Hello.
I hear many Christians say that healing ended with the apostles.
I DISAGREE.
They say things like "but my pastor says..."
Or "They didn't teach that in my church", etc.
It just means that their pastor doesn't believe what he reads.
Truth is, the apostles healed the same way Jesus did...
BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
The Spirit now dwells in us, the believers.
That same Spirit works through us now.
I believe it.
I've done it.
I've seen pain go, sprains heal, devils leave, bones mend, peace come, etc. from laying hands on others.
Do I see 100% recovered?
NO.
I'm still learning and building my own faith.
I want to know your thoughts and hear about your experiences if you are doing this yourself.
It's time the believers believed.
If you don't lay hands, or don't believe you are able to heal others today, please post and let me know why.
Let's discuss this.
I have already thoroughly discussed this on another post called âHow the New Testament church worshiped.â But I will be happy to go over it again.
The miraculous portion of the Holy Spirit was given by the apostles for a specific purpose. One reason is given in 1 Cor. 13:9. The Christians in the first century only had part of Godâs revelation. They did not have the Bible written down so everyone could read it. Thatâs why Paul said we know âIN PARTâ. They did not have complete knowledge. The gift of miraculous knowledge and prophecy were essential in guiding the early Christianâs in all truth. 1 Cor. 13:10 says when THAT which is âperfectâ comes then the miraculous spiritual gifts will CEASE. The word THAT is not referring to a personâ that refers to a thing. If it was referring to a person he would have said , when HE WHO is âperfectâ comes. He did not say that. Also. The Bible interpretes itself. Psalms 111:7 says the word of God is âperfect.â Romanâs 12:2 calls it the âperfectâ will of God. James 1:25 calls it the âperfectâ law of liberty.) so, in light of these scriptures, miraculous gifts were to last until the revelation from God was complete and in written form so everyone could know what Godâs will was. If I remember correctly, they had the completed, written Bible by 150 AD.
The apostles could lay their hands on someone and give them the Holy Spirit but as far as we can tell FROM THE SCRIPTURES, people who got the Spirit from an apostle could not âpass it onâ by giving it to others. That means when the last apostle died and the last person who received the Spirit from an apostle diedâ then Spiritual gifts âCEASED.â
Reason #2 for spiritual gifts was to CONFIRM THE WORD OF GOD. Mark 16:20 says that the apostles â went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and CONFIRMING the word with accompanying signs.â
Hebrews 2:3-4 says that the word â first began to be spoken by the Lord and was CONFIRMED to usâŠ.God bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles and gifts of the Holy SpiritâŠâ
These were the purposes of spiritual giftsâspeaking in tongues, healing and other miracles. We now have the completed word of God written down. There is no longer any need for miraculous knowledge. The word of God has already been CONFIRMED and it is written down so when we read about it we can know it is really from God. There is no need for more miracles to confirm the word. 1 Tim 3:16 tells us it is COMPLETE and furnishes us with ALL we need to be saved.
Spiritual gifts have ceased . We do not need them anymore. We have the completed , perfect word of God in written form.
One more thing. A miraculous baptism of the Holy Spirit was never used to SAVE people. A miraculous out pouring of the Spirit only happened twice in the New Testament. Once on the Jewish apostles in Acts 2. It was clearly used in getting the attention of the thousands of Jews there and CONFIRMED the things that the apostles said. The people listened and believed because of the miracles they saw and heard.
It happened again in Acts 10. It was poured out on the GENTILES. It was a âsignâ to the Jews that God had granted salvation to the gentiles as well as the Jews. This is proven in Acts 11:1-18. Peter has to defend his actions concerning Cornelius to his Jewish brethren. But when they heard that God had baptized those gentiles with the Holy Spirit, just like He did the Jews in Acts 2, then they understood and were convinced by this âsign.âCornelius and his house were not saved by the baptism of the Spiritâotherwise why would Peter COMMAND them to be baptized??
This just proves, again, that water baptism was NECESSARY for salvation.
But if that does not convince you then maybe Acts 8 will. In verse 5, Phillip went to Samaria and preached âChristâ to them. They believed the things Phillip preached (verse 6) and verse 12 says when they believed they were baptized both men and women. Notice how this harmonizes with Mark 16:16 where Jesus says, â He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.â These people were saved, but they had not received a miraculous portion of the Holy Spirit. We know that because verse 15 tells us that they had not yet received the Spirit. Peter and John came to Samaria so that they could lay their hands on them and give them the Spirit. So they were saved without and before they received the Spirit. He Holy Spirit was not given to SAVE people according to The scriptures.
I have given you arguments FROM SCRIPTURE to prove what I believe about miraculous giftsâ not from âmy preacher, or my âparents, or what my church teachesâbut as Paul did in Acts 17:2, reasoning from the scriptures.