The Lord Jesus showed us that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is when you call the miraculous work of God, the work of the Devil. So you must be really careful when differentiating real miracles from magic, because they can be quite similar just like Moses versus Jannes and Jambres..He changed his staff to a snake and Jannes and Jambres did the same.

The matter is even made more complicated when we realise that Judas the traitor performed miracles from God in heaven by the power of Jesus Christ. So how does one know? I have my ideas but lets hear first from some posters. In my view, there are three (functionally 4) categories to choose from:

1) A real Man of God/prophet that is not deceived and therefore in right standing with God -does genuine miracles/healing
2) A real Man of God/prophet that is in error and therefore deceived, not in right standing with God - genuine miracles/ healing can happen in his ministry.
3) A false Man of God/ prophet businessman - performs arrangee miracles
4) A false Man of God/prophet or magician/ businessman son of the Devil - performs magic through diabolical means

Mog 1 and his followers comprise the 5 wise virgins going in the rapture.
Mog 2 and his followers comprise 5 foolish virgins who will miss the rapture but make it through the tribulation
Mog 3 more often than not eventually transits to become Mog 4, due to the pressure of business
Mog 3 and Mog 4 and their followers are on their way to the Devil's hell -the ones Jesus said "if the blind lead the blind, all of them shall fall into the ditch".

Our task therefore is to identify if who we are following is Mog 1or Mog 2 or Mog 3. Or Mog 4.
If you can find Mog 1, and follow well, you 're good for the rapture. Unfortunately, they are extremely scarce and unpopular because "strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it."

SisterMe: The Lord Jesus showed us that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is when you call the miraculous work of God, the work of the Devil. So you must be really careful when differentiating real miracles from magic, because they can be quite similar just like Moses versus Jannes and Jambres..He changed his staff to a snake and Jannes and Jambres did the same.

The matter is even made more complicated when we realise that Judas the traitor performed miracles from God in heaven by the power of Jesus Christ. So how does one know? I have my ideas but lets hear first from some posters.

By their fruits you shall know them

ogologodimkpa: By their fruits you shall know them

True but there are some very nice friendly loving people I know that are atheists. Besides, you have to literally live with someone to truly know what they do when no one is looking...so this may not be easy to apply.

Since it is not easy to determine and they all claim their mirracle is from God and we dont wont to offend God then methink we should not say anything rather allow God to be the ultimate judge.

So how do you determine if your pastor - church is of God.

Or do you just keep quiet and keep going somewhere that might be of the devil because you dont want to offend God?

Place booked.

SisterMe: The Lord Jesus showed us that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is when you call the miraculous work of God, the work of the Devil. So you must be really careful when differentiating real miracles from magic, because they can be quite similar just like Moses versus Jannes and Jambres..He changed his staff to a snake and Jannes and Jambres did the same.

The matter is even made more complicated when we realise that Judas the traitor performed miracles from God in heaven by the power of Jesus Christ. So how does one know? I have my ideas but lets hear first from some posters.

It probably makes you feel better to make a distinction between Magic and what you term “real miracles”. In reality there is no such distinction, All miracles involve a degree of magic with a corresponding ritual, specifically the thaumaturgical use of holy names, ( which is in itself fraught with dangers) One either has the ability or not, equally you could be a Christian and have the ability or a Muslim or indeed an Atheist, History tells us that no more than two or three people in a generation are genuinely imbued with this ability.

Clearly you can ignore the comedy shows and sleight-of-hand Pentecostal pastors put up on a weekly basis where they claim “miracles” on a daily basis.

Omexonomy: Since it is not easy to determine and they all claim their mirracle is from God and we dont wont to offend God then methink we should not say anything rather allow God to be the ultimate judge.

That is actually a very safe but potentially dangerous strategy. What if you are worshipping God right under a fake pastor.. You need to know so you can save yourself. And if you are able to save yourself(assuming its a fake pastor truly) you have to try to save others and the only way to do that is to tell them or warn them somehow.

I believe you are right in a way actually, but need to add something to it like : "well I won't say the miracle is from God or it's magic from the Devil, but I can say a real man of God will do and teach this this and this, and won't teach and do this this and this."

One thing for sure: Satan can not heal. That said, true healing from God can still take place under a false prophet. I will edit my first post the reflect these 3 types of Servants of God.

Sarassin:

It probably makes you feel better to make a distinction between Magic and what you term “real miracles”. In reality there is no such distinction, All miracles involve a degree of magic with a corresponding ritual, specifically the thaumaturgical use of holy names, ( which is in itself fraught with dangers) One either has the ability or not, equally you could be a Christian and have the ability or a Muslim or indeed an Atheist, History tells us that no more than two or three people in a generation are genuinely imbued with this ability.

Clearly you can ignore the comedy shows and sleight-of-hand Pentecostal pastors put up on a weekly basis where they claim “miracles” on a daily basis.

Magic is any unnatural activity that cannot be attributed to God because the doer of it is a confirmed enemy of God by virtue of his/her stand against the Word of God-the Bible. Miracles othe other hand are unnatural activities that come from God by virtue of the doer's stance for the Word of God.

My simple and straight forward answer is study the word and pray. From studyin the word u wl knw the patern and any man no mata who, that is nt folowing dat s questionable. Compare hs lyf n ministry to christ, his word and the epistles, then u wl c dat 'by their fruit u wl knw dm'.
Another matter is that of dr members i knw 4 sure that most people under fake pastors are nt grounding in the word of God, are gullable, defends n folow wat eva dr pastors say or do (without croscheckin wt d word of God) and lastly, they are miracle seekers nt after God and his kingdom or hs word bt wants a place where dr problems can b solved hence dy enter anywhere and evrywhere in the name of church to get ans but r neva realy interest in God jst want hm 4 wat he can gv, mst of such people are hypocrites, sinners, backsliders e.t.c

SisterMe:

Magic is any unnatural activity that cannot be attributed to God because the doer of it is a confirmed enemy of God by virtue of his/her stand against the Word of God-the Bible. Miracles othe other hand are unnatural activities that come from God by virtue of the doer's stance for the Word of God.

I do not agree.

The source of magical and miraculous ability remains the same, it really depends on what side of the divide you stand. For instance a pastor can (and they do) perform a magical rite to inflict an opponent, in the name of God. Likewise a Magus can perform a miraculous feat to heal the same afflicted.

Oh ...you wanted to know how to differentiate a "fake pastor", really it's quite simple, the energy expended to perform a miraculous or magical act is so utterly vast as to render the performer virtually debilitated, any wonder "real" miracle workers are often heavily afflicted ? They ain't walking around jheri-curled up and all smiles.