The Lord’s Supper: How It Affects Spiritual Healing

For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily,

eateth and drinketh damnation to himself,

not discerning the Lord's body. For this

cause many are weak and sickly among

you, and many sleep.

I Corinthians 11:29-30 (KJV)

Chronically-ill Christians who do not believe in spiritual healing today should examine their participation in the Lord’s Supper as to why they remain sick.

The Lord’s Supper (Eucharist or Holy Communion according to your tradition) consists of two elements: the cup representing His shed blood, and the bread representing His broken body (I Corinthians 11:23-26).

Traditional doctrine teaches us that the Lord’s Supper is to keep us mindful that, as Christians, we are part of the Body of Christ, that we are one in Christ through the Gospel (I Corinthians 15:1-4), and that He shed His blood for atonement of sin, and rightfully so.

But Paul had grave concern for something more in partaking the Lord's Supper that was killing his brethren. It lies at the very root of God’s Scheme of Redemption, which is inclusive of healing body, spirit, and soul (salvation).

Paul states that the lack of discernment of the Lord’s body (I Corinthians 11:29) is cause for damnation and is why many of us are sick today. The Greek word for body (soma) literally refers to the physical body of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, by His perfect life, sacrificed His body for our healing and blood for atonement of our sins. These two realities both occur on the Cross.

Through the shedding of His blood, Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law of sin and death (Galatians 3:13). But the broken body of Jesus is not for the forgiveness of sin—It is for healing to be made possible. For without His broken body, there could be no healing of any kind(Romans 11:36; Colossians 1:15-18), either before or after the Cross. This is where many Christians lack discernment.

It is through His shed blood that we find forgiveness, not His broken body (Hebrews 9:22; Leviticus 17:11). And it is through His stripes (His suffering and torment in the flesh) that we are healed today (Isaiah 53:5; I Peter 2:24).

With this understanding in mind, consider the words of Pastor Henry Wright, Author of A More Excellent Way:

“If we come to a Communion service and partake of the cup and the bread but we deny healing and deliveranceas part of the atonement today, we eliminate the provision of God in our lives as a human being apart from salvation and eternal life in that day. For that reason, because we eliminate the broken body, but we celebrate it, and we don’t believe it, then we cannot partake. For that reason many of us are filled with disease and insanity today because we have said in our heart that it (miraculous healing) passed away two thousand years ago, yet we still participate in the sacrament of Communion which represents its reality for today."

Celebrating the Lord’s Supper can either deny or provide us healing by how we accept or deny the spiritual healing power of the fleshly body of Christ. Could it be many of God’s people are chronically-ill today because they have eliminated half of the sacrament of Communion?

Think on this matter the next time you partake of the Lord’s Supper. Our salvation is made complete in body, spirit and soul though both the literal blood and body of our Savior. But, Paul said many of us are weak and sick because we fail to recognize (have faith in) Christ’s body(soma).

This means those of us who are sick, while we recognize (have faith in) the blood of Jesus Christ to save our souls, we do not recognize (have faith in) His literal body (soma) to heal our literal bodies of disease—here—now. Friends, I did not say that, the inspired Apostle, Paul, did!

Why Churches Die: Denying The Gift of Healing The Sick

Recently a question was posted on a Christian forum asking why so few churches practice anointing with oil to heal the sick (See James 5:14). That's a good question.

An even better question is why do so many Christians struggle with the reasons given for why their Church does not practice anointing with oil? Christians struggle because, like it to not, James 5:14 is part of the Book our faith is based upon.

Agree or disagree, the lack of Church sanctioned healing ministries is the number one reason why most Christian Churches are either stagnant or dying. That is a bold statement coming from a Christian minister with a very structured, strict, fundamentalist background.

Allow me to put on my marketing hat for a moment to illustrate my claim. People involved in marketing have long known the best way to market goods and services is to do so through the customer's eye. Customers could care less about features (i.e. church doctrine), what customers want are benefits (what's in it for me).

If what a Church offers is no different from what the world (people) currently buys into (i.e. secular medicine, social services, community groups), why should a Church expect the world to rush inside?

Sure, there is need for saving of souls, but the world looking in compares the Church to the world, and does not see anything different or strong enough to attract them.

Biblically speaking, Jesus understood this marketing principle well. No, Jesus did not heal to attract people to his message. He healed, because He is a healer and His mission is to heal the sick: To restore people back to wholeness, free of Satan's effects.

For years, I had this truth backward. I was taught that Jesus healed to prove He is the Son of God. For sure Jesus is the Son of God, but proving Himself so was not the primary reason He healed the sick. Jesus healed the sick because healing is what Jesus does. God is our Healer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen! (See Exodus 15:26; Isaiah 53:4-5)

When Jesus first appeared on the scene with His ministry, He was what Broadway show producers today would call a smash hit! As news spread about His teaching and healing, people literally swarmed Him. And why not?

The message Jesus brought to the world was something no one had ever heard. He proclaimed the kingdom of God drawing near and then did something most amazing. He healed people—as many as could get close to Him. The lesson was clear. God is breaking through to the physical world (into the affairs of man) to heal. Jesus never wavered in this teaching. He preached the kingdom of God and healed the sick.

The more one studies the ministry of Jesus, the more one realizes the importance Jesus placed on healing the sick. For nearly one-fifth of the four Gospel accounts is devoted to Jesus’ healing and the discussions raised by it. In fact, the emphasis on healing is greater than any other experience in the narrative.

Out of 3,779 verses in the four Gospels, 727 relate specifically to the healing of physical and mental illness and the resurrection of the dead. And those healings that are recorded represent only a small fraction of the total (John 20:30). Compare this to the 165 verses that deal in general with eternal life.

What people searched for 2,000 years ago is what people search for today...healing! Never mind that Church doctrine prevents many churches from anointing the sick with oil. Until churches understand the true nature of Jesus and the #1 need in the world today, they will continue to alienate themselves from the very people they seek.

Jim Lynn is a minister in the church of Christ, and Author of The Miracle of Healing in Your Church Today. http://godshealingword.org

If I Were Satan

If you were Satan and your goal is to destroy as many lives as you could, what are the two institutions you could attack that would destroy more lives than wars and natural disasters combined?

Phase One: Medicine

If I were Satan, I would capture the medical industry and make it mine. For what other of man's institutions could potentially inflict more harm?

I would infiltrate medical colleges and teach students to treat disease symptoms, rather then teach them how to heal the sick.

I would teach medical students that chronic disease is the result of natural manifestation, and disclaim any correlation between disease and one's spiritual state of being.

I would create chemical drugs with lethal side effects, and tell medical students they must use only my drugs to treat their patients disease symptoms. I would tell students that natural substances can be harmful to the body and should not be used or trusted for treatment of the sick.

I would find greedy men who could care less about the well-being of people, and set up a drug enterprise designed to keep sick people sick. I would advertise my drugs on TV so people will ask their doctors to prescribe them.

I would take natural body conditions like pregnancy, acid reflux, hormonal imbalance, sinus infections, high blood pressure, digestive disorders, osteoporosis, diabetes and make them a disease. That way, I could find more uses for my drugs.

I would be clever when using medical terms, so people will begin to believe their body cannot be trusted. I would use terms like, heart attack, spastic colon, and kidney failure.

Next I would mislead patients into believing they have a disease discovered through diagnosis; when in truth all they received is a specific diagnosis with a name. This will make it sound like the doctor has found a disease, and people can be "diagnosed" just in time to take a new drug of mine for the rest of their life.

Next I would use man's government to protect my medical interests and drug industry. I would set up a Food and Drug Administration, and use it to deny citizens any form of real healing. I would use this FDA to my advantage by making it unlawful for anyone to make health claims without scientific proof. Of course, I would also control the researchers, and medical doctors who publish results of research, so results are kept in my favor.

I would refuse my agents to investigate any claims that suggest a correlation between vaccines and disease and death rates.

Phase Two: Church

If I were Satan, I would fill pulpits in churches with pastors who teach that God no longer heals the sick like people read about in the Bible. I would have these pastors teach that healing must be instantaneous to be called a miracle.

I would disguise the original meanings of the words "heal," and "save" recorded in the Bible, so their full, true meaning and application is not understood.

I would put fear of persecution and public ridicule in the hearts of church leaders were they to teach that God actively intervenes in this physical world.

In this way I can deny God's glory of healing by those who bear the mark of His Spirit and wear the name of His Son.

Over time, there will be very little knowledgeable and effective spiritual resistance to my induced sicknesses and disease. People will come to put more faith in medical knowledge than in the God of knowledge.

In this way, I can kill many millions of people because most people are raised up to respect the word and advise of medical doctors and preachers.

If I were Satan and wanted to destroy as many lives as I could, this is what I would do and how I would do it.

Jim Lynn is the author of The Miracle of Healing Your Church Today.

Welcome to God's Healing Word Blog

Greetings In Christ,

As a people, Christians are sorry lot to look upon. The Bible plainly teaches that physical, emotional, and spiritual healing is available through Jesus Christ. And yet, when you survey most Christian congregations, the number of "saints" with chronic illness, is about the same as those chronically ill outside of the Body of Christ. Is it any wonder most church pews are empty come Sunday morning?

Truth is, Christians today are caught in a kind of vise that squeezes and tests their faith. One side of the vise is God's Holy Word, from which our faith is derived. The other side of the vise is Church Doctrine, which in most cases teaches adherents that God has ended divine healing in the Church.

So it should come as no surprise that millions of people of faith abandon their faith in God to heal, and leave the Church altogether. Also, it is no surprise that Church leaders urge those in their flock who are sick to consult with a secular physician, without a thought of directing them to God first.

As the author of God's healing Word, it has become my passion to put God back into healing, and healing back into the Church. I hope you will join me.

You may have been hurt spiritually by you Church. You may wish to work to educate leaders in your church on what the Bible teaches about physical healing. Or you may just want to fellowship with others whose faith in God to heal is strong. Whatever the case, welcome to this public message forum.

Feel free to post a new message, or post a reply to an existing message.

Many blessings,