Salvation, according to the gospel of the kingdom that Jesus preached, is far more than forgiveness of sins. It is also deliverance from torment and healing of the body. That is total salvation—the salvation Jesus came to restore to men and women who were totally lost in spirit, soul, and body. Over the past 1,700 years we have lost or misplaced two-thirds of what Jesus reclaimed as the last Adam.
Perhaps you are struggling with these statements. Perhaps your mind is filling with a thousand questions or that horrible little conjunction of unbelief—but…but…but! Please don’t shut me off. Read the rest of these blogs and if you are unwilling to accept these statements—that’s up to you. But please consider what the Bible has to say.
God is calling his body—his church—to be a “house of healing”—a place where those who are lost, or tormented, or sick can find the gift of salvation (forgiveness, deliverance, or healing) God sent his Son to die for. The fact that this belief must be argued and proved is evidence that the church has lost most of the treasure Christ won at the cross. Unbelief, ignorance, excuses, abuse, misuse, a desire to control, sin, faulty philosophies/theologies, and the enemy have robbed us of our rightful inheritance from God. As a result, the church is, for the most part, powerless, huddled in foxholes praying that Jesus would return and save us—when he has already done that—spirit, soul, and body, and authorized us to put on our butt kicking boots and kick down the gates of hell.
Some people believe God no longer heals, that healing was something that ended with the last apostle or the canonization of the Bible. Others believe God can heal—meaning he has the power to do so if he wants to (if he wants to?). My question is, “Where in the world did you get either of those ideas, because it certainly was not from the Bible.” Does anyone out there really believe God wants to heal—that he is healing? Believing he will because it is a part of the package Christ purchased on the cross is far different than believing he can if he wants to. Whatever you believe—it is God’s will to save by destroying the effects of sin on the spirit through the forgiveness of sin, on the soul by delivering it from torment, and on the body through healing its diseases. That’s the definition of the world Jesus chose to use. Plus he did so by showing us God’s heart in the matter and demonstrating God’s will through his words and actions.
Sadly our belief systems are based more on what we have been taught for generations or not seen or experienced, rather than on what the Bible declares and Jesus demonstrated. Will you allow your lack of or limited experiences determine the level of your faith? Faith is not “seeing is believing,” but rather “believing to see.” Without faith it is impossible to please God and God has not changed since the days he walked this planet in preparation for giving his life to bring us total salvation.