The Importance of Baptism and Miracle Healing

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The Importance of Baptism and Miracle Healing

The Christian faith is based on the idea that a human person is composed of both soul and body. Christ came to save both, and in fact, James declares that the faith-filled prayer of a priest will heal a sick person. According to the Bible, the Greek word “sozo” means to restore or raise. The sacrament of anointing the sick brings spiritual strengthening and physical healing.

The New Testament stresses the importance of baptism. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter told the multitudes how to receive salvation: repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus. This repentance and baptism lead to the gift of the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul was led to Christ by Ananias, who exhorted him to be baptized. Upon baptism, he cried out “Jesus” and was saved.

Moreover, vast numbers of baptized Christians do not practice the Christian faith anymore. They have lost contact with Christ and the church. Many people have been exposed to Christianity for so long that they are completely inoculated against it. Moreover, anti-Christian propaganda is widely circulated in the intellectual world. These people are much more difficult to reach than those who have never heard of Jesus. However, the truth of Christianity can still save us.

The apostles of Jesus did not perform miraculous feats like raising people from the dead, casting out demons, and walking on water. They only had powers to heal the sick and raise the dead, and these were all done in order to point to them as messengers of God. These miraculous works proclaimed Christ’s power over nature and that he was indeed the Messiah. This fact was important to the spread of Christianity. The apostles were a small group.