Kathy

I applaud your sensitivity to the Spirit of Christ.

Remember the story that Jesus told us about a certain rich man and the beggar Lazarus? Remember that the religious, rich man (who by inference had lived his life for his riches and not God) was thrown into hell and how that in the torments of hell, he interceded for his brothers who were still living?

Luke 16:27-31
Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:
For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

Note that Jesus did not suggest that the rich man's brothers could look to any man living at the time or to any of the traditional "heroes" of the Jews at the time, but to the Scriptures. There were obviously many reasons for this, the first being that "For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven" (Psalm 119:89). And again, "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Mt. 5:18). It is important that we comprehend that God did not—nor never will—commit His integrity or His work to man.

John 2:22-25
When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast [day], many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.
But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all [men],
And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

The other side of the coin is that although God does not commit His integrity or His work to man, He does entrust His integrity to His Word, for He and His Word are One.

I John 5:7
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

It is for this reason that He can totally commit Himself to His Word and that we can totally depend upon what it says. This is not to say that He does not use man; for when man will repent, humble himself, prepare himself by studying the Word, and then walk in obedience to His Spirit—such are the vessels through which God reveals Himself to the world. But God will never give His Spirit to a man or a woman so that they might be glorified and become an object of trust and wonder among men. Consider the characters of the Old Testament, the Bible to which Jesus was referring when He told the rich man that his brothers had Moses and the Prophets. God did not gloss over the imperfections of the Old Testament heroes of faith so that they might be worshipped as the Israelites were doing when Jesus walked the earth. Consider Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, etc., these were all presented as fully human men that had all committed spiritual offenses ranging from failures in faith to adultery and murder. God presented them as they really were—not diminishing their humanity but stressing their faith in Him and His response to that faith. Likewise, in the New Testament the Apostles were presented as ordinary men. We see that Peter had a streak of cowardice that caused him to deny his Lord to save his own life. Even after Peter received the Holy Spirit, this streak in him came to the surface when at Antioch he was intimidated by the leaders of the Jews.

Gal. 2:11-12
But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

The Apostle Paul was a religious fanatic/bigot before He surrendered his life to Christ, even murdering those who opposed his point of view. In fact, those who stoned faithful Stephen to death, laid their cloaks at Paul's feet while they stoned him (Acts 7:58-60). It was Paul who went through the tormenting time of Romans chapter 7 when it seemed he could never do what was right and when he was always doing what he hated. Paul wrote of himself "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief" (I Tim. 1:15). Paul understood full well the corruption of his old man; in fact, he was assigned a demon to pester him lest he forget it. "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure" (II Cor. 12:7). We don't know if this devil just pestered Paul in his mind, or if there was also given some outward sign of his activity in the flesh as many suggest. But we do know that Paul was never allowed to forget his dependence upon God—that this was always to the fore of his mind; and that Paul was always aware that he needed to keep his body under subjection lest he lose his witness among men.

I Corinthians 9:27
But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

The beloved John also recognized his limitations and his dependence on God. It was he who wrote:

I John 1:5-10
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

All of these who were called to lay the foundations for the Church and to pen the New Testament were careful not to let men make "idols" of themselves, even tearing their clothes and forbidding men who tried to do so. So, if it was forbidden to idolize these individuals who were called and used to write the New Testament, how much more is it forbidden to glorify men and women centuries later?

Let's look at a couple of examples.

Act 14:11-18
And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.
Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.
[Which] when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard [of], they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.
Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.

Act 3:2-16
And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
And he took him by the right hand, and lifted [him] up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
And all the people saw him walking and praising God:
And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.
And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.
And when Peter saw [it], he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let [him] go.
But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

As I've already said, I commend your approach to the "faith healers" and "holy ghost revivalist" in our midst. And I do this because you are in obedience to the Scriptures.

I John 4:1
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

I know that there are those who are afraid to be obedient to this command because they have an inordinate fear of "blaspheming the Holy Ghost." This fear is able to manifest itself because of their lack of knowledge of the Scriptures. Consequently, they end up grieving the Holy Spirit because in not testing the spirits, they are blown to and fro with every wind of doctrine and end up following "strange spirits." Also, because these "strange spirits" supposedly do their great supernatural feats "in the name Jesus," again, they are afraid to test them lest they offend God and His Spirit and His Son. But again we see a failure to know what's in the Word.

Mat 7:21-23
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 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.

It is no accident that Jesus followed this warning with this statement:

Mat 7:24
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

It is the Word that is our stay, IT is the Rock of all the Ages upon which we are to build our lives, not the charisma or the sayings of someone who claims to be representing and speaking for Jesus.

(Before I go any further, lest I give the wrong impression, let me assert that I do believe in healing as it is presented in the Scriptures. I wouldn't be here now but for divine healing. And I have a daughter who had missing body parts appear when she was a baby which, to me, qualifies as a miracle. Also, the wife and I have seen the true gifts of healing and miracles in action. An instance that comes to mind is a meeting that took place in Melrose, Florida. I cannot remember the minister's name, but I do remember how he bragged on Jesus and how his teaching stirred my faith. On this particular night, I remember that a goiter on a lady's neck disappeared as he prayed for her.)

I am thankful to God that before he placed me into the church world, He put me through four years of intense Bible Study. Because of my preparation, I just took it for granted that I was to test the spirits and I had a good idea about how to do so. As the Lord started leading me to those who are strong on healings and the "gifts of the Spirit," I noticed a couple of things most of them seemed to have in common. Different factions of these groups did not always agree on just what a "gift of the Spirit" is, or on how they are to function. Also, I started observing the "healings," and I noticed patterns emerging. See if you agree with my list of observations.

1. Almost all of these "healers" present their healing in a "stage-show" setting full of drama and showmanship.
2. The majority of them use the name of Jesus in sort of a secondary way…after they go through much "divining," gyrations, and demonstration of body language that I guess is supposed to accompany a "healer." (I assume that in the absence God's visible approval, they need to fill the void.)
3. All of the healings are of the "invisible" nature: i.e., some hidden problem like cancer, or blood problems or sight problems or problems with hearing. Never do you see a miracle like accompanied Jesus or the early disciples. Consequently, for the most part, we are left to wonder if the healing really took place. This leaves no place for leaping and praising God for the manifestation of His grace and glory. (Scripturally, the argument that we see nothing because of lack of faith in the crowd doesn't hold water. When Jesus and the Disciples healed, the crowd where simply onlookers and had nothing to do with the faith of the one being healed or the Lord's response to that faith.)
4. A "braggart spirit" seems to accompany these "miracle workers." They are always telling of the thousands that got saved under their ministry, somewhere else, such as overseas, and all the spectacular healings and miracles they wrought at this place and that place. Of course, for some reasons, we never get to see all of this greatness—just hear about it.
5. The focus of their ministry is the Holy Ghost instead of Jesus and His Word.
6. They rarely, if ever, speak on the sincere milk of the Word or even the meat of the Word but concentrate upon bits and pieces of Scriptures dealing with healing. And of course, those Scriptures dealing with "giving."
7. What doctrine they do attempt to teach usually puts those who would accept it "back under the beggarly elements of the law": i.e., they present God's gift of eternal life in such a way that it is not eternal, nor is it a gift.

I'm sure that you can add to this list; but I think I've included enough to make my point. But now, with your question in mind, let me add one more observation. The starting place of any genuine work that will stand the test of time/ Scriptures must have as its origin the Word of God/ Jesus. In the Scriptures the Holy Spirit was a very inconspicuous partner that always brought glory to Jesus. The Holy Spirit never advertised Himself. Can we start by bragging on the Holy Ghost and then throw in Jesus for good measure? Will Jesus follow the Holy Ghost or does the Holy Ghost honor the name of Jesus? Likewise, can we start bragging on "Smith Wigglesworth"—or any other man—and expect the Holy Spirit to move? I don't know if Smith Wigglesworth had any real miracles to accompany his ministry or not. But I do know that Peter, John, and Paul did; and I do know that God has approved their work and their words which make up the New Testament Epistles. These words are still doing a work--producing a faith in the hearers (and doers) that God readily honors for this faith honors His Son.

Isa 48:11
For mine own sake, [even] for mine own sake, will I do [it]: for how should [my name] be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

When I began to recognize the problems listed above, many questions came to mind. Can someone with such Scriptural problems even be the Lord's? What about those who join the church under their preaching? Are they really saved? Am I to treat them as a brother or sister? I will not attempt to answer these questions for anyone else, but it does seem that each of us do have them to answer. In the meantime, we do know that we can put our confidence in the Christ of the Bible and in The New Testament that He put in force by the shedding of His own blood.