FAITH, EVIDENCE, AND INQUIRY
Part II

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IV. It is not safe to trust mere miracles, signs or wonders.

Deuteronomy 13:1-3 "If a prophet arises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder which he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, 'Let us go after other gods,' which you have not known, 'and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the word of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams." (RSV)
Matthew 24:24 "If anyone says to you then, 'Look, here is Christ!' or 'There he is!' don't believe it. False christs and false prophets are going to appear and will produce great signs and wonders to mislead, if it were possible, even God's own people!" (Phillips)

  1. "The way in which Christ worked was to preach the Word, and to relieve suffering by miraculous works of healing. But I am instructed that we cannot now work in this way; for Satan will exercise his power by working miracles. God's servants today could not work by means of miracles; because spurious works of healing, claiming to be divine, will be wrought.
    "For this reason the Lord has marked out a way in which His people are to carry forward a work of physical healing, combined with the teaching of the Word. . . . The truth must be proclaimed in the highways and the byways, and thus work is to be done by sensible, rational methods. . . . We are to keep as far from the theatrical and the extraordinary as Christ kept in His work." LT 53, 1904; Notebook Leaflets, vol. 1, no. 32, p. 105; 2SM 54; LDE 169; MM 14; compare LLM 30; 7MR 378

  2. "I am afraid of anything that would have a tendency to turn the mind away from the solid evidences of the truth as revealed in God's word. I am afraid of it, I am afraid of it. We must bring our minds within the bounds of reason, lest the enemy so come in as to set everything in a disorderly way." MS 115, 1908; Pacific Union Recorder, Dec. 31, 1908; Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 41-47; vol. 3, p. 362-378; "The Ralph Mackin Story," Review and Herald, Aug. 17, 1972 (see also # 27 below)

  3. "The last great delusion is soon to open before us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement and every miracle must be tested." The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, p. 411 (1884); Great Controversy 593 (1888); LDE 170; Maranatha 94, 156; RH June 7, 1906

  4. "As spiritualism more closely imitates the nominal Christianity of the day, it has greater power to deceive and ensnare. Satan himself is converted, after the modern order of things. He will appear in the character of an angel of light. Through the agency of spiritualism, miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will profess faith in the Bible, and manifest respect for the institutions of the church, their work will be accepted as a manifestation of divine power." Great Controversy 588 (1888); The Spirit of Prophecy , vol. 4, p. 405, 406

V. Faith must not be confused with feelings or impressions.

Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." (KJV)
"What you think is the right road may lead to death." (GNB)

  1. (A comment on Psalm 81:12, "So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust. . .")
    "Those who desire to follow a course which pleases their fancy are in danger of being left to follow their own inclinations, supposing them to be the leadings of God's Spirit. The duty of some is indicated sufficiently clear by circumstances and facts; but, through the solicitations of friends, in harmony with their own inclinations, they swerve from the path of duty and pass over the clear evidences in the case; then, with apparent conscientiousness, they pray long and earnestly for light. They have earnest feeling in the matter, and they interpret this to be the Spirit of God. But they are deceived. This course grieves the Spirit of God. They had light and in the very reason of things should have understood their duty; but a few pleasing inducements balance their minds in the wrong direction, and they urge these before the Lord and press their case, and the Lord allows them to have their own way. They have so strong an inclination to follow their own course that He permits them to do so and to suffer the results. These imagine that they have a wonderful experience." Testimonies, vol. 3, pp. 73,74 (1872); RH July 27, 1886

  2. "They [some unconverted ministers] have occasionally a flight of feeling, which gives them the impression that they are indeed children of God. This dependence upon impressions is one of the special deceptions of Satan." Testimonies, vol. 2, p. 505.5 (Oct. 25, 1868); RH May 19, 1885

  3. "Impressions alone are not a safe guide to duty. The enemy often persuades men to believe that it is God who is guiding them, when in reality they are following only human impulse." Acts of the Apostles 279 (1911); Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, August 24, 1911

  4. "Counterfeit holiness, spurious sanctification, is still doing its work of deception. Under various forms it exhibits the same spirit as in the days of Luther, diverting minds from the Scriptures and leading men to follow their own feelings and impressions rather than to yield obedience to the law of God. This is one of Satan's most successful devices to cast reproach upon purity and truth." The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, p. 152 (1884); Great Controversy 193 (1888)

  5. "In the future we shall have special tokens of the influence of the Spirit of God-especially at times when our enemies are the strongest against us. The time will come when we shall see some strange things; but just in what way-whether similar to some of the experiences of the disciples after they received the Holy Spirit following the ascension of Christ-I cannot say. . . .
    "We must go to the people with the solid Word of God; and when they receive that Word, the Holy Spirit may come, but it always comes, as I have stated before, in a way that commends itself to the judgment of the people. In our speaking, our singing, and in all our spiritual exercises, we are to reveal that calmness and dignity and godly fear that actuates every true child of God. . . (LDE 93)
    "I am afraid of anything that would have a tendency to turn the mind away from the solid evidences of the truth as revealed in God's Word. I am afraid of it; I am afraid of it. We must bring our minds within the bounds of reason, lest the enemy so come in as to set everything in a disorderly way. There are persons of an excitable temperament who are easily led into fanaticism; and should we allow anything to come into our churches that would lead such persons into error, we would soon see these errors carried to extreme lengths, and then because of the course of these disorderly elements, a stigma would rest upon the whole body of Seventh-day Adventists. . .
    "During the years of Christ's ministry on earth, . . . The truth was proclaimed intelligently, and so plainly that all could understand. . . Now I am afraid to have anything of a fanatical nature brought in among our people. There are many, many who must be sanctified, but they are to be sanctified through obedience to the message of truth. I am writing on this subject today. In this message there is a beautiful consistency that appeals to the judgment. We cannot allow excitable elements among us to display themselves in a way that would destroy our influence with those whom we wish to reach with the truth. . . (compare 2SG 50; 1T 66; LS 215)
    "It is through the Word-not feeling, not excitement-that we want to influence the people to obey the truth. On the platform of God's Word we can stand with safety. The living Word is replete with evidence, and a wonderful power accompanies its proclamation in our world." MS 115, 1908; Selected Messages, vol. 3, pp. 372-375; portions in Selected Messages, vol. 2, pp. 43,44; VSS 290; LDE 93; "The Ralph Mackin Story," Review and Herald, Aug. 17, 1972

  6. "As we near the time when principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places will be brought into warfare against the truth, when the deceiving power of Satan will be so great that if it were possible he will deceive the very elect, we must have our discernment sharpened by divine enlightenment, that we may know the spirit that is of God, that we may not be ignorant of Satan's devices (Maranatha 110; OHC 172; 12MR 155; 1888 p. 747). . . .New and strange things will continually arise to lead God's people into false excitement, religious revivals, and curious developments (MS 167, 1897; 1MCP 42; The Story of Our Health Message 441). . . . Thus fanaticism will take the place of well-regulated, well-disciplined, heaven-ordained efforts to carry forward the work to its completion (The Paulson Collection of Ellen G. White Letters 128). . . . Not once should feeling be allowed to get the mastery over judgment (Letter 6a, 1894; 2SM 91; The Paulson Collection 129). . . . Many suppose an emotion or a rapture of feeling to be an evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit (The Kress Collection 126). . . . Some open revival meetings, and by this means call large numbers into the church. But when the excitement is over, where are the converted ones? (ST Dec. 27, 1899; 3MR 27; compare 4SP 294) . . . With some, religious exercises mean little more than a good time. When their feelings are aroused, they think they are greatly blessed. S

Copyright: June 22, 1998

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