Resurrection Power

Enjoy the podcast

 

This is what happens when people actually buy into the crazy notion of resurrection. Honestly, we can’t blame them. They are victims of a system that caters to the strongest existential angst of the weakest minds that are ill-equipped to distinguish reality from wishful thinking and fantasy. These people committed the high crime of believing what they were told by people who were supposed to be representatives of their god.

Have you ever wondered what faith in resurrection actually looks like when practiced in real life? The next couple of stories are going to illustrate just that:

Prayers for ‘resurrection power’ as Bethel worship leader’s toddler dies

https://www.premierchristianradio.com/News/World/Prayers-for-resurrection-power-as-Bethel-worship-leader-s-toddler-dies

Bethel worship leader Kalley Heiligenthal has said she is praying for “resurrection power” as her daughter Olive died over the weekend.

She shared in an Instagram post saying that the 2-year-old didn’t wake up from her sleep on Saturday.

The first thing I want to briefly point out is that this is not some tiny church with a handful of misfits. This is real Christianity practiced in one of the largest churches in the world. Weekly attendance is upwards of 10,000. The person who is the focus of the article is not just one of those nameless members, but a worship leader. In a church like Bethel which has its own music label, worship leader is one of the most important kinds of leaders they have.

I am emphasizing this because what a lot of Christians like to do is dismiss this sort of story as something that is out there on the fringe of Christianity. But this is not the fringe. This is the fattest of the fat middle. This is as mainstream as it gets. I am not saying that it is the only form of mainstream Christianity. But it is most certainly mainstream. And I know of few Christians willing to say that Bethel is in any way apostate.

I was also drawn to the fact that in her hour of need, she went to Instagram, a modern social media site that focuses on smartphone pictures. She is pretty fortunate with her 10s of thousands of followers. Her personal church is bigger than Bethel. She can call together a worldwide prayer army that should be able to get the job of resurrection done. But what about the average person in the world who does not have all that? Do they get a resurrection? Does it really take all that? How exactly does she think this works. Inquiring minds want to know. The story continues with her direct call to action:

“We’re asking for prayer,” she said. “We believe in a Jesus who died and conclusively defeated every grave, holding the keys to resurrection power. We need it for our little Olive Alayne, who stopped breathing yesterday and has been pronounced dead by doctors. We are asking for bold, unified prayers from the global church to stand with us in belief that He will raise this little girl back to life. Her time here is not done, and it is our time to believe boldly, and with confidence wield what King Jesus paid for. It’s time for her to come to life.”

This is one of those statements that starts out mostly sane, then starts to slip, a little at first, then dramatically. It is a simple call for prayer. Fine. But prayer for what? Lots of people find it comforting to believe that they are being prayed for by thousands in their time of grief. But this wasn’t the request at all.

It is followed up by a statement that Jesus defeated every grave. This is a strange formulation. But we can go with it. Jesus conquered death. Fine. But she is rather more specific. Jesus did not just defeat death in general, but every grave specifically. Acknowledging that Jesus is holding the keys to resurrection power, she reveals that she needs some of that for her toddler who stopped breathing the day before.

At this point, I have to wonder how all this works in her mind. The world is filled with graves for which Jesus holds the individual keys. Why does she supposed all those other people stubbornly remain dead in their graves? Do they not know about these keys? Did they have no loved ones who bothered to ask for their resurrections? And how does she supposed these graves get unlocked? How many Instagram followers does it take to unlock one of these graves?

The most interesting part of her call to action is that she says it is time to confidently wield what king Jesus paid for. It is time for her daughter to come back to life. Somewhere in here faith, she believes that Jesus paid for resurrection in this life. She believes Jesus left us with the power to do this. And she is calling for it to be used for her daughter. I don’t know of many Christians who believe this. But her Instagram feed is flooded with the well-wishes and statements of faith from people who seem to think as she does.

I also find it interesting that she has only decided to take up this power that king Jesus paid for when her daughter died. I am sure that she has known of the deaths of other little girls like hers. But those were not occasions fit for the resurrection power paid for by king Jesus. Those events were tragic, heartbreaking, and required prayers for the comfort of the family. I’m sure she has offered many tear-jerking songs to help people with their grief in such moments.

But when it is her daughter, bump that noise. Don’t come to her with songs and flowers and casserole baskets. Save that stuff for the masses. Who do you think she is? She is the worship leader at one of the biggest mega churches in the world. She deserves no less than a resurrection for her loved one. And if your faith is worth spit, you will spend it on helping her raise her kid from the dead.

It strikes me that some of the people from which she is requesting prayer have also suffered recent losses. Why does her request not cover them as well? Why isn’t she calling for the resurrection of all lost loved ones, at least all of those among her followers? Why aren’t the people praying for her not demanding some of this resurrection power for themselves? This all feels rather self-centered. And if this is how her god works, then her god is a dick. Screw that guy!

Note that this madness is not just the throws of a grieving mother. She is joined by the whole church and leadership team:

Bethel Church asked for the “global church to join with them in prayer and in declaring life and resurrection” over Olive.

The church added: “Our God is the God of miracles, and nothing is impossible for Him!”

Jenn Johnson, co-founder of Bethel Music, shared a video of the church passionately worshipping with the song ‘Way Maker’ by Sinach. She used the hashtag #WakeUpOlive.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6H1rotHwjY?utmsource=igembed&utmcampaign=embedvideowatchagain

In the video, people are jumping around like animals at a zoo. This looks more like a cult than a church. But this is in fact the Christian church. They are calling for this little dead girl to wake up as if she were merely asleep. And how did they get such an impression? They read, or more likely just heard a bible story told to them from the pulpit.

Unfortunately, they missed some of the details in the story. When Jesus raised the dead girl, there were no public, dramatic histrionics. He just went into the room with the parents and a couple of his disciples and simply said, “Get up little girl.” That was the whole thing. He even instructed them not to tell anyone. There was to be no posting on Instagram.

So even if I was still a Christian, I would call it then what I call it today: Bat, Shit, Crazy!

Woman keeps dead body six months

Woman believed she could pray her husband back to life

http://www.thehorrorzine.com/Odd/Body/BodyInHouse.html

(Reuters) Dec 4, 2014 — A Canadian family lived with a corpse in their upstairs bedroom for six months because they believed the deceased man would be resurrected if they prayed, but the body was discovered when the family was evicted for not paying the mortgage.

It seems like we should be able to just stop there and call it a day. But the story gets so much worse.

Peter Wald, 52, died of what authorities believe were natural causes following a foot infection linked to his diabetes, defense lawyer Peter Boushy said.

What this story fails to mention is that the reason he died from diabetes complications is that he refused to see a doctor and take medication. Instead, he was counting on god to heal him. You will find this detail in other versions of the story. At least they were consistent.

The first failure of their faith is that he got diabetes in the first place. The second failure is that his faith failed to heal him of the disease. This might shake the faith of most people. But not this woman. She triple-downed with her faith that he would be raised from the dead. Look at all the cognitive dissonance she had to push through to get to that point. The god who didn’t protect him from getting the disease also didn’t keep him from dying from that disease. That is the god she is counting on to raise him from the dead. One wonders how such a mind even works. It gets worse:

I’m not going to read out the rest of this horrendous story. But I invite you to read it and see just how bottomless the well of religious crazy can be.

As you read it, you will notice that it wasn’t just her. She had a full quiver of 6 kids, five of them living in the house along with a host of other adults. They all knew the corpse was up there. She had to tape off the ducts to prevent the smell of decomposition. I believe the youngest of the children in the house was 11.

It should come as no surprise that it was the bible that inspired her to this madness. She cited the story of Lazarus as the reason for her faith that this resurrection would happen. Her family was ultra-religious. They did street ministries from their van. They were seen chanting in the back yard after the death as in some kind of ritual. And still, the story gets worse:

After her husband slipped into coma, she continued to sleep next to him in their bed. She only stopped when she noticed bloating and signs of rigor mortis. After she sealed him in the bedroom, the family prayed for his resurrection.

How long would a sane person sleep with a dead person? How long does it take for a person to get the point that god isn’t going to rush in on a flaming chariot and save the day. The longest time someone was reported dead before being raised in the bible is four days. And it only took one prayer and a single command for the dead to come back.

Shall we check in with the lady from our first story? Her prayer vigil is still going. Her latest post in Instagram reads as follows:

Day 5 is a really good day for resurrection.

I’ve never been more grateful for Jesus. He is endlessly worthy of our love, trust, faith and risk.

She thinks day 5 is a really good day for resurrection. She should try the Canadian plan. That one requires at least 6 months. She’s just getting started.

Bat, Shit, Crazy!

David Johnson