From the book, “What People Ask About The Church,” by Dale A. Robbins — 16 — During my years of ministry I have seen scores of genuine healings
and other supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Miracles produced by the power
of God indeed bear witness of Christ's reality and are still a vital part of His ministry
plan for today's church (Heb. 13:8). Certainly, there are men of God who have been greatly
used in gifts of healings, miracles, and other such manifestations. However, signs and
wonders by themselves, cannot necessarily prove whether a man is of God or not. Signs and wonders were "among" the identifying
characteristics that accompanied the ministry of Jesus and His Apostles (2 Cor. 12:12,
Acts 2:22), but would not have authenticated their ministry without the combination of
other traits. The Bible says that signs will inevitably follow believers (Mark
16:17). But again, without the other evidences of Christianity, miracles ALONE, cannot
confirm the authenticity of believers. The rest of that passage says that the Lord worked
with them, confirming the Word through the accompanying signs (Mark 16:20). You see,
signs, wonders and miracles are really intended to bring confirmation to "the Word,
the Lord Jesus Christ," not necessarily the believers. Whenever God truly performs
miracles, it is intended to bring credibility to the Gospel and to glorify Jesus Christ. Jesus specifically warned that the claim of performing miraculous or
wonderful acts of ministry in the name of the Lord is not proof of a man's spiritual
authenticity. As remarkable as it seems, in the day of judgment there will be some
professed miracle workers that the Lord will say that He never knew. "Many will say
to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in
Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never
knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" (Matt. 7:22-23). (See also 2
Cor. 11:13-14) It is a dangerous thing to assume that a man is of God, solely on
the basis of apparent signs and wonders, for the following reasons: (1) How can you ascertain the genuineness of a miracle?
The appearance of miracles can be cleverly fabricated. Not long ago, Christian leaders
were stunned when an investigator publicly exposed a respected, well-known evangelist for
staging phony miracles. The evangelist had a reputation for calling people out of a
congregation by the word of knowledge and would appear to supernaturally know personal
details such as their disease, their name or even their address. Shocking evidence was uncovered how the evangelist's wife would move
through the audience and interview persons about personal details, and then use a
miniature electronic transmitter to communicate this with her husband, who had a tiny
receiver in his ear. The investigator had discovered the radio frequency used, and tape
recorded the actual voice of the evangelist's wife as she described the illnesses and
details to her husband on the stage. They were caught red handed. The pretense was over. In another incident several years ago, a small-time preacher was
curiously known to always ask people to take off their shoes before praying for them. It
was eventually revealed that he had wired the outer casing of his microphone with a small
electrical voltage and wore rubber soled shoes. When he would lay hands on people who were
standing on a well grounded concrete floor, they would receive a light electrical jolt to
make them think that it was the power of God. The preacher was protected from voltage by
his insulated shoes. But even before electronic gadgets, charlatans were exposed for
hiring pretenders to throw down crutches, jump out of wheel chairs, or give false
testimony of some great miracle. Many sincere Christian people find it difficult to believe that
there could be such deliberate deceptions, especially by those who use the name of Jesus.
But this is exactly why deceivers are able to fool the believers. They take advantage of
the sincerity of naive people who simply don't know the Biblical way to spot false
prophets. (2) Genuine miracles sometimes occur in spite of counterfeit
preachers. It would seem reasonable to conclude that all alleged miracles
performed by phony preachers must also be fabricated. But this is not so. One of the
biggest unsolved mysteries is why genuine miracles have occurred in association with
alleged preachers who have been proven to be fakes. Many people can still remember the ministry of "Marjo,"
the famous Pentecostal "boy" preacher of the 1950's. He was just a child when
his parents taught him to memorize and preach eloquent, Biblical sermons. Because of his
youth and the claim of great miracles which followed his ministry, he was a novelty to the
church world and attracted great crowds to hear him preach the Gospel. During those years,
many considered him to be a rising young prophet and would drive for miles to be prayed
for by the boy evangelist. Numerous people were saved and healed in his meetings. When Marjo came of age, he shocked the world by revealing that his
years as the boy preacher had only been a masquerade, a scheme invented by his parents to
make money. Indeed, the attraction had raked in big profits. Marjo admitted that his
participation had never been more than a scam forced upon him by his parents. He had never
sincerely believed the things he had been taught to memorize or say. Ironically, Marjo
eventually went to Hollywood where he remains as an actor to this day. But left behind from this shrewd deception were scores of people who
actually came to Christ through the Gospel which Marjo preached. Genuine healings were
proved and documented which had occurred in Marjo's crusades. Though his ministry was
fraudulent, amazingly, the Gospel messages which he memorized and preached had an
unexpected effect. God genuinely "confirmed His Word with signs following," even
though the messenger was a fake. The souls who were saved and miracles which occurred were
never an approval of the boy preacher, but were the confirmation of the power and truth of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ! To us, it might seem better for God to withhold miracles from being
connected with spurious and unholy figures, but to do this would be an injustice to the
integrity and truth of His Word. Besides, if we had to wait around for preachers to become
perfectly Holy, we might never see miracles. God's Word will bring faith (Rom. 10:17), and
wherever there is faith in God's word, signs will follow. Signs and miraculous answers to
prayer will follow them that believe (Mark 11:24). This point was made clear in scripture when Peter and John came
across the lame man begging for alms at the beautiful gate. They had no money to give him,
but they offered something else of greater value. They commanded him to rise and walk
through the name of Jesus! Incredibly, the crippled man stood to his feet and began to
leap, praising God for his healing. Those who witnessed this miracle were astonished, and
were undoubtedly in awe of the Apostles. But Peter immediately shot down any misdirected
impressions of credit. So when Peter saw it, he responded, "Men of Israel, why do you
marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we
had made this man walk?" (Acts 3:12). The Apostles disavowed that this healing had
anything to do with their own power or holiness, but was due to faith in the name of Jesus
(Acts 3:16). But whose faith? The lame man's or the Apostles? This is another one
of the mysteries. Many people may sometimes assume that the faith comes from the
"anointed" preacher or the person doing the praying. But in reality, it could be
the faith of the sick person, the congregation, or the combination of them all. (3) Supernatural gifts are irrevocable. Many
theologians believe that spiritual gifts are initially given only to Godly, Spirit-filled
people. But later, if they become corrupt, or even deny the faith, God will not withdraw
the gift. Support for this idea comes from scripture which states, "For the gifts and
the calling of God are irrevocable" (Rom. 11:29). If this interpretation is correct,
this would be further explanation why signs and wonders might accompany false prophets,
and further evidence why we should never use miracles, alone, as a way to identify true
men of God. Others hold the opinion that spiritual gifts are never actually given to individuals as their possession. This view is that the gifts are given only to the "body of Christ." While God uses men to display the "manifestations" of His Spirit, yet they are not the property of the man. In this case, God might use whatever vessel is available, despite its impurity, because of His love and desire to bless the body. It's not to the credit of the man, but to the credit of God who loves His people and would do anything to bless them. This article is copyrighted © by Dale A. Robbins, 1995, and is a publication of Victorious Publications, Grass Valley, CA 95949. Unless otherwise stated, all scripture references were taken from The New King James Bible, © Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982.You may download for personal use as long as you retain credit to the author. Obtain permission before reproducing copies for any reason, by filling out our simple permission form. For media reproduction rights, or to obtain published quantities of this title, . |
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