Reading the Gospel in the Constellations

Over the years, many have been taught and believed sickness comes from God. They believe it is His will when people are sick and die of disease. Yet, if God is the author of sickness, why would He anoint Jesus with the Holy Spirit and why would Jesus heal all (Acts 10:38)? If sickness is from God, then Jesus dishonored His Father by healing people of sickness and disease. Even worse, His Father would have given Him the power to disobey Him!Acts 10:38: How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.This verse clearly describes the source of sickness: the devil! All sickness came from Satan.

Regardless of whether its source is demonic or part of the curse which exists in the earth today, the origin of sickness is Satan.

Man has found cures to many sicknesses, but some of those sicknesses we thought were cured have come back with new strains resistant to the antibiotics and medicines developed by man. It’s just like the devil to find a way around man’s solutions to sickness and disease. But the good news is that he will never find a way around the healing power of God!I appreciate and endorse those in the medical field. Thank God for skilled Christian physicians! God works through them.

If God is anti-doctor, why did He refer to Luke as “the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14)?

It is very conceivable Luke traveled with Paul. Not everyone received healing when Luke or Paul laid hands on them for physical healing. Luke not only ministered the healing power of God to those who were sick; being a doctor, he could also minister through natural methods, especially to those who did not receive God’s healing power. I believe the standard was set in Paul’s day for “physician evangelism.” Just as today, the door could be opened to the gospel through physicians in nations that otherwise would not be opened to the gospel.

Look at Nature

Romans 1:19-20: Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.The question always seems to come up, “But what about the poor person who has never had the opportunity to hear the Gospel? It seems unfair they should go to hell if no one has ever told them about Jesus Christ.”These verses refute that very thought. Verse 20 says they will be without excuse because nature itself speaks of the eternal nature and character of God. The stars and universe teach of God’s omnipotence! Nature teaches us of the Trinity—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Nature also teaches us of salvation.

Satan has taken the story of salvation found in the stars and perverted it into the signs of the Zodiac.

What man has labeled the twelve signs of the Zodiac, God originally designed to teach man the plan of salvation, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the divine walk with God.Sagittarius has his bow aimed directly at the heart of Scorpio, who represents Satan. Directly above Scorpio’s head is a heel with a cross in it. In Genesis 3:15 God, speaking to the serpent (Satan) said, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Jesus crushed the head of Satan through His death, burial, and resurrection! Aquarius, with the water pot, is a beautiful type of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.

God never intended that man live his life according to the stars, rather that man be taught the plan of redemption through them.

Psalm 8:3-6: When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.One night, David was gazing at the stars and those stars began to teach him. As David looked at the stars   he said, “Look what God has done for me! He has made me in His image, and He has given me dominion over the works of His hands. Nature is subject to me through the work of my Redeemer and has been placed as a servant under the feet of mankind.God has given us nature to bless us, but He has also given us dominion over it. That has been the case since the very beginning when God put man in the garden and said, “Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the foul of the air, over every thing that creeps on the face of the earth.” God has put us in the earth as caretakers of it. We are not equal with nature, and we are not below the level of the animals around us. Evolutionary thinking may put us on the same level, but God has given us revolutionary thinking through knowledge of His Word. Man has dominion over nature!

Nature Keeps Us Well

The Bible teaches us that our spirits were made in God’s exact image, and our physical bodies were made in His likeness. We resemble God in that we have hands, feet, eyes, hair, and God’s different attributes. God’s nature is healing, and because we are made in His likeness, He  has placed that healing nature inside man. Within nature, an innate healing process exists which originates with God. If we cut our hand, it will begin to heal itself. When sickness attacks your body, your body will fight against it. God designed the body to keep itself well. The immune system of the body will even try to adapt and rid itself of the harmful things it is exposed to each day.Romans one tells us God’s invisible qualities can be clearly seen through nature. The world says man is merely part of nature. God says nature is subject to and serves man by providing him food, clothing, and provision. Even within the human body, God has designed ways to rid  the body of poisons through our sweat and breath. Think about it, it is through the exchange of carbon dioxide for oxygen we are kept alive each day!

God’s nature is healing, and He will heal both the sinner and the saint.

When a sinner cries out to the true and living God for healing, God will not withhold it because through the door of healing, the sinner’s heart can be opened to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.Lester Sumrall once related a story about talking to a group of ministers. He asked them how they would start a church. One minister answered, “Well, I’d put an ad in the newspaper.” Another responded, “I’d run an ad on television.” Still another said, “I’d hang posters around the city.” Everyone was giving natural answers to starting a church.Finally, Lester Sumrall spoke up: “No, the way to begin a church is to knock on every door in the neighborhood and say, ‘Is there any sick person in your house?’ And if there is, anoint them with oil, lay hands on them, and get them healed! I guarantee, you will pack out the church because people are searching for answers to their physical problems.”The meeting of natural needs, whether healing or natural provision, is one of the greatest ways to open the doorway to the gospel and into church!Nature reflects God and nature tries to heal itself. Nature never promotes sickness. But when the body  goes beyond the point of its ability to heal itself, God  has provided supernatural healing. In other words, God has sent methods of healing which go beyond the body’s ability to heal itself!

God Alone Heals

Acts 10:38: How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

 If healing were not the will of God,  why would God be with Jesus while He went about doing good and healing?

Our responsibility as Christians is to lay hands on the sick. God is the One who causes them to recover. I’ve had some ask me timidly, “Well, if I lay hands on the sick and they do not recover, then what?” Whether it looks like they recover or not is not your concern; you are simply instructed to lay hands on the sick.Mark 5:25-30: And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?The word “virtue” is the same Greek word “dunamis.” As soon as the woman touched Him, Jesus knew healing power had flowed out of Him. Not only do the scriptures tell us that Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, these verses further explain that that power flowed from Him into other people.Even though the healing power of God may flow through you into someone needing healing, you cannot heal anyone. God, through Jesus Christ, heals, and an individual must receive by faith.

Healing Power Released

The healing power of God is released into our body by simple faith. Romans 10:17 says, “So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”Mark 5:27, speaking of the woman with the issue of blood says, “When she had heard of Jesus…” Hearing produced faith. This verse did not say, “When she had heard of Jesus for ten months…” This woman did not have much time; she was dying. Ten months of hearing is not necessarily required to produce faith.People often put impossible standards on themselves when it comes to divine healing. They will begin thinking, “Maybe I haven’t done enough praying or maybe I need to read the entire Bible through seven times and memorize fifteen scriptures before my healing will manifest.” Or, “I think I am in unbelief.” But, if we will come to Jesus with the unbelief in our lives and ask Him to help our unbelief, He will forgive us of our unbelief and meet us at our level of faith!

Why do Christians have the mentality that the standard for the manifestation of healing is like pole vaulting?

Why do we think, “Wow! Healing from cancer! If I can just pole vault over it! The last time I tried to reach the standard, I failed. Maybe if I get a stronger pole or maybe if I practice just a little harder, my healing will manifest!”Acts 10:38 says that Jesus “went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.” If Jesus healed all that were in the multitudes of people, among them there were likely those who had very little faith to be healed. But Jesus healed all, regardless of what level of faith they possessed.Jesus said faith the size of a mustard seed would move a mountain. Many Christians today have studied faith to the point it should be mountain-sized, and yet they can’t even move a mustard seed!

You can study faith, but there comes a time you must use that faith.

You can walk around your car, open the hood and look at the engine. You can pull the radiator cap off, you can pull the distributor cap off, and you can put both caps back on and close the hood. You can sit inside the car and play with the gearshift. You can read and study the manual. But there comes a day when you put the key in the ignition, start the car, and drive!When it comes to faith, Christians often want to examine faith, read books and manuals on faith, listen to CDs, MP3s, and podcasts about faith, but faith is meant to be used! There is nothing wrong with studying and examining faith, but it should be with the purpose of using that faith!The woman with the issue of blood first heard of Jesus, faith resulted, and she acted on that faith by pressing through the crowd to touch Him for her healing. She knew if she touched his clothing, she would be healed.You also can reach out and touch Jesus with the hand of faith and be healed. Healing belongs to you every bit as much as salvation. Forgiveness and healing are a package deal with your name on it. Only believe and receive!