Subject: Age of Miracles - Past or Present |
Bible Note: I've stated it a couple of times on the Forum but it bears repeating. I do believe very strongly in the age of miracles. We're living in that age at this very moment and probably will continue to do so until the Day of Judgment. What am I saying, you ask? I'm saying I believe very strongly that only God or the Godhead practice miracles and impart them directly to the receipient here on earth, usually at the behest of someone praying. I'm only trying to inspire folks to comply with the Bible and "test the spirits in everything," most especially when people claim to have some miraculous power. The only possible standard God's people would use in testing the spirits would be the Word of God. So with speaking in tongues, are all the listeners able to understand like as done on the day at Pentacost? Did these folks speaking EVER have an ocassion to learn the language or was it truly bestowed on them in a supernatural manner? Miraculous healing must be more than healing of backpains and headaches. Are severed body parts restored? Are there lepers healed with new-born skin? Are those born crippled able to leap for joy immediately after being healed? Are those born blind able to see perfectly and immediately after being healed? Is life restored to a person after several hours/days after true, complete, clinical death? And of course, all of these miracles of healing must be done without any assistance from modern medicine or equipment of any kind. So, you see, I'm just advocating evaluating the miralces in today's world by the same standard that we see portrayed in the Bible. Now I know one classic response is that the quality or level of healing or hearing/understanding miraculous speech is dependent on the spiritual maturity of the recipient BUT that is simply NOT the Biblical way to look at the subject. Never, not even once in all the Bible, did the spiritual condition of the recipient ever impede the execution or the quality of the miracle in the Bible. True enough, the maturity of the disciples before Christ's death prevented their being effective as they readily admitted but not after His resurrection. At any rate, I must insist as we all should, we must look at this matter carefully and make certain the miracles of today truly do come from God because if they come from any other source, they should be ignored as non-existent. Why am I so insistent on this point? I'm glad you ask. Again, throughout the NT, there was only two instances where christians manifested miraculous powers WITHOUT the gift of "the laying on of the Apostles hands," in Acts 2 and Acts 10. We all know Acts 2 was when the church was established and Acts 10 was the endowment of power to Cornelius and his household for the single express purpose of impressing on Apostle Peter and the rest of the Apostles that the Gospel was for the whole world and not just for the Jews. So, the conclusion is that only the Apostles and those on whom they "laid their hands" manifested these miraculous powers. Further, we can conclude that since none of these folks are here living any longer, there can be no one with such God given powers. Any such miraculous powers must be from another source. However in an effort to maintain an open mind, I would like to witness an actual miracle at some point in my lifetime. So if you know of anyone who can actually perform miracles like those described above, I'd certainly like to hear about it. Hope this helps. God bless. Rowdy |