Garth George: Cancer billboard sucks them in

As on who has for nearly all of his life believed in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and who has sought to trust, obey and serve the Son for most of it, I know without doubt that Jesus, if he so wishes, can heal anyone of cancer.

But I cringe when I see my Lord's compassion and mercy reduced to a roadside billboard, as it has been outside a church in Napier - just as I cringe when I see my Lord reduced to a bumper sticker. And I shudder when Christians make specific and sometimes outrageous claims about miraculous healings, deliverances or whatever without any shred of evidence that these things are so.

In the case of the Napier church, not one whit of evidence has been produced to back its claim that Jesus has healed six people of cancer. One man, who admitted having had surgery and medication, came across on TV as having received only spiritual comfort from the church. In this the church is at odds with scripture, for when he healed a leper, Jesus told him to tell no one but to go and show himself to a priest who would confirm his cleansing and healing from leprosy.

Only under the threat of an Advertising Standards Authority complaint did the church this week remove the "Jesus Cures Cancer" billboard, but it has replaced it with one that says: "Jesus heals every sickness and every disease - Matthew 4:23".

How clever of them to use a Bible verse. It reminds me of all the other worldly businesses that resort to circumlocutions and half-truths to circumvent advertising standards - such as they are - and keep sucking in the customers.

Because this is what the Napier church is up to. It is a recruiting campaign, plain and simple. It says "come to our church and you will be healed, not just of cancer, but of 'every sickness and every disease'." Roll up and bring your wallets.

And, like the worldly advertisers, the church tells only part of the truth, for Matthew 4:23 reads, in full: "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people." That tells us what Jesus was doing then, at a time when medicine was more superstition than therapy. And while Jesus can still miraculously heal, he does not generally intervene in the vast and ever-increasing array of medical treatments and medicines we have available today.

God will not do for us what we can do for ourselves. Write that down.

Meanwhile, thank the Lord, the real Church - that body of born-again, spirit-filled believers who can be found in every denomination - is today stronger than it has ever been in this nation and is going about the Lord's work with commitment and vigour.

If this were not so, we would be in much direr straits than we are; the salt and light being spread in all walks of life by committed Christians is slowing down the putrefaction and holding back the darkness to which the powers of evil would condemn us.

They are not just to be found in the obvious places, the high-profile Christian charities and agencies, but in schools, hospitals, welfare agencies, the armed forces, the police, prisons, the courts, sporting organisations, every trade and service and in all manner of business. They beaver away quietly doing their best to show Christ's love by living exemplary lives rather than by advertising their faith, and spend hours in prayer on behalf of others.

This is the real Church , of which Jesus said: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

- garth.george@hotmail.com