What Matthew 4:23 Reveals About God's Healing Power

ok brother. some comments on your response then you can have the last word if desired.

i agree that miraculous *physical* healing in this fallen world is temporary. but for those of us who have experienced it, it is an immense glory to God, and brings us great Hope. His “temporary” purposes in it are sometimes very evident, at least to me, and sometimes the are not, just as when He chooses not to intervene.

to be “raised from the dead” or raised from physical death or near death strikes me as the ultimate miracle healing. i’ve never seen it. others who are trustworthy to me claim to have. i have no reason to doubt that it hasn’t happened. certainly the Spirit is perfectly capable of it. we also know there are many charlatans out there too with false claims. as always you have to look at the fruit and the methods.

i believe physical death is an absolute necessity given the corruption and fallen state of the flesh in all of us (Romans 8 makes that abundantly clear). no one can be chained to a corrupt physical body and enter Heaven.

our spirits however, reborn, healed with His promise of eternity. no temporary healing there. i think we both agree that is the important, the critical healing that we can receive through Jesus Christ.

ok brother. may God bless.

We will agree to disagree. FRgards.

Thank you - brother.

My dear Bro DF, I am trained as a scientist and earned my living for many years following God's chemical and physical laws exactly, and was never surprised at their consistency, because He is consistent in giving them.

I am also a believer in miracles, for I have seen many, mostly in God's timing for events than in healing. Falling between them is the removal of a 4in x 2.5in x 1.5 in meningioma, a "benign" (ha!) tumor mass inside my skull that did not affect my faith nor my critical thinking. And it was done by a neurosurgeon of just the right kind to do it, whom I suspect may have been a believer in Hinduism, but was a jolly rational man to whom I was able to give a testimony. He opened my skull on a Monday, and was amazed to be able to sign my dischrge papers that following Saturday, with no restrictions against being able to go tight ahead and drive my car.

But to go back, early in my Christian life I got pretty heavily into the "charismatic" angle, speaking in tongues, praying with other fellows in the "Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International," reading Dave Wilkerson;s books, listening to the 700 Club, and so forth. I committed myself to many of its concepts, but found that much of it was not truly charismatic (= grace-acting) and did not line up with proper interpretation of the Holy Scriptures that God has given us for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, to through-and-through prepare the man of God to engage in good works, one of which is reliable advice regarding one's physical functioning and wellness.

In the Bible, there were times for miracles, and there were times that the only requisite was to obey Him.

Jesus' miracles, combined with authoritative teaching surmounting the criticism of the supposed "scholars" of the day, had the purpose of validating His Deity before humans that lacked the indwelling Holy Ghost, and to distinguish him from the false messiahs that were already abounding.

The same wonderful gifts were also given to certain apostles to verify their credentials, before the watching world, that they and no others were sent from Him to bear His Gospel and no other. These signs occurred before they finished writing down their observations and teachings that not only provided the New Covenant principles, but opened up the secrets heretofore hidden in the writings of the Old Covenant that was no longer in operation.

After their demise, the wondrous signs practically disappeared, although the faith of many was demonstrated unto death, because they had the fellowship in the Scriptures to encourage them.

Now we have the fully completed progressively revealed canon of Scripture, ratified by the congresss of churches agreeing on it as Providentially guided, and is now closed to any further additions. Its preservation through hundreds of years is our basis for distinguishing truly appointed evangelists, pastors, teachers, and spiritually mature elders. It is this completed Word of God that sustains our faith, not reliance on miraculous apparances and "halings."

What I want you to grasp is that God can perform miracles that have no other explanation, but mostly chooses not to do so, and it is so infrequent that the measure of one's faith ought not to be whether or not God does something totally out of line with the physical laws of His Creation at one's insistence. Not that He can't, but our faith ought to reside in Jesus Christ and His Word, and through discernment guided by the Holy Spirit.

Now, I am going to say again, that your interpretation of the passage we have been discussing does not line up with the local thrust of Romans 8, nor general context of the Biblical methods of exegesis. So I invite you to study God's methods of discerning His truth. You want to line up Isaiah 53:5 with its equivalent in 1 Peter 2:24, and find that the context of "healed by His stripes" is not getting over pneumonia or cancer, it signifies the magnificent eternal victory over the wages of sin, which is condemnation and death; it is not the healing from warts, moles, sore holes, and pimples on the nipples, for which we have Cloverine salve, and if persistent, amoxycillin--not available to the state of medicine in 32 A. D.

I beg you to just be able to say to Jesus, "I'm putting this in Your hands, and taking mine off, because I can't do more" and know that is exactly the kind of faith that leans wholly on His Everlasting Arms.

I hope you're getting this. It's something learned over some 44 years of working it through for me. And it is the way of the Cross that works for everyone, for a thousand or so years.

Please find a solidly trained spiritual discipler who can help the Lord draw you into greater understanding of how to know God's Word, Ways, Will, Wisdom, and Work. At least get a copy of Cyrus Ingerson Schofield's well-known little tract "Rightly Dividing The Word Of Truth," available in almost any Bible book shop, and read it through carefully. It will help you into a better handling of The Word.

When claims of supernatural healing come up, I exercise the legitimate demand of a faithful scientist: In God I trust. Everyone else needs to bring me forensic proof, not just the "I know somebody whose sister's husband . . .etc." Let me just say that I've checked this approach out, and it has never made sense when it is thoroughly checked out experimentally.

With respect --

Indeed....the name it claim it frauds is right....and the $$$ flow to the coffers while making merchandise of people and giving false hope.

Note that “”Many”” will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of ‘the truth will be maligned’ and in ‘their greed they will exploit you’ with false words,... ..
For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. ‘By smooth talk and flattery’ they deceive the minds of naive people.”

2nd Pet.2 , Romans 16

I agree. and this scripture says it all:
Acts 8:18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostlesâ€™ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, â€œGive me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.â€ 20 Peter answered: â€œMay your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.