BULLETIN 15 - HEALING
Greetings to all. You ask: Why comment upon spiritual healing, is it so relevant? Some say we don't need spiritual healing because there is now advanced medicine??
The answer: The divine healing of Jesus and the Apostles shows God's glory to its maximum. Also science, though substantially reducing much suffering still has a lot more to prove. Non-believers are totally unable to fathom this argument, that there is a gift of divine healing, and most jurisdictions, mainly unbelievers, protect people against unscrupulous operators and the poorly equipped. So the divine gift of Healing is often submerged and is confined privately to a few families and congregations of faith, thus greatly negating the grace and glory of God; that is most regrettable as He is our creator.It Is both peoples bodies and minds that are extremely vulnerable to the dark forces mentioned in the bible, usually called the evil spirits (through Satan), yet there are examples in the past when people lived very much longer through resistance to ill health. For example Noah, Sarah Methuselah and others living before 300 BC are noted as living scores more years through individual faith and obviously thwarting evil spirits -see:Genesis 23:1 KJVBut after 300 BC the lifespans fell slowly back to about 35 years when communities took mass disobedience to God, and now it has improved to about 70-80 years, though less in some countries. And we are thankful to medical staff, especially those working under pressure and under-resourced, or in isolation, as they are doing some of God's sacred work today.Jesus revealed to us that evil spirits do exist and do take possession of people.See Luke 8: 28-30.Those who are very pious are vulnerable. And Jesus commanded spirits to depart, thus restoring good health, (something that is puzzling without the knowledge of the Holy Spirit). See how non-believers are handicapped by their ignorance, but they will later have full wisdom. Jesus sent a blind man to the pool of Siloam (Isaiah 8:6 KJV) so he was healed in his Master's absence as sometimes happened.
Mary Magdalene, a woman once deemed to have been evil, had seven evil spirits expelled by Jesus-see Luke 8:1-2 KJV: She became a loyal, persistent and courageous follower of Jesus with the disciples and performed much more courageously and lovingly than her associates at the time of the Lord's crucifixion and the resurrection. St.Paul spoke about the divine gift of healing, along with other fruits of the Holy Spirit such as service, teaching and prophecy- see1 Corinthians 12: 1-11 KJV: Specifically it is mentioned that Paul also spoke of cold, lukewarm and hot attention to the Lord. It is insufficient if cold or lukewarm applies to us. Paul warned the churches through his letter to the Corinthians when they were backsliding and sinning. Do we have any such problems in the churches today? Yes, if we believe we are rich enough to not need the grace and protection of Jesus/God we likely have a big problem contributing to the un-belief in Australian society. Christians do want to correct this not only through prayer but through positive action and examples.
Blessings to all, AMEN.
srd