"Paul's Thorn in the Flesh", or "How To Come Up With An Ignorant Excuse"

Paul’s “Thorn In The Flesh”

Pauline Propaganda:
“Paul had a nasty, incurable eye disease, and God said, ‘Live with it’!”


In the quest for truth, one of the first things we learn to watch out for is hearsay and unfounded stories. Some stories we call “lies” and others we just call “rumors”. The only difference is that one is intentionally perpetrated in order to dissuade, deflect or confuse and that one is called a “lie”. The other is caused through mere carelessness or the believing another’s ignorant conclusion making. That is the kind that we call rumor. Rumor spread to other people for a desired response becomes propaganda.

A rumor looks at things with a quick glance, without digging deeper, without gathering real evidence. A rumor often follows the bent of a person’s heart and what they “want” to think or report about something. It reads into events and statements and creates its own “new” truth. It somehow knows that it is being “careless”, but doesn’t really care, as long as it gets peoples’ attention or influences people in some way.

In fact, often a rumor is quickly created for the sake of the creator – the person starting such statements and stories, because that person is anxious to discredit some one or some thing. The person who starts rumors often has admitted issues of the heart, and therefore does not pursue the truth but rather his or her own selfish motives.

In some cases, a rumor is started to cover up ones own inadequacies. For instance, a rumor can be used by someone who would like to believe that there is nothing wrong with his own faith and prayers, since he tried to pray for healing for someone and it never came. What a better thing if he can latch onto a good-sounding story to justify his own or someone else’s shortcoming.

Worse yet, a rumor can be used to attempt financial advantage, political sway, and protect “sacred cows”. What preacher wants to risk offending those generous tithers who make their money in the medical profession if he can come up with a scripture-quoting rumor to convince the others that God needs the medical professionals?

Amazingly, in the face of hundreds of scriptures which point to the will of God to perform healing and forgiveness for all, today’s preachers continue to pass along a mere “rumor” – a lie as the devil certainly knows it is – the dramatic caveat or “tragic exception” to the “God wishes to heal all sickness” truth found in the Word of God!

Recently I attended a church, having just spent time in the Word myself that morning at home. The Lord had taken me to James five – the whole chapter. I wasn’t looking for the “healing passage” (James 5:13-18); I just happened to end up there.

I remember reading right before these verses pertaining to healing, and thinking how practical James was: “If you are this, then do that”; “If you need that, then do this” et cetera. That morning in this conservative church, didn’t the pastor start out by saying basically the same thing! “Hmmm, so far so good,” I thought.

However, having noticed what his sermon was titled – The Issue of Divine Healing – I was still braced for what might follow. Sadly, something from a “different spirit” did take over the rest of the message. Faith building you ask? Let’s call it faith busting!

He began by reading the passage in James, and noted how easy it sounded, and how conclusive it appeared. He said, “One might get the impression from this that the Lord wants to heal every sickness.” In the echo of the entire Word of God – that would be a “duh”, and he should have ended his sermon after that first sentence!

But he went on to present an unfortunate tragic caveat – a mere rumor and an easily disproven one at that – to negate the all-inclusiveness of the passage in James, as well as the rest of the Gospels and so much of the Bible.

You see, folks, Paul – according to this rumor – himself had a sickness, and God told him He would not heal it for him!

He could have just as easily reported that Paul had a sin and God told Paul He would not forgive it. As we read throughout the entire scriptures, both of these statements would be equal.

The pastor took us to II Corinthians 12:7 – 10. With that scripture he added one of the most anti-faith rumors to hit the Body of Christ, and proceeded to preach “doubt” and unbelief for the remainder of his sermon.

The passage reads as follows:
“And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (II Cor.12:7-10).

From this passage alone and some extremely careless exegesis, the pastor fell tragically victim to the rumor that keeps millions from receiving their blood-bought “right” to healing from the Cross of Jesus. Call him a rumor bearer or pall bearer – they both add up to the same thing: the Gospel of Jesus denigrated in its purchase, its purpose, its meaning and its ministration.

Just think, the sick – both present and future, suffering, dying, leaving behind them hurt and cheated loved ones and family, leaving unfinished calls given them by God – have been deceived out of their divine, “miraculous” healing from God – and all from a mere rumor!

I went home troubled and stirred in my spirit, thinking, “This man just got away with murder!” I poured back into the Word and some of my books again to see how in the world supposed theologians could find any excuse to report this as being in the Word of God.

Interestingly, I noted that only those who fully believed in the atoning work of Jesus to defeat all the works of the devil (sin and sickness) showed true thoroughness in looking into the true meaning of the phrase “thorn in the flesh”. Only from these individuals did I see any close examination as to what it always referred to in scripture, and what it never referred to in scripture (i.e. disease).

Actually, there are many writers who go to great length pointing this out. F. F. Bosworth writes with great thoroughness in Christ The Healer, as does T. L. Osborn in Healing The Sick. My guess is that only those with the faith that has seen results have the courage to truly seek out the real truth behind this passage.

For if one accurately searches out the meaning of this passage, he or she will find that in no way does this passage negate the fact that God does wish to heal all diseases!

While these great authors do go into great detail, I will only provide the highlights here. My purpose is not to convince you or win you in argument. My purpose is to call your attention to something purported to be truth which is in fact a lie, and I urge you to check it out for yourself.

In highlight and summary, however, I would like to present the following facts.

First, the word for “thorn” is not a thing, but actually a person. The Greek word used for thorn is “angelos” – a being, actually a “messenger”. In fact, Paul’s use of Greek language attributes to this person or being a gender of “male”. The problem is, the idea of “disease” in Greek has no gender!

This word “angelos” is used 188 times in the Bible. It is used as “messenger” seven times, and as “angel” 181 times. It always refers to a person and never to a thing. That is, in its 188 times used in the Word of God, it is NEVER used to refer to disease!

Furthermore, throughout the Old Testament, whenever it is used it is always followed by a reference to the “persons” it is referring to. One example of that is the Canaanites. In Numbers 33:55 we read, “If ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land (Canaan) from before you; then it shall come to pass that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.”

Secondly, it was always used as an “expression”, and never to any actual literal “thing”. It never describes something literally sticking into or affecting in any physical way someone’s flesh! It always rather describes problematic persons or beings.

Today we use the expression “pain in the butt” when referring to annoying people or events. This never means a literal malfunction or discomfort in ones gluteus maximus! Neither did this Biblical phrase “thorn in the flesh” ever refer to a literal physical disfunction or ailment in ones skin or flesh.

Yet, if the child of a chiropractor were to ask her dad to do something about her ‘pain in the butt’ (little sister), so the dad might say, “No I won’t. You’ll learn how to deal with her (not “it”) like a big girl”.

So, let’s rephrase this little dialogue: “I asked my Daddy to get rid of my ‘pain in the butt’, but he told me he wasn’t going to do that, because I was old enough to learn to handle her myself.”

What an insult and horrible rumor if someone reported the chiropractor telling his own child, “No, I won’t take care of that myofascial pain you are experiencing in your body (your proverbial “butt”). Just deal with it!”

How horrible to report that that chiropractor will help other people but not his very own daughter!

Yet this is the horrible discrediting of the blood of Jesus and the heart of the Father that happened in that church that morning. Sadly, the same report happens over and over across the land. This is the horrible report that men and women “in the name of Jesus” state – that God actually told Paul He would not take his disease away! Nothing could be further from the heart of the Father towards Paul or towards us.

Third, the mission of this “thorn” Paul said was “to buffet”. The word used for buffet is kolaphizō, and the action of it is “blow after blow”, or violent “fist after fist”. This word, as well, is NEVER ANYWHERE used in scripture in discussing disease.

Fourth, Paul, with regularity not matched by any other Biblical writer, often described in words the many things he endured at the hands of Satan. Here’s a few:

· Chastened and not killed

· Stripes above measure
· In prisons more frequent
· In deaths often
· Five times received I forty stripes save one
· Thrice was I beaten with rods
· Once was I stoned
· Imprisonments
· Tumults
· Dishonor
· Evil report
· Disputing continually with false brethren
· In perils of robbers
· In perils of mine own countrymen
· In perils by the heathen
· In perils in the city
· In perils in the wilderness
· In perils in the sea
· In perils among false brethren
· In weariness
· In hunger and thirst
· In cold
· Naked
· Reviled
· Persecuted
· Defamed
· Made as the filth of the world

The man was not timid with words! He also was in no way hesitant to talk about all the things he endured on a continual basis – from the smallest to the greatest, from mere weariness to being beaten with rods.

Don’t you think it strange that never ONCE did he include in those discussions that he endured sickness – of any sort? Not once!

And if in fact he did have the horrible eye illness (opthalmia) that the rumor describes (which undoubtedly would have been affecting him as he even wrote those words, would it not), don’t you think it strange that he in all of his writings never mentioned such a horrible disease – not even once?

Particularly, if this one disease was that “thorn” that he had sought the Lord so much about and was the one affliction he would have to live with, most certainly he would have cited “disease” at least a few times in his list of trials. Yet not even once did he do so.

If Paul was so open and honest about his many physical trials, and HE never spoke about constant affliction with any disease, how presumptuous it would be for someone to base a whole doctrine – particularly one which would do such horrible damage to peoples’ faith – on a rumor, which is never even alluded to by Paul himself nor in any other way proven or even supported in the least little way!

The fact is, this story is a rumor, and is in fact a lie! Sadly it draws people away from the Cross daily. It deliberately steers people away from that which Jesus suffered and died for, but all for this insidious rumor, died for in vain.

If you were a parent and you declared the following statements regarding your care for your children, see how you would feel if one of your children came and you told them you refused to heal them. The mere possibility of an exception being made for someone as faithful as Paul, asking God so consistently for what is promised for all of His children, is ludicrous.

· (Psalm 103:3) (He) forgives all yours sins and heals all your diseases

· (Ex. 15:26) He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”

· (Matt. 4:24) News about him (Jesus) spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them.

· (Matt. 8:16) When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.

· (Matt. 12:15) Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and He healed all their sick

· (Matt. 14:14) When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

· (Matt. 14:36) and all who touched him were healed.

· (Mark 6:56) And wherever he went-into villages, towns or countryside-they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

· (Acts 5:16) Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil* spirits, and all of them were healed.

· (I Pet. 2:24) He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

How careless, how callous, how truly wicked to draw a precious believer away from wonderful promises in the Word of God on the basis of such an ill-founded, ignorance-driven, heresaical lie!

If you ever think about spreading a rumor that poses such great exception to a “rule” or truth taught in scriptures, you better make extra sure that your exception is founded in truth – over and over, and beyond a shadow of a doubt – lest you became guilty of “taking away from the Word of God”!

The blood of billions of lives cut short by disease and aided and abetted by these careless preachers is on those preachers’ hands!

For all those preachers who have willingly preached this lie (or let’s just call it a “rumor”, in case they honestly did their best to exegete it properly), receive now the following warning from Revelation 22.19:

“And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”


(Post note: Exactly one month later - to the day – after preaching this sermon, the pastor referred to in this chapter submitted his resignation due to “moral failure”.)

SO YOU THINK MODERN MEDICINE AND GOD WALK HAND IN HAND?

Why not listen in to this conversation. Then tell me what you think.

The Face Off

CONTESTANT #2: “I swear by Apollo the Physician and Asclepius and Hygeia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant.” (taken from the Hypocratic Oath)

CONTESTANT #1: “Don’t follow their thinking! I am the God that healeth thee. You are not to follow any other gods. You are not to seek out any other help but that which comes directly from My own hand! By My stripes you were healed. I died for your sins and your diseases. I endured them all on the cross. I paid the price for them all on the cross.”

“By the blood I shed, you no longer have to be bound by any sickness or sin, or any other work of the evil one. If any among you is sick, let him call for those believers whose faith is strong and mature, the “elders”. Let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in My name. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and I will raise him up!”

CONTESTANT #2: “Hi. This is Dr. Morgan’s office. We’re calling to inform you that it was malignant, and the doctor needs to see you right away. You’ll have about six months to live. There is no hope for you. But we do want to make these last months as pleasant for you as possible.”

CONTESTANT #1: “My dear child, don’t believe them. I love you. I created you. And by the stripes of My Son Jesus, your healing has been secured. I have given you all that you need for while you dwell on earth. It is not My will that you die spiritually by your sins or die physically by disease. My Son paid a dear price so that neither of those things must happen to you. Take My remedy. Enjoy it. Believe Me and you will see it!”

CONTESTANT #2: “Just take this medicine. If you experience any of the side effects listed, let me know right away. There is one other drug I can give you. Let’s try this one first. Nothing in this life is perfect, but we can try to get as close as possible for you.”

CONTESTANT #1: ”Don’t partake of their sorceries! By My stripes you were healed. I shed My blood for you. It’s unlimited and it’s free. It is totally effective on all diseases, and the side effects are wonderful - righteousness, peace and joy! Receive it and apply it to all of your needs!”

CONTESTANT #2: “I think we’re going to have to operate. We’ll make the incision as small as possible, but that’s the only way you’re going to get rid of this! If we don’t, it will just progress, and you will surely die!”

CONTESTANT #1: “Don’t let them cut you. They pierced Me with a sword and they drove nails through My hands and My feet. I let them do this to Me so that you wouldn’t have to let them do that to you! They abused My body so that yours would be well! Disease cannot destroy your body, but you must drive it out and keep it out by faith. All you need is My blood and your faith! Believe it, with your whole being, and you shall surely live!”

CONTESTANT #2: “I’d like a check-up. It’s been a while, and I am getting older. If there is any problem, I’d like to catch it before it’s too late!”

CONTESTANT #1: “I give you My Word. It does not change as you get older! It applies to all your afflictions. I am Alpha and Omega; I am the Beginning and the End! No condition is too early or too late for Me!”

CONTESTANT #2: “Take your clothes off. I need to examine your body.”

CONTESTANT #1: “Your body is the temple of My Spirit. I want you to dress with modesty and holiness. No one is to look upon any of your nakedness unless it is a husband or a wife that I have given to you for a holy union!”

CONTESTANT #2: “You need to get your immunization shots! The injection site may be sore for a while, but hopefully you won’t get the sickness, or at least not as bad!”

CONTESTANT#1: “Do not fear any diseases that the world fears. I had nails put into Me, so they wouldn’t have to put needles into you! My blood covers you and protects you from all the works of the evil one!”

“Through the power of My blood, I will protect you and your loved ones from disease, just as I protected my children for forty years as they crossed the desert. Think of it – not one of them got sick even once – for forty years! This same protection I make available to you today through My blood.”

CONTESTANT #2: “I’d just like to see how I’m really doing.”

CONTESTANT #1: “Walk by My words, not their observation of you. The just shall live by faith. If you need to look at your flesh to see if My Word is true, then you are walking by sight! I want you to walk by faith!”

“Your assurance comes from My words, not theirs.”

CONTESTANT #2: “I just want to know what I have.”

CONTESTANT #1: “I’ve already told you - you have protection and healing from Me.”

CONTESTANT #2: “But God uses doctors!”

CONTESTANT #1: “Only to illustrate failure. I used the prophets of Baal, too. First they did their thing and failed, then I answered Elijah’s prayer! I use their failure as a contrast for My glory!”

CONTESTANT #2: “Luke was a doctor you know.”

CONTESTANT #1: “Yes, and I used to be a carpenter. Peter was a fisherman. Matthew was a tax collector. Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. All of these people dropped their worldly calls, and went on to follow Me!

That means, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also.”

EVER HEARD OF SMITH WIGGLESWORTH?

During the first part of the 20th Century lived a man whom the Lord used to heal hundreds of sick people, and even raise nearly 20 people from the dead!! Much of the pentacostal world has heard of this man - his name is Smith Wigglesworth.

Maybe you've heard of him??

I personally didn't hear of him until I was in my 30's. Though a Christian since I was 5, I didn't receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit until I was 30. As a result of that experience, my life changed in a way that it would never be the same. I knew the Lord wanted me to heal the sick, to preach, and to even raise the dead.

As I read about about Smith Wigglesworth, I learned that he had a passion for God, a passion for the souls of people, that he did in fact minister according to the Father's heart by raising many people from the dead. He healed the sick and cast out demons of all sort. What an encouragement he was to my faith and the calling the Lord had put in my heart!

Well, as I read about him, I could see that receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit was extremely significant for him as it was for me. It made ALL the difference in him, to preach in power and to serve in power, as I had experienced it to mean in my own life!

However, for some reason I did not notice - until my son Sam pointed it out to me quite a few years later - that Smith and his wife Polly were given an instruction that the Lord had given me soon after I began to pray for the Lord to break me to use me. That instruction was this:

Do NOT go to human physicians (I call them imposters), but rely ONLY on the Lord for ALL your health concerns. That also included - drugs. They are from the realm of pharmacaea which Revelation warns us that partakers of will go to the Lake of Fire! (And you'll notice that Revelation does not list the FDA's approved drug list as the exceptions to this instruction).

WOW - it had been no accident that the Lord had directed me in this way. And it was NO accident that the Lord called Smith and Polly away from the world of medicine before He began His ministry in them. Yet I have never heard anyone point this out. Hmmm

The Lord had told me while pregnant with my son Sam to come away from human doctors - even for his birth (and the 4 others that followed - at home) - and to rely on Him and the anointing with oil and prayer of faith for everything. That is what I did - none of them even had one ear infection!

Not only did Smith not utilize human "doctors" for himself, but in the book Ever Increasing Faith, he describes how "doctors" absolutely work against the prayer of faith and will hinder healing unless someone turns away from them and their methods and their help. I encourage you to go to the fifth chapter of that book, and read how absolutely critical this was, such that he would even avoid using the same stairs with them! http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/wigglesworth/5f00.0930/5f00.0930.05.htm

In this last hour, if we are to remain faithful, we will have the help of doctors and their potions taken away from us, if we are to reject the mark. Think about it. Yet the Lord showed me way back in 1985 and 1986 that this last hour would be the time when He would most shine through His Bride - when she would finally put away this other lover, this idol - this source of help which was NOT His agent, NOT his representative, NOT His will.

Now is the time to pull away from this idol, if you wish to see the Glory of God. How can two walk together unless they walk in agreement. If earthly doctors were from God, you'd see it all through scripture, and you would see God and the truth - "By His stripes you are healed" - being hailed by everyone of them. There is no middle ground for the Lord.

Our God is a Holy God. He insists on holiness, holy vessels, vessels that give Him honor. No flesh is allowed to glory in His presence.

Yes, as Wigglesworth says in Chapter Five of Ever Increasing Faith:

"Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him" (James 5 :14, 15) .

We have in this precious word a real basis for the truth of healing. In this scripture God gives very definite instructions to the sick. If you are sick, your part is to call for the elders of the church; it is their part to anoint and pray for you in faith, and then the whole situation rests with the Lord. When you have been anointed and prayed for, you can rest assured that the Lord will raise you up. It is the word of God.

I believe that we all can see that the church cannot play with this business. If any turn away from these clear instructions they are in a place of tremendous danger. Those who refuse to obey, do so to their unspeakable loss.

Whatever happened to the precious oil by which believers are to address sickness - before and after???

A horrible conspiracy has arisen over the past few centuries, convincing even bona fide believers that the blood of Jesus, anointing a sick person with oil with a prayer of faith is NOT ENOUGH!!

Who, but our arch enemy of faith would have convinced anyone of this lie?

The bigger question is, why would we believe it? If the Atonement of Jesus provided absolute cure for sin - and we are instructed to make that the ONLY cure, or we will NULLIFY that cure, then WHY ON EARTH would be add to the Cross of Jesus as absolute cure for sickness?

Since when does Jesus warn His followers about staying away from those who are sick - He instructed His followers (and that included Paul, so that also includes you and me!) to TOUCH the leapers and to HEAL them with the power of God dwelling inside of them, in the name of Jesus!!

Since when does Jesus want His followers fighting any battle - including disease - in the flesh?? He told us that we fight not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers (and by the way, WIN, if by faith we do not lose our sight on the TRUTH concerning this fact!!)

Why would Jesus have us go get a drop of evil (disease) to protect us from disease (i.e. vaccines)?

Since when do we as believers rely on the FDA to determine what is good or evil for us, that is in calling something of the realm of pharmacaea (i.e. drugs, witchcraft!) a "good" drug, or a "bad/street" drug?

Did you realize that Hippocrates, the "Father" of modern medicine, deliberately set up to go against (yes, rebell against) the "superstition" taught by the God of the Bible? Not only did he deliberately set up specific allegience to other named gods and goddesses (Apollo, etal - check out the oath!!), but he also declared that the battle for disease is in the flesh!!

Now brothers and sisters, it can't be both. Either we war against flesh and blood, or we war in the spirit realm - not both.

Check out the Hippocratic Oath (a newer version has appeared over the past few years, "softening" his obvious rebellion, and leaving out the names of these gods). But the battle plan has not changed: it does NOT first acknowledge the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and a fear of Him, and therefore is FALSE KNOWLEDGE, according to Paul. In first Timothy 6:20, Paul warns that people had then, as millions have now, WANDERED away from the faith, as they pursued other "knowledge".

Think about it. Pray about it. Why would the Lord have us add anything to the Cross and the Blood of Jesus for SICKNESS (especially when He states so clearly in James 5 such simple instructions for when we are sick), if He would NOT have us add, and is clear to WARN us not to add anything to the Cross for our sin??

100 PERCENT EFFECT REMEMDY FOR SICKNESS!!!

100% EFFECTIVE REMEDY
FOR THE SWINE FLU!!!!

Ancient remedy available today!!

Proven Protection From and Antidote For:
Leprosy, Epilepsy, Mental Illness, Paraplegia, Untimely Death, Poisonous Snakebites, virtually all diseases, including now…even the Swine Flu..
The Blood of Jesus!!!

The power of God protected 40 million people for 40 years – not one person ever got sick!
Not once did Jesus tell His disciples to wash their hands so they wouldn’t get sick.
Not once did He urge them to take a vaccine, wear masks or gloves.
Not once did He tell them to see an earthly physician or take their potions.
His ways are NOT the ways of today’s world of medicine !
Apply HIS antidote for all diseases
…costly but free…
The Blood of Jesus

Isn’t it time we use a script from the REAL source?

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God
to the pulling down of strong holds!! (2 Cor. 10:4)

What on earth are we waiting for??