RESPONSE TO ISAIAH LERON

Hi Isaiah, I would like to join the conversation. God's will and standard is expressed in Scripture, and Scripture makes authority over anyone's experience (biblical character or not, all had to
learn to walk by faith). Therefore, we must start with God's standard. The God who cannot lie has promised in Is. 33 (wonderful chapter worth reading in whole): "The inhabitant (of Zion)
shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity" (Is 33:24). We are Zion, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb, the Church of the living God
(Heb 12:22-24, Rev 21:9-11, Eph 5:22-32, 1 Tim 3:15). So that is the standard of God for us, as confirmed in 3 Jn 1:2 "Beloved, I wish ABOVE ALL things that thou may prosper and be in
health, even as thy soul prospers” (3 Jn 1:2). It does not get clearer than that, and Ps 103: "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgives all thine iniquities; who
heals all thy diseases…" (Ps 103:1-5).

So you see God has always paired forgiveness of sins with healing of the body. Sins are forgiven, and sicknesses are healed. It is quite curious that you would deny that in 1 Pet 2:24,
although it is indisputably made clear in Is 53:4-5 and Mt 8:13-17. We need to remember there were no verse nor chapter separations in the original text; those are man-made and arbitrary.
The whole of Is. 53 was accomplished at the cross of Jesus Christ! If you remove one thing in Is. 53 from the atoning (reconciling) work of the cross, you might as well remove them all. Of the
129 occurrences of "healed/heal/healing" you can find in Scripture (KJV) (57% of which are in the NT), 101 refer to healing of the body, and only 29 to the restoration of the soul or a nation
or the earth. Much more, in the NT, healing is almost always about the body. Furthermore, the greek word for "heal" is "sozo", which means "delivered, saved, preserved, protected, made
whole". The idea of sozo is "to be made whole"; it's an idea of holistic wellness for the spirit, soul and body. It is the same word used interchangeably in the NT for "saved" and "healed". The
best example is James 5:15, where the Spirit says "the prayer of faith shall SAVE the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him."
Here you have it, healing of the body and forgiveness of sins, always together and in style, with the word "saved"! ^_^ You can notice in other scriptures as in Ja. 5:15, that healing of the
body is sometimes put before forgiveness of sins (Ex: Lk. 10:9).

So God wants the whole spirit, soul and body to be preserved blameless, to be whole, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Th 5:23). Sickness is not for the righteous. Even if a
believer gives access to the devil (who as a roaring lion is prowling around, seeking someone to devour) who thus inflicts to him a sickness, the prayer of faith will save this believer, and his
sins will be forgiven him. It is called GRACE, mercy, and compassion, because of the BLOOD OF JESUS. Under the NEW TESTAMENT, post-cross, Jesus our High Priest intercedes for us
and so Satan cannot accuse us day and night anymore, for he has been judged and cast out of God's presence by the cross (Jn 12:31, 16:11; Rev 12:9-11; Rom 8:31-34). Full of wrath
therefore, the devil now makes war to the saints (Rev 12:17, Eph 6:12) but can only access as a thief the believers who are not watching (Eph 4:27, 1 Pet 5:8-9, Jn 10:10, 1Jn 5:18, Eccl
10:8). Still then, looking to Christ on the cross will save/heal/deliver/preserve (sozo) the believers who have been bitten by the fiery serpent (Num 21:9, Jn 3:14). See again the perfect
correspondence with Ps 103:3 "…forgives all your iniquities, heals all your diseases". Hallelujah! If a believer ever becomes sick, and that NOT through sin, but because of weakness or
unwise extended effort for the sake of the gospel (remember that our Lord Jesus at one time had to stop his disciples and get them away from the crowd to rest a while - Mk 6:31), like
Trophimus or Epaphroditus (Eph 2:25-30 "…for the work of Christ he was near unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me"), the LORD will have mercy on him
and will restore him, for He gives power to the faint/weak, and to those who have no might, He increases strength (Is 40:29)! Amen! ^_^

More on 2 tim 4:20 "Trophimus have I left at Miletum ασθενουντα": this word rendered by "sick" in most translations is from the greek "astheneo" meaning "to be feeble (in any sense), weak,
without strength, or sick" -> it is the same word used in all the 22 occurrences of "weak" in the NT, for ex. in 2 Co 13:3 about Christ being not "weak" toward the Corinthians, in 2 Co 10:10
about Paul's bodily presence being "weak", and in 2 Co 12:10 in Paul's famous faith statement "when I am 'weak', then I am strong". => It is an argument from silence that Trophimus stayed
sick; rather, Paul was a man on the move, and so as he did often with his missionary companions (see Ac 17:15-16, 20:16), he moved/hasted on to another city, probably expecting
Trophimus to join him when the brother would get strengthened and refreshed from his weakness/sickness caused by his excessive/strenuous effort in the work of the LORD, as it was with
Epaphroditus. Read again the context of 2 Tim 4 (and Ac 20 & 17), and you'll see the urgency of Paul's affairs… it would be too much to write about here. In other words, we need to pay
attention to the dynamic context of what was going on (Acts helps a lot with this) and not just read the Scripture in a kind of "static" mode. Note also the example of Naaman who got healed
after 7 dunkings in the Jordan river on the word of Elisha, and that of the lepers who got healed as they went on the word of Jesus, or even that of the blind man Jesus healed in two steps.
Healing happens sometimes instantaneously, sometimes harmoniously over a period of time.

Sickness is a curse and consequence of the fall of Adam, as you did rightly point out. Now, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us…" (Gal
3:13-14). So, as Jesus was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Co 5:21), He has been made curse for us that we might be blessed. Sin being
forgiven, the curse is also removed. The curse is laid out in Deut 28:16-68. Here is it abridged: "you shall be cursed in everything – in soul and body, cursed when you come in and go out,
cursed with destruction and quick perishing; cursed with defeat everywhere, no prosperity but only oppression and spoiling, great plagues and SORE SICKNESSES of long continuance,
ALL the DISEASES of Egypt, even EVERY SICKNESS not mentioned in the law, a trembling heart, failing eyes, sorrow of mind, fear day and night, and no assurance of your life." But God
has promised his people, "You shall be blessed ABOVE ALL people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. And the LORD will take AWAY from
thee ALL sickness, and will put NONE of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, upon thee; but will lay them upon all that hate thee" (Deut 7:14-15). And “ye shall serve the
LORD your God, and He shall bless thy bread and thy water; and I will take sickness AWAY from the midst of thee. There shall NOTHING cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land;
the number of thy days I will fulfill” (Ex 23:25-26). Again, Ps 103 all the way! So we need to have this clear and set: “The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked; but He blesses
the habitation of the just” (Prov 3:33). Sickness belongs to the curse; therefore it is not for the righteous, but for the wicked.

About the storms Jesus and his disciples encountered, they were not just natural, but were provoked by Satan (leviathan), who thus tried to destroy them. You see it prophesied it in Ps 89:9,
"You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them"! Hallelujah! ^_^ That's part of the saying of Jesus that he kept in the Father's name all that the Father had given him,
except the son of perdition. He kept them from harm all his three and a half years of earthly ministry. And the implication of Jesus rebuking his disciples in Mt 8 was, not that they should have
let him slept longer and spent more time in the storm, but that they themselves could have rebuked the winds and the sea, and these would have obeyed them! Same thing with Peter
walking on water in Mt 14… the implication of Jesus rebuking his lack of faith was, not that he should have sunk more and that willingly, but that he could have had faith to keep walking on
the water.

Regarding the Hebrews, the Scripture does tell us exactly what their "discipline" in sorrowful circumstances consisted of: "For consider him that endured such contradiction/hostility of
sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" (Heb 12:3). Also, "call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of
afflictions; partly, while ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, while ye became companions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me in
my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance" (Heb 10:32-34). So you see their circumstances,
their afflictions, were not sickness, but tremendous TRIBULATION and PERSECUTION from unbelievers, as confirmed in Ac 14:22 and 2 Tim 3:12. That is why the apostle exhorted
them not to draw back, not to deny Christ, but to hold on to their faith unto the end: "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. For ye have need of
patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise…" (Heb 10:35-39); and "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin…" (Heb 12:4+). The test was
intense, and the stakes high, for they could be martyred, i.e. killed/decapitated/crucified/stoned for their faith in Jesus Christ. It was persecution, definitely not sickness.

Persecution was Paul's thorn in the flesh, through the messenger of Satan (i.e. a demon) who buffeted him through the Jews (so it was a religious spirit) wherever he went (Ac 20:19,23; 1 Th
2:14-16). See the whole book of Acts and 2 Co 4, 6, 11, 12. So Paul did suffer stripes, beatings, prisons, weaknesses, reproaches, necessities, persecutions and distresses from the Jews for
Christ's sake, and for that Jesus told him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Co 12:9). See the "thorn in the flesh" expression in Num 33:55, Josh
23:13, and Judg 2:3. It was not sickness! See 1 Th 5:23, and notice it was written by the same apostle Paul who wrote 2 Tim 3:12 and shared in the sufferings of Christ, persecutions and
tribulations.

Lastly, we are very clearly commanded by the LORD himself MANY times to go preach the gospel of the Kingdom, forgive people their sins (Jn 20:23) and HEAL them from all diseases and
demons (Lk 9:1-2, 10:9). Like master, like disciples (Mt 4:23, 9:35; Lk 6:40)! "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED YOU" (Mt 28:18-20). It could not be clearer. We are not second-class disciples. We are to do
ALL that Jesus taught the first. The Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power (1 Co 4:20)! The true gospel of grace is always in power (1 Th 1:5, Mk 16:20, Gal 3:5, Heb 2:3-4). It is by
grace, not works. And it is all in the cross. It is finished. There is the key for power: the cross! See how everyone was healed in Ac 5:16, in Ac 28:8-9, and especially in Ac 8:5-8 by Philippe,
not an apostle. About Luke being a physician, you might as well ask why Jesus the maker of the universe and builder of all things was a carpenter! Or why, if He could multiply bread and
fish, did He send His disciples to buy food in Jn 4!

Here is the key, Isaiah: rebuke and cast all sicknesses in the name of Jesus, and you will see them leave on the spot! You won't find Jesus or any disciple in the NT praying to the Father to
heal anybody. They always commanded to sicknesses and demons to leave the people, and "they were healed every one" (Ac 5:16). Lay hands on the sick, and pray the prayer of faith,
commanding to the sickness mountains to move, without doubting, and they will obey you (Mk 16:17-20, 11:22-24; Mt 17:20, 21:21)! Notice how sicknesses LEAVE as demons do: "and
immediately the fever LEFT her" (Mk 1:31); "immediately the leprosy DEPARTED from him" (Mk 1:42). If it does not happen, then we have a lack of faith problem (Mt 17:20). How do we get
faith? By hearing the Word of Christ (Rom 10:17)! Just get into the Word of Grace (Ac 20:32 - what Christ has done, what God has done for us and in us, it is finished, Jesus Christ crucified,
Christ in us), soak in it, drink it in, and BELIEVE! The signs follow those who believe (Mk 16:20). It is the work of faith (1 Th 1:3)! Faith is receiving the grace. It is all by grace. Not by our own
efforts or holiness (Ac 3:12). Just believe and command. Speak a word, for as a tree of life planted in the likeness of Christ Jesus our firstborn brother (Rom 6:5, Rev 22:1-2, Ps 1:3, Jer
17:7-8), you can give life by your tongue (Prov 18:20-21)! Decree something, as a king of heaven, for Jesus made you a king and priest for God His Father (Rev 1:5-6, 5:9-10; Job 22:28; Jer
1:10), and we are reigning through and with Him in life (Rom 5:17), sitting in heavenly places (Eph 2:6, Heb 12:22-24).

Be blessed, brother. I pray the LORD give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, that you may know the depths of the riches of the inheritance He has given us in
Christ, and the exceeding greatness of the power He has given us in the Holy Spirit! Exert it, in the name of Jesus, to destroy all the works of mankind's oppressor, the devil (Ac 10:38)!
Amen!

EVERYONE HEALED
- Acts 5:16: There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every
one.
- Acts 28:8-9: And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him. So
when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed.

OCCURRENCES OF "HEALING/HEAL/HEALED" IN SCRIPTURE

- Heal (39), healed (77), healing (13): healing of the body
Acts 3:11: And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.
Acts 4:14: And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
Acts 14:9-10: The same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and
walked.

NOT BY AN APOSTLE, BUT A SIMPLE DISCIPLE

Acts 8:6-7: And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came
out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.