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Many would say, NO! Sickness/Disease is of the devil. But what about Joseph's encouraging admonition to his brothers? They were in fear Joseph would retaliate with vengeance. Joseph said, You meant it for evil, BUT GOD meant it for good. Two cases in point (among scores I have experienced during my years in ministry):1. One of my parishioners a few years ago developed cancer, from which he eventually died. This guys was always in church, but never manifested many signs of a close spiritual walk with the Lord. I was visiting with him only a month before he passed. His words? I've never felt closer to God than I feel right now. Could God have used the sickness/disease to draw this guy's heart closer to himself?2. Just last week I went to the hospital to visit a man I've pastored for several years, who has developed a disease that could easily take his life. I've never even once seen him show any sign of worship, connection with God, etc. A good man, but not a spiritual man. As I prayed for him in the hospital, he wept profusely, something I have never seen him do. His entire demeanor was different. His focus was on God.Can God Use Sickness/Disease to bring Himself Glory? To point men/women to Himself? To draw a person's heart away from the temporal and point it to the eternal?

God can indeed use virtually any event to work all things for our good.The point is that God while God may have used this man's sickness to bring about change, that was not God's will. God would have obviously preferred the man to have lived for him without cancer having to be involved.Consider that a person who dies lost may still be able to inspire people to turn their lives around. So while that person was lost--which God is not willing that any should be--God still might have used it to bring about good of some other sort.Before I was afflicted, I went astray, the Bible says. So, yes, these things happen. But your unspoken point, based on how much you rail against WOF, is that God WANTS people to be sick so that He can get glory, etc.

Is Mark 11:24

on Divine healing. It deals with some of OTCP's issues. Can you learn something about God's Grace in suffering from sickness? Of course. Is it God's will for you to be SICK? NOOOOOOOOOOOO. If that were the case why do people go to doctors to get well? THey would be interfering with God's will to do so if that were the case. I am sick of this nonsense from you OTCP. You can think what you want but I'm done. From the AG Position paper on Healing:The Bible indicates that until Jesus comes we groan because we have not yet received the full redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23). Only when the dead in Christ rise and we are changed do we receive the new bodies which are like His glorious body (1 Corinthians 15:42-44,,51-54). Even followers of Christ groan and travail in pain like the rest of creation, waiting patiently for the fulfillment of our hope (Romans 8:21-25).In that the human body is described by Paul as a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), we must care for it and avoid that which would abuse it. But, no matter what we do for this body, no matter how many times we are healed, unless the rapture of the Church intervenes we shall die. The promise and reality of divine healing does not rule out suffering for the sake of Christ and that of the gospel. We are expected to be prepared to follow His example (Hebrews 5:8; 1 Peter 2:19,21; 4:12-14,19). Nor are we to look to divine healing as a substitute for obedience to the rules of physical and mental health. Jesus recognized the need of the disciples to get away from the crowds and rest awhile (Mark 6:31). Jethro, Moses� father-in-law, advised him to delegate some of his responsibilities so that he could stand the strain of leading Israel (Exodus 18:17,1.Neither is divine healing a means of avoiding the effects of old age. Moses did retain a clear eye and his natural strength until the day of his death (Deuteronomy 34:7), but this privilege was not granted to King David (1 Kings 1:1�4). The gradual breakdown of old age, pictured so graphically in Ecclesiastes 12:1�7, is the common experience of believers as well as unbelievers. Healing is still available to the aged, but the part that ishealed usually continues to age like the rest of the body. We do not yet have the redemption of the body. It is possible that the refusal to alter one�s lifestyle to accord with biblical principles could hinder healing (John 5:14). While the amount of faith is not always, as noted above, determinative, if one does not believe that divine healing can occur, it might not.We must also be open to God's will and activities, always designed by His love and for our good, understanding that they are beyond our immediate ability to understand. He is, by healing us now and by not healing us, moved by His great compassion, desiring that we be drawn increasingly closer to Him. We recognize that there have been abuses regarding divine healing. Excessive claims and unfounded judgments are offered by some. But we must not let that cause us to retreat from a positive proclamation of the truth of the Scripture. Peter and John were able to say to the lame man who was to be healed, What I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk (Acts 3:6). May we, too, remain committed to the reality of the power of God to effect divine healing.In humility we confess that we do not understand all that pertains to divine healing. We do not understand fully why some are healed and others are not, any more than we understand why God permitted James to be martyred and Peter delivered (Acts 12:1-19). Scripture makes it clear, however, that our part is to preach the Word, expecting signs, including divine healing, to follow. Finally, at the Lord's return, �when the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality (1 Corinthians 15:54

Absolutely ! Almost the entirety of I Peter (from which we often quote regarding the stripes of Jesus!) is devoted to suffering for the glory of God. WOF teaching robs people of the redemptive power of suffering. Look at the life of Joni Eareckson Tada just for starters. Look at how God has used her mightily throughout the years ! People lament the lack of healings compared to the days of Jesus and the Apostles. We look for an excuse and so the easy way is to take the reductionist view that says the early church had more faith . I believe God certainly does still heal today but I don't think that miracles of healing are as imperative to the growth of the Church as in the early days of the Gospel.

I won't raise the issue of

Lazarus again.Nor will I mention the man born blind.Just wanted all to know I'll not respond God-HonoringChrist-CenteredBible-BasedSpirit-Led

Surely, surely, surely, of all the multitudes that Jesus healed, there was someone God would have WANTED to be sick...and yet Jesus healed them.Further, I imagine that virtually every spiritual condition was represented in those multitudes. There were no doubt devout folks...and rascals. Jesus healed them all.If there was a verse that told us Results will vary, that would be one thing. But I believe the expectation seemed to be that we would do the same (Jesus even implied as much with greater works than these shall ye do). Further, the apostles sure seemed to live up to such expectations.I KNOW we don't see such results. I get that. It's clear as a bell.The question is whether we should EXPECT such results...whether we should SEEK such results...whether we should TRY TO ATTAIN such results....You get the idea. Or do we simply assume that that is not going to happen and just accept it? I don't want to hold the wrong position. But so far as I can tell, we should EXPECT such incredible results in Jesus' church. No, we don't see that...yet. But I think we should be preaching it, believing for it, etc.WOF may take that too far, but the point seems to be that they at least believe we SHOULD be seeing such things in the church.

Did Paul and Peter have everyone healed every time they prayed?Was everyone delivered?Did their own sicknesses get healed every time?Has there been an epoch since then where everyone was healed every time - or was it only Jesus that got those results

Aaron