THE CHURCH'S SHAMEFUL UNBELIEF
AND GLORIOUS RECOVERY OF
THE HEALING MINISTRY

by Christine Darg

 

WE HAVE A DIVINE MANDATE FROM JESUS:
"Preach the kingdom and heal the sick."

WE ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS MINISTRY:
"Lo, I am with you always."

In order to heal the sick, Jesus used his hands, his spoken word and many creative methods according to each  individual case.  The Gospels report that there was usually some kind of bodily contact between the healer and the sick; (however, Jesus said the highest faith was when He was asked just to SPEAK a word of healing!).

In his hometown of Nazareth, Jesus using the method of  the laying on of  His hands.  He did likewise to a cripped woman; furthermore, He took Peter’s mother-in-law by the hands. He also did not disdain to touch the leper and blind men; and when He himself was touched by others, they received healing because virtue emanated from His own  Spirit-filled body.  In the case of the woman suffering from a chronic issue of blood, Jesus felt that power flowed  out of His person into somebody.

In two accounts, Jesus is led by the Spirit to do something different:  He put his finger into the ears of a deaf mute; he touched his tongue with saliva and gave the command, “Be opened!”  He used his own spittle to cure the blind man from Bethsaida and laid his hand on him twice.

When no touch was used, Jesus commended the faith.  He also healed by command on the Sabbath when he said, “stretch our your arm,” to a man with a withered arm.   Think about that: Speech could not be construed as work on the Jewish day of rest!  But to the hypocrites, I suppose, when the man stretched out his arm by faith, well, that was work!

Have you ever thought about this?  Nobody can be an exorcist and be afraid of the devil; well, nobody can be a healer and be afraid to defile himself by handling sick or dead people.  I thank the Lord that He has delivered me from fear when I visit sick and infirm people or lay my hands upon them.  I was not always that way, but when the Lord graciously gave me gifts of healing for the sick, He also empowered me not to be fearful of diseases and germs.  Jesus was not afraid to touch a leper nor  did he fear to take the dead daughter of Jairus by the hand or to touch the coffin of the widow’s son in Nain.

So, in the methods of our Lord Jesus, generally speaking, we learn that sickness is cured by bodily contact, the laying on of hands, or by faith, speaking a word; whereas the devil was expelled by means of  Jesus’ strong rebuke or “the finger of God.”

In Matthew 4:23 Jesus healed all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. Wonderfully, we are told that our Lord healed all who came to Him.  That’s one reason why His name is Wonderful!

During His public ministry of three years, there was bodily restoration for all who believed, for all who willed to be healed and for all who sought  and petitioned the Divine Healer.

Jesus described and summarized his three-year mission in Luke 13:32, “Today and tomorrow I shall be casting out devils and working cures; on the third day I reach my goal.”  He defined His ministry in terms of exorcisms  and healing;  his mission as he saw it was to the poor, the infirm, the sick, those  individuals who were physically mentally and spiritually diseased.  Jesus was the ultimate healer, the physician par excellence.  Jesus, in fact, called himself a doctor indirectly:

“It is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick;  I did not come to invite virtuous people, but sinners.”

Notably, the Bible is almost completely silent on the subject of physicians.  Two references are negative:  in the Old Testament, King Asa died of a disease in his feet because he consulted the physicians rather than God; and in the New Testament, a woman spent all of her money on physicians but to no avail—she only grew worse.

Here is an interesting quote from “Jesus the Jew” (Geza Vermes, SCM Press Ltd,1983):

 “On the whole, Scripture considers healing as a divine monopoly.  Recourse to the services of a doctor in preference to prayer is held to be evidence of lack of faith, an act of irreligiousness meriting punishment.  This attitude is reflected as late as the third century BC in the work of the Chronicler in connection with the grave illness of Asa, king of Judah. . . . In general, it can be asserted that to refer certain matters of health to a priest was a duty; to seek the help of a prophet was an act of religion; and to visit the doctor was an act of impiety.”

The institutional  Church has practiced the laying on of hands for confirmations or ordinations as a symbol of the transmission of grace and power.  But the fact that followers of Jesus have largely ceased to use the same sign, the imposition of hands for bodily healing, shows that faith has failed in this vital area.  Faith has failed because Jesus' command to heal has never been withdrawn.

The early church accepted the commission and obeyed the two? fold command to heal the sick and drive out demons.  The healing of the sick was a natural, integral part of the church’s ministry.  THE HEALING MINISTRY CONTINUED FOR SOME CENTURIES AND BECAME INFREQUENT ONLY WHEN THE CHURCH LOWERED ITS STANDARDS OF FAITH.  But the standard of Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach, has never changed is always the same:  if you will believe, you will see the glory of God!

THAT DAY WAS A TRAGIC DAY OF APOSTASY AND A GREAT  FORFEIT  OF HEALING AND HOPE, NOT ONLY TO THE CHURCH BUT ALSO TO SUFFERING HUMANITY.

In the early church, the normal method of healing was the laying on of hands, commanding healing in the Name of Jesus, or to call for the elders of the church to anoint the sick person with oil.  It was believed as James Chapter 5 states, “the prayer of faith would save the sick. And if the sick person had committed sins, it would be forgiven him.”  The point of contact that the oil represented evoked the presence of the Living Spirit of God to perform the healing.

The apostles were obedient to the command to heal the sick as well as preach the Gospel.

Perpetual powers were conferred on the Church because of the promise of the Holy Spirit's continual ministry until the end of the age. In Acts 19, cloths and aprons were taken from  the body of Apostle Paul. There is a tangibility of the healing anointing.

According to Acts 5: 15?]16,  "They even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches that, as Peter came by, at the least his shadow might overshadow some of them.  And there also came together the multitude from the cities round about Jerusalem, bringing sick folk and them that were vexed with unclean spirits; and they were healed."

I've been privileged to witness the repeat of just about every Bible miracle in the Gospel crusades of Reinhard Bonnke and, humbly, in my own ministry.  In Machakos, Kenya, when the shadow of Reinhard Bonnke fell on a man who was looking forward to the Gospel meetings, the sick man was healed in the vegetable market where Reinhard was visiting. When the shadow of my car in Jerusalem passed over a woman for whom I had previously prayed with SEEMINGLY no results, the bent over woman suddenly stood straight as an arrow and walked quickly down the street!  Also in Kenya we saw  a "Gadarene mad man" healed and also a similar deliverance and healing in Cameroon.  A mad man who was in chains in Goma, Zaire, escaped to Reinhard Bonnke’s meetings and was instantly set free.

We've seen numerous cripples walk, many get up from stretchers, hunchbacks healed in Burundi and Kaduna, goiters vanish, blind eyes opened, dumb mutes healed and the healing of a girl in Warri , Nigeria, whose bones were misshapened after an auto crash.  In our own ministry we have seen people come out of wheelchairs, blind eyes open, the deaf  and dumb hear and speak, brain tumors healed, barren women conceive, cripples walk, a sheik with lung cancer on a death-bed sheik raised up, etc.

The only reason why any church does not heal today is because of a lack of faith. Or miracles in individual lives do not occur because they are not expected!  Expect a miracle!

Ignorant churchmen say that miracles ended with the Apostles.  Not true!  Let's look at the writings of the Christian Fathers and other church documents dating from the close of the Apostolic Period  UNTIL the 7th Century.  From an examination of these documents, it is clear that Christian healing was a part of the church's ongoing ministry and that it was inseparable from the work of redemption!

The Apostles' own records in the New Testament carry us well on towards the close of the first century.  We see that healing was co?]existent with preaching and was universally practiced. The next generation after the apostles faithfully carried on the healing mandate.  St. Justin, writing in the early part of the 2nd century, spoke of the continuance of the spiritual gift of healing listed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12.  He also referred to the practice of casting out demons as a common practice in the church.

"Every demon," he wrote, "when exorcised in the Name of the very Son of God..is overcome and subdued."

In the second Apologia, Justin again called attention to the same fact as one of common knowledge:  "For numberless demoniacs throughout the whole world, and in your city, many of our Christian men exorcising them in the Name of Jesus Christ . . . have healed and do heal . . . driving the possessing demons out of the men, though they could not be cured by all the other exorcists, and those who used incantations and drugs."

Writing towards the end of the 2nd century, St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, reported that it was well known to all that the Christian church practiced healing as well as teaching: (Book II, Chapter 32)

This is a quote from St. Irenaeus:   "...those who are in truth His disciples...do certainly and truly drive out demons, so that those who have been cleansed from evil spirits frequently both believe and join themselves to the church....Others again heal the sick by laying their hands upon them, and they are made whole.  Yea, moreover, as I have said, the dead even have been raised up, and remained among us for many years.  And what more shall I say?  it is not possible to name the number of gifts which the Church throughout the whole world has received from God in the Name of Jesus Christ...and which she exerts day by day for the benefit of the Gentiles, neither  practising deception upon any nor taking any reward from them. For as she has received freely from God, freely also does she minister.  Nor does she perform anything  by means of angelic invocations, or by incantations, or by any other wicked, curious art; but by directing her prayers to the Lord...and calling upon the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ she has been accustomed to work miracles for the advantage of mankind...."

Tertullian, the theologian, writing in the year 211, makes reference to a number of cases of sicknesses healed by Christians.  In one of these cases, that of the Emperor Septimus Severus, oil was mentioned as the means used as a point of contact.

In the 3rd Century, Origen was the greatest witness for the practice of the Church in the matter of healing; St. Origen testified:  "There are still preserved among Christians....[those who] expel evil spirits, and perform many cures, and foresee certain events according to the will of the Logos."

Origen wrote that he himself witnessed many remarkable cures performed by Christians:  "And some Christians give evidence of their having received through this faith a marvellous power by the cures which they perform....For by these means we, too, have seen many persons freed from grievous calamities, and from distraction of mind, and madness, and countless other ills, which could be cured neither by men nor demons."

In the 4th Century, the celebrated saints, St. Ambrose, St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine, were among those giving testimony of healings by various means, such as prayer and sacraments and the relics of the martyrs (precedent for the latter, Elisha's bones. However, the practice of laying on of hands, which Jesus said all of his followers would do, seemed to be growing rarer and oil used mainly in the exercise of their charismata.  Interestingly, the Christian historian Eusebius, who was Bishop of Caesarea, noted the growing rarity of spiritual gifts in the Church, and sadly, he attributed this decline to her “unworthiness” to receive them.

In "City of God,"  Book 22, Chapter 8, St. Augustine testified to the reality of the work of healing in the church:

"...there are miracles at this day wrought by God, with what means He likes best, who wrought them of yore."

The evidence of the 4th century liturgies shows the expectation of supernatural cures through prayer and anointing with oil.  One of the earliest known of these liturgies is the "Testament of Our Lord" (circa 350):  "...O Christ...Who art the Healer of every sickness and of every suffering...send  on this oil...the delivering [power] of Thy good compassion, that it may... heal those who are sick... for Thou art mighty and praised for ever and ever.  Amen."  Notice, this prayer did not fall into doubt and unbelief by stating the disclaimer phrase, "if it by thy will."

There were many such liturgies, according to evidence outlined in  a booklet entitled "Anointing of the Sick" by  F.W. Puller.  And according to another booklet, "Healing in the Early Church," by James Moore Hickson, the form of consecration  of the oil in the Gregorian Sacramentary  was compiled by St. Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome from 590 to 604.  According to St. Gregory, the consecrated oil was:  "A means of protection for mind and body, for getting rid of all pains, all illnesses, all sickness of the body...."

“All the earliest formulated prayers of the church were grouped around the great central act of worship, the Holy Eucharist.  And in every Primitive liturgy, or Order of that service, the desire for full and perfect redemption, both of body and soul, found utterance.  ("The Apostolical Constitutions, A.D. 375; "The Sacramentary of Serapion," A.D. 350, and others) The two?]fold mission to teach and heal was embodied in these prayers, quite literally.”

Here are some of the healing references found in the communion liturgies:  "Let not, O Lord, the communion of Thy holy mysteries be to my judgement or condemnation, but to the healing of my soul and body...."  (This wording survives in the English Office of Holy Communion.)

"Furthermore, O Lord, heal the diseases of our soul, cure our bodily weaknesses, O Physician of souls and bodies, Overseer of all flesh, oversee and heal us by Thy Salvation."  That is a most significant statement, because the word salvation in the Bible means more than being saved from eternal perdition;  it means healing, deliverance, wholeness.

Conclusion:  For many centuries, our Lord’s original command to heal the sick was obeyed and carried out in its literal sense. It was unqualified with the faith-cancelling phrase of doubt, "if it be thy will." The church had correctly learned from our Master that salvation of body and soul were both covered by the Will of God.  AND THIS CONVICTION FOUND UTTERANCE IN ANOTHER WAY:  BY THE FREQUENT ADDRESS TO OUR LORD AS "SAVIOUR OF OUR SOULS AND BODIES,"  OR, "PHYSICIAN OF OUR SOULS AND BODIES."

According to my research, this two-fold title, Savior of our souls and bodies, was an expression common to the ancient liturgies. In the Liturgy of St. Mark, for example, the ministry of healing was soundly upheld:

"Master, Lord and our God, Thou Who didst elect the twelve?]lighted lamp of the twelve Apostles, and didst send them into the whole world to preach and to teach the Gospel of Thy Kingdom, and to heal every sickness and every infirmity in the people; and didst breathe into their faces and didst say to them, Receive the Holy Ghost, the Comforter...thus do Thou also upon us Thy servant...."

The 7th Century "Book of Dimma" contained an Office for the Communion of the Sick.  The 9th Century "Stowe Missal,"  a Celtic liturgy, also included instructions for visitation of the sick.  These prayers for recovery from sickness were unconditional; moreover, the sick person was exhorted to perceive the hand of God in his recovery, NOT IN HIS SICKNESS.  Following was a typical prayer from these 7th and 9th Century liturgies, which, please note, were full of faith and devoid of doubt:

"Let us pray, brethren, to Our Lord God for our brother, (INSERT NAME), whom present sickness sorely wounds, that the Lord’s kindness may  condescend to cure him with heavenly medicine....O Lord, Holy Father,....perform Thy accustomed work."   I salute the faith of that phrase:  “perform thy accustomed work!” Contrast that simple prayer of faith, very Biblica, with the following  prayer that appeared in a revised English prayer book after the Normal Conquest in the 11th Century:

"Dearly beloved brother, give thanks to Almighty God for all His benefits, patiently and gently bearing the weakness of body which He has sent upon thee, for if thou endure it humbly without murmuring, it bringeth the greatest reward and health to the soul."

From those apostate words, notice how simple faith in Yeshua the Healer drifted into unbelief at the hands of presumptuous revisers.  Some theologians say that Job in the Bible provides the precedent for believing that God sends sickness:  "The Lord gave, and the Lord took away, blessed be the Name of the Lord."  But that was Job's theology before he saw the greatness of God.  His affliction was permitted by God, but it was perpetrated by the devil. God only permitted it, but when Job’s testing was over, God restored double to Job, and he was a well man.  So the institutionalized presumption  that God sends and condones sickness and that we must endure it without murmuring or challenging its intrusion is a man-made doctrine. Our attitude should be the same as Jesus’ toward sickness:  we should resist it, refuse it and rebuke it in Jesus' Name, as He originally commanded.

Between the 7th and 11th centuries, the Church backslid, resulting in a thousand years of the well named Dark Ages, because there were only a few lights who maintained the integrity of God's word.

“Icabod— the glory departed.”  When faith was lost, priests still went through the motions of anointing with oil, but because there was no faith and no resulting miracles, the Church changed  the Biblical instructions in James Chapter 5 into a man?]made adaptation called the "sacrament of extreme unction."  It became a ceremony, not of healing, but of consolation  for the dying. How ironical!  The anointing of oil, prescribed for healing, became embalming oil for the dead!

Up to the fourth century, the church was not entirely apostate.  The church fathers testified, as we have shown, to the continuing  power of believers to heal, until the day of Constantine.  With the establishment of Christianity as the state religion, heathen practices mingled with the church and faith was watered down. However, in every century God has always found some believers who have trusted Him and proven Him to be the Healer.

When Martin Luther and other Protestant reformers appeared on the scene, the Christian world had lost consciousness not only of healing included in the Atonement, but even worse, they no longer knew that salvation was the free gift of God obtained by faith. The Church had substituted a doctrine of demons called "penance" in its twisted view of salvation.

The Protestant Reformation recovered half of the truth.  Thank God for faith for the salvation of men's souls, but the healing arm of the Cross was yet to be recovered.  "The just shall live by faith" was a great, albeit partial recovery of the Gospel.  Salvation was not by penances, flagellations, etc., but by faith in the living Son of God.  This shows just how far the Church had drifted from the pure ideal of the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ and apostolic times.  We still have a long road to recovery, although great strides have been made in the last century.

Nevertheless, as that great missionary to South Africa, John Lake, once said, "The greatest of spiritual men are but infants prattling around on the shores of the great sea of eternal light, life and power, compared to what the early church actually possessed and revealed."

Isolated cases of healings were recorded by the reformers Luther, John Knox and John Calvin.  Some advances toward recovery were made in the life of  the great British apostle John Wesley.  He recorded 240 cases of healings in his journals, of  every class of disease. He also recorded instances of casting out devils and people falling down under the power of God and presence of the Holy Spirit. However, these were not looked upon as God's norm, but as exceptional cases of the triumph of human faith.

The modern recovery of healing can be traced to pioneers such as Dorothy Trudell of Germany, whose healing institution was licensed by the government, Dr. A.B. Simpson, founder of the Christian & Missionary Alliance, the Rev. Andrew Murray of South Africa who was healed of an incurable "Preacher's Throat:" Dr. John Alexander Dowie who in 1901 established a city in Chicago for people who trusted Jesus only as their Great Physician, John Lake who was so anointed in his ministry to Africa that dreaded diseases seemed to bounce off his body during epidemics  (Lake said that fear absorbs germs, but faith repels them). Oral Roberts pioneered in the recovery of the ministry of the laying on of hands.  Because a sign of the last days is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on handmaidens, it is not surprising  that  a number of fearless women helped to restore the truth about healing, such as Aimee Semple McPherson and Kathryn Kuhlman, who was a forerunner in healing by the word of knowledge.  Smith Wigglesworth, called “the apostle of faith,” was a giant in the 20th century who helped to recover  apostolic Christianity and healing miracles.  German Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke always prays for the sick after preaching his salvation messages because he firmly believes that healing is part and parcel of the Atonement.

What these modern pioneers in the recovery of the truth of healing all had in common was the gift of faith and a willingness to yield to the Holy Spirit. Obeying the Holy Spirit was more important to them that the fear of men and men's many objections to divine healing. These people were the forerunners of the healing recovery we are enjoying and because of that they are worthy of double honour despite their human shortcomings.

Kathryn Kuhlman visited many of the tents of healing evangelists in the 1940s, and it is documented in at least two books about her life, that she was greatly distressed at the way the evangelists put all the blame on the people's lack of faith if they were not healed.  Miss Kuhlman bemoaned this and cried, "They have taken away my Lord, and I  know not where they have laid him."

Later, after her healing ministry began, she was always just as distressed as anybody else that everybody was not healed, although she enjoyed a high success rate.  Her explanation of why all were not healed is one of the best I've ever read:

“Let us keep the standard high where Jesus placed it.  What was Jesus' standard?  The purpose of his redemption was so that we could live lives of sinlessness, sicklessness and ultimately deathlessness.”

We are living in the days when everything that happened in the early Church is being completely restored. It's happening so fast, so quickly, that you don't want to miss this wave of the Holy Spirit and let it pass you by.  I've seen so many people reject this wave of the Holy Spirit. They prefer their traditions to the power of God.

Miss Kuhlman also said," I knew that if I lived and died and never saw a single healing miracle like the apostles experienced in the Book of Acts, that would not change God's word."

Recently, some of my friends  were shaken in their faith because a family member for whom they  had fervently prayed nevertheless died.  They were about to give up.  I advised them, "Just because she died does not mean that God's word is not true.  You must continue to say, ‘let God be true and every man a liar.’” Some healing ministries I have studied, such as John Wimber's or the Happy Hunters, testified that they suffered hundreds of failures until they enjoyed success. They persevered.  Also, Smith Wigglesworth, that great apostle of  faith , once advised that if the person you are praying for dies, step over him and pray for the next one.  That's perseverance.

Acts 3:21 declares that JESUS MUST REMAIN IN HEAVEN UNTIL THE TIME OF RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS. One of the signs of His soon appearing is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh and the restoration of the gifts of the Spirit, including the gift of faith, the gift of working miracles and the gifts of healing.  A time of restoration even greater than the early church is expected by many.  Just as the days of the apostles when sometimes it is recorded all were healed, so we hope that there is coming  a time when faith will be restored to the point that all will be healed in a single meeting. There will be more instances of the dead being raised  when it is realized and acknowledged that the Enemy of our souls is prematurely robbing lives.  Recently a brother was mad at God because a wonderful musician died prematurely.  But why get mad at God?  Get mad at the devil!  He is the one who kills, steals and destroys!  Faith?]filled members of the Body of Christ will command the spirits of people prematurely cut off to return to this earth, to the glory of Jesus Christ.  Just as the occult increases to counterfeit the gifts of the Spirit, so the anointing of the Holy Spirit will be greater upon the Bride of Christ, who is being prepared without spot or blemish, a whole, sickless testimony to the greater works of Jesus Christ.

Because of the scourge of doubt and unbelief, you do not want to miss being a part of the End Time restoration of God's healing power.  Doubt and unbelief are more dangerous now because of the large accumulation of miracle testimonies in our time.

John 14:12 Jesus said that his followers would do exploits  and duplicate His works and He said we would accomplish even greater works than He did because He was going to the Father, having won the prize of the precious Holy Spirit to send upon us.  Do you believe this?  Jesus expects us to believe this and to believe in Him and His Word.

Have you cleansed any lepers lately?  Have you raised the dead lately? I'm not being glib. I'm just encouraging you to get started doing the works of Jesus. You've got to be comfortable doing the works of Jesus before you can move on into the greater works!

The definition of faith is given in Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." A lot of people don't understand that definition.  But  faith can be compared to levels.  You may have achieved a certain level up to which you can comfortably believe God, but there's a point where you can no longer believe God, and then you come into. . . doubt. Growing in faith is like moving from one comfort zone to the next.  For example, for a while you may be comfortable believing God to heal a headache. You may be able to believe for freedom from headaches with perfect faith.  But perhaps you can't believe God to heal cancer. But one day, as you grow in faith, mediate on God's Word and hear testimonies, you perceive that you can now believe God to heal cancer.  You have moved from one comfort zone to another zone of faith where you are comfortable.  However, now you cannot believe God to heal people in wheelchairs.  But after a period of growth, one day you wake up to the realization that you can now believe God to heal people in wheelchairs. You pray for somebody  in a wheelchair, that person is healed. The next time you are comfortable with praying for persons in wheelchairs, because your faith has been stretched to another zone where you are no longer intimidated.  Actually, this is a law of progression laid down in the Bible :  we move from "faith to faith, from strength to strength, from victory to victory, and from glory to glory."

You cannot start at the top rung of that ladder.  The law of faith is like that! You can't believe God for thousands of dollars to do his work, if you have never believed him to send you 100 dollars.  Faith is stretched and it grows.

That's why, in order for you to participate in this last great wave of healing restoration, you need to start now growing in faith.  Read all the Scriptures on healing in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.  Meditate on them.  Faith is action.  So begin to act on the Word of God.  Practice the command of Jesus to lay hands on the sick by praying for your close family members.  If you are a parent, lay hands on your children.  If you are a child, lay hands on your sick brothers and sisters or parents. Keep a bottle of anointing oil in your home. You will begin to see results. If you do not always see results, do not give up. You must realize that results come through the spiritual law of use. Jesus said to him that has more shall be given.  You'll never learn about healing in any real way until you stop observing others with faith and begin to act yourself.

I enjoyed healing books by T.L. Osborn,  Kathryn Kuhlman, Gordon Lindsay, Smith Wigglesworth, John G. Lake, Kenneth Hagin and the Copelands before I ever began to pray for the sick myself. I praise God for their anointed ministries, but I often say that one act of faith was more beneficial to my faith growth than reading a dozen books by the best healing teachers.

Why?  Because when you begin to move out in faith, obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit, your teacher becomes the Holy Spirit!  You have the original Teacher, not some well?]known author. You build up your own experiences, which  then become not some text book knowledge, but real life, unshakeable knowledge.

It took a lot of effort for the Church to recover  salvation by faith.  It is going to take a combined effort of the Body of Christ to insist on recovering the Good News, the Full Gospel that by the stripes of Jesus we have already been healed; the provision for every healing has already been secured in Messiah.

God will be with you also and will confirm the truth of his word that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He promises to work with you and he promised that signs will follow, will accompany your ministry, as you step out in faith, refusing to shrink back!

Kathryn Kuhlman once said that doctors and nurses are part of God’s healing team.  I would agree with that, especially if the medical person is a consecrated believer.

In the Second century B.C. the author of the apocryphal book Ecclesiasticus, Jesus ben Sira, managed to “vest the medical man with respectability.” The physician’s skill does not, he argues, originate from the regions of darkness; it is a divine gift which confers on him high standing in society and secures the respect of kings and noblemen.  The medicinal quality of substances is not obtained by magical means; they have been created as such and their use by the doctor is for God’s glory.  Ben Sira wrote:

“The Lord has imparted knowledge to men, that by their use of his marvels . . . the doctor relieves pain.”

The author of Ecclesiasticus called for the intervention of  the professional physician yet also preserved the religious character of healing:  he advised “every devout man when sick. . .to pray to God, to repent from sin; to resolve to amend his ways and to offer gifts and sacrifices in the Temple.  Having thus proved his genuine religious disposition, he could then call in the doctor, as through taking out an extra insurance policy.. . .The physician in turn is also to start with a prayer that God may enable him to diagnose the sickness correctly, alleviate the pain and save the patient’s life.”  In Ben Sira’s clever synthesis the theological link between sickness and sin is maintained and the cause of the disease as well as the means to cure it are discovered through a God-given insight, a kind of revelation.. . . Professional  knowledge is only an additional asset to the healer’s essential requisite, holiness.”  [Jesus the Jew]

I close this with Scriptures and declarations for healing:

By the stripes of Jesus we were healed, we are healed, and we stay healed (1 Peter 3:24).

Lord, You sent Your Word and healed us (Psalm 107:20), and we receive our healing.

Jesus, because You bore our sicknesses, diseases, and pain for us, and because You carried our sorrows in Your body on the tree, we don't ever have to have them, and we don't receive them in or on our bodies (Isaiah 53:4,5).

No evil can befall us and no plague can come near our doorstep (Psalm 91:10).

Thank You, Lord, for not allowing any diseases to come upon us.  You are the Lord who healed us (Exodus 15:26).

Father, You have healed us of all disease. You are Yehovah Rapha who has restored health to us (Jeremiah 30:17).

Jesus, You redeemed us from every curse of the law, and we do not allow any of those curses of sickness, barrenness or poverty to come upon us (Galatians 3:13).

Holy Spirit, alert us when any sickness, disease, fear, temptation, and mental or emotional stress tries to attach itself to us, so we can rebuke it and cast it out.  We walk in divine healing and command any sickness and disease to die upon contact with our flesh.

Thank You Father, that, according to Your Word, no affliction can come upon us a second time (Nahum 1:9).

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http://www.olivetree.org/healing%20commentary.htm

Kay