Church’s obsession with Signs and Wonders!

A few years ago I visited a church which has so many branches. The sermon was a topical one mainly concerned with spiritual gifts and healing.

As the service ended, one of the elders of the church asked me: “What did you think of the service?”

Me: “Do you want my honest opinion?”

He: “sure!”

Me: “I think the sermon was totally unbiblical!”

He: “why do you say that?”

Me: “Let me explain”

I began quoting statements from the sermon and then showing how they contradicted the Bible. I thought he would become defensive or reject what I had said but.....

He: I agree with what you say!

Me: 😳

He: “You see. Our church used to be very conservative. But then we lost a lot of people. The church was dying. So we thought of starting a new form of spirituality that would attract the young people!”

Me: 😳

I did not know what to say. Here was a church elder admitting that the sermon was unbiblical and contradicting God’s Word and yet totally comfortable with that since it fits within their scheme of attracting young people!

Signs and Wonders are attractive! I get that! I was attracted to it once. I remember watching Benny Hinn many years ago (when I was a new believer) on Satellite TV in Iran (the sad irony that sound Biblical material was so difficult to access but prosperity gospel was on 24 hours a day!!). I was amazed at what I saw...for a couple of weeks. I started doing research and found out what a conman he is!

On another occasion, I was sitting at a table with two Christians and a Muslim. One of the Christians started telling the Muslim how she had become a believer. A family member had been diagnosed with a disease. She had prayed to Jesus saying she would become a Christian if the family member would be healed. It had happened and she had become a Christian. The Muslim guy smiled and said: “That is a beautiful story! I can tell you of many similar ones in Islam. Many people have prayed and asked for an Imam to intercede on their behalf (within Shiite Islam) and they got healed!

The Christian lady had nothing more to say!

There was nothing more to say! You cannot reject a healing experience among non-Christians as not genuine! They can show you the medical records!

This is what happens when one ties the truth of Christianity with a supernatural experience. The truth of Christianity rests on who Jesus is, His death and resurrection. Whether that family member was healed or not does not change the fact that more than 2000 years ago Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins and rose again after three days.

Do I believe that God still heals people? Absolutely!

Do I believe we should be praying for someone’s healing?

Absolutely!

But I do not believe that there is any guarantee that every time we pray, God would heal the sick! He is not under any obligation to do so. He has never promised to do so.

This is why we should be extremely careful when we share our testimonies with others (believes and unbelievers alike) specially when it involves something like healing. Imagine what would be going on in a person’s mind when he or she hears that:

“This man had a sick friend/family member. He prayed and God healed his friend/relative. I have a sick brother. I will do the same”

What if his brother is not healed?!

He will be thinking:

-may be I did not have enough faith! -may be I did not say the right words! -may be he did not share with me the right way to pray! -may be I did not pray as many times as I should have! -may be God shows favoritism! -.....................

There are few things worse than doing this to someone. As one of my mentors rightly says: “Never make your experience someone’s else’s expectation”.

But that is exactly what the false nonsensical prosperity gospel teaches: Expect to be healed. Expect to be healthy and wealthy and successful and ....

By all means share your testimony, tell people of God’s amazing work in your life, bring glory to Him, BUT please make sure you tell people that there is absolutely no guarantee that God would work in the exactly same way in their lives. Tell them about who God is, not simply what He can do for them.

And NEVER ever assume that simply because there are signs and wonders, there is a necessary link with the truth even in a church. Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:21-23

“"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'”

Notice that Jesus does not question the fact that they indeed had done real wonders IN HIS NAME!! Yet He never knew them. They were never part of His flock.

Ultimately, we need to ask ourselves “what is the point of our obsession with physical healing”? Death will come one day sooner or later. And how many times we had fallen sick, how many times we had been healed or not makes no difference, has no impact whatsoever on our eternity. Our faith in Christ is what matters... Our greatest problem is not sickness. Our greatest problem is sin. Our greatest need is not healing. It is forgiveness. It is being reconciled to God.

The first thing Jesus said to the paralytic man whose friends removed the roof to send him down was “Your sins are forgiven”. Because if that man was healed but he did not stand in the right relationship with His creator, his healing would have meant nothing!

And our greatest problem has been dealt with...on the Cross... Jesus Christ died on the cross to bear the holy and righteous wrath of God that you and I deserved, so now we have the guarantee that if we have faith in Him, our sins have been forgiven and one day we will stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Christ. He victoriously rose again from the dead so now we have the guarantee that if we trust Him, we will also be raised back to life, not like Lazarus to die again later, but to life in eternity in a world where there is no sickness, sorrow and evil.

Tell people about who God is. The Holy, Righteous, Just, Loving and Gracious God who saved us from sin and death. What greater wonder than that should we look for? We who were once enemies of God, being spiritually dead, have now been raised to life and redeemed by the blood of Christ. What greater miracle than that should we be seeking?