God does not perform miracles today? PLEASE READ!

Sorry this is so long, but I am ramped up here! Tonight I read something in Olivia's latest Discovery Magazine, a Christian based magazine (Apologetics Press) that completely caught me off guard and totally grieved the Holy Spirit inside of me. As I read it, I actually felt His grief and immediately a Bible verse was brought into my mind. Ephesians 4:30 (The Message) 30Don't grieve God. Don't break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don't take such a gift for granted.

Do you believe in the Triune God? If you are a Christian then I would hope you answered yes. With that assumed, do you then believe the Holy Spirit lives? If so where? Luke 11:13 (New International Version)13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" This is Jesus speaking here to us! Again the Bible answers this for us...

John 14:16-24 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."


Can you see what I am saying, what Jesus is saying? The Holy Spirit is sent to us, to live inside us not for just a while, but FOREVER. Judas misunderstood Jesus here and responded to Jesus in the next verse. 22Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?" Judas thought it was just for them and not the rest of the world. Jesus repeated Himself in the next verses. 23Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25"All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Now that I have established a few verses that prove the existence of the Holy Spirit through Jesus' own words, I will go one step farther and ask you, does the Holy Spirit have God's full power and is the Holy Spirit God? John 16:7-8 7But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt[a] in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: I would dare to say that a better for us version of Jesus (one who is alive not as a man limited by a man's humanity but one without the constraints of mortality) would have to be 100% Jesus and then some (for Him to be better) and therefore have His power. Just read Acts to see the power of the Holy Spirit besides all of Paul's and others' references to it.

OK, so let's recap for a second then I will get to what I read that is so un-Biblical in a Christian magazine. The Holy Spirit is God and Jesus. The Holy Spirit is alive and has the power of God. The Holy Spirit lives inside anyone who loves Jesus and obeys His teaching.

So here goes. This magazine asks as the title for the first article, "Are Miracles Scientifically Impossible?" It goes on to talk about miracles are super natural occurrences designed by God. Then they go even farther and say, “Some people misunderstand miracles, and they call amazing, natural occurrences miracles. One such example they give is if a person who has been cured of terminal cancer... it is a natural bodily process that fought and defeated the cancer and this is not a miracle. It says, "Even though their survival is wonderful and amazing, it is not a miracle." Here is where I felt the grief of the Holy Spirit inside me. It goes on to add that coincidences such as an airplane crashing in the middle of nowhere where there just happens to be a doctor camping right beside the crash site is not a miracle, but an amazing coincidence.

Then they completely contradict themselves when they say, "Miracles are only impossible in a world with no God. But since we know that there is a God, we can understand that miracles are possible. In fact, since God is outside of nature, we can see that He has used miracles to communicate with humans, and to show them that the material world is not all that exists." They conclude this article with the fact that God has performed miracles, but that what we call miracles are really not.

THEN... the next article titled, "If God exists, Why Isn't He Working Miracles Today?" They admit that the Bible is full of miracles and that God can perform them. Then they say that just because God can doesn't mean that He chooses to do so at this point in time. I'll quote, "...God has chosen to cease working miracles during this time period. Just as God has every right to work a miracle, He has every right to suspend the working of miracles for whatever amount of time He chooses."

Are you feeling what I felt yet?

They say that miracles were only performed to authenticate the Word of God. "Miracles verified the teaching of God's messengers, as over against the many false teachers." Well to this I'll ask why then should we be aware of the false teachers if they could not perform miracles, but only the authentic teachers could. The Bible says, Matthew 24:24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. So if supernatural miracles were only from God and only to authenticate God's Word how then could the false prophets perform them and deceive even the elect?

Now I am going to quote a large section of their Biblical proof for this assumption of God's... I don't know... whims???

"... the apostle Paul stated that miracles would cease and be done away when the 'perfect' (or completed Word of God) had been revealed (1 Corinthians 13:8-10; James 1:25). Those things that were incomplete and partial (miraculous gifts) would be replaced by the total and complete (the fully revealed Word of God). Once God revealed all of the information that He wished to make available to people, the need for miracles to confirm the oral Word came to an end. Now, people can sit down with the New Testament, the written Word of God, and, with honest and diligent study, conclude that it is God's Word. We have absolutely no need for miracles."

We have absolutely no need for miracles? What planet do these people live on? Not mine for sure. Only in our country are people able to freely and easily and diligently able to receive and read the Word of God. Hmmm... That is not even my point of rebuttal.

1st off: 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 (New International Version) 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. This chapter is not about miracles even. It is about love and how Love is the only thing that will not cease because God is Love! Ok so how does this prove the point?

2nd of all: James 1:25 (I will quote 22-25 for context purposes) 22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. Ok, this is about listening to Jesus and doing what He says. Ummm not even a reference to a miracle much less the ceasing of such.

Did they just expect to hide behind the Christian label and think we would not know our scripture or at least look it up? Another proving Biblical scripture if you read it in context actually proves just the opposite. James 1:3 (once again I'll add more scripture for context) 3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. Also read the Message version which just simplifies scripture into today’s language. It tells us that, "His divine power has given us everything we need...", "...he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature..."

I ask Apologetics press the same thing Paul concludes his letter to the Romans with, " Romans 11:33-35 (New International Version)
Doxology
33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and[a] knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34"Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?"[b]
35"Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?"[c]

Apparently they must know the mind of the Lord and know that He is not healing people from diseases, not saving people in accidents...

Why on earth would they pray? If there is no miraculous, God given, supernatural answers to prayer, why would we even need to read what Jesus said throughout the Bible about prayer and how to pray and that we will receive what we pray for if we ask in His name... What would be the point of asking your father for a fish if you knew he would hand you a snake or simply say "no". Matthew 7:9-11 (New International Version) 9"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! I also am a little confused with why would we need to read what James says if it does not pertain to us? Isn't what is included in the Bible there for a reason? James 5:15 (New International Version) 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Why would we need to read this if it is not for us anyhow? Couldn't this be left out of the Bible? Well, you must get my point. I am going now to tear this magazine issue in half for it is not ok to have false teachings in my house.

It is a shame because I really like a lot of the issues and now I am feeling quite deceived by them as Christians.