DEWITT
TABERNACLE TEACHING SERIES
MODERN
DAY PROOF
OF
GOD’S
WILL TO HEAL
By
C.W. Wood
September
2008
There is a drastic need in the world today for the Church
to return to what the Bible teaches about Divine Healing. This need is not only
found in the denominational churches, but in what we refer to as “Message
Churches.” The question that needs to be asked is, “When a member of God’s
Bride falls ill, is their fate no better than the unbeliever’s?”
Listen to God’s promise to the Israelites as He was leading them out of
Exodus 11:6-7, “And there shall be a great cry throughout all
the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it anymore.
But against any of the Children of
We in the Message understand that
(Editor’s Note: If you are a new-comer to our teaching series, I invite
you to obtain a copy of our Volume II DeWitt Tabernacle Teaching Series Book
and study the sermon “Two Plans for Healing.”)
Must we go the way of the world when Medical Science has come to the end
of their knowledge? Must we submit to having our body parts removed, parts that
God saw we needed for a healthy life? Must we bow before the death sentence that
is pronounced daily to thousands around the world? The answer to these questions
is, “Only if that is your mind-set. Only if that is what you believe.” Our
Lord said, “According to your individual faith be it unto you.”
(Matt. 9:29) We will never escape this spiritual Law of God: We are going to
receive into our lives, according to what we believe! This is why an Angel from
God said to our Prophet, “If you can get the people to believe, nothing
will stand before your prayer, not even cancer.”
We need to ask ourselves this question: “What does hinder
us from believing every promise that our “God who cannot lie” has made?”
May I give my thought as to what I believe is one of the major reasons? We have
not understood the very simplicity of what faith is! A Born-Again person already
has Bible faith, but is not fully aware that he has it. Not being aware that he
has it, he does not rely on it. He does not testify that he has Perfect Faith in
His Perfect God. And so, “Faith with out works is dead.”
I would to God that every person that this sermon reaches
will open their spiritual eyes and ears and pay strict attention. God has a Word
for us! It came through the mouth of His End-Time Prophet. Here it is! God wants
to give us a spiritual examination. He wants to ask us some simple questions,
and He wants “yes” and “no” answers. (Oh Lord, let us pay attention.)
Questions: Do you believe that our God has perfect wisdom? Please answer
“yes” or “no”. Do you believe He has perfect knowledge? Do you
believe He is perfect in love? Do you believe He has perfect patience?
Do you believe that He has perfect power? Final question: Do you believe
that He is perfect in righteousness and that there is not one flaw in His
character? If we can honestly answer “yes Lord” to these questions, then the
Lord has news for us that will forever change our lives! Are you ready to hear
it? Friends, you already have Perfect Faith in your Perfect God. Matt. 5:48,
“Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is
perfect.” We must have Perfect faith in our Perfect God. It is His
command! Now, if you believe this statement, you will testify to it and you will
begin to take advantage of it by putting it to work in your life!
If a distant relative had seen fit to leave us money in his
will, and before his death had even deposited the amount in our account, it
would be available to us on the day he died. But if the report did not come to
us until sometime later, it would be just as if we didn’t have the money! Yet
all the time it was ours to draw on! Now apply this truth to our faith in Jesus
Christ. You people that could answer “yes” to the questions have proven to
your Lord that you do most certainly trust Him. But perhaps you have not had the
revelation that this amounts to Perfect Faith in our Perfect God.
Do you see it? Will you believe it?
Let me make a statement that may seem silly to you, yet it’s forever true.
Unless you believe you are a Believer, then you are not yet a Believer! You must
believe you are a Believer! You have passed the exam; now never again let the
enemy tell you any different!
This
Perfect Faith in our Perfect God has nothing to do with us and our failures. We
will have them all our days. But, as we make them, we drop them into the Blood
of God, which is the “
I have gone to churches around the nation and asked
the congregation, “Are you as righteous as God?” In most cases there has
been a shocked look of unbelief on the faces. This is understandable! We are so
aware of our many failures, that we are shocked by such a question! But do we
not yet understand that this was God’s purpose of the Cross? It was to pay for
our past sins, our present sins, and yes, even for our future sin. To refuse to
accept God’s “Gift of Righteousness” (
But, I must get to the title of the sermon. I want to
bring our attention to our merciful God’s End-time Plan to re-enforce our
Faith in His willingness to heal all who will only believe it.
This Plan, or His Will, or His Proof
concerning healing is wrapped up in what Brother Branham called the “Gift of
Discernment.” Actually, it was more than just discernment, it was the “Super
Sign”; it was the “Sign of Messiah.” It was the proof that Jesus Christ
was on the platform with His Prophet, giving him information about those people
who stood before him. It was facts that no man could have known that was not
familiar with the individual or their family. But this most powerful gift given
to Brother Branham did not heal the People. It was to raise their faith in the
truth that God was there; greatly desiring to heal them, all of them if they
would only believe it was His will for them! The Gift was meant to remove their
doubts concerning God’s will to heal them. It was God’s own proof that He
“wills” to heal people. It is the bait on the hook used to draw souls
to Himself for Salvation.
QUOTE: CALLING JESUS ON THE
SCENE, PAGE 32, “If thou canst believe, all
things are possible.” Is that right? (Congregation says, “Amen.” –Ed.)
“All things are possible, if thou canst believe.” Do you believe now His
Presence is here? (“Amen.”) Isn’t He the Discerner of the thoughts,
intents of the heart? He knows. (Br. Branham didn’t know!)
Ask those people; check around,
if anybody is in doubt. Ask them. I never seen the people, in my life. Yes, sir.
You believe God can take that
tumor out of you? Looking around there at her getting healed, do you believe He
could heal the tumor, make you well? You do? This lady here next to you, too,
with swelling in her body and things, you think the Lord could make you well,
both of you? You do? All right, He can, if you’ll believe it.
You setting, looking at me there,
sir, do you believe that God can heal that prostate trouble? Sitting right back
there with that black tie on, do you believe God will heal the prostate trouble?
That’s what you have. If that’s right, raise up your hand. That’s right.
All right. Uh-huh. See?
You believe? He is in the ship.
Here He is right here, His Word doing just what It said It would do, taking the
secrets of the heart and making it known. “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever.”
How can we be sure that He is?
are you sure? (Congregation says,
“Amen.” –Ed.) We are convinced. I am thoroughly convinced that Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Are you? (“Amen.”) I’m
convinced. That I know that I don’t know those things.” (He’s proving His
Will to heal.)
QUOTE: CALLING JESUS ON THE
SCENE, PAGE 33, “When I tell you different
places, and what’s going to happen here. “And be down here, we’re going to
meet a man. You’re going to try to keep me away from him. Don’t do it,
‘cause I’m supposed to go. His wife is a certain-certain thing. She
is going to be healed. I’m going to tell him this.” This boy crosses
the street, is going to ask a certain thing. I’ll tell him a certain thing;
he’ll do this and do that.” Why, it’s just constantly, all
and all the time, like that. It’s Jesus Christ, not a human being. It’s
Christ. I’m a human being, but He is Christ. (Proving His Will to heal.)
“What is the gift, Brother Branham?” I can’t explain it. The only
thing I know is, just let William Branham get out of the way, that’s all, and
He just takes the clay and works through it. (Working the Gift to prove His Will
to Heal ALL who will believe.)
Now, visions doesn’t heal you. Visions only identifies His Word to be
true. See, you’re already healed. Visions only proves that He is here and He
is still the living word. But as far as healing you, it doesn’t. It only lets
you know that he’s here. He’s already healed you; His Blood. The reason
He’s here is because He healed you. The reason He’s here is because he saved
you. His life was give for you. His Blood was shed. And He is here in the form
of the Holy Ghost, to work through us, to prove that He’s here. But your
healing is with your faith. If you believe it, it’s so. Amen.” (End of
quote)
Visions only prove He is here ready to heal. We repent, be willing to
serve Him and love Him and our healing starts at that moment. We often think
that if Br. Branham was still here, and God would reveal some of our secrets to
him, then we could know that God wants to heal us personally. But wait; is it
not enough that God did it thousands of times through his Prophet? Is it not
enough for us to have read about the prayer lines in many places, where God
freely healed all who simply believed that He wanted to? Is it not enough
to know that if God did it for the people in years past, then He does not
change?
I will now speak of one of the greatest hindrances keeping us from being
healed. We have supposed that we have to conform to a long list of
“requirements” before we are in line for healing. Until we see that this is
not true, we perhaps will not be healed. Did we have a check list of
requirements before God saved us? No! What did we have to do? We only had to
repent and promise to serve Him, and then He saved us and gave us the
power to start working on the check-off list of things to change. I am simply
showing that we did not earn our Salvation. Never did He require us to
keep all His Laws perfectly before He would save us! That is an
impossibility even after we are saved! Neither does God require us to
reach any certain stage of spiritual growth before He heals us! Our healing is
on the way the moment we realize that He has already healed us, and that He
stands ready to manifest it in our bodies. All He asks us to do is believe that
He not only can heal us, but greatly desires to do so.
But, what about the list of requirements concerning
our Christian walk? Are they not to be met? Yes, as best as we can. We can be
healed in the midst of our sins, having repented, just as we were saved in the
midst our sins, having repented. But then, after healing us, Jesus said, “Go
and sin no more lest a worse thing come on you.” In Luke 10:8, there is
a most revealing Scripture. The Lord is sending forth His Disciples. “And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat
such things as are set before you:
Verse
9,
“And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The
In this one profound verse we can see God’s requirement for those who
need healing, “And (if) they receive you.” All they had to do, even if they
were not saved, was receive the Disciples as men of God, be willing to repent
and serve God, and the orders were “Heal them!”
Whoever you are today and wherever you are, simply follow the same
instructions and be healed in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! He will heal
you to draw you closer to His bleeding side. The disciples were sent to be
fishers of men. That is to bring lost souls to the Lord. When Jesus sent them
fishing, He gave them bait for their fish hooks. The bait on the
hook was the authority to heal all that would receive them. There
is a need to understand what the Spirit means by the word “receive.” We will
state some things it did not mean first. It did not mean they must be
Christians. Remember the nine Lepers who did not return to give God glory? They
perhaps were not Christians, but God healed them, giving them a chance at
Salvation. Perhaps the Lepers had good intentions at the time they were healed,
but did not carry through. They did not fool our Lord, yet He healed them and
gave them their chance! He will heal us and give us our chance too! Surely we
will give Him Glory! When the people received the disciples, it did
not mean they had already met a list of qualifications that had earned
them healing! Even after Salvation we cannot keep the Law perfect enough to earn
our healing. Healing is a Gift of Grace. What then does God mean that the sick
must “receive” the People of God? They must welcome them, be hospitable,
teachable, open mined, able to be changed.
They must be responsive. They must not be resisting. They
must be repentant!
Did “receiving” the Disciples necessarily mean they had
the faith they needed? No! Jesus said, “Heal them and say, “The
We sometimes forget that healing is one of God’s ways to bring in the
lost. Can we really suppose that all those people, “Into
whatsoever city ye enter,”
were saved and living so holy as to have earned healing? Not at all. And,
neither have we earned it, but God promised it to us, especially
the Bride! Let us rise up and receive the Gift of Love. There is a
heart-broken Bridegroom today. He is grieved to the depth of His being because
His Bride will not accept Her healing! He sees Her sick and suffering, but not
receiving His healing balm!
Jeremiah 8:21-22, “For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black;
astonishment hath taken hold on me.
22 Is there no balm in
Dear
sick one, are you grieving the Bridegroom today? Have you dared not testify for
His Glory and claim His healing balm? If you have feared to do so, may
you from this day forward be afraid not to claim it, for fear of breaking
His heart. Remember the price He paid. I Peter 2:24, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we,
being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were
healed.” Amen.