Your Sins are Killing Your Children

"Do you need a healing?" is what the highway sign I passed asked me. Below that was the name Thurman Scrivner and the dates that he would be in town. When I got home I looked up Mr. Scrivner and discovered that he was your run of the mill faith healer. His The Living Savior Ministries website is full of testimonials from those he has "healed". There is a man who had both his legs crushed and a young girl with a severe peanut allergy. But the big one is his granddaughter Katlynn whom I will tell you about later. If you have a lifetime of free time to waste, you could also listen to his over 400 sermons either through the website or by having free DVDs mailed to you. Now I've never been to a healing and so even though I wasn't really in need of one, I thought I would go check it out and see what actually happens at these things. Naturally, I pictured the afflicted people on the stage in a state of rapture having their demons cast out and throwing away their crutches while they writhe in some sort of self induced ecstasy. This turned out to be much different from that, not too mention hugely disappointing.

Bart and I walked into the conference room at a hotel in Leduc, Alberta about half an hour before the show was to start. It wasn't a very large room with about 120 seats. Only a handful of guests had arrived and they were being directed by ushers to their seats. I noticed that they didn't really talk to people or question them. We were asked where we were from and that was all. We took some second row seats and grabbed a handful of DVDs from a back table. I found out later that 10,000 of these DVDs are given away every week! At first we were heartened by what seemed to be a paltry turnout but nearly all the seats were eventually filled. A few of the folks were there the night before and would perhaps be there for the entire five day affair. Then there was the music. A trio of musicians regaled us with song after song about how fantastic God is. This was tolerable for about three songs and I even enjoyed singing along and pretending to blend in. Several people around us had their hands in the air or their eyes closed, singing the words by heart. I soon began praying (pun intended) for the music to stop.

Just as I was about to yell "for the love of God, make it stop!" a local Pastor got a hold of the microphone and asked us to place our donations in the "seedvelopes" provided. With sentences liberally peppered with "praise the Lord", "hallelujah", and "amen" he explained that even though the message is free, getting it to the people costs money and that we need to reap what we sow. Hence, the "seedvelopes". Clever, no? The donation begging went on for about twenty minutes and then he finally introduced Thurman Scrivner. The 71 year old self professed man of God took centre stage and began his endless preaching. Three things became evident. 1. Our diseases and injuries are the direct result of our sins. 2. He believes that the Bible is 100% accurate and the absolute word of God that is not to be questioned in the slightest. 3. I was going to have a hard time not rolling my eyes, pulling my hair out or screaming in sheer agony. He told us about a trip to Norway where he preached for some TV show. He noticed that many of Norway's women were sick. Why were they sick? Because they were committing the sin of not loving themselves. He explained to the hapless Norwegians that sin is the cause of their woes and that they must repent. The Norwegians were not convinced at first but were soon swayed into repenting and the whole country apparently experienced a turnaround in the general healthiness of it's citizens. Cool. Funny that we didn't hear about that.

So really, the general gist is that if you or your child is sick, it's because you have sinned in some way. It's not hard to sin either. Such things as unforgiveness, not going to church, deception, having sex or children out of wedlock, having oral sex, cussing or not loving yourself can get you a one way ticket to hurtville. If you do these or anything else God strictly forbids you from doing, don't be surprised if you or your children suffer from disease or injury. It's your own damn fault, got it? Now it may take awhile. Since God loves you, he may let you get away with your sinning for many years before he strikes you down. He'll send messengers such as neighbours and friends who will gently remind you of your impending doom. You ignore these messengers at your peril. But it's okay, if you were a bad person and managed to sin and got yourself all sick, you have an out. In John 15:7 we are told: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." So it clearly states that anything we want we can have. Awesome! Dear God, please bring me Nathan Fillion. Hello? Oh wait. There are caveats. First you must believe. I mean REALLY believe. Faith is the absolute cornerstone to all of this even having a chance of working. Then you must figure out how you have sinned and repent for said sin. If none of this works, the healers have an out as well. Only God knows what's really in your heart, so even though you may be going through the motions, you don't really mean it enough.

We listened as Thurman recounted some of the miraculous healings he has performed and then he told us a heart wrenching story. Nine years ago, his wife of forty one years, his twenty four year old daughter, his three year old granddaughter and another six year old girl were involved in a head on car collision that instantly killed his wife and daughter and left the little girls fighting for their lives. So naturally people asked him what the sin was that would make God cause this tragedy. He thought long and hard and came to the conclusion that it must have been the weight his wife was gaining over the years even though he had warned her to curb her gluttonous ways. So let that be a warning to you. If you gain weight, heart disease is the least of your worries. So Thurman's granddaughter Katlynn is lying broken and near death. He says that the doctors told him that her brain stem was disconnected as well has her eyes. Her skull is fractured in five places, her face is cut and bleeding, her left knee cap is crushed and her right leg is broken in two places. She is being kept alive via ventilator and the doctors say that there is no chance of survival. They tell him that the best thing to do is tho remove her from the machines and let her die. Now, being a man of God with the strongest Faith ever, Mr. Scrivner is not accepting this. He tells the doctors that they are wrong and that his merciful God will fix both of the broken girls. He prays over them for hours and hours. Lo and behold, both girls make full recoveries to the awe and amazement of all the doctors who claimed it was impossible. You can watch Thurman recount his story on Sid Roth's "It's Supernatural" - Scroll down and click on Katlynn, The Miracle Child. Someone please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks Sid Roth is creepier than Freddie Krueger.

The entire time, the rapt audience in the room lapped up every word and yelled out the occasional "praise the Lord". I could tell they agreed with everything he said. It's in the Bible after all, so it must be true. At one point he asked the folks if they believed that God would punish them. Only a handful of people put up their hands. I mean God loves us right? But when he pulled up a Bible verse on the screen that clearly stated that God would discipline you for pissing him off, there was an uncomfortable shift of mindset in the room. When he asked one poor lady behind us if she believed it, she sadly mumbled "but I don't want him too." He asked "But do you believe it?" It broke my heart when she answered, "well, I have to now." I don't know what Bible these people are reading but have they checked out the Consequences of Disobedience in Deuteronomy 28:15-30? Yikes!

I got angry at one point when he told of a six year old boy who was brought into the hospital, he had been shot. The boy's mother asked Thurman to pray for her son's recovery. But it's not that easy. Thurman noticed that the woman was pregnant and asked her if the child was conceived out of wedlock. The woman conceded that it was. Well then, this is the reason that her son was dying from a gunshot wound. Truly reprehensible. There are dire consequences for having a mindset such as the deluded one that Thurman Scrivner and his ilk have. Look, here's some. Faith healing has been studied and people supposedly healed have been followed up on. There have been studies done on the efficacy of prayer. Guess what, none of it has any evidence to support the claims. It doesn't work. It's a fairy tale.