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Theological Cliff Diving - Divine Healing Edition

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"But [in fact] He has borne our griefs, And He has carried our sorrows and pains; Yet we [ignorantly] assumed that He was stricken, Struck down by God and degraded and humiliated [by Him]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]; The punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him, And by His stripes (wounds) we are healed (Isa. 53:4-5, AMP)." -- Becky Dvorak, quoting Scripture

Beloved there are several decent translations of the Bible for us to use. None are perfect but some are simply never to be used and the Amplified Bible is one of them. The reason why is it takes all of the possible usages of words instead of translating what God was actually trying to say. So take all of the words in brackets and parenthesis above and realize none of them were actually in the text. It leaves a smorgasbord for open interpretation. Let us look at the key verses from the ESV, without all of conjecture of the Amplified:

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. -- Isaiah 53: 5-6 (ESV)

This is of course from the famous Messianic prophecy of Isaiah. Jesus Christ was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Transgressions and iniquities have a common definition and that is sin. The purpose of the cross was because of our sin. Just as Isaiah provides two statements of the reason, he then provides two statements of the outcome. The punishment laid upon him (chastisement) is what brought us peace. Well what kind of peace? This is obviously speaking about peace with God beloved. This entire prophecy is explaining how the work of Christ on the cross mended the relationship between man and God that was lost in the garden. It is because of this that by His stripes -- we are healed. The healing spoken about here is not a physical healing in this lifetime but rather a spiritual healing that will last eternity. All like sheep we have gone astray from God. None are righteous. No one seeks after God. We all have turned our own way -- which is away from God. Yet the Lord has taken these iniquities and laid them upon the stricken Christ so that our relationship with God can be healed. Do not forget that this is also consistent with the blood sacrifice system set up in Israel. Jesus would be the final lamb needed -- the Lamb of God. When Israel participated in these rituals they were not for physical healing but for the forgiveness of their sins before God. Unfortunately, Dvorak jumps off the theological cliff at this point:

"To propose that supernatural healing is not for today is blasphemous against the blood of Jesus shed at the whipping post to purchase all healing for us. To suggest that God put sickness and disease upon your body for any reason whatsoever goes against the Word of God that declares "By His stripes we are healed". And to say that He put this illness upon your body for a good reason is a works mentality and you lack a true understanding of grace. To declare that God chose not to heal you or your loved one is to call God a liar. It not only declares war against all that Jesus did for us at the whipping post, but it implies that God and His Word are not to be trusted when He ensures us that "God is not a man, that He should lie." (See Num. 23:19a). And that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (See Heb. 13:8)." -- Becky Dvorak

This is a clever mixture of ignorance and strawmen. No one is saying that supernatural healing is not for today. The Bible says to go to the elders of the church to have them pray over you if sick. Why is that instruction even there if we could just snap out fingers and magically heal ourselves? God can always heal within His sovereignty beloved. What Becky Dvorak proposes is robbing God of that sovereignty by saying He must always heal. The ignorance however is for calling blasphemy on something that is fundamentally untrue. The whipping post did not purchase all healing for us physically. No scripture says that. Then we see another strawman argument in the notion that anyone is arguing that God places the sickness upon us. It is interesting to note though that Becky must not believe in the permissive will of God. According to her, someone dying of cancer just did not exercise enough faith to redeem what God already purchased. Yet God is sovereign over all so the passing away of that person was part of His permissive will! So the mean spirited and capricious god Becky Dvorak is trying to sell you is up in heaven with your purchased healing in his hand but he only allows that healing if we exercise some acceptable modicum of faith. Then if we do not, he allows us to die from the sickness he already sent his son to die for? That makes absolutely no sense and creates this fickle and heartless god that has no real sovereignty over anything unless we reach some standard or bar first.

The next strawman is to suggest that god places the illness upon us for a good reason. I assume what she is referring to is the notion that sometimes God might allow an illness for a particular reason but her distortion is critical to understand. Sickness and disease came into the world because of sin and the fall. So God is not actively selecting cancer for this person and that. He may however allow a disease and more often than not He does. That is His permissive will. Because Becky and the healing hucksters all value this life they cannot see the futility of their own positions. It is so sad to watch. God and His Word are always to be trusted. It is people who use the Word for their own ends instead of His that cannot be trusted. It isn't God that is lying Becky.

"Why then does your healing take time to manifest? Or why does it not manifest at all? According to Jesus' words, "Your faith makes you whole" (see Luke 17:19). Faith in what? Faith in the redemptive blood of Jesus to heal. "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction" (Mark 5:34). "Then He said to him, 'Rise, go your way. Your faith has made you well'" (Luke 17:19)." -- Becky Dvorak

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Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to (more...)
 
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