The point is the passage in James is irrefutable.
The subject of death is a straw man.
i think im hearing you right ..hope so .
but i agree . the topic of death as "healing " when healing is not received .. and then saying death is a way of receiving their reward ..???? reward for what .. for unbelief ?
ok this has been on my heart a lot recently .but the lord Jesus is the truth and he spoke truth in every meaning of the word for he is the living word of God ..
and he made this astounding statement - if you seek to save your life you will lose it (eternally) if you lose it for my name sake .. you will save it .
now everyone jumps to the conclusion that it speaks of a singular scenario -ie martyrdom ... not denying the lord to save your skin.
But look deeper wider higher ... Do we not deny him every time we run and place our faith in mans limited ability to alleviate symptoms rather than faith in God to HEAL the cause of the symptoms ?
how is it then that we think we can be so disloyal in "FAITH" and suddenly be loyal at some catastrophic scenario ? when did such strength of faith grow to be so strong ?
-i wonder in myself where is my desire to die rather than deny the chance for God to be glorified in me (knowing that he is able to raise us up again even if we die) .it is of no wonder then to me that we do not see the awesome limitless power of God i the western church. we no longer believe unto the death ..
put it in perspective with these verses .. and they overcame by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony
and they loved not their lives even unto death
in truth of that measure .. we love our lives so much we run to man to save our body and as an after thought ..ask the church to pray for us .
ok YES im speaking in the harsh extreme .. but when i really observe the direct words of the lord JESUS that is what i see .. i see an uncompromising TRUTH full of promise and life ..to those that would rather die then Deny him that Glory .I am greatly stirred by this .
it is an underlying reason that the anti christ is pushing medical issues as justification for ID implants and making people submit to the world by means of ingrained
dependence on "the world" rather then on God . it is no accident that this is occurring .. And im more amazed at how many christians are buying into by carnal intellectual self justifying reasoning .. God says
"believe " and more and more the church says .. "yes BUT" ... time to repent of unbelief .