The Lord speaks to me in a variety of ways, most of which take me by surprise and takes place when I least expect it. And I love it. Last night I was trolling YouTube looking for something spiritual to read or listen to when I “just happened to see and hear” a famous theologian telling his congregation that God’s ways of doing things have changed since the early days of the church. Most of those ways are recorded in the four Gospels and the Book of Acts. This was only one of many such God-arranged viewings or hearings that have been part of my spiritual education over the years. Many of my messages are based on things He has arranged for me to hear and see which, most of the time, are Satanic lies that are being fed to the churches by his false prophets.

In this so-called “God-directed” sermon Satan’s messenger was telling his followers that God was no longer in the healing business. Now, it seems, He uses doctors, medicine, drugs, scalpels, needles, x-rays, etc. with Him operating in an advisory capacity. Apparently, the once-omnipotent Lord has lost His healing touch. Or perhaps He has grown tired and is need of help when doing what He once did alone.

The Lord’s inability, or unwillingness, to do what He once did is not a new theological concept. Twenty years or so ago I found myself in a hospital check-in, check-out room. While waiting for a friend to come out I noticed on a wall a large painting which depicted a team of surgeons who were operating on a patient. Standing in their midst and directing their actions was none other than Jesus Christ. That immediately brought to memory a prayer that has been uttered by millions sick people over the centuries who have found themselves in the situation depicted in the painting. The prayer goes something like this: “Dear God, please guide the surgeon’s hands during my operation.”

Relative to that prayer, there is something that has concerned me during the 80 plus years that I have been on this earth. That being the fact that those who pray for God to aid the doctors and those who reject Him have the same rate of success and failure. Those with positive outcomes and those with negative outcomes are basically the same in terms of numbers. The difference between the churchite who prays the prayer and the nonchurchite who does not is the prayer itself. One prays to God; the other does not believe in God. Both experience the same outcome. However, the praying patient knows that God said: “I am the Lord Who heals you” (Exo. 15:26). So what’s going on up there? Or perhaps something is going on down here. Or perhaps the answer lies in what is NOT going on down here. Let us find out.

In the New Testament we find that Jesus and His apostles healed those who came to them immediately and totally, facts that are brought forth repeatedly. But today we very rarely hear of “divine healings,” deliverances, signs, wonders and miracles. The same Christ still exists, as do apostles who have the same Bible and the same commission. But such things almost never happen. What happened? What brought about the change? Did not the Lord say that He does not change (Mal. 3:6)? that He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8)? that in Him there is no variableness or shadow of turning (Jam. 1:17)? Obviously, a major change has taken place in the Lord’s ministry from the time when He instructed His disciples to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, etc. So who made the change? Relative to healing the physically and mentally sick, why is there no difference between churchites and nonchurchites? We will allow the Lord Himself to answer those questions.

In Exodus 15:26 the Israelites’ God (the Word Who would later come to earth as Jesus of Nazareth–Jn. 1:1-4,14) is speaking to His chosen people, the Israelites, saying to them: “IF (there’s that hated word) you will LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF THE LORD YOUR GOD and IF YOU WILL DO THAT WHICH IS RIGHT IN HIS SIGHT and IF YOU WILL LISTEN TO HIS COMMANDMENTS AND HIS STATUTES,” THEN, AND ONLY THEN would He promised not to place pestilences (diseases) upon them. He closes with: “I AM YOUR GOD WHO HEALS YOU.” Did you notice the connection between not listening to God’s Words, not doing right in His sight, not considering His commandments and statutes and Him PLACING DISEASES ON THEM? Two more times the Lord made this connection abundantly clear. Read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 in their entirety.

We will now look at a medical procedure that takes place in the present. The same procedure is performed on two people in the same hospital by the same doctors. Note the righteousness-blessings/ sin-cursings connections mentioned in the suggested readings. SOMETHING HAS CHANGED. In the readings we are told that obedience would produce a positive outcome while disobedience would produce a negative outcome. However, today both patients receive the same outcome. The question is, WHY? Could that pesky IF word have anything to do with the outcomes of the two medical procedures discussed above. Today, the identical procedures and their identical outcomes are repeatedly experienced throughout the Western World. Could the “IF” caveat have anything to do with the fact that THE CHURCHITE SHOULD NOT NEED AN OPERATION TO BE HEALED? What happened to the God of the Gospels and the Book of Acts who healed people by the thousands? Has He gone out of the healing business? Or is it possible that the problem does not lie with Him? L.J.