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"CAN SPIRITUAL [DIVINE] HEALING BE COUNTERFEITED?" Who May Be Counterfeited?       Spiritual [Divine] healing may possibly be counterfeited. Counterfeiters may be human beings [i.e., the faith healers, or charismatic pretenders] or Satan or any of his demonic agents or pretenders.       There are always "phonies" and "fakers" in every generation. Spiritual healing is not exempted from false healers and pretenders. Jesus in His time warned that there are many healers, casters of spirits which He claims "He did not know them."[Matthew 7:22-23]. He warned us that Satan can perform many disguises to mislead His believers- He can be an "angel of light," or a "servant of righteousness." [ 2 Corinthians 11:14-15].And the "beast performed great miracles; it made fire come down out of heaven to earth in the sight of everyone."[Revelation 13: 13]. And it deceived all the people living on earth by "means of the miracles which it was allowed to perform in the presence of the first beast." So many warnings being issued because many false prophets and false spirits are in this world so it is not safe to trust any spirit without proper testing [Rev. 13:14]. Spiritual Testing       St. Matthew in Chapter 7: verses 15-20 presents his spiritual testing of false prophets:       "Be on your guard against false prophets; they come to you looking like sheep on the outside, but on the inside they are really like wild wolves. You will know them by what they do. Thorn bushes do not bear grapes, and briers do not bear figs.. A healthy tree bears good fruit, but a poor tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a poor tree cannot bear good fruit. And any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire. So, then, you will know the false prophets by what they do."[Matthew 7:15-20; Luke 6:43-44].       Another test is pointed out by St. John in determining bad spirits and false prophets:       "Beloved, do not trust every spirit, but put the spirit to test to see if they belong to God because many false prophets have appeared in the world. This is how you can recognize God's spirit, every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God. While every spirit that fails to acknowledge him does not belong to God. Such is the spirit of antichrist which, as you have heard, is to come; in fact, it is in the world already. You are of God you little ones, and thus you have conquered false prophets. For there is One greater in you that there is in the world. Those others belong to the world; that is why theirs in the language of the world and why the world listens to them. We belong to God and anyone who is not of God refuses to hear us. Thus, do we distinguish the spirit of truth from the spirit of deception."[1 John 4:1-6].       Regarding true spirit and the false spirit, The First Letter of St. John sets this testing:       "My dear friends, do not believe all who claims to have the Spirit, but test them to find out if the spirit they have comes from God. For many false prophets have gone out everywhere. This how you will be able to know whether it is God's spirit: anyone who acknowledges that Jesus Christ came as human being has the Spirit who comes from God. But anyone who denies this about Jesus does not have the Spirit from God. The spirit that he has is from the Enemy of Christ; you heard that it would come and now it is here in the world already. But you belong to God, my children, and have defeated the false prophets, because the Spirit who is in you is more powerful than the spirit in those who belong to the world. Those false prophets speak about matters of the world, and the world listens to them because they belong to the world. But we belong to God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever does not belong to God does not listen to us. This, then, is how we can tell the difference between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.[1 John 4:1-6].       The use of "Jesus Name" by those not authorized by Him may have some adverse effects. St. Paul in his time was conducting healing and deliverance. Here is the Scriptural account:       "God was performing unusual miracles through Paul. Even handkerchiefs and apron he had used were taken to the sick, and their diseases were driven away, and the evil spirits would go out of them. Some Jews who traveled around and drove out evil spirits also tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus to do this. They said to the evil spirits, "I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches. Seven brothers, who were the sons of a Jewish High Priest named Sceva, were doing this, But the evil spirits said to them, "I know Jesus, and I know about Paul, but you- who are you?" The man who had the evil spirits in him attacked them with such violence that he overpowered them all. They ran away from his house, wounded and with their clothes torn off. All the Jews and Gentiles who lived in Ephesus heard about this: they where all filled with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was given greater honor.[Acts 19:11-16].       As final test, among others, Satanic wisdom produces fruits of envy, self-seeking, boasting and bitterness. That of God is peaceful, gentle, friendly., free of hypocrisy , forgiving,[Matthew 5:43-48]and loving. Thus,       "Dear Friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. And God showed his love for us by sending His only Son into the world, so that we might have life through Him. This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven. [1 John 4:7-10]. God is love, and whoever lives in love lives in union with God and God lives in union with him. Love is made perfect in us in order tht we may have courage on the Judgment day; and we will have it because our life in this world is the same as Christ's. There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in any one who is afraid, because fear has to do with punishment.       We love because God first loved us. If someone says he loves God, but hates his brother, he is a liar. For he cannot love God, whom he has not seen, if he does not love his brother, whom he has seen. The command that Christ has given us in this whoever loves God must love his brother also. [1 John 4:16-21]. Is Spiritual [Divine] Healing Real?       Repent and believe in the Gospel [Matthew 8:24-34; Luke 8:24-39]. The Bible speaks of many miraculous healing conducted personally by Jesus during His earthly sojourn as well as those miraculous healings performed in His Name by His Apostles and disciples in their respective time. Yet, there are still many who are "skeptical" about it. Others are merely partial believers: miraculous healing true only during Jesus 'time but not thereafter. While Apostle ["doubting"] Thomas adopted this rule: "seeing is believing", many people today further expanded and twisted the "Thomasite rule" with no Biblical basis: There is " seeing but no believing." This is the firm and consistent stand of the atheist of our modern time. A misplaced and a wrong faith. Scripture defines faith as the substance of what you hope for, the evidence of what you do not see. [Hebrew 11:1]. Faith begins with a belief in orderly process and moves in a positive progression of steps.To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see. It was by their faith that people of ancient times won God's approval [Hebrews 11:1-2] from creation to the exemplifying faith of chosen people of God [Hebrews 11:3-39].       Personally, the author manifests his choice - his total belief and trusting in Christ. He cannot recommend that of St.Thomas whose faith is made conditional, not total. As narrated: "We have seen the Lord!" Thomas said to them ""Unless I see the scars of the nails in his hands and put my fingers on those scars and my hand in his side, I will not believe.".. Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas: "Put your finger here, and look at my hands; then reach out your hand and put it in my side. Stop your doubting, and believe!" Thomas answered him, " My Lord and My God!"ffff [John 20:24-28]. So Jesus to dispel his doubt said to him: "Do you believe because you see me? How happy are those who believe without seeing me!?"[John 20: 29]. To the skepticals of our time we heed the words of Christ when He said:       "How fortunate you are to see the things you see! I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, but they could not, and to hear what you hear, but they did not."       The present spiritual[divine] healing is merely a "continuation" of the one in the earthly , sojourning days of the Lord. God knows that the lifetime of every man in every generation is short so He ordained His disciples and their authorized representatives and successors of His founded Church to do His three -fold function on earth: Teacher, King and Priest of all, the head of new and universal people of the Sons of God [Lumen Gentium, 3].       Praise the Lord! Back | Home | Next

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