Chapter 10.3

The Proper Expectation & Recognition of Miracles

 

Table of Topics

A) The Importance of Having a Proper Expectation of Miracles: Trusting God instead of testing Him

A.1) Avoiding the sins of anti and super supernaturalism

A.2) Determining doctrinal matters

A.3) Trusting instead of testing God

B) Reasons to Not Expect Miracles

B.1) Miracles are rarely needed to accomplish God’s will

B.2) Relatively few miracles are promised in Scripture

B.3) Miracles are not needed to demonstrate God’s love

B.4) New divine revelation has ceased

C) Reasons to Expect Miracles

C.1) God’s promises for the present

C.2) The power of prayer

C.3) Controlling calls

C.4) Severe persecution

C.5) New fields for Christianity

C.6) The exercise of visionary faith

Primary Points

Perhaps the most pressing question we have about miracles is why do they occur at one time and not another? We don’t know and the Scriptures do not say.

There are some biblical principles that can be applied to having a proper expectation of miracles.

The super-supernaturalist expects miracles constantly and often falls into the sins of fraud in claiming a multitude of miracles, and testing God by expecting a multitude of miracles.

Many areas of sound doctrine are determined by correctly ascertaining when a miracle is needed.

The devil would have us expect miracles where God has not promised one, so that when it does not happen, we conclude there is something either wrong with God or us.

Table of Topics

Continued

D) The Proper Recognition of Miracles

D.1) The Biblical Definition and Attributes of Miracles Must be Met

D.2) God Desires that People Recognize Miracles

D.3) Born Again Christians are Really Good at Recognizing Miracles

D.4) Caution is Better than Lying

D.5) Hindsight is Better than Foresight

D.6) Recognize the Possibility of other Explanations

Extras & Endnotes

 

Primary Points

Continued

Super-supernaturalists forget that God will not do for us what He has already enabled us to do. This, coupled with the fact that He has enabled us to do everything He has commanded, is a significant reason why miracles are so extremely rare. And more often than super-supernaturalists want to admit, the things we cannot do, simply do not need doing.

Super-supernaturalists speak as if God owes us miracles.

The measure of God’s love for us is the cross of Jesus Christ, not the number of miracles we experience.

Everyone wants a miracle, but no one wants to really be in need of one.

Super-supernaturalists insist that the reason there are not more miracles occurring in American churches is because non-super-supernatural Christians abound in skepticism and lack faith and openness for more miracles to occur. On the contrary, the reason America does not experience as many miracles as China is because we abound in churches, Bibles, preachers, freedom, and even comfort. What we lack is persecution, not faith.

Who ultimately decides what makes a miracle a real divine revelation of a miracle? Our answer is God. God decides what is sufficiently supernatural, rare, and awe-inspiring enough in order for an event to be recognized as a miracle.

Super-supernaturalism and mega mysticism are silly for accusing their brothers and sisters of intentionally disregarding the miraculous, as if the danger is that we would have a hard heart toward glorifying God. On the contrary, the greater danger is that we really want to glorify ourselves. We must admit that miraculous interventions in our lives make us feel very special, and make us look special to others, and because we may crave such things, we might look for and claim miracles in events in which they really did not occur.

“That a particular specified event or coincidence will occur is very unlikely; that some astonishing unspecified events will occur is certain.”

A) The Importance of Having a Proper Expectation of Miracles: Trusting God instead of testing Him

There is, of course, a great deal about miracles that we cannot explain. Their supernatural nature not only makes them rare and awe-inspiring but also rather mysterious. Perhaps one of the most pressing personal questions we have about them is why do they occur at one time and not another? Why does God do miracles for some and not for others? Why did God allow “King Herod” to have the Apostle “James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword” (Acts 12:2), but a few days later miraculously rescue the Apostle Peter from prison and spare his life (cf. Acts 12:6-11)? Concerning examples we shared in the previous chapter, why was Brother Yun miraculously delivered from prison several times, while many other Christians remain rotting there right now? (cf. 9.2.A.2). Why was Duane Miller’s physical ailment healed and a host of others are left unhealed? (cf. 9.2.A.3)

We don’t know and the Scriptures do not say. God has not revealed the reason behind all of His deeds. Accordingly, we read in Ecclesiastes, “As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things” (Eccl 11:5). Likewise the Apostle exclaimed, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out!” (Rom 11:33).

Nonetheless, there are some biblical principles that can be applied to having a proper expectation of miracles. And the application of such principles is important for several reasons.

A.1) Avoiding the sins of anti and super supernaturalism

First, having a proper perspective on expecting and recognizing miracles will help us have a biblical balance between anti-supernaturalism and super-supernaturalism. The former expects and recognizes no miracles and therefore denies God glory that He deserves. The super-supernaturalist expects miracles constantly and often falls into the sins of fraud in claiming a multitude of miracles, and testing God by expecting a multitude of miracles.

A.2) Determining doctrinal matters

Secondly, many areas of sound doctrine are determined by correctly ascertaining when a miracle is needed. For example, fairist [Arminian] theologians suggest that no miracle is necessary prior to someone’s saving faith in the Gospel, but that conversion is a rather natural process. Gracist [Reformed] theologians correctly understand, in our opinion, that humans are not naturally able to produce saving faith in the Gospel and that God must first supernaturally enable them before they can savingly receive the Gospel. ^[1]

Likewise, Reformed theologians have insisted that an ongoing miracle of illumination by the Spirit is needed in order for us to properly understand and apply Scripture. To the contrary, we claim that the one-time miracle of regeneration gives us a Spirit-liberated reason which now rather naturally receives Scripture properly without needing a continual supernatural intervention of the Holy Spirit to “illumine” the Bible for us. ^[2] Again, a decision on both of these important doctrinal issues rather depends on when and where we believe a miracle is needed.

A.3) Trusting instead of testing God

Finally, if we do not have a proper and biblical expectation of miracles, we will be in danger of sinning against God by testing Him. This is something our super-supernatural brethren often do not take seriously enough. Simply put, we test God when we expect, rely on, or demand a miracle that God has not promised. As we discuss in section C.1 below, there are relatively very few promises of miracles to the Christian in Scripture for this present life. Therefore, we had better be very careful about the miracles we expect, claim, or otherwise demand from God.

The devil tempted Christ to ignore this in his temptations of the King in the desert. We read:

Then the devil took Him to the holy city and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command His Angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Matt 4:5-7)

On this passage, NT scholar Leon Morris (1914-2006) commented:

The servants of God cannot demand that God should keep on intervening with miraculous provision for their needs. To jump from a height and then look to God to avert the natural consequences of such an act is just such an offense [because the devil was taking the biblical promise out of context like so many super-supernaturalists do].

Furthermore, it is worse than what happened at Massah, for at least the people there were in real need of water [cf. Deut 6:16]. What satan is suggesting is that Jesus should needlessly thrust himself into danger; he would be creating a hazard where none previously existed. And for what? To compel God to save him miraculously. It is a temptation to manipulate God, to create a situation not of God’s choosing in which God would be required to act as Jesus dictated.

Jesus rejects the suggestion with decision. He prefers the way of quiet trust in the heavenly Father, a trust that needs no test, and a ready acceptance of his will. He refuses to demand a miracle even if from the perspective of someone on earth that might seem desirable, even compelling. ^[3]

The devil would have us expect miracles where God has not promised one, so that when it does not happen, we conclude there is something either wrong with God or us. Also, if we presume upon God for a miracle in order for Him to prove His love for us we are committing the egregious sin of testing Him. Likewise, if we take a particular risk, depending on God for a miracle He has not promised, we test God as well. ^[4]

Unfortunately, mega mysticism and super-supernaturalism consistently promote this very thing. Mega mysticism would have us think and expect that God has promised to lead us specifically and personally throughout life with His “still small voice” or miraculous “signs.” As we demonstrate elsewhere, there are no clear biblical promises of such guidance, and if we expect it, we may be testing God. ^[5]

Likewise, super-supernaturalists often speak as if we have a right to be miraculously physically healed and that God has promised this. Therefore, when such an expectation is developed, it is testing God, and when it doesn’t happen the natural conclusion is that there is something wrong with God or us. Super-supernaturalists promote the idea that God must give us a miracle beyond our salvation in order to prove His love for us. In super-supernaturalism God exists to serve and impress us, instead of the fact that we exist to serve and please Him. Super-supernaturalists need to be reminded of St. Augustine’s warning that:

God is tempted in religion itself, when signs and wonders are demanded of him, and are desired not for some wholesome purpose but only for experience of them. ^[6]

 

We are testing, not trusting God when we are asking for a miracle when we don’t need one. God will not do for us what He has enabled us to do. And if we expect Him to, we are testing Him in an illegitimate way. Super-supernaturalism encourages the expectation of spiritual shortcuts, looking for a miracle instead of an opportunity to develop our character. Along these lines, the great missionary statesman, E. Stanley Jones has written:

I believe in miracle, but not too much miracle, for too much miracle would weaken us, make us dependent on miracle instead of our obedience to natural law. Just enough miracle to let us know He is there, but not too much, lest we depend on it when we should depend on our own initiative and on His orderly processes for our development. ^[7]

B) Reasons to Not Expect Miracles

In the previous chapter (2.4.2.B) we have already discussed one reason not to expect miracles: Their occurrence has been relatively very rare in both biblical and secular history. There are other reasons to expect miracles to be rare as well.

B.1) Miracles are rarely needed to accomplish God’s will

 

For understanding the proper expectation of miracles it is important to understand their purpose. We note this in our definition of a miracle when we state it is when God intervenes in the ordinary and natural processes He has ordained because they are not sufficient to accomplish or communicate His will. Such an understanding helps us to have a proper expectation of miracles. For example, the natural processes of Nature are very sufficient for sustaining life on Earth and miraculous intervention is rarely needed. Also the more natural process of divine communication through Scripture is extremely “sufficient to accomplish or communicate God’s will” and extrabiblical revelations would rarely be needed. ^[8]

In our own personal lives as well, it should be recognized that by virtue of being made in the image of God and the indwelling Spirit, God has given us some remarkable abilities that do not require the constant, direct intervention of God. God has required all kinds of things of us, but our one-time regeneration rather naturally causes all kinds of subsequently supernatural things to occur such as love, and our spiritual growth. Like the initial miraculous physical Creation of the Universe, the initial miraculous New Creation of the Christian enables supernatural things to occur without the divine intervention of God.

Therefore, a helpful perspective on the issue of when we can expect a miracle is to remember that God will rarely, if ever, do for us what He has already enabled us to do. The healthy human does not need a miracle to walk across the room. The born again human does not need a miracle to love or forgive someone. They have already been miraculously equipped to do so, and God expects them to do so without further miraculous intervention on His part.

Super-supernaturalists insist miracles are needed in abundance for all sorts of reasons. Part of the problem is that they forget that God will not do for us what He has already enabled us to do. This, coupled with the fact that He has enabled us to do everything He has commanded, is a significant reason why miracles are so extremely rare. And more often than super-supernaturalists want to admit, the things we cannot do, simply do not need doing.

Even in the case described in the previous chapter of the missionary to Uganda (cf. section 10.2.A.2), a miraculous communication would not have needed to occur. We already have the commandment in Scripture to “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19) and therefore already know it is God’s will to do so in Uganda. And many people in ministry work in particular places with no such miraculous authentication, and God expects them to. Therefore, it would be a mistake to suggest, as mega mysticism and super-supernaturalism would, that such a supernatural extra-biblical communication is the norm. On the other hand, when it happens, it should be recognized and celebrated.

And like the miracle of our salvation, any experience of subsequent miracles will “not [be] because of righteous things we [have] done, but because of His mercy” (Tit 3:4). Therefore, the claim of super-supernaturalists that miracles happen more abundantly to them because of something special about them is unbiblical, untrue, and arrogant. ^[9]

Super-supernaturalists speak as if God owes us miracles. We pray for miracles because they may happen, and we are free to ask, but we normally have no reason or promises in Scripture to know they will happen.

B.2) There are relatively few miracles promised in Scripture for this life

There are Scriptures that promise every Christian certain miracles in their life. These will be discussed below. However, we have written elsewhere:

[W]hile they [the promises for present miraculous intervention in our life] are wonderful, they are relatively few, much fewer than many believe or would hope. It is, in fact, a vital need for Christians to recognize that the vast majority of God’s promises in Scripture relate to His Second Coming, and not to this life at all. The Beatitudes are a good example of this (cf. Matt 5:3-12). This is why the Apostle told us: “set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Pet 1:13). ^[10]

B.3) Miracles are not needed to demonstrate God’s love for us

Super-supernaturalism can promote the idea that one of the greatest proofs and demonstrations of God’s love for us in this life is His miraculous interventions for us. If this is true, then we would expect a great number of such interventions because God certainly desires to communicate His love for us. However, the Scriptures simply do not teach that miracles are to be a normal demonstration of God’s love. The measure of God’s love for us is the cross of Jesus Christ, not the number of miracles we experience. Accordingly, the Apostle wrote: “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).

If the cross is not enough proof of God’s love for us, then nothing else will be. Contrary to a great deal of thinking in American Christianity, it is not God’s love for us that continues to be on trial and needing to be tested and demonstrated. On the contrary, the purpose of the Christian life is to test our love for God, which is usually best accomplished when God does not miraculously intervene on our behalf.

While God’s supernatural intervention on our behalf certainly demonstrates His love for us, it does not mean He loves us less when He does not miraculously intervene for us. Anyone demanding a miracle as proof of God’s love is sinfully testing Him. Suffering is not the punishment of God for His children, nor an indictment on our lack of commitment to Christ, but rather an opportunity to glorify Him and be greatly rewarded. Accordingly, the King said:

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the Prophets who were before you (Matt 5:11-12).

“The Prophets” were plenty committed and pleasing to God yet they suffered in their service to Him. We tend to think the one who would receive a miraculous rescue from persecution is blessed, while the King said the one who remains in persecution is blessed. No doubt those who have not been miraculously rescued from such suffering will have greater rewards in eternity than those who experienced a miracle. And miracles from God do not always deliver us from our circumstances, but, rather, help us gracefully endure them with “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding” (Phil 4:7; cf. 2 Cor 12:7-10).

B.4) New divine revelation has ceased

One thing that might be helpful at this point is to eliminate the possibility of human miracle working from the miracles we might expect. While we hesitate to add this here, the question we are addressing is simplified by distinguishing between miracles and miracle working which we begin to do in the next chapters.

Direct divine miracles are those supernatural events that are performed by God alone with no intermediary. The healing of Duane Miller described in the previous chapter is an example. There was no “healer” involved, not even a prayer, but God just did it. On the other hand, there is human miracle working in which God delegates His miracle working abilities to a person (i.e. Prophet or Apostle) who can then work miracles on command. This is the type of healing miracles we most often see in Scripture.

The reason this distinction is important in our current discussion is that direct divine miracles can occur any time and without a clear reason (e.g. Duane Miller). However, as we argue elsewhere, human miracle working occurs only to authenticate messengers of new extra-biblical divine revelation. ^[11] In fact, in Scripture, you will not find a single God-sent miracle worker who was not also a source of new extra-biblical divine revelation. Therefore, Scripture tells us clearly when and why human miracle working will occur, and if God is not sending any messengers of new extra-biblical divine revelation for His people, then there will not be any God-sent miracle workers today. And there are none. Again, this will be discussed further in subsequent chapters, ^[12] but we wanted to specify that our discussion here concerning why and when miracles occur does not include the issue of human miracle working, but only direct divine miracles.

C) Reasons to Expect Miracles

In spite of all the above, the Scriptures do indicate some circumstances in which direct divine miracles (as opposed to human miracle working) may be expected. Here we are reminded of our definition of a miracle as: an extraordinary revelation of God’s supernatural power or communication by which He intervenes in the ordinary and natural processes He has ordained because they are not sufficient to accomplish or communicate His will. This would seem to be the best answer as to why miracles occur sometimes, but not at other times, and generally very rarely. The natural processes God has implemented to maintain Creation (e.g. natural laws) and communicate to His people (e.g. Scripture) are usually very sufficient to accomplish or communicate God’s will. In the extremely rare cases they are not, a miracle may happen. Such circumstances are reflected in some of the environments we describe next in which miracles are more likely to occur.

C.1) God’s promises for the present

God has made some promises concerning this present life on Earth that require supernatural intervention in order to be fulfilled. These promises are in two categories, unconditional and conditional. God’s unconditional promises for all Christians in this life include:

• Saving His elect for eternity by grace, who were chosen by grace, before the creation of the world (cf. John 6:37-39; 10:28-29; Acts 13:48; Rom 9:10-23; 11:5-6; Eph 1:3-14; 2:1-10);
• Indwelling us with His Spirit to give us a New Nature (cf. John 14:17, 20; 15:5; Gal 2:20; Eph 4:24; Matt 28:20);
• Conforming us to the image of Christ (cf. Rom 8:28-29; Phil 1:6);
• Building His Church (cf. Matt 16:18);
• Not allowing us to be tempted or tested beyond what we are able (cf. 1 Cor 10:13).
• Giving us a spiritual gift, ability, and desire to serve Him in a unique way (cf. Rom 12:6; 1 Cor 12:7,11)

The conditional promises of God include:

• Meeting our needs if we give generously, trust Him, and pursue God’s will first (cf. 2 Cor 9:6-13; Phil 4:14-19; Ps 50:15; 55:22; Matt 6:11, 33; Luke 18:29-30);
• Giving us the desires of our heart if we delight in Him (cf. Ps 37:4);
• Giving us grace, comfort, and peace when we trust, obey, and pray to Him with thanksgiving (cf. 1 Pet 5:5-6; 2 Cor 1:3-4; Phil 4:6-7);
• Protecting us from evil if we pray (cf. 2 Thess 3:3; Eph 6:18; Matt 6:13);
• A divine blessing for children who honor their parents (Eph 6:1-3);
• Granting our prayer requests if we pray and act according to His will (cf. John 14:13-14; 1 John 3:22; 5:14-15).

We would suggest that the fulfillment of all these promises would require some sort of miraculous intervention on God’s part. Accordingly we have written:

The greatest unconditional promise we have for this life is the conversion of all of God’s elect for the salvation of their souls. Contrary to fairist [Arminian] theology, humans are not able to receive the Gospel because of both sinful and demonic forces operating in and around them (cf. Rom 8:3-11; 1 Cor 2:12-15; 2 Cor 4:3-6). This is why they must be supernaturally born again and enlightened, and why saving faith is purely a gift of God, not something originating from spiritually dead humans (cf. John 3:3-8; Acts 16:14; 2 Cor 4:4-6; Eph 2:1-9). ^[13]

Likewise, the promise of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which comes with our regeneration and conversion is unconditionally made to all of the elect and requires a miracle to fulfill. In addition, the subsequent New Nature gives us the ability to perform a multitude of spiritual miracles of supernatural virtue in our lives. . . . This indwelling of the Spirit also results in supernatural spiritual gifts which are also discussed further below.

Likewise, God has promised that He, “works” “all things . . . for the good” of all His elect, “For [because] those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son” (Rom 8:28-29). Of course the final consummation of this will occur in the Resurrection, but God is working now through the indwelling Spirit, and our circumstances, to help us renew our mind and be more consistently transformed into the character of Christ, “until the day of Christ” (Phil 1:6).

No doubt, this may include supernatural intervention in the events of our life to expose areas of need, and teach us in specific ways. Not only does God never “let you be tempted [peirasthēmai: “tested”] beyond what you can bear” (1 Cor 10:13), but He may ordain certain tests and circumstances for the purpose of being “conformed to the likeness of His Son (Rom 8:29). Certainly, a great deal of divine intervention is needed and experienced in our life to ensure none of them are more than what we can handle. The Christian lives a divinely filtered life, revealing the compassion and care of God virtually everyday.

Finally, the unconditional promise of building His Church (Matt 16:18) and never letting the forces of Hell stop it, has certainly required a multitude of obvious, miraculous interventions of God. Beyond the supernatural things that accompany any conversion to eternal life, God has miraculously guided and protected Missionaries, provided Teachers and Pastors (cf. Eph 4:11-16; Acts 20:28), and performed a myriad of deeds in and around Christians and churches to ensure His Church is built. ^[14]

While the promises of God for this life are relatively few, they are the most wonderful promises we could imagine, and we can expect God to do miracles in order to fulfill them.

C.2) The power of prayer

One will notice in the examples of miracles shared in the previous chapter that many of them occurred in response to prayer. We are told, for example, that in regard to the Apostle Peter’s miraculous escape from prison that, “the church was earnestly praying to God for him” (Acts 12:5). Likewise, people were praying for Brother Yun’s release as well. Would these miracles have occurred without prayer? Perhaps, as it seems that Duane Miller’s healing did. Nonetheless, asking God for miracles certainly increases the likelihood of their occurrence. One reason for this is that God wants to be glorified by miracles and when we pray for them and receive them, they are usually more appreciated and readily recognized.

Accordingly, we have written elsewhere:

The last conditional promise . . . [1 John 5:14-15] opens up all kinds of possibilities for God to personally and miraculously reveal Himself to us. There are a multitude of things that can and will happen because we ask God to do them, and they would not occur without us asking. We do not have specific promises for them, but we do have this remarkable promise:

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.

Certainly, “His will” includes those things promised and prescribed in Scripture, but it can also include things we simply ask for and God grants. With such a promise we can significantly influence God’s intervention and direction for our life, and see significantly more miraculous deeds occur in and around our life. We refer to this as the prayed-for will of God which we discuss further . . . elsewhere. ^[15]

Accordingly, there are many stories in the Church of miracles occurring in answer to prayer. Accordingly, C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) writes:

I have stood by the bedside of a woman whose thighbone was eaten through with cancer and who had thriving colonies of the disease in many other bones as well. It took three people to move her in bed. The doctors predicted a few months of life; the nurses (who often know better), a few weeks. A good man laid his hands on her and prayed. A year later the patient was walking (uphill, too, through rough woodland) and the man who took the last X-ray photos was saying, “These bones are as solid as rock. It’s miraculous.” ^[16]

Along the same lines, a biographer of the great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) writes:

Spurgeon prayed for persons in sicknesses of various kinds, and although in many a case there was no betterment, in others there was improvement that appeared miraculous. Dr. Conwell examined several of these experiences, and in 1892, the year of Spurgeon’s death, he declared:

There are now living and worshipping in the Metropolitan Tabernacle hundreds of people who ascribe the extension of their life to the effect of Mr. Spurgeon’s personal prayers. They have been sick with disease and nigh unto death, he has appeared, kneeled by their beds, and prayed for their recovery. Immediately the tide of health returned, the fevered pulse became calm, the temperature was reduced, and all the activities of nature resumed their normal functions within a short and unexpected period. If a meeting were called of all those who attribute their recovery to the prayer of Mr. Spurgeon, it would furnish one of the most deserved tributes to his memory that could possibly be made.

Conwell goes on to report seven specific instances of what was considered healing in response to Spurgeon’s prayers:

The belief in Mr. Spurgeon’s healing power became among some classes a positive superstition, and he was obliged to overcome the very false and extravagant impressions . . . by mentioning the matter from the pulpit, and rebuking the theories of the extremely enthusiastic. He felt it was becoming too much like the shrines of Catholic Europe.

Spurgeon declared that the subject of divine healing was very much a mystery to him. He said he prayed about sickness just as he prayed about anything else, and that in some instances God answered with healing, whereas in others, for reasons beyond our understanding, He allowed the suffering to continue. ^[17]

We need not doubt then that more miracles occurred in Spurgeon’s life because he asked for them. Yet we see a balance here that is important in our day. Spurgeon didn’t claim some sort of apostolic “gift of healing” as many do today, in spite of the fact that Spurgeon’s rate of success in healing is superior to many of them. As we point out elsewhere, the biblical gift of healing worked instantly on the command of a person, not over time through someone’s prayers. ^[18] And, as also discussed elsewhere, while our super-supernaturalists brothers and sisters are right to encourage us to be praying for healing, they are wrong to suppose that they actually do so more than other segments of the Church.

C.3) Controlling calls

Scripture reveals the fact that miracles are relatively more abundant in the life of someone who has a divine “controlling call” for special service to God in his or her life. In chapter 7.15 we noted several biblical attributes of “controlling calls” including: 1) their extreme rarity, applying only to those divinely chosen for very unique and pivotal tasks in the accomplishment of God’s plan for His people in the world, 2) are clearly communicated through miraculous means such as a vision from God, 3) often involve great suffering, and 4) they involve God’s predestined will, and therefore, by definition, will be done. No one chooses a “controlling call,” and in fact their recipients are often reluctant to fulfill them. Nevertheless, God chooses them, and they do fulfill the “controlling call.”

It is possible that there have been people since biblical times whom God has dealt with in a similar way. The life of Brother Yun, for example, would seem to fit all of the necessary biblical criteria for recognizing a “controlling call” on his life, which may explain the relative abundance of miracles (and suffering!) he has experienced. ^[19]

C.4) Severe persecution

Two of the most prolific and amazing miracle workers in Scripture were Elijah and Elisha. Why was this so? For one thing, as is the case with all God-sent miracle workers, they were a divinely authoritative source of extra-biblical revelation from God. But there is another characteristic of their age that helps to explain the relative abundance of miracles occurring in their lifetime as well: severe persecution and/or apostasy among God’s people. Elijah describes the situation to God when he says:

The Israelites have rejected Your covenant, broken down Your altars, and put Your Prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too. (1 Kgs 19:10)

 

It is in such circumstances that God may provide more miraculous interventions than normal. Accordingly, Colin Brown writes:

[M]iraculous signs are not uniformly distributed throughout the OT. They are largely grouped in three main periods, each of which was marked by a life-and-death struggle for the people of God and which put Yahweh’s saving power and will to the proof. . . . The common feature of these periods is the extremity of the people of God which is answered by Yahweh’s action in abnormal events. ^[20]

Likewise, the influential twentieth century British preacher D. M. Lloyd-Jones (1899–1981) wrote:

[S]urely, we must deduce from the Scriptures that if you say that the Holy Spirit was given to the early church to start it off, then these things [miracles] are necessary, indeed essential, at all times when the church is down in the depths and the world is loud and strong and powerful. Surely that is just the time when you would expect a manifestation of some such power. ^[21]

This criteria also reflects the circumstances of Brother Yun in China. Accordingly, Xu Yongze, Chairman of the Sinim Fellowship of House Church Leaders in China writes in the introduction of Yun’s biography:

In 1949 persecution of God’s people commenced and the churches have suffered from all kinds of attacks since. By 1958 the government had closed all visible churches. Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, told foreign visitors, “Christianity in China has been confined to the history section of the museum. It is dead and buried.” In the 1970s a visiting Christian delegation from the United States reported, “There is not a single Christian left in China.”

At the start of the Book of Genesis we read that the earth “was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Genesis 1:2. This was also the state of the Chinese church at this time. The church in China, at least on the visible surface, was dead. In those days nobody dared to proclaim, “Jesus is Lord.” The church was stripped from top to bottom, and for all intents and purposes, had died. ^[22]

It has been in such an environment that our Chinese brothers and sisters have experienced some of the most amazing and abundant miracles of our time. Accordingly, excerpts from Yun’s book illustrate both an environment of persecution and miracles.

For example, before becoming a Christian, Yun’s wife Deling suffered from haemophilia such that she was constantly having to wrap rags on her feet and hands to stop any bleeding from cuts. She writes, “I first came to Jesus because of my terrible physical affliction. My neighbor, a Christian lady, gave me a simple promise: “If you believe in Jesus, he will heal you.” At the age of 18 she committed her life to Christ and on that very night she was taken to a house church meeting. Unfortunately, the Chinese authorities ambushed the meeting and everyone had to flee in the darkness. Deling writes, “This was my first introduction to what it would be like following the Lord!”

Later Deling was baptized and a few days later dreamed that she would be healed from her bleeding disorder. When she awoke, she sensed a difference in her skin and never again suffered from haemophilia. Deling writes: “Because of this great miracle the Lord was very real to me. Even though our lives were difficult and we faced persecution every day, I committed myself to follow Jesus regardless of the cost.” ^[23]

Severe suffering and the miraculous are repeatedly and inseparably intertwined in Brother Yun’s life. In one of his imprisonments for preaching the Gospel, he ate no food and drank no water for 74 days. Yun testifies, “From 25 January to 7 April 1984, I ate and drank nothing.” While this is a remarkable miracle, it was surrounded with remarkable suffering. While in prison, Yun was severely beaten and shocked repeatedly to the point that when his wife and mother were finally allowed to visit him, they could only recognize him by a birthmark. ^[24]

During this same imprisonment, Yun was taken to a torture room, handcuffed, whipped, beaten with sticks, and shocked until his, “flesh was ripped open and wounds covered my body,” and he went unconscious. Later that night God gave Yun a vivid dream in which his handcuffs were snapped and he was free. Yun writes:

When I awoke from my dream I found that the handcuffs were still on my hands, but the Holy Spirit told me, “Relax your hands.” As soon as I did, the handcuffs fell off! I prayed to the Lord according to what I’d seen in the dream. I said, “Lord Jesus, I love you. Thank you for allowing me to sing. Please give me a Bible.”

At around 8 a.m. the next morning a remarkable thing happened. The prison director opened the iron gate and came to my cell. He called out my name, “Yun, although you’ve committed many crimes, we still respect your faith. Yesterday we had a meeting and decided to give you a Bible. Come, take it!”

For the next three months Brother Yun was kept in a small, dark, dingy isolation cell. However, there was just enough light for him to read his Bible and he memorized its last fifty-five chapters, from Hebrews through Revelation. ^[25]

After another release from prison, Yun was captured again and cruelly beaten. In trying to escape he had jumped from a second story window and broken both of his legs. He was brought before a judge who told him: “Yun, I’m sick of you. For many years you’ve opposed our government and turned our society upside down. You’ve escaped from custody on numerous occasions.” At the hearing, Yun answered the judge honestly, that if given the opportunity, he would try to escape again and preach the Gospel. The judge was furious, promising to have his legs permanently damaged so that he could never escape again. Even though he begged the guards not to beat his already broken legs, they did so mercilessly. Yun writes: “I lay on the ground screaming like a wounded animal. Excruciating pain surged through my body and mind. . . . My legs below my knees turned completely black and there was no feeling in them at all.”

At this point Yun was placed in solitary confinement at the Zhengzhou Number One Maximum Security Prison. Yun was beaten every day from eight in the morning until the evening, the guards taking shifts in order to keep up the beatings. He was given no food or water during this time. ^[26]

Yun became very depressed during this imprisonment and writes:

As the weeks slowly passed, I became more and more depressed at my situation. It seemed as if the Lord had rejected me and left me to rot in prison forever. My legs were crippled and my spirit crushed. Each night I propped my lame legs up against the wall to try to lessen the pain. My beloved wife Deling was in the women’s prison, and I had no idea what had become of my two children. It was the lowest point of my life. . . .

I was 39 years old but saw no hope or future for me. I told the Lord, “When I was young you called me to preach your gospel in the west and south. How can I do that now? I’m sitting here in this prison with crushed legs and I’m resigned to rot in this place until the day I die. I’ll never see my family again. You have cheated me!”

And yet, Yun was to experience his greatest (although not last) miraculous escape from prison at this time.

Here, we would make a very important statement regarding a proper expectation of miracles: Everybody wants miracles, but far fewer really want to be in a position to need them. American super-supernaturalists are simply mistaken to expect an abundance of miracles when we also have an abundance of churches, Christians, and religious freedoms. Which would we choose, if it were our choice: miracles or severe suffering? An abundance of the former rarely comes without the latter. This is yet one more reason that we are rather suspicious of all the claims to miracles in American super-supernaturalism. We believe that miracles without suffering are even more rare than miracles with suffering.

Along these lines, C. S. Lewis writes words that are worth pondering, especially for super-supernaturalists:

God does not shake miracles into Nature at random as if from a pepper-caster. They come on great occasions: they are found at the great ganglions of history, not of political or social history, but of that spiritual history which cannot be fully known by men. If your own life does not happen to be near one of those great ganglions, how should you expect to see one?

If we were heroic missionaries, apostles, or martyrs, it would be a different matter. But why you or I? Unless you live near a railway, you will not see trains go past your windows. How likely is it that you or I will be present when a peace treaty is signed, when a great scientific discovery is made, when a dictator commits suicide? That we should see a miracle is even less likely.

Nor, if we understand, shall we be anxious to do so. “Nothing almost sees miracles but misery.” Miracles and martyrdoms tend to bunch about the same areas of history–areas we have naturally no wish to frequent. ^[27]

Indeed, as we have said, everyone wants a miracle, but no one wants to be in need of one.

Super-supernaturalists insist that the reason there are not more miracles occurring in American churches is because non-super-supernatural Christians abound in skepticism and lack faith and openness for more miracles to occur. In other words, we are not super-supernatural enough in our beliefs. On the contrary, the reason America does not experience as many miracles as China is because we abound in churches, Bibles, preachers, freedom, and even comfort. What we lack is persecution, not faith.

And the American super-supernaturalists make it worse by trying to compete with our brothers in China by faking an abundance of miracles. They are the reason for much of the skepticism they complain about in the American Church. Their fraud has been obvious and exposed consistently. ^[28] Brother Yun is the real thing. Benny Hinn is a fake. ^[29] And his fraud is even more embarrassing when we consider the luxury and popularity ones like him enjoy, all the while claiming to have experienced and even worked many, many more miracles in America than Brother Yun in the underground Church in China.

And yet the day will come when even Christians in America will experience “great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again” (Matt 24:21). It is in the End Times that perhaps all in the Church will experience the miraculous on Earth in greater measure. Yet even here caution must be exercised, as we see no biblical promise of this. Scores of Christians have suffered and died for the faith without any miracles except the grace which gives them that “peace of God, which transcends all understanding” (Phil 4:7). And as for the End Times, the only “great signs and miracles” that are clearly promised in Scripture are those that “false christs and false prophets will appear and perform to deceive even the Elect” (Matt 24:24). Perhaps the reason that the “distress” of the Great Tribulation will be “unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again” is that only satan will be providing miracles, while God will not, all to test the faith of His people.

C.5) New fields for Christianity

Another related environment in which we may expect more direct divine miracles is when the Gospel is being newly introduced to a particular geographical area or culture. Accordingly, Campus Crusade for Christ has reported the following occurrence in India:

In the state of Bihar, India, there is a notoriously anti-Christian tribe called the Malto. When a crew with Campus Crusade’s Jesus film attempted to schedule a showing there in 1998, they were strongly rebuffed. A few days later, a 16-year-old Malto girl died. But that evening, just as her parents were about to bury her, she came back to life. As an awed crowd gathered around her, she told them that the God of the film crew had sent her back for several days “to tell as many people as I can that He is real.”

The girl and her mother went searching, and the next day, they found the crew in a nearby village and invited them back for a showing. For seven days she told her story in every village they could get to, drawing large crowds for the film. Hundreds of people became Christians and started churches. After seven days the girl still looked fine, but she collapsed and died once again. ^[30]

Likewise, it has been reported:

In the last ten years, more Muslims have come to Christ than in the previous thousand years. And reports from numerous missions agencies say that many conversions come from the Lord Jesus himself or an angel directly appearing in the extramental world or in a vision or dream to individuals or entire villages.

In a recent newsletter from Campus Crusade’s Jesus Film Project, Jim Green– highly respected Crusade staffer for forty years–reports that if you were to gather a typical group of one hundred new converts from Islam and ask them how they first learned of Jesus, ninety-nine of them would say, “I saw Him in a vision. He appeared in brilliant white light and told me that He was the Way and that I was to seek Him out.”

When missionaries find such people, they have the joy of explaining more fully the gospel of the Lord Jesus. One of several incidents reported by Green is worth noting:

The next report comes from a traveling Jesus film team that was working in one of these countries. The team was driving through a remote, dangerous region that had hardly been touched by the good news. A policeman flagged down the team’s car which was filled with 16mm projection equipment and gospel literature. The policeman asked the team to give a ride to an Islamic teacher who immediately got in. You can imagine their anxiety when this highly respected teacher asked “Tell me, are you the ones planning to tell people about God?

Entrusting themselves to the Lord, they responded, “Yes, we are.” Astonishment followed. Bouncing along the dusty road the teacher told the team how he had experienced a vision, a unique dream. “I was told to come to this spot in the road, at this time, that I would encounter someone who would tell me about God. It must be you. ^[31]

The introduction of the Gospel to a new people group is certainly behind the story of Brother Yun as well. Yun became a Christian at age sixteen in 1974. Several years before his father had contracted incurable lung cancer that had spread to his stomach. Nonetheless he lived several years in agony lying on a bed. Because Yun’s father was superstitious he called a Daoist priest to come and expel demons, because he feared he had upset them in some way. However, Yun’s mother was a Christian and called the family to pray for her husband. After an all night prayer session, Yun writes: “The very next morning my father found he was much better! For the first time in months he had an appetite for food. Within a week he had recovered completely and had no trace of cancer!”

Yun’s parents wanted to share their experience with their village, but such gatherings were illegal. Nonetheless, they simply sent their children out to invite people to their home and people came, many expecting Yun’s father to be dead, and coming dressed for the occasion. Behind locked doors and covered windows they explained that he had been completely healed by praying to Jesus. Yun writes, “All of our relatives and friends knelt down on the floor and gladly accepted Jesus as Lord and Master.” ^[32]

Another attribute of an area in which Christianity is being introduced and severely persecuted is the absence of Bibles. It is in such situations that we might expect particularly more occurrences of miraculous communication such as divine visions and dreams. Accordingly, this too is reflected in Brother Yun’s biography.

Early in Yun’s life he had asked his mother if there were any words of Jesus available for him to read. She said there were none, because during the Cultural Revolution in China, Bibles could not be found there. Nonetheless, Yun desperately wanted a Bible. He and his mother traveled to a far away village to visit a man whom they had heard had a Bible. Upon asking him to see it, the man was fearful, because he, “had already spent nearly 20 years in prison for his faith.” Regarding the man’s fear of showing Yun his Bible, Yun writes:

I don’t blame him because in those days there were very few Bibles in the whole of China. Nobody was allowed to read any book other than Mao’s little Red Book. If caught with a Bible, it would be burned and the owner’s whole family would be severely beaten in the middle of the village.

The old man simply told Yun to pray for a Bible, which is the only prayer Yun prayed every evening for over a month. When nothing happened, Yun traveled back to see the old man, who told him he needed to also fast. For one hundred days Yun ate nothing until the evenings when he ate a little rice, and he constantly cried out to God for a Bible such that his parents thought he was insane.

After months of this had transpired, Yun received a vision from the Lord one day as he knelt down for his evening prayer. In the vision a man gave him a Bible, and when the vision had ended he proceeded to search his house for one because the vision had been so real to him. Waking his parents, he told them of his vision, which convinced them all the more he was crazy, and his parents desperately prayed for him. About that time, there was a faint knock on the door of their house and standing outside was the man who had given him the Bible in his vision. And that is exactly what happened.

Yun discovered later that another missionary three months before had received a vision in which, “God showed him a young man to whom he was to give his hidden Bible.” For some reason, the missionary had delayed obeying the vision, but eventually gave it to the man who then walked through the night to reach Yun’s home. ^[33]

So we see several aspects of the spiritual environment in China that would lead us to expect more divine intervention, including the nonexistence of churches, the Gospel, and the Bible, but the prevalence of severe persecution. Accordingly, we might expect God to provide miracles with the introduction of the Gospel to a new people group.

Unfortunately, super-supernaturalists have distorted and exaggerated this principle under what they call “power evangelism” suggesting God wants to use the biblical gifts of miracle working everywhere to authenticate the Gospel. While this error is dealt with fully elsewhere, ^[34] we will make two observations here.

First, it should be noticed that despite all the incredible direct divine miracles Brother Yun seems to have experienced, there are no reports of human miracle working in his biography which match the characteristics of the biblical gifts of miracle working and healing. These include healing instantly and organically on command, rather than merely through a prayer. ^[35] In other words, even the unique circumstances and supernatural nature of ministry in China offers no convincing evidence that the sign gifts of the early Church have been restored to the Church. The miracles that are truly happening are direct divine miracles that God performs, not delegated miracle working through a miraculously gifted person. This is an important distinction that we discuss in the next couple chapters. ^[36]

Secondly, even for those missionaries today who might introduce the Gospel to a new people group, the Gospel is not new extra-biblical divine revelation. This is an important point for promoters of “power evangelism” to consider because, as we demonstrate elsewhere in KOG, every God-sent miracle worker in Scripture was also a messenger of new extra-biblical divine revelation to be believed and obeyed by all. ^[37] Since even the Gospel is recorded in Chinese Bibles, human miracle working is unnecessary, and accordingly, we see no believable evidence for it.

C.6) The exercise of visionary faith

Elsewhere we describe visionary faith as the faith to pursue human plans in the pursuit of obeying God’s commands. ^[38] This faith is unique in that it does not have a specific divine revelation as its object. This is because God has not, and usually will not reveal specifics on such things as when, where, and with whom to plant a church, or where to go as a missionary, ^[39] even though Scripture reveals these acts as part of God’s general will to fulfill the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20).

We would suggest that those who are pursuing a visionary faith in order to fulfill God’s commands for the advancement of His Kingdom, can expect more divine intervention than others. In fact, this may include what Christ is referring to in the Great Commission when He adds, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt 28:20). Perhaps this is a rather conditional promise specifically for those engaged in fulfilling the Great Commission. ^[40] It seems Christ is promising to be “with” such people in a special, even supernatural way. And indeed, those fulfilling the Great Commission obviously require a good deal of miraculous intervention on God’s part just to bring about the necessary spiritual conversions, which we have claimed elsewhere is the greatest miracle of all. ^[41]

Indeed, as discussed more thoroughly elsewhere, ^[42] we believe Paul is praying for miraculous deeds in the context of visionary faith when he writes the Thessalonians:

[W]e constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. ¹² We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thess 1:11-12)

 

As the Thessalonians pursued “every good purpose of [theirs] and every act prompted by [their visionary] faith, Paul felt it was necessary and appropriate to pray “that by His power He may fulfill” those “good purpose[s]” and “act[s] prompted by [their] faith.” In other words, he recognized that our pursuit of fulfilling God’s commandments often requires God’s intervention and blessing. And fulfillment of God’s will through our “good purpose[s]” and the accompanying miraculous divine intervention all work “so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified.”

D) The Proper Recognition of Miracles

While the above section dealt with the proper expectation of when a direct divine miracle could occur, here, we discuss some of the biblical principles of properly recognizing when such a miracle has occurred. This relates, of course, to the core problems of anti-supernaturalism and super-supernaturalism. The former is in the habit of giving naturalistic explanations for the supernatural acts of God and therefore depriving Him of some of the glory He deserves for those acts. This is something our super-supernatural brothers and sisters are concerned about, and rightly so.

On the other hand, super-supernaturalists are in the habit of giving miraculous explanations for things that do not deserve such a lofty title or claims, and in the process, end up lying about God, deceiving other people, and intimidating those who do not experience miracles as often as they supposedly do. Therefore, some guidelines in recognizing the truly miraculous may be helpful, and below is our attempt to do so.

D.1) The biblical definition and attributes of miracles must be met

An important starting point for a discussion on the proper recognition of miracles is to note both the definition and attributes of a miracle discussed above. Our definition for a miracle is: an extraordinary revelation of God’s supernatural power or communication by which He intervenes in the ordinary and natural processes He has ordained because they are not sufficient to accomplish or communicate His will. It is the fact that miracles interrupt Nature in a supernatural way, coupled with the fact that God-ordained “natural processes” of divine operating and communication (e.g. natural laws and Scripture) are so sufficient for accomplishing and communicating God’s will, that miracles are extremely rare, all resulting in their ability to cause awe, wonder, and fear in humans.

Therefore, if an event is not supernatural, but can be explained by natural events or processes without divine intervention, then it is not a miracle. If an event occurs repeatedly and commonly, then it suggests there is a natural process operating, and not a miracle. In other words, when a “miracle” becomes commonplace, it probably is not a miracle, nor will it be recognized by humans as such. Finally, and especially among believers, if an event does not make an exceptional impression as a supernatural and rare intervention of God, then it probably isn’t a miracle either.

For example, Vern S. Poythress, Professor of NT at Westminister has written:

This God brings us the spring winds and rains and May flowers. But He also brings hurricanes that exhibit the power of His word: “The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; … The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire” (Psalm 29:5, 7). ^[43]

It is being implied here that all wind, rain, and hurricanes are a result of a direct intervention and manipulation of God causing such things that would not have otherwise happened by natural processes. On the contrary, such occurrences are quite natural and require some sort of miraculous authentication before we interpret them as something else.

Accordingly, in the previous chapter we wrote of a drought that God did miraculously manipulate and cause (cf. Amos 4:7):

It is important to note how Amos knew that God had miraculously intervened in Nature. In this case, Amos needed miraculous direct revelation from God. This is because there was nothing obviously supernatural about a lack of rain “when the harvest was still three months away,” or that it fell in “one town” or “field” but not another.

So while normally supernatural manipulations of Creation must be recognized simply by their supernatural nature, here God also provided additional, extrabiblical, miraculous revelation. This illustrates our point above and below that when God desires for a miraculous intervention to be recognized, He will ensure that it can be. ^[44]

D.2) God desires that people recognize miracles

Perhaps most importantly on the topic of properly recognizing miracles, we need to remember God’s own great desire for His miracles to be recognized. Therefore, He ensures that they are obvious enough that people have no good excuse not to. For example, the miracle of Creation is so miraculous that even God says all people are “without excuse” (Rom. 1:20) for not recognizing it as such.

How then do we interpret those times in which a miracle occurs and people do not recognize it as such? In other words, who ultimately decides what makes a miracle a real divine revelation of a miracle? Our answer is God. God decides what is sufficiently supernatural, rare, and awe-inspiring enough in order for an event to be recognized as a miracle.

For example, the Apostle Paul says that one of God’s purposes for the miracle of Creation is the same as any miracle: to display “God’s . . . power” (Rom. 1:20). While God intends that Creation be a miraculous display of His power, a good deal of humanity has refused to accept it as such. Does Creation then cease to be a miracle? Is it necessary for someone to recognize a miracle for it really to be a miracle? No. Miracles do not become miracles just because they are supernatural or wonderful enough for our criteria for a miracle. Rather, a miracle is a miracle because God intends it to be and humans have no excuse for believing otherwise.

Such is the case with the miracle of Creation. All humanity is “without excuse” (Rom. 1:20) for not recognizing that what God intended to be a miracle, is a miracle. No one has a legitimate reason for demanding that more supernatural phenomena must be displayed in order to call Creation a miracle. Indeed, as we have demonstrated elsewhere, the devil-darkened reason of unregenerated humanity makes them insane when it comes to recognizing the work of God. Therefore, a supernatural regeneration, granting us a Spirit-liberated reason, is necessary to properly receive, understand, and process the divine revelation that is communicated through such things as Creation, the Gospel, and miracles. ^[45] Ultimately, then, what amount and kind of evidence necessary to call an event a miracle is determined and supplied by God because He intends it to be a divine revelation for a particular purpose.

This is why we see in Scripture, as noted above, God even providing miraculous communication in order to ensure that a miraculous deed is not misinterpreted (cf. Amos 4:7). This is also why the revelations of biblical Prophets and Apostles normally came in the form of visions they could physically see and a voice they could physically hear, not just mental impressions. Why was the Apostle Paul absolutely certain he had received a direct, miraculous understanding of the Gospel (cf. Gal 1:8-12)? Because Jesus Christ personally and physically appeared to him to explain the Gospel, which was Christ’s habit throughout the Apostles’ lives (cf. Acts 10:9-16; 23:11; 2 Cor 12:1-4; Rev 1:9-12). ^[46]

It is because God Himself wants us to know when a miracle has occurred that He will make the event miraculous enough for especially His people to recognize it.

D.3) Born again Christians are really good at recognizing miracles

God’s people are really good at recognizing real miracles. This is because they have already experienced the greatest miracle occurring today: supernatural regeneration for salvation. Contrary to the accusations of super-supernaturalism and mega mysticism, more discerning Christians are just as eager to see real miracles of God as they are. This is because they love God and desire His glory just as much as anybody else.

It is unregenerated unbelievers who have a sinful, illegitimate, distorting skepticism of miracles, not true Christians. ^[47] Because God intends miracles to be a divine revelation of His glory, you have to have a really hard heart toward God to not recognize them when they occur, which is not an attitude consistent with being a Christian at all. Therefore, the deception of super-supernaturalism is a much greater temptation among born-again Christians than anti-supernaturalism.

D.4) Caution is better than lying

Elsewhere, regarding divine intervention in our life, we write:

So, did God cause us to get a particular job, marry a particular person, or live in a particular place, thereby manipulating the ingredients of our life to supernaturally result in a miraculous outcome that would not have occurred apart from God’s intervention? Was God behind such things, or were they simply the result of more common, natural processes like wisely choosing a job we like, simply marrying someone we were naturally attracted to, or merely choosing to live where our relatives do like many others do? More specifically, did such events and decisions involve divine intention or were they simply random, natural human events that God essentially allowed?

First of all, the fact that God has a desire to ensure we properly recognize real miracles, should make us more comfortable with simply and often admitting we do not know! We may not know because God may supernaturally, but secretly intervene in our life, with no desire for us to know. ^[48] Contrary to mega mystics, recognizing direct divine intervention in our decision making is much more difficult than they suggest. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to matter.

While God will always supernaturally authenticate divine revelation that is to be authoritative for others, such as the words of a Prophet or Apostle, He does not seem to be in the habit of supernaturally proving, or revealing when He is directly intervening in the decision making process concerning our own lives. In other words, when it comes to decisions for our own life, God does not seem to care if we know we are being guided by direct divine intervention or simply our own free will using other God-given means of guidance such as logical and moral reason, biblical convictions, or living according to our New Nature. Such things involve the unrevealed predestined will of God as discussed elsewhere. ^[49]

An additional legitimate reason that we may not properly recognize a miracle is that, as noted below, even miraculous looking things may be remarkable coincidences. God knows we have all these limitations in properly recognizing miracles, and therefore, when He wants them to be recognized, He makes them supernatural, rare, and awe-inspiring enough that sincere Christians will properly recognize them.

As noted above, super-supernaturalism and mega mysticism are silly for accusing their brothers and sisters of intentionally disregarding the miraculous, as if the danger is that we would have a hard heart toward glorifying God. On the contrary, the greater danger is that we really want to glorify ourselves. We must admit that miraculous interventions in our lives make us feel very special, and make us look special to others, and because we may crave such things, we might look for and claim miracles in events in which they really did not occur.

Therefore, in many cases, while we may personally believe God has performed a miracle in a certain instance, we must be careful of making dogmatic claims of such things, admitting our human limitations in such matters. When we disrespect the need for obvious divine authentication of a miracle, we can constantly misinterpret circumstances and events as the miraculous and direct intervention of God for the purpose of communicating something, often resulting in misplaced blame against God. As we have written elsewhere:

[D]ivine authentication is essential to determining whether or not an event is a miracle of God or a natural occurrence. For example, when a hurricane hits the Louisiana coastline, is God sending a message as He did when He caused other weather anomalies in Scripture (cf. Jonah 1:4)? If we are experiencing painful circumstances is God causing them in order to discipline us (cf. Heb 12:5-13)? How many would have interpreted Job’s trials as divine discipline, just like his friends, even though by God’s own admission Job was blameless? When bad things happen to good people is it God’s doing or the devil’s? If an opportunity for a job we want becomes available in another city, is this God directing us to move there?

The only way such events can be confidently attributed to the direct intervention and manipulation of God is if and when they are accompanied by something we would consider divine authentication. Otherwise, the causes of such things are best assumed to be their more common and natural ones (e.g. natural weather patterns, ^[50] the normal struggles of being human, etc.). ^[51]

In other words, contrary to super-supernaturalism and mega mysticism, it is better to be cautious about miracles, then to be lying about them.

D.5) Hindsight is better than foresight

An obvious question is what would miraculous authentication of God’s supernatural intervention look like today? Perhaps, for example, the timing and nature of the event would strongly suggest divine intervention. Accordingly, we would tend to agree with the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius mentioned in the previous chapter (sec. 2.4.2.A.1), that he and his troops did indeed experience a miracle, especially in light of the fact that God’s people were praying for it.

Likewise, Christian apologist Norm Geisler writes:

A fog at Normandy aided the Allied Forces’ invasion of Europe on D-Day and the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany. Fog has natural causes, but the timing of this one was an evidence of God’s [miraculous] providence. ^[52]

Likewise, Reader’s Digest relates:

[T]here are those weather oddities that would confound even the Weather Channel. For instance, the British burned Washington, D.C., in 1814, and out of nowhere came the first recorded tornado in D.C. history. It trashed the British army and conveniently doused the flames on the federal buildings. ^[53]

It would seem reasonable to conclude that the unique circumstances and characteristics of such an event may be sufficient evidence that God was taking sides in this historic and monumental battle and miraculously intervening. This would especially be the case if some Christians had actually prayed that such a thing would occur, all of which would legitimately add to the perceived divine intentionality, and therefore, miraculous nature of the event. However, apart from immediate miraculous authentication, this type of revelation can often only be confidently recognized in hind sight, as we look back over the course of events and see God’s guiding hand.

One of the more profound examples of supernatural manipulation in human events is the story of Esther. God sovereignly ordained many events surrounding her life, including being chosen as the King’s bride out of a myriad of other women (cf. Esth 2:8-9, 17). It was through her God-ordained circumstances that she was able to be used by God to avert the destruction of the Jews (8:3-8). However, this very example illustrates the difficulty we have in recognizing such circumstances as the hand of God. As we have written elsewhere:

For all she [Esther] knew, especially before experiencing what seemed to be divine intervention on God’s part for His people, she was simply following the circumstances dictated to her. Initially, even Mordecai was unsure of the purpose of Esther’s circumstances and even when her position seemed providential he could only say, “who knows, you may have been chosen Queen for just such a time as this” (Esth 4:14 NCV). Because the eventual outcome of her circumstances were clearly miraculous and applied directly to God’s plan of salvation, she could be relatively certain only in hindsight that those circumstances had been manipulated by God. ^[54]

D.6) Recognize the possibility of other explanations

Of course, anti-supernaturalists are so eager to explain away miracles, that they often come up with rather absurd ways of doing so. ^[55] Nonetheless, super-supernaturalists need to recognize that some things that appear supernatural, simply are not.

Take for example the reality of plain coincidence in a world where a vast multitude of rather random events are constantly occurring and by chance at times coincide to give the appearance of a miracle. Along these lines, David Myers writes:

If we can’t find or even imagine a natural cause for an unsolved mystery, we may presume a paranormal one. Moments after a friend from long ago crosses our mind, the friend calls. Too weird, too improbable to have any explanation other than telepathy? But some weird coincidences are inevitable. . . .

What shall we make of these weird coincidences? Was James Redfield [popular New Age author] right to suppose, in The Celestine Prophecy, that we should attend closely to “strange occurrences that feel like they were meant to happen”? Is he [and Christian mega mystics] right to suppose that “they are actually synchronistic events, and following them will start you on your path to spiritual truth”?

Without wanting to rob us of our delight in these serendipities, much less of our spirituality, statisticians agree: they tell us absolutely nothing of spiritual significance. “In reality,” says mathematician John Allen Paulos, “the most astonishingly incredible coincidence imaginable would be the complete absence of all coincidences.” . . .

Eight golfers witnessed Todd Obuchowski’s hole-in-one on the Beaver Brook golf course in Massachusetts. His shot soared over the green, onto a highway, hit a passing Toyota, and ricocheted back to the green and into the cup. The moral: That a particular specified event or coincidence will occur is very unlikely; that some astonishing unspecified events will occur is certain. ^[56]

Which again is why truly miraculous events are noted in hindsight, not predicted with foresight.

This points up the danger in mega mysticism of seeking divine guidance through coincidental “signs” thought to be miraculous messages from God. Question: is there any place in Scripture where God expected someone to discern His will or recognize divine revelation in merely a set or string of circumstances that appeared supernaturally connected? No. God has no expectation of us recognizing such a thing because He does not work this way, which is why He always provided obvious, supernatural miraculous communication (i.e. vision, voice, angelic appearance, etc.) to explain the events, if He desired them to be recognized as a divine revelation of anything. ^[57]

Extras & Endnotes

A Devotion to Dad

Our Father in Heaven, we thank praise You for Your power to perform the miraculous. We are grateful for those times in biblical history and in our personal lives that You have revealed Your love and might. Help us to understand the doctrine of miracles better so that we might avoid error and sin regarding them and help others do the same.

Gauging Your Grasp

What is our answer to the question of why do miracles occur at one time and not another? Do you agree or disagree and why?

What are some biblical principles that can be applied to having a proper expectation of miracles?

What are the two sins we claim that super-supernaturalists are especially in danger of committing? Do you agree or disagree and why?

We claim that many areas of sound doctrine are determined by correctly ascertaining when a miracle is needed. Can you think of some examples?

How does the devil use an over-expectation of miracles to deceive us?

What is the significance of the statement: God will not do for us what He has already enabled us to do in regards to the expectation of miracles?

What is the significance of the fact that God has enabled us to do everything He has commanded?

We claim that super-supernaturalism is in danger of placing too much emphasis on God doing miracles in our life to prove His love for us. Do you agree or disagree and why? Have you experienced examples of this in your life or observed it in others?

What are God’s intended proofs of His love for every Christian?

10) List all of the unconditional divine promises we have for this life revealed in Scripture? What kinds of miraculous works do each of these require?

11) List all of the conditional divine promises we have for this life in Scripture? What kinds of miraculous works do each of these require?

12) What do we mean by saying: “Everyone wants a miracle, but no one wants to really be in need of one”?

13) Why do particularly American super-supernaturalists insist non-super-supernatural Christians are not experiencing as many miracles as they should? What is our response? Do you agree or disagree and why?

14) Who ultimately decides what makes a miracle a real divine revelation of a miracle? What are our reasons/examples for suggesting this?

15) Despite the accusations of super-supernaturalism, why is this error more tempting for Christians to fall into than anti-supernaturalism?

16) What is the significance of David Myer’s statement: “That a particular specified event or coincidence will occur is very unlikely; that some astonishing unspecified events will occur is certain”?

17) Why wouldn’t we call “Todd Obuchowski’s hole-in-one” a miracle?

Publications & Particulars

1. For further discussion of our view of the process of salvation see chapters 4.16; 6.2-3. ↑

2. For further discussion of the “illumination of the Spirit” see chapter 3.5. ↑

3. Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew (Eerdmans, 1992), 76. ↑

4. For further discussion of testing God in the context of what biblical faith is see section 6.13.F. ↑

5. For further discussion of mega mysticism see Book 14. ↑

6. Augustine, Confessions, 10.35; online at http://www.ccel.org. ↑

7. Ruth Tucker, God Talk: Cautions For Those Who Hear God’s Voice (InterVarsity, 2005), 118. ↑

8. For further discussion of the sufficiency of Scripture as a divine communication see chapter 7.9. ↑

9. The claim of super-supernaturalists that miracles happen more abundantly to them because of something special about them is unbiblical, untrue, and arrogant. This is primarily because of the attributes of miracle faith which is a gift from God. For further discussion see chapters 11.4-5. ↑

10. Excerpt from section 7.11.C.1. ↑

11. For further discussion of the biblical purpose for human miracle working see sections 3.1.D; 7.1.B.5; 11.1.F. ↑

12. Further discussion of the distinction between direct divine miracles and delegated human miracle working see section 10.1.D. For further on the cessation of the latter see chapter 11.7. ↑

13. For further discussion on the ultimate need for divine intervention for our salvation see sections 2.2.B-C and chapters 4.12-16; 6.2-3. ↑

14. Excerpt from section 7.11.C.1. ↑

15. Excerpt from section 7.11.C.1. For further discussion regarding what we call the prayed-for will of God see section 7.15.B.5. ↑

16. C. S. Lewis, Miracles: A Preliminary Study (Macmillan, 1947), 97. ↑

17. Arnold Dallimore, Spurgeon: A New Biography (Banner of Truth Trust, repr. 1999), 140-41. ↑

18. For further discussion of the biblical nature of human miracle working see Book 11: Human Miracle Working, esp. chapter 11.1. ↑

19. For further discussion of the biblical concept of a “controlling call” see section 7.15.B.1.b. ↑

20. Colin Brown, New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (NIDNTT), Colin Brown ed., 4 vols. [Zondervan, 1986], 2:627. See also Merril F. Unger, Unger’s Bible Dictionary (Moody, 1966), 748-9, which also fails to distinguish between direct divine miracles (which God may do) and delegated human miracle working. ↑

21. Lloyd-Jones, The Sovereign Spirit: Discerning the Gifts (Harold Shaw, 1985), 46. ↑

22. Brother Yun and Paul Hattaway, The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun (Monarch Books, 2002), 7. ↑

23. Ibid. 31-2. ↑

24. Ibid. 124-8. ↑

25. Ibid. 178-80 ↑

26. Ibid. 241-44. ↑

27. Lewis, 70. ↑

28. For further discussion of the fraud in super-supernaturalism see 11.7.B.9 and 11.8.E-F. ↑

29. For further discussion of the fraud in the ministry of Benny Hinn see section 11.8.F.4. ↑

30. J. P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle (Zondervan, 2007), 169. ↑

31. Jim Green, The Jesus Film Project (Campus Crusade, 2005), 1-2. ↑

32. Yun, 25-26. ↑

33. Ibid., 27-30. ↑

34. For further discussion of “power evangelism” see chapter 11.6. ↑

35. For further discussion of the biblical attributes of the gifts of healing and miracle working see chapter 11.1. ↑

36. For further discussion on the important distinction between direct miracles and delegated miracle working see chapters 10.4-5. ↑

37. For further discussion of the fact that every God-sent miracle worker in Scripture was also a messenger of new extra-biblical divine revelation to be believed and obeyed by all, see section 11.1.F. ↑

38. Regarding visionary faith see chapter 6.7B. ↑

39. Regarding our claim that God has not and will not reveal a specific will for our lives see section 7.15.B, especially B.4. ↑

40. Carson writes on the possible conditionality of this promise: “if not made explicitly conditional on the disciples’ obedience to the Great Commission, is at least closely tied to it.” (Matthew in the Expositors Biblical Commentary, Frank Gaebelein ed. (Eerdmans). ↑

41. Regarding the miraculous nature of spiritual conversion see section 10.5.B.2. ↑

42. Regarding the visionary faith spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 see section 6.7B.B. ↑

43. From an article in World Magazine. Specifics unavailable. ↑

44. Excerpted from section 10.2.A.1. ↑

45. Regarding the necessity of spiritual regeneration to correctly perceive miraculous revelation see section 4.13.B. ↑

46. For further discussion on the obvious, objective nature of apostolic revelation see chapter 8.3. ↑

47. Ibid. ↑

48. As discussed above, because we define a miracle as a divine revelation, we would not consider such secret supernatural acts a miracle. ↑

49. Excerpt from section 7.16.? For further discussion of the unrevealed predestined will of God see section 7.15.B.1.a. ↑

50. Such regular events in Creation can be referred to as divine providence through which God maintains life and order on Earth. However, we would distinguish between Providence and miracles, as the former does not, from our perspective, involve divine intervention, but is accomplished through the normal processes of Nature that God has established. ↑

51. Excerpted from section 7.1.B. ↑

52. Norman Geisler Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Baker, 1999), 472-3. However, it should be noted that Geisler himself distinguishes between divine providence and a miracle and does not consider this event the latter. ↑

53. Readers Digest, May 2011, 186 ↑

54. 7.15.B.1.a. ↑

55. For examples of absurd explanations given by anti-supernaturalists, particularly for biblical miracles, see chapter 7.12. ↑

56. David Myers, Intuition: Its Power and Perils (Yale University Press, 2002), 237- 9. ↑

57. Regarding the relationship between divine revelation and divine authentication see section 7.1.B.5.a. ↑