Angels: Ministering Spirits

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by Aquila

No, you're right. The cloths weren't anointed with oil. What I believe is that the spiritual "anointing" of Paul, through the abiding Holy Spirit, left residual power on the cloths. We see what I believe to be a hint of this principle when the woman with an issue of blood touches the hem of Christ's garment. In both cases "virtue", or power, transfered from the cloth (worn by the wearer) to the individual in need:

Acts 19:12
So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

... and...

Mark 5:28-30
28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?

Even the very bones of Elijah still had the power to raise the dead...

2 Kings 13:21
21 And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.

The truth of the matter is that something... be it called "virtue", "power", "anointing", "residual energy"... was transfered from the body of God's anointed servants to material objects (bones, garment, cloths, aprons) and then said material affected those in desperate need of healing or deliverance.

When faced with these kinds of realities we have to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in our practice. For example... if said power can be transfered to cloth... what about water? Wood? Or some other object? But now we're in the realm of the speculative that can only be proven through experience.

I digress.

With regards to prayer cloths... it's far more biblical for a preacher to simply pray over a cloth... no oil is necessary. Perhaps they only use the oil as a "symbol" of the Spirit's anointing being transfered to the cloth.

All of this is in actuality... VERY deep, mysterious, and profound stuff.

I would prefer to speak the word of faith - forget the cloths. The ushering in of the NT church by Jesus Christ and Paul was a phenomenal event. Although, I was in a service where an evangelist walked by as he was preaching, and I felt the presence of God with him. I could then see how the people would have reached out to touch Jesus or Paul.