For anyone who has been following The Kings of Eden for some time, you will know that I absolutely love miracles, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and really, every way that Jesus comes and transforms lives. What I don’t love is when we as individual members of the Body of Christ do things that make all of us collectively look stupid. Just this past year we have seen a disappointing end to an extraordinary miracle, and that’s just one example. I’ll explain more of what I mean about that shortly, but I believe that we are stepping into a time we are past due for—the time for a Miracle Reformation!
Back in November of last year (2019), I was driving a trailer of belongings from Oregon to Texas, and kept seeing repeating 111’s. I ended up texting a bunch of photos to a friend because it kept happening just so frequently. Exit 111, 111 miles to the next city, license plates, and more. Normally when this happens to me, God is trying to communicate a message to me. Now, driving at 50-80 mph in a truck with an enclosed trailer isn’t exactly a great time to look up Bible verses, but when I finally was able to look up repeating 1’s and found the following:
“Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.” Exodus 11:10
“He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.” Psalm 111:4
Both of these verses speak of “wonders”, and not miracles specifically, but I think of “wonders” as miraculous happenings that cause people to ask questions, to think, and to engage in surprise and admiration of God. As an interesting aside, if you add 111 + 111 you get 222, and Acts 2:22 says, “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know,” yet again pointing to the miraculous. Ultimately, I think that God wants us to both not-harden our hearts toward miracles and also to remember them. But with so much silliness abounding in the church regarding the miraculous, sometimes it is hard not to let a little hardness or skepticism in.
For example, there is a “study” that has been passed around the internet for almost a decade now about speaking in tongues (you can read the earliest I can find of the many re-publishings of it here). It is supposedly by Dr. Carl Peterson who purportedly published through Oral Roberts University, and it says that immunity can be increased by 35-40% through speaking in tongues. Sounds wonderful, right? Wrong. First off, it is impossible to actually locate the study. I’ve tried and failed multiple times (and if anyone is able to produce it, please send it to me and I will correct this statement, but until then . . . impossible to find). Second, the only thing I have ever seen is the exact same piece of text that has been copied and pasted so many times that no one seems to know where it actually first appeared nor how real it is or isn’t. Third, if one actually evaluates the text of the documentation, it is incredibly vague. It doesn’t reference the title of the study, it doesn’t tell us where the very specific 35-40% numbers came from, and while some of the facts about anatomy and physiology written in the statement are verifiable as true, none of that has anything to do with speaking in tongues, and certainly has no connection to an unnamed, unidentified study that no one can produce. And yet, when I recently spoke with some people who were repeating these same numerical statements, they began to argue with me that they didn’t care if a study could prove it or not because “they believe the Bible and know that tongues is healthy for the body.”
Don’t misunderstand me. I believe speaking in tongues is a good idea. There is are reasons Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:18 that, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.” Yet, when someone is challenged on the ability to produce evidence of very specific numerical claims about the effects of the practice on one’s body, I get ridiculed for not having enough faith in God. I’m sorry, but I both have faith in God and enough of a science background to recognize that a study should have actual data associated with it. And when we collectively repeat nonsense enough times that we believe it is true, anyone else with half a brain knows it is absurd and it makes us look stupid. How is that helping encourage people to pursue miracles? It isn’t.
Another disappointment in the past year is the Dalton Bible and its oil production scandal. I have written about the initial miracle here and have a guest author’s article I have shared here on my other website and then my perspective on the scandal here for those who want to read it. In summary though, a Bible began miraculously producing oil a few years back, and at some point early this year it came out that some of that oil may have been planted by a person or persons in the ministry. While the ministry vehemently denied it, the oil stopped flowing, the ministry stopped all meetings, they stopped communicating with the outside world, and then stopped maintaining their ministry web domain, apparently disbanding. While the circumstances surrounding it are sad enough, this is the kind of stuff that causes skeptics to be even more skeptical.
I think it is time we saw a Miracle Reformation—where we not only expect to see and experience signs, wonders, and miracles, but where we also have a high level of discernment regarding what is actually taking place when they occur, as well as intentional accountability that answers the sensible questions of naysayers. Having written multiple books on miracles, with multiple more in the works, I recognize that it is not always possible to provide a so-called “rational” explanation of miracles to those who don’t believe. However, I think sometimes we don’t even try to help people understand what is happening when miracles take place—and I think that is often because we don’t understand what is going on either!
It seems to be a rare breed among people of faith to find those who both seek to operate in miracles and understand what God is doing in and through them. While certainly I don’t think we have to limit God to what we can understand with our minds, I do think that we would be wise to ask Him for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding related to the things He is doing. After all, God tells us to ask Him and He will tell us the answers (Jeremiah 33:3). I believe that God wants us to remember the miracles of the past and not let current failings harden our hearts to the things of the future, but I believe God also wants us to walk in wisdom as we administrate His power in signs and wonders.
Toward that end, I have written and published two books of what is eventually going to be a 6-book series on different kinds of miracle manifestations. In each book I discuss the miracle itself, what the Bible says about it, advice on how we can discern the situation wisely, and how we can partner with God to see these wonders in our own lives. The two currently published are Gemstones From Heaven and Feathers From Heaven, available on Amazon, with additional books on oil, manna, gold, and radiance miracles in various stages of being written (I am taking testimony submissions for those books—email me at thekingsofeden@gmail.com). You can also find more goodies under the “Signs, Wonders, & Miracles category” on this website.
