Volume XXX NUmber 5 MAY 20, 2006
SIGNS AND WONDERS BAPTISTS
The Scriptures comprise a Book that is unlike all other books ever written. In all of human history, there is no other collection of writing that compares. I once heard Dr. Lee Roberson, with his consummate skill, wonderfully describe the Bible as if it were a painting. Imagine a setting, where over forty men are sent into a darkened room to a prepared canvass, for varying lengths of times, with different pallets of paint, and a variety of types and sizes of brushes. When the last artist has completed his assigned time and the room is illuminated, the painting is revealed to be an amazing likeness of Jesus Christ and perfect in every detail. That is indeed precisely what the Bible is and is a legitimate illustrative description of the supernatural origin of the Bible. It is written, “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21). More than 32 men are identified by name as the Old Testament writers: Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Nathan, Gad, Jeremiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Mordecai, Elihu, David, Solomon, Asaph, Sons of Korah (plural), Heman, Ethan, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi—and several Psalms have unidentified and unidentifiable writers that might add to the number. Eight men are accepted by tradition or by direct claim as the New Testament writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter, and Jude. There was indeed a Hand that guided these multiple hands to accomplish the portrait conceived, not in their hearts and minds, but in the heart and mind of God.
Consider the improbability of having above forty men commissioned to write a book of inerrant history and infallible prophecy over a time span of more than fifteen centuries, residing in a dozen countries on three continents, using four languages—Hebrew, Chaldean, Greek, and Aramaic—yet never contradict one another or include a single factual, historical, mathematical, geographical, or grammatical error, and maintain perfect unity and harmony in doctrine! Certainly, individual particular printings of Scripture have had typographical, orthographical, and punctuation misprints—but the Bible was written without the tiniest blemish. As a preacher of a past generation said, “God spoke with a tongue that never stammered and wrote with a pen that never blotted.”
Charles Spurgeon extolled the Bible in his hand:
“This volume is the writing of the living God: each letter was penned with an Almighty finger; each word in it dropped from the everlasting lips, each sentence was dictated by the Holy Spirit. Albeit, that Moses was employed to write his histories with his fiery pen, God guided that pen. It may be that David touched his harp and let sweet Psalms of melody drop from his fingers, but God moved his hands over the living strings of his golden harp. It may be that Solomon sang Canticles of love, or gave forth words of consummate wisdom, but God directed his lips, and made the Preacher eloquent. If I follow the thundering Nahum when his horses plough the waters or Habakkuk when he sees the tents of Cushan in affliction; if I read Malachi, when the earth is burning like an oven; if I turn to the smooth page of John, who tells of love, or the rugged, fiery chapters of Peter who speaks of the fire devouring God’s enemies; if I turn to Jude, who launches forth anathemas upon the foes of God, everywhere I find God speaking: it is God’s voice, not man’s, the words are God’s words, the words of the Eternal, the Invisible, the Almighty, the Jehovah of this earth.”
“Oh, book of books! And wast thou written by my God? Then will I bow before thee. Thou book of vast authority thou art a proclamation from the Emperor of Heaven; far be it from me to exercise my reason in contradicting thee. Reason! thy place is to stand and find out what this volume means, not to tell what this book ought to say. Come thou my reason, my intellect, sit thou down, and listen, for these words are the words of God. I do not know how to enlarge on this thought. Oh! if you could ever remember that this Bible was actually and really written by God! Oh! if ye had been let into the secret chambers of heaven, if ye had beheld God grasping his pen and writing down these letters, then surely ye would respect them. But they are just as much God’s hand-writing as if you had seen God write them. This Bible is a book of authority; it is an authorized book, for God has written it. Oh, tremble, tremble, lest any of you despise it; mark its authority, for it is the Word of God.”
The scoffers and the skeptics that deride the Bible as nothing more than a collection of writings of an assortment of unknown individuals, changed, altered, and adapted over the centuries have no understanding of the character or the content of the Book that they disparage. Their inane comments often reveal that their actual acquaintance with the Scriptures is superficial or non-existent. No individual man or collection of humanity has been assigned the role of sitting in judgment on this Book. Scholars or readers who arrogantly assume that role will find that the Book will judge them. It is true that the Bible is a book; but it is infinitely more than merely a book: it is the one and the only Book from God. This is the plain, the unmistakable, and emphatic, affirmation of Scripture; it is not disputable—it is veridical.
The LORD Jesus Christ continually sent His questioners to the Scriptures for the answers for their inquiries. For instance, consider this sampling.
In one of these responses, the LORD Jesus asks a direct question that is based upon a wonderful truth, which produces two most precious applications of that truth that are identified by E. Y. Mullens in his classic work, Axioms of Religion, as the primary distinctives of those people called Baptists.
It is not easy to miss the underlying premise of that last cited instruction, but multitudes have and do. Simply stated, the LORD Jesus affirms that Scripture does not require interpretation—Scripture needs reading. Generations of Baptists have consistently used two terms to express the authority of Scripture in relation to the individual.
1. Perspicuity [per-spi-cu-ity]—meaning “plain to the understanding especially because of clarity and precision of presentation in a style that is simple and elegant as well as clear.”
2. Soul-competency or soul-sufficiency—meaning “that every individual soul is competent to read the Scriptures without the need for an earthly interpreter.” As a corollary to this principle rises the understanding of personal responsibility and accountability.
Understanding the significance of this marvelous gift called the word of God, Sir Walter Scott wrote a wonderful summary concerning the Bible:
This is the greatest book on earth,
Unparalleled it stands;
Its Author GOD, its truth divine,
Inspired in every word and line,
Tho' writ by human hands.
This is the living rock of truth
Which all assaults defies.
O'er every stormy blast of time
It towers with majesty sublime;
It lives, and never dies.
This is the volume of the Cross;
Its saving truth is sure;
Its doctrine pure, its history true,
Its Gospel old, yet ever new,
Shall evermore endure.
Within this wondrous volume lies
The mystery of mysteries;
Happiest they of human race
To whom their God has given grace
To read, to fear, to hope, to pray,
To lift the latch, to find the way;
And better had they ne'er been born
Who read to doubt, or read to scorn.
To me, the most amazing aspect of the Bible being the word of God is the fact I myself have a personal copy of that very Book. Were a King or President to have a private copy to hold in his hands, were a Queen to own a copy of the word of the God of Heaven, or were the very wealthy and the most famous or the most righteous and noble to possess the word of God, it would be thought natural and proper; but I have my own Bible. I do not have to descend into the earth to discover the word of God and I do not have to ascend to Heaven to locate it. In my own hands, I myself and not a surrogate, have a Bible. I own a copy of the word of God. Yet, I am not unique in that possession—my mother had one; so did my father. My two sons and my daughter have one; so do my granddaughters—though one is far too young to read. My wife has one. Every member of the Heritage Baptist Church of Pensacola has one—even the co-pastor. Every reader of this publication has or may have a Bible. Anyone who is reading this and does not own a personal copy of Scripture may contact me and I will provide that person with a Bible so that he or she may have and hold the very words of God.
To have the privilege of owing a Bible is a remarkable right granted by the most benevolent merciful God. I remember a song of the south from my youth: “I got shoes; you got shoes. All God’s chil-ren got shoes. When I get to Heaven, gonna put on my shoes and walk all over God’s Heaven.” Thank the Merciful God of Heaven, I do not have to wait until I get to Heaven before I can have and hold the word of God. It is amazing enough to realize that every citizen of the
I wish to repeat that last sentence: This Book of all books is the final word on every matter of faith and practice. Since the days of the apostles, those known today as Baptists have lived by and died for this one principle that “the Bible is the sole and final authority for all matters of faith and practice.” I fear that we Baptists have learned to say this by anesthetized rote. Rote is defined as “the use of memory usually with little intelligence” and “mechanical or unthinking routine or repetition.” I do not intend this comment as a compliment: I desire it to be a strong challenge, even a pointed rebuke. While Baptists are continuing to use the terms of this historical distinctive, the majority of current Baptists obviously have no understanding of the practical application of the doctrine to their lives. They say it, but they do not understand it, do not apply it to their lives, and, for the most part, simply do not mean it to be more than a cliché.
Plainly stated, this truth means that there is no legitimate source for faith and practice other than the Bible. Yet, Baptists are more prone to play ‘Gideon’ than to consult the Bible. Over the nearly five decades that I have been preaching, one of the constants among believers has been the desire to have a “fleece” just like Gideon. Few passages have been more manipulated by individual Christians for personal advantage than has
Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the
Unlike Gideon, however, the fleece-seekers that I have encountered all want to know specific directions for a personal purpose. Gideon was seeking to confirm what God would do—“If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.” Gideon asked nothing in this passage about what he was to do—he was already committed to doing what God had instructed him to do. He was there and he had assembled
1 And the children of
The nation of
23 And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die. 24 Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Jehovahshalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 25 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it: 26 And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down. 27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.
Fault Gideon if you choose for undertaking this assignment by night, but credit him nonetheless with full obedience of the command. I wonder, however, if Gideon might be displaying more prudence than timidity. Could he not have considered that he and his ten companions would be outnumbered and physically prevented from accomplishing the will of God unless he did it by night? It is easy for us to criticize him from the safety of our shelter and to forget the last time we failed to witness because of the size of the audience. There is no rebuke issued by the LORD to Gideon. It is only later that he will be instructed that the LORD of Israel works with the few to defeat the many, the weak to confound the mighty, and the foolish to teach the wise.
28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built. 29 And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing. 30 Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it. 31 And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar. 32 Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar. 33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the
Gideon assumes the role of judge and sounds the alarm of war. He calls the warriors of the nation, such as they were, to assemble for the battle to retake the land. This is not Mr. Timidity, slinking away seeking a hiding place, but Mr. Courage standing tall, ready for combat. Gideon is verifying that the inner moving that he has felt to take this action is from the Spirit of the LORD—he is trying the spirit to see if it be of God. Gideon is not rebuked, not even for his “double-checking.” He is asking for confirmation about what God will do.
36 And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, 37 Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. 38 And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. 39 And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. 40 And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
In this, the second instance of seeking a sign, Gideon is asking for assurance that this is the time and the place where the LORD has chosen to work the deliverance of
1 Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 2 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest
The “signs” for Gideon are not yet over. He is instructed to reconnoiter the enemy encampment where he overhears a conversation that encourages him. It did not give him instructions; it gave him encouragement.
9 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand. 10 But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: 11 And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host. 12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude. 13 And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. 14 And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of
Gideon’s fleece has been ballyhooed beyond its biblical context in a manner that P. T. Barnum would have envied. It is forgotten or ignored that the sequence of “the wet and then dry fleece” required two miracles. The course of nature had to be altered or overcome for that sign to be fulfilled. Everything connected with the event was contrary to the normal course of events. No one could have expected this to occur and none could explain how what happened actually transpired. There is no human explanation using any chain of circumstances and happenstance that can rationalize “the wet and then dry fleece.” The practice of “putting out the fleece” is nothing less than asking God for a miracle. This discredits the flippant, casual, even happy-go-lucky nonsense that is practiced by Baptists influenced by the persuasion of charismatic voices and their own carnal nature.
Moreover, there is not one passage of Scripture that instructs any believer to use “fleece” to validate decisions or to provide guidance for choices. Believers are directed to the Scriptures not to “fleeces.” After all, the Bible is the final source for all matters of faith and practice. Why then, do Baptists have a penchant for seeking for dreams, voices, signs, and wonders? I believe it is because Baptists have retained the terms, but have forgotten the meanings. The Bible, therefore, is not the sole and final authority for all matters of faith and practice in the hearts and minds of Baptists, no matter how much lip service is given to the doctrine.
Observation indicates that the use of “fleece” is by Baptists who most often are trying to find some way around obedience to the Bible. On multiple occasions, I have listened to a professing believer proclaiming a desire to do the will of God and have heard words similar to these: “I know the Bible says this, but I asked God for a sign and He gave me one. I just cannot forget that I got my request for a sign.” Trying with all abilities at my disposal, I have been unable to cause those individuals to see the inconsistency of their comments. The God of Heaven never would give a sign that is in conflict with the word that the God of Heaven gave. The very suggestion that He might do so is beyond foolishness—it is an attack on the integrity of God. The sign is, therefore, eo ipso, a phony, a counterfeit, and is either the product of happenstance, or, far more likely, the result of the intervention of Satan.
I fear that signs-and-wonders Baptists do not consider their unintended exposure to increased susceptibility to the wiles of the Devil. Satan is the counterfeiter; he is the deceiver. One of the many warnings issued by Scripture regarding deception is found in
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.
Make no mistake, when any believer follows sign-or-wonder leadership in conflict with the Scriptures that believer is following the guidance of some god other than the God of Heaven. The “god of this world” [2 Corinthians 4:4], Satan, is described as blinding “the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” and is labeled the adversary of believers that “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” [1 Peter 5:8]. The word of God warns all humanity that Satan and his minions have the ability to deceive both the lost and the saved. During the coming Tribulation, the anti-Christ and the beast that is his false prophet use their abilities to deceive the world into accepting the mark of the beast.
Revelation 13:12-14 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast;
Those who reject the word of God are open to accepting the delusion of Satan. Adam observed that Eve had eaten the fruit that God by His word had decreed not to be eaten. She was apparently ‘alive and well’—there were no effects until Adam ate [Genesis 3:7]—and could it be that Adam accepted what he saw over what he knew the LORD God has said? Baptists, who say that they believe the Bible is the only authority for faith and practice, need to realize that the God of Heaven will never lead them to act in any manner that conflicts with His word. Those who continue to seek signs-and-wonders over the Scriptures are attempting to have God change that settled word and are prime candidates for deception by the Deceiver, even actively inviting his deception.
The issue may easily be summarized in one question: will I follow the word of the LORD or will I seek signs-and-wonders?
For a believer to say, “Scripture says one thing, but the LORD has told me to do something else” is for that believer to reveal himself or herself as a liar. In all of Scripture, only one man is audacious enough to claim, “the LORD said to me.” That man was also a liar. The God of Heaven never contradicts the written record of His word.
The mark of the true prophet of the LORD was that the prophet said, “Thus saith the LORD”—the prophet was anchored to the word of God. Nowhere in Scripture is there any example of the LORD altering His word one jot or one tittle. One prophet was slain by JEHOVAH precisely because he allowed an older prophet to convince him that the LORD had changed His mind. Read the story in 1 kings chapter thirteen. This is a serious matter.
There is a beautiful example of Biblical faith, the simple acceptance of the word of the LORD over the desire for signs-and-wonders in the fourth chapter of John, verses 46-53.
So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at
Not only did this man believe that the LORD Jesus could heal his son or even that he would heal his son, this nobleman believed that the LORD Jesus did heal his son even as the LORD Jesus spoke the word; the faith of this nobleman was not in what he saw [signs and wonders], but in the word of the LORD. So comfortably confident was this man with the words of the LORD Jesus that he continued his business where he was and did not begin his journey to return home until the next day. If he were depending upon signs-and-wonders , he would never have been satisfied with just the word—that was the test of his faith that the LORD Jesus presented to diagnose his faith. This process was not for the LORD Jesus to understand the man, because “He knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man” [John 2:24-25]. The testing of the nobleman’s faith was for the nobleman’s benefit, the teaching of the disciples, and for our admonition and example. How sad it is that Baptists either ignore this principle or are ignorant of it.
Jeremiah had signs-and-wonders Jews all around him. They were prone to follow the man with a dream even while rejecting the prophet who had only the word of the LORD; the result was that Jeremiah left behind on his death two Books and two friends: Baruch, the son of Neriah, and Ebedmelech, the Ethiopian. This will seem a small legacy for nearly seven decades of labor; and Jeremiah once grew so discouraged with the rejection of those professing to be followers of JEHOVAH that he determined to submit a resignation of his prophet’s calling, move to the wilderness and become an innkeeper where only someone who was lost would ever seek lodging, and forbear preaching. “Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men” [Jeremiah 9:2]. However, he was forced from retirement, “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay” [Jeremiah 20:9]. During his struggles, Jeremiah was moved to pen these strong words from JEHOVAH in
I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
What folly, as we easily recognize, for those benighted and bewitched people to follow dreams rather than the sure word of Almighty God. What we do so easily admit is how foolish it is for any person, including you and me, to demand that the God of Heaven set aside His forever settled word and perform a miracle to provide individual and personal ‘on demand’ ‘real-time’ guidance and direction. The word of God is to be a lamp for our feet and a light for our path, not signs-and-wonders. The entrance of the word of God gives us light, not the presence of signs-and-wonders. We may correct our ways by taking heed unto the word of God, not by following signs-and-wonders. The word of God is “given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” and not signs-and-wonders. The song of the child of God ought not to be—
Show them over to me again, signs-and-wonders galore.
Let me more of their beauty see, signs-and-wonders galore
Signs of life and duty, wonders of faith and beauty,
Beautiful signs, wonderful signs, wonders-and-signs galore.
Beautiful signs, wonderful signs, wonders-and-signs galore
The believer and the unbeliever will be held accountable not for their response to signs-and-wonders, but for their individual relationship [obedience or disobedience of what is written, acceptance of the recorded word or its replacement with signs-and-wonders] with every word in this marvelous unmatchable Book. Consider just this sequence of verses in that regard.
Christ 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Christ.
Christ 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Christ 6:68 Then Simon Christ answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.
Christ 12:47-48 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
Since it is, in the words of
The great sign seeker of the Old Testament is not Gideon, it is the son of
The conclusion of the sign seeking is a warning for all who would follow that pathway.
Saul inquired of the LORD by seeking dreams or a special word from a prophet; and, when he received no special direction, he resorted to a demon possessed woman [who strangely displays more spiritual sense that Saul did]. The LORD “slew him”—“there is a sin unto death” (1
Choose now.
—Dr. Jerald Manley
