THE HEALING LETTER

Dear Aunt Pauline:

Forgive me for writing such a long letter. This topic of healing has many, many Bible Scriptures. There is so much good news about healing. Nevertheless my wife says I don't write letters, I write epistles (long epistles). So please forgive me in advance. However, the preparation for this letter has blessed me so much. I myself didn't know how massive the Bible evidence was. And my faith has been strengthened doing this letter. So I thank you for blessing me by asking me the original question about my view of healing and the Scriptures that I stand upon concerning healing. This letter has turned into a project. And I'm beginning to believe that it will become a web page that will continue to be edited, that others may be blessed as they read it.

I know that I will probably not be able to change the beliefs of some about healing. But, I desperately want everyone to understand why I believe differently about healing than some other believers. I want you to understand that my ideas about healing come from what I read in the Bible, and especially from what Jesus said. Maybe I don't understand God's Word correctly on this. If I'm wrong it is because I have misunderstood scores and scores of Scriptures. In other words if I'm wrong I'm not a little wrong....I'm way, way, way, way wrong on much of the Bible.

Another reason I'm writing is because our wonderful Lord Jesus feels that divine healing is important and HE wants us, HIS people, to share with others HIS desire to make them every bit whole. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." [John 10:10b] "...as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." [John 20:21b] In other words God wants Christians to also carry this message of abundant life, for the spirit, mind and body, to as many as will receive.

The Lord reveals in HIS word that salvation and physical healing are intertwined. They are not separate. In the paragraphs to follow I will bring this connection out from the Word of God.

God wants HIS people to understand all about divine healing because we are now entering the times of Job's troubles, the foothills of the Tribulation times. Many plagues, diseases and infirmities are going to multiply upon the Earth. It is going to be far beyond what medical science can cope with. It will be a witness for the Lord IF HIS people allow HIM to heal them. But the World will not be moved by a god who appears to make his followers suffer. The gods of this age let their followers suffer. But our GOD is a loving Father who cares about our whole being.

This is an important subject to me because so many evangelicals, that I have had the privilege of listening to, are very ill informed about divine healing. And because so many are ill informed, they have spread their wrong teachings all over the body of Christ.

In general divine healing is not a hard subject, although it has some pretty complicated fine points. But the overview of healing is simple enough that a child can get it. That is why I am surprised so many believers are mistaken, confused or just silent on this topic. There are many other subjects that are much more difficult. Healing is simple to grasp. It is clearly taught throughout the Word of God. But we must read all the Scriptures on Healing to get the whole story.

I had better begin with Paul's thorn in the flesh, because that Scripture has been wrongly twisted by so many who would tell you that God does not promise healing to all HIS servants. Many have wrongly understood the "thorn in the flesh" passage, using it to put healing down, when in reality it reveals an important truth about the timing of divine healings.

"And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice [three times], that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, -->>My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.<<-- Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." [2nd Corinthians 12:7-10]

Somehow, many Bible teachers have used this Scripture to say that God says, "NO" to some people seeking physical healing. You can read this passage any way you want to, but you can't find the word "NO" in it anywhere! God told Paul "MY grace (or gift) IS sufficient for thee: for MY strength is made perfect in weakness." That Scripture does not say "NO!" That statement, God makes, is a very positive statement. It is not negative. It doesn't take anything away from Paul. In fact it mentions God's "grace." Grace means "gift." A gift doesn't sound bad to me. It sounds good! Don't you think so too?

God says to Paul: "MY gift that I have given you is sufficient for this situation. Right now I want MY strength to be multiplied in you through the apparent weakness caused by this thorn." So concerning healing God was giving Saint Paul NOT a RED LIGHT, NOR a GREEN light, but a YELLOW light, a stand-by light. Stand-by Paul....your healing is coming. It is on the conveyor belt for you! But this is not the time for it to arrive. God does all things in perfect timing! However, I want to emphasize that Paul's case was a special case! Most of us don't fit into Paul's shoes! Read on!

And Paul tells us himself that the thorn in the flesh was a special protection to him against spiritual pride, because he was given revelations far beyond and above many other believers. So, Paul's situation is not your average Christian's situation. Very few of us can say we are where Paul was, spiritually. How many of us have been caught up to the third Heaven?? [See 2nd Corinthians 12:2] How many of us have been chosen, by Jesus Christ, probably to replace Judas, in a Damascus Road experience?? [Acts 9:3] How many of us can say that we can refer to the message we proclaim as "my gospel??" [See Romans 2:16, Romans 16:25, and 2nd Timothy 2:8]

Paul is the only one in the Bible that had his own, private edition of the Gospel. He was given so much new insight from Heaven that he may have understood more than the other eleven disciples put together. They learned some things from Paul. But he learned little or nothing from them! [See Galatians 1:15-24] Who else but Paul can say, "I was totally discipled and trained by Jesus, AFTER Jesus went to Heaven!! I didn't get taught by any other Christian! God taught me everything direct!" Paul was the inspired author of as many books of the New Testament as all the other apostles put together!! This is very surprising when you think that Paul did not even know Jesus when Jesus was walking the dusty roads of Galilee with the original eleven disciples!

So it really isn't fair to put Paul's case on the backs of all believers, everywhere, to discourage their faith for healing. Paul was a special case and he needed something to keep him from spiritual pride. And that "thorn in the flesh" kept Paul's spirit healed from pride!

Paul is NOW healed of that "thorn!!!" Going into God's presence is healing! Paul got his healing from the "thorn in the flesh" when he entered Heaven!

Even so, this "thorn in the flesh" Scripture reveals to us that the timing of healing is a matter of God's unique and particular will for each person and situation. God does not promise in scripture a guaranteed timing for all our healings. HE only promises in Scripture that HE WILL heal us. (I will show that God promises healing to all, if you keep reading). And we CAN continually thank and praise God for the healing, even if we don't see it until Heaven!

We need to realize that going to Heaven still counts as a healing also. It is not correct for people to say that divine healing is limited to the here and now on Earth. Some receive their healing as they enter Heaven, or at least when they get that new body in the resurrection, if one wants to be real hard to please.

However, we need to see that in Scripture God does NOT put MOST PEOPLE'S healing off until Heaven. We need to see in Scripture that the Lord God desires to bring healing to most people, who seek for it, within their time on Earth. Here is the proof from Scripture:

1. Out of all the scores of healings Jesus performed. From all the many, many people who sought him out for healing, HE is **NEVER**, **EVER** recorded in Scripture as totally refusing to heal or completely turning anyone down who requested healing, not even sinners!! Even the Syro-phoenican woman, who wasn't a Jew, who was a Gentile, HE only delayed for a short time, until she moved HIS heart with her faith! [See Mark 7:25-29] And with her it was a matter of timing. She had come at a time when Jews were the ones who were to receive the ministry of Jesus. But her faith was SO GREAT that she moved the Lord to release a healing for her child.

2. Jesus healed every single person who came to HIM asking!

"Great multitudes followed him (Jesus), and he healed them ALL." (Matthew 12:15) "As many as touched (HIM) were made perfectly whole." (Matthew 14:36) "The whole multitude sought to touch him; (and He) healed them ALL." (Luke 6:19) "...and He...healed ALL that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took OUR infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." (Matthew 8:16-17) "When the sun was setting, ALL they that had ANY sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on EVERY ONE OF THEM and HEALED THEM." (Luke 4:40) "He (Jesus) welcomed them (the crowds) and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing." (Luke 9:11b) "Jesus Christ THE SAME yesterday, and to day, and for ever." (Hebrews 13:8) "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing ALL that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him." [Acts 10:38]

3. The Bible clearly teaches that Healing is as much God's will, for you and I, as salvation is HIS will for you and I!! We especially can see this in the story of the man with palsy, let down through a roof for healing:

" Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house." [Mark 2:9-11]

And you know the story. The man was healed! This is a **VERY,** **VERY,** **VERY** important Scripture! It teaches that healing of the body and the salvation of the heart are so closely related that Jesus could achieve one or both by simply addressing either one or the other!!!! That is what Jesus meant when HE said, "I am come that they might have LIFE and that they might *HAVE* *IT* *MORE* *ABUNDANTLY*!" [See John 10:10b]

Jesus came to release abundant life into our total being! He came to touch our spirits, our bodies and our minds!! Because the same sin problem that brought death to our bodies, also brought death to our spirits, and death to our minds, Jesus came NOT to address PART of the sin problem, but to address the ***WHOLE*** sin problem!!!

The word "SAVE" in Luke 9:56, Luke 19:10, 1st Corinthians 1:21, James. 5:15; and the word "SAVED" in Mark 16:16, Luke 7:50, John 3:17, Acts 4:12, Romans 10:9 and 13, and in Ephesians 2:8, are all translated from the Greek word "sozo!"

Now here's the amazing part! The words "HEALED" in Mark 5:23, Luke 8:36, Acts 14:9; and the word "WHOLE" in Matthew 9:21 and 22, Mark 6:56, 10:52, Luke 8:50, 17:19 and Acts 4:9 are *****ALSO***** translated from that same Greek word "SOZO!!" That little Greek word means; "save, deliver, protect, heal, preserve, be whole, and make whole.

When the disciples write about salvation and healing they often used the same word, "SOZO" to describe a physical healing or a spiritual salvation! Do you think they were wrong???

If the disciples were wrong to use "SOZO" for both healing and salvation then we will have to go tell the Disciples they were all wrong using the same word for salvation as they used for divine healing. We will have to dig them out of their graves and tell them that they were out of God's will when they used the same word to describe a healing as they used to describe a salvation. We will have to tell them that when Jesus said he came to bring life abundant that Jesus didn't totally mean life to the body and to the mind, but that he meant only life for our spirits. And we will have to tell them that all Jesus' healings were just so Jesus could gather a crowd to get attention.

I believe the disciples were correct! And in Mark 5:23, when Jarius comes asking Jesus to "SOZO" his daughter, Jarius is really saying, "Come bring salvation to my daughter. Come and heal my daughter. Come bring health to my daughter. Come bring deliverance to my daughter. And come make my daughter whole." This Greek word "SOZO," that can be translated either "salvation" or "healing," proves that Jesus came to bring abundant life to all parts of us. And it proves that physical healing is as much a part of the atonement as salvation, which is the healing of our spirits. And it proves that physical healing is just as much God's will as salvation!

4. Jesus felt that healing was so important that he taught HIS disciples not to shy away from healing the sick FIRST, BEFORE they preached the Gospel! Here's the proof. Jesus told his disciples: "When you enter a town... Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'" (Luke 10:9) Did you see it in God's Word??? He told them to heal the sick FIRST!! Then they were to preach! Why? Because people listen better when you have a message with real power. Anyone can preach, even a false teacher. But not just anyone can heal the sick first, by the power of God! Peter and John followed Jesus' command when they healed the cripple at the Gate Beautiful. Secondly, they preached to the crowd that gathered! [See Acts 3:2 and following] The manifested healing power of God explains why, when Philip the evangelist went to Samaria, not only were there many salvations, but there were many miracles. [Here's the Scripture on that.]

"Then Simon [the magician] himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done." [Acts 8:13]

5. Jesus is not only interested in healing our big diseases, he is interested in healing our colds, our fevers our flu's. Here's the proof:

"And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them." (Matthew 8:14-15)

6. One of God's several names in the Old Testament Hebrew is Jehovah-Rapha. This is found in Exodus 15:26. You won't see it in our King James Bible because the King James translators didn't even try to translate that name of God into English. They just substituted the word "LORD" in the place of this powerful name of God. The KJV translators translated it, "...for I am the LORD that healeth thee." [Exodus 15:26b] The word translated "Lord" in English is Jehovah-Rapha in Hebrew. But to a Hebrew person, reading the Bible in their mother tongue, they would understand that verse to say: "I AM GOD the Healer that healeth thee." HIS Name, Jehovah-Rapha, translates from the Hebrew: "GOD THE HEALER." HIS NAME **IS** "HEALER," BECAUSE HEALING IS IN HIS VERY NATURE. PRAISE THE LORD!

7. Many believers do not know that it is ALWAYS  God's will to heal physically, even if we must wait for the healing to come later, or in the resurrection. Here is a Scripture that strongly backs that up: The Leper of Mark 1:40 said: "If you are willing, you can make me clean." Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said, "Be clean!"

***The point here is simple!! If God is only willing now and then, or on and off again to heal any of us, then why in this wide World did GOD let this Scripture be printed in HIS Bible??? This scripture has no "ifs," no "ands" no "buts" in it. Jesus simply and clearly changes this leper's mistaken idea that God might not be willing to heal him. Jesus says, "I am willing! Be clean!" Jesus clarifies for all time HIS will about our healing. Jesus says, "I AM willing to heal you!" Jesus didn't say to the Leper, "Well, yes, today I'm willing."

Here's another Scripture that is about a poor little demonized boy whose daddy is begging Jesus to heal the child.

"And oft-times it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but IF thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, IF thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." [Mark 9:22-23]

The man with this son, that was so vexed by darkness, says to Jesus, "IF you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us!" Jesus answers, "IF thou canst believe, all things are possible..." In other words it isn't a matter of GOD'S will or GOD'S power. GOD'S will is "YES!" GOD'S power is "YES!" The problem is not with GOD or GOD'S will. God's will is already set to "yea and amen".

Jesus let that daddy know that the problem was NOT IF GOD CAN, or IF GOD IS WILLING! The problem was instead **IF** DADDY CAN BELIEVE AND TRUST IN GOD TO HEAL HIS BOY! The boy's daddy got Jesus' point and cried out, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." [Mark 9:24b]

That's why saint Paul says, "For all the promises of God in HIM (in Jesus) are YEA (YES), and in HIM Amen, unto the glory of God BY US." [2nd Corinthians 1:20] ("Amen" is Hebrew and means "so be it") But in order for God to get HIS glory that HE deserves, it says, "...unto the glory of God **BY** **US**!"

In other words our doubt, our mistaken doctrines can steal the glory from God, because God has designed it that HE gets this glory *BY* *US*. Our faith, our belief, or standing on the promises, can get the glory for God *BY* *US*. It is up to ***US*** to receive the miracle of healing so God can be glorified **BY** ***US***! I want to glorify God! I want to receive that healing so that people will see what a wonderful God I serve!!

God is saying, "YES, it is *ALWAYS* MY will to heal, and to save, and to sanctify, and to cleanse, to make whole, and to deliver! But the mistaken believers are saying, "No, it isn't always so! It is always God's will to save, but we don't believe it is always God's will to physically heal!"

Can you imagine a sinner coming to the altar and desiring to be saved, but the pastor prays, "Lord we don't know your will concerning the salvation of Jim who has come forward. If it be your will, please save him, not our will but thine be done, Amen." Why that would be enough to make a lot of Christians have a fit! They would rake that pastor over the coals for sure. They would say, "You silly pastor! Don't you know it is **ALWAYS** God's will to save a lost person!"

But that is exactly what we do concerning healing. We have been taught by tradition that healing is NOT always part of the atonement as salvation of the spirit is a part of it. We have been taught by tradition that God doesn't want to heal everyone of everything, that with some people God can really teach them and humble them and make them better by keeping them crippled, broken, sick and in pain. And so healing has become for many a kind of mirage, that once in awhile can become available for a select few. These mistaken believers and leaders even teach that disease is often God's mighty teaching tool. Tradition has taken physical healing, that God intertwined into HIS full salvation for the whole man, and unraveled healing from God's woven pattern!

I've found a lot of physically ill people who believe healing is kind of a remote possibility in their case. I've met many others who are resigned to their disease. They have grown to accept their infirmity, when that infirmity is really a gift from Satan! They have come to believe that it is a blessing that they must receive. And unfortunately when they believe this way another Scripture takes effect, neutralizing the healing scriptures. That other Scripture is in fact a healing Scripture itself. But it can work for either our betterment or our downfall:

"...as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee..." [Matthew 8:13]

But MY Heavenly Father is a good Daddy! If I, as a poor human daddy, would NEVER hold my little children's hands on a hot stove, to teach them to stay away from hot stoves, would God put disease on us to teach us something?? I believe God has been forced to use disease to teach us. But it isn't HIS first and best will! God ***NEVER*** sends disease!

Disease is a by-product of darkness!! God doesn't tempt HIS people with sin! [See James 1:13] And if God sent a disease, HE would be sending sin upon HIS beloved. God may allow disease at times...but HE never **SENDS** it!! Sin and disease are brothers. They both come from darkness! And the Bible says that in God there is no darkness at all! [See 1st John 1:5] How could God send you something HE has none of??? Who has warehouses full of diseases?? Not God! Satan has warehouses of disease. Did God send the sores on Job? No! The Bible says, Satan brought those sores!

"So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and *SMOTE* Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown." [Job 2:7]

Where do our diseases come from? They come from the dark side, from sin, and/or Satan!

8. God guarantees healing to every, single human being. Even sinners will ultimately receive a physical healing so that they may stand before God for the judgment. That is how good God is! I'll show scripture for that later.

First I want to prove to you from Scripture that God guarantees physical healing to all believers, to all Christians:

"So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." [1st Corinthians 15:54]

So, disease and infirmity are just a limited form of death, death penned up in a corral! And death is part of darkness and sin!

Adam and Eve had incorruptible bodies that would have lived on for ever and ever and ever. But sin brought a curse that planted disease and death within their bodies, minds and spirits. And so they began to age. They began to face sickness. And ultimately their bodies wilted and died.

The Scripture above from Corinthians promises an ultimate, total healing to all believers. God is in the business of restoring what Satan and sin robbed from mankind! Eternal life is healing. Eternal life is total healing. True believers will ultimately receive a supernatural body, like Jesus had when Jesus arose. It will be an incorruptible body that will not rot or decay, an eternal body! God is going to restore to us the body that sin stole from Adam and Eve. A bit later I will quote the Scripture that proves we will get a body like Jesus rose with.

But in the interim, while we wait for that new body, God has provided healing to this corruptible body. "...with HIS [Jesus'] stripes we **ARE** healed." [Isaiah 53:5] Notice that the word "ARE" is present tense, or right now! It is already a "done deal!" So if a preacher tells his congregation that only some can be healed and some cannot, that preacher is saying that Jesus' whipping, that tore open Jesus' back, was not for everyone. But Isaiah tells us that by the ripping open of Jesus' back, with that Roman "cat-of-nine-tails" (a wicked instrument of torture), that we **ARE** **ALREADY** healed!

Secondly, I want to show you from the Word that even sinners, who are on their way to the Lake of Fire, will get healed too.

God is so good that God doesn't kill sinners. God isn't a murderer!! Sinners who rebel end up in Hell, and then they are cast into the Lake of Fire. But they never cease to exist. Instead they face eternal death. In other words the knife is ever plunging, but never reaches their heart. They ever die, but never cease. Their "worm," as Jesus calls it, lives on eternally. [See Mark 9:44-46]

God is NOT a killer. He never takes BACK anything that HE gives to anyone. "...the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." [Romans 11:29] "Without Repentance" means that the gifts of God, like the gift of BEING, are irrevocable." That is a law of God! And so God does not annihilate people. HE does not erase angels or human beings who rebel. HE gave them BEING, and they get to keep it. But, their quality of BEING is in their hands. They can choose the lowest form of BEING which is eternal death, separation from God. Truly it is worse than being erased, because those ones are trapped forever on the knife edge of death. They can't really live, nor can they rest in peace. The other choice that angels and humans can make is the highest form, which is called eternal life, which is being with God forever. The angels that fell already made their choice. It is too late for them to change now. But it isn't too late for us who walk the Earth.

Nevertheless God is so good that all human sinners are going to be healed, raised from the dead, and be given new bodies in order that they may face the judgment of God! Have you ever noticed that criminals will often appear before the judge in a nice looking three piece suit??? I can prove from Scripture that all sinners are going to appear before God in a resurrected body, a healed body!

"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." [Daniel 12:2]

We know that Christians will arise and receive a new body. We saw that earlier in First Corinthians 15:54. Healing is guaranteed to all believers, for God is going to give us a new body, a new physical body like Jesus had at HIS resurrection. We know our new body will be like Jesus' because the Bible says, "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." [1st Corinthians 15:20] If Jesus is the "firstfruits" then the believers are the fruit that follows, and will be raised exactly as Jesus was raised, and in exactly the same kind of body.

But, Daniel reveals even more to us. Daniel tells us in Daniel 12:2, above, that the sinners, when they arise to enter into "everlasting contempt," will "AWAKE" out of the dust, as will the saints. This tells me that sinners will be given a new body, or at least a totally healed body too! And so the Bible teaches that God is so good that HE is going to heal even the bodies of sinners on their way to standing before the Judge! Sinners will *NOT* stand before God Almighty's Court in some decayed form!! They will stand before HIM in the gift of a three-piece suit of a new body. They will have a healed body, a healed mind with their spirit! They are going to have all their faculties, so that they can stand trial and understand their sentence to the Lake of Fire forever.

Jesus' death, burial and resurrection made all these healings of saints and even sinners possible! That is why the Scripture tells us:

"And HE Himself bore our sins in HIS body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; FOR BY HIS WOUNDS YOU ***WERE*** HEALED." (1st Peter 2:24)

Jesus bore the sins of all, those who receive HIM and those who reject HIM. And therefore by his "wounds" even sinners will be healed to stand before God in The Judgment! If God is so loving and kind as to heal sinners, doomed to the Lake of Fire, will HE not heal you who love and serve HIM now?! If HE will heal a wicked tyrant, murder, and destroyer, giving them a new body, that they might stand before HIM in perfect health, to receive their sentence, will HE not touch HIS loving child who is suffering, hurting, wounded in pain on this old Earth??? God is a good Father. HE cares for HIS own. It pains HIM to see HIS children hurting, wandering from doctor to doctor.

Notice in First Peter 2:24, above, that the phrase "were healed" is past tense. From God's perspective you've already received healing...can't you believe for it to come into the present?? From God's perspective healing is a "done deal!" Romans 4:17 says that God "...calleth those things which *BE* *NOT* as *THOUGH* they *WERE*." In other words God has spoken yours and my healing into potential existence, already, when God inspired Peter to say that we "***WERE*** healed!" That is one of the reasons why on the cross Jesus said, "It is finished!" [See John 19:30] Salvation, healing and everything good, that was stolen by Satan in the Garden, has been regained for us! Jesus finished the work that re-couped our losses!! Thank YOU Father!!! Thank YOU Jesus!!! Thank YOU Holy Spirit!!!

"HE giveth power to the faint; and TO THEM that have no might HE increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But THEY THAT **WAIT** UPON THE LORD [or, minister to, wait upon, turn to, focus on, pray to, believe in] shall RENEW THEIR STRENGTH; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; THEY SHALL RUN, and not be weary; and THEY SHALL WALK, and not faint." (Isaiah 40:29-31)

If you can RUN and not get tired and walk and not faint, isn't that healing??? Isn't Isaiah 40:29-31, above, a healing scripture??!!

"Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, And *FORGET* **NONE** of His benefits; Who pardons ALL your iniquities; Who *heals* **ALL** your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit; Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle." (Psalms 103:1-5)

So many Christians insist on forgetting the benefit of physical healing! Getting your YOUTH RENEWED is healing, wouldn't you agree??

"Surely HE (Jesus) took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,...by his wounds we **ARE** healed." [Isaiah 53:4-5]

Isaiah didn't say that we will be healed. Isaiah said we **ARE** healed! We just have to *BELIEVE* it into the here and the now, because to God the healing already is. But again I remind you that there is that over-riding law of Heaven which you can misuse to cancel your healing!! Watch out. Jesus said it:

"...as thou hast BELIEVED, so be it done unto thee..." [Matthew 8:13]

God has done the miracle potentially. But many do, or do not receive based on what they believe. And many don't believe healing is a sure thing, and for that reason many do not receive the mighty miracles they could receive! Their lack of believing for their healing erases their healing in the here and now! And I might add it robs God of some of the glory and honor due HIM.

"Is ANYONE among you sick? Let him call for the elders (saintly leaders) of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith **WILL** restore the one who is sick, and the Lord **WILL** raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they **WILL** be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." (James 5:14-16)

Notice how, in the above Scripture, James closely connects forgiveness and salvation with healing. That anointing with oil for healing can lead to forgiveness and salvation for sins!

God even promised physical healing to HIS Old Testament people:

"If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you,... The Lord will keep you free from *EVERY* *DISEASE*. HE will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but HE will inflict them on all who hate you." (Deuteronomy 7:12,15 NIV) "'But you shall serve the Lord your God, and HE will bless your bread and your water; and I *WILL* *REMOVE* *SICKNESS* *FROM* *YOUR* *MIDST*.'" (Exodus 23:25 NASB)

If that was true in Israel, under the Law, should it not be *MUCH* *MORE* true for you, who have been redeemed by the blood of God's Lamb and are living under grace, mercy, and truth? The Book of Hebrews tells us that the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant. [See Hebrews 8:6] We are under that New Covenant!

God's Word tells us that the Word itself is a seed that can bring life and health to your whole being.

"My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto MY sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are **LIFE** unto those that find them, and ***HEALTH*** to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." (Proverbs 4:20-23)

God's Word itself can heal your body, your mind and your spirit! God's Word found in the Bible is the most powerful Word in the world! Actually Jesus Christ is the living Word. And it says HE never changes! [See Hebrews 13:8]

God is so interested in our physical healing that HE gives MULTIPLE GIFTS of HEALING! Yes, there is a gift of prophecy, a gift of knowledge, a gift of faith, and many wonderful gifts. But the Bible tells us that there is NOT JUST ONE gift of healing, but *MANY* GIFTS of healing!!! Read it for yourself:

"To another [is given] faith by the same Spirit; to another **THE GIFTS OF HEALING** by the same Spirit;...Have all **THE GIFTS OF HEALING?** do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?" [1st Corinthians 12:9 and 12:30]

God is so concerned for our physical, mental and emotional life that God gives out a multiple array of healing gifts. Some saints operate in several gifts of healing and other saints operate in other gifts of healing! I've seen saints who use a gift to pray for back problems, others to pray for eye troubles, others who pray for those with diabetes, others who have a gift to pray for the deaf, others who pray for general problems, others who see many cancer patients healed. There are those who specialize in certain kinds of healing miracles. But for other sicknesses they have less results. God is so interested in our healing that God makes some saints healing specialists of a kind. It is so awesome!

My wife received a healing in her knees when a man of God, passing through prayed for her. At that time he had a gift to pray for knee problems. So he called all forward who were having knee troubles. Several were healed. My wife was one of them! Before her healing she had pain climbing stairs to our bedroom. After the man of God prayed for her she was enabled to walk all over with me and to climb the stairs without pain! Prior to her healing she could only walk short distances without pain. Praise God forevermore!

Some people have said to me, "Clint, you are mistaken because if what you say is true Christians would never die. They would live on until Jesus comes."

The reason those Christians say this is because they truly believe that God needs some disease to cause us to pass away. It is true that many sinners and saints die, even in old age, because of pneumonia. It is pneumonia that seems to finally get many. And many believers somehow believe that you really don't die unless you get into an accident or you weaken until some disease gets you. They believe that when they get near death their body will weaken, God will have to take HIS healing hand away from them. And then some disease will be able to take over and kill them. And thus they will enter glory. This is what tradition has taught them.

That idea is not Scriptural!! I will give you a testimony and Scriptural proof that this idea of disease taking over is *NOT* God's best or perfect will!

A few years ago, right here in my community, in the church I attended, there was a little boy who loved Jesus with all his heart. This little boy was a wonderful Christian, even though he was not even a teenager yet. One day, he said to his parents, "I'm going to be with Jesus soon!" He wanted so much to be with the Lord. It was his longing desire.

His parents thought he must be simply talking from a childish mind. And so they didn't take him very seriously when he said, "I'm going to be with Jesus soon."

A few days later, as he sat on the couch in the living room with his family he keeled over and died instantly in the family's presence. They immediately gave CPR, called the paramedics. The paramedics gave him shocks and all manner of life saving techniques. But they never got a single heart beat from him. I was in the emergency room with several other Christians as we gathered around his body.

Here's the important part of this story. The coroner had to establish a cause of death. And so they did a complete autopsy of the little boy's body. And the coroner could find NO CAUSE OF DEATH! Everything in that boys body was perfect. He wasn't sick, he didn't have an aneurysm or heart attack or a stroke, or anything that went wrong. He just left this world and went to Heaven! The coroner had a tough job filling out that death certificate, because they couldn't pinpoint any particular medical cause for his death!

The point behind that story is that **IT** **IS** God's will to call us home to Heaven at some point. But we can shorten our lives by not taking good stewardship of our physical body, or by refusing God's healing power. Christians don't have to die from a disease!! They can die from God taking their spirit home to glory. It is totally **WRONG** when we teach Christians that ultimately a disease must get them in order for them to pass to glory! So, it is **NOT** true that God must lift HIS healing hand off of us in order to get us to pass into glory! I believe that too many Christians are dying prematurely from diseases, because they give up and surrender to that sickness. Some of us may have to die of a disease. But I believe God would like to see more of us dying in divine health, called home to glory!

There was an 80 year old lady preacher dying of stomach cancer. Her stomach was so swollen up with the tumor she looked like a lady carrying a child. A mighty man of God was called to pray for her. She asked the man of God to please pray that she might pass away quickly and stop suffering. He boldly told her that God wanted to heal her. He prayed and left her bed side. The tumor slowly shriveled. She arose, some days later, in new health. She went back to preaching and worked for Jesus until she went to Heaven in her 90s!!

So when churchmen say that those who believe as I do about healing are teaching Christians that they can live until Jesus returns and never die, these churchmen are showing us that they are very lacking in their understanding of the Word of God concerning divine healing and death.

Here's a Scripture proof that God doesn't need a disease to take us Home:

"And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land...So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And HE (God) buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day." [Deuteronomy 34:1a, 5,6]

Moses didn't die of a disease. He died at the moment God took him home. Many other Bible characters did not die from a disease. They just went home when God took them. And no matter how much healing you have, no matter how perfect your health is, from divine healing, when your moment comes you go to Heaven no matter how healthy you are, just like the little boy who went to be with Jesus!

I only wish that more Christians knew the total truth about physical healing and how much God wants to give healing to us. Jesus said, "I AM come that they might have life and that they might have it ***MORE*** abundantly." I heard someone say, "That's more life than you know what to do with!" And if abundant life doesn't include physical health, then we are going to have to cut a lot of holy scripture verses out of the Bible.

The important thing, though, is that God doesn't generally promise us the timing of our healing. Look at the case of Jesus' friend Lazarus. Lazarus had to suffer, die, be buried four days, until his body began to seriously decompose *BEFORE* he got his healing. Then Jesus showed up at his grave and spoke Lazarus back into his body. And then after Lazarus got his healing he lived for a time and passed on to glory.

So, we cannot guarantee exactly WHEN God will heal us. However if you believe HE is going to heal you, you will more than likely receive your healing sooner, rather than later. For many the healing can be in this life, according to Scriptural evidences. But for some it will not be until they enter Eternity. Nevertheless they get their healing sooner or later. And physical healing is a sure thing, sooner or later! Which would you prefer??

The Bible teaches that it is God's will to heal every single person, even sinners. It is a done deal, and it was done when Jesus said, "It is finished!!" [See John 19:30] And so it probably grieves the Lord when, in spite of all that HE has told us about healing, we pray "if it be THY will" on the fact of healing.

God has already stated, clearly, in the Bible, again and again, that it is HIS will to physically heal one and all. And so when we pray "if it be THY will" concerning divine healing, we find ourselves contradicting HIS Word in the Bible!! It must break HIS heart that we can't receive what HE has said to us through the Bible concerning HIS will to heal all. When teachers teach us to ignore Jesus' words concerning healing in the Bible it is a GREAT travesty!!

Remember, Jesus HIMSELF corrected those who said "IF you are willing, and IF YOU can. HE corrected them and told them, "It is MY WILL...and it is not IF I can, but **IF** YOU CAN BELIEVE. That is the big IF: if you can believe and trust in God.

Why do some churchmen so mislead us?? Doesn't the Bible mean what it says? Doesn't the Bible say what it means? Can't we trust God's Word. I believe I can trust God's Word!

As I said at the beginning of this epistle, I am either way, way, way wrong, or I am correct. I'm not a little off on this healing idea. And I may not have changed any one's thinking. But at least all who read can know what I have read in the Word and what I believe the Word of God is saying to me. And I am going to stand on this truth.

God has healed me many times of many things. And I'm going to keep believing and telling others about HIS saving, healing Gospel of abundant life to the total man: spirit, mind and body.

clint

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