Healing Is Forgiving Sin
Once Jesus Christ was in a house in Capernaum. Crowds flocked in. The house became jam packed, many unable to enter. Then came four men carrying on a pallet a man sick with palsy. Unable to get through the crowd, they climbed on the housetop, tore off several tiles and let the man on the pallet down through the roof in front of Jesus.
"When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee."
Immediately the Pharisees and doctors of the law among the crowd began to accuse Jesus of blasphemy — claiming to FORGIVE SIN! He said to them:
"Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house" (Mark 2:1-11).
Jesus Christ performed this HEALING in order to show that healing is THE FORGIVENESS OF PHYSICAL SIN — and, by divine MIRACLE, the REMOVAL of the penalty being suffered.
How is this penalty removed? By the POWER of the Holy Spirit, because Jesus Christ was flogged — beaten with stripes — scourged — beaten so that he was disfigured, or marred, more than any man (Isa. 52:14). He, who never broke nature's physical health laws — who never was sick or diseased — PAID THE PENALTY of our physical transgressions IN OUR STEAD. Thus, if we accept his sacrifice (of being so scourged before being nailed to the cross), God, by divine miracle, has promised to remove from us the PENALTY we are paying in the form of sickness or disease.
All humans have SINNED — spiritually. Sin is the transgression of God's LAW. All have broken the spiritual LAW. The PENALTY is the second DEATH — and it is ETERNAL punishment. But we can have this penalty removed. How? By the fact that Christ paid the DEATH penalty for us — he bled to death — his blood was his physical human LIFE. The LAW took his life instead of ours. IF WE REPENT, and BELIEVE, then by divine miracle God's Holy Spirit REMOVES the death penalty from us. Our sins are forgiven by the BLOOD of Christ, and we are SAVED from the second death!
God HEALS by precisely the same principle! Not by Christ's BLOOD — but by his STRIPES we are healed (I Pet. 2:24). He paid the PENALTY in our stead. He did the suffering for us, so God can remove it from us!
God revealed this dual truth about spiritual forgiveness and physical forgiveness through David: "Who forgiveth ALL thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases" (Ps. 103:3). It is as much GOD'S WILL to heal as it is to SAVE!
What, Then, Is Use of Fasting?
Now it ought to become crystal clear that FASTING is not healing. Fasting does not forgive sin. Fasting is not a miracle.
Yet, I myself have recommended that people go on fasts who were afflicted with rheumatism, ulcers of the stomach, constipation, high blood pressure, fevers — and after the fast they were rid of the sickness or disease.
Well then, didn't the fasting HEAL them? NO — emphatically NO!
Let me explain what happened. Fasting is good for certain things — indeed many things — when intelligently and properly used. But what happened is this: the sickness in these instances was brought on by faulty diet. It was the penalty of putting improper things (usually excess starch, sugar and grease) into the stomach. Now the first thing that happened was, that on beginning the fast, these people stopped sinning. They stopped, by fasting, putting more of these toxin-producing elements (really poisons, not foods) into their stomachs.
Second, fasting tends to speed up the elimination of toxins and poisons. Fasting is not pleasant. The Bible refers to it as "afflicting the soul" — that is, the body. So, they suffered the PENALTY of having eaten that POISON, supposing it to be FOOD. In fact, the fasting intensified the penalty by speeding up the elimination.
In summary, what happened in fasting was this: 1) they stopped the sinning that caused the penalty they were suffering; 2) they PAID THE PENALTY IN FULL themselves, in a speeded-up intensified form; and 3) when it was paid, they simply didn't have the sickness or disease any longer.
But THAT IS NOT HEALING!
Now we come to the question: If fasting is not healing, and we do believe, and intend to RELY ON JESUS CHRIST as our Healer, should we ever fast, when ill?
Should We Fast, Then?
The answer is, YES, always PROVIDED you understand it is not a means of healing — it is not a substitute for healing — it actually has nothing to do with healing! And provided you are not currently taking prescription drugs and are not afflicted with a chronic illness, in which case you should seek a physician's advice before undertaking a fast. But fasting does have a lot to do with STOPPING THE SIN of eating wrong things!
When Jesus healed, he said to go and "sin no more" (John 5:14). One of the CONDITIONS to being healed is that we STOP SINNING — stop breaking nature's laws. We need to learn what we can about God's dietary laws, and about proper nutrition and diet.
In fasting, we do stop the physical sinning of eating wrong things. We let our stomachs rest from the effects of improper food. And, in the case of a cold or fever, any kind of food is merely pouring more kerosene on the fire!
To prevent sinning, always STOP EATING the very moment you feel the first warning signs of a cold or fever — those little pains around the back of the neck, or down the spine. In fasting, you pay the penalty you have incurred in intensified and speeded-up manner. But, to have the penalty REMOVED, obey God's command of James 5:14-15, and rely on CHRIST, not on the fasting!
The Rational Diet
Nearly everyone, today, is eating an excess of starches, sugars and fats. The Bible FORBIDS the eating of animal fat. Starch is a modern invention — millers take wheat, corn and rice apart, take out the 12 alkaline mineral elements, leave the four acid-reacting elements. The sugar refiners do the same to natural sugar.
An authority on nutrition said: "Eat only such foods as will spoil, and eat them before they do."
WHY do flour millers give us white flour; sugar refiners white sugar? Because freshly ground natural whole wheat will spoil. By removing the real FOOD value — the 12 mineral elements — and in addition perhaps adding an artificial preservative or bleach, they prevent spoilage. Even most so-called whole-wheat flour you buy today contains artificial additives and preservatives.
What SHOULD we do? If possible (too often it is not), we should procure whole grains, grown in proper soil without synthetic fertilizers, and then, with a home stone-grinder, grind our own grain — using it up before it spoils.
Also, squeeze out a glass of orange or other juice and drink it immediately. FOODS OUGHT TO BE EATEN WHILE FRESH!
More About Fasting
But finally, back to fasting. Jesus never put sick people on fasts for healing. In every case he healed them by divine miracle — and in most cases the healing was immediate. The apostles healed through the miraculous POWER of God's Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ — but they did not use fasting as a means of healing. Healing is a MIRACLE.
Then WHY do I recommend fasting from the very moment of the first signs of sickness, disease or even a cold or fever? NOT FOR HEALING, but merely to immediately stop sinning. Then DISCONTINUE FASTING as soon as you feel and see that you are healed. RELY ON GOD for the healing.
But let us get this straight. Seeing and feeling is not FAITH — and God heals according to your FAITH. Faith must precede the healing — and remain firm until you are healed. FAITH is your evidence that God is healing you. After the healing has taken place, then you will see and/or FEEL that you are healed, and then stop fasting.
I simply know that so many, today, do not have the faith for immediate healing. You should have — and this FAITH is actually CHRIST'S faith, imparted to you — given to you through God's Spirit as his GIFT — but if you are so far from contact with God, and so close to the material interests of this world, that you do not have this faith, then I know that it would be better that you PREVENT further violation of nature's law by continuing the fast — until there is the physical evidence of healing.
HOWEVER, even then, fasting must not be continued too long!
Unwise over-lengthy fasts CAN prove FATAL!
It is true that both Moses and Jesus Christ fasted 40 days. But they were physically in far better and stronger condition basically than any of us today, and besides, they were fasting only for spiritual reasons, to draw closer to God in prayer — not to cleanse the body of toxic excesses. SUCH A FAST WOULD BE MOST UNWISE FOR MOST PEOPLE, TODAY!
Unless one is under the daily observation and supervision of a competent physician who is fully experienced in fasting, I would advise, with strongest emphasis, definitely to limit any fast to SEVEN DAYS — and if over 65, to THREE DAYS. NEVER GO TO EXTREMES! If necessary, take a series of shorter fasts!