Transcript:
The past century has seen the rise of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. Those groups are characterized by a focus on the Holy Spirit. Some people in those groups claim to have the ability to exercise the miraculous gifts of the Spirit such as speaking in tongues and healing people.
There are skeptics who question whether pentecostals and charismatics actually have the gifts they claim to have. There are legitimate doubts based on what the scripture actually says and does not say about miraculous gifts.
Another reason to question the legitimacy of those claiming miraculous gifts has to do with the contrast between what happened when Jesus healed people and what happens today. According to Mark 1, when Jesus healed people, He did so in a manner where everyone knew He had extraordinary power and huge crowds gathered to reap the benefit of His power. Something similar is not happening today, leading to the conclusion that people today are not actually exercising miraculous gifts such as tongues and healings.
Mark opened his gospel account by mentioning the baptism of Jesus and His sojourn in the wilderness, during which He was tempted by Satan. After John the Baptist was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, preaching and calling disciples. He entered the synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath and was confronted by a man with an unclean spirit. Jesus rebuked the spirit and cast it out of the man.
Mark 1:27 And they were all amazed, so that they were arguing among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
The crowd knew Jesus had extraordinary power.
Mark 1:28 And immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.
Notice the word “immediately”. The acts of Jesus were so obviously miraculous and otherworldly, that the news about Him spread instantly into the surrounding area.
There are people today who claim to cast out demons. There are also skeptics who doubt they are actually exercising any control over demons. Unlike the buzz that surrounded Jesus, the people today who supposedly cast out demons have to create their own publicity. The lack of instant fame may be because the participants in these events know the demon-casting is not real. This is an argument in favor of the skeptics who maintain demons are not actually being cast out.
Mark 1:29 ¶ And immediately after they came out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
Mark 1:30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they spoke to Jesus about her.
Mark 1:31 And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she began waiting on them.
Jesus did not have an event where He produced someone who was supposedly sick and then claimed to heal her. Instead, Jesus was told that someone was sick so He went and cured her.
There are people today who claim to be able to heal people. However, they do not go into hospitals, walk down a hallway, and heal every person in every room. Rather, their healing is done in churches where they produce people who claim to be ill. There is no objective way to determine if the people were indeed in need of healing, or whether they faked their ailments so the so-called healer could pretend to heal them.
Mark 1:32 ¶ Now when evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed.
Mark 1:33 And the whole city had gathered at the door.
The fact that Jesus was truly healing people was so obvious that large crowds gathered and brought many other people who were ill and demon-possessed.
The modern day pastors who supposedly heal people do not have large crowds gathering around their housees, bringing dozens or hundreds of people who need healings. That is because the modern day healings are not happening in a way that produces confidence and certainty that healings are really taking place. Modern day healings are done in settings where it is easy to see how the healings might be faked.
Mark 1:34 And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.
It is interesting to me that Jesus did not permit the demons to speak. It seems that Jesus would want the world to know who He was. Perhaps Jesus understood He already had more of a crowd than He needed or wanted.
Mark 1:35 ¶ And in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus rose up, went out of the house, and went away to a desolate place, and was praying there.
Mark 1:36 And Simon and his companions searched for Him;
Mark 1:37 and they found Him, and said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.”
Mark 1:38 And He said to them, “Let us go elsewhere, to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came out for.”
Mark 1:39 And He went, preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and casting out the demons.
Mark 1:40 ¶ And a leper came to Jesus, pleading with Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
Leprosy was a visual illness. If someone had leprosy, everyone could see he had it.
Mark 1:41 And moved with compassion, He stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”
Mark 1:42 And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
When Jesus healed leprosy, people could see the change from having leprosy to being cleansed of leprosy.
The problem with many of the healings that supposedly happen today is the supposed healers heal ailments that can’t be seen. They do not heal disfigured faces. Furthermore, they do not give sight to famous people who are famous because they are blind. Nor do they heal people who are famous for being a paralytic.
Mark 1:43 And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away,
Mark 1:44 and He said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
Mark 1:45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in desolate areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.
Again, it was so obvious that Jesus was truly healing people that He could not walk in public anymore due to the large crowds.
Mark 2:1 ¶ And when He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.
Jesus stayed away several days to let the buzz die down.
Mark 2:2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.
As soon as people heard Jesus was in town, a large crowd gathered again.
Mark 2:3 And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men.
Mark 2:4 And being unable to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof over where He was; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the mat where the paralytic was lying.
Mark 2:5 And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”
This time Jesus did not heal the paralytic right away. Instead, He forgave his sins. We will finish that story tomorrow.
There are pentecostals and charismatics living today who claim to have the ability to exercise the miraculous gifts of the Spirit such as speaking in tongues and healing people. There are also skeptics who question whether they actually have the gifts they claim to have.
There is a huge contrast between what happened when Jesus healed people and what happens today. According to Mark 1, when Jesus healed people, He did so in a manner where everyone knew He had extraordinary power and huge crowds gathered to reap the benefit of His power. He cured ailments that could be seen. He healed people who were well-known for being disabled.
That is not happening today. Modern day healers do not go into hospitals and heal everyone in sight. Nor do they give sight to people who are famous for having been blind for decades. Instead, they do their supposed healings in tightly-controlled environments where there is no objective proof that the people supposedly being healed are not faking their supposed ailments. As long as there is no objective proof that healings are taking place, it is wise to question and doubt whether the miraculous gifts are indeed being exercised today.
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”
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