Authority As Sons

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

The Bible speaks about authority in a number of places, but it begins with our position. The reason we have the right to wield God’s authority is our Sonship (Romans 8:16)—not just as ones who have been adopted in, but legitimate children, made so by Jesus Christ. When Paul spoke to the Romans about adoption, he knew they understood the permanent and irreversibly binding rights and authority a child received when he or she was adopted, but when he wrote to the Jews he was not speaking about adopted children, but rather that we are born from above and are new creations with God’s DNA within us. Jesus spoke the same to Nicodemus, saying he must be re-born from above (John 3:5-8). As legitimate children, we have all of the rights and responsibilities of God’s heirs; we are heirs alongside Jesus (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:7).

To understand what this means influences both how we use authority and how we live in general, so we need to grasp what the Bible says about sonship with God. Galatians 4:1-2 explains it like this, “What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.” In other words as God’s children, we have to have others watch over us—and not just other believers, but Holy Spirit and even the angels to help us grow into maturity. In the same way that we wouldn’t let a three year old have full reign of the house, likewise God doesn’t necessarily give us everything without some limitations early on. This isn’t to keep us from things, but to safeguard us until we mature.

This idea holds true when studied out in the scriptures. The New Testament uses a few different words that usually translate as “child”—the words nepios, teknon, and huios. A nepios son is basically an infant or young child and needs constant supervision. A teknon child is like those mentioned in Galatians 4:1-2 above—one who still needs an authority figure to watch over him and help him with daily affairs, but who is no longer a baby. A huios son (or daughter) has become a mature member of his household and is able to wield the full authority he possesses as an heir.

To understand our authority and role as believers we need to know the difference between nepios, teknon, and huios sons. Not all the verses in the Bible that refer to sonship and being children of God can be read the same way. 1 Corinthians 13:11 says, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” The word child here refers to a nepios son—one who is literally a baby and is extremely childish in his ways. Romans 8:16-17 says that we are teknon sons of God, who are older but still need assistance. The verses state, “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” The point I believe Paul was making here was that as immature sons and daughters of God that we are still heirs—not having yet inherited the fullness, but that Holy Spirit resides within us and marks us with God’s seal, designating us as His children for all time and allowing us the legal right to inherit the fullness He has planned for us. This is as differentiated from a huios son, which Paul mentions only two verses prior. Romans 8:14 says, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” The word children here is better translated as mature children or mature sons/daughters of God. Even Jesus, when it states that he is God’s only begotten son (John 1:18, 3:16, 3:18; 1 John 4:9), is referred to as a huios son.

Those huios sons and daughters, led by God’s Spirit, are brought into maturity and are able to wield their authority as heirs of God’s estate, and His estate extends beyond the earth into the entire cosmos, even the heavens. (Faith To Raise The Dead, pp 81-83)

The above text is an excerpt from my book Faith To Raise The Dead. I hope it has encouraged and brought clarity to you regarding our authority as God’s children. To learn more, click on the link above or the image below.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label=”Code”]<script type=”text/javascript” src=”https://app.getresponse.com/view_webform_v2.js?u=B40ZB&webforms_id=6653905″></script>[/et_pb_code][et_pb_comments admin_label=”Comments” show_avatar=”on” show_reply=”on” show_count=”on” background_layout=”light” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” custom_button=”off” button_letter_spacing=”0″ button_use_icon=”default” button_icon_placement=”right” button_on_hover=”on” button_letter_spacing_hover=”0″] [/et_pb_comments][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

Faith To Raise The Dead — The Book Is Out!

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”]

Hey Friends of Eden!

I am super-excited to announce the official launch of our new book Faith To Raise The Dead. This book is designed to help the Body of Christ grow in our understanding of the abundant life Jesus purchased for us. Of the 6 books I have written so far, I am the most excited about this one because I believe God is going to use it to renew hearts and minds to engage His goodness on a deeper level and to encourage faith to raise the dead, heal the sick, and much more!

We will also be doing a drawing for three Resurrection t-shirts on Friday, April 21st via Facebook Live at 6pm PST so be sure to follow along. Just forward your confirmation email to: faithtoraisethedead@gmail.com. Your name will be added to the list and we will draw it Live on the
21st. If anyone who does not win the drawing still wants a shirt, we will provide information on how to get one at that time.

The back cover of the book is as follows: When Jesus walked the earth, he taught his disciples many things, but he only commanded them to do a few: Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons” (Matthew 10:8a). Raising the dead is a pivotal part of Christianity—without resurrection, it wouldn’t exist. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:20 that, “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died” (New Living Translation).

This book answers the challenge to those commands and to raise up an army of believers—followers of Jesus who are ready to reap the great harvest of all who have died. Through scripture it lays a groundwork of understanding for this miracle, then follow up with practical steps and hard-earned wisdom. God doesn’t need someone special to raise the dead—He needs someone willing. And if this is you, then join the journey to reveal Faith To Raise The Dead.

US Paperback: http://amzn.to/2nX3HHD

US Kindle: http://amzn.to/2nXgdqm

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06Y4CG9BF/

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Faith-Raise-Dead-Abundant-Life-ebook/dp/B06Y4CG9BF/

The Cognitive Dissonance of Not Raising the Dead

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”]

I like to think of myself as a fairly logical person, so when I witness things that don’t seem to line up, I always find it strange. As followers of Jesus, the one thing that differentiates us from every other belief system isn’t dealing with sin. Lots of belief systems have either ways to deal with sin, don’t believe in sin, or value darkness as part of a balanced duality. The singular notable difference between our beliefs and that of others is resurrection in the here-and-now, so I find there to be cognitive dissonance when raising the dead is not an automatic go-to for believers when people die.

Think about it–even atheists who may not have a particular belief about afterlife will immediately attempt CPR on someone who has just died in an attempt to bring them back. As a nurse, I have been rigorously trained in exactly what to do when someone suddenly dies, and I received this training for one reason and one reason only: to bring them back. And let’s face it–if restarting a dead person’s heart and breathing isn’t a form of resurrection, I don’t know what is because at the point their heart stops, they’re dead. If we do nothing, they will never live again, yet if we do something they may come back.

Medical professionals all across the WORLD follow this as a natural part of their daily work whether EMS, Doctors, Nurses, or other support staff. Many companies also pay to have their employees trained in CPR in case someone dies. So why not the church? Why is it an abnormal thing to teach and train people to raise the dead? Why is it unusual when someone wants to spend a few days praying for the dead to return to life instead of rushing to plan a funeral? Honestly, this boggles my mind.

I suggest the Church needs a new way of doing things. As I see it, we are currently far behind even just modern technology in our ability (or lack thereof) to deal with death, and for those who are empowered by the Creator God of the entire universe this simply shouldn’t be so. How do we correct this then? I suggest it starts by recognizing that we are doing something wrong. This isn’t a shame and blame sort of thing, but we need to understand that we truly don’t grasp God’s plans for our lives. When we acknowledge we are falling short in this area, then we can seek a solution. What is the best solution? Learn about abundant life. Learn about God’s power to raise the dead. Learn about the will of God to destroy the power of death and destruction.

I have included a series of resources below to help you shift your thinking and learn to raise the dead. The Raise the Dead Initiative is a project I started to help grow the Body in this area, and I am in the process of developing teaching curriculum to train believers to pray for and raise the dead. Additionally, Tyler Johnson is an awesome man of God and good friend who regularly teaches Resurrection Schools to help transform our understanding on the subject of resurrection life. He has Dead Raising Teams around the world who are ready to mobilize in their area to release the abundant life of Jesus Christ. If you want to grow quickly in this area, I highly recommend five things:

1. Sign up for our Raise the Dead Initiative mailing list here to receive updates including my upcoming book Faith To Raise The Dead.

2. Join the RDI on Facebook here: Raise the Dead Initiative Group

2. Look at how you can host or attend a Resurrection School in your area. Contact Tyler Johnson via his website at http://www.oneglance.org/ to arrange the event.

3. Buy Tyler’s books How to Raise the Dead and The Dead Are Raised, and Father Hebert’s book Saints Who Raised The Dead

4. Watch/listen to David Hogan’s YouTube Series on the subject of Raising the Dead: Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Session 4

5. Look for and actively engage opportunities to raise the dead in your area.

When Do I Quit Praying to Raise the Dead?

The following is a book excerpt from my book Practical Keys to Raise the Dead, in the chapter titled “When Do I Quit Praying?” The book addresses real-life issues that come up when a loved one dies and we pray to raise them from the dead.

“The whole stopping praying thing is difficult to communicate clearly in writing because it is so situational. It is hard to know when (or if) to stop actively pursuing resurrection, and the ‘when’ will vary for each situation. Part of what makes the idea of ceasing a prayer attempt difficult is that the God of the Bible is the God of the living and it is always His will for everyone to be raised, every time, period. As such, there is never technically a “right time” to stop from a theological standpoint, but there may be one practically. The best I can do is give you some guidelines and ask questions that should help you to make the wisest decision possible for your circumstances.

Do you have the time to keep going? If you stop other things in your life, how long can you keep that up until it causes problems that will be hard to recover from whether the attempt fails or succeeds? For example, this may involve taking time off work. If the attempt fails and you keep taking time off work such that you lose your job, you may be in far more hot water than just losing your loved one. On the other hand, if losing your job is what it takes to get your loved one back, it may well be worth it. If it were my wife or grandchild and all I had to do was give up my job to get them back, it would be an easy decision to make—but there are no guarantees. You may be able to use provisions under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to take unpaid time off during this period while keeping your job legally protected on your behalf. Talk to wise counsel and get advice on the best way to approach this issue for your unique situation.

Do you have the money to keep going? Financial considerations are a hard, cold, and very real part of this issue. Often the resurrection attempt involves paying for the body to be housed somewhere. If you have to borrow the money, how long will it take you to recover financially if the attempt fails? I don’t recommend you gamble on “if it works then I will be fine.” The truth is it might not work, and wisdom makes a plan based on the worst scenario, not the best one. If you blow through money in a few weeks that will take you a decade to recover from (depending on your financial situation), that may be a poor decision. Your attempt to walk in faith will put you under financial bondage. On the other hand, God may lead you to do exactly that and then provide the means for you to come out from the bondage to debt, with a resurrected loved one to boot! God is not limited by money troubles, so you don’t have to be either, but this is still a very real consideration, and there is no shame in deciding it is simply something you cannot manage. Again, this is a situational thing you will have to decide (and live with the decision). Wise counsel is recommended.

Another question to consider is are you actually standing in faith, or has this moved into denial? It is legitimately possible to couch denial in “faith” terms. In other words, you may have shifted away from believing the person is going to return, but you are having trouble coping with the loss and don’t want to deal with it. The longer you try to raise him, the longer you can push the unpleasant grief away. This is unwise and is probably a good reason to stop—at least for a season. Under such circumstances, the attempt has probably gone on for weeks already, not just a few hours or days, and you may need to work on finding a way to move on. I don’t say this to suggest that grief means you need to stop, but if it has become unhealthy, it may be time to go forward with your life.

Is the body even still there? If the body has been buried, I personally recommend you stop. This sounds like a strange piece of advice, but I know of multiple situations where people are trying to raise their beloved years and years after the fact. It can get to the point where it becomes an unhealthy obsession, completely halts the grieving process, and is essentially detrimental not just to you but to those around you. When you are emotionally paralyzed to the point where you cannot get past the fact that the person is dead and the attempt failed so you keep trying, you are most likely being bound by demons who intend to keep you in denial and/or grief, and this doesn’t bode well for your future. In this case it shortchanges your own life because you are so focused on trying to continually bring the person back that you don’t live an abundant life of your own. I am not saying this applies if it is hours or days after the fact, but if you are months or years later still trying to raise someone and it is sucking the life out of you, this is a good indicator that you need to get help to move on.

Practically speaking, if the body is buried underground, for the resurrection to succeed the body will have to be both supernaturally translocated to an aboveground location and simultaneously resurrected. We don’t typically have crypts or tombs that someone can climb their way out of if he returns—he will have to break out of a coffin in a sealed vault beneath a layer of dirt in the middle of an otherwise uninhabited field. And while God is the God of the impossible and *can* do anything, there comes a point where you do have to move forward on some level. I am probably the first to suggest resurrection any and every time, but you have to use wisdom and learn to recognize when enough is enough. I suggest that unless God has clearly spoken otherwise, when you decide to bury is a good time to stop attempting a resurrection. If it is someone else’s decision to bury and you are praying from the sidelines so to speak, then I recommend stopping once the body is buried as well although it seems entirely reasonable to me to pray up until the minute the body is in the ground and being covered over.

If you or those around you are able to get clear guidance from God, ask Him to show you what to do, and if it comes to that point (which hopefully it will not), to lead you in when to stop. Two different women I spoke with who prayed for their deceased loved ones, the Lord gave specific dates by which the family member would either be raised or the family should stop praying. When those dates came, even though it hurt their hearts, they stopped praying according to the Lord’s direction. If you don’t know how to hear from God, then look at the situation with the recommendations and questions shared above and make your best decision possible. At the end of the day you can’t really make the “wrong” decision if you do your best. God is very kind and will generally let you know one way or another what to do.

If you are interested in reading more, you can find the book Practical Keys to Raise the Dead on Amazon by clicking the photo below:

Practical Keys to Raise the Dead

My latest book, Practical Keys to Raise the Dead, is now available on Amazon in both print and on Kindle!

God has taken me on a journey these past five-plus years to gain wisdom and understanding about raising the dead, including conversations with others who have tried, whether they succeeded or failed. Unlike the other books out there on resurrection that talk mostly about faith and testimonies, this book is all about practical things–the nuts and bolts of actually “doing it”. How and where to store the body, how long it can be kept above ground, ways to actively and practically walk in faith to see it through, and even how to figure out if you need to stop praying and move forward. This book is short–only 47 pages in print, but it is chock full of simple and practical wisdom not otherwise in print. Please share this news with your family and friends and help get the word out, and I pray this book blesses you as I share with you Practical Keys to Raise the Dead!

Where I Am Headed: An Update from the King of Eden

For regular followers of this blog, you know that immortality is in my blood. I haven’t written about it for months, which is a bit uncommon for me. Truth be told, the past few months have been a bit up and down for me. At any point in time there are many things spiritually that vie for my attention, and as much as I am interested in a bit of everything, I have to pare down my interests to focus in on the few things God is doing with me right now. I have met with some challenges in the past months as well. For example, my most recent book, Practical Keys to Raise the Dead (which will be released in the near future) took me far longer than expected given its size, and I have been focusing a lot on faith, resurrection, and how to express them in down-to-earth ways how to release the life of Christ. I hope to have a longer book, preliminarily titled Faith to Raise the Dead, published before Christmas, but with that deadline ahead of me I greatly appreciate your prayers.

A few months ago I had a dream that had a lot of confusing elements to it, but the one key part was a clear directive to write and put out the message of the Gospel of Immortality. I have started this process by laying the foundation for abundant life with the two books on Resurrection, but once Faith to Raise the Dead is finished I will be writing a book that lays a scriptural foundation for immortality throughout the entire Bible. It is all throughout the Old Testament, the New Testament, and in the gospels, especially the Gospel of John.

Physical immortality is a truth that God is restoring to the Body of Christ in this hour, and He is raising up men and women across the globe to share this message. It is my hope to set up a teaching curriculum on this subject in the future, but for now I value your prayers as I work on getting the resurrection books written and published, then buckle down to tackle what I consider to be the true message of the gospel–that Jesus died so you don’t have to. Thanks in advance for your love, prayers, and encouragement! As a side note, if you have a testimony of raising the dead that you would consider allowing me to include in Faith to Raise the Dead, please email me at thekingsofeden@gmail.com. Blessings!

Gemstones And Angel Feathers From Heaven – Podcast hosted by Steve Bremner

Listen to the Fire On Your Head Podcast with Steve Bremner and your’s truly, Michael C. King.

In the above podcast fellow author Steve Bremner and I discuss my two books Gemstones From Heaven and Feathers From Heaven, and move on to a number of other related and unrelated topics.

We cover:

What is the purpose of gemstones?
How does Michael answer critics and skeptics?
Job and his friends
Divine healing
Signs and wonders in general
God doing things outside of our box, or things God does that we don’t know “the full picture” of.

Check out the Podcast at Stevebremner.com or click on the link at the top

Related Podcasts:

Listen to Praying Medic and I as we talk about Gemstones from Heaven and what God is doing on his podcast at www.prayingmedic.com
Come join me on “Touched by Prayer” as I discuss the miracle of gemstones from heaven with the host, Lisa Perna at www.touchedbyprayer.com

To Raise or Not to Raise

As I go through life, I occasionally chance upon an opportunity to try to raise the dead. In most cases the body is an animal, but at times an opportunity presents itself with a human as well. Whether man or beast, a primary issue that comes up is whether or not to even attempt a resurrection–everything else is secondary.

When deciding to attempt to raise the dead, I have a few main criteria. The first is time: Do I have the time I will need to give a fair attempt at resurrection? I prioritize humans over animals, so I am willing to rearrange more of my life and cancel other commitments if a human dies. Although I dearly love animals, I am not willing to do the same with them in most cases. Additionally, this means I will spend far more time praying for humans to resurrect than animals, although I believe that time-spent is an important factor in whether resurrection will be successful or not.

My second criteria is the amount of time that has passed: How long have they been dead? God does not limit how long someone can be dead before they are resurrected, but we also need to consider practical life-circumstances involved. At least in the USA, there are laws and statutes in regards to managing and burying dead bodies. Additionally, I have no intention of keeping rotting animal corpses in a pile in my back yard on the off-chance that one of them will eventually resurrect. I have a three-day policy for dead animals, but with humans it just varies depending on the situation. Why three days? It’s a practical number, not a spiritual one–we have worked out an arrangement that I don’t keep dead animals around for more than three days–thus, total time lapsed does play a part, at least for me. Day 1 is the day I find them and I am interested and engaged. Day 2 I am usually still pretty engaged. Day 3 my wife is asking me how much more time I am going to give this before I give up (if she hasn’t already asked me on Day 2), and at this point the animal’s body is starting to show some more obvious signs of breakdown. In the case of a human, I should note that air conditioning, embalming fluid, and other related factors play a part in lengthening the time before decay is noticeable, and this makes it a little easier to extend the time for prayer–at least in the U.S.A.

My third criteria is access: Do I have the ability to pray over the actual body? Do I have a family member that I can get permission from? People die every day–what separates the ones I plan to pray for from the ones I don’t pray for is whether someone is involved in the resurrection attempt. It is literally that simple.

My fourth criteria is cost: Is it going to be worth it to resurrect this person? This is probably the most difficult pill to swallow for some, and I struggle internally over this one at times, but it’s a practical consideration that I believe must be addressed, at least at this point given our limited-but-growing success in resurrection as the Church. Let me give a personal example. My grandfather died in the beginning of 2015. My grandfather lived on the opposite side of the United States when he died, didn’t believe in divine healing, and I never went to pray for him before he died for him to be healed. Most of my family are believers, but very few of them believe firmly in resurrection, and between my mom and her four siblings, my step-grandmother, all of my cousins, second cousins, etc., most of them were present at the funeral. Attempting to resurrect him would have created so many issues in the family–both with my parents as well as the grand number of other people I just listed, that I personally was not willing to pay the cost for something I wasn’t very emotionally invested in to begin with.

Counting the cost is an important part of the resurrection criteria–and in some cases I think it might actually be the most important part. In Luke 14:28-30 Jesus said “’Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.”” It is unreasonable and unwise to consider resurrection if we do not first count whether we are willing to take the potential consequences that come with our efforts.

I know a woman whose husband died a number of years ago. She lives in a small town and everyone knew about it by the time she had to call it quits on the resurrection effort. She is still believing for her husband to be raised, but things were never the same for her after she took a stand and stepped out in faith believing in God’s promise of abundant life, and it has had a not-entirely-positive impact on her relationships with those in her community. I do not say this to scare people off, but to be clear up front that it’s not all roses, puppies, rainbows, and unicorns when we step out in faith attempting resurrection, and there are real-life risks and issues we need to be aware of and prepared for as best as we can.

While I am not fearful of risk, per se, each situation is different, and this is where wisdom and discernment come into play. It is always God’s ultimate will for each person to experience abundant life and to never die–Jesus paid for it and stated multiple times in the gospel of John that his will was for people to never die and live forever. We never have to question God’s will in that regard, but in spite of this idealistic and highest reality that we strive for, we must walk out the journey with wisdom, which includes counting the cost in advance where possible.

If you want to learn more about how to raise the dead, or are interested in joining communities of believers online who are passionate about resurrection and the abundant life of Christ, please consider the following links and resources:

Raise the Dead Initiative

Oneglance Ministries
The Dead Raising Team

Raise the Dead Initiative – Facebook Group
Dead Raising Team – Facebook Group

David Hogan – DRT Conference Messages
David Hogan – Faith to Raise The Dead Messages
Revival Magazine Article on Raising the Dead

Celebrity Resurrection

I have been pursuing dead-raising in a somewhat intentional fashion for the past five years (Note: this article is from 2016), and I founded a Facebook group called Raise The Dead Initiative toward that end. Currently there are about 1600 members, and various members have had the opportunity to pray for resurrection a number of times. In the past five years I have learned a few things about resurrection that I feel are important to share, but in this post I want to focus specifically on what I call “Celebrity Resurrection” and some wisdom and thoughts surrounding the subject.

Every now and again some high-profile individual dies. Sometimes they are well-known and other times they might be someone whose death-tale has appeared on a local news channel, but invariably one of my group members will post a message such as “This person just died. God can do ANYTHING! Let’s pray for life!” In and of itself that’s a wonderful idea. And yes, God can do anything. However, praying for that individual is extremely impractical and there is little to no personal investment investment of this type of prayer request. Does God have a rule requiring “personal investment” to resurrect people? Not per se, but I believe it is an important principle, and the subject does go a bit deeper than a yes/no question.

First, there is the matter of resources–do we have the time, energy, and ability to pray for the person? You see, people die every single day. What makes this celebrity more in need of resurrection than the elderly single woman down the street who just passed away? If we are hunting bodies to raise, it seems much more sensible to form relationships with local mortuaries, possibly even finding Christian morticians who would be willing to partner with us. I simply do not have the time or energy to hunt down new dead bodies on a weekly basis, and celebrity resurrection seems to be exactly that, minus one small thing: a body, which brings us to the next problem.

My second issue with celebrity resurrection is access. I generally only pray if someone is actively involved in the resurrection. This could be someone seeking prayer for favor to gain access to a body, or it could be someone who currently has access who is seeking a successful resurrection–it doesn’t matter to me which it is, I am on board. If someone isn’t either attempting access through a family or going to physically pray over the dead body, at this time I am simply not interested in participating, as there seems to be little chance of success.

This is probably one of the more controversial of the issues surrounding resurrection. Some people say “But Michael, God can do anything. Don’t you want to believe him for the impossible?” Yes, I do–that’s why I pray for resurrection in the first place. I do, however, have to pay attention to my own time and steward it well. I have a wife, grandkids who are with us 4 or more days every week, I am a nurse with a full-time job, and I am a writer. I keep fairly busy–and adding what I consider to be pointless activities for the sake of acting spiritual seems like poor stewardship to me, not to mention a great way to burn out. God can raise people if we pray from a distance. God can teleport bodies back above ground after they have been buried (I tend to stop after they have been buried) and then resurrect them. God can take cremated bodies and reform them from almost nothing (I usually stop after they have been cremated). God can do so many amazing, abundant, extravagant, and wonderful things! I simply don’t feel led at this juncture in my life to spend a lot of time and energy on those “extravagant” versions of resurrection when I have yet to resurrect even a single body of the ones I have prayed for who had relatively intact bodies that were above ground. I am open to the above ideas, but at this point in my own life I would need to hear specific instruction from God if they are cremated or buried before I will spend a lot of time to pray for resurrection.

My third reason for not engaging in celebrity resurrection is related to the access issue, but is more about personal involvement. Back in 2011 there was a man of God in the Seattle area who passed away and his wife, his church, and an entire Christian community were part of a prayer effort for his return to life. While the effort failed and he ended up being buried, everyone involved was committed to his return during the entire process of the attempted resurrection. I almost drove three hours north to physically join in, and while I forget now why I did not, I think it had to do with my full-time job and full-time nursing school schedule at the time. The point of this story is that people were engaged and involved. Most of the time, celebrity resurrection prayers have no personal responsibility and almost no involvement, and as such I am not interested.

As I mentioned in the beginning, one thing I have come to firmly believe over the years is that resurrection requires personal investment. In some cases I have prayed over bodies of someone’s loved one, including both adults and a baby. Other cases were pets, or a few times they were actually relatively-intact roadkill that I pick up on rare occasion to attempt resurrection, but regardless of how I came upon the body, my heart is involved. I believe resurrection must come from a place of love, not a place of showmanship. I look forward to the day I can share photos with you all of a deceased body, whether human or animal, that has been raised to life by the power of Christ in me, but publicity cannot be my goal—I must be motivated by love. My perception is that celebrity resurrection usually lacks a love for the person and their family, and is more about their celebrity status. If I knew someone had access to the family or the celebrity’s body, I would be 100% on board with the resurrection, but lacking true love and really, some form of access, I likely will not get involved. Regarding emotional investment I do have some good news–it is not difficult to find a heart of love for the person or animal I am attempting to resurrect. I usually start by reminding myself of God’s ardent desire for life, and I connect with His love and desire for resurrection from there, and start praying.

In writing this article, I am sharing my heart and my honest thoughts, but there is always a risk, because while speaking from my heart there is the risk of dampening another’s faith for the spectacular. My heart is never to diminish God’s goodness, nor to downplay His abilities, but to attempt to bring a practical hand to this somewhat uncharted territory and try to provide wisdom as we navigate this learning process together. If the reader feels led to pray over a grave or a cremation urn, go for it! I do not think most people will feel led to do this, nor do I find it sensible if God isn’t leading one in that direction, but at no time am I creating a rulebook by which we must act. I believe God has plans to resurrect those in graves, those cremated, the long-dead, and even those in mass-graves from war and genocide. I am looking to a future where the Church’s understanding of resurrection is vibrant and healthy to the point that it is more uncommon that people remain dead than that they come alive.

Oneglance Ministries
The Dead Raising Team

Raise the Dead Initiative – Facebook Group
Dead Raising Team – Facebook Group

David Hogan – DRT Conference Messages
David Hogan – Faith to Raise The Dead Messages
Revival Magazine Article

The Risk in Resurrection

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”]

Some of you may have seen my Facebook status update from yesterday talking about a baby mouse we were trying to save, and that it died. We had found a small litter of mice in a friend’s car and the mother seemingly ran away in fear, abandoning them. My stepdaughter bought animal formula and she tried to nurse them. I didn’t want to get involved at first because the likelihood of three abandoned baby mice surviving wasn’t was good, I’d feel compelled to try to raise them if I did, and I didn’t really want mice as pets. But as things happen, she needed help taking care of them, and after the first two died I ended up helping feed the third one, named Bub, every few hours for a day or so before it died.

When it died, my heart broke. I was in tears holding it as it died, watching it use accessory muscles in compensation as it mouth-breathed, gasping for air. As a nurse I know what I was watching, but with a tiny baby mouse there was really nothing I could do to fix it. I tried to tap its back lightly while upside down to see if I could help it clear its lungs, but after it struggled to breathe for a few minutes, its tiny body ran out of energy, and it died. My granddaughters were also present when it died, and the oldest, 8, began to cry as well. I held her and Bub’s body, and we both just cried for a while. I am currently attempting to resurrect this mouse, and will continue to do so for the next day or so.

Abundantlife Resurrection Raisethedead Immortality Deadraising — Bub the Mouse

This is an extremely unglamorous post–the notion of snot and tears rolling down my red, puffy face isn’t exactly a reader’s dream. I share it because I feel that far too often we share the nice and happy things in life–especially on social media, except life is filled with not just happy things, but sad ones. I share this because anything worth doing involves risk–and in this case it was risk of heartache and loss. The idea of raising the dead is as much a risk-undertaking as was allowing the mouse into my heart–possibly even more, because I risk grieving its loss the first time, then grieving a second time if I fail to raise it. In spite of this, it cannot be done any other way.
When we attempt to resurrect the dead, whether animal or human, we entertain risk, and there is always a price when we step out and take risks, especially in this area. Sometimes the risk is small–we risk making ourselves look silly to some stranger we may never meet again. Sometimes the risk is much greater–our reputation in an entire town, church, or social circle, the risk of failure, the risk of heartache and heartbreak, and for some the risk of losing trust in God. Most things in life involve risk, but resurrection is one of those things that is optional. We don’t have to try to raise the dead–God won’t love us any less if we don’t. However, I do believe that when we are unwilling to step out and take these sorts of risks, our lives are poorer for it.

I don’t know if Bub will return or not. I didn’t know if he would survive when I was feeding him, and I knew in advance it wasn’t likely. I do know that I value life, and I value it enough to release the Spirit of Life, the only hope that we have in all of life, into the situation. This is a choice that I have made in my heart, to value life enough that where possible, I will actively combat the death at work in our world. I encourage you to consider what risk you are willing to entertain when it comes to healing, resurrection, and overall seeing God’s life released into this broken world.

Oneglance Ministries
The Dead Raising Team

Raise the Dead Initiative – Facebook Group
Dead Raising Team – Facebook Group

David Hogan – DRT Conference Messages
David Hogan – Faith to Raise The Dead Messages
Revival Magazine Article