Showing posts with label Signs and Wonders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Signs and Wonders. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

The Return of the King

 Wonderful things are happening. Prepare to be surprised.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 (ESV)

If we belong to Jesus, we believe in a God who delights to do new things.

“You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known. Isaiah 48:6 (ESV)

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Revelation 21:5 (ESV)

God is bound to be true to His wonderful and perfect character but He has never restricted Himself to merely repeat what He has done before.

Some people get upset when Christians report miraculous experiences which are different from the miracles recorded in the Bible.

Two preachers were having a meal in a café in Berlin. A pile of gold dust appeared under the table. A preacher in America was upset about such stories because there is no record of gold dust appearing in the Bible. He preached a sermon against gold dust but the babies in the church creche were covered in gold dust.

Some people are afraid of “lying signs and wonders.” The bible warns of lying signs and wonders but the only reference is in the story of the Anti-Christ in the book of Revelation.

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 2 Thessalonians 2:9 (NKJV)

The only protection against being deceived in spiritual matters is to stay close to Jesus, to be led by the Spirit of God, to live in faith, hope and love, to obey God and to live by His Word.

Does that mean we should only believe in miracles if they are exact copies of miracles recorded in the Bible?

Why?

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12 (ESV)

How many of the people who criticise contemporary miracle stories are working the signs and wonders that Jesus did on earth? None that I know of.

If God is only allowed to repeat what He did in the Bible, how can it be possible for us to do GREATER works than Jesus did?

If God is only allowed to repeat what He has already done, how then can Bible prophecy be fulfilled?

But weren’t the miracles of Jesus all practical acts of mercy, like healing the sick and raising from death the son of a widow?

I wonder what was the practical benefit of Peter walking on water?

If the prophecy of Jesus is to be fulfilled, then people in these last days will see manifestations more amazing than Peter walking on water. If that does not happen, then the prophecy of Jesus will not be fulfilled and that would make the Son of God a false prophet.

But why should God be doing these things?

At the birth of Jesus, the wise men from the pagan east brought Jesus wonderful gifts, GOLD, frankincense and myrrh. If mankind gives God a gift of gold, should we surprised if a gracious God gives gold to mankind?

And what about the jewels?

“O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones. Isaiah 54:11-12 (ESV)

But doesn’t this refer to the jewels in Heaven itself? Of course it does. But did not Jesus announce the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven? Did not Jesus teach us to pray: “Your will be done on earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN?”

If the first visit of the Son of God was heralded by human gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, why should the approach of the return of Jesus not be heralded by supernatural gifts from the Heavenly Bridegroom to His Bride to be, the Church

What could be a more appropriate gift to a bride from her husband to be? Does not a man announce his intention to marry a woman with a gift of a diamond ring?

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Death is Not the End

 I love classical music. I was listening to music on the radio when I heard the last composition of Piazolla, the great Argentinian musician. He was in his late sixties and in very poor health. He knew his end was near and this music was his sad farewell to life.

I felt the horror of approaching death with no sure hope of eternal life in heaven. I started to feel a little nausea. How terrible that would be!

My father was a super-intelligent, high achieving psychiatrist. He loved his work, and he worked a few hours a week until he was 79. 

After a minor stroke forced him to retire, he was a lost soul. His health was not good, and his intelligence was declining. He had been an excellent chess player, but he gave up playing with me when I started to beat him easily.

When I talked to him on the phone, he would tell me he was still alive. That was all. He was just waiting to die. He had no hope in this world or the next. 

But as time passed, I began to see a shift in his thinking. When I cautiously talked to him about faith in God, he started to be a little open. When he was 85, he could no longer live at home because he would often fall over. When my wife or I visited him, we would read the bible to him and he listened with keen interest.

At 88 he was bedridden and seriously mentally impaired. One day my wife and I visited him and my wife asked him if he wanted to pray and make peace with God. When she prayed, he responded by squeezing her hand. From that day onwards, his conversation changed. The despair was gone.

He was somehow aware that death was not the end, that Jesus was there for him. He eagerly listened to us when we read the bible to him. He was happy for us to pray for him, but he was very unwell and suffering terribly. 

I hated to see him suffering and I hoped he would pass away quickly, but God was not finished with him. He lived until he was 91. 

On his ninety-first birthday, I read Psalm 91 verse 16.

With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”
Ps 91:16 NKJV

Then I prayed a very daring prayer. 

“Dear God. How would it be if my father died exactly 16 days after his 91st birthday?”

God was strangely pleased and my father passed away peacefully exactly 16 days later.

Sunday, June 1, 2025

Do We Need Miracles Today?

 Many people hear the Good News of Jesus and believe without being healed supernaturally. When sick believers die, they go to God's heaven, where there is no more sickness.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

Many years ago, I heard from a friend that an old woman was dying in a hospital in Australia. She was Hungarian and could speak German but not English. With the chaplain's permission, I visited the very old woman to read the Bible to her in German.

So she heard various passages from the Bible, God's promises, the Good News.

My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.
Jn 10:27–28 NRSV

One day she was very distracted, suffering from dementia, and looked around in confusion. Was it actually dementia, or was she looking into the spiritual world, as some people do as they approach death?

Then I read her the promise of eternal life.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 
and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Jn 11:25–26 ESV

It seemed as if she immediately came back from her inner wanderings and she answered strongly, clearly and decisively: “Yes, I firmly believe.”

I did not see her again. The next day I heard that she had died. I was satisfied. I knew she was in heaven.

This woman was a devout Catholic. She already knew that eternal salvation comes from Jesus and can somehow be obtained through faith. She only needed to hear the simple message of God's Word to understand the gospel.

But there are many communists, agnostics, Muslims and Hindus who have no biblical foundation at all, so we cannot lead them to faith so easily. 

Jesus said:

Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” Jn 4:48 NRSV

There are billions of people today who do not believe, and many will only believe when they see or experience miracles. God loves humanists, Muslims, occultists and especially Jews, and He wants to reach them and win them over.

This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, 
who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
1 Ti 2:3–4 NRSV

I know a Jewish woman who converted because she saw Jesus with her natural eyes. 

I know a German woman who looked directly into hell every day for nine months and then converted when Jesus visited her personally and she recognised him by his tangible presence, without seeing him.

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Jn 20:29 NIV

But Jesus also wants to reach the millions who cannot be saved without signs and wonders.

What would you think if someone claimed, ‘Many sick people recover without major surgery. We no longer need surgeons.’ Many people believe in Jesus without miracle healings, but others do not believe until they experience miracles. 

There is a theology based on God's sovereignty, in which the love of God is not emphasised.

This often leads to dogmatism, resignation and cold hearts. As a result, many sick people suffer needlessly and many people whom God loves are lost who might otherwise be saved.

Thursday, March 20, 2025

Faith and Unbelief in the End Times

 Not only Jesus raised the dead to life again, but also some prophets in the Old Testament and apostles in the New Testament.  

Some today want to believe in Jesus somehow, but they also want to deny the amazing miracles in the Bible as alleged superstition. This is nothing but unbelief mixed with religion and philosophy.

Others want to believe in all the miracles in the Bible, but when they hear reports of totally extraordinary miracles in our time, they react negatively, as if God was only allowed to work dramatic miracles in Bible times, but not today.

This makes no sense at all.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Heb 13:8 NIV

It is part of his nature to far exceed our limited natural expectations. The Scriptures are infallible, but our theology is always imperfect and limited.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, Eph 3:20 NIV

A pastor died in a car accident in Africa. He visited hell because he harboured bitterness against his wife, but his wife did not give up and prayed hard for his recovery. Faithful Christians took the body to a meeting where Reinhard Bonnke preached. There was intense prayer, and the dead pastor came back to life.

“But that can't be real! It's not biblical!“

Yes it is! You can find amazing stories like this in the Bible, too.

”But it can't happen today!"

Why not! Because of the unbelief of conservative Christians who believe in Bible stories but don't want to believe in miracles in our time.

“But Bonnke was a false teacher.“ Why? Because he worked miracles like the apostles in the Bible?

”But you can't work miracles in our time like in the Bible!"
Who made up this rule? Certainly not God!

I know a woman who visited India in a dream and helped Christians with problems by giving them wise advice.

An English missionary in Thailand was caught in an ambush by Islamists. How did she escape? She became invisible

Many Christians understand that we are living in the end times. They recognise the prophecies that are being fulfilled through natural disasters and the restoration of Israel.

They attend prophetic conferences where they learn a lot about the alarming signs of the end times, but they don't want to believe that God wants to and is actually working amazing signs and wonders in our time.

This is completely illogical. It also contradicts God's wonderful nature.

Many pray for revival, but when God performs wonderful works that do not conform to their theological thinking, they reject God's answers to their own prayers.

Jesus warned of the unbelief in the last days.

And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them?
I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Lk 18:7–8 NRSV

Thursday, March 13, 2025

Expect Sudden Turnarounds from God

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.
A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
Mt 8:1–3 NIV

God can change a man or a woman in an instant. God can change a person’s life in 24 hours. The day that David killed Goliath, he changed from being a shepherd boy to being a national military hero, in one day. More than that, in one day the nation of Israel changed from being terrified victims to being conquerors as God intended, all because one boy became a man in one day.

When the day of Pentecost finally arrived, there was the sound of a mighty rushing wind. 120 disciples of Jesus were baptised in the Holy Spirit. They all spoke languages they had never learned; Peter preached an inspired sermon and 3000 people were born again. The Church was born in a day.

One day a Pharisee named Saul was on his way to Damascus. The purpose of his journey was to arrest and imprison Christians in that city. On the way, Jesus appeared to Saul and the Apostle Paul was born.

On two days towards the end of 1915, a great but defeated army evacuated the coast of Turkey. Not one life was lost. In 2 nights, an unknown Australian colonel became a military hero whose brilliant thinking rewrote the British military textbooks and whose battle plans in 1918 shortened that terrible war by months.

When Jesus returns to Jerusalem to end the Battle of Armageddon, the surviving Jews will see their Messiah and believe, and a nation will be born again in a day.

Prepare for good things and great blessings. Expect sudden turnarounds.

Sunday, December 22, 2024

Miracles in the Last Days

 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. Acts 2.17 NKJV

When did that happen? ‘In the last days.’ What does that mean? In the last days of the old Jewish nation.

But this expression also has another meaning. We now live in the end times, shortly before the return of the Lord Jesus, the time when the last of all terrible world rulers will appear.

The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. Acts 2:20 NIV

But Peter’s message is also a message of hope.

‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.
I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapour of smoke.
Acts 2:17–19 NKJV

Some Reformed Christians believe that prophecy, signs and wonders were only for Bible times, but Martin Luther and John Knox shared prophecies that were fulfilled.

In 1909, some conservative Christians in Berlin declared that the signs and wonders in the Charismatic Movement came from below.

The Pharisees made exactly the same mistake when they declared the miracles of Jesus to be demonic.

I know a woman in Australia who visited heaven during an operation.

I spoke to a Persian woman in Germany who saw Jesus in a dream when she was a Muslim. Eight years later, she converted to Jesus.

A woman I know very well escaped certain death when God saved her from a collision.
It was too late for the brakes. She couldn't avoid a collision. Then she felt a terrible heat. The vehicle went right through her car, without noise, without causing any damage. It was like something out of a fantasy film.

The sensation of heat lasted for a few days.

The extreme multiplication of signs and wonders in our time is a problem for many conservative Christians.

Not all stories are true and not all supernatural phenomena come from God.

We have to test revelations, but if we condemn all strange events as counterfeit, we will also reject the miracles of God.
Maybe you come from a conservative background. You find these dramatic testimonies doubtful, but you are not sure.

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
Jas 1:5 NIV

Don't stay where you are. A true disciple is one who always wants to learn from God Himself.

C. Peter Wagner was a conservative lecturer at a Bible school in America. He heard amazing testimonies of miracles in Argentina and Brazil.
He attended meetings in which poor people received new teeth or gold fillings. He was then convinced that it was not a deception.

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Great Miracles before Jesus Returns

 The modern Pentecostal movement has been condemned by some as ‘from below’, but in China, South Korea, Indonesia, Africa and South America millions of people are flocking to Jesus, including Muslims and communists. Without signs and wonders, this phenomenon would be unthinkable.

Millions of Muslims are experiencing visitations from Jesus in dreams. Millions are converting to Jesus. But some question if this can be biblical.

In the Bible, God often spoke in dreams.

C Peter Wagner was a conservative, sceptical, by no means charismatic lecturer at an academic Bible school in the USA. He heard extreme stories of the revivals in Argentina and Brazil.

He wanted to investigate these reports and he visited South America. He attended events where amazing miracles happened. Poor people without access to a dentist got multiple gold fillings. The conservative academic Peter Wagner was convinced.

The Holy Spirit does work in our times and we see real miracles that are just as extreme as in the Bible and some real miracles that we don't find in the Bible.

“ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
Acts 2:17–18 NIV

But there are Bible teachers who claim that these phenomena were only meant for Bible times. We must seek the answer in the Bible itself, for God's Word is our foundation.

So let's read on in the passage.

I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
Acts 2:19–20 NIV

So these signs and wonders are for the last days, for the end times, even for the time just before ‘the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.’

If we do not understand our time in this way, we need to ask God for wisdom and revelation.

Sunday, October 20, 2024

End Time Miracles

 In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Acts 2:17 NRSV

When did this happen? ‘In the last days.’ What does that mean? In the last days of the ancient Jewish nation.

But this expression also has another meaning. We are now living in the last days just before the return of the Lord Jesus, the time when the last of all terrible world rulers will appear.

I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. Acts 2:19 NIV

Peter quotes the prophet Joel.

I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.

And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.
Joel 2:30–32 NIV

Some Reformed Christians believe that prophecy, signs and wonders were only for Bible times, but Martin Luther and John Knox communicated prophecies that were fulfilled.

In 1909, some conservative Christians in Berlin declared that the signs and wonders in the Charismatic movement came from below.

The Pharisees made exactly the same mistake when they declared the miracles of Jesus to be diabolical.

We see so many miracles in our time. I know a Christian in Germany whose young son played with his guardian angel.

I know a woman in Australia who visited heaven during an operation.

I spoke to a Persian woman in Germany who saw Jesus in a dream when she was a Muslim. Eight years later she converted to Jesus.

A woman I know very well escaped certain death by God saving her from a collision.

It was too late to brake. She could not avoid a collision. Then she felt a terrible heat. The vehicle drove through her car without making any noise, without causing any damage. It was like something out of a fantasy film.

The sensation of heat lasted for several days.

The extreme proliferation of signs and wonders in our time are a problem for many conservative Christians.

Not all stories are true and not all supernatural phenomena come from God.

We need to test revelations, but if we condemn all strange events as counterfeit, we will also reject the miracles of God.

Maybe you come from a conservative background. You find these dramatic testimonies dubious, but you're not sure.

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
Jas 1:5 NIV

Don't stay where you are. A true disciple is one who always wants to learn from God himself.

C. Peter Wagner was a conservative lecturer at a Bible school in America. He heard amazing testimonies of miracles in Argentina and Brazil.

He attended meetings where poor people received new teeth or gold fillings. He was then convinced that it was not a deception.

Saturday, October 19, 2024

Miraculous Healing from Terminal Illness

 Emphysema is an incurable disease, but with God nothing is impossible.

My father was 70 years old and not a believer. He had smoked 40 cigarettes a day for many years, and his lungs were almost destroyed. He had emphysema, and his older brothers died at 59 and 65. I prayed that my father would live long enough to finally believe in Jesus.

My father was converted at 88 and at 91 he was still alive but quite demented and half blind. It was amazing that there was no longer any sign of emphysema. An amazing miracle.

I shared my testimony in my church about how God had answered my prayer and given my father a long life so that he could be saved.

With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
Ps 91:16 NIV

I explained how God had miraculously fulfilled this promise in my father's life and how I could only understand it as a completely supernatural miracle.

Then I prayed again and asked God to give my father a quick death because life on earth had become a torment for my father.

I asked God to give me a sign to confirm His word. I asked God that my father would die in peace exactly 16 days after his 91st birthday and that is exactly what happened.

My father died a few minutes before 4pm (1600 hours) on 22 September 2014, 16 days after his birthday.

With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
Ps 91:16 NIV

God is not obliged to give us such signs. I did not demand this sign from God, but God sometimes gives us a sign as a testimony, to help others come to faith or to encourage them in their faith.

Friday, November 27, 2015

GOD GIVES SIGNS TODAY

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you."
  • He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Matthew 12:38-39 (NIV) 

What a strange thing for the Pharisees to say! They had been witnessing the most amazing miracles day after day but they asked for a sign from heaven as though they had seen nothing unusual at all.

In the Gospel of John, we read that the many miracles of Jesus were signs from God.

Of course the Pharisees knew all about miracles that Jesus worked but they refused to recognise them as signs from God

However, even amongst the religious leaders there were some who were humble enough to recognise the hand of God at work.

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 

This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” John 3:1-2

So it is today that many Christians who believe in the Bible are like the Pharisees who saw themselves as the defenders of Biblical truth. 
When evangelists today pray for the sick, many are healed but quite a number are not healed. There are also some who are apparently healed but then get sick again or go back to their wheelchairs. Then there are others who are healed but not converted.
So many pious Bible believers today point out these apparent failures and accuse men and women with miracle ministries of being fakes and frauds.

However if they sought out the many people who really were healed and stayed healed they would change their minds but clearly they don’t want to change their minds.

I was privileged to hear a wonderful man of God preach in Germany. He was a pastor and evangelist from West Africa. He leads a church in DĂĽsseldorf where there are over 750 baptised members who converted from Islam, mostly because they had received miraculous healings or seen their friends healed by the power of Jesus. 

But the critics are not interested in success stories. They are only looking for evidence to discredit miracle ministries and prove themselves right, just like the Pharisees.

  • Please don’t think I am an arrogant and aggressive Pentecostal. I dislike this brand of Christianity myself. I am not against non-Charismatic Christians in general but I will not tolerate the negative unbelief of the people who are completely anti Charismatic and do nothing but criticise and attack.

Years ago there was a pastor in a very conservative denomination who was taught not to pray for miraculous healings. 

He was called to minister to a little girl who was terribly sick with a terminal condition. He was moved with compassion, just as Jesus often was. The pastor prayed for the little girl to be healed and to his astonishment God raised her up and healed her completely. 

The conservative pastor was very confused and troubled. Was the doctrine of his church right after all? Had he done the right thing?
When the pastor attended a preachers’ conference he told his story to the famous evangelist, Oral Roberts. He asked Oral Roberts: “How can I know if I did the right thing?”

God gave Oral Roberts a supernatural inspiration in the form of the “word of wisdom”. He said to the confused pastor: “If you are not sure if you did the right thing, why don’t you ask the little girl?”

The revelation was a like turning on a light. The pastor went around the conference telling everyone the story and repeating the wise words of the evangelist: “Why don’t you ask the little girl?”

Saturday, February 2, 2013

ARE EXTREME MIRACLES FOR TODAY?

When the Hebrews were trapped in the desert by the Egyptian army, God held back the waters of the Red Sea and Moses led a nation of 2 million people to safety. 


  • Some people suggest the water was extremely shallow but it was deep enough to drown the army that tried to pursue them. 

In The Complete Book of Bible Lists, H. L. Willmington lists 36 miracles performed by Jesus before He went to the cross. Many of these are recorded in two or three different Gospel accounts. 

  • When God repeats Himself, He wants you to pay close attention. 

There are many who admit there are many miracles recorded in the Bible but they suggest miracles are not really so important. 

  • Jesus did not think this way at all.

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Jn 14:10.

Jesus calls His miracles the works of the Father

Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. Jn 14:11

The Apostle John concludes his Gospel with the same thought.

  Now Jesus did MANY other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 

  • but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:30-31

So what about us? Should we only admire the miracles of Jesus as historical events as some suggest? God forbid!

 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 

  • If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. John 14:13-14

This is familiar teaching to anyone who has been to Sunday school. 

  • However, many Christians say they believe this but at the same time attack preachers who emphasise miracles.

The familiar text about answered prayer follows directly after this startling text.

 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Jn 14:12

God’s plan for the followers of Jesus is that we should expect and experience many extreme miracles.

Many protest that this is promoting sensational preachers who want to get rich and glorify themselves. 

  • Sadly this has sometimes happened but the misuse of God’s truth does not make God’s truth untrue.

Jesus warned that believers who misused spiritual gifts for their own selfish gain or glory should not expect even to enter heaven.

Matthew 7:22-23 (ESV)  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
  • And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ 

But that does not mean we should not prophesy or cast out demons?
  • No, but be sure to love God and others. True love produces great faith when you need it.

This world NEEDS extreme miracles.
  • When a young woman is lost and homeless on the streets, her heartbroken parents NEED extreme miracles.
  • When poor people suffer constant agony with rotten teeth, they NEED extreme miracles. 

C Peter Wagner was a conservative Bible teacher who had been taught not to expect extreme miracles but he heard of revivals in South America where people routinely testified they had received gold fillings by the power of God. 

He visited the revival and checked the stories with scientific care. He returned to his Bible school as a confirmed believer in miracles.


  • Has your child disappeared or been taken from you?
  • Have you lost your health, your marriage or your house? 


Believe for extreme miracles!



Saturday, March 6, 2010

Signs of the Return of the King

Wonderful things are happening. Prepare to be surprised.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 (ESV)

If we belong to Jesus, we believe in a God who delights to do new things.

“You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known. Isaiah 48:6 (ESV)

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Revelation 21:5 (ESV)

God is bound to be true to His wonderful and perfect character but He has never restricted Himself to merely repeat what He has done before.

Some people get upset when Christians report miraculous experiences which are different from the miracles recorded in the Bible.

Two preachers were having a meal in a café in Berlin. A pile of gold dust appeared under the table. A preacher in America was upset about such stories because there is no record of gold dust appearing in the Bible. He preached a sermon against gold dust but the babies in the church creche were covered in gold dust.

Some people are afraid of “lying signs and wonders.” The bible warns of lying signs and wonders but the only reference is in the story of the Anti-Christ in the book of Revelation.

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 2 Thessalonians 2:9 (NKJV)

The only protection against being deceived in spiritual matters is to stay close to Jesus, to be led by the Spirit of God, to live in faith, hope and love, to obey God and to live by His Word.

Does that mean we should only believe in miracles if they are exact copies of miracles recorded in the Bible?

Why?

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12 (ESV)

How many of the people who criticise contemporary miracle stories are working the signs and wonders that Jesus did on earth? None that I know of.

If God is only allowed to repeat what He did in the Bible, how can it be possible for us to do GREATER works than Jesus did?

If God is only allowed to repeat what He has already done, how then can Bible prophecy be fulfilled?

But weren’t the miracles of Jesus all practical acts of mercy, like healing the sick and raising from death the son of a widow?

I wonder what was the practical benefit of Peter walking on water?

If the prophecy of Jesus is to be fulfilled, then people in these last days will see manifestations more amazing than Peter walking on water. If that does not happen, then the prophecy of Jesus will not be fulfilled and that would make the Son of God a false prophet.

But why should God be doing these things?

At the birth of Jesus, the wise men from the pagan east brought Jesus wonderful gifts, GOLD, frankincense and myrrh. If mankind gives God a gift of gold, should we surprised if a gracious God gives gold to mankind?

And what about the jewels?

“O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones. Isaiah 54:11-12 (ESV)

But doesn’t this refer to the jewels in Heaven itself? Of course it does. But did not Jesus announce the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven? Did not Jesus teach us to pray: “Your will be done on earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN?”

If the first visit of the Son of God was heralded by human gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, why should the approach of the return of Jesus not be heralded by supernatural gifts from the Heavenly Bridegroom to His Bride to be, the Church. What could be a more appropriate gift to a bride from her husband to be? Does not a man announce his intention to marry a woman with a gift of a diamond ring?