{"id":3646,"date":"2022-01-07T19:58:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-07T19:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/?p=3646"},"modified":"2022-01-08T11:26:39","modified_gmt":"2022-01-08T11:26:39","slug":"sickness-and-the-church-faith-in-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/?p=3646","title":{"rendered":"Sickness and the Church, Faith in Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Bishop Anthony Holt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last couple of years our society has been crippled by a pandemic the likes of which hasn\u2019t been seen since the Swine Flu in the early 1900\u2019s. Now pandemic\u2019s, plagues, and other sicknesses are not new to humans; however, the populations and the way they relate to these issues have in some ways changed drastically over the last several decades. Vaccinations once upon a time were the driving force to stopping the spread of certain diseases, i.e., Polio and Rickets, children were required to be vaccinated before attending school. Today the world is a very different place. Today\u2019s society is filled with those who don\u2019t trust the Government, antivaxxer\u2019s, those who come from countries where the health requirements are governed by religious beliefs rather than health needs. This leads us down a slippery slope of where do we go from here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I am often approached with the clich\u00e9 of WWJD (what would Jesus do?). I know that he would have looked up to heaven and thanked his Father then Wala healing. The disciples were given the gift of healing, however many as we read had to ask Jesus why it didn\u2019t work for them. The response revolved around prayer and fasting. With this simple formula Jesus spoke of to his disciples, why then have so many believers in the church who have been negatively impacted by the pandemic, saddened by the state of our society and let afraid and vulnerable lose their way; where does that leave faith? The church has been for centuries the voice of reason, the place where the lost could find solace, the sick could get well and the downtrodden could find hope. Today I\u2019m not as optimistic as I once was. God\u2019s Word has not changed it is as clear and as powerful as it has been since it was first spoken. The people of God, well that\u2019s another story. I ask are preachers still preaching with the zeal and conviction as they once did? Or is it more smoke and mirrors of a watered-down gospel full of feel-good messages and hope for overwhelming prosperity,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sickness is nothing new, the church understood how to lay hands on the sick and pray for healing. The church also knew and stood on faith the \u201cGod\u2019s will be done\u201d. Divine healing was not to say we were all going to take up our beds and walk, it was a promise that a believer would be fine no matter what the outcome. Some were healed immediately such as with Peter\u2019s Mother-in Law (Matt 8:13), some later in the day as with those brought to Jesus who were demon possessed (Matt 8:16). Then there was Lazarus who died and was in the grave four days before Jesus raised him from the dead. What am I getting at? Death is a part of life; we all will face it. \u201cIt is appointed unto man once to die then come judgement (Heb. 9:27). The church has to understand that the scripture \u2018No Weapon formed against us\u201d \u2026 clears a path to understanding that we will face adversities, heartbreak and yes even death, but praise be to God the rest of that scripture confesses \u201cShall prosper\u201d (Isa. 54:17). The church moreover; the believer must come to terms with life as well as death. I am comforted by the words of the Apostle Paul, \u2026 \u201cto be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord\u201d (2 Cor. 5:6-8). Sickness is a product of sin, healing is a product of God\u2019s love. When we walk in love, stand in faith and trust God even while standing in the fiery furnace remembering he is always with us, \u201cLo I am with you always\u2026\u201d Matt. 28:20) we can face the life on life\u2019s terms. We can face tomorrow with hope and with confidence. Today my prayer for the church is to get back to prayer and fasting. Get back on the alter, and get back to knowing, really knowing that God is in control. I leave everyone with the comforting and uplifting edification of the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:38-39 (amp)where he states \u201cFor, I am convinced [and continue to be convince beyond any doubt]that neither death<\/strong>, nor<\/strong> life<\/strong>, nor<\/strong> angels, nor<\/strong> principalities, nor<\/strong> things present and<\/em> threatening, nor<\/strong> things to come, nor<\/strong> powers nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the [unlimited]love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am also convinced that no matter the state of this World, my God is still in control and in the palm of His hand. God bless you all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 Bishop Anthony Holt ICADC, ICCJP<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restoration Deliverance Ministries<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

President WV NAACP<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

District 1 Coordinator Drivers Safety AARP AZ<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WNTT Facilitator<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

480-316-9912<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bishop Anthony Holt Over the last couple of years our society has been crippled by a pandemic the likes of which hasn\u2019t been seen since the Swine Flu in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[120,35,226],"tags":[63,227],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3646"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3646"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3657,"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3646\/revisions\/3657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}