There is a parable about how lifesavings stations became resorts. The parable ends with “Shipwrecks are still frequent, but most of the people drown.” (You can look it up and read the whole parable.) The parable is basically about how the church, or any other organization, that has lost its focus and purpose, but the reality is the condition of the church is far worse than this parable tries to point out as the church has rejected the power that was given by the creator of things. Yesterday I talked briefly about seeing homeless and addicted people at the site of the old Baptist church in downtown London. No, I am not trying to pick on this church as sadly, there is no church that can deal with this tsunami of mental health / addictions issues, including the Salvation Army. I say sadly because we serve the God who created all things, yet the church is powerless yet thinks everything is as it should be. When I ride my bike through the beautiful trail system here in London, there are homeless people living in tents throughout the trail. My mind gets overwhelmed thinking about how to help when those who are in the trenches don’t have the resources they need and can’t solve the problem, and the help is basically a few sandbags trying to stop a tsunami.
If you see where this Baptist church is now located, the parable makes sense. Their website states, “Over the years, thousands of people have been impacted by the people and ministry of this church. A passion for prayer and missions has always been at the forefront of our church family; today, over 30% of our budget goes directly to missions and we meet twice a week to pray. We have learned the importance of dependence on the Holy Spirit to move and change lives. We thank God for His faithfulness in all these years.” On the surface that sounds great, but do they actually have the power of the Holy Spirit at work? I personally don’t think a church is a charity and should pay their dues, but that is a topic for another time. This is not meant to be an exhaustive critique, but I took a quick peek at the 30% given to missions and on the list most money ($140,000) went to a Baptist organization for missions. I also noticed on the list was a few thousand dollars sent to the Ark Aide Mission in London. Their website describes this tsunami.” Homelessness in Ontario has reached a breaking point. In London alone, the crisis has deepened so drastically that Ark Aid Mission has gone from serving 100 people a day to over 2,000 in just 3.5 years. With shelters overwhelmed and support systems stretched thin, more people than ever are facing the unimaginable reality of life without a home. London is one of the hardest-hit cities in the province, a reflection of a broader national failure to provide safe, affordable housing. The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Report outlines the urgent need for immediate and systemic change, making it clear: homelessness is not just an individual crisis -it is a policy crisis. At Ark Aid Mission, we believe no one should be left behind.” Global news reported “At any given time in London, Ont., there are roughly 1,700 to 2,100 people confirmed to be experiencing homelessness. Of those, about 600 are considered “high acuity,” meaning they require a high level of supports. Meanwhile, the number of encampments in the city nearly tripled between June and November 2023. And while over 400 households have been placed in housing where rent is geared to income, the waitlist is still nearly 7,000.” This doesn’t even begin to describe the substance abuse issues that are taking place.
These are extreme cases but there is a mental health tsunami affecting most of the population at one time or another. These cases can be mild or extreme with everything in-between. Some can handle it better than others and you may not even know their battle and some cases are not even reported. “More than 1 billion people are living with mental health disorders, according to new data released by the World Health Organization (WHO)” Medication seems to be the go-to. The Mayo Clinic stated, “Although psychiatric medications don't cure mental illness, they can often significantly improve symptoms. Psychiatric medications can also help make other treatments, such as psychotherapy, more effective.” These medications can be antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, mood-stabilizing medications, antipsychotic medications plus all types of therapy. Camh talks about the prevalence of mental illness and substance use disorder. “In any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians experiences a mental illness. By the time Canadians reach 40 years of age, 1 in 2 have – or have had – a mental illness. Mental illness and substance use disorders are leading causes of disability in Canada. About 4,000 Canadians per year die by suicide – an average of almost 11 suicides a day. It affects people of all ages and backgrounds. The annual economic cost of mental illness in Canada is estimated at over $50 billion per year. The annual economic cost of substance use in Canada is estimated at nearly $40 billion. This includes costs related to healthcare, criminal justice, and lost productivity. Alcohol and tobacco are responsible for more than two thirds of these costs ($14.6 billion and $12 billion, respectively). The next highest ranked substances are opioids ($3.5 billion) and cannabis ($2.8 billion).” I believe this was from 2011, so it is far worse now.
There is a tsunami of people with incurable mental health disorders / illness, and that doesn’t even include all the other diseases that have to do with the heart (The world's deadliest disease is coronary artery disease (CAD). Also known as ischemic heart disease,) cancer and respiratory. The church itself is filled with people who have all these diseases, so how can the church help those who also have the same diseases? Most who go to church are powerless but satisfied. Many are taught that death is the ultimate healing. People will say in death they are now no longer suffering. The power to heal is missing in the church but sickness isn’t and most have just accepted the fact that the church does not look like the church Jesus is the head of. We were even warned what would happen if we rebelled, Leviticus 26: 14 “‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, 15 and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength.” Deuteronomy 28:27 “The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 28 The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. 29 At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you. 58 If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the Lord your God— 59 the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. 60 He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. 61 The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. 62 You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. 63 Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.”
Most have accepted as truth, that the church as we see it today is how the church was supposed to be, yet the church today is filled with sick people but in the Gospels we are told Jesus healed the sick. Matthew 8:16 “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” The Jesus most have accepted is a Jesus that no longer heals and most do not ask why but instead have accepted the lies they have been told that come in the form of doctrines. Those who ask, end up believing what they are told even though what they are told looks nothing like scripture. People are easily led astray because they don’t know their bibles. We will be talking about false teachers in a few days and how they lead people astray.
When thinking about incurable diseases and addictions, scripture makes it clear they are no match for God. Exodus 23:25 “Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, 26 and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.” Matthew 4:23 “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.” Jesus did not put a band aid on it; they were immediately healed. Leprosy was one of those diseases. Those who were lepers were outcast and basically had a death sentence. In the same chapter that we see the quote from Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases,” we see Jesus heal a leper. Matthew 8:1 “When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.” Luke said Luke 5:12 “While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.” Luke 17:11 “Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” The word would get around that Jesus had the power to heal. Today I doubt there is no one who would not want to heal, except for those in the church who say God does not do that anymore while dying from diseases.
Not only did Jesus heal lepers, but He also healed other sickness. Mark 5:21 “When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” 35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” 36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” 37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.” How many are laughing today at the though of the church doing as Jesus did?
Today the church is filled with unbelief. I read someone’s (Baptist) blog equating leprosy to sin and not once did they talk about healing. I then looked at their beliefs and saw that they did not believe in healing by a disciples, but only if God so desired, and spent time trying to convince you that the bible wasn’t saying what it was saying. It really was disgusting. They wrote that James 5 didn’t actually mean what it said. James 5:14 “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.” That is the answer to the verse in Exodus above. ( I will take away sickness from among you). By equating leprosy to sin, there was no talk of actually healing something today as severe as leprosy was. Most people in the church have accepted this pathetic view of healing and therefore enables them to bypass all the passages about healing. Basically, when you read these pathetic efforts to bring the way of truth into disrepute, it shows that they are deceived and deluded and by telling others they are false teachers. It also means that they are filled with unbelief.
We see this unbelief in Jesus’ hometown. Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked. 23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’” Jesus also said, “24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.” The response is still the same today when you suggest that healing is part of God’s plan for the church and His disciples would be given the gift of healing. Since there is very little healing, that means the church is not following God’s plan.
Jesus sent out His disciples Matthew 10:1 “and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.” When John the Baptist was about to be killed, he sent his disciples to make sure Jesus was actually the Messiah. Matthew 11:2 “When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” 4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” The church cannot report this. If Jesus is the Messiah and risen from the dead, then He is the healer of all our infirmities and diseases no matter what they are. He has risen so the church needs to repent and turn from wicked ways.
The passage about Naaman, the Syrian says, 2 Kings 5:1 “Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. This passage not only talks about Naaman’s arrogance but having his eyes opened to the power of God. 2 Kings 5:2 “Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!” 8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” 11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage. 13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. 15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.” But then there is a twist to this account. Naaman had offered to pay Elisha and Elisha refused. Now Elisha’s servant was not very bright and tried to lie to Elisha. He went after Naaman and asked for the payment. 2 Kings 5:25 “When he went in and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” “Your servant didn’t go anywhere,” Gehazi answered. 26 But Elisha said to him, “Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes—or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks and herds, or male and female slaves? 27 Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever.” Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and his skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow.”
Now picture a group outside the old Baptist church downtown London who are like those with leprosy. It may be mental health illnesses, addictions, heart problems, cancer, homosexuality and all that goes with it and on and on the list could go and they approached and said “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. The church should be able to answer that question because Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.” That would go for any disease, no matter how severe or incurable it is. It is not just this church that used to be downtown, this is every church that is powerless and content and people are satisfied with absolutely no power at all. Scripture makes it clear that disciples were able to heal when sent out by Jesus. The church, even the charismatics because this power is not happening there either, has come to accept that the church as we know it is how it is supposed to be. That means most have been deceived and deluded. In their delusion and deception, they create false doctrines and teaching that explains away the power of God. So you have to ask yourself why in the world would you believe that nonsense, yet many do and very few are seeking God to turn His face back to the church so that the power and authority the church was given at Pentecost will return. Can you say now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel?
