Jesus healed all.  Take for instance, Matt 4:23-24 “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.  And His fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy, and He healed them.”

            Likewise, we can find many similar scriptures that Jesus healed all, such as:  Matt. 8:16-17, 9:35, 12:14-15, 14:35-36, and Luke 4:40.  Not only did Jesus heal all, but we can find where the 12 disciples healed all in Matt. 10:1 & 7, Luke 9:1 & 6, and not just the 12 disciples, but the 70. Luke 10:1 & 17-18  (These scriptures are written herein at the end of this page for your convenience.)

            “But wait, Karl”, some may ask.  “What about the man at the pool of Bethesda?  There were lots of sick people there and Jesus only healed one.  And what about the lame man at the gate Beautiful?  Jesus must have walked by there several times before and never healed him!”

            The account of the lame man at the gate Beautiful in Acts 3 is a beautiful testament to God’s healing nature through His name.  When I look at this scripture, this is what I see:  Here is a man that did not even ask  for a healing, but he got one.  The evidence points to the fact that he did not know Jesus to ask for a healing before.  The scripture says that Jesus went to Jerusalem in secret (John 7:10), and while at the feast, the Jews there sought Him, but they did not know who He was (v.11).   Even after teaching at the temple both times, He was not received in that they did not recognize Him for who He was and they either sought to take Him (7:30) or tried to stone Him (8:59).  How would the lame man know to ask?  “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?  And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach except they be sent?  As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!’  But they have not all obeyed the gospel.  For Isaiah saith, ‘Lord, who hath believed our report?’  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Ro 10:14-17)

            “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” (Matt 21:22)  (Other good ‘ask’ scriptures are listed as follows:  Matt 7:7-11,  18:19, Luke 11:9-10(pertaining to the Holy Spirit), John 14:13-14, 15:7&16, 16:23-24, 1 John 3:22,  and 5:14-16.  (Scriptures quoted at end of page)

            I see the account of the man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5) as another example of the nature of God who in compassion healed a man that did not even ask.  Like the man at the gate Beautiful, this man did not know who Jesus was, nor did he ask.  Even after being healed, he did not know who it was that healed him, but called Him "the man that healed me. . "We find that the nature of God is to heal, evidenced in that God sometimes even heals them that do not even know Him or know to ask Him.  How much more when we know Him and call upon Him? God is willing to go beyond that which is required of Him by His word, or beyond what is asked of Him.  All we need is a little faith.  We can’t find anywhere in the Word where anyone asked Jesus to be healed and He did not do it.

             

“But Karl,” one preacher once said to me, “God has His time for everything.  What about the account of Lazareth?  When Jesus heard that he was sick, Jesus stayed two more days where He was.  God doesn’t always heal everybody right away, but in His own timing.”

            The account of Lazarus from John 11:  Preachers know this story.  Lazarus’ sisters sent to Jesus saying, “Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick.” (v. 3)  It is recorded in v. 6-7 that “When He heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days still in the same place where He was.  Then after that He saith to His disciples, ‘Let us go into Judea again.’” The bad doctrine is that God only moves when He wants to and in His timing.  This may be partly true in that God may sometimes only move as a gentleman when He is invited, or when our faith has risen due to the hearing of the Word first, or to confirm His Word, etc., but we have to be careful of the poison interlaced with this doctrine.  Verse 4 holds a clue:  “When Jesus heard that, He said,  ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.’” Notice that Jesus knew that Lazarus was already dead at this time.  How do I know that?  By the word Jesus spoke, ‘This sickness is not unto death.’ What is meant by 'death'?  Is Jesus speaking as ". . . God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things that are not as though they were." according to Ro 4:17? Technically there is no contradiction, in that ‘death’ here in the Greek means a permanent leaving of this world because of sin.  In this regard, Lazarus did not die.  Notice that Jesus did not speak a healing word like He did for the centurion in Matt. 8:13, but mentioned ‘death’.  What other clues are there?  Verse 17 says, “Then when Jesus came, He found the he had lain in the grave four days already.” Jesus waited two days and then went, and when He got there, Lazarus had been dead for four days already.  Jesus was only one day’s journey away in Bethabara, about 30 miles from where Lazarus was in Judea, (see John 1:28 and 10:40), so this means that Lazarus must have died shortly after the messengers left to tell Jesus, and when Jesus heard it, he was dead for one day already.   You see, God was not letting Lazarus suffer.  Lazarus might have been having a good ole time in the spirit realm for all we know.  Maybe he was in Abraham’s bosom. (Luke 16:22)  According to the words of Jesus, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; . . " (John 11:11).

            The devil has also tried to twist around verse 4 of John 11: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.”  The devil tries to say that God either put this sickness and death on Lazarus or allowed it to happen so that He could receive the glory from his healing/resurrection.  A study of the Greek here would clarify the word ‘but’ as Strong's Concordance word # NT235,  neuter plural of NT:243; properly, other things, i.e. (adverbially) contrariwise (in many relations).  In the KJV it is always interpreted as one of these following words: and, but (even), howbeit, indeed, nay, nevertheless, no, notwithstanding, save, therefore, yea, yet.  The word ‘for’ as being ‘abundantly’ or 'instead' from the Strong's #5228.  God’s glory comes from the healing, not the sickness.  The scripture could read thus, "This sickness is not unto death, nay, instead the glory of God.  In a similar way the devil has tried to twist other scriptures such as John 9:3 below.

            One more note about Lazarus that you may not have thought of:  We have a covenant promise for healing, but I can not find anywhere where God guarantees He will raise everyone from the first natural death as we know it.  Once again, we find another scripture that shows that God in His nature sometimes goes beyond what is required of Him by His word, and even today, through His name, the dead are still sometimes raised.

   John 9:3  Who Sinned?  Many have used these verses from John 9 in a vain attempt to prove that God sometimes allows sickness.  If that is the case, then the 'gospel' is not 'good news'.  This scripture deserves some needed attention and Holy Ghost insight.  Please read on:

John 9:2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind ?  3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.   KJV     The bad doctrine is that God allowed this man to be born blind so that the works of God could later be made manifest in him.  This is a silly as saying, "God makes you sick so He can be glorified through the healing".  This is obviously wrong. Some of the confusion comes from the word 'but' (Strongs #235, as defined a few paragraphs earlier).  This word can mean 'nay' or 'notwithstanding', in which case the sentence becomes much more clear, taking on a meaning that because the blindness was not caused by sin, nay, therefore the works of God should be made manifest in him.  However, most of the confusion comes from the humanistic conclusion that if the blindness was not cause by sin, then God must have caused it or allowed it.  I would rather blame the devil, who is the liar, the thief that comes to steal, kill & destroy, the roaring lion seeking who he may devour,  the prince & power of the air, the god of this world, the deceiver of nations, the accuser of the brethren and the enemy of the Kingdom of God.  Far be it from me to blame the Way, Truth & the Life & the One who came to give us life more abundantly, who was manifested to destroy the works of the devil.  However, if you insist on disagreeing with me on this and say that God allowed this blindness so that He could be glorified through the healing, then at least think of it in this way:  God allowed Adam and Eve their choice to eat of the forbidden fruit, and for sin and death to enter the world, and for satan to crawl on his belly and eat the dust of the earth, (and man is made of dust, and to dust he will return), and our redemption only comes through Jesus Christ.  God's desire is to deliver, set free, heal and save, and if we do not receive, the problem is somewhere on our end or maybe inbetween.  (By 'inbetween' I mean such as when the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood  the angel of God delaying the answer to Daniel's prayer in Daniel chapter 10.)  If you believe different than this, well, then, the Word is alive and powerful, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of your heart.  I say to the church, 'Arise, and take your dominion and authority in the name of Jesus Christ.  Let us all repent of our murmuring and complaining. Let us be filled with the Holy Ghost and power and let us speak as the oracles of God, and take the land of promises in the name of Jesus.'

The BAD DOCTRINE of "GOD ALLOWS SICKNESS":  One well known Baptist preacher said to me, "But Karl, God is all powerful.  To say that God does not allow sickness is to say that God is not all powerful." 

There is a simple explanation:  God has given authority to the church (the believers) in His name.  This answers all the questions, such as:  if God is all powerful, and therefore, all sickness must be allowed by God, then what about all the scriptures that say that the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), or that he comes as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet 5:8), and why are evil spirits associated with diseases?  Is not this what the Pharisees said to Jesus, that He casts out devils by the prince of devils?  There are way too many scriptures to contradict the doctrine that God allows sickness.  If that were true, then why pray for the sick?  If God allowes sickness, then wouldn't you would be praying against God's will?  Doesn't this doctrine produce doubt instead of faith, and isn't it contrary to God's nature to save, heal, deliver and set free?  However, some would argue that if God does not allow sickness, then God is not all powerful, since people sometimes get sick.  Are not there many scriptures that say that God is all powerful?  Yes, God is all powerful, and created all things. (many scriptures) Jesus 'spoiled all principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it'. (Col 2:15)  So what then?  The answer is simple:  God gave authority over the devil to the church.  Luke 10:19 says, "Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpians, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you."  There are numerous scriptures that speak of the power we have through the Holy Ghost and the name of Jesus, such as the Great Comission.  Furthermore, I would also say that the Lord gave dominion over the earth to man, as we find in Genesis 1:26 which says, "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.'" (The Bible repeats this theme in verses 28 through 30.)  Although this dominion is compromised somewhat through the fall of Adam's sin, it is reinstated after the flood, with a warning against sin.  Amos 3:7 says, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets."  Even the Lord will do nothing unless He at least reveals it first unto man.  Man has dominion, although in the New Testament, satan is referred to as 'the god of this world', and 'the prince and power of the air', therefore satan is obviously allowed some sort of authority, but James 4:7 says, "Submit yourself to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you."  I say to the church, 'Arise, and take your dominion in the name of Jesus.'  So, in summation, does God allow sickness?  Hey, maybe He lets the devil go hog wild on this earth, but He has given authority over the devil to the believers in the name of Jesus.  God is all powerful.  He has the power to heal my body, but He has given me the authority to command it to be done through the name of Jesus.  This is sound doctrine because it takes the blame off of God for sickness, and puts it on man where it belongs.  So why isn't everybody healed, some ask?  I don't know all the answers, but I do know that God can't lie, and that He is true to His word.  I believe there are times when God is forced to allow sickness, because He is true to His word, such as '. . whatsoever a man soweth, that also shall he reap, for he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption'(Gal 6:7-8), or, 'but if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses' (Mark 11:26), or, because of hardness of heart or unbelief (Matt 13:58).  However, one word from the Lord, spoken in season through one of His servants, can cut through the underlying gunk and bring healing.  (Lord, help me to hear clearly).   Although sometimes there is judgement, sickness is usually not a result of sin.  Often the devil just attacks, like a serpent, he strikes, and he does not need a reason.  I hope this clarifies things for you.  We could go on with this, but hopefully the point is made.  Far be it from me to accuse God.  God is the answer, not the problem.  Through faith the promises are obtained (Heb 11:33)  Let the faith of God rise up in those that are reading this, in the name of Jesus.        

It is God’s will to heal:  It is in the Word.  Actually, Jesus was the Word ‘made flesh’. (John 1:14)  Jesus went about healing all, “and His name is called the Word of God.”(Rev 19:13)  The Word and Jesus are inseparable.  “The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”(John 1:1)  “For the Word of God is alive and powerful . .”(Heb 4:12)  (some translations say ‘quick’ and powerful, but the correct meaning is ‘alive’.)  Jesus healed all and Jesus did “ . nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”(John 5:19)  Jesus healed everyone that asked.  The Father and the Son are practically inseparable.  Jesus is the ‘express image’ of God the Father. (Hebrews 1:3)  God’s Word is His will.  God’s will is His Word.  Jesus, the living Word, said, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father . .”(John 14:9)  Jesus went about healing all.  That is the will of the Father as well.  God’s will today is to heal.  “Christ Jesus, the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”(Heb 13:8)

Matthew 8:2, Mark 1:40 and Luke 5:12 all have the account of the leper that says to Jesus, “. . if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” Significantly, by all three witnesses Jesus says to the leper in the following verse, “I will; be thou clean.”

            Isaiah 53, in the heart of the Bible, reveals God’s will for healing:  “Surely He hath borne our sicknesses, and carried our pains: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”(Is. 53:4)  The word ‘surely’ means positively, absolutely, and certainly.  If you have an English bible, the words ‘sicknesses’ and ‘pains’ are unfortunately misinterpreted as ‘griefs’ and ‘sorrows’.  In my Spanish bibles, the words are correctly written in both of my versions (Antigua Version and the modern Spanish NIV version)  I don’t know why these words are mistranslated in the English.  The English translator did a fine job on the rest of the Bible.  Sometimes man’s theologies get in the way.  Let us get our faith to line up with the Word of God, and not to try to get the Word of God to line up with our theologies.  The Hebrew word Strong’s number 2483 is mistranslated as ‘griefs’ here in Isaiah 53, verses 3 and 4, but in the other 27 out of 29  places in the bible it is correctly translated as sickness (es) or disease.  The word for ‘sorrows’ , Strong’s #4341 means grief, pain, sorrow, and seems to imply mostly mental pains, but includes physical as well.  It is translated as sorrow most of the time but sometimes is translated as ‘pain’.  I would like to point out the Holy Ghost translation in Matthew 8:17 where this scripture is quoted: “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.”

            Back to Isaiah:  “But He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:  the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.”(Is 53:5)  Although we esteemed Him smitten of God, it was “for the transgression of my people was He stricken.”(Is 53:8)  And a little farther down yet in Isaiah, we see God’s will for our healing:  “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.  He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall my righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.”(Is 53:10-11)  Herein lies some of the undisputable good news that it is the Father’s will for our healing.

          Are you part of the body of Christ?  Would Jesus want His body to be sick?  Are you part of the bride of Christ?  If so, the two become one flesh, (Matt 19:6) and you are one flesh w/God.  Jesus prayed that we would be as one with Him even as He and the Father are one. (see John 17:11,21-22)  Would not it be God’s desire for His flesh to be healthy?  This is just common sense.  As a child of Abraham, you have a right to health.  (See the scriptures at the end.)  However, God heals sinners just as well, as evidenced throughout scripture.  In the book of Acts we find that that after a miracle, thousands were then added to the church.  The Lord desires to work the same way today; He has not changed.  We have seen people in sin healed right out on the street.  God heart reaches out to the lost and strayed.

           

The way we believe is important.  One Catholic man once said to me, “But Karl, I just don’t believe that way.  My church teaches that miracles and healings started passing away in the 3^rd century.”  This man belonged to a big Catholic church in Indiana.

            Now I don’t mean to pick on Catholics, and I know that all Catholics don’t believe that healings and miracles passed away.  However, it is during this period of time around the 3^rd century that faith in the word of God started to erode within the Catholic church.  How do I know that?  For example, in 364 A.D. they exchanged the sanctification of the Sabbath on Saturday to Sunday at the Council of Laodicea, ignoring the 4^th commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” It was also during this period of time that they inserted ‘the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost’ into the great commission scripture of Matthew 28:19 in place of the name of the Lord.  These changes are recorded under glass at the Rome Vatican.  (Am I saying that the Bible is not accurate?  No!  The 66 books of our Bible are incredibly accurate with very few exceptions. “The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” Psalms 12:6.              

      The way we believe is important. In the account of the Centurion and his servant, Jesus said, “Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.  And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour”(Matt 8:13)  Likewise, in the account of the nobleman & his son Jesus said, “Go thy way, thy son liveth.” And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him and went his way.”(John 4:50)

            Jesus often spoke a spoke a phrase like, “ . . thy faith hath made thee whole.”, such as He spoke to the woman that touched the hem, (Matt 9:22, Mark 5:34 & Luke 8:48), or the blind man, (Mark 10:52 ), or the leper, (Luke 17;19), or another similar phrase such as “According to your faith be it unto you.”(the two blind men in Matt 9:29), or “Thy faith hath saved thee.”(the woman that anointed His feet in Luke 7:50 & the blind man in Luke 18:42)

            Did you ever notice?:  The man that says he does not believe in miracles seldom if ever walks in that resurrection power.  The Christian that does not believe in the falling over and sleeping in the Spirit through the laying on of hands will rarely if ever have people fall over when he prays and lays on hands.         

           

 

What about Job?  There was a well-meaning older brother in the Lord that once said to me, “But Karl, what about Job?  God allowed him to suffer for a long time.  God does not always heal right away, after all, you know, God is sovereign.”

          The word 'sovereign' means ‘all powerful’.  When you say, ‘God is sovereign’, that does not mean that God does what He wants to do whenever He feels like doing it, but it means that God is all powerful.  God is true to His word.

          What about Job?  Job had no mediator, or no way to mediate with God.  We have what Job never had, the living Son of God who “ever liveth to make intercession”.(Hebrews 7:25)  In Job's day, Satan was allowed to come before God, as it is written in the first two chapters of Job, and Satan accused righteous Job before God's face.  However, now, Satan has been cast down (Is 14:12 and Ez 28:16-17) as we find written in Revelation 12:10:  "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of the brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night."  Jesus said to the seventy disciples in Luke 10:18-20,   "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing by any means shall hurt you.  Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice, that your names are written in heaven."  So now, you see, instead of Satan before God's face day and night accusing the brethren, we now have Jesus instead, who forever sits at the right hand of the Father to make intercession for us.  (Note:  Notice that Satan is named 'the accuser of the brethren'.  If you speak evil of others, or put down a pastor or any saved person, you probably are guilty of playing the devil's role, not God's.  This can be a hindrance to the gift of healing working in or through you, together with wrong beliefs, wrong thinking, unforgiveness, sin, hatred, the works of the flesh, etc.)

            I’ve heard many preachers preach on Job.  There has been many a sermon preached that God restored double to Job.  That is good and dandy.  I’ve also heard many preachers preach a faith message about how the thing that Job feared came upon him, from Job 3:25.  These are good messages, however, but the most important thing about the book of Job is that we have the Christ Jesus as our mediator, whom Job never had.  It is all about JESUS.  Everything points to Him.  When preachers preach on Job and never once mention the fact that our mediator Jesus took our sins, pains and sicknesses on the cross, they unknowingly interject a small amount of poison into the message, because it is the devil’s desire to obscure what Jesus did at Calvery.  As the anti-christ, the devil’s job is to take the focus off of the Christ Jesus, the living sacrificial Lamb of God.  It’s all about JESUS.  There is only one little scripture (Job 3:25) about the fear factor of Job, and we hear many long sermons on that.  However, there are many scriptures where Job said that he had no way to mediate with God.

            Job basically says, ‘Hey, where’s my mediator?’ The following scriptures verify this fact: “Behold, He taketh away, who can hinder Him? Who will say unto Him, What doest thou?(9:12)  How much less shall I answer Him, and choose out my words to reason with Him?  Whom though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.(9:14-15)  If I speak of strength, lo He is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?(9:19)  For He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer Him, and we should come together in judgment.  Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay His hand upon us both.(9:32-33)  Hast Thou eyes of flesh?  Or seest Thou as man seeth?  Are thy days as the days of man?  Are thy years as man’s days, . ?(10:4-5)  Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!(16:21)  Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard:  I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.(19:7)  Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were printed in a book!  That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!  For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:  And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:(19:23-26)  Oh that I knew where I might find Him!  That I might come even to His seat!  I would order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments.  I would know the words which He would answer me, and understand what He would say unto me.  Will He plead against me with His great power?  No; but He would put strength in me.  There the righteous might dispute with Him, so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.  Behold, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him  On the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him:  He hideth Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him:  But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.(23:3-10)  I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and Thou regardest me not.(30:20)  Oh that One would hear me!  Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.  Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.  I would declare unto Him the number of my steps, as a prince would I go near unto Him."(31:35-37)

            Elihu confirms the mediator issue in Job33:23-28:  “If there be a messenger with Him, and Interpreter, One among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness: Then He is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher that a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth: He shall pray unto God, and He will be favourable unto him; and he shall see His face with joy: for He will render unto man his righteousness.  He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not, He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.”

            God confirms the mediator issue as well in Job 42:7: “And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me right, as my servant Job hath.”

            God addressed the things that Job said that were not right, such as Job’s self-righteous attitude and multiplying words without knowledge in chapters 38-41.  Elihu also addressed the same issues as can easily be seen in the first and last verse of chapter 35, (and elsewhere).  This leads me to assume that all the other things that Job spoke about, such as the mediator issue were correct.  The words of Elihu must have been right also, because the Lord did not say anything about him, but only that Eliphaz and his two friends, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamanthite had not spoken what was right.

            We now have a Mediator.  Our Mediator, Jesus, has now come, the veil to the Holy of Holies was rent (Mat. 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45), the veil being the flesh of Jesus (Heb 10:20), we can now “boldly come to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need” (Heb 4:16), in that we now have a mediator who is “at the right hand of the throne God”(Heb 12:2), “who also maketh intercession for us”(Ro 8:34), and “ever liveth to make intercession” (Heb 7:25).

 

            Salvation includes healing.  The basic word for ‘save’ is defined by Strong’s concordance word number 4982 as ‘heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole’.

            It is hard to separate ‘sin’ and ‘sickness’.  Sin and sickness were both atoned for on the cross.  That is why we find it written in Psalms 103:3 “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; (and) who healeth all thy diseases;” Likewise, we find it written in James 5:14-15  “Is any sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:  And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”  Likewise we find the account of the paralytic in Matthew 9 as well as Mark 2, where Jesus said to the paralytic, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.”  And, just a few verses farther down we find that Jesus, in showing the Pharisees that He had power on earth to forgive sins, said “to the sick of the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.” We find it written in John 3:14, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:” What happened when Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness.  The book of Numbers chapter 21 tells us that the children of Israel were forgiven for their sins of murmering and complaining and they were healed of their snakebites, entering from a sentence of death into life.  We also quoted earlier from Isaiah 53:4, how “He hath borne our ‘sicknesses’ and carried our ‘pains’:” (talking about sicknesses here) And, Isaiah 53:5 “but He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, (referring to sins) and with his stripes we are healed.” (talking about sickness again)  This clearly shows that sickness and sins were both taken care of at Calvery.

            What about Paul and the Thorn?

I know a pastor that used to preach from the NIV bible.  He used to think that my faith on healing was heretical.  Thanks to the Holy Spirit, he has come to believe and teach on healing.  Before that, however, he attempted to prove to me that it was not always God’s will to heal. He tried to convince me by using some of the bad doctrines that I addressed earlier in this letter.  He also mentioned 2^nd Corinthians 12, verses 7 through 10 about Paul and the thorn.  Concerning this scripture, he said to me,  “You know Karl, sometimes God allows sickness to keep us humble.”  He then proceeded to read 2^nd Cor 12:7 to me from his NIV bible, “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.”

            Paul and the thorn: First, lets quote 2^nd Cor 12:7 from the King James version:  “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.”   There has been many a sermon preached, I’m sure, that the thorn was a sickness allowed by God to keep Paul humble.  Often they admit that they don’t really know for sure what the thorn was, but yet they will go ahead and give their opinion from the pulpit.  Let’s line our faith up with God’s word, and not vice versa.  Let us see what can be determined about this from the highest authority, God’s own word:

            What was the thorn?  Paul often alluded to the old testament when teaching.  In the old testament a thorn in the flesh or barb in the eye was symbolic of the hindrance of the Caanites in the promised land if they were not completely driven out.  Walls of thorns and hedges of thorns were symbolic of a wall to keep the enemy out, or a wall the enemy would have to keep you from getting in.  However, digging a little deeper into the Greek in 2^nd Cor 12:7, the ‘thorn’ is a wooden stake used for impaling, being withered at one end, (coming from the word 'skelops') and seems to hint to a little bit of a deeper meaning concerning persecution, especially in that the Latin root word is 'cruz' which means 'cross'.   Jesus told Paul that he would show him the things he would suffer for His name’s sake.  Jesus told the disciples that they would be 'persecuted', and that in this world they would have 'tribulation', but I can’t find anywhere that sickness is included in any of these word definitions (persecuted or tribulation).  Furthermore, the Greek for ‘buffet’ (2^nd Cor 12:7) means ‘repeated blows with the fists’, confirming that the thorn is persecution and not sickness.  When taken in context, I would also add that there is a theme of persecution throughout the whole book of 2^nd Corinthians, starting out even in chapter 1 as Paul defends himself against things the false apostles have said about him, explaining why he did not come earlier as planned.  Reading between the lines, you see this theme continue as Paul defends himself.  In almost every chapter, this theme of persecution becomes more and more obvious, until he speaks of it plainly in chapter 11, and continues on with the persecution theme after the ‘thorn’ in chapter 12.  Now you can see that in the middle of writing about persecution, he does not stop and mention a sickness; no, that would be way out of context, in that sickness is not mentioned once in the whole book, however, the main underlying theme throughout the whole book is persecution, as Paul is on the defense concerning things the false apostles have said about him.  The bad doctrine is sometimes even taught that God allowed this so-called sickness to come on him to keep him humble.  However the scripture plainly says that the thorn in the flesh was “the messenger of satan, to buffet me, .” , (plainly stating it did not come from God).   A lot of the confusion comes from the phrase ‘exalted above measure’.  The NIV interprets this as ‘becoming conceited’.  I disagree with the NIV interpretation of this word for the following reasons:  The Strong’s definition for this word exalted is #5229, middle voice from #5228 and 142; ‘ to raise oneself over, i.e. (figuratively) to become haughty.’ I suggest that the definition of 'to raise oneself over is correct, but the figurative definition implying haughtiness has no support, in that this word only appears one other time in the Bible, and that is in 2 Thess. 2:4, which speaks of the devil “Who opposeth and exalteth himself over all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” In this verse we can see that the word does not mean ‘becomes conceited’, but rather the KJV of exalteth is correct.  This leads me to believe that the messenger (angel) of satan came to Paul in an effort to keep Paul from reaching a higher realm of authority in the spirit because of the great revelations Paul had.

            Going on with the next three verses, 2 Cor 12:8-10, “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, 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.”  In the Greek, the phrase “And He said unto me” implies sureness.  Notice also that the Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for thee”.  He did not say ‘insufficient’.  The word ‘grace’ means unmerited favor with God, to be able to accomplish what you could not ordinarily accomplish on your own power.  Basically, God is sort of saying, ‘Hey, I already gave you the power.”  Also, the word ‘infirmities’ is defined by Strong’s word #769 as ‘feebleness (of mind or body); by implication, malady, morally, frailty’.  The way the word is used in 2nd Corinthians means ‘the inability to produce results’ as confirmed by the rest of the sentence, rather than a sickness.  This meaning fits in with ‘reproaches, necessities, persecutions, and distresses for Christ’s sake. This fits with  both the ongoing persecution theme as well as the theme in this sentence of ‘weakness’ (feebleness), in contrast to the strength of Christ.  If you see this differently, I challenge you to really study this out with an open mind.  To “rightly divide the word of truth” means ‘to draw a straight line through’.  2 Tim 2:15  “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”   Let us not draw a crooked line thru God's word.  God heals, period.  When you say, "Yes, God heals, but, . . . .",  be careful lest you draw a crooked line, in which case I would ask for mercy that you be not judged according to your own words.          

We could go on with this, but hopefully the point is made.

 

            Sickness and oppression comes from the devil.  Acts 10:38 sums it up: “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.”

            Luke 9:56   "For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. "

          John 10:10  "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.  (He added)  The thief (Satan) cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. "

          1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. "

            Jesus Destroys Works of Devil   1 John 3:8  "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil."

             

Sin and death entered by the first Adam when he sinned in the garden. “Therefore, by the offence of one, judgement came upon all men to condemnation” (Ro 5:18)  “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, . . ”. (Ro 5:12)    I believe that with sin and death came sickness.  “even so by the righeousness of One (Jesus, the 2^nd Adam) the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” (Ro 5:18)  (and healing), who rose from the tomb in the garden, (it is through the testimony of John that we learn the tomb was in the garden, further proof of undoing Adam's sin which was also in the garden), “having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it”,(Col 2:15) “making us “free from the law of sin and death.” (Ro 8:2) (See Ro 8 and 1 Cor 15)

 

 

           

For your convenience I’ve quoted below many of the scriptures that are mentioned but not quoted above:  Hope you enjoyed this.  We would like to come and minister in your church.  My partner, Timothy Bertsch is always overflowing with the Holy Ghost, and is the most prophetically gifted person I have ever personally know.  The Lord (apart from whom we can do nothing) has used us mightily both in churches and on the street.  We evangelize, preach and teach as a tag team, and I, Karl, also do music ministry/worship.  We can be contacted at (618)985-2204 (Karl Stein) and at (618)727-0111 (Timothy Bertsch) 

Love ya,  Karl Stein

 

Jesus Healed All

            Matt 4:23-24  “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.    And His fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.”

            Matt 8:16-17  “When the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils: and He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick:   That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.”

            Matt 9:35  “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”

            Matt 12:14-15  “Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against Him, how they might destroy Him.   But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew Himself from thence: and great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all;”

            Matt 14:35-36  “And when the men of that place had knowledge of Him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto Him all that were diseased;  And besought Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.”

            Luke 4:40  “Now 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.”

            Acts 10:38  “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.”

 

                                    Disciples Healed All  (the 12)

            Matt 10:1  “And when He had called unto Him His twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease: (10:7) And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. (8)  Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”

            Luke 9:1  “Then He called His twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.   And He sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. (6) And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.”

 

                                       the Seventy Sent Out to Heal also

            Luke 10:1  “After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before His face into every city and place, whither He himself would come.  (9) And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.  (17) And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord even the devils are subject unto us through Thy name.  (18) And He said unto them.  I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. (19) Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

 

                                    Ask scriptures

            Matt 7:11  "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"

      Matt 18:19  "Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”

      Luke 11:9-10  “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be ginven you, seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  For every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.  If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?  Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto you children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

      John 14:13-14  "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”

      John 15:7  “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (16) Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you.”

      John 16:23-24  “And it that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it you.  Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: as, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”

            1 John 3:22  “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”

          1 John 5:14-16  “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us:  And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.  If any man see his brogher sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.  There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.”

 

 

                             All Things Possible / Believing is Important

            Matt 21:21-22  “Verily I say unto you, if ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

            Mark 9:23  “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”

            Mark 11:24  “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

                            

                                      Signs Follow Believers

            Mark 16:15-20) “And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.  And these signs shall follow them that believe;  In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;  They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.  So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.  And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”

 

                                     

                                     

                                    Promise of Abraham

            Luke 13:11   "And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.  Luke 13:16  And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?"

            Gal 3:13-14 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ.  (Now, verse 29) And if ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed.  (Now look at verse 7) Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham."  (What is ‘Curse of the Law’?  Duet 28: 15- - - poverty, sickness & death)

 

                          You Do Not have to Die with Sickness or Disease

Exodus 23:25-26  "And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.  There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil."

            (Deut 30:19)  "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live."