Sickness and disease

 

Scripture reveals that disobedience to God’s commandments is one reason there may be so much sickness among God’s people.  It is because we have not diligently hearkened to the voice of God and obeyed His commandments.  Christians are living among Satan’s idols and images, and are actively practicing methods that are rooted in false religion.  God’s people are participating in evil worldly things and many think this is not affecting them; yet, one must wonder why so much physical, mental, and emotional sickness has come upon so many of God’s people.  Exodus 15:26:  And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians:  for I am the Lord that healeth thee.  Deuteronomy 28:1, 13-15:  AND it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth.  And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail, and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them.  And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.  But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.  It is interesting to note that as we continue reading in Deuteronomy Chapter 28 some of the curses listed below sound very much like what we are facing today.  Deuteronomy 28:27-28, 61:  The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods (tumors; see below), and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.  The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and with blindness, and astonishment of heart.  Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.  The Hebrew word for ‘emerods’ in Deuteronomy 28:27 is “ophel, o’-fel; …a tumor… strong hold”.  These verses alone describe illness that we see today, including tumors [emerods], and they are a stronghold (the Hebrew meaning for emerod) in a person’s life.  In Deuteronomy 7:26 it also mentions that bringing cursed abominations in our house will curse us.  Deuteronomy 7:26:  Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it:  but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.  Many will try and argue about this scripture because Jesus Christ has set us free from the curse, but it is because He has set us free from the curse that we must remove the cursed idols and images from our Christian homes.  Acts 15:20:  But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.  Jesus Christ will not set us free from the curse associated with idolatry if we willfully choose it!     

God warns His people through scripture that in order to continue walking within the realm of His protection we must obey His laws, statutes, and commandments.  Some very important ones, which still apply today, are found in Deuteronomy Chapters 27, 28, & 29.  It lists both blessings for obedience, and curses for disobedience.  Another scriptural example pertaining to sickness is Exodus 23:24-25:  Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works:  but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.  And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness from the midst of thee.  Note:  Scripture also teaches, concerning sickness, that we are not to drink or eat of the Lord’s Supper unworthily or this too will cause sickness, or even death, among God’s people.  I Corinthians 11:27-30:  Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.  For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (are dead).  The Greek word for ‘unworthily’ in I Corinthians 11:27 is “anaxios, an-ax-ee’-oce; …irreverently”. 

The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from sin; but it does not excuse our ignorance to God’s Word.  A lot of the time our ignorance to His Word is willful!  We just do not want to read His Word.  God gave us His Word so we have no excuse to continue walking in spiritual ignorance and disobedience to God’s Word (the Bible).  If we want to walk in God’s protection we must obey His Word and get the abominations out of our homes and churches.  Deuteronomy 7:26:  Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it:  but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.  Joshua 6:18:  And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing lest ye make yourselves accursed when ye take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.  Deuteronomy 23:14:  For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy:  that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.  The books of the Old Testament are still effective today, and are put there for our own well being.  Jesus himself even quoted scriptures specifically from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy to defeat Satan in the wilderness – and those scriptures have not lost their power today!   

If we are to no longer obey any of the laws and commandments of Moses then what about the following commandments in Exodus 20:3-5 and Deuteronomy 5:7-9; 6:5 which collaborate with Matthew 22:37-38 and Mark 12:30.

Exodus 20:3-5 and Deuteronomy 5:7-9:  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them:  For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.  John 14:15:  If ye love me, keep my commandments.  Deuteronomy 6:5:  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  Joshua 22:5:  But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.  Matthew 22:37-38:  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  Mark 12:30: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:  this is the first commandment.  When you truly love God with all your heart you do not want to do or have anything that would go against His Word or His commandments!

Jesus Christ did not destroy the old law but fulfilled it.  Jesus Christ did not wipe out the law but He fulfilled (perfected; see Greek meaning below) all the law of blood atonement by dying on the cross for our sins.  Jesus Christ was, and is, the only perfect sacrifice.  Jesus himself tells us in Matthew 5:18 that “till heaven and earth pass, one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled”.  The Greek word ‘fulfilled’ in Matthew 5:18 is “ginomai, ghin’-om-ahee; (be) come (to pass), continue”.  The law of blood atonement is made perfect through Jesus Christ, but this does not mean we are no longer supposed to obey God’s (other) laws and commandments – they are His Word.  If anything we should desire to be obedient to the laws and commandments of God’s Word now more than ever before because of the sacrifice Jesus has made for us.  Jesus Christbecame our priest forever; after the order of ‘Melchisedec’!  Genesis 14:18:  And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine; and he was the priest of the most high God.  Psalm 110:4:  The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.  Hebrews 5:6, 9-10:  As he saith also in another place, THOU ART A PRIEST FOR EVER AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHISEDEC.  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.  Hebrews 6:20:  Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.  Hebrews 7:15-28:  And it is yet far more evident:  for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.  For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.  For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.  For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.  And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest: (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedic:)  By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.  And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:  But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.  Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.  For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s:  for this he did once, when he offered up himself.  For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.

Jesus Christ fulfilled (perfected) the law so He could make a way for our eternal salvation.  Hebrews 8:1:  NOW of the things which we have spoken this is the sum:  We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.  Jesus Christ (who was and is sinless) did what could never have been done through the old priesthood of the law (a priesthood consisting of mere sinful men).  Though the priesthood has been fulfilled through Jesus Christ God never intended for Christians to use the blood of His Son Jesus Christ as an excuse to sin!  I Peter 2:16:  As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.  I Peter 1:14:  As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance.  I John 1:6:  If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.  God still intends for His people to obey His Word (His Law).  I John 3:4:  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law:  for sin is the transgression of the law.  Jesus Christ (our Savior) was wounded for our transgressions, but many Christians are abusing the salvation Jesus Christ so freely gave and are transgressing against Him by not being obedient to His laws and commandments – and this wounds His heart.  Isaiah 53:5:  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:  the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  As Christians, we should desire to follow God’s moral laws and commandments.  Psalm 119:32-35, 100:  I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.  Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.  Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.  Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.  I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.  We must love God with all of our heart, as Christians, and obey Him with all of our life.  Because of what Jesus Christ did for us; we now have God’s laws written on the tablets of our heart, and our mind – so how can we continue to ignore them.  Deuteronomy 30:6:  And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.  Jeremiah 4:4:  Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem:  lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.  Jeremiah 31:33:  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.  Hebrews 8:10-13:  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts:  and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.  Hebrews 10:16:  This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.  The Greek word for ‘laws’ in Hebrews 8:10 and Hebrews 10:16 is “nomos, nom’-os; …spec. (of Moses)”.

Does this mean that a Christian will never sin?  On the contrary, it means that if we truly follow after God’s laws and commandments we will not desire to follow after sin and will be less likely to continually sin.  If we, as Christians, do sin Jesus Christ is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins.  I John 1:9:  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  But we cannot just keep disobeying God’s laws and commandments and then try to use Jesus Christ as a pre-planned confessional for our continual sin(s).  Hebrews 10:26-29:  For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.  He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 

As Christians, we must strive continually to walk in the light of God’s Word – or we will continually walk in sin.  I John 1:7:  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.  God’s Word gives us the key to walking, and living, in the freedom Jesus Christ has given us – and this key is we must walk in obedience to His Word, which includes His laws, and His commandments.  I John 2:3-7:  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected:  hereby know we that we are in him.  He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.  Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which he had from the beginning.  The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

Christians (Jews and Gentiles alike) have a new priesthood and a new circumcision through Jesus Christ – and we now have God’s laws written on our heart and our conscience, not only on tablets of stone!  Jeremiah 4:4:  Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart...  Colossians 2:11:  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.  Romans 2:11-15:  For there is no respect of persons with God.  For as many as have sinned without the law shall also perish without law:  and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another). 

Note:  To any Christian who thinks we are no longer subject to the law – then what about the law of tithing?  Tithing is an act of the law which still applies today (as do other laws, statutes, commandments and ordinances of God)!  Hebrews 7:5:  And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, thou they come out of the loins of Abraham.  Malachi 3:7-9:  Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them.  Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.  But ye said, Wherein shall we return?  Will a man rob God?  Yet ye have robbed me.  But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee?  In tithes and offerings.  Ye are cursed with a curse:  for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

We must diligently hearken to God’s Word, and His commandments, in order to do what is right in God’s sight.  By ignoring the Mosaic commandments we are not obeying God’s Word.  The Mosaic commandments in Exodus combined with commandments in both Matthew and Mark show us how both the Old and New Testament work together.  Exodus 20:3-6 and Deuteronomy 5:7-10:  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them:  for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.  Leviticus 19:18:  Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself:  I am the Lord.  John 14:15:  If ye love me, keep my commandments.  Deuteronomy 6:5:  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  Joshua 22:5:  But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.  Matthew 22: 37-39 and Mark 12:30-31:  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  There is none other commandment greater than these.  I John 2:7:  Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which he had from the beginning.  The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. 

Due to the traditions of men (our religious leaders) a very important part of scripture is not being taught or followed – the part in Acts 17:29-30:  Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.  And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.  Colossians 2:8-9:  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.  For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.  If we truly love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength we will not want any false images or statues of the Godhead (which includes God, His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit).  We are ignorant to God’s Word if we think that a false manufactured image of the Godhead of Jesus Christ could ever show Jesus in His fullness.  Yet most Christians have them because of religious tradition.  Isaiah 42:17-20:  They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to molten images, ye are our gods.  Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, that ye may see.  Who is blind, but my servant?  Or deaf, as my messenger that I sent?  Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant?  Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.  A portion of the previous scripture in Acts 17:29 says “graven by art and man’s device”.  The Greek word for ‘device’ is “enthumesis, en-thoo’-may-sis; …thought”.  Decorating our homes with a pagan image or statue of what we think represents Jesus Christ is the same as ‘having another god before God’.  Exodus 20:3 and Deuteronomy 5:7:  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.  In our effort to recreate God’s Son Jesus Christ we have broken God’s commandment, and have gone outside the realm of God’s blessings.  Deuteronomy 27:15:  Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place.  And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.