“I am going to command the Spirit of God to get into this loudspeaker now” said the Pastor.
“Whoever touches the loudspeaker will be electrocuted immediately”
Pointing at the Loud Speaker, the Pastor commanded “Spirit of God, get into this loudspeaker”. Then he looked away towards the front row. He called a certain man who clearly looked a little distracted. “Hold that loudspeaker” the Pastor said.
The man grabbed the loudspeaker firmly. Nothing happened. The Pastor said, “Leave it first”, then he commanded the Spirit of ‘God’ into the loudspeaker again. And again, the man grabbed it even firmer. He wasn’t electrocuted. Clearly he hadn’t heard the earlier instruction that the loudspeaker was to have ‘shocked’ him to validate the ‘miracle’. It was an embarrassing moment. The Pastor clearly angry, ordered the man to return to his seat. He added. “People like you can never receive a miracle…”.
This a true story.
This gets me asking, why did Jesus Christ perform the miracles he did? Where they for showmanship or in response to the genuine need of people?
When Jesus opened the eyes of the blind (Matthew 9:27-30), healed the ears of the deaf, loosed the tongue of the mute (Mark 7:32-35), raised the dead (Matthew 11:5; John 11:43, 44), etc., he was moved by compassion, love and the need to invoke the power of God.
Which love or compassion moved that Pastor to ‘command’ the spirit of God into a loudspeaker to shock people? How can God’s power support such vain self-serving idiocy? How can you still be in a church where the Pastor throws handkerchiefs into the crowd and people fall? Where he controls people by making hand gestures? Where he commands the ‘Holy Ghost’ by making funny sounds when he blows air into the microphone?
Next time your Pastor does a miracle, the simple test to know whether it is the power of God is this; simply ask yourself- is it borne out of compassion and love? Anything short is magic or theatre.
I am off to Church… today is miracle service!
Ken Henshaw is a Rights Activist and a Change Agent
