CORRECTION OF FALSE MIRACLE PREACHING:
MIRACLES WERE ONLY GIVEN TO THE
BELIEVING MESSIANIC ISRAEL !
CORRECTION OF FALSE MIRACLE PREACHING:
MIRACLES WERE ONLY GIVEN TO THE
BELIEVING MESSIANIC ISRAEL!
JAN LILLEBY
At risk of repeating myself, I will prove with the Bible in hand, that only the Messianic believing Israel in the time of the apostles was given miracle-gifts, signs and wonders. The gifts were not just strewn out in the entire Messianic assembly: they were first and foremost given to the APOSTLES, and not the regular members. We cannot find any ‘private’ miracles in the New Testament, but only such ones that were performed through the ministries of the apostles and their closest co-workers. And in the four Gospels we find Jesus as the only real miracle worker, even if He was having His disciples trained to do much of the same, eventually.
And so, by these non-negotiable Bible facts, all other people in the world history – all the way up into our time, are excluded from such miracles and wonders. It all ended in the first century as the apostles passed away. Nowhere in the New Testament can we find any teaching of God eventually calling and sending out new chosen ‘apostles’ …following up on the dead thirteen apostles. The apostolic ministry seen in Acts was no ministry which was inherited down through history by a steady ongoing work of God. Thus it is 100% certain that only Peter and the eleven, plus Paul, - thirteen apostles total, were the only ones ever to be chosen by God and Christ for such exclusive ministry.
The Pentecostal-Charismatic movements are lying and fantasizing as they constantly keep propagating their doctrine of errors…that the miracles, wonders and speaking-in-tongues came back to Christianity in 1906 as the Azusa Street revival happened, Los Angeles. Such false spiritual ‘visions’ and guessing have terrorized Christianity for decenniums since; and desperate believers never experience that God answer their prayers by healing the sick. They live an exhaustive kind of life in stress because of this false idea of the miracle gifts having been revived and sent back to the church. This is the dark side of Pentecostalism and all its variables of movements: Word of Faith, New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and other fake movements not sent by God. (See my other articles here for more details of the false Pentecostal movements).
PENTECOSTAL MOVEMENT ADMITS THAT
THE MIRACLES WERE GONE FOR 1870 YEARS
It is no secret that the Pentecostal-Charismatic movements openly admit the fact that the power and miracles seen in Acts, were gone for 1870 years, counted from 1906.
And still: we get no reasonable explanation or Biblical proof for such a narrative. Why were the sign-gifts absent for almost 1900 years???
One can only conclude this absence of miracles by one true explanation: God had them suspended entirely, since these things were only given to the 13 apostles. When they died the gifts went the very same way and ceased. For such power gifts to be in operation, it takes the apostolic ministry to be alive…with real live chosen apostles of Christ!
The leaders of the Azusa-revival just invented their own private ‘doctrine of faith’ – that God had sent back these gifts…choosing Los Angeles city for the place (and not Jerusalem?) thus also choosing Gentile audiences, and not Jewish ones as seen in Acts 2. And thus they advertised on the first page of their revival-paper “Pentecost Has Come”.
Welcome to Fairyland!
Miracles…like we read in Acts, were not something that God just had strewn freely around the whole world. Miracles were glued and fastened tightly onto the chosen apostles of Christ in the years 28 – 60 CE. And after the shipwrecking with Paul at Malta in the spring of 60 CE, we cannot find any more miracles in the New Testament. Zero! See Acts 27-28.
Did you get the point? Miracles stopped, but still many apostles were alive at the same time. We must conclude that it was God Who stopped these miracle-signs, and not the death of the apostles.
This brings us to the next step in this article: we cannot find the Church, by Paul called for “One new man” in Eph. 2:14-15, in any part of the Book of Acts. Only Israel is found in it, and how Christ had His 13 apostles offer the nation to have the Kingdom of God established in Israel by His return.
The Church dispensation doesn’t come up until Paul had the revelation of the Mystery in 63-67 CE, as he sat in jail for the second time. This Mystery is mentioned and explained in only two prison-epistles, Ephesians and Colossians. I shall come back to this.
IN THE BEGINNING, THE TWELVE APOSTLES
Let us check first on how it all started, with Peter and the eleven from Acts 2 and on. We find him and the eleven as servants to Israel. They go to the “Lost sheep of the house of Israel” – which was the same calling the Lord had upon Him, Mat. 15:24.
If we count the number of years as Peter was staying in Israel, we get 21 years. And he and the eleven ministered to Israel’s people inside their borders, and not to the whole world outside of it.
John 21 proves that this calling was laid upon the twelve, so to continue where Jesus had left off. His command to them was, Tend My lambs, Shepherd My sheep, Tend My sheep – verses 15-17.
And still most of the pastors and preachers inside Christianity want us to think that the twelve apostles went out into world-wide mission. They are really in great error: Paul was the one apostle whom God had sent out to us Gentiles, and nobody else. The apostle to THE GENTILES, and please notice the singular tense!
Peter and the eleven were servants to Israel and preached that God would establish the nation as a Kingdom on earth with Jesus as their Messiah King, according to the prophets, Acts 3:19-23, NASB,
“19 "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
20 and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you,
21 whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.
22 "Moses said, 'THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you.
23 'And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.”
Miracles and signs were given exclusively to the apostles, Acts 5:12-16, NASB,
“12 At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico.
13 But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem.
14 And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number,
15 to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them.
16 Also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.”
In the Azusa Street revival there were none of these things to see.
Genuine Biblical tongues, miracles and healings were totally missing – proving the revival being just another religious bluff. Yet the Pentecostal movements maintain this heresy of miracles having been re-established in the church.
Peter, addressing the audience present in Cornelius’ house, adds to the truth that the twelve only were sent to Israel, Acts 10:36-43, NASB,
36 "The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all )-
37 you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed.
38 "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
39 "We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross.
40 "God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible,
41 not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.
42 "And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead.
43 "Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins."
“The word that God had sent to the sons of Israel” …said Peter. Not out into the whole wide world. And by the way: how should the apostles be able to be out into all the world when the Bible clearly says that they were only found gathered under the Portico of Solomon? Acts 5:12.
Luke says the very same in Luke 24:52-53,
“52 And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
53 and were continually in the temple praising God.”
Conclusively, as we check on Peter and the eleven, the ordinance of Pentecost “Feast of the Weeks” was only given for Israel to observe, and not any Gentiles whatsoever. It was an established Mosaic Jewish holy feast day for Israel to keep. All of the history of Acts is about Israel only. The Church dispensation is not found in Acts at all.
As the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in Acts 2, it was the Jewish people of Israel gathered there…to observe the Law of Moses, and Gentiles was not admitted to the temple area. Let us read, Acts 2:5-11 listing it up for us,
5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.
6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language.
7 They were amazed and astonished, saying, "Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans?
8 "And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?
9 "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
11 Cretans and Arabs -we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God."
World-wide mission did not start before Paul was sent out from Antioch 44-45 CE, seen in Acts 13. He brought along Barnabas and his nephew John Mark. God had only Israel in focus the entire Book of Acts. Paul’s ministry was to Israel in their synagogues outside Israel and to the Greek, and even to kings (Acts 9:15).
Miracles and speaking in tongues were given only for Israel as a sign from God, - proving them as His servants. Paul used the gift of tongues as example of all signs in operation then, 1 Cor. 14:21-22, NASB,
“21 In the Law it is written, "BY MEN OF STRANGE TONGUES AND BY THE LIPS OF STRANGERS I WILL SPEAK TO THIS PEOPLE, AND EVEN SO THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO ME," says the Lord.
22 So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe.”
Notice that Paul used the Law of Moses as reference! We Gentiles had not the Law, says Rom. 2:14. The reference only goes for Israel, for they alone had the Law. Here we have solid scriptural evidence of the sign-gifts having been given only to Israel and nobody else.
Thus I like to give you a summing up of things so far:
Signs and wonders were never freely given to the entire world.
Only the apostles and the selected co-workers were given miracle power and signs.
Only the apostles could perform baptisms in water, plus Philip. And as an exception, Ananias who helped Paul when he was a new convert in Damascus.
Only the apostles had power and authority to lay hands on a believer so he would be filled with the Holy Spirit.
As the apostles passed away in the first century, all the miracle gifts went away as well. Maybe earlier…as I noticed above.
The only ordinance which others than the apostles could perform, was the Holy Communion memorial of the Lord’s death. But Paul remarked to the believers with critique, that certain believers used the memorial to stuff themselves and so being punished for this.
ISRAEL’S FALLING AWAY FROM GOD ACTS 28:25-28
Israel was destroyed and annulled physically in 70 CE when the Roman army crushed the nation.
This utterly important Bible truth with regard to history, is by a wide marginal passed by in Christendom. Pastors and preachers alike: they mostly avoid sermons on this topic. It’s a ‘Hot potato’ for sure. They do not understand that God had Israel destroyed because He revenged the death of His servants, the apostles. Mat. 22:6-7 was a prophetic parable, that of the ‘The King’s Wedding feast for His Son’, and goes,
“6 and the rest seized his slaves (servants) and mistreated them and killed them.
7 "But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire.”
This parable was fulfilled in 70 CE as General Titus took Jerusalem and burnt it, as well as having the temple burnt and flattened to the ground, stone-by-stone. The latter was also foretold by Jesus – see Mat. 24:1-2; Mark 13:1-2 and Luke 21:5-6. “Do you see all these great buildings? Not one stone be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
In 71-72 CE Titus had over 20 000 prisoners of war sent to Egypt by sea vessels and tried sold as slaves to the Egyptian mining companies. Just as Moses had prophesied in Deut. 28:68…they should be sent to Egypt by ships but no one would buy. The market was super-inflated and the miners had already the workers they needed. Josephus confirms this scenario in his book “The Jewish Wars”. About 70 000 prisoners were sent to Rome, and most of them used to build Colosseum Arena. Titus took a total of 97 000 prisoners of war.
The unsold slaves in Egypt went through hell-on-earth, since they actually never was set free. They were forced into labor of many sorts…and many of them died of diseases, and many died from lack of food. They were treated like flee infested street dogs, or worse.
But the spiritual falling away from God happened in 60 CE when Paul first arrived Rome. He confronted the religious Jewish leaders of the 11 synagogues in Rome, trying to possibly have them become believers in Jesus as the Messiah for Israel. A final go at it to try to save Israel from being destroyed by God. Paul barely escaped Jerusalem in 58 CE as he was threatened on his life by angry Jews at the temple area, and arrived Rome in spring 60 CE after surviving the shipwrecking at Malta.
Paul had been ordered, by Jesus in person, to go there to testify to the Sanhedrin, like he had done in Jerusalem, Acts 23:11,
“But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, "Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also."
Paul did not go to Rome to visit the Messianic assembly there, to whom he had sent an epistle in 57 CE from Ephesus. This would have been naturally for him, since he told them he wanted to come there. But Jesus interrupted Paul’s private wishes, so he could rather have Paul put the Sanhedrin at Rome to the test: will they accept Jesus as Messiah?
From the text below we will learn that the Sanhedrin counsel rejected Paul’s teaching – just a few of the Jews took to faith…and they went home from the meeting in disagreement, as we see in Acts 28:17-29, NASB.
(Thus we find that this is the real spiritual reason for God to cancel the miracle gifts, as well as the offer to Israel to have Jesus coming from heaven to establish the Kingdom. It was postponed to a remote future), -
“17 After three days Paul called together those who were the leading men of the Jews, and when they came together, he began saying to them, "Brethren, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.
18 "And when they had examined me, they were willing to release me because there was no ground for putting me to death.
19 "But when the Jews objected, I was forced to appeal to Caesar, not that I had any accusation against my nation.
20 "For this reason, therefore, I requested to see you and to speak with you, for I am wearing this chain for the sake of the hope of Israel."
21 They said to him, "We have neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren come here and reported or spoken anything bad about you.
22 "But we desire to hear from you what your views are; for concerning this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere."
23 When they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening.
24 Some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe.
25 And when they did not agree with one another, they began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word, "The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers,
26 saying, 'GO TO THIS PEOPLE AND SAY, "YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; AND YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;
27 FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, AND WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES; OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM."'
28 "Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will also listen."
29 When he had spoken these words, the Jews departed, having a great dispute among themselves.”
Paul had just done what Jesus told him to do: he had testified of Jesus as the Messiah of God and His plan to establish the Kingdom in Jerusalem on David’s throne. The whole nation had to convert to Him and be baptized. The very same sermon found with Peter in Acts 2-3, only, Paul was now outside of Israel…far away in Rome.
THE IRONICAL INCIDENT WITH ANANIAS II
KILLING JAMES AND THE ELDERS IN JERUSALEM
As we find Paul in Rome in 60-62 CE, it so happened that the Procurator Porcius Festus became seriously ill and he went to Rome for cure. His absence from Caesarea made the High Priest Ananias II (He who told his servant to slap Paul in the face, Acts 23) – use this unexpected opportunity to commit a felony, in that he arranged a false accusation against James and the elders, and had them stoned to death. The Jewish priesthood could not just decide legally over who was to be executed or not. It had to go through the office of the Roman Procurators first. Now, in the vacuum created by Festus going to Rome, and the new Procurator to arrive Caesarea (this was Albinus, coming up from Alexandria, Egypt) Ananias II took a great risk as he committed this grave sin against the Jerusalem assembly, killing the leaders.
History confirms that Ananias II was fired from his office, by Herod Agrippa II, the King who heard Paul before he took off for Rome. Ananias II thus was guilty in the crimes foretold by Jesus in Mat. 22:7, for which God would send His army and burn Jerusalem. This crime against the Messianic Jews in Jerusalem in 62 CE, may have caused the Lord’s cup-of-wrath to flow over, and so...just 8 years later Israel was entirely destroyed. Josephus tells of Ananias II (called Ananus by Josephus) being killed by his own party (sadducees), early in 66 CE as the rebellion started…trying to secretly gain friendship with the Roman elite.
Noticing Acts 28:28 in particular, we find Paul prophesying of us Gentiles: we would listen to the salvation message of the Gospel, as opposed to the Jews, who did not listen! It went as Paul foretold!
ISRAEL HAD FALLEN AWAY, SO WHAT NOW?
That was when God had His Mystery revealed to His faithful servant, Paul the apostle to the Gentiles! It had become 63-67 CE and Paul then sat jailed for the second time in Rome.
The revelation was that God had torn down the wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles, the enmity, which was the Law of Moses. And thus He had now made the two into “One new man” by faith in Christ, Eph. 2:14-15.
We Gentiles were united with the believing Messianic Jews, so to become the Body of Christ to which Jesus was Head. Jesus had abolished the Law by His body on the cross – however, He had kept this a secret during Acts, but included this truth into the Mystery-revelation given to Paul for us. That is why we easily find that the Acts-body observed the Law, as well as the New Covenant.
This is the fresh new Doctrine of Faith to the Church, and was written by Paul in 63-67 CE, and he also wrote the Colossians at the same instance. The epistles were written as circular ones and read in all the assemblies in Asia Minor and duplicated according to their traditions.
Ephesians 3:1-9 is regarded the main declaration of the new salvation Gospel,
“1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles -
2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you;
3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.
4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;
6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,
7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.
8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,
9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things.”
A new dispensation was given to Paul for establishing. He addressed us Gentiles directly, and we are no longer candidates to proselytism.
In this dispensation it is no longer like it was in Acts time, as God was merciful to someone, but judged and executed others. In times prior to the Mystery revelation, God gave His grace and mercy to whom He wanted if they were worthy of it. They had to show forth works alongside faith to be counted righteous, James 2:14-17.
But now, we have a whole new era, a new dispensation, and in this one we have the FULL GRACE OF GOD and no works demanded to prove our faith in Him!
Eph. 2:8-9 is clear,
“8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
It is now also an entirely different hope of salvation: heaven up above where Christ is by His Father’s right hand; Paul called it in Greek for epouranios…meaning, the heaven-up-above-the-heavens. The Super-Heaven if you prefer.
Israel in Acts had only the promise of a new earthly Kingdom on Zion with the millennial temple and Jesus as the King for Israel. But we, the “One new man” – the Mystery body, we have heaven up above, and NOT an earthly calling. Big difference.
THE TWO CHURCH EPISTLES CHANGES EVERYTHING
In his two Church epistles, revealing the teaching of God’s Mystery salvation, we find serious changes compared to the previous dispensation with the Acts and the Law and the New Covenant:
No promises of miracles to follow the church
No speaking in tongues
No signs
No casting out of demons
No water baptism
No Holy spirit baptism
No prophesying
No Word of Knowledge
No word of wisdom
No confession of sins
No Holy Communion
No Eschatology of either kind
No pointing to a coming tribulation
No ministry gifts like apostles
No ministry gifts like prophets
No ministry gifts like teachers
No ministry gifts like evangelists
No ministry gifts like elders or pastors
All these things found with the Acts-body are gone, and lies in the past, forever. We may use the titles for these ministry-gifts, like teacher, pastor, evangelist, - but we are not by any means to be confused with those of the Acts-body. They were personally chosen by God, unlike us. We are only serving God out of our own free will and wishes. Nothing more, nothing less. We have the finished Word of God as our guide-line for life and ministry. We have our apostle Paul as the Dean, the Teacher of the Grace Gospel.
These things are not found in the two church epistles of Paul, simply because it is of no concern to the church which is His body, the ‘One new man’, Eph. 2:14-15; Col. 2:13-17.
CONCLUSION
It is held beyond any doubts whatsoever, that we in our time, after the fall of Israel back in 60-70 CE, cannot just choose to become real apostles or prophets of God like the ones in Acts time, having signs, wonders and miracles as our gifts of ministry.
These things are in the past forever, and the Church, the One new man, has no such means given for ministry.
It is mindless ignorance when preachers and pastors declares highmindedly from the pulpits …How to receive healing by faith…and How to get baptized in the Holy Spirit….or How to have God answering all your prayers. Those who keep up like that, are just displaying how desperate they are in ignorance of God’s Word rightly divided. Its empty promises of miracles which will not be performed by God whatsoever. The Church dispensation have no such means of gifts and miracle signs.
That which we really do have in our possession, is a glorious salvation by faith alone, and our future are up in the high heavens where Christ now is at His Father’s right hand. It has such dimensions on it that it is impossible to describe this heavenly salvation and so give an understandable picture of it all. It will have to wait.
But we can let Paul’s Grace teaching help us getting built up in our faith:
Col. 3:1-4, NASB,
“1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”
Eph. 2:8-9, NASB,
“8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast”.
Eph. 4:30, NASB,
“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
Gracepano.com
