“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21 NIV).  That’s how John the Apostle ended his first letter recorded in Scripture.  It’s kind of shocking, isn’t it?  Clearly, he was writing to believers (he called them “dear children”).  Is idolatry really a problem for genuine followers of Christ?  Perhaps it was for believers near the end of the 1st Century when idols were everywhere in Roman/Greek culture.  Surely we are too sophisticated to fall into idolatry in our day!  Sadly, that is not the case, especially if we recognize that worshiping false gods doesn’t necessarily require an image fashioned by human hands.

Last Sunday we studied the name Yahweh Shalom (the Lord is peace) from the story of Gideon in Judges 6.  When Gideon realized that he had been speaking to God face to face, he was terrified and assumed he would die (6:22-23).  Responding to Gideon, God simply said the word “Shalom” (6:23).

“I am Yahweh who heals you” (Exodus 15:26).  This is the meaning of the name Yahweh Rapha that God revealed to Israel soon after He brought them out of Egypt and across the Red Sea.  But what does that mean for us?  Does God heal people today?

One view held by some believers is known as ‘cessationism.’  Cessation comes from the word ‘cease’ and this view says that God has ceased from doing miracles in our time.  This view is based on a few factors: