1953 April - God's Generals

HE apostle said that ni.any were \\ea\\ MANY BOOKS hnve 6een written on the ministry of the apostle, was silenced
rI[: and sickly because tGey discern not tlte subject DIVINE HEALING, but \\hen Paul with authority cast out the
the Body of Christ. He declared, in I fa, ij any, on the subject, “WHY evil spirit. When the apostle was cast in
Cor. 12:27--“Now ye are the body O/
prison, an earthquake shook the found-
CHRlSTIANS ARE SICK.”
Christ, and ~neinbcrs in particz~lar.” \\le
ations and opened the doors. But thye
are members of the Body of Christ. We This chapter is from the new 6ook. came a time when Paul no longer exare
flesh of His flesh and, bone of His Ipy thnt title. The book gives the Bi- perienced such deliverance. Cast into
bone. Should the members of the Body of !,le wlty Christians sick. prison, he languished there a long period
Christ be sick God forbid! , .
of time, and it appeared that evil men
’
If (1
There are- those who seem to -thinl\ . Christian will read this book triuinphed Over j1iln. Just as the
that it is the will of God that the mcll1- cnrejully, he will he able to learn th‘e anites were a “th07n iiz the flesh” to the
hers of Christ’s Body be subjected to rensori‘ he is sick. Also, he will he Children of Israel, SO these persecutors
sickness. Their strongest claim to this told how he cnn get well. \rere a “thorn” to Paul. Yet there was a
belief seems be Paul’s “thorn in the
Divine purpose in it all. During the timc
flesh.” Paul had a“tho71z in the flesh”
Paul was imprisoned, he wrote a numand
they say that this thorn was sickness.
ber of wonderful epistles. Had he been
CHAPTER XV
‘‘P&Q/’g 7hOB.n
f,&h”
Carrying their argument on, they point
free to evangelize at that time, it is POSout
that if so great an apostle as Paul.
sible that they would never have been
was sick, certainly sickness must in.somc
written.
cases be the will of God for His people.
There IS something else for- those to
N~~ if it could be proved that pi~l’s further falsc surmises aboiit Paul’s blind- note who suppose Paul’s “thorn in the.
“thorn in the flesh” was sickness, we ness.
flesh” was sickness. Just before Paul
might concede that there was Some ar- It is true that Paul did have “a th07H tells US about that “thorn,” he list< his
Gment in the favor of this contention. in the flesh.” What was it On this mat- labours and sufferings for Christ. He
But was paurs “thorn in the flesU’ sick- ter we ought to allow the Scriptures to said he was “in hbozbrs more abundant,
ness We propose to show that this as- explain themselves. IVhat does the Bible S~Y~/JCS above measure, ht prisons IIZOYC
sumption is entirely false and without say that R “thorn in the flesh” is All frequent, in deaths oft.” (IICor. 11 23-
shred of evidence in the Scriptures. agree that the terin is a figure of speech 33.)It is-a long list and docs not sound
and not a literal thorp. We shall see that like the story of a sick man. If a sick
the first ’lace’ leading exthe
Scriptures use the term ‘‘thorn in person could do as
positors, who are not known as exponmuch
;is Paul did,
the flesh” to indicate personalities and and suffer all those things, IVC
ents of thc doctrine of Divine healing,
might
adinit that there is no evidence that this
not disease. In Numbers 3355, Moses wish that kind of sickness upon all the
figure of speech relatesoto sickness.
said:
children of God !
“If ye ill not drive out the in- . The .fact is that Paul had- infirmities
The Scofield says about the habitants of the land fYOIlZ before and sufferings, but not one place in the
theory of Paul’s supposed sickness ’
yoti; then it shall corne fo pass that list is there mentioned anything about
‘‘This cannot be positively known, and those that ye let rcutain of therri shall sickness. And why is the omission Bethe
reserve of Scripture is as sure a Be pricks in pur eyes, and tlzorrzs in cause Christians are the members of the
“lark of inspiration as its revelations \‘our sides.-and shall vex TOLL in rhc Rodv of Christ. It is not the will of God
Paul’s particular ‘thorn’ is not described iald ylzcrcitt ye dzze/I.”
that-the Body of the.Lord should be sick.
that his consolations may avail for all Joshua, speaking sometime latcr, said. Yea, Christ’s body while on carth, sufto
whom any thorn is given.”
“Thcy ‘shall bc scozirgcs in y o : ~ sides, fered infirmities. It became tired and
Some have argued, without any proof nrzd thorrts in yoiir EJ~CS.” (Joshua 23 :13,) weary. Christ hungered; He thirsted. He
whatever, that Paul’s thorn was ophthal- Again in Judges 2:3, the Lord spc&s of suffered in agony for a lost world. Yea,
mia, a serious eye affliction inducing the Canaanites as ”thorns in yozcr sides ’’ His body died on the cross. But Hcwas
bodily weakness, and producing a condi- We see, thereforc. that accbrding to the never sick.
I
tion of near blindness. If aity proof,mas Scripture, “a thorlt in the flesh” is not 3
rlceded that Pad was iiot blind, it is the disease but a personality, whom the devil
uses to annoy, to persccute or trouble the
children of God.
Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” must have
fact that the Lord healed him of blindrzess!
The Lord directed Ananias to the
Place where Paul was praying, that hc
should lay hands upon him that he might
receive his sight. (Acts 9:17.) This was
confirmed in a vision. (Vs. 12.) And the
Scripture records that he did receive his
sight. (Vs. 18.) Surely this plain statement
of the Scripture should end forever
THE VOICE OF HEALING 0 April. 1953
b& something similar. Many times the
apostle had triumphed over his opposers.
On one occasion a man who would hinder
him was stricken with tjlindness. At another
time a girl with a ,familiar spirit
who \\-as used of Satan to intrude upon
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So we, ,who nre menibers ot’ the.Body
of Christ, will suffer weariness as He
suffered. \Ve shall be subject to infirmities
as He \vas subject. If His Coming
tarries, we shall die as His body died.
But since His body was never sick, then
it is not the will of God that we become
sick, for we are members of His Body.
If we discern that our body is the Body
of Chiist, then we shall not be weak and
sickly nor die before our time !
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