Recently Keith has felt the need to write about the times we are in and how Christians should think and prepare for these times.  

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A healing community is a community of God's people, dedicated to Him and one another in love, that express that love by bringing healing of body, soul and spirit to their communities.

This of course should be a description of all churches, but sadly it isn't. Nowadays, healing is so often seen as an adjunct to the gospel, rather than an integral part. Jesus mandated us to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, liberate the demonized and more. This is all part of the good news. The problem is the vast majority of churches aren't as open as they should be to that idea. Thus healing and deliverance have been sectioned off by folk on the fringe.

The response of the majority of churches, when they see this fringe activity, is to run a mile. They don't want to get painted as the "lunatic fringe" (and it has to be said that some of what is out there is pretty loony). So they give credence to healing by having an occasional healing meeting or crusade (for which I find no Biblical support). Other churches try to bring healing back into the centre ground, but become a sausage machine.... you can't get healed unless we have a word of knowledge.... You have to fall over just when we shout loudly.... you have to submit to embarrassing and inaccurate proofs that you do have one leg shorter than the other.... etc etc.

The needs of the individual is lost to the needs of the sausage machine to produce results. The level of abuse towards those that are suffering in these churches is incredible. I have more than once been called to hospital emergency rooms to help the victims of these faith factories. Once I remember in England being asked by a hospital psychiatrist to visit his ward. There were three women, all recovering from suicide attempts, all doubting their faith and I'm afraid all from the same church! I spent an hour a day with them for two weeks, before they were all discharged with a clean bill of health. They all went on to other churches (following my advice), and all became useful members of their new churches, without reoccurrence of the depression.

What did I do, very little, prayed deliverance over two, demonstrated the love of God to them, and put them in communities (churches) where they would be truly accepted for who they were, and not for some idea of a cloned saint.

I must stress that when I talk of Healing Communities, I am not talking about "communes". The Communities that I speak of perhaps have a deeper commitment to one another than in most churches, and have begun to put that commitment into practice in their localities. This "one another" love naturally spills out in healing, meeting both spiritual needs and physical needs to those round about. the first is spiritual healing, announcing the gospel of reconciliation, this then moves on to physical and emotional healing, and then into healing within the local community, with community projects, soup kitchens etc.

The commitment to those in need who come to us is total... we will lay down our lives if necessary to see folk come to salvation and then wholeness. This is a words and deeds gospel, and is not for the faint hearted. it is a message for those who like me are fed-up seeing folk cast off by "nice" churches because they don't wear the right sort of clothes or sometimes they don't feel like happy clappy worship.

It's a message for those who have cried so much over pains in their lives that the need a touch form the Lord that will bring tears of healing and joy. It's a message that says we are prepared to give our all, that another may experience the blessings that we have. It's a message that we'd all like to go along with, but............

There are always buts. I don't try to be radical, but a little while ago, I decided that I'd cast the buts out of my life. It works! God blesses us with miracles every day. We see healings. But best of all the Lord takes us deeper into himself, and together we are healed.