Well … Like many other millions of Americans, I received my prayer handkerchief from James Eugene Ewing at St Matthew Churches. I’ll upload pictures of the mailings later, but thought it important to give some details about who they are and what the mailing was about.
Every month St Matthew’s Churches mails out what are called prayer handkerchiefs. Apparently in the past it has been other mailings such as “rugs” or “coins”. The letter goes on to say that they felt the need that someone in our household needed prayer (as does every house). They have been earnestly praying that God would send us a blessing (this is really nice of them). The instructions go on to say that we need to write our names on the prayer handkerchief (a piece of stationary included in the mailing) and read Matthew 9:22 (22Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.”And instantly the woman was made well.) Then put the handkerchief in the Bible and pray for God’s blessing (be specific like a birthday wish, but don’t tell anyone). Close the Bible and put it under your side of the bed. The next morning mail it back to Saint Matthews Churches. Only after you have send the handkerchief back (preferably with a monetary donation), you can open your secret “prophecy”. If you choose not to send the handkerchief back, you must destroy the “prophecy” as to not mock God. If you do send it back, special prayer people with over 200 years of collective prayer experience will pray for you.
Later, I’ll include some pictures with highlights of the mailing. In the mean time, here are some reviews and history of the organization:
http://www.trinityfi.org/press/tulsaworld01.html
http://www.sermonaudio.com/source_news.asp?sourceid=cws
The most ironic portion of this is that I’m teaching on the passage Matthew 9:18-26 tonight (Thursday) for our Smallgroup. I was really struggling with where I needed to go with the passage. I received the mailing on yesterday (Wednesday). Thank you, God, for dropping this illustration in my lap (or allowing St Matthew’s Church to drop it in my mail).
Thank you for your thoughts here.
We’ve been discussing activities such as “prayer cloths” in the comment section of a post on my blog called “Assembling Together 3“. I’ve linked to this post in the comments.
-Alan
Did you get your birthday wish? Actually today is my birthday and I was wishing to find where I put this mailing at. Tomorrow I’m giving a speech on “Ministry or Scam?” Your blog is well written and I may take a quote from it. I actually received this mailing but I guess I threw it away. I am going to talk about being careful not to donate to religious scams during this economic crisis or any time but to give to true ministries and charities.