Whether a person is a Christian or not, the desire to be healed or to have your life blessed because of something supernatural is a desire most people have. Millions of people make pilgrimages to places where they believe healing will come. In Islam, millions drink from the waters of “Zamzam which is a blessed water whose healing flows to the hearts of believers.” Millions of Catholics make a pilgrimage to “The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.” “The sanctuary is a destination for sick and disabled pilgrims as the Lourdes water, which has flowed from the grotto since the apparitions, is reputed for miraculous healings.” Then there is the Hindu festival Kumbh Mela and pilgrims bathe in the holy rivers. Buddhists go to Lumbini and Jews go to the Western Wall. Christians will often go to the Holy Land, but they will also make pilgrimages to places where they believe God is present, such as the Toronto Blessing, Brownsville, Asbury Revival to name a few. (More on those later)
As far as Christianity, scripture from the Old Testament to the New makes it clear that God is a God of healing. Exodus 15:26 “He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.” Jeremiah said Jeremiah 17:14 “Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.” Israel was warned and this warning applies to the church and both did not listen. Deuteronomy 28:58 “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.” We then see the healing power that was coming. Isiah 53:5 “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Matthew 8:16 “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he (Jesus) 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.”
As you can read in the verse above, it is important to notice that healing is not just about salvation as many have made it out to be. Those with sicknesses, diseases and infirmities would actually be healed and immediately. Matthew 8:3 “Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.” Matthew 11:5 “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.” As we just read, when Jesus went somewhere, He healed all the sick. Matthew also said 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.” It is important to note a lack of faith interfered with healing, Matthew 13:53 “When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. 54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” 58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. Even the disciples healed the sick. Mark 6:12 “They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.”
It is an interesting paradox that most people who call themselves Christians want God to heal themselves, loved ones and friends. Most believe that God can heal and even expect Him to heal, but it has to be according to the parameters they have set up in their doctrines. But when God doesn’t do as they have been taught, they are mad at God for not answering their prayers and some even abandon their faith. Many in the church are mad at God. But then here is the paradox. At the same time that they expect God to heal, they have accepted the reckless lies of those who lead them to be truth. It is amazing how, and this is in response to the charismatics, many have rejected what the bible plainly says because of what they see the charismatics doing. They see what the charismatics are doing and they want nothing to do with the supernatural especially if what is supernatural is found in a disciple, yet they want God to heal them. The charismatics have also rejected the bible for the sake of their own doctrines. Mark 7:6 “He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules. 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” 9 And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”
We see two sides of the coin here, but the coin is wrong on both sides. There are many who hold to the teaching of cessationism and believe disciples no longer heal, but if God so desires to heal, then that is okay. There is a video of John MacArthur teaching about cessation where he falsely states “Most of you know that a few months ago we had a strange fire conference and we talked about the aberrant charismatic Pentecostal movement that has dominated the evangelical landscape and even spread around the world. Somewhere between half billion and 750 million people claim to be a part of this movement. And it raised the question of what is called cessationism. That kind of awkward word simply defines the belief that the New Testament miraculous gifts ceased, they ceased. That has been the normative historical view of the church through the church's life going all the way back to the New Testament and on into the modern era.” All that he said is false, as nowhere in scripture is this found. When talking about the disciples, Chuck Swindoll reiterates this doctrine of demons and says, “that after Pentecost they were now equipped. But it was for this time. Let me add that as a little caveat. (notice these are his words) You don’t need this very experience to be in the center of the will of God. That was then. This is in a transition period where all this time everything has been concentrated on the teaching of Jesus and a small band of people that where right there in Galilea and Judea and the Lord had plans to expand it to beyond. Don’t try to duplicate this and say unless it is like that in my life I am not in the will of God. As best I can tell I don’t see this commanded in our lives today, that we had the same experience the early apostles had. In this era, it was necessary, but it could very well be that if the Lord wants to use you in another language or another place that requires language you will have to go through language study. Chance are good you will not wake up in the morning speaking the language. Chance are good you will go through study and learn the language. Anyway now that I have messed up your life let me lead us in prayer.” Again, scripture does not say this. Yes, these two false teachers have messed up millions of lives.
The other side is the charismatics who do believe in healing, though not seeing healing take place as described in scripture, but have accepted any supernatural manifestation as God’s presence such as the gibberish they call tongues that they say proves that God’s Spirit is among them, yet there is no power to do as Jesus did. The desire for the supernatural grew and you ended up with false revivals like the Toronto Blessing and Brownsville. Though not charismatic you also had the regularly timed Asbury Revivals. People desperately wanted to be part of the presence of God but there was no power, just people gathering. The first two I mentioned had manifestations but looked nothing like the Gospels and Acts. These manifestations were counterfeit signs and as one writer states “Alarmingly, there are also many exact similarities between the Toronto' experience and the demonic manifestations found throughout the New Age movement and also in many pagan religions. Such manifestations are found nowhere in the Bible, but rather right through the New Age movement.” This false revival looked nothing like, 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.” This verse is what the presence of the power of God looks like. The Toronto Blessing and others like it was so absurd you can read it about it for yourself but continues with the likes of Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding, California. They are the ones with “the appearance of “glory clouds,” gold dust, and feathers, which are described as signs of God's presence.” Others like Rodney Howard Browne, “a man who called himself the “Holy Ghost Bartender,” and according to them, laughing like hyenas means God is present. Even though charismatics believe miracles, signs and wonders are possible for today, they did not test the spirits and were greatly and easily deceived especially in the area of tongues. 1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
(At this point it would be good to read, Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 13 as false teachers are everywhere in the church. Just because someone says this is God, doesn’t mean that it is)
So, we have Baptist and others like them who do not believe miracles, signs and wonders are for today and are very much against the beliefs of the charismatics but in doing so have rejected the word of God. You also have charismatics who don’t agree with the non-charismatics but do believe signs and wonders and claim that because they speak in tongues, they are anointed with the presence of God, yet there is no power as seen in scripture and as seen in scripture is the key and neither side looks like the church Jesus started to build. Yes, power is often manifested, but it looks different from what we read in scripture. The reality is that God’s power is not present on either side, so the coin is useless and counterfeit, which is why the church needs to return to the word of God. When you talk about something being counterfeit, there has to be something to counterfeit it from. satan took the power of God and made a counterfeit and millions fell for it as many have set aside the word of God and have been deceived by what they see happening. False teachers are teaching other gospels / doctrines of demons and are leading millions astray as we saw above with just two false teachers, MacArthur and Swindoll. 1 Timothy 4:1 “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” 2 Timothy 4:3 “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” Paul also said 2 Corinthians 11:3 “I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 12 And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” The church continues to rebel against God’s word and still puts up with false teachers and healing does not come.
On both sides, false teachers are teaching what is false, but I think it is safe to say that on both sides everyone wants to be healed. One side teaches as we talked about in the last blog that if God so desires to heal, He would and that would be okay, but not by disciples. Their churches are filled with people who need to be healed but have believed the reckless lies of those who lead them and accept that the church is powerless and basically healing if they do not see it in life, comes with their death. Some do not accept that and look elsewhere but then are deceived by those saying healing is possible, but they too are teaching reckless lies. 2 Peter 2:2 “there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” 20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.”
The charismatics teach that healing should be sought but have no discernment as to where the power is coming from. They see manifestation and are easily deceived because they do not test the spirits. When I was part of charismatic circles, they claimed the Holy Spirit was present but there was no power as seen in scripture. People would fall to the grounds on their backs thinking it was the power of God, but it was not God but satan. Scripture makes it clear that we fall on our faces before God. What was present was satan masquerading as an angel of light. The reality is most Christians believe God is a healing God, but at the same time do not believe He is a healing God because it is not happening, nor do they accept what scripture clearly states. Because it is not happening, the word of God is rejected and the reckless lies of men and women are then accepted, which in turn elevates the experience, reason and traditions higher and even replaces the word of God. Even though healing is not taking place as most believe it should, most refuse to repent and turn back to God’s word. Jeremiah 5:3 “Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent. 30 “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: 31 The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?”
God’s plan for the church was to use His servants, just as He used His servants in the Old Testament. 2 Chronicles 36:5 “The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. 17 He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.” The people chose not to listen but instead listened to what was false instead. Jeremiah 37:2 “Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.” Jeremiah 37:19 “Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land’?” In the New Testament, Ephesians 4:11 “Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Malachi describes how it was supposed to be and not supposed to be. Malachi 2:5 “My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin. 7 “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. 8 But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord Almighty.” The reason true instruction and not reckless lies needs to be taught is as Paul goes on to say Ephesians 4:14 “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” The church is filled with deceitful scheming.
Sadly, the church is filled with people who are infants tossed and blown about by every wind of teaching. I think it is fair to say that most Christians have no idea what they should be believing about healing. They also do not understand the doctrines and theology they have blindly adhered to. 1 Corinthians 3:1 “I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.” Hebrews 5:12 “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!” The church is filled with men and women who are doing the tossing in their deceitful scheming, all the while claiming that they teach truth. They do nor teach truth but teach a different Jesus and other gospels and because of that rebellion, the power of God is not present which is why there is no healing. Jeremiah 23:20 “In days to come you will understand it clearly. 21 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. 25 “I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ 26 How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? 27 They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship. 28 Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the Lord. 29 “Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? 30 “Therefore,” declares the Lord, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. 31 Yes,” declares the Lord, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The Lord declares.’ 32 Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the Lord. “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares the Lord.” Lamentations 2:14 “The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading.”
The intent of these reckless lies is to “make my people forget my name.” Matthew 24:4 “Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Deuteronomy 13:1 “If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.” Just to be clear, today we are not talking death by our own hands as that is left up to God and we should fear His wrath all the while being careful and not be like the disciples. Luke 9:51 “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them.” In the Old Testament we saw the sons of Aaron offer unauthorized fire and were killed by fire. In the New Testament, Ananias and his wife Sapphira both died because they lied to the Holy Spirit. Acts 5:4 “You have not lied just to human beings but to God. 9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also. 10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.” That is still a possibility. Ezekiel 15:6 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As I have given the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest as fuel for the fire, so will I treat the people living in Jerusalem. 7 I will set my face against them. Although they have come out of the fire, the fire will yet consume them. And when I set my face against them, you will know that I am the Lord. 8 I will make the land desolate because they have been unfaithful, declares the Sovereign Lord.” Millions of people are dying and still refuse to return to the word of God.
The problem is that the false teachers and preachers doing the lying / deceiving believe they are teaching truth and because many of them have big names and ministries, people fall for their reckless lies. This has happened because the church has rebelled against the word of God, Daniel 8:12 “Because of rebellion, the Lord’s people and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9 “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” The church is desolate and filled with deception and delusion because the church has accepted a different Jesus and other gospels, thus there is no power to heal or cast out demons as satan has infiltrated the church. 2 Thessalonians 2:4 “He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” As Paul said “if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough,” and Galatians 1:6 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”
It really is amazing that even though sickness and disease are everywhere in the church and in the world, and people are heavily medicated, prayers still go unanswered and even though most people want to be healed by God, most have accepted the reckless lies of those who teach them that the church is how it is supposed to be. The video of John MacArthur teaching cessationism lives on, even though he has died but he will never be able to change his false teaching and many will continue to be deceived by his reckless lives. He is just one man and there are many as John said, “many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 1 John 2:18 “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.” If you listen to Chuck Swindoll and others like him, your life will be ruined just as he said, along with your eternity. Yes, there may be a few healings here and there but there are healings even outside the church, but nothing looks like the power and authority we see in scripture. The church, charismatic and non-charismatic, looks nothing like the church was supposed to be. Isaiah was told Isaiah 6:10 “Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
Today the church is calloused but there is still hope that God will turn His face back to the church and the church will once again go out into the world and do what Jesus did in the same power and authority that He had but the church must turn from its wicked ways. When we read about the power given to His disciples, that would be the power given to the church at Pentecost. John 7:38 “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” Matthew 10:1 “Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 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.” Luke 10:1 “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others, 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” Acts 5:12 “The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.” Acts 8:4 “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.” This is the power the church was to continue in. You have to ask yourself why you would want to be part of a church that doesn’t believe this power is available or a church that distorts the available power.
Paul prayed Ephesians 1:17 “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” God said Zechariah 1:3 “Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty.” When this happens the power to heal and cast out demons will return and the Kingdom of God will come near. Don’t give up hope as that available power and authority is a promise from God. Acts 2:36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” 37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” 40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
