ON

GERALD COATES

UNDERSTANDING MIRACLES
 St. Ninian’s Parish Church
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HE GIVES US SIGNS
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HE GIVES US SIGNS

Gerald Coates

HODDER AND STOUGHTON

LONDON SYDNEY AUCKLAND TORONTO
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Coates, Gerald
He gives us signs.— (Foundations) —
(Hodder Christian paperbacks).
1. Christian life
I. Title IT. Series
248.4. BV 4501.2

ISBN 0-340-41073-6

Copyright © 1987 by Gerald Coates. First printed 1987. All rights reserved. No part of
this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, recording or any information
storage or retrieval system, without either the prior permission in writing from the
publisher or a licence, permitting restricted copying, issued by the Copyright Licensing
Agency, 33-34 Alfred Place, London WCIE 7DP. Printed in Great Britain for Hodder —
& Stoughton Limited, Mill Road, Dunton Green, Sevenoaks, Kent by Cox & Wyman
Ltd., Reading, Berks. Photoset by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd, Bury St Edmunds,
Suffolk, Hodder & Stoughton Editorial Office: 47 Bedford Square, London
WCIB 3DP.
 CONTENTS

Faith-Builders for the faithful

Introduction

1 A personal past

2 Schools of thought

3 The kingdom of God

4 Where are we now?

5 Where do we start?

6 It’s good news!

47 Back to the future!

To all pioneers, in every area of the kingdom of God,
who are willing to take a chance: Be the first — and
make it happen! ;
 FAITH-BUILDERS FOR THE FAITHFUL

If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in
you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give
life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells
you (Romans 8:11 NAsB)

Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord; and the
Lord is for the body . . . Ordo you not know that your body is
a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have
from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been
bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body (1
Corinthians 6:13, 19-20 NASB)

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray
God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1
Thessalonians 5:23 AV)

We know that in all things God works for good with those
who love him, those whom he has called according to his
purpose (Romans 8:28 cnB)
 INTRODUCTION

A different route
I have not always believed what I have written in this book.
I say that because we tend to categorise people quickly.
This is not always bad. Sometimes it enables us to read
people’s writings with great interest. But often it deters us
from different perspectives because we have put people into
pigeonholes, labelling them ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘acceptable’ or
‘unacceptable’.
_ When we hear someone speaking publicly we find it very
easy to assume, “That person’s always been like this.’ Invari-
ably, though, it is an inaccurate assessment. Most of us have
come through traumatic and painful periods, with dramatic
changes in our philosophy, theology and outlook as well as
our relationships. Many of these changes occur only after a
great deal of personal heartache. Indeed to gain the most
from a ‘new experience’ one occasionally has to deny a
previous one.
My background was Anglican. I was far too young then to
have coordinated my beliefs and approach to scripture and
church life. Later on, when I experienced personal conver-
sion, I joined the Plymouth Brethren. I am grateful for much
of what they taught me. However, my Assembly relegated
signs and wonders and healings to a period that existed two
thousand years ago, four thousand miles away from Britain.
After several years I asked myself in utter frustration,
‘Surely there must be more to the church than this?’ Thank
God there was. So began my long and painful route towards
what I now believe to be a more appropriate perspective in
this whole area.
10 He Gives Us Signs

Join in the journey

Stay with me as I take you through and past wrongly held
beliefs, poorly thought-out theological positions, defensive
postures, and — of late — wildly exaggerated claims and
counterclaims.
Miracles and healings (both real and supposed) are the
stuff that makes the dust swirl, heads spin, voices to be raised
—and at times, thankfully, God to be glorified. But they also
provide an arena for the speculator, the entrepreneur, the
pseudospiritual and the charlatan. The whole area of the
miraculous is a minefield when it comes to both personal and
public morality and integrity.
However, an idea must not be judged worthy or unworthy
merely by seeing who its devotees or practitioners are. Nor
should we blindly go along with current philosophy, which
asks, ‘What’s the point?’ when we should be asking, ‘What’s
the truth?’
In order to get closer to the truth I will endeavour carefully
to demolish the empty derelict shells of past experience and
clear away their rubble, for one cannot build afresh on the
dubious foundations of the past.
I well remember how everyone thrilled at the idea when
architects proposed building a new supermarket in our
town. That was, until they realised that a small but beautiful
old delicatessen would have to be demolished to make way
for the new project. In the end the builders and architects
won the day and the old place had to be knocked down. In
truth, the small shop had become increasingly ineffective,
expensive to maintain and was in fact going out of business.
But despite that, many tried sentimentally to hang on like
grim death to this property — something that was no longer a
going concern.
The individual Christian life and the witness of the con-
temporary church both face a similar issue. Periodically we
need to re-examine our foundations. Sometimes the awk-
ward truth confronts us: Demolition is vital if the Christian
perspective — its truth, theology and practice — is going to be
 Introduction II

rebuilt and stand out in the hedonistic, competitive age in

which we live.

_ Following Jesus’ way

‘A respectable church will never turn this nation back to
God,’ a colleague of mine said recently. I’m inclined to agree
with him. For too long, in order to gain an ear, we have made
it our aim to conform to the world we find ourselves in, rather
than transforming it. Or if that has not been our aim it has
certainly been the result. The trouble is, although the redis-
covery of signs and wonders and healings brings great
honour to God and credit to the gospel, as well as to the
church, it is often also a messy business, with many mistakes,
apparently unanswered prayers and disappointments.
As over the next few years we find our way through this
maze, I pray that the gospel will be preached in power, the
church will wake up to its responsibilities — to be a blessing to
this nation — and that with ‘signs following’ today’s disciples
of Christ will live, preach and teach the best news that this
world has ever heard.
The gospel is not merely a set of rational propositions
coupled with moral idealism (though it has both features), it
is also full of the supernatural, mysterious and powerful
abilities of God to heal the sick, deliver the demonised,
perform the unexplainable, confound clever know-alls of our
day, and honour the unsophisticated of this world. That has
always been Jesus’ way. Therefore it is the kingdom way — for
this is Jesus’ kingdom, it is his world and it is his time.

Gerald Coates
Esher
Surrey
 A PERSONAL PAST

The prayer of faith?

‘We pray for our brother laid on a bed of sickness, that thou
wilt lay thy healing hand upon him. We pray that he will be
swiftly returned to full health and strength — ifit be according
to thy will.’
It all sounded so spiritual. It was a sort of ‘We’d like him
to get better — it would be rather nice if you (God) did too’
prayer. However, it seemed that knowing God’s mind was
incredibly difficult. His ways were indeed past finding out —
especially when it came to healing! One can still go to
evangelical, not to say non-evangelical, prayer meetings
where this sort of praying goes on. In fact I not only grew up
in this atmosphere, I was well and truly convinced of it and
even prayed such prayers myself.
Ofcourse it is true that most of those who pray in this way
are absolutely sincere. They really would like to see God
moving in power, both for the benefit of the sick and for
God’s glory. But what happened in our Assembly was that
most of our prayer meetings were full of genuine sincerity
and compassion but very little power. The ‘Ifitbe according
to thy will’ philosophy always left a back door open for the
person who got worse or died (and often they did!). We
reasoned that if God heard our prayers and the person got
better, we should of course thank God. If such an answer
went so far as to defy all the medical predictions, we gave
God glory for a ‘miracle cure’. (Such things did in fact
occasionally take place.) If on the other hand the person
didn’t get better (which was more often the case), or took
three years to get better or even died, we reasoned that God
had had a ‘better way’ or ‘greater purpose’ than making
them well again.
14 He Gives Us Signs

A strange reaction
Years ago a particular theology of suffering and sickness
crept into the church and ate its way into its heart. In its own
way it was itself a sickness. It caused us to suffer from a
curious form of double think. On the one hand we accepted
that our sickness was part of God’s will for our lives. To
reinforce the lesson we were told great stories of how the
diseased person was being taught by the Holy Spirit. On the
other hand most of these sick people were strangely resistant
to God’s will: they desperately stuffed tablets down their
throats, injected themselves with this, that and the other,
and saw the doctor as regularly as possible.
I couldn’t work it out. Ifit was God’s will that people were
sick and that major lessons were being learnt, why were they
so keen on getting better? Why were they like spiritual
truants trying to escape the lessons they should be learning
or treating them like a detention which they had to go to after
school had finished for the day? To ask such questions
amounted to irreverent arrogance, but my confusion was
genuine.

Putting the right pieces together?

One reason for the success of this theology of suffering is that
it fits in very well with another piece of the theological jigsaw
puzzle.
The piece in question is an interpretation of scripture
about scripture.
When you read the New Testament you learn about how
Jesus went around healing the sick. He even told his disciples
to do the same and gave them the authority and training they
would need to do it after he had gone back to his Father in
heaven.
Some people see the signs and wonders and healings that
Jesus performed as the proof that he was God’s Son — signs of
his divinity. Nowadays people are more inclined to see these
things as signs of his kingdom — part of the good news of the
 A personal past 15

gospel. This fits the picture better because the disciples were
enabled by the Spirit to perform miracles too. During the
growth and establishment of the early church the disciples
were able to perform signs and wonders and healings as they
took the gospel ‘into all the world’.
From some of Paul’s letters we learn that he, as an apostle,
and various members of the churches he founded — both
leaders and others — were gifted with supernatural powers by
God’s Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Jesus), even if (as at Corinth)
they were in need of teaching about the right uses of these
gifts.
Later we will see that there are three positions about the
miraculous. Here it is sufficient to note that only the people
belonging to the position that rules out miracles altogether
would not accept the account just given. For those who hold
either of the other positions, the problem arises over the
question whether the gifts available to the early church are
still available to the twentieth-century church.
People with the same strong commitment to and love of
the scriptures part company at this point. Some, like myself,
cannot see where it is taught that the gifts were only for the
disciples of the apostolic church. Others appeal to 1 Corin-
thians 13, where Paul says that although, faith, hope and
love remain, one day all the gifts will cease. For them, when
the scriptures were completed (the perfect came) there was
no further need for signs and wonders and other spiritual
gifts (the imperfect) whose purpose was to validate the
gospel. Scripture would provide all the proof that was
needed.
There are several reasons why this will not hold water.

t Itis not clear that Paul is referring to the scriptures at all. What
he is talking about is the time when, after the Lord’s return,
we will know him ‘as we ought’. At that time we will have no
need of prophecies, words of knowledge, the gift of tongues
and other such phenomena. Until then such sources of
revelation, including the Bible itself, will continue.
2 There seems to be a misunderstanding of the point of the gifts. As
16 He Gives Us Signs

noted above, the consensus used to be that the miraculous

healings and other wonders that Jesus performed were for
the express purpose of proving his divinity. That position is
now no longer upheld so widely, and with good reason.
There are, for example, records of other wonder-workers
who were around at the same time as Jesus. No one would
claim that their miracles proved their divinity — a position,
incidentally, that they were loath to claim anyway. Also,
Jesus’ divinity, although maintained by the New Testament,
was not obvious to his followers or his enemies during his
ministry. His teaching and actions were to some extent
enigmatic and he even appears to have wanted to ‘quieten
down’ those who realised he was the Messiah and God’s Son.
In the same way — implying a kind of divine pragmatism —
advocates of this position misunderstand the point of the
spiritual gifts that God gave to the early church. Their line is
that the gifts were historically limited, that they were a kind
of stop-gap measure that God used until he had supervised
the completion of the New Testament writings and their
canonisation.
But the gifts must have more significance than this. The
gifts and the fruits of the Holy Spirit are an integral part of
Christian experience in the New Testament. When someone
becomes a Christian he is adopted into God’s family and
shares in the Holy Spirit (whether you want to call this
‘baptism’ or being ‘filled’ with the Holy Spirit and whether
you see this as a once-for-all package received at the time of
conversion or a supplementary or ‘second blessing’ experi-
ence that occurs later is not important). This entails being
given a new nature and undergoing a reorientation of one’s
life to God’s will, but it also means receiving the power and
gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the same way that Jesus’ works
were an integral part of the inbreaking kingdom of God, the
Holy Spirit’s gifts are integral to Christian experience — not
utilities that are designed to be rendered obsolete by scrip-
ture. If that were the case, scripture perhaps ought to be
elevated to part of the Godhead — certainly the work of the
Spirit would become almost redundant. It doesn’t seem right
 A personal past 17

that we should expect to develop the fruits of the Spirit, but

no longer expect to receive his gifts.
Surely also, part of the problem is the unhealthy preoc-
cupation with the more spectacular gifts (and I’m referring
to both sides of the divide within contemporary evangelical-
ism): we would be reluctant to say that gifts like administra-
tion and counselling were limited to the New Testament era.
We need to get our perspectives in order here.
3 Itimplies a kind of dispensationalism. Strictly dispensational-
ism is a coherent doctrinal system that had its heyday at the
end of the last and in the first half of this century. It divided
the whole history of salvation into various seemingly water-
tight compartments, although there was a common theme:
covenant. God made various covenants with different bibli-
cal figures (Adam, Noah, Moses, David, etc.) and at differ-
ent times. This approach to biblical truth is a systematic one
that threatens to strait-jacket God’s revelation and his ways
of relating to his people. He seems to deal with people
differently at different times; perhaps the most fundamental
difference being that between the law and the gospel.
The danger that the advocates of the historically limited
position run is similar to that of full-blown dispensational-
ism. God’s methods are linked to specific times and needs:
the gifts were necessary, for reasons already hinted at, during
the time of Jesus’ ministry and the growth of the early
church; they are no longer needed.
Again I am forced back to some basic questions relating to
God and the way he works: What has changed that makes
God’s gifts and signs and wonders necessary to the life of the
early church but does not require them for its subsequent
history? Has God’s gospel changed? Has the nature of God’s
kingdom changed?

Enough is enough!
In my Brethren days, we went out ‘on the doors’ evangelis-
ing, but we didn’t expect anybody to be converted — and they
weren’t! We reasoned that the world was getting worse and
18 He Gives Us Signs

that people were becoming hardened to the gospel. Really,

what we had was bad news, not good news. If you were sick
there was no healing. If you were demonised there was no
deliverance. If there was no faith in those we visited for
specific needs, we couldn’t give a word that would create
faith. No wonder our church became smaller and smaller,
and we gave up hope. There is nothing sadder than a church
that has lost hope.
But there came a time when I became angry at my sin of
unbelief, angry with Satan, and angry with sickness. I saw
sickness not as part of God’s purpose (though he can use
anything for his purpose), but as part of the diabolical,
twisted nature of Satan to ‘steal and kill and destroy’ (John
10:10). He steals health and wholeness, killing off faith and
vibrant relationships, in order to destroy God’s plan to
populate the earth with holy men and women.
Not only in Britain, but throughout the world, there is a
growing hatred of sin, Satan, sickness and disease. Unless we
hate the works of Satan we will never be able to engage
ourselves in true spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare has to
do with concrete situations. It is absurd (as happens in
certain circles) to pray against the ‘Prince of Great Britain’
or the ‘Prince over Brixton’ when there is demonic activity in
our own homes, churches and situations left unattended.

A shock to the system

However, this kind of thinking was a million miles away from
my own experience at the time. With an inbred indoctri-
nation against Pentecostals, indeed against anything re-
motely emotional, I became more and more frustrated. But
this holy hatred of what Satan had done to people’s lives
began to break out. Eventually I found myself invited to a
small conference by friends who were aware of my growing
dissatisfaction with a gospel which had been limited to words
and a church which restricted itself to maintenance rather
than growth.
At this event recently written songs were sung— which was
 A personal past 19

quite a shock to my ‘hymn and prayer sandwich’ mentality —

and conference members fasted during the day (whereas I
had never missed a meal in my life!). But the worst was to
come. At one point somebody spoke in a language I didn’t
understand. In my naivety I simply thought we had a
foreigner in the conference! When somebody then prayed in
English (in fact they gave an interpretation of the ‘tongue’) it
still didn’t click. It was not until someone said, ‘I’ve just had
a vision’ that I panicked — these were the sort of things I’d
been warned against! Like many others, I’d been brought up
to believe that we should be afraid of everybody who didn’t
believe the same as we did — especially Roman Catholics and
Pentecostals! The Roman Catholics, it was inferred, were
demons in disguise (particularly the priests) and Pente-
costals took their clothes off in the meetings, swung from the
lights and did cartwheels up the wall! I say ‘inferred’ because
nobody actually ever said that — but as one great preacher
said, ‘You can tell an awful lot from a church not only by
what it says, but by what it doesn’t say. And by not only what
it says and doesn’t say, but by what it infers in what it says
and doesn’t say!’
Horrified by this experience, but wanting to understand
such things better, for the next twelve months I read every
book I could on the subjects of the Holy Spirit, healing, signs
and wonders. Frankly, in the late 1960s there was not much
around anyway. But I did read everything I could get my
hands on, from the classic Pentecostal David du Plessis’
books, to those by John Stott, the gifted Anglican Bible
teacher. But reading didn’t give me the answers I was
looking for: regarding the baptism in the Spirit, the fullness
of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit I became even more
confused.

A new experience
There is nevertheless nothing like a dose of experience to
change one’s theology. One day I was riding on my bicycle,
singing one of Wesley’s fine hymns. ‘Finish then Thy new
20 He Gives Us Signs

salvation,’ I happily exclaimed, ‘Pure and spotless let us be,

let us see Thy whole salvation — keyayandasadavoostoo!’
Somewhat shocked, I paused, reflected and thought, ‘Well,
that’s not in the hymnbook!’ It was all rather confusing. Was
this the baptism in the Holy Spirit? Was it the release of the
Spirit? Did I make it up? Whatever had happened I rushed
home, leapt upstairs (two at a time) and grabbed a pencil
and pad. How do you write ‘keyayandasadavoostoo’? Does it
begin with a ‘C’ or a ‘K’? I still don’t know — I’m only
guessing!
For some weeks, perhaps even months, I wondered about
what had happened to me. I didn’t know anyone else who
spoke in tongues — or that I could be sure spoke in tongues.
The issue was extremely sensitive. Only once before had I
heard someone speak in tongues — and then I thought he was
a foreigner!

In conversation
Eventually I contacted a speaker who I knew had ‘Pentecos-
tal’ connections. He had once spoken to me at a small
conference. He kindly visited my home that evening.
It was dark and I was nervous. He too was in the dark
about the whole thing — so he was also very nervous! ‘I need
to be filled with the Spirit,’ I said with some hesitancy. ‘I
have read all the right books but I’m totally confused!’ He
smiled.
‘I don’t know whether I have been baptised in the Holy
Spirit or not,’ I continued. In desperation I confessed, “I just
want to be filled up with God.’ He gently reminded me that I
knew the scriptures about being filled with the Holy Spirit,
even though in my Assembly I had received teaching against
the gifts of the Spirit, he felt that further teaching on the
subject was not in order. I agreed.
‘Are you sure you don’t speak in tongues already?’ he
asked. I denied my previous experience to make sure I got
the real thing now! ‘I feel you do,’ he persisted. ‘No,’ I said,
assuring him that if I did, I would hardly ask him over to
 A personal past 21

pray for me. But he questioned me further. Eventually I

admitted, “Well — I have had this rather strange experience.’
He listened, nodded, smiled again and gave me a knowing
look. “Have you spoken in tongues since then?’ he enquired.
I told him I had not. ‘Do you know your trouble?’ he asked.
I felt it best to admit that I didn’t. He went on to say that my
mind had controlled me for years and that when something
happened which I couldn’t explain I ignored it. He was
right. He went on to quote Christ: ‘Whoever believes in me,
streams of life-giving water will pour out from his heart’
(John 7:38 GnB). (Now, several years later, I realise that the
mind is a vital part of our make-up, butis not meant to be the
source of our Christian lives.)
Then he laid hands on me, prayed for me to be filled with
the Holy Spirit and released me from mental domination.
Whether ‘keyayandasadavoostoo’ came into things, I can’t
remember — but a heavenly language poured out of me. He
encouraged me to speak in tongues regularly to ‘edify’
myself. He also advised me about being discreet as to who I
told (this was back in 1969) because not too many would be
sympathetic with my testimony.
Far from being a ‘second blessing’ or the ultimate experi-
ence, it became a door that led me out into a whole new world
of faith, vision, prayer and love. To this day I don’t know
whether I was ‘baptised in the Spirit’ or ‘released in the
Spirit’ (as it is sometimes called). All I know is that I
experienced God’s love in a wonderful way and wanted to
dedicate my energies to his purpose and intentions for my
life. Filled and released with the Holy Spirit I certainly was
and, nearly twenty years later, I am happy to live with that. I
pray in tongues almost every day and have seen thousands
experience the same since then— from doctors, lawyers and
computer programmers to artists, housewives, entertainers
and children.
It was this experience, coupled with my understanding of
scripture, that led me into my growing interest in the king-
dom rather than the church. Soon, my somewhat level-
headed wife began to ask God for more of the Holy Spirit. We
22 : He Gives Us Signs

shared with a few close friends what had happened to us.

They began to read the scriptures, pray for a fresh experience
of the Holy Spirit and without exception were not dis-
appointed. Most of those people are now in leadership roles
in the church, and have been for years.

The healing sign

A short while later, but still long before the plethora of books
and cassettes on the work and gifts of the Spirit became
popular, something else happened. It was to be the first
healing sign I experienced.
My hands were covered with warts. Doctors had told me
that the treatment was simple: they could be ‘pulled out or
burned out’. I decided to postpone such pain. Eventually,
though, they became an ugly embarrassment. One day,
when I was out riding my bicycle — yet again, I prayed,
‘Lord, I would very much appreciate it if you would heal me
of these warts.’ It was not the most faith-filled prayer ve
ever heard, but it was real. God didn’t answer my prayer
immediately, despite my feeling they would all drop out on
the spot! But, having been plagued by these warts for several
years, I was about to experience another evidence of God’s
love and power. Sorting mail in the Post Office one day, I
fingered a wart (a bad habit acquired over the years), but it
had disappeared! I looked down, and not one was left — every
one had gone. Fifteen years later I have not had one return.
This was an early evidence of what was to be the norm, a
small sign that I wondered about and now thank God for.

In conclusion — a new beginning

This potted history is relevant, not just for me but also for
others. These struggles and experiences were part of a
national and international struggle out of ‘church’ into
‘kingdom’. Many have emerged out of apathy into genuine
concern, paralysis into action, a low level of faith into specific
faith and from pessimism into optimism. It was and still is a
 A personal past 23

journey out of predictable behaviour into a dynamic of faith,

prayer and morality akin to what one reads of in the Acts of
the Apostles.
I am not, therefore, waving a flag for something that I have
always believed in. Quite the opposite. Entering the king-
dom is always through struggle, tribulation, disappointment
and hard work. Failures, unanswered questions and total
mysteries abound. But sufficient has been experienced and
enough known of scripture to motivate a growing array of
‘nobodies’ to declare that “He gives us signs.’
As has been said before, there is nothing like a dose of
experience to change one’s theology. Not only to change it,
but to fine-tune it and close the credibility gap between what
we say we believe about our God and how we meet people’s
needs. The Spirit is often at work in us long before our
theology catches up with what is happening.
This same Spirit of power comes with healing, deliver-
ance, and the miraculous, but he also comes as the Spirit of
truth. In fact he can be counted on to lead us into all truth.
Only those who aspire after both — sound theology and
genuine dynamic experience — will have the right to address
themselves to our nation. We cannot lead others if we do not
know where we are going. So it is vital that God’s Holy Spirit
leads us.
 SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT

When it comes to ‘signs and wonders’ there are three main

schools of thought:
1 The miracles recorded in scripture didn’t happen then,
so they certainly don’t happen today either.
2 The Old and New Testament miracles did happen, but
because we now have the scriptures, miracles are unnecess-
ary so they don’t happen today.
3 The miracles recorded in both the Old and New Testa-
ments did happen, and because God’s nature hasn’t changed
miracles must therefore happen today.

1 The sceptics
It is hard to see how this first school could represent a
Christian option at all. If God didn’t do amazing and wonder-
ful things, then we'd have to question his nature, rewrite (or
heavily edit) scripture and close down the evangelical
church.
We would have a God of our own making, powerless,
uninvolved and unconcerned with the struggles of humanity.
Think of the implications. It would mean that those we
currently look on as his most faithful biblical followers were
either remarkably deceived or that those who wrote about
them in scripture were liars of the worst kind. Jesus would
have to be looked on as nothing more than a moral teacher
whose kingdom was really just another ethical system. The
Holy Spirit would be a benign but ultimately impotent
‘influence’. And with no powerful, personal, righteous and
loving God, and no heaven or hell other than of our own
 Schools of thought 25

making, there would be little purpose in there being a

church.
What confusion! With no personal God and no trust-
worthy word from heaven, with no accurate account of how
he acts and what he expects of us, we would be cast adrift in a
cold, unfriendly, inexplicable world.
Sadly there are people who hold such views — or ones very
like them. Some of them have even been elevated into
television personalities and religious pundits. Their message
is depressing: “We can be sure of nothing.’ Faith is at sea, or
else it is the sea and the tide has gone out. Everything gets
reduced to morality. But such a view is impoverished. Their
God of morality is not the God of scripture who acts on behalf
of his faithful and prayerful people. Perhaps we ought not to
be surprised that it is this wing of the church that is dim-
inishing most rapidly in numbers throughout Britain.
Perhaps we should not be too sorry either.

2 The historically limited

This school typifies where the evangelical church has been
for many years. The accuracy and integrity of scripture are
upheld and, in the main, it is admitted that God ‘could’ heal
the sick ‘if he wished’. Those in this school are not beyond
praying for the sick, but would be highly surprised to receive
an immediate answer to their prayers.
God performed miracles, they reason, to authenticate
Jesus’ mission. This, it is argued, applies also to the early
church. But now we have the Bible to guide us. Therefore we
do not expect to see the Holy Spirit doing such things with
regularity today. But scripture itself gives no hint that when
the canon of scripture was completed, the demonised would
have to remain so, and the sick simply ‘learn lessons’ or
merely find grace to remain sick or die. It needs to be said
that scripture is given alongside the miraculous, not instead
of it!
God is not unaffected by the cries of his people or indeed of
humanity as a whole. But James made it clear that often we
26 He Gives Us Signs

don’t get because we don’t ask: ‘You do not have what you.
want because you do not ask God for it’ (James 4:2). We will
not ask if we don’t expect God to answer.
The result of this school of thought is now clear. Instead
of warring warriors we have weary worshippers in the
church. Instead of a people who believe in God we believe in
things about God. Instead of a redeemed community taking
ground from Satan in all manner of lives and situations,
we still expect things to get worse and the church to get
smaller.
The sad truth is that in Britain we ave getting smaller! One
factor must be our predominantly white, largely middle-
class western European view of the church — and of Chris-
tianity in general — that is wedded to the outlook of school
number two.
By contrast, look at the church in China. The growth rate
there (and in Africa, South America and elsewhere for that
matter) is astonishing. It too is related to a particular vision
of the church and Christianity. But not the one we are
content with. In 1947 only one million people in China were
thought to be ‘born again’ believers. By the close of the
1970s, out of a thousand million Chinese, some thirty to fifty
million are regarded as born again believers.
True, the Chinese church has suffered incredibly for many
decades. Families have been divided. Leaders have been
imprisoned. Christian literature has been relentlessly con-
fiscated. Buildings have been closed and demolished and
resources have been stripped from the Christian community.
However, in this terribly hurtful situation their cry has gone
up to God. The injustice of the situation, and the mass of
human tragedy, has caused them to look beyond themselves
and their immediate resources. And so, with signs and
wonders, God has answered those prayers.
Perhaps from our western perspective the Chinese church
lacks order, theological understanding and a constitution
upon which it can base its affairs. But their suffering has
produced a humility, a dependence on God and a simplicity
of faith that is rare in the sophisticated west. Friends of mine
 i

Schools of thought 27
who have recently returned from China tell me that they
have never wept so much as when they witnessed the beauty
and power of God on the one hand and the suffering and
deprivation of the church on the other.
Those in the second school believe in the miraculous
power of God in the same way that their children believe in
the tooth fairy or Santa Claus — there are historical reasons
why the beliefs arose, but they are inappropriate in a
different day and age. How different this is to the attitude of
Chinese and Korean believers who, because they could do no
other, have trusted God at his word and have adopted a bold
approach to the preaching of the gospel and demonstrated an
expectancy that God will answer prayer if the church finds
faith.
A major point at which the second school’s true colours
come out is over the issue of sickness and health. The view is
one we’ve already noted and, as I said earlier, it is the one I
grew up with.
This theology of sickness is one of resignation. When we
are sick it is reckoned to be God’s will as he teaches us so
much through such situations. The blessed school of learning
becomes the blessed school of sickness. In fact — and this is
almost perverse — to become sick might logically be viewed as
being more spiritual than being healthy. It is surely seen in
some circles as providing God greater scope for teaching us
spiritual lessons. There is no doubt that God is able to
communicate his love, truth and ‘lessons’ when we are
attentive because we are suffering ill health. Sickness limits
travel, socialising and other commitments. It also weakens
our natural senses and defences, so it is often true that those
who have suffered the most are more sensitive to the Holy
Spirit and his ministry and are therefore more spiritually
attuned. :
But such experiences must never in and of themselves be
made the foundation of our theology of God. And we must
not end up in the absurd position, which I mentioned in the
last chapter and which is surely hypocritical, or at least a
case of trying to have your cake and eating it, of claiming on
28 He Gives Us Signs

the one hand that our sickness is of God and for our spiritual
benefit while on the other hand dashing from doctor to
specialist and stuffing ourselves with all types of medication
at all points between. Ifit really is God’s will that we are sick,
why try and wriggle out of it?
Those who hold to the views of the second school must go
back to scripture for a proper understanding of health and
wholeness.
Don’t misunderstand my attitude to medicine and the
medical profession. I’m not ‘against’ modern medicine, but I
am against two tendencies that people have towards it. The
first makes the mistake of seeing doctors as healers. The
second restricts all healing to them. The Bible provides a
balance between these ‘two attitudes. It sees a place for
medicine and medical advice, but it limits it.
It is interesting to note, for example, that Jesus had a
physician on his team — Dr Luke — and that the apostle Paul
told his student Timothy to take ‘a little wine’ for his
stomach’s sake. Eating properly, and following medical
advice and medication are not to be seen as the fruit of
unbelief and sin or as God’s second best. Indeed the medical
profession has done the Christian cause a tremendous
amount of good both at home and abroad. It is not a matter
of either/or.
The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12 tells us of the gifts of
‘healing’. We must not reduce them to the medical profession
— such a philosophy leaves a lot to be desired. Christian
doctors in particular are doing a great deal to alleviate
suffering and through their work bring Christ to people.
That cannot be in question. But we must be careful that we
do not call agnostic and atheistic General Practitioners
healers, never mind healers in the name of Christ.
Let’s thank God for the medical profession, for their
wisdom, care and skills. We must pray for Christian doctors,
that through their caring profession the love of God and
perhaps the words of Christ will reach into people’s lives. If
we listened to our doctors, disciplined ourselves and cared
for one another a little more, perhaps as Christians we
 Schools of thought 29

wouldn’t waste so much of their time. But the medical

profession is not a panacea for all ills. There is no miracle
cure for every disease and whether it be the flu, cancer or
AIDs, medical advice must go hand in hand with prayer and
faith in God’s ability to do what the medical profession has
no power to do.

3 A better way
It is clear, I hope, from the nature of my comments on the
second school that I have now found a better way — one
which does not relegate signs and wonders and healings toa
bygone age but which sees the same God giving the same
gifts for the same purpose by the same Spirit as he did in
first-century Palestine.
Scripture seems clear on the issue of sickness: it is God’s
will for his holy people to minister healing. It is God’s will for
sinners, and especially for unbelievers, to be healed. It is
worth noting here that Jesus never prayed for his disciples to
be healed. James, one of Jesus’ friends, says however, ‘Is
there anyone who is ill? He should send for the church elders,
who will pray for him and rub olive-oil on him in the name of
the Lord. This prayer made in faith will heal the sick person;
the Lord will restore him to health, and the sins he has
committed will be forgiven’ (James 5: 14-15 GNB).
Satan, on the other hand, came to ‘steal and kill and
destroy’ (John 10:10). But God’s way is the opposite. Sal-
vation makes whole. God’s way is health, wholeness and
harmony; Satan’s way is to break down, wreck, rob and
infect.
Read what the Bible says was Jesus’ approach:

Jesus went all over Galilee, teaching in the synagogues,

preaching the Good News about the Kingdom, and heal-
ing people who had all kinds of disease and sickness. The
news about him spread through the whole country of
Syria, so that people brought to him all those who were
sick, suffering from all kinds of diseases and disorders:
30 He Gives Us Signs

people with demons, and epileptics, and paralytics — and —

Jesus healed them all. Large crowds followed him from —
Galilee and the Ten Towns, from Jerusalem, Judaea, and
the land on the other side of the Jordan (Matthew 4:23—
25).

Notice how Jesus’ ministry was one that challenged and

broke the effects of the fall. As individuals and as a society,
we have fallen from God’s original intention for our lives.
That has consequences. If we abandon God and his moral
order then disorder breaks out at every level — physically,
mentally, emotionally, relationally, economically and
governmentally. We see this today on every hand in every
nation. But through healing and deliverance Jesus expressed
and communicated the nature of his Father in heaven. Such
events were part of the reason, if not the major reason, why
crowds followed him and listened to him with rapt attention.
But there is no quick way to faith. Even the disciples had
failures. On one occasion Jesus made it clear that certain
demons only come out through prayer and fasting. So the
effects of the fall, of sin and man’s rebellion against God are
all around us. We are in a battle, and due to our own
limitations and understanding there are battles we lose. The
writer to the Hebrew Christians tells us of heroes of faith who
escaped death and glorified God. But he also speaks of those
who were sawn in halfand glorified God in their death, as did
the thousands who died in the arenas, mauled by lions and
mutilated by gladiators.
For Peter in prison there was deliverance. For Paul it
would seem, as he came near to life’s end, that this was not
the case. We are on dangerous ground if we say that Peter
had more faith than Paul. Jesus, the perfect man who was
also perfect God, did not only perform miracles, heal the sick
and deliver the demonised, he offered himself up on several
occasions to the verbal and physical abuse of those who were
subject to the fallenness and depravity of human nature.
Jesus didn’t leave it there. He transferred his power to his
disciples and commissioned them to do the same. ‘Believers
 Schools of thought 31

will be given the power to perform miracles: they will drive

out demons in my name; they will speak in strange tongues
... (Mark 16:17 ns). Their ministry and the record in the
Acts of the Apostles (which despite appearances actually
covers between thirty and sixty years) demonstrates this
point. God’s healing powers have always been at work — even
in dark days. Nowhere are we taught that the Bible, when
completed, would spell the end of the church’s ministry to
release the demonised or heal the sick.
We must thank God for scripture and not minimise its
importance. But we must not pretend that the fact that we
now have scripture places an embargo on the miraculous, as
if God, having shown by the biblical record that he is a God
who acts to deliver his people and work wonders to the praise
of his glory, now says that we’ve seen enough of his character,
or that he is no longer capable of performing miracles, or that
he has changed his kingdom’s priorities.
We must be honourable at this point. We must not let fear,
unanswered questions and the possibility offailure lead us to
disregard part of our mission and our resources. We must
fight our fear and our reservations with the biblical facts.
Remember the people for whom our message is to be good
news. To the sick the good news is not Habakkuk, it is
healing. To the demonised the good news is not Deuter-
onomy, it is deliverance. God is looking for an active army
not a confused congregation. He is raising up a participating
sommunity offaith-filled people — ordinary people — to do his
will. It is not good enough to mask our fear by saying,
Conservative theology is at hand’ or “Traditional Chris-
danity is at hand!’ Our local, national and international cry
must be, “The kingdom of God is at hand.’
Where God’s rule is evident there is power — power to heal,
-econcile and to save. Jesus was given the Spirit ‘without
measure’ (John 3:34 NAsB). We, however, are given ‘a
measure’ and must recognise our limitations. This should
make us dependent on God, and also on those he puts
around us. They will have a different ‘measure’ to make up
our deficiencies.
32 He Gives Us Signs

God clearly did signs and wonders throughout both Old

and New Testament times. We do not have the slightest
indication that he would cease this wonderful, redemptive
ministry when the canon of scripture was completed. To say
that God ‘could’ do mighty things but that he usually doesn’t
begs the question, ‘Why?’
That is a question to which this school of interpretation
does not seem able to provide a satisfactory answer. Like the
attitude to healing, what often occurs\is a tendency to
doublethink. For example, I heard of a London chapel at
which an exorcism was practised recently. What was strange
was the minister’s attitude. “God doesn’t have anything to do
with this sort of thing,’ he said. In fact he did not believe in
miracles at all. Yet, nevertheless, he went ahead and per-
formed the exorcism service! Perhaps his attitude to the
demonic was not typical of all those who belong to the second
school, but his inconsistency was.
Many have firsthand experience of the first two schools.
The first leaves us with a God of our own making. One who
lives in our heads only to disappear when we die—a God who
lives only in our fantasies. The second leaves us with a God
who truly did amazing things and performed wonderful acts
of mercy through his incarnate Son and his biblical followers,
but does so no longer. But there is an alternative that is still
available: the third school. Although it still has its problems,
triumphalistic followers and a measure of unanswered ques-
tions, I take my arrival at this position to be a form of
graduation. My faith in God’s ability grows, and I now stand
convinced that both God and scripture point us to a future of
hope, not to a diminishing gospel message that is reduced to
words and oratory.

Different sorts of miracles

It would be good at this stage to ask an important question: If
the God who did the miracles recorded in scripture still does
them, what then is a miracle?
Not every unexpected occurrence is a miracle; so despite
 Schools of thought 33

what my friends may say, it would not be right to say that if I

remembered people’s names it was a miracle! So what is a
miracle, then? Biblically speaking, a miracle is not just a big
set-piece for show or entertainment. It does not merely have
a utility value either (for example, to provide a means of
escape from a tight spot). A miracle is a sign that captures the
attention and points to something or someone else. It causes
wonder, both in the sense of awe and because it causes one to
stop and think about what it is meant to signify.
There are different classes of miracles, depending how we
understand their nature.
First of all there are miracles of timing. Naturally occur-
ring events happen at particularly opportune times. The
calming of the storm when the disciples boat was in danger of
sinking and the finding of the coin in the fish’s mouth to pay
the temple tax are miracles of timing. Many healings that
occur today may fall into this category. The point is that the
timing is miraculous, but the event may be one that would
ordinarily happen at a different speed.
The second type of miracle consists of those things that can
already be, or at least one day will be capable of being,
scientifically explained. The fact that one can explain such
svents does not make them less miraculous.
For example, according to Joshua 10, during a battle
Joshua told the sun to stand still and it did. From our
viewpoint more explanations are available than Joshua had.
(or instance, we now know that the sun does not revolve
sround the earth, so we might want to say that it was
actually the earth that stopped moving rather than the
sun. But although we may be able to explain the mech-
:nics of the physical elements involved in the miracle, the
‘entral point remains — the day of the battle was miracu-
ously prolonged by God’s direct intervention on behalf of
1s people.
Science may underscore the relative ignorance (viewed
rom our privileged position) of the biblical characters, but it
loes not remove the miracle. When we give our account
yased on our somewhat limited and ignorant perspectives
34 He Gives Us Signs

God does not always crash into our humanity with his view of
things.
The third category of miracle has to do with things that are
entirely beyond our current scientific understanding and
may continue to be. These include feeding five thousand
people from virtually nothing, turning water into very good
wine, walking on water and, of course, raising to life those
who died several days previously.
Luke, a trained physician and articulate historian, records
many of those instances. Among other things, these records
show that our creator is not bound by his creation. For
although God created and sustains his work, he is not
bound by time, for he exists outside of time. God is a time-
less God who works in time because he has chosen to. Hence
on occasion, God says, ‘Before they call, I will answer’
(Isaiah 65:24 Av).
It has been said that scientific laws are really the laws of
man anyway. That doesn’t mean that they are like statute
book laws which society has decided are beneficial for the
general wellbeing. Instead it means that on the basis of
scientific observations and experiments we notice that cer-
tain things happen repeatedly according to a predictable
pattern. Scientists formulate ‘laws’ on the basis of these
things. They serve as explanations of what happens and
what will happen. But they are subject to revision. A theory
cannot explain everything. Sometimes sufficient examples
occur to make it necessary to revise or even throw out the
theory and its laws and replace them with another model.
The nature of scientific laws means that some miracles
may fall right outside their range and must therefore be
inexplicable, unlike the first and second kinds of miracles.

What are signs and wonders for?

Even if some miracles do break such laws and remain
unexplained, they are not an end in themselves. Instead they
are a vital means of communicating God’s love, care and
concern for us all.
ee
— eee

Schools of thought 35

While such miraculous events can become a substitute for

a living relationship with God, we in Europe and most
‘civilised’ parts of the world are not in danger of such
idolatry. Faith for miracles is low, and in many churches
frowned upon. Prayers for a miracle and actually believing
for one are two different things. A friend of mine told me he
was praying for his neighbours, hoping they would find faith,
find Christ and become Christians. ‘Can you see it happen-
ing?’ I enquired. ‘Never in a million years!’ he replied. His
prayers were well intentioned. Unfortunately, they were
without hope or faith. In fact, even if his neighbours had
become Christians it is unlikely he would have been ready to
nurture them in their faith. He wasn’t expecting his prayers
to be answered.
Answered prayers, miraculous interventions and ‘signs
and wonders’ are given primarily because God loves to inter-
act and have a relationship with those who have faith. God
does not intervene in every hurt, injustice and disaster. If he
did we would cease to be anything other than puppets — the
victims of God’s benevolence whether we wanted to be or
not. He is wanting to answer our prayers and develop a
relationship. God also gives us ‘signs and wonders’ to feed
our faith, humble our hearts and to keep them tender
towards himself and those around us.
To be truly balanced and healthy we must be faithful to
what God has said, but grow in faith for God to work in
cowerful ways in the future:

. . . we ought to pay much closer attention than ever to the

truths that we have heard, lest in any way we drift past
[them] and slip away. For if the message given through
angels [that is, the Law spoken by them to Moses] was
authentic and proved sure, and every violation and dis-
obedience received an appropriate [just and adequate]
penalty, how shall we escape [appropriate retribution] if
we neglect and refuse to pay attention to such a great
salvation [as is now offered to us, letting it drift past us
forever]? For it was declared at first by the Lord [Himself],
36 He Gives Us Signs

and it was confirmed to us and proved to be real and

genuine by those who personally heard [Him speak].
[Besides these evidences] it was also established and
plainly endorsed by God, Who showed His approval of
it by signs and wonders and various miraculous manifes-
tations of [His] power and by imparting the gifts of the
Holy Spirit [to the believers] according to His own will
(Hebrews 2:1-4 Amplified Version).

Wonderful ignorance!
At one time, I — like many others — asked: ‘Where has God
got to?’ Well, he was waiting, in humility and power, for us to
find faith for him to do what he has done throughout history.
True, God often works despite our faith, not because of it.
But a faith-filled life, family, church and nation will see more
signs and wonders than those who have relegated such a God
to the Middle East of two thousand years ago. The church
that is on the march, growing in power and in love, is the
church that has taken God at his word. God’s people in
Africa, China, South America, India, and in so many other
places are growing numerically because they have done just
this. Some are totally ignorant of schools one and two! In
ignorance and faith, not knowing any better (or worse) they
have seen God’s love, care and word honoured through signs
and wonders.
In Britain the situation is different. A church like ours with
few signs and wonders, is unlikely to survive this century in
Britain. A church that doesn’t believe its God will deliver the
demonised, heal the sick and answer prayer has little good
news. A church that believes in an impersonal, uncaring God
who may have done mighty things in the past and who may
even do mighty things in the world to come, is hopeless. Only
a church that can love Christ, pursue truth and believe for
God’s power to break into the present order of things has a
vital message for Britain. That message is clear: for the guilty
it is forgiveness; for the sick it is healing; for the oppressed
and the demonised it is deliverance; for the poor it is the
 Schools of thought Bu
redistribution of resources and wealth (Luke 4:18-19; Ephe-
sians 4:28). But that message will be possible only if we invite
the rule of God — his kingdom — into our lives.
 THE KINGDOM OF GOD

There were two things that seemed to motivate and direct the
ministry of Christ. One was his Father in heaven, the other
was the kingdom of God on the earth. He barely mentioned
the church, but his Father and the kingdom were on his lips
constantly. He longed to reach those who felt they were
beyond God’s love and mercy. He healed the sick, delivered
the demonised and gave hope to the hopeless for this very
reason. As has been mentioned it is not recorded that Jesus
ever prayed for healing or deliverance for his committed
disciples. But he was intent on revealing what his Father was
like to those in ignorance. He intended them to see God’s
miracles as examples of his nature and rule.
Two of the major hurdles to spreading our Christian
influences need attention. One is to do with how we convey
the nature of ‘Father’. The other has to do with how he rules,
intervenes and participates in the suffering of humanity. The
church should clearly convey both the Fatherly, merciful
nature of God and the moral nature of his rule. Today, the
church has to decide whether it will sink in what it’s got or
swim with change. Allowing the kindness of God and his
powerful government — his kingdom — to motivate and direct
our church and ministries will create the greatest and best
changes. It is insufficient to live proper little Christian lives
which fail to convey God’s wonderful nature and purpose in
society.
The attitude which seems to obey the unwritten command-
ment, “Thou shalt present a good image for God, and kid
thyself — as thou kiddest thy neighbour’ has nothing to do
with the life of the kingdom! God’s forgiving nature and his
 The kingdom of God 39

kingdom are evident from the most casual observation of

scripture. But God is looking for this generation to fulfil
scripture as Jesus in his generation fulfilled scripture. We
must embrace God’s truth, fatherly heart and power. With-
out the Bible, how would we see such a clear insight into the
nature of God’s kingdom? Without those God-breathed
unique pieces of literature, how could we know how God
intends to reach into ‘the outermost parts of the world’? But
God wants us to read, learn, absorb and teach scripture by
the power of the Spirit. That power is available to take us into
realms that, alongside scripture, will help people know what
God is like.

The Bible is God’s testimony to his Son. Its purpose is to

direct men on divine authority to Jesus as the source of life.
The Bible is a signpost. It cannot give life itself. It can only
point you to the One in whom light can be found. It’s a
prescription. It cannot cure sin, but it can specify the
medicine that will. It is vital that those of us who call
ourselves evangelicals understand this. The Bible is never
an end in itself. And if we are ever found treating it as such,
we fall into the trap of which some validly accuse us;
bibliolatry, worshipping a divine book rather than its
divine author.
Of course we value the Bible highly, but we do so
because it is the Father’s testimony to Jesus ... Bible
study can never be an end in itself. It is a pilgrimage
intended to lead us to an ever deeper and more intimate
knowledge of Christ (Roy Clements, Introducing Jesus
(Kingsway 1986), p. 57). Thank God for scripture, mercy
and power!

Ruling — without us!

The Holy Spirit pays Jesus the highest accolade and brings
him glory. Jesus pays the Father the highest accolade and
brings him glory. The Bible gives us unique God-given
insights into the nature and workings of the Godhead. The
40 He Gives Us Signs

centre of this kingdom is the Father’s heart, his word and his
ways. His rule, however, is not wholly dependent on the
church. His ‘signs and wonders’ do not need to work through
a redeemed life. In truth, he is above all that. So loving
Christian relationships are not the kingdom of God, they are
its evidence! Breakfast flying in daily for two million wander-
ing Jews has nothing to do with godliness — rather God
himself. Seas dividing for salvation and closing to drown
Israel’s military enemies likewise have little to do with a
heart submitted to God’s rule. God rules over and outside of
human action and reaction as well as through them. Jesus’
ministry was successful because, in his own words, “the Son
. . .does only what he sees his Father doing’ (John 5:19 GNB).
Our responsibility is, as one church leader put it, to ‘find out
what God is doing in [our] generation and get in on it!’ God is
at work in Britain. Let’s find out where and serve him there.
Isaiah’s prophecy, referring to Jesus the Messiah, ‘Of the
increase of his government and peace there will be no end’
(Isaiah 9:7), will in fact come about when this rule is evi-
denced in people’s lives. For Luke records that Jesus’ end was
hastened by the cry, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us’
(Luke 19:14 NasB). But the end of this present world order will
be hastened when we declare, ‘We will have this man ruling
over us!’ This will be when God’s rule is evidenced in power
in the life of the church. He looks today for men and women
who are daily turning from the values of the world to the
values of the kingdom — for those who have stepped out of
darkness and confusion into the light of Christ and the order
of his rule. ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ (John 18:36), he
said — focusing our attention on the source of his rule. His life
and words demonstrated the redemptive, benevolent optim-
ism of God’s kingdom! Peoples fearful or cynical of human
governments need to see the benevolent rule of God.

A kingdom person?
To be a kingdom person means having a kingdom theology.
Acknowledging the true king of space and time will bring
 The kingdom of God 41

us into direct conflict with all pretenders to his throne. All

too often we have been satisfied with a non-threatening,
non-kingdom theology. But that sort of theology is a de-
nial of Jesus’ rule and right to rule in all the affairs of
humanity.
Pretenders are not only those who in their own being reject
Christ’s rule, they are also the ones who seek to usurp that
rule in others. Primarily they are demons who influence and
at times control individuals. This is especially true of those
who have opened themselves up to the world of the occult
and spiritism.
I once prayed for the son of a top naval man. For a time he
lived with an American family. As owners of a local res-
taurant, they ate rather well. But an irrational fear gripped
this man: he feared that he may never eat again! One day he
purchased six enormous bowls. He used to keep one for
cereal at breakfast time, but hid the others. This, he told me,
was ‘in case the others were smashed or damaged’. He ate
like a horse, was as slim as Twiggy, and continually lived
with this fear of hunger. I realised that this was not merely
psychological, it was a confrontation between God’s king-
dom of light and Satan’s kingdom of darkness. (Some situa-
tions are just that.) So we agreed to pray against this
bondage to eating. I rebuked the spirit of gluttony, although
the young man in question baulked at this. He didn’t much
believe in demons or anything of that sort. His public school
and Anglican background left little room for such apparent
absurdities. After prayer in Jesus’ name and deliverance
from this demonic bondage, he went straight home and
smashed his ridiculously large cereal bowls. (They were
more like washing-up bowls!) That was over ten years ago;
he is now in leadership in one of the churches my team cares
for.
This deliverance was an evidence of God’s rule. To that
young man, the kingdom of God had come. The pretenders
were ousted and today that man eats properly and is happily
married with children.
Of course some may say that Christians cannot have
42 : He Gives Us Signs

demons, to which our reply must be, ‘Can demons have

Christians?’

Enemies of God’s kingdom

It has been said that the nearer one is to Christ, the greater
enemy activity will be experienced. The fact that the uncon-
verted are often open to all kinds of influences doesn’t mean
that believers are automatically immune from them. Just as
all people in all places are affected by the Holy Spirit, so all
believers are to some degree affected by demons. This is why
even believers can so easily become deceived.
Our enemy presently rules virtually uncontrolled in many
parts of the world — including many parts of Britain. World-
wide there are over sixteen thousand ethnic groups (around
two and a half billion people) that have no church. Only the
good news of the rule of God —a rule that delivers people from
sin and demonic influence or bondage — will break into the
present system of things. A gospel of healing, hope and a
wonderful miracle-working God is good news to such people.
Although the precise phrase ‘Kingdom of God’ does not
occur there, its source is found in the Old Testament. The
reigning God is prominent in various psalms, for example.
The apocalyptic writers, such as Daniel, emphasised God as
one who would break into the present world order and
establish a new one. Certainly in the New Testament the
presence of Jesus meant the presence of the kingdom. After
his baptism by John, the anointing by the Holy Spirit and the
temptations in the wilderness, Jesus said, “The right time has
come, and the Kingdom of God is near! Turn away from your
sins and believe the Good News! (Mark 1:15 GNB).
The sense of God breaking into the time/space world is
seen when Jesus says, ‘I tell you, there are some here who will
not die until they have seen the Kingdom of God come with
power’ (Mark 9:1).
The values of the kingdom are also seen when Jesus gives
us a glimpse into the age to come.
 The kingdom of God 43

Then the King will say to the people on the right, ‘Come
you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the
kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the
creation of the world. I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty
and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received
me in your homes, naked and you clothed me; I was sick
and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me.’

To explain how this is done he continued, ‘I tell you,

whenever you did this for one of the least important of these
brothers of mine, you did it for me!’ (Matthew 25:34-36, 40
GNB).
So the kingdom of God must not be confined to the joys of
health and wholeness, miracles and deliverance. Certainly
we must pray for more evidence of God’s power in those
areas, particularly in Britain, but we must not fall into the
‘either/or’ trap: either doing good or performing miracles.
Many who are doing good have no faith in miracles. But
similarly there are many who are asking God to meet needs
by miraculous means when we are able to and should be
meeting them ourselves. God gives Christians a terrific
amount of responsibility and room to develop their ministry
to those who are in need. The Christian life consists of love
that costs as well as faith that works. Our call to serve God
involves personal inconvenience as well as corporate bles-
sing.
The extraordinary power of God must be seen in the
context of serving God in the ordinary things of life. Human
kindness, acts of self-denial and blessing others with what
God has given us are all part of this kingdom. The kingdom
has both aspects: it is natural and supernatural; it is full of
faith and full of human energies. We must look to God and
ask him to do what only he can do as we get on and do what
only we can do.
 asa

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

Wherever there are people who share the kingdom’s values,

there will be a mutual attraction. A entirely new type of
leadership is emerging. Such leaders have a ‘high view’ of —
scripture and preach a gospel of God’s overwhelming mercy
and grace, which when received causes true repentance.
Among such people, with expectations fresh, new and un-
cluttered, it is not difficult to have faith for healing and
wholeness. Just as the reason for the amazing church growth
in China, Africa, South America and elsewhere is somehow
related to ‘signs and wonders’, many of us believe it will be so
in Britain. This is not merely a matter of what is more
exciting; it is rather to do with what we perceive to be God’s
intention by his Spirit. Those who reduce the kingdom to
words are no less God’s children and God is clearly blessing
them. But these ‘signs and wonders’ which result in changed
lives will open more and more people up to Christ and his
rule.
In the 1970s we lost a million church members. We closed
a thousand churches and lost two and a half thousand
ministers. In the first five years of the 1980s we lost another
half million members and we are on target to lose a total of
one million by 1ggo. Some have argued that we are losing
‘dead wood’. I am not so convinced. New churches are being
opened up, but they are not keeping pace. We have to face it,
there is a low level of faith in Britain which is, I believe,
directly related to the low level of faith in the church.
While writing this chapter I took part in a BBC Radio 4
programme. It consisted of the presenter, a witch, an Angli-
can philosopher and myself. Despite clearly stating the evil
 Where are we now? 45

and danger as well as the utter nonsense of witchcraft, I had a

certain sympathy for the witch. She believed in the super-
natural and told me that if the church had offered her more
than it did, she probably wouldn’t be doing what she was.
The philosopher, who is on the General Synod, told us that
he didn’t even believe in demons! But God gets his will done
when we plant the kingdom seed. This he kindly enabled me
to do, and it was the witch and her husband who wanted to
see me for a talk after the programme. ‘We have never met a
Christian like you,’ they said as we waited for our BBC cars
to whisk us home. They reckoned that there were about a
hundred thousand witches in Britain — yet they also told me
that there is a considerable level of dissatisfaction with it, for
many ofthem. It is our role, as God’s people — his church — to
introduce God and his power to the British scene. They are
needed everywhere: in government, the arts, education,
business, families, in debates about racism and sexism and
even among witches.

Copying the world?

Although the whole world needs the message of the kingdom
and the power of God, we must not let the world set the
agenda for us. Meeting needs is the fruit of God’s kingdom —
not its cause. What we must do instead is to increase our own
and each other’s level of faith in God. Faith-filled people will
make for a faith-filled church. In turn a faith-filled church,
may bring about a faith-filled society. That is why we must
be clear about the nature of sickness.
That must seem like an odd thing to say. What has
sickness got to do with it? Well, as I outlined in the first two
chapters, the church has got itself into a cleft stick over the
issue of health and sickness and how they relate to the will of
God. Faith becomes a crucial element in the equation,
because on the one hand God’s will is that through our time
of illness he is able to teach us valuable lessons about himself
but on the other hand those who say they believe this run
around trying to find ways of minimising the time they are
46 ) He Gives Us Signs

exposed to this influence. Yet God does not want people to be

ill. His will is that his people should be healthy. One aspect of
the kingdom of God is the gift of healing. It is an integral part
of God’s message.
Occasionally God’s enemies found their health suffered
when they opposed him: Pharaoh lost his heir to the throne
(Exodus 11:5; 12:29) and Saul was blinded (Acts 9:8), as was
Elymas (Acts 13:11). It is also true that, as we grow older,
parts wear out! But in both situations God can break into
that cycle of things with healing.
God’s overwhelming heart for us to be whole is evidenced
by the vast majority of cases when he and his disciples
brought healing t6 people. Not all sickness is judgment, as
we have already mentioned (for example Timothy and his
stomach problems). But health, not sickness, is what we as
God’s people should be aiming for.
God’s general will for the church is that we are well. Yet
his permissive will allows sickness because of other factors.
Just as his general will is that we do not sin, he nevertheless
permits us to sin for other reasons.
The story of Job illustrates the distinction between God’s
general will and his permissive will. Job was a good man. He
enjoyed the blessings of Yahweh. His family seemed close-
knit and pleasing to God. His business was an obvious
success. He was, in fact, a wealthy man. So what happened?
What happened to Job shows us both the effects of the fall
and the nature of battle we are all engaged in — if only we will
realise the nature of our warfare as Christians.
Satan, the instigator of the fall, presents himself to God.
He had been surveying God’s creation in the earth. God
draws Satan’s attention to Job, to his life and his faith. Here
came the challenge. In effect Satan said, ‘With all the
blessing and favour you have bestowed upon him and his
family, who wouldn’t serve you?’ God knew that Job loved
him for who he was, not simply for what he could get out of
him. So he permitted Satan to disrupt, destroy and spread
disease, but he forbade him from taking Job’s life. Satan
wanted God to do all of those things and indeed he implicitly
 Where are we now? 47

challenged him to do so, but God doesn’t do that sort of

thing. So, within God-given limits, Satan did his worst. The
question was to be answered in this man. Would Job serve
God simply for who the Lord is or prove that he only pleased
God because of what he got out of him?
Early on in the cycle of speeches, Job laments the day of
his birth (Job 10:18). He had, after all, lost his business, his
staff and most of his family. But he declared that although
God could deliver him from all of this mess, even if he didn’t,
he would still trust him. He put his faith in God. However,
that doesn’t always help us see things from God’s perspec-
tive. Most of us fail to see things as God sees them even when
seeking to honour God. That is why there are so many
mysteries in life. We do not see that we are the battleground.
As someone has said, the battleground doesn’t choose where
the battle is going to be fought, the commanders of the armies
do. Just as Job (one man) became the battleground for the
question to be answered, so today the church (God’s many-
membered corporate man) is the battleground. Do we love
and serve God simply for who he is or for what we get out of
him? If Satan offered us the same success and wealth would
we follow him? This question is being answered daily across
the face of the earth.
The Psalmist and the New Testament writers tell us that if
we live as God wants us to we should expect health, and a
long life. A lot of illnesses are brought on through unneces-
sary worry and self-imposed pressure, overwork, bitter
relationships, tension and sexual promiscuity. When we
‘cast our cares on the Lord’ or ‘walk in the light’, when we
confess our ‘faults to one another’ and ‘pray for one another’,
this makes for blessing and health.
We should look forward to health. It is God’s will for us.
Scripture is also quite clear what we should do as Christians
when we are sick: call for our leaders and be ready to confess
anything that may be a contributing factor (James 5:14~-16).
Some of course become sick simply because they grow
older and their bodies wear out. With others there seems to
be not the slightest indication that sin is the cause or is even
 48 | He Gives Us Signs

involved. But this area of ‘confession’ is one that is rarely

considered. Perhaps some leaders feel sorry for the sick
person. They wouldn’t want to add to their suffering, by
adding the burden of sin to their physical ailment. But those
who call on their elders or ministers should be ready and
willing to confess sin, receive prayer and get better. The
laying on of hands is not merely symbolic. It is an impar-
tation of life, healing and the. Holy Spirit.

Faith and suffering

So where are we? We in Britain are at a low level of faith.
Faith-filled churches are the exception to the rule. Sickness is
looked upon as being unfortunate, inconvenient and cer-
tainly not desirable. But a theology of sickness and ‘lessons
learnt’ has robbed the sick of good. ‘He has sent me to
proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the
blind; to set free the oppressed and announce that the time
has come when the Lord will save his people’ (Luke 4:18-19
GNB). So why are Christians sick?
For those of us who hold to kingdom theology, faith is also
crucial to the equation. When we encounter sickness, we
must not assume it to be caused by deliberate and un-
confessed sin in the person’s life — the example of Job and the
words of Jesus militate against such a simplistic view. But the
sickness can be the testing ground for faith as it is the
battleground in the battle between Satan and God. We must
realise that it is not God’s will that we should be sick (except
+in the permissive sense), but that the sickness provides an
opportunity to exercise greater faith in his power.
Suffering is a complex issue. No one can live in this world
without it touching our lives. Those whose aim in life is to
evade it become shallow and either retreatist or triumphalis-
tic. Before we move on to ask, ‘Where do we start?’ in this
area of ‘signs and wonders’, we must directly address the
subject of suffering.
Sickness is to be withstood and prayed against. Suffering is
nevertheless a part of life. We cannot live in this world
 Where are we now? 49
without sharing and participating in its tragedies and pain.
With most sickness there is pain, but there is also suffering
that is experienced without sickness.
Let’s look at three sides to this problem of suffering and
sickness and then see how the New Testament explains it.

Three aspects
First, there is an obvious and direct connection between
sickness, suffering and sin. There is what has been called the
sin-suffering-repentance-restoration cycle. It is of course
related to the law of sowing and reaping. Deuteronomy’s list
of the consequences of disobedience makes horrific reading
(Deuteronomy 27; 28).
Second, as we saw in the case of Job, God obviously allows
evil forces and personalities to inflict suffering and test his
servants. This is primarily an Old Testament emphasis and
is not noted as such in the New Testament, but the rationale
that every craftsman will test his material, and creation, does
have New Testament backing. ‘Remember how the Lord
your God led you, on this long journey through the desert
these past forty years, sending hardships to test you, so that
he might know what you intended to do and whether you
would obey his commands’ (Deuteronomy 8:2 GnB). ‘Endure
hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what
son is not disciplined by his father?’ (Hebrews 12:7).
Third, and this too is a particularly Old Testament em-
phasis, the issue of suffering is seen in the light of the ungodly
oppressor. In fact in the Old Testament there is no word
which is simply translated ‘suffer’ or ‘suffering’. Invariably
the enemies (both physical and spiritual) of God’s people
take advantage of those who are sick. God’s people often
experienced national oppression.
50 He Gives Us Signs

Another dimension
In the New Testament, however, we see another aspect.
There it is clearly stated that those who are not suffering are
not necessarily pleasing God (Luke 6:24—25; 13:1-5; 16:19—
31). Likewise there is also evidence that Jesus short-circuited
the notion that those who are suffering are always wrong-
doers (John g:1—3). He did however underscore the obvious,
that wrongdoing can cause sickness, disease and related
disorders (John 5:14; cf. 1 Corinthians 11:29—30).
Again, although the people of God are no longer a national
geographic entity in the New Testament, the idea remains of.
the innocent suffering. James attributed certain testing ex-
periences to Satan (James 1:1-15). The writer to the Hebrew
Christians paralleled certain types of suffering with a father’s
discipline (Hebrews 12:3-11). But the Holy Spirit is not seen
as the cause of suffering. Indeed James makes this point
clearly. ‘Happy is the person who remains faithful under
trials, because when he succeeds in passing such a test, he will
receive as his reward the life which God has promised to
those who love him. Ifa person is tempted by such trials, he
must not say, ““This temptation comes from God.” For God
cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one’
(James 1:12-13 GNB). God does however allow suffering,
enabling his purposes to be realised, which is always for our
good: ‘For it is better to suffer for doing good, if this should be
God’s will, than for doing evil’ (1 Peter 3:17 GNB). The New
Testament also affirms that God is God, and that Satan’s
sphere of influence and power to inflict suffering are therefore
limited and controlled by God’s permissive will (Revelation
2:10).
However, all this suffering is within the realm of physical
persecution, the demonic, or is related to the law of sowing
and reaping. So when a person ‘suffers’ he is to ‘pray for
strength and perseverance’ (James 5:13—18). However,
when a person is sick, he or she is to call for the elders, as we
have seen. Their confession (if appropriate) and the elders’
faith will facilitate healing.
 Where are we now? 51
Health and healing
Yet even the New Testament does not show us a perfect
church in perfect health. Trophimus was left sick at Miletus
(2 Timothy 4:20). Paul wrote to his apprentice, ‘stop drink-
ing only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach
and your frequent illnesses’ (1 Timothy 5:23), proving that
proper care for ourselves (health) is infinitely better than
healing. So whether we need prayer or better eating and
drinking habits, there must be a humble but strong trust in
God’s word and his ways. There is nothing automatic about
health or healing. We are not to use God as our servant;
instead we are to serve him with humility. Prayer, faith,
trust, perseverance, common sense, and compassion are all
part of the divine mixture that should normally accomplish
God’s will in this matter.
There are many factors that hinder healing: our lack of
faith, demonic opposition, psychological hang-ups on the
part of those being prayed for (and those praying) or even, as
is true in some cases, the enjoyment of our sickness.
The New Testament is clear. It draws a distinction be-
tween suffering, for which we need the virtues of persever-
ance and endurance, and the pain that is frequently experi-
enced alongside specific sickness and illness.
Living in the fallen world in which we do, suffering is
inevitable. A broken friendship, bereavement, financial los-
3es, national disasters, are often beyond our control. They
are also beyond our faith. Indeed Jesus warned that there
would be wars, famines and the such before he returned. We
must pray that in such situations, so often caused by man’s
stupidity and inhumanity, the love and mercy of God will
break through. Some suffering may be avoided through
prayer and living responsibly, but by no means all.
All sickness, on the other hand, is to be resisted, rejected
and prayed against. God intends to grow our faith, to
strengthen it and effect change in circumstances of human
misery and pain experienced through sickness.
52 7 He Gives Us Signs

What next?
Having assessed our present position with regard
to the
world, health, faith, sickness and suffering, the
next step is
crucial. If there really is a ‘better way’, as we saw
in the last
chapter, how do we bridge the gap between the reality
of our
present position and where we would like to be?
 WHERE DO WE START?

The only difference between lives of aspiration and achieve-

‘ment is development. How can we develop faith? What can
we do to see signs and wonders follow our ministry and
lifestyle? What pitfalls can we avoid as we launch out into an
area that is regarded as being a minefield?

Acknowledge that there is no blueprint

In scripture God provides principles and guidelines to help
us live our Christian lives. But he also leaves a measure of
uncertainty over some issues so that we will be dependent on
his Holy Spirit for guidance. The important thing to be aware
ofis that God’s word does not always provide a blueprint out-
lining exactly how we are to approach a task. The area of
signs and wonders is just such a case. Here Jesus is our prime
example, as in so many areas oflife. But when we see how he
dealt with the demonised and the sick, it is clear that he
treated different situations with different techniques. For
hose ofuswho wanta scriptural ‘user’s manual’ we are liable
+o be very disappointed at his lack of a consistent method:
sometimes he healed with a word, sometimes a touch.
In this whole area it is vital that we honour those who are
experienced in signs and wonders and healings. We will of
course want to follow Jesus’ example and teaching, but
another aspect of Christian discipleship is that we can learn
from other Christians. We must never merely imitate them;
what may ‘work’ for them may not work for us. So we have to
exercise discernment. That is important because there are
two traps we can fall into here.
First, we can idolise God’s servants. The danger here is not
54 - He Gives Us Signs

one that only affects us who idolise; it also affects those we

idolise and put on a pedestal. Our adulation can harm those
we admire. Many good leaders have been compromised or
even had their ministries ruined by the sins of greed (the love
of money), lust (the lures of sex) and feelings of increasing
independence and personal power (the foolishness of pride) —
all of which can be fuelled by our lack of care in this matter.
We must pray that here in Britain our leaders may be saved
from such dangers.
Second, we can criticise the faults and failings of such
people. We may not like the way they do things. Or their
style may irritate us. So we get to work with our deadly
tongues. It’s like stabbing them in the back, but without the ~
need to actually get that close and plunge the knife in for our-
selves. Wejust venture our opinions and let things go from
there. They are too noisy, we say. They are too quiet. They
are not specific enough in their definitions of medical condi-
tions so there’s bound to be someone who thinks they are
being referred to. They play to the gallery .. . and so on.
The issue here is ultimately one of honour, not style and
personal preference. Honour has to do with a person’s
dignity, value and worth, both as a person and in terms of
their ministry. Our critical tongue-wagging dishonours
God’s servants, although of course “That’s not what we
intended to do’ — we were just offering a point of view. The
trouble is, there are two victims: whenever we dishonour
others in this way we also dishonour ourselves.

Learn to listen
‘Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message
comes through preaching Christ’? (Romans 10:17 GNB). If
that faith is to grow we must develop the ability to listen,
respond and listen again. There are various ways in which
God speaks, so we must keep a listening ear in all of them.
Firstly and most importantly, God speaks through scrip-
ture. Here we see the heroes of faith, and there are many
lessons to be learnt from their lives and teaching.
 Where do we start? 55
Secondly, John (Jesus’ best friend) called him the Word of
God (John 1:1—18). Thank God for words, but Christ by his
Spirit is still wanting to speak to us today. This is somewhat
subjective, so anything of a directive nature needs checking
out with others. But Jesus, who is the Word, hasn’t spoken
his last word.
Thirdly, we must listen to those around us. Christians who
are obviously growing in faith and devotion to Christ can
only inspire and strengthen us. But we must also listen to
those who do not share our faith. We are very good at
answering questions nobody is asking. Our faith will become
more relevant to others if we listen to them and ‘scratch
where they are itching’.

Deal with recurring negativism

I have rarely known God powerfully use a negative person.
We must abhor pessimism. G. K. Chesterton once said,
‘Show me a pessimist, and I will show you a man who has
never suffered.’ Only the man who has suffered somewhat
can afford to be optimistic. Optimism must not be confused
with faith, but pessimism is no platform for faith.
Those in leadership should be providing a helpful environ-
ment for individuals to pray, speak in tongues and interpret,
heal the sick and cast out demons. We never flourish under
constant disapproval. We all grow when encouraged, even
when we know that we may not have done that well.
But leaders are not the only ones who ought to encourage
and approve of people and their gifts. Simply to say to
someone, ‘I was so helped by your prophecy’ is a sign of
positive acceptance of their ministry. We should wonder why
it doesn’t happen more often. Signs and wonders indeed!
A great deal of faithless depression stems from self-
imposed negative thinking. But thinking and speaking are
closely related. Jesus is the high priest of our confession.
‘Your words will be used to judge you — to declare you either
innocent or guilty’ (Matthew 12:37 GNB). We often overstate
our difficulties and undervalue ourselves. We get locked into
56 He Gives Us Signs

fearful and bothersome perspectives that leave hardly any

room for hope. Criticising the successes and gifts of others
soon follows on. And, as we have just seen, that has cane
all of its own.
Finding faith does not go hand in hand with recurring
negativism. Negative attitudes lead to pride and wanting to
be right. Instead, humble yourself, confess your sin and
apologise to those you may have wronged or hurt. God will
give you grace and in time a whole new way to live. Trying to
work up a positive outlook is not the antidote to negativism.
The road of apology is.

Be specific
aie you believe, you wil receive whatever you ask for in
prayer’ (Matthew 21:22). Consciously or unconsciously,
many people avoid disappointment by not being specific in
their prayers. ‘If you don’t ask specifically, you don’t end up
with specific egg on your face,’ a friend told me recently.
But asking God generally to bless so and so, or this and
that is unquantifiable. “God bless London’ is difficult to
measure in grateful thanks or testimony. But ask God for an
act, a specific situation, and that is a different matter.
I was once included in a major evangelistic initiative in
London. The BBC filmed the meetings, the speaker and the
converts. Unfortunately the vehicle containing their equip-
ment and all the cans of film was stolen. I wanted to pray
very specifically that we would get the films back. That night
a senior organiser asked me to explain the situation to several
thousand in the meeting and pray for the return of the van
and its contents.
The next day I went to Germany to speak at some
meetings. Upon my return, I was told, ‘You are in trouble
with the BBC! It turned out that the thief had come back to
the meeting stadium to return all the cans of unedited film.
But the equipment and BBC vehicle were never seen again!
A basic principle of physics is that it is easier to redirect a
moving object. If we are moving in prayer and we make
 Where do we start? 57

specific requests, we will occasionally get things wrong. But

when things are moving we can examine our attitude of
heart, chalk up our failures to experience, get up and get on
with it. God doesn’t get disillusioned with us, he never had
any illusions in the first place! Our failures should make us
dependent on God, with a desire to know his mind, heart and
plans.

Declare War!
When people give their lives to Christ they change sides and
realign their allegiances. Every believer is in a war. Our
beliefs, prayers and actions are to take ground from Satan
and give it back to God. In out and out war there is no
demilitarised zone. The overall campaign and individual
battles involve identifying the enemy, responding to com-
mands from our superior and coming against the enemy with
weapons we have been given.
If a person is demonised it is useless praying, “Lord help
the demons to go’ or, ‘We ask that these demons will leave
our friend at sometime or another’! That is not how to
conduct a battle.
My first ‘deliverance’ involved a girl who was afraid of
God, the devil, the dark, men and just about anything else
you care to mention. With another person (the girl’s present
friend), I closed my eyes, reminded her of Jesus’ love and
then asked her if she wanted to be free from this paralysing
fear. ‘Oh yes please,’ she replied. I began to pray quietly for
her: “Then in Jesus’ name. . .’ — but before I could continue
she let out an awful agonised scream. I looked up. To my
horror I saw that this otherwise quiet teenager had leapt out
of her seat and with fingers aimed at my eyes was about to
descend on me! I lifted myself out of my seat, challenged this
enemy within her in tongues (I couldn’t think of anything
else to say) and shouted, ‘Out!’ With that, the girl slumped
back into her chair, to the astonishment of her friend. I was
so nervous I was almost in a state of shock. But I tried to play
the part of the professional however. ‘Are you OK Louise?’ I
58 He Gives Us Signs

asked hesitantly. ‘Oh yes, I’m fine now,’ she replied, with the
colour coming back to her face. I tried to joke: “You should
have seen your face,’ I chuckled. ‘You should have seen
yours!’ she replied hilariously!
It has been said that Satan only troubles those who trouble
him. Usually there are less dramatic reasons why people
have fears. Most fearful people just need a good dose of God’s
love. Prayer, counsel and friendships are the usual course for
wholeness and stability. But even they must be seen in terms
of a love that outdoes enemy fear, and a truth that exposes
Satanic lies. Confrontation of the sort I had with Louise and
her friend is the bottom line, not the first course of action.
Only a few very experienced leaders and people with specific
ministries will know in moments whether a person needs
deliverance of this sort. Remember, however, it is the name
of Jesus and the power of his Spirit that gives us success, not
our voice-level, our charismatic personalities or our superior
knowledge.
In the spiritual battle we are not to abandon our critical
faculties. What we must do is employ them all, with humble
dependence on God. This way our aspirations will be turned
to achievements. In war it is our job to restrict Satan’s
activity, at the very least!

Make room for others

Jesus is our prophet, priest and king, but he is also apostle,
evangelist, healer, deliverer, teacher, pastor and much more.
Now the church has people who are apostles, evangelists and
the like.
I would like to be able to preach the gospel, plant chur-
ches, pastor the sheep, open up the scriptures, heal the sick,
deliver the demonised and generally be everything to every-
body. However, I don’t have the same gifting or humility as
Jesus. With respect, I also have to say that he was the first of
his kind. He had no church, fellowship or highly trained and
experienced body of people around him. His disciples were a
wonderful bunch, but they didn’t know what was happening
 Where do we start? 59

half the time! Jesus had to do it all, at least until they were
. ready to practise some of the gifts themselves.
It is right to pray to Jesus, the head of the church (Col-
ossians 1:18), but often in our everyday tasks it is not just the
head we need but also the body. We are the ‘many-
membered body of Christ’. Jesus could be in only one place;
today we are everywhere. This is how he wanted it. Today,
via the gifts he showers upon us, he works through us —
everywhere.
But how do we work together as Christ’s body? How does
the fact that we need each other work out in practice? Well,
one may have a burden to see God do something — but he or
she may not know what to do with that burden. Another may
have insights into a situation while another may know how to
pray specifically for it. Such prayer may be for healing or
deliverance.
Only a few carry great burdens, have remarkable insights
and know how to pray at all times. Most of us don’t. That is
why I am a great believer in teams. Teamwork is a welcome
emphasis to those ofuswho have done everything on our own
— from hauling out the hymnbooks to casting out demons.
Teams provide some safeguards as well. I don’t allow men
in the churches we care for to counsel women on their own.
They have to have at least one other person present, prefer-
ably their wife. The same principle applies to women coun-
selling men. A strange mixture of genuine desire to help and
other less helpful factors can come into an intense counsell-
ing relationship. Also the presence of the third person can
help enormously if the counsellor is not able to see all the
issues Clearly.
In an age of independence and a ‘no one is going to tell me
what to do’ philosophy, we must pray for an undying sense of
a need of one another. The answer to the one-man ministry 1s
not the everyman ministry in which everybody — instead of
the one man — tries to do everything. Complementarity is
what it’s all about. Different people’s gifts and abilities inter-
mesh and work together.
We may at times need to fast together rather than on our
60 He Gives Us Signs

own. We can do this as a small group or even as a church.

Going without food and praying instead — in faith and with
friends — sharpens our spiritual perceptions. We should
expect God to speak to us. Then we can submit any guidance
to responsible people to test whether or not our ‘leading’ or
‘insights’ are from God. In relationship there is safety,
wisdom and generally a higher degree of success and
blessing. There is joy and power in doing things together for
God.

Raise your level of faith

All of the things I have just mentioned should help to raise
our level of faith — but we must make growth in faith a specific
priority. The person who has never had to believe that God
can provide the money for a bus fare or car repair bill is
unlikely to be able to trust God for £100,000 for property.
The one who has never believed God for healing in minor
illnesses (aching backs, imperfect hearing, or sight) will be
unlikely to see people leap out of wheelchairs as a result of
prayer.
Ask any healing evangelist and they will tell you that there
is a low level of faith in Britain. Well-known, mature,
overseas evangelists who see lots of ‘signs and wonders’ in
many other countries do not see much more happen here
than we do through our own local ministries.
Yet many younger and less experienced Christians do not
have such a problem with faith. Perhaps they are not as
‘sophisticated’, ‘knowledgeable’ and ‘rational’ as us. For
instance, a colleague came back from a meeting and told his
wife and eighteen year old son, ‘Cor— we saw God heal three
sick people and deliver two demonised people in the meeting
tonight. It was wonderful!’ His son replied, ‘Oh come off it,
Dad, we see that sort of thing happen every week in our youth
meeting!’
My own faith has also been challenged in a similar way.
Two of our three sons used to share a bedroom. One evening
Paul, our eldest, came in covered in lumps and weals. They
 Where do we start? 61

were in every conceivable place. Since there was no apparent

reason for this condition, my wife wanted to call the doctor,
but Simon, our second child, rebuked her. ‘What about
prayer then?’ he demanded.
When I arrived home it was my job to steer Simon in his
praying. Not the most sophisticated of teenagers, he said
‘Lord — Paul looks horrible. Make him better. Amen!’ I
paused and in the silence prayed, ‘Lord, you know Simon’s a
novice in all this — he doesn’t know how to pray, but his heart
is right, so if you can arrange to answer his prayer it would be
rather nice.’
The next morning as Anona (my'wife) and I sat in bed
having coffee, “[They’re goooooooooone!’ rang through the
house. I immediately thought that the goldfish must have
jumped out of their bowl! We ran into the room, and there
was Paul with not a mark on him and Simon with a proud
grin from ear to ear! All I knew was that it was not my prayer
that had made Paul well — it was Simon’s. To him there had
been no problem, yet my attitude had been to assume I knew
best what sort of prayer God wanted to hear.
‘Unless you change and become like little children. . .’ our
Lord said (Matthew 18:3). We all want to be so grown up —
that’s our problem. We want to understand sickness. We
read books on it and watch television programmes on the
subject. Yet even so-called charismatic believers have only
got to get a headache or the sniffles and they are off to the
doctor. Only after that, if the pills, potions and creams
_haven’t worked, do we turn to prayer. There is of course
nothing wrong with medication, it is a matter of where our
trust is. Our trust must be in the Lord, not in his servants or
in the medical profession as such. ‘Some patients feel we
can’t make mistakes and that we can heal anybody of almost
anything,’ a doctor told me. ‘We can’t heal anything. We can
deal with the symptoms or remove offending organs, but
that’s it,’ he continued. ‘We are doctors, not healers,’ he said.
We should never get our values upside down. It is fine to
take appropriate action. So if I have a headache I quickly
‘take a tablet to enable me to get on with my work without
62 He Gives Us Signs

distraction. We should never feel guilty about that. But our

trust must never be allowed to rest in our GP or our local
hospitals.

Cynicism and faith

Our faith will never grow if we surround ourselves with
cynics, whose tendency in life is to disbelieve. There is «
difference between questioning things (as we are encouraged
to do by scripture) and having as our aim in life the dim-
inishing and, if possible, the disproving of the unexplainable
and irrational. This tendency to disbelieve is rife. It even
manifests itself in healing meetings.
For example, if you say to a thousand people, “There is
someone here with a bad back,’ that is not a word of
knowledge or even discernment. With forty per cent of the
adult population suffering from back problems, one would
need a word of knowledge to say, ‘No one here has a back
problem!’ But I have heard speakers say something as
specific and clear as this: “There is someone here, a woman
who fell off a ladder this week. She has injured her shoulder,
damaged her left leg and was almost stopped coming to the
meeting tonight by her sister.’ But such is the tendency to
disbelieve that the person in question looks around and
behind to see if anyone else fits into that category!
There are several positive things we can do to increase our
faith and resist the pall of cynicism. Read scripture and pray
whenever you feel like it, and even at times when you don’t.
Nurture friendships with those whose faith in God is grow-
ing. Let the cynics be challenged by the faith of you and your
friends or let them stew in their own poisonous cynicism.
They suffer from a ‘hardening of attitudes’, but you mustn’t.
Ask God to keep your heart tender towards himself and those
around you. It will hurt at times, but it’s worth it because
Jesus is worth it. Faith will rise in God’s ability, and if you
become properly disillusioned with your own abilities, you
will be asking God to surprise you — continually! Repent of
unbelief, learn to handle mistakes, apologise where necess-
 Where do we start? 63

ary, and live in the tension of bringing the next age into this
one.
Taking the steps outlined in this chapter will help us to
bridge the gap between the poles of aspiration and achieve-
ment that we noted earlier on.
There are various tensions that we are exposed to in the
Christian life. We have noted several, perhaps the most
important being that between faith and unbelief. But there is
also a proper tension between the ideal and the actual. Derek
Prince once said that maturity involves aiming for the ideal
while we learn to live with the actual. Immaturity is, on the
other hand, evidenced by either living entirely with the actual
and losing all sight of the ideal or refusing to accept the actual
and constantly chasing after the ideal as if that alone mat-
tered. Ultimately Jesus was the only person who could
successfully resolve that tension, and he gave his life in order
to do so. To those of us who long to see God move in power,
for his glory, that is good news: our success does not depend
on our efforts but on what our Lord has achieved for us!
 IT’S GOOD NEWS!

It is not enough for Christ’s church to have good news — we

must also be good news. At present the church in Britain has
good news but is by and large bad news. You can help change
that. How do we get from here to there then? Many wish they
were in different churches, another environment with a
different set of friends. That is a dangerous attitude. Com-
parison — another factor destructive to faith — takes over and
makes everything seem futile.
One day a friend of mine got lost in London. He parked his
car, leaned out of the window, stopped a passer-by and asked
how he could get to his destination. The pedestrian looked
around, put his computer-like brain into gear and replied, ‘I
am sorry — I don’t think you can get there from here!’ My
colleague was almost speechless. ‘But this is where I am,’ he
blurted out. ‘I can’t start from anywhere else — this is where
I am. Even if I’ve got to start somewhere else, I must be
able to get there from here, because I can’t start anywhere
else!’
It is important we learn from that logic. It was ridiculous
to say my friend couldn’t get to where he wanted from where
he was. You as an individual and we as a church can close the
gap between what we say we believe and how we live. The
good news is that we can get to where we want from where we
are!
But our good news must be communicated as good news.
Our role as believers is to make Jesus ‘visible, desirable and
understandable.’ For sinners, the good news is forgiveness.
For the sick, the good news is a God who heals. For the poor,
the good news is the redistribution of resources (a highfalutin
 It’s good news! 65

way of saying we share what we have with those who have

virtually nothing).
Let’s think about them all in turn.

Sinners and forgiveness

To preachers I say, Let’s talk about the good news in a good
fashion. We can make good news sound terribly bad!
God does not want unbelievers making an unreasonable
commitment based on inadequate evidence. We may often
be the only initial evidence people have of Christ and his
gospel. We get things mixed up if we think that our role as
sharers, teachers and preachers of the gospel is to make the
guilty feel guilty. Rather, we are to point out God’s demands
and show how wonderful Jesus was and is in dying and now
living for us.
We need passion in the pulpit again. We are to humbly
serve this gospel of good news — we are not to get it to serve us!
Scripture, history and our own personal stories blend into
one -—to declare to those who feel cut off from God that “There
is forgiveness and reconciliation.’ If we view God as a
disapproving moral watchdog, we will communicate such a
God — whatever words we use.
We know that the good news is central in Christ dying on
our behalf for all the wrongs we have done. He was punished
in our place. But the good news goes on to declare that he
rose from the grave, is alive today and loves the wrongdoer
but hates the wrong done. The good news is that the dying
saviour is our living saviour. ‘If Christ has not been raised
from death, then we have nothing to preach and you have
nothing to believe’ (1 Corinthians 15:14 GNB).
His love is alive, for God is alive: willing, waiting and
wanting to extend forgiveness to every repentant wrongdoer.
Our God is one of mercy, compassion and forgiveness. It is
often the overwhelming sense of God’s love for us that leads
sinners to a change of heart.
Wrong must be pointed out. Calvary stands as God’s
statement towards sin and wrongdoing. But the penalty has
 m

66 He Gives Us Signs

been met. The punishment has fitted the crimes. To all who
believe the gospel story and put their trust in Jesus there is
forgiveness and eternal life.

The sick and healing

Jesus’ ministry was heralded by ‘peace’ from the angels
(Luke 2:14). When Christ visited his disciples in the upper
room, he said ‘peace’ (Luke 24:36; John 20:21). We often
want to start with power, dynamite and miracles, but all
these are to bring joy and peace to people.
Peace brings healing — to our emotions, to our rela-
tionships, to our minds and to our bodies. Being at peace
with God should lead us to healing power. Peace comes
when we cease to resist his will for our lives.
This source of healing is in Christ. One day a colleague of
mine who had been married for less than two years came
home to find his wife dead on the kitchen floor. Leukaemia
had claimed another victim. Many years later his teenage
son was diagnosed as having cancer. He was miraculously
healed — and today, several years later, remains so. My
colleague would say that both he and his church had grown
in faith. He said recently at a leaders’ meeting, ‘We lost the
first battle, but we went on to win the second.’ Even in his
loss he found peace with God and went on to power.
The church remains sick—the world gets sicker. So we need
to ask some questions. Do we want to manage the mess or
stop the mess wherever we can? Do we want to be nibbled to
death by sectional interests or by fear of making mistakes, or
do we want to reverse things by putting our faith in God?
This is where our previous theme of ‘battle’ re-enters our
discussion.
Part of our trouble is that we do not see ourselves as a
persecuted minority. ‘Battle?’ says the average Christian,
‘What battle?’ Well for a start we have the enemy of sickness
and disease among us. Take that healing out on to the streets
and those prayed for will become friends and colleagues in
arms. Our willingness to pray for people must be personal,
 It ’sgood news! 67

practical and perennial. The good news is that you care

enough to pray. In so doing you give people back a sense of
dignity and self-respect. You also give those you are praying
for the privilege of exercising faith and God is given the
opportunity to act. The more we pray for each other the more
God has an opportunity to demonstrate his healing power
among us.

The poor and resources

When believers give to one another in a glad and sacrificial
manner, they offer a sign of God’s grace and presence. In an
age of ‘get-as-much-as-you-can-as-quick-as-you-can’ it will
certainly get people looking on in wonder.
Walking in the hills of Sweden, one day, I was told by God
to give my car toa friend who had no vehicle. It was my first
brand-new automobile —a black John Player Special Capri. I
had no money for another car. Two weeks later I handed
over the keys and the car to an astonished fellow leader! His
parents enquired what he was doing driving around in my
car. “He’s given it to me,’ he told them, still somewhat
incredulously. “Why? What’s wrong with it?’ they asked.
That sums up people’s attitudes so often. They found it
impossible to believe he should be given the car for nothing.
On another occasion an international personality came to
stay with us to speak at several meetings. As a church we
wanted to bless him. We gave him £300 within a day or so of
his arrival. ‘What’s this for?’ he asked. ‘It’s for you,’ I said on
behalf of my leadership team. “There will be offerings for
your work in the meetings, but this is for you and your wife,
simply to help you have a pleasant stay.’ I left the room.
Unknown to me at that time, he had given all his money
away and had been badly used by unscrupulous individuals.
He came to Britain with an international name and £5 in his
pocket. Later he wept and said, “This is the first time I have
been given something for nothing. People always give me
things because they want something out of me!’ This sharing
of resources left an incredible impression on us both.
68 ~ He Gives Us Signs

Generosity has not always marked the church and is

certainly not the hallmark of evangelicalism. “And what are
your expenses?’ asks the treasurer. As he probably knows
where the speaker lives and how many miles he has travelled
he could easily assess that. But making a gift on the basis of
totalling up miles per gallon is embarrassing and doesn’t
take into account car depreciation, time of preparation,
mortgage, and so on. The hallmark of the early church was
generosity, blessing and caring extravagance.
A group that meets each other’s needs in a loving and
caring way can be a wonderful backdrop to a more dramatic
‘miraculous’ ministry. After a particularly bad FA cup final,
a senior FA official asked the Queen, “Did you feel anybody
played particularly well,-Ma’am?’ She replied somewhat
drily, “The band —just the band.’ As a church, our attitude to
money can be a bit like that. The prelude to sacrificial love
(preaching about it) is often better than the actual game
(living it).
We mustn’t wait for central initiatives from the PCC, the
deacons or the elders. We can be the first to take a chance and
make it happen, the first to see a need and endeavour to meet
it. We can take a chance and do something. Unfortunately it
was and still is respectable to do nothing. Fulfilment for the
Christian is never found in accumulating money and re-
sources but in humble obedience to demonstrate practical
love to those around us.
Our God-ordained policy is to prefer our brothers over
and above ourselves. Large homes that are filled with many
things and accompanied by holidays in far-away places are
only legitimate provided they are not goals. The soul of
service is care, and by the resources he has given us God gives
you and me the opportunity of showing we care. Older
believers have to ask not so much, ‘What shall I do if I don’t
reach my goals in life?’ but rather, ‘What shall I do if I do?’
We should all be aware of needs in our own churches and
fellowships and be ready to meet them. The poor, elderly,
unemployed and sick need special, sensitive attention. It
may be that we bring the need to our minister or elders so
 It’s good news! 69

that central funds can meet that need. On the other hand we
should be open to meet that need out of our own personal
resources.
I took a small team to South Africa recently and carried
collections from many individuals and churches. We shared
that money with leaders in struggling situations and the poor
blacks in the townships. Many wept as they were given food,
clothes and money. We explained we represented the living
God and that he is on the side of the poor and what
sociologists call ‘the marginals’ of society. The response (not
that we looked for one) was wonderful.
There are many other things we could say about blessing
the poor, both personally and through the churches. Little is
actually addressed to the poor in scripture, but much to those
who are in a position to be ‘good news’ to the poor. It is not
just the church leader’s job, or even the government’s, to care
for such groups: we all have a responsibility to pray, care and
give.
Renewal, restoration or a revival will quietly evaporate if
we do not allow God to touch our wallets, purses and bank
accounts.

Visible daily signs

There are far too many in the church who are not living in
God’s forgiveness, health, or resources. For some the blame
may lie clearly on their doorstep — for others it may lie with
us. We dare not presume that the ill-fortune of others is
invariably their own fault. If we are sensitive to those less
fortunate than ourselves, God will display through this sign
the wonders of his grace and power. It was Blaise Pascal who
quite brilliantly wrote:

‘It is vain O man

That you seek within yourself
The cure for your miseries.
Your principle maladies
Are pride, which cuts you off from God
70 He Gives Us Signs

And sensuality which binds you to the earth.

Either you imagine you are gods yourselves.
Or you grasp the vanity of the situation
And you are cast into the other abyss.
And suppose yourselves to be
The beasts of the field, and
Seek your good through sensual appetites.’

These remarkable words are for us, God’s people, as well as

the unconverted. Humanity can be both the glory and the
rubbish of the universe. When we become like gods, we are
on a course of selfish pride. When we sink into bestiality we _
lose all self respect. Both courses make rubbish of our
dignified humanity. But-where we see the sharing of re-
sources, the love of God for all people demonstrated so
tangibly, there we see God’s glory.
When I was seventeen years old, I borrowed a friend’s
motorbike. Without my friend’s permission, a crash helmet,
a licence or insurance, I set off. Within minutes I had to
negotiate a difficult situation. I failed. One week later I came
round, and remained semi-conscious for another week. My
skull, back and ribs were all fractured, one eye was blinded,
five clots of blood lodged around my brain and I was initially
expected to live for only four hours. I still have the medical
sheet my parents were given which sent them home to wait
for me to die that night.
My friends prayed against all odds that I would survive.
One close friend, who was backslidden at the time, when he
heard the news that night, put his drink down, went home,
knelt by his bed and came back to Christ. Others continued
in prayer until I was well. We need to ‘continue in prayer’
and not give up after the first go! Perhaps if they had, I
wouldn’t be here today. There are forces at work that would
have liked my voice to be silenced and my life to be exting-
uished. So it is with you.
 It’s good news! 71

The greatest sign

I appreciate that love, prayers and sacrificial giving are not
virtues exclusive to the Christian faith. But our love stems
from God’s love. Our prayers are met not by a stone idol of a
bygone age, but a living God who is touched by our dilem-
mas and painful predicaments. Our model is Jesus, who
loved us and gave himself for us while we were still ‘in our
sins’. What a God! What a saviour! What a sign!
We must never forget that a changed life is the greatest
sign that causes most to wonder. This phrase ‘signs and
wonders’ must not be boxed and restricted into healing,
deliverance and the gifts of the Spirit. All ‘signs and wonders’
cause God to be glorified in changed hearts, renewed minds,
healed bodies and mended relationships.
It isJesus — the greatest sign and wonder, who did so many
signs and wonders — who makes changed lives possible.

Triumph and triumphalism

Jesus’ disciples found that when his power had been trans-
ferred, they became channels of the miraculous. They re-
turned from their mission not only in triumph but somewhat
triumphalistic. They were suddenly aware that Caesar
didn’t control all things and that the Pharisees didn’t control
people from the inside. Their obedience to Jesus and belief in
his teaching, coupled with their confidence in the Spirit,
reversed the trend of things. They saw that the word of God
had power.
But miraculously changing matter (sickness giving way to
health) and seeing dark powers flee, is heady stuff. So Jesus
said, ‘Listen! I have given you authority, so that you can
walk on snakes and scorpions and overcome all the power of
the Enemy, and nothing will hurt you. But don’t be glad
because the evil spirits obey you; rather be glad because your
names are written in heaven’ (Luke 10:19—20 GNB). He didn’t
slap them down with the three marks of conservative evange-
licalism: cynicism, pessimism and criticism. Jesus was
te He Gives Us Signs

thrilled in his soul with what they had done, as the following
verses allow us to see: ‘“‘Father, Lord of heaven and earth! I
thank you because you have shown to the unlearned what
you have hidden from the wise and learned. Yes, Father, this
was how you wanted it to happen.” Then Jesus turned to the
disciples and said to them privately, ““How fortunate you are
to see the things you see! I tell you that many prophets and
kings wanted to see what you see, but they could not, and to
hear what you hear, but they did not”’ (Luke 10:21—24).
No wonder those early disciples were excited. They prob-
ably were not fully aware of what was taking place, but the
age to come was breaking in on the present age.
Jesus is committed to doing the same sort of thing today.
He is committed to his people. ‘Covenant [an agreement] is
abandoning the right to quit,’ says David Sheppard. Jesus
has abandoned the right to quit from redeeming the earth
until ‘the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord’s
glory as the seas are full of water’ (Habakkuk 2:14).
If God’s blessing causes excitement it dare not be damp-
ened. It may need gentle redirection.

Getting the scene

William Booth once said, ‘We cannot change the future
without disturbing the present.’ The current emphasis on
relationships, shepherding, discipleship and community
bears witness to this. The stage is being set for Jesus to mend
the church wherever he is allowed to exercise his power. Such
relationships of love and care allow emotional healing as well
as reconciliation and are surely a welcome background for
the proclamation of the kingdom in power.
Generally speaking, people become emotionally sick when
they respond to situations in an unbiblical manner. A small
percentage of emotional illness is directly related to brain
damage or chemical imbalances -- «specially in the thyroid
gland. But by far the major reason for such emotional illness
is when we turn what could be building bricks into stumbling
blocks. Everything in life, all losses as well as gains, can
 It’s good news! 73

either become building bricks into life’s experience or stumb-

ling blocks over which we fall and damage ourselves.
We may lose a friend, see a plan fail dismally or find
ourselves in circumstances beyond our control. How are we
to react? Do we shrug our shoulders, invite God to make
sense of it all, put our faith in him and carry on with life? Do
we ask God’s forgiveness for any areas of unhealthy anger,
resentment and self-pity? Or do we adopt a ‘life’s not fair’
attitude and nurture the idea that God and those around us
owe us something?
It is sometimes difficult to detect which category people
are in when they live in one town, work in another and
worship in yet another. That is why I feel that God welcomes
the increasing emphasis on the church being local. It creates
more opportunities for friendship, health, wholeness and
healing at every level. People can be better helped, blessed
and equipped for action. This action will first take place
locally, then in a wider area and then in the whole world. The
church is to be a sort of community in each locality, and those
outside of that community are supposed to be challenged and
have their consciences pricked by the evident love, care and
interest members of the body of Christ show one to another.
Ofcourse in the final analysis all of that love and care must
burst out of the constraints of church life into the whole of
society.
Many areas within towns and cities need Christians to
either move in and fea church or, if they are already there, to
stop commuting elsewhere. This is true for many villages as
well. Large churches should release resources to be good
aews wherever people live. It was David Pawson who said,
‘Your road should be a better place to live because you live
there.’ Those on the outside of church life should be able to
see believers living and worshipping together. They have a
right to see how Christ has enabled people to live together in
harmony, not travel to church together with no strategy.
God’s plan is that his good news should, wherever possi-
ble, be ‘good newsed’ by people living, worshipping and — if
possible — working in the same area. With clear channels of
74, He Gives Us Signs

communication and daily opportunity, the people of God

can be far more effective in their witness than the ‘church on
_
wheels’ each Sunday.
We shall be able to help the poor in our locality and pray
for the sick among our circle of working relationships
and
friendships. Then our good news will not be hidden, but
will
shine brightly.

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 BACK TO THE FUTURE!

Sins and blunders must give way to signs and wonders!

Instead of wanting us to have a jaundiced view ofeschatology
(future events), God stands ready to fill us with faith. Instead
of smallness and failure, God is preparing the church for
greatness. True; ‘in the last days difficult times will come.
For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arro-
gant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-
control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, con-
ceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God’ (2 Timothy
3:1-4 NASB), but Jesus made a difference. His first disciples
made a difference. Those people throughout history most
devoted to Jesus and the scriptures have made a difference.
We must look beyond the present. ‘Give us ten years,’ I
often tell our critics, ‘and by God’s grace we’ll make a
difference!’ We must keep a heavenly perspective. For along-
side tribulation and a falling away in certain quarters,
revival and church growth are taking place all across the
world. While it is true that more people have been martyred
this century than in all the others put together, the light of
Christ is shining brightly and God’s people are growing in
Third World countries. Heroes of faith abound in Russia,
China, South America, Korea, the Philippines and in many
other areas. Despite hurt, injury, ridicule, opposition and
persecution, our future is optimistic.

Glorious simplicity
P. G. Johnston, who compiled various facts and figures in his
book Operation World, clearly underlines this view. He reasons
7650 He Gives Us Signs
that the pessimism of believers in the West regarding the
decline in Christian faith and morality is not based on
reality. Progress is slow and the good news is not always
carried with the sensational activity of our enemy. But
worldwide the church is understanding that Christ is a
universal man. A man for all nations, all colours, all cultures.
Without the worldly sophistication of the west, Third World
nations are taking scripture at almost face value. ‘Because of
our sins, he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did.
We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by
the blows he received’ (Isaiah 53:5 GNB). Healing and whole-
ness must mark the church if she is to be effective.
We in the West must cleanse ourselves of cynicism, pes-
simism and criticism. We must be encouraged wherever we
hear of God at work, nationally or internationally. We must
short-circuit our ‘failure syndrome’ and its attendant low
level of faith. We must learn from the past so as to plan for
our future and our children’s future. The rule of the church
must never be allowed to be a susbstitute for the rule of God.
We must not be surprised when wheat and tares grow up
together. God will not always vindicate us when we would
like him to. Until then, we must reflect in all we say and doan
increasing capacity for usefulness and responsibility. Then
we must let God do what only he can do. Then, when he does,
we must stand back, satisfied in part but never taking God’s
glory. As Keith Green sang, ‘Help me to remember, when
I’m doing well, to never take a crown.’ Tares will be seen for
what they are. Humanism, hedonism, atheism, spiritism and
communism have had plenty of time to prove their point.
Through them God proves his.

A future together!
An incorrect view of Christ’s purposes and second coming
can postpone God’s intentions for his church. So let’s start
where we are. ‘Little platoons,’ wrote the nineteenth-century
political observer Edmund Burke, ‘are the only hope for
reshaping the morality and conscience of a country. They
viet

Back to the future! 77

will accomplish far more than the heavyweights of local or
national government’. Let’s ask God to increase our level of
faith in his ability, and let’s ‘Go for it!’
There is bound to be failure because we are failures.
Mistakes will be made. Some will exaggerate the Spirit’s
work, others will become triumphalistic. But we must talk
truthfully and lovingly point one another to eternal values.
They put our physical ones into perspective. We must not
become cast adrift from what scripture teaches on this
subject. Therefore we must realise that not every experience
which causes us to shake or react in unusual ways is from
God. That is why mature, faith-filled but level-headed lead-
ership is needed. Nor can we legislate away the ill-motivated
or the immature. Likewise, we should be aware that deliver-
ance from the one-man ministry does tend to open us up to
‘everyman’ ministry. The one-man ministry is safe, but
allowing people to find their own way is risky. Nevertheless,
we must give up our safe areas and step out on to the danger
line. But we must never throw away our critical faculties.
This does not, however, mean that we should employ our
minds in a cynical fashion. There are those today, just as
there were in Jesus’ time, who are cynical when it comes
to healing, deliverance and the miraculous. I once sat in
the study of an internationally known speaker, where he
challenged me with, ‘Show me a miracle’. To reduce the
gracious, spontaneous and merciful acts of God down to
some sort of exhibition is quite despicable. Jesus refused to
give signs to those who were full of unbelief and cynicism
(Matthew 12:38-42). Even when somebody is genuinely
healed, or their lives have been changed, it is amazing how
many Christian leaders and even those who hold office in the
church,are keen to put it down to anything else other than
God himself. A strange state of affairs.
The kingdom that Jesus taught about is ‘already but not
yet’. It is already here, in power, but not yet here in all its
glory. Living in the fallen world in which we do, we do not
have all the kingdom all the time. But for the church in
Britain the issue is a clear one. How much of the age to come
708 He Gives Us Signs e
ii

are we going to allow God to bring into this present age? We

cannot manufacture his presence, his signs or his wonders. ©
So while we look forward to that day when the whole of
creation will be set free for all time, when every knee will bow
and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, we
must continue to pray that God’s kingdom will come, and his
will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The kingdom is not an
ideal to be aimed at but a reality to be lived in.
Jesus broke in to the fallenness of his creation conveying
God’s benevolent intentions for the world. But we also have
an enemy who is out to steal, kill and destroy. We are as
children in an evil world. We stand cleansed by Christ |
amidst gross impurity. We are being straightened by the
Spirit and by scripture, while surrounded by crookedness,
devious behaviour and hypocrisy. Physical, emotional and
spiritual breakdown and chaos are on every hand, so we need
_to come to terms with our present condition but also to aim
for something morally, prayerfully and miraculously better.
We must remember that Israel’s God of two thousand
years ago is also the living God of Britain today. He stands
ready and willing to extend his mercy and power in signs and
wonders to his people. As we devote ourselves to God’s
pleasure it will involve a great deal of sacrifice, inconveni-
ence and suffering. But what joy will be ours when alongside
our hard work, determination, acts of good will and disci-
pline God comes among us with signs and wonders. He longs
to show us that he is still on the throne, that his intentions
toward us are good and that he is indeed the God who is the
same yesterday, today and forever.
In the age to come there will be no more sickness, no more
disease, no more tears and no more darkness. But until then
we should be thankful that we have a God who has left us not
only a written and orderly account of how we are supposed to
live but also, in the power of his Spirit, is still a God who
‘gives us signs’ — of his. love, his power, his care and his
original intentions for humankind. What a God!
 He Brings Us Together
Clive Calver

He Brings Us Together traces the roots of evangelical belief and

practice, sketches a short history of the movement to the present
day, and calls for allegiance to the Bible and a commitment to social
action and unity. This book is designed to encourage evangelicals to
recognise their identity, their distinctiveness and their common
ground with one another across the denominational spectrum.

He Guides Us

Jonathan Lamb

He Guides Us affirms that God does guide the lives of individual

Christians precisely and effectively. At the heart of the subject of
guidance lies the greatest privilege — knowing God.
This book discusses how God guides: through the Bible, fellow
Christians, circumstances, gifts, prophecy, dreams and visions. It
provides valuable help in discerning God’s will and identifying his
voice.
He Tells Us To Go

Tan Coffey

Ian Coffey sets out to define what evangelism really means: who it is
aimed at, what the Bible says, and leaves unsaid. He asks whether
this highly emotive and often misunderstood subject is a twentieth-
century phenomenon of mass meetings, or a strictly one-to-one
affair. He Tells Us To Go also discusses the relationship of evangelism
to social action, to the ecumenical movement, and to other religions.
Gets to grips with awkward questions. A very helpful little
booklet. 3

He Gives His Word

Ian Barclay

The Bible is the essential basis for Christian belief: it is particularly

important to evangelicals. Too many take it for granted, however,
and Ian Barclay challenges common assumptions held, and ex-
plains what the Bible is all about: its relevance, authorship, inter-
pretations and apparent contradictions. He demonstrates the
continuing centrality of the Bible and the fact that it still speaks
directly to Christians today.
HE GIVES US SIGNS
Gerald Coates

The Foundations series, published in association with the

Evangelical Alliance, covers aspects of everyday life and
faith crucial to today’s Christian. Each book addresses a
different theme and defines what evangelical Christians
believe and why. Topics include the Bible, evangelism,
prayer, guidance, salvation and miracles.

Does God still heal today? Is his healing power manifested

in the physical world (miraculous healing of specific
physical ailments) or is it in the spiritual reali
of our relationship with God through Christ)? —_

Gerald Coates looks at these — and many othe

as he examines the ‘signs and wonders’ teach
movement which has sprung up So recently. F
biblical framework, acknowledges his own ini
at claims of miraculous healing, but comes dc
the signs and wonders camp.

Gerald Coates is the pastor of a large house ch

leaderof ‘Pioneer Team’, an evangelistic team Lusca
Surrey.

ISBN 0-340-41073-6
90095

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