The Proof in the Pudding

“J” has kindly posted a comment to my post on “All that Glistens isn’t Gold”, and as it raised some interesting issues I thought I would try and respond in a full blog entry instead of just posting a reply to my comments page. J wrote:

"When it comes down to it, we won't be judged on our theology, or need correct theology in order for God to empower us for miracles. Look at Peter, God used him to heal people when he still believed that you had to follow The Law to be saved.

We will also not be judged on our personality, and whether we shout BAM when we pray for people. Samson was a most disagreeable fellow, but is listed as a Hero of Faith in Hebrews 11.

We will be judged on our character, and "the deeds done in the body, whether good or bad" (2Cor5;10), and that will be the proof of the pudding when it comes to Todd 'BAM' Bentley.

“If God is in this, then I want a slice. If God is pouring out healings, then I want a part. I can leave the ranting, the tattoos, the dodgy theology, the shouting, but if God wants to perform a miracle, then that is what I want to.” J


I really don’t want to get into a specific look at Todd Bentley’s ministry, there are lots of websites that have done so, and there are lots of videos on YouTube which show him in action. I think there are some general principles we can apply to looking at and assessing ministries, and deciding if it’s something we want to be a part of.

Some comment is required, I think, on whether we will be judged on our personality – J points out that Samson was a disagreeable fellow but is listed as a Hero of Faith. I am not sure that I agree that Samson was a disagreeable fellow; I assume that the bit of him which J considers to be disagreeable is him slaying people who were, at the time, considered enemies of God and were oppressing Israel. I think we get into a dangerous game if we use this as the measure for someone being disagreeable!

The issue of Peter is an interesting one. First of all, I do not think that Peter believed you needed to follow the law to be saved. That isn’t really a Jewish belief; the belief was far more along the lines of; “having been saved, we should follow the law as God has commanded us to”, in the same way that today Christians don’t believe that they follow Jesus teaching in order to be saved, but because we are saved. The debate that followed was, “should gentile Christians take on the requirements of the Jewish law?” I think that this doctrinal difference is very different from someone who teaches things which are in conflict with the Bible.

Doctrine does matter and can be an issue of salvation. 1 Timothy 4:16 reads “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers". This seems to suggest that if you do not watch them closely you will not save yourself and your hearers.
I agree with J that if God wants to perform a miracle then I want to be part of it, but I think it’s worth taking time out to decide what we are chasing after, before we go in search of the miracle workers.

So my question is, how do we assess a miracle, or a miracle worker? Sometimes we want to believe so much that we suspend disbelief and call it faith, yet we don’t want to become people who refuse to acknowledge and see when God is working.

The first difficulty, as I see it, is that when something that seems miraculous appearing to happen, as good Christians, we can say either “this is God” or “this is the Devil”. As we see these as the only two options open to us when something unexplained happens we try and shoe horn it into one of these two boxes.


MAGIC, MIRACLE, OR DECEPTION?

I am an illusionist. This means that among other things I can make it look as if I am floating off the floor. Some years ago, when a certain American illusionist was becoming a big thing and using this trick a lot, I demonstrated how easy it was to give the appearance that you can float to a couple of friends while having coffee after Church. Two other people saw this, and were deeply concerned that they had seen me levitate. Okay, this was a stupid thing for me to do, but putting that aside for a moment, they went to the leadership of the church and expressed deep concern that I was involved in the occult and, as such, was able to levitate.

I showed the elders how the trick was done and it was all cleared up. My point is that just because something looks like “magic” or a “miracle”, it doesn’t follow that it is a miracle, or from the devil. On some occasions we believe things because we want to, or because we cannot think of any other logical explanation for how they could have happened. So, when looking at anything “unexplained”, I think a good starting point is trying to work out whether there are any other possible explanations for what has happened.


MAGIC OR MIRACLE?

If we have got to a stage where we can absolutely rule out illusion, misdirection or “flim flam” and are sure that something has happened that is not of this world, then we do need to work if this is from God or another source. J points out that the proof is in the pudding, that we can to a degree assess something by the results of it; does it look and taste good? I would like to ring a few alarm bells here. If I got a whole bunch of 7 year olds over to my house, and set them up baking puddings, with ingredients I had stolen, if I beat them and made them work 16 hours a day, and then presented you with an incredible tasting pudding, you might say to me, while tasting it and looking at it, “I can tell that this is something that is good”. No. The final item on display does not necessarily indicate that the process is a good thing that we want to involve ourselves in; when looking at whether the pudding is good, we need to not just look at its final appearance, but the process that was used to make it.

In Matt 7:22-23, Jesus said; “Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

When looking at an event which is claiming to be miraculous I want to know whether it points to God, whether it draws people to the cross. Is it coming from a good place, and leading to a good place. When 1000s flock to see a particular speaker who is said to be able to perform miracles but has theology that is “dodgy” then is it God who is glorified or the speaker? Are we chasing after speakers who have a gift, or after the God who gives?


THEOLOGY MATTERS

We are told that “even if we or an angel from heaven preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned” (Gal. 1:8,9)
I don’t think we can ignore “dodgy” doctrine on the basis that the person concerned appears to be displaying miracles; in fact if things which are apparently miraculous are happening, then this is a time where I believe it’s even more important for this to be underpinned by sound doctrine.

A good site to look at on this issue is http://pastors.crossmap.com/article/why-we-need-doctrine/item321.htm, where it’s pointed out that Paul tells us that we need to keep to a pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Jesus Christ (2 Tim 1:13) that we need to hold firmly to the trustworthy message and encourage others by sound doctrine (Titus 1:9) and that we need to teach what is in accord with sound doctrine (Titus 2:1). Christ’s ministry, the apostle’s ministry and the early churches’ ministries all revolved around sound doctrine (Matt 7:28-29; Acts 5:28; Acts 2:42).

All that Glistens isn’t Gold

I have hesitated in writing this blog entry, and for that I apologise; I realise I was concerned about offending, but I feel that I would be doing a disservice to you if I didn’t bring this up..

Todd Bentley has come to the UK and has set up shop. For those who don’t know, he is an American preacher, who among other things, claims to have meet with an Angel called Emma, and to have spoken with St Paul. I am not going to specifically address his teaching as many have already done to. With his work in the UK has come again the claim that people have received gold teeth from God. This has made the front page of some local newspapers, and so it is this area I want to talk about.

I am a Charismatic Christian; by this I mean that I believe that the Holy Spirit is at work in the world today, and miracles happen today, and did not come to an end with the close of the New Testament.

I am also a sceptic. In my younger years I was involved in a wide variety of religions, and was a palm reader. I am also an illusionist. This combination has made me acutely aware of the way in which people can be made to believe something that is not true.

We are all susceptible to deception, to the influences of a good sales patter at our local retail store, to a convincing sob story from a con man. When we are told that God is doing something incredible we desperately want to believe it, to be a part of it, and so when people hear that God is giving people gold fillings, some suspend disbelief. To doubt seems to be showing a lack of faith, and so sometimes we don’t always ask the questions we should.

So, what is my problem with God providing people with gold fillings? My first difficulty lays in my knowledge of my own mouth. I have no idea how many fillings I have got. I have had a fair few, but couldn’t tell which teeth they are on, and I haven’t spent any time at all staring at my fillings.

This means that if someone told me tomorrow that God had given me a filling I would have difficulty in knowing whether this was the case, or whether it was a pre-existing filling. The next difficult I have is that most torches use bulbs that have a yellow light. If I was to shine one into my mouth, a silver coloured filling could easily look gold. If, however, knowing I have a number of fillings, I was to shine a torch into my mouth and find that I had no fillings at all, and my teeth were in perfect health, this would be astounding.

As I look at the biblical accounts of healings I find, for example, Jesus healing a lame man, or a blind man – in each case of a healing I find that God has repaired the body.

I can not find an example of God healing someone by providing a prosthetic limb. I find it hard to believe that the blind man was given metal eyes. For me it just wouldn’t make sense. If God, in designing humans, felt that we should have gold teeth, surely we would have been created with them? If, then, God heals someone who needs a filling, surely that healing would take the form of the cavity being replaced by the type of teeth we were designed with, not with a gold implant? If we were asked to believe that someone had been healed by being given a metal, or, for that matter, a wooden arm, we would struggle to see this as a miracle carried out by God, so why are people so ready to believe that God is providing people with fillings, gold or otherwise?

For me, the focus on such things removes our focus from God. I believe the most incredible, miraculous, mind blowing thing is that we have a God who loves us, that we are created beings and that we are invited to enter into a relationship with God. I find it amazing that, through Jesus, we can approach God. That is mind blowing. Gold teeth? Sorry, it just doesn’t get me excited.