I know you were not addressing me, so pardon me if I'm sticking my nose in where it doesn't belong... but...
I am very suspicious of a lot that goes on in the Charismatic movement at large... but I am adamant about the "prosperity preachers" and "faith healers" in particular who are teaching doctrines that are much more closely related to Eastern Mysticism than they are true Christianity.
As to the Charismatic movement itself which appears across denominations, I refuse to put God or His Holy Spirit in a box and say he cannot give supernatural gifts or perform supernatural healings even though I am not Charismatic myself. I just say, like John 4:1, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." In fact, one of my early mentors from old radio broadcasts was the late Walter Martin, who was famous for his agressive Apologetics approach to defend the Christian faith against cults, skeptics, and false doctrines espoused by "prosperity preachers" or "Word of faith" preachers and their close fraudulent kin, the "faith healers". If someone was actually healed by God during the performance of these people, it was in spite of them, not because of them. They are a blight and cancer upon the body of Christ.
What most people do not know about Walter Martin is that he spoke in tongues and was Charismatic himself. So, I also am not anti-Chrismatic per second, but I am am suspicious of a lot of claims made. So much of what happens is emotional, a sort of self or mass hypnosis... it has been shown that altered states of conscienceness is reached in the right settings (which may be a Church service)... these are similar to states reached in Eastern meditations.That does not mean they are wrong, it means the experiences become, well, suspicious. Is what happens purely a result of emotion, the Holy Spirit, or is it possibly the influence of a very unholy spirit. Let me say at this point that I do not believe a true Christian can be possessed by an evil spirit, but they can be influenced or oppressed by one.
