Health and Healing: Why Christians get sick and remain sick

Return to Babylon Lecture notes

Who is our healer?
  • Jeremiah 17:14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed…

This seminar is based in two perspectives. One sets the Biblical perspective of our times and sets the tone for the second which is a direct criticism of the worldly systems we live in. For the person who is not interested in the biblical approach, I feel that part two is still applicable to daily life and choices and should awaken that person to the reality and dangers of the systems we are under.

My ultimate goal is to help point the reader to God who is the healer and the giver of life. I always say that I’ not so smart–but, I know Him who is smart.

The function of the holy spirit is to lead and teach us all truth. It is not the sole responsibility of some man, system, or organization to do this. This has to be the standard of our learning as Christians if we are to be truly wise according to God’s standards.

Having asked myself why do Christians become sick and stay sick I have always questioned the philosophical answer some men give me saying, “God is humbling you when He gives you sickness”. I believe that God would be a confusing God to do cruel things to His children whom He loves so dearly. The answer to this dilemma lies in the gospel of John 10:10 “The thief comes not but for to kill, to steal, and to destroy. I am come that they may have life and have it more abundantly”. Here we see two diametrically opposed ministries. One of kill, steal, and destroy and one of not only life but a life that is more abundant.

If life in all of its fullness is what our heavenly father designed for us as Christians then why are the Christians so defeated in so many aspects of life and especially health?

My heart is to draw back the curtain that cloaks the working of the “thief” as he covertly fools people into false systems of trade, protection, academics, medicine, and religion. This can only truly be accomplished by way of the holy spirit working n the reader as they read the words herein or else this seminar is just another opinion at best.

Nimrod, the Founder of Babylon

Babylon is considered by some to be a mystical place on earth a few thousand years ago. The simple truth is that Babylon is not only a literal place that once existed on the face of the earth but is also a biblical truth representing systems of trade, protection, academics, medicine, and religion. This system was first established in the city of Babylon then and is present now and will be in force until the fall of Babylon recorded in the book of Revelations chapter 18.

The origin of Babylon the city is recorded in the book of Genesis chapter 10. Nimrod is declared to be the founder thereof. Nimrod came from the cursed genealogy of Ham, who is also the father of Canaan, Genesis 10:6-8.

It is noteworthy that Nimrod transliterated from the Hebrew text is the word Mahrad which means “come, let us rebel”. Man was in the process of forsaking the one true God and endeavoring to make a name for themselves, Genesis 11:14. In order to forsake the protection and blessings of God they had to rely on walls of stone for their defense and protection, therefore, they built walls to the heavens. (a figure of speech meaning that having forsaken God, this was now their protection that kept the attackers out and all of the inhabitants of the city safe.) The children of Israel encountered these same walls in spying out the promised land and in the encounter with Jericho: Deuteronomy 1:28 and Joshua 6:20.

Another reference to Nimrod is in Genesis 10:9 where in the KJV, Nimrod is called the mighty hunter before the Lord. This sounds like a wonderful title handed out here but in the Hebrew text it is more accurately translated, “a mighty hunter of men’s souls”. He dogged people to not believe God or His word. He, Nimrod, had to seek men out and convince them that a system was effective and desirable and could take the place of God in their lives.

As men forsook God they had to build and develop their own systems of trade, protection, academics, medicine, and religion.

Lucifer, King of Babylon
  • Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!

There is an interesting translation in the Amplified version that calls Lucifer “the blasphemous and satanic king of Babylon” in this very verse of Isaiah 14:12.

The Strong’s concordance states that Lucifer is the “Title applied to king of Babylon”.

Every kingdom must have a king and the king of the kingdom (or system) of Babylon is Lucifer who is the angel that once was the right hand angel of God. Revelation 12:7-9 records the war in heaven and the casting out of the “old serpent” and his angels into the earth.

After being cast out, Lucifer set about to deceive the whole world. Revelations 12:9. This deception started in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter 3 where the serpent (the thing that glitters) changed the word of God saying “…Ye shall not surely die” and in the very next verse “…and ye shall be as gods…”.

Lucifer finally established his kingdom among men with the founding of Babel recorded in Genesis chapter 11. Here the children of men attempted to “build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven.” God’s judgment intervened in this project in Genesis chapter 11:7 and in verse 9 it reads “Therefore is the name of it called Babel.” The word Babel in Hebrew means confusion.

  • 1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace…
Forsaking a Fountain for a Cistern
  • Jeremiah 2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

In this passage of scripture God is not talking about the unbelieving nations or the heathens. God is talking to and about his people, the nation of Israel! God says his people have forsaken him. In Jeremiah God calls himself a fountain of living water. God is a God of unlimited supplies and riches just as a fountain supplies an unlimited supply of water. Biblically, water represents holy spirit. Physically, water represents what is needed to sustain life.

God says that man has carved out a cistern for himself in place of the fountain, God. Cisterns are built to hold a certain amount of water. Biblically speaking, man has tried to supply himself with a replacement for God’s spirit, wisdom, and help which is an impossibility. Physically, in doing this, Man has also limited his own supply of life sustaining water.

Furthermore, these man-made cisterns are broken! They leak out the very precious water they are designed to preserve. This means that what man has produced in building a cistern cannot supply holy spirit let alone the very physical water he needs to survive.

This scripture illustrates both man’s limited abilities and God’s rich mercy that allows man to survive even in the event that man rejects and forsakes God. He, God, still allows his rain fall on the just and the unjust alike, Matthew 5:45.

I have said earlier that when man forsakes God he has to form and develop a system of trade, protection, academics, medicine, and religion. God calls this a broken cistern. You pour your heart, life, and labor into the top and it all leaks out at the bottom!

1 Corinthians 1:25 states that the foolishness of God is wiser than men. This has to be a figure of speech because of the truth that God is perfect and therefore cannot be foolish. Figures of speech add emphasis to the truth in God’s wonderful word.

As wise as man ever gets he cannot even begin to approach God’s wisdom. Even God’s foolishness (if was even possible for God to be foolish) is far and beyond man’s capabilities and knowledge.

Where does Healing come from
  • Psalm 107:20 He sent his word and healed them…

This is God’s system for healing! Not only did God instill in the human body an innate ability to repair itself but he also gave us his word and desire for our lives which is for him to be the supreme healer of our infirmities and diseases.

I believe that there is an order for healing I call first, second, and third aid. First aid is to go immediately to God with the request for healing. Second aid would be to find another believing Christian to pray with you for your healing deliverance. Third aid would be to go to the doctor and “get the bone set” but never, ever before seeking God first and foremost for all of our healing.

  • 1 Peter 2:24b…by his stripes we were healed.

Since the fall of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden, man has been in a state of dying. Because of this man needed a savior. This savior is Jesus Christ. Jesus was and is God’s plan for redemption. Even to the point of paying the complete price for all our sins by the shedding of his blood on the cross. He paid the price for our healing by the broken body. The beatings he received were so fierce that he wasn’t even recognizable as a man. Isaiah 52:14.

All of our healing comes from God. Both in the way he made our bodies to heal themselves and the gifts of healing that are a part of the operation of holy spirit. As man forsakes God and circumvents God’s desire and ability to heal us, man has to find an alternative source for healing. This alternative source is based in man’s limited knowledge and abilities and not in God’s infinite knowledge and supreme abilities which surpass all the wisdom of man.

  • Exodus 15:26…for I am the Lord (Elohim rapha) that healeth thee.
  • Psalm 103:3…who (God) healeth all thy diseases.
  • Psalm 107:20 He sent his word and healed them…
Parallel between the Spiritual and Physical
  • 2 Chronicles 16:12 And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.

In the old testament there are numerous scriptures that indicate that when people needed help or healing they sought the man of God and the word of God that came from the man of God’s mouth. What is recorded in 2 Chronicles about King Asa is what happened when a king, who once sought after God, turned to the world and the worldly physicians for the healing he needed from God.

The simple truth is that this man, who originally had a heart to follow after God, turned to his own devices. This was after the record a few years prior to chapter 16:12 where he sought God for deliverance from mighty enemies and received his help from God. Asa later denied God ability to save his kingdom again and sought his own remedies. Likewise in his heart he sought after healing from the wisdom of man. Asa used his feet, the very things he should of used to carry him to God, to carry him to the physicians instead.

This parallel is no coincidence! He followed after a system that was not able to deliver him and received the deadly consequences of his pursuit.

Biblical healing parallels

In Revelations chapter 3:14-18 there is another striking parallel with the Laodiceans. These Laodiceans started out as a humble and poor church that depended upon God for their very sustenance. There were some amazing changes in circumstances that brought about great wealth and popularity to these people. The first was the development of black wool that was unique to the area and quickly became the fashionable fabric desired by all. This event alone brought great wealth to the Laodiceans.

The second event brought even more wealth and also sent them to the top of the medical system of the times. It was the discovery of “Phrygian powder”. This mineral rich ointment healed the opthalmia, the blindness, of the Eastern people.

So these people of Laodicea went from being a humble, poor, God fearing church to what God calls lukewarm. Neither hot for the word and will of God or cold but indifferent. Even to the point where God says in Revelations 3:17 “Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing…” The Laodiceans were denying the source of their supply, God, saying “I am rich and increased” indicating the fact that they were responsible for their own wealth. Furthermore they say “…and have need of nothing!” At this point they are totally reliant on their own limited abilities and the systems of the world as their source of supply.

In the latter part of verse 17 of chapter 3 we see God’s divine assessment of their situation. “…and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and blind, and naked.”

These Laodiceans had the very wool and cloth that was clothing them falling short of God’s judgment as he says they were naked. They possessed the very cure for the blindness of the Eastern people medically and yet God called them blind. A very sad state of affairs for a church to fall into and yet here it is documented line by line in the scriptures.

The parallel is stunning and the very same is happening is happening today in man’s vain and pitiful attempts to supply his own system of trade, protection, academics, medicine, and religion. Our opportunity is and always has been to remain meek and humble before our God regardless of our own abilities, health, and apparent riches.

The Fall of Babylon
  • Revelation 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen…

This biblical record is detailing a future event seen by revelation. This 18th chapter covers the fall of Babylon, the system that is now in effect and an integral part of our day to day living.

  • Revelation 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

This is the system that rules today. A system of trade, protection, academics, medicine, and religion. It is a system that is inundated with diverse pleasures and tastes that are designed to lure man into dependency upon its schemes and carry man always further from the intimate relationship our heavenly supplier desires.

To commit fornication you have to leave the one relationship with your betrothed and have an inordinate relationship with another. This is exactly what happens when we forsake God and his promises to us and seek another system of trade, protection, academics, medicine, or religion as a replacement.

  • Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not her plagues.

This is God’s unmistakable call to his people for them to leave this wicked and misleading system and adhere to the standards and ethics of his bible.

  • Revelation 18:11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and morn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more…

The word of God now proceeds to name this merchandise of gold, silver, stones, linen, etc. It culminates with the shocking mention of the merchandise of slaves and men’s souls.

  • Revelation 18:23 …for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

The sorceries are to blame! Isn’t that a relief? We don’t see a large amount of evidence that sorcery is being practiced by our government as a means to deceive us. So it sounds like we may be safe from this evil mentioned here, or are we?

It doesn’t take but a little research in a common bible concordance to find that the Greek word that the English word sorceries is translated from is the Greek word pharmakeia. It is not an overtly scandalous parade of sorceries that threatens to deceive and captivate us (although there plenty of mischief and trouble to be witnessed at every turn of the newspaper), but rather an increasingly strong medical and academic system. This system is taking us by stealth with the increased usage and demands of and for pharmakeia which is drugs and chemicals used for the purpose of altering the function and cellular structure of the human body. This practice is dangerously toxic to the body and also contrary to the will of God.

When we forsake God as our healer we are reduced to this: The use of pharmaceuticals and medical practices for our health and healing.

The truth is that, for the most part, medical science isn’t producing cures and treating causes of diseases, they are merely treating symptoms. The pharmakeia mentioned here is not the illegal use and abuse of drugs but rather the common acceptance of prescribed drugs that only treat the symptoms. Furthermore, the side effects are sometimes and even often worse than the original ailments and the toxic effects are devastating at best to the body.

A deception is something that is not easy to spot if it is a good one. The better the lie, the more people fall into the snares and pitfalls. Here in Revelations God says the pharmaceuticals are the culprits that deceive all the nations. The use of illicit drugs has been around for centuries and the people that indulge in them are deceived thereby. But what about the commonly accepted chemicals we use daily in our food, water, toiletries, cosmetics, and over counter drugs? Are these items exempt from the bible because they are not pharmaceuticals?

The Webster’s dictionary defines a pharmacist as “one engaged in preparing, preserving, compounding, and dispensing drugs.” A drug is defined as “A substance other than food intended to affect the structure or function of the body.”

It doesn’t take intent to cause a change in the structure or function of the body using chemicals or drugs and only a relatively small number of people are utilizing illicit or illegal drugs. Literally billions of pounds a year of drugs are dumped purposefully into our public water supplies, sprayed on our crops, added to our already devitalized foods as preservatives, colorings, flavorings, and insecticides, applied to our bodies in the forms of soaps, toothpastes, lotions, and cosmetics, and ingested purposefully with the intent of treating some symptom we do not understand like a simple cold or headache or even depression. My friend, are we exempting these chemicals in our minds because of their common acceptance or have we been deceived by a clever system that has crept in stealthily and gains a friendly acceptance little by little? Are we so “enlightened” in our minds that we have closed them to the truth and even shunned or persecuted people who attempt to expose this deadly system? I tearfully and trembling say, yes.

  • Revelation 9:21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries…

Here is another usage of the Greek word pharmakeia translated as sorceries. The bible says that this something to be repented of and not accepted or even sought after.

Biblical healing conclusion:
  • 3 John 2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
  • Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge…
  • Ecclesiastes 12:13 Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Authored by Neurodevelopment Consultant, Cancer Nutritionist Craig Stellpflug NDC, CNC, Healing Pathways Medical Clinic Scottsdale, AZ
Copyright 1996 Craig Stellpflug© Permission is hereby granted to copy and distribute this article but only in its entirety

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