“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me.”  (Isaiah 46:9

Today as in every generation, miracles, signs and wonders (mophtim — מֹּפְתִ֥ים in Hebrew) are being performed by people in all sorts of religions, cults, and by all manner of false teachers.

Sadly, people are unaware of the dangers involved in following such “miracle” workers.

They also do not understand how to discern what is a miracle from the One True God (YHVH), or a miracle performed through magic and witchcraft, which access demonic forces that operate in this world.

Though some Believers have the spiritual gift to discern when evil spirits are operating (1 Corinthians 12:10), we all must learn to discern what is of God and what is from Satan to help ourselves and others avoid the deceptions of the Evil One.

Discernment is a sign of spiritual maturity.

“Solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”  (Hebrews 5:14)

 

The Spiritual Quest of the Soul

From the beginning of time, man has desired to be in touch with something “spiritual.”

Today in Israel and throughout the Western world, if you walk into a bookstore the “religion section” is mostly filled with books on New Age topics or Eastern religions and not Bible-based books.

Unfortunately, readers of these books are not finding the Spirit of God, but evil spirits that rule all false religions, including those with billions of followers, such as Buddhism and Hinduism.

Some religions even mix Jesus into their pagan religions.  In some South American churches, you will find indigenous Indian communities that mix Jesus and witchcraft.  And you will find this in some African churches.

In Miami, Florida, some Haitian churches mix Christianity and voodoo.

So, even though they have Jesus and God in their religious practices, they are not worshiping the one True God.

If they truly loved God, they would honor the First Commandment and many other Scriptures that forbid worshipping other gods and forces.

“There must be no strange god among you, nor shall you bow to a foreign god.”  (Psalm 81:9; Exodus 20:3; 2 Kings 17:35)

In the Western culture, the desire to seek after other gods is found in popular religions like Mormonism and Christian Science, which have tens of millions of followers throughout the world.

Though they talk about God and Jesus, they also do not truly know God.

All forms of religion outside of worshipping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are worshiping man-made religions and rituals that are controlled by demonic forces (demons).

Discerning Signs and Wonders of God and of Satan

According to Yochanan (John), the Jewish writer of the Book of Revelation, during the Tribulation, a “beast” will perform “great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people.

“Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth.  It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.”  (Revelation 13:13-14)

Many Christians during this time, who cannot discern will believe in the signs of the beast and follow it, even though it blasphemes God’s holy name.

Yeshua warned that deception like this would increase as the days get closer to His return:

“See to it that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.”  (Matthew 24:4-5)

What is most significant about the miracles Yeshua performed is that He always pointed people to the God of Israel as the source of the miracle operating in Him and through Him, and never to anyone else.

When Yeshua healed a man born blind, it was “so that the works of God might be displayed in Him.”  (John 9:3)

God is very clear that if a sign or wonder takes place just as a prophet said it would, “and the prophet says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,’ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer.

“The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul.  It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere.  Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him” (Deuteronomy 13:1-4).

Even today, blasphemous spirits along with signs and wonders are operating in people who appear to be very nice people, even calling themselves Christians.

Witchcraft in the Church

In her book, Exposed:  Witchcraft in the Church, Patricia King reviews a longstanding presence of witchcraft among Christians and inside church ministries.

Yes, in some of these cases, Messiah Yeshua is worshipped along with pagan gods and goddesses.  In others, witches try to disrupt and destroy the activities of the pastor and congregation through demonic forces.

Christians who are “white witches” say they use their abilities and powers only for blessings, healing and prosperity, so they think it’s good to be a Christian white witch.

But behind those “blessings” are always curses because they are created by evil powers, not by God.  Evil forces only have evil plans for God’s people.

Psychics in the Church

Recently one of our ministry workers was traveling in Canada and spoke to a psychic named Natalie.

Using tarot cards and crystals, she is able to hear voices that give her accurate information about her clients’ past and future.  “I am told information about my clients that helps them,” she said.

We asked her how old she was when she started hearing these voices.  She replied, “Thirteen years old.”

So, we told her the story of Samuel and how God started speaking to him when he was a boy.

God was certainly in the midst of us witnessing to Natalie because she immediately responded, “My pastor at the Pentecostal church I go to spoke on this same story of Samuel last Sunday.”

We were in shock!  How could this psychic be going to a Bible-believing church?

The pastor obviously did not know what Natalie did for a living.

We asked her if we could pray for her, and she said yes.

We then spoke Scripture verses, life, and peace over her.  For the next few minutes as we prayed she kept saying, Amen, Amen, agreeing with the prayers.

But when we declared that “all unclean spirits leave and never come back,” her face started to contort, her mouth was twisting, and little noises were coming out.  Obviously, a demon was operating through her.

We spent more time with her after the prayers, talking to her about giving up her business as a psychic, but it seemed that because her husband was also involved, she was not going to give it up.

God is very clear on this issue when speaking to the Jewish people and eventually to the world through His Word.

“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or calls up spirits, interprets omens, practices sorcery, casts spells, consults a medium or familiar spirit, or inquires of the dead.  For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD.”  (Deuteronomy 18:10–12)

It is our job to stay close to God so that we can live in His righteousness and not in the snares of the devil.

Freemasonry in the Church

There are millions of churches and many of them are spiritually dead as they do not have the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Even in some Bible-believing churches, demonic influences are operating in them.  For example, many church members and church elders practice Freemasonry, as Patricia King also reveals in her book.

They might think Freemasonry is simply a brotherhood that does benevolent works for the community.

But, in fact, when they graduate into each next level of this secret society, the Freemasons pronounce curses over their lives as part of initiation rituals, which opens a door to their souls for demonic spirits to enter in and operate through them.

Freemasons quote the Bible in their rituals and meetings, but by the time they reach the 33rd degree, they are actually worshiping Satan.

The Good News is that God is greater than any evil spirit and through discernment and prayer, we can bind their activity and not let them gain access into our lives.

More Good News is that many come to know Yeshua (Jesus) and the God of Israel.

These new Believers have turned their lives over to the Living God, including all of their talents, abilities, and the supernatural gifts they were using for Satan.

“These signs will accompany those who believe:  In My name they will drive out evil spirits;  they will speak in new tongues.”  (Mark 16:17)

They are now free to serve the Living God.

Ministering to Rose and Claire

As you are receiving this email today, some exciting ministry is taking place.  One of our ministry workers is sharing God, the Bible, and praying with both a spiritist and a psychic.

Rose whose grandmother is Jewish has had the ability to know things about people since she was three years old.

Her mother forced her to use this so-called “gift” even as a child, first with family members and then with others.

She is now 48 and is known as a healer and psychic whose words of knowledge and prophecy are very specific and accurate.  She has about 500 clients and more than 15 who are Jewish, whom unfortunately she has been leading astray for all these years.

Rose is a lovely, soft spoken, kind woman with three children.  When we met her last week, the first thing she said was, “I don’t want to do this anymore.”  She wants to know the God of Israel.

About the same time we met Rose, we also met Claire, who is in her late 40s and works as a massage therapist.  She was never interested in the new age movement or any type of occult practices.

However, she has had three experiences in her life when she has felt the presence of someone from the past (spirits of dead people) coming up behind her while she was working on her clients.

These dead spirits told her things about the clients (it was always a deceased family member of the client).

Claire’s clients confirmed the information they received was accurate and they thanked Claire because they felt comforted “hearing” from their deceased parent or family member.

Even though this has only happened three times in her life, Claire said it seemed “good” to her because she was able to help and comfort these people.

Claire also said that five years ago, she had an angel come to her who gives her messages, but she could not see her. We asked her how she knew the angel was a “she” and Claire said, “Because she told me her name was Raphaela.”

We googled “Angel Raphaela” and discovered that she is a New Age spirit.

Claire was shocked and said that she never goes onto the internet and was thankful for us speaking to her about all of this because no one ever has.

We helped her understand that she must have opened a door in her past that has allowed this spirit to come into her life.

We asked Claire if she had ever interacted with a Ouija board and she responded, “Yes.”

“When I was 13 years old, a boy from my school got six friends together and he created his own manual and Ouija board for us to use.”

Three months after playing with this Ouija board, the boy who initiated playing with it suddenly died of an asthma attack.  And around the same time, the other boy in the group died in a car accident!

Claire and the other three 13-year-old girls who survived all knew it could not be a coincidence and linked their friends’ deaths to the night they played with the Ouija board.

When we asked Claire if her parents had ever gone to psychics, she stated that her mother who to this day is very lonely went to psychics and clairvoyance practitioners her whole life.

Claire now understands that these spirits may have been passed onto her by her mother or Claire opened a door herself, especially when playing with that Ouija board.

Our ministry is now meeting with both Claire and Rose, who want God in their lives.  On Thursday we will lead them through the Word of God and have them invite Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit of YHVH) into their lives.

We ask you to be a part of both of these women’s lives by praying for them today, Wednesday, and tomorrow, Thursday, as they each ask God to show Himself to them.

Please pray that they will be filled with the Holy Spirit and that they will not only come into a deep relationship with the Creator but also that their old “gifts” will be replaced with the Power of the Holy Spirit and the gifts spoken of by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:5, Words of Knowledge and Prophecy.

What Paul says is true:  “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”  (Romans 10:14)