Why “Signs and Wonders” should NOT Make Me Happy

Why "Signs and Wonders" Should NOT Make ME Happy

There is a new move in Evangelicalism toward a “Signs and Wonders” orientation. The signs and wonders movement claims to be evangelical, Bible believing, and Christian. They place much hope and emphasis on experiences with signs and wonders. The embracing of the signs and wonders movement is most starkly seen in the widespread Evangelical acceptance of Bethel Church, and its leader Bill Johnson by much of the evangelical world. Although there is a large group of theologians and Evangelical leaders that are critical of the “signs and wonders” movement there is also a large group that have taken on the movement as a truly biblically orthodox movement. 

I would like to share with you why we should not seek signs and wonders, and why any sign or wonder should not make me happy. There are many leaders in this movement, including Bill Johnson[1]that teach that without some sign or wonder that a full proclamation of the gospel has not happened. This belief that the gospel can only be truly proclaimed with signs an wonders, or else it is insufficient as a true gospel proclamation could not be biblical, because of Jesus words that I will share and exegete at the end of this post. But first let me show you what is meant in this movement by signs and wonders.

In the “signs and wonders” movement there is a great pursuit of “miracles” or “signs and wonders” as they are called in the New Apostolic Reformation and the Third Wave Movement. There is a heavy emphasis on these miracles which include healings, speaking in tongues, prophecy, words of knowledge, visions, dreams, being “Slain in the Spirit,” being “in the Spirit.” By which they mean an out of body experience where your spirit has traveled into the spirit realm. There is a pursuit of seemingly occult like practices including practices in the relatively new movements which practice things like “glory clouds” of God’s presence filled with “gold dust,” angel feathers falling, gems appearing, conjuring angel orbs, fire tunnels (in which they employ Kundalini methods), spirit travel, out-of-body experiences, and “healings.” They also practice portal travel (where people claim they can go through portals to other places physically, which is obviously a New Age / Occult practice), extra-biblical revelation. Often a prophet or Apostle will give a “New Revelation.” They try to practice raising the dead, also charismatic praying in tongues, soaking, new wine movement, drunken glory, visualization, laughter (Toronto Blessing), and animal sounds while filled with the Spirit. I do not condemn tongues if done orderly as the Bible explains in 1st Corinthians 14:26-40. 

The many practices that the NAR employs when “Slain in the Spirit” are never mentioned in the Bible. Some other NAR practices are contemplative or meditative, where they teach emptying the mind or repeating one word from the Bible, which is not a historical Christian meditative practice. Meditation for the Christian is filling our minds with Scripture. Some of these practices include chanting and soaking, which are taught in Bethel school’s SOZO ministry. The movement practices contemplative prayers, soaking prayers, labyrinths, the “silence,” centering prayers, breath prayers and what they call the “prophetic act of waking up angels.” 

One of the most beloved shows of NAR leaders and its adherents is the show “Its Supernatural” with Sid Roth which he deals with topics such as angel worship/visitation, portal travel, heaven tourism, eavesdropping on conversations between the Trinity, the Bible Code controversy, teleportation, “downloading the mysteries of money,” seeing the invisible spirit world, language/worship of heaven, dream interpretation, and blood moon prophecy. Most recently the translator of The Passion Translation Brian Simmons appeared on the show “Its Supernatural.” He said he had a vision of Jesus in the “Library of Heaven” in which Jesus said he would give him the 22nd book of John to translate, not now but later. Here is the full interview.

Simmons begins to describe his vision at the 17 minute mark. This emphasis on the supernatural and “signs and wonders” displays patterns in the NAR and Third Wave movement of ministry where they exhibit a boundaryless engagement with supernatural realms. 

To paraphrase the practices of the modern signs and wonders movement, they practice laughter, falling, shaking, prophecy (Psychic Clairvoyance), portal travel, extra-biblical revelation, raising the dead, tongues, soaking or centering prayer, new wine movement, drunken glory, visualization, laughter, animal sounds while “Spirit-filled,” conjuring angel orbs, fire tunnels, spirit travel or out-of-body experiences, angel worship, heaven tourism, teleportation, dream interpretation, and healings. NAR churches also claim that gold dust, oil, glory clouds, angel feathers, and gems have appeared on people.

First, let us be clear that these signs and wonders are not biblical at all. Moreover, they mirror some sort of occult practice, and not biblical signs and wonders that are seen in the New Testament. The list of things practiced in the signs and wonders movement are wholly unbiblical, terrifying, weird, and even a little creepy. Beyond all that they put the emphasis in the wrong place. Jesus is clear in Luke 10:17-20 we should rejoice in our salvation rather than that spirits are subject to us. We should be more grateful for our salvation than signs and wonders. We should rejoice that our names are written in Heaven. How do our names get written in Heaven? How are our names inscribed in the eternal book of life? What is salvation? I would like to describe what salvation actually is so that it becomes quite easy to rejoice in it.

1. We were dead in our trespasses and sins you were made alive in Christ. That is the supreme Miracle (Ephesians 2).
2. We were rebels against God (Romans 13:2; Romans 8:7 Romans 5).
3. We were unable to help ourselves or receive God’s grace which is sometimes in theology referred to as “Effectual Calling” (Phil 2:13; John 6:44; 2 Timothy 2:25; 2 Peter 1:3; Matt 22:14; Ephesians 1:4-5).
4. To be saved we must be and were born again. Which is being born from of the water and the Spirit a supernatural birth from above (John 3).
5. We were made children of God and were not born of Human will, but born of God (John 1:12-13 Colossians 3:12-13).
6. God’s kindness led us to repentance (Romans 2:4).
7. He took the blinders off our eyes to be able to see and receive Christ (2 Cor. 3:12-16; John 12:40; Acts 26:18; Eph 1:18).
8. God offered Jesus as the propitiation of our sins. Those same sins that we could have never received forgiveness for outside of Christ (Rom 3:25).
9. He crushed the head of the serpent the devil by “destroying the works of the enemy” (1 John 3:8).
10. He was cursed on our behalf “cursed is everything that is hung from a tree” (Galatians 3:13).
11. God seated us with Christ in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:6).
12. He was raised for our salvation and culmination as one who will one day received a glorious body like unto his (1 Corinthians 15).
13. He gave us freedom from the effects of the fall (Romans 8:2).
14. God presented Christ as the atoning sacrifice for our sins so that we could have peace with God (Romans 3:25-26).
15. We were adopted into God’s family before the foundations of the earth (Ephesians 1:4).
16. We have been raise with Christ (Colossians 3:1).

This is just a very short list of what God has done for us in Christ by saving us. As you can clearly see salvation that God has accomplished for us in Christ is way more supernatural than any other act. God has made dead men rise to live with Jesus, and called sinners to repentance. 

Jesus describes in Luke 10:17-20 What our posture towards signs and wonders should be. Miracles should not be nearly as important as salvation, and the supernatural nature of what happens when God quickens the hearts of men to salvation. 

“(17) The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" (18) And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. (19) Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. (20) Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.””

Our joy should be in the Lord and his magnificent power to raise the hearts of men and women to respond to God. He has written our names in heaven, he has given us every blessing in the heavenliness, he has raised us up with Christ, and we are co-heirs with Christ. We should not be happy or have joy about Pseudo-miracles, or pretend miracles, or for that matter, even real miracles. As Christ said, we should rather rejoice in the Savior that the miracles point to. 

The word that Luke attributes to Christ’s words and we translate as “written” in heaven is Grapho (γράφω). This word means enrolled, written, inscribed, carved or to engrave something permanently. This word that Jesus uses describes also the eternality of our union with Him and how that salvation will be of an eternal nature, because our names will be forever engraved in the book of life in heaven. When you trusted Christ your name was engraved on the eternal granite of the throne room of heaven. 

The word that Jesus uses for rejoice is Chairo (χαίρω) It means to be cheerful, calmly happy, well-off, to be well, be glad, joyful, or rejoice. Where is the joy in our salvation? Are you glad and better off as a result of your being made a son or daughter of God? Many in this movement would rejoice that someone is “healed,” or that some strange miracle happened, and barely mention salvation found in Christ. The movement also stirs up a craving and desire for more of the same, but Jesus says here quite plainly do not rejoice that demons are subject to you, but that your names are “engraved" in heaven. Of course we should be glad of the authority that we have in Christ over the principalities and powers of the unseen world. By the way that authority is only given to us by God through salvation and His good grace, not through our own effort. I am not saying that we cannot be glad for our authority over principalities and powers, but that gladness should be dwarfed in comparison to the gladness we feel at our salvation. So let us rejoice and be glad that, in Christ, our names are eternally and irreversibly engraved on the granite halls of the throne room of heaven! We can be truly glad, happy, and rejoice that we get to call on His name and that He has saved our souls. We look to the heavens and our help comes from the Lord. He saves your soul, so rejoice!

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[1]Johnson wrote in His book “When Heaven Invades Earth a Practical Guide to a Life of Miracles,” on page 126 “Without miracles there can never be a full revelation of Jesus.” and on page 127 he wrote, “Miracles provide the grace for repentance.” And further he says, “Here the apostle Paul demonstrates how the Gentiles were brought into obedience through the power of the Spirit of God, expressed in signs and wonders. This was what he considered as fully preaching the gospel. It wasn’t a complete message without a demonstration of the power of God. It’s how God says amen to His own declared word!”

A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND

According to Matthew 12:22-32 some might assume that Jesus emphatically means that Satan cannot or will not give power to people to perform exorcisms of his own “house." When Jesus says, “A House divided against itself cannot stand,” does he mean that demonic work will never be initiated against other demons by the prince of demons? 

Satan's House of Cards will topple

First, I would like to say that Satan, Lucifer, all other demonic forces, and our enemies house, will not stand in the end. Lucifer the angel of light is a defeated foe. He will be toppled like a house of cards. There is no power in his house that God does not grant. God is the ultimate power in the universe (Colossians 1:15-20), and Satan bows to His will (Job 1-2). Jesus says in those same words, "how can his house stand?” That is a good question. How can his house stand? The house of lies, evil, wickedness, and destruction cannot stand on the final day. His house will fall tumbling down before the judgement of the righteous judge (Revelation 12:7-10 1 Corinthians 15:24-26). Until that time when the Lord of heaven's armies destroys once and for all the works of the enemy (Revelation 20:10), we are given the authority over his power and forces in the mighty name of Jesus (Colossians 2:15; James 4:7-8).

Second, Satan certainly does work against himself. The question is, does he ever work to cast demons out of people? Jesus is certainly correct here when he intonates that Satan hopes to destroy people by possessing them, And does not cast himself out of people. He would rather continue possessing people. What do we know about Satan? He is deceptive, a liar, evil, and will do anything to make us take our eyes off of Christ (1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:11 John 8:44). If he can use "Catholic exorcisms,” “demonology,” or any other such bizarre practices, he will do it. He will lie, deceive and otherwise seek to throw the church and its Saints into confusion by "accusing us before God day and night (Revelation 12:10)." He often succeeds in this task through confusing us with supernatural events. 

Thirdly, as Jesus did this miracle of freeing this demonized man, Satan had done well at throwing the people into confusion. The people asked, "can this be the son of David?" The Pharisees seeing the power slowly slipping through their fingers, made a stunning accusation that Jesus was doing these works by Satan's power. Jesus returns accusation with accusation. “If I cast out demons by Beelzebub by whom do your sons cast them out?” In other words, exorcisms were a practice of the Pharisees and their sons. Were the Pharisees saved? Were their sons? Did they trust Jesus? Did they cast out demons in the name of Jesus even? The answer is probably "NO" to all these questions. Then how were they able to cast out demons? How are nonbelievers able to cast out demons? This is the difficulty in saying then that "signs and wonders” are confirmation that a movement is from God. That is why Jesus himself said, "do not believe me unless I do the works of the Father,” and "I only speak what the father has spoken.” What are the works of the Father? The word of God are His works. His gospel and repentance into new life are His works. Jesus did those works and spoke that truth from the Father during His earthly ministry. 

How are people able to navigate in the supernatural and not be Christians? How are people, Catholics, Animists, Witches, and those in the Occult, able to perform seemingly miraculous exorcisms. How are supposed Christians able to perform such works, and as Jesus said be, "wolves in sheep's clothing?” How did these sons of the Pharisees cast out demons as Jesus says? 

It is true that people are able to navigate in the supernatural by the power of the enemy. The Bible makes it plain that false prophets will be able to do wonders by another power that is not from God. Now whether or not they cast out demons by Beelzebub or some other power then becomes unclear because of Jesus words. But it is rather clear that these false prophets will navigate with "signs and wonders" through another power. We see this clearly throughout biblical history. Some have been able to exercise power over spirits and demons through other supernatural powers. Many false prophets did great wonders but did not work through the power of the God of Israel. One possibility is that these powers could just be a natural powers. This is certainly possible. We see powers like this at work in world religions that deny that there even is a supernatural world. In contrast there are many religions that embrace the supernatural and use that power to their advantage. The Occult for instance, embraces evil, wickedness, and anything that goes against Christianity. The Occult embraces the manipulation of supernatural powers, even though it is clear that Satan is manipulating those who practice such things. Other such occult religions are Animism, Wicca, Satanism, New Age, etc. 

People can also navigate in the supernatural in Jesus name, and NOT be followers of Christ. Acts 19 describes such a story. Seven sons of a high priest name Sceva adjured the name of Jesus upon people who were possessed by demons. And they were successful up to a point. Until one day they encountered a Demon who answered them, but did not recognize their authority, and gave them such a beating that it says the demonized man, "sent them out of the house bleeding and naked." Jesus himself describes the day of judgement where those who have cast out demons, healed people, and done mighty works in Jesus name will be condemned and rejected by Christ. How will they do that? Why would God allow false teachers to do that in Christ's name? I tend to think God loves deliverance no matter how it happens. Jesus came to, "seek and to save that which was lost.” I also believe that the gospel has a better chance to take hold of a delivered and free person because that person is free. Their eyes and ears are then maybe more open to the message of the gospel. I think of the demoniac. When Jesus delivered him he wanted immediately to go with Jesus. Jesus did not let him come with them. Why not? Because Jesus knew he would become an immediate evangelist. And he did. He went to his hometown and told everyone about what Jesus had done. However, we know that miracles do not make an immediate convert. I think of the ten lepers. Only one came back to thank Jesus! “Where are the other nine?" Jesus asked. He did that to point out that healing and even deliverance from demons is not tantamount to repentance and faith. It can be used to direct people's attention to Christ, but the words of the gospel of repentance are necessary for a second birth. The holy spirit can and is using all of these events to draw people to Christ. 

Jesus goes on to say, “If the Spirit of God casts out demons then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” And what do we know about that kingdom? It is a kingdom of repentance! Jesus said, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Jesus goes on to describe the kingdom. One power must be overtaken for a new power to move in. So the devil has much control over this world, which is given and allowed him by the sovereign God. Even so his power is limited. In the heart of a Christian, Jesus has moved in after the strongman’s kingdom was overthrown. In so doing Jesus, "destroys the works of the devil." He is doing so and continues to do so, so that his kingdom of repentance and forgiveness of sins can take hold instead of the "strong man’s" evil kingdom. Jesus has come to plunder his house! 

Jesus said, “When salt loses its saltiness it is no longer good for anything but to be trampled under foot by men.” The only way salt can lose its saltiness it's to be chemically altered by dilution or pollution. So either the church dilutes the message of the gospel and makes it about "signs and wonders” where the message of repentance and faith in the gospel is not presented, or we maintain the full message of the saltiness of the gospel. Salt that Jesus is referring to is the flavor and preservation of the true message of Christ. Do we seek to preserve the salty gospel or are we letting it be diluted? The other way that salt loses its saltiness chemically is by the introduction of a pollutant. I'm thinking of a pollutant as false teaching, false gospel, false message, or sin. In these words Jesus is asking us to keep the purity of the gospel message clear. The simple gospel must remain undiminished, unadulterated, and unpolluted in the face of the works of the devil. The gospel message stands the test of time, even in the face of confusing supernatural phenomena. Signs and wonders do not prove the work of Christ, but rather should only confirm the message of the gospel. When the gospel is not preached alongside “signs and wonders” we should be very suspicious that the power is from God, and that the salt has not lost its saltiness.