Articles
Are There Miracles Today?
Are There Miracles Today?
By Paul R. Blake
I recently received an indepth question from a dear friend: “There is a question I would like to ask you: as I’ve listened over the last few years to your teachings, you have mentioned on more than one occasion, and maybe I’ve misunderstood you, that you don’t believe the gifts of the spirit, or signs and wonders, or apostles and prophets, are for today, as opposed to some who believe the works written about in the New Testament are for all time and all believers. … I’ve been in churches that were on the other end of the spectrum and while I can see how they were trying to preach a more “accurate” gospel than what you see in a lot of mainline denominations, I wonder sometimes if it was really more of just a backlash, or a hard swinging of the pendulum away from previous experiences in a mainline denomination, because time after time the walking out of those beliefs that were being preached ended up falling flat, and getting twisted or soiled by abuses of power.”
Thank you for the challenging question. Your analysis of contemporary gifts of the Spirit congregations is accurate in part. Historically, some believers in a particular faith will begin to become uncomfortable with the cookie cutter, same-old-same-old of the church's liturgy and long for something fresh and inspiring. It is a noble desire, but often carried out awry. Some want a deeper, more personal interaction from God. Others are trying to recapture the high emotional rush experienced in their early halcyon days in Christ. However, to advocate frequent ongoing miraculous activity, personal indwelling and direct guidance of the Spirit, and miraculous manifestations of the Spirit exercised by all Christians is not only an extreme over-reaction to the cold liturgy of many mainstream churches, it is also a position that is scripturally indefensible. It is non-Biblical for a number of reasons:
1) It ignores, even changes, the Biblically stated purpose of miracles,
2) It ignores that fact that most Christians in scripture did not have miraculous manifestations of the Spirit,
3) It ignores the Biblically stated duration of miracles; that is, to say that disciples would be able to do might works in perpetuity requires an assumption not mandated in the context. The onus of proof falls to one that asserts this. Miracles would continue as long as the conditions exist requiring miracles,
4) It conflates direct verifiable miracles with Providential acts, Divine responses to prayers, and other “acts of God,”
5) And testimony is entirely subjective and dependent on the witness's observation and interpretation of the event, rather than objective, verifiable, and undeniable as are the miracles in scripture. Even Jesus’ enemies said “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs” (John 11:47).
To the best of my understanding, New Testament miracles were for the purpose of confirming the verbally inspired words of the apostles and prophets. They were performed by a significant number of disciples, but not by many, and certainly not by all. While the new covenant of Christ was being verbally revealed and proclaimed, and while it was in process of being written down, it was necessary to manifest God's approval to validate the message. However, when revelation was finished and fully written down, the “in part” season (verbal revelation and verbal/partly written revelation) would be over, and it would no longer be necessary to verify it. Visible, verifiable miracles would no longer be needed.
This does not mean that God does not function among humankind today. That would be a gross overstatement. God still acts on our behalf Providentially according to His wisdom as well as by His established natural law. He still hears and answers prayers of His children (yes, no, or not right now), and He answers them according to His wisdom and in His own way. He still rules in all realms in this universe according to His plans and purposes. He is God; He can do this however He chooses to do it. However, to suggest that He and the Holy Spirit enable believers to exercise visible and verifiable miraculous manifestations of the Spirit merely to prove their own faith does not rise to the purpose or definition of a Bible miracle.
God created all things by miracles and sustains all things by law. However, we will often hear sincere believers, when something unlikely or surprising happens, will express their faith and say, “That was a miracle!” I smile politely admiring their strong faith, realizing that they are using twenty-first century English meaning of miracle rather than the first century Biblical meaning of miracle, and indulgently overlook the subjective nature of their analysis and interpretation of the event. I quit trying to guess when God has operated in my life. I just say “Thank You” and trust that He is constantly caring for me. I enjoyed the challenge of your question and hope that my brief answer clarifies my understanding of what is written in the word.
A Moments Wisdom
--A window of opportunity won’t open itself.
--It is easy to be critical; the real test is to come up with constructive alternatives.
--It is curious how much more interest can be evoked by a mixture of gossip, romance, and mystery than by facts.
--Life’s heaviest burden is to have nothing to carry.
--Don’t buy a dog if you are going to do your own barking.
--A lot of people get through thinking before they have thought things out.
--A teacher is someone who takes a lot of live wires and tries to get them grounded.
--We cannot solve today’s problems with the level of thinking that created them in the first place.
--Pray for a good harvest, but keep on hoeing.
--When it comes to staying young, a mind-lift beats a face-lift any day.
--The greatest tragedy in life is people who have sight but not vision. (Helen Keller)
--It is easy to be an angel when no one ruffles your feathers.
--Opportunity is sometimes hard to see when you are only looking for an easy answer.
--Natives who beat drums to drive off evil spirits are objects of scorn to civilized Americans who blow horns to break up traffic jams.
--“Friendship ... is born at the moment when one man says to another ‘What! You too? I thought that no one but myself’ . . .” (C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves)
--If everyone gave a single thread, a poor man would have a shirt.
--No reason for doing it is a good reason for not doing it.
--It’s what you learn after you know it all that really counts.
--Persons who excuse hardship with “Well, that’s the way the ball bounces,” are probably the ones who dropped the ball in the first place.
--Don’t talk about your good intentions. Act on them and let others do the talking.
--One of the sure marks of character is one’s ability to accept criticism without feeling malice toward the person who gives it.
--Jealousy is when you have poison envy.
--No sense in being pessimistic. It won’t work anyway.
Upcoming Sermons
5/26/24 AM - At Peace in the Lord; PM - Apostle Paul’s Second Journey for Christ - Meeting at Jerusalem
6/2/24 AM - Mysteries of the Members; PM - Measuring the Love of God (Themed Singing Service)
6/9/24 AM - Philip the Evangelist: The Servant’s Heart; PM - Apostle Paul’s Second Journey for Christ
6/16/24 AM - “I Want the Truth!”; PM - Apostle Paul’s Third Journey for Christ
6/23/24 AM - “He Prepared His Ways Before the Lord”; PM - “Who Knows… the Spirit of the Animal?”
6/30/24 AM - Goliath of Gath: How to Beat a Bully; PM - Doug Sanders: The Roman Empire
