Christ's healing ministry today?
Mike Taylor
One of the problems in the world is the prevalence of human healers using methods which involve contact with spirits other than our Holy Creator, God.
This is not surprising as health is a fundamental human need and the right sort of medical aid is not always available. In addition to this, some forms of disease are, so far, untreatable by human ingenuity. Therefore, those who provide alternative means of healing will always be accorded privileged social status.
Misidentifying the Holy Spirit
Mike Taylor
Recently, Channel 4 showed a documentary by reporter Jon Ronson on the Alpha course. It was called Revelations: How to Find God (1/8/09). Apparently Ronson approached 20 churches to get material for his report and the only one of these to agree was St. Aldate’s, Oxford, whose vicar is Charlie Cleverly. The result was broadcast at 7.00 pm on Sunday June 28.
Some have seen the portrayal as subtly cynical. However, I thought the report was relatively sympathetic. Ronson himself stated in a Radio Times interview: ‘This is a really gentle, human film. I wanted to make one that both Christians and agnostics would like. And I know that I’ve managed it, because we’ve shown the film both to the church and the agnostics and they’ve both really liked it. … the people who do the Alpha course are … just regular people trying to make sense of their lives and of the world’ (Radio Times, 27/6-3/7/2009, p.162).