SICKNESS, DEFICIENCY AND THE LIE
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: “Siekte, Gebrek en die Leuen”
A lady who has a chronic visible disease condition wrote to me as follows:
“An acquaintance of mine reckons the following:
She firmly believes that diseases are from satan and that God does not make people sick but we have some evil spirit.”
The lady who wrote to me then mention a few other things that the person told her, but these are just as many untruths – so I will suffice with what I have already mentioned and share it with you from the Word.
Let me first tell you how I look at something that someone shares with me that is then supposedly from our Lord:
If the person shares something with me and it just almost differs with the Word/Bible, then I completely reject that it is coming from our Lord.
God do not speak like satan the serpent, with a split tongue.
REV 12:9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, (with his split tongue) who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world–…
Also remember that if someone tells a lie, the person gets that lie directly from satan, who is the father of lies.
JOHN 8:44 … You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
So, let's take a quick look at what the person proclaims.
I start with a question:
Does a person who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour have an evil spirit of one kind or another in you if you have a defect or illness?
In other words: Is there now necessarily always an evil spirit of some kind involved that afflicts you, child of our Lord, when you have a defect or illness and that you first must get rid of that spirit or harasser that is in you?
Apart from the fact that it borders on blasphemy for me to claim that our Lord will live with satan in the same dwelling, it is of course just a horrible lie to say that only satan causes diseases and defects.
I share with you the following few passages from the Word and then you decide for yourself whether it is only satan who causes diseases and/or defects:
EX 4:11 Then the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
In this next case, our Lord was very angry with Miriam and Aaron her brother:
NUM 12:9 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them, and he departed.
NUM 12:10 When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.
Now some people might just slightly adjust their reasoning and say:
"Yes, but in this case, God was angry with Miriam and her brother and therefore He did it, so you who are sick still have something in your life that is not right in the eyes of our Lord" – which of course is not the truth.
In this regard I also share with you the following from the precious Word of our Lord, but I could have mentioned more to you:
JOH 9:1-3
1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
3 Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
Then our Lord heals the blind man, and he can see!
JOHN 9:6-7 Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
Oh, and if I may put the cherry on the cake – There is the case, of with the testimony at my disposal, in which the greatest apostle of all time was involved.
Our Lord used him to write most of the New Testament and even though he was not even present when our Lord instituted the Lord's Supper, our Lord only uses him and none of those who have been there, to teach us the Lord's Supper.
He, it is now Paul, writes on occasion:
GAL 4:13-15
13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first,
14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.
15 What then has become of the blessing you felt? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.
To use a little of my great hero Paul's writing style now:
"What shall we say then of these things?"
Did Paul have a devil with Christ dwelling in him when he preached the gospel of
Jesus Christ to the Galatians?
He was enormously attacked by satan – but then, we all experience satan’s daily attack.
To follow up:
For example, I do not know why our Lord heal some people and others not, such as at the bath of Bethesda.
JOH 5:2-9
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.
3 In these lay a multitude of invalids–blind, lame, and paralysed.
5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?"
7 The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me."
8 Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk."
9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.
Do you see?
JOHN 5:3 In these lay a multitude of invalids–blind, lame, and paralysed.
However, Jesus heals only one and turn around and walk away.
There are many ways our Lord work that I do not understand.
Like saying to one blind man and he sees:
LUKE 18:41-43
41 "What do you want me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, let me recover my sight."
42 And Jesus said to him, "Recover your sight; your faith has made you well."
43 And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
And then for another one, he prayed twice, and this after he had spit in the eyes of the blind:
MARK 8:23-25
23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?"
24 And he looked up and said, "I see men, but they look like trees, walking."
25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
I follow our Lord regarding these things wonderfully blindly.
So with a smile said –
I do it literally and figuratively (for I am physically blind)
It is shocking to me how people selectively so easily condemn someone who is sick, or has a disability, to some connection with satan.
For example:
They will tell you that you have a devil within you, therefore you are sick or have a defect. However, run into them at another place or time and they will tell you smugly with a blocked nose of the flue they just can't shake off right now.
Sometimes in my many years of working for our Lord it seemed that according to them, happily colds and flu had nothing to do with the devil.
For example, they will also stand in front of people and tell their audience that it is not from our Lord, that they should sit there with their defects and diseases, etc. and that they can normally live like any other human being without their medication, aids, etc. – they should only come forward in faith for prayer.
But they themselves will not, while standing in front of the audience, take off the glasses they are wearing – in faith – and put them in their pocket.
Because at some point, they must walk off that stage again and then they have to be able to see where they are walking.
Finally, I would like to emphasize it again to all who read this writing:
Make sure that you have a good knowledge of our Lord's precious Word and if you have doubts about something that someone preach to you as the Gospel, and you yourself do not have peace in your heart from the Word on the matter, then pray again about the matter and get guidance from someone of integrity – who uses the Word, the whole Word and only the Word as a measure of what he or she preaches and who also lives out what they preach.
For remember, that Jesus is warning us:
MAT 7:15-21
15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.
18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
While you and I keep all these things in our hearts, let us also continually, while we go through our circumstances, strive to bear the fruit that befits our conversion:
GAL 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;
Oops!
I almost forget. –
Use your medication that you need and use your aids that our Lord has provided through your doctor and specialist whom He has specially given us to help us. While remembering:
1 COR 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Also:
ROM 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Greetings,
Sakkie