SID: Art, you talk about a lot about mental barriers. Give us some examples.

ART: Yes. I mean, we already talked about the hope deferred thing that happens to so many of us. Another one is judging people based on their merit, and that could be in the positive or the negative, you know. Sometimes we come at this saying, you know, Lord, this person has been so faithful. They’ve loved you so many years. There’s such a faithful minister, whatever. What we’re really doing is saying, God, don’t you see all the wonderful things they did to earn their healing? And our emphasis is all on their action and not Jesus’s action. It also works in the negative. It’s like with your family, it’s a lot harder.

SID: You know they’re backslidden. So you say, you’ve never healed them.

ART: Yes. If I’m on the street and someone says to me, I got diabetes, I’m like, come on, diabetes, get out, pancreas, function well, right. When your loved one that you know and you know their lifestyle says I got diabetes, you’re thinking, lay off the Twinkies, man, it’s your own fault. Right? Yeah.

SID: So what should I, all right, you know that let’s suppose you know someone’s even in sin. You know that. How does it affect how you pray?

ART: Well it’s not about me. It’s not about them. See, James 5 says that, “The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. The Lord will raise him up. If he sinned he’ll be forgiven.” So there’s a provision there. If their sickness came as a result of sin, the forgiveness is automatic. It happens right away.

SID: Now many people say it’s a lack of faith if you go to a doctor. It’s a lack of faith if you take medicine. What do you say?

ART: Well first of all, the irony is if I don’t believe it’s God’s will to heal, then why am I going to the doctor? That’s fighting against God’s will. So medicine is only going to work with a theology that says God wants me well.

SID: What do I say to the people that write me often, maybe it’s you, okay, you believe in healing, Sid. Why do you wear glasses?

ART: You know, my experience should not trump what the scripture says. So you know, we can make a theology out of the things we haven’t seen or we can make a theology out of Jesus who perfectly revealed the Father. And I think that makes a lot more sense. So like I said, I was struggling with degenerative disk disease for a year and a half watching other people get healed until I had my own miracle. What I say is, listen, what I’m telling you, what I’m believing, what I’m preaching is what the Word of God says regardless of my experience. I refuse to be a disciple of disappointment because then I can only reproduce disappointment. I have to be a disciple of Jesus so that I can reproduce Jesus.

SID: I want you to reach deep and pray whatever the Spirit of God tells you.

ART: Right now I’m seeing a picture of a right arm, and I’m actually, there’s a green sleeve around it. I’m not sure if that means anything to someone who’s watching right now. But whatever it is that’s going on with your right arm, I speak life and wholeness to it right now in Jesus’ name. And just try to move that, see if anything’s changed. Yes, I’m also hearing, hearing loss, specifically left ear, but really, Jesus paid the price for both ears. So if you’ve got hearing loss of any kind I tell those ears to open up right now in Jesus’ name. Throat conditions, in fact, there’s like a throat cancer, throat, some sort of laryngitis or something, things that are going on in the throat. We tell those things to stop. Thyroid, there’s like a nodule on someone’s thyroid that’s been swollen up and we tell that to shrivel up right now. Peace to you in Jesus’ name. If anyone has Crohn’s disease like I used to have, we tell Crohn’s to get out and never come back. I speak peace to your digestive system right now. Every sickness, every disease, every spirit of infirmity, I tell you to leave and never come back in the name of Jesus. Now if you can safely do it, test out those conditions. Try to do something you couldn’t do and let us know what happens.

SID: Well I’m going to tell you what’s going to happen. You are going to not look back anymore. I can tell you that it’s a new beginning for you. God is pure love and he wants you to know him, know him, and have Jesus come inside of you and be your Lord, and say, Lord, I want to have experiential knowledge of you in Jesus’ name. Amen.