Signs and Wonders

 

A study of the truth that sets people free

by Bishop Jeff Keen

 

As you read Mark 16:15-18, try to imagine reading this scripture as if you are reading it for the very first time.  Your soul has just been saved and you are full of a fiery zeal to serve God.  You are reading these scriptures as I believe God intended…with the faith of a child. 

15And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

            You feel the touch of the Holy Spirit inside your heart…you are positive that Jesus is speaking to you!  Now you have been commissioned by Jesus Himself to spread the good news of salvation.  He has finally put you to work for the Kingdom of God and has promised that there will be signs following your obedience that will confirm His word spoken over your life.  His purpose for your life has been made clear to you!  Halleluiah!!  You gladly accept His commission by faith and are extremely excited that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords has chosen to use you to spread this most important, life-changing message.

That is until you share your glorious news with some of the elders and the pastor of the church you attend. 

Now the Pharisee mentality of those in authority kicks in! 

First, they begin by telling you that you have too much zeal and that you can’t be of any use to the Kingdom of God until the wild fire dies down.  The excitement you felt when the fire of God first touched your heart has now been blasted by the negativity of the established “frozen chosen”.  Your zeal to serve has suffered its first temptation to accept defeat and surrender.   

Then, as if to put to rest any notion of spiritual power you may have left, this elite clergy convinces you that the signs that Jesus spoke of were for another time.  The “dispensation of time for miracles” has past; it died with the last apostle. 

As a new Christian who had the faith of a child and was prepared to follow Jesus into battle, you met with those who had charge of your discipleship and came away from your meeting a smoldering shell of what should have been.  The ideals the word of God had instilled in your heart of dispatching demons, speaking with new tongues, divinely surviving the dangers of this world and healing those that are sick or diseased, has been dashed by the unbelief of the educated yet ignorant, puffed up and proud. 

Now you give up…now, you become as they are.

The main problem with this scenario, as I see it, is that if we can’t trust the words of Jesus, then how can we trust the words of the prophets…how can we trust the words of the gospel writers…how can we trust the words of Paul, James, Peter or John the revelator?

Up to now, this has been a work of fiction but the elements of truth that are exposed are all too real.  How many great evangelist, preachers and teachers of the word of God have been spiritually castrated by the spiritually ignorant?  This is the reason we have so many spiritually impotent churches in the world today and this is the reason I declare with many other of my brothers and sisters that we must rise up and proclaim a…SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION!!          

The reformation of the church was bound to happen because the Catholic Church wanted exclusivity to the bible.  They wanted to control mans religion and in so doing, control man’s life, money and pursuits.  Their interpretation of God’s word was to be the only one and it was to be accepted by the masses, regardless of God’s true intensions.

I have great news!  We are in the midst of a second reformation!  The Holy Word of God can’t be regulated to one interpretation…it’s not designed to be.  It is a living word, full of spirit and power to change lives and speak to the needs of individuals.  If we are content to surrender our lives over to the Pharisees of this world who are ever present to give us their law, then we will get what the masses got before our wonderful Christ was manifest on this earth…religious legalism to the highest degree.

Let me ask you this very simple question; who do you trust with your spiritual life…the doctors of today’s theology or Jesus?  Let me help you.  Who will you call on when the physicians say there is nothing else they can do?  Who will you call on when your children are lost to the evil of this perverted culture we live in?  Who will you call when there is only one last chance to save your lost loved one before their soul is doomed to eternal damnation?  Do you trust the words of man or the savior of the world?

Signs and wonders are God’s way of confirming His word to us (Mark 16:20, Heb 2:3-4).  If the age of miracles has past then how can our souls be saved?  How can our spirits be regenerated?  Isn’t salvation a miraculous act, by the very definition of what a miracle is; an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause? 

            Because we can’t save ourselves, the regeneration of our spirits can only be attributed to a supernatural act of God, and it is a divine sign and a wonder.