If you have a question for Dave and Tom to address in a future Contending for the Faith, stay with us, we’ll provide our contact information at the end of the program. You are listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Now our final segment:
UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES
We resume our excursion through the Book of Acts. Here again are Dave and Tom.
Tom:
This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in Chapter 19 of Acts, and Dave, last week we got to verse 11, so Acts:19:11And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:: “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them and the evil spirits went out of them.” That seems to open a big door to the things that are going on today.
Dave:
Yeah, Tom, there are any number of televangelists, or whatever.
Tom:
Well, Dave, you have a whole collection of these things.
Dave:
I got a sock from Peter Popov, too expensive for him to give us two socks, and apparently we only needed one, and when you go to bed you get visions and dreams from the Lord, of course, send in a little offering. Tom, handkerchiefs, blessing handkerchiefs and then praying over them-
Tom:
Hands that you need to put your hands over their hands.
Dave:
Right, but lets take a look at this Tom. It doesn’t say these were handkerchiefs or aprons that Paul had prayed over, they were just discarded ones, apparently, they were worn out, otherwise they’re not going to be sending them out, and this was—what does it say? God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul, not by Peter, not by James or John, not by some ordinary disciple. Apparently, God had a reason for doing this. Paul had an awful lot of criticism, and God was giving this special sign, special miracles to show that Paul was really his man the apostle preaching His Word. I don’t know any other way to explain it, Tom, and I think it’s pretty clear. Even evil spirits went out of them, nobody had to pray over them, nobody had to command them, you didn’t have to pray over the sick people. It was—let’s take God’s Word for it, these were special miracles, okay. I don’t think that means that anyone could do that today. They certainly can’t send them out and ask for your offering, and that they have prayed over them. It’s not biblical.
Tom:
Verse 13, “Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.” “And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.” “And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” “And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.” Quite an episode.
Dave:
It says, “And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus ; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.” Well, Tom, Wow! you know, special things were happening in those days. I believe in miracles, I have seen miracles today. I’m not one of these people who believes there are no more miracles, it’s all passed away, and so forth. But these were special days, the beginning of the church. For example, Ananias and Sapphira, a few chapters back, they were stricken dead right there on the spot by the Spirit of God, for what? I don’t know whether they gave them ninety percent, maybe of what they sold that property for, maybe they only gave eighty percent, maybe they gave fifty percent, I don’t know, they probably gave more than most people today. What was their sin? They lied to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God was there watching, this is His church, they exaggerated their testimony! Tom, turn on TBN, or whatever, I mean, we’ve got so many exaggerated testimonies, people lying. I mean, you’ve got—O, my gracious—Oral Roberts’, seven hour conversation with a nine hundred foot Jesus who tells him to build a hospital, and so forth, and he’s either lying or he was hallucinating, or he was deceived by a nine hundred foot Jesus. And what about when he says, God said He would kill him unless he got eight million dollars, and so forth. But at the beginning of the church God was saying, Look, you had better be very careful what you do, okay. You know, the scripture says no man can confess Jesus as Lord except by the Holy Spirit. That means you can’t really mean it, you can’t really know Him, but you can certainly say it with your lips. And here we have a perfect example of hypocrisy, saying something with your lips when it is not a reality in your heart. And what are they saying—We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. Oh, whom Paul preacheth, you’re riding on his coattails, You don’t preach it yourself, and you don’t know this Jesus! And just a lesson for the church, but Tom, I can tell you that sort of thing goes on all the time today on TV or whatever. I’ll never forget seeing a lady they brought forth in a wheelchair, and I won’t give the name of this pastor, so called, this preacher televangelist. It happened to be in the World Faith World Outreach Center there of Robert Tilton in Dallas . The last time I was there they had armed body guards you know to protect them. But anyway, I guess this guy’s heart sank, this healer, the healing service, when the lady in the wheel chair is brought up there. And he pronounces her healed, and nothing has happened, she is still in the wheelchair, she’s still helpless, and Tom, I will never forget these words. He said: Take this healed lady back to her place! What! Well, you didn’t confess your healing. Tom, he was exposed as a fraud, but it goes on and continues, and I often have said, Tom—
Tom:
Dave, how is that any different than the article we just did about the pan of the so-called image of Mary on it? This is all delusion.
Dave:
Superstitions, right. But Tom, look, I don’t want to offend people, but I’ve been in Pentecostal, charismatic churches where it’s a common thing. We bring the people forth, forward who wants to be healed. Nobody ever says, If it’s the Lord’s will, because they say that would destroy your faith. I’ve seen pastor after pastor pronounce God’s—In the name of Jesus, I command!
Tom:
Yeah, they command, they get loud, they get strong willed here.
Dave:
I’m not trying to make fun of this, Tom, these are earnest people, but I often ask myself, How many times does some teenager, growing up in this church, how many times does he have to hear the pastor say: In the name of Jesus I command this spirit of infirmity to go, I command you to be healed in the name of Jesus. Nothing happens! How many times do they have to hear that without losing whatever faith they may have had and beginning to say, This whole thing is phony baloney, it doesn’t work! So, we have to be careful, and I think we get a good lesson from these seven sons.
Dave and Tom will continue their discussion on the topic of salvation next week, we hope you can join us. This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. And now to tell you more about our ministry, here’s TBC Executive Director Tom McMahon:
The name The Berean Call, is taken from the Book of Acts Chapter 17, Verses 10 and 11, where we find the apostle Paul entering the synagogue in the Greek City of Berea after he had just come from Thessalonica. To these Bereans he preached that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah sent from God. They were commended for being noble, or fair minded, not only for their willingness to hear what Paul had to say about the matter, but more specifically, because they searched the scriptures daily to find out whether or not what the apostle was saying was found in God’s Word. That’s what we hope to encourage through this ministry. Our mission is to alert believers in Christ to unbiblical teachings and practices impacting the church. We want to exhort believers to give greater heed to biblical discernment and truth regarding what they are accepting as spiritual, Our prayer is that we can be used of God to stimulate Christians to look to the Bible alone as their rule of faith, authority, and practice in living lives pleasing to our Lord and Savior.
Gary :
Would you like to expand your knowledge of God’s Word? We offer a wide variety of items that will greatly assist you, from books and tracts to audio and video recordings, CD-ROM, our website and much more. For a complete list of materials, or to get a copy of today’s broadcast, write to us at POB 7019, Bend , Oregon 97708 , call us at our toll free order number 877-882-4253m that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org . If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk, ask for Program #1307, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. And now, if you would like to watch Dave and Tom, our weekly broadcast is available on DVD, ask about a subscription when you contact us. You can also download both audio and video podcast at our website. If you receive television programming from Sky Angel you will be able to view our video, In Defense Of Israel, with former Israeli General Shimon Erem on April 25, starting at 10:00 PM Eastern. We invite you to tune in. Those of you who attended our first annual conference last year know what a blessed time of learning and fellowship was had by all. We are planning our second get together for this August 9 th through the 11 th , here in Bend . The Judgment Day Conference will again feature Dave and Tom, plus special guest, author and archeologist Randall Price, and former Israeli General Shimon Erem. All the information is at our website, or ask about registration when you call or write. Get a pen or pencil ready, we’ll repeat our contact information in just a moment.
Next week, we will continue our series of programs based on Dave and Tom’s book, Psychology and the Church , and some of the myths of Psychology. In Religion in the News, Bibles in Public Schools? We’ll take a look at that story, and address the question: Must you repent to be saved? We hope you can tune in. If you have questions or comments about this program, we urge you to contact our offices. Search the Scriptures Daily Radio Ministry, is made possible by God’s grace, your prayers and your financial support. I’m Gary Carmichael, and for Dave, Tom, and everyone here at The Berean Call, I would like to thank you for joining us and invite you to tune in again next week. Until then, if you desire to know God’s truth, search the scriptures daily. For more information about The Berean Call, write to us at POB 7019, Bend , Oregon 97708 . Call us toll free at our order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org .
