions
continue to crumble, yet God desires for you to step into His
supernatural economy.
As with the
widow, we are being called to pour out our faith, not hide it.
God wants you to put your faith into action, regardless of the
uncertain circumstances surrounding you. As you act in faith,
you will see results as Isaac did – from planting seed during a
horrible famine to receiving a supernatural abundance – and as
the widow and her sons did – pouring out the oil and watching it
multiply again and again!
We keep hearing
wonderful praise reports from partners and ministry friends who
release their faith [by giving money to Benny Hinn Ministries]
and are now seeing debts reduced and completely canceled! And I
want you, too, to step into God’s supernatural economy!
Now is your
time. Disregard reports of famine, destruction, lack, and
hopelessness. Your situation is probably not nearly as bad as
Isaac’s or the widow’s were, yet they stepped out. [Yes, but not
in the way you suggest.]
Step out in
faith! God cares for you so much. He hears the cry of your
heart. This account of the widow and her sons shows God’s heart.
He loves you so much. It is His will that you reach out in faith
for all He has for you. It is His will for you to have
abundance. [Why was it not God’s will, then, for Smyrna to have
abundance? They weren’t out of His will! No, sorry, Benny, you
are teaching heresies. Half truths can be heresies, too! If you
motivate people in a wrong way, encouraging them, however
subtly, to be selfish, materialistic, greedy, ambitious,
covetous, or prideful, then you are misleading them and leading
them into the devil’s open arms! He will steal away their
spirituality.] The Lord Jesus said, “The thief cometh not, but
for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they
might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”
(John 10:10).
Step out with
your act of faith. What is in your hands?
Get the “pot of oil” out, express your faith, and then watch
what God will do!
[Wrong emphasis and inference. What does he mean
“get the pot of oil out”? Doesn’t that sound like “get your
wallet out”? Earlier he said that the pot of oil represents your
faith. If that were what it is, then what if God puts faith in
you to go to Zimbabwe and preach to the down-and-outs? Then you
would be out of the will of God to give Benny Hinn money which
you should use to fulfil God’s purpose for your ministry in
Zimbabwe.]
God’s
outpouring and harvest are ready to be unleashed in your life.
You may feel as if you have only a little, as did the widow, but
what God can do with something that is precious to you will
transform your life forever!
I know that God
has specifically told me to share with His people that He wants
to deliver them from debt. That is why we have dedicated May 25
as a special Debt Cancellation Day of Prayer. That is why we
have been offering the best financial freedom teaching [giving
carnal people what they want to hear] we can provide on
This Is Your Day!
And that is why I am writing this e-mail to you. I want to make
sure that you are a part of this upcoming day of prayer.
“My
debt is canceled!”
It is time we
step out in faith. It’s time we start saying, “My debt is
canceled!” In fact, I want you to write those words on a card or
paper where you can keep them in view during the coming days.
Write it in big, bold letters!
Put a copy on your bathroom mirror, your office, the
refrigerator, and your wallet! [That is so simplistic as to be
heretical. Has he not read that Paul became poor by stepping out
in faith to do God’s will in his life? All because the
Corinthians did not respond as God desired. Was his problem that
he didn’t write his declaration down on a piece of paper and
declare it day after day? Of course not! Come now, Benny, don’t
be so dishonest with the Word of God!!! Or do you have
despicable ghost writers?!]
Then sow
bountifully as an act of faith, knowing that God will give a
bountiful harvest. Be bold. Be strong. Be courageous. Be
determined.
Don’t let debt
continue to be your master. Follow God’s principles for giving
toward the kingdom, giving out of your need, and targeting your
seed toward your debts.
Send your seed
and prayer requests today.
I will come into agreement [NO YOU WON’T! I explain why below]
with you on May 25, agreeing that your seed will trigger the
harvest for debt cancellation. And I can’t wait to hear your
testimony of what God will do in the coming days!
We know it is
“not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of
hosts” (Zechariah 4:6)...
[If you truly believed that it’s
not by human might or money, not by fiscal power and influence,
but by God’s Spirit, you would not write such a letter or
endorse it!]
Further Cajoling!
Another missive to remind you:
19th May 2009
As the hours
tick away toward our May 25 Debt Cancellation Day of Prayer, I
urge you to be part of this historic season!
God wants to
bless believers so we can take the Gospel to the nations during
these prophetic days. [Isn’t there a very subtle implication in
this, that God can’t bless you unless you do as he asks? That’s
manipulation.]
More than ever
before, it is time to stop thinking lack and poverty. [Another
manipulative suggestion – you are to blame for your poverty
because you thought it. So, stop calling a spade a spade; start
to talk differently and things will change for the better, just
because you imagined they would. This sort of teaching will take
many naive believers into deeper pits of despair, when their
poverty doesn’t evaporate and their debts don’t dissipate as
desired.]
The Lord Jesus
promises, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure,
pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men
give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete
withal it shall be measured to you again" (Luke 6:38). [Yes, but
Jesus doesn’t say it’s measured in monetary terms. God is in the
business of things of the Spirit, not things of the flesh.
That’s the primary emphasis, NOT material or fiscal matters,
even though God does deal with those in turn (Matt 6:33).]
It's time to
start thinking as God thinks. [It’s a shame you don’t think as
God thinks.] God's promises are true!
Protection,
abundance [spiritual abundance, NOT always physical
abundance], and blessing are yours because of obedience.
It's time to
break free!
There are
special seasons of anointing for debt cancellation. [Again, he
shouldn’t generalise the specific ways God deals with each of
His children. That leads to error.] This is one of them. If you
want to be part of this extraordinary season, trigger the
process by releasing your faith through sowing a sacrificial
seed toward the Gospel.
Release your
faith as you sow a sacrificial seed! I am asking you to send
that debt cancellation seed with your prayer requests in time
for your seed and needs to be included in the special May 25
Debt Cancellation Day of Prayer. [And if it arrives too late?
Does that mean you can’t receive God’s blessing at that time? By
such an implied suggestion, Benny Hinn is playing God, Who has
the times and seasons in HIS hands, not Benny Hinn’s!]
Prayer warriors
around the world are joining with me to agree with you for a
mighty outpouring of miracles on that day! [Oh yeah? So you
think you can twist God’s arm?! This is presumptuous and
blasphemous in its insinuations.]
It's time to
break free from the bondage you have been under. But it will
take a sacrificial gift to trigger your debt cancellation
harvest. Pray and give what God is directing you to give
sacrificially.
Declare "My
debt is canceled!"
Click below to
send your seed and prayer requests today. I will come into
agreement with you on May 25 that your seed will trigger the
harvest for debt cancellation. And I look forward to hearing
your testimony of what God does in the coming days!
We know it is
"not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of
hosts" (Zechariah 4:6)...
[End.]
Benny Hinn is clearly deceived by
this teaching. He doesn’t deceive others deliberately. He has been
misled by false teachers who believe these half truths. The
charismatic church is full of charlatans who have merchandised God’s
Word!
Truth On Prayer of Agreement
One of Jesus' most commonly misused
promises is this: If two of you agree on earth concerning
anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in
heaven (Matt 18:19).
Charismatic ministries customarily
send out letters encouraging their supporters to donate finance, and
at the same time, to send in written prayer requests on reply
coupons. The evangelist later prays over them (often in a public
ceremony on TV), ostensibly 'agreeing' with every request. The
outcome is, supposedly, that God answers the requests.
This is all a farce! How can the
evangelist possibly agree with thousands of prayer requests he has
not had time to read? And, if he hasn't read them – and therefore
can't know whether he agrees with them – his 'prayer' is merely for
show, a vain performance! What if some requests are blatantly
unbiblical? Should he be saying 'Amen' to what he should never
sanction or agree with? Would he be held accountable in the Day of
Judgement for these words if they are not righteous?
To anyone with any sense, this
practice of praying over a mountain of thousands of written prayer
requests is dishonest as well as farcical.
More seriously, what if the prayer
request offer is a clever ruse to persuade the respondent to part
with money? Like the Catholic Church did regarding 'indulgences'?
(Popes would claim that they could rescind penalties for sin upon
payment. They had a 'price list' for various sins. The worse the sin
was considered to be, the greater the price of the indulgence. The
practice was outrageously blasphemous.)
Even if the TV evangelist has no
deliberate ploy to extract money from people, is there still a
hidden agenda, subtly implied? One which links the giving of money
to the promise of answering people's prayers?
I would suggest to any TV
evangelist, who follows this tradition, to cease this practice
immediately. Apart from the above considerations, Jesus never meant
His words to be abused so.
Jesus was talking, in context, about
internal disciplinary matters in the congregation, to restore
harmony in order to be sanctified. Where two had previously fallen
out after one had sinned against another, unity could be restored by
following the procedure Jesus advised, and if necessary by
presenting the facts before the whole church (Matt 18:15-17). In
such a situation, where people can be reconciled and forgiveness
shared, the prayer of agreement in the church finalises the
reconciliation, which Jesus assures He will honour in heaven, even
if only two people pray. Thus, the whole assembly is protected from
satanic attack that can enter through disharmony.
Remember Jesus' words:
If you forgive the sins of
any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they
are retained (Jn 20:23).
The prayer of agreement concerns
spiritual discipline, not getting what you want from God.
(From The Bible Speaks, Vol
1.) Malcolm B Heap
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