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Parents Charged in Death of Madeline Neumann
As a father and a Christian, I would never leave my daughter’s health up to fate. Look at that sweet face, beautiful eyes, and that smile that can melt your heart! She is one gorgeous baby, that is certain. I couldn’t look into the face of this child who trusts me implicitly with her very life and give her anything less than the finest medical treatment that my insurance can pay for when she is sick.
Yet that is exactly what the parents of Madeline Neumann did. They left their daughter’s health to the power of prayer. I believe that prayer is powerful when used correctly–as a tool of communication between the created and the Creator. Prayer is not a gumball machine. We can’t just pop in a quarter and get everything that our hearts desire.
Rightly, the parents of Madeline Neumann, nicknamed Kara, stand before a judge, answering to charges of murder.
I had expected the charges to be negligent homicide, but the authorities went one better than that: the charge against Kara’s parents is reckless homicide.
Powerful as prayer is, the law doesn’t recognize it as a substitute for medicine.
Update: Madeline Neumann’s Siblings Wisely Removed from Parental Custody
The three siblings of Madeline Neumann, the young lady who died tragically as a result of her parents praying instead of seeking medical attention, have been removed from their parents’ custody.
In the original article, the authorities had not made that decision yet since there were no signs of abuse or neglect. I’m very glad that those kids were removed.
While I agree with the principle that all healing comes from God, as Leilani Neumann told the press, I don’t believe that prayer is the sole vehicle by which God works. I believe that He works through the competent doctors and nurses, all of whom He calls to do that work. No legitimate church would see seeking medical attention as a sign of unbelief or as having a lack of faith.
Faith Healing
God is not a gumball machine–you can’t just pop in a prayer, turn a cosmic crank, and expect God to answer the prayer in exactly the way that you expected Him to.
God promises to listen to prayer, and listen only. Despite the dramatic hyperbolic language (such as Mark 11:24 and others) used by Jesus, each and every prayer is not going to be answered affirmatively. It will be answered in God’s way and in His time.
So, if you’re sick, seek help from a doctor. Don’t shy away from praying for health or gathering the elders of your church to anoint the sick (Jms 5:14). But don’t expect that God will automatically reach down and heal the sick person. A prayer is only a request, not a demand and it will not always be answered affirmatively.
That means that I think Dale and Leilani Neumann of Weston, WI are guilty of negligent homicide, a statement which will undoubtedly surprise many people generally acquainted with my position that prayer is a very powerful thing. It is. But I believe that prayer is a way to offer yourself to God, not a way to get anything you want from Him.
According to a March 25th article in the Wausau Daily Herald, the Neumanns prayed for their daughter Madeline to get well, but never sought appropriate medical attention. This is just plain stupid. God doesn’t call only ministers into service, God calls people of every profession into their respective services, which includes doctors. He uses doctors as instruments of His healing. How did they expect their daughter to get better if they gave her no help whatsoever?
God’s preferred method of operation is to work through people. So don’t stop going to doctors when you’re sick, Christians! And as for the rest of the children in the Neumann household, GET THEM OUT OF THAT SITUATION FAST!
God is Real, and He has Blessed Us!
Praise God for blessing my new blog, God is NOT Imaginary with success! In less than a month, we are coming on 1000 page views already, with a record day yesterday that tops anything this blog has ever seen!
Keep praying out there! I can see the results!
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