We Are All Sick and Need a Healer

8 July 2026  Hosea 11:1-4,8-9

“…but they did not know that I healed them.” (Hosea 11:3)   

Israel did not know that God was their healer. Maybe that’s because they didn’t know they were sick.

Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the U.S. – one in every three deaths of women, one in every four of men. Of all heart ailments, the most common is coronary artery disease. Sometimes placque builds up slowly, over decades in coronary arteries, to the point where it begins to cause chest pain under exertion. Doctors call that pain “stable angina” because it’s slow and shows up at predictable times, like exercise. Sometimes, however, bits of soft placque in heart vessels can rupture and detach. The body reacts to that as an injury, and rapidly creates a blood clot around the ruptured placque that can block an artery, sometimes almost instantly.  

The only hope then is immediate intervention, which may, or may not be available. For some people, the first sign of heart trouble is the heart attack that kills them.

All these things are vitally important because sometimes it’s hard to know when you’re sick. It makes a lot of sense, therefore, to know who your healer is first.

Sometimes you just don’t know when you’re sick.

So what do you do when you don’t know you need a healer?

One thing you can do is know your history – it is one of the first things that professional healers always ask for. Do you know what the danger signs are, and who you know who might have them? Do you know the kinds of things that are culture-killers, and the sometimes subtle signs they may be around? Christianity out-thought, out-fought, out-lived and out-died the whole world of classical antiquity for reasons that are still relevant. The moral and intellectual atmosphere of modern secularism has become polluted, not unlike in antiquity, but the Gospel is clearing the air in ways that are making young people (especially young men) take notice today, in strikingly increasing numbers. There have certainly been ups and downs in the Christian experience, but when the downs have gotten low enough, Christianity has regularly been rediscovered, as it is being rediscovered now. Do you know your history? Do you know what is going on right now?

Are you paying close enough attention to what you put inside you? That’s another question professional healers always ask. It is said that the current generation  “speaks video,” and most of the videos they consume can be measured not in hours or minutes, but in seconds. Adding up TikToks until the seconds amount to hours is rather like a diet of oreos and potato chips – after a while it can fill you up, but not in any way that makes you strong. Are you reading the things that can save your life? Do you know what they are? The Bible is one of them. It created the culture that was capable of discovering science and higher math, that discovered human rights, civil rights, and democracy. Every culture on earth has succumbed at some point to the temptation of slavery, but it is only cultures formed by the Bible that found a way to end it. When the bloodiest century in history had to find the way to defeat fascism and communism, which killed over 100 million people, it found the answer in cultures formed by the Bible. Are you paying enough attention to the things you put inside you?

Are there lifestyle factors that can increase your danger? Do you get enough exercise? You can learn a lot about what is important to you by looking at your calendar. If the things you make time for daily are the kinds of things that build up a Godly culture and are fortified by the antibiotics of the Bible – worship, prayer, study, charity – you have a fighting chance. Does your calendar indicate a healthy, holy lifestyle?

All these things are vitally important because sometimes it’s hard to know when you’re sick. It makes a lot of sense, therefore, to know who your healer is first.