The
Professor's Theological Home Page
"...Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved..." (Acts 16:31)
By
Prof. Mario Velez, Th.M.
The gift of healing is yet another temporary spiritual
gift that is being distorted today (1 Cor. 12:9, 28, 30). The gift of healing was listed after
miracles, and it certified that the man as well as his message was indeed from
God.
“And God hath set some in the church, first apostles,
secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings,
helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” (KJV 1 Cor. 12:28)
Healing today does not come through any delegated human
authority as was the case in the pre-canon period of the Church Age. Today, in individual situations, healing can
come directly from God depending if the situation lines up with His sovereign
will. This was the case of Epaphroditus when Paul solicited prayer on his behalf. Paul states in Phil. 2:27 that Epaphroditus was sick and almost died on him, but God had
mercy and healed him. At one time,
Paul’s ability to heal was so strong that even “handkerchiefs or aprons”
touched by him were able to heal people (Act 19:11-12).
“11) And God wrought special miracles by the hands of
Paul: 12) So that from his body were brought unto the
sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil
spirits went out of them.” (KJV Acts 19:11-12)
By the time Paul wrote these words to the Philippians, he
no longer had the gift of healing since he was already certified as an apostle
from God.
Of course, there is true healing that occurs when a
demon-possessed person experiences the demon leaving their body. This is another of Satan’s deceptive methods
that he uses to establish his false teachers who then proceed to teach their
false message.
We know that Satan himself can be the source of diseases as
seen in what he did to Job when he afflicted him with sores throughout his body
(Job 2:7). We also know Satan was
responsible for Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7). In addition, Satan also uses his demons to
inflict disease (Mt. 12:22).
“Then was brought unto Him one possessed with a devil,
blind, and dumb: and He healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.” (KJV
Mt. 12:22)
Notice that as a result of our Lord removing the demon, the
man immediately regained his sight and ability to speak. The reason was because it was the demon that
caused the man’s afflictions. We should
not take the demon possession as a third illness that was different from the
other two, but the actual source that caused the man’s blindness and inability
to speak was the demon. This point is
brought out more clearly in Mark 9:17.
“And one of the multitude
answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb
spirit.” (KJV Mark 9:17)
The reference in this verse is to the demon restraining the
boy’s tongue and vocal cords. The Lord
acknowledged that the demon was the cause of the affliction in verse 25 when He
specifically called the demon a “dumb and deaf spirit.”
“When Jesus saw that the people came running together,
he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and
enter no more into him.” (KJV Mark 9:25)
Therefore,
we now see that Satan does possess the power of disease and uses this means to
counterfeit healing by the removal of the demons. Again, he is then able to
introduce his false teachers with their false message.