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includes obeying God's laws] of
my Father which is in heaven"
(verses 20-21 ).
"To the law and to the testimo–
ny," lsaiah affirmed , "if they
speak not according to this word,
it is because there is no light in
them" ( lsaiah 8:20).
God has not sent those minis–
ters who do not teach obedience
to the laws and commandments of
God even though they pray for or
" heal" the sick.
Genulne Divina Heallng
Make no mistake about it, though,
God does promise to heal the sick.
" Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits," David
wrote. What are someofthose ben–
efits? "Who forgiveth all thine ini–
quities; who healeth all thy dis–
eases" (Psalm 103: 2-3).
Rather than going through
sorne "healing line" in a noisy
public service, however, the bibli–
cal instructions to New Testa–
ment Christ ians are: " ls any sick
among you? Jet hi m call for the
elders of the church [God's true
Church. These are ministers who
preach the t ruth about obeying
God's laws] ; and Jet 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 forgive n him "
(James 5: 14-15).
God promises to heal. But He
does not pinpoint
when
he will do
so. Very often it is in this life;
sometimes, though, it is necessary
to wait and receive the promise in
the resurrection. (For a thorough
explanat ion of what t he Bible
teaches about healing, write for a
copy of our free booklet
The
P/ain Truth about Hea/ing.)
Did you notice that both of the
scriptural passages just referred
to d raw a very important connec–
t ion between healing and the for–
giveness of sins? Read them
again! Healing is the forgiveness
of sins- including physical sins.
When we become sick, it is
because physical laws as well as
spiritual may have been broken .
l llness is the penalty for the
breaking of those laws. One who
May 1981
however, qu ickly tu rned sour.
We are faced with this ques–
tion: Since Satan cannot heal,
since only God can miraculously
heal and he only promises to work
through those min isters who
~
teach obedience to his laws (this
f
leaves out the vast majority of
1
those in the world-religious and
¡¡.
nonreligious- who claim to prac–
~
t ice "healing"), exactly what is
..¡
oo;
the explanation fo r the many
TRIBAL ELOERS
in Dahomey prepare
"healings" that are purportedly
for magical voodoo ceremony.
brought about by the "healers" of
desi res to be healed must be will–
ing to repent of breaking laws
regarding diet , exercise and gen–
eral clean living as well as spiri–
tual laws involved.
But how many who preach
about heal ing and who make a
public spectacle as they ind is–
criminately !ay hands on all who
come to them, explai n a bout
repenting of physical sins? The
250-pound diabetic, seeking to be
"healed" of his diabetes, is he
told to stop d o i ng whatever
brought on the diabetes in the
firs t place? The ar thritic who
raises his arm at the barked com–
mand of the TV evangelist, or the
cancer victim who supposedly has
been healed are told noth ing
about how to avoid becoming sick
all over again.
That's not the way God works!
After Jesus had healed a cripple,
He told him, "Behold , thou art
made wl"\ole:
sin no more,
lest a
worse thing come unto thee"
(John 5:14).
It
is precisely because healing
is the forgiveness of sins that we
know Satan cannot heal the sick.
Satan cannot forgive sins.
Only God can forgive sins.
Only He can heal the sick.
Satan's nature is 100 percent
opposed to God and His ways. He
chose to become that way, there–
fore he is incapable of doing any
good whatsoever. lf Satan ever
does anything that- temporarily
at
least-seems
good, he only
does it to t rick and deceive. Eve
must have thought Satan was
doing a great favor when he
explained the " benefits" of eating
the forbidden fruit. The fruit
seemed
good. The experience,
the world?
Researchers looking into the
subject say they have been able to
document through medica! rec–
ords and other reports the disap–
pearance of various illnesses and
ai lments. In many other cases,
though documentat ion is not
available, people adamantly insist
that they have found relief if not
complete recovery through con–
tacting a religious or a nonreli–
gious "healer." So it is not all
imaginat ion. And then there are
the claims of the "healers" them–
selves, as well as the many who
are convinced they have wit–
nessed healings in others.
How is it all to be explained
and accounted for ?
How ll Happens
Any one or a combinatior:t of the
following factors may be in–
volved:
Sorne Deliberate Hoaxes.
The Elmer Gantrys and Snake
Oil Sams are s till with us. They
prey on the desperation that often
accompan ies illness, offering
everything from pyramid-shaped
cure-alls to home study courses
on how to be a "faith healer." A
reporter for
The Plain Truth
dis–
covered that one t raveling "heal–
er" in California had severa! ex–
c ircus performers with him.
These acrobats were able to con–
tort their bodies a nd t hen
straighten them out at the com–
mand to " Be healed!"
Consider carefully the word of
one of the most prominent of
today's professed "healers" when
she says flatly that "90 percent of
all [so-called] faith heá li ng is
phony." She ought to know.
Wishful thinking.
People
(Continued on page 26)
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