FAKE HEALING LYING WONDERS

Counterfeit Healing In the latter days Satan performs great wonders, including miracles of healing. (see Rev. 3:13, 14; 16:14). Therefore not every miracle is of God. We can distinguish between divine and sat satanic miracles only cultivating a deep love for God and His word. (See Matt. 24:24; 2 Thess. 2:4-17.) Satan's most effective agents in deception are those who profess to honor God's cause and seem like dedicated Christians, some of whom exhibit gifts of apparent power to heal. Their service is often connected with the accumulation of great wealth and indulgence in luxurious living. (See 2 Cor. 11:13-15; 2 Pet. 2:1-3, 13-20. cp. 1 Cor. 3:16-18.) These religious agents of deception can be detected by their disohedience to God's law or stated rejection of some part of it. (See Matt. 7:21-24; Isa. 8:10; I John. 2:5, 6). Satan labors to seduce the world into paying homage to him by turning people away from an intelligent knowledge and worship of their Creator, the only one who can truly heal and restore our diseased minds and bodies. (See Lk. 4:18; 1 Pet. 2:22-25; Ezek. 11:19, 20, in contrast to Ezek. 11:21; 2 Thess. 2.4; Rev. 13:1-8; 16:1, 2.) The world is desperate for healing. Never have our lives been more crowded with life-diminishing, health-destroying factors than they are today. Toxic chemicals in food, air, and water; mounting stress from political, social and economic turmoil; the spawning of new diseases that defy the ingenuity of physicians; droughts, famines and pestilences have turned this world into a gigantic infirmary, and driven earth's populace to the brink of despair. All these factors combine to make the world desperate for healing. And here, like a fragrant but deadly mist, arises a great danger. For Satan, the archenemy who has instigated all the miseries that afflict this planet, offers methods to alleviate or remove suffering that are designed to separate us from God and fatally ensnare our souls. Jesus warned against deception Jesus warned that prior to His second coming: "There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible. they shall deceive the very elect" (Matthew 24:24). These supposed miracles will include what appears to be divine healing. Satan will make people sick by casting his spell upon them, and will then remove the spell, leading others to say that those who were sick have been miraculously healed. How can we distinguish the false from the true? One Bible test is found in Isaiah 8:20: "To the law and the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Satan gives power to deceivers Satan gives his power to those who are aiding him in his deceptions. The sheep's clothing seems so real, so genuine, that the wolf can be discerned only as we go to God's great moral standard. They will perform wonderful miracles of healing and will profess to have revelations from heaven contradicting the testimony of the Scriptures. The voice or spirit that says to a man, "You are under no obligation to obey the law of God," is not the voice of Jesus; for He declares: "I have kept my Father's commandments" (John 15.10). And John testifies: "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar; and "the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4). Miracles to be tested by the Bible The Bible will never be superseded by miraculous manifestations. The truth must be studied and cherished. All experiences and doctrines must be tested by the Scriptures. Whatever contradicts the Bible is false. Another Bible test is found in Matthew 7:16-20 where Christ says, "Ye shall know them by their fruits Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree can not bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." lf those through whom cures are performed, are disposed, on account of these manifestations, to neglect the law of God and continue in disobedience, it does not follow that God is working through them. On the contrary, it is the miracle-working power of the great deceiver. Are they pointing people to Jesus and the Bible, or are they trying to draw attention to themselves and their miracles? Do they express to the world the love of Jesus in life and character, living lives of self-denial and sacrifice. well-ordered and godly? Is their example such as to convict sinners and convert them from the error of their ways to the truth? Watch well the indications that tell of the state of the heart. Wearing the insignia of Christ, they serve the Lord's worst enemy, and heed not the command, "Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." Take care that you are not misled by these false teachers, and found fighting under the black banner of the adversary of God and man. Deceptions of the last days The book of Revelation describes Satan's last-day deceptions this way: "He doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do" (Revelation 13:13, 14). As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will impersonate Christ, healing the diseases of the people. and professing to present a new and more exalted system of religious faith: but at the same time he works as a destroyer leading multitudes to ruin. If we do not love God's truth, we may be among those who will see and believe the miracles wrought by Satan in these last days.