What if You Witnessed a Verifiable Miracle?

Today's charismatic gatherings are not producing the kinds of miracles the apostles did. Instead of being obvious supernatural signs like we read about in the New Testament, their own teachers have to admit it's mostly fake.

"In the last twenty years, I have concluded: in manifestation meetings all over the world -- and again, I've been to several thousand of them, a couple thousand at least -- that eighty percent of them are not real, but twenty percent of them are." Mike Bickle, founder of the charismatic International House of Prayer in Kansas City, MO.

They're more fake than that, but I digress. Let's say you attended one of these gatherings, and you did witness a verifiable miracle or vision or prophecy. Would that confirm these teachers actually have the apostolic gifts? Deuteronomy 13 says this:

"If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, 'Let us go after other gods,' which you have not known, 'and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him and keep His commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.

"But that prophet or dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst." Deuteronomy 13:1-5

That doesn't mean he should be dragged out to the parking lot and stoned. But if he doesn't repent, he'll receive a far worse sentence on the day of judgment.

What's more serious than false miracles is teaching a false gospel. And many of these teachers do, claiming the gospel is health and wealth. Do not follow them, or the judgment on their head will also be on yours, when we understand the text.

God Told Me...?

Hebrews 1:1-2 says, "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world."

That's something to keep in mind any time someone says that God told them something. Everything we could ever want to hear God say has already been said in the Bible. God spoke through His prophets who gave us the Old Testament. And in these last days, He has spoken through His Son Jesus Christ, whose apostles gave us the New Testament.

Now the Bible is not just a record of what God said in the past. When we read the book of Hebrews, the writer quotes the Old Testament as something that God is saying to us right now:

"Of the angels He says, 'He makes His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire.' But of the Son he says, 'Your throne O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom." Hebrews 1:7-9

We read in Hebrews 4:12 that "the word of God is living and active." God does speak to us. He speaks through the Scriptures. He does not speak to us through visions or inner voices.

If a person says to you, "God told me..." what comes next should be a passage from the Bible. Otherwise, what they're claiming is that the subjective voice they heard in their head is equally as reliable and authoritative as the Bible.

Proverbs 28:26 says, "Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool." Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Psalm 119 says that God's word is firmly fixed. It is by His word we can test all other words.

As Justin Peters has said, if you want to hear God speak to you, read the Bible. If you want to hear him speak to you out loud, read the Bible out loud. We hear the very word of God when we understand the text!

What is Theology?

There's a word you won't find in your Bible, yet you'll find the subject all over your Bible: theology. What does theology mean? Augustine was perhaps the first to use the word, theologia in both Greek and Latin, which he defined as "reasoning or discussion concerning the Deity."

Now, people often say things like, "Well, I'm a spiritual person, but I'm just not theological." "I love the Bible, but I'm not interested in theology." "Don't give me theology, just give me Jesus!" They make these statements because they're ignorant about theology -- or what the word even means!

Rick Warren's Saddleback Church shared this: "Jesus never let His theology get in the way of His ministry." (Huh?) Andy Stanley instucts pastors to "Separate theology from ministry." (What?) And apologist William Lane Craig said, "We're not doing theology. We're doing apologetics." (D'oh!)

"When you separate theology from ministry, you liberate your ministry and have better theology." Andy Stanley at Catalyst, April 22, 2016. (No, Andy.)

If you are opening your mouth and talking about God, you are being theological. If your theology is not grounded in biblical orthodoxy, in other words right teaching, you might be a heretic. The Bible tells us to study theology. Specifically, the Bible tells us to study right theology.

"Everyone is a theologian." R.C. Sproul

Paul told Timothy, "Charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith" (1 Timothy 3:1-5).

"If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing" (1 Timothy 6:3-4), when we understand the text.