On Healing and Casting Out Demons

I have researched the topic of healing fairly significantly and I believe, based upon Holy Scripture, that not only is it possible, but it is God's will. I have placed below just some of the passages that I have found that I believe support my position with my comments. I pray that you will prayerfully consider them and see what the Spirit shows you. Let Him decide whether I am right or have interpreted wrongly.

This from Matthew Chapter 10 (emphasis mine):

1He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

2These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

5These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; 10take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.

11"Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. 12As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. 15I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. 16I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

17"Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

21"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

Clearly he talks about not finishing "before the Son of Man comes", which can only mean His return at the Second Coming. This would suggest that He is addressing not just the twelve, but disciples that would follow them and be alive even until the time when He returns to claim His Bride, the Church.

He also sent out more than just the 12 disciples, as we read in Luke 10:

1After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

5"When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' 6If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. 7Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

8"When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' 10But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.' 12I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

13"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. 15And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths.

16"He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."

17The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."

18He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

21At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

22"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

23Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. 24For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."

And in John 17, Jesus specifically prays for those believers who are to come later (you and me):

20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

Note that he prays "I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one." If we have been given His Glory, and we are one with the Father and the Son, then it only fits that His power is within us and can work through us, just as it did through the original disciples (and not just the twelve, but the seventy in Luke 10, and others in the Acts of the Apostles as well).

Further, Jesus Himself condones a man who was not a disciple casting out demons:

38"Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us."

39"Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40for whoever is not against us is for us. 41I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.

Why would that man be able to do that, even encouraged to do so, but His believers today not able to do so?

Then you have the passage in Mark 16 that talks about the Great Commission and refers to future believers:

15He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

Clearly, when Jesus is speaking about "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved," and then goes to state that "these signs will accompany those who believe...they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well," He cannot just be referring to the disciples, but is also including future believers.

Jesus is also pretty clear during the Last Supper when He says "11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. Most of what He had been doing was healing the sick and casting out demons, so it would be safe to say that is exactly what He meant.

And finally, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 1 "7Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed." Surely he didn't mean only the church at Corinth did not lack any spiritual gifts, since Christians throughout history have used other quotes from Paul's epistles to apply to themselves, otherwise how could we expect to properly pick and choose what was meant for us and what was meant just for the actual audience receiving the letter? For as Paul told Timothy, "16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." And surely when he says you do not lack any spiritual gift as you wait for our Lord to be revealed, that means until he comes back!

I believe, with all my heart, that the Lord's disciples, and that includes you and I, STILL possess the authority and power of Christ, and His spiritual gifts as recorded in Holy Scripture, which includes the power to heal. Of course, this all comes from faith in Jesus, and is HIS power, not ours, but as he says in Matthew 17:20-21 "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.21 But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." and in Mark 11 ""Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23"I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

Of course, this presupposes that this is within God's will. As you know, it was His will to keep Paul with a "thorn in his flesh". But I believe that was for a specific purpose to keep Paul humble. Paul clearly thought that healing was possible, or he wouldn't have asked, and he himself healed others as he went about his ministry, and he wasn't one of the original twelve. Jesus said "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." I believe that, for the most part, He wants us to be healthy. But in the rare circumstances where it is His will that someone be ill, then it is to be used to Glorify God, as in John 9:3 3"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."

People often quote the passage from James 4" You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives," surely this wasn't meant for just those who James was writing the letter to.

I certainly don't have all the answers, and I know that not everyone who believes and asks will be healed, but I believe it to be a flat denial of Scripture to say no one can be healed today. Press in to Him and listen to His voice on this, not mine. I am but filthy rags, and am nothing without Him. But, just as you have been promised, I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. In His timing.

Respectfully Submitted with Love,