Does God Still Work Miracles Today?

Does God still perform miracles today? Are there still miraculous healings done in this age of the church? Can we still expect miraculous healings that Jesus and the apostles performed in the New Testament? What does the Bible say about miracles?

Theology vs. History

A major mistake that most people who read the Bible is that they read the book of Acts or the accounts of Jesus’ ministry in the New Testament and assume that these same miracles should still be occurring today. Jesus raised people from the dead, caste out demons, and healed the sick. So too did some of the apostles in the book of Acts. Paul raised one young man from the dead. Some were healed just by being in the shadow of a passing apostle.

There is a decided difference in the Bible that few people seem to disseminate. That is there is a difference between theology and historical accounts. If you read the gospels or the book of Acts, you read of the history of Jesus’ ministry and the history of the early church through the apostles. There exists a difference between the gospels and the book of Acts and the letters in the New Testament of Paul, Peter, James, and the other general epistles. The book of Acts and the gospels are historical accounts and are more concerned with recording events of Jesus’ ministry and the history of the early church. Conversely, the general epistles are more concerned with theology. You can not read of an account in the book of Acts and assume that is the theology and that the things recorded should be still occurring today in the church.

One example is that there have been no authenticated accounts in the modern day church where a man or woman of God has laid hands on a dead person and raised them to life. And people who lie to church leaders die instantly like Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira did for lying to the Holy Spirit and Peter when they withheld part of the money they had given to the church for land they had sold. Neither has anyone seen cloven tongues of fire over the heads of people who had received the Holy Spirit. No churches at present have members speaking in languages other than their own languages like they did in the book of Acts. These were one time occurrences that were used by God to establish the authenticity of the New Testament church. To use historical accounts of the gospels and the book of Acts is to misapply the intent of these books.

Healings Still Occur

There are literally hundreds of accounts of miraculous healings today among countless Christians but these are at the discretion of God alone. God miraculously heals some while choosing not to heal others for His divine purpose. No one would accuse the apostle Paul of having a weak faith, yet God refused to heal him after he asked three times. In God’s higher wisdom, He knows who and what to heal and what is best for the believer in choosing not to heal someone. Yes, miracles still happen, but they are not at the direction or discretion of believers but a decision of God alone. He does heal through petitions of prayers but there are times when His answer is no because He has a higher purpose in mind. Our sufferings and afflictions work out a purpose that we may not be able to understand at this time (Romans 8).

Miracles Still Happen

God is still in the business of miracles. I believe that the greatest miracle of all is that of converting a blind sinner to see their sin and to change the human heart; from one of serving the god of this world to seeing their own sin and the need of a Savior in Jesus Christ. The miracle of human conversion is actually greater than any healing miracle because this brings eternal life in Christ. A healing miracle is only temporary. The person healed will eventually die but the one that is born-again has inherent eternal life that can never be lost and that person can live with God for eternity, never to die again (John 3:16).

Those who call themselves or are called by others as “faith healers” are not biblical in any sense. For one thing, God is the one who chooses to heal a person. Supposed faith healers have a win-win situation. If they “heal” a person, then they get the credit because they laid hands on them. If they are not able to heal someone, they usually say that the person lacked faith in God. Jesus never, ever failed to heal even one person on account of their lack of faith. Neither did any of the apostles neglect to have someone healed due to the person’s lack of faith in God. Those faith healers who attribute the inability of someone to be healed on their lack of faith ignore biblical theology. Faith is a gift of God and it is the faith that comes from God alone, freely, and not of our own selves. He might use the prayers of believers but He nowhere says in the general epistles in the New Testament that healing will always occur.

Faith healers have been exposed as charlatans, some have their own “sick and infirmed” that they supposedly heal but many of these are the same people are known and used repeatedly by the fake faith healers. If a person comes to them that they do not know and they are not healed, then they can shatter this persons faith in themselves and can cause them to fall away from the faith in God on account of God’s inability to heal them. Faith healers have done more harm than good. True healing is a healing of a sinner’s heart; through repentance, brokenness, and a need for a Savior by realizing their own sinfulness.

Receive Your Own Miracle

If you are a born-again believer, then you have received the greatest miracle that any human could ever experience. It is a miracle in the sense that you were once an enemy of God, was blind but now can see, and were separated from God by your sin. Jesus took on God’s wrath in your place. God sent the Holy Spirit to reveal Who Jesus is. He turned the heart of stone into a heart of flesh. You now have eternal life and can never, ever be lost (John 10:28-29). The fact is that this is the greatest miracle of all and one that supersedes all of the miracles of healing or being raised from the dead that have ever been written in the Bible.

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What Do Christians Believe About Dinosaurs?

What is Speaking in Tongues?

Does The Bible say What the Devil Looks Like?

Sources

The Holy Bible, New International Version

Tagged as: Bible Answers, Christian Answers, Miracles