A Gift From God or Touched by Evil?
With the increasing numbers of metaphysical based religions growing world wide we have seen many step forward to embrace natural healing practices such as Reiki, people who predict the future as psychics, and many who are embracing a more natural and spiritual way of living. With this growing number of people believing in such things also brings us to another idea that many are embracing as well, this being; the extraordinary gifts that have been given to us by God. Christianity is full of negative aspects of the reader and the healer. There are many Christians today who believe those that posses these talents are evil or even doing the work of the Devil himself. Why do we believe such things are evil? Why is it we can follow a religion that's own doctrine is full of predictions of the future, those who can heal by a touch and even one whom was able to provide food from merely stones? If such wondrous gifts as these could of been given to someone once by God, why not again?
The most common Christians philosophy is that such feats were performed by Jesus, and being that he is the son of God is why he could perform such acts. However, there are several other incidents of miraculous abilities given by God to average humans. The most well known example of such a person would be Moses. Moses was an average man. He was not of divine birth nor was he of extraordinary human strength; he was simply a man who had God in his heart. But being an average man, when God felt it was needed he graciously gave Moses the ability to do God like actions, such as parting the Red Sea. This is one of the most amazing feats imaginably in the Bible performed by an average man working under God's command. Moses used his faith in his God to do God's work in amazing feats that rivaled the very laws of man. Moses stood against the Pharaoh whom at the time was the most powerful man in the land and told him to release his slaves for it was God's will. Moses believed so much in what was in his heart that he would subject himself to facing someone who could easily order his death. He would predict many plagues that would before the Egyptian lands if these people were not released. He foretold future events to warn the Pharaoh of what would happen if he did not heed his word. Finally when Pharaoh did indeed let these people go, he later changed his mind and followed Moses and his people to the shores of the Red Sea. There Moses was, facing certain destruction at Pharaoh's hands, yet in this moment of destruction God gave the power to Moses to part the Red Sea and save them from Pharaoh. This act alone demonstrates that ordinary men could be given a special gift by God and uses it for the good of mankind and especially so when extreme conditions arise and the need is great for such wonders. This divine gift also allowed Moses to save them from the Pharaoh for after he parted the sea and lead his people through, he turned and allowed the waters to come down on Pharaohs army and wipe them away from harming Moses and his people.
A lesser known yet equally great feat was the miracle performed by Elisha for a young woman who showed him kindness and concern. Elisha traveled through a small town several times. He would stay with a childless couple who decided to make a small room for him in their home, so that he may have someone nice to rest when he traveled. When he went to his room he called for the young mistress to come to him and asked what he could give in return for her kindness. Could he speak to a King or even a commander of an army? She replied she already had a home among her people and left him. He asked his servant who told him she was childless and her husband old. Elisha once again called for the woman and told her that this time next year she would hold a son in her arms. She told Elisha not to mislead his servant in saying so. However a year passed for the woman and during it she did indeed conceive and have a son by the end of that year.
As the child grew he complained one day to his father of his head hurting. His father told him to go lay down and in doing so he fell ill and died. The mother took him to the room Elisha had used and laid him there. Next she went to find her husband to borrow the donkey. He asked what was wrong and she said nothing. She traveled to see Elisha and speak with him. Elisha's servant saw her and tried to turn her way from Elisha, however Elisha saw the mother's bitter distress and waited to hear her speak. After this he gave her his staff and told her to take it home with her and lay it on her son. Yet she would not leave because she felt the Lord only lived within him, so Elisha traveled with her to her home and saw the child. He lay against the child and then rose from him and paced as he prayed, then once more he laid upon him. Finally the child grew warm, took a breath and opened his eyes. Elisha told his servant to get the child's mother and told her to come and take her son. She came and fell to her knees and bowed before his feet and took her son. In this example we see a servant of God, Elisha, demonstrate the power of not just healing but that or resurrection. Elisha, who is just a mere man, not only predicts the future in telling the woman she will have a son, but revives the child later when he has died. This is an excellent example of God bestowing divine gifts of incredible power to a man to use for the greater good of mankind. Elisha, just like Moses, is a man of God whom when given great gifts from God, uses them to help other people who are in need such miracles in their lives. Both men are simple men, who are not of divine heritage as Jesus was, yet are capable of performing miracles that go beyond what the average man is capable of doing.
The world we live in today is in need more so than ever of a miracle. There are many types of people out there today who do as much harm as good. It is hard for someone to open their eyes to the wonders that are being done everyday when they have shut them because of one of their own bad experiences. We live in a world where evil is indeed spreading across the land. As war after war tears apart our land and kills our soldiers, we become hardened to the idea of a loving God willing to bestow his gifts of love and compassion. We see so much hate and evil in the world, as the Bible tells us, there are many false prophets out their waiting to corrupt and hurt the weak who fall so easily to such people. However, we are at a turning point in the world. We see more and more evils that have been hidden away within the walls of many churches come forth and are heard. We are seeing more people embrace a more metaphysical thought pattern and be open to the gifts others have to share. More people are realizing that there are several people out there who are truly good and are doing Gods work with their healing touch or their vision of the future. There was a time when the idea of a vengeful God who was waiting to strike down those who were different than the whole was accepted by many. However, we are entering a new age of thought. An age of enlightenment that is exposing the nasty old secrets of many churches and opening many eyes to those who do indeed posses divine gifts and are willing to share them with the world. It is time for us to embrace these people who come forth with their healing touch and comforting words and welcome them into our worlds, into our churches and even more so into our hearts.
God is still bestowing is amazing gifts onto people today. He is still taking someone like Elisha and giving them the power to heal the shattered body and make them whole again with their touch. He is still giving leaders, such as Moses the strength to stand up and lead people to a new world. He is still taking people such as Elisha and giving them the sight to see into our future, and give us pieces to help us travel the right path or simply the reassurance that good is coming to us. God is more alive than ever in our lives. He is awakening many and giving them what it takes to lead, direct and even heal our bodies and souls, so that we may grow spiritually and physically.
Faith is based on the idea of believing what is inside you and staying true to it. Now more so than ever do we need to look inside us and question what we believe. Perhaps we are being tested by God as even Abraham was when he was asked to sacrifice his only son. For in the end only God himself knows whether or not someone is truly blessed by Him and doing His work, or whether they have evil residing in their heart and are out to harm and mislead. However, should someone offer to lay their hands on you to make your hurt go away, or someone come to you with advice that they say is the future and you divert an accident because of what they said, one would think that these people would be working for God and not against him. We have no way of knowing until the end whether these thoughts are right or have we made some kind of a horrible mistake.
So to those who feel an inner calling inside of them, do they go forth to spread their word, to try to heal our sick and comfort those who need reassurance? Do they chance the ill looks and hatred words that will come? Perhaps one other religious man whom fought against such hatred as this should be looked to for his own fight against similar treatment. His name was Jesus, at the time he to was considered someone who was false in his words, false in his visions of the future and false in his healing touch. However as he was thought of as a false prophet, we now read of his work and look to it as divine and with the approval of God.