“Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ.” ~St. Jerome

And please, if you don’t already know these scriptures….I didn’t put them here for me, they are for you to look up.  :)

Christ said IT IS FINISHED (John 17:3-5, John 19:28-30).

He redeemed us and reconciled us to the Father (Colossians 1:20, 2 Corinthians 5:18).

He became a curse for us and died for our sins (Galatians 3:13).

He bestowed on us abundant mercy and grace.  He gave us a new and better covenant.  God no longer treats us how he did in the Old Testament!!!! (Ephesians 2:4, Romans 6:13-15, Hebrews 8: 6-13).

He gave us all of himself and he lives in us (Galatians 2:20).

He also gave us responsibility on the earth before he comes back (Matthew 28:18-20).

You know all the suffering people out there, who are sick, diseased, dying, tormented, enslaved, etc.?  We get to help them because Jesus gave us all power and authority (Luke 9:1, Luke 10:19, Matthew 10:8, Matthew 11:5).

If your church doesn’t talk about that stuff–have you ever wondered why?

A lot of people like to say God causes sickness, or allows it, etc., to teach people character or whatever.

Those are traditions of men that make the word of God ineffective. (Mark 7:1-8).

I have good news for you–you won’t find Jesus leaving sickness on people to teach them something! YAY!

Just look through the life of Jesus in the Gospels–you won’t find him saying that stuff to people.

And Jesus certainly didn’t tell people whose family members died from sickness that “Oh, the Father just loves them so much that He needed them in Heaven..etc.).  He went over the house and raised them from the dead! (John 11:11, Luke 7:11-15, Mark 5:35-43).

And Jesus’ followers healed and raised people from the dead too! (Acts 9:32-43).

And remember…they were all regular believers, just like you and me!

Either Christ really meant it when he said it is finished, or he didn’t.  I’ll take him at his word.  It is truly black and white–no grey area to float around in.

I’ve never met a single sick person who isn’t bitter at God because they think He’s causing it.  They seem pretty upbeat at first, claiming to be thankful, that they’ve learned a lot, that they are happy, etc., but it’s all a front.

Deep down they hate it and are mad at God.  You can see it all over them.  They are in denial of their misery but are believing lies about God and feel powerless because that’s all they know.

People say, “Oh, it’s my suffering that God gave me.”  No, suffering in the New Testament is persecution (Matthew 5:43-45, John 15:18-25). Christians who are actually doing what God said will not be liked by everyone.

Plus, if it’s “your suffering”…suffer well and don’t take meds or go to the doctors!  Hmm…

If Jesus came to reconcile us…well…that doesn’t sound like reconciliation to me…that sounds like abuse.

When Jesus was walking the earth before his crucifixion, he healed people for the glory of God.  And everyone he told to do the same did so for the glory of God, even after his resurrection.

So what kind of glory does he get now when people are dying from the same stuff he and others healed?  It’s just common sense.

If Jesus healed people then…and told his disciples to do it…and then told them to disciple nations, teaching everyone everything he commanded them to do….then there shouldn’t be any question as to what God’s will is concerning healing and what we should be doing (Matthew 12:15, Matthew 4:23, Luke 9:1, Luke 10:19, Matthew 10:8, Matthew 28:18-20).

So, if there are sick people, guess who’s supposed to take care of it?  Us.  Why?  Because Jesus said “Go…you do it…I’m with you always…I live in you…and I’ve given you the Holy Spirit as your helper” (Matthew 10:8, Luke 9:2, Luke 10:9, Matthew 28:20, Colossians 1:27, John 14:16, John 14:26, John 15:26)

Type in the word “Heal” in the keyword search on Biblegateway.com (I use the NKJV) and you’ll see…yep, undeniable.  And then I already gave you other Scriptures about how Jesus taught his followers to do the same and teach others everything he commanded them (see above).

You will not fight what you tolerate or what you think God has given you. And if you were taught all this stuff about sickness, disease, and death, of course you would believe it, unless you actually looked at scripture, which is why I’m writing this.

God doesn’t give sickness if he heals it.  A house divided cannot stand..and God isn’t schizophrenic. (Luke 11:14-22).

The devil doesn’t like you….but Jesus does! (John 10:10).

It comes down to people not really knowing/understanding God and what he already did, what he gave us and what he told us to do.  And silly traditions and beliefs that are completely not scriptural are passed down from generation to generation because people don’t know who they are and what they’re capable of–they lost sight of themselves and Christ in them.

BUT…this is why I wrote this–to help you.

So please, look over the Scriptures, especially if you’ve never read them before, and see the Truth for what it is instead of stuff you’ve been told.

If you want to be a true follower of Jesus, look at what he said and did and do that…walk as he walked (John 20:21, 1 John 2:3-6).

And I say true because, unfortunately, there are a lot of people who call themselves Christians (all denominations, Catholics too), who really have no idea what it means to be a follower of Christ because they are so focused on tradition and ritual rather than what Jesus said.  It’s just a fact…I used to be in that position.

But, on a final note, don’t bring the Bible down to your experience–you are able and fully capable of bringing your experiences up to what the Word says.

Have an awesome week!

- Laura