Wonder of Wonders

by Rocky Fleming

Day 3: Miracles, Only the Work of God

mir·a·cle –
“a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency”

You know the definition of miracle has to be credited to a vague term like “divine agency” in order to not offend the other religions, right?   That is why we read the definition used in Google as seen above. The reason for this vagueness is the culture we live in, and it is also likely the reason why we are not seeing more true miracles in our culture.  We do not expect miracles, we do not know who performs miracles, and our agnostic culture is ashamed to admit that it could be God, and specifically Jesus.   

Therefore this culture throws out a generic term like this in order to not offend, and also not to be identified as ignorant, unintelligent or addicted to religion like a drug as Marx said.  Karl Marx said that religion is the opium of the people.  He was the father of communism.  Look how good that worked out.  He was an atheist until he experienced about a minute of death, and then he came to the reality of facing the God he had denied existed.  Think of how that will work out when he comes into judgment by that same God.  

The truth is, our culture cannot teach us about the character and heart of God, for it denies His existence.  If this culture caves into a radical religious threat as we see happening by our political leaders to self-protect, still they will deny that Jesus is God and is the only way to eternal life.  Why is this?  It is because they are not concerned with truth, only a perception of tolerance for religion in general.  We wonder why we do not see the miracles being seen in other cultures?  Go figure.

Why are there miracles happening in other cultures that no longer happen in our culture?  It is because they are unashamed of the Gospel.  They would rather die than to deny the truth by which we are given salvation, and yes, they know where miracles come from.  If we ever hope to see the wonders that God can perform in our culture and that can turn hearts and souls toward God, we can no longer be ashamed to tell the truth.  We must be clear, even though the truth will offend.  Sorry for this, but the truth is more important than living and dying with ignorance of God’s provision for mankind.

Now let’s be specific.  Miracles are the work of the only Divine Agency in existence.  That Divine Agency is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit of God Almighty.  Jesus is the way and the only way to Almighty God.  No other religion will take a person to an intimate Father relationship with God.  No other religion will save a person.  Jesus is the only way.  This is the Gospel.  If our culture, including you and me, include other religions as “just another way”, we misrepresent the Gospel.  If we agree with a Muslim message that we are hearing that Allah and God are the same, ask this person if the Muslims believe that Jesus is God.  You will understand in a hurry by the response that they do not see God the same way, for they do not believe Jesus and Father God are the same.  Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God, and we offend the Gospel to accept that point of view.  This is important to understand if we want and expect God to shed His miracles upon us, and the Church in America needs to see His miracles don’t we?

Miracles are a demonstration of God’s power, His glory and for His purpose.  They are given not for man’s purposes, but for God’s purposes.  God’s purpose is that mankind knows Him through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The miracles are given to open our eyes and hearts to this fact, and to support the mission  God gives us which is to make His Son known.  With this said, let’s talk about a much needed power that He might give us to live in this world and to be the Church that is needed in our culture if we will turn our life toward Him.  Our culture needs Jesus and His Church needs to be empowered to do a great work in this culture.  So let’s do what we need to do to usher this movement into His Church, and then watch what He can do through us.