The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. - 2Thessalonians 2:9-10 (ESV)
I remember the year prior to COVID we had an itinerant healing evangelist visit our local church for a weekend. The pastor sold it as an open heavens event, with all accompanying signs and wonders. Like the dutiful Pentecostals we are, the event was well attended with everyone seeking a "touch" from the Lord, maybe a little slain in the spirit action, and hopefully a healing for whatever ails us. I worked the graphics board and the sound guy with me that night was a great brother. He suffered badly however from a degenerative hip condition that his doctors had told him meant he needed hip replacement. Nevertheless, as a man of faith, he went up for the altar call to receive prayer and healing. The results appeared to be very positive as he ran dancing across the altar after prayer and the laying of hands from this evangelist. Hallelujah, pass the offering plate! The following week I was at the board and watched my friend hobbling up the stairs and asked him - what happened? I thought you were healed? Turned out, not so much.
Then we also have to watch silly charismatic movies and see the growing the shorter leg trick being performed by Todd White at a Korn concert or Robbie Dawkins going through some random foreign park after midnight looking for victims, I mean people who need healing and we wonder - aren't there any emergency rooms in these cities? Bethel has a "dead raising team" that claims 15 resurrections with zero proof. It seams at every "event" there is a claim to massive miracle healings that no one ever can quantify or qualify. We saw recently a Missouri church claim that a woman regrew amputated toes during a service. Once again, no proof. These people not only make a mockery of the faith but of God Himself. You see, God can heal but He most certainly won't share His glory. He is not giving it to Bill Johnson, Todd White, or for today's consideration, Mario Murillo. You see, Mario likes to put on what he calls tent revivals and claims multiple miraculous healings at all of them! Apparently, he realized he was being doubted about his casual references to glorious healings so Charisma News ran the above article entitled "The Irrefutable Evidence of Healing Miracles at Murillo Crusade." I saw that and thought, wow, that is a bold statement! Let's see this evidence for ourselves beloved but be prepared to be disappointed.
'There are many skeptics that say testimonies of healing in Christian crusades are a farce. Then there are Christians that say that God's healing power was only for biblical times and does not happen in the modern world. Evangelist Mario Murillo says that, since his ministry is flooded with reports of miraculous healings, it "starts to become background noise and we tend to lose our sense of credibility of what people say." Here are two incredible healing testimonies, Murillo told Charisma News' John Matarazzo, that are simply undeniable. It all begins with a man named Steve, who attended one of Murillo's tent crusades in Colorado Springs, Colorado, last July. According to Steve, he lived in a house, alone, for seven years, and he refused to venture out into the public because, as Murillo said, "he lived on a level of pain that few human beings can understand." Steve took several medications every day to deal with the pain of five ruptured discs in his spine. "There he was, not a Christian, lost, with no hope and in darkness," Murillo said. Some friends brought Steve to the Murillo crusade and Steve became annoyed. Not because it was painful for him to sit, but because thought he was coming to a concert and not a Christian event. "He was perturbed; a lot of anxiety about it," Murillo said. And Murillo wanted to make it clear that the following was all God, and he had nothing to do even with the opportunity for Steve's healing. "I'm in the pulpit, and I point to the back," Murillo said. "I said right there is a man whose spine is being healed. And at that moment, Steve felt these fingers"and these vertebrae go back into place. Seven years of indescribable pain was gone in an instant. "And it scared him! He stood up and he ran to the front to be saved. And he was dramatically converted. He went from being a house-bound pain victim to when every single time the doors opened at Radiant Church in Colorado Springs, he's there. He's always there. He's the first one to arrive and the last one to leave."' - Charisma News
The reason why the alleged healings are treated as a farce is because there is never a shred of proof offered! Even looking at this first example we still see no evidence! Irrefutable? Are you serious! The person in this story allegedly had multiple herniated discs and now is claiming healing. There are no doubt medical records prior to the healing so all Steve would have to do is take a new MRI and voila! God could be vindicated and praised! How in the world is this irrefutable evidence? We have the testimony of one man, second hand, from the same man making the healing claim! This is like Murillo being questioned when he claimed miracle healings so to prove his claim, he further swears that some guy named Steve was miraculously healed. Let us see if his second example is any better.
"The second miraculous testimony comes about a woman named Bri. Murillo says that she had parasites in her stomach. The medication doctors gave her to deal with these parasites started an "autoimmune war in her body where it began to cannibalize itself." Murillo says the autoimmune activity affected Bri's motor skills. It wiped out her energy, and she, a woman 5-feet-9 inches in stature, became helpless as her weight plummeted to 94 pounds. "When they brought her to the front, they carried her and she's on her knees," Murillo says. "But again, her motor skills, her inability to really coordinate ... she looked like a skeleton. And she's in front of the tower of speakers on my left. "All of a sudden, the power of God came on me and said, 'Go over there and I'll be glorified.' I prayed for her. She knew in that moment that God had touched her. She understood it. "Within the next few weeks, she could eat whatever she wanted, had no pain, no weakness, her motor skills were restored and she gained 30 pounds. She's absolutely a walking, talking miracle nearly a year later. We just had her testify a few weeks ago. Those are two of the many things that happened in Colorado Springs, and that's why we're going back." Murillo says he and his team will return to Colorado Springs for another tent crusade from July 16-19. Catherine Mullins will lead worship at the event." It's going to be a remarkable ... we are already flooding the city with workers," Murillo says. "And we're going to see miracles." If it is anything like the ones Colorado Springs has seen in the past, the enemy better be prepared, because the Holy Spirit is getting ready to do His mighty work once again and destroy satan's plans." - Charisma News
Beloved, I hope Bri exists and this story is true as told but I am not getting that vibe. This also seems like an easily provable event. There must be medical records prior and now there is what the miracle has wrought. None of that is provided, however. Instead, it is a secondhand tale, spun by a huckster, trying to convince you that the power of God came upon him to supernaturally heal this person. I have the same question for Mario that I had for Todd, Robbie, and countless other healing hucksters. Don't they have emergency rooms in the cities you hold your tent meetings in? Why not go down to the oncology ward with a camera and pray for His power to come upon you again? Why have you cheapened the miracles of God down to secondhand fables of vague people we cannot even prove exist?
The key verses today remind us that these fake healings God has warned us about. These hucksters are just end time messengers from Satan. False signs and lying wonders are their specialty. The part that chills me is "with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because the refused to love the truth and so be saved." Beloved, the path is narrow and those the find it are few. We have been suckered into a mega church mindset, but most do not want God. They like being their own god. They cannot be convinced that their perceived level of goodness is still rotten, and evil compared to a holy God. They are not completely stupid, however. They know a better sounding deal. If Joel Osteen says they just have to say a two-sentence prayer and they are eternally secure, they might be willing to give a tenth of the money for that deal. If people like Mario Murillo says you just have to hate all democrats and vote republican and you are in the eternal life club, yeah they can do that. Proof? This guy grew out a shorter leg! I saw the movie! This other lady testified about being delivered from parasites. Sounds convincing to me! Wicked deception for those that are perishing.
It just reminds me of my old church before the pandemic. People were strewn all over the floor after being "slain" by the huckster we allowed in our church. Bodies just piled up, writhing around as if possessed. I remember thinking, we are in trouble. If this much of the church has this little discernment, we are in trouble. Then I thought of the embarrassed look on my friend's face the following week when he had to admit his dance across the altar had nothing to do with God. That would be my last weekend at that church. Time is running out. We do not have time to play little Pentecostal games while so many are led straight to hell, within the walls of a church. God still can heal us but He is not going to use a NAR dominionist like Mario Murillo who thinks irrefutable proof is a second hand story. Either another lie or another false sign and lying wonder meant to deceive the lost. Bottom line? Mark and avoid.
Reverend Anthony Wade - May 19, 2023
