Dr. John Bergsma

But here, this is in Holy Scripture.

And it's saying, if you're sick,

Call the elders of the church, the presbyters of the church, and have them pray over you.

And this is one of many exhortations to have others pray for you and to pray for each other.

St.

Paul on numerous occasions encourages the Christians to pray for him, like St.

Paul asked for prayer from other Christians.

and he'll encourage Christians to pray for each other.

But anyway, okay.

Anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith will save the sick man.

This is the early form of anointing of the sick.

And the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

And to this day, the anointing of the sick is usually conjoined with the sacrament of reconciliation if the person's coherent and lucid and so on.

And so here, again, we see this connection between the ministry of the presbyters who are originally appointed by the apostles, and the forgiveness of sins.

And then it goes on to say in verse 16, therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.

So we are commanded,

in Holy Scripture to pray for one another.

So there should be no objection to seeking the prayers of other Christians.

And there should be no objections to seeking the prayers of Christians who have gone on to be with the Lord.

And people say, oh, that's the prayers of the dead.