The tragic story of little Charlie Gard has captivated the Western world. The 11-month-old boy suffers from a rare genetic disease. Charlie is blind, deaf, and unable to move on his own and is currently on life support in a London hospital. Charlie’s parents are seeking to take their son to the United States, where experimental treatment has been offered. They have managed to raise £1.2M (~$1.5M) for expenses related to moving Charlie for treatment in the USA. Yet, their desperate efforts are being blocked by the European court system. The London hospital where Charlie is a patient has sought and obtained court permission to remove Charlie from life support. An Italian pediatric hospital which is run by the Vatican, well known for its support for the preservation of life, has offered to receive Charlie into its care. Yet, Charlie and his parents are still in London facing his imminent death. The case of Charlie Gard has raised alarming questions about law, medical ethics, and the pitfalls of socialized medicine. Yet, the entire controversy surrounding Charlie could be put to rest by one thing – a miraculous healing.
There is no shortage of self-proclaimed faith healers in the world. Many of them are wealthy globe-trotting jet-setters like Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland. They claim the power to heal the sick and possess millions of dollars’ worth of resources to travel the world. Yet, none of them seem to be doing anything about little Charlie Gard. Todd White, who claims to be able to lengthen limbs and Todd Bentley, who claims to have raised the dead, are nowhere to be found around Charlie’s London hospital room. Surely if these globe-trotting faith healers possessed the power of God to heal the sick and raise the dead, then no court order could stop them. ttle baby boy like Charlie Gard doesn’t possess a level of doubt in his mind that would stop the world’s cadre of mind-over-matter faith healers from saving his life.
So where are these faith healers?
They are putting on conferences. Hinn, Copeland, and White are scheduled to appear the Orlando “Jesus Conference” in September. The cost of registration is $75 (no cancellations or refunds). Instead of going to the world’s poorest and most desperate, these supposed faith healers are charging the world’s wealthiest to come and hear them speak in sunny Florida. While little Charlie Gard dies, the world’s faith healers are selling tickets half a world away. They aren’t in Charlie’s hospital room because they can’t heal him. Their greatest power seems to be an ability to bilk bourgeois, healthy Americans out of millions. They are false prophets, false teachers, false apostles, and false friends to their millions of followers.
Thank God for the Lord Jesus Christ who has the true power to heal the nations, both physically and spiritually. This is a power with which modern day faith healers like White and Hinn are unfamiliar. Jesus Christ died on the cross as part of God’s plan to put the world back into its pristine state, before it was marred by sin. On the Edenic Earth, there were no genetic disorders. On the day when God restores Heaven and Earth, there will be no genetic disorders. For now, there are. Desperate sinners should throw themselves upon the mercy of God, in repentance of sin, and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Only then, through Christ, can they be restored to fellowship with their Heavenly Father. That’s the true gospel. It always involves spiritual healing and it sometimes involves physical healing in this age. However, the false gospel of the health and wealth preachers can neither save the soul nor the life of even a little baby like Charlie Gard.
Think about. There are so many people trying to help. American doctors are offering experimental treatment. Strangers are sending in donations. An Italian hospital is offering life support. The faith healers offer nothing.
*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
