Raising the Dead: One Man's Experience

By David Ryser

The worst defeat is never having tried to win.  (Dale Brown)

Recently a friend of mine attempted to raise a person from the dead.  I say “attempted” because the person is still dead.  My friend is the pastor of a small church in the community where the death occurred.  Two young teen boys were killed in a boating accident.  This pastor was asked to officiate at the funeral.  In the days preceding the funeral, he felt led by God to raise one of the boys from the dead.  Others in the church confirmed his impression.  Some members of the boy’s immediate family added their endorsement of his plan.  On the day of the funeral, my friend prayed and commanded the boy to be raised from the dead.

Later in the day, both boys were buried next to one another.

So what went wrong?

Raising the dead is part of Christ’s commission to the church.  Jesus raised the dead…at least 3 times.  He sent His disciples out to preach the Kingdom of God with signs accompanying them, including raising the dead (Matthew 10:7, 8).  In the book of Acts, both Peter (Acts 9:36-41) and Paul (Acts 20:9-12) raised people from the dead.

Raising the dead is a part of our commission as well (John 14:12).

You see, raising the dead is not just for the people in biblical times.  Dave Hogan ministers powerfully among the Aztec people in Mexico.  He has raised people from the dead.  Pastors and ordinary Christians, from the churches he has planted, have raised people from the dead.  There are stories from all around the world of people being raised from the dead.

So why doesn’t it seem to work for us?

Dave Hogan himself once shed some light on this while recounting stories of people being raised from the dead in Mexico.  In the course of sharing these testimonies, he added, “You do understand, don’t you that most of the people we pray for to be raised from the dead are still dead?”

What?!

I am reminded of something John Wimber said when speaking about the explosion of physical healing that changed the course of his life and ministry.  He told of the time when God began to deal with him to preach about physical healing and to pray for the sick.  For months he preached on the scriptures pertaining to divine healing and prayed for the sick.

No one was healed.

He took this situation to the Lord.  God’s response was to command him to continue preaching on healing and continue to pray for the sick.

He obeyed God.  No one was healed.

People began to leave the church, thinking their pastor had gone loony-toons.  Over time, Wimber lost half of his congregation.  He continued to preach and pray in obedience to God’s command.

Then, one day, people began to be healed.

Suddenly it seemed that everyone Wimber prayed for was healed.  The results were phenomenal!  A major healing revival broke out and swept the country.  Wimber became the recognized authority on healing prayer.  Asked one day what kept him humble while performing healing miracles, Wimber’s response was instructive…and powerful.

“Failure.”

I don’t know why some people remain dead when believers pray to raise them.  And I don’t know why some people remain sick when believers pray for their healing.  All I know is that we Christians have a commission from the Lord Jesus Christ to proclaim the Kingdom of God with accompanying signs and wonders.

And these include healing the sick and raising the dead.

And I’m reasonably sure that my pastor friend will raise someone from the dead before I do.  Because, to date, he has prayed for one more dead person than I have.  And he will continue to do so every time God leads him.

I don’t know how many people will be raised from the dead as a result of believing prayer.  But I do know how many will be raised from the dead by no prayer.

None.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Intimacy With God and Others: Getting Naked

By David Ryser

Reading the Bible, I am struck by how often God likens His relationship with His people to the relationship between a man and his wife.  Especially in the Old Testament, the biblical writers use explicit, sexual images to describe God’s passion for His people and His desire for an intimate experience with them.  Time and again, while confronting them with their unfaithfulness to their covenant with Him, God expresses His outrage as One who has been betrayed by an unfaithful lover.

And He uses language we don’t use in church.

How did I miss this?  In Bible College, and later in Graduate School, I had been taught that in the Old Testament God revealed Himself as a Lawgiver and a Judge.  The people of God lived under the Law of Moses, judged mercilessly based upon their obedience/disobedience to the Law.  A relationship with God was unavailable to them because Jesus had not yet come to pay for our sins and bring us into right relationship with Him.

What a crock.

The Old Testament records the stories of men and women who knew God, walked with Him, and experienced Him in intimate relationship…both before and after the giving of the Law.  And when God’s people broke their covenant with Him, He did not react as an offended judge.

He reacted as a cuckolded husband.

Intimacy in the marriage relationship expresses itself in many ways.  Among them is the physical union of husband and wife wherein they become one flesh and their hearts are joined together in a way that is denied to all others.

And this involves getting naked.

In the Genesis account of Adam and Eve, the word “naked” plays a central role in the narrative.  Or more accurately, three Hebrew words that can be translated “naked” are used to tell the story of the intimacy of the relationship with God that was lost when man sinned.  And how much God desired to restore that relationship with us.

And the price He would pay for it.

The first occurrence of the word “naked” is found in Genesis 2:25.  The Hebrew word translated “naked” here simply means “unclothed.”  The man and woman were created by God without clothing…and they were not ashamed.

Naked means unclothed?  Who knew?  What else could it mean?  I’m glad you asked.

The second incidence of a word that can be translated “naked” refers to the serpent, and occurs in Genesis 3:1.  The Hebrew word means “smooth” or “slick” and describes someone who is disingenuous or crafty.  We express this concept in our own language when we refer to someone as a “smooth operator” or as “slick.”

When we use these terms, they are not meant as a compliment.

The third use of the word “naked” is found in Genesis 3:10 (cf. Genesis 3:7 & 3:11).  Man has sinned.  Adam and Eve are hiding from God.  They’ve made clothing from fig leaves for themselves.  God is looking for them.  He cries out, “Adam, where are you?”

This is not a geography question.

God knows where Adam is hiding.  And what he is wearing.  And what he has done.  God’s cry for Adam is akin to someone who senses a distance in a once-intimate relationship and says to the other person, “I can’t reach you.  I don’t know where you’ve gone.”

Even if the other person is right there in front of them.

Adam’s response to God is that he is hiding because he knew he was “naked” and he was afraid.  This Hebrew word for “naked” is perhaps better translated “exposed” and carries with it the sense of guilt and shame that comes with such exposure.

It wasn’t sin that kept man from God.

Sin caused man to be separated from God.  But guilt and shame caused man to hide from God.  What would have happened had Adam not hidden himself?  What if Adam, in his sin and shame, had run to God instead of away from Him?

We’ll never know.  And it no longer matters for Adam.  But what about us?

When we sin, or fail God in some other way, do we run to Him or away from Him?  Do we try to hide and cover up what we’ve done?  What about when we sin against, or fail, other people?  Do we face up to what we’ve done?  Or do we try to hide and cover up our shortcomings?

And how will we ever experience intimacy with either God or with people if we hide ourselves from them?

Why hide from God?  Jesus paid an awful price to restore an intimate relationship with God (Genesis 3:15b).  Why would we run from this kind of love?

How many people do you know who would die just to hang out with you?

We will never know intimacy with God until we get naked with Him.  Turn to Him in our failure and shame…exposed.

And allow Him to clothe us with His love and forgiveness.

Likewise, we will never experience intimacy with people unless we become emotionally and spiritually naked/vulnerable before them.  In the New Testament we Christians are told to encourage, admonish, and pray for one another.  How can we do any of these things effectively when we are hiding from each another?  Intimacy with God, our spouse, and with other people requires that we get “naked.”

We yearn to be loved and accepted.  Just as we are…how we really are.  How will this ever happen if we are hiding from everyone?

If you want intimacy, you have to get naked.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Accidental Healing: God Don't Need No Hamburger Helper

By David Ryser

On my last trip to Barrow, Alaska, I relearned a lesson I should have had to learn only once…a long time ago.

My friend, Tim, was involved with a well-known prophetic movement for several years.  During that time, he noticed that genuine prophecies were often accompanied by what he calls “hamburger helper.”  This term refers to when the prophet/prophetess adds to the prophetic message.  It can be in the form of a clarification, or the addition of a timeline, or any of a number of add-ons designed to assist the one receiving the message to interpret and implement it.

Adding “hamburger helper” to a prophetic message almost always ends badly.

While ministering at a church in Barrow, I felt led by God to lay hands on a woman who was seated in the congregation.  As I did, she began to tremble.  I was inspired to say, “You’re in a lot of pain.”  I then prepared to launch into a prolonged blither-fest concerning emotional pain, and…blah, blah, blah.  But before I could say anything else, the woman’s shaking increased to the point where she fell out of her chair and onto the floor.  She remained on the floor for several minutes, shaking under the presence and power of God.

I thought, “Well, God started this…He can finish it” and walked away without saying anything else.  I’m glad I did.

Two nights later, the woman gave a testimony in the service.  It seems she had been suffering from severe pain in her hips that bothered her when she walked.  When I laid hands on her and said, “You’re in a lot of pain,” the power of God hit her.  She was instantly and completely healed of the hip pain.

And I learned two lessons.  The first concerned accidental healing.  The second was about not adding “hamburger helper” to what God speaks.

Accidental healing is a term I’ve coined to describe a healing performed without any intent to heal on the part of the person God is using to perform the healing.  This is not the first time this has happened to me.  When I was teaching at a school of ministry, one of the pastors of the church pulled me aside before a church service.  He asked me to choose some students to form a prayer team that would minister the power of God during the service.

Being the obedient fellow I am, I went about the selection process.

I noticed two of the students standing at the front of the church building interceding for the upcoming service.  I came up behind them and placed my hands on their shoulders to get their attention.  I informed them that they would be part of the prayer team.  Then I went about my business.

I didn’t intend to heal anyone.  Honest.

After the service, one of the students approached me.  She told me that she had become increasingly sick during the day with what she thought was a sinus infection of some sort.  When I touched her to get her attention before the service, she was instantly and completely healed of her sickness.

My intellectually and theologically astute response was, “Cool!”

The Bible records at least two instances of accidental healing.  In one instance, Elisha’s healing of a person is particularly notable because both the man and Elisha were dead when the healing occurred (2 Kings 13:20, 21).

OK, maybe that one doesn’t count.

But Jesus performed a healing on a woman who had been suffering from an issue of blood (Luke 8:43-48).  And He did not intend to heal her.  In fact, He was on His way to heal someone else when the healing occurred (Luke 8:41, 42).  If Jesus had not sensed the healing power flowing out of Himself and into the woman, He would not even have known that He had healed anyone (Luke 8: 45, 46).

That’s an accidental healing.

In the case of the woman in Alaska, the healing was ministered through a prophetic word, “You’re in a lot of pain.”  Had I gone on to add a bunch of “hamburger helper” about emotional pain and whatever else I was going to say, she very likely would not have received her healing.  My “prophetic word” would have been wrong, and she would have had no basis for the faith to receive a physical healing.

The whole thing would have been a mess.  And the tragedy would have been that it would have begun as a genuine word from God…followed by a bit of “hamburger helper” added to it.

Graham Cooke says it best when he observes that, “We almost never know what we are speaking into” when delivering a prophetic word to someone.  From experience, I can say that I almost never know anything about a person or their circumstances when delivering a word from God to them.  And I don’t need to know.

So why would I want to add something to it?

The fact is that once God inspires someone to speak, prophecy is really quite simple.  After receiving the message from God, prophecy requires only two other things on our part.

Knowing when to speak.  Knowing when to shut up.

How hard can that be?  Jesus summed up His entire ministry in two statements:  “I do what I see the Father doing” and “I say what I hear the Father saying.”

If we would follow Jesus’ example, I suspect we would more often see Jesus’ results.

So when we are going about our business as ordinary Christians (carrying and ministering the presence, power, life, and love of Jesus), we would be well-advised to do only what we see God doing and say only what we hear Him saying…adding nothing.

God don’t need no hamburger helper.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Ellis' Question: "How do I Fall in Love with Jesus?"

By David Ryser

“How do I fall in love with Jesus?”  The huge mountain of a man asking the question was genuine and sincere, his eyes pleading.

I considered my answer carefully.

I was in Barrow, Alaska visiting with a pastor and his wife who are friends of mine, and holding a series of meetings at their wonderful church full of some of my favorite people on earth.  We had been considering the subject of loving Jesus and having an intimate relationship with God.  Ellis approached me after one of the services.

“How do I fall in love with Jesus?”

Normally I am not a fan of “how to” questions concerning the things of God.  I am far more concerned with “Who” (God) rather than “how” (methodology).  Typically those who ask “how” are seeking a shortcut or a formula to operate in God’s kingdom rather than desiring an intimate relationship with the King.

This was different.

Ellis, an Inupiat Eskimo (as is about 90% of Barrow’s population), had been a Christian for less than two months.  Prior to his becoming a Christian, he was a notorious evildoer in the community.  I suspect that his behavior, coupled with his imposing and intimidating physical presence, caused fear in those who encountered him.  His conversion had caused no small stir in the town.

“How do I fall in love with Jesus?”

Ellis was a changed man.  He was hungry to learn about God and to know Him.  He was reading the Bible, exposing himself to good Christian teaching, and constantly amazed his pastor (and me) with insightful questions concerning the things he was learning.  His radically changed behavior was a testimony of his genuine repentance and conversion.

But he wanted more.

Ellis was not content just to learn about God.  He longed to know Him.  Deeply.  Personally.  Intimately.  He wanted to experience God.

“How do I fall in love with Jesus?”

There is no pat answer to this question.  Systems and formulas don’t work so well when it comes to relationships.  Bookstores are full of “how to” books on relationships precisely because they do not work.  Relationships are living, dynamic, and subjective.  Formulas are not.  The Bible has much to say about the necessity of loving God, but then portrays men and women having unique relationships with Him.

“How do I fall in love with Jesus?”

Ellis stood there.  The look in his eyes conveyed a desperate desire for an answer that would provide him with the key to unlock the mystery of experiencing a loving, intimate relationship with God.

And I did have an answer for him…of sorts.

Would my answer offend him?  Would it frustrate him?  Confuse him?  Would he understand it?  Would it help him?

“How do I fall in love with Jesus?”

I spoke finally, fervently hoping God would “breathe on” my answer and give Ellis the guidance he was seeking.

What was my brilliant answer, you ask?

“I don’t know.  How do you fall in love with anyone?  You learn about them and spend time with them.  Then, one day, you discover that you are in love with them.”

Ellis considered my answer, and then accepted it.  He was not discouraged.  Rather, he was more determined than ever to seek God.  I wondered how his search would end.

I didn’t have long to wait.

A few days later, on a Sunday morning, Ellis walked into the church building prior to the service.  He was anxious to tell me his news.  In the wee hours of the previous night, he had encountered God in a personal and intimate way.

Ellis was head-over-heels in love with Jesus!

He had experienced Jesus.  Not just as a Savior, but as a Lover.  He now knew and loved the One he had met less than two short months ago.  A look into his eyes and beaming face confirmed for me the truth of his words.

I rejoiced with Ellis.  His church family rejoiced with him and affirmed him.  As you might imagine, we had quite a church service that Sunday morning.

The next day I was at a restaurant with Ellis, his pastor, and a pastor from another church in town.  His pastor introduced Ellis to the other pastor and mentioned that Ellis had recently “met the Lord.”  I’ll never forget what Ellis said next:  “I met Jesus six weeks ago, but I fell in love with Him on Saturday night.”

Wow.

I left Barrow the next day.  Ellis was at the airport to see me off.  I communicate with him on a regular basis.  I’m excited about his relationship with God and about the wonderful plan God has for the rest of his life.  I am confident he will be an effective laborer in God’s kingdom because he is more than just a soldier and worker for God.

He is also a friend and lover of His.

I suspect Ellis is in for quite an adventure.  His Christian wife and his family don’t know quite what to make of him yet.  This husband and father is “clothed and in his right mind” spiritually speaking, and it is a big adjustment for those closest to the “new” Ellis.  But I’m confident he will be just fine in the end.  His pastor is mentoring him.  His church is loving and encouraging him.

And one day I’m hoping Ellis can accompany me on a ministry trip and tell the story about the night he fell in love with Jesus.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com