DECEPTIVE HEALING
When Healing Takes Place
in Heretical Churches
A question we often receive at this site runs something like this: “I attended Toronto meetings and experienced a miraculous healing there. How can it be false? Surely this is a sign of God’s presence and blessing?!”
As a Mormon I experienced healing too. I remember a lady who had a degnerative spinal problem which the doctors couldn’t cure. I layed my hands on her, and in the name of Christ and by the authority of the false Mormon priesthood, blessed her, and she permanently recovered.
I know of satanists who ask their master Satan to heal those who have similar problems and I know for a fact of one story where in a witches coven a woman with a broken arm had it instantly set and healed.
I know of occultists in Indonesia who perform “miraculous” surgery using their BARE HANDS without the aid of surgical instruments.
Dear friends, the Lord warned us that in the last days that Satan would perform many signs and wonders that would be so convincing that it would almost deceive the very elect (Matthew 24:24). Healing IN AND OF ITSELF is not a criterion for establishing the truth. The Word of God gives us only TWO that I know of which are utterly reliable (and in the following order):
- (a) Complete felicity to God’s Word -- what the religion, church or movement practices will be in complete harmony with what is written in the Bible WITHOUT DISCREPANCY OR CONTRADICTION;
- (b) The religion, church or group will produce incontrovertible FRUIT which Satan cannot imitate, namely, LOVE, which is defined as follows: “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, RSV).
And true Christ-like love NEVER contradicts the Word of God.
Now I am not saying that all healings are the result of Satan or occult powers. Sometimes healing is the fruit of the faith of the INDIVIDUAL and has no bearing on where that individual is, whether in a true or a false church. The logic runs something like this: “I was healed in a Toronto meeting, therefore Toronto must be true”. This is equivalent to saying: “The nazis made fantsastic motorways and had the most advanced science in the world, therefore the nazis must have been very civilised people.” The fact that the lady in question was healed in a Toronto meeting is likely because she found a point to release her faith. The fact that Nazi Germany made fantastic advances in science does not mean they were necessarily civilized, only that within the environment of nazism science was allowed to flourish. Toronto is a part of the faith movement where people are encourged to expect miracles and exercise faith. This is perfectly in order. But it doesn’t mean necessarily that the whole movement is of the Holy Spirit or that it has received God’s sanction.
We must therefore be careful when dealing with the supernatural and miraculous and not leap to wrong conclusions. Before I joined the Mormon Church I had been born again in Christ and know that it was that anointing that carried me through the deception of Mormonism and led me out of it after three years. I know that it was my faith in Christ that healed that lady and not the occultic power of the Mormon “priesthood”. I also know of occultists who, having failed to heal by means of magic, as a last resort turn to Jesus and experience healing, but usually this is only if they have had some sort of faith in Jesus before they dabbled in the occult. GOD IS MERCIFUL but He does not give carte blanche to Christians to do what they like. He leads us even when we are fooled into taking a false path and will bless along the way. This is a VITAL key to understand.
So please be careful in your judgments of a Church, group or movement. Make sure it is being faithful to the Word. It is the only (ultimately) reliable guide we have in our imperfection. AND MAKE SURE YOU KNOW YOUR WORD. A superficial knowledge of the Bible is dangerous - you have got to immerse yourself in it and know it back to front. That means a time and effort commitment. Without these you are laying yourself up to temptation and deception. INVEST WISELY!
This page was created on 29 January 1999
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