By Buddy Dawson
Divine Encounter
Week 1, in a multi-part series.
Is it God’s will to heal today? Has the age of miracles passed away with the Apostles? Are the Gifts of the Spirit spoken of in I Corinthians 12 for today? If it is God’s will to heal today, why isn’t everyone healed? Does God still use sickness and disease to correct or punish His people?
When I came into the Kingdom of God almost 38 years ago I was totally void of any doctrines or preconceived ideas about God’s Word. I had not been raised in church and therefore knew nothing about the Bible and its eternal truth. I had been seeking diligently for something outside of myself to trust and believe in, when Jesus visited me in the balcony of a beautiful Georgia monastery. Amazingly, Jesus Christ loved me enough to reveal Himself personally to me on that Easter Sunday.
The year was 1976, and after this visitation my life was changed forever. During this encounter, all I could feel was love, indescribable love; an unconditional love; a love so strong that I melted into a crumpled heap. I began to sob, not caring that the brothers downstairs could possibly hear me.
Even though I was engulfed in this love, questions flooded my mind: “What is happening to me? Who is this person standing behind me?”
My highly logical mind answered, “All of the stress has finally caused a nervous breakdown; this is the result of all the drugs you have been using; these strange people have put a curse on you!”
That was my logical mind, but my heart was screaming, “I never want to leave this place or lose this wonderful feeling.”
Later the same day I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ totally and completely.
But, even with this dramatic encounter, questions remained.
Since that day, I have endeavored as a teacher of God’s Word to open the scriptures to those like myself with logical, but sometimes faith destroying questions.
The Holy Spirit has put it on my heart to debunk these questions and others, using scriptures to establish truth. Jesus used signs and wonders to draw the multitudes to Himself. The early church used the same method to turn the world upside down as established in Acts 17:6. It is my belief that until this tried and true example is implemented today we will remain in bondage to lifeless religion — becoming even more irrelevant and impotent in a world of lost, sick and hurting people.
If you can grab hold of the truth, the truth can indeed set us free.
I have no ax to grind or denominational doctrine to protect, only a love for His Word and His people. I do not profess to have all of the answers but it is my desire to bring light into this often-misunderstood subject.
