1. Sickness is the result of Sin and Satan
There was no sickness and disease in the Garden of Eden. Sickness and death are the results of sin. Sin caused the physical bodies of Adam and Eve to become mortal, which means they were doomed to death. Their bodies became susceptible to sickness, disease, and eventually death after the fall. In the near future, when every child of God receives a resurrected body, sickness and disease will be eradicated. Until that time, sickness and disease operate in this present world as enemies of all mankind, enforced by Satan and his hordes. John Alexander Dowie said, “Sickness is the foul offspring of its Father Satan and its Mother Sin.”
If you believe the sickness in your body came from God, it will be very difficult to believe in Divine Healing. Therefore, we must establish that sickness was never part of God’s plan and it is not His will for people today. God is the author of Healing, while Satan is the author of sickness. This distinction is made clear in the scriptures.
John 10:10 says, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
If it kills, steals and destroys it is the work of the thief. There is nothing in this world that has done more to kill, steal and destroy human life than sickness. This was not God’s plan and it is not His doing. In fact, Jesus spent His entire ministry doing just the opposite.
Jesus never made anyone sick and He is the will of God in action. If God was making people sick to teach them or punish them as some say, you would expect to see at least one instance where Jesus used this method. But He never made anyone sick or told anyone their sickness was from God.
The Ministry of Jesus
Acts 10:38 says, “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” The truth is, healing is from God and sickness is from the devil. Matthew 4:24 is another scripture which bears this out. It says, “Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon- possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.”
Later on, He identified Satan as being responsible for a woman’s arthritic condition. “So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” (Luke 13:16) He promptly healed her from her ailment and proved once again that Satan is behind sickness and disease and God is the Healer.
The Apostle Paul followed this same pattern as the anointing on his ministry was responsible for driving sickness out of people, demons and all. “Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.” (Acts 19:11-12)
The fact is, God wants you to be well, and He is not responsible for your illness. You can't believe in God's healing for your body if you think He caused your sickness. Understanding that God is the Healer and that sickness and disease result from the original sin and Satan is the first step in preparing to receive your healing by faith. Find additional scriptures which bring out this aspect of healing in the list at the end of this Booklet.