Signs, wonders, miracles, deliverance and healing are for today

Signs, wonders, miracles, deliverance and healing are for today, they have not disappeared, nor have the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

There’s a wrong notion being sent across various Christian circles that signs, wonders, miracles, deliverance and healing were only for the times of the Apostles and the time when Jesus was on earth. They also say that God no longer speaks to people, so they effectively label all visions and prophesy nowadays as falsehood. This is also called as “Cessationism”. Well this thing called Cessationism is not Biblical at all.

One such Cessationist says ‘”there are no New Testament instructions about appointing apostles, prophets, healers, or anything of the kind”. I wish that they had actually read the New Testament completely in the first place before making such an outlandish statement.

Let’s read 1 Corinthians 12:1-10 which shows who is one who gives the ministries of signs, wonders, miracles, deliverance and healing and you’ll realize that he’s none other than the Holy Spirit:

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. ³ Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

⁴ Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; ⁵ and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; ⁶ and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. ⁷ To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ⁸ For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

To be a Cessationist is to be in danger of offending or at some point even blaspheming the Holy Spirit. And remember the following Bible verse:

Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew 12:31-32)

Going by the logic of the Cessationist’s miracles do not happen anymore. Somehow, they have not noticed or rather refuse to acknowledge any signs, wonders, miracles, deliverance and healing which happen in the name of Jesus all across the world even TODAY. Why don’t they directly go one on one with preachers who preach deliverance and healing which comes from the Gospel? Why don’t they try to speak to people who were terminally ill and got healed because someone prayed for them in the name of Jesus? The odd answer they will give is that they believe in Cessationism because their religious teachers taught them so and because of this, it must be true. This is not discernment at all.

Now for these people, if a miracle were to happen nowadays in name of Jesus Christ then what would be their reaction? Most probably they will still try to push their man made ‘doctrine’ instead of investigating if that miracle were true.

Why is it that they don’t want people to get healed in the name God? What makes them so adamant against deliverance which includes casting out evil spirits out of suffering people? Why is it that they don’t want to talk about miracles that still happen today at church as valid and true? One reason could be that signs, wonders, miracles, deliverance and healing which happen in the name of Jesus require faith but they prefer to exercise ‘doctrine’ instead of living by faith.

And Jesus said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. ¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸ 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.” (Mark 16:15-18)

Signs and wonders have been included the Great commission as mentioned above by Jesus. And this was NOT limited to the Apostles. It’s very clear “And these signs will accompany those who believe” and by this it means this was not limited to the Apostles alone.

Now Cessationist‘s misinterpret the following Bible verses and use them to blindly label other Christians as heretics and imposters:

²¹ “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. ²² 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?’ ²³ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

They fail to see that in the verses prior that Jesus warned about false prophets telling to us to recognize them by their fruits. But Cessationist‘s have made up their mind to ignore the words of Jesus and forgo any sort of discerning but  simply label all those who prophesy and cast out demons in the name of Jesus as workers of lawlessness. Somehow they don’t have the time to verify if someone truly works for the Lord or not. They are completely obsessed with tackling teachers of evil that they forget the basic differences between the good and the evil one’s.

I would ask such people who indulge in Cessationism to might as well read the following words by Jesus:

²⁴ “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. ²⁶ And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

Cessationism decides to cherry pick on the Bible. Whatever verses they want to use to either justify their doctrine is most welcome. The same applies for using Bible verses for falsely accusing other Christians. However, they choose to ignore and even challenge Bible verses such as Mark 16:15-18, 1 Corinthians 12:1-10 etc so that people avoid doing wonders in the name of Jesus.

If you have been taught Cessationism, I would say that read the Bible for yourself plain and simple to understand the facts. But if you still persist on holding on to Cessationism, then why do you pray to God for discernment and safety and still expect God to reply to your problems with favor? Well, for myself I do not believe in Cessationism but believe in Christ the Son of God who still replies to prayers with blessings, healing and power.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people (1 Timothy 2:1)

 

¹² “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. (John 14:12-14)

The above words were spoken by Jesus about those who believe (not just the Apostles), that they would do the works (of healing, deliverance etc) like him and would do even more greater that him. This is not about personal exaltation but about glorifying the Lord God in his Son Jesus. Read it again if you must but still there no mention about such things ceasing after the time of the Apostles.

Christ be with you!

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Related articles

• Why is God so different in the Old Testament than He is in the New Testament? (altruistico.wordpress.com)
• The Holy Spirit: Deconstructing Cessationism (revolfaith.com)
• Deconstructing Cessationism: Part 2 (revolfaith.com)

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, so beware of it!

All praise and glory to the Lord God Almighty the Father along with our Lord Jesus Christ in union with His Holy Spirit. Thanks be to Jesus Christ for giving us the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us in this world and in the world to come. Amen.

Neglecting, ignoring and opposing the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, is the Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. If there is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, and you say it is from the devil, you are dangerously blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Don’t Risk It!  Don’t resist the movements of the Holy Spirit, that is the Blasphemy we were warned about. (Robert Brownell)

There are three sins mentioned in the Bible that cannot be forgiven and of them only for one you still have a chance out of it. Here are the trio:

1. Receiving the mark of the Beast and worshiping the image of the Beast. (refer Revelation 14:9-12)
2. Unforgiveness. (refer Matthew 6:14-15)
3. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Of these three sins only unforgiveness has a cure which is that before a person dies, he or she must actually forgive those who sinned against them. There is no other remedy to unforgiveness than to forgive. The other two sins are totally unpardonable forever.

Coming to the main topic about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, one must realize that there is absolutely no forgiveness for this sin. Even Jesus won’t forgive those who sin against the Holy Spirit. You can read the verse Mark 3:22-30 mentioned below which confirm this:

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

You can also read the below verses which confirm the same thing:

Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew 12:31-32)

One must take note of the word ‘whoever’ in the above verses. This means it applies to everyone in the world including atheists. There are various skeptics against the Christian faith who have gone to the extent of churning out blasphemies against the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t matter what they do or do not believe in, they are already under eternal condemnation. Don’t waste your time on such blasphemers as even the Gospel can’t save them now. This also applies to people who do believe in the existence of God as well that they must never blaspheme the Holy Spirit. As Christians, there should be no one so wicked as to commit this sin and so be condemned.

How does the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit manifest?

There are two major ways that I noticed how this happens:

1. There are fools who directly speak evil against the Holy Spirit. They may also use cartoons, literature, videos etc to do this.
2. There are people who criticize, oppose, reject and ignore the workings of the Holy Spirit through various individuals, ministries, groups etc. (This usually doesn’t happen overnight)

One must be very careful about blaming other Christians in saying that they are doing the works of demons. Just because you can’t understand them doesn’t mean they are always wicked. You need to check if they manifest the fruits of the Holy Spirit and do they preach Christ crucified and his resurrection.

For instance, there’s a young man who comes to church and after the church service waits outside and starts praying for sick people and they get healed. Then don’t be rash in judgement saying he does this by demonic powers because he wasn’t doing this in the church. What if he was doing this by the Holy Spirit and you were impulsive to skip all the due diligence but instead directly accused him? How would you be answerable to God for that?

So what I suggest is that if there is such a person you encounter then walk up to him with your church preacher and/or with some mature Christians and question him about his methods, doctrines and behavior. Ask him why did he, all of a sudden come to start healing and also what is his mission towards God. Ask him does he believe that Jesus is Lord and that God raised from the dead on the third. Then check back on the Bible and see if any of the things he mentioned or does contradicts the teaching of the Bible. You can then accuse the person if he indeed does go against the Lord God in any way. Be wise enough that you actually mention the sin or wrongdoing along with valid proof, if you’re warning others. That too warn others because you don’t wish them to be in deception.

Another example, is when ministries or church groups accuse each other blindly instead of checking for the facts. This is true in cases when their members are filled with misplaced pride about their sect or denomination instead of being focused on the Lord Jesus Christ. They will rally forth a huge volley of insults calling each other ‘demon led’, heretics, new world order stooges, [insert swear word] of Babylon, damned sinners and what not, on seeing that the people they oppose are doing great works in the name of the Lord Jesus and winning more converts to the Christian faith than them. Some of them even incorporate this into their doctrines and close the doors on open dialogue between opposing groups.

This name calling goes on really foolishly, especially on online forums that even unbelievers are shocked or amused by this. Now once in a while a person comes by and then asks them what is the actual crime they accuse each other of, then on systematic checking he realizes that these are not true or simply speculations. It’s quite a weird situation then, when such people are found to be foolishly accusing each other without valid proof. One excuse which is given when they’re caught is that they say they need to test every spirit. Well, ‘test every spirit’ means you actually test instead of jump the gun and directly accuse each other.

We are called to test every spirit. Any evil spirit you encounter, go ahead rebuke it in the name of Jesus. Keep your peace when any person is talking things contrary to the Gospel and if you want to rebuke or expose his falsehood, then do so with due diligence. You don’t need to become a person who speaks foul language even against blasphemers. Even the angels of God despite being powerful know to conduct themselves with honor. Jude 1:9 says that; But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

1 John 4:1-6 has excellent principles on how to test the Spirits. Here we go:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

So do check the facts before blaming anyone who is doing the works of God. Forgive those who sinned against you and reject the Evil One. Love and respect the Holy Spirit at all times. Give glory to God in all that you do.

Related articles

• Unforgiveness Is Unforgivable
• Excuse My Scepticism
• Don’t Cross the Line
• The Power of Forgiveness
• The Spirit In You Knows the Truth

Beware of doubting your forgiveness by Christ

I was once leading praise and worship for a few christian youth. Everyone was participating in the songs to praise God. Now in that service I just felt like singing a song thanking Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. Suddenly most of the youth were feeling uneasy singing that song. So I decided to repeat this song again. Same lack of joy. I then realized in spirit that most of the youth doubted the forgiveness that comes from Christ.

So I stopped everyone and asked “do you feel forgiven?” And I noticed doubtful faces to that question. Most were avoiding that question. I told them no matter how many times you have sinned Jesus will forgive you of them all. They seemed a bit better on hearing this. I spoke about genuine repentance and forgiveness. After that I asked let’s all pray together asking Jesus for the forgiveness for our sins and then we will go on to thank Jesus for that. All were fine with that. So I led them in prayer asking for forgiveness from God for all their sins. Then when we sang back the song about thanking Christ for the forgiveness of sins everyone was fully into praising the Lord with genuine joy.

By this experience I realized that lack of faith in being forgiven is a stronghold that must not be ignored. Forgiveness of your own sins by Jesus is the most important part of your salvation. To doubt forgiveness is to doubt your salvation. Therefore cease and desist from doubting your forgiveness in Jesus when you repent in faith.

If we confess our sins, Christ is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:10)

There may be many reasons why some doubt their forgiveness. Four of them are major reasons. Some misuse forgiveness, some themselves don’t forgive, some keep on going back to the same sin or a worse one. And some sin against the Holy Spirit. Let’s try to learn more about them.

1)  Misuse of the principle of forgiveness

Now Jesus faithfully forgives even unto a persons final breath. However some misuse this and keep sinning thinking let’s sin now and later repent. Such people are risking eternal damnation for themselves. For nobody knows when one may die. In the past centuries many people made a mockery of the forgiving nature of Christ not in words but in deeds. They continued to sin hoping to get forgiven when they can’t sin. For such people the gates of hell gladly are opened by the Evil One as he knows their have tampered with their salvation and are liable for greater torments. Forgiveness is not a license to sin later.

2) Not forgiving others who may have offended you

Forgiving others may seem a burden unless you realize that you are not giving up on justice but rather doing the will of Jesus the Judge of all. Some people don’t want to forgive others who hurt or offended them. A person who doesn’t forgive others won’t be able to experience forgiveness from God. That’s why not for your offenders sake but for your sake forgive them.

3) Going back to a sin or a worse sin

Some people confess their sin’s but later do that sin again. Sometimes they sin even more gravely. They do feel bad about it and later try to repent plus ask forgiveness from Christ. Now due to continual sinning and asking for mercy and back to sinning they feel like giving up. They want to give up on the mercy of God. These people doubt themselves, they doubt their own sincerity as they are witness to their own backsliding ways. All they must do in this case is not look on their faithfulness but look on the eternal faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. So even if you are a habitual sinner keep coming back to Christ even till your last breath. However I still maintain that you must desire to permanently leave your sins. Especially sins of drugs, murder, witchcraft, adultery and idolatry.

4) Sinning against the Holy Spirit

All the above three reasons I say there is still hope for a person. But for the fourth I admit there is NO true hope. That is why a person must avoid any sinning against the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself said that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit won’t be forgiven. If you notice the below verses all sins can be forgiven except those against the Holy Spirit. Let’s read:

Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew 12:31-32)

Value your salvation. Value your forgiveness from Christ. It’s as real as the air you breathe and your heartbeat. Thank God for your forgiveness which you have received in the name of Jesus. Amen.