Bruce, God Needs You to Do Your Part, and THEN You Will be Healed

I recently received the following email from a reader named Richard. I don’t remember corresponding with Richard before, but he says we have, so I will take his word for it.

What follows is my response.

The challenge you offered in your last blog posting may have been offered tongue-in-cheek, but could have been a serious request on your part: “On April 1, 2026, at 4:20 PM, God is calling every Christian who promised to pray for me to gather together in the Ney Park for a time of worship and prayer. Perhaps, my former best friend, Pastor Keith Troyer, will come and lead this testimony to God’s love, forgive- ness, and healing. Maybe all my former colleagues in the ministry who said they would pray for me will be in attendance too. Throw in Dr. David Tee, John, Revival Fries and other “praying Christians,” why, these mighty prayer warriors will surely deliver me from my afflictions; and if they do, I promise to serve Jesus the remaining days of my life. I will even record a YouTube video testimony of my healing. Total healing, not just my hemorrhoids.”

Whether my challenge was tongue-in-cheek remains to be seen. 🙂 Surely, if thousands of Evangelicals show up in Ney, Ohio at 4:20 PM on April 1, 2026, I will take that as a sure sign from God of his existence. Here’s the Christian God’s chance to make not only a deep, lasting impression on me, but also my family, friends, and readers of this blog.

I’m confident that the Ney Park will be empty on April 1, outside of a few children and adults playing sports — weather permitting. If I am able, I will go down to the park at the appointed time to see if anyone shows up.

We have corresponded before but not real recently. I am 73 years old Bruce, so I have about five years on you chronologically. Neither one of us has all that many years remaining on this sojourn here on this planet. I am one of those individuals who prays for you from time to time, however, I will not be making the journey to Ney, Ohio on April Fools Day of this year.

God wants to see the sincerity of your faith; your willingness to go to the ends of the earth — Ney, Ohio, population 356, — to save the one sheep that was lost. Alas, you and your fellow believers will remain home and pray, leaving me in your sin and degradation.

Imagine what would happen if your God actually healed me from head to toe. Imagine the news reports and blog posts. If I am healed, I will have a complete physical exam, and afterward, I will release all of my medical records to the public, showing, without a doubt that God has supernaturally healed me. I guarantee you that if this happens, it will be one of the biggest stories in human history. Sick, dying man healed and restored to health. Doctors will have no answers for this miracle, and neither will atheists.

I do believe that God answers prayer because He has answered many prayers in the past I have sent His way.

No one can empirically know whether a God answered their prayers. Billions of prayers are prayed to all sorts of deities every day, yet most of these prayers go unanswered. God has a poor prayer track record answering prayers, so why should anyone believe one word in the Bible about prayer? Personal experience and observation say to me that a “God who answers prayer” is one of the biggest cons ever cooked up by religious leaders.

How do you empirically know God answered your prayers? Belief=personal opinion, and I can’t think of any way a believer can justify and prove their answered prayer claims. I accept that you believe that God answered your prayers, but I don’t believe he did.

He certainly is more than capable of healing you totally, but there is some work you must do to aid Him in that process.

Evidently, you don’t believe what your God said in James 5:13-16:

Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up, and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. 

The prayer of faith saves the sick. Whose prayer? Whose faith? Not mine. It is the prayer of faith from the elders that saves and heals the sick. Mark 11:24 says, So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. This seems to say that if Christians pray and believe, their prayer will be answered. Evidently, you don’t pray and believe, Richard. If you did, I would be healed. Surely, if thousands of Christians pray and believe, God will heal me. God says in James 5:16, that Christian prayers are righteous and effective. EFFECTIVE, Richard. Are you saying that God is wrong?

No, it seems to me that the blame for unanswered prayers rests solely on the shoulders of Christians. The Bible seems to say to Christians that if they want something bad enough, God will will give it to them. It’s evident, at least to me, that the thousands of Christians who said they were praying for me either lied or are lazy pray-ers. As a former Christian, I suspect most Christians are lazy (or superficial) pray-ers. Too busy to fast and pray for my healing. Here I am, a poor wandering sheep, and God’s sheep finders are too busy eating pizza and watching the Winter Olympics.

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men are unable to put Bruce’s faith back together again. You certainly need a “faith lift” for the petition you have mentioned above to be fulfilled. At the moment, you still consider yourself to be both a humanist and an atheist. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 KJV The ball is therefore in your court Bruce.

Sigh, such bad theology, Richard, God is the creator of the universe, the sovereign over all. Ephesians 2 says that salvation is by grace through faith, faith is a gift from God. We have no faith in and of ourselves. God must give is faith in other for us to be saved. We are dead in trespasses and sins, and unless God gives is spiritual life, we cannot be saved. John 6:44 says:  No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day.

Besides, according to the Bible (and countless believers), I am a reprobate and an apostate. I CAN’T be saved. Does not Hebrews 6:4-6 describe me:

 For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit  and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come and then have fallen away, since they are crucifying again the Son of God to their own harm and are holding him up to contempt.

According to this text, I have fallen away and it is IMPOSSIBLE to restore me again to repentance.

So, the ball is in God’s court, not mine.

You cannot be both an atheist and a believer at the same time.

Really? Shocker. 🙂

You must also consider who He is and who you are.

I know who and what I am. However, when it comes to God, I see no compelling evidence for the existence of God. Thus, I have considered who God is: a myth. If you have actual evidence to the contrary, I would love to see it, I am ready and willing to believe, but so far, I have found the arguments for God lacking. I am awaiting the day when an apologist finally convinces me that that the Trinitarian God is true. For the record, I think it is impossible for believers to prove the Trinity — both Biblically and philosophically.

If you are the one trying to order God around to fulfill your request at your venue on your particular date and time, that seems to indicate to me that you want to be God and you want Him to accede to your will.

I know God is busy — so many car keys and parking spaces to find for praying unbelievers— so I talked to the third God in the Trinity, and he scheduled an appearance of Jesus in Ney Ohio on April 1, 2026 at 4:20 PM. One caveat: at least one thousand people who prayed for me must physically come to the park on the appointed day and time. If 999 Christians show up, God will not heal me.

I am not God, and that is why I contacted the Holy Ghost. My healing totally depends on God and at least one thousand prayer warriors. If I remain unhealed, it is not my fault. Name one thing I did, Richard, that would preclude God from healing me?

God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. See James 4:6 & 1 Peter 5:5.

Ah, here comes self-righteous judgment. You say I am proud, but how could you possibly know this? If you talk to my partner, grown children, and friends, you will quickly learn that pride is not a problem of mine. I have the opposite problem: a lack of self-worth. Do you have evidence, Richard, that suggests otherwise?

God certainly can both heal and save you Bruce, but you must choose to cooperate with Him.

You assume I am resisting God. How could I resist him since the Bible says I am “dead.” Last I knew, dead people can’t do anything. Salvation is of the Lord, right? If this is true, then what part, exactly, do I play in my salvation? If I must cooperate with God, Richard, please share exactly what I must do to be saved?

Hope to see you and thousands of praying Christians on April 1. If everyone shows up, I will become a fool for Christ.

Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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