The Over-Emphasis of Signs Error

Charismatic Christians become excited when signs and wonders are mentioned in the Bible. They, from what I can gather, forget about everything else. Doctrine is apparently foreign to them. All they appear to care about is getting the spiritual gifts which would let them wield God's power.

So, what is the real purpose of signs? We can see three times in biblical history where a multitude of miracles happened. The first was when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. The second wave of signs and wonders happened at the time of Elija and Elisha. The third and final wave happened when Christ came and his disciples spread the gospel. In all three cases, the miracles happened as a witness to God's power and proclamation of his message.

Furthermore, we can see that miracles dwindled after the end of  The Acts of the Apostles. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:20 (KJV),  "Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick." Why didn't Paul heal Trophimus?

Here's another person whom God, through Paul, didn't heal. Philippians 2:27 (KJV) reads, "For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow."

Charismatic believers fixate on First Corinthians chapter twelve but they don't realize what the best gifts are. Verse thirty-one (KJV)says,  "But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way." Then Paul launched into what people call the love chapter.

But James 3:13 (KJV) shows what is more important than doing flashy miracles to boost one's reputation among others. "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom."

The matter of pride is one I'll be dealing with in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? So many Christians are like the lad in that fable called The Sorcerer's Apprentice. They want to use God's power without realizing that it's not an unlimited charge card. In fact, they insult our Lord by treating him that way.

My next post will be about a foolish mistake some Christians make, namely you can't be delivered from what you should repent of.