There is so much to say on the subject of healing, that I will be as concise as possible by not expounding on every point I make. I can do this for 2 reasons -
#1, Truth is ‘indefensible’ - You can argue all the day long, and nothing can change truth no matter how well you state your case..or fail to. Besides, it is the Spirit of Truth that should be the arbiter of ‘what is truth’, and what isn’t. The key to ‘learning truth’, is to permit the Lord to lead you to ‘information’. Then don’t take it at face value because of the speaker - RUN IT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.
(Which is a ‘Spirit’ Christians access too rarely,… (i.e.. ask at HIS mouth, or ‘walk by the Spirit’ to the exclusion of outside influence, or the traditions of men) that instead of the ‘one body’, ‘one baptism’, and ‘one faith’, of Ephesians 4:4, there are 200 different ‘Christian’ denominations in the USA alone! And if the data is accurate, there are 45,000+ Christian denominations across the world!! (According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity)
So what good is arguing?
In this series, I’ll write what I’ve been taught of the Lord about healing over the course of many years; I’ll serve up applicable Scriptural references, and at times add anecdotal evidence that may help to build ‘faith’ in folks that need to be healed; (personal testimonials are helpful for that.)
One other piece of evidence that I will offer, is the proverbial proof of the pudding→ ME!
At this writing, I am 67 years old, (born on Reformation Day in 1956) I’ve known the Lord for 48 years, and have been healed by him of everything that ever afflicted me.. save for Tinnitus - (A loud serial ringing in my left ear that came upon me in 1986, following a physical encounter with a Cuban man who practiced santoria. I’ll talk about it in this series, in the section on the ‘occult’, which carries its own type of afflictions.)
Jesus - the Great Physician, over the course of years, healed me -HIMSELF - of:
Scoliosis (a demon)
Sciatica
Locked - stiff necks
Tinea versicola
Migraine Headaches
Bulimia syndrome (It’s called a ‘syndrome’ but it’s a demon)
Prader Willi syndrome (ditto)
8 months of terrible lower back pain in 2015
Osteoarthritis
Covid (divoc) (a demon)
Chronic Bronchitis
Dupuytren's contracture (a demon)
Chronic Fatigue
I also had a very large lump on my body for about 25 years, that went away 80% after I took a Godly medicine - Chlorine Dioxide, in 2021. (The CD healed the lump, though JESUS showed me to use it!)
Whew, Enough eh? All gone! Not one doctor bill. Perfect healing.
I’ve no afflictions; have been sick twice in the last 20 years1; have no pains; no veins; no surgeries (save in 1979 when a surgeon in Syracuse NY sewed on my left ear after a bike accident); and no medical bills or medical insurance bills at all. Zero. I have not had health insurance my whole life, and throw the innumerable ‘Medicare’ offers, that come here routinely, in the trash. (Eyeglasses I get for free at the Womens' VA clinic.)
Best of all - > I feel great. In fact, after sitting on my butt for 4 years while writing my book, and blogging, I just joined a gym last week, to get back into shape. : > }
Hopefully, if you need deliverance of any kind, you will read this, and my resume will contribute to your confidence in the Biblical things that I share. Though, please DO search the Scriptures - and ASK JESUS to show you if the things I write are true.
FINALLY: You may be happy to know that I have helped many people be delivered of their diseases/ afflictions. I’ll list a few of the dramatic episodes in this series.
Let’s begin:
WHAT IS SICKNESS & DISEASE?
It is an aspect of a fallen world. There was no sickness in the Garden. It was introduced through disobedience.. This has never changed.
NB: If a person truly wants to be whole, it is imperative to establish this truth of ‘sickness = disobedience’. For a permanent healing, it is essential to find the ROOT CAUSE of the affliction - which in every case is some sort of sin.
Let’s establish that first:
In Genesis 3, Adam rebelled; then he declined to ‘repent’ when God gave him the opportunity to do so. After which the Scripture says - the ground became cursed, bruising (pain, sickness, and affliction); thorns and harmful plants (i.e.. poisons etc); hard labor; sweat; pain (of childbirth etc); and death - were all newly introduced.
Let’s also recognize that, as a ‘son of God’, the devil had no authority to ‘make’ Adam sick; he could only try to make Adam to crack his own armor by disobeying GOD. That’s all the devil can do to this day. He can persecute us, but he cannot harm a person who is obedient to God, and he can’t make them sick. → IF HE COULD many of us would be very sick.. who are NOT.
It is Biblically accurate to correlate ALL sickness with sin. Let’s explore that in the Bible. Here are Scriptures that show us the Bible’s pairing of ‘Sin & Sickness:’
3’Who forgiveth all thine SINS;
who healeth all thy DISEASES.’ Psalm 103:3
‘But he was wounded for our SINS,
he was bruised for our iniquities..
and ‘BY HIS PUNISHMENT’ -we are HEALED.’ Isaiah 53:5
“He himself bore our sins” in his BODY on the cross,
so that we might die to SINS and live for righteousness;
“by his WOUNDS you have been HEALED” I Peter 2:24
Then there is this crystal clear warning by the Lord Jesus Christ, that speaks all the way down to our day.. connecting the practice of sin, with the onset of sickness, and recidivism, with the RETURN of sickness:
‘Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him,
Behold, thou art made whole: (you’re not sick anymore)
SIN NO MORE.. lest a worse thing come unto thee.’ John 5:14
And the blessings vs the warnings - of Moses:
BLESSINGS of OBEDIENCE
‘And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, ,..all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee,
if thou shalt [obey] the voice of the Lord thy God.4 Blessed shall ye be in the fruit of thy body, Deuteronomy 28: 1&4
versus
But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, 21
The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee,
22 The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning,..
Deuteronomy 28:15, 18, 21,22
and Deuteronomy 7:12
Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:
and 15:
And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.
Now for the Good news, which ties all of this together:
‘…the curse causeless shall not come.’ Proverbs 26:2b
Moses, and Christ, and King Solomon all had the same message; A man does not get sick for ‘no good reason’ - rather sickness is connected inexorably to sin.
Why is this good news?
Because, for one thing, it negates a popular saying that is not found in Scripture - ‘There but for the grace of God, go I’. That saying makes it sound like all of life is some sort of celestial crap shoot; That we ‘don’t know what can befall us’. And that something bad can happen to anyone at any time.’ NOT!
The person who teaches such a thing, does not know the Bible as he ought to.
Elohim created the world with inalienable laws and unfailing precepts, that govern all of life and death; all that we CAN live fearlessly in Him, as He has commanded.
‘Do not fear what they fear; do not live in dread.’ Isaiah 8:12
If we are to obey God’s oft repeated commandment to live fearlessly, we cannot walk around believing that a catastrophe, or disease, can strike us at any time for no good reason. Sickness ONLY comes for a reason - and THAT is by breaking God’s laws.
What is sickness & disease? GOD’S STOP SIGN.
Sickness is temporal.
Sickness is God’s merciful manner of showing someone that they are ‘missing the mark’. That they are missing the ‘narrow gate’ that leads to life eternal.
Sickness and its associated suffering in this short life - cannot be compared with the suffering of eternal separation from God.
Sickness is Mercy because it is God’s way of saying STOP, LOOK, and LISTEN! YOU ARE HEADING FOR PERDITION.
The Scripture says what?.. The consumation of sin/sickness is death.
‘Then when lust (untoward desires) hath conceived (been turned into an action),
it bringeth forth sin:
and sin, when it is finished (consummate), bringeth forth death.’ James 1:15
The end of sin is death. What does that remind you of?
The end of sickness too..?
DYING IN YOUR SINS
The reason for sickness, is so that - you can →REMOVE the cause, and LIVE - or when your time comes - die forgiven!
There must be something terrible about ‘dying in your sins’. Consider:
In John 8:24, Jesus pronounces a dire warning to the pharisees which hated him:
‘I said therefore unto you, that ye shall DIE in your SINS:
for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall DIE in your SINS.’ John 8:24
He said it TWICE.
Watch very carefully ANYTHING that the Bible declares 2X or more. It is a figure of speech EMPHASIZING the thing as established by GOD. VIZ:
And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is ESTABLISHED by GOD, and GOD will shortly bring it to pass. Genesis 41:32
From this we can deduce that those pharisees died in their sins, and that soon after this conversation with Yeshuah.
I HAVE LIVED TO SEE THAT HAPPEN TO PEOPLE.
In one sad case, about 20 years ago in Virginia, the wife of a minister took a call from me one Sunday morning. I asked to speak to the minister, because the night before, my then husband had attempted suicide in front of our 6 year old son; and was in the hospital’s psyche ward. We were terribly distressed and needed prayer.
She would not bring her husband to the phone, but said to me: “He’s busy getting ready for church’. (They had a Bible fellowship in their home, that we attended each Sunday). (Her husband never did call us, that day or ever. And we stopped attending their fellowship. At the time, in desperation, I put my young son with friends, and flew to Texas, where I spent the weekend with the wonderful deliverance minister, Thurmond Scrivner and his wife Cheryl. They prayed for my husband, who was not only totally delivered of Cirhossis of the liver that he was dying of, he was totally delivered of the suicide demons. Fact is, to this day he’s not been sick once since they prayed for him from afar).
As for the wife of the minister, there are any number of commandments of the Lord that her cold reaction to my need demonstrated disobedience to.
A few years later, I happened to hear from a friend, that she died of a sickness, and that her husband was so distressed he stopped teaching the Bible fellowship. The fact remains, whatever made her sick had to be sin. And if she didn’t recover, someone neglected to recognize that unrepentent sin can lead to sickness - which can lead to dying IN YOUR SINS.
Why does the Lord want you healed? It is a FAILSAFE way of demonstrating that YOU HAVE ALSO BEEN FORGIVEN OF YOUR SINS.
CONSIDER:
‘…And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.’JAMES 5:17
Friend, do you see it?
IF THE LORD HEALS YOU, IT IS THE SAME AS FORGIVING YOU! HE CAN’T DO ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER! THEY ARE 2 SIDES OF THE SAME COIN..
CONSIDER THIS RECORD ALSO - WHICH TEACHES THE SAME PRINCIPLE:
Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Why do you harbor evil in your hearts?
Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk?’
But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...”
Then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed, and go home.”… [ie.. YOU ARE BOTH FORGIVEN, AND HEALED] Matthew 9:4-6
I’ll close this Chapter tonight, with one more anecdotal record:
In 2018 when we were still new in this area, we started attending a local church with a lovely pastor and congregation. We soon learned that they had a lot of love, but no power. I’ve experienced church with power, but no love too. The best is to have both!
I figured it out from their prayer meetings. I loved that they met weekly for prayer, and I joined the prayer group. In the group there were people who were sick, or the group would pray for people in the church who were at home sick.
So- I’d minister a healing prayer to someone in the group, and they’d get well. But they STILL considered it a ‘chance thing’, based on the ‘will of God’; In other words, they believed that sometimes He wants to heal and sometimes He doesn’t. They couldn’t get past that pastor’s credo that healing is a celestial crap shoot.
Friend, Is that where you’re stuck? Wondering IF it is God’s WILL to heal you?
Make no mistake - His WILL IS His WORD.
His son, Jesus Christ, said ‘I ALWAYS do the Father’s WILL”. And what did Jesus do? He healed EVERYONE that came to him. SO what IS the Father’s will in this case? To heal everyone that..
Comes to Him,
Fulfills the simple requirement of John 5:14 - ‘GO and SIN NO MORE’. (BTW, That’s called repentance.)
Well, this church had a music ministry in ONE sweet family. Each Sunday we’d listen to a man in the congregation sing and play music with his 4 teen children. But, we never saw their mom. I finally found out she was home for 3 years, dying of cancer.
You know, one of the greatest men of God of our age, Norvel Hayes, had a tremendous deliverance ministry. But his own mom died when he was a small boy.
One day, as a grown man, and minister, Hayes asked the Lord ‘Why did my mom die?’ Jesus answered him - ‘Because she was in the wrong church’. (I.e.. she was taught wrongly.)
Friend, as the late great VPWierwille used to say - ‘You can’t go beyond what you’re taught’.
IF YOU have been taught that ‘Jesus doesn’t talk to his people anymore’, .. You’ll probably never hear from him.
IF YOU have been taught that - Speaking in tongues is a ‘gift’ for only ‘some people’., or was for the 1st Century Church only,.. you’ll probably never get to ‘build yourself up spiritually’.. or speak with God ‘divine secrets’; or have the spirit ‘pray FOR you, when you know not what to say.’
IF YOU have been taught that - Sometimes God wants to heal you and sometimes He wants you to be sick’.. you may never experience the magnificent power of God available to ‘all who believe Him’.
Well, this Music family was in a Church that did not believe in healing, so this mother spent 3 years suffering from cancer, and then one Sunday morning..
..None of the musicians were in church. Their mom was in a coma in the hospital, not expected to live much longer. They were with their mom.
After church the Lord told me to go visit her in the hospital.
So I went to Crouse Hospital on Irving Avenue in Syracuse and asked for her room number. When I got to her room, she was laying in a bed, hooked up to all sorts of machines and a drip of some kind. Her husband - who I recognized - was there, as was her sister, who I met at that moment for the first time.
I asked the man if I could pray for his wife. He smiled and said ‘Yes, please’.
The Lord told me to remit her sins. He did not tell me to ‘heal her’ so I didn’t try. I prayed for the whole family, and remitted their moms sins on earth, that they would be ‘stricken’ from the heavenly record. (John 20:23) Then I left.
I found out a week later at a prayer meeting, what had happened after I left. Seems while I was praying with my eyes closed, the lady saw her dying sister’s heart monitor regulate. Shortly after I left, her sister woke up from her coma. Her children were sent for, and everyone had one happy last day together with their mom, who fell on sleep (died) the next day. Forgiven.
For whatever reason, while he didn’t heal her (Which I believe was due to the family’s unbelief - (Matthew 13:58), the Lord did forgive her sins. She died with a clean slate.
This woman, as is her family, was born again. Yet the Lord specifically directed me to ‘Remit her sins’. (Unbelief, BTW, is a sin). That says a lot to us about the error some hold - that once you’re born again, all your sins are forgiven - past, AND ‘future’. The Bible does not teach that dangerous concept. Otherwise, why did the prophet Paul command us to put AWAY lying, etc, and walk holy before a holy God - if it didn’t matter?
And we have a propitiation for our sins - the savior Jesus Christ. “IF we say we have no sin, we lie, and the truth is not in us.’ (I John 1:8) But Jesus gave us, his disciples, the authority that HE HAD on earth - to forgive sins. Consequently, we’d be daft not to use it!
In SUMMARY - so far:
Sickness is a product of sin
Jesus will heal ANYONE who comes to him by faith, personally or by proxy through his ministers - to whom he gave the privilege and power to do ‘his works’ (John 14:12) And if you’re a disciple - that means YOU!
When the sin goes - so goes the sickness. (Don’t wait till you’re in a coma to repent. JUST DO IT.)
When the sickness goes - so goes the sin.
You CAN sin again - so repent and turn away from the sin - Just DON’T do it.
PRAY and remit sins for your family on a regular basis; It is our sonship right to do so!
IN the next segment, I’ll briefly describe how I was delivered from ‘all of those diseases’ listed above. Then we’ll get into the nitty gritty of healing.
VJCB
Both times due to an encounter with a person involved in the occult.
I have also learned that regularly participating (several times a week for us) in communion, remembering Christ and He has done for us; taking the bread for healing and blood for forgiveness of sins has profound affects on one’s quality of life!