Some of you may have heard of the song “Healer” by Michael Guglielmucci. It is a song which is most well-known because of the song’s association with Hillsong (we cover a number of their songs like “Mighty to Save” and “None but Jesus”).
In a recent YouTube video, Michael described the inspiration for the song as coming after he received news from a hospital that he had “an aggressive form of cancer.” He goes on to say:
“I just went home. I knew I had to go home and needed to get alone with God… I walked into my studio at home and for some reason I sat at the piano and began to worship.
I sang that song from start to finish. I was crying. I just realized that God had given me an incredible gift and I realize that song was going to be my strength.”
Michael was pastor of one of Australia’s biggest youth churches, Planetshakers. He would perform this well-known song with an oxygen tube connected to his nose.
A few days ago, the news came out that Michael was lying about his illness. He never had cancer. He was never terminally ill.
Today, I came across a Facebook support group where the users were obviously disappointed with the news, but which admirably and rightfully switched attention from praying for Michael’s non-existent cancer to praying for a correction in his heart. A question asked on the group’s message board struck me:
“How can we hold on to faith when someone that is meant to teach us about faith turns on us?”
I believe that there is a big lesson embedded in this question for us all. We should always be mindful that faith is from God and not from people. Faith is from the almighty and not from the all-failing. If we feel our faith falter because of the actions of our religious leaders, then our faith is faulty at best.
Let’s pray for Michael, for his church, and for our faith — that it be founded on the solid ground that comes from God alone.