{"id":5183,"date":"2018-06-07T08:30:57","date_gmt":"2018-06-07T13:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/?page_id=5183"},"modified":"2020-10-06T17:34:04","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T22:34:04","slug":"sickeness-disease-blindness-and-deafness","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/mystery\/symbols-signs-types-copies-shadows-and-patterns\/sickeness-disease-blindness-and-deafness","title":{"rendered":"Sickness, Disease, Blindness, and Deafness"},"content":{"rendered":"

IT’S ABOUT THE SPIRITUAL\u00a0BODY — NOT THE PHYSICAL BODY<\/strong>
\nLeprosy, uncleanness, blindness deafness, infirmity and plagues are among those Biblical terms about which most religionists think they know the meaning because they frequently occur in the everyday language. Unfortunately, familiarity with these words leads to the erroneous, default conclusions that sickness and disease in the Bible means what it means in our natural lives. It does not. These terms are all symbolic references to the spiritual effects of religion on the heart.<\/p>\n

Indeed, religious as well as nonreligious people know the literal,\u00a0 meanings of these concepts but, most religionists do not understand the symbolic, Biblical meanings. Lacking such understanding, religionists think of physical healing when they read about miraculous healings in both the Old and New Testaments. They are left with a sense of awe that prophets, Jesus\u00a0 and his disciples could heal people from their various physical defects, and even raise people from the dead, but they never investigate the symbolism of the natural defects. This disconnect is symptomatic of a common inability of Biblical religionists to interpret the Bible symbolically while they focus exclusively on literal interpretations.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See\u00a0Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 1,\u00a0<\/a>Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 2, <\/a>and\u00a0Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 3 <\/a>for more about this topic.<\/p>\n

Also see\u00a0Signs, Wonders and Miracles<\/a> and\u00a0Death, Resurrection, New Life, Salvation, Heaven.<\/a><\/p>\n

The best place to begin gaining understanding of what God means by physical impairments of all kinds is in this scripture:<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 28:15-68: <\/a> “But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: The most important point to recognize here is that disobedience to God’s voice is the condition by which all the curses mentioned will be visited on people.<\/p>\n

It is critical to notice that it is not not disobedience to God’s written word that invokes God’s punishment. It is failure to listen to his voice<\/a> that brings sickness, plagues and disease. When God says “listen to my voice”, it is a command with the same imperative value as the ten commandments.<\/p>\n

16<\/span> Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. <\/span> 17<\/span> Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading-trough. <\/span> 18<\/span> Cursed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock. <\/span> 19<\/span> Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. <\/span><\/p>\n

20<\/span> “The LORD will send upon you curses, confusion, and frustration, in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your doings, because you have forsaken me. <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: It is hard to accept, but God sends the curse of religion<\/a> on people who refuse to listen to his voice.<\/p>\n

21<\/span> The LORD will make the pestilence cleave to you until he has consumed you off the land which you are entering to take possession of it. <\/span> 22<\/span> The LORD will smite you with consumption, and with fever, inflammation, and fiery heat, and with drought, and with blasting, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.<\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: People who are afflicted with religion are unable to enter the promised land<\/a>.<\/p>\n

23<\/span> And the heavens over your head shall be brass, and the earth under you shall be iron. <\/span> 24<\/span> The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down upon you until you are destroyed. <\/span> 25<\/span> “The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them; and you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. <\/span> 26<\/span> And your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth; and there shall be no one to frighten them away.<\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: See Religion is the Enemy,\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0When God Does Not Hear Prayer.<\/a><\/p>\n

27<\/span> The LORD will smite you with the boils of Egypt, and with the ulcers and the scurvy and the itch, of which you cannot be healed. <\/span> 28<\/span> The LORD will smite you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind; <\/span> 29<\/span> and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways; and you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you.<\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: See Religion is Injustice, Slavery, Oppression and Affliction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

30<\/span> You shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, and you shall not use the fruit of it. <\/span> 31<\/span> Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, and you shall not eat of it; your ass shall be violently taken away before your face, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and there shall be no one to help you. <\/span> 32<\/span> Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all the day; and it shall not be in the power of your hand to prevent it. <\/span> 33<\/span> A nation which you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually; <\/span> 34<\/span> so that you shall be driven mad by the sight which your eyes shall see. <\/span><\/p>\n

35<\/span> The LORD will smite you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. <\/span> 36<\/span> “The LORD will bring you, and your king whom you set over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone. <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: See Wood (trees).<\/a><\/p>\n

37<\/span> And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away. <\/span> 38<\/span> You shall carry much seed into the field, and shall gather little in; for the locust shall consume it. <\/span> 39<\/span> You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worm shall eat them. <\/span> 40<\/span> You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. <\/span> 41<\/span> You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity. <\/span> 42<\/span> All your trees and the fruit of your ground the locust shall possess. <\/span> 43<\/span> The sojourner who is among you shall mount above you higher and higher; and you shall come down lower and lower. <\/span> 44<\/span> He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. <\/span><\/p>\n

45<\/span> All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you, till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you. <\/span> 46<\/span> They shall be upon you as a sign and a wonder, and upon your descendants for ever. <\/span> 47<\/span> “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things, <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: The curse of religion comes upon people who do not obey God’s voice. Obedience to God’s voice presumes the ability to hear God’s voice.<\/p>\n

God’s commandments and statutes are his spiritual laws<\/a> written on the hearts of New Covenant disciples<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Serving the Lord is equated with listening to his voice.<\/p>\n

48<\/span> therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and in want of all things; and he will put a yoke of iron upon your neck, until he has destroyed you. <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: See\u00a0Religion is the Enemy<\/a>. Religious people, therefore, serve their enemy when they join a religious organization, promote it, and support it financially. See\u00a0Religion is Commerce.<\/a><\/p>\n

49<\/span> The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you do not understand, <\/span> 50<\/span> a nation of stern countenance, who shall not regard the person of the old or show favor to the young, <\/span> 51<\/span> and shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; who also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your cattle or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish. <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: See Nations. <\/a>Religious nations destroy people.<\/p>\n

52<\/span> They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the LORD your God has given you. <\/span> 53<\/span> And you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. <\/span> 54<\/span> The man who is the most tender and delicately bred among you will grudge food to his brother, to the wife of his bosom, and to the last of the children who remain to him; <\/span> 55<\/span> so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing left him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns. <\/span> 56<\/span> The most tender and delicately bred woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will grudge to the husband of her bosom, to her son and to her daughter, <\/span> 57<\/span> her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because she will eat them secretly, for want of all things, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.<\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: This is a very distressing symbolic picture of the kinds of things that religion causes people to do — even to their children.<\/p>\n

<\/a>58<\/span> “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awful name, the LORD your God, <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: God symbolically refers to the heart as a book because the heart is the place where he writes his spiritual laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is possible to obey God’s spiritual laws written on the heart but it is impossible to obey religious laws<\/a> based on the literal words of the Bible.\u00a0See God’s Spoken Word and Written Word are Not the Same.<\/a><\/p>\n

59<\/span> then the LORD will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting.<\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: Children are afflicted with religion because their parents teach them to be religious. This is how the sins of the fathers are passed on to other generations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

60<\/span> And he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they shall cleave to you. <\/span> 61<\/span> Every sickness also, and every affliction which is not recorded in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon you, until you are destroyed. <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: The sicknesses and diseases of Egypt are religion in its many forms. They are not recorded in the book (i.e. heart of New Covenant disciples).<\/a> God says that religion (i.e. sickness and affliction) will destroy people.<\/p>\n

62<\/span> Whereas you were as the stars of heaven for multitude, you shall be left few in number; because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God. <\/span> 63<\/span> And as the LORD took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the LORD will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you; and you shall be plucked off the land which you are entering to take possession of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: God says he will destroy people who do not obey his voice. Destruction is a term like sickness and disease that refers to the spiritual condition of people who do not listen to God’s voice. It should not be interpreted literally.<\/p>\n

God himself does not accomplish the destruction. Destruction is accomplished by religious people who enslave, oppress and afflict<\/a> other religious people. God’s role in destruction is to give to people the freedom to follow religious rules if that is what they want to do.<\/a><\/p>\n

God allows people to be religious because he knows\u00a0 that sooner or later they will come to their senses and cry out for deliverance from bondage to the sin of religion. When they do cry out, he will send a messiah to teach them the truth. And once they know the truth, they will return to God (i.e. stop listening to false prophets) and choose life (i.e. listen to God’s spoken voice).<\/a><\/p>\n

64<\/span> And the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. <\/span> 65<\/span> And among these nations you shall find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot; but the LORD will give you there a trembling heart, and failing eyes, and a languishing soul; <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: See Characteristics of an Evil, Impure Heart.<\/a><\/p>\n

66<\/span> your life shall hang in doubt before you; night and day you shall be in dread, and have no assurance of your life. <\/span> 67<\/span> In the morning you shall say, ‘Would it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘Would it were morning!’ because of the dread which your heart shall fear, and the sights which your eyes shall see. <\/span> 68<\/span> And the LORD will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey which I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no man will buy you.”<\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: See Egypt and Babylon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This extensive list of curses that include many kinds of sicknesses and diseases is a radical contrast with the blessings listed in the first fourteen verses of Deuteronomy 28:<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 28:1-14: <\/a>“And if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments which I command you this day, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. <\/span> 2<\/span> And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God. <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: The condition for receiving blessings is listening to God’s spoken voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3<\/span> Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. <\/span> 4<\/span> Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your beasts, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock. <\/span> 5<\/span> Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading-trough. <\/span> 6<\/span> Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. <\/span> 7<\/span> “The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways. <\/span> 8<\/span> The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your barns, and in all that you undertake; and he will bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> 9<\/span> The LORD will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and walk in his ways. <\/span> 10<\/span> And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of you. <\/span> 11<\/span> And the LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, within the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. <\/span> 12<\/span> The LORD will open to you his good treasury the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. <\/span><\/p>\n

13<\/span> And the LORD will make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall tend upward only, and not downward; if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day, being careful to do them, <\/span> 14<\/span> and if you do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: Here God adds to the condition of obeying his commandments in order to qualify for his blessings. The additional requirements are that his people do not turn aside from any of the words he has commanded and that they do not go after other gods or serve them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The conclusion we must draw from these verses is this: We are blessed when we listen to God’s spoken words, and we are cursed with spiritual sickness, spiritual disease, spiritual deafness and spiritual blindness if we follow (i.e. listen to) other gods (i.e. religious leaders) instead of listening to his God’s voice.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIPS: See Religion is Idolatry,<\/a> and Religion is Disease<\/a>. Also see this link for understanding of blessing.<\/a> Also see Religion is a Curse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

THE CURE FOR SICKNESS, DISEASE AND DEATH<\/strong>
\nThere are many code words that identify the New Covenant and\u00a0the Old\/First Covenant<\/a>.\u00a0Leprosy, uncleanness, blindness deafness, infirmity and plagues are among those code words. The more complete list is found in Deuteronomy 28:15-68<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The first thing we notice in Deuteronomy 28:15-68 <\/a>is that the condition upon which all the curses listed will be visited on people is that they do not hear and obey<\/a> the voice of God. It does not say that these curses will come if they do not obey the literal word of God. This is a very important distinction that is discussed in detail in God’s Word and God’s Voice are Not the Same.<\/a><\/p>\n

What we learn here is that failure to hear and obey God’s spoken voice is the cause of the curses (i.e. sickness, disease). What we also learn if we listen carefully, is that the cure for the curses exists in repenting for not obeying the command to listen and then begin listening.<\/p>\n

This principle is so simple that it is hard to grasp. Here is another way of saying it.<\/p>\n

If we get sick because we eat unhealthy food, the way we get well is by eating good healthy food.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

We see this principle often in the news and publications about physical health. Food with too much fat, sugar and man-made additives contributes to obesity, cancer, and other kinds of bodily ailments. Eating natural, unadulterated food is the best way to achieve physical health.<\/p>\n

This principle also applies with respect to spiritual food. That is why God gives such clear instructions about what kinds of spiritual food can be eaten and what kinds cannot be eaten. These are discussed in detail in\u00a0Bread, Food and Wine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

People get spiritually sick and die when they eat evil, soulish food<\/a> served by false prophets. The only way to get spiritually healthy, therefore, is to eat good, spiritual food<\/a> that comes from the mouth of God. <\/a>That’s it. God’s spoken word is the cure to the curses. God’s spoken word is the cure to spiritual sickness, disease and death.<\/p>\n

That sounds simple enough, but the problem is that religious people who have gotten fat and sick on evil, soulish food do not know that they are spiritually unhealthy to the point of being spiritually dead.<\/p>\n

Religion has taught them that they will have fulfilling lives by practicing religion, and to a point that is true. But the only thing that is alive in religious people is their flesh which is busy doing religious stuff that excites their intellect and their emotions.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See\u00a0Music, Singing and Dancing<\/a> for understanding of the flesh and religion.<\/p>\n

Religious people do not know that they are spiritually dead<\/a> because they are religious. They are dead in their sin<\/a> (i.e. religion).\u00a0 For them, being fat and sick is normal because they look like and act like all other religious people. And even if they did know that they were sick, they would not know how to take the medicine that will heal them because they have never been taught to listen to God’s spoken voice.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See\u00a0Death, Resurrection, New Life, Salvation, Heaven\u00a0 <\/a>for more about spiritual death.<\/p>\n

Because religion teaches them to listen to religious leaders who claim to speak for God, they do not know that they should have never listened to false prophets. Nor do they know how to listen to God’s spoken voice.\u00a0<\/a>Therefore, for lack of a mediator who can explain to them why they are sick, and who can tell them what to do to get well, they remain sick. Because they are\u00a0deceived <\/a>and intoxicated<\/a> by religion that depends on false prophets for teaching, listening to God for themselves is not an idea that they entertain — even though God clearly says many times that they should listen to his voice.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See\u00a0 this link<\/a> and this link<\/a> for scriptures where God commands people to listen to his spoken voice.<\/p>\n

Obviously this is a dead end situation unless someone intervenes to tell people that they are sick and tell them how to get well. In the interim,\u00a0religious people insist on seeking for knowledge about God by consulting idols (i.e. religious leaders) and God steadfastly refuses to speak to them<\/a>.Even though they worship God with their mouths, their hearts are far from God<\/a>. Thus their verbal and physical worship means nothing to God. All he cares about is the condition of their hearts<\/a>. Therefore,\u00a0he steadfastly refuses to speak to them himself.<\/p>\n

When we try to imagine what would change this situation, we could think in terms of a spiritual doctor who could diagnose the situation and prescribe a cure. In a very real sense, that is what God did\/does. He sends an\u00a0anointed messiah<\/a> who can speak for God<\/a> in languages that nonspiritual people can understand.<\/p>\n

Messiahs are intercessors. But their job is not to pray that the sick will be healed of their physical sickness. The do pray of course, but their prayers are only supplements to what they do: Speak for God.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See\u00a0The Lord\u2019s Prayer<\/a> for understanding of a messiah’s prayer.<\/p>\n

More accurately, messiahs intercede as warriors,<\/a> high priests<\/a> and true prophets<\/a> to speak God’s words to religious people. They are qualified to speak for God because God’s laws are written on their hearts. They are qualified to speak because they hear God’s spoken voice and they are unafraid to tell others what they hear God saying<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jesus is the best known example of a true prophet\/messiah who speaks for God. But both the Old and New Testaments are full of examples of prophets who put their lives on the line to speak (i.e. prophesy) for God to people who have strayed from listening to God’s voice. These are all intercessors<\/a> who were willing to lay down their lives<\/a> for the sake of their sick\/dead brothers and sisters who need to hear God’s voice.<\/p>\n

This is a good solution from God’s perspective, but there was and is a great problem in the execution. The problem is not that the prophets were unwilling to speak. They were willing to lay down their lives. Rather, the problem is that religious people were\/are unwilling to listen to what they have to say.<\/p>\n

A good share of the Bible contains stories of true prophets telling truths that religious people didn’t want to hear. They didn’t want to hear what the prophets said because the prophets were basically telling them to stop practicing religion and start listening to God.<\/p>\n

Because religious people in the Bible (i.e. Israelites, Jews)\u00a0 were so intoxicated with religion<\/a>, they refused to hear what the prophets had to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n\n
    \n
  1. Stop being religious.<\/li>\n
  2. Stop following other gods (i.e. listening to false prophets).<\/li>\n
  3. Start listening to God’s voice.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    Israelites and Jews were so invested and protective of their religion that they killed the prophets<\/a> who threatened their religion by exhorting them to listen to God’s voice instead of listening to their religious leaders (i.e. idols<\/a>).<\/p>\n

    It is hard to imagine, but Israelites and Jews killed the prophets, including Jesus, even though the prophets had the words of life<\/a>\u00a0(i.e. God’s words spoken through them) that would heal them from their spiritual sickness. It is even harder to imagine that this situation still persists in these modern times. Jews and Christians still resist what the true prophets have to say about listening to God’s spoken voice. Jews and Christians still choose to hold on to their strongholds of wrong thinking<\/a> instead of listening to God’s voice spoken through true prophets or by God directly.<\/p>\n

    And so, they remain spiritually sick, blind, deaf and dead because they choose to listen to false prophets and refuse to listen to God’s voice.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    BLINDNESS<\/strong>
    \nBecause God always used     natural terms to represent spiritual truths,<\/a> he uses the concept of physical blindness to represent spiritual blindness. Thus we find many Biblical references to blindness<\/a> and restoration of spiritual sight to the blind<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Isaiah 42:13-25<\/span>: <\/a> The LORD goes forth like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his fury; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes. <\/span> 14<\/span> For a long time I have held my peace, I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in travail, I will gasp and pant. <\/span> 15<\/span> I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbage; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools. <\/span> 16<\/span> And I will lead the blind in a way that they know not, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them. <\/span> 17<\/span> They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in graven images, who say to molten images, “You are our gods.” <\/span> 18<\/span> Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see! <\/span> 19<\/span> Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the LORD? <\/span> 20<\/span> He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear. <\/span> 21<\/span> The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious. <\/span> 22<\/span> But this is a people robbed and plundered, they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become a prey with none to rescue, a spoil with none to say, “Restore!” <\/span> 23<\/span> Who among you will give ear to this, will attend and listen for the time to come? <\/span> 24<\/span> Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey? <\/span> 25<\/span> So he poured upon him the heat of his anger and the might of battle; it set him on fire round about, but he did not understand; it burned him, but he did not take it to heart. <\/span><\/div>\n
    The Bible addresses spiritual blindness as the great human problem. God’s reason for delivering Israel from Egypt was that Israel would be a holy nation that served him as a kingdom of priests.\u00a0<\/a>But, Israel was blind to the role God wanted them to fill. Called to be watchmen<\/a> protecting the nation, they instead blindly preyed on the people (Isaiah 56:10<\/a><\/span>). As the Pharisees<\/a> gained control, they became blind leaders of the blind.<\/a><\/div>\n
    Jesus came to reverse the situation, making it clear who had spiritual sight and who was spiritually blind (John 9:39-41<\/a><\/span>). In God’s view, religious people who pridefully think they have perfect spiritual vision are in fact blind. Their pride in their religion limits their ability to see the truth of the fact of their blindness. <\/a>Conversely, New Covenant disciples who can now see with spiritual eyes are very aware that they were once spiritually blind.<\/a><\/div>\n
    2\u00a0Peter 1:5-9<\/a><\/span> lists the qualities a person must have to have spiritual sight. Without these qualities, a person is blind to the spiritual truths that are available only to people who listen to God’s voice while reading the Bible<\/a>. Thus their knowledge of God is limited to their literal interpretations of the written words. Because they do not listen while reading, they are spiritually blind but do not know they are blind.<\/a><\/div>\n
    Lacking the ability to hear God’s voice, they are blinded by the gods<\/a> of the world of religion<\/a>. They walk in darkness, blinded by the moral darkness of hatred of their religious brothers.<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
    \n

    The possibility of a blind person being mistreated was recognized and forbidden by God. The law prohibited the giving of misleading directions<\/a> or doing anything to cause the blind to stumble.<\/a><\/p>\n

    STUDY TIP: See The Law is a Stumbling Block<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Jesus is a model of all messiahs\/prophets whom God sends to give spiritual sight to religious people.<\/a>\u00a0They do this by speaking God’s words <\/a>to people who are not in the habit of listening to God’s voice.\u00a0Thus they serve as mediators<\/a> between God and man. This is how New Covenant<\/a> disciples serve God as high priests<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    STUDY TIP: Spiritual blindness has been discussed many times in this website. To find those pages, we recommend using the Key Word Search feature in the upper right hand corner of this page. Enter the word “blind” in the search box and then click on the spyglass icon. This will produce a list of excerpts of all pages that discuss spiritual blindness.<\/a>
    \n<\/p>\n

    DEAFNESS<\/strong>
    \nGod uses the imagery of deafness to identify people who do not and will not listen to his voice because they prefer to listen to     false prophets<\/a>. Deafness is included in a long list of diseases and afflictions that he uses to differentiate between Old\/First Covenant religionists and New Covenant disciples.<\/p>\n

    Old\/First Covenant religionists do not have eyes to see or ears to hear.<\/a> They have eyes to see the literal words of the Bible, but they do not have ears to hear God’s spoken voice explain the symbolic interpretations of the literal words<\/a>. Thus they are both deaf and blind.<\/p>\n

    New Covenant disciples, on the other hand, do have eyes to see (i.e. read) the literal words of the Bible and ears to listen to God’s spoken voice<\/a> explain the symbolic meanings of the written words because God has given that ability to them<\/a>.
    \n<\/p>\n

    LEPROSY<\/strong>
    \n    Leprosy<\/a> is mentioned thirty-three times in the NASB. Tsara`ath<\/a>, the Hebrew word for leprosy, is also translated as mold or mildew in clothing and buildings.<\/a><\/p>\n

    Leprosy is one Biblical disease that is interpreted symbolically. But, the symbolism of leprosy as sin<\/a> does not go far enough. It is accurate to say that leprosy symbolizes sin, but it must also be said that religion is sin<\/a>. With this understanding, we can see clearly how God feels about religion. We can also see clearly why we should avoid contact with religion and religious people.<\/p>\n

    Historically it was believed that physical contact with leprous people would result in leprosy. That is why known lepers were outcasts from the general society. They were call “unclean” and people without leprosy were very careful to avoid contact with them. It was considered to be a contagious curse.<\/p>\n

    Just like other diseases, Tsara`ath<\/a> is a symbolic term for religion. The disgusting, pervasive, intrusive nature of religion is represented by its destructive effects on clothing and buildings.<\/p>\n

    STUDY TIP: See this link<\/a> for more about leprosy in the Bible.<\/p>\n

    Medically speaking, Hanson’s disease (i.e. leprosy) is not a terminal disease and it can be cured<\/a>. Because the people of Bible times did not know that it could be cured or that it was not contagious, it was a very good choice of disease used to represent the sin of religion. Religious people would do well to consider the vivid imagery that religion symbolizes.<\/p>\n

    As bad as it may be, Hansen’s disease and the sin of religion are curable. We see this in story of Jesus healing a leper,<\/a> but we must remember that it was God’s spoken word<\/a>, represented by Jesus reaching out his hand, that healed them from the sin of religion.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    MANY NAMES FOR SPIRITUAL SICKNESS<\/strong>
    \nThe Bible uses many natural diseases and sicknesses to describe spiritual sickness (i.e. religion). Here are several that are most notable:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    <\/td>\n\n
      \n
    • Atrophy<\/li>\n
    • Baldness.<\/li>\n
    • Blindness<\/li>\n
    • Boil<\/li>\n
    • Consumption<\/li>\n
    • Deafness<\/li>\n
    • Leprosy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
    		<\/td>\n <\/p>\n