"Well, Brother Copeland, doesn't God
make people sick to prove that He can
heal them?"
No! A thousand times, NO!
There are some who still believe Jesus
healed people to prove His divinity. That
couldn't be true. Look at what happened
in Mark 6:1-6 when Jesus taught in His
hometown of Nazareth:
1 AND HE WENT OUT FROM THENCE,
AND CAME INTO HIS OWN COUNTRY;
AND HIS DISCIPLES FOLLOW HIM.
2 AND WHEN THE SABBATH DAY WAS
COME, HE BEGAN TO TEACH IN THE
SYNAGOGUE: AND MANY HEARING HIM
WERE ASTONISHED, SAYING, FROM
WHENCE HATH THIS MAN THESE
THINGS? AND WHAT WISDOM IS THIS
WHICH IS GIVEN UNTO HIM, THAT EVEN
SUCH MIGHTY WORKS ARE WROUGHT
BY HIS HANDS?
3 IS NOT THIS THE CARPENTER, THE
SON OF MARY, THE BROTHER OF
JAMES, AND JOSES, AND OF JUDA, AND
SIMON? AND ARE NOT HIS SISTERS
HERE WITH US? AND THEY WERE
OFFENDED AT HIM.
4 BUT JESUS, SAID UNTO THEM, A
PROPHET IS NOT WITHOUT HONOUR,
BUT IN HIS OWN COUNTRY, AND
AMONG HIS OWN KIN, AND IN HIS OWN
HOUSE.
5 AND HE COULD THERE DO NO MIGHTY
WORK, SAVE THAT HE LAID HIS HANDS
UPON A FEW SICK FOLK, AND HEALED
THEM.
6 AND HE MARVELLED BECAUSE OF
THEIR UNBELIEF. AND HE WENT ROUND
ABOUT THE VILLAGES, TEACHING.
"Brother Copeland, I still don't quite
get it. Doesn't Deuteronomy 28:22, for
instance, say that God 'will smite thee
with consumption, and with a fever'?"
Yes, but don't just read Chapter 28.
Chapter 27 explains what was going
on. Moses was dealing with a
covenant people who knew absolutely
nothing about their relationship with
God, His goodness or His covenant
with Abraham. Read it for yourself.
The real Bible truth about our Father
God is found in Peter's sermon at the
house of Cornelius. Let's look at Acts
10:36 and 38.
36 THE WORD WHICH GOD SENT UNTO
THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, PREACHING
PEACE BY JESUS CHRIST: (HE IS LORD
OF ALL:)
38 HOW GOD ANOINTED JESUS OF
NAZARETH WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND
WITH POWER: WHO WENT ABOUT
DOING GOOD, AND HEALING ALL THAT
WERE OPPRESSED OF THE DEVIL; FOR
GOD WAS WITH HIM.
8 BUT WHAT SAITH IT? THE WORD IS
NIGH THEE, EVEN IN THY MOUTH, AND
IN THY HEART: THAT IS, THE WORD OF
FAITH, WHICH WE PREACH.
"But that was Jesus."
No, it wasn't. It was God. God anointed
Jesus.
Let's go back to what Jesus Himself
said in John 6:37-38.
