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This Week in Auto Racing May 31 - June 2
Dover, DE – All three of NASCAR's national touring series are racing at Dover International Speedway, while the IZOD IndyCar Series is running its first doubleheader of the season in Detroit this weekend.
Sprint Cup Series
FedEx 400 - Dover International Speedway - Dover, Del.
With the regular season in the Sprint Cup Series now reaching the halfway point, Brad Keselowski is hoping to get back on track to avoid fear of missing out on this year's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
Keselowski, the defending Sprint Cup champion, is currently 10th in the point standings and has yet to win a race this year. He is just three points ahead of 11th-place Kyle Busch, who already has two victories for the season.
The top 10 in points after the Sept. 7 race at Richmond will qualify for the Chase. The two wild card positions will go to those drivers between 11th-20th in points that have the most wins.
Keselowski sat third in points following his sixth-place finish in the April 21 race at Kansas, but he has finished 15th or worse in the four events since then, dropping him six positions in the standings. Last Sunday at Charlotte, Keselowski had his streak of 46 races without a DNF come to an end when he was caught up in an accident with Danica Patrick late in the race. He finished a season-worse 36th.
This weekend, the series will be at Dover for race 13 in the 26-race regular season. Dover could be where Keselowski's season moves in the right direction again. Here are two reasons why.
Several key members on Keselowski's No. 2 Penske Racing team, including crew chief Paul Wolfe, are back after serving their suspensions for two points- paying races due to illegal parts found on his car prior to the start of the April 13 event at Texas. Car chief Jerry Kelley, team engineer Brian Wilson and team manager Travis Geisler were suspended as well. NASCAR had penalized each member with a six-race suspension, but National Stock Car Racing Chief Appellate Officer John Middlebrook reduced it to two after Penske made its final appeal.
Kevin Buskirk served as Keselowski's crew chief at Darlington (May 11) and Charlotte, as well as the all-star race (May 18).
"It's going to be nice to get all of our guys back," Keselowski said. "We have one of the strongest teams in the garage. I'm very proud of everyone that stepped up during the last three weeks. We've really improved our depth at Penske Racing, but now everyone can go back to their normal jobs. Hopefully that means we can get some of our mojo back."
Keselowski won the most recent Sprint Cup race at Dover last September, which was the third event in the Chase. He has not been to victory lane since then.
"I'd like to have one, and I feel like this is the week to get it done," said Keselowski, who presently has a 19-race winless streak. "I feel like we've been very, very fast and very under the radar because we haven't one, qualified well, or, two, executed in the race."
Prior to his win in the fall 2012 race, Keselowski had finished no better than 12th in five starts at Dover.
If Keselowski fails to qualify for the Chase this year, he would be become the second driver to miss the playoffs in NASCAR's premier series following his championship season. In 2006, Tony Stewart did not make the Chase after winning the series title the year prior.
"I would certainly like to be in a better position than where I'm at right now," Keselowski noted.
Jimmie Johnson enters this race with a 32-point lead over Carl Edwards. Johnson won at Dover one year ago. He claimed his seventh victory at this track, placing him in a tie with Bobby Allison and Richard Petty for most wins here.
"I'm extremely proud of that," Johnson said. "I've worked hard to put myself in this position and so does the team, and we've been able to capitalize on those opportunities and hard work and get stuff done."
Forty-three teams are on the preliminary entry list for the FedEx 400.
Nationwide Series
5-Hour Energy 200 - Dover International Speedway - Dover, Del.
Kyle Busch has an opportunity to break more records in the Nationwide Series this weekend.
Busch has been practically unstoppable in NASCAR's second-tier series this season, winning six races, including a victory last Saturday at Charlotte.
He claimed his seventh win at Charlotte, which broke a tie with Mark Martin for most victories in the series at that track. If Busch wins Saturday's 200- mile race at Dover, he will surpass Todd Bodine and Carl Edwards for most victories (three) here.
A driver from Joe Gibbs Racing has won five of the last seven Nationwide races at Dover. Last year, Joey Logano, in his final season with JGR, won both events at this track.
"This is a favorite track for most in the garage, because it's so unique with the concrete and high banking," Busch said. "JGR has obviously run well here, sweeping both events in 2012. So we have good notes to return with. I have high expectations for this one, since I feel I know the track pretty well and I know (crew chief) Adam (Stevens) has been successful here too. He won both of the races here last year. So I want another stab at it. and this time we can win it together."
If Busch takes the checkered flag at Dover, his seventh win will come in the 11th race of the season. The earliest a driver in Nationwide has captured his seventh victory of a season was in the 16th race of 1984 when Sam Ard won at South Boston (Va.) Speedway.
Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth and Logano join Busch as those Sprint Cup Series regulars scheduled to compete in this race.
After posting his eighth straight top-10 finish at Charlotte, Regan Smith holds a 29-point lead over Sam Hornish Jr. in the Nationwide standings.
Thirty-eight teams are on the preliminary entry list for the 5-Hour Energy 200.
Camping World Truck Series
Lucas Oil 200 - Dover International Speedway - Dover, Del.
Matt Crafton will celebrate a career milestone in the Camping World Truck Series on Friday at Dover International Speedway.
Crafton, the current points leader, is expected to make his 300th start. He will become the sixth driver in series history to reach that number of starts, joining Rick Crawford (336), Ron Hornaday Jr. (327), Terry Cook (314), Dennis Setzer (314) and David Starr (311).
All of Crafton's starts have come consecutively.
Crafton heads to Dover with 22-point lead over second-place and rookie driver Jeb Burton. In a record 12 starts at Dover, Crafton has posted two top-5 finishes and seven top-10s. His best finish at this one-mile, concrete- surfaced track is third, which came in 2011.
"Ever since I first went (to Dover), it's been the kind of racetrack where you can move around and find a better groove, and as a driver, that's all you can ask for," Crafton said. "That's what I love about Dover, the great side-by- side racing. That's what the fans come there to see, not everyone freight- training around the bottom of the racetrack. I was always leery of concrete, but Dover is an awesome racetrack, and Bristol is the same way. You can move around wherever you need to. So now I think concrete is pretty cool."
Crafton has finished no worse than ninth in the first five truck races this season. He won the April 20th event at Kansas.
Two weeks ago at Charlotte, Crafton finished fourth after bouncing back from a two-lap deficit. He fell one lap down after pitting under green just before a caution came. The ThorSport Racing driver also dropped a lap behind when he was forced to pit for a flat tire.
"I feel like there's nothing that could come up, at any racetrack, that this team couldn't overcome," he said. "If we continue to do what we're doing, at the end of the season, we're going to look back at nights and days like we've had at Charlotte and Martinsville and say that's why we continued to contend for this championship, because these guys never give up."
Thirty-four teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Lucas Oil 200. Kyle Busch is the only Sprint Cup Series competitor scheduled to compete in this race.
Chevrolet Indy Dual/Detroit - The Raceway at Belle Isle Park - Detroit, Mich.
The IndyCar Series will hold its first doubleheader of the season this weekend at Detroit's Bell Isle Park.
It's the first time in IndyCar history two full-distance races take place at a venue on the same weekend. The street circuits in Toronto and Houston also will host doubleheaders this season. Toronto is scheduled for July 13-14, and Houston's Reliant Park, which is a new venue on this year's series schedule, is slated for Oct. 5-6.
The first 70-race at Belle Isle Park is scheduled for Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET, and the second is slated for Sunday at the same time. If a driver wins both events here, that person will collect a $50,000 bonus.
Tony Kanaan comes to Detroit after a very busy week of appearances and media obligations following his victory in last Sunday's 97th running of the Indianapolis 500. The 38-year-old Brazilian won IndyCar's most prestigious race of the season for the first time in his 12th attempt.
Kanaan will now have to endure a physical weekend in Detroit.
"I hope I survive by the time I get there," Kanaan said. "I don't know what to think about the doubleheader. I think it's going to be extremely brutal on the drivers. One race is hard enough. Two in a weekend is going to be extremely tough."
With the win at Indy, Kanaan climbed up to seventh in the point standings. He is currently 44 points behind Marco Andretti, who took over the top spot after finishing fourth in the Indy 500.
Can Kanaan keep his momentum going in Detroit?
"I have to think so ,especially coming here with this good momentum, I think we definitely can," he said.
Qualifying for race 1 will follow the regular three-round format, including the "fast six" final segment, for road and street circuits.
Last week, IndyCar announced that qualifying for the second race in Detroit, Toronto and Houston will be split into two groups. Each group runs for 12 minutes, with five minutes of guaranteed green-flag time. Group 1 will consist of odd-numbered positions on the practice time sheet, while even-numbered positions will make up group 2.
The starting field positions for race 2 will be determined by the best time ranking of the two groups combined, from fastest to slowest. The fastest qualifier earns the pole position.
"It's going to be physically and mentally demanding, not only for the drivers but for the crews and for the cars," said Simon Pagenaud, who finished third in last year's IndyCar race at Belle Isle Park. "The biggest thing is if you crash in qualifying, then you can't really go racing. It's going to be very important to take as much risk as possible without crashing the car because that would be quite dramatic on the event itself.
"I'm looking forward to it. There's a lot of points available, obviously. Detroit is a racetrack I really enjoy being at, driving on. It should be an interesting weekend."
When the series competed at Belle Isle last year, the race was stopped shortly after James Hinchcliffe struck a piece of asphalt, sending him into the tire barrier in turn seven. Chunks of asphalt in turns 6, 7 and 10 were coming loose before Hinchcliffe's incident occurred on lap 40.
Track personnel repaired the affected areas on the circuit with an epoxy compound that required about 30 minutes of drying time. The race resumed on lap 46. However, IndyCar officials had to shorten the event by 30 laps due to darkness approaching and safety concerns.
Scott Dixon dominated the whole race, starting on the pole and leading all 60 laps. Dario Franchitti finished second to give Chip Ganassi Racing its second straight 1-2 finish. The week before Detroit, Franchitti and Dixon finished first and second, respectively, at Indianapolis.
Twenty-five teams are on the entry list for the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit.


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Cashman Theater Information and Schedule
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COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- The UT Martin Skyhawks (6-2/3-1 OVC) came
up with a couple of big plays and took advantage of four Tennessee
Tech turnovers to hand the Golden Eagles (3-5/1-3 OVC) a 35-7 Ohio
Valley Conference loss Thursday night in a steady rain in Tucker
After sophomore Henry Sailes exploded for an 87-yard kickoff return for a Golden Eagle touchdown to tie the score at 7-7 late in the first quarter, the Skyhawks scored 21 unanswered points in the second quarter to build a 28-7 lead.
Brandyn Young ran four yards for his second TD of the game with 11:35 to play in the first half, capping an eight-play, 41-yard drive to make it 14-7.
Tech attempted a field goal four minutes later but a mishandled snap forced kicker Justin Kraemer to try to run, and he fumbled. Dontrell Miller returned the fumble 60 yards for a touchdown that turned the momentum toward the Skyhawks, and Roren Thomas took a pass 82 yards for a touchdown four minutes later to finish the first half scoring.
Early in the third quarter, UTM quarterback Cade Thompson found Mike Hicks on a 25-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-7.
Young led all ball carriers with 107 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries, while Thompson finished the game 10-for-21 for 175 yards and two scores. Thomas had four catches for 118 yards for UT Martin.
Junior tailback Cedric Wilkerson posted his career-best, rushing for 75 yards on 15 carries, and Derrian Waters added 25 yards on eight tries.
Lee Sweeney was 15-for-29 for 97 yards.
Defensively, other than the 82-yard TD pass-and-catch, the Golden Eagles limited UT Martin to 262 yards of total offense. Senior linebacker Corey Reed had a career-high 20 tackles, including two tackles-for-loss, while senior Maurice Smith added 13 stops. Taron Ryce had an interception and Dedrick Miley forced a fumble when he sacked Thompson.
The Golden Eagles visit Austin Peay next Saturday (Oct. 25) to face the Governors in another game for the Sgt. York Trophy.
Comments from coach Watson Brown
Martin is a good team, they played well and deserved to win. They take care of the football.
We just don't give ourselves any chance. We just keep shooting ourselves in the foot. It's amazing how many poor things we can do.
We're really struggling on offense. When you're struggling and you play somebody that good, you really see what work you have to get done.
Our defense played solid, but they should. It's raining and the ball is wet. That's when the trenches matter, you've got to stop the run, and run the ball. We stopped the run decently, but gave up a couple big plays here and there.
We're just not playing near well enough to give ourselves a chance to win. We make so many mistakes, and the other team then gets a lead and can just sit on it.
Every time we start to get momentum, we seem to find a way to shoot ourselves in the foot, whether it's a bad snap on a field goal, all kinds of stuff, it's unbelievable.
We have a long, long way to go, but I'll tell you what, these kids are trying. It's not a lack of effort, it's a lack of playing good. That's about all I can say right now.
I will be very surprised if Martin isn't one of the teams in the playoffs at the end of the year.
Comments from Cedric Wilkerson
I think we showed another dimension of our offense tonight. We have some good receivers, especially freshmen stepping up, but I think tonight we showed that we can run the ball too.
Moving the ball as an offense. We have a lot of talent on offense, and we haven't found our true identity yet. We know we can pass the ball, and run it, but we haven't been able to help out our defense and put points on the board, like we know we should.
As a running back, we love when it rains because we know that we're going to be pounding the ball. I feel like as running backs we stepped up to the plate when our number was called. The line did a beautiful job, every time they came back to the huddle they were excited because they kept pushing the defense back.
We want to let the seniors, give them something to talk about. We as a team, want to be playing for pride, because we still haven't found our true identity in our offense yet, but when we do, we're going to be really dangerous.
Comments from Corey Reed
We practice all the time running to the ball. That's why we make a lot of plays, because we're always running to the ball. We worked on the bubble screen all week in practice.
In practice on special teams we practiced with a wet ball, because we knew the rain was coming.
We don't change anything in practice, we'll still show up on Sunday at 1:30, we're still going to practice the same way.
Comments from Henry Sailes
I was just trying to execute what coach Cox taught me to do, stick to my blocks and always stick to the outside, no matter what happens.
Pre-game notes
Tonight's match-up will be Tech's first of three games in the hunt for the 2008 Sgt. York Trophy. The Sgt. York Trophy goes to the winner in the series between the four Tennessee Ohio Valley Conference schools, Tech, UT Martin, Austin Peay and Tennessee State.
The game-time temperature is 64 degrees, with a steady rain. It will be the first game this season that Tech has played in the rain.
Tonight's game is the final night game at Tucker Stadium this season. Tech's final two home contests are both slated for afternoon kickoffs.
UT Martin RB Brandyn Young is the OVC's reigning Offensive Player of the Week. Young ran for 213 yards and four touchdowns against Eastern Illinois last week.
Tech was the last team Skyhawk opponent to not punt. The Golden Eagles accomplished the feat on Nov. 21, 2002.
The Golden Eagles will take the field wearing purple jerseys, with white pants, and white helmets. The Skyhawks will be covered in white from head to toe, with white jerseys, helmets and pants.
First quarter notes
On UTM's first possession, Tech CB Taron Ryce intercepted a UTM pass at the Tech 14 yard-line. Ryce had two interceptions against the Skyhawks last season. The interception is the first turnover gained by the Golden Eagles in OVC play this season.
Shortly after the Golden Eagles took over, UTM forced and recovered a fumble at the Tech 41 yard-line. UTM was unable to convert on a field goal on the drive.
The Skyhawks were able to put together an eight play, 71-yard scoring drive, to take a 7-0 lead. However, Tech's Henry Sailes returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, to tie the score at 7. It was the first kickoff returned for a touchdown for the Golden Eagles this season.
Second quarter notes
With Tech attempting a 44-yard field goal trailing 14-7, a botched snap was picked up by kicker Justin Kraemer, and fumbled at the ball, which was returned for a UTM touchdown, giving the Skyhawks a 21-7 lead.
After a missed Tech field goal, UTM took over and completed a pass for 82 yards and a score, to take a 28-7 lead.
Halftime notes
There were only four total penalties in the first half. Tech was penalized three times for 18 yards, while UT Martin was flagged once for five yards.
There were a total of five turnovers in the first half. Tech took a fumble and an interception, while the Skyhawks took two fumbles in an interception.
The Skyhawks dominated most offensive categories in the first half, including a 220-53 advantage in total offense.
Third quarter notes
On a play you won't see very often, Tech QB Lee Sweeney attempted a quick punt on a fourth down, which was blocked by UTM. The Skyhawks were scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive, and took a 35-7 lead.
Tech's Cedric Wilkerson broke loose on a punt return, running 24 yards, before fumbling the ball at the Tech 45 yard-line, which was recovered by UTM.
Fourth quarter notes
On his 15th carry of the game, Wilkerson reached the 75-yard rushing mark, his highest of the season, and his career.


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Bolton's Marcos Alonso close to Fiorentina summer move, says father
Bolton's Marcos Alonso is close to securing a move to Fiorentina on a free transfer in the summer, says his father.
By Simone Bargellini
Last Updated: 18/04/13 5:16pm
Alonso is out of contract at the Reebok Stadium in the summer and yet to agree a new deal with the Trotters despite being offered an extension.
Fiorentina are thought to be frontrunners for his signature, while Stoke and Celtic have also been linked with the 22-year-old former Real Madrid youngster.
Alonso's father and agent, Marcos Alonso Pena, says a move to Serie A with the Viola at the end of the campaign is a likely option for the defender.
But Alonso senior insists assisting Bolton's promotion push is his son's main priority at the moment.
He told tuttomercatoweb of the youngster, who joined the Trotters from Real in 2010: "Yes, Fiorentina are very, very close to Marcos.
"We were in Florence for the first time in December, to speak with the Viola.
"But now Marcos wants to finish this season quietly with Bolton, trying to do his best professional job to bring the club into the Premier League."


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How to Save the Senate
Lyndon B. Johnson is usually remembered as a man who knew how to get his way. But looking at LBJ's reign as party leader in the Senate, it's important to recall how the story ended.
After eight years of iron-fisted rule, Democrats had had enough of Johnson's ways. And when the time came to replace him, they chose a man in Sen. Mike Mansfield who would restore the Senate to a place where consensus, cooperation and mutual respect would be prized.
Story Continued Below
Unfortunately, Senate Democrats once again have a leader in Sen. Harry Reid who seems to think the right of all states' representatives in the Senate to be heard is optional.
The result has been greater acrimony between the two parties and a tendency of the majority Democrats to push for partisan legislation, such as the Affordable Care Act, that only guarantees greater instability in our laws.
A good example came last week when Sen. Reid refused to consider a single Republican amendment to an unemployment bill.
In this debate, Senate Democrats seem far more interested in providing temporary relief from the pains inflicted by the Obama economy than in working on ways to help people escape it. But Sen. Reid's refusal to even debate common-sense reforms that would help those struggling with long-term joblessness, or sensible proposals to cover the cost of assisting them, only makes sense in the larger context of his tightening hold on the legislative process.
Last week, I decided it was time to say something about these problems in the Senate. It's time everyone understood what has been lost, what that means for our country and what can be done about it.
My main goal has been for senators from both parties to step back from the day-to-day legislative fights and see the Senate as a place where the partisan tensions that have always existed in America can been mediated and resolved.
Some people seem to think that partisanship is a modern invention. It's not. What's different today is that Democrats have chosen to neglect the greatest legislative tool we have to work out those differences.
With six-year terms, equal representation for every state, and rules that more or less require that major legislation be resolved on a bipartisan basis, the Senate has always played a uniquely conciliatory role in our nation's history.
That's why when you look at the vote tallies for some of the more far-reaching legislation over the past century, for example, the Senate was broadly in agreement.
Medicare and Medicaid were both approved with the support of about half the members of the minority.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed with the votes of 30 out of 32 members of the Republican minority.
Only six senators voted against the Social Security Act.
Only eight voted against the Americans With Disabilities Act.
None of this happened by throwing these bills together in a back room, then sending them to the floor with a stopwatch running. It happened through a laborious process of persuasion and coalition-building. It took time and patience and hard work.
Importantly, it also guaranteed that every one of these laws had stability and wouldn't be endlessly relitigated.
Now compare that to the attitude behind Obamacare. When Democrats couldn't convince Republicans that this bill was worth supporting as written, they plowed ahead on their own and passed it on a party-line vote.
That's why the chaos this law has visited on our country is not just tragic, it was entirely predictable. Chaos will always be the result if you approach legislation without regard for the views of the other side.
My point is that the Senate exists precisely to prevent the kind of outcome we saw on Obamacare. When the Senate is allowed to work the way it was designed to work, it arrives at a result that's acceptable to people all along the political spectrum.


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Pakistani defence minister Khawaja Asif told the lower house of parliament, the national assembly, in Islamabad on 19 January that a deal with the United States for the sale of eight new F-16 fighters had been delayed due to "an Indian lobby" as well as Pakistan's former ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, lobbying against it.
IHS Jane's has previously reported that the agreement, which was finalised in October 2015, was being held up due to opposition from some members of the US Congress.
Asif's remarks suggested that the Pakistani government was concerned at the highest level about the delay, although he stated that "as of today" the US government was committed to supplying the F-16s, adding that delivery of the fighters could take place in another two years.


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BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA—The roar that followed Adam Scott's Masters-winning putt at Augusta National could only be heard on the broadcast so many thousand miles away on Australia's east coast.
But distance doesn't really matter Down Under.
Within seconds of Scott's 12-foot putt finding the cup on the second playoff hole at Augusta, fans who had been awake since dawn Monday and were either on their way — or purposely late — to work did a lot of celebrating on their own.
Commuters screamed cheers on buses, car horns tooted. Even a radio interview with the prime minister on the national broadcaster was interrupted to give updates on the Masters — well before the best possible result was known.
Golf fans everywhere in this sports-mad country rejoiced.
Shouts of "You little beauty" echoed down a usually quiets. Shopkeepers at Peregian Beach, near a resort course designed by Adam's father, Phil Scott, spoke of the pride of having a Masters champion from their neck of the woods.
No Australian had ever won the green jacket, although a lot had come close at Augusta. The 32-year-old Scott, who tied for second with fellow Australian Jason Day two years ago.
It almost seemed like it wouldn't happen and Greg Norman, himself on the receiving end of so many painful Masters memories, wondered if the heavens had decreed that an Australian would never win at Augusta.
Scott thought he had the Masters, and his first major title, clinched when he made a 20-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole of regulation and was sitting in the scoring room waiting for Angel Cabrera to finish off his round in the final group Sunday.
But Cabrera produced a great shot of his own, a 7-iron to 3 feet for birdie on 18 to force a playoff.
"The golf gods can't be this cruel to Australia," Norman said in a text to friends who were watching nervously.
The preparations for a possible Australian win began overnight Sunday on social media, hours before Scott, Day and fellow Australian Mark Leishman began the day as three of the top five on the leaderboard.
Aussie golf fans even developed their own Twitter hashtag: itsourtime. And Scott obviously thought it was, too.
Tom Watson, who missed the cut at Augusta this year, tweeted: "You showed great courage Adam . . . and resiliency from last year's disappointment at Lytham." Scott bogeyed the last four holes last year to lose the British Open by a shot to Ernie Els.
Jarrod Lyle, an Australian golfer recovering from leukemia, posted: "you (censored) beauty Scotty. Great win well deserved."
Jessica Korda, a member of the LPGA tour who won last year's Women's Australian Open, tweeted: "Adam Scott!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A million girls just fell in love."
Scott and Day came close to winning in 2011 at Augusta but were left stranded by South African champion Charl Schwartzel's late run of four consecutive birdies.
Another Australian, 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, was also in the hunt that year, but finished tied for fourth, four shots behind. Surprisingly, Ogilvy didn't qualify this year.
Norman made an art form out of not winning at Augusta. In 1986, Jack Nicklaus shot a 30 on the back nine to take the green jacket from him. In 1987, Larry Mize chipped in from 140 feet during a playoff to leave Norman second. In 1996, a six-shot lead over Nick Faldo wasn't enough when Norman shot a final-round 78.
In his victory speech Sunday night, Scott was gracious in thanking his mentor: "Greg Norman has been incredible to me and all the young golfers in Australia. Part of this definitely belongs to him."
Reached at his home in south Florida, Norman told The Associated Press: "I'm over the moon. Sitting there watching Adam, I had a tear in my eye. That's what it was all about. It was Adam doing it for himself, and for the country."
Norman was so nervous watching TV that he said he went to the gym when the final group made the turn. He headed home for the last four holes and was texting with friends as his emotions shifted with every putt.
"I can only imagine how everyone else felt when I was playing," Norman said.
Australian politicians quickly got in on the act, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard saying: "By any measure this is a historic day for Australian sport." Sports Minister Kate Lundy said the high-profile win would inspire other Australians to take up the sport as golf returns to the Olympics at Rio in 2016.
Keith Urban, the Nashville-based country music star who grew up in Queensland state not far from Scott, tweeted: "ADAM SCOTT!!!! You are the man! Congrats mate. -KU."
A lot of Urban's mates appeared to agree, with nearly 400 congratulatory Scott retweets sent out not soon after.
A tweet from British boy band One Direction member Niall Horan was retweeted 12,000 times in less than three hours.
"Yeaaahhhh Adam Scott ya legend! Doin it for the Aussies!" Horan said.
The win seemed to transcend all sports in Australia, with former star cricketer Shane Warne describing Scott's winning putt as "absolutely awesome." Rugby union international Quade Cooper hashtagged "fistpump" and said Scott's new piece of wardrobe was the "coolest green jacket going around."
There was a minor faux pas Monday from the sport's national governing body, the PGA of Australia. Late in the final round, it sent out a tweet saying: "We need a mistake from the big hitting Argentine down 13."
A few minutes later, the PGA was criticized by a California follower: "Really? (hash)badsportsmanship."
The PGA of Australia quickly tweeted a reply: "We shouldn't wish bad luck for anyone and the previous tweet was bad sportsmanship Clearly let our enthusiasm get in the way."
Cabrera hit into the creek on the 13th and later bogeyed the hole to fall out of the lead.
Social media was set to be the haven for suggestions for next year's champions dinner at Augusta, with Scott getting to call the shots on the menu.
Will it be crocodile canapés, emu burgers, kangaroo steaks or even koala-shaped cupcakes for dessert? Whatever, it should probably be pretty interesting after waiting all these years.


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Grateful Dead Chicago Tickets: CapitalCityTickets.com Is Releasing Discounted "Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years Of Grateful Dead"Tickets for the Grateful Dead Reunion in Chicago, IL on July 3-5
Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir will join up in Chicago, IL for three unbelievable nights this summer. Browse CapitalCityTickets.com for discounted "Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years Of Grateful Dead" tickets here.
The shows will take place at Soldier Field July 3-5, 2015.
Joining the guys on stage will be Phish frontman Trey Anastasio on guitar, Ratdog/The Dead/Further keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and Bruce Hornsby, who played more than 100 shows with the Grateful Dead, on piano.
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Fires of 1918
95 years later
"SEARCHERS FIND 569 BODIES" and "DEATH TOLL MOUNTS HIGH" the headlines proclaimed in the Duluth News-Tribune on October 15, 1918, just three days after horrific forest fires swept through northern Minnesota. This year marks the 95th anniversary of that fateful day, Saturday, October 12.
The Hinckley Fire took place on September 1, 1894, and was nearly as devastating. Six villages were destroyed, and more than 400 square miles were burned. An estimated 418 people died.
Twenty-four years later, the conditions were similar. A dry summer had created a drought, and fires that had been burning in the piles of railroad ties alongside the railroad tracks and fires that had been set by sparks from locomotives were whipped up by strong winds from the west, creating a huge fire that raced through the area, devouring everything in its path.
The fire created its own wind. Wind speeds have been estimated from 60 to 70 miles an hour.
"It was so smoky and thick outside," recalled Hilda Carlson Wold, who was 14 at the time. "My mother said that the roof on the woodshed, a tin roof, was blowing off."
Hilda's story was recorded, transcribed and published in "The Other West Side" story, written by Don Wold, her son.
Hilda, her parents, Carl and Johanna, and her brother, Walfred, were home at the time of the fire.
The fire had come in from western Carlton County. Automba, a huge lumber-production area, a town with an estimated population of 350 at the time, was the first town the fire destroyed.
The fire raced along, devouring everything flammable in its path that afternoon.
It raced to the east, scattering families and livestock from the farms that it devoured. People took refuge from the flames in root cellars and wells to protect themselves from those raging flames, while others crouched on plowed fields.
The Carlson family, who lived about three and a half miles west of Moose Lake near the Soo Line Railroad, had eaten supper shortly before the fire came roaring along the tracks towards their home around 7 in the evening. The Carlson family took refuge on a field.
"Pretty soon it was so thick with smoke that we couldn't breathe," said Hilda. "We lay down on the ground. I put my mouth on a stone. We could breathe when we had our mouths right along the ground."
The Carlson family heard a train whistle.
"It whistled all the way as it passed and went east," said Hilda.
Ray Hemingson wrote about that train in "Death by Fire." Ollie told him that he was a brakeman on a train that was westbound out of Superior or Duluth, and apparently reached the Moose Lake area sometime mid to late afternoon. His train was ordered to proceed posthaste to rescue people to the west of Moose Lake Village.
"Proceeding west of Kettle River Village their progress was stopped by a wall of fire and the fact that a trestle on the right of way was on fire," wrote Hemingson. "Apparently reversing their course, they backed into the Kettle River siding or spur, and proceeded to load passengers who wished to escape by train to Moose Lake or beyond.
"At this point, he mentioned an unusual situation. Most people did not want to leave their homes, quite possibly regarding them mistakenly as places of refuge.
"The short train, consisting of two coaches plus a couple of flat cars, was forced to pull out without a full load. Even then the fire raged on all sides as they traveled as fast as possible through the thick smoke and flying debris. One of the cars caught on fire, presumably the rear one, which was extinguished upon their arrival around Soo Hill. The Soo Line Depot had not burned, even though Moose Lake Village was almost completely destroyed."
In past interviews, Clarence "Swede" Nelson, who was 5-years-old at the time, said that his father worked for the Soo Line, and had moved his family to Moose Lake just a short time before the fire. They lived in a home located next to what is now Hope Lutheran Church on Elm Avenue.
When the fire approached and the family had to leave their home, they took refuge in Moosehead Lake, along with the other people from the town and those who had come in from the county.
When the fire had passed, the family walked back up the hill from the lake and saw nothing but a chimney standing where their house had been. They took refuge in one of the work cars of the Soo Line that were on the siding by the depot until the family boarded a train to Superior a few days later.
Dr. Walters and his nurse moved the patients from his small hospital to the lake. One patient had been undergoing surgery when the approaching flames forced them to flee.
Evening came and darkness fell after the fire passed. Smoke still filled the air when people began walking, trying to find shelter. The temperature had dropped and turned cold.
Hilda was fortunate to be wearing a winter coat that she had hastily donned before going to the basement to get away from the terrible wind. She had also grabbed her mother's wool shawl, and that had kept sparks from landing on the family as they had taken shelter after the worst of the fire had passed.
When the family got up and started moving again, they could see that all of the buildings on their farm had been burned. The house and barn were still burning.
The family found a house that had been vacant and had not burned, and they took shelter there for the night.
Later, the family walked to Hilda's uncle's place, Emil and Hannah Carlson, and found that family still alive. They had taken refuge in a potato field. The two families ended up living in the vacant house for the winter.
Hilda's dad and neighbors found a gruesome sight the next day.
"Walfred and my dad decided to walk out and see how the rest of the world was," said Hilda. "They went to the Soderberg's place and to the cellar and looked in. There they saw bodies lying on top of the potatoes."
Wold wrote: "John and Joseph Soderberg, along with neighbors, the Jonas Holmbergs, died in the fire along the road to Moose Lake. They had taken a horse and wagon and were trying to get to the lake in town. Also with them were the Soderberg's sister, Emma Samuelson, and her three children. They had been home visiting her brothers. The Charley and Axel Soderbergs were discovered dead in a large stone root cellar on the original Soderberg property."
One of the Soderberg sons was fighting in France during World War I. He came home to no family.
The home of Charles Eckman, located on Highway 27-73 three miles from town, did not burn in the fire. The house is over 100 years old at this time.
"From there they walked up to the Eckman's house, and when they got there, the house was full of people," said Hilda. "Some were burned, and other people were sitting and lying on the floor. They had no food left. They did find a few biscuits that they gave to Walfred to take back to us.
"Hilda's dad walked to Moose Lake the next day and brought home a box of food that the Red Cross was distributing. Later, the family received a box of dishes from the Red Cross, containing four cups, four tin plates and some silverware. And the Red Cross provided the lumber for the men to build a barn and a house. They moved back to their farm in April."
In a story published in the Star Gazette in 1968, Agnette Staberg said that the men had been digging a trench at the Sandquist place for everyone to hide in. (Firebeast)
"The trench was dug and planks were placed in the bottom of it," she said. "Just as the men were about to get everyone into it, the fire came upon us and were forced to flee from the Sandquist home. Everyone there piled into Mr. Sandquist's old Ford car (it was quite a squeeze to get us all in) and drove out to the main road. If we had gone into the trench we would have surely smothered."
Most of two other families also perished in a root cellar.
Hilma Niemi Lampi said in an interview that the seven children of Nick Koivisto, Mrs. Gabriel Berkio and her daughter, Clara, Mr. Berkio's nephew, her mother, Ida Niemi, and children, and Walter all sought refuge in the root cellar of their home on the Niemi farm (Firebeast).
"Leaving my father near the fire scene, my brother, John, ran back to our farm. There he met Mr. and Mrs. Koivisto and, together, they tried to keep the root cellar containing those 16 people from burning. Unfortunately, they didn't know that their work had gone for nothing because all of the people in the cellar were dead, suffocated from the gas produced by the fire."
Hilma had been away at the time.
"It was not until three days later that I heard about the tragedy," she said. "When I got home, smoke still hung in the air. Everything that one could have once recognized as being part of our farm had burned. It was hard to believe that 16 people had died in that root cellar."
The wind switched in the evening, and the fire stopped just beyond Moose Lake.
The villages of Sturgeon Lake, Denham and Barnum did not burn, although the fire was facing towards them from the west.
Duluth was spared by the wind shift but the fire raged through Hermantown.
Moose Lake Mayor Richard Hart walked to Sturgeon Lake and sent a telegraph to Governor J. A. A. Burnquist asking for relief supplies and help for the fire victims.
Trains carried fire survivors, including those that had suffered burns, to the Cities and to Duluth and Superior. A railroad bridge was burning between Superior and Duluth and kept the trains from taking more people to Duluth. Both the Great Northern and Soo Line railway lines that passed through the western fire district ran into Superior (Fires of Autumn).
"Several social workers were sent from Chicago to assist and, by the end of October, Governor Burnquist was informed that of 8,375 refugees taken care of in Superior, 3,685 had left and 4,690 remained. There had been 295 cases of influenza, with two deaths, and there were 110 refugees still in the hospital, suffering from burns or injuries. The people of Superior had privately housed 735 refugees, organized their own fire relief committee, and raised a fund of $126,819.33. Burnquist sent his thanks to the State of Wisconsin." (Fires of Autumn)
Minnesota Home Guard troops came to Barnum and Moose Lake by train Sunday morning and dispensed first aid. The National Guard shuttled burn victims and the injured to Moose Lake. A hospital was first set up in a railway car and then moved to unburned Moose Lake school. The serious cases were sent on the train to hospitals in Duluth. Soup and sandwiches were served to all of those that got to Moose Lake.
Other troops picked up the burned bodies at Dead Man's Corner and other places west of Moose Lake and took them to the Elm Tree Hotel on Soo Hill, which had not burned.
The 1918 flu epidemic was also raging throughout the nation. Major E. L. Paulson, the National Guard's chief medical officer, who was traveling with General Rhinow after the fire, ordered all people in the fire district to wear influenza masks. One-hundred-six deaths in the area were attributed to influenza and pneumonia.
About 453 people lost their lives the day of the fire, and another hundred in the days and weeks that followed. Other tallies showed that 250,000 acres were burned, along with 4,089 houses, 6,366 barns, 41 schools, and 4,295 farm animals. All or part of 37 towns in seven counties burned, with Carlton and St. Louis counties being the hardest hit.
The townships of Silver, Split Rock, Automba and Kalevala had the heaviest losses. About 20 died while escaping by automobile on Highway 73 at "Dead Man's Corner," and 59 died within a two-mile radius of the Eckman farm. (Firebeast)
Governor Burnquist came to Moose Lake and oversaw the burial of some 200 fire victims in a mass grave in Moose Lake. While Mrs. Burnquist helped with relief work in Moose Lake, the governor and his party traveled on to Cloquet and Duluth to view the devastation and to talk with the fire survivors. After what he saw, Governor Burnquist was convinced that the dimensions of the disaster required special measures by the state government. (Fires of Autumn)
The Minnesota Commission of Public Safety met in a special session on October 16 in Moose Lake, and created the Minnesota Forest Fires Relief Commission, which was empowered to take over all responsibility for relief operations in the fire district.
The commission took over the work that had been provided by the Red Cross, the military and private groups. The commission provided food rations, which enabled people to do their own cooking, rather than be dependent on public mess halls run by the military or the Red Cross. Refugees also received the lumber, hardware and furnishings to make small shelters.
Clothing was also distributed from state funds and contributions from around the state.
The commission provided lumber for the construction of barns and outbuildings and farm implements and equipment. The surviving farm animals had to be fed; hay and feed that had been destroyed by the fire were replaced by the commission. The relief groups attempted to make a start at replacing the animals that had been lost in the fire.
In the minds of the public, the railroads were responsible. Early in 1919, suits against the railroads were launched in the Minnesota courts. The legal battle lasted until 1935.
President Theodore signed the fire sufferers' bill on August 27, 1935. The first checks were sent out in mid-November.
"The DEBT is Paid" proclaimed area newspaper headlines. An amount of $10,837,326.12 was paid to the fire survivors. Other payments paid in 1921 brought the total up to $23,538,990.29.
"It was a great triumph for the victims of the Fires of 1918. For the first time in a forest fire disaster, a substantial proportion of the fire sufferers had been able to successfully sue in the courts for damages traceable to railroad origins. Openly defied by the Railroad Administration in the 1920s, the fire sufferers, their lawyers and the elected officials of the state had, after more than 10 years of struggle, pressed their claims victoriously in the halls of Congress." (Fires of Autumn)


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January 18, 2016
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This morning we continue in our study of the spiritual gifts and we come to one that is very very important and controversial subject, the gift of healing. Now take your Bible, if you will, and look with me at I Corinthians Chapter 12, and that's the Chapter we've been studying on our series and we're stopping along the way to consider the individual gifts, but you'll notice in I Corinthians Chapter 12, beginning in verse 9 and I'll point out two other verses, the mention of the gift of healing. I Corinthians 12:9 says, "To another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit." Then verse 28, "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that powers, then gifts of healings, helps, government, diversities of languages." Then verse 30, "Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with languages? Do all interpret?"
Now in those three verses there are three mentions of the gifts of healings and so it is one of the spiritual gifts catalogued here in this chapter and one that is important for us to study.
Now I want to begin our study of these particular truths relative to this gift with a couple of preliminary remarks, if I might. Number one is this: I realize that this is a very controversial subject. I realize there is an awful lot of concern about this because the number one human problem in the world is illness. There is a lot of concern about healing and I want you to know that I'm well aware of the variety of opinions and I have done my very best to read as much as I could, as widely as I could to understand the varying viewpoints. And what I'm attempting to do is to give you what I believe is the clear word of God relative to this area of ministry. And I want you to just understand that with my frailties and my humanness I'm just another in a long line of those that God used beginning with Balaam's ass, and if he could speak for God I am trusting that somewhere in that particular category I fit and all I'm going to do is do the best I can to open my mouth and share with you what I see in the word of God. And I hope you'll understand that it is that. This is not a matter of my opinion; this is a matter of what I believe the Bible is trying to say and we ought to understand it.
Secondly, what I say is not directed as an attack on anybody. It is simply directed, as it should be, dealing with truth and exposing what appears to be error. I'm not trying to attack somebody, I'm not trying to judge somebody, I'm certainly not trying to wound or grieve or injure or cause bitterness within the body of Christ, and yet I have to say that because there some who will think that the approach and it is not. But you find that when you deal truthfully with the word of God there are some folks who are going to be outside that area who are there and are going to just have to be recognized as being in error. And so we'll have to realize that, but at the same time what I say to you I want you to understand is said in a spirit of gentleness and a spirit of love and a spirit of concern for people who have not understood the truth about the area of healing.
The third thing I wish to say in terms of preface is this: please do not assume that by what I say I do not believe God heals. I do believe God heals. God heals in answer to prayer, God heals miraculously in answer to prayer, God heals, heals miraculously in an answer to prayer in order to reveal His glory. I do not question God's healing. I do not question His miraculous healing if He so chooses in response to the prayers of saints. What I want you to understand is the difference between by God and the gift of healing. There is a great difference between God healing someone immediately and God healing someone through a human healer and that's the distinction that we wish to make.
Now we have studied the spiritual gifts and ministries in three categories. Category one, the gifted men. We saw how that in I Corinthians Paul mentioned certain gifted men. And in Ephesians 4 it's further mentioned that God has given to the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, teaching pastors and teachers. These are the gifted men to lead the church. Then among the members of the church God has given a second category of ministry, which we call the permanent edifying gifts, remember? The permanent edifying gifts, divine enablements equipping the saints to minister to each other, to build the body. And those will be around for the duration of the church. We saw there are two kinds of those: speaking gifts and serving gifts.
Now we come to category three, the gifted men, permanent edifying gifts, a third kind of ministry God gave the early church, temporary sign gifts, temporary sign gifts. Certain enablements, certain energizings given to certain believers for the purpose of authenticating or confirming the word when it was being proclaimed in the early church before the Scriptures were penned. These were temporary, their purpose was not primarily to edify, though they did that in a secondary sense, their purpose was primarily to authenticate the message of the apostolic community.
And these are the temporary sign gifts. The first one we considered was the gift of miracles, which is mentioned in verse 10 of I Corinthians 12, and we pointed out to you last week, and I feel more strongly about this now than I even did then and I felt pretty strong then, that the gift of dunomace, the gift of powers is the ability to cast out demons. That is the primary thing that the gift of powers has to do. For example, let me illustrate it by saying this: no apostle ever did what you would call a miracle of nature. For example, no apostle ever fed 5,000 people multiplying bread and fish. No apostle ever walked on water after the birth of the church. Peter did but that was a miracle of Christ. No apostle ever did any miracle connected with nature.
Well then what was the gift of miracle if it wasn't nature? Was it healing? No that was the gift of healing. The gift of miracles was casting out demons. The gift of power that is God's power in His kingdom over the kingdom of darkness.
Now we come to the second of those four temporary sign gifts. The third and fourth are languages and the interpretation of languages and we'll deal with those later when we get to Chapter 13 and 14, but for now the gift of healing. We want to understand it carefully and I want you to stay with me on this. We're only going to cover half of it this morning and then half of it again in our next study together. This is vital. There is so much confusion in this area, there is so much question in this area that we have to get an understanding of it.
Now it's going to be a rather different introduction this morning and we're not going to get into a whole lot of actually studying the Scripture 'til just the very end, but this is all so vital that I want you to really tune in on it because it's going to help you to understand what's going on around you today.
Now we are where I think that disease is the most tragic human reality. Disease is the number one human problem, illness. It is the thing, which hits the hardest and hurts the most and especially when it culminates in death. Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, disease has been a reality. Death has been a reality. And since that time the search for cures to alleviate the reality of illness and the suffering that goes with it has gone on. You can go to the darkest part of an aboriginal society, and few are even left in our world today, and you will find that they have their witch doctors and they have their potions, and they have their approaches to curing disease. You go to the most sophisticated complex hospital in the world and they're doing the very same thing. You go way back into history to the time of the Egyptians and you will find the birth of what we know as medicine occurring there, and they had the wildest cures imaginable.
Baldness, for example, was cured by pouring a bottle of rattlesnake oil on your head. But there was the beginning. It was primitive, but it was a start. And through the history of western civilization you have alchemy and all kinds of other things as man continually searches for a cure for the terrible realization of disease and illness.
Just to be personal about it for a minute, I know there are a lot of people who seek certain gifts of the Spirit. There are people who tarry for the gift of languages, the gift of tongues as they call it, there are people who tarry for certain gifts of the Spirit. If I could have any gift of the Spirit, beyond the gift the Holy Spirit has given me, if I could have any one gift to receive from the Spirit, if I could seek and beg, and plead, and tarry and do whatever I needed to do for any gift you know what it would be? The gift of healing. I wish I had the gift of healing. I have stood by a mother and a father in a hospital and watch their child die of leukemia and wished I had the gift of healing. I have prayed with a deal friend while cancer was eating up his insides and watched him die and wished I had the gift of healing. I've been in intensive care units again and again and again and again and I watched people crushed by accidents, I've watched people torn up by surgery, I've watched people eaten by disease and wished that I could heal them with a word, with a touch, but I can't.
Think of it. Think of how really thrilling it would be to have the gift of healing. Think of what it would be like to go to a hospital where all the sick and the dying are and just go down the hall and just touch them and heal them. Fantastic! Think of all the effort people go through in medicine, all the years that doctors go through, all the technology. Think of the thousands, the millions of dollars and all we need is the gift of healing if we had it. Just go down the hall, be healed, be healed, be healed. Sickness and disease is heartbreaking. It's all over the world.
Imagine this: imagine that all these people have had the gift of healing, all got together and got on an airplane and we just flew them to the great pockets of disease in the world and they just went through the crowds healing everybody. Fantastic! What humanness, what sympathy that would speak for Christianity. Just imaging if we went through the world with the gift of healing and banished illness from the world.
Listen, I told you last week that it's been said that in three years banished disease from Palestine. Why don't we do it? Why is it that the people who claim to have the gift never get out of their tents? Why is it that they always have to do it in a controlled environment doing their things, staged their way, run by their operation, begins on time and ends when it's supposed to. Why aren't they in the hospital? Why aren't they out in the areas of our society in our world where people are really hurting? Why aren't they in India and other places where masses of humanity are wracked with disease? It doesn't happen. It just doesn't happen. Why? I submit because they don't have the gift, that's why. They don't have the gift of healing. Why? Because the gift of healing was a temporary sign gift for the authenticating of the Scriptures as the word of God and once that was authenticated they ceased.
And now when Jesus is leaving He doesn't say to us, "Go into all the world and banish disease." He says, "Go into all the world and what, preach the gospel. He's more concerned about the soul of a man than He is the body of a man. He didn't say, "Go and banish disease." He said, "Go and banish damnation."
Some naïve people think that if we healed everybody that way, like Jesus did, they'd all believe the gospel. Do you believe that? If you do then you totally misunderstand the life of Christ. Jesus Christ was on earth for three years and He banished disease from Palestine and when it was all said and done the population agreed that what ought to be done with Him is they ought to kill Him. And when it was all said and done after all the multitudes and multitudes and thousands and thousands that He had healed, when they gathered in the Upper Room to wait for the birth of the church how many were there? One hundred and twenty. Listen, it doesn't work that way. Saving faith is a gift from God, according to God's sovereign will, it is given to whom He wills and it comes from hearing the gospel and mixing it with the divine gift of faith. It doesn't come by getting healed.
In Romans 10:17 it says, "Saving faith comes by hearing," a speech about Jesus Christ. "Saving faith comes by hearing" a speech about Jesus Christ. Don't think that if we could do that everybody would get saved. They didn't in Jesus' day, did they? They didn't in the apostles' day. The apostles went around and did miracle after miracle of healing and what did they do? They threw them in jail is what they did, and in Chapter 8 a wholesale persecution broke out against them.
What do we have today? What are the claims that are being made about healing? Well, the historic claims, the oldest of all the claims come out of the Roman Catholic Church. Historically the Roman Catholic Church has led the way with healings claimed. They have claimed to heal people with the bones of John the Baptist, the bones of Peter, the relics of the cross, more relics, they've claimed to be able to heal at the shrines where Mary has appeared. They claim to be able to heal with vials of Mary's breast milk, as we saw last Sunday. Credibly they claim throughout history and you've heard about places like Lourdes where supposed healings occur all the time. They've led the way in so-called healings.
There are oriental psychic healers busy with their reported healings, those that do bloodless surgery using only their hands as scalpels even claiming to raise the dead. There are witch doctors that are using their fading fetishes on the diseases of the aboriginal few left in our world. There are occultists who use black magic operating in the power of Satan to do lying wonders as Paul says in II Thessalonians 2, "will appear in the great tribulation."
Rafael Kasson, the former spiritualist medium converted to Christ says, "There are many spiritualist today who are endowed with this remarkable gift by the power of Satan and I myself having been used in this way can testify to having witnessed miraculous healing taking place at healing meetings in spiritualism." That's from his bookThe Challenging Counterfeit.Mary Baker Eddy healed through telepathy. And today there are modern charismatics who claim all kinds of healing going on. You can sit down turn on your television now and they'll heal you from a distance even on a delayed tape.
I was talking to a person this week who was saying that their pastor had the gift of healing and it was marvelous because his wife got cancer and he healed her of cancer. And I said, "Well that's interesting. Tell me more. How's she doing now?" He said, "Oh she's dead." I said, "She dead? How long after the healing?" "One year." What kind of a healing is it that you get healed of cancer and one year later you die of it?
But you see she had the mentality to believe that everything that happens is a healing, so it was a healing. You can turn on the PTL Club and the 700 Club and you kind of get the idea that it's a can you top this mentality relative to miracles. Some of the craziest things I ever heard in my life on there. One man who was saved, said, "God wanted to do a special miracle for me so he poured out all over me the smell of heaven. And I smelled what heaven smells like. And now when I want to re-enjoy the day of my salvation I go to my closet and get the tie out that I had that day and smell it." This pastor who said he had the gift of healing said, "This is how it works." He said, "In the morning services the Lord tells me what healings are available. The Lord will say, 'I've got three cancers available, I've got one back, I've got two headache healings," and he says, "I announce that to the congregation and tell them that anyone that comes that night with enough faith can claim those that are available for that evening." And this person told me, "Oh it's so exciting to see how God is working."
Do you realize there are demonic counterfeit healings done by Satan that can be used with God words? Kirk Trampler, a Munich author and lawyer who is a healer uses the names of God and Christ but denies them both, but says they work in his healings. You say, "What about people like Oral Roberts and the late Kathryn Kuhlman and the new Brant Baker? What are they doing? They've been at it, things seems to happen, they happen, things happen. They have tremendous healing claims, startling routines, all kinds of gimmicks, and behind them are a whole gob of lesser known healers plying their trade all over the place. Each has his own technique. Each operates in a controlled environment. Each operates with a set strategy. Each does it his own way. I've never yet seen any of them walk down a hall of a hospital and heal everybody. And yet they all claim that God heals and that God uses them somehow as an instrument in that.
Let me give you something to think about. All gifts of the Spirit, if they operate truly, operate only a Spirit filled life, right? If your life is not controlled by the Holy Spirit will you function in the Holy Spirit's energy? No it'll function in the flesh. If you're walking in the flesh you'll function in the flesh; if you walk in the Spirit your gift will be ministered in the Spirit. Now, somebody comes along and says, "I have the spiritual gift of healing." All right if that's true then listen to this: you will have a pure life, you will have pure doctrine, you will be characterized by humility, you will have a life of total submission and obedience to Scripture, you will have a life set about to completely exalt Jesus Christ, and you will manifest all of the fruit of the Spirit. Right? Because the gift of the Spirit must operate in the energy of the Spirit and that only happens when the Spirit controls everything.
And so when somebody says they have the gift of healing, I say do they manifest all of the fruit of the Spirit, do they manifest absolute purity of life, do they manifest purity of doctrine, do they manifest humility, do they manifest a total exaltation of Christ, an absolute obedience to His word? And I dare say as you begin to study the people who claim to have the gift you're going to find wanting areas very very obvious. Doesn't really take too long to get close enough to find that out. But you say, "John, they're being believed." I mean things do happen. People fall over. They come down and say, "I'm healed," and they jump around. What's going on? Why do people believe it?
Well the first answer you might give is because there's so much evidence to support the healings. Oh? There is? Let me give you some evidence. There's an interesting book entitled Healing, A Doctor in Search of a Miracleby William Noland, who is an MD and he's not a Christian, writing from a very objective viewpoint. And I want to share with you what he says in the section of his book on charismatic healers and he makes particular reference to Kathryn Kuhlman whom we studied in detail.
Now I want you to listen to this because I feel this gives you some really solid answers. "Finally it was over. There was still long lines of people waiting to get onto the stage and claim their cures, but at 5:o'clock with a hymn and a final blessing the show ended. Miss Kuhlman left the stage and the audience left the auditorium. Before going back to talk to Miss Kuhlman I spent a few minutes watching the wheelchair patients leave. All the desperately ill patients who had been in wheelchairs were still in wheelchairs. In fact, the man with the kidney cancer in his spine, the man whom I had helped to the auditorium and who had his borrowed wheelchair brought to the stage and shown to the audience when he had claimed a cure was back in the wheelchair his cure even if only a hysterical one had been extremely short lived. As I stood in the corridor watching the hopeless cases leave, seeing tears of the parents as they pushed their crippled children into the elevators I wished Miss Kuhlman had been with me. She had complained a couple of times during the service of the responsibility, the enormous responsibility and of how her heart aches for those who weren't cured, but I wondered how often she had really looked at them. I wondered if she sincerely felt that the joy of those cured of bursitis and arthritis compensated for those left with their withered legs, their imbecile children, and their cancers of the liver. I wondered if she really knew the damage she was doing. I couldn't believe that she did.
Here are some of the aspects of the medical healing process about which some of us know nothing and none of us know enough. To start with the body's ability to heal itself. Kathryn Kuhlman often says, "I don't heal. The Holy Spirit heals through me." I suspect there are two reasons why Miss Kuhlman continually repeats this statement. First, if the patient doesn't improve the Holy Spirit, not Kathryn Kuhlman gets the blame. Second, she hasn't the foggiest notion what healing is all about and once she puts the responsibility on the shoulders of the Holy Spirit she can answer if questioned about her healing powers I don't know the Holy Spirit does it all." Let me repeat. A charismatic individual, a healer can sometimes influence a patient and cure symptoms or a functional disease by suggestion.
Now I want to stop there and make this statement: In your mind you must make a distinction between a functional disease and an organic one. A functional disease is where a perfectly good organ does not function properly. An organic disease is where the organ is not good, but it is organically destroyed or maimed or crippled. The functional disease has only a symptom without a reality. An organic disease has a reality and a symptom. And you will find that in all cases of so-called healers the only kinds of healing they ever accomplish are functional never organic. All they're ever dealing with is the symptom.
Now he further goes on. He says, "A healer can sometimes influence a patient and cure symptoms of a functional disease by suggestion with our without laying on of hands. Physicians can do the same thing. The cures are not miraculous. They result from corrections made by the patient in the function of his autonomic system. In other words it's a matter of changing the thinking processes. We don't know yet how to control the system, but we're learning.
All healers use hypnosis to sum extent and he had a large section in the book on hypnosis. For example see your pain is going away. Isn't it wonderful? Jesus has healed you. Yeah, see, tremendous suggestion, and the atmosphere and the aura and the staging and the whole ballgame forces you into the believing of that or you wouldn't be there to start with, in the line. He goes on. Doctors use hypnosis frequently. When I give a patient a pill or a shot I make a point of saying, "This medicine should make you better in 24 or 48 hours. This medicine always works very well."
Now I know that in some cases I'm going to get better results if I suggest to the patient the medicine is going to work rather than if I said, "Well I don't know about this medicine. Sometimes it works pretty well, sometimes it's not so hot, but we'll give it a try and just hope for the best." Even if the guy gets better he's going to be sick, right? There's a tremendous power in positive thinking, particularly where functional disorders are concerned. Hypnotism is not something with which one should trifle. Relieving symptoms can be dangerous. Remember the poor woman whose back pain went away at Kathryn Kuhlman's suggestion leaving her temporarily free to frolic until her cancerous vertebrae collapsed. Symptoms, pain, nausea, dizziness may be purely psychological, but they may also be the warning signals of dangerous, possibly life threatening organic diseases. To eliminate a symptom without getting at the cause of that symptom can cause delay in treatment, which may be serious or even fatal. Let me add this: people go there the psychological power of what occurs is so great that they are relieved of the pain or of the symptom and they frolic on their way without ever dealing with the reality.
I'll never forget a little boy whose both legs were crippled. He went to see A. A. Allen, who is now dead, drunk himself dead, more alcohol in his veins than there was blood, finally died. But A. A. Allen healed this boy, took off his braces, and had the kid try to walk off the stage. I'll never forget it. And he stumbled a little way and the power of his mind carried him and his parents kind of helped him along and he said don't ever put the braces on again and it wasn't any time at all until gangrene had set into his legs and there was the necessity of amputating those legs; very dangerous to fool around with symptoms when you're not dealing with real organic causes.
Finally, in our attempt to understand healing we must deal with organic diseases, diseases that are caused not simply by dysfunction of an organ, but by derangement of the structure of an organ or organs: infections, heart attacks, gallstones, hernias, slipped discs, cancers of all kinds, broken bones, congenital deformities, lacerations, and multitudes of other diseases and sub-divisions of those I mentioned are included in the organic disease classification. Some organic diseases are self-limited, that is, healed by the body itself such as the common cold and minor sprains. But to cure many organic diseases the body needs help. These are diseases that healers even the most charismatic cannot cure. When they attempt to do so, and they all fall into this trap since they know and care nothing of the difference between functional and organic disease they tread on very dangerous ground. When healers treat serious organic diseases they are responsible for untold anguish and unhappiness. This happens because they keep patients away from possibly effective and life saving help and healers become killers.
After this morning's service, the first service, a young lady came to me and she said, "You'll never know what that message meant in my life." She said, "I had fallen down some stairs and as a result injured my head and had terrible terrible headaches." And she said, "Some folks prayed for me and told me I was healed and my headache went away." And she said, "Since that time I have had terrible headaches, but I have felt guilty as if I was not accepting a healing from God and refusing to go to the doctor." And she said, "This morning you freed me to understand that I must go to the doctor." See? She was thrilled. "Search the literature, as I have," Nolan says, "And you will find no documented cures by healers of gallstones, heart disease, cancer or any other serious organic disease. Certainly you will find patients temporarily relieved of their upset stomachs, their chest pains, their breathing problems and you'll find healers and believers who will interpret this interruption of symptoms as evidence that the disease is cured, but when you track the patient down and find out what later you find the cure to have been purely symptomatic and transient and the underlying disease remains."
To give you an illustration of that Noland took 80 cases of Kathryn Kuhlman's healings, 80 of them, all 80 were ones that she suggested that he follow up. He followed up all 80. His conclusion at the end of it all not one out of the 80 was a legitimate healing, not one. Now consider Kathryn Kuhlman. In a letter sent to me by Marilyn March, Kathryn Kuhlman's secretary, Ms. March says that Miss Kuhlman conducts approximately 125 healing services in a year's time. Attendance at these services varies. Ms. March mentions there are always 7,000 in attendance at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, in Tulsa, Oklahoma 18,000 people in Mabee Center, that's Oral Roberts University, 3,000 more on closed circuit, in Atlanta 8,000 and in Ottawa 16,000. Let's assume that Miss Kuhlman has an opportunity to treat an average of 10,000 patients per service or 1,250,000 a year. We will have to guess, but I think it would be reasonable to say that one-third of these patients are cancer victims, about 400 thousand cancer victims a year. Miss Kuhlman, therefore, may treat 4,000 times as many cancer patients as I treat in one year and I have by national standards a very busy surgical practice. It would be highly likely that in the approximately 400,000 cancer victims that come to her every year there might be one patient who would fall into the spontaneous regression category.
I know Kathryn Kuhlman, or Norbuchin or Tony Agpowwa, that's two other healers, one an oriental, the other a Philippino, will never find among the patients she treats a spontaneous cure of a cleft pallet, a hernia, gallstones, heart disease, paralyzes due to injury or any of the hundreds of other organic ailments for which patients seek help. What I find most unusual is that there are no well documented spontaneous cancer cures reported in her books. You'd think that among the millions of cancer patients healers treat, at least one or two would demonstrate spontaneous regression."
"My point in case I haven't made it clear," he said, "Is that even if we were to find isolated cases of documented cancer cures in the files of Miss. Kuhlman or any other healer, it would prove nothing. Isolated spontaneous cures of cancer occur with or without the ministration of healers. The chances of being cured of cancer by Kathryn Kuhlman or any other healer are the same as the chances of being cured if you do nothing and go to no one at all."
And I want to interject something here, that's what happened to that pastor's wife. She wasn't healed. The cancer, as it's sometimes known to do, simply goes into a recession for a period of time, the person is well, it came back in a fatal sweep and she died. That's common in this area of disease. He further says this: "To be logical, the cancer patient should go to a healer only if the healer had a cure rate of 50% or better, 'cause that's the cure rate physicians achieve. The cancer patients who go to healers are emotionally distraught and for this reason don't act logically."
Now I read you all that because I want you to understand that there is another way to view what's going on. Do you see that? There's another way to look at it. And so when somebody says, "You have to believe. Look at all the evidence." Where is all the evidence? Where are the organic spontaneous healings? The next time you see a healer, take a broken arm up to him and say, "Here, heal it." You say, "Well okay, I won't use that as evidence. I believe in him because they're so logically spirit-filled." I'm not sure that the kind of production and the kind of show that goes on and the kind of things that go on around the lives of those people in that position really manifest all of the fruit of the Spirit and that's something I don't want to sit in judgment on, but as I've examined the lives of people who are involved in this I've been very very distressed at what I've found.
Somebody else says, "No, the reason I believe it is because they do it biblically." Oh? I think we'll deal with that without any question as we go through the study. They don't do it biblically. Somebody else says, "Well the reason I believe it is because it's based on the sound teaching of the Bible, that by His stripes we are healed and healing is in the atonement." That is the most gross interpretation of Isaiah 53 that you can imagine. It's not talking about physical healing, it's talking about spiritual healing, salvation. You say, "Why John? That they don't go because the cures are so documented and the people are obviously controlled by the spirit and because it's biblical or because it's what the Bible teaches? Why do people go?" I'll tell you why. They go because people who are sick are desperate. Bless their hearts. We can understand that. There is a certain desperation that comes in disease. Sickness drives people, it drives them to do things that they normally wouldn't do. Originally clear-minded intelligent balanced people become irrational. Job 2:4, is a good verse on this. Job 2:4 says, "Skin for skin, yes all that a man has will he give for his life." People will do anything to live. "All that a man has will he give for his life." And all you have to do is go to your doctor and have him say you've got a terminal illness and the panic sets in and the desire to be healed, and people will go sneak off to a healer, or they'll go down to Mexico if they have cancer to some lateral place or whatever, they'll do anything.
And so one of the reasons healers do so well is there's a fantastic market of people who are really sick and they're desperate, but they don't ever get healed, the really organically ill ones. And then there are the other people who aren't really sick at all they just have psychosomatic disorders. And then there are other people who go because they just can't believe God and they're just so doubtful that they have to run around having their doubt reinforced by all kinds of "miracles."
All you have to do to make a comparison between what goes on today and what the Bible teaches is to go back and look at Jesus. Let me take you to do that. Let's look at Jesus. How did he heal because He set the pattern for all the spiritual gifts? In Jesus' day it was a world full of disease. I mean he world was deeply in need of healing and they didn't have any medical science. They were really hurting. There wasn't any way they could get healed. Diseases were more prevalent than today. Diseases were destructive. Diseases were incurable. Plagues would wipe out cities. And the greatest single problem of man is disease in terms of the physical life. So when Jesus came into the world and when He wanted the world to know that He was God, He realized that the greatest way to point attention to Himself was to go through the world relieving disease. And He did. And then he passed that ability on to his apostles. But how did Jesus heal? I'm going to give you six points and I think they're absolutely critical, and I'm going to run them by you fast and then we'll be done.
Number one: Jesus healed with a word or a touch. Jesus healed with a word or a touch and everybody didn't necessarily fall down either. You say, what is all that when they fall down, slain in the spirit? Listen, what that is is the psychology, that's the hysteria that occurs, that's the spiritual thing to do, that's the thing you do when the spirit gets on you so if you want to be one of those whose got the spirit on you you'll fall down. It's hypnotic. There's all kinds of psychological explanations for that.
In Matthew I want to show you this first principle. Matthew 8:8, Jesus healed with a word or a touch. Matthew 8:5, "When Jesus entered into Capernaum there came to Him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, 'Lord, my servant lies at home sick of the palsy,'" that's an organic sickness, "'grievously tormented.' Jesus said to him, 'I'll come and heal him.' The centurion answered and said, 'Lord, I'm not worthy that you should come under my roof. Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.'"
Now wait a minute. He says Jesus you don't even need to make the trip. I don't want to bother you about it. Just speak the word. You say, "How did that guy know that?" Because that was the common way in which Jesus healed. Jesus healed thousands and thousands of people in His lifetime. You know the day that he fed the 5,000 that dinner at late in the day, since the dawn He had been spending the entire day healing all of that crowd of all of their diseases. He could have done as many as 10,000 healings in that day alone. We don't know how many, but they knew how He healed. And he said, "All you have to do is speak a word," because Jesus healed, "Be healed." That's all. No theatrics, no nothing, be healed.
And he healed with a touch, Mark 5. And there are many illustrations of this and you'll see them as we go. But Mark 5. I love this story of the woman who crawled through the crown and she heard of Jesus, verse 27, and she touched His garment and said, "If I may touch but his clothes I shall be whole and immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up and she felt in her body she was healed of the plague." A touch. And Jesus didn't push her over. She just reached up and touched, she grabbed one of His rabbinic tassels hanging on His robe. Rabbi's had four tassels on their robe, she grabbed one of those rabbinic tassels and instantly she was healed. With a word or a touch He healed all with no dramatics and no theatrics.
Second, Jesus not only healed with a word or a touch, but He healed instantaneously. Mark 5:29, we just read it, what does it say? "And immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up. She felt in her body she was healed of that plague." When? Immediately. I've heard people say, "Oh the Lord healed me and since He's healed me I've been getting progressively better." Jesus never did a progressive healing. He never did a from now on I want you to take a little of this and rest a little and you're going to be healed as you go. When He sent away the lepers they were healed as they went, but that was instantaneous on the road.
When He said to the blind man at the pool, as soon as he washed his eyes instantly he saw. Well what about the man who first saw the figures like trees walking? He was just getting focused what God had just created. Instant healing. The Scripture knows no other kind. Otherwise if Jesus healed progressively that kind of miracle would be worthless to demonstrate His deity because somebody would say it was just a natural process, right? It had to be instantly.
Look at Mark 7:31, "And again departing from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, he come to the Sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis. They bring to him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech." Now very frequently, and our deaf friends can realize this, very frequently when you are deaf and always deaf it's difficult to articulate clearly what you say and so they speak with a certain impediment because they cannot hear themselves talk. We understand that. This is an organic problem. Now watch what happened. "And they beseech Him to put His hand upon him." They knew how He healed. How does He heal? By a touch. "And they took him aside from the multitude and put his fingers in his ears, spat and touched his tongue, looked up to heaven, sighed and said, 'Ephphatha, be opened,' and immediately his ears were opened and the string of his tongue was loosed and he spoke plainly." I dare say no healer today has ever done that. No. Never. All of a sudden a person who's stone deaf from birth and who talks in that, which is characteristic of one who had never heard himself speak is given the freedom to speak clearly and to hear everything instantaneously. But that's the kind of thing Jesus did, and this was to prove that God was intervening and there was no other explanation possible, otherwise the miracle ceases to have its significance.
Third, Jesus healed with a word or a touch. Jesus healed instantaneously. And thirdly He healed totally. He healed totally. Remember last Sunday night we went through all those verse that said, "You are whole, you are whole, and He said unto you, you are whole, and she was whole, whole whole whole whole all over the place. There was a wholeness. He healed totally. Look back at Luke 4:38, just as one illustration. There's a lot of them. Luke 4:38, "And he arose and left the synagogue and entered into Simon's house," this is Peter, "And Peter's mother-in-law had a great fever." Here again is an illness. Peter's mother-in-law is very very ill. In fact the implication here is that she was dying. Peter's mother-in-law was dying. Now I want you to watch. This is so beautiful. Peter's mother-in-law was dying. "And He stood over her," Jesus did, verse 39, "And rebuked the fever and it left her and immediately she arose and served them." She got up and made dinner. Here's the woman lying on her deathbed and when Jesus healed her He healed her totally. He didn't say, "Now that you've been healed I want you to just take a little honey and hot tea and then I want you to make sure that you stay around the house and I want you to just lie and slow. She was healed of a deathly disease, got up and made dinner. Instant, total healing. It's the only kind Jesus ever did. He healed with a touch, and a word, instantaneously, totally. All right?
Fourth, Jesus healed everybody. Jesus wasn't like Kathryn Kuhlman, didn't have all the people with organic diseases leave the same way they came Oral Roberts or Brant Baker or anybody else. Listen, I love it, Luke 4:40, what a beautiful beautiful verse. "Now when the sun was setting," I can see the picture, see the scene, the city, sun was setting, "All they that had any who were sick with various diseases brought them unto Him and He laid His hands on every one of them," and a few of them got better, the ones the Holy Spirit wanted to. Is that what it said? Listen to this: "When the sun was setting all they that had any who were sick with any disease brought them to Him and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them." He healed with a word and a touch, instantaneously, totally everybody. That's why He didn't have to do it in His own environment. He could go where they were.
Luke 9:11 adds to that, another beautiful picture of Jesus healing. "And the people, when they knew it, followed him and He received them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing." Anybody who had a need that was the prerequisite and He could handle it. Jesus healed with a word and a touch, instantaneously, totally everybody. You know anybody that has that ability today? I don't, but that is the way Jesus healed. And I'll footnote it, that is the way the apostles healed and I'll show you that next time, exactly the same.
Fifth, Jesus healed organic disease. Jesus healed organic disease. You can study that yourself. Go through all of them. People who were crippled from birth could walk. People who were blind could see. People who were deaf and dumb could speak and here these are organic things. Jesus didn't go around healing low back pain and palpation of the heart and breathing problems. There's so many illustrations of that we don't even have time to begin.
Sixth, Jesus healed with a word, a touch, instantaneously, totally, everybody and He healed organic diseases and sixthly Jesus raised the dead. Jesus raised the dead. Mark 5:35, "While he yet spoke there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house a person who said, 'Your daughter's dead. Why trouble the Master any further?'" The ruler of the synagogue was asking Jesus to help his sick daughter and the guy comes and says it's too late she's dead. But Jesus was going to take care of that. Verse 41, jump down to the dialogue for time's sake. "And He took the child by the hand and said unto her, 'Talitha cumi,' which is being interpreted, little girl I say to you get up, and immediately the child arose and walked." And just to make sure you don't think she was a little teeny baby and He enabled her to walk when she was six months old, she was twelve years of age, it says. The miracle was in the resurrection. "And they were astonished with a great astonishment." He raised the dead.
Luke 7:11, I remember when I was in Bethlehem one day, we were walking along the street and here came a funeral procession, all these mourners and people walking along and they had a little casket with a little child in it, typical Jewish funeral procession in Israel, walking along holding the bier, b-i-e-r, walking along. People were singing and they were kind of chanting and it was very sad and the family was there weeping and I thought about this occasion. Look at it. "It came to pass the next day, verse 11, "He went to a city called Nain, many of his disciples went with him and many people. When he came near to the gate of the city there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and many of the people of the city was with her."
Same scene, here comes the procession, got the casket up on their shoulders. "And when the Lord saw her," this poor widow was loosing her only son and Jesus didn't need somebody to describe the situation. He knew because He was omniscient, and He knew she was going to be without anybody to help her, a poor destitute widow and that was tough, and so He was compassionate and said, "Don't cry. And he came and touched the casket and they that bore him stopped. And He said, 'Young man, I am saying to you get up.' He that was dead sat up and began to speak;" a quick way to end a funeral. "And He delivered him to his mother. And there came fear on all and they glorified God saying, 'A great prophet is raised up among us. God has visited His people.'" Isn't that exactly what Jesus wanted him to say?
Listen, I wish the people today who had the gift of healing would spend a little time in funeral parlors. They could sure make some exciting things happen. Wouldn't it be super the next time you went to a funeral and say I have the gift of healing and I came in and said, "Look, I feel badly for this situation so would you please get up and get out." Let's get it right folks. Why did Jesus do this? Why was it that he healed with a word or a touch instantaneously totally everybody with organic diseases and raised the dead? Why was it? Was it to infatuate the people? Was it just to play games with the people? Look at John 20 and I'll show you, verse 30. John 20:30 says this: "And many other signs truly did Jesus," other than the eight miracles John had just written about, many others, but why did He do these miracles? Why did He do these signs? Verse 31, "In order that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His name.
Listen to me. This gift was an authenticating gift. It was to confirm the statement of Jesus that He is God. You say, "Well what about when the apostles did it?" It was to confirm their proclamation and we'll go into that in detail and you'll see how clear that becomes as you study the Epistles.
Listen dispelling demons and diseases was Christ's way of confirming that He was God in flesh, the Messiah, the Savior. And as Jesus came toward the end of His ministry the miracles began to get less and less and less because He'd gotten His message across and they had no other reason to exist and they faded out. I'm not saying that God doesn't do miracles. I'm not saying that God doesn't heal, but He does do and he can do anything that He wants to. Miracles are neither impossible nor necessary. That's up to God, but I'll tell you one thing, there's no evidence biblically and there's no evidence practically that anybody today is operating the gift of healing. If God wants to heal that's His business, that's His privilege and He may do it, and He may do it through the prayers of an individual. In fact He promises that the prayer of faith shall what? Save the sick, but let's not confuse God's healing in response to prayer with the ability to go around and heal everybody at will, as Jesus could do and as the apostles could do and we'll see that next time.
Let's pray. Father we feel like we've just begun to really get to the meaty part and that is to see what the Scripture says. But Lord we know it's important for us to be able to understand the Scripture in the light of what's going on around us and so we thank you for the time we've been able to share. We just pray that this kind of study might open up our understanding, not to be unkind to people, not to be unloving, not to be judgmental, not to be superior, but simply to be helpful, to try to help them to understand because there's so many brokenhearted people who can't understand why they always go and never get healed. And there's so many people who can't just believe you, who can't just accept your word, but have to run around from sensation to sensation in order to have their doubt bolstered up. God, mature people's faith. Help them to believe that all they need is your word and your spirit and not more and more signs. And help us to be fair with the Scripture to really see what you're doing and not assign things to you, which are not yours, but are the efforts of men. God make us to be discerning so that we might truly worship you as you should be worshiped. In Christ's name. Amen.
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