Can I “Plant a Seed” Toward My Healing by Giving to a Minister Who Sends a Letter Begging for Money?
No.
Healing is free; you don’t have to buy it. Jesus already bought it for you.
But what about the testimonies of people who gave $1000 to a famous ministry and got a major healing miracle for themselves or a loved one? Are these testimonies just lies, or is there something to them? And if there is something to them, why not give toward that ministry to get the same results?
While there may be testimonies of people who gave money and got healed, consider that the Lord may have laid it on the person’s heart to give that amount. When the person gave the money in obedience to the Lord, God rewarded the person. However, if God has not nudged you toward giving to that ministry, you will not be giving under the same conditions and you won’t get the same results. This is why it is foolish for any minister to publish testimonies like this and leave the impression that the same result will happen to anyone who gives to him. I think it would be more likely that the Lord would lead you to throw such a letter into the trash (or the recycling bin) than to give money to such a ministry.
The problem with all such letters is that they cheapen the work that Jesus did on the cross for you. You do not have to buy a miracle. Jesus already bought your miracle for you! It’s paid for in full. All you have to do is believe the gospel! Why “plant a seed” of money and wait for it to grow up into a harvest when you can just partake of the harvest of healing that Jesus already paid for you to have?
While generosity can assist you in receiving healing (see Healing and Giving), it is not the primary way to procure it. The “price” you pay (if you want to call it that) is faith, not cash.
Healing is just as free as salvation from hell because it is part of the same atonement. Given this truth, consider what you would think of the following letter from Brother Simon Whiteteeth’s ministry asking you to “plant a seed” toward your salvation:
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From the Desk of: Simon Whiteteeth Ministries’ Secular Fund-Raising Organization That Writes His Appeal Letters for Him for Maximum Psychological Impact
PLANT A SEED TODAY FOR YOUR SALVATION!
Are you unsaved? Guido McRosenkrantz was when he gave $50,000 to Simon Whiteteeth Ministries last year. Today Guido has a full knowledge of salvation and is on his way to heaven instead of hell.
I want you, my dear non-brother (yet), to experience the same blessing that Guido did. [This section must be important because it has been underlined and run through with a yellow highlighter. Simon has already done the work for you of highlighting and underlining the important parts of his letter. He may even have scribbled some notes in blue ink in the margin, too, like “This is important!”]
Everything in the kingdom of God works by the seed-time and harvest principle. If you want a harvest of salvation from hell in your life, why not take this time to plant your best seed into Simon Whiteteeth Ministries? Then sit back and expect a miracle of salvation to fall from heaven upon you. Also send your prayer requests, as I’ll be personally praying for your particular prayer requests as well as those of the other 150,000 people who respond to this letter.
The Lord has shown me that if you give me exactly $3527 (for Psalm 35:27) before the end of this month on the Jewish calendar, it will result in an extraordinary financial windfall. (For me, at least, but I believe it will for you, too.) If you don’t have a Jewish calendar, you can order one from us for only $15 plus $13 shipping and $3 handling. Our mail room obviously has very inefficient handlers, but we’re working on that. Our bulk shipping cost is well below $13 and we’ll just keep the difference, adding to your gift. Please note that $3527 is a fixed divine price regardless of whether it represents pocket change to you or it would be almost impossible to come up with because you work part-time at a big-box store with no benefits. Therefore, you more affluent readers will be in a better position to receive a harvest from God.
In addition, a rich donor who was going to give $250,000 anyway contacted our Fundraising Gimmicks Department and arranged for a “matching contribution challenge.” So now every dollar you give will result in your having given two dollars! (To be mathematically consistent, the rich donor will not get credit for giving any dollars – for your gift to be doubled, “his” has to be multiplied by zero.) What a deal for you! So right now, we are obviously a better giving value than that other organization you were thinking of supporting.
Forget your pastor and his building fund for now and plant your best seed into Simon Whiteteeth Ministries. I’ll even add you to my mailing list so that you can get these letters every month. In fact, I’ll even sell my mailing list to similarly minded ministers without your permission so that you can be blessed by their mail also.
Warm Personal Regards,
Simon Whiteteeth
Simon Whiteteeth
Founder, Simon Whiteteeth Ministries
Brother Whiteteeth:
Please pray a special prayer for my miracle of salvation. Enclosed is my best seed of:
( ) $3,527 ( ) $ 50,000 ( ) $200,000 ( ) $1,000,000 ( ) Other: __________
I would also like to order (_____) sets of your latest, most important ever, 6-part series, “God Wants ME to Prosper!” @ $150.00 per set.
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Of course, you would know immediately that this was a bogus offer. After all, if Mr. Whiteteeth were primarily interested in your salvation, he would share the Scriptures with you about it so that you could receive it for yourself. It is no different with healing, as it is simply the physical side of the salvation that Jesus purchased for you.
Although sowing and reaping is an eternal principle, you do not plant soybeans in a field and then harvest corn from that same field. Planting money into a decent ministry would result in a financial return to you, not a healing return.
I personally refuse to support ministries that spend the majority of their correspondence ink asking for money or engaging in gimmicks. I would just as soon see them go under, particularly if they are going to send out letters where the teaching (if any) is designed to “wind you up” to give more money to their ministry. As for me, I’ve never begged anyone for money and I don’t plan to start now. I want to support ministries that spend their time blessing people, not begging for money. Sadly, there have been three very anointed ministries that I stopped supporting not because of a problem with their teaching or anointing, but because of their incessant gimmickry while fund-raising.
You’re free to do what you want with your money. But I urge you not to use it to “buy” something that’s already free.