Miraculous Divine Healing
Miraculous Divine Healing
How many religious groups today claim divine powers to heal people
of physical diseases! The number grows nearly every day. Every single
one of them claim that miraculous divine healing continues through their
"ministries" and they base this claim on exactly the same distorted
biblical principles. They preach conflicting doctrines, often openly
attack one another's doctrines, and yet claim that God is working
through them to heal people. If that doesn't make God inconsistent,
what do you suppose it would take to do so? We will study this
important topic in just a minute.
But first, again let me warmly invite you and your family to visit
the West End Church of Christ today. We begin Bible study at 9 a.m.
just under an hour from now. During this period of time we divide into
various classes, usually by age grouping, and some very fine teachers
conduct stimulating discussion of various biblical themes. At 10 this
morning we meet for our congregational worship. We partake of the
Lord's Supper, sing praises to the Lord, pray together, give of our
means, and honor God by teaching the word of God. Tonight we meet at 6
p.m. for evening worship. Wednesday night at 7 p.m. we have more
classes for all ages. We urge you to come and visit with us if you
possibly can. Our meeting house is located at the corner of Parkside
Drive and Old Morgantown Road, just across from Lampkin Park and Tapp’s
Drive-in. You will find a warm welcome.
We also offer a free religious paper twice a month called "The
Voice of West End." There is no hidden meaning in that word free. We
sell nothing, ask for nothing, accept nothing by way of monetary value
from you. I really think you would like this little paper. This paper
deals with various Bible topics in a conservative approach. So, if you,
or someone you know, would like to receive it write to the West End
church of Christ, 1609 Parkside Drive, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Our zip
code is 42101. If you did not have time to write that down I, be ready
at the end of today's broadcast and I will repeat that information. All
you have to do is ask for the paper that's it, nothing more.
We also offer several free tracts on questions such as how to
understand God’s word and what do to be saved, and be sure about it.
One particular tract that we offer that may be of interest to you is
called, “I Received a Healing Cloth.” This tract deals with the topic I
will discuss today. It was written by Mr. V.E. Howard. It is true to
the Bible and helpful for those who may be bothered by some particular
problem associated with so-called “divine healing.” Please let us know
if you would like to read it. We will send it to you post paid. Also,
if you have any other Bible theme you are interested in, we may have
some material that will help you in your studies. If we don't have it,
we can probably get it for you. So, let us know in what way we might be
able to be of service to you in your studies of the greatest of all
documents, the Bible.
Miraculous divine healing is not healing received from doctors,
medicines, therapy, or hospital care. What is called “divine healing”
is healing that allegedly results only from supernatural causes. It is
not a healing resulting from natural processes. Rather it is the
healing one reads of in the Bible, as in the instantaneous cure of the
leper, the palsied, the blind, speechless, deaf, and the lame. Jesus
and His disciples cured all of these by supernatural powers. No one
today can duplicate those miraculous deeds. The purpose of this lesson
is to vividly and forcefully demonstrate this from the Scriptures. I
affirm that all those who claim to possess the same miraculous powers
Jesus had and gave his disiples are fakes, frauds, charlatans and
imposters. I affirm they feed off of sincere people who are duped and
deceived into thinking that these quack preachers have some divine power
granted to them by the Almighty. My friends, listen carefully: no man
today can do what Jesus and his apostles did by direct miraculous divine
power. Please listen carefully and you will believe me.
Before going further into this study, please consider the variety
of groups all claiming this extraordinary power. There are over a
hundred branches of followers of the late Joseph Smith, Jr. who are
called various kinds of Mormons. They all lay claim to the power of
miraculous divine healing. Then there are the followers of Mary Baker
Eddy of the Christian Science sect. They claim a number of "Christist"
healings. Some may remember Amiee Semple McPherson and the "Four Square
Gospel" movement. She claimed the power of divine healing. Any of the
many branches of Pentecostals will affirm the power of miraculous divine
healing still remains and they have their share (if not all) of it.
Even Catholicism has its brand of miraculous cures. So who is right?
The answer posed in this paper is that none of them are right, for the
Bible clearly teaches that miraculous divine healing ended at the end of
the "apostolic age," or the age during which the apostles worked on
earth.
I Corinthians 12 lists nine gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed on
various members of the first century church. "For to one is given by
the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the
same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts
of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to
another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers
kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all
these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man
severally as he will." The Holy Spirit divided the gifts among members
of the early church. Not all had the same gifts. In the same chapter,
verses 29 and 30 read, "Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all
teachers, are all workers of miracles, have all the gifts of healing, do
all speak with tongues, do all interpret?" Here is a clear affirmation
that not all Christians could work miracles of healing. I Corinthians
13 continues with the same topic of gifts from the Holy Spirit. In this
chapter Paul shows the limited duration of the gifts. He says, "Charity
never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether
there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge it shall
vanish away. For we know in part; and we prophesy in part. But when
that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done
away" (I Corinthians 13:810). Notice that when the perfect is come all
that is in part will be done away. That which is in part includes
prophecy. When the gift of prophecy failed then tongues and
supernatural knowledge vanished also.
The prophecies failed, not in the sense of not being fulfilled;
rather that the gift of prophecy would no longer be exercised by members
of the church. That knowledge would cease does not mean all knowledge
would disappear from the earth, that no one could know anything. It
simply means that the gift of knowledge would not longer be given by the
Spirit. All of these gifts were to be "done away" when the perfect was
come.
The perfect thing that was to come would bring to an end the need
for supernatural gifts, including healing of physical diseases.
Whatever the perfect thing is, when it came, the gifts ended. The word
perfect comes from an original word that means "complete, whole, or
entire." It applies to anything that has all its parts in the right
places, properly related to each other, and adjusted to function
correctly. To say, "when that which is complete is come" is the same as
saying "when that which is perfect is come."
Some affirm that the perfect is either Christ or the blessed age
to come. Both of these views are wrong. While there are statements
referring to Christ as "that which" you will look long and hard to find
Paul using such a reference. Rather he extolled the Christ, exalted
Him, and spoke of Him with absolute reverence. That which is perfect or
complete is revelation. Prophecy "in part" served to reveal God's will
to man. Knowledge from the Lord through the Spirit served to provide
information for the church. Before the completion of the New Testament
all knowledge and instruction had to come through supernatural means.
The Holy Spirit was given to the apostles to guide them into "all truth"
(John 16:13). James says, "But he that looketh into the perfect law,
the law of liberty, and so continueth, being not a hearer that
forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his
doing" (James 1:25). James called the revealed law of God "perfect."
Jude speaks of the faith as "once for all delivered unto the saints"
(Jude 3).
Miraculous divine healing was not primarily for the benefit of the
sick, the lame, the blind or the deaf; it was primarily to confirm the
word preached. In Mark 16:19,20 Mark reports, "they went forth and
preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word
with signs following." The signs were to confirm what was preached.
Signs, wonders, and miracles were performed to create belief. On one
occasion the Lord said, "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not
believe" (John 4:48). And, Paul said that "tongues are for a sign, not
to them that believe, but to them that believe not" (I Corinthians
14:22).
During the time prior to the completion of the New Testament the
only confirmation preachers had was the ability to do something
supernatural raise the dead, cleans the leper, or heal the sick. The
Hebrew writer tells us that the word is confirmed once and for all.
"How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the
first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them
that heard Him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and
wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost,
according to His own will" (Hebrews 2:24).
Question: is the word of God confirmed or not? Some quibble,
"There are numbers of people to whom it is not confirmed." That dodges
the point. God confirmed it whether men accept it or not. It has been
confirmed as God's word whether anyone believes it or not. Those who
still believe in miraculous divine healing stand in opposition to the
fact that God confirmed His own word. What an unenviable position!.
We can take our stand safely that no one today has the power
manifested by Christ and His apostles in the first century. We can
safely affirm such power is not even needed. We urge all who read and
study this to accept God's word as full, final, inerrant, and confirmed
and believe and obey from the heart.
If you have a question about any of these things that have been
said or would like more information about the church of Christ, please
contact us. You can write us at West End Church of Christ,
1609 Parkside Drive, Bowling Green, Ky. 42101. Thank you again we
appreciate the opportunity to come to you each Sunday on this radio
station and hope you'll be back here again next Sunday 8 a.m. Goodbye
and God bless you.
Radio Sermon No. 13
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Children's NT Studies
