Hi,

I read “Are Homosexuals Born That Way?” You wrote with scripture of Exo 4:11 says,

Exo 4:11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or DEAF, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? (caps and underline are mine)

Your study notes really help me grow in spiritual things. I am physically deaf. You mention Christ referred to all of these ailments as ‘evil spirits.’ I always thought for a long time that Ex. 4:11 is about God making one physically deaf. Maybe my thought is wrong.

Is Ex. 4:11 only for the spiritual and symbolic, not physical?

Most people believe I’m (or anyone who is deaf) evil because of being deaf physically . But I believe they are spiritual ly deaf (and blind) even though they are hearing physically!

Thank you for the Study Notes!

B____

Hi B____,

You ask

“Is Ex. 4:11 only for the spiritual and symbolic, not physical?”

Here is Ex. 4:11

Exo 4:11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?

Now here is what Christ has to say about being deaf:

Mar 9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

Please do not take my Biblically based statement that diseases are really the result of evil spirit oppression to mean any more than is revealed right here in Mar 9. Christ is telling us that all diseases are really the result of evil spirits. All diseases, not just deafness and dumbness but all diseases are, according to Christ, in the final analysis nothing more than God sending an evil spirit to afflict our flesh. Here is the scripture:

1Sa 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

King Saul was afflicted with schizophrenia. He could go from being grateful for what David had done and was doing for king Saul, to hating David and trying to kill David. And this could happen in the thrust of a javelin.

1Sa 18:10 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he [ king Saul] prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand.
1Sa 18:11 And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall [ with it]. And David avoided out of his presence twice.

And exactly why did king Saul try to kill David?

1Sa 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

Now Christ said that ‘every scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven… brings forth of his treasures thing new and old:”

Mat 13:52 Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe [ which is] instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

So we should find this same principle revealed in the New Testament. And sure enough we do:

Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [ places].

The word ‘places’ is in brackets to let us know that this word is not to be found in the Greek. So the spiritual wickedness is found simply “in the heavens.” And “the heavens” are simply a spiritual realm which God created to have for a dwelling place while He is working with mankind. In truth the heaven of the heavens cannot contain God.

1Ki 8:27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?

But God created the heavens for a realm in which to dwell and to carry out His dealings with mankind. Be sure to read Where And What Is Heaven?

So while we think that because we can see the reason for things happening, that we are in control of what is happening. It appears to the carnal mind that medical science can sometimes actually reverse the hand of nature. Some Siamese twins can be separated.

Eye operations remove cataracts and lasik surgery can restore vision in many. But regardless as to what science has accomplished, they are not able to stop the dying process. Flesh really is a “body of death.”

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

So your deafness is no different than the cold with which I might be afflicted. Anyone who says otherwise is truly both deaf and dumb and blind spiritually. Your deafness may seem to be far more permanent than my cold, but it, too, is temporary. Like my cold, it is “an evil spirit from the Lord” sent to try you and to show you who you are. How you accept and cope with this affliction will reveal to you whether you will at this time accept God’s sovereign hand in all things. But as ‘the three Hebrew children’ told king Nebuchadnezzar, whether you accept it or not, God is still sovereign, and He will deliver you from the ‘fiery furnace’ of the afflictions of this life.

Man wants to pass the buck for God. God will have nothing of that. Look at what Christ teaches us of a man who was blind from birth:

Joh 9:1 And as [ Jesus] passed by, he saw a man which was blind from [ his] birth.
Joh 9:2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Joh 9:3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

Christ is not teaching us that neither this man nor his parents had ever sinned. What he is teaching us is that the sin of this man and his parents had nothing to do with the fact that this man was born blind. He was born blind for the specific purpose of allowing Christ to pray for him to receive his sight. In doing so, his testimony has been used to affect the lives of many thousands since that time. And above all he was used to tell us this truth at the very end of this chapter on what it really means to be blind:

Joh 9:39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Joh 9:40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

So you see if God uses you to show but one person how very blind they are, then you will have been used by God to spiritually give both vision and hearing to more people than received it in the entire physical ministry of Christ. The “greater things” are always the things of the spirit.

Joh 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Your spiritual vision is much more to be desired that all of the physical vision of this world. Your spiritual ears are much more to be desired that all of the hearing of all of the ministers of Babylon. I am glad that you enjoy the study notes. You have been given the eyes to see and ears to hear which none of the multitudes of Babylon have been given.

Mike