Monday, September 08, 2008

Can God heal in this...

A couple of months ago I received a link to a website that was built around a song called "Healer". It was a very moving and emotional video that was shared the story of a man who was diagnosed with cancer who went on the write a song that cried out to God for healing. One portion of the video shows a band performance of the song by Mike Gugliemucci who is on stage wearing an oxygen mask. I was moved by the song and the story behind the song.

Here's the original video.



Then, a few weeks ago, it comes out that Mike had faked his battle with cancer. He had deceived his own family and made the whole thing up to cover up an addiction to pornography.

You can watch the story on YouTube via an Australian news agency below.



But as I watched, I was drawn back to the song. I think of the people who sang it week after week expressing their faith and belief that God would heal them. I think of the people who prayed for Mike. I think of the people who fight their own battles with disease and sickness. And I wonder what is going through their minds.

I know we can probably talk about how susceptible we are to emotions and music. I know we can debate the merits and evils of relying on contemporary songs for "worship". And I think we could probably dive into the whole world of the effects of pornography.

But I find myself drawn back to the words of the song. As fraudulent as they may have been at one time, can God not redeem them and use them?

So, my question for you is this. Could you use the song to lead people in worship? Or would you place it "on the shelf"?

Healer

You hold my every moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease

I trust in You
I trust in You

I believe You're my Healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You're my Portion
I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus You're all I need

My Healer, You're my Healer

Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
You hold my world in Your hands

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It makes me feel sick that this dude made up the whole story. It makes me sick that he consciously wrapped himself up in this web of sin and kept it going. I makes me sick how his actions have destroyed a lot of trust with a lot of people.

That being said - I believe the words of the song are very true and still true within his context. He needs healing in regards to his sin (like our sin). He needs healing in regards to his marriage, relationships and self confidence.

I believe God has "anointed" this song and I don't believe it has anything to do with the songwriter. God has used idiot pastors who secretly can't keep it in their pants with their secretary to bring many people to Christ.

I would sing it and use it as a true prayer.

By the way ... we should talk one time

the skinny fat guy

Unknown said...

Crazy but sadly, not surprising - which, by itself, is a commentary on Christianity these days.

Jon Coutts said...

if I had a nickel for every time i sang something in church that i didn't mean, sadly I'd be a rich man.

that doesn't excuse hypocrisy, but we should have perspective. we all probably need a rebuke in this regard. singing in church has lost a lot of meaning, simply from overuse and overdependence. this guy knew how to pull the strings. pastors do it every week. the Word of God isn't strong enough on its own, but this song will get 'em streaming down the aisles. i've been a pastor and i know full well how often we use songs to accomplish our ends. we manipulate with music. its what we do. that doesn't mean it is ALL fake, and doesn't discredit all of it, but let's not decieve ourselves. this guy took it to an extreme, but he didn't do anything new.

that said, i think "skinny" made a good point. i couldn't watch the videos for some reason, but it seems to me the words aren't fraudulent if we replace cancer with addiction to porn as the thing that needs healing in this guy's life. who knows (again, i couldn't access the video), maybe in his heart that's how he actually meant it and was simply afraid to tell people what it really meant? (people say they want the truth but can't always handle it).

perhaps the best part of this story is that now he's told the truth? i think God intends healing to foster and involve community in Christ and so maybe the transparency that is NOW there actually gives the song a better meaning.

on the other hand, maybe i think it ruins the song for awhile, simply by association. maybe this should probably taint worship music in general for us too. it is so easy to fake. so formulaic. so subjective. so focused on the individual self. ...(sigh)... its depressing. i don't think a song in itself it is anointed any more than the church kitchen sink is anointed. does it serve Christ the Anointed One? that's the question. it is pretty easy for music to serve self.

Unknown said...

Mykel added this to another post, but I think it was meant to be in this discussion, so I'll copy it below:

"We just sang it on Sunday. I believe even with this deception and how this song was created that God is still God and it can and will be used for his glory. Also how many of us know the story behind any of our worship songs? How many were written for the sure purpose of worship and how many were written just to make a buck?"

Unknown said...

I'm just plain old in awe at how God is bringing about healing through a song, and in a means, that the author likely would have never intended.

I'm currently debating whether to share the song (and maybe even the story) with some of our bands.