“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Mark 16:15-18

This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel in its earliest and purest form. The Gospel in its most powerful form. Sadly, this is the Gospel that the church in America in our generation has watered down, diluted, and made “zero calorie,” no doubt, so we could find our calories elsewhere and satisfy our appetites with other things. This has weakened the effect of our Gospel and handicapped it from doing what it was created to do.

If we ever hope to restore the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our generation in this nation, we are going to have to get back to believing, preaching, and acting on the original “full” gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ “good news” has always been good news for our whole being, our physical bodies included. Most religious groups in America today have subtracted everything from the Gospel but the hope of Heaven someday. For sure, the Gospel is the hope of glory, but according to Scripture, that’s “Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27). Because of that, He who is in you can “make alive” (Romans 8:11) your mortal body right now as well!

The Gospel that Jesus preached and commanded his disciples to preach always included provision for health in the physical body. Don’t believe that? Read Matthew 4:23, 9:35, 11:1-6, and Luke 4:18 and 9:1-6, and you’ll see it for yourself. What’s more, this form of the Gospel continued to be preached and practiced by the earliest and most successful version of the New Testament Church. See Acts 5:12-16 and Acts 14:6-10 for your own confirmation.

How were these early believers so effective in receiving from God what this generation consistently misses out on? They believed and preached and practiced the fullness of the Gospel that we have disrespected by watering down.

Now, many today would argue, “Didn’t God allow Jesus and his earliest disciples to heal physical bodies just to prove Jesus was the Savior of mankind?” That’s a rational line of thought, but wrong theology at the root. Sure, the healings of Jesus and his disciples proved Jesus was who he and they said he was, but that was a byproduct, not the point. That wasn’t God’s motivation in those healings.

So, what was God’s motivation in healing mankind back in those days?

According to Matthew 14:13-14 and Mark 1:39-42 Jesus healed both multitudes and individuals, not to prove himself, but because he loved them! God’s motivation to heal our bodies is His love for us, not to prove Himself, and the good news for our bodies today is that He still loves us!

With that said, even if God’s motivation for all those healings back then was to prove Jesus was the Savior of the world, isn’t that still needed today? Yes! Probably even more now than ever. We live in the age of the worship of science and reason. We need the truth of God revealed in power today to refute the “wisdom” of the world.

Brothers and sisters, let’s take full advantage of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for us. He died so we could be forgiven of our sins and live in Heaven someday, but by his “stripes ye were healed” as well!

Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.