A common claim by charismatics is that Christians are performing all the works that Jesus did during his earthly ministry.
Here's a verse that they commonly go to:
John 14:12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
This claim came to a test recently with claims that Bethel Church (pastored by Bill Johnson) made concerning the death of a child of a member.
They "declared" that God would resurrect this child. However, this resurrection never occurred, and Bethel Church, again, is proved to be in gross error by claiming that they have such powers as believers.
Anyone who wants to research this can go to Youtube where various podcasts have clips from Bethel services concerning this.
Is this sort of delusion harmful? I think it is, because deceived believers are left with unmet expectations when claims like this are proven to be false.
Anyways, here's some discussion questions:
1. Are Christians, individually, able to do all the miracles of Jesus now?
2. Are Christians, collectively, able to do all the miracles of Jesus now?
3. What are we to conclude about Christians who claim they are doing such miracles? Are they deluded, lying, mentally ill, telling the truth? Or, is it a mixture?
4. What incidences of miracles have you seen? Were these miracles a result of church prayer, or individual prayer?
5. Do you claim personally to have miraculous gifts such as healing or resurrecting the dead?
6. Do you think that you personally can perform the miracles of Jesus at your will?
7. Is suffering a necessary part of the Christian lifestyle?
Now, before we start answering these questions, here's my view:
I believe most charismatics making audacious claims are either lying or deluded. Why would they do that? Maybe to get attention or to gain credibility as a great spiritual person
I believe it is possible for God to perform a miracle based on the prayers of the Church or the prayers of an individual. However, I believe such miracles are mostly attached to the proclamation of the gospel, and that they are mainly due to collective church prayer and not an individual.
I believe that irresponsible charismatic claims harm the Church, because, unfortunately, they are associated with Christianity and if the claims are lies or delusions, they reflect badly on the church as a whole, and in fact are causing God's name to be blasphemed amongst unbelievers (a violation of the second commandment regarding taking God's name in vain). As a former cultist, Christianity as a whole was disregarded by me, in part, because of the antics of the Word of Faith/charismatic/Pentecostal believers.
I don't believe that Christians as a whole perform miracles at will. When God wants to perform a miracle for his sovereign purposes, he prompts the prayer that leads to the miracle. However, his sovereign purposes may include suffering. In fact, I don't believe sanctification occurs without suffering.
Guys like Bill Johnson of Bethel claim there is no place for a theology of suffering. I am left wondering if he has even read the Bible. Scripture clearly teaches that suffering is used by God to bring the person to sanctification and glorification. In many ways, the life of the Christian mirrors Jesus Christ, in the sense that his suffering led to his exaltation and glorification. It really takes a theological buffoon to say some of the things I've heard from Word of Faith/charismatics in regards to suffering, and claiming that it is not God's will for believers to suffer.
That is one way I can tell whether someone is a babe in Christ, still nursing and in diapers, versus a mature believer. At best, the guy who thinks God is his cosmic Genie who is there to keep him from experiencing bad circumstances is a babe in Christ. He is still nursing and still in diapers, and unfortunately many in the Word of faith/charismatic movements are still there.
But, getting back to the Bethel antics regarding the resurrection of this child, I wonder how they will deal with that. Their shame is evident. And, I imagine the parents will feel guilty..what didn't we do right that this declared resurrection did not occur?
This is part of the madness of the charismatic/Word of Faith movement.
Additionally, be aware that Bethel purportedly has some sort of "resurrection squad" that follows first responders around and attempts to resurrect people needing emergency services. My understanding is that they claim they have resurrected 15 people this way.