Satan's Ten Most Believable Lies VII

#7—God Should Work Miracles on Demand

Fred R. Coulter

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God should obey the will and command of men! That's the reverse of God should work miracles on demand, because then He's obeying the will and command of men.

In touching on this, let's go back to the book of Jude. Satan's ten most believable lies has infiltrated so many churches, and there is—and I feel it's more especially after the Feast of Tabernacles as never before—a tremendous assault by Satan and all of those that he uses to work with him to destroy Christianity much more than ever before. To the point that even a teacher in a public school cannot even read Bible stories from the Old Testament without someone getting so upset.

If I were that teacher, I would sit there and read them everyday; I would defy them; I would defy the court; I would defy the school and say that every time you come into arrest me, know that you are going against the Constitution, which says that there shall not be any inhibiting on the free exercise thereof concerning religion.

But once you allow Satan the opportunity—and it comes very subtle, very smooth, very naturally, because you don't realize your vulnerabilities when he strikes—once he has his foot in the door, then you know the whole body is coming through unless you turn to God and have God get him out. God has let this happen to His Church because the Church is not the thing that saves, it is God Who saves, and we're the ones who are being tested.

Jude 1: "Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to the called saints, sanctified… [set aside, made Holy] …by God the Father and kept in Jesus Christ: Mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Beloved…" (vs 1-3). Apparently Jude was not much of a one for writing, but when he wrote it was pretty powerful. After all, there are only 25 verses for the whole book of Jude, and that's jammed-packed with an awful lot.

"…when personally exerting all my diligence to write to you concerning the common salvation, I was compelled… [obligatory] …to write to you, exhorting you… [to stir you up; to get you going] …to ferventlyfight for the faith, which once for all time has been delivered to the saints." (v 3). That's what we need to contend for, especially in this world that is so assaulted by Satan the devil.

Verse 4: "For certain men have stealthily crept in…" You don't know that they are creeping in. Haven't we experienced that in our church situation, where men crept in unawares? In other words, they look fine. Just because they can smile, just because they can talk good, just because they can appear good, does not mean that they're really doing the Word of God.

That's why everything has to be based on the Word of God—absolutely! We've seen how people fall by the wayside when they think that they have 'new truth' and 'new understanding,' which leads them away from Christ. That's exactly what he's saying here. Certain ones crept in unawares:

"…those who long ago have been written about, condemning them to thisjudgment. They are ungodly men, who are perverting the grace of our God, turning it into licentiousness, and are personally denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ" (v 4).

Then he goes on very strongly pointing out the whole basic things that will happen as you come into the rest of the book of Jude. That ties in with #7 of Satan's 10 most believable lies, that God should work miracles upon demand.

From the book: Satan's Ten Most Believable Lies:

p 81—One of the interesting developments on the current religious scene is the surge of interest in visible phenomena.

Turn on Oral Roberts—that is miracle on demand, a miracle is going to happen. Isn't that his thing?

As people become increasingly disillusioned with the age of materialism…

That's why Satan does a twofold thing. First of all, he comes in and he gets rid of the consciousness of God saying that you can still be 'good' people, but you don't have to be all that 'religious.' You can be moral people, but you don't have to follow all those commandments. Then in comes the materialism. What happens with materialism? Satan knows it and pretty soon it's a dead end street. Pretty soon you feel hollow, empty and unfulfilled because materialism won't take care of the spiritual needs that you have.

So, then what happens? He brings in his spiritism! A phenomena is going to happened: False miracles! Miracles that take place, but false miracles. This happened during the days of Gideon where when God came and told Gideon, 'I want you do something for Me.' Gideon says, 'How am I going to know this is the Lord?' So, he says, 'If this is the Lord I'm going to put this wool fleece down here and if in the morning the ground is all dry around it and the water is in the fleece, then I'll believe it's the Lord.' So, sure enough it was all dry around there and picked up the fleece and wrung out the water.

Then he said, 'Well, I'm not too sure about that, let's reverse it, God; tomorrow let's have the fleece dry and the moisture all around it.' So, sure enough that happened. Then he finally got up and did what God wanted him to do. A lot of people are that way and a lot of people think: Where are all of His miracles? I've heard this said, too: Why doesn't God perform miracles today, like He performed miracles back then?

I even remember when we were in Worldwide that we got these great, stinging letters that the reason there weren't more miracles was because we weren't keeping the commandments the way we should, so if we all keep the commandments better, then we will have more miracles. What's wrong with that reasoning? It's still demanding from God! But what's wrong with that reasoning in a addition to that? God is God and we can't tell God what to do! God does what He wants to do! It would be miracles by works of law, so if you kept the commandments and God was forced to do miracles, then God would do miracles upon your demand by your works of law and there would be no faith required!

On page 81 of the book, he talks about the different religious leaders and the miracles and so forth.

pp 81-82—We sing songs about miracles, and many Christians claim to have seen God work in miraculous ways.

The Catholics are really hung up on these—aren't they? They can look up and if a light shines a certain way you see the vision of Mary, or a cross. Other people are hung up on other things and different religions for the different things that they have.

But, in addition to this, we have miracle magazines, miracle handkerchiefs, miracle publishing houses…

Oral Roberts says, 'Send away for this miracle handkerchief and put it under your pillow.' So, now you have an idol. That's why when you get an anointed cloth from a minister of God it should be a very small one, have a little oil on it and it should be destroyed right after you use it because it is not the cloth that does it, it is God Who does the healing. That's just symbolic of our faith because we can't be together face-to-face and person-to-person.

…miracle valleys, miracle messages, miracle meetings, and many who claim openly or by implication to have the gift of working one or another kind of miracles.

There are people, when God doesn't heal them right away, 'Boy, I'm going to go to someplace where I can find a miracle.' You need to be careful with that! You need to understand about the life of the Apostle Paul, because not every place where you find a miracle are you going to find God, though you may hear God's name.

This involvement has long been the case with the religious lunatic fringe…

Just because there are those who are obsessed with miracles on the lunatic fringe of society does not mean that God today does not perform miracles. But there's a definite need and reason for miracles, which we will see. I disagree with him in one part where he says that we don't need miracles today, because miracles were only to confirm the word of the apostles. I disagree with that.

…but extensive and loose talk about miracles has now entered into legitimate Christian circles.

This is therefore, an appropriate time to note the seventh doctrine of the devil, namely that God is a magician, working miracles on demand. We note this satanic doctrine from the account of Christ's temptation in the Gospel of Matthew [in the account of Christ's temptation].

We're going to go to the book of Exodus and see the reasons why God has miracles to show and to prove that when God does something that is extraordinary beyond what is already set. Then you need miracles. Do yourself a favor and look in your concordance and you won't find more than about 20 references to miracles. Miracles are for a definite and specific purpose, to witness to the very power of God. A miracle then is something that is beyond the regular phenomena, which we would see with our own eyes.

Exodus 7:8: "And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 'When Pharaoh shall speak to you saying, "Give a miracle for yourselves"…'" (vs 8-9). This is the very agent of Satan the devil—right? What does he want to see? A miracle! Did all the miracles convert Pharaoh? No! We're going to see that that is a very interesting principle all the way through the Bible.

"'…you shall say to Aaron, "Take your rod, and throw it in front of Pharaoh…. [that's exactly what they did] …It shall become a snake."' And Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh. And they did so as the LORD had commanded. And Aaron threw down his rod in front of Pharaoh and in front of his servants, and it became a snake. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers. And they, the priests of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts" (vs 9-11).

There are going to be these close counterfeits, which will come along. And even if you do see a miracle, you have to ask what is the message that follows that miracle, or should the message precede the miracle, and the miracle should then confirm the Word. Those are questions that we need to ask.

Verse 12: "For each man threw down his rod, and they became snakes, but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." Then you know the same thing happened, turning the water to blood, the magicians did the same thing; same way with the frogs. I love this account of the frogs, especially if you understand the size of those monsters in the Nile River.

Remember they had a big flap about that here in California where they have the frog-jumping contest every year? Because the rules don't say so, on specifying the size of the frog, a man in Washington had these huge African frogs and their bodies are huge! When they leap—if you can get them to leap—they can leap 40 feet. If you're working in genetics, that's what you need for your basketball and football players. Just change the genes a little bit and sneak that in.

Anyway, all the frogs came up and contaminated all the land of Egypt: crawled in the houses, the beds, the cupboards; and the magicians did the same thing. They could call up the frogs. Then you come to the next one, the one with the lice, and all the dust then became lice.

Exodus 8:17: "And they did so, for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth and it became lice in man and in beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And the priests did so with their secret arts to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice upon man and upon beast" (vs 17-18)—they were eaten up of them, I will add. So, you have all of those false things that come along. You need to be careful.

Isaiah 8 really fits in today as never before. I see this so much with the Scriptures. You go back years ago and you're really thrilled when you first learn it. Then when you see the ongoing application down through time, it even becomes greater.

Isaiah 8:19: "And when they shall say to you, 'Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and to wizards who peep and mutter'—but should not a people seek unto their God? Should the dead be sought on behalf of the living?" I'm amazed how many movies are based on this today. Absolutely just pulling everyone's mind into all of this miraculous, demonic phenomena that's going on in the world. They're being setup for the ultimate deception!

Here's where you get your bearings, v 20: "To the Law… [It doesn't take a miracle to understand the Law; all you have to do is read it.] …and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them."

We're going to have to use this Scripture more than ever before. {note: Deut. 18, about magicians, wizards, necromancers, observers of times, etc.} There is going to come a time, brethren, I can see it more and more, that as far as our watching movies and television and things like this, we're just going to have to draw the line more and more because the line of evil is being drawn into the level of acceptance with more and greater evil.

Deuteronomy 18:9: "…you shall not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations…. [Who is the god of those nations? Satan the devil!] …There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or a fortuneteller, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or one who seeks oracles from the dead. For all that do these things are an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations, the LORD your God drives them out from before you" (vs 9-12).

Same thing today, only it's going to be on such a grand and incredible scale it's going to be almost impossible.

Satan asks Jesus to perform a miracle on demand, which was turning stones into food. Jesus didn't do it.

pp 82-83—…This suggests the satanic doctrine that working a miracle on demand is valid for the solution of personal problems and the satisfaction of physical needs.

What is one of the miracles on demand that women want today? Abortion! It's going to get down to where the whole abortion issue is not going to be a political problem. It will take about three years. They will introduce a pill—developed in France—which causes automatic abortion of any impregnation, and you take it the next morning. They also have things now where there is going to be birth control for men. Then it's going to get down into the conscience and the individual personal character of the people involved. No longer then, can they say:

• he made me do it
• the clinic talked me into it
• I was force to it because of circumstances

It's going to be your own individual choice. Are you going to be moral or immoral—period! No more miracles on demand. This becomes important. If God would fulfill the normal physical things for us:

This implies that God is a magician, that a miracle is a capricious event, its purpose being temporary human satisfaction.

In other words, to burn on your own lusts so that you can make God do something for you to cover up all your mistakes. The miracle that God did was the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Christ's response to this satanic assertion is more instructive. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."….

We just read that, Isa. 8.

…Reality, then, is not finally made out of atoms and molecules—out of bread alone…. [or the physical things] … Reality is the Word of God…

The Word of God is God Spirited! That is the true reality of the Word of God.

…His Word is ultimate truth. Event's more miraculous ones, are not of themselves significant; significance lies in a knowledge and understanding of Divine Truth….

That's what becomes the important thing. What is a miracle? What is it for?

First Question:

…First of all, let us consider the word that is the center of the discussion, miracle. A miracle is a supernatural phenomenon in the experience of men, presumably occurring in the contradiction to the laws of nature.

Why did God have miracles? I'll just circumvent a couple of those:

• Whom did Jesus call to be His apostles? You know the 12 were basically fishermen!
• Where were they from? From Galilee!
• What as the current religious attitude about people from Galilee, during the days of Jesus? Nothing good can come out of Galilee, and surely no prophet!
• Where did they say the authority of God was during those days? Which it was, but corrupted? At the temple!

If God is going to do something different than at the temple—which God says 'here is where I'm going to place My name'—and have the temple built according to the specifications that He did, then God has got to do something different—doesn't He?

Hebrews 2:1—they heard the salvation: "For this reason, it is imperative that we give much greater attention to the things which we have heard…" That's where salvation and faith comes from, the hearing.

One thing that's very important for us to do with the Word of God is to think with the Word of God. That's what it means to 'let this mind be in you, which was in Christ.' We think with the Word of God. We think with the logic of God. That way, when we're studying the Bible, then we're going to follow the things that are right.

"…lest at any time we should slip away. For if the word spoken by angels was enforced without fail, and every transgression and disobedience received just recompense, how shall we escape, if we have neglected so great a salvation; which was first received when it was spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him; God also bearing witness…" (vs 1-4).

God had to bear witness that He was with those fishermen. Now He was starting something outside of the authority that He had established, namely the temple. He had to give His stamp of authority and approval to them.

"...with them by both signs and wonders, and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit… [notice how these came]: …according to His own will?" (v 4)—not miracles on demand.

Let's go back and examine one of these most profound witnesses that God gave. I'll guarantee you one thing—and I can give just a little, teeny-weeny bit of experience in this: When we were in the Church in Salt Lake City we had a woman who had breast cancer and her breast was like a tarred piece of coal. My wife was an eyewitness to that. She asked to be anointed. The whole church fasted and prayed and I went to anoint her. I guarantee you one thing, when something miraculous needs to be done, it's not because you have faith, or because I have faith—which we're supposed to have, I'm not saying a lack of faith, but it's not because of that faith—we set ourselves aside as being important in anything.

God is the One Who is important, and it is the will of God that He's going to do. It doesn't have to be a long prayer, I can guarantee you that. Look at the shortest prayer that Jesus gave: God, I thank You that you hear Me always. Lazarus came out of the tomb.

I know that when I went to anoint her and pray for her it was a pitiful sight and I felt absolutely totally miserable and helpless, and the whole thing. I said, 'God, You know! If it is Your will to heal her, please do. If not, please end it; It's totally in Your hands.' She was completely healed in the process of about ten days.

I don't relate that to say that I'm taking credit for anything. I'm just thankful to have been a part of it. That's over an done; that has nothing to do with today. But I can guarantee you that Peter didn't walk into the temple and say, 'Oh, John, what can we do to show these stinking Pharisees that we're from God?' He didn't!

Acts 3:1: "Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, which was the ninth hour; and a certain man who was lame from his mother's womb was being carried, whom they placed daily at the temple door which is called Beautiful, to beg alms from those who were going into the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. But Peter and John, intently observing him, said, 'Look on us.' And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, 'Silver and gold I do not have; but what I do have, this I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarean, rise up and walk.'" (vs 1-6).

He'd been there for years. You know the account and how that was used to witness to those right at the temple. How Peter and John were then arrested and told not preach in the name of Jesus Christ.

Acts 7—here's another miracle that God did, where they witnessed what Stephen gave. The reason I'm dwelling on this is because many of those who are totally unfaithful demand a miracle—don't they? Yes, they do! We'll come to one of those later where the Pharisees said, 'Why don't You save yourself and come down off the cross; You saved others, but You can't save Yourself.'

The greater miracle was the resurrection, not the magician-type thing on demand. Here we have the tremendous witness of Stephen.

Acts 7:51: "'Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so also do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One [Christ] of Whom you have become the betrayers and murderers; who received the law by the disposition of angels, but have not kept it.' And when they heard these things, they were cut to their hearts, and they gnashed their teeth at him" (vs 51-54). You talk about a riot! You talk about a rage!

Verse 60: "And he [Stephen] fell to his knees and cried with a loud voice, 'Lord, do not lay this sin to their charge.' And after he had said this, he died." That is the hardest thing to do, right when they're biting you and stoning you, and you're saying, 'Don't lay this to their charge.' Most of us are, 'Yeah, get him, they deserve it; I wish them more.' That isn't the way that God deals.

Then you come to Acts 8 and you have Simon the Magician [Simon Magus]—caused a lot of problems in the Church.

Let's talk about another miracle about the man born blind (John 9). Why was he born blind? For a witness and sign that when he received his sight he would confirm the message of Jesus Christ! Not everything unusual is a miracle.

Second Question:

p 84—This, of curse, poses the second question: What is the proof of a miracle? We are warned in Scripture to "prove all things, hold fast that which is good" (1-Thess. 5:21). For want of proof, many naïve and impressionable believers have been exploited by clever manipulators.

Every once in a while on a talk show he will have this fellow come in who goes to all of the charlatan things and magician things and proves that they're all fake. How many have heard of the evangelist called 'Pop-off'? He was exposed by this guy; 'Pop-off' would around and 'perform miracles.' He proved that 'Pop-ff' would hired people who would fake diseases. He also proved that 'Pop-off' had in his ear a receptor and his wife would carry a microphone and she'd be out there shaking hands and talking to people. Then she would prompt him from the back of the room and he would say, 'Someone out there has gout; someone out there has a kidney disease; someone out there has cancer; we want a miracle!' He was exposed as a total fake!

Somehow the idea that every claim of the unusual that comes to us with religious overtones must be believe has entered into the Christian thinking….

Yes! That's how Satan is going to deceive the whole world! Miracles! There are false teachers; there are false miracles; there are false prophets. After all the events coming on the earth leading up to Rev. 16, how is it that Satan is going to go out and still deceive the world?

Revelation 16:13: "Then I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet; for they are spirits of demons working miracles…" (vs 13-14).

The message comes out, 'Send all your troops over here because we have to fight this invasion from outer space.' How am I going to know that I should do this. He performs a miracle.

"…going forth to the kings of the earth, even of the whole world, to gather them together to the battle of that great day of the Almighty God" (v 14). Not everything that takes place is of God!

pp 84-85—…With this is mind, we may ask a third question: What is the purpose of a miracle? Obviously, the purpose of a miracle is not simply to do something interesting, nor merely to produce a result, such as healing, in the life of a person. It would be cruel for Christ to work a miracle for the sole object of producing healing in one and let others go without receiving this miracle….

God has something different for each one of us. God has to work His way in us.

…The main purpose of Christ's miracles was to bear witness… [prove the Word of God] …to the Truth of revelation….

I got a book one time called The Beautiful Side of Evil—how that certain people travel to different places in the world, to these different healers, and somehow they're healed. Breese makes a little comment on that here:

p 86—How unfortunate it is that so many reports are being published today of miracles from obscure corners of the world.

I might put here: Inquirer Magazine, Star Magazine, Globe, Examiner, etc. I look at the church ads in the paper; look at them and it's a comedy. It's just what it is here. Every stupid thing that comes along, it is something! Of course, all of these are promoted. Everyone wants to have a miracle.

Another thing that works in the psychology of it is all of this betting that goes on today. The psychology of the miracle of winning the lotto and winning all of this sort of stuff.

Even if these remarkable events were true, it is unwise for them to be reported through books and pamphlets across the Christian world, because we cannot possibly prove their truth. There is no way you or I could assemble two or three competent witnesses to the miraculous occurrence. I must remember, therefore, that I am not required to believe these accounts; in fact, I am virtually required not to believe them. In that it is impossible for me to fulfill the admonition of Scripture to "prove all things," I must be careful not to let my mind be influenced by these phenomenalistic accounts of events that are contrary to nature….

…The Scriptural function of miracles has ceased…

I don't believe that.

…in that the written Word of God has already been certified with signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

There's a time and place for miracles!

(go to the next track)

…The Word, therefore, that we are to spread across the world is not the unsupportable verbal accounts of "miraculous events" but the Scriptural account of the great event that produced the Gospel. This event, of course, is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

Absolutely true!

Now, there are some other events that transpire. When we were going through the book of John, remember if you can: What was it we said about believing on Jesus? What kind of belief was this to be? Based upon a very interesting three letter Greek word? It's based on the Greek word 'eis'—that means into. Wherever it says to 'believe on' the Son of Man or Jesus Christ, that belief is to believe into. In other words, as Jesus said—that we may all may be one: 'I in them and you in Me, that we all may be one.'

When you believe on Jesus, you don't just believe that He existed, you believe into Him as a person and being. The word 'eis' in the majority of cases means into.

It's very interesting here, Romans 1:17: "For therein the righteousness of God is revealed from faith unto faith…" Here the word unto is the Greek 'eis,' which really adds a lot of strength and power to the faith. It's God's faith into you and your faith back into God, where you have this interaction spiritually. That makes it even stronger.

"…according as it is written: 'The just shall live by faith.'" (v 17). Since a lot of people claim that if you have faith all miracles are possible. But does faith always produce a miracle? I want you to just get this concept that with God's Spirit it is into—faith into faith. I don't know about you, but at least to me that has a whole lot more power to it than from faith-to-faith. This way it's interconnected with the Spirit of God.

Hebrews 11:1: "Now, faith is the substance… [This comes by belief and conviction. If you have that faith into then you have this kind of belief.] …of things hoped for… [You don't have it, yet! It is hoped for. The evidence, the certificate, the power, the actual credence] …and the conviction of things not seen. For by this kind of faith the elders obtained a good report. By faith we understand that the worlds were created by the Word of God…" (vs 3).

It can't be anything else. The structure of the Scripture, 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.' Physicists discovered that there is something smaller than atoms, electrons and protons called quorums. But I think it's going to go one step even smaller. That is like gyroscopic magnetic particles. You can't see those things, but even below that is the power of God's Spirit that sustains it.

That does not produce a miracle, because by faith you know that God made these things. It just helps you understand.

…so that the things that are seen were made from things that are invisible. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain… [nothing miraculous] (v 5): …By faith Enoch was transported… [We know that he died later.] (v 6): …Now without faith it is impossible to please God. For it is mandatory for the one who comes to God to believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." Whenever we say 'reward, we always look to physical things. That is not necessarily the case:

• it may be God's Spirit
• it may be knowledge
• it may be extra blessings you don't even know about

God will reward you for that. But it is absolutely incumbent that you believe that God is. That's why a lot of these miracles 'on demand' are of you show me, you prove to me, but has nothing to do with believing in God.

• What did faith cause Noah to do? Build an ark!
• What did faith cause Abraham to do? Believe God and offer his son!
• What did faith cause Isaac and Jacob to do? Dwell in tabernacles with Abraham!

Verse 13: "All these died in faith…" Their faith didn't produce a miracle that they would live in the flesh forever. 'There's a time to be born; there's a time to die.'

Verse 24: "By faith Moses, after becoming a great leader, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter."

Verse 28: "By faith he [Moses] kept the Passover…" If you're going to keep the Passover, you have to do it by faith. But it is not a very complicated thing. It does not necessarily produce a great and miraculous occurrence in our lives.

Verse 29: "By faith they passed through the Red Sea… [v 30]: By faith the walls of Jericho fell… [v 31]: By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish…"

Then it goes through all the things that people have done because of faith, and there are just a few miracles listed. So, it is not true that if you had more faith there would be more miracles; just isn't so! If you had more faith, you might be a martyr like they were. It lists all of the things that they went through. It says of them:

Verse 34: "Quenched the fury of fire, escaped the edge of the sword… [probably running like crazy to get out of the way] …were strengthened from weakness, became mighty in war, and turned back the armies of foreigners. Women received their dead restored to life… [that's a miracle] …and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance… [no miracle] …that they might obtain a superior resurrection; and others endured the trial of cruel mocking and scourging; yes, and moreover, of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawed in two, they were brutally interrogated, and slaughtered by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and in goatskins, being destitute, oppressed, and ill-treated" (vs 34-37). No miracle to produce the physical things they needed.

Verse 38: "Of whom the world was not worthy; they wandered in deserts and in mountains, living in caves and in holes in the earth. But these all, though they had received a good report through faith, did not obtain the promise because God had determined in advance to provide something superior for us so that without us they would not be made perfect" (vs 38-40).

You're not going to have all of these things all of a sudden come because you have faith. It takes faith to keep the Sabbath every week. It takes faith to believe God and do the things that He says to do.

p 89—A related question is: Do miracles produce faith? The Gospel's answer is no, not always. Thousands of individuals saw firsthand the miracles of Jesus Christ, beholding His Divine and therefore remarkable ability to produce supernatural phenomena before their astonished eyes. We find, however, at the end of His earthly ministry, the multitudes rejected Him as their Messiah and hated Him for those very Divine qualities.

Even those who ate of the fish and the bread. Who wants to see a miracle? Did it change anything? Who desired to have the miracles? The scribes and Pharisees!

Matthew 12:38: "Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, 'Master, we desire to see a sign from You.'" Now you know why Jesus answered the way that He did. He could have produced that miracle. Nothing to it!

How many have heard about the book: The Lost Years of Jesus. Don't believe a word in it! It talks about how He used miracles to trick the kids, fool His mom, things like this. Obviously, a bunch of dodo writing by someone who wanted to be famous. Jesus didn't have those lost years. God chose not to reveal them to us. It's just that simple. Right here it tells you that He would never have done it. That is contrary to the purpose of God. Do you think that God the Father would give those powers to Jesus so that He could run around and be a nasty, stupid little brat and pull tricks on everybody? A bunch of satanic nonsense! Of course not!

Verse 39: "And He answered and said to them, 'A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.'" And they didn't understand a word about it.

Matthew 16:1—again they wanted a miracle: "Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Him, tempting Him and asking Him to show them a sign from heaven." Can you think of a sign that's going to come from heaven that's going to deceive the whole world? Rev. 13—the beast that performs these miracles!

Again, did He do what they wanted. Notice that Jesus never obeyed any man or used the power of God in an unseemly way at all whatsoever.

Verse 2: "But He answered and said to them, 'When evening has come… [looking to heaven you blind fools] …you say, "It will be fair weather, for the sky is red." And in the morning, you say, "Today it will storm, for the sky is red and lowering." Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.' Then He left them and went away" (vs 2-4).

Then the miracles of the loaves didn't even convince the disciples. Consider this: You're one of the disciples. You gather around this prayer that Jesus gives: 'Father, thank You for the food and we're going to feed the 5,000.' To the disciples, 'You take a basket, you take a basket, everyone of you take a basket, you have a piece of fish and some bread. You go over this section, you go over to this section…' etc. You're breaking off this bread for how ever long it takes and give some to everyone. Break off the fish and give some to everyone.

After Jesus was crucified, after He was buried, what did the disciples say? Even after His resurrection, what did Peter say? I go fishing! Wasn't even long enough for them to remember. They had the bread in their hand it just kept being there. Another case of did it really bring belief? We would all love to have miracles, but what would we do then? We would think that we were so righteous that anything we did from there on would have God's approval!

John 1:43: "And he led him to Jesus. And when He saw him, Jesus said, 'You are Simon, the son of Jona. You shall be called Cephas' (which is, being interpreted, 'a stone'). On the next day, Jesus desired to go into Galilee; and He found Philip and said to him, 'Follow Me.' Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, 'We have found Him of Whom Moses wrote in the Law, and also the prophets, Jesus, the son of Joseph; He is from Nazareth.' And Nathanael said to him, 'Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?'…. [Nazareth must have been some kind of miserable place] …Philip said to him, 'Come and see.'" (vs 43-47).

God does things the opposite. He sent His own Son to a place of no reputation. Today, if you don't have the credentials, you're nowhere!

Verse 48: "Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said concerning him, 'Behold, truly an Israelite in whom there is no guile.'…. [A rare bird indeed!] …Nathanael said to Him, 'How did you know me?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you'" (vs 48-49). That's quite a statement!

Verse 50: "Nathanael answered and said to Him, 'Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Because I told you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? Greater things than these shall you see.' And He said to him, 'Truly, truly I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God descending to and ascending from the Son of man'" (vs 50-52). Nathaniel is not listed as one of the 12 apostles—is he?

pp 90-91 of the book on Satan's lies, he gives 13 things on how to have prayers answered, but for what?

pp 91-92—These characteristics of prevailing prayer are not to discourage us but to warn us against spiritual presumption. God gives us these modifiers that will keep us from going off the deep end as we seek the Lord for answers.

These Scriptural principles also serve to remind us to reject the human formulas  are commonly advocated by those who hold to some sort of automatic A-B-C-type prayer involvement with God. The formulas are many, but most of them boil down to a three-stage approach. One, have faith; two, send me your prayer request and believe in "my prayers"; three, make a contribution to my cause.

Ah la Oral Roberts—greatest example, plus many others.

These religious charlatans ought to be held in sustained contempt by all spiritual and reasonable people. We have seen that the satanic doctrine is almost true, that "all that a man has will he give for his life." This almost truth has enriched the professional miracle-workers to an astonishing and heartbreaking degree.

Needless to say, we are to try the spirits. There's going to be a miraculous surprise to all of these miracle workers who have done all of these things falsely in the name of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 7:21: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but the one who is doing the will of My Father Who is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy through Your name? And did we not cast out demons through Your name? And did we not perform many works of power through Your name?' And then I will confess to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who work lawlessness'" (vs 21-23).

Miracles on demand, or having God follow the commands of a man, will never work! That is Satan's seventh most believable lie!

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in its Original Order, a Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter

Scriptural References:

• Jude 1-4
• Exodus 7:8-12
• Exodus 8:17-18
• Isaiah 8:19-20
• Deuteronomy 18:9-12
• Hebrews 2:1-4
• Acts 3:1-6
• Acts 7:51-54, 60
• Revelation 16:13
• Romans 1:17
• Hebrews 11:1-6, 13, 24, 28-31, 34-40
• Matthew 12:38-39
• Matthew 16:1-4
• John 1:43-52
• Matthew 7:21-23

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Deuteronomy 8
• Acts 8
• John 9
• Revelation 13

Also referenced: Books:

• Satan's Ten Most Believable Lies by Dave Breese
• The Beautiful Side of Evil by Johanna Michaelsen
• The Lost Years of Jesus by Elizabeth Clare Prophet

FRC: bo
Transcribed: 1-27-13