Heal the sick who are there, and tell them, ‘God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’
Untrained volunteers can be sent into communities to cure diseases simply by being told they now have the ability.
Medicine
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The cited passage
What current science says
Community health worker programs are actually a real and effective strategy in global health — but they work because the workers receive training, carry medicine, follow protocols, and refer complex cases to clinics. Simply telling someone 'you can heal now' and sending them into a town is how you get misdiagnosis, untreated infections, and preventable deaths. The WHO estimates that 5 million deaths per year in low-income countries result from poor-quality healthcare. Sending untrained people to 'heal' without resources doesn't fill a healthcare gap — it creates a dangerous illusion of care.
What the text says
This comes from Luke 10:9. Disciples are instructed to 'heal the sick' in whatever town they enter — with no medical training, no supplies, and no diagnostic tools. Just go and cure people.
Three honest ways to read this passage
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As history
The text records how its authors understood the world with the knowledge they had. Read this way, a difference from modern science is a window into the ancient mind, not a failure.
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As accommodation
The text speaks to its first audience in their own terms, to make a point that isn't mainly about physics or biology. Read this way, the scientific detail is the vehicle, not the cargo.
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As contradiction
The text makes a claim about the physical world that modern findings dispute. Read this way, the difference is a genuine factual disagreement worth naming.
GEBible doesn't pick one of these for you. Each entry shows the passage, what it says, and what current science says — nothing more.