The Narrow Path Ministries

Hey all--

my pastor gave me a book to read and review for him-- it's called "intercessory Prayer" by a guy named Dutch Sheets. i am not familiar with him or his ministry, but from a rather quick read of the book it is clear he is from a charismatic background, not that there is anything wrong with that.

one of the things he talks about is "prayer cloths." here is an excerpt from the book, which is actually a testimony of one of his church members regarding the use of a prayer cloth for her teenager who had wandered from God:

"on one occasion Pastor Dutch taught about prayer cloths. Immediately I thought: "we can do that for Jonathan!" Pastor Dutch, David and I together laid hands on a prayer cloth, releasing God's power and anointing into it, agreeing that the anointing would break the yoke of drugsm sin, ungodly friends, perversion and anything else that needed breaking. We cut the cloth into about 12 pieces and put them under his sheets, inside his pillow, hidden in the flaps of his wallet, sewed inot the cuffs of his pants...with each one we would declare "the anointing breaks the yoke."

of course this seemed to work, but the process of praying over a new cloth was repeated several times.

have any of you ever heard of such a thing? what do you think about this? i must admit that red flags go up for me over stuff like this but i am from a decidedly non-charismatic background, although i am much more open about it than i used to be.

all of your comments would be appreciated.

TK

I have never heard of this practice. I can't think of anything in the Bible verse that would give "Prayer Cloths" any credibuility. Did Partor Dutch site any scripture to validate this practice? Another question, does this practice assume that the persons laying hands on the cloth accually have the abuility to release Gods power?

I would be very skeptical.

Act 19:11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
Act 19:12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.


I suppose this is where they get the idea. Whether or not it was a "practice" per se I don't know. I don't get the impression that Paul prayed over the handkerchiefs first.

I know I have seen televangelist types selling these and promising healing, prosperity...you know the usual.

Thanks for the reference Derek. This is why I love reading and taking part in this forum.

roblaine wrote:Thanks for the reference Derek. This is why I love reading and taking part in this forum.

Wouldn't it have been easier to just pray over the bed linens and clothing? After all, they're made of cloth as well. Can you imagine the poor kid finding little pieces of cloth in odd places? Maybe he thought he was going crazy and that turned him around. The practice sounds sort of superstitious to me.

thanks for the responses-- the verse derek quoted is the verse used to suppor the practice. apparently he is of the opinion that an "anointing" can be transfered to an inanimate object which can thereafter "influence" another person w/o them even knowing it.

the problem i have with books like this is that some of the book seems very good and encouraging, but then there are things like this in there that tend to ruin the whole thing for me. at the same time i dont want to be 100% close-minded.

michelle- i agree that it seems very superstitious. of course the people referenced in the book would likely argue that its biblical and that it worked.

TK