Tag Archives: victory

Jesus the Healing Hero – IS the Gospel

Right from the opening pages of the Bible, God doesn’t ease in with pleasantries. He drops the declaration of war and victory in the same breath. After the fall, He turns to the serpent and says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Think about that for a second. Before Adam and Eve even finish sewing their fig leaves, God is already pointing to Jesus—the promised Seed—and saying, “This Hero is coming to end you.” Satan gets a bruised heel. Jesus gets total conquest. That’s the opening scene of the whole story. The protoevangelium is not some poetic footnote; it is the explosive launch sequence of redemptive history, the first unmistakable shout that the Seed of the woman would march straight into the fight and settle the score once and for all.

Satan didn’t charge in like some obvious monster. The coward used lies. “Did God really say?” he whispered, and the doubt took root (Genesis 3:1). They ate, and God kept His word exactly as He said He would. The curse hit creation hard—thorns, pain, death, the whole mess (Genesis 3:16-19). And from that day forward the devil has exploited it nonstop, hammering people with his favorite dirty weapon: sickness. It’s how he oppresses, how he victimizes, how he keeps humans under his thumb. Sickness isn’t neutral. It’s bad. Straight-up evil. Let’s be real—Scripture never once calls disease a helpful life coach or a mysterious divine favor. Jesus looked at that woman bent double for eighteen years and named the culprit outright: “Satan has kept her bound” (Luke 13:16). John 10:10 draws the battle line with zero ambiguity: the thief steals, kills, and destroys; Jesus brings life to the full. The fingerprints don’t lie.

That’s why when Peter stands up for the very first official gospel sermon to Gentiles in Acts 10, he doesn’t start with abstract theology. As Vincent Cheung points out in “The Dividing Line,” Peter tells the classic hero-versus-villain story God loves telling. “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10:38). Satan is the bad guy. Sickness is his bad tool. Jesus the Hero shows up anointed with power and starts setting people free from it—one healing after another. God is perfectly happy framing the good news this way. No need to complicate it. The simple showdown works just fine. Peter could have opened with justification by faith or the doctrine of election—glorious truths, no argument there—but the Spirit led him to lead with power and healing, because that is how the gospel first detonated into the Gentile world. Goodness and healing are welded together in the same sentence. Oppression and the devil are welded together in the same sentence. The Bible refuses to separate them, and frankly, neither should we.

Peace comes through violence and conquest, not some polite negotiation. The Son of God appeared for this very reason—to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). He didn’t just rescue us from the judgment we deserved; He yanked us out of the original villain’s grip too. Forgiveness? Yes. But also tangible freedom right now. Notice Satan’s go-to weapon is always sickness. That’s bad. Healing is good. Jesus healing every single person oppressed by the devil is the Bible’s hero story preached at the launch of Gentile ministry. Matthew 8:16-17 makes the connection unmistakable: “He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.’” The cross wasn’t only about sin. The same atoning work that substituted guilt for righteousness, substituted sickness for healing. Isaiah 53:4-5 and 1 Peter 2:24 stand shoulder to shoulder—by His wounds you have been healed. The Greek tenses shout finished reality. Not “maybe someday.” Not “if it’s God’s will in some vague sense.” Healed. Period.

Picture the devil showing up at the cross like a landlord waving an overdue rent notice marked “sickness stays forever,” and Jesus just rips the contract in half, spikes it to the wood with the nails, and laughs out loud while every demon in the vicinity does the fastest tactical retreat in history. The same Spirit and power that rested on Him to destroy oppression now rests on us. Stop playing victim to a defeated snake. You’re seated with the Hero who crushed his head (Romans 16:20). The devil is not your personal trainer. He is a conquered foe whose only remaining strategy is to convince you the fight is still fair. It isn’t—come on, the head is already crushed.

The faithless try to muddy the water with their “maybe God is using sickness to teach you” nonsense. That’s like cheering for the villain in the movie because it “builds character.” Dumb. Jesus already bore our sicknesses and carried our pains so we wouldn’t have to. By His stripes we are healed. It’s like the devil is still trying to collect rent on a house Jesus already foreclosed on, burned to the ground, and turned into a victory bonfire while the angels roasted marshmallows over the flames. The same Spirit and power that rested on Him to destroy oppression now rests on us. Stop playing victim to a defeated snake. You’re seated with the Hero who crushed his head (Romans 16:20).

Command that sickness to leave in Jesus’ name. Lay hands on the sick and expect recovery (Mark 16:17-18). Believe like the victory is already yours—because it is. The gospel is still advancing through power, healing, and authority in Christ. Live it out loud. The Hero won the war. Now go enforce the victory.

Let me press this a little deeper, because the stakes are eternal. When Jesus sent out the Twelve and then the Seventy-two, He gave them authority over all the power of the enemy and told them to heal the sick (Luke 9:1-2; 10:9). That commission did not expire at the end of the first century. The same Jesus who walked the shores of Galilee is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The same Spirit who raised Him from the dead lives in every believer (Romans 8:11). If sickness were somehow God’s loving tool, then Jesus would have been working against the Father every time He healed someone. That is theological insanity. The Father anointed the Son precisely to destroy what the devil had built. Every miracle was a preview of the age to come crashing into the present. Every healing was a declaration: the kingdom is here, the curse is broken, the Hero has arrived.

When Christians remain in sickness, besetting sins, broken relationships and poverty, it is Satan’s middle finger at God shouting, that Jesus’ kingdom is not here and the curse is not broken and the Hero did not arrive.

Some will object that not everyone gets healed instantly. Fair observation, however, because it is based on observation it is logically irrelevant for knoweldge. Notice what Jesus never did: He never blamed the Father for the delay. He never told the sick to embrace their condition as a gift. He blamed unbelief when it blocked the flow (Mark 6:5-6), and He trained His disciples to keep pressing until faith rose. Paul left Trophimus sick, not because sickness was God’s will, but because the apostolic team was on mission and timing mattered (2 Timothy 4:20). Yet the same Paul commanded the church at Corinth to examine itself so they would not be weak or sick (1 Corinthians 11:29-30). Sickness was the exception to be judged and removed, not the rule to be celebrated. The New Testament pattern is relentless: preach the gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead. That is not optional flavor. That is the normal Christian life.

Think about the woman with the issue of blood. She had suffered for twelve years, spent everything on doctors, and grew worse (Mark 5:25-26). The doctors could not help because the real oppressor was not a germ or a hormone—it was the kingdom of darkness. She touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was healed instantly. Jesus called her “daughter” and sent her away in peace. That is the gospel in miniature. The Hero sees the victim, feels compassion, and ends the oppression on the spot. He is still doing it. The same power that flowed through His robe now flows through His body on earth—you and me. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead and put Him above all names, times and places is the same power the works in us who believe (Eph 1:19-21).

So grab your spiritual eviction notice, look that defeated snake square in the eye, and say, “Not today, not tomorrow, not ever again—your lease was canceled at Calvary, and the new Landlord is moving in with healing, power, and zero tolerance for your sh@t.” The gospel is not a theory to be debated in seminaries. It is power to be demonstrated in streets, homes, and everywhere. Peter preached it that way to Cornelius’ house, and the Holy Spirit fell while he was still speaking (Acts 10:44). The same thing can happen when you open your mouth with the same message.

The devil has had two thousand years to refine his lies, but the Hero has already crushed his head, and God’s truth is indomitable. The blood still speaks. The name still works. The Spirit still moves. Sickness is still bad. Healing is still good. And Jesus the Healing Hero is still the gospel.

 Watch the kingdom advance exactly as it did in the book of Acts. The victory is already yours. Now go enforce it with joy, with boldness, and with the full expectation that the same HERO who healed all who were oppressed by the devil, is now sitting at the Power’s right hand, doing it through you.

The God of Peace Will Crush

Ah, the God of peace—sounds like a serene deity lounging on clouds, doesn’t it? But flip open your Bible, and you’ll see He’s more like a divine general, marching into battle with a strategy that leaves enemies flattened. Romans 16:20 declares our thesis statement plainly: “The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” Notice it was not under God’s feet, but your feet. When Satan eyes meet yours, it should be when he is crushed under your feet. This is the only correct position for Satan to meet your gaze.  

Jesus Himself chimes in from John 16:33: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” This isn’t some fluffy, feel-good tranquility; it’s peace forged in victory, the kind that comes when God stomps out what’s troubling you. If your idea of peace is just a balanced brain chemistry or a quiet afternoon without the kids yelling, you’re missing the biblical punch. God’s peace is intellectual and material—your mind aligns with His unbreakable promises, stabilizing your whole being, and then reality bends to match, with enemies crushed underfoot. Peace comes through war, blood and triumph.

Let’s unpack this. The Bible hammers home that true peace arrives through conquest, destruction of foes, or flipping former adversaries into allies. You don’t get heart-peace by ignoring the chaos; you get it because God removes the chaos-causer, by destroying it. The enemy isn’t politely asked to leave—he’s demolished. Joshua 21:43-45 spells it out: God handed Israel the promised land, giving them “rest on every side” after delivering enemies into their hands. No foe stood against them because God fulfilled every promise. Rest? Peace? It came post-victory, after the dust settled from crushed opposition. Or take 2 Samuel 7:1: Once David was palace-settled, “the Lord gave him rest from all his enemies around him.” God’s provision of peace followed conquest, not some mystical inner glow detached from reality.

Then there’s 1 Chronicles 22:9, where God promises David a son of peace: “I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side.” Solomon’s reign would embody this—peace through subdued threats. Even Proverbs 16:7 adds a twist: “When a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” God doesn’t just crush; sometimes He recalibrates relationships, turning rivals into reluctant allies. But make no mistake, it’s His sovereign hand at work, not some human diplomacy. This isn’t a chemical brain balance or anti-intellectual fuzziness. No, God’s peace is rooted in logic and substance: your mind assents to His truths and promises, renewing your propositional framework to be stable and healthy. That’s why Philippians 4:7 calls it “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding”—not because it’s beyond intellect, but because His promises blanket every life scenario. You might not eyeball the “how” in a tough spot, but faith knows He’ll deliver peace. It will happen.

Jesus embodies this perfectly. He overcame the world, so we cheer amid tribulation. Think Jericho: marching and trumpeting wasn’t busywork; it was praise rooted in promise. God vowed victory, so those walls were toast before the first lap. They praised pre-fall because faith treats God’s word as done deal. God crushed those walls under their feet, bringing peace. Paul’s line in Romans labels God “of peace” precisely because He’ll “soon crush Satan under their feet.” Not in some distant heaven, but here, now. Heaven will be a place of peace, because all enemies will be crushed. Crushing enemies “is” the act of peace-bringing. Jesus nailed this at the cross, pulverizing sickness, poverty, curses—the lot. It’s done. Isaiah 54:17 echoes: “No weapon formed against you will prosper.” Weapons form—tribulations like demons, illness, lack—but cheer up! Jesus defeated them; by faith, they’re soon underfoot.

Don’t get me wrong; this peace starts intellectual, in the mind’s assent to God’s guarantee, but it spills into flesh and circumstance. We praise pre-victory, as with Jericho, because faith’s useless post-fact. It’s for the “before,” fueling praise that knows enemies will crumble, yielding total peace. Peace without crushed foes? That’s non-biblical bunk, a counterfeit calm that leaves Satan smirking.

Dig deeper into Scripture, and this crushes any watered-down view. Isaiah 45:7 has God declaring, “I form light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil; I am Yahweh; I do all these things.” Peace isn’t accidental—God authors it, often through calibrated calamity for the reprobate and triumph for His elect. No weapon prospers against you, but they do form. The promise is simple. With faith the weapons will be ineffective against you. God did not send those people to attack you, and so you are free to condemn them in the name of Jesus and crush them under your feet.  For reprobates, even sunshine fattens them for slaughter (Psalm 73). But for us, temporary trials and forged weapons against us, yield an opportunity for easy game XP for our level ups.

Look at Colossians 1:19-20: “For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” Peace via bloodied conquest—Jesus reconciling by demolishing sin’s divide. Or Romans 5:1: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Justification swaps enmity for alliance, but it’s God’s doing, not our charm.

And Isaiah 53? Brutal beauty: “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” Chastisement for our peace—Jesus bore the bloody atonement so we carry calm. He says, “My peace I give you” (John 14:27), not some generic vibe, but His substitutionary shalom. Leviticus’ scapegoat “carried away” our sins; same word in Isaiah for Jesus bearing sickness. He was led outside the camp as our diseased substitute, so we don’t carry illness or turmoil, because He carried on Himself so that we don’t. That is what the idea of a substitution means. If you carry the same sickness Jesus carried, then there was no substitution. Peace in soul, body, life—it’s contractual, sealed in blood, already carried away to the grave by Jesus’ substitution.

Hebrews 4 ties peace to approaching God’s throne: redeemed, we boldly ask and receive help. No spiritualizing—it’s literal receipt. Jesus contrasts pagan prayer myths. When the pagans pray they mainly give to their gods, and when they do ask, it is done without much hope, even with trepidation, knowing the request could be used against them. Jesus’ prayer doctrine contradicts this. God gives us a fish for fish, a miracle for a miracle, a child of a child, prosperity for prosperity, a spouse for a spouse and Spirit for Spirit (Matthew 7:7-11). If evil humans give good gifts, how much more our Father? Our Good Father gives us the things we ask for; anything less is demon dogmatics.

This crushes defective ethics peddling unbelief. Faith-fumblers teach God’s stingy or sickness teaches lessons—nonsense! Experience as a teacher is the worst type of teacher. For us, revelation’s our sole teacher of knowledge. Sickness comes from Satan not God. Therefore, destroy it in Jesus’ name, advancing His kingdom. If you are doing something to give a foothold, correct your behavior. To let Satan’s attacks linger glorifies hell, not God. Mindset matters: the atonement is finished and the benefits already deposited into your account by grace. Faith sees them, withdraws at will. Forgiveness, healing, prosperity are not begged, but claimed in faith. The natural man, using the five senses, cannot receive the things of the Spirit, who reveals to us all the good things God has freely deposited to our accounts.

Cheer up! Praise God before the crushing, knowing God’s promises are guaranteed. Peace starts in faith-filled minds, and manifests in crushed foes. Biblical peace is where God’s crushes Satan shortly under your feet. Notice it was not under God’s feet, but your feet. When Satan eyes meet yours, it should be when he is crushed under your feet. This is the only correct position for Satan to meet your gaze.  If doubters peddle less, get them out of your life. For us? We assent, crush, receive and advance. All things possible when you believe—mountains move, enemies flatten. That’s God’s type of peace: conquest, not compromise.

The Devil Is Making You Sick, Not God

I have heard the example that Jesus is the type of shepherd who breaks the legs of a straying sheep, to keep it from straying. This might sound compassionate in teachings found in eastern paganism, but it is nowhere found in the bible.

Some have this idea that God’s out there playing orthopedic surgeon with sheep, breaking legs to teach ’em a lesson, right? Well, not in my Bible. Rather, the bible flips the script, telling us it’s not God playing the cosmic chiropractor; it’s Satan who’s out there handing out sickness like it’s candy on Halloween.

Let me ask a simple question. When Paul handed the man who was sleeping with his mother-in-law, who did he hand him to? Paul said he handed this man over, to have his flesh destroyed so that his spirit might be preserved. Paul was handing him over to have his legs broken. But who did Paul hand him over to? Who was the one breaking this man’s legs? Who was ministering sickness? Was it God or Satan? Paul handed him over to Satan. The devil was the one breaking his legs and making him sick, not God.  The sickness on the human level was therefore, the will of Satan, not the will of God.

And so, Paul handed a guy over to Satan for some serious family drama, letting Satan do the dirty work. The point? God’s not your sickness Santa; that’s Satan’s gig.

This is an interesting example, because it involves an extreme type of sin a believer could do. It is not normal; it is an exception. Another example was the same Corinthians dishonoring the blood of Jesus by dishonoring the Lord’s supper. Paul was “disciplining” the man, and you could say God was disciplining him through Paul, for a severe sin, and yet, God was not the one giving the sickness. It was the devil.

God is sovereign over all things, so much so that He is the metaphysical author of sin and evil. God controls our thoughts and He predestines all things in the same absolute and direct way, whether it is faith or unbelief, reprobation or election. God controls all things, even Satan, more than a programmer controls how and what his program does. However, the bible denies pantheism and the bible mostly deals with us on the human or relative level.  Thus, Jesus would say, “it was God’s will, that healed this boy or blind man.” No, that is not what Jesus said. He said, “Your faith saved you from your sins, and your faith healed you.” We will do the same.

Even in the story of Job, who did not have the New Contract or Abraham’s blessing, God was not the one who ministered sickness and destruction. It was Satan. God is sovereign, in that He was the one who mentioned Job to Satan, in essence enticing Satan to go after Job. God orchestrated the whole thing. But it was Satan who ministered the sickness, not God. Thus, the sickness was the will of Satan, not the will of God. A similar situation with king David. The scripture says it was both God and Satan who caused David to sin by taking a census. These are addressing two different categories. God is the only real cause, but on the human level, it was Satan who ministered the sin, not God.

Therefore, even in Job’s case, where God’s like the director of a reality show called “Temptation Island,” it’s still Satan swinging the wrecking ball. And Jesus? He’s not going around saying, “Here’s a cold for your sins,” nope, he’s all about, “Your faith got you covered, now walk it off!”

The woman who was bent over for 18 years, who did it? Jesus Christ says it was the will of God, right? No. Jesus said it was, the will of Satan. Satan ministered the sickness, and God being faithful to the promise He made to Abraham, was ministering the healing. In fact, in Acts 10:38, Peter says it was the devil who was ministering the sickness to all the sick people, in the gospels, and Jesus was the one ministering the healing. The devil is a priest to the darkness; and so his ministry is one of sin and sickness. Jesus is a high priest to God, and so His ministry is righteousness, wealth and healing. He does not minister sin or minister sickness. He ministers healing and miracles. If you are an insider to Jesus, He ministers good things, not evil things.

Some might bark up and say, “But God does sometimes give sickness.” This is true, as far as it goes, but there is an important context. What category of people does God give sickness to? The answer is God’s enemies. God did not send Satan to kill the first born of Egypt, no, He sent His angel.  Why the sudden change? The category is different. Egypt is not a Contract insider to God. Egypt is God’s enemy and He is there for condemnation and judgment. It is personal for Him. He wants to destroy them Himself, and not use something like the devil.  God cursed the Philistines with cancerous tumors when they took the Ark of the Contract. They were not insiders; they were outsiders and enemies. Thus, God cursed them Himself.  Their sickness was not the will of the devil, it was the will of God.

This is significant because if you claim God, and not Satan, gave you a sickness, then you are identifying yourself as a reprobate Egyptian or Philistine. If you say your sickness, is the will of God, then you are claiming you are God’s enemy. You are identifying yourself as under the curse of God. You are identifying yourself as God’s enemy. If God is giving you sickness, then indeed, God is your enemy not savior. He is attacking you, not saving you. Your immediate concern is to be saved from hell, not healed.  

There is one other category for sickness. Sicknesses come as a curse from the Fall of Adam and as a curse from the law of Moses. However, in Jesus Christ, Paul says in Galatians chapter 3 that Jesus became a curse for us, so that in substitutionary exchange we get miracles and the baptism of the Spirit. We do not bear curses; rather, we bear the blessing of Abraham. Just as with forgiveness of sins, you receive blessings in exchange for sin, by faith. If you doubt it, then do not expect to receive this exchange, as both Jesus Christ and James teach us.  If you claim to have cancers and arthritis as curses from God, you are identifying yourself as still under God’s curses and not under Jesus’ atonement. If you are under the atonement, then you have been removed from being under curses.

If you’re on team Jesus, you’re in the healing line, not the disease queue. Claiming God gave you the flu is like saying you’re on God’s naughty list, which, let’s be honest, is not where you want to be unless you’re auditioning for a role in a divine drama.

This brings us back to the beginning. As a Contract insider, God does not minister sickness, He ministers healing and miracles. Sickness only comes to me in two ways: one is by Satan and the other is by curses. I have been redeemed and rescued from both.

This is important because if you realize sickness is Satan’s will, not God’s, and is from Satan, not God, you are not only freed to fight it, but are commanded to fight it. When Jesus says cast out demons, it is not a suggestion from a spiritual guru. It is a command. When the bible says to resist Satan and make him flee, it is not a suggestion, but a command.  Even if the sickness is from Satan, as a discipline from God, as James says in chapter 5, with faith I will be healed, and I will be forgiven. Because it is Satan’s will, not God, even if it was in the context of discipline, the command to cast out Satan and to resist him and make him flee is a standing command from God. You are to always do this.

Therefore, you do not have the freedom to allow Satan to bulldoze over you with sickness, no matter the context. You always have the standing command to make Satan and the sickness to go away. You are commanded to be victorious over the kingdom of darkness. You do not have the right, as a soldier of God’s kingdom, to allow the kingdom of Satan to beat you. You are commanded to expand God’s kingdom with truth and power. They are the ones who back up from attacks, not you. The only way to do this is with faith and power. You must take the authority and power of God and expand His kingdom by healing the sick, casting out demons and commanding mountains to get out of your way.

In conclusion, if you’re sick, blame Satan, for he is your unwanted health advisor. As a card-carrying member of the Jesus Club, you’re commanded to kick Satan to the curb, to resist like you’re in a cosmic tug-of-war, and to heal like you’ve got divine health insurance. Remember, in this divine comedy, you’re strengthened to be the victor, not the victim![1]

[1] Grok AI (fun mode) personal communication 2024, helped with summaries.