Why do people suffer and have with affliction and sickness on the earth? More importantly, why do even born-again Christians suffer and experience affliction and infirmities after they have accepted the blood to atone for their sins? Hopefully you are about to find out the reason and the cause for these earthly torments and maladies that seemed to have plagued all humanity throughout their lifetimes. First off, there are certain religions that teach one must punish themselves as it were, to atone for their sins; this is not what this study has found in the Bible. In the beginning Adam and Eve were given a choice to obey God or not to obey, they chose the latter. They made this choice to rebel through their free-will. As such, GOD had to institute a plan to deliver His creation from this corruption that would exclude them from His eternal presence love. Thus, we read in Genesis chapter three below:
"Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Genesis 3:16-19
I want you to start to see the cause for this ordained curse of applied suffering that was spoken upon the man and the woman. The cause was that the free-will by design, was, and is still able to separate mankind from their Creator. It (the free-will) was able to choose its own path in life, and its own eternal destiny. I have often said that "the human soul is one of the most frightening things on earth." It alone has the ability to choose life and death. It alone has the ability to choose GOD or Satan. It alone will place one in Heaven or in Hell according to the choices one makes on this earth to obey GOD'S Word or not.
Now let us understand GOD'S reasoning behind this ingrained curse that was placed upon the ground/(flesh). So the question is, does God ordain suffering? The answer is, yes and no. Yes God allows suffering and affliction to come upon Christians as we stand in the place of righteousness and preach His Word (If the world hated me, they will hate you also...) And yes, the LORD allows even infirmities and sickness to even come upon us when we move outside of God's will. The LORD does not bring such sickness and infirmities that He already provided deliverance from on the cross through the atonement, but we open doors for the enemy to attack us when we willfully sin against His Word. One can even be healed of sickness by the laying on of hands, and yet if there is no repentance for those sins (James 5:15), these conditions can come back seven fold worse. So suffering and affliction (although at times these two terms are used to encompass all negative things that can happen to a Christian, but predominantly they are separated in the Bible to mean tribulation and persecution) can come upon us as a result of walking in obedience in a darkened world. Whereas, infirmities and sickness/disease usually comes upon us as a result of disobedience. Howbeit, Jesus brought the cure for the latter because "by his stripes we were healed."
As previously stated, some religions teach one must atone for their own sins through physical scourging or some form of carnally derived chastisement that can never be able to truly deliver them from their sinful natures and habits. To further understand the difference between the suffering and such that comes upon unredeemed mankind, versus the born-again believer, let us start in the Word of GOD.
"Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." Isaiah 48:10
"But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." 1 Peter 5:10
"Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God." 1 Peter 4:1-2
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Romans 8:16-18
Now I want you to notice that these words like affliction and suffer, are not speaking of sickness and disease, which comes from the enemy to destroy us. Howbeit, we do get sick and diseased because whether we realize it or not, we have walked in disobedience to God's Word. Yet the Bible tells us that Jesus became our curse so that Christians need not suffer from infirmities and sickness if we willingly walk in what we know to be true according to His Word. However, persecution and afflictions will arise because of the Word, as they say, that goes with the territory.
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:" Galatians 3:13
"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins [IF we are dead to sin], should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." 1 Peter 2:24
Man was first given dominion over all things in the garden. Yet that authority was lost in the fall. Nevertheless, through the blood of Christ we again have to right to use the authority Jesus has regained for us to come against sickness, disease, cancer, devils, etc. In other words, Jesus is telling us, You will be persecuted, you will be beat, some of you will be tormented and even killed (Mat 24:9) because of My gospel, because of witnessing for Me. However, I do not want you sick, I do not want you diseased to the point you cannot witness for me. I will heal you--I have healed you!--and if you have opened a door through sin for sickness or disease to enter in, I will forgive you of that too if you repent, because I need you out in the field working for Me.
G5278: Suffer From G5259 and G3306; to stay under (behind), that is, remain; figuratively to undergo, that is, bear (trials), have fortitude, persevere: - abide, endure, (take) patient (-ly), suffer, tarry behind. |
G2346: Afflicted Akin to the base of G5147; to crowd (literally or figuratively): - afflict, narrow, throng, suffer tribulation, trouble. |
G3554: Sickness Of uncertain affinity; a malady (rarely figurative of moral disability): - disease, infirmity, sickness. |
G3119: Disease From G3120; softness, that is, enervation (debility): - disease. |
"Is any among you afflicted [persecuted for my name's sake]? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith [from those believing in and using the authority Jesus gave us to to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy] shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." James 5:13-15
"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5
Thus, affliction and suffering is something that other people put upon Christians because of our witness for Christ. Whereas, sickness and disease comes upon us usually because of our own free-will choices, because of our own sinning, and yet the Lord has already provided deliverance from that too. Obviously, when one is asking for prayer over such sicknesses, any sins (open doors) should be acknowledged and repented of, otherwise it will come back sevenfold worse. So there is suffering and affliction that can come upon us for just being Christians, but it's more a persecution that others put upon Christians because the people of the world hate GOD and anyone that follows His Word. Then there is sickness and disease that many Christians including myself had at one time confused with the suffering and affliction that is defined in the Bible, but again, that has nothing to do with physical sickness and disease. When we walk in disobedience to GOD'S known will, we open doors in the spiritual realm that allows Satan to lay these diseases and such upon us.
"And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves [AIDS] that recompence of their error which was meet." Romans 1:27
"Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments." Psalms 119:21
"But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace [including healing] unto the humble." James 4:6
"And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
So what was the Lord saying to Paul here in 2-Corinthians 12:7-10? He was saying, Yes Paul, I see you're under attack from Satan, rebuke him! Use the authority I gave you for My grace is powerful, it is sufficient for what you need to do. So whenever you're attacked by Satan Paul, and he makes you weak, that is when you will cry out, that is when you must rise up in the authority I've given you and rebuke these devils. That is when my power will be made perfect, but when everything's going good you really don't need to rebuke the devils now do you? So when you've been weakened through an attack, whether through persecution, trials, tribulation, or whether through physical infirmities, my power is made great because in your weakness you will rise up in Me.
The Lord was not telling Paul he would not heal him, that he was just going to have to tough it out. He was saying that His grace was sufficient for dealing with these matters. The Lord was reminding Paul that God's grace is there to be used by the obedient, and it's all he will ever need to rebuke these devils so use it.
"Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick." Luke 9:1-2
"For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch." Mark 13:34
It should be noted in the verses above that sinners have a different standard applied to them. Of course they didn't and don't know the Lord before they were and are healed. This is because of the law of accountability (James 4:17). Remember, it's the goodness of God that causes men to repent so they are first shown the power of God that they would desire to know Him better. Whereas Christians have a greater accountability after being born-again they are expected to walk in obedience.
There are Christians that will seek out faith healers or those with the gift of healing to try and deliver them from their sicknesses and infirmities, and yet their infirmities are one of the very things that will ultimately deliver them for eternity from the power of darkness residing within their souls. It's like the loving father who after his child refuses to go in the water, tosses the scared child into the water to teach him to swim. If we never have reason to use God's power, we may never use it. There was a brother named Dumitru Duduman who was sent from GOD to America back in the 80s and 90s to warn the people and the Christians of the coming destruction of America because America had and has turned its back on GOD. Dumitru's grandson now operates a website and a ministry where you can search out the many of the dreams and visions Dumitru was given while he was alive (see link). Dumitru was given a dream back in 1994 in which an angel was describing some of the judgments that would befall America. Then the angel began to speak this to him:
"After saying these words, he [the angel] took out a scroll which began to unroll very quickly. It was so long that I could not see it's end. On this first scroll of paper were written all kinds of names. Beside each name was listed either "punish," a type of disease, (all kinds were listed), "trial," or "torment." Those named will have to go through what is listed by their name, in order to be cleansed and be able to stand." Excerpt from The Three Scrolls July 1st 1994.
Now even though this dream was not taken from the Bible, this principle concerning personal suffering, affliction, and sicknesses of all types is found all throughout its pages. Now we know all these things come ultimately from Satan, but God allows it that we would be exercised, strengthened, and overcome the works of Satan by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony by the speaking forth of the authority that has been given to us through the atonement. Furthermore, we know the LORD told us He would be giving dreams and visions to brethren in the end times. Just think brethren, how many of us came to accept the LORD through some hardship or fiery trial. When things are going good people have no need to seek GOD'S presences, much less His power, wether saint or sinner. It seems many Christians have backslid because of the prosperity and the abundance that they have been blessed with, especially in America. Because of this, many Christians in America will not be able to withstand the test that is coming upon the land because of the weakness of their faith and the condition of their unexercised souls. Complacency is truly the kryptonite of the Christian's bane.
"And his [the Antichrist] power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand."
Daniel 8:24-25
"Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins." Isaiah 32:9-11
"And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." Luke 12:19
In closing brethren, I would just like to say that suffering affliction, physical pain, disease, mental anguish, etc., etc., are just some of the things the LORD has given us power and dominion over. No one truly enjoys suffering or would dare to ask for affliction or sickness to come upon them, our heavenly Father knows that. Thus, He allows Satan to challenge us with these matters to cause us to rise up and take the dominion back.