Temptation and Faith

"And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part" (Mk. 9:38-40). There are a whole lot of folks today who are scrutinizing ministers of Jesus Christ that are doing miraculous works in the supernatural. Some people are characterizing some of these ministers as 'false' simply because they don't believe everything about the Gospel the exact same way that they themselves believe it. Others are saying that many of these ministers are 'of the devil' because of certain mannerisms or even appearances that they may have. Then again there are many who just simply want to label the miraculous works of Christ as being 'of the devil' because they are not the ones doing them, and they are just plain old envious. Let me tell you that if you are looking for fault in any servant of Christ who is doing anything for the name of Jesus at all, you are going to find it; whether it is actually there or not. They did the same thing with Jesus, and we KNOW he had no fault. But one should be forewarned of this scrutinizing, and we need look no further than the words of Jesus for that warning: "Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw... But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? ... But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you... He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit" (From Mat. 12:22-33).

So again we see that Jesus made it clear that anyone, including himself, that is doing any kind of supernatural work in his name, is WITH him; and anyone who is contrary to any such thing as the Pharisees were, is AGAINST him. He also made it clear that this over scrutinizing and condemning of anyone doing miracles in his name can lead to the one unforgivable sin that exists. I would say that is sufficient reason to watch what we think and what we say about ANYONE who is operating in the supernatural in the name of Jesus Christ. Maybe someone in that circumstance DOES have some things in error, or maybe they do have something that could be improved on in their manner of doing things. Then again, maybe it is just someone's undue opinion that it is that way, and they are actually just fine. In any event I can assure you of one thing, and that is that the miraculous that they are manifesting in the name of Jesus is what Jesus was referring to as "good fruit" in the passage quoted above from Matthew 12. And maybe it's just more important to Jesus that they are getting some serious things done for needy souls, than that they have every little thing just right and perfect for everyone else to be happy with. If someone has the faith and the favor with God to be able to operate in supernatural power, they should be left to do so without criticism from 'brethren' who should appreciate it and rejoice in it.

A wise saying of the apostle Paul comes readily to mind in the matter: "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand... But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ" (Rom. 14:4,10). I'm just not sure how much more clearly this can be stated, and hopefully every soul who reads this will be touched with the fear of God, and keep these things in mind. I assure you that this is something that needs to be clearly understood and heeded, because from this point forward God will be manifesting some mighty works through some folks that many will find contemptuous for one reason or another. Let it be known that whoever finds any of the servants of Jesus Christ to be contemptuous will be held in contempt by the highest court and the highest judge in existence. That very much includes 'Christians' who find some seemingly 'good' reason to condemn someone who is operating in the supernatural power of God. Actually I do have another quote to finish with, and fittingly it is from Jesus: "The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me" (Mat. 11:5,6). Translation for today: Blessed is he, who finds no fault in whoever is manifesting my miracle power, because it is of me, period. Amen.