Lesson 20 The old guys.. the old healers weren't as careful; Vineyard guys are more careful.. saying God can heal, if He pleases.. but there's a problem with that, if you read like Jack Deere, Wimber.. it's pretty tame stuff, and you would have no objections.. if you listen to their tapes, they get way out on that limb, and make these broad pointed statements, like the old faith healers... there's always a tendency to be chaste when you're writing.. and you don't know who the real Wimber is, is the problem... remember the story.. where God calls this prophet.. deliver my message, and then come home immediately, don't stop and eat.. so he gets on his donkey and gets up there... and on the way back, a false prophet overtakes him and says the Lord told me to come to Egypt and to take you dinner.. and so the prophet says okay.. but after he eats, the Lord judges the prophet, and he's eaten by a lion.. the lion is standing in the street right over his corpse.. that becomes my dilemma.. who do you listen to? Knowing depravity, how do you say that this is a secondary prophecy? You never say that, you say the Lord said that this is the way it should be. gulp.. the practical application of the insight, how do I avoid the thought that it's not an opinion.. I don't know how to manage that.. and I guess, my real objection is not what's on paper.. my objection is to the extremes I've seen they go to.. that's judging experience by experience, we got to qualify that sucker.. the other thing is, how do I regulate it.. not that I want a regulated faith, but I want to avoid the extremes of deregulation.. you see.. that's where I catch myself.. I don't know.. I don't know quite how to manage it, basically.. ..word of the Lord is a pretty serious statement.. I'd rather say, you know, as I look at these things, it seems that.. then I guard my backside from litigation.. maybe the lawyer office has taken the prophet out of all of us, practically.. PRAYER: Our Father as we look at this movement, we thank you.. it's so much a part of us, and part of the issue, we want to be faithful to Holy Scripture.. and we want to try to be as objective as we can.. we do not confess that we are objective people.. we see through lenses.. at least we can recognize the lenses that we have.. and to be fair.. we pray that as we search the Scriptures, we might be like the Berean people.. we search it... we thank you our Father for our God, who is active in our world, and thank you that we can serve him with hearts of confidence that you will bring about exactly what He wills to do.. thank you that you allow us to be a part of your service.. we commit our hour to you, we seek your grace for us.. Father, we love you.. we want to walk with you... in submission and uprightness.. we pray our Father that as we reflect upon these things that it might help us.. we give our hour to you, in Jesus' name. Amen.