God's Promises - Broken!

There are many promises made in the bible, actual guarantees made by God. One of these has been discussed, that being that the bible insists that the Holy Spirit is given to those who ask. But that is just scratching the surface on the bible promises that have proven themselves to be empty. Let’s take a look at some more of them.

 

God Promises Miracles

 

John 14:12-14: I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

 

Mark 16:17-18: And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.

 

These verses are clearly lies. We do not see anyone going around doing greater works than Jesus. Christians cannot drink deadly poison, they do not turn water in into wine, do not cast out demons or walk on water, nor do they resurrect people from the dead or even heal people miraculously. None of them have ever been able to reach the standard of the almighty Christ, let alone surpass him.

So the question is, why don’t we see miracles in the world today, especially like the ones Jesus performed?

 

Let us first define the word miracle:

 

1. an extraordinary and welcome event attributed to a divine agency. 2. a remarkable and very welcome occurrence. 3. an outstanding example, specimen, or achievement.

Compact Oxford Dictionary  

Obviously, when it comes to Christianity, it is the first definition that is invoked. God did it! So let’s go with that and let’s define what it’s not.

• It is not an everyday occurrence
• It is not mind over matter or the power of suggestion.
• It is not suddenly feeling better when you were feeling ill only moments before.
• It is not something that can be scientifically explained.
• It is not a natural disaster
• It is not a cheese snack that looks like Jesus. 

 

Let’s also make something else clear. It can’t be shown to be a miracle if it can be put down to luck. It just can’t! Anything that could possibly be good fortune may just be that, good fortune and there’s just no way to prove it was supernatural. A miracle must be something that can only have a supernatural explanation for it. For instance, the bible, if it is to be believed, contains the ultimate miracle; the standard by which all miracles should be judged. A man was resurrected from the dead. You can’t say that Jesus got lucky.  The man was nailed to a cross and had a spear driven through his side. He was in a tomb for three days. No luck involved. If the story is true we have a bona-fide miracle here and we should expect nothing less in this day and age too.

Let’s take a look at some so-called miracles that people jump up and down about. Then let’s consider a natural cause and what would be more likely to be considered a miracle.

 

Miracle	Possible cause rather than miracle	What would have made this a legitimate miracle?
Massive earthquake hits. Much devastation, but only a small number of people are killed.	Adequate planning and preparation for disasters.	Massive earthquake hits but no structures are damaged.
Tsunami hits Japan. Old Lady is found alive in her destroyed house.	Luck, plus will to survive.	God stops the tsunami just as it is about to hit the coast.
Freak wave picks up man and allows him to reach shore only moments before he would have drowned.	Luck, plus being in the right place at the right time.	God plucks man up out of ocean and carries him through the air to safety. Many witnesses see it and it is caught on several cameras.
Person cured of cancer	Natural Remission or person never had cancer in first place	God cures everyone in the world of cancer at exactly the same time.
Driver survives potentially fatal car crash	Luck and/or wearing a seatbelt.	God intervenes and prevents the car crash, eg freezes cars before collision or catches car in mid-air as it goes over a cliff or bank.
Blind person cured	Person was never clinically blind. Psychological?	God cures all blind people everywhere in the world at exactly the same time. Or replaces blind eyes with new ones.
Person dies, but a few minutes later regains consciousness	Natural phenomena, or person not really dead.	Person was dead for a few days then regains consciousness.
Faith Healer heals someone in front of audience	Trickery. Power of suggestion. People are planted in audience pretending to have afflictions.	Faith Healer heals amputee – Limb is restored.
An angel or demon visits in the middle of the night.	Dream	Angels or demons appear in public during broad daylight. TV cameras film it all.
Some money arrives from an anonymous source	Human generosity	God feeds all starving children in Africa
Person suffers horrible accident but comes out uninjured	Luck	God intervenes to save people from terrible abuse.
Person discovers piece of toast with Jesus’s face on it.	Fluke	Jesus comes down to earth for a brief visit. Appears on 6 o’clock news.

 

No doubt there are many Christians out there who will still continue to insist that God does miracles today and will grumble and groan that sceptics just don’t want to believe, which of course is nonsense in most cases. The real fact is that they are simply just unable to believe.

The reality is most Christians do not experience anything that can come close to being considered a miracle. A miracle to the average Christian is when an aching body part suddenly feels better or a cold disappears, which can be put down to mind over matter, positive thinking or the power of suggestion.

There is also the common miracle of limbs increasing and decreasing in length, which has been shown to be a clever trick used by con-artists. This is done by so-called legitimate evangelists and faith healers.  They even travel around the world conning entire churches at a time, people who believe or really want to believe. 

But rarely, Christians experience nothing more than that and the amazing miracles that do apparently happen always happen overseas in remote faraway places and are stories that are passed from one person to the next - either fictional or exaggerated. They come out just like you might hear at the end of the line when playing Chinese whispers.

Occasionally we do hear of people’s cancer disappearing, or some other disease suddenly going. Then again, these things tend to happen when you least expect it, not immediately after someone has prayed for you. There is also much to suggest that certain diseases and illnesses are capable of disappearing naturally.

One of the big problems is that the word “miracle” has been dumbed down considerably over the centuries, so that now, any remarkable occurrence is considered a miracle. I could now say that when I dropped my toast on the floor and it landed with the unbuttered side down that it was a miracle. I could say that driving along that metal road and reaching the other end without a flat tire was a miracle. Anything can be considered a miracle these days. That booger I plucked from my nose looks like Jesus hanging on the cross. Hallelujah! A miracle!

 

It’s a lot like the term “110%”.

 

“Joe Bloggs gave 110%!”

 

Yeah, whatever! If Joe Bloggs gave 110% this time around, then obviously he’s never given 100% any other time, after all, it’s impossible to give more than 100% no matter how impressive the act. Either it’s a lie or Joe just gave a half-assed attempt on the previous occasions. He only ever gave 50% or maybe 60%. But never 100%. At least until now… and  who knows maybe even now he still didn’t really give 100%. He just impressed us, that’s all.

The same applies to the word “miracle”. What many people claim to be a miracle is simply just an extra-ordinary event.

 

We read in the bible that God performed many amazing miracles and seemed to do it regularly and very publicly, leaving little doubt for scepticism. If the stories are to be believed, Jesus performed amazing miracles, which resulted in droves of people believing in him. In fact, most of Jesus earliest followers came to follow him because they witnessed the incredible things he did. It’s how the early church started and thrived.

Nevertheless, for some reason we rarely see those types of so-called miracles today, if ever. The bible tells us that God is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow, but yet here is an example of how he has changed his methods. For some reason he has decided it is not a good idea to perform the incredible public miracles he did so long ago that made so many people believe in him. People seem to accept that and come up with many different excuses as to why he doesn’t work like that anymore. But they overlook the many bible verses that promise we shall see miracles today, even greater ones than Christ himself performed!

 

Scotty on Star Trek got the reputation of being a miracle worker, but later on he admitted to Geordi Le Forge on the later Starship Enterprise that he was no miracle worker. He’d simply exaggerated the time it would take to get a task done, so that when he managed to complete it in the nick of time, Captain Kirk would praise him and acknowledge his greatness. Perhaps God employees the same tactics? Or are humans simply kidding themselves that miracles actually take place?

 

 

Seek and you shall find

 

Matthew 7:7 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

 

This is an assurance that anyone who seeks Christ will find him. However many people seek God for many many years and don’t find him. Many believe they found him and that he answered, but then later are told that they never did. Of course the Christian will try to put the blame on the seeker.

 

“You didn’t knock hard enough.”

“God answered, but you walked away.”

“Your attitude wasn’t right”.

“You should have kept on knocking.”

“You gave up too soon.”

 

Yes, there are many many excuses, but the above scripture is a guarantee, just like the scriptures mentioned before about miracles and doing greater things than Jesus. There are no conditions. It says “Seek and you WILL find,” not “Seek and if you keep on seeking maybe one day you’ll find”. How many years should one seek? How many years should one continue to knock? If I knock on the door of a real house, how long am I supposed to stand on the doorstep waiting for the one inside to answer?

 

 

Wisdom will be given

 

James 1: 5-6 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind

 

If God gives wisdom why do Christians not have unified wisdom? Why do many who claim to have biblical wisdom clearly not have it?

 

 

All things will be made known when needed

 

John 14:26: But the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

 

This has already been discussed in Ineffective Holy Spirit

 

 

God will protect his followers

 

Psalm 91: 1-16 particularly verse 9 and 10: Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

 

Clearly one of the biggest lies in the bible. Evil still befalls Christians. They are not protected from plagues, disasters or any other type of disaster or horrible event.

 

 

Nothing should be impossible for you

 

Matthew 17:20: Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you

 

There is no need for incredible faith. Even really lousy faith will do! So if anyone ever says to you, your faith wasn’t strong enough, quote them the above scripture.

 

Mark 11:24: Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

 

Those words were said by Jesus himself! Clearly a lie. When was the last time you got what you asked for? Sure, you can quote other scriptures from other bible writers, which put conditions on the above verses, but one has to question why they felt the need to add stipulations when Jesus clearly didn’t. Did they realise it was a lie too, so felt they had to justify it in some way?

I'm sure there will be cherry-picking Christians out there who will claim that many of these things were meant only for the people at the time, ie, the ones being addressed or written to. In which case how can we know for sure that ANY of the bible is relevant for us today? Why don't we take ALL scripture as only meant for the people at the time?

For instance, everything Jesus ever said was directed at people he was with. ALL the epistles were written to specific people or churches.

Maybe even SALVATION is only for those at the time too?