Devon Dick

A COUPLE of Saturdays ago, I watched a religious programme on a local television station in which the televangelist was making claims about a cloth he had prayed over and its effectiveness in facilitating good things. It reminds me about a letter Pastor Rawle Tyson shared with me some years ago, in which a televangelist who visits Jamaica regularly told people to get his prayer cloth for a certain amount of money and when the person had used it he or she should return the cloth to the preacher. This seems to me to be preachers using prayer for profit. There is no need to pay for prayer. People need to beware these prayer charlatans.

It is also becoming popular for persons to claim on local television that if you use their prayer techniques, then success is guaranteed. There is the miracle manna loaf; the prayer chain and holy water/oil from Jerusalem. What some viewers and Christians fail to recognise is that these are edited television programmes, which only broadcast the success stories. They promote those who get healed, job, money and have family relationships restored, but never relate the stories of those who used their techniques and did not get the desired answer. This to me is dishonest and misleading.

God says no

Nowhere in the Bible does it guarantee that anything we ask for we will get. If that was so, then God would be just a glorified gofer. But it is not so. Sometimes, God says no. Paul pleaded with God three times for him to take away the thorn in his flesh, but God said, "My grace is sufficient for you because my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor 12: 7-9). God, in saying no to Paul, was claiming that what Paul really required was grace to endure the thorn. In fact, Paul, reflecting on God's answer, realised that the thorn was necessary to prevent him from being puffed up because of the revelations he (Paul) had received from God.

Jesus prayed three times for the removal of the cup (Matt 26: 39-44) and it did not happen. What Jesus received was the strength to drink from the cup. Beware prayer charlatans who promise to give you the world through prayer. It is not so and do not give them your money either.

So, when we ask in prayer, we might not receive what we ask for or find what we seek or that particular door might not be opened, but what is sure is that when we ask, there will be some receiving, when we continue to seek, we will find something and when there is knocking, God will open a door for us. It might not be the exact door but it will be a door of opportunity. Every prayer request should end with the refrain, "Not my will but thy will be done."

Partisan prayers

Another thing we must be careful of is partisan prayers. After Portia Simpson Miller won the 2008 People's National Party presidential race, a pastor prayed and it appeared partisan for a public prayer. That prayer is acceptable for one's personal prayer life, but seemed inappropriate as a public prayer. It is similar to a recent prayer by the Reverend Arnold Conrad of the Grace Evangelical Free Church in the United States (US), which was said prior to the arrival of John McCain, Republican presidential candidate, at a convention centre. This prayer casts the upcoming US presidential election as a referendum on God himself and places McCain as a Christian and Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate as being prayed for by non-Christians.

Let us beware prayer charlatans.

n Rev Devon Dick is pastor of Boulevard Baptist Church and author of 'Rebellion to Riot: the Church in Nation Building'. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.