QUES. 3.-Does Luke 9:49, 50 in any measure indicate that our Lord countenanced sects or divisions? Is the one of whom John spoke a real follower of our Lord, or is he one of those referred to in Matt. 7 :22 ?
ANS.-A scripture which needs ail interpretation must always be subjected to those which need none, and 1 Cor. 1:10-13 is unmistakable condemnation of sects or divisions.
What the Lord corrects in His disciples, especially in John who seems to have a tendency to it here, is the narrowness of heart which prevents one from recognizing true love to Christ in whomsoever found. The Lord appreciates whatever is good in any of His own, even though they may fail in other things. (See the epistles to the seven churches of Asia.) We must learn to do the same, while in no wise becoming .partakers of their failures. The Lord, in the scriptures you quote, exhorts John to recognize what He values in the one in question, but this does not mean that John should make common cause with him.
"What we have said above answers the second part of your question.
QUES. 4.-I am one who is under the blood of Christ, and I am desirous of knowing the full truth. Will you kindly answer a few questions? I have a very dear friend, a good, godly man who, if anything happens in the way of sickness is healed without the services of a physician. I am on the fence as to divine healing (not Christian Science), but by any means as the elders anointing with oil and the prayer of faith to^save the sick, as we read in James 5:14 and on. In the last chapter of Mark, Christ says, "They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Here I have evidence which cannot be denied. Not long ago, I was in conversation with a man who had four doctors, and none could heal him by medicine. He was anointed, and to-day is a strong man. The four doctors are now dead. His wife accepted healing and is all right, but she wears glasses, being well up in years. The former friend turned to Revelation, and read about the unbelievers and the fearful (what is meant by fearful here?), intimating that I am an unbeliever because I have not faith enough, and I am afraid ; so he thinks. How can we associate these passages with "The whole need not a physician, but the sick," and Paul speaking of Luke as "the beloved physician?''Did Luke ever administer restoratives while with Paul? Again Paul leaves a believer sick at a place. What does measure of faith mean? Our family physician is .a good, godly man. I beg of you kindly to respond, and help me on this. I love to read the word of God. I take Help and Food. Could you answer in Feb. issue ?
ANS.-God forbid that we should do anything but encourage the faith of any child of God in whatever line of things the word of God invites him to walk and to trust God for.
If it is not with you, therefore, the adoption of a religious system such as "Divine Healing " (which is false from the foundation up, and leads away from the truth), but a sincere desire to please God in proceeding as Jas. 5:14 enjoins, go on with it and God will be with you. This, however, cannot be construed as being opposed to the use of remedies, since the Word itself prescribes remedies in both Testaments (2 Kings 20 :7 ; 1 Tim. 5 :23), and every child of God knows that Scripture cannot "contradict itself.
None but God can heal any man of any ailment whatever. None but the Creator of the human frame can make the two ends of a broken bone grow together again, but would it not be fanaticism to use such a fact against calling a surgeon who knows how to bring the ends of that broken bone properly together? The same is true of any other ailment. Only God can heal, but if God has, in His mercy and wisdom, provided in creation remedies for the ailments of His suffering creatures, shall we despise them? And shall we despise the physician who knows better than we do the nature of our special ailment, and the remedy which applies?
It is this which reconciles what to yon seems irreconcilable in the statements of Scripture. Had not Luke administered remedies Paul would not have called him "beloved physician." There may be abuse in the use of physicians, as is seen in the case you mention, who had four physicians. The Scripture notices this in 2 Chron. 16:12, "Yet in his disease he sought not the Lord, but to the physicians." If the Lord is left out, He who alone does heal, we may run from one physician to another and yet find no help.
What you quote from the last chapter of Mark is by no means all the Lord says in that passage. To pretend to possess the part you quote and not the other would be a false use of the word of God It is all or nothing. It was all done in the apostolic times; nothing of it now. We are fully aware of the pretensions which exist with some, but we are convinced, nevertheless, that they do not possess the powers specified in that passage. From the moment ruin began to set in the Church, miraculous signs came to an end. The Church of Rome has tried hard to keep them up by deceiving the people, and we greatly fear that others beside Rome have attempted the same by first deceiving themselves and then others. Persons who have been mixed up with such movements, and through exercise of conscience have left them, experience much pain at the remembrance of the past.
We said the "Divine Healing system" was false. We will give the proof. It puts sin and sickness on the same level, and claims that Christ having made atonement for both alike, the believer has as good right to claim health for his body as peace for his soul. Isaiah 53:4-6 is quoted as authority for this. "He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows," in verse 4, is made to be on the cross as "our transgressions " and "our iniquities " in verse 5. But Matt. 8:14-17 clearly denies this. It shows that bearing our infirmities and sicknesses is not on the cross but during His ministry. This mixing sickness and sin together leads to their saying that if a man is sick it is because he lives in sin. So you, being "on the fence" about all this, wonder how to reconcile it with such a case as is presented in Philip. 2:25-30. You cannot reconcile them. Either the "Divine Healing system" is false or the word of God is false. Make your choice between them, for they cannot go together.
If " the fearful " of Rev. 21:8 can be applied to you, then a man under the blood of Christ may yet "have part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone" with other sinners mentioned in that verse. "The fearful" are those who are ashamed of Christ, unwilling or afraid to confess Him lest they should lose their place in the world.
A measure of faith cannot be in relation to salvation, but only to service-each of us receiving that measure needful for what service is ours.
We would advise you to send to our Publishers for their Catalogue. You will find there abounding sound literature which will lift your soul out of the prevailing fogs of the day.
Some answers remain for next No. of Help & Food