Oct 17
11
Brad’s Confession
It’s about time…!
They, whoever “they” might be, say that confession is good for the soul. So here is mine and I hope it is good for your soul as well.
For many years I’ve been leading some people astray. Not intentionally, mind you, but the result is the same.
Just this morning I’ve become aware that I’ve been telling people that believing a purported quote in the Bible is the key to everything while, I, Brad Cullen, was stumbling over a vital truth.
I’ve repeatedly told a true story about how a 15 year old daughter of a U.K. diplomat, living and working in Uganda in the east central part of Africa and with whom a doctor had asked me to do a “consult” in her office with the patient and her mother.
That story proves clearly again, that, unintentionally and unknowingly, I had been speaking and perpetuating the LIE that implied the passage would “work” for everyone, when the truth is, it only works for those who apply it; I apologize.
Not all physicians have to believe in God to help you…
In that particular instance the physician, a highly qualified woman who had received her M.D. and also other degrees in alternative medicine from highly regarded institutions in the United States, as well as advanced studies and practical experience elsewhere, had been introduced to me by another M.D. who had come to Africa as a missionary doctor.
Though his medical practice was no longer associated with the organization, he was still a member of the denomination and an avid believer in its various ministries and that most likely prompted the other physician to explain to me that she believed in God, “but only barely.”
We met with the girl and her mother at the doctor’s office. After some preliminary questions, both the girl and her mother emphatically stated that they had no faith in God whatsoever.
This was my lead-in to say something I still believe to all three of them, mother, daughter and physician:
“It is probably an advantage that you don’t believe because we won’t have to deal with all the obstacles that keep many religious people from receiving.”
Amazing things happen in a small group.
In less than thirty minutes the girl, who was pale and looked as though she could barely sit up and who, the doctor had told me, had been severely nauseated, weak and listless for over a year, stood up, looking vibrant, eyes bright and face full of color saying, “I feel wonderful, better than I ever remember feeling in my whole life!”
Another true story that proves a strong intellectual belief can actually get in our way starts out with my meeting with a group of six emotionally dysfunctional patients and their spouses (12 in all) referred to me by a psychiatrist.
Because I believed in my interpretation of a different passage firmly enough to convince the psychiatrist and myself that, as I had put it to him, that I could produce a miracle with a few of his most troubled patients, with the plan I had developed; well, at first, he had been skeptical so the referral was a surprise.
The end of the rest of that story was dramatic and seemingly miraculous, but first the wheels had to fall off the plan in which I believed so intensely!
I’d love to tell you the rest of that story which has developed into what we call “The YWL Process” and you don’t have to believe it, the process works with some people even when they don’t believe it …that’s what makes it a miracle.
bc