Six months ago God set me free of leukemia! ...I hold in my hand from Emory University Hospital (dated April, 2004) my “clean bill of health” from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. You know, if you ask an oncologist what causes leukemia, they do not know. But then there’s God. It turns out that God knows what the cause of leukemia is – which I’m going to show you in a minute, and He tells us in Psalm 103 that He heals ALL our diseases!

A close brother sometime last fall told me about a Bible study course in Thomaston, GA on the spiritual roots of disease (and therefore healing). As I completed that course, God made it extremely clear that almost all of our diseases, including leukemia, are a SPIRITUAL health condition. I’d like to show you what the actual cause of leukemia is.

Now, let me set this up a little bit... Remember Ephesians 6:11-12 – “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, BUT AGAINST THE INVISIBLE KINGDOM OF EVIL.” And I want to remind you about Exodus 20 - the sins of the father will be passed down on to the 3rd and 4th generations, right? “Deep-rooted [spirit of] bitterness coming out of unresolved rejection and abandonment by father, either literally or emotionally; [spirit of] death and destruction; [spirit of] fear, anxiety and stress; a broken spirit (heart).” “...for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation...”

Now, let me assure you that that was me. I was “text-book” leukemia. In the area of death and destruction: as a kid, youngest of four, I was what many people would describe as “very accident prone.” My first memory is me falling out the car going down the driveway to go to Kindergarten!
I grew up in a Christian family - I’m a direct descendent of the founder of our denomination, my parents were deacons and all that stuff. As I grew up, I broke a finger, a toe, a collar bone, I swallowed a straight pin that got stuck in my throat (long story!), I needed stitches at least 3 separate times, 2 emergency eye doctor visits, and wrecked my brother’s motorcycle [while he was out of town]. (There was more but we didn’t always go for medical treatment!)

OK, the “Deep-rooted [spirit of] bitterness coming out of unresolved rejection and abandonment by father, either literally or emotionally…” When I was about 10 or 12 years old [and probably misbehaving...], my father told me that he and my mom wished they had not had me. Looking back, I now believe that my dad didn’t know what he was REALLY doing at the time, by saying that to me. But, at the time, I bought it. I believed him. Rest assured that I’ve since completely forgiven him. In fact, God allowed me the privilege of leading my dad (and my mom) in verbally confessing Jesus as their Lord and Savior [Romans 10], as they had never done that!

Now, as I lived my life, I would compensate for my fear of further rejection by creating a facade. Anyone here ever create a facade? My facade would help me avoid rejection, and made me SEEM like the nicest guy. But inside I was keeping a record of how you wronged me. Deep-rooted bitterness. Along with bitterness comes “retaliation.” It became an art form – I had three insults to every one coming at me from my brother and sisters or classmates. Besides, gotta protect my broken heart! For some reason I had fear of man. Hmm…

Now, as an adult, I got BITTER with the Christian church – that’s when I “accepted the call” into the so-called “new age” movement. That seemed perfect for me because it seemed like the other new-agers had some level of unforgiveness/bitterness with the Christian church, right?! PLUS there’s no chance of REJECTION from God, because there’s no consequence for sin and “all paths lead to the same God anyway,” right?!

THAT belief just about cost me my life! 2½ years ago, I got so filled with self-bitterness that I tried to take my life – twice in one night. Hey, “ALL paths lead to the same God,” right?! That was December 1, 2001. After getting out of the Psych Ward and 11 days later – on my birthday (December 12) - AT LAST - I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior ... AND LORD! 3-weeks later, God connects me with the perfect Home Group. A few months later, I fire my therapist and begin Christian counseling. A year later, I’m completing a course for prayer ministry. Six months after that, I’m in a men’s group. I’ll tell ya, the psych ward is motivating! ...And God is so faithful ... He’s showed me that I do not need to look anywhere else for my identity or approval, that He’s mending my heart and ... that bitterness is of the enemy! Thank God ... He’s so good!

Being set free of leukemia: Well, during that course that I mentioned in Thomaston, out of His loving kindness, God allowed me to see Deuteronomy 28 and Exodus 15 – that dis-ease is a result of disobedience, and Ephesians 6:12, “...we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the invisible kingdom of evil.” And that I had to make a choice to clean up my act and (get this – this is crucial) that I needed to REPENT [Acts 3 and Revelation 2 and 3] for being in agreement with those things in MY generation as well as my generations before me, and appropriate what Jesus Christ did on the cross for me [“by His stripes, we’re healed!”]. And I had to get those spiritual parasites [Ephesians 6:12], specifically, bitterness [Hebrews 12:15], fear [2 Timothy 1:7], and death and destruction CAST out of my spirit dimension! THANK GOD!

By the way – “the sins of the father will be passed down on to the 3rd and 4th generations,” right? [Exodus 20]. Well, I went into the hospital because of leukemia on the very same DATE as my Great Grandfather went into the hospital because of leukemia, 48 years earlier. Unfortunately, he died within 5 months. His son was diagnosed with leukemia, and great great great granddaughter died of it.
Thank you for listening and I THANK OUR INVISIBLE GOD! AMEN!!
D.F., Atlanta, GA