Chapter 15: Myth—God Heals Everyone

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Myth—God Heals Everyone

If you are a sharp reader, you might deduce that such sins against the

body are both willful and continuous within many people. You might ask: “So will these sins which are willful now keep us out of Heaven?” This is a good question and the answer is also in the Bible. Consider these verses.

“Parents must not be put to death for the sins of their children, nor the children for the sins of their parents. Those worthy of death must be executed for their own crimes [sins worthy of death].” Deut. 24:16 NLT

“If anyone sees a fellow-Christian committing a sin which is not a deadly sin, he should intercede for him, and God will grant him life—that is, to those who are not guilty of deadly sin. There is such a thing as deadly sin, and I do not suggest

that he should pray about that. Although all wrongdoing is sin, not all sin is deadly sin.” 1 John 5:16-17 REB

Apostle John makes it clear that we can intercede with God for others

when their sin is not a “deadly sin.” Further, John says that God will grant them “life” when we intercede for them. I guess the idea that all sin is the same in God’s eyes is really the stuff of Christian mythology. Obviously, there are some nuances with God. Rahab and the discussion earlier about

the Nazi’s and lying is another example of a nuance with God regarding sin. I believe that one of the cases where we can intercede with prayer for a loved one is when someone is hurting his or her body by a bad health habit.

Jackie and I started smoking when we were young. In our youth, we were told smoking was good for us. I managed to quit early. She struggled with cigarettes until the end albeit she had slowed way down to about 6-7 cigarettes a day for years. The last few weeks she smoked 1-3 cigarettes a

day. Her smoker’s cough stopped years ago when she slowed dramatically down and even quit smoking completely for a while. A few years ago, she encountered a health problem and she suddenly started coughing up blood clots about the size of a nickel. To say we were both horrified is an under

statement. As she went through various medical tests, I kept interceding for divine healing. I prayed for each test to come back negative and they did.