“Magic – The power of apparently influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces.” Drop the word “apparently” from that dictionary definition and you will have the Bible definition of a miracle. Of course a Bible miracle is mysterious to humans because God has yet to explain to us just how He performs a miracle. We know, of course, that it is by supernatural means, but just how the miracle is performed has not yet been revealed to us.
God, in essence, is a Magician. He did not cease performing His magical wonders two thousand years ago. He performs them minute-by-minute around the world. He maintains an active, on-going interest in His creation. This is especially true regarding His spiritual sons and daughters. In the lives of many of them He performs His miracles, His “magic” through operating what the Bible identifies as the “gifts of the Spirit.” Satan seeks to nullify belief in God’s operating such by counterfeiting each and every one of those gifts. And just as a counterfeit twenty dollar bill can look remarkably like a real twenty dollar bill, a counterfeit spiritual gift can sometimes appear on the surface to be the genuine article. But where as counterfeit twenty dollar bills are much rarer than real twenty dollar bills, the opposite is true regarding the counterfeit gifts of the Spirit. The counterfeits far outnumber the genuine gifts. One can attend a “Pentecostal” church service and witness the counterfeit gift of “speaking in tongues” weekly. But one can live a long life and never once witness the true gift of someone miraculously suddenly speaking in another language, having never learned a word of that language.
Many Christians believe the gifts of the Spirit ceased being given to believers on either one of two occasions: 1) These gifts ceased when the last word of the New Testament was written, or 2) These gifts ceased when the last apostle of our Lord died. There is, of course, no scriptural foundation for such a belief. The exact opposite is true. These gifts did NOT cease with the completion of the writing of the Bible, nor did they cease when the last apostle died. Many fail to realize just WHY the gifts of the Spirit were given in the first place. The gifts are given for the edification and benefit of believers, to build them up in the faith and to assist them in overcoming the wiles of the devil. Why would God then withdraw such beneficial help and assistance??
In the 12th chapter of I Corinthians, verse 1, Paul writes: “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.” If believers would just allow Paul to speak on this issue, listening to this apostle instead of some well-meaning but mistaken pastor or preacher, they would quickly see that the gifts of the Spirit are valid yet today. Paul then writes, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit (via these spiritual gifts) is given for the common good” (I Corinthians 12:7, NIV). If the church was blessed and edified by the gifts of the Spirit two thousand years ago, why wouldn’t the same hold true today? Paul concludes this rather lengthy discourse on the gifts of the Spirit in the 12th chapter of I Corinthians by saying, “But covet (desire) earnestly the best gifts” (verse 31). And then, in the very first verse of I Corinthians 14, Paul urges believers to “follow after charity (love) AND DESIRE SPIRITUAL GIFTS!” And again in the 12th verse of this chapter Paul says, “forasmuch as you are zealous of spiritual gifts, SEEK that you may excel to the edifying of the church.”
Why would Paul urge these believers to “covet earnestly, desire, seek” these spiritual gifts if they were to soon pass away? Would he not then be saying the opposite, playing down these gifts, cautioning the church that these gifts would soon be withdrawn? And, of course, that is exactly what some think Paul does in the 13th chapter of I Corinthians, for does he not say in that 13th chapter that these gifts shall “fail…shall cease…shall vanish away?” In another article we closely examine that 13th chapter and try to discern if Paul really was sounding the warning that these gifts were about to be withdrawn from God’s church. Folks might be a little bit surprised at what is revealed therein.
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley