(In view of the fact that at the present moment there are those who are carrying on great campaigns for healing and miracles and spectacular displays of power, it has been felt. that the following article, written over sixty years ago, might be well worth considering.)

"Newspaper reports speak of a great prophet which has risen up in Denver, Colo.; they say crowds are after him; that he heals their sick, showing mighty signs of supernatural power.

Supposing all this to be true, and no delusion or deception in it, let the Christian ever remember the warning that God has given us in His Word:If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof He spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; thou shall not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams:for the Lord your God proveth you, to know ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.’ (Deut. 13)

It is plain from this passage that mere supernatural power is not enough to prove that a man’s mission is of God. It may indeed be allowed of God to test the people who profess to be His, whether or no they will be loyal enough to Him to enquire into the doctrine of the wonder worker. What place had Jehovah in this man’s doctrine? and now we ask, what place has Christ?

Let none be surprised if workers of real signs and wonders arise here and there. The devil has much more power than men; his object is nothing less than to supplant Christ, and as the end draws near he cannot fail to put forth all his energies to reach his object; he will almost succeed; his supreme effort will produce "Antichrist." (1 John 2:18), who "doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by those miracles which he had power to do."(Revelation 13:13-14).

"What think ye of Christ?" must therefore be the final, crucial test if we seek and desire to know the mind of God as to anything that rises up _ that which alone can carry us safely through the "perilous times" of the end. And this is the more needful as many affect a growing disregard for doctrine. Little matter what a man holds, they say, as long as he does good among his fellows. But the chief mark of the power of the Spirit in a man is when he lives of "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? and in Thy Name have cast out devils? and in Thy Name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them I never knew you:depart from Me, ye that work iniquity." (Matt. 7:23-24)

Every saint who walks with God meanwhile and judges intelligently of the growing miseries of Christendom, not to speak of the world at large and of man, has love for the appearing of the Lord, as the time when He shall be exalted and we are to reign with Him, the power of Satan being publicly and effectually expelled from the earth.