Mystery – James G. Owen, Author

A Dianoetic Process: Seeking an Answer That Evades a Profound Question About Healing

By James G. Owen

The question that evades or flummoxes a biblical scholar or an average person when asked. Why does God heal one person, but another person does not get healed? Can this question that bewilders the people queried be answered? In my opinion, there is an answer, but we must investigate the scriptures for the answer.

In seeking an answer for this question lets discuss healing from a scriptural point of view, and how it is received.

Healing in scripture begins in the Old Testament. The first healing experience that comes to my mind is the brazen serpent (nahash nehoshet) in Numbers 21:8-9. Here, the people were being bitten by fiery serpents. Some had died because of the bite. It was the Lord God, Jehovah that told Moses to construct a serpent on a pole. So, Moses had a fiery serpent and pole constructed and informed the people to go before the brazen serpent and look up on it and those bitten would live.

There is symbolism here of the serpent being placed on a pole. The pole is the symbolism of the cross that Jesus was sacrificed upon at his crucifixion. This portion of scripture causes me to think of the promise in the book of Genesis of a promised Messiah and his actions.

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Genesis 3:15

By placing the serpent on the pole shows the beginning of the defeat of Satan. It is the Messiah who will bruise the head of the serpent and the serpent to bruise his heel. So, when the people went before the brazen serpent and looked up on it, they were acknowledging Satan’s defeat and the presence of the Lord who heals, and a gain in salvation because they were spared from the effects of the poisonous venom of the serpent. What was the action of healing in the scripture in Numbers 21? The action of the smitten people was they “looked upon” as they went before the brazen serpent on the pole. When we go to get healing, whether we present ourselves at the altar, or in another manner, we are coming before the one who was crucified and the sacrifice that provides for our healing as prophesied in Isaiah. Here in the action of looking upon an acknowledgment of God is made known and we present ourselves to him. In this presentation of ourselves we are asking for grace.

“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

Here in this prophetic scripture the provision of salvation was promised by the atoning blood of Jesus because he was the Son of God shedding his blood for our sins. He was the perfect sacrifice because he had the DNA of God the Father within him as well as the DNA of mankind. By providing for our salvation, he also provided for the healing of people so that they would be able to perform the spreading of the gospel to the world by destiny and purpose.

What happens when a person is healed? In an unbeliever coming to God for healing, two things should occur, that is the salvation of the person being forgiven of their sins after asking for forgiveness which is a witness that God work within their lives, but also a witness to others in the congregation, or gathering group of changes taken place. Changes in the spirit of the person from spiritual death to life, and the physical healing of the person’s body.

What other things will facilitate healing? First is belief in God. Healing is facilitated by believing that God is the only God and that he is all powerful, and that he provides grace sufficient for every need. How do we come to believe in God? We come to believe in God and who he is by reading the bible and encountering people who know him through the experience of his saving power, salvation, and by their own testimony. The child of God can point you to scripture of how to know God and his Son Jesus. It is through believing that God’s word is true, and that he is present in his creation, and by faith we come to believe. Second is grace. We are saved by grace through faith. After receiving salvation, it is our responsibility to keep ourselves purged of sin daily through sanctification through prayer. Living a righteous life before him our grace increases along with our faith and knowledge because we are spending time searching and reading the scriptures in the bible. We are growing and becoming greater by our increased affection for God and the blessings he has given us, the provision he brings, and by the fruits and proof of our newfound morality. Grace comes by obedience and gratitude.

Healing came to the people following Jesus because they had seen others healed. Those healed believed what Jesus taught and trusted him fully. They knew by his works that he was from God because no man could perform such miracles that they witnessed. The people believed because of the wisdom and the fruits of his life that he remained sinless. He could not be tested and fail or deceived because Jesus was part God because he was born of a virgin and his father was Almighty God, the Great I AM. To be clear he was tested by Satan after his baptism by John the Baptist, but he was victorious! So, his healing comes to us as a promise and through the fulfilling of the new covenant.

So, what is the answer to the perplexing question that people ask? Why some are healed instantly, and others are put on hold, so to speak? This is my answer while working the dianoetic process. Those who are healed instantly are ones who are needing salvation. Those who are saved have a purpose that God wants them to fulfill by working in the kingdom of God and it is his will, and desire for them to be instantly healed to continue to serve. Those who are not healed instantly should make sure they are obedient in their spiritual walk and growing in the knowledge of Jesus, and that their walk shows the fruits of the Spirit. While conducting my study for this article those who are disciples, he wants us to persist. Make sure our hearts are right and all in in order. Work your faith by believing, keeping your petition before God, and placing full trust in him. We must also realize that he may not heal because we may not remember him, and in the example of Paul may use this as a thorn to keep our minds upon him, never giving up while we are continuously working for the kingdom. It is through the pain of trials, sicknesses, tribulations, and the experiences of living that he refines us.

“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 5:10-11

“And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.”

Zechariah 13:9

“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”

2 Peter 3:18

“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.”

2 Corinthians 12:9

In conclusion, there may be other solutions to this profound question. I do believe that any other answer will be shown in the scriptures of the bible and by revelation through prayer or a word from the Lord. So, we must keep searching the scriptures for answers while placing our faith totally in him knowing that everything is done according to his will and mercy. He has a purpose for everything. Keep searching.

Notes

https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Nehushtan.html

https://www.biblehub.com/greek/5485.htm

Grace, the Greek definitions for grow G 837 and grace G5485. Tecarta Bible.

All scripture used is from the King James Version, Public Domain, BibleGateway.

The Devil, Disease, and Deliverance: Origins of Illness in New Testament Thought, CPT Press Cleveland, Tennessee, by John Christopher Thomas, 2010.

The Discovery of God’s Wonderful Plan of Forgiveness and Restoration

Everyday someone is looking for a discovery that one can apply to their life that will make their life meaningful with a destiny and purpose. Many look for years, but their answer may be in their bookshelf, a bookstore, church, or a friend who has discovered their destiny and purpose. Usually, it is the latter for people are social, and when they make a wonderful discovery they must run to tell it to others. Such is the discovery we will find in God’s plan of forgiveness and restoration. A wonderful plan, and a plan of beauty.

Beginning, God made a promise to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15, that he will put enmity between the seed of Satan and the seed of Eve, and this seed will bruise the head of Satan, and Satan will only bruise the enmity’s heel. Here, we see a promise of a messiah, that he is more powerful than Satan because it tells of Satan’s defeat, that is, in bruising Satan’s head. The bruising I believe is a physical strike against one another. Who is this enmity? We find out later in the New Testament that he is the Messiah Jesus.

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Genesis 3:15 KJV

God’s plan of Salvation was shown in scripture by Jesus going about healing, delivering, forgiving, and resurrecting within the land of Israel, mostly in the land of Galilee. In reading scripture we will see symbolism that shows that God feeds his children with physical food, but there is the feeding of one’s soul spiritually by the teaching of his commandments of the Torah, or the first five books of the Old Testament. Jesus’s name in Hebrew is yeshua, meaning to save, deliver, and redeem. All three are within God’s plan. How so? In Isaiah 61:1, Jesus quotes this verse to the synagogue in Nazareth and proclaims he is the messiah, that he is anointed to bring good news to the poor, bind up the broken-hearted, and proclaim freedom to those held captive in sin and darkness.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Isaiah 61:1 KJV

How did God in his plan bring about salvation that will provide forgiveness and restoration? He tells us that he loved us so much that he gave his son to die for us as a sacrifice, to shed his blood, blood that was not defiled by sin because this man was conceived of the Holy Ghost and Mary. Therefore, he was the perfect sacrifice because man’s seed was defiled by sin. He brought salvation to us through his blood by dying on a cross for all mankind. Only a pure source could be the sacrifice. If we believe upon Jesus who died for us on the cross we then will be saved, just like the thief on a cross next to Jesus who asked to be in paradise when Jesus came into his kingdom.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16 KJV

How does forgiveness lead to restoration? When we are forgiven by God we will notice that a change has occurred within our spirit. Afterward, we know we must walk a different path, and to get into fellowship with other disciples of Jesus by attending church and fellowship to continue to grow. Many of us have had problems of addiction, sinned by adultery and fornication, bad relationships that has left us broken and hurt. All of this mess can lead to long term healing because it is emotional stress, guilt, and shame. We must be loved by others who have walked this path and have overcome all of it. What must we do? Stay on the road to restoration because God has a plan for us to bring us into hope and a purpose in our future. That plan is for us to work for his kingdom to bring others into it and to keep others from spending eternity in spiritual death in a place we all have heard of as hell. He uses our talents and gifts to minister to one another in order to fulfill our destiny. And remember this, going through restoration God will never leave you, nor forsake you. When we make the habit of reading God’s word to grow spiritually we will find that there will be times of difficulty, but don’t despair because these difficulties, or trials are designed to strengthen us and to bring us into a greater anointing and to a different fork on our road to restoration and spiritual perfection.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Jeremiah 29:11 KJV

Within this plan I see the beauty of God’s love, a wonderful plan that God brings us from a sinful, irreparable state to one of redemption, perfection, and life! We cannot do all of this along for it takes digesting God’s word —the Bible, prayer, and the counsel of godly friends and pastors. All we have to do is to have faith, walk the road of righteousness, and the mindset that we will make it, we will win the race and prove God’s wonderful plan of forgiveness and restoration.

Notes: All scripture given is taken from the King James Version Public Domain Biblegateway.

The Promise of a Messiah

Before Creation began God had a plan. That plan was for the salvation of his new creation upon earth that is formed in his image. This creation was formed by God’s hand like a potter using clay, and his thoughts were on his creation’s future. God knew one day that mankind would fail and fall into sin, so he had a plan to provide a messiah—a savior that would be a perfect sacrifice to provide the salvation for man. This messiah had to be a man, but not born of man’s seed, but of God’s Holy Spirit. This is the promise:

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Genesis 3:15 KJV

Within this one scripture we see an abundance of meaning. First, let’s take the word enmity. In the Hebrew enmity is ebah, which means hostility and hatred. In the context here, I believe that hostility is fitting because the serpent beguiled Eve and caused her to take of the fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil and then lead Adam into the act of sin. The future messiah will have hostility towards Satan and later his seed because of his deceitful and deadly spiritual action.

When I speak of Satan’s seed what could I possibly mean? From years of studying Genesis 6 about the Nephillim— the fallen angels, these are the angels that come to marry the human females and they have children with the daughters of men. The result of these unions are the giants of the earth. How did these fallen angels become the father of the giants? The answer is that they left their habitation (Jude 6).

In Noah’s day we refer to them as Nephillim as well, and after the flood they are referred to as the Rephaim, or Rephaites. These are the physical seed of Satan that were defeated first by the flood, and also later by Moses men and the David, the future king of Israel.

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
Genesis 6:1-4 KJV

Examples of the Rephaim in scripture is Og of Bashan, and Goliath. Og was killed by Joshua, and Goliath killed by David. There were many who lived in the land of Israel. These are just two of the hundreds that were warred against by the Israelite’s and overcome.

But what is meant by the enmity of the seed of Satan and the seed of Eve? A messiah was promised by God to come for the salvation of man. Through his ministry of being a shepherd first he will defeat Satan by dying on a cross by the spillage of his blood, thus becoming the sacrifice, the lamb provided by God that has the DNA of man, and also the DNA of God. God had to send his son to redeem man by his blood. For the blood of man cannot redeem itself because man’s blood is defiled by sin. This is the meaning of the bruising of the head and the bruising of the heel. Jesus was on that cross that eventful day during Passover in which he bruised the head of Satan, actually fractured the head of Satan, and in return Satan bruising Jesus’s heel. Jesus is the embodiment of God and is very powerful being his Son who has always been with God. Satan is God’s creation that sinned by the act of pride, and is not powerful as God, but weak. Satan’s actions of the sin of pride brought death to him and his armies, and also brought death to man when he deceived mankind. This is the enmity that is between God and Satan, and it will all be brought to an end , and soon.

Today, we see the actions of people who do not know God, and the actions of people who do know God. The interaction between these two groups causes enmity because the evil in men’s heart does not agree with the godliness of those who have the Spirit of God within. We have the messiah today to bring us out of sin (enmity) if we accept him, and confess that Jesus is Lord.

Notes

www,messie2.fr, enmity H0342

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/rephaite

biblehub.com/topical/r/rephaim.htm

All scripture used is taken from the King James Version, Public Domain, Biblegateway.

Eternity: What is it?

Today, I am reflective. I have been wondering about eternity, what it is, and how it effects all of us. Man has pondered this question for centuries and the answers that man seeks is found in the Word of God—the Bible. As I read the scriptures today I wrote down my definitions for eternity. They are:

eternity is without time
time never ending
life as a continuance
eternity is continuance

Within scripture we find that the King James Version used the word “world” for eternity. Curious, I went to the Hebrew to find the word for world, and found the Hebrew word owlam. Here, this definition from the Strong’s Hebrew says eternity is time out of mind, or always. Eternity is perpetuation.

Is eternity used by God for us to hope for in terms of our obedience to gain from this sinful world? The answer is yes, but there is more to how God used the word eternity. In his word spoken by Solomon, the wisest man in the world, he spoke of eternity as a veil, that God used eternity to be set in the hearts of man to conceal the works of God so that man would not discover his works from the beginning to the end. Why would God, the God I call Jehovah and Jesus, conceal these works from man? Here are my thoughts:

If we were to know the works of God, or created to know the works of God we would work to make ourselves like him in spirit, and continue the pride set in us by sin, and this pride would be for eternity and render us unredeemable; meaning without the means of salvation.
God wants a relationship with man. The knowledge we have he wants us to search for him. Eternity in our hearts gives us an innate knowledge that we are eternal beings, whether we are good or evil.
It is a communication by God to man that God is real and exists. We are to receive this communication of knowledge by faith as well.
His desire to protect his image. We are made in his image and he wanted us to have a means of salvation. We are innocent and have not seen God’s reality has the angels have seen and experienced. He wanted us to be with him for eternity. He does not wish for anyone to perish.

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 KJV

What other way would God use the word eternity? God speaks to us in his word of eternity in our “time” so that we can understand eternity. Peter wrote that a day is like, or is as, a thousand years. Is this literal? I perceive Peter is trying to explain eternity to man in terms of time that we will understand. There are people who believe that 1000 years is a day, but I think it is a comparison. Does eternity have a past? I think that eternity only has a past when God mentions it in his word, or refers to history on Earth. We think of time as past, present, and future. In our thinking we see a past because we have known a past in our dimension of time. Thousands of years to us will seem like eternity. God looks forward I do believe, and we should as well. Looking backward we see our failures, and that may angst our hearts if looked at negatively, or with a heart of a desire for the old life.

How will we know God’s definition of eternity, or “time”? The only way to explain this is to tell everyone to be obedient to God’s word, and at the end of our time on earth we will come to know God’s eternity when we enter it. No matter, we will enter eternity whether we are obedient or not, but our destination will be different if we do not obey his commandments. I want to know God’s eternity by living by faith, in righteousness, and know I have eternal life being able to see light, and partake of life in God’s eternity in his heavens, new universes and earth, and other planetary creations he has prepared for us.

Eternity is God. For he has been and always will be.

Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
Isaiah 43:13 KJV

Notes:

All scripture has been taken from the King James Version Public Domain Biblegateway.

messie3vie.fr website, Strongs H5769

Who is God?

Many people through the ages have asked this question. Many have found the answer by reading the bible given to them, heard many preachers, teachers, and disciples of the Lord Jesus tell of him. So, I asked myself the question and how I would explain the God of Israel, the God that Christians also call Jesus. Here are my thoughts.

God is Elohim. Elohim, a Hebrew word that is plural. Throughout scripture we see the definition of Elohim taught as the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. In the Old Testament we do see the trichotomy mostly in symbolism involving the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is direct in the Torah and the Tanach. The Son is spoken of, for instance, as the Captain of the Hosts and also as messiah types like Moses. The Holy Spirit is seen as water, wine, and oil in these scriptures. As we move along to the New Testament, which is a renewed covenant we see all three working through these writings being directly spoken of in context. God is made up of three persons, yet he is One. We are made in his image as body, soul, and spirit—three, yet one.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:1 KJV

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 14:26 KJV

God is Light. In the beginning of creation, God presents himself as light. He is the light of creation until he creates the sun to provide a light through the seasons. In the new earth to come God returns as the eternal light where his people dwell forever. We also see in his person that God is light, in which there is no darkness, meaning God is perfect, life is in himself, and in his being sin is not found. He is holy. With his light and knowledge he reveals the deep and hidden things, which he has written into his word, the bible for man to find. When we need strength, encouragement, wisdom and knowledge we can go to the scriptures and find light for the soul which quenches the thirst we have for our spiritual needs. Within him is light. He is made up of light, and light dwells within him. He is bright, and so bright that no man can physically look upon him and live. This he tells Elijah so that he can go into the creft of the rock and God can show his back to him because God’s glory—his light, the shekinah would strike him dead. Why? Because we do not live in glorified bodies. Our bodies are corrupted by sin that came through the sin of Adam and Eve.

This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:5 KJV

He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.
Daniel 2:22 KJV

God is Light and Salvation. When I need light I go to Jesus to ask for strength and his light to light my paths so that I may stay and live in righteousness, for God is my strength that I need daily to ward off evil. He is life, and life on earth depends upon light to continue, and we must need light to continue living within our spirit man, the spirit that God breathed into us. When we are living righteously, we have his light and his light is sensed by all in the world, both those who live for Jesus, and by those who don’t. When we read his word, listen for his voice to guide us, with these paths we see his light and his goodness and love.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lordis the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 27:1 KJV

For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
Psalm 36:9 KJV

This is how I would describe God to anyone in the world. There is only one path to eternal life, and that is through Jesus the Son of God, the logos—the Word.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1 KJV