HI Guys,
Well, I wanted to give you an account of what happened yesterday and, as
always, thank you again for praying. Actually, the idea of healing went
over really well. The people were open and reseptive, but, unfortunately,
the devil was there as well in a most unexpected way. I’d like to tell
you about it so that, maybe, you guys can help me sort this out. I’m just
praying that I can be completely objective in my recording of what
happened so that you guys can give the most discerning advice possible.
We have a woman who attends our church who is very unique. She is the
only black person in our congregation and she is also very, well,
pentecostal. Maybe I could say Charismatic, but I do make a distinction
between the two so I’ll stick with pentecostal. She’s almost 80 years old
and she has always been extremely critical of the lack of spiritual
activity in our church. To be honest, I agree with her to a point, but as
Vinny pointed out in a post on Saturday, we are talking about stuffy New
Englanders here. They don’t get excited about anything or show much
emotion in general so it isn’t just lack of spirituality, it’s cultural
as well. This is something that I myself have had to get used too.
Anyway, her history with our congregation has always been a challenge.
Dotty loves to talk about how she has overcome prejudice, yet she is not
above making comments like, "I love to make white meat serve me," if
someone offers to bring her something to eat in the fellowship hall. She
doesn’t drive, and never has, but our people are always willing to give
her rides and, in genral, be nice to her even though she can be outspoken
and a bit crass at times. She’s not very well educated and has a lot of
trouble reading so bible study is difficult, but she really understands
spiritual matters and she has a bold witness, which turns many people
off, but has also been fruitful. No one at church doubts her
spirituality, but, to be truthful, I believe that she is also one of the
reasons that people have been afraid to become more familiar with the
holy spirit. I think that they are afraid that they will become like her,
and they don’t want that. She can be so outspoken and critical and blunt
and, unfortunately, unwilling to change.
Dotty, is also the person who has said that my blindness is what is
holding this church back and, in the past, she has told Greg that I just
haven’t been healed because I don’t want to be healed and I just don’t
have enough faith. Okay, I think that the stage is sufficiently set for
what happened yesterday.
ALPHA is set up so that there is a talk, ours happens to be on video,
though it could be given in person, and then we usually break into small
groups for discussion and bible study and prayer. After that, we eat
together to build on community. Yesterday, we had the people stay in one
group. Greg allowed a little questioning, but we really wanted to move
into prayer. Remember, I had explained before that our people were
willing to talk about faith and the holy spirit, but hesitant to put
their faith into action. We didn’t want that to happen yesterday. Before
we could start asking about who would like to have prayer, however, Dotty
stood up and came down from the back of the church. She seemed, to me at
least, to have a combative attitude, as if we were going to argue with
what she was about to say. She wanted to relate her experience of being
healed from Asthma. She does still have other health issues, such as
diabetes, high blood pressure, she has had a hip replaced and she is
having some trouble with her eyes, but hey, she is almost 80, as I said
earlier. We can’t last forever. Anyway, she came down front and said that
she had gone to a healer at a pentecostal church and was slain in the
spirit for an hour and then was healed of her asthma. No one doubts her
story. It’s what she said next and the way that she behaved that was the
difficulty. She said that she was healed because of her strong faith in
Jesus Christ. When Greg tried to explain that God healed her for His
purposes and His reasons, she became really angry. She went to the back
of the church and started yelling about the problem with this church is
that we don’t believe in the holy spirit. Well, After that, a really
timid elderly woman said that she had been experiencing back problems and
could we pray about that, and we were off. The next woman had us pray
about her high blood pressure and she also asked about praying for me.
People were Eager to participate, all but Dotty who refused to join in
and then left, called her daughter to come and get her. She refused to
stay for lunch.
Greg and another woman went out into the parking lot to try to talk with
her, but she was really hostile. Later on, in the afternoon, she called
me up and started on me. She said that she had called her friends and
that she was right and I was wrong. I decided to try to explain again
what her statement sounded like to us. I had hoped to give her a chance
to explain herself better and, hopefully, clear up the misunderstanding.
I said that when you say that it was your faith that healed you, it
sounds like your taking some of the credit for what God did for you. Her
response was, "Of course I’m taking some credit. It was my faith in Jesus
Christ that healed me."
I tried to talk to her from a biblical prospective about how healing
isn’t that cut and dried and I think she was starting to see my point,
but then, her daughter started yelling and swearing at her to hang up on
me and Dotty hung up and that’s where it stands at this point.
I suppose that you are wondering why Dotty even attends our church. Well,
interestingly enough, the way that she tells it, this is the only church
that taught her that Jesus Christ is God. Other churches that she has
attended made a distinction between God and Jesus, God’s son as if, in
her understanding of the teaching, Jesus is less than God. Since I
haven’t heard what was said elsewhere, I can only go on what she tells
us.
Anyway, that’s the next chapter in our story out here in Glenburn Maine.
Our church took baby steps toward becoming more spiritual and it didn’t
go off without a hitch. I’ve left a lot out, but it was mostly attempts
at conversation and, to be truthful, I’m just a little tired right now.
Thanks again for your prayers, guys, through it all, yesterday was a good
day.
IN Him,
Kathy

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