Founded on spiritual error: The “International Association of Healing
Rooms,” (I.A.H.R), was set up in 1999 by Cal Pierce who believes
his organisation is drawing upon the healing anointing of former healing
revivalist John G. Lake, (1870 – 1935). Thousands of these “Healing
Rooms” have now been set up all over the world, with over 60 in the
UK alone and over 2000 in India. Anyone from any denomination can set up
an associated Healing Room and then be advertised on Pierces’ website
so long as the directors, (managers), of that room submit to his organisation,
follow his model for ministering to others and undergo his training program,
. However the very foundation of this organisation is spiritually unsound
and can open those directors to an alternative New Age/occult anointing.
This counterfeit anointing can then be passed on, either by association
or by the laying on of hands, to the rest of that Healing Rooms team of
volunteers, the church it is based at and to those who go there for prayer.
Although Pierce is well intentioned I believe this is a major strategy
from the enemy to impart a counterfeit/false anointing into the church
and infiltrate the hearts of many believers with another spirit.
Trusting in the location of Lakes Rooms: Pierce intended to locate his
first Healing Room at the site of the original “Healing Room” set
up by Lake in the belief that this would enable him to tap into Lakes healing
power; which clearly isn’t scriptural. We receive the anointing of
the Holy Spirit directly from God and cannot bypass this or gain anointing
any other way. Although Pierce got the location of Lakes original Rooms
wrong the very attitude of attempting to seek healing ability like this
will have opened him and his organisation to the occult realm. Looking
to man and past ministries in this way, particularly to the deceased, and
to locations instead of seeking and trusting in God is also a form of idolatry.
This practice and attitude was not seen in the lives of any of New Testament
believers. No one in the Old Testament ever sought the anointing of the
Holy Spirit in this way either. This is, however, a practice that parallels
that engaged in by unbelievers involved in the occult. Peirce has made
a serious spiritual error here that will have opened him and his entire
network to an occult spirit.
Relying on Lakes Grave: in 1999 Pierce first gathered together 100 intercessors
in an attempt to dig what he called Lakes “healing well”. He
then continued to visit, and some say lie down on, the site of John G Lake’s
grave once a month for over a year. Here is a link to a video where another “Christian” leader,
(the increasingly popular John Crowder), believes, similarly, that he is
receiving the anointing from the grave of the former healing revivalist
Alexander Dowie who was Lakes mentor, (those not familiar with Crowder
strange behaviour may believe he is joking here but this how he acts when
the spirit that he now receives comes upon him). The Lord, however, gives
the anointing of His Holy Spirit to whomever He sees fit. This is dependent
on a person’s calling, their relationship with God, and very often
on how submitted and sanctified they are. It is dependent on God’s
will not the will of man as we see here. There is no method or technique
that we can use to acquire the anointing of God in this way. Furthermore
should never treat the Holy Spirit as if God Himself were a common occult
spirit that can be summoned up by us in this way as people do within New
Age/occult/paganism. This is a very serious sin and a spiritual error that
is almost bound to open such a person to a deceptive occult anointing.
Spiritual phenomena will surely follow this but it will not be coming from
Gods Spirit.
Occult power to heal: We know that unbelievers involved in the occult can
tap into spiritual power to heal, e.g. in occult Reiki healing which is
so popular amongst unbelievers today. We therefore need to test the spirit
behind healings just as much as we do prophecies. This is particularly
important if we are heading into the end times, when “false prophets
will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even
the elect,”(Matt 24; 24), and when “the working of Satan,
with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception,”(2
Thess 2: 9), will abound. These and other scriptures inform us that many
Christians will be deceived by displays occult power which will surely
include the power to heal since this is what people seek after the most.
We know from the book of Exodus that Pharaohs magicians were able to replicate
many of the great miracles of Moses through occult power, e.g. Ex 7; 22
and today the same powers often counterfeit moves of Gods Spirit to lead
undiscerning Christians astray. The devil is more than willing to heal
Christians if it results in thousands of other believers following after
and receiving a false occult anointing. Such an occult anointing often
comes through deceived believers. This is the main way in which Satan can
reach a Christian audience with an occult anointing to heal since few Christians
will trust unbelievers moving more openly in the occult.
A mixture: So we cannot therefore assume that the healings said to be taking
place at the Healing Rooms are necessarily of God. I would expect that
the majority aren’t although there could be a mixture with some being
from God in answer to people’s genuine faith in Christ. The Healing
Rooms is not a good atmosphere to be operating from though and it would
be safer to seek healing elsewhere. Also, as with Todd Bentley’s
claims in 2008, there does not appear to any verification from doctors
backing up the vast healing claims being made by Cal Pierce on his website.
There is likely to be a lot of exaggeration and wishful thinking going
on as in 2008. I also believe that if a believer is healed through occult
power they will pay a heavy price for this in their soul later on. Usually
when the lights of publicity have gone and their testimony is of no further
use to the devil in promoting a counterfeit ministry the illness will then
return or manifest in another way within them. I met someone, for example,
who was healed of depression by hypnotherapy but was left in a strange
and permanent spaced out state which she said was worse than the original
depression.
The false teaching’s of John. G. Lake: Cal Pierce is also dedicated
to promoting the teachings John. G. Lake. This is quite serious because
after Lake ventured into the area of teaching ministry he started promoting
some of the most dangerous types of deception. We haven’t got time
to go into this in much detail here but this is quite obviously the case.
There were many false teaching promoted by Lake which you will be able
to discover online yourself, (link to follow up from). I just want to deal
with one of these here; Lakes belief that the dead could minister to believers.
This is completely unscriptural and part of spiritualism not biblical Christianity.
On one occasion a woman who claimed to have come to Lake for prayer started
channelling a spirit through to him, just as mediums do in the occult,
(she was possibly a medium sent to deliberately deceive him). This spirit
spoke through her and sounded just like Lakes deceased wife which Lake
then accepted as her without question. Think of it - Lake believed his
deceased wife was speaking to him through the body of a complete stranger.
This suggests to me that Lake probably never understood the bibles teaching
on such things. There are also indications that Lake didn’t understand
the demonic nature of false religions or eastern mysticism. No matter how
genuine and powerful Lakes healing ministry may have been, (some dispute
even this), his belief in spiritualism was definitely part of the occult.
There is no doubt that Lake became a false teacher. This may be one of
the reasons why Christian ministers who believe in spiritualism today are
so keen to promote Lakes ministry and teachings. By looking back to a well
known ministry like Lakes it gives their views an appearance and validity
that they cannot gain by looking to scripture. It is very likely, almost
inevitable, that Cal Peirce believes in such spiritualism himself and is
keen to promote this to the wider body of Christ as part of Lakes teachings.
Passing these ideas onto I.A.H.R’s directors: Since it is one of
Cal Pierce’s aims to pass Lake’s teachings on to the rest of
the body of Christ we can assume that they must form part of his I.A.H.R’s
courses for new directors of Healing Room’s. This is surely reflected
in Pierces insistence that these directors all accept Pierces own ministry
model. It would be very surprising if this were not the case. Many of these
falsehoods must then be getting passed on by these directors to their Healing
Rooms voluntary staff, the church where that particular healing Room is
based, and to many of those who go there for prayer. We can see from this
how insidious this entire movement is in spreading false teaching as well
as a counterfeit anointing to the rest of the body of Christ.
The Bill Johnson link: Cal pierce was originally an elder and board member
of Bill Johnsons Bethel church which has its own Healing Room linked to
Pieces Organisation today. Bill Johnson will also be the leading speaker
at the Healing Rooms “Spiritual Hunger Conference,” to be held
this September, 2011. These two ministers are clearly linked very closely
together and appear to have a shared agenda in promoting these things.
Both men look to deceased healing evangelists of the last century in order
to acquire an anointing to heal today. In this video
interview Johnson
claims that “one of the things that the Lord has really made clear
to us is that if we will honour those who have walked faithfully before
the Lord in the past then in that honour he will give us access to their
anointing.” As Johnson is saying this pictures of various deceased
healing revivalists are shown on the screen including one of John. G. Lake.
This approach to seeking a healing anointing is deceptively New Age and
will have opened them to the occult realms. In the another video, (link),
Johnson also seems as keen to spread their beliefs and model as Cal Pierce
is, and states “lets plant it through the music we write, lets plant
it through the conferences we do...our mandate is to... train and release
people.” Pierce and Johnson appear to be operating in unity here
in an evangelistic fashion to promote these unbiblical teachings and practices.
Part of a “Christian” spiritualism movement: Both
of these men have links with other major ministries that are also promoting
the
same type of unbiblical New Age spirituality. I have looked at these links
in an adjoining article entitled “Spiritualism
in the church”. It
appears this is all part of a major movement of spiritualism being sent
by the devil to infiltrate parts of the church today, particularly the
church of the western world and India.
A Mixture dominated by the occult: As mentioned there is almost always
a mixture of deception and the Holy Spirit in any Christian movement. Deception
is likely to dominate the “Healing Rooms” Movement however
as its very foundation and concept is demonic. I would be very surprised
if any genuine healing ministry that joined forces to serve within this
organisation didn’t also start coming under the occult influence
it contains. If you are interested in setting up some sort of healing room
of your own why not do so independently of this Organisation so that there
is then no chance of this occult anointing being passed onto you and those
you pray for.
A case study of the possible effects: A friend of mine experienced the
following even though he went cautiously and prayerfully to a Healing Room
having been warned about the dangers beforehand. This Room was based at
a fairly reliable Christian Fellowship which is why he thought it would
be OK. The first time he went for prayer he didn’t notice any ill
effects so he went back again. The second time the director of that Room
prayed for him and he is certain that another spirit was then passed onto
him. This left him feeling as though a heavy veil had been placed over
him, which left him so apathetic and heavy hearted in God that he could
hardly motivate himself to pray over the following week. This oppression
was so strong and entrenched within him that even though he has experience
of deliverance ministry he could not break free of this on his own. After
prayer with someone else, this oppression finally lifted. I personally
believe that this is the type of effect that the Healing Rooms is passing
on to believers as a specific demonic strategy; part of a softening up
process toward unwitting believers before a coming great wave of deception
invades much of the church of the western world.
Genuine healing ministries: If you want healing don’t take the risk
of going to one of Cal Pierces Healing Rooms no matter what church they
are based at, or how well intentioned those praying may be. The risk is
too great; the odds are stacked against you, and the consequences to ones
faith in the longer term potentially disastrous. There is even a danger
of being healed by an occult spirit which will then gain influence over
you, could reverse the healing effect any time it wished, result in you
becoming even more afflicted later on or filled with confusion and unbelief
about your faith. Instead why not go for prayer from ministers that are
not trained by Cal Pierce’s organisation. If you witness to any of
this article please warn others about this danger as many appear to be
greatly underestimating this.
