WhatFinger


Miracles do happen and healing is accessible to those who believe

Social illness of aspiring to disability



How lost are we if, as a society, we not only condone but celebrate those who "dream" of being disfigured in order to be "whole?" Reliance on one's own misguided thoughts can only take that person down the road to destruction when there is a real road to wholeness, completion and true peace of mind. The distressing story of a woman who was encouraged in her fantasy of being blind in order to achieve validity as an individual is a tragedy of the spiritually lost. It is a complete misunderstanding of fulfillment and what it entails because it focuses on the physical when physical healing is affixed to the state of the spirit.
In order to understand the connection of spirit to physical wholeness one must understand: What Jesus "finished" on the Cross We Christians assume that it is understood what Jesus meant when, hanging from the cross, crushed and vilified, He cried, "it is finished."1 The Greek word used in Scripture that is translated in this vein is teleō--an accounting term meaning "paid in full." What was it that was paid? The generalization is that all sin was paid for, past, present and future, and that is true, but how does this really affect believers now? The answer is in how sin affected people in the past, before the Cross. The result of unforgiven sin is not just about whether a person attains heaven after death, that they are consigned to eternal separation from God. The answer is found in the words spoken by Jesus each time the gospels reported an incident of His healing someone. Two things did Jesus invariably tell the person who was then able to enjoy a new future, healed of some debilitating disease or congenital disability. He touched or spoke words of healing over someone noting this one condition be met... faith (Matthew 9:28-30), followed by the result of that faith... forgiveness of sins (Matthew 9:1-3). Both of these statements to the healed got him in hot water with the legal hierarchy--the Pharisees.

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The stumbling block that most believers trip over today is how the Cross truly forms the line of demarcation between the Old and New Testaments and what that entails. The average assumption is that believing on Christ, His sacrifice on the Cross, being buried and rising again to embody His part in the Living Trinity that is God, is all that occurred to give us salvation; the merciful forgiveness for all our sins that paves our way to the hereafter. But is that all that is forgiven or relieved through faith in Jesus' ultimate offering that was accepted by the Father? Many pastors address the scriptural meaning of the Greek term sōzō that is used to describe salvation. That it encompasses not only forgiveness of sins (wrongdoing or thinking) but also health, joy and prosperity; that sōzō embraces all of these blessings (Ephesians 2:5,8). For some, there is still the perplexing question of how all these aspects of Grace took effect at Christ's voicing that all was "finished." The Law provides the answer. This is the law that was fulfilled as Jesus fulfilled His destiny on the cross, and it is this law that the Pharisees tried to invoke upon Jesus when he miraculously healed individuals, proclaiming that their sins were forgiven. The lawyers tried to apply the law to the Son of God as if He were a charlatan despite the fact they had the truth of the matter right before their eyes. What the Pharisees knew was that God had imputed the sins of the fathers (John 9:1-2, 34) onto their progeny for three and four generations (Exodus 34:7, Numbers 14:18). What they knew was that sin was often manifested by disease or physical handicap, including lameness, blindness and leprosy. This is scriptural and the problem they had with Jesus was when He alleviated someone's malady, He also absolved them of sin, which, to their understanding, caused the problem and only God could purge it. Recall how the Pharisees hauled the man who had been blind from birth before their court, grilling him about the one who had healed him. They knew that disease and disability were the result of sin, whether that person's or having originated with their progenitors. Only look to the stories of Miriam (Numbers 12:10-15) and Gehazi (2Kings 5) who were both stricken by leprosy for their sin, and how Moses had to appeal to God Himself to reverse the judgment upon his older sister. Only God could forgive the sin and heal her of the sentence. There are many scriptures that support the concept of suffering coming upon an individual as retribution for sin. The concept is clarified in the Book of Job, that the understanding among average folks was that sin caused ill-health, poverty and misery. This is why Job's "friends" continually assumed that he, or by implication his forebears, must have done something to deserve the desolation he was experiencing. What God proved through Job was that faith was the ultimate cure for all suffering. The more he endured, the stronger he became in his faith in God. He was "earning" healing the only way it could come, by faith because believing is the only "work" that "earns" God's favor. No sacrifice could take the place of faith then, in ancient times, or now. Jesus plainly intervened between people and their sin, healing them from the resultant malady because of the faith they demonstrated in His deity, believing Him to be Emmanuel, God walking among them. As with Job, this was the "work," the only acceptable sacrifice that God would receive to forgive sin. And it was the final sacrifice of Christ on the Cross that changed how believers received deliverance from judgment for sin. Jesus fulfilled the Law, making the final payment for sin (personal or generational) that could manifest as disease, physical infirmity, destitution, depression and loss. "There is no more offering for sin" because through faith it is forgiven, and this is what Jesus, through the miraculous healings, was portending would occur when He would "finish" the work nailed, bleeding for us, on the Cross. Where believers stand today, is being able to accept and receive the end result of Jesus' final, once-for-all sacrifice. No longer is sin manifested as disease and poverty... He paid it all. This is why healing can come to those who walk in faith, fully focusing on Christ and what He accomplished on the Cross, not being distracted by other "idols" that might hinder rather than assist healing. The forgiveness of sins that Jesus promised those whom He healed is now available to us, those who believe, and the punishment for sin, having been paid by Jesus, is no longer imputed to us. Paul, the author of most of the New Testament epistles who yet complained of a thorn in the flesh that kept him humble in realizing that "when I am weak then am I strong," still experienced wondrous healing from snakebite, flesh-tearing beatings and stonings because of his obedient faith. Jesus' sacrifice gives us new life, salvation, freedom from disease and destitution by fulfilling that Law that only showed us what we could not achieve by our own efforts. For true healing cannot come by our own efforts, but by faith that He did it all and will provide the avenue for healing, whether internally or by another's God-inspired hands. Miracles do happen and healing is accessible to those who believe. 1. John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (AKJV)


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A. Dru Kristenev -- Bio and Archives

Former newspaper publisher, A. Dru Kristenev, grew up in the publishing industry working every angle of a paper, from ad composition and sales, to personnel management, copy writing, and overseeing all editorial content. During her tenure as a news professional, Kristenev traveled internationally as a representative of the paper and, on separate occasions, non-profit organizations. Since 2007, Kristenev has authored five fact-filled political suspense novels, the Baron Series, and two non-fiction books, all available on Amazon. Carrying an M.S. degree and having taught at premier northwest universities, she is the trustee of Scribes’ College of Journalism, which mission is to train a new generation of journalists in biblical standards of reporting. More information about the college and how to support it can be obtained by contacting Kristenev at cw.o@earthlink.net.


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