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It is not my impression that Christians should expect (according to their dogma) their God to behave in consistent way, as understood by humans.
Depends on the Christian, I'm afraid. Certainly conservative evangelical type Christians would agree with your statement. But there is a whole branch of Christiandom called the “Word of Faith” movement that regards anything we say as having the power to bind God’s will. And they are VERY serious about this assertion. When I was a worship leader in Houston one of my worship team members was into this (though it was contrary to the teachings of my church) and he was completely committed to the notion, despite his scripture references not really tracking very well. People in this movement will warn you not to say, “I think I’m catching a cold”, because you just might make it happen.

But if you know of the “Prayer of Jabez” movement that Bitt referenced, you know that even mainstream evangelical Christianity can get swept up in it, depending on the response. People used “Jabez” different ways, but certainly there were those who took it to mean they could increase their possessions by reciting the prayer over and over again.

And once again, personally, I experienced the death of a friend because her parents chose prayer over medical council. Perhaps they didn’t actually believe they were “bending God’s will”, but putting their daughter’s life on the line that’s exactly what they were attempting.

So despite my personal beliefs, with the prevalence of such notions about prayer and God I guess it makes all the sense in the world that people would do a study about it.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.