Scripture Reading:    Acts 19:11, 12;

                                  I Timothy 5:2

"Do you believe God heals today"? We have been asked this question countless times, and our answer is always the same. "Yes, God heals today, but not through the so-called divine healers." We also like to point out that while God is fully capable of providing instantaneous, miraculous cures, these are the exception rather than the rule in this dispensation.

One of the promises God made to Israel was that if she would obey the covenant He made with them, the Lord would "take away from thee all sickness" (Deuteronomy 7:15). When Christ came to earth as "a minister of the circumcision (Jews)" (Romans 15:8a), He performed many healings to demonstrate His power and authority in Israel. All of this was done "to confirm the promises made unto the fathers" (Romans 15:8b).

When Israel rejected her Messiah, an refused the offer of the kingdom made through the Twelve Apostles (Acts 3:19-21), God raised up the Apostle Paul to go to the Gentiles (Romans 11:13). Paul was given the "signs of an apostle" (II Corinthians 2:12) to confirm that he was divinely sanctioned.

As God began phasing out Israel's covenant, Paul was able to work "special miracles...so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them" (Acts 19:11,12). Yet, only a few years later, Paul wrote to Timothy, "Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities" (I Timothy 5:23). When God brought down the final curtain on Israel's stage (Acts 28:27, 28), Paul's gift to heal was withdrawn.