In the movie, Black Orpheus, there are some instances that lead you to believe that the devil does indeed have power to imitate miracles. Towards the end of the movie, Orpheus is frantically looking for his love, Eurydice, who he unknowingly killed. While looking for her, he runs into a group of people dancing in a circle. All of a sudden, one of the ladies starts going crazy and flailing her arms around. A man who was watching the dance with Orpheus said that the woman received the spirit. Watching this scene reminded me of my experiences in Brazil and how I heard many stories of people speaking in tongues and going crazy as a result of receiving the spirit.
In Matthew 7:16 it reads, "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles"? With every miracle, we can know if it was a miracle from God or from the devil by the way it makes us feel. Miracles that are done in the name of God bring peace to our hearts and clarity to our minds. True miracles bring the spirit, and some of the fruits of the spirit are, "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith." (Galatians 5:22) In Black Orpheus, I do believe that the woman that went crazy was overcome with something, but it was not the Holy Spirit. I believe that she was overcome by a demon that took over her body and made her do all sorts of crazy things. I believe that because when I saw that scene, I did not feel any fruits of the spirit as I mentioned before. Some of the feelings that I had were fear, uneasiness, and contention. These are not feelings that come from the spirit. During my time in Brazil, I saw and heard of instances that occurred in this movie of people receiving spirits, and I could always discern if the spirit came from God or from some other power by the way the instance made me feel. Watching this scene and thinking of my experiences also made me want to always strive to stand in holy places and do righteous activities so that the devil and his followers will have less influence over me and my body.
The devil does have power and it is important for people to use their discernment so they will not be tricked by instances when people supposedly receive "the spirit." This world can be very dangerous and we must be very careful.
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