God delights in faith and mercy, not suffering and sacrifice. He does not need your pain to make him feel good. He does not need your sacrifice to enrich himself. He is glorified when he shows off his generosity, not when you show off your piety. The Faithless reverse this, as if we would bring shame to God’s name by receiving good things from him, and as if we could glorify him only when we suffer. They worship the false god of Suffering, rather than the true God of salvation and blessing, of love and peace, of healing and prosperity, and of signs and wonders.
By faith, Abraham received Isaac, and by faith, he figuratively received him back from the dead. When God asked him to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham was willing to do it, but at the end he did not have to sacrifice him. God was satisfied that Abraham was willing to make the sacrifice. Instead, God stopped Abraham from making the sacrifice, and from Abraham’s mouth came the revelation, “the Lord will provide.” God then provided the thing that Abraham sacrificed to God. God paid his own way. This foreshadowed the coming and the death of Christ. God made the sacrifice that he demanded. By Jesus Christ, God paid the price that he demanded from sinners in order to secure their salvation.
Follow the faith of Abraham. We should be willing to sacrifice for God, but we ought to receive his promises by faith, so that whatever we sacrifice we can get it back by faith. Abraham even received his son back from the dead. He received Isaac back from the dead in a figurative sense, because God stopped him from making the sacrifice. But if God had not stopped him, Abraham would have received Isaac back from the dead in a physical and literal sense, because God promised to make Abraham a father of nations through Isaac. The gospel is the good news that God sacrificed for us. Whatever payment God demanded for our salvation and prosperity, he made the payment himself.
A man is not doing God a favor when he dies with cancer or perishes in an accident. That is not serving God. That is not serving humanity. That is not helping family. You say, “My uncle died of cancer, and my mother was converted when she heard the beautiful funeral sermon. So cancer was the will of God, and it turned out the sickness was a blessing.” We are thankful for the one convert. However, you do not know what could have happened if your uncle did not die of cancer.
Suppose a Christian had visited your uncle and prayed for him in faith, and God healed your uncle. The cancer disappeared completely, and the doctors were astounded and called it a miracle. Then both your uncle and your mother were converted. Your uncle became zealous for God and testified to his family, and preached the gospel everywhere he went. He lived for several more decades and more than a hundred people were converted because of him.
Your uncle became an example of sound doctrine and holiness to his family. His son was deeply impressed and became an international evangelist. As a result two million were converted during his lifetime. That was what could have happened, or would have happened, if your uncle had been healed as the word of God teaches. But now your uncle died with cancer and he burns in hell. Only your mother was converted. She was converted not because of his cancer, but despite his cancer.
But the story did not stop with your mother’s conversion. There is no happy ending. Your uncle’s son became bitter and resentful toward God. He had to grow up without a father, and without the spiritual and financial support that he would have received. Previously he had not given much thought about God, but now he aggressively speaks against God to anyone who would listen. It would be another five generations before anyone in that branch of the family became converted to Jesus Christ.
An anecdote is not an argument. I can argue that a different scenario could offer a better outcome. You say, “Yes, but God ordained this one where the uncle died of cancer.” True, but I can still reply that God could have ordained another one where the uncle did not die and more than two million people converted as a result. Perhaps God did not ordain the cancer as a blessing to your uncle’s family, but as a punishment to send your uncle and at least five generations of his descendants to burn in hell, while saving only your mother as a lone remnant.
You cannot prove that the sickness was a blessing just because one person was saved. You cannot prove that the sickness was a blessing even if one million were saved, because if a healing had happened instead, perhaps one billion would have been saved. So the one million were a small remnant who escaped the curse that came from sickness, out of the one billion that would have been blessed due to a healing. You cannot assert that sickness is a blessing because you approve of the outcome. Healing could produce a much better outcome. But it is not up to us to judge the outcome in the first place. God is the one who judges whether something is a blessing or a curse, and whether one thing is better than another.
The word of God is the proper basis of judgment. God reveals himself as eager to heal, that it is his very nature and will to heal by means of miracle power. He promises to heal. More than a promise, God has made healing a fact by Jesus Christ, since the Bible says that he already took our infirmities and carried our sicknesses. All the followers of Jesus are commanded to heal the sick and cast out demons by faith in his name. The whole word of God testifies that healing is a blessing, and sickness is a curse.
God glorifies himself by healing the sick. Healing is what glorifies God. Sickness does not glorify God. Even if you think something good happened because of the sickness, if you had believed and followed the word of God, something much better could have happened. The outcome from the sickness would be a total tragedy in comparison. To say that sin is good because God can redeem the sinner and transform his life is to use God’s grace against him. Likewise, to say that sickness is good because God made something good come out of sickness is to use God’s goodness against him.
You can say that it was good your mother was converted, but you cannot say that it was good that your uncle died of cancer. According to the word of God, it was bad, very bad. It was a defeat, and a curse. God made something good come out of it, because he snatched a small blessing out of a curse, but do not delude yourself into thinking that the sickness was a blessing. In fact, you cannot know how big of a curse the sickness was, because thousands of people could have been saved if there had been a healing miracle. It is always better to believe and follow the word of God. It is always better to receive from God salvation, healing, prosperity, favor, success, prophecy, signs and wonders, and all other things that belong to us by faith in Jesus Christ.
God will pay his own way. He demands faith, not sacrifice. He wants us to receive his mercy and to share his mercy with others. Your suffering does not add anything to him. Be willing to sacrifice what God demands for the sake of the gospel, but understand that God never needs your sacrifice. Refuse to sacrifice something that Jesus gave his blood to purchase for you. Refuse to suffer something that Jesus carried in your place, such as condemnation, sickness, and poverty. God made a sacrifice so that you can have a blessing. You do not have the right to forfeit. Do not blaspheme the blood of God.
If you face a difficult situation, do not accept it as good and permanent. Do not embrace it as the will of God, but know that it is the will of God for you to dominate it and overcome it. Have faith and take action to remove any unnecessary suffering. It is Satan’s deception to use unnecessary suffering to make you feel like you are doing something holy and productive, when you are only being faithless and useless. Do not wallow in suffering or romanticize it. Suffering is not beautiful. It is ugly and demonic. Free yourself from any suffering that is unnecessary and pointless.
Non-Christians assign a stigma to following Jesus Christ, and because of their hostility toward God, sometimes they will attack believers. This is the only kind of suffering that honors God. Even then, much of what is perceived as suffering for God is often unnecessary. The suffering that supposedly comes due to faith in God very often comes due to people’s private religious traditions and political ideologies. They are not criticized for the words of Christ, but for their own religious hang-ups and for their political opinions. They incite more persecution than necessary by their own obstinacy and foolishness.
Some persecution might come from unbelievers, or those who acknowledge that they do not worship God or follow Jesus Christ. However, it is possible that most of the persecution will come from those who claim they follow Jesus Christ, but in fact do not believe in him or obey him. Be determined to follow Jesus Christ and obey his teachings even when there is a stigma associated with it. Many people do not believe in Christ, including those in the churches and seminaries. When you obey the word of God to heal the sick and cast out demons, or to prophesy and speak in tongues, faithless religionists will oppose you.
Refuse to suffer things that have nothing to do with following Christ, things like failure and depression. Refuse to let Satan bully you and think that it honors God to be sick and poor. Tolerating hostile circumstances with a helpless smile is not what glorifies God. Overcoming hostile circumstances by faith and action in the name of Jesus is what glorifies God. Answer the faithless preachers and theologians with a defiant shout. Suffering the works of Satan in sin and sickness, and then blaming your suffering on the will of God, is what dishonors God. This is what makes unbelievers despise Jesus Christ. Destroying the works of Satan in sin, sickness, and poverty, and then crediting your victory to faith in Christ, is what glorifies God. God delights in faith, mercy, and justice, not in stupid sacrifice. God delights in blessing, healing, and prosperity, not in foolish suffering. Refuse to be a religious chump.
There is a cross to the doctrine of faith and the ministry of miracles. There is a stigma that comes with the gospel. Sinners consider it unintelligent. The Faithless consider it unorthodox. This is the same stigma that Jesus suffered. The cross of Christ is not sickness or poverty, not tragedy or death. It is not failure and depression. The cross is opposition from those who are without faith, who are estranged from God and hostile to God, especially those who claim to be Christians, but in reality do not believe. The Faithless constantly say, “The cross we carry. The cross we carry.” But they are the cross! They are the ones making people suffer! They are the ones persecuting the people of faith.
The Faithless refuse to enter into the blessings of the gospel, and they teach others not to enter this life of faith and power. Jesus was talking about people like these when he said, “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” This is an appropriate question. How will they escape? What makes them think they will enter heaven? They say, “Through Jesus Christ!” But they do not believe in Christ. They reject what he says, and they persecute those who believe. They oppose the word of God on healing and prosperity, on prophecy and tongues, on the doctrine of faith and the ministry of miracles. And they persecute those who believe any of these things.
When Jesus had a dispute with the Jews, they claimed, “We are descendants of Abraham.” But Jesus answered that if they were the children of Abraham, they would do what Abraham did instead of trying to oppose Jesus and even to kill him. Abraham foresaw the coming of Christ and rejoiced. He followed the word of God, and he had faith for healing and resurrection. How could the Jews claim to be the children of Abraham, when they believed the opposite of what he believed, and did the opposite of what he did? No, Jesus said, their true father was the devil. They were the children of Satan.
In the same way, the Faithless claim that they are saved by faith in Christ, but they try to contradict and silence the ones who believe the word of God about healing and prosperity, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and the ministry of miracles. So how are they the followers of Christ? If they are the followers of Jesus, they would say what he said and do what he did. But they say the opposite of what Jesus said and do the opposite of what he did, and they attack those who say what he said and attack those who do what he did. How can we avoid the conclusion that they do not follow Jesus Christ, but that they are in fact the followers of Satan?
Shall we offer more leeway to the Faithless than Jesus offered to the Jews? Do we have the authority to do this? If Jesus said that the Jews were not the children of Abraham because of their belief and conduct, but that they were in fact the children of Satan, where do we find the authority to say that the Faithless are the followers of Christ, when their belief and conduct contradict Christ? Are we greater than Christ himself, so that we can offer such a grand amnesty, when Christ himself did not offer it to the Jews?
If they are true followers of Jesus, they would not attack the people who believe what Jesus said about healing the sick, praying with faith, and working greater miracles. If they are true followers of Jesus, they would not oppose what the word of God teaches about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, leading to speaking in tongues and the gifts of the Spirit, and all kinds of supernatural powers and experiences. But they indeed teach against these things with what seems like a demonic hostility and determination. So who do they really follow? Who is really their master? Who do they really worship?
This faithless and anti-Christ religion has been taught by the most respected ministers and theologians throughout church history, both historic and modern. Think of a name — someone most respected by men, someone most orthodox according to men. You can almost always assume he contradicted Jesus about these things. Just because many people have been wrong does not mean that you have to be wrong with them. As Scripture says, greater is he who is in us than he that is in the world. And if the church does not welcome the Spirit of God, then we must also say that greater is he who is in us than he that is in the church. Take up the cross. Carry the stigma associated with teaching healing and prosperity, victory and protection, praying with faith, and the ministry of miracles. Yet do not suffer passively. Fight back. The Faithless are the ones who should be ashamed. Produce a stigma for unbelief. Expose their errors and their false piety. Expose them as false teachers and false disciples.
In the days of Christ and the apostles, there was the stigma of faith and grace. The historic orthodoxy at that time favored legalism and tradition. In the days after Christ and the apostles, the stigma of faith and grace has remained, but the stigma of power and success has become even stronger. The historic orthodoxy in our time favors legalism and tradition, rituals and sacramentalism, but also unbelief and cessationism. It persecutes authentic orthodoxy with the same spirit of murder that drove the Jews to persecute Jesus and the apostles.
The Faithless teach a pagan piety that they pass off as historic orthodoxy. Jesus preached a gospel of faith, healing, and victory. He preached a gospel of miracles. But the Faithless teach a gospel of suffering. They teach a gospel of defeat and depression, a gospel of poverty and victimhood. They worship Suffering, and they are the ones who inflict most of the suffering against the people of faith. But God said he wants faith and mercy, not sacrifice. He has drawn a clear line between the true gospel and the false gospel, the followers of Christ and the followers of Satan.