What the Critics Get Right and Wrong Concerning the #WakeUpOlive Phenomenon – Regarding: Prayer- So Christians Really Are Deists
December 20, 2019
Several days ago, I believe on Friday, December 13, 2019, a little toddler girl named Olive died (Olive Alayne Heiligenthal).
(Edit, Dec 21, 2019: I saw a report that the church will be holding a memorial service for the little girl, so it looks like at least some of them have accepted that the little girl is gone.
(Link): Hope for girl’s resurrection shifts to Bethel memorial service
(Link): Family giving up prayers to resurrect 2-year-old, ‘moving towards a memorial service’)
I am sorry for her passing. I am sure her parents and other family are in a lot of pain due to her passing. They have my condolences.
Since their little girl Olive has died, the parents and the church they attend – Bethel Church – have been leading a “Wake Up Olive” movement, and some of that is being carried over on Instagram and on Twitter (you can search for it (Link): here on Twitter).
These Bethel people are expecting God to raise Olive from the dead, because they are praying and expecting God to do so.
You can read more background and details about this situation and several news sites, including these:
(Link): In California, a Christian Megachurch Is Trying to Bring a 2-Year-Old Girl Back to Life
(Link): Christian Mega- Church Prays for Resurrection of Two Year Old Girl
I believe the critics of the movement, who have been tweeting regularly about this situation, are right to say that the parents need to accept that their little girl has passed on, and that no amount of prayer or faith is going to bring her back to life.
The little girl has been deceased for about seven days now.
The last I read, a baby sitter put the girl down for a nap, and the girl stopped breathing.
Other sources say that Olive is at a morgue now, has been there a few days, and an autopsy was already performed.
There are other aspects of this story I don’t care to address in this post – for example, some people suspect there is foul play in the death of the girl, and some people think the Go Fund Me set up for this family in light of Olive’s passing is suspicious.
The aspect of this story I want to address is the issue of Prayer and Unanswered Prayer and biblical promises.
I’ve actually addressed these subjects several times over in older blog posts of mine (such as in (Link): this post), but I am seeing them crop up again in light of this story about Olive’s passing.
Now, I am not a Pentecostal.
I am neither a Cessationist or an Anti-Cessationist.
If you’re not familiar with those terms, here is a web page by guys who consider themselves Cessationists who explain what some of these terms mean:
(Link): Is cessationism biblical? What is a cessationist?
So far as my understanding of the Bible is concerned, I am somewhere in the middle of that topic.
I’ve written posts on that in the past such as
(Link): Extra-Biblical Knowledge – My Thougts Expanded and Clarified – And: Christian Deism
While I absolutely do not believe that little Olive is coming back to life on Earth – no matter how much her church prays and believes for that to happen…
….I am just as much in disagreement with the number of Christians I see arguing theology about this matter, especially the ones who are denigrating faith and biblical promises in the process.
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