Divine Healing (Intro to Lessons)
There are heresies in the church today, such as the dispensational teaching that miracles and divine healing came to an end in the first century. Multitudes have come under the influence of “deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” as Paul prophesied (1 Tim 4:1). The prince of darkness Satan has beguiled entire denominations to believe healing is not part of the gospel of the kingdom preached by Jesus, despite the fact that pardon of sins and healing are united in the teachings of Christ and apostles. But unclean spirits of doubt and unbelief have deceived many that health of the body is not a fruit of salvation.
Jesus never suggested a sick person should resign himself to illness. Misguided doctrines have strayed from the fullness of the gospel, neglecting to emphasize that “the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 Jn 3:8). Even a casual reading of the gospels and book of Acts in absence of false indoctrination will leave readers clear as to the charge given the church Jesus left behind regarding divine healing. If these lessons do not clarify the matter, I’d simply ask you to be good Bereans and search the Scriptures for yourself instead of reading commentaries written by others.
Jesus taught that sin in the soul and sickness in the body both bore witness to works of the devil. Satan is identified by Jesus as the prince of this world, directing a kingdom of darkness with sickness being a consequence of sin. So it is Jesus healed everyone who came for healing. Yet as the Church has become less committed to the truth of Scripture, faith in divine healing has diminished and healings have all but disappeared from the regular experience of most who make up the body of Christ on earth, especially in highly industrialized nations like the United States, England and France.
As the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16), our bodies do not bring glory to our Creator when afflicted with either sin or sickness. And if we look for healing by a natural means, our attention is directed toward the body and symptoms of disease. But if looking for divine healing, attention becomes directed toward repentance of sins and the yielding of oneself to the tender care of Christ. The focus then becomes that of recognizing and renouncing those issues which separate us from intimate fellowship with the Lord Jesus. And should symptoms at first seem more severe than before, one stresses continuing on a faith walk and keeping the focus on righteousness.
This series of lessons is intended as a brief introduction to the reality of spiritual healing as it takes place throughout the world today, despite the disclaimers of naysayers to the contrary. The author of these lessons has witnessed a considerable number of divine healings as described in books available for reading on this website. No doubt many more healings might have been witnessed had the author been more sensitive toward the need to deal with spiritual issues prior to anointing with oil and laying on of hands to pray in the name of Jesus for those with sickness. Nonetheless, I remain so deeply grateful for having been permitted to see the power of the Holy Spirit powerfully at work through my life, even to the raising of a dead man back to life.
As the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16), our bodies do not bring glory to our Creator when afflicted with either sin or sickness. And if we look for healing by a natural means, our attention is directed toward the body and symptoms of disease. But if looking for divine healing, attention becomes directed toward repentance of sins and the yielding of oneself to the tender care of Christ. The focus then becomes that of recognizing and renouncing those issues which separate us from intimate fellowship with the Lord Jesus. And should symptoms at first seem more severe than before, one stresses continuing on a faith walk and keeping the focus on righteousness.
This series of lessons is intended as a brief introduction to the reality of spiritual healing as it takes place throughout the world today, despite the disclaimers of naysayers to the contrary. The author of these lessons has witnessed a considerable number of divine healings as described in books available for reading on this website. No doubt many more healings might have been witnessed had the author been more sensitive toward the need to deal with spiritual issues prior to anointing with oil and laying on of hands to pray in the name of Jesus for those with sickness. Nonetheless, I remain so deeply grateful for having been permitted to see the power of the Holy Spirit powerfully at work through my life, even to the raising of a dead man back to life.
Divine Healing Lesson 01: Spiritual and Physical Healing
Practice of medicine in the West has long recognized that many physical ailments are related at least in part to one’s mental and emotional health. The effects of stress and anxiety on the cardiovascular system with regard to pulse rate and blood pressure was recognized long before the 1950’s when I was a medical student. But broadly speaking, Western medicine draws a sharp line of demarcation as it pertains to spiritual health and physical affliction. There is little understanding of the spiritual roots which have led to sickness ever since the Fall of man in the garden of Eden.
The apostles realized that preaching with wise and persuasive words was insufficient and that a demonstration of God’s power was needed (1 Cor 2:4,5). So it is that they prayed for God to manifest His presence in their midst by confirming His Word through signs and wonders in the name of Jesus (Ac 4:30). In the next lesson we’ll examine what I have long labeled as Principles from the Farm regarding the subject of divine healing. Each of these principles is firmly based on Holy Scripture and consists of very elementary steps: (a) killing weeds of unbelief and doubt, (b) plowing up polluted soil in the heart, and (c) being certain to use the right seed when planting.
It doesn’t usually seem to register with Christian physicians (or many of those in church leadership) that when two million plus Israelites left Egypt with Moses, none were sick or feeble. There were more than enough in number to fill a dozen major hospitals today, yet none were infirm because all of them were under grace. The relationship of physical health to spiritual condition was obvious. Only three days after leaving Egypt, the God who had delivered them from bondage identified Himself as Jehovah-rophi….literally as a God who heals His people from their diseases.
Three days after their remarkable exodus, the Hebrew people arrived at Marah. We can imagine disappointment in finding the water too bitter for drinking. However God showed Moses a piece of wood symbolic of Jesus’ cross. When cast into the bitter water, the water became sweet. It was then that God told the people, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes…..I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD[Jehovah-rophe] who heals you” (Ex 15:26). Here we find the condition for both prevention and management of disease being described for the people of God.
The world rophe appears over sixty times in the OT and is always used in the sense of restoring, healing and cure, not only physically but in a moral and spiritual sense as well. At Marah, God pledged Himself to be their Healer on condition of obedience to His laws. The fruit of obedience would be health whereas sin would have consequences not only for the unsaved but saved alike. And the terrible toll sickness has extracted over the ages, plagues even threatening the existence of nations, demonstrates how the blessing of God assuring health has very often been withdrawn as a consequence of man’s disobedience against the righteous ways of a sovereign God.
The call to righteous living as a condition for good health is confirmed in Deuteronomy 28. Here we find fourteen verses (28:1-14) dealing with a blessing of good health when obedient to the revealed will of God. The remaining fifty-four verses (28:15-68) concern loss of God’s blessing of good health as a consequence of turning from God: “The LORD will plague you with diseases… wasting disease, with fever and inflammation…until you are destroyed.” Both Old and New Testaments emphasize God’s desire that we prosper in spirit, soul and body (3 Jn 2). Yet over the ages, we’ve come to ignore biblical conditions for receiving God’s blessing of health.
Could it really be that most disease has spiritual roots and that the healing, let alone prevention of disease, is directly related to overcoming spiritual issues? We see a direct connection between sin and healing in James 5:14-16: “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” The condition for being healed is dependent upon first dealing with one’s sin.
I fondly recall sitting at the pool called Bethesda in Jerusalem where my wife took a picture of me reading the story of Jesus healing a man who’d been an invalid for thirty-eight years (Jn 5:1-15). In this particular case, the man was healed without being required to have any faith whatsoever, showing the compassionate heart of God. Indeed the man had no idea who’d healed him. However, Jesus found him later at the temple and said, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Here a relationship between sin and health is quite apparent.
In these passages of Scripture, we see the direct relationship between physical disease and the spiritual condition of a person. But a relationship between disease and lack of sanctification has been poorly articulated by the Church for generations. So it is that we find believers have the same diseases and just as frequently as unbelievers in present times. It is unreasonable to expect gifts of healing if one is willfully living in a sinful condition. On the other hand, God is sovereign and blesses those He chooses to bless by miraculously healing unbelievers on occasion.
When the Word became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth, the compassionate heart of God for healing of physical and emotional issues was fully manifested. There was not a single instance where the Son of God refused to heal a person who had come to Him. That the healing of physical infirmity should be a part of the church’s ministry today is denied by those whose lack of faith has led them to claim that we live under a dispensation where miracles and healing are no longer expected with a “prayer offered in faith.” It’s a most unscriptural way to explain the fact that sickness is just as rampant in the body of Christ today as in the world in general.
This dispensational argument is often associated with the doctrine of Balaam that would falsely teach grace makes allowance for sin without consequences. It’s a claim of false security that salvation is not lost by returning to worldly ways (see 2 Tim 4:9,10) or by abandoning one’s faith (see 1 Tim 1:19,20). But sickness in the physical realm simply can not be separated from sin in the spiritual realm. Rebellion against righteousness is at the root of most diseases experienced by man, be it personal rebellion or by our forefathers (Neh 9:2). However, the doctrine of Balaam has become so pervasive that healing by the wounds of Jesus is rarely in evidence today.
As we continue, we’ll see a connection between repentance of sin and healing of physical affliction. Hopefully we’ll also come to appreciate that the purpose for seeking divine healing should never be to pursue of one’s personal ambitions or indulging in worldly pleasures. Where the gift of healing is experienced, the Holy Spirit is manifesting His nature. And the Spirit of healing is also the Spirit of sanctification. Our sanctification should always be held in greater esteem than healing of any physical affliction. Indeed, “without holiness, no one will see the Lord” (Heb 12:14). We must not allow ourselves to divide the offices of the Holy Spirit in the same way the offices of Jesus are often divided by claiming Him as Savior independent of His Lordship.
Divine Healing Lesson 02: The Desire of God to HealThe call to righteous living as a condition for good health is confirmed in Deuteronomy 28. Here we find fourteen verses (28:1-14) dealing with a blessing of good health when obedient to the revealed will of God. The remaining fifty-four verses (28:15-68) concern loss of God’s blessing of good health as a consequence of turning from God: “The LORD will plague you with diseases… wasting disease, with fever and inflammation…until you are destroyed.” Both Old and New Testaments emphasize God’s desire that we prosper in spirit, soul and body (3 Jn 2). Yet over the ages, we’ve come to ignore biblical conditions for receiving God’s blessing of health.
Could it really be that most disease has spiritual roots and that the healing, let alone prevention of disease, is directly related to overcoming spiritual issues? We see a direct connection between sin and healing in James 5:14-16: “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” The condition for being healed is dependent upon first dealing with one’s sin.
I fondly recall sitting at the pool called Bethesda in Jerusalem where my wife took a picture of me reading the story of Jesus healing a man who’d been an invalid for thirty-eight years (Jn 5:1-15). In this particular case, the man was healed without being required to have any faith whatsoever, showing the compassionate heart of God. Indeed the man had no idea who’d healed him. However, Jesus found him later at the temple and said, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Here a relationship between sin and health is quite apparent.
In these passages of Scripture, we see the direct relationship between physical disease and the spiritual condition of a person. But a relationship between disease and lack of sanctification has been poorly articulated by the Church for generations. So it is that we find believers have the same diseases and just as frequently as unbelievers in present times. It is unreasonable to expect gifts of healing if one is willfully living in a sinful condition. On the other hand, God is sovereign and blesses those He chooses to bless by miraculously healing unbelievers on occasion.
When the Word became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth, the compassionate heart of God for healing of physical and emotional issues was fully manifested. There was not a single instance where the Son of God refused to heal a person who had come to Him. That the healing of physical infirmity should be a part of the church’s ministry today is denied by those whose lack of faith has led them to claim that we live under a dispensation where miracles and healing are no longer expected with a “prayer offered in faith.” It’s a most unscriptural way to explain the fact that sickness is just as rampant in the body of Christ today as in the world in general.
This dispensational argument is often associated with the doctrine of Balaam that would falsely teach grace makes allowance for sin without consequences. It’s a claim of false security that salvation is not lost by returning to worldly ways (see 2 Tim 4:9,10) or by abandoning one’s faith (see 1 Tim 1:19,20). But sickness in the physical realm simply can not be separated from sin in the spiritual realm. Rebellion against righteousness is at the root of most diseases experienced by man, be it personal rebellion or by our forefathers (Neh 9:2). However, the doctrine of Balaam has become so pervasive that healing by the wounds of Jesus is rarely in evidence today.
As we continue, we’ll see a connection between repentance of sin and healing of physical affliction. Hopefully we’ll also come to appreciate that the purpose for seeking divine healing should never be to pursue of one’s personal ambitions or indulging in worldly pleasures. Where the gift of healing is experienced, the Holy Spirit is manifesting His nature. And the Spirit of healing is also the Spirit of sanctification. Our sanctification should always be held in greater esteem than healing of any physical affliction. Indeed, “without holiness, no one will see the Lord” (Heb 12:14). We must not allow ourselves to divide the offices of the Holy Spirit in the same way the offices of Jesus are often divided by claiming Him as Savior independent of His Lordship.
Many times I have heard a preacher invite people to come forward and have prayer said for their physical illness with the comment, “God may want to heal someone today!” It saddens me when those appointed as shepherds are so unfamiliar with the Word of God that they make such statements. In many instances such comments are simply made out of ignorance by those who attended bible schools and seminaries that promote heretical teachings such as denying that spiritual gifts like divine healing and the miraculous are still active in the present Church age.
Years ago the Holy Spirit began to manifest His power with frequent gifts of healing for people with a variety of diseases in my medical practice. Some were medically incurable using available treatment and yet instant and complete healings took place. It was then that certain verses of Scripture became even more alive and vibrant than ever within the depth of my soul, verses such as the following by King David: “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit” (Ps 103:2-4).
Years ago the Holy Spirit began to manifest His power with frequent gifts of healing for people with a variety of diseases in my medical practice. Some were medically incurable using available treatment and yet instant and complete healings took place. It was then that certain verses of Scripture became even more alive and vibrant than ever within the depth of my soul, verses such as the following by King David: “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit” (Ps 103:2-4).
This verse was like a spiritual lightning bolt for me! Almighty God was listing benefits for His people: forgiveness of sins, healing of diseases, and the gift of restoration as well as eternal life. Using a Hebrew-English dictionary, I sought the meaning of the word “all” that applied not only to having our sins forgiven but also to having diseases healed. The Hebrew kol translated as “all” was found to mean all, everyone, everything, completely, continually, and the totality of a matter. In short, use of the word kol did not make any allowance for frequent exceptions to a general rule.
The churches attended during those years of my life had no difficulty teaching about the blood of Jesus shed as an atoning sacrifice and complete payment for all my sins. That portion of Psalm 103 was never once heard contested by anyone occupying the pulpit. Neither was the matter of having any person redeemed from the pit of any circumstance or living hell on earth contested. Only that portion about the LORD who “heals all your diseases” seemed to elicit a variety of excuses if not unbelief from the mouths of those ministers given the great privilege of occupying a pulpit.
The churches attended during those years of my life had no difficulty teaching about the blood of Jesus shed as an atoning sacrifice and complete payment for all my sins. That portion of Psalm 103 was never once heard contested by anyone occupying the pulpit. Neither was the matter of having any person redeemed from the pit of any circumstance or living hell on earth contested. Only that portion about the LORD who “heals all your diseases” seemed to elicit a variety of excuses if not unbelief from the mouths of those ministers given the great privilege of occupying a pulpit.
I soon came to a place where ‘cherry-picking’ only those passages in Scripture with which one was comfortable was no longer acceptable. Other passages were found which were consistent with the healing provisions of God in Psalm 103. Speaking of the coming Suffering Servant, the prophet was seen to have prophesied about Jesus, “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted…..the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (see Isaiah 53:4,5).
Peter later wrote, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (2 Pe 2:24). Note that dying to sins and living for righteousness precedes being healed in this verse. And the Greek translated as “healed” is the identical word used by James when he wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit about the sick going to their elders for anointing with oil and prayer. But regarding the latter, I often find repentance of sins as a condition for healing being ignored today. “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (see Jas 5:14-16).
Speaking by a prophet, God tells us, “My people are destroyed [or die] from lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). This is tragically the case when the Church is not taught about the earnest desire of God to heal our physical afflictions today. On the other hand, one must be careful to not ignore the biblical conditions required for healing to take place as is too often done: “My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body” (Pr 4:20-22).
Both Old and New Testaments bear unequivocal witness to the compassion of God in healing those afflicted with physical suffering. A prominent aspect of Jesus’ ministry as given to the disciples involved healing and He made provision for healing to continue in the church He left behind. Such is the testimony of the early Church as recorded in Acts and should be a testimony of the hurch in our day. “And these signs will accompany those who believe. In my name they will drive out demons…they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well” (Mk 16:17,18).
Many in ministry do not believe the words of Jesus when He speaks about His miracles and healing of sickness:“Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing” (Jn 14:12). Even when confronted by examples, their minds are blinded in refusing to recognize healings are taking place through gifts of healing placed in the church by God. Such leaders are groomed in schools and seminaries where ministry training has fallen under the influence of “deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” as prophesied two thousand years ago by Paul (1 Tim 4:1).
No other explanation is available for spiritual blindness found in certain denominations. Satan has succeeded in keeping the full provision of Calvary from being appropriated. It should not surprise us that those churches which fail to recognize the desire of God to heal through “gifts of healing” (1 Cor 12:9) are the very same which deny the possibility of demonic influence on a “born again” believer. They dismiss multiple warnings in the Scriptures concerning need to resist the devil and to be aware of his schemes (2 Cor 2:11). That believers struggle not against flesh and blood but against forces of evil seems totally lost to their way of thinking (Eph 6:10-18).
Little did I know how keeping the words of God in my heart would apply to my own life until I developed incurable prostate cancer twenty years ago. God’s words are “life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body,” So I’ve cherished promises that have permitted me to continue sharing the full gospel with the lost and to be a testimony of God’s healing power to the sick over these intervening years. Such was especially true years ago when back pain was diagnosed as spread of cancer to my spine and God saw fit to completely relieve the pain without treatment.
Divine Healing Lesson 03: Principles from the ‘Farm’
There are several principles in Scripture which apply directly to this subject of divine healing through “gifts of healing” by the power of the Holy Spirit. Taken together, these principles form the environment wherein the manifestation of “gifts of healing” are far more likely to be seen than in the absence of these principles. These principles are not to be considered a formula for success however. While God promises to bless all those who fear Him and are obedient to His ways, Jehovah-rophe does not operate like a spiritual ATM machine if certain procedures are followed.
There are circumstances where a committed saint of God continues to suffer physical infirmity when all appears to be right in the natural. There seems no apparent reason as to why Jehovah-rophe does not extend His hand and bring immediate healing. It is here in particular that faith not only finds itself tested but where faith can shine brightly like a city high on a hill in the darkness of this world. The ability of believers to endure their adversity while continuing to trust in the sovereignty of God serves as encouragement and inspiration to others in similar circumstances.
God is not only compassionate but faithful to hear and act upon cries for help from His faithful ones – providing genuine faith exists and roadblocks to receiving healing are not acting as an obstacle. While I’ve witnessed numerous instantaneous healings, some of which are described in books found on this website, I’ve never considered myself to have a “gift of healing.” Were it so, I’d hasten to empty every hospital in America and risk my assassination by hospital administrators if not by the doctors themselves. The “gifts” are rather for those persons who receive the healings.
What I have found is that three principles apply as taught by the apostles and by Jesus Himself. Referred to as Principles from the Farm, the first of these is the all-important Killing Weeds of Unbelief. It is clearly recorded that even Jesus could not carry out miracles or healings in His home-town of Nazareth because such lack of faith existed. These people had known the Lord Jesus from childhood and had difficulty accepting that He was the long-awaited Messiah prophesied about by many prophets. Instead, the Lord experienced rejection by people He came to serve.
Faith is “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb 11:1) and one who seeks healing must have utter confidence that God has the power to do what is being asked. What James writes of in seeking wisdom is also true for divine healing: “When he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord” (Jas 1:6,7). God does not heal to produce faith. God has sent His Word to produce faith in the hearts of believers.
When a farmer plants seed in his field, he’s glad to complete planting and has faith in nature to grow the seed by providing moisture as well as sunshine. So with divine healing. Those sick must have faith in the Son-shine of Jehovah-rophe and not permit doubt to fester. I’ve seen instant healing begin following prayer with laying on of hands, only to watch doubt develop and people seek medical attention instead of asking for more prayer. Let us not forget that Jesus prayed twice for the blind man whose restoration of sight was only partial at the beginning (Mk 8:22-25).
Not only is doubt and unbelief a great obstacle to receiving “gifts of healing” from God whose desire is for His children to be healthy. A second principle is a need to Plow Up Polluted Soil. There are often hindrances existing in the soil of the heart of those who ask God for healing. Their life is far from being in compliance with the revealed will of God. So it is James instructs that we are to first confess our sins before praying for one another so healing can take place (Jas 5:16). For God to heal, yet allow the very sin to remain that led to disease in the first place is unreasonable.
The psalmist tells us, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Ps 66:18). No one should expect Jehovah-rophe to destroy the work of Satan in our bodies while we cling to his work in our hearts. A major obstacle in this regard is the holding of resentment or unforgiveness toward someone because of a past offense. This is an obstacle not only preventing healing of sickness. Unforgiveness prevents a person from receiving forgiveness for their own transgressions from God, thereby risking eternal damnation at the day of judgment (Mt 6:14,15).
Polluted soil includes self-abuse. I’ve watched patients pray for healing of lung cancer as they continued to smoke and seen still others suffer with complications of diabetes while eating habits were totally undisciplined. The same is true for those controlled by fear and worry over what tomorrow holds for their lives. The command of Jesus is that we would not worry about tomorrow or the many issues that tend to consume our attention daily (see Mt 6:25-34). When we allow fear, stress and anxiety to manifest in our lives, we are polluting our faith by agreeing with a spirit of fear.
Self-indulgence is another common obstacle when healing is sought: “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives” (Jas 4:3). Peter’s mother-in-law is an example of godliness in this regard. Scripture tells us that she got up to wait on others after being healed by Jesus (see Lk 4:38,39). What the Holy Spirit had James write about having wrong motives should always be kept in mind as one petitions God the Father for divine healing. Our continuing in good health received depends on seeking the pleasure of the One who heals by living in submission.
This brings us to the third principle from the farm, that of Planting with the Right Seed. The seed about which we speak here is not prayer but rather the Word of God. Many request prayer to be healed when in fact they should be asking to be instructed on what God tells us about healing in His Word. It is quite amazing that so few appear to understand God’s provision for healing is an integral part of the gospel of the kingdom which Jesus came to bring. They don’t seem to question that God is fully prepared to forgive the sins of all who seek His pardon and will turn from their sins (1 Jn 1:9). But when it comes to healing, a multitude of doubts exist.
The prophet writes, “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He was pierced for our transgressions….and by his wounds we are healed” (Isa 53:1,5). It was centuries before the incarnation of Jesus that the prophet described Jesus’ ministry. And decades after Jesus’ return to heaven, John wrote, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8). This involved not only becoming a sacrifice for the sins of the world, but taking on Himself sickness as a consequence of sin. Yet though repeatedly stated in Scripture, Satan has successfully blinded the eyes of so many to this message.
Divine Healing Lesson 04: Further Insights on Divine Healing
Many chase after signs and wonders instead of seeking intimacy with Jesus Christ. But Scripture says signs like healing follow those who believe rather than coming to believe by following signs and wonders. We’re to seek first the kingdom of God and righteousness, for it’s in seeking righteousness that we find ourselves seeking the best God has for us. While I once practiced medicine, I greatly prefer seeking spiritual answers to healing by God. This doesn’t mean I’m against medicine. But I deplore how the Church has failed to deal with the spiritual roots of disease by calling people to repent from sins which are responsible for disease in the first place.
“Oh, yes!” she replied with enthusiasm.”He’s my Lord and Savior!” I then asked why she was subjecting herself to such anxiety instead of praying and trusting the Lord to look after the rehabilitation of her son. I suggested she repent and ask forgiveness from her heavenly Father for her fear instead of having faith. After she’d done so, I prayed for the healing of her affliction in the name of Jesus. Immediately she said in a voice that was no longer slurred, “I’m fine now!” Her blood pressure had returned to normal, she instantly regained the full use of her right arm and shortly thereafter walked out of the Free Clinic without the slightest remaining trace of a limp.
In dealing with sin as a condition for healing, we do not infer someone must be sinless. The latter is never true apart from Jesus. But there’s a huge difference between being tempted, falling to sin, and repenting as opposed to living in habitual sin. “What shall we do then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means?” (Ro 6:1,2). To willfully continue in sin without repenting is to separate from relationship with Christ according to the Scriptures (see Gal 5:19-21; 1 Jn 2:15 and 1 Jn 3:6,10). Habitual sin not only risks removing oneself from God’s presence. Another consequence is often that of failing to live in good health (see Deuteronomy 28).
At times, there is no apparent reason why healing doesn’t take place. But it is always prudent to be as certain as possible that our lives are lined up with the will of God as revealed in Scripture. Fear of man or fear of circumstances is contrary to trusting God (i.e., having faith) and must recognized as sin. Such fear kept a generation of Israelites from entering the promised land. Their bodies fell to disease in the desert over the next forty years because of unbelief is spite of redemption from Egypt and having experienced God’s grace. The same can be said of bitterness and unforgiveness due to a past offense or becoming bewitched by love for the ways of the world.
Another circumstance involves the warning of the apostle Paul to examine ourselves before we partake of the Lord’s Supper. This is a warning often not taken with utmost seriousness. “Anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. This is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep [i.e., have died]” (see 1 Cor 11:28-30). There is such lack of emphasis today on having a reverential fear of the Lord. As a result, this warning by the apostle is given little attention. At times people fail to demonstrate any significant desire whatsoever to carry out a genuine spiritual inventory.
We have a Creator who is aware of everything that takes place in thought, word and deed. Many a passage in both Old and New Testaments confirm that all of us are under His continual watchful care. It is deception to believe that we can live with one foot in Egypt and the other in the promised land as frequently thought.“Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will receive eternal life” (Galatians 6:7,8). This warning is not to heathens but to believers in Jesus, lest you be deceived by the evil one.
One may have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus but it doesn’t necessarily mean that he or she is living in a manner pleasing to God. Thoughts come into our consciousness from both the kingdom of God and kingdom of Satan. Some deny this possibility but are ignorant of Satan’s schemes and do not understand why we’re commanded to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor 10:5). In fact, evil thoughts can even penetrate our mind when asleep. You might claim, “Such isn’t possible if a person lives righteously in the eyes of God!” Then you must explain what happened to Job who is described by God as “blameless and upright” (see Job 1:8).
“A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it. Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on men, fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end” (Job 4:12-15). An evil spirit brought fear and anxiety, emotions contrary to having a knowledge of God that calls us to live by faith (and emotions known to produce physical illness). Both Old and New Testaments stress that the righteous shall live by faith. But Satan prowls around looking for people to devour (1 Pe 5:8), stealing their peace and joy and killing faith in Christ. His temptations as “prince of this world” (Jn 12:31) constantly confront us and challenge our determination to live by faith.
Divine Healing Lesson 05: Satan’s Scheme to Destroy Health
The enemy of our soul known as “the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray” (Rev 12:9), established his kingdom of evil on earth at some point prior to the creation of Adam. Waiting in the garden of Eden, Satan manifested a spirit of deception through the serpent, and in so doing succeeded in convincing our forefather to question God and disobey one single command: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the know-ledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Gen 2:15, 17). By an act of deliberate disobedience, serious consequences resulted for all of future mankind.
Referred to as the Fall, Adam’s perfect relationship to God was lost and both he and Eve were driven out of the garden, losing further access to the tree of life. To a degree, Satan gained power over the world such that Jesus didn’t dispute this authority when tempted by the devil in the wilderness (Luke 4:6,7). Ever since that trespass by Adam, Satan has continued to deceive the world through a kingdom of evil forces in the heavenly realms described by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians. In this letter, Paul describes these forces of evil as organized into an empire having well defined rank and order much like a military command with Satan as commander-in-chief.
The manner by which these forces of evil bring the “diseases of Egypt” upon the people of God is no mystery. Their malicious methods were used successfully on God’s chosen people in the Old Testament times and we’re to learn from their missteps: “These things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did” (1 Cor 10:6). Paul writes that what took place with the Israelites was written down as a warning so we might be careful to not fall as did they did. It’s a warning to avoid opening the door to demonic attack by disobeying God’s authority and His revealed will whenever we assume that we are standing firm (10:7-12).
Satan’s scheme has never changed over the ages. Being a “liar and the father of lies,” the devil masquerades as an angel of light in an effort to have us challenge truth as revealed in the word of God. The basis terms of covenant which God has made with His people are given in Deuteronomy 28. “If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands…,” blessings are promised. “However, if you do not obey the LORDyour God and do not carefully follow all his commands…,” curses will come (the withdrawing of blessings) including every kind of sickness. Man’s refusal to submit to God’s authority will remove His protective ‘covering’ against Satan.
We have an illustration of Satan’s deception given by Jesus in a parable of the so-called prodigal son (Lk 15:11-32). Actually both sons demonstrate ways by which the devil is able to keep believers from enjoying their inheritance of being in godly relationship with a loving heavenly Father. In the case of the younger son, he was living under the covering and blessing of his father until he willfully chose to separate from his father’s presence in order to seek the pleasures of the world. Until that time, all his needs had been graciously met and he was able to overcome temptation.
Then he found himself bewitched by lures of a world governed by Satan….the very thing of which John warns believers clearly: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world” (1 Jn 2:15,16). Like Demas who deserted ministry with Paul because of love for the world (2 Tim 4:10), the younger son succumbed to temptation and found himself living in a pigpen.
Temptation will occur for consecrated believers even as it took place for Jesus during His testing in the wilderness just prior to beginning His earthly ministry. Temptation in and of itself is not sin, however. Jesus was tempted in every manner as we are, yet remained without sin because He rejected the enticing of Satan. But the younger son in the parable didn’t reject enticement. Lure of worldly pleasures and perhaps peer pressure led to the squandering of his inheritance in a “distant country,” the latter referring to a separation from previous close fellowship with his father.
As Jesus warns, we cannot serve two masters. Eventually we come to a place of loving one and turning our back on the other. Satan is well aware of this and will employ every imaginable scheme to turn us away from constant fellowship with Jesus as the Lord of everything in our lives. People talk of God hiding His face, but only two things cause God to do such, namely unbelief and sin. “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you” (Isa 59:2). Attraction by the world can prove so gradual and seeming innocent that one is ensnared almost without awareness unless a daily effort is made to examine one’s consecration.
While the younger son failed to remain in constant fellowship with his father, the older son succumbed to a different scheme of Satan. A common failing observed today, it was walking in spiritual poverty instead of appreciating the fullness of salvation and enjoying fellowship with God through union with Christ. The older son failed to appropriate the unlimited partnership with his father as expressed by the words of his father,“My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours” (Lk 15:31). There are two things in the older son’s attitude about which we should take note.
The first is a self-righteous attitude toward his younger brother who temporarily had fallen away from faith but now was “alive again” (15:32). Believers must never forget that Jesus came to save the vilest sinner, lest we fail to welcome into fellowship those of ill repute as well as those repenting of failure as did King David. A second point concerns words of the father who tells the older son, “Everything I have is yours.”There was to be no limit to their relationship. What Christ did isn’t just about forgiveness. He came so we might have His life indwell and prosper in all things.
All riches in Christ are intended to be ours and “everything I have is yours” is not to be afflicted by disease. Scripture is clear that one benefit of being in Christ is being healed by His wounds. Our responsibility is to search our hearts for spiritual roots that may be hindering God’s healing such as bitterness, anxiety about tomorrow, envy of others and self-rejection, and then to deal with these issues through repentance. To which class of believer do you belong? Living with love for the world, only to end up in a pig pen like the prodigal? Or is it failing to live in rich fullness through Calvary? Whatever is the case, just hear God telling you, “Everything I have is yours.”
Divine Healing Lesson 06: Door to healing with righteousness
New Wine Ministry
Welcome to the web site for New Wine Ministry, a ministry that began in l992 by Ralph E. Johnson to encourage believers in Jesus Christ to live by the “ministry of the Spirit” under the New Covenant (2 Corinthians 3:8) rather than striving by Old Covenant principles of the Law. Depending on human wisdom and strength rather than on God’s wisdom and the power of the Holy Spirit is a plague in the present day church. Get off the treadmill of attempting to do what can only be done when the Spirit of Jesus works in and through one’s life (please see Ecclesiastes 3:14, Philippians 2:13). The treadmill is not going anywhere and there is also the risk of falling off (see 1 Corinthians 10:12).
The author of material in this web site was born in Chicago in l933 at the same hospital where he would live and work as a medical student at Northwestern University Medical school twenty-two years later. After graduation, a general internship was followed by a residency in radiation oncology. After completing two years of military service in the Public Health Service, Ralph remained at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland from 1964 to 1977. There he served as director of the laboratory and clinical program in radiation oncology and traveled internationally presenting results of research which developed new methods for the curative treatment of several malignant diseases.
Following brief tenure as a professor at the University of Florida Medical School in Gainesville, he moved to St. Petersburg in 1978 to serve as founding director of the first Cancer Center in Pinellas County located at the Bayfront Medical Center where he remained in private practice until 1997. It was then he was called by the Great Physician to leave his medical practice and serve as a volunteer chaplain in local correctional institutions. The autobiographical book, Hooked on Hope, describes a series of quite remarkable events which led him to retire rather abruptly from the practice of medicine to devote his full time to this new career.
The first edition of this book, printed in 1997, was the first of six books written primarily for inmates in local correctional institutions and for the discipleship of men participating in rehabilitation programs. Several of the books have additionally been used overseas in training programs for those entering the ministry. Thesefree Christian eBooks are now available for reading at no cost on this web site along with several Christian Poems written by Ralph during his personal times of trial and testing. Additional material available underChristian Lessons is related to the Person and work of the Holy Spirit including Baptism in the Holy Spirit, to Spiritual Warfare including deliverance from demonic influence, and finally to Divine Healing.
This ministry is based on unwavering belief that Jesus’ instructions to not only preach the gospel but heal the sick and set free those under demonic influence apply to today. As described in his books, the ministry has been followed by “signs and wonders” including raising of a dead man to life. A 7th book entitled BLACK & WHITE is nearing completion and should be available by early spring of 2012 in Christian bookstores. It examines the causes for absence of “manifestations of the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:7-10) in many if not most of our churches and discusses the biblical remedy for restoring a Spirit-anointed ministry in the church as described throughout the entirely of the book of Acts.
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