I watched the first half of the film, “The Finger of God” last night with my friends and my wife at their home. It wasn’t anything new to me to see the sort of material and discussion within it. It’s by folks that I would describe as either “Neo-Pentecostal” or Pentecostal italicized, underlined, and with a few exclamation points (e.g. – Pentecostal!!!). The film asserts more than merely tongues and prophesy – which is enough to give some Reformed folks a grip to the chest – they go on to celebrate gold dust miraculously appearing during worship, manna appearing from thin are within (or on top of) a man’s Bible (at Revelation 2:17, where Jesus says he’ll give conquerors “hidden manna”), the appearance of precious stones and gems out of nothing within worship, and the miracle of gold teeth for bad dental problems. (The most humorous one that they showed was after a man was slain in the spirit, there appeared gold dust on his pants, right on top of his zipper. That’s right, we were all starring at gold dust, on his crotch. Quite awkward, which even the narrator chuckled at. It was supposed to symbolize fruitfulness in ministry.)
Quite often, in my experience, the opposition to these sort of miracles focuses on the eccentric behavior of the folks involved, the fact that these miracles aren’t mentioned in Scripture – and in fact, there are not any miracles for today. I can understand and appreciate many of these critiques, and yet at the same time there are things to commend about the faith some of these “neo-Pentecostals” have. What I’d like to list here are a few things I appreciate and am concerned by with this stuff, if for anything, just my own mind on the issue.
Good things:
- The active, expectant desire to see God move. The folks who are interviewed in the films just simply expect God to move, because God has said he’s going to move. God’s promised to live among us by the Holy Spirit, and work signs and wonders for his kingdom, and these folks just take him at his word.
- The intimacy with and reliance upon the Holy Spirit. I find it interesting that in many of the interviews and testimonies, people say something akin to, “we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit” (Acts 19:2). John Calvin is said to be the theologian of the Holy Spirit (by B.B. Warfield here), and yet I find a greater awareness of, desire for, and intimacy with the Holy Spirit amidst these folks more than I do, at times, within the Reformed Camp.
- Desire for evangelism. In one section of the video, a guy just goes out into Yale’s campus and is walking up to folks and asking if they’d like to be healed. There are other parts where folks pray and then just go out and do the same sort of thing for “fun on a Friday night”. They’re obvious desire is to see God work and to see God save people. They’re boldness is very commendable, which leads to a forth commendation:
- Simple, childlike faith. The running theme between these marks as I list them out is a simple faith. People simply trust God at his word. This gets them into trouble at times because they aren’t using the gift between their ears as well as they should, but their hearts love God, and they have a simple trust and reliance upon him. This, I feel, is quote contrary to the norm within Christian circles.
Concerns:
- The centrality of the Gospel. What I find in the video and folks I’ve engaged with on these things is that the focus is not focused in on and transfixed with the Gospel. Much of the attention and talk is to how awesome the miracles are, how they’ve encouraged faith, and how they are the kingdom of God come. I’m fine with all of that (with a few qualifiers on what “the kingdom of God” is since I’m still not sure how they use the phrase). Occasionally, at least in the video, there will be mention of miracles showing how much God loves us and desires us to know him, and that God, not the miracles, are the focus and aim of miracles. Even this is not helpful because who “God” is, and what God is about is left undefined if the miracles are not explicitly talked about to show the power of God in the cross of Christ. I understand that people are praying in Jesus’ name, but so do loads of heretics who stand contrary to the Gospel. Note, I am not grouping these neo-Pentecostals and the heretics together. Take a look at Galatians 3. Here Paul starts by saying, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified” (v. 1). Notice, the “public portrayal” of Christ crucified was through preaching. He then goes on to say, ”Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’?” (v. 5,6). The faith that people respond to the Gospel with is by the work of the Holy Spirit, who also works miracles among them to point to the power of the Gospel. Faith’s purpose for existing is not to work miracles, but to trust in, and glorify the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. That’s why Paul caps this paragraph with pointing to the faith of Abraham. Just as signs and wonders existed to point to the work of Christ on the cross , so signs and wonders today exist to point to the finished work of Christ on the cross and his sovereign rule over the world so that sinners repent and believe the Gospel.
- Bad use of scripture. In the video, people used a few scriptures incorrectly to justify the validy of these “peculiar miracles”. One that comes to mind is, ““Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). The reasoning is this: Jesus did great miracles, and so can we; in fact, we’ll do miracles not recorded in Scripture because we’re promised to do “great works” than Jesus. I find this troubling for many reasons, the least of which is that I don’t see any reason to think we’ll do miracles not evidenced in Scripture. The miracles in Scripture are given reason and purpose in how the Scriptures connect their meaning to the cross of Christ. Non-scripture recorded miracles are always left to an individual’s interpretation, which is subject to question to say the least. (That said, many people generally shrug they’re shoulders on the “why?” question, which is why I don’t press to hard on this point.) The “great works” that Jesus talks about is the extending of his works beyond the region he’s ministered in. Not that the works are “better” than Jesus’, but that they extend further than the Israel/Palestine region of the world. In Colossians 1:24 Paul says that he is “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions…for the church”. What Paul means here is clarified in Philippians 2:30 where he says that Epaphroditus “filled up what was lacking” in the people’s service to Paul – which was merely to deliver the goods. To my mind, “greater works” and “filling what is lacking” are similar concepts when discussing the work of Christ – the only way we can do “greater” and fill what is “lacking” is to deliver the goods in a larger expanse than Christ ministered in.
- Another poor reading of Scripture is Paul’s discussion of the “foolish in the world to shame the wise” in 1 Corinthians 1:18 to 2:16. Some folks in the video used this section to say something akin to, “Look, these miracles are rather foolish to the world, but God says he uses foolish things for his kingdom.” The problem here is that “the foolish things” of the world is “Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). That which is foolish to the world is the Gospel, not miracles (unless you’re Hume…). You see a worldly, unregenerate people in John 6 who are quite ready for some miraculous stuff to happen, and yet when the Gospel is preached by Jesus himself, not only the crowd, but disciples jump ship. Miracles are weird and mysterious, and contrary to the western mind, but they’re not uncomfortable or foolish to a dying world, but the Gospel is. I merely mention this to say that it’s a wrong use of these “foolish things” scriptures to validate miraculous things. And I want to be clear here that I haven’t said there’s malicious intent in those who make these mistakes, nor claimed that they aren’t Christians for what they’ve taught.
- Poor discernment. This piggy backs on the last one, being similar, but different. The existence of miracles is not unique to Christians. It may seem like a shocker to think this, but a simple evaluation of the world around us, not to mention Scripture, shows plenty of pagan people pulling miraculous things out of thin air. What I find concerning in these folks is that a miracle automatically equals the power of Jesus Christ. Christ teaches us that, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’”(Matthew 7:22,23). This is a sobering verse to me, and one that for me, causes me to shutter before I start applying it to others. Many will have done miraculous things and still be reckoned “workers of lawlessness.” I do wonder at times though, how many of the “signs and wonders” movement have given adequate consideration and mediation on these verses in discerning the miracles they witness or work. I would aim this more particularly at those miracles that do not occur in the Bible (i.e. gems, gold dust, “hidden manna”, etc.). Just as much as Satan can appear as an angel of light, he can surely work miracles. As I mentioned before, the aim of miracles is the Gospel; to “test the spirits” (1 John 4:1) is to see if things point and uphold the Gospel, if they don’t, they’re demonic.
- Anti-intellectualism. One of the phrases that come up on these issues is, “Don’t put God in a box.” Part of me understands this sentiment – God isn’t limited to our understanding of the world. However, what this has the current of is a cut against hard thinking on these issues. As much as miracles are a gift from God, the mind is supposed to be trained, renewed, and controlled to think God’s thoughts after him (Ephesians 4:23, Romans 12:2, Hebrews 5:14). It is through constant training of the mind in the Scriptures that one learns to be self-controlled in their evaluation of the world (Galatians 5:23, James 3:17). I think the issue of poor discernment and anti-intellectualism go hand in hand here, so I don’t feel the need to say too much. I will say that one of the most open Calvinists to the strange works of the spirit was the most intellectually gifted Calvinist, possible who’s ever lived (except Jesus, Paul, etc.), Jonathan Edwards. The questions about the validity of the miracles are not putting God in a box, but rather, asking the question, “God’s defined himself in Scripture, so do these things line up with what we know about God?” Again, what we know about God is that the Father seeks to glorify the Son in the Gospel, so if a miracle isn’t shown to aim in that direction – at the repentance of sinners and faith in the one mediator, Jesus Christ – then it’s not intellectualism to call a miracle false because it doesn’t align without understanding of Scripture, it’s spiritual maturity and discernment.
- Miracles do not mean people are saved, or know God. This point has already been expounded upon in the heading of “Poor Discernment.” Since Satan can work miracles, and since people can perform miracles in the name of Jesus and still go to Hell, we should not get overly excited or obsessed with the most recent miracle. It is important to note that of all the things we learn from the end of 1 Corinthians 13, it is the fruit of the Spirit, namely love, that extends into eternity not miraculous events or gifts.
Conclusion
After watching the film I commented with Michelle that while there were some major issues with the centrality of the Gospel and biblical discernment, I was convicted of my own lack of desire for the miraculous work of God. I’m a continuationist amidst a sea of cessationist Reformed folks, which I know makes me stick out like Moby Dick to Captain Ahab. But it’s where I find Scripture to be most consistent. Unfortunately for me, my heart and desires aren’t as consistent with the clear teaching I see in Scripture as they should be. While I affirm and agree that the signs and wonders are for today, my affections are cold in this area, and I hardly have the faith that these brothers and sisters have in their expectation for God to move. While I’m left with sadness for the clarity of the Gospel for these folks, I’m more left desiring to repent for my own rebellion against God’s desire to bless me and his people by miraculous signs of Christ’s victory over sin and death. I do pray that the Lord will grow my faith to desire to see the Gospel pointed to by miraculous events so that Jesus Christ, not me, nor the event, receives all the glory that he deserves.
The Strasbourg Inn 