Our God is Great

"For this reason, You are great, O Lord GOD; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears." (New American Standard Bible)

Reading the most recent post and the news item , I am struck by the fact that many of the mentioned deities are new names to me. I remember Tigare, Akonedi and Katakumbe used to strike fear into people's hearts, but not these names. It is interesting that years ago, the big names in that part of the country were the deities named after the rivers- Densu, Ankobra, Pra, Ayensu were all very fearful spirits. People who swore by Densu meant business. Since the droughts and silt problems converted all these huge rivers to seasonal streams, their popularity as spirits and deities has waned. Some might even say that it is because the spirits left them that those rivers dried up

I remember when I was a kid there was a huge silk cotton onyinaa tree in Kaneshie, which many revered as the habitat of a god. They poured libation there every year and it was indeed an awesome tree, which defied many attempts to bulldoze it down with all sorts of equipment. Then one day some contractors managed to root it out and the Kaneshie Sports Complex was built there. Suddenly, gone were the rumors of the spirit that inhabited the tree. Just like that. Here one day, gone the next. The same thing has happened to many of these deities as happened to the oracle at Delphi. At one time, that oracle advised kings and queens. I am Sir Oracle, and when I open my lips let no dog bark.

My point is that all these things come and go. Only God's Word lives for ever.

Another think struck me about these so-called deities. They are all so limited that they need some additional identification by geography; this-and-that deity of so-and-so location. You often have to travel to them to gain their help. There is absolutely no comparison, but I'm glad that our God is eternal and everywhere as well.

Back in the day, I remember Mrs. Selassie Williams used to tell a story about being on a bus one day, when a man suddenly started screaming, panicky and terrified. Why? He had misplaced his god! All his spiritual hope was invested in a talisman that he kept on a string around his neck and it had snapped and dropped somewhere a couple of stops earlier. Or maybe someone had stolen it. Can you imagine how panicked that man must have been? Not only did he no longer have his god, but also, anyone who found it would now become the protectorate of that god.

Our God reigns indeed. - Calorius

The Challenges We Face

Idolatry, compromise and syncretism.

My attention was recently drawn to the following news story from Ghana excerpted below.

Nkoranza (B/A), June 16, GNA - Nana Yaa Dudaa Kani, queenmother of Nkoranza Traditional Area, has cautioned the youth, especially girls, to desist from calling the names of gods and water bodies to curse their neighbours. Nana Yaa Dudaa Kani noted with regret that it was a common practice for females in the area to call on the gods to curse their partners and husbands over misunderstandings and if the gods were not immediately pacified it could result in the death of the offenders. She said the youth and the women have been calling on gods including Bourtwerewa of Techiman, Antoa Nyamaa of Kumasi, Sessiman of Nkoranza and Fa Kwasi Abura river of Dromankese.

She said, "People who are ready to call on the gods and rivers to curse anyone should also be ready to pay the full cost involved in the customary rites for the pacification since I cannot sacrifice my life for the offenders", she said. She expressed regret that the proliferation of churches had not deterred people from cursing their neighbours .

….. At Kranka in Nkoranza North District Nana Owusu Agyeman, fetish priest in charge of the powerful Brakune Shrine, has also warned that he would not tolerate anyone who would call on the god Brakune to curse anyone. He urged religious leaders to educate their congregations against the practice ---Source: Ghana News Agency (GNA)

The sad thing about this news item is the acknowledged syncretism between Christianity and idolatry in Ghana. When I went home in April, there were several analogous reports of pastors consulting juju men. In one case, a fetish priest famously and colorfully called Kweku Bonsam (literally, Kweku Satan) is said to have "outed" a pastor who had defaulted on payments owed for a miracle-performing idol. In another case, Kweku Bonsam is alleged to have challenged to a miracle-performing duel, another pastor who had dared to denounce him in public. I am told the build-up to the showdown was highly talked about. Unfortunately, the pastor got cold feet and chickened out at the very last moment, spoiling the spectacular rumble in the jungle.

Yet another story is told of a Ghanaian who on his death bed is instructed by his Pastor to denounce Satan so he can be assured of entering heaven. He demurs, telling his gathered friends that in his humble opinion the time of one's death is hardly the time to start picking fights with the spirits since one simply does not know what one might find waiting on the other side. Now, we Ghanaians tell these stories with clear amusement, yet one cannot escape the impression that many only half mean these as jokes. Instead, as this news item illustrates, there seems to be a tendency toward holding out judgment when it comes to the forces of good and evil, with many considering them to be equally powerful. Thus, it comes as no surprise that when people have needs and wants that the church seems unable or powerless to meet, they just as easily turn to oracles and fetishes.

Interestingly, this mixing of darkness with light, with the resultant watering down of Christianity is evident not only in Ghana but also in many cultures, including those of the West. We ought to hesitate, therefore, before we level criticism from our perches in supposedly mature or sophisticated cultures. This mixing of Christianity with pagan elements of culture is universal and appears in all countries to which the gospel has been preached, without the full rejection by its inhabitants of those deeply embedded customs that directly contradict scripture.

A book I have just read--written by Lesslie Newbigin --makes this point well. In India, where he was a missionary for many years, he notes that Jesus is considered by most Hindus to be merely one among many sages to be listened to, even worshiped. This ethic of "live and let live" is widely accepted and the mixing and matching of light with darkness, the very essence of paganism, is widely accepted and promoted. Men in these cultures expect not to follow one way to the Father but rather many ways, all co-equal. To boldly claim one way over others is not expected or accepted within this worldview.

To Pastor Newbigin's surprise he found, when he finally retired and returned home, that a fundamentally similar phenomenon--one to which he had been previously blind--was operative in the West. Specifically, within the Western pluralist tradition, he found that Christianity was no longer what the apostles claimed it to be--a public truth based on verifiable historical fact--but mere myth. The gospel, the theological interpretation of well-attested historical facts, had been relegated to the realm of sheer opinion, viewed as merely one of several highly personal ways to approach God. As a consequence, he found the gospel, Christ's exclusive message about God's kingdom, to be diluted, co-opted in a way that no longer challenged men's lives.

Unfortunately, it was also his observation that most Christians in the West were not only blind to this co-opting of their faith, but also had become quite content with this sorry state of affairs. Today, we too, who live in a post-modernist Western culture, are seduced by the offer of peaceful co-existence that is our reward for ceasing to proclaim Christ as exclusive Lord and the only way to the Father. This seductive status quo allows us to practice our faith without confrontation--an ethos of live and let live no different from that observed by Newbigin in a Hindu culture--that helps us to avoid the persecution that becomes unavoidable once we start to tell people that their various personal paths to utopia and to self-fulfillment unless subjected to Christ's Lordship are not only wrong-headed but also bound to fail. By ceasing to proclaim this message, however, we have bought ourselves social acceptance at the expense of robbing Christianity of its life-saving power.

If we are to reclaim our vocation as the salt of the earth, we have to buck this trend towards meaningless co-existence, and to begin again to proclaim boldly the gospel of the Kingdom for what it is--a highly subversive message that is meant to challenge men and nations to turn away from the disastrous paths that they find themselves on, and onto a revolutionary new path through submission to Christ. We are able to do this boldly and without embarrassment when we realize how firmly grounded our faith is in historical fact and internally consistent within the entire story told in Scripture. This message, Christ as Lord and Savior, is bound to meet resistance because it draws unmistakable distinctions between the truth and all other claims, and demands from men and women an allegiance that is all encompassing. – G Dissentus.

The Politics of God

I visited a Church a few weeks ago and the Pastor preached on the topic, "Is God a Republican?" and he made some points which I believe are useful and relevant for us to ponder as Christians, especially with the impending elections in the USA and also in Ghana. Briefly, here are some of his preaching points,

1. The Spirit of God is moving and continues to move in every land, irrespective of the type of government or who the President is. The growth of the church in communist China attests to this.

2. God does not endorse any political party. He added that God's preferred type of government is a theocracy, not a democracy.

3. Abraham Lincoln made a comment like this during the Civil War, "Both the North and the South read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invoke His aid against the other."

4. We need to avoid overzealousness in our support of any person or party because, no human system has the ability to change the human heart"

5. Our government and President is a reflection of the state of the people and if we are dissatisfied, then we need pray and to evangelize to change the spiritual state of the people.

6. The Gospel is more powerful than any government or politician and God's plan transcends all other agendas

7. We need to avoid fear of a particular government or persons eroding our religious freedom because, "God's plan and the Gospel message have outlived some of the worst political environments". He added that we name our children after the Peter, John etc., but our dogs after Nero, Caesar etc.

8. Finally, what should be the Christian's role in politics?
- vote and act on principles, not party
- strive for unity not polarization
- pray for those in power.

I liked the message and I hope you all benefit for this summary- KOO

Christians and the Economic Crunch. Part 3

A Call to Stewardship. by Calorius

My views on savings and expenditure are actually not much different from those expressed by Robbo in the first post on this subject . When you save up to buy something, you hopefully keep it in an interest bearing account- even if it's just money market or treasury bills or bonds, so the only difference between "my" method and "his" is that I take delivery of the goods earlier whereas he waits till later. I am no claiming that my method is better. It just works for me at my income and needs level because the things I want or need now, I cannot wait or afford myself the time to save up for.

A more important point, which has been alluded to already, is the responsibility of being conservative (not in the political sense, but rather in the sense of stewardship) with wealth and resources. Just as we criticize the excesses of those who live visible ostentation, we have to examine our own lives and find that it is really a matter of degree; there are many areas in my own life where I fail to be sensible. It is no excuse for me to say that I earned the money myself.

These resources, which can mostly although not completely be described as wealth, are easily grouped by ownership into three broad areas- personal, societal and natural resources. Having already confessed my failure in personal stewardship, I want to look at the societal and natural resources aspects. I have to ask myself: have I been a net consumer or a net producer of my country’s resources, more than is my due as a citizen? What is my carbon footprint? What is my contribution to the society in which I live, compared to my consumption of its resources? How much pollution do I produce, how much oil do I consume?

There is a growing opinion pool that argues that these things are a part of Christian stewardship.
In these areas, some of our civil and Christian leaders have failed us. I was in Ghana two years ago in the middle of the rolling electricity blackouts. Never once did I hear the President or any politician or preacher or newspaper editor say something about encouraging people to conserve power. On the days that electricity was provided, everyone tried to maximize their use of power in anticipation of the expected cut, because "today we have light".

In come countries, the building codes require that people collect rain water off their roofs; it’s a simple design modification. There are many simple things that can be done to conserve resources and reduce waste. I recall the time in the seventies when our then Head of State in Ghana, the late Kutu Acheampong encouraged backyard gardening and food production even in the cities under the slogan Operation Feed Yourself. He also talked concepts such as Operation Feed Your Industries, Self Reliance, Walatu Walasa etc., all in the name of stewardship.

Here in America, in the middle of a war and a near-recession, we still hear no national cry to tighten our belts. A largely democratic congress aligned itself with the President to send a "stimulus package; please go out and spend it" to the American people. The President does not publicly ask people to downsize their spending, reduce their carbon emissions or reduce energy usage. To be fair, it's partly based on a theoretical fear that such talk would precipitate a recession.

We are not hearing these calls from Christian leaders either. They are correct in saying that Christian giving should not wane during such difficult times, as is clearly seen from the Corinthians chapter. Those of us who can afford it should give more during such times. Where we differ from these leaders is in the target/recipient of such giving, and the reason- charity as well as ministry support, not one without the other. Christian leaders are not encouraging us to tighten our belts, which is partly because they think to admit that we are not that well off would lead to less giving. In this they are wrong. Sometimes the people who think they are poor give more than those who think they are rich.

I better stop here- I'm beginning to sound like one of these TV pundits, full of long sentences of criticism with very little said about people's good deeds and very little self-examination -Calorius

OBAMA PICKS THE WRONG TEAM

Barack Obama has picked University of North Carolina to win the NCAA basketball championship and that, for me, is the most important aspect of this campaign and Election 2008. It raises a very important question, who really picked the UNC team- was it Obama of his advisor on Sports issues? Even more important, why did he not pick Pittsburgh or University of Connecticut, my own emotional favorites?

For this reason alone, Obama is not getting my imaginary vote and before you accuse me of being a nutcase, I would have you know that my reason for not voting for Obama (if I had a vote) is as good as many other reasons circulating in the Christian blogosphere. Now, being a neutral party and not actually having a dog in this election race has allowed me some pretend detachment and also granted self-affirmed objectivity to my opinions.

A few days ago, Obama made what has been called the speech of his life so far and that is about as far as it goes because majority of those with their minds made up stand unmoved. His supporters, as well as many fair-minded but declared non-supporters agree that the speech was outstanding in content and delivery. Others have however focused on what he said about his grandmother, and still others say that he did not disown his former Pastor enough.

The speech also afforded an opportunity to one prominent Christian blogger to inform or remind us that when you hear a good speech full of great ideas and inspiring thought, look beyond the speaker to the speech writer . The content of the speech, it would appear, is not as important as the who actually penned it.
Well, I guess that is something worth remembering. It is akin to hearing a good sermon which touches your heart and soul and causes you to make drastic changes in your behaviour. When this happens you should look beyond the preacher, a mere messenger, to the actual author of the sermon, the Holy Spirit of God. We preach not ourselves, but Christ crucified, said the Apostle Paul. What else can I say?

That is the only spin I can put on this matter because this blogger is a fine Christian writer and commentator. Maybe, mixing one’s politics and the Christian faith can work in strange ways. Not to say it cannot or should not be done but I take on a great responsibility when I label any foray I have into politics on this blog as the or even a Christian perspective. Woe is me if I allow the unsanctified old nature to play tricks on my reasoning and in the process I cause any offence to the cross of Christ. It is Easter week.

Having said all the above, here is my personal opinion. It reflects my own flawed thinking alone; not that of my wife, children, my employer, my co-bloggers or my cat. Here it is; Obama gave a great speech and I wish I could have written it. Who cares if it was written by an Alien from the former planet of Pluto? Is that the best a Christian writer can do with the content of Obama's speech; that it was not written by him but by one of his speechwriters?

Near the end of the piece linked to, the following verse is quoted
But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:2)

I will do well to look carefully into my own heart to see how often I try to use cunning and underhand ways to make my valid and often invalid points. Good thing we have only nine new readers a year on this blog, isn’t it? The University of Connecticut is already out of the basketball championships, upset by San Diego by a single point on Good Friday. Come on Pittsburgh, let us prove Obama wrong. - Robbo

Changing the way others see us. Part I

AFRICA, still a relatively unknown country.

Occasionally, I think I lurk in the twilight zone of the internet and I should be looking for new places. There is a blog I read called the Boar’s Head Tavern which is an online conversation between a group of Christians mostly from the USA but also the UK and Canada. I find it very interesting and educative because they come from very different viewpoints. The subjects discussed are wide ranging and I confess that sometimes, the deep theology is above my “Sermon on the Mount” level of understanding.

Unfortunately, there appears to be no brother represented on the blog so anytime anything about Blacks or Africans comes up it is quite interesting and sometimes burdensome to read the thoughts of my Christian brothers. Some of these Christian brothers could be your next door neighbor in the college dormitory, apartment, town house or suburban single family home but attend a different Church. Or, they may be the people who sit next to you in the local Church you have made your home.

It was very educative and enlightening to read the discussion there in the aftermath of Don Imus and the Rutgers Basketball team. Recently the subject turned to AIDS and Africa and the vast sums the government of President Bush has provided in aid for research and treatment. Remember that this is a blog which operates in the manner of a bar and patrons come and go, and grant that in a bar-like atmosphere, a lot of banter goes on and as the wine flows, lips and fingers on a keyboard get loosened and careless talk is possible. Here is the comment that troubled me.

Can you severely curb AIDS in Africa with a court decision? No. Obviously not. The barbarous, animalistic sexual morality of a huge number of men and women on that continent and the crushing poverty/religious strictures that turn many women to prostitution is not something one can end by the USSC simply saying “No, AIDS is not allowed according to the Constitution.” Posted by: xxxxx @ 2:59 pm

I decided to send the following email to the writer.

"Please tone it town a bit. There are quite a few "African" Christians who read the Boar's Head Tavern blog. I certainly do, very often. There is varied opinion there and I do not expect to agree with everything but "barbarous, animalistic sexual morality" takes it a bit too far. Don't believe everything you read wherever you get your information from. Get to know some real Africans and if you get a chance, pay a visit to an African country and get yourself pleasantly surprised.

The average unregenerate African is really no different morally from the average unregenerate American.

Peace, Robbo"

I did not get any reply from him but at least I thought he would think carefully before writing such broad generalizations. Fortunately, someone else on the blog took the writer to task and asked him to justify his assertions but he maintained his position, which does not surprise me. On the internet, people seldom ever admit they could be wrong, let alone change their positions.

A few days later, I was reading through the same blog again and came across this by another completely different writer still on the "the AIDS crisis". Honestly, this takes the biscuit

African Sexual morals are a difficult question because their culture has certain practices that would break out of the Christian paradigm. For example, it is very common in Africa that when a women’s husband dies (from Aids or anything) that his surviving brother is supposed to have sex with her to cleanse her of grief etc.

There’s also a lot of incest. I don’t think it would be fair to judge these cultures as more “immoral” but there’s an awful lot of intercourse going on between unmarried couples.

Then again, there’s lots of stuff I don’t understand. College educated African men beat their college educated African wives just like some parents here spank their toddlers. Posted by xxxx @ 6:24 pm

You hear this kind of stuff on AM Talk Radio; three years ago when the circumstances of life caused me to make a fortnightly 7 hour journey from Pennsylvania to Connecticut to spend weekends with my family until we were reunited, similar uninformed talk by Radio Hosts and their callers was useful in keeping me awake during the long drive. However, is there any excuse for a Christian brother to be writing something like that or is ignorance or wrong information an excuse?

I really do not care to address the misrepresentation, misconception and borderline prejudice in these statements. For one thing, I do not think these two writers mean any malice. I do not intend to flame anyone and that is why I have not placed any direct links to the blog in question, though it is easy to find. My intention is for us to examine ourselves and see how best we respond to such situations in real life, not the faceless internet.

One can argue that before we also arrived in the UK or the USA, we also had a much skewed mentality; we thought the streets were paved with platinum, and milk and corn syrup flowed from the taps. Our idea of America was largely based on LA Law, the Cosby Show and well, the Bronx Warriors. Our idea of the UK was a genteel society where they drank tea at 3 o'clock, cats talked to the Queen etc, okay not really. So then, why should I blame a well meaning Christian brother if in this great information age, he has a picture of Africa we don't recognize?

There is a tendency in the press to make generalizations about sub-Saharan Africa which in actuality comprises a very diverse people and culture. So from time to time, I will post brief lessons here for any interested parties.

Lesson 1

Africa is a diverse continent with 54 different countries. Ghana, a small country in West Africa the size of the US State of Oregon contains a diverse group of 24 million people speaking at least 50 completely different languages. The national language is English, which is also the language of instruction in school. - Robbo

Related post
BALANCE, POLARIZATION and the Child of God

MIRACLES IN OUR DAY. Part III

His Grace Is Sufficient. by Gaius Columbus

Like a scientist faced with highly variable data, I think we ought to start with the invariant, the constant, the unchanging. For me, this invariant is the notion received through faith that God's word is always true. This starting place is encapsulated in the words of the Apostle Paul, "let God be true and every man a liar". When we start here, the obvious conclusion through sober judgment is that my experience, if it does not square with my conception of God's word, must change or be modified. If I expect to be performing miracles because of my understanding of some verse, but find that I am not moving the small mound in my backyard, then something about my conception is wrong.

With specific regard to healing, I recognize then that I, like many others, do not have the gift of spectacular healing. In appraising my gifts, I am compelled to come to this conclusion through sober judgment. The data trumps the theory. The weight of the evidence, the accumulated data, forces this conclusion upon me. In practical terms, when faced with a disease in myself or in others, I will pray for grace, embracing all of God's gifts to me, modern medicine, faith healing and the prayers of righteous men. If healing comes through any of these avenues, I will be grateful. If not, or if I live through a period of miracle-drought, I will still rejoice in all of God's other mercies toward me.

Casting my bread on the water, not knowing from whence my blessings may come, what I will no longer do is restrict God's grace to any one arena of operation. I will not put God in a box. I will not say that God only heals through prayer or through the ministry of a gifted healer. Remember that Paul, an Apostle recommended a little medicinal wine to treat the gastric ailment of Timothy; not everything is controlled or healed through direct miraculous activity. Similarly, neither will I say that God today works only through modern medicine. There are many reports of miracles of all degrees of wonder today. Neither the position that all healing occurs through miraculous activity or all healing today occurs through medicine is true. God can operate in whatever way He chooses, including choosing not to act, as in the case of Paul, when he himself was tormented with a thorn in the flesh. God's grace indeed is sufficient for me in every circumstance.

Ultimately, however, my relationship with God has to deepen past that which is based solely on what I can receive from His hand. It has to transcend temporal gifts. David says all I desire in heaven is you. Assurance of His love for me and relationship with Him then has to become my bedrock, my unshakable foundation at all times. Whether this love of His for me manifests in miraculous healing, modern medicine or in no cure at all, I will continue to serve and to trust Him. The one unchanging principle--the invariant-- no matter what life throws at me is His love and grace toward me, in which I am to immerse myself continually.

My barber, recently diagnosed with a liver mass and undergoing therapy, said something like this to me. “God is good even if this disease kills me”. This is my best paraphrase of what he said and the correct conception of this issue. Working within such a framework, we stand on a rock, unmoved and unmovable by the vicissitudes and trials of life, looking always to God's broader grace, only a small part of which is the spectacular and the miraculous. - G Columbus

Related posts
MIRACLES IN OUR DAY Part II
MIRACLES IN OUR DAY, a recap. Part I

MIRACLES IN OUR DAY. Part II

by Gaius Columbus

In response to the comments in my other post , I too enjoyed reading Josh McDowell's book Evidence that demands a verdict. Like Luke, his book served to assure me of the certainty of what I had believed. I doubt, however, that a hard-core skeptic, unwilling to countenance the possibility of the Divine, would have been convinced.

Calorius is correct when he says the recipient's faith plays a key role in making sense of unusual phenomena. The intransigent Pharisee attributes these spectacular events to the workings of juju or magic, the naturalist scientist to chance or to some known or as yet undetermined law of nature, and the believer to acts of Divine power and grace. Each because of his/her peculiar predisposition while agreeing that something spectacular has occurred--this is important--reaches a verdict regarding the cause that is at variance with the others. In some ways, therefore, the strength of one's previously held position can make the data irrelevant and the conclusion a foregone thing. This, in a sense, explains a lot of internet debates.

So I agree with each one of you when you say the parameters of this discussion--particularly the intended audience--have to be set carefully. My intended audience for this discussion is primarily the believer for whom the dearth of miracles in his own, and in modern life has become a stumbling block. To a far lesser extent, I also include the unbeliever who may be genuinely open to, but not convinced of the "wild" claims of the Bible; i.e., the non-Christian seeker such as the Ethiopian Eunuch or the rich young man in the Bible who deserve a serious answer, even though that answer may be of a different flavor than that offered the believer.

In response to the other comment posed by George, if one could show that our Lord's era was no different from previous or subsequent times, this would indeed invalidate my argument made earlier. The gospel narrative suggests, however, that this is not the case--again, see John 21:25. There were indeed intervals in the OT during which miraculous activity occurred at a heightened pace. Returning to the analogies used previously, this would be akin to times of higher-than-normal volatility in the markets (those not reaching spectacular levels) or to passable reception on the radio not attaining the quality of a high fidelity signal.

Such times, Christians would say, merely foreshadow our Lord's ministry. They are types of what was to come; the earth tremors before the major earthquake, followed in a sense by the aftershocks of the first century and present era. This rush or explosion during our Lord's ministry is observed not only in the frequency of the miraculous acts, but also in their magnitude, culminating in the ultimate miracle, His resurrection from death not by the intercession of men as previously recorded (see Elijah and Elisha), but by His own authority. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father. I Jn 10: 17-18.

All of this, the spottiness of miraculous activity through time, suggests to me that the predominant motif in man's dealings with God is not the spectacular but rather Grace. Not “Magic” (or the magical) but rather Mercy. Grace and Mercy, present from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation. Grace in the garden, grace in the stories of Abel and Noah, grace in the prophets, grace in life of David, and on and on. Indeed, an examination of the Scriptures reveals that miracles appear much later in the narrative, and then only in fits and spurts. Far more pervasive and permeating the Scripture is God's grace to His servants.

If so, God's words to Paul when he asked for healing are apt; No miracle this time, just my grace is sufficient for you. Indeed, it should be stated that unless miracles are themselves embedded in an overarching framework of grace and right theology, they run the risk of becoming mere spectacles, the voyeuristic experience of the fickle such as the crowd that followed Jesus or, worse still, a diabolical means for leading people astray as we are told false prophets and the Antichrist will do. We walk by faith not by sight.

In my next post I hope to say something of how this overarching principle of grace relates to my view of miracles today, using Paul's experience as a starting point. Till then, let me just say that I do not believe the popular notion of every Christian as potential healer and miracle-worker. I do not believe this position is supported by a right understanding of Scripture. I believe instead that on a bedrock of grace for daily living, God occasionally and even today raises men and women endowed with spectacular gifts of healing and with miracle working ability to bless us (see Roman 12: 3-8, posted below).

Spectacular miracles have and continue to accompany Christ's body as a corporate entity, but not always as individuals. His grace, however, extends past and supersedes specially gifted people and special times, remaining even in times of perceived miracle-drought. Grace is the invariant in this sea of up and down miraculous activity. It points us to the Giver of all good gifts rather than to the gift itself. It manifests in gifts received in the natural as well as in the supernatural but results ultimately in relationship. - G Columbus

Romans 12: 3-8: For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Related post
MIRACLES IN OUR DAY, a recap. Part I

MIRACLES IN OUR DAY, a recap. Part I

by Gaius Columbus

I have been thinking quite frequently about everything that has been said so far. This link provides an enumerated list of miracles performed in the Bible and helps us to obtain a picture of the average frequency/clustering of these acts. I do not know the time interval over which these miracles were recorded, but the average rate does not appear to be particularly high until the extreme explosion of miracles recorded during the life of our Lord and His apostles.

One obvious caveat is that this list cannot be seen to be exhaustive. John suggests at the end of his gospel that what is recorded of Jesus' miracles is but a small proportion of all that our Lord performed. John 21 v 25: Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. Likewise in the early days of the church, Luke records in Acts 2:42-43, They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the Apostles.

Now, leaving aside the issue of the absolute frequency of miracles (which can be guessed, but is unknowable), does anyone see a unifying theme or pattern to this list or do you feel that these acts are completely random? Is there a key to understanding their distribution over time? An easy pattern for me is what I see when I, in a sense, plot the frequency of recorded miraculous activity as a function of time. Immediately evident, is the rush of miraculous activity that suddenly interrupts the sedate baseline of sporadic signs recorded in the OT. It is plain to see on this time-ordered chart that something curious, but according to the Apostles not unexpected, has occurred.

This impression is strengthened even more by the observation that following this rush of miracles, we again witness a return to a baseline level of sporadic signs from the post-first century church until present. The pre-gospel and post-gospel eras are, in a way, analogous to the random static one hears on an untuned older radio or, to pick another analogy, the background trade volatility recorded daily on the Dow Jones. The miraculous activity recorded during the time of our Lord and His disciples, seen this way, is similar to the sudden transition from static to music or clear speech as one turns the radio dial, or to the sudden unexpected change from the steady small-scale ups and downs of the market to a sudden catastrophic market crash or market boost.

Any analyst of such time-ordered data, whether scientific or financial, would conclude without hesitation that such activity was unusual, curious, and strange, marking a significant event. The rush of miracles reported in the Gospels has the same import; it means something special has occurred--specifically, that on the radio of time or the ticker tape of history, a signal worthy of our urgent attention and exposition has appeared.

What does all of this mean? What can we discern about how God generally deals with man without putting Him in a box? For me the above observation, alone, simple as it is but added to other interesting patterns, incites thoughts in my mind regarding the overarching role that Grace is to play in our lives, a theme alluded previously by my brothers on this blog. I will return to this theme in my follow-up posts. – G. Columbus

Related posts
Authenticating a miracle
Miracles and faith
The Perception of a Miracle
What is a miracle?
Where have all the miracles gone?


References. (from http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/miracle.htm)
Miracles and signs recorded in the Old Testament
1. The flood Gen. 7, 8
2. Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 19:24
3. Lot's wife turned into a "pillar of salt" Gen. 19:26
4. Birth of Isaac at Gerar Gen. 21:1
5. The burning bush not consumed Ex. 3:3
6. Aaron's rod changed into a serpent Ex. 7:10-12
7. The ten plagues of Egypt--(1) waters become blood, (2) frogs, (3) lice, (4) flies, (5) murrain, (6) boils, (7) thunder and hail, (8) locusts, (9) darkness, (10) death of the first-born Ex. 7:20-12:30
8. The Red Sea divided; Israel passes through Ex. 14:21-31
9. The waters of Marah sweetened Ex. 15:23-25
10. Manna sent daily, except on Sabbath Ex. 16:14-35
11. Water from the rock at Rephidim Ex. 17:5-7
12. Nadab and Abihu consumed for offering "strange fire" Lev. 10:1, 2
13. Some of the people consumed by fire at Taberah Num. 11:1-3
14. The earth opens and swallows up Korah and his company; fire and plague follow at Kadesh Num. 16:32
15. Aaron's rod budding at Kadesh Num. 17:8
16. Water from the rock, smitten twice by Moses, Desert of Zin Num. 20:7-11
17. The brazen serpent in the Desert of Zin Num. 21:8, 9
18. Balaam's ass speaks Num. 22:21-35
19. The Jordan divided, so that Israel passed over dryshod Josh. 3:14-17
20. The walls of Jericho fall down Josh. 6:6-20
21. The sun and moon stayed. Hailstorm Josh. 10:12-14
22. The strength of Samson Judg. 14-16
23. Water from a hollow place "that is in Lehi" Judg. 15:19
24. Dagon falls twice before the ark. Emerods on the Philistines 1 Sam. 5:1-12
25. Men of Beth-shemesh smitten for looking into the ark 1 Sam. 6:19
26. Thunderstorm causes a panic among the Philistines at Eben-ezer 1 Sam. 7:10-12
27. Thunder and rain in harvest at Gilgal 1 Sam. 12:18
28. Sound in the mulberry trees at Rephaim 2 Sam. 5:23-25
29. Uzzah smitten for touching the ark at Perez-uzzah 2 Sam. 6:6, 7
30. Jeroboam's hand withered. His new altar destroyed at Bethel 1 Kings 13:4-6
31. Widow of Zarephath's meal and oil increased 1 Kings 17:14-16
32. Widow's son raised from the dead 1 Kings 17:17-24
33. Drought, fire, and rain at Elijah's prayers, and Elijah fed by ravens 1 Kings 17, 18
34. Ahaziah's captains consumed by fire near Samaria 2 Kings 1:10-12
35. Jordan divided by Elijah and Elisha near Jericho 2 Kings 2:7, 8, 14
36. Elijah carried up into heaven 2 Kings 2:11
37. Waters of Jericho healed by Elisha's casting salt into them 2 Kings 2:21, 22
38. Bears out of the wood destroy forty-two "young men" 2 Kings 2:24
39. Water provided for Jehoshaphat and the allied army 2 Kings 3:16-20
40. The widow's oil multiplied 2 Kings 4:2-7
41. The Shunammite's son given, and raised from the dead at Shunem 2 Kings 4:32-37
42. The deadly pottage cured with meal at Gilgal 2 Kings 4:38-41
43. An hundred men fed with twenty loaves at Gilgal 2 Kings 4:42-44
44. Naaman cured of leprosy, Gehazi afflicted with it 2 Kings 5:10-27
45. The iron axe-head made to swim, river Jordan 2 Kings 6:5-7
46. Ben hadad's plans discovered. Hazael's thoughts, etc. 2 Kings 6:12
47. The Syrian army smitten with blindness at Dothan 2 Kings 6:18
48. The Syrian army cured of blindness at Samaria 2 Kings 6:20
49. Elisha's bones revive the dead 2 Kings 13:21
50. Sennacherib's army destroyed, Jerusalem 2 Kings 19:35
51. Shadow of sun goes back ten degrees on the sun-dial of Ahaz, Jerusalem 2 Kings 20:9-11
52. Uzziah struck with leprosy, Jerusalem 2 Chr. 26:16-21
53. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego delivered from the fiery furnace, Babylon Dan. 3:10-27
54. Daniel saved in the lions' den Dan. 6:16-23
55. Jonah in the whale's belly. Safely landed Jonah 2:1-10

Miracles Recorded in the Gospels
Peculiar to Matthew
1. Cure of two blind men Matt 9:27-31
2. Piece of money in the fish's mouth Matt 17:24-27
Peculiar to Mark
1. The deaf and dumb man Mark 7:31-37
2. The blind man of Bethsaida Mark 8:22-26
Peculiar to Luke
1. Jesus passes unseen through the crowd Luke 4:28-30
2. The miraculous draught of fishes Luke 5:4-11
3. The raising of the widow's son at Nain Luke 7:11-18
4. The woman with the spirit of infirmity Luke 13:11-17
5. The man with the dropsy Luke 14:1-6
6. The ten lepers Luke 17:11-19
7. The healing of Malchus Luke 22:50, 51
Peculiar to John
1. Water made wine John 2:1-11
2. Cure of nobleman's son, Capernaum John 4:46-54
3. Impotent man at Bethsaida cured John 5:1-9
4. Man born blind cured John 9:1-7
5. Lazarus raised from the dead John 11:38-44
6. Draught of fishes John 21:1-14

Common to Matthew and Mark
1. Syrophoenician woman's daughter cured Matt 15:28 Mark 7:24
2. Four thousand fed Matt 15:32 Mark 8:1
3. Fig tree blasted Matt 21:18 Mark 11:12

Common to Matthew and Luke
1. Centurion's servant healed Matt 8:5 Luke 7:1
2. Blind and dumb demoniac cured Matt 12:22 Luke 11:14

Common to Mark and Luke
1. Demoniac cured in synagogue at Capernaum Mark 1:23 Luke 4:33

Common to Matthew, Mark and Luke
1. Peter's wife's mother cured Matt 8:14 Mark 1:30 Luke 4:38
2. The tempest stilled Matt 8:23 Mark 4:37 Luke 8:22
3. Demoniacs of Gadara cured Matt 8:28 Mark 5:1 Luke 8:26
4. Leper healed Matt 8:2 Mark 1:40 Luke 5:12
5. Jairus's daughter raised Matt 9:23 Mark 5:23 Luke 8:41
6. Woman's issue of blood cured Matt 9:20 Mark 5:25 Luke 8:43
7. Man sick of the palsy cured Matt 9:2 Mark 2:3 Luke 5:18
8. Man's withered hand cured Matt 12:10 Mark 3:1 Luke 6:6
9. A lunatic child cured Matt 17:14 Mark 9:14 Luke 9:37
10. Two blind men cured Matt 20:29 Mark 10:46 Luke 18:35

Common to Matthew, Mark and John
Jesus walks on the sea Matt 14:25 Mark 6:48 John 6:15

Common to all the evangelists
Jesus feeds 5,000 "in a desert place" Matt 14:15 Mark 6:30 Luke 9:10 John 6:1-14
In addition to the above miracles wrought by Christ, there are four miraculous events connected with his life -
1. The conception by the Holy Ghost Luke 1:35
2. The transfiguration Matt 17:1-8
3. The resurrection John 21:1-14
4. The ascension Luke 2:42-51

Miracles pertaining to the ministry of the Apostles from http://biblia.com/miracles/new.htm.
Again, I don't think this list is exhaustive because "many wonders and signs [miracles] were done by the apostles" (Acts 2:43)
· 26 miracles of the Disciples of Jesus
· By the seventy Lk.10:17-20
· By other disciples Mr.9:39; Jn.14:12
· By the apostles Act.3:6, 12, 13, 16; 4:10, 30; 9:34, 35; 16:18
· Stephen, Act.6:8
· Philip, Act.8:4-13.
· Philip carried away by the Spirit Act.8:39

9 Miracles of Peter
· Peter and John cure a lame man Act.3:2-11
·Cures all the sick Act.5:15-16
· Heals Aeneas Act.9:34
· Raises Dorcas from the dead Act.9:40
· Causes the death of Ananias and Sapphira Ac 5:5, 10
· Peter delivered from prison Act.5:19-23
· Second Peter's Miraculous Escape From Prison, Acts 12
· Visions of Peter and Cornelius, Acts 10

11 Miracles of Paul
· Paul cured of blindness, vision of Ananias Act.9:1-18
· Strikes Elymas (Bar-Jesus) with blindness Act.13:11
· Heals a cripple Act.14:10
· Throws out an evil spirit Act.16:18; ,
· Paul and Silas delivered from jail, Acts 16
· Paul cures sick people, even touching his handkerchiefs, 19:11-12; 28:8, 9
· Raises Eutychius to life Act.20:9-12
· Shakes a viper off his hand and is unharmed Act.28:5
· Paul heals the father of Publius of Dysentery, Acts 28
· Paul heals the sick of Malta, Acts 28

MIRACLES, SIGNS, etc. Part V

Authenticating a miracle. by Calorius

In an earlier post, Robbo asked the question What constitutes a miracle? I think it is necessary to consider an important and related question i.e. when is a certain occurrence miraculous? This is something that Roman Catholic Church often grapples with, and our friend Robbo being a former member of that institution can identify with what I am about to say. There are fundamental questions to be answered without which we cannot determine if miracles are indeed rare nowadays.

The way I understand it and I may be wrong, in the Catholic Church only the Pope can declare someone a saint. Before the Church can do that, however, the person must have lived at a certain level of purity, died in a certain way, and thirdly, have some miracles attributed to them.

It is like a points system so, for example, someone who is beatified by having lived a very "saintly" life and then dies as a martyr because of the faith, needs only one miracle in order to be declared a saint. Another person, who died as a righteous person but who was not martyred “because of” the faith may need two or three miracles, etc. I might add here that if we follow this system, Robbo has little chance of becoming a “saint” because he starts off with too many negative points and it is a good thing he claims he is no longer a Catholic.

When they go to make the final determination of a miracle in the case for the sainthood of someone, they have witnesses who argue that some event was a miracle and on the other side is an appointed person, the devil's advocate, advocatus diaboli in Latin, who argues that the event was not. I am informed that these sessions are very interesting.

When I lived in Baltimore, I came across the story of one Nun, who was actually one of the founders of the "Daughters of Charity" which owned my hospital. It would seem that she was generally thought of as a good person; she had provided for the poor, washed the feet of the saints, served the community greatly and all that kind of thing. She didn't quite die a martyr's death, but died in a quiet righteous way. The big issue was whether she had performed any miracles.

Years later in the early sixties a little kid developed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), at that time a fatal, untreatable disease. The kid's family went to the grotto and asked the (now dead for many decades) Nun to, you know, say a word to Jesus on their behalf. Well, this story has a happy ending. The kid gets well, grows up to be an adult, and has a family of her own, who are still around. Is this a miracle? Those in favor argued that the disease ALL was incurable and the fact that the little kid was cured was not in doubt, because she was alive.

One of hematology-oncology giants from Johns Hopkins who had personally made the diagnosis, was summoned to Rome, and gave testimony about the veracity of the diagnosis and the recovery of the patient. Then the advocatus diaboli stood up to speak and outlined his counter arguments. It turns out the kid had been given some folic acid by one of the doctors. Could it be that she really didn't have ALL but instead megaloblastic anemia? The two conditions have a similar histologic appearance. In addition, folic acid has some structural similarities with methotrexate, the chemotherapy agent. Could it have been that what they thought was folic acid was really a dose of methotrexate?

I think the case was settled in favor of it being a miracle. Sorry about the long story, but I just wanted to point out one approach to the problem regarding those miracles for which there is some element of subjectivity in interpretation. Because it's so important in Catholicism whether someone is a saint or not (their personal items can become "relics", their hometown and family can profit from pilgrimages; people can sell their image, etc) the Catholic Church has designed a formal test for miracles in this context. This helped to weed out the multiple fraudulent cases in the dark ages. As someone had said, "We have too many saints and not enough sanctity in the church"

If Benny Hinn or any other person wants me to recognize him as a miracle worker, I need to see some doctors' testimonies, before-and-after photographs, etc., and I want him to answer some "devil's advocate" type questions. I will be happy to give expert medical testimony in oncology cases. Otherwise the healings remain similar to the ones we hear about at the Tigari shrine in Larteh; curious events of doubtful veracity and questionable impact.

Yet, I myself believe in those miracles that I have encountered; although again that is based largely on my faith. In this, I am inconsistent and subjective, not scientific. Very long rambling, but all I’m trying to say is that it is not just the performance of a miracle that is based on faith; it is also the receipt of a miracle. The interpretation and attribution of a miracle is based on faith. Even if God were to part the Red Sea again today, there would be different ways of receiving it, and it would only benefit certain people, mostly people who already have faith in God. - Calorius

Related posts
Miracles and faith
The Perception of a Miracle
What is a miracle?
Where have all the miracles gone?

SAD STORY revisited II

There are several issues raised by this poor woman's deportation, and I could write a term paper. For whatever it is worth, I will just make a few points.

- She is an illegal immigrant and the law must take its course. Like Calorius said, the law has no emotion and some times can be wicked and unjust. DNA evidence is now releasing multiples of men who have been in prison up to 20 years for rapes they did not commit. Only God know how many may have been executed for murders they did not commit.

- I agree with Calorius that it is simply a case of ko fie na ko wu. She is terminal and the multiple myeloma has not responded to treatment. Her kidneys have shut down and dialysis will keep her alive until the disease kills her. The UK Government could have quietly tempered justice with mercy and treated her for the next one or two years that her prognosis allows her but as has been hinted you can imagine the headlines in the Sun, and the Daily hateMail and the Daily hateExpress like Illegal immigrant costs Welsh Health Trust billions of pounds!.

- Gordon Brown and the Labour party are down in the polls and they have to do the "right" thing by their people. Interesting that it is usually the Conservatives (right leaning and "Christian" leaning) who will say "tough, but that is the law" while the left-leaning "godless" liberals, Lancet included, lead the charge for compassion. The true evangelicals are often silent in matters like this, just as they are largely silent about "Immigration" here. I think the best testimony would have been if a Christian Church in the UK, possibly one of the big immigrant Churches had taken up her cause and offered to pay for her dialysis.

As it is now, a good Dutch/Welsh woman, anonymous, is doing it for her in Ghana and I know more British people will donate to the cause. Do not be surprised if out of this sad story, more money is raised for the care of Kidney disease in Ghana. Funny thing, when the British people complain about something, they will always put their money where their mouth is. We have a lot to learn from that.

- The Ghana High Commissioner in London is behaving moron-like . I did not call him a moron; I said he is behaving moron-like. Why is he begging the British government to take her back? The Ambassador should have stepped in before deportation and given the assurance that the Ghana government would pay the costs of the final care. He could even have negotiated her care. If one of our honourable President Kuffuor’s ministers develops terminal pancreatic cancer with renal shutdown, they will send him at taxpayers’ expense, together with family and hangers on, to die at Cromwell Hospital in London. Our government does that all the time.

- When Eyadema of Togo fell terminally ill he got into a plane and headed for France but he died in the air before arrival. We are turning the Korle-Bu Hospital and its cash-na-hand system into an execution chamber. If we sit quietly, shrug our shoulders and just talk about it, sooner or later it affects us all.

- Finally, we have to find a way of effectively giving back and influencing our general society for the better; it is not just a matter of sending remittances of cash to relatives and friends. I hope the oil price goes up to 159 dollars a barrel; not sure how this is related to the issue being discussed though. - Robbo

Related posts:
SAD STORY revisited
A SAD SITUATION

SAD STORY revisited

Ko fie na ko wu. (Go and die at home). by Calorius.

I am sure the British officials know very well that dialysis is not easily available in Ghana. It's a case of ko fie na ko wu and this is not the first time such a thing is coming up.

Last year, there was the very famous story of a Nepalese gentleman who had fought very bravely in the world war in Burma as a member of her majesty's forces. This guy had risked his life, doing things like charging a Japanese machine gun post singlehandedly, and had saved the lives of several of her majesty's subjects, Britons. After the war, they decorated him like nothing- several medals, that kind of thing.

Well, in his 80's or 90's he developed complications of diabetes and applied for a visa to enter Britain so he could have treatment which was not available in his part of Nepal. They turned him down, over and over again. Even the descendants of the British soldiers whose lives he had saved, made several appeals for him, and a lot of money was raised for his upkeep so there was no question about his becoming a taxpayer's burden. Interestingly, he had visited Britain earlier on a visitor’s visa to receive his medals and special awards.

It became a big story, with lots of famous politicians weighing in with their opinions. Eventually the British Asylum & Immigration Minister stepped in and he was let into the country. I believe they know very well what the consequences are when leniency is not granted on medical grounds for such cases. Of course, there are the other arguments about if you make one exception the floodgates will open.

I think one needs a heart of steel to be an immigration official, and also to be on medical insurance determination panel, prison parole board, etc. These are “tough” jobs; I couldn't do it, because as Pat Thomas would put it, I have a heart in my belly.

One criterion for waiving section 212b of the J-visa to allow an exchange visitor to remain in the USA after his training is extreme hardship, including medical problems. However, it only applies if the extreme hardship would be suffered by a US citizen, not the visa holder. I know someone with renal failure and a kidney transplant who was turned down and had to earn his waiver another way. They explained to him that the fact that he would likely die if he returned to Ghana was not the issue.

Remember the movie The Fugitive when the Tommy Lee Jones character meets Harrison Ford in the tunnel, mano a mano, the fugitive Ford, who has the gun, says to Jones "I didn't kill my wife". It's obvious he is telling the truth; after all he's just spared Jones' life. Jones looks him in the eye and says "I don't care." Their job is not to care; they are there to enforce “the law”. And as you and I know every well, the Law is incapable of saving anyone. Redemption requires something better, grace. - Calorius

Related post: A SAD SITUATION

A SAD SITUATION

What do you make of this sad situation? From the BBC website,

A terminally-ill Ghanaian woman who was forced to return home after her UK visa expired is struggling to receive the medical treatment she needs.
Ama Sumani, 39, who has cancer and requires kidney dialysis, was removed from a Cardiff hospital and flown back to her home country on Wednesday. But she says she is unable to get care because she cannot pay hospital fees. UK officials said they had checked medical treatment was available in Ghana before she was flown home. Read the complete story here

You really can't fault the British; they felt the lady could get dialysis in Ghana. What I don't understand about our governments in Africa is that these facilities are paid for with money from national resources and taxes so why should people be denied treatment for life threatening conditions? I remember when we were in medical school, the doctor just had to certify that you were indigent and you got treatment.

We have the most privatized healthcare here in America, yet almost everyone needing emergency treatment will get it regardless of whether they can afford it and they are careful to build community facilities like Cook County and Dallas Parkland.

Our attitude to our own people is so terrible. The value we place on ourselves is the value others give to us. Do we have the right to expect a foreigner to treat any Ghanaian better when they hear this? The Christian is the voice of the society and I believe our churches need to take the government to task on this one. I also personally feel guilty because I do not do enough for my own. - Alien Warrior

Here is an update on the story from the BBC Correspondent in Accra.

MIRACLES, SIGNS, etc. Part IV

Miracles and faith.

I would like to point out that some of the assumptions made by Gaius Columbus when he laid out his questions , specifically the apparent scarcity of miracles today versus their abundance in them Bible era are not entirely valid.

Firstly, the Bible is a condensation of years of ministry by individuals into a few hundred pages and at a casual glance you get the sense that Jesus, Paul, Peter and company were awash with a daily repertoire of miracles, but this is clearly not the case. The time periods between some of the chapters in the Bible involve weeks, months or years. The Bible is silent on what went on during those black out periods and you cannot assume that there were miracles going on then.

So there is a POSSIBILITY that they also had "lean" periods where there were no miracles. The Gospel is now spread out across a world of 6 billion people and not just concentrated in Jerusalem, Judea and the Roman world. We may be very oblivious of the cumulative number of miracles today and indeed there may be more miracles occurring today than there were in the Bible period.

Secondly, God clearly has the prerogative to perform the miracle and not us. We cannot hold Him to anything since it is not our power. This is where faith has to be defined very clearly. Faith is not just the fact that we pray and therefore God will answer because it is in line with our general knowledge of the Bible. Faith is a very specific standing on a promise that God reveals by His indwelling Holy Spirit to our spirits and minds by His Word. So it becomes very difficult in individual cases to know if there was a promise of healing in that specific instance that was not fulfilled. Also, there are many variables involved in the promises being fulfilled.

Sometimes we violate the physical, moral and spiritual conditions of those promises and I do not expect God to just overlook that- example when someone who has recklessly smoked all their life goes on to develop lung cancer and comes for prayer for healing I usually expect and have always seen them die subsequently. Some Christians have probably died prematurely in mission fields that they were never sent to and we may mistakenly be calling it martyrdom. Notice how Satan tried to get Jesus to jump off the temple roof by trying to convince Him it was the right spiritual move to make. I am very therefore careful in making conclusions based on an individual case

It does seem that miracles occur to confirm the Word of God and faith in it. See Matt13:58. Jesus did not do a lot of miracles in His hometown because of a lack of faith in Him. I always was taught that the folks did not have the faith to make the miracles happen, but actually the verse should be interpreted differently. Jesus DID perform some miracles; just that He did not perform many because the folks had already made up their minds to reject Him. He still had the power to perform the miracles but chose not to. This goes back to my earlier point; faith is planted well before the miracle occurs and with or without the miracle the faith remains. This is the mystery of our faith and is definitely the power of God and is a miracle in itself.

I will stop here and revisit this later after I get some other comments from you guys. Suffice to say, I still see miracles today. - Alien Warrior

Related posts
The Perception of a Miracle
What is a miracle?
Where have all the miracles gone?

MIRACLES, SIGNS, etc. Part III.

The Perception of a Miracle. by Calorius

The perception of a miracle is partly based on who the observer is. Even when a voice spoke from heaven identifying Jesus as the Son of God, some of the people who heard it said it had merely thundered. Many skeptics rationalize a genuine miracle, in the face of incontrovertible facts. On the other hand, we as Christians often commit the opposite mistake by attributing a natural event to God's miraculous intervention. This includes of the very ridiculous and easily seen-through "how God told me whom to marry" and "how God chose me for this ministry" ones.

Personally, I am quite sure of many occasions when something happened or didn't happen because I prayed. I am convinced they would not have happened except for Divine intervention, but whether I can call that a miracle or not is largely subjective and based on my faith. Some of Jesus' miracles fall into the same category, although not all. Lepers who became clean (maybe it was a temporary rash) and people who were "sick nigh unto death" and became well at the same time as a conversation with Jesus are hardly events that are beyond the possibility of chance. Peter's mother's illness could have been healed by a placebo effect; hysteria is even more powerful than the placebo effect. Then someone can ask this question; was the snake that bit Paul really poisonous, and was it really an envenomation bite?

Then, there is Gideon's fleece in the Old Testament- a good "scientific" method, but very observer dependent. He was his own observer, and it is not impossible to convince oneself that there is or there is no dew on a fleece. Temperature changes could easily cause condensation on something like that and do the opposite the next day. After all it was the same fleece, and maybe it didn't dry well and so attracted dew the next time.

What about Daniel in the lion's den? That's an example of something that still happens, like the people who walked unscathed through battlefields in war, etc. There are several of such stories from Liberia and Sierra Leone. Were the warlords just bad shots?

There is a school of Biblical interpretation which actually admits that these miraculous events did occur, but then rationalizes them. For example, people teach that the Red Sea parted because of an earthquake; and Jericho fell because of sound resonance etc. I actually find such explanations more illogical than the views of outright doubters who deny that the reported events occurred. I also have more to say on this subject and will leave it for another post. – Calorius

See also
What is a miracle?
Where have all the miracles gone?

MIRACLES, SIGNS, etc. Part II.

What is a miracle?

A long time ago, Calorius preached once at the Christian Medical Fellowship in Ghana; we never allowed him back again but he made the point accurately that when John the Baptist send emissaries to the Lord Jesus to ask if He is the Christ or should they expect another, the response from our Lord was enlightening. Jesus Christ sent a reply to this effect; the sick are being healed, the dead are being raised and the Good News is being preached to the poor. To Calorius, the order in which the miraculous phenomena are listed is important and the preaching of the Gospel and the conversion of sinners is the ultimate miracle. I agree.

I am not side-stepping the question and rationalizing my inability to move even a small hill in my backyard with my faith. I believe and have said this elsewhere that miraculous healing and wondrous signs have a different purpose for the unbeliever and the believer. For the unbeliever, it is a demonstration of God’s power and to confirm the preaching of the Gospel. For the believer however, it is primarily an act of God’s mercy in this fallen world. So Paul pleaded for mercy from God for the ill Epaphras, though Paul on other occasions healed the sick and raised a dead young man. When a believer falls ill, we have to lean on God’s grace and mercy and trust Him, otherwise I would have lost my faith by now- if it were possible.

You and I know that we are experiencing God’s great mercy each day we wake up. It is a miracle that we do not rupture a small blood vessel as we sleep peacefully or engage in other activity at night, as the case may be. Every arrival back home after my daily 36 mile commute is an act of mercy that a careless or drunken driver did not take me out. Every new word that my daughter speaks and every new sentence she reads…the list is endless. The direct absence of evil or misfortune in our daily lives should not be taken for granted.

I do not have much of a problem with misfortune, illness or death of a believer; I have no difficulty praying for an ill friend/relative and I fully expect God to answer and He does answer. We can all attest to it. Sometimes He does not answer (the way we expect) and I don’t know why but I will wait till I can see completely, no longer in a mirror…..

The other part of your question is why, if what I say is right, do we not see the miraculous being performed to convince the scoffing unbeliever, i.e., as a sign of God’s power. I have some thoughts on that too and may write further about that unless one of you says it better for me. Assuming that your premise is accurate, I will just for the moment paraphrase what Jesus said in the parable: “… if they did not believe Moses and the Prophets, then they will not believe even if someone is raised from the dead and goes back to tell them…” Consider that there were people who were direct witnesses to Jesus’ miracles, including some of the Pharisees and Chief Priests and yet would not believe; some even to the extent of suggesting that He did his miracles by the power of Beelzebub!

Here then is the ultimate miracle; Christ in you, the hope of glory. - Robbo

See also Where have all the miracles gone?

MIRACLES, SIGNS, etc. Part 1.

Where have all the miracles gone? by Gaius Columbus

A few weeks ago, my Pastor died after a long illness and despite much prayer by all of us. In my initial distress, I decided to search the internet to see what has been published on the topic of miracles. I googled the words, "where have all the miracles gone”. One of the earlier hits on the list, underscoring its popularity, perhaps, was this blog posting by an atheist

Ignoring for a moment the taunting tone of that piece, does the question posed by this blogger resonate at all? It reminds me of the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, except that, this time, we Christians are the objects of the taunts. Is the core question a valid one? Remember that our Lord too was challenged to perform miracles by scoffers like the Pharisees and even by the thief crucified on the adjacent cross. While He refused to perform miracles on these occasions, there was at least the compelling testimony of His miracles performed among reliable witnesses of the same period.

You and I may rightfully say that most of the Lord's miracles were performed not for spectacle but to satisfy real human needs even though some miracles, like walking on the water, were more utilitarian in nature--the Lord needed to join the disciples, so walked on water--are harder to categorize this way. The point remains though, that miracles were performed fairly often.

In contrast, the modern era seems to be almost totally devoid of the miraculous both within the church and as a testimony to unbelievers. I am not claiming that they are not occurring in parts of the world--perhaps they are--but surely, you will agree that we are no longer seeing miracles at the same rate or of the same order of "unnaturalness" as those performed by Jesus and the Apostles? We all have our own stories of prayers uttered in faith, left unanswered? Can we honestly say that we are seeing today, miraculous intervention to the same degree as recorded by the early Church?

When does the inconvenient truth force a search for new explanations--even explanations as intellectually unsatisfying as, "we simply do not know why?" Like what some in the markets have called "almost trends", there is an "almost trend" towards a complete lack of the truly miraculous.

Increasingly, I am not sure whether I am being fully honest--both to myself and to others--when in a time of need, I urge myself or others to "have faith", to believe a miracle will occur if only I/they get down on knees, seize the promises of scripture and pray. To make such claims despite the overwhelming personal/corporate evidence of divine "silence" in recent times, at times seems self-deceiving or willfully naive. It does not square with the data at hand. Something has changed, folks--we are not now, nor have we for centuries been anything like the church of the first century. Isn't it far better to acknowledge that a "problem" exists so we can honestly start to seek answers to why our experience is at odds with the narratives that we read about in the gospels and Acts?

Now, before you send off some emotional knee-jerk response that satisfies a need to defend "the team", remember you will only be preaching to the choir. I am asking these questions very carefully. I still believe in God's grace to believers and unbelievers, but I ask that you remove your "Chrife” or conventional Christian lenses to look at this question with fresh eyes. Perhaps it might help to think about how you would answer this question if rather than a taunting skeptic, you had to grapple with an unbeliever or perhaps even a believer who was truly and honestly seeking a straight answer.

Where have all the miracles gone, and if you accept the proposition that the frequency and the "wowness" of miracles has diminished, I ask, why? And please don't side-step the issue by telling me how pondering these matters can or will make one go mad. Again, I will be satisfied with a mere, "I don't know" if that is the best (honest) answer you guys can come up with. - Gaius Columbus

Interlude- HOW I GOT MY MUGSHOT

All is well here in the southwest. The 100 degree weather is at an end and I can begin to shed some of that retardant called melanin.

We recently took individual office pictures and when it got to my turn I politely pointed out to the photographer that the background being used was black. The obroni photographer vociferously urged me on saying that it was not going to be a problem. I however stood my ground and finally they had to unwind a white projector screen for my benefit.

After the first picture with the new background I heard her grunt and say, "Uh, I think we need some more light". She promptly doubled the amount of lumens and got a more satisfactory picture with the end statement "I will use the edit menu to get that shine of your forehead, you can go now".

There was a very polite and undignified silence as I left the room. My exit was neat and very quick. I did not turn around even once to see what was going on. I felt dissatisfied with the whole encounter and wonder if I should have said something. Anyway, I thank God I did not trip over some loose wire as I left. There are more pressing issues than undesirable mugshots. Have a blessed and safe fall and winter. We shall return to more important and Eternal matters shortly. - Alien Warrior

OIL DISCOVERY IN GHANA, curse or blessing?

My personal opinion is that Ghana will do poorly with this oil. I hope I am wrong. The evidence is that we have done poorly without oil. Some people think that if only they could be given a big boost to start with, then they'll do well. On the contrary, he who is faithful in little is the one likely to do well with a lot. So we will do with oil exactly as we have done with cocoa, gold, electricity and human resources.

Why should it be any different from the story of gold, bauxite or cocoa? Why should Ghana be any different from Nigeria, Zaire or Cameroon? Why would this oil exploration company be any different than Cadbury, Kaiser or Shell? Why would today be any different than 1887, 1927 or 1977?I must hasten to add, though, that I’m not implying that all the "fault' lies with Ghanaians. It involves a combination of local selfishness and incompetence, coupled with a very good dose of foreign (predominantly Western) exploitation, greed and advantage. Joining a cartel like OPEC may reduce the exploitative aspects of western influence but cannot affect local corruption and mismanagement

As the Bible says, to the place where the carcass is, there the birds of prey will gather. At this very moment I am sure in the hotels that overlook the Potomac and the Thames, decent-looking young men are signing contracts that spell out how these profits are to be shared among people who have never been to Accra. And colluding with them will be some young men, natives of the Volta and the Densu Rivers of Ghana, gleefully making calculations about their personal share. 25 years from now, we will lament the types of contracts that were signed and the opportunities that were lost.

As for the local greed and incompetence, the only way out is regeneration. And I do think regeneration starts in the heart, not the mind. Remember in the book of James, the advice given to men of "double mind" is to cleanse their hearts- not their minds. One way of regenerating the hearts of large numbers of people in a short time is by Christian revivals. These are showers of grace from God, and they cannot be forced, although we know that plenty of prayer, fasting and stepped up evangelism will frequently precipitate revivals. - Calorius

OIL DISCOVERY IN GHANA - blessing or curse

I have observed a lot of pessimism being exhibited in the wake of the reported discovery of significant oil reserves in Ghana. I think this is because it is generally accepted or rather, postulated that Oil has been a curse to most African countries that have it. But can Ghana be different? So should we expect doom and gloom or are we ready for this leap into the unknown abyss of black gold?

Firstly, in all the countries on the African continent where oil has been found, the discovery was made when those countries were under dictatorships. Public expressions of approval or disapproval of policies were irrelevant and the global superpowers did as they pleased through those dictators. Ghana is a little unique because we have gone through that phase of our history already and on the surface we seem to have a fairly viable democracy where the opposition has been able to uproot the party in power on one occasion. In addition, the last presidential and parliamentary elections were much closer than most folks realize.

I do not think Americans have a better mind set than Ghanaians when it comes to natural resources. They plunder their own resources just as much as we do. There is a lot of corruption in high places here too, maybe in a different form. I believe that, as the Bible says, "the whole world is under the power of the evil one" and I think that every government left to its own devices will not act in the best interest of anyone The legislators will act in their own best interests and if it coincides with those of the people that is fine, if it does not then it becomes a pity.

Here is the difference, or what used to be the difference between Ghana and America, where I presently live. In the latter public scrutiny and anger coupled with a vibrant press makes the legislators and the executive more responsible to the needs of the people and therefore sometimes the legislation is truly altruistic. When there appears to be no concern from the public we see some of the crass that comes out of the leaders. Now I know that on some occasions, excellent leaders and great statesmen are in charge and this model may not hold, but I am looking at the general trend here. So why should we not expect that, our present free press in Ghana along with a more determined and less intimidated electorate, will force our leaders into more responsible decision making?

I am convinced that most of the positive changes in the societies we live in are brought about not by government as an entity- they could care less- but rather by men and women of conscience who stir up the public sentiment to see things the way they should be seen. These individuals may or may not be Christians. Apply this to most things we take for granted today like civil rights, the abolition of slavery, women’s rights, child labor laws, workers rights, even freedom of worship, education etc. In all of these, the government often opposed the activists from the very onset. In a lot of instances even the general populace was opposed to or indifferent to these actions and the activists were a minority. Once a general freedom of expression and association exists, very strong forces and movements can be harnessed that can influence a democratic legislature and sway even a powerful government.

Just maybe, there are people God has raised up who will begin to agitate things for the better back in Ghana, based on the learning experiences of the past. Why is this important to us as Christians? If you look at the map of Ghana in West Africa it actually occupies the central spot on the West African coastline. All around are areas of instability and more importantly of Islamic dominance. Ghana probably has the most self professing Christians of any West African nation - I don't have the statistics but I believe this statement to be true. So if Ghana succeeds, it follows that there may be an opportunity for Christians to influence the planting of churches and missions in some of these neighboring countries. Some Ghanaian churches are already doing this but the I believe Ghana, due to its political stability and emerging democracy, has the potential to become not just an economic beacon but a spiritual platform for evangelism

As important as it is for us to have enough to eat and enjoy good living standards, the Christian should be seeking opportunities that will benefit the Father's kingdom, in the light of these oil discoveries. We should begin to see oil and other commodities that produce wealth for a society as resources God has provided for the advancement of is Kingdom until Christ returns. Christians, particularly Ghanaian Christian engineers, economists, environmental scientists and of course politicians should realize that they are called to ensure that our natural resources are developed in true stewardship, not wantonly exploited for short term benefit.

We have a vested interest in ensuring that we do not repeat the mistakes we have made with the use of our gold, diamonds, timber, bauxite, etc., when it comes to this Oil discovery and we will gain nothing by sitting back and pessimistically predicting that this will end up being a "curse", based on past experience. We must be proactive at every stage of the process. I may not be called to be a direct activist in this regard but if I know Christians or even non-Christians who have that ability, should I not be supporting them? Is that not what John Newton did with William Wilberforce to end slavery?

Can one support a non Christian with an agenda that has eventual and even indirect positive implications for the spread of the gospel or am I too far on a limb on this one with my pragmatism; is this practical and most importantly, is it scriptural? - Alien Warrior