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Dear Friend,

New articles to inspire

Two articles from the 1940 book "Jesus the Healer" by E.W. Kenyon, will bless you immensely. You should read these a couple of times or more. Go to PeterWade.com and NewCreationRealities.com. At $9.00 at Amazon, Kenyon's "Jesus the Healer" is worth double and even more than that. Or if you prefer, order from Kenyons.org or BarnesandNoble.com, both also $9.00.

He heals all your diseases

[We continue with our discussion of the mission statement of Jesus in Luke 4:18, "To proclaim liberty to the captives." ]

Remember what Jesus Christ did. He freed you from bondage. We have already seen the we are free from the bondage of sin, but there are other bondages that we can get into. The second bondage I want to look at is the bondage of sickness, of disease. An incident in Luke chapter 5 shows the correlation between what I've just been talking about and our physical bodies.

"And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said, Man, your sins are forgiven you. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'?" (Luke 5:18-23 ESV).

Why did Jesus ask that question? Because both sin and sickness have a spiritual basis, and we need to recognise this for the Bible teaches it. It was just as easy for Jesus Christ to say, "Your sins are forgiven you" as it was for Jesus Christ to say, "Rise up and walk." Jesus is the expert in dealing with spiritual problems, and spiritual problems have their effect on the outer, on the physical side of life.

Of course, Jesus went on and healed him. "But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins -- he said to the man who was paralyzed -- I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home. And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God" (verses 24-25).

In another incident in Luke chapter 13 there was a lady who had been sick for eighteen years and she was bent over and could not raise herself up. When Jesus healed her, all the religious people got uptight because He had done it on the wrong day. Verse 16, "And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?" There Jesus Christ makes it very plain that her condition was due to Satan. Her sickness had a spiritual origin. When Jesus Christ said that he came to proclaim deliverance or liberty to captives, He also proclaimed deliverance from the captivity or the bondage of sickness. And that's a message that the church has started to recognize in a greater way. So when Jesus came, He came to preach deliverance from the captivity of sin and the captivity of sickness.

One of my favourite verses is Acts 10:38, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him." There again that statement puts the blame squarely where it belongs. Sickness has a spiritual origin. And therefore if it has a spiritual origin, it can have a spiritual resolution. Our faith in God can change our physical bodies. Psalm 103:3 says "who forgives all your iniquity," and then goes straight on and says, "who heals all your diseases." So deliverance from sin and deliverance from sickness are often linked together in the Bible because both have a common spiritual origin.

-- Peter Wade
[To be continued]