Psalms 2:1-5 "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure."

Luke 4:23-24 "And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country."

Luke 23:34-35 "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God."

     The twentieth century has been called "man's troubled times". It seems as if the fabric of our society has split, and is slowly eroding into something that it never was before. Adultery, pedophilia, homosexuality, and drug abuse are becoming normative behavior.

     When I was a child the children experimented with drugs while the adults remained "straight", but today it seems as if the roles are reversed.

     We have had a president that smoked marijuana (but never inhaled), had sex with his aide (but never cheated on his wife), and the American people, rather than being shocked and demanding his expulsion from office, nod their heads and say "That's all right. The economy is good, leave things alone".

     In all that has gone on in the past few years, many people are beginning to question the silence of God. Is God loving and powerless, or else powerful and not loving? Why hasn't He intervened in the abortion of children, in our society as He did when He blew Sodom and Gomorra off the face of the map? What is His agenda? Why isn't God speaking?

     Many people are unaware of the fact that God speaks to man through His Holy Scripture through the power of the Holy Spirit. Many Christians have, through pursuit of emotionalism, sought to force miraculous events in order to "prove" that God exists.

     God does still speak, even through the miraculous, but not in order to "prove" Himself to a sinful world. I have personally witnessed His healing power, not brought by screaming and out of control behavior, but by quietly praying over several of our brothers and sisters.

     One lady had cancer, cancer so bad that the doctors had to literally "peel" the growth off of her kidneys during surgery. We prayed for that woman, asked God's intervention, and what the doctors didn't get God did get. She is healed today. We prayed over another man who had cancer in his leg, but after that prayer the doctors were amazed - the cancer was gone.

     Yes, I've seen this too many times to discredit it as coincidence. God still works, and speaks through His Word. But many feel that He should shout to us through visible manifestations, through a pillar of fire and of smoke.

     The truth is, God has not established this type of behavior as normative. Look at God's record in the Old Testament: He always spoke to the nations at critical junctures in human history. He spoke to Israel, and manifested Himself to them, when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. Miracles were evidenced through Moses. But after God settled Israel, He went silent until Israel began to backslide. Then He spoke to Israel and the nations through Elijah, Elishah, and the other prophets.

     Look at God's record in the New Testament: Jesus Christ, the Messiah, came bringing miracles (Matthew 4.23). These miracles were characteristic of His ministry, and the God-Man walked the earth for three years proclaiming the Gospel and healing the sick. The miracles testified to His veracity, that He was Messiah. And, as He performed miracles, the unsaved went behind Him and defamed Him by saying:

Luke 11:15 "But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils."

     The truth is, God knows, I know, and you know that some people wouldn't believe in God if He came down and slapped them silly. Miracles show that God is there "IF" you choose to believe it. Most people, however, would attribute miracles from God as telekinesis or some sort of aberration (magic) among humanity. God uses miracles, but also understands the human heart. When the Apostles started preaching, following the Day of Pentecost, miracles followed them.

Acts 5:15 "Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them."

     If the very shadow of Peter fell on the sick, it often had enough of the power of God in it to heal the sick. Again, this was a critical juncture in history, and God used the miraculous to verify that the Apostles were truly emissaries from God. This was a good thing, but eventually humans began to worship the Apostles as "gods" rather than look at the One who made the miracles possible.

     Miracles came at critical junctures of human history, and God, even today, often allows miracles to occur. But let us quickly point out several things about miracles:

Hebrews 2:3-4 "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?"

     Miracles come only by the Will of God if they are Godly miracles. They come with order, without confusion, and always come with the intent of pointing man to the Cross of Christ.

     I sat and listened to a Christian woman tell me all about a preacher who, when he prayed and touched people, God allowed "gold dust" to fall from his hands.

     Let me ask you this, dear Christian - how does this point to the Cross of Christ? How does gold dust falling from someone's hands honor or glorify God? My first suggestion was, if this was true, did the woman take the gold dust and have it analyzed?

     Jesus walked the earth for three years loving and doing good, teaching the Kingdom way, and not once did gold dust ever fall from His hands. Christians and Christianity have become the butt of so many of the world's jokes because we follow after such insane things.

     I watch with horror when a minister, with so much spray in his hair that it looks like a helmet, touches some Christians and they fall back, "slain in the Spirit". How does this honor Christ? Can you find the phrase "slain in the Spirit" in Scripture? Did Jesus ever "slay anyone" in the Spirit?

     Some believed in Christ for the miracle's sake (John 2.23-24), but in the end, when He went to the Cross, all who had followed after Him deserted Him. Peter denied Jesus, cursing. The Apostles all hid themselves from the Roman Soldiers.

     Israel, following God out of Egypt, had a pillar of fire and of cloud to follow, a miracle to follow. Yet at the first provocation they cursed God, and longed for Egypt. You see, they saw the visible miracle, but never accepted that miracle into their hearts.

     A miracle is good, insofar as it goes, but God gave us something greater than any miracle. He gave us Jesus, bruised and torn, nailed to an old Tree for us. He gave us the resurrected Christ, proof that one day we shall also have a resurrected body. He gave us the Church, and gifts to exercise while within that Body, so we could love one another and provoke one another to good works for His glory. He gave us the miracle of the New Birth, and the Indwelling Holy Spirit. He gave us the miracle of the Word of God which, if you'd spend more time reading it and applying it to your life, you'd spend less time following after "gold dust" and being "slain in the Spirit".

     These things are useless in God's economy, and hold us up to ridicule in the world, but God's Word is always miraculous. It has the power to heal a broken heart, to drive drink from the alcoholic, to make the child abuser a lover of God. He gave us a capacity to Love, the greatest miracle of all, embodied in the life of Jesus Christ.

     The next time you turn on your television to watch misled ministers of God run around screaming, slaying in the Spirit, scattering gold dust, yelling gibberish, dancing like fools, ask yourself this guestion: "When did I ever read about Jesus or the Apostles doing this?".

     Imagine Jesus in the room, and imagine Him doing what you see others do. Imagine Him jumping around, falling to the floor slain in the Spirit, scattering gold dust. Can you imagine it? I can't. Instead, when I look at Jesus, I see a carpenter's son with calloused hands, dressed in old clothes. I see kindness in His eyes, love exemplified as He reached out to be a blessing to others. I see a man, well groomed, but not in thousand dollar suits and big hair, but a fisherman from Galilee.

     "Be careful what you do in the name of Christ." God's silence, or alleged silence, will not be forever. One day you will stand accountable for how you represented Jesus on this earth. Any action, no matter how much someone claims it comes from God, must be, "MUST BE" reconciled with God's Word and with Jesus Christ. If you don't believe this, get into the Word of God and read it. "Be careful, little Christian, for He watches you." In the end, the greatest miracle of all is that you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, and begin to follow after His example. "Be careful what you feed your soul, lest you feed it a lie."

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Last modified: Friday, December 06, 2002