Originally Posted by
Colonel
According to history and excavations, the pool at Bethesda was a pagan site and in the Bible account there were lots of people assembled there to get healed. In the context of the antichrist there is :
2 Thes 2:9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,
10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
The point is to deceive people into receiving a message that's contrary to the gospel and which promotes sin and it's done by way of all kinds of powerful workings (dynamis), signs and lying wonders. The devil is into counterfeiting what God does. That includes healing, there are all kinds of non-Christian healers that deceive people into thinking that their message is from God, including new age healers, shamanic healers, reiki healers. Sai Baba was into healing. There's even a Muslim healer (I don't know if he's Arab or not) who travels Muslim countries and holds large meetings where there are plenty of healings. This isn't speculation, we know what their message is and we know that people claim actual healings from it.
Demonic anointing may not be the only factor involved in the seemingly ever continuing miracles in the ministry of a sinful minister (or heretical one like Branham became). As long as they continue to the preach the Word, at least in part, people will receive by faith. Especially if there is expectation to begin with. In a meeting where a lot of Christians are assembled in the name of Jesus and the Holy Spirit is present because of that, God will work among them. The minister laying hands on people might serve as a catalyst for their own faith and expectations. People are way too quick to assume that the minister has (or still has) almost anything to do with the results involved in an ongoing revival, beyond his managing to do his job in actually preaching a biblical message to the assembled crowd.