Are there modern day Prophets and Healers?

[susansduval]

I attended a service last night that a friend invited me to. It was at a place called "Healing Room Ministries". The speaker said he was a Prophet. He said God speaks to him. He said he had a vision or a dream about being taken to the Cross and watching Jesus wash away the sins in his "book of life" with His (Jesus's) blood.

I am i fairly new believer as some of you already know. Right now, and throughout the service last night all I could think of was how the Bible tells us to beware of false Prophets and Teachers. I don't think God literally speaks to us. I believe how he speaks to us is more in directing and showing us. Am I way off here? Confusion is not something I handle well. I need clarity.

Also at this service I saw some strange things and people do strange things I have never seen before. There was a couple of men in the audience that were jerking around and yelling. Especially when the speaker said something that the audience thought to be a powerful statement. Then the speaker called upon a couple of people in the crowd (by name so he knew them), they walked forward and I can't even explain what happened next. He (the speaker) put his hands on these people and said something, i can't remember what exactly and the people would pass out and fall to the floor!

I can't even begin to tell you how uncomfortable this made me. Scared me actually. I had three other friends with me and they all felt the same way. The friend that invited us truely believes the this is all true. He says that the people in the audience that were jerking around and yelling were speaking from the Holy Spirit. That they couldn't stop it if they wanted to.

I know it says in Scripture that when the Holy Spirit enters we may (at least back then) speak in tongues or laguages we have never learned. There was no foriegn langauges spoken here, just a bunch of yelling and literally "flopping" around.

My "gut" feeling on this is, it was not real, although these people, including my friend (the one who invited us) believe it.

I'm asking for some help here! Please! Scripture based or even some opinions. Thank You!

[boblandis]

About 99% of people today that call themselves prophets and/or healers from God are not. The people you speak of sound like tricksters. These kind of people thrive on taking peoples money and playing God.

These are the types of people warned about in Jude:

Old and New Apostates

5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

8 Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10 But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. 11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Apostates Depraved and Doomed

12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried *about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."

Apostates Predicted

16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

I am a member of the Church Of The Nazarene. Maybe you can try them out yourself. At least you can get you feet wet with the truth of God.

[angels4u]

You know who,s prophecies I believe in and who is my healer?

Its Jesus Christ and only HIM

You know what ? God is a God of order and not of confusion

[Leonard]

Hi Little Sister:

Well, I'm sure there are prophets and healers today; however I'm a little leary of those who proclaim themselves prophets. I say let the fella' work his Ministry, and if he's a prophet, it will be evident to everybody without his saying so!

I've had many, many people healed when I've prayed for them, but I don't call myself a healer. I have had visions, dreams, and prophecies, but I don't call myself a prophet. I have had people 'pass out' when I've prayed for them, but it is rather out of the ordinary. Much of this looks rather Pavlovian to me, but I don't discount it all together.

As far as people jerking about and shouting....it could be they just were pretending....that happens. Or it could be demonic. But more than likely, they had genuinely been touched by God, and it was for them, an overwhelming experience. People react in very different ways to overwhelming experiences. If you've ever seen people put their hands on a hot stove, you've seen people do VERY different things: Some wave the hand around in the air while wailing! Others grab the afflicted hand by the wrist, with their hand, AND SHAKE IT, while cussing! Other people BLOW ON IT! Some just run in place. None of these things really does any good, but the people have just had an overwhelming EXPERIENCE and don't know how to handle it!

I've seen people who laughed when the Lord touched them, others cry, one woman would begin howling "Woooooooooooooooooooo!" and take off running around the building! The experience of being touched by God CAN be an absolutely overwhelming experience. Don't be too quick to judge how people react to it.

With a blessing,

Fr. Onesimus

Edited January 8, 2006 by Leonard

[InternalFlame]

I do beleive there are some healers, but we no longer need prophets in this world, so they are not prevalent. I will admit there are people whose gift is that they can hear and understand God better than others, but no prophets like the prophets of old are alive today. Most of the scripture talking about prophets is before Christ came...and after Christ's death they seemed to drop off entirely. For instance, in the new testament, most mentions of prophets either talks about the fufillment of their prophecy from the old testament, or about them in a past tense:

Matthew 2:23: and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

Acts 3:24 "Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days.

Or warning about false prophets:

Mark 13: 22For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect

[Trinity]

I don't believe in healers, i believe in "The Healer" which is God. Men who claim YHVH as their God yet say they are healers are deceiving themselves into believing the are more then they are worth. I believe God uses people to heal but it is a link from God to man.

it is by God's own will that people are healed not the will of the tool-(Human) God is using. I don't believe Healers are from God, because healers proclaim themselves over all that is God's though they may claim YHVH as their God. There is only One healer, GOD almighty.

Peter was not a healer, God was the healer. Peter was the tool.

[Christ's Free Servant]

I believe that all of the spiritual gifts listed in the Bible are alive and well in the Church today. And, they all have as their source, the Holy Spirit. He is the one who chooses who gets what gifts. I believe the spiritual gift of prophecy is alive today. I don't think it adds to scripture, but rather takes what is already there and shares it with people in a way that should invoke some kind of response. I believe that God gives the word of knowledge to some people so that they know things they would have no way of knowing other than from God. I believe the Holy Spirit can supernaturally give understanding about prophetic scripture in a way that can be applied to us today. This often comes in the form of dreams or visions or revelations as to how the scriptures could be played out today. The Bible says that the Lord confides in those who fear him and he makes known to them secrets or mysteries of scripture, or something like that. So, yes, I believe that there are those who have the gift of prophecy and the Bible says that if they have that gift we should let them use it, but it also teaches us to be discerning and to test the spirits.

Under the list of gifts it says "gifts of healings" literally. But, it is Christ who is the healer, not man. The gifts could be a supernatural faith to believe God for someone's healing or it could be a gift of knowledge to know something about someone's condition so that he/she would know how to pray or it could be a gift in the area of medicine to know how to diagnose and treat an illness. There is a reason it says "gifts of healings." I think the Lord did not want man to be seen as healers, but he wanted to be seen as the healer. Even the disciples were quick to not take credit for themselves but to give the glory to God. If a spiritual gift brings honor and praise to a man, then I would question the gift. Jesus is the one to be lifted up, not man. If a man/woman prophecies, it should always to be to bring people to Jesus, not to themselves.

[MK202002]

yeah, there are still prophets and healers. Why wouldn't there be? And yes, God still talks to people. People describe how in different ways, and I'm sure through your new life in Christ he will talk with you many times.

How to tell if a person of God is false or not: Listen to thier message. Don't look at how charasmatic his speech is, don't look at how loud or quiet he is. If he is preaching things consistant with the bible, then he should be accepted. Yes, there are false teachers and prophets in these last days, but I don't see anything this man did as heretical. It looks like he was using God's gift of the word of knowledge. Sometimes when the Holy Ghost come into a person, they fall down, or staggar. In Acts chapter 2, the apostales were assumed to be drunk by the onlookers.

[susansduval]

yeah, there are still prophets and healers. Why wouldn't there be? And yes, God still talks to people. People describe how in different ways, and I'm sure through your new life in Christ he will talk with you many times.

How to tell if a person of God is false or not: Listen to thier message. Don't look at how charasmatic his speech is, don't look at how loud or quiet he is. If he is preaching things consistant with the bible, then he should be accepted. Yes, there are false teachers and prophets in these last days, but I don't see anything this man did as heretical. It looks like he was using God's gift of the word of knowledge. Sometimes when the Holy Ghost come into a person, they fall down, or staggar. In Acts chapter 2, the apostales were assumed to be drunk by the onlookers.

The accusation about the apostles being drunk was not due to their acting strange, but simply that they were speaking in different languages. There is no mention of any other reason for the charge. Agree that the message must be Biblical, but there is absolutely no scriptural support for people acting like that when they actually get saved. There is much more support for these reactions being demonic, and for any speaker to condone such things should be a warning sign. Not all who preach the gospel are doing so from pure motives, and so far no one has relayed what the content of the message was that prompted these reactions. How do we know these people were truly saved at all? And yes, we should look at "the man", the teacher/speaker, because God will hold them to a higher standard. Paul's letters on how to choose elders give a high and strict standard for them, requiring that they be tested.

The message was of his dream/vision of being before God and how Jesus tore the pages out of his "book of life" (the speakers) and nailed them to the cross. Then Jesus went back to the book where there was 1 page remaining with the speakers name on it and Jesus then washed that page with the blood on His hands. It really was a powerful message, it was the way people were acting/yelling that made me very uncomfortable. It was something I had never seen before. Nor have I read anything in the Bible that would lead me to believe that this was genuine. I've been praying that God give me "clarity" and so far I get the feeling that I will never return to that church.

[susansduval]

Hi Little Sister:

Well, I'm sure there are prophets and healers today; however I'm a little leary of those who proclaim themselves prophets. I say let the fella' work his Ministry, and if he's a prophet, it will be evident to everybody without his saying so!

I've had many, many people healed when I've prayed for them, but I don't call myself a healer. I have had visions, dreams, and prophecies, but I don't call myself a prophet. I have had people 'pass out' when I've prayed for them, but it is rather out of the ordinary. Much of this looks rather Pavlovian to me, but I don't discount it all together.

As far as people jerking about and shouting....it could be they just were pretending....that happens. Or it could be demonic. But more than likely, they had genuinely been touched by God, and it was for them, an overwhelming experience. People react in very different ways to overwhelming experiences. If you've ever seen people put their hands on a hot stove, you've seen people do VERY different things: Some wave the hand around in the air while wailing! Others grab the afflicted hand by the wrist, with their hand, AND SHAKE IT, while cussing! Other people BLOW ON IT! Some just run in place. None of these things really does any good, but the people have just had an overwhelming EXPERIENCE and don't know how to handle it!

I've seen people who laughed when the Lord touched them, others cry, one woman would begin howling "Woooooooooooooooooooo!" and take off running around the building! The experience of being touched by God CAN be an absolutely overwhelming experience. Don't be too quick to judge how people react to it.

With a blessing,

Fr. Onesimus

Please don't get me wrong, I am not judging. I am just searching. I realize many people believe in different ways what is real and what is not. Some things are very CLEAR in the bible and some are not, this subject is definitely one of those that is not really clear. As I read through all the posts I'm realizing just how different everyone thinks.