One of the topics I am very interested in is the status of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the church today: whether the gifts have ceased or whether they continue to exist. The body of Christ is divided on this subject; there are cessationists who believe the gifts have ceased since the death of the apostles in the New Testament and continuationists who believe that believers can still operate in the gifts even today. The gifts here specifically refer to the charismatic gifts: prophecy, speaking and interpreting tongues, healing, working miracles, word of knowledge etc. The term “charismatic” comes from the Greek word “charisma,” which means “gift of grace” or “gift of God’s grace”. I am a firm believer that these gifts continue to exist in the body of Christ today for a number of reasons. I won’t go into much details today. This is a topic that I wish to take my time to address extensively as time goes on, so you can call this my initial thoughts on the topic and not a conclusive one. 

Admittedly, it is very appalling to see how these gifts have been abused and used to exploit people in the church. Charlatans have crept into the church, distorted the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and led many astray because they parade themselves as prophets, healers and deliverance ministers. It is understandable and actually necessary for us to be alarmed about how the gifts of the Holy Spirit are abused in the church today. I have often said that there is not a single good gift, that the Lord gives, that human beings haven’t abused. I believe, as the scripture says, that all good and perfect gifts come from above (James 1:17). In my study of the bible, I see how human beings or the children of God (both in the old and the new testaments) have abused every good gift God gives. Kings and judges have abused the authority and power given to them; prophets have abused the anointing God gave them etc. It is almost as if the abuse of good gifts is inevitable. However, I think our attitude towards the abuse of God’s gifts should align with God’s. So long as the LORD hasn’t ceased giving gifts to men, we dare not cease believing there are genuinely and divinely gifted people out there who have a specific assignment in this generation. In any case, the bone of contention regarding this topic is if the LORD still gives charismatic gifts, isn’t it? I will tackle this question from one angle: the universality and timelessness of the words spoken by Jesus and confirmed by his apostles. 

The opening verses of the book of John tell us that Jesus is the Word of God and this same Jesus is God. This idea presupposes that Jesus in himself is the eternal Word of God and is at the same time the message God wants to communicate to this world and especially to believers. In fact, nothing was created without the Word of God, hence our entire existence and experience on this earth is made possible by the eternal Word of God. For this reason, I am very particular about Jesus’ words dotted all over the New Testament. I believe he came to live a life that is exemplary and compelling for all Christians in whatever stage in human history to emulate. I also believe his message is a universal and timeless one, which means he came to speak to all people and for all time. Did Christ ever deliver a message to a specific group of people that was ONLY relevant to them in that time in human history? Certainly! However, even those statements have existential and eternal value for all people and for all time. Let’s take a close look at what Jesus said in Matthew 11:21 to understand this issue, he said:

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes

In this story, Jesus was addressing the unrepentant people in the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida who had been witnesses to many mighty miracles he had done. Despite the fact that Jesus wrought mighty works amongst them, they still didn’t believe in him. Therefore, he rebuked them and stated that people living in other cities (Tyre and Sidon) would have repented if they had been witnesses of those mighty works. Here, we can clearly say that Jesus was speaking to a specific people at a specific time in human history. The people of Chorazin and Bethsaida being the primary recipients are also the main subject of this message: their unrepentant hearts  was the reason Jesus said what he said. However, what Jesus said has some serious value and application even in our world today on a collective level and on an individual level as well. Meaning, this portion of scripture can be applied to individuals and groups of people who have witnessed many mighty works of Christ yet refuse to repent. 

On the other hand, there are statements that Jesus made that are for all people and for all time. We will look at one of such statements recorded in Mark 16:17-18:

And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.

Coincidentally, prior to this passage, Jesus had rebuked the apostles for their unbelief and the hardness of their heart. Similar to what he told the people of Chorazin and Bethsaida. 

Although the primary recipients of this message are the apostles, Jesus opens this message up for all people and for all time by using the phrase “those who believe”. “Those who believe” are not a specific group of people trapped in a specific time in human history. These are individuals who believe in Jesus Christ as the saviour of the world and have accepted him as their LORD regardless of what point in human history they exist in. These individuals are the target group of God’s rescue mission executed by Jesus on the cross and finalized in his resurrection. The statement of Jesus in the passage under discussion is a portion of what Christians call the Great Commission which is Jesus’ instructions to his disciples, after his resurrection and before his ascension, to propagate the gospel globally. The apostles are dead and gone, however, the Great Commission is still being carried out today. Although the apostles were the primary recipients of the message, Jesus was saying these things to the hearing of all people and for all time. Therefore, we need to take the words of Jesus seriously even in this day and age – as  seriously as the apostles did.

The reason why I have stressed this point is that two of the signs that Jesus mentioned will follow “those who believe…” are spiritual gifts: speaking in tongues and healing the sick. If this is so, then how did our brothers and sisters come to the conclusion that the gifts of the Spirit were for a specific group of people for a specific time in the ancient world? “Those who believe…”  as a universal and timeless statement reminds me of the “whosoever…” in John 3:16. This verse in John is arguably the most popular bible verse. I doubt the right interpretation of the verse is “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son. That whosoever believes in him in the ancient world, will not perish but have everlasting life”. It is erroneous to read John 3:16 with this understanding. Jesus spoke to all people and for all time in both John 3:16 and Mark 16:17-18. Jesus stated categorically in the latter passage that two of the signs that shall follow all who believe in him are speaking in tongues and healing. For this reason I do not subscribe to the cessationist doctrine. I believe strongly in what Jesus said and its implications to the world and the body of Christ today. 

On the day of Pentecost, Peter addressed all who had gathered after hearing the 120 in the upper room speaking in tongues. The bulk of Peter’s message was a prophecy recorded in Joel 2. In fact, he didn’t just quote the passage but he explained to his audience that the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost is actually a fulfilment of what the Prophet Joel prophesied:

And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 

Acts 2:16-18

God has said he will pour out his Spirit on all flesh. “All flesh” here signifies that the outpouring of the Spirit of God will not be the reserve of any special group of people, for God does not discriminate. The outpouring of the Spirit of God will not be limited to a specific gender, age bracket, race, social class etc. What we do know is that the prophecy was expected to be fulfilled within a specific time in human history called “the last days”. The last days, span from the day of Pentecost until Christ comes. It is a term that is widely used in scripture. Often in the New Testament, a lot of signs and global events are stated that will characterize these last days. This is the conclusion I drew from Peter’s address: if Peter claims the day of Pentecost is a fulfilment or the beginning of the fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy, then since we are still in the last days, we should expect that the same manifestations of the Spirit will be seen in the body of Christ. Since the outpouring of the Spirit is characterised by prophecy, then it isn’t consistent with the timelines of Joel’s prophecy when we say the gift of prophecy ceased at some earlier point in human history. So long as the last days remain, we will still see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit characterised by the signs prophesied by Joel, which includes spiritual gifts. 

The Apostle Paul also made a lot of statements that communicated at least the universality of spiritual gifts to a certain degree. “Universality” here refers to the fact that the gifts are not reserved for a special group of people: which is exactly what Joel prophesied and Peter confirmed on the day of Pentecost. In writing to the church of Corinth, Paul said in 1st Corinthians 14:5 that “now I want you ALL to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy…”. Paul expresses his desire for every single member of a church, regardless of their background, to speak in tongues, better yet, to prophesy as well. “ALL” means all; no one left behind and no one excluded. Paul expected the entire church of Corinth to manifest the gifts of the Spirit, especially speaking in tongues and prophecy. Later in the same chapter, while instructing the church of Corinth on the need for orderly worship, Paul again stated in verse 31 that “For you can ALL prophesy one by one…”. Again, “ALL” means all. Everybody in a single church can prophesy and it shouldn’t be described  as “charismania” but it should be seen as the fulfilment of biblical prophecy and the practising of sound doctrine.  

Cessationists have coined the term “charismania” to describe individuals, movements and denominations that emphasize the widespread use of the gifts of the Spirit. I have also coined the term “Pharismania” to describe the excessive scepticism of those who constantly deny, disapprove, misjduge, doubt and question the existence and use of spiritual gifts in the body of Christ today. This is because their actions remind me of the Pharisees in John 9 when Jesus healed a man who was born blind.The Pharisees, instead of rejoicing at the news of this miracle, rather commenced an investigation to be sure, not for good reasons, that the man was indeed born blind. They interviewed his friends, family and the man himself in the process. All that mattered that day was that a blind man was healed. But the sceptics concerned themselves more with the non-issue of the day than the miracle. This is the level of scepticism that cessationism brings to the table. It is sad to say that cessationism is adorned with the same level of hyper-scepticism that the Pharisees opposed Jesus’ ministry with. Hyper-scepticism is not a sign of maturity. Hyper-scepticism is not discernment. Hyper-scepticism is a sign that you lack faith in the word of God and the person of Jesus.

In the book of John, we see Jesus admonish his followers two times to believe in him because of the works he does. I believe “the works” stands for the miracles he did. Specifically, in John 10:38, he said “… even though you do not believe me, believe the works…”. Then in John 14:11, he said again, “believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on the account of the works themselves”. Jesus expects his followers to believe in him either because of the words (the message) he spoke to them or on the account of the works (the miracles) that he did. This is the reason why we see the gospel writers detail so many of these supernatural acts of Jesus in their epistles. They did this to help the reader or believer build their faith in Jesus because of the numerous supernatural acts that he did that validate his calling. That is why John said:

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

John also said: 

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. – John 21:25

Jesus’ miracles and wondrous signs were recorded to help boost your faith in him. The believer is not called to a life of blind faith. God expects us to believe in Jesus after a careful consideration of his ministry – which is a combination of his message, miracles and mission. This is why a careful study of the miracles of Jesus is a vital exercise every believer must undertake to know him and his power and to believe in Jesus as the messiah.

In the visualization above, we have a summary of the supernatural acts of Jesus. The bible mentions that Jesus did many miraculous things that were not written. However, the ones that were written with accompanying details have been visualized above. In the book of Luke alone, there is a record of 3 different instances that Jesus healed an unstated number of people in 3 separate meetings. In Luke 4:40 it is written that he laid his hands on a number of people and healed them of all their diseases and sicknesses. The setting of this narrative gives us the impression that it wasn’t a great number of people: Jesus had visited Simon Peter at home to heal his mother-in-law then at sun set the people in the vicinity started bringing in their sick relatives and friends for healing. However, in the second instance in Luke 6:19, Jesus was in the midst of a great multitude. The term “great multitude” is tautological because a multitude is a large number of people hence for the Bible to describe the crowd as such indicates the size of the gathering and perhaps that the number of people there was uncountable. In this case, since the number of people gathered was huge, Jesus didn’t lay hands on them. The Bible says “…power came out of him and healed them all”. It could have been 200 people who were healed that day; it could have been 700 or even a thousand. We cannot tell. All we know is that Jesus had the power to heal every sick person at a meeting that attracted a “great multitude” of people. Finally, we are told in Luke 7:21 that “In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight”. Again, we see that Jesus healed an unstated number of people in this gathering. The bible referred to all those who were present at this gathering as “crowds” (Luke 7:24), this gives us a fair idea of how large the gathering was and perhaps the number of people affected by the miraculous ministry of Jesus that day, because the text did say he healed “many” of them.

I say this in agreement with what John said in John 21:25, that Jesus did many awesome miracles that were not captured in the gospels;  it would have probably taken a library of books to record them all. Just to reiterate, the visualization above looks at the supernatural acts of Jesus that were recorded with accompanying details in scripture. Three times we read in the gospels that Jesus raised the dead. Two times we are told that he fed thousands of people with very little food. In reference to casting out demons, it occurs in the gospels specifically two times and on all these two occasions the act was not linked to sicknesses. But as you may already know, it was the custom of Jesus to heal sick people by rebuking and casting out demons from them (eg. in Matthew 9:32). Those instances I have included to the data on the “healings” that Jesus did. 

From the visualization above, it is also clear that healing tops all the recorded supernatural acts of Jesus. It is closely followed by what I have termed “miraculous acts”. This term refers to the many wondrous acts of Jesus that do not necessarily border on ministering to people directly but are supernatural nonetheless. Examples of such acts are turning water into wine, walking on water, calming the raging seas etc. These acts had an indirect impact on people but they weren’t directed at them. 

Below is another visualization that looks at the breakdown of the supernatural acts of Jesus according to how many times they are recorded in the gospels. Matthew and Luke recorded the highest number of miracles amongst the 4 gospels. Although John recorded the least number of miracles, he was careful to give us a picture of the enormity of Jesus’ supernatural ministry. Perhaps he adopted hyperbole in his description of Jesus’ supernatural ministry when he said that the whole world could not contain the books that would have been written detailing all of Jesus’ miracles. John walked closely with Jesus and so was privy to the many miracles that he did from a front-row perspective. I have no cause to doubt him or any of the gospel writers on their accounts of the works of Jesus.

We have already discussed the purpose for the recording of Jesus’ miracles, but allow me to reiterate. The miracles of Jesus were recorded so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ and the son of the living God (John 20:30-31). This Bible Data Story was written with the aim of shedding some light on the miracles of Jesus from the perspective of a data storyteller. The end goal is so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ and the son of the living God. If he is the same yesterday, today and forever, then we can believe that he is still in the business of healing as many people as he did in one meeting when he ministered to a great multititude. And he is more than able and willing to perform miracles in and with our lives. It is my hope that your faith will be stirred up to believe in him as the son of God and then as the mighty healer and miracle worker that is proven beyond reasonable doubt in the gospels.

Find the dataset on my GitHub account here.

In the first post of this series, I spoke against the idea that one doesn’t need to observe any safety protocols amidst the COVID-19 pandemic if they have faith in God. In this post, we will be looking at how a public health crisis was dealt with in ancient times according to the instructions God gave his people. Ultimately, we all believe God is a mighty healer and is more than able to restore health supernaturally. Nevertheless, it is abundantly evident in scripture that there were times when he instructed his people to implement some physical measures to prevent infections, the spread of diseases, and to cure them. This will be the focus of this part of the series.

The coronavirus has shaken up the whole world, affecting not only human lives but industries, big corporations, and nations. According to WHO safety protocols, two major ways to prevent the spread of the virus are:

1. Humans everywhere wearing face masks in public
2. People practicing social distancing in public spaces. 

This invariably means there is a virus on the loose; it could be hanging loosely in the air you breathe.  Adhering to these safety protocols makes sense because the virus is spread through human contact. Other measures such as quarantine, lockdowns and vaccinations have been carried out all over the world to curtail the spread of the virus too. 

Christianity is a religion steeped in the supernatural. The power of God is evident in the pages of scripture. To us, the miraculous is not just a special feature of Christian ministry, it is a command from Jesus. Two times in the book of Luke, Jesus sent out his disciples and he instructed them to preach the gospel of the kingdom and heal the sick (Luke 9:2 & Luke 10:9). In Mathew 10:8 it is recorded as such:

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. 

Therefore, how do we reconcile the idea that Christians can operate in the supernatural healing power of God with the idea that we have to adhere to safety protocols during this pandemic? That is exactly what this post is about, so journey with me as we arrive at the answer. 

In both the Old and New Testaments, it is clear that leprosy was a disease that was regarded as a public health crisis because of its infectious nature. According to WHO, leprosy “also known as Hansen’s disease, is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. It mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory tract and the eyes”. Its infectious nature poses danger to people who come into contact with lepers. Hence, in the Old Testament God gave ample instructions as to how to deal with the disease and diseased people. In Leviticus 13 and 14, God outlines a number of health safety protocols to be implemented by the people in their dealings with lepers. The instructions, or laws as they were called in Leviticus, were so exhaustive that they covered procedures from disease detection through a series of examinations to the prevention of the spread of the disease. Moses received these instructions and gave them to the Priests who were appointed by God to be the “medical officers” working to detect whether or not an individual had the disease. God outlined a number of symptoms they were to look out for before declaring the individual unclean or leprous. These symptoms include:

1.  A swelling in the skin that has turned the hair white and when there is raw flesh in the swelling, it is leprosy. Leviticus 13:10
2. A breakout of the disease on the person from head to toe that has turned white. The Priest shall declare the person clean. Most probably because at that stage, the disease is no longer infectious. Leviticus 13:12-13

It may interest you to know that God also instructed the priests to quarantine people suspected to be leprous for a period of 7 days (Leviticus 13: 21:22). This is the same God who wrought mighty miracles before and during the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. How is it that he is the one outlining disease control measures the people should adhere to to curtail the spread of a disease he could zap away in seconds? Disease Control is defined by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as “the reduction of disease incidence, prevalence, morbidity or mortality to a locally acceptable level as a result of deliberate efforts…”. There is no doubt, this was exactly what God instructed the Israelites to do and so they did throughout their generations.

Here are a few more Disease Control measures God instructed the Priests to carry out to prevent the spread of the disease: 

1. Objects and surfaces that diseased people have had contact with are regarded as unclean or infectious. Therefore, they should be burnt.

And he shall burn the garment, or the warp or the woof, the wool or the linen, or any article made of skin that is diseased, for it is a persistent leprous disease. It shall be burned in the fire. Leviticus 13:52

2. Leprous people are to announce their presence in public by shouting “unclean, unclean” lest they infect others. They are to be responsible for not infecting others with the disease.

“The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip[a] and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp. Leviticus 13:46

Both in the Old and New Testaments, we see lepers ostracized in the Jewish society. At least in two different verses of scripture, we are told they were stationed at the gate of the city. One of such verses is 2 Kings 7:3, where it is said that there were 4 lepers at the entrance of the city gate. Also, in Luke 10:11-12, Jesus was met by 10 lepers as he entered a village. They stood at a distance and called out to him. This means they, too, were stationed outside the village – most probably a distance from the entrance of the village. Jesus healed them by commanding them to go and show themselves to the High Priest, which was the approved procedure one had to go through to be either declared clean or unclean. On their way to see him, they realized they were cleansed. These lepers were already following the disease control protocols God outlined in the Old Testament by socially distancing themselves from everybody to prevent the spread of the disease. Yet one encounter with Christ changed their story instantly. The point I seek to make here is that God is sovereign, wise, omnipotent and many more divine attributes can be used to describe him. Even though He has given us power to heal all diseases including infectious ones such as leprosy, he has also laid down certain principles in scripture that we can follow to prevent our getting infected and spreading diseases. These two realities are not mutually exclusive. The same bible that  teaches us to lay hands on the sick and they will recover, also points out to us that we can use medically approved methods to prevent the spread of diseases and cure diseases. [I have addressed this idea more extensively in my blog on healing where I cite the example of Isaiah prescribing the use of cake of figs to heal the boils on Hezekiah’s skin. Do check it out by clicking here].

To those who insist that Christians ought not follow safety protocols during this pandemic, although I may understand where you are coming from, I beg to differ. Should we apply this same understanding of faith to all other issues of safety and wellness? Wouldn’t that mean Christians ought not lock their doors at night because the bible says “… he who watches over Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers.” (Psalm 121:4)? Again, the bible says if the Lord doesn’t watch over a city, the watchman watches in vain (Psalm 127:1). Therefore, are we saying every Christian who has a security guard at post in his/her home isn’t walking by faith?

Even if it was a matter of “faith”, we should understand that different people have different “sizes” of faith. Faith in God varies from person to person usually because of their level of maturity and intimacy with God. When Jesus descended from the mount of transfiguration in Matthew 17, he referred to the faith of his disciples as ‘little faith’ because they couldn’t cast out a devil from a little boy. Therefore, I vehemently oppose this idea that is being pushed by some men of God and specific denominations based on the assumption that everybody operates at the same level of faith. I believe faith and prudence can co-exist. I can have faith in God to do the impossible and still be safety and health conscious. It isn’t a game of choosing either to have faith and act recklessly or choose to be safety and health conscious. The point is to know what God’s word says and to do accordingly. Once we have established the fact that it is a biblical truth for us as children of God to adhere to safety precautions lest we get infected by diseases, then I believe there shouldn’t be any snide comments or mockery coming from anybody (especially Christians) towards believers who want to keep safe in this pandemic.

Faith is a very important concept in Christianity. In fact, nobody becomes and stays a Christian without faith. We are justified by faith and according to Habakkuk 2:4, “the righteous shall live by faith”. This statement is quoted 3 times in the New Testament and it goes to show that the entirety of a Christian’s experience is based on faith. The writer of Hebrews defines faith as the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. It is also stated in James 2:14  that faith without works is dead, therefore, the formula for faith is “belief in God” plus “acting according to that belief”. 

Faith requires you to act according to God’s word. The caveat here is that sometimes God’s word requires that you don’t act at all. Therefore, in some cases, staying put and not moving is an act of faith when it is in accordance with the word of God. One may even argue that inaction is still an action, hence, faith is still an “action word”. For example, when Jesus told his disciples after he resurrected to wait in Jerusalem for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In this instance, the disciples had every reason to scatter abroad since their association with Jesus put their lives in danger as well. But he told them to go to Jerusalem and wait. They complied; they didn’t travel or do anything else but wait for the promise and they had an experience that would forever change the course of history and affect millions of lives all over the world. Also, the movement of the Israelites in the wilderness depended on the movement of the pillar of cloud. This was how God guided them on their way to the promised land. When it moves, they move. When it stops, they stop. In Numbers 9:18-19, we are told that:

As long as the cloud remained over the tabernacle, they remained encamped. Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, the Israelites kept the LORD’s charge and did not set out.…

When an action is done in faith, it means it has its roots in scripture, according to the will of God or it is done at the command of God almighty. Faith is applied according to the will of God for an individual, a people, the body of Christ, or the world at large. For example, Peter was able to walk on water because Jesus gave him permission to do so. Therefore, by acting on that word, he acted in faith. It is very important that we realize how faith has nothing to do with showboating or doing things for the applause of men. 

In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, there have been mixed reactions coming from different denominations of the body of Christ. While some denominations have gone on to emphasize and implement the World Health Organization’s (WHO) safety protocols in their churches, others have said that Christians shouldn’t follow the safety protocols outlined by WHO because doing so is proof of a lack of faith. In the past few weeks, we have also seen the outrage expressed by some men of God against churches buying into the idea of the COVID-19 vaccination. 

One of the verses that some Christians have based their arguments on against adhering to WHO’s safety protocols is Mark 16:18. It is a statement Jesus made after his resurrection in what is popularly known as the Great Commission. He said this was one of the signs that would follow all who believe in him, they will pick up serpents with their hands and if they drink any deadly poison it will not hurt them. Paul in Acts 28:3 had an experience that was close to what is stated above. He gathered a bunch of sticks to lay them on a fire that had already been set, then a viper driven out by the heat of the fire came out and fastened itself to the Apostle’s hand. He shook the snake off into the fire to the amazement of the people gathered there. Some commentaries I have read stated that this is a fulfillment of what Jesus said in the Great Commission. If this assertion is true, there are few points we need to note here from this event and what Jesus said:

1. Paul didn’t intentionally expose himself to the viper just to show that he had faith.
2. Jesus didn’t command us in the Great Commission to go looking for ways to put ourselves in harm’s way. He said, “they will pick up serpents and IF they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them”. 

“They will pick up serpents” doesn’t mean they should intentionally go looking for serpents to pick up but it means if they face the danger of being attacked by a serpent it will be rendered harmless to them. This is exactly what happened to Paul. The second part of the verse even puts things into a better perspective for us. It starts with “IF”, which is often used to introduce conditional or possible situations. So if it so happens that a Christian drinks a poisonous substance and only finds out after he/she has drunk it, it will not hurt the person. 

By definition, faith has nothing to do with intentionally putting yourself in harm’s way and expecting God to deliver you. There is a term for that, it is called “testing God”. Knowing that an act is dangerous to your health and safety but going on to indulge in it is not faith, in the bible, it is termed as testing God. Interestingly, Jesus used this term while responding to the devil’s temptations. The devil, while tempting Jesus, suggested to him that if he could jump off the pinnacle of the temple, God would send his angels to save him. In response, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:6 when he said that “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’”. It is the devil’s preoccupation to get us to test God in our daily lives by pushing us to defy sound logic all in the name of proving our faith or supposedly standing on some scriptures as a foundation to test God. It is important to note that the devil, during this particular temptation, quoted verses of scripture as well. 

”These “sign” miracles are given to encourage us to trust God and not to tempt Him with foolish experiments”. (from Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament. Copyright © 1992 by Chariot Victor Publishing, an imprint of Cook Communication Ministries. All rights reserved.)

One of the facts about faith I mentioned at the beginning of this article is that it is seen when a person acts in accordance to God’s word or a personal instruction they received from God. So you can see in scripture on numerous occasions where God commanded people to do things that would appear dangerous to them and their lives and even that of others. Yet, in those instances, to act on the word of God is an act of faith but to do otherwise is an act of fear. 

Here are a few more points on faith I noted while studying on this topic:

• Faith sometimes is necessitated when God is testing us not when we are testing God – Hebrews 11:17. In this verse, we are told that Abraham was tested by God to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.
• What is done in faith that brings salvation to one person could bring calamity to another when they do not do it in faith – Hebrews 11:29. In this verse, we are told that the Israelites crossed the parted red sea by faith but the Egyptians drowned in it. 
• By faith some people allowed themselves to be persecuted, stoned, sawn in two, and eventually killed – Hebrews 11:37. Faith doesn’t always require you to step out and do some “superhero” stuff. Sometimes, faith gives you the strength to endure painful ordeals in the name of the LORD. 

Usually, we can see defiance in faith. Defiance of natural laws, medical laws, logic, and sometimes even earthly authorities (as in the case of Moses’ birth when his parents defied the authority of the Pharaoh and hid him Hebrews 11:23). However, there are times when faith is in the simple obedience of authority and the wisdom of God. After all, we are admonished in Romans 13:1 to obey earthly authority. The President of Ghana has issued a directive that suggests that safety protocols have to be taken to safeguard the lives of citizens of this country. Defying this and calling it an act of faith is in direct contradiction of the word of God. Especially because the directive will not lead to the persecution of Christians or the church. There is a virus on the loose, what do you do? Just adhere to all the safety protocols outlined by the WHO to prevent you from coming into contact with it and also get vaccinated if possible. To defy this is to intentionally put yourself in harm’s way and endanger the lives of others which cannot be seen as an act of faith. You are testing God, not your faith in him.

The statement, “the righteous shall live by faith” is found in the following New Testament verses: Galatians 3:11 , Romans 1:17, Hebrews 10:38

Jesus sent out his followers expecting them to not only proclaim the gospel, but also heal those who were oppressed by demons through sickness (Luke 9:2). Jesus did so back then, and I believe he is still doing it now. The gift of healing, like all the other gifts, is not reserved for a special group of Christians. The Holy Spirit gives it as he wills and the believer is expected to desire for it earnestly to operate in it (1st Cor 12:11, 14:1). 

I have seen a few posts on social media that seek to ridicule this special gift of God to believers during the COVID-19 global pandemic. These posts seek to question where the men of God who operate in the gift of healing have been hiding in the wake of the pandemic. 

On my social media timelines, most of the people doing the mockery are atheists. Atheists according to the precepts of their worldview, do not believe in anything supernatural hence for them, to question the authenticity of the healing anointing in these times we are in is basically a projection of their worldview. You cannot fault an atheist for thinking and speaking like an atheist. However, I have seen some Christians share these same views in their posts as well. They dare men of God they call ‘Faith Healers’ to come out of hiding, walk into hospitals, demand to have access to those who have been infected by the deadly virus and heal them all. This very much sounds like a challenge. It sounds something like this, ‘if you claim to have the power to heal, prove it to us by healing the COVID19 patients’. 

There are a number of assumptions and misinformation about the healing anointing that probably led to this perception. I will try and address them. First of all, the healing anointing is not authenticated by the number of people, the kinds of people or even the kinds of diseases healed. If there was only a single healing done by Jesus during his entire ministry here on earth, it is enough proof that he can heal the sick. If he healed only blind people in his ministry, it is still enough proof that Jesus can heal. The gifts of the spirit are given for the common good of believers not to satisfy anybody’s curiosity or doubt (1st Corinthians 12:7). 

The second point I would like to establish is the sovereignty of God in the operation of the charismatic gifts, better yet, the sovereignty of God, period! God is sovereign. He takes orders from no one and answers to no one. He has the right to exercise his authority and nobody can question him on that. He gave gifts to men to operate in. He still decides who gets healed and who doesn’t, what to heal and what not to heal, when to heal and when not to heal. There were times when Jesus could minister to a multitude of people and heal all who were sick. Like in Luke 6:19, the bible says as the crowd pressed in to touch him, power emanated from his body to heal them all. You heard right, everybody was healed. But was everybody healed everywhere that the healing power of God was manifested? No! In fact there was a time when Jesus couldn’t heal anybody because of their unbelief. Then there is the story about the healing pool of Bethesda. According to John 5:4, periodically an angel came to stir up the water and right after that the water assumed some healing powers. The first person to plunge into the pool gets healed. So the sick man that Jesus met there, had been lame for 38 years and probably been at the pool for a number of years too, seeking healing. He tells Jesus how there is no one to toss him into the pool when it is stirred. And anytime he makes the move to enter it, another person goes before him and gets healed. The pool of Bethesda was a healing move of God that was in operation at the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem yet not everybody got healed when the pool was stirred. Even in this scenario, we are not told whether Jesus healed any other sick person at the pool apart from the man he spoke with. My point? The fact that not everybody gets healed doesn’t mean what happened wasn’t a move of God. The fact that no supernatural healing happens at all doesn’t mean God isn’t powerful enough to heal. Also, the fact that only a few people are healed doesn’t mean God cannot heal through his servants at all. He chooses to do as he pleases and very much according to his will and purposes for individuals. There are seasons and times for everything – including healing. 

When Christians question the authenticity of the healing anointing on the lives of some men of God during a global pandemic, they are calling into question the sovereignty of God. I know some may argue that they are rather calling out the ‘fake faith healers’ who boast of their healing powers. That is still not enough reason to make social media posts asking for the whereabouts of faith healers during the COVID 19 pandemic. Whether or not people get healed supernaturally during this pandemic does not prove the authenticity of the call of God on anybody’s life. What we are told in scripture is that we will know the fake men of God by their fruits. Their fruits here stands for their general conduct, character and behavior. Do we call out evangelists because the world is drenched in sin and many more people are dying without coming to the saving knowledge of Christ? Do we not see it as a collective responsibility to spread the gospel even in the little corners of the world that we reside? Jesus said the gift of healing is one of the signs that will follow those who believe in him (Mark 16:17-18). One must believe in Christ to be a Christian, so it is our collective responsibility as Christians to pray for the healing of the sick and even raise the dead. So the more important question to ask here is this, have we prayed to God to heal those infected by this dangerous virus? This is not the time to make mockery of anyone. We are warned in scripture that in the last days there will be pestilence (Luke 21:11). The fulfilment of any of the end times prophecy is not a dent in the ministry of any servant of God. There will be wars and rumors of wars in the end times. Do we actually think when these things happen it is enough reason to mock men of God for not praying enough? Where is the sense of responsibility that we should all have concerning things that happen in our world? When Paul became blind, God didn’t use any of the Apostles to heal Paul. No! He used a disciple named Ananias (Acts 9:17-18). The point here is, God can use anybody to heal the sick. So instead of questioning why God isn’t using faith healers to heal those infected by the virus, ask why you haven’t been used by God to do it. 

For if God’s people who are called by his name, would humble themselves and pray, he would hear their prayers from heaven and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14). The spread of this virus should rather drive us to pray for the sick and also for souls to be saved. It should compel us to pray, period! WIll God supernaturally rid this world of the virus? We don’t know. Will he do it through a vaccine? We don’t know. Does God heal through known traditional remedies? Yes, he does, refer to the story of King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20. Whatever way that God chooses to bring healing to this world, it is up to him. Our responsibility here on earth is to pray and observe safety precautions to prevent the spread of the virus. 

I have always told people that my position on healing is the attitude I see Jesus exhibited in scripture when he came into contact with sick people. Anytime he did, he prayed for them. This is what I see in the bible. Do I always have the faith to lay hands on the sick and pray for them? No, I don’t. But this is something I am learning to put into practice these days. When Jesus told his followers to heal the sick in the bible, it was a command. This command still stands today. Will you obey him? 

(Thanks for reading each of the articles in the #COVID19series. I hope you learnt a thing or two about healing, God’s sovereignty and what Christians should do when faced with sickness. It is my prayer that God will heal people of their sicknesses who read any of the parts of this series, in Jesus’ name, Amen!)

In the first part of the series, I wrote largely about Jesus’ healing ministry, the healing gift of God and sickness. This was done to set the tone for the subsequent parts of this series. I came to the realization that some believers, when faced with sickness, attribute it to the sovereignty of God alone. Hence, they see it as a thing to be endured and not to be prayed against. There is not a single time we see Jesus in the gospels encounter a sick person and tell him/her ‘this is the will of God for you’. There were times he healed every sick person in the crowds (Luke 6:19). There was a time when he couldn’t heal anybody at all because of their unbelief (Matthew 13:58). And there was also a time when the healing process was gradual; Jesus had to pray more than once (Mark 8:22-26). Bottomline is, Jesus was/is against sickness. 

I would like to briefly touch on the topic of the sovereignty of God and how some people like to contrast it with the faith a believer has in God’s healing power. To some, God’s sovereignty means, when evil happens to a believer it is always a result of God exercising his sovereign power. I have heard this idea expressed only when something evil happens in the life of a believer, like sickness. If the sickness of a believer is always as a result of the sovereignty of God, then how do we pray against it? 

First of all, the sovereignty of God is in reference to his supreme power and authority. It means, God answers to nobody and he has the right to exercise this authority he has over all creation and even in eternity without any interference from anybody. Basically, to wield this power is to do whatever pleases you without having to explain yourself to anybody. But you see, God is not only sovereign, he is also good. That means he can do whatever pleases him, but the point here is that what pleases him is goodness. Apart from God, there is nobody who can navigate the intersection between sovereignty and goodness. He alone has the capacity to do that because he is sovereign and absolutely good concurrently and in equal measure.

They say ‘power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely’ but God cannot be corrupted by his own power. He is not a man. We need to understand that none of the attributes of God exceed any of his other attributes. So, we cannot say God is more omniscient than he is omnipotent. All of his attributes are whole and absolute in him and that is what makes him God. So my point is, God is as sovereign as he is good; he is not more sovereign than good and vice versa. Also, we cannot assume that anytime a believer is having a hard time then it means God is exercising his sovereign power alone. He is also good, and his goodness is expressed all over scripture. That is why the bible speaks of the healing power of God. It is a reference to the point that when we encounter sickness, God’s power is available to bring healing to the person because God is good too. When a believer is going through hard times, it is because God is so good that  he will use those hard times for the good of that person who is called according to his purpose. Whatever God says or does is in the power and authority of who he is and that is all his attributes combined. So there is nothing God does that is purely because of his  sovereignty without it being ultimately good. There is nothing God says that is solely because he is omniscient and not because he is a loving and good God. We see this convergence of God’s seemingly contrasting attributes especially at the cross. His attributes that seem contrasting only appear so from a human perspective, but in God they dwell amicably in perfect harmony. For example, the cross of Jesus meant justice for the sins of the world and it meant mercy and grace for sinners. God is just and he is merciful, nobody can marry justice and mercy in one act like God did. John Njoroge of RZIM puts it this way:

It was at the Cross of Jesus where God’s justice was perfectly administered and his eternal mercy publicly displayed when God took upon Himself the punishment meant for the guilty.

Read the full article here.

Let’s take for example, a person suffering from a disease for 16 years. What should be my words of encouragement to this person? I will remind the person that God is good and he is sovereign. He is so good that he can use sickness to bring glory to his holy name. God does this in 2 ways:

1. When he gives grace to the person to endure the sickness until the day they get healed or leave this earth.
2. When he heals the person.

I will also remind this individual of the sovereignty of God and how God can overturn any situation – including sickness –  without having to answer to anybody. In the face of a global pandemic that is taking thousands of lives, I will say the same thing. God is sovereign and good. Because I believe this, I will pray continually for him to heal our world. If I resign and say that ‘well, this may actually be an act of God’s sovereignty so what’s the point praying against it?’ I am not being a good Christian. 

God’s goodness makes him as mysterious as his sovereignty does. The Psalmist said that God forgives us so that he may be feared (Psalm 130:4). Which means the reverential fear we have for God is as a result of his mercies (his goodness). God is so sovereign he can allow evil to thrive and later use it all for his glory. These two attributes of God make him mysterious. When Jesus was informed about the ill health of Lazarus, these were his exact words ‘this illness does not lead to death’ which means some illnesses lead to death (most, actually). Jesus loved Lazarus, Mary and Martha, however, he delayed in responding to their distress call. He actually delayed so that they would see the glory of God. You know how the story goes (John 11:1-16). Christ shows up at the tomb of Lazarus and resurrects him from the dead. God is good and sovereign at the same time. He is so good he used Lazarus’ illness and death to illustrate the fact that the resurrection is not an event but a person. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He is so sovereign that he can even bring the dead back to life. Death isn’t sovereign. Death doesn’t wield ultimate power over us. This is what the resurrection of Lazarus meant, that there is one who doesn’t only bring the dead back to life but he is in himself the Resurrection and the Life. He is life: the direct opposite of death. 

God is sovereign. I couldn’t trust sovereignty in the hands of anybody apart from God. Because ‘there is none good but God’, as Jesus said. If anybody or anything apart from God was the sovereign authority in both eternity and time, since that person or entity isn’t ultimately good, we would have to expect an abuse of that power. But our God is sovereign and good at the same time. He doesn’t answer to the laws of nature. God doesn’t have to explain to us why he resurrected lazarus from the dead. He just did it for his glory and that’s that.

Job’s story typifies all that we have discussed to this point. He was a good man. If we go with the expectations of man then it means he wasn’t deserving of any evil. God himself describes Job as a ‘blameless and upright man’ and that ‘there is none like him on the earth’ (Job 1:8). The devil had no intention of attacking Job but God himself suggested it to him. God asked Satan, ‘have you considered my servant Job?’. Satan then argued that Job was only as devoted as he was to God because God had blessed him exceedingly and had mounted a hedge around him. He proceeded with his argument by stating that if God were to remove the hedge, Job would curse God to his face. Guess what God did? No, he didn’t rebuke Satan, he rather removed the hedge of protection he had put around Job and asked Satan to do whatever he wanted to do with Job but he shouldn’t touch his life. Satan inflicted all manner of evil on Job: Job lost his properties, he lost his children and he was later stricken with “loathsome sores from the soles of his foot to his crown of his head”. The question is, if God is good then why did he allow Satan to inflict so much pain on Job? God isn’t only good, he is also sovereign. This means that he still reserves the right to do what pleases him without owing anyone an explanation, including his children. So while it may not make sense to us why God would do such a thing to somebody who was blameless like Job, we have to understand that God is sovereign. In the end, this is what Job himself says about God:

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Job 42:2 ESV

There you have it, Job understood that God can do anything and his plans cannot be thwarted by anybody. God does what he does because he is sovereign and we know it will all turn out for the good of his children because he is good. In fact, he is absolutely good. He is so good anything or anybody we can describe as good is utterly evil in comparison to God. At the end of Job’s story, we see God bless Job with more than he had before:

And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters.

Job 42:12‭-‬13 ESV

This is the confident assurance I have in God, that he is sovereign and good at the same time. I may not like what I am going through right now, but so far as I remain submitted to his will, it will all work out beautifully for my good. My God is sovereign and good!

At least once every month I see a street magician set up his ‘apparatus’ at some vantage point on the streets of Accra to display his magical powers in the full glare of a captivated crowd encircling him and his side kick. I have been told that it is actually a ploy to create the opportunity for pickpockets to steal from people. I don’t know how true that is but what I do know is that the goal of a street magician is to ‘WOW’ his audience but the end goal of the miraculous is to solve a problem and glorify God.

In 2015 I was in a service and Dr. Lawrence Tetteh prayed for a little girl whose legs were unequal in length. All of us in the congregation literally saw the little girl’s leg grow out slowly. It was amazing. I had never seen anything like that before. I was wowed! It was spectacular. However, the point is God didn’t set out to impress us by that miracle that day. He has already done that enough in the splendor and majesty of the universe and creation at large. That day God simply set out to solve a problem in a little girl’s life. It was a health problem. This reality dawned on me when the lady sitting next to me told me the little girl’s story. Apparently, she knew her and long story short, the little girl was supposed to have a surgery some time ago but her parents couldn’t afford it. It was then that it really dawned on me that what just happened was a major solution to a problem in the little girl’s life only that the solution came dressed in the supernatural. The miraculous is meant to make social impact so let’s not get lost in the grandeur and forget the true purpose of miracles. In my opinion this is the reason why Jesus didn’t sin when the devil tempted him. He knew that the true purpose of the miraculous was to help people and bring glory to God. Miracles are not done to merely show off God’s power. Some of us wouldn’t have even known that the devil was tempting us if we were in Jesus’ shoes. We would have seen it as an opportunity to show off God’s power. But it wasn’t. Where is the problem solved? Where is the glory to God? If Jesus had done the devil’s bidding he would have cheapened the miraculous and dishonored God who gives us power to do miracles.

When Jesus healed the blind, the lame, the leprous etc. he was solving health problems. In the book of Acts Peter’s shadow and aprons rubbed off on Paul’s body healed sick people – a solution to health problems too. When Joseph, used his gift of prophecy (word of wisdom) to save Egypt and other nations from famine, he was solving a hunger and economic problem. When Jesus fed the 5000 men and the 4000 men, he too was solving a hunger problem. When Moses used the power of his rod to save the children of Israel from Egypt, he was solving a slavery and servitude problem. The bad water of Jericho was killing people, when Elisha prophesied over the water and turned it into good water, he was solving an environmental problem. In the garden of Gethsemane when the soldiers came for Jesus, Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of the soldiers. Jesus healed the soldier (by putting the ear back in its place, I suppose) right there and then he rebuked Peter. When Jesus did that, he was dealing with the problem of religious extremism. When Jesus instructed Peter to go catch a fish, open its mouth and remove some money from it and use it to pay the temple tax, what he was doing was employing the miraculous to solve a financial problem in the temple. I can go on and on and space and time won’t allow me to finish giving examples.

In our day and age though there is a dramatic advancement in science and technology yet the miraculous has not lost its essence. Healing evangelists are moving from town to town, city to city and country to country, healing the sick, raising the dead and above all restoring the lost to the fold of God. These are examples of social problems being solved by the hand of God. Advancement in knowledge doesn’t mean the miraculous is outmoded neither does the miraculous imply that there is no need for pursuing knowledge. We need Christians to function in both capacities to the glory of God. I believe the advancement humanity has made in knowledge helps us (those who haven’t experienced certain health problems before) appreciate the cost of a miracle sometimes. Until you know how expensive an eye surgery is, you will never understand the joy of a poor blind man healed at one of the Healing Jesus Crusades organized by Bishop Dag Heward Mills. We may never know what it feels like to be blind, but the fact that we can put a price tag on what it takes to make a blind man see, when his sight is restored unto him by an act of God, we too can understand to some extent what it means.

The miraculous must always be employed to solve problems in the lives of people and ultimately bring glory and joy to God. Jesus said in Matthew 10:8 “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give”. This sounds like a command to believers. We are commanded to do these things. Are you carrying out this command? Am I? The last sentence also sounds like a caveat. We are warned by Jesus to do all these things without taking a fee because the ability to do miracles is given to believers freely. Remember, when a socially impactful activity is made for sale it is no longer a noble act but a business. So may we not make profit from that which we have been commanded to give freely.

The lady next to me was on her feet as well. You could tell she had a lot to say as she looked at me with eyes that were glistening because they were teary. She had a lot to say; her whole demeanor depicted one who had some sort of fire burning inside of her, causing her discomfort. But the greatest discomfort was, trying to hold herself back, and if you like, trying to tame the wild fire. You could tell vividly that she wanted to scream but her words rolled off her tongue in a murmur: a soft speech under her breath. She said to me, ‘I know that girl; we met once at the hospital. We had both gone there to see the doctor. That day the doctor told us we would have to undergo a surgical operation to correct the deformity in our legs. She told me later that her parents could not afford it – mine could, anyway – so I encouraged her. I told her not to lose faith and that God will make a way’. By saying ‘God will make a way, I am sure she meant God will make the needed amount for the surgery available. She obviously didn’t expect God to come through for the little girl in such a dramatic fashion. All of us in the auditorium that day were stunned at the sight of the miracle but the lady next to me was hit the hardest. Obviously due to her past encounter with both the little girl and the same condition. Seeing a condition literally vanish into thin air in such a dramatic way was awesome. Especially if you once had the same deformity and had to pay a huge sum of money to get it fixed (in this case, the lady next to me). My life hasn’t been the same since that day. What happened? Did the Evangelist stretch the little girl’s left leg till it was of the same length as the right? Was it thermal expansion? They say there is a scientific explanation for every phenomenon, so I guess it was thermal expansion: the process by which heated objects increase in size. I cannot explain it, but I know I saw it together with the hundreds of congregants on that day.

The occurrence of miracles simply reiterates the fact that not everything can be explained scientifically. That is the very reason why some scientists do not believe in them. They claim miracles are a breach of natural laws and since that is impossible then it means those who claim to have witnessed miracles are delusional. I love C.S Lewis’ explanation of what miracles are. He made this illustration:

‘when I put 2 dollars on a table and add 2 dollars to it later, it equals 4 dollars. Leaving the money on the table, when I come back and only see 2 dollars, it doesn’t mean that the laws of arithmetic have been broken, but it means that the laws of ALABAMA have been broken’.

What he is saying here is, when there is a strange occurrence, especially one occurring in a realm where there are laws, we need not always allude it to a breach of the laws. Those two dollars he came to meet on the table later on do not signify that the laws of arithmetic have been broken (since 2+2 equals 4). They signify that the laws of Alabama have been broken, in the sense that, it is likely somebody came in to steal the other 2 dollars. Do we say that this person broke the laws of arithmetic or the laws of Alabama? Certainly not the law of arithmetic because he operates in a different realm and that realm is governed by laws too. So the thief broke the laws of Alabama because he is under those laws. One can only break a law he is under. When it comes to miracles, we are talking about God here. He doesn’t have to break any natural laws, because he isn’t subject to them in the first place. He is God. Many claim the bible is full of fables because most of the happenings in it cannot be verified scientifically. Well of course, the bible is a book about God and his relationship with men and anywhere there is God you should expect supernatural occurrences. I have seen police officers direct traffic many times even though the lights were working. This is usually due to the heavy nature of the vehicular traffic on those roads that day. On such occasions, the cars obey the policeman and not the traffic lights. The red light could be on, but the officer would beckon that particular row of cars to move because that power has been vested in him. Do we say the policeman has broken the laws of Ghana because of that act? Certainly not, on such occasions, he has the authority and sovereignty to do so. So in the case of miracles, think of God as the policeman who stepped in to direct traffic. Though there are laws governing natural occurrences, He steps in to do his will as He pleases. That is SOVEREIGNTY!

 
Miracles are supernatural occurrences that cannot be explained; Creation in itself is a miracle. The universe is arranged too systematically for it to have just occurred without an agent creating or even guiding it. The many stars and galaxies, the sun and the other heavenly bodies and the other planets couldn’t have been created out of nothing by nothing. Instead of scientist giving God the credit for these things, they would rather give it to a random occurrence. In 1929, Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe is expanding. This claim is held in high esteem by scientists the world over. It is also a proven fact that the earth is hanging in space. More than 5000 years before that, these 2 facts were recorded in the book of Job:

‘He stretches out the north over the empty SPACE, and hangs the earth on nothing’ Job 26:7.

It says ‘He stretches…’ implying that it is an on-going activity; it never ended. God hasn’t stopped expanding the universe, otherwise the verse would have read, ‘He stretched…’ which would have communicated a sense of finality. I am fascinated by the fact that the author of the book of Job knew that the earth hanged on nothing. How did he know that? Was he an astronaut? Did he know Neil Armstrong? Maybe he owned a spaceship. Whatever the case may be, the author knew something that took 1000s of years for the smartest brains of this world to know. The irony of the whole situation is in the fact that children at Sunday school probably knew this and erudite scientists had to wait till 1929 to be sure of it. Wait… let that sink in.

I believe in miracles because I have seen many in my own life and in the lives of others. Day in and day out I encounter people who operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit which are a tangible proof of the existence of God. It is my prayer that many Christians shall hunger for God more and he will also grant us these gifts to help in showcasing his power thereby pointing many to him. At the display of such gifts, many shall run and announce, like the woman at the well, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did’ – Jesus. Our God is alive and not dead.