Miracles in the Scriptural sense, is the event of supernatural power, palpable to the senses that accompanied the servants of the Lord during the pre-Canon period to authenticate their divine calling or commission. Miracles are the sovereign act of God apart from human or angelic intervention or participation. The Bible described miracles in three words: Power a miracle is an event of super natural power, Wonder palpable to the human senses; Signs accompanied the servant of God to authenticate his calling there are eleven reasons for scarcity of miracles in our era of the Church Age:

The promises in the Gospel of Mark (16:16-18) of miracles and healing were fulfilled in the pre-Canon period of the Church Age.

Miracles, healing and tongues were not for the believers but for the unbelieving sign-seeking Jews (John 4:48, Luke 11:29).

Miracles, healing and tongues were for the testimony of the apostles and Disciples of Christ during the infancy of the Church to authenticate their divine calling or commission (Hebrews 2:4).

The gifts of miracles, healing, and tongues does not exist equally in all dispensations. The sign gifts are excluded in the dispensation of the Church Age.

There is no command for the unbelievers to perform miracles, signs and wonders.

Satan and his false prophets and false teachers are performing counterfeit miracles, signs, wonders, healing and fake speaking of tongues (2 Thessalonians 2:9, Revelation 13:13, 16:14, 19:20).

Performing miracles, signs and wonder, healing and speaking of tongues, are not indicative of spirituality or spiritual maturity. The real advocates of these temporal - historical sign gifts are the backsliders, carnal or reversionist believers and unbelievers. The source of their power for performing miracles, signs and wonders, healing the sick is from the devil.

Numerous believers of the pre-Canon period did not perform miracles, signs and wonders, or heal the sick (John 10:41).

The Great Commission excludes the command for believers to perform miracles, signs and wonders, to heal the sick or to speak in tongues. We are only mandated to grow and become spiritually mature believers.

The priority of every Church Age believer is not to perform miracles, signs and wonders, to heal the sick or to speak in tongues, but to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our momentum in the royal priesthood is rated higher than our performance as royal ambassadors of Christ. Spirituality and spiritual maturity comes before any service or ministry. Performing miracles is not the responsibility of the Church Age believers.

   Genuine miracles are:

• Not humanly motivated
• Not humanly initiated
• Not humanly induced
• Not dependent on man
• Not mystical in nature
• Not concealed or hidden

Genuine miracles are:

• Purely the act of God
• Dependent on God alone
• Based on the Word of God
• Based on God's sovereignty and open for public investigation and scientific examination

The most widespread miracles of the contemporary apostate is associated with physical healing. The authentic biblical gift of healing in the pre-Canon period was the ability to intervene in a supernatural way as an instrument for the curing of illness and the restoration to health.

The authentic gift of healing did not heal every disease and infirmity but the fake healers today claims that they can heal all kinds of diseases.  The gift of healing of the pre-Canon period did not heal every sick person. Spiritual people like Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25-), Timothy (1 Tim. 5:23), Trophimus (2 Tim. 4:20) and Paul were very sick until their death.

The gift of healing did not depend on the sick person's faith to believe God. It did not depend on the gift of the pastor or preacher but on God alone. Many openly sinning believers and wicked unbelievers are enjoying robust health.

Some false prophets are preaching that spirituality means good health and prosperity. The gift of healing did not exalt the preacher or the healer but God alone. Verbal expressions of praises does not  glorify Christ.

The genuine gift of healing did not account for all healing. The gift of healing required God*s power, but not all healing was divine in origin. Today, the so-called miraculous healing could be the work of the devil (demonic healing), or the illusionary healing of the imaginary sickness (psychosomatic healing), or the healing of genuine sickness by illusionary cure (like sacred water, pyramid, and others). Many are either genuine cure of imaginary sickness or imaginary cures of real sickness.

The gift of healing does not exist equally in all biblical dispensations. God is unchanging, perfect, eternal but His dealing with men changes because men's attitude changes. God deals with men through His divine plan of grace, not through the changes of men.

One hundred percent of all miraculous healing today are considered hoax and not the work of God. Of course God heals and allows people to recover fully apart from the sensational appeal and pleadings of men. God will never follow the capricious demands of men to perform miracles. The Lord Jesus Christ became a man not to heal sick people, and He did not heal everyone around Him. The apostles and disciples performed more miracles than the Lord Jesus Christ. 

God will not heal those who contracted diseases because they personally acted against the law of nature. God will not hear the prayer of men for healing when the subject is sick because he is under divine discipline. There are four source of sickness with corresponding remedy:

Violating the law of nature curable by taking medicines or by instituting medical procedure

Divine discipline (sickness as the result of personal sin) curable by rebound.

Sickness inherited from parents cured at the point of salvation

Undeserved suffering (sickness as testing of Satan endure and enjoy the spiritually mature believers by the grace of God. 

Fake healers are creating an impression that they are more holy and powerful than others because they can heal.

The context of James 5:14-16 is about a carnal believer who is desperately sick because of divine discipline. The person is too sick to come to the place of Bible study, so the elders of the local church came and prayed for him to rebound. The elders rubbed (anointed) the sick person with medicinal oil. The oil is medicinal not mystical. The elders are not sensational but spiritual. No gimmick or trick from human viewpoint was ever employed.

No spiritually mature believer will ever be involved in performing miracles in this Church Age because it is apostasy. Apostasy is the departure from biblical truth by individuals who once possessed the truth, and embraced a mixture of paganism and Christianity. Fake healers will always claims that they are doing the work of God.

©2005-2009  J. R. Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries