Do YOU have Cancer?

I have always said that the Bible touches on every problem known to mankind. This morning I was reduced to humble adoration at the intense truth of that statement. I felt so touched by the Lord, I held my Bible up to my face and wept.

I accidentally left a huge tear mark on that page. I will dated the margin and will rejoice for years to come.

This morning I was astounded to find the word “cancer” in the NKJV Bible.

2 Timothy 2:16-17, “But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. “

After years of reading  “cankor” in the KJV, I switched to NKJV and discovered the word  is translated “cancer.”

The Online Bible gives the definition of the Greek word gaggraina  as “a gangrene, a disease by which any part of the body suffering from inflammation becomes so corrupted that, unless a remedy be seasonably applied, the evil continually spreads, attacks other parts, and at last eats away the bones.”

Yep, sounds like cancer to me.

But the Lord uses the physical is to remind us of the spiritual. We’re that kind of people. We just can’t take the Lord’s words for it, we have to see it to believe it.  We need something physical we understand to teach us something spiritual we don’t understand.

How many of us would have said, as Thomas, “I won’t believe until I reach my hands into His side?”

So, the Lord  uses physical illustrations to speak to our hearts.

My mind is kinda’ on cancer these days.

So when the Lord used this disease to illustrate putrid growth of doctrine that was irreverent, evil and useless,  I took note.

Why should we be more concerned about doctrinal error than cancer? Today’s mantra, “doctrine divides”  causes people  to set aside doctrine for the sake of unity.

But, the Lord is going to divide sheep from the goats, wheat from the tares. Doctrine does divide.  It divides darkness from light, truth from lies, and false teachers from true prophets.

Doctrine is crucial to teach us who Jesus is, what He did and what is coming. We must know what is Biblically correct, so we don’t allow the spiritual cancer to overtake our minds, our families, our churches.

Cancer can  destroy only the body, but we get a new one at the resurrection from the dead if we are saved by the blood of Jesus.

Corrupt doctrine can destroy the soul, and there will not be another chance after death.

We’re rightly terrified of the “C” word,  but it is a great reminder of the true cankor on earth, people NOT knowing the true doctrine about Jesus Christ and His saving grace.

I’ve been blessed to hear the amount of people praying for my healing from cancer.

But, today, I was impressed with a greater need – the healing of the Church’s spiritual cancer, the profane and idle babblings that lead to more ungodliness.  Before the Church can be healed, individuals need to be healed.

We need the Great Physician to diagnose us with His Holy Word, and if we have spiritual cancer, it needs to be removed with the sword of the Word –  it’s sharper than a scalpel.