Moroccan Healer (part I)
I saw this reported on the BBC News website and it stimulated some thoughts:
Moroccans hail ‘miracle worker’Thousands of people queue up every day with a bottle of water or bag of sugar to see Morocco’s latest sensation - a traditional healer.
Torbi el Mekki, the man being hailed as the miracle healer of Skhirat, a village about 30km south of the capital, Rabat, says he can cure any disease from HIV/Aids to cancer.
They quote the healer as saying
“I do this in the name of God. I do not do it for money, if I wanted to do it for money I would gain billions every day. But I don’t need money because I am already rich from land that I inherited.”
Later in the article they quote from a medical doctor who says
We cannot say he’s miraculous. He is a healer like many others before him. In most cases they fail. It’s a question of time.Their claims pose problems for the medical profession, he says, as many healers tell patients to stop taking their medicine.
It’s very dangerous: a while ago there was an epileptic patient who had taken drugs to stabilise himself. Another healer told him to stop his treatment; he did, but after several days he died.
One defining factor of the church that we go to is how money is handled. On Sunday morning when the collection baskets are passed, it’s always made clear that the offering is only for committed members of the church and that visitors should let the baskets pass on by. Other times it’s made perfectly clear that we’re not money driven. The western church is very aware of the scandals of the past. The “prosperity message” that some churches preach (also known as the “health and wealth” gospel) has turned sour in people’s mouth, showing itself for the poison that it truly is. It’s interesting to see, in the article, that the desire to make money rather than further spiritual ends is pulled out as the mark of a charlatan; the healer made a point to say “I do this in the name of God. I do not do it for money” when dismissing suggestions that he is a charlatan. While he is Muslim, and Morocco might be a North African country, it seems that charlatans are a world-wide phenomenon, following similar practices the world over.
Jesus said,
No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
and the Apostle Paul, writing to a young pastor, said
People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Note: the love of money is a root of all kinds - not the usual mis-quote “money is the root of all evil”. Money is a tool and can be used for good or ill, evil results when we make an idol out of it, when we give it our devotion and love. We need to see ourselves as stewards of something that we do not own. We administer our finances, but the money is God’s, and we should hold loosely to it, use it as He wills, balancing good stewardship with generosity. The antidote for a love of money is found in the teaching of Jesus:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and Love your neighbor as yourself.
Love God, Love people and use money to serve the goals that result.