HOW CAN WE KNOW WHETHER A SUPERNATURAL PHENOMENON IS OF GOD?
My father liked to practice "Sufi" Islam and followed Muslim "holy men" who communicated with the spirit world and had supernatural powers. We often had these people visit our house.
When I was in my teens, my father on one occasion brought in a highly respected "holy man" to our house to cleanse our home from curses, and evil spirits, etc.
Our whole family, along with our servants, then gathered in his presence. The old man asked forrequested a kerosene stove and asked one of our servants to light the flame. He then asked for a large iron wok to be put on the flames. The wok was then filled to two-thirds with cooking oil.
After some time, the oil in the wok heated up and began to boil vigorously. The "holy man" then ordered me as the oldest son in the house to put my right foot into the boiling oil. I was afraid, but I had no choice but to obey. He began to chant and pray loudly. He then ordered me to make three circular movements with my foot in the boiling oil. I did as he commanded. Amazingly, I did not feel a thing and was not burned!
My point is this: I grew up experiencing many such supernatural phenomena as a Muslim, thinking that because they were supernatural, they must be of God. After I came to Jesus, I learned that not every supernatural phenomenon is of God. These days many claim to have seen and experienced all kinds of supernatural phenomena in meetings and in their personal lives. Some of these things may be of God, while others may be things that can lead us down the dangerous path of deception.
So how can we know?
Remember that for a supernatural phenomenon to be of God, it must always line up with Scripture. Also, it must point to the Lord Jesus and to His Cross. Then it will cause people to come to Jesus and can even bring healing to people in their minds and their bodies. Anything else should be discarded no matter how "harmless" it looksappears. If it is merely sensational or exciting, or if it draws attention to the manperson on the platform, or to the phenomenon itself instead of to the Lord Jesus Christ, I would put it aside. We all have to draw a line somewhere, and I have found it safest and best to draw the line at the Word of God.
In the Bible we see God doing creative miracles, making blind eyes to see, and deaf ears to hear. He makes lameparalyzed people to walk; people receive the baptism with the Holy Ghost and speak in other languages; sinners receive Jesus and go from death to eternal life. This is the ministry of Jesus as seen in the Bible. If anybody ignores THESE sSupernatural manifestations and majors in OTHER manifestations that are not even found in the Bible, I would be doubly careful of such things. Let us be careful that we do not end up in phenomenon that open the door to evil spirits or just serve to merely entertain Christians but do not without pointing sinners to the Cross.
Let us therefore stay close to Jesus. Let us worship Him. Let us live our lives in His Word and be continually filled with His Spirit. Let us eagerly seek the gifts of His Spirit, demonstrate His power and lead sinners to the Cross.
Originally posted on Facebook by Pastor Christopher Alam