Settle the Issue

"You know God identified Jesus as the uniquely chosen One by pouring out the Holy Spirit on Him, by empowering Him. You know Jesus went through the land doing good for all and healing all who were suffering under the oppression of the evil one, for God was with Him." — Acts 10:38, The Voice

I have read about Rev. John Alexander Dowie, a Congregationalist pastor in Australia in the 1870s, when a bubonic plague came to Australia. People were dying like flies during that epidemic. Rev. Dowie had already buried forty-three members of his congregation, and had four more waiting to be buried.

While sitting at the desk in his study one day, he began to cry out to God. “Dear God, is my whole church going to die? Did You send this plague? Is this Your will? Are You going to call them all home?” He didn’t know who was to blame for it. He had read in the Old Testament how plagues could sometimes be stayed. Could this plague be stayed? He wept for the members of his congregation.

The Spirit of God spoke one verse of Scripture to his heart: Acts 10:38. Rev. Dowie said, in effect, “Like a flash, I saw it! The plague didn’t come from Heaven—there aren’t any plagues in Heaven. It didn’t come from God. Satan is the oppressor—Jesus is the Deliverer. From Genesis through Revelation, scriptures began to come to me. I saw that it is the will of God that people be healed and live their full length of time out down here below and die without sickness and disease.”

Then Rev. Dowie said to God, “Help me preach this to my people. Help me teach them so that they can see it and walk in the light of it. Give me the wisdom to share it with them.”

Confession: Jesus is the Deliverer—Satan is the oppressor. Sickness and disease don’t come from God; they come from Satan. Therefore, I choose to live my full length of time out down here on earth and die without sickness and disease!

Source: Health Food Devotions by Kenneth E. Hagin. Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications. Copyright © 2002, 2007 Rhema Bible Church aka Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Inc. All rights reserved.