That so many people were at the pool waiting for the stirring of the waters suggests there were occasions when people had been healed at Bethesda. There were other healing shrines in the ancient world (e.g. the shrine of Asclepios in Corinth) and evidence exists that people did sometimes receive healing at these sites. From a Christian perspective such healings would be explained in terms of the ‘lying wonders’ of Satan (2 Thess. 2:9). In Matthew 24:24 / Mark 13:22 Jesus speaks of false Christs and