An email circulated recently, amongst the youth of our church. It came from a leader. He’s a great guy and I’m very grateful for his work with the youth. Kiddo has benefited heaps from the work of people like him.

 

There is a danger however, of teachings which to me, are dodgy. Look at this:

 

·   The very thing that Jesus walked the earth with was raw power. It was His heavenly power, signs and wonders, miracles and power of the Word, that drew people.

 

And then this:

 

·   The difference between Jesus and us is NOTHING except for this: “How dependent are we on the Holy Spirit?”

 

All emphasis are his.

 

Surely it isn’t true that there is no difference between Jesus and us. There is a whole gaping difference. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God and is Himself God,  We on the other hand, are adoptive children of God.

 

I have heard the above statements many times before, from preachers/teachers of a certain bend. The idea behind this is that we can be like Jesus and can therefore perform signs and wonders. We can heal like Jesus healed and raised the dead like He did.

 

This is a dead wrong teaching. There is a HUGE difference between Jesus and us. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God (John 3). We are the adoptive sons of God (Romans). Jesus was Himself God. We are not.

 

These statements further suggest the reason we can’t heal like Jesus healed or raise the dead like Jesus did is because we are not dependent on the Holy Spirit. That is also wrong. We ARE dependent on the Holy Spirit – not so that we can heal and perform signs and wonders, but so that we can be obedient to the Father like Jesus was. The Holy Spirit is to help us grow, so that we become more holy and sanctified. Increased holiness and sanctification is not proved by an ability to perform miracles and signs and wonders. The proof is in a changed life, a life which is more obedient. Galatians 5 taught us what the fruit of the Spirit should look (taste?) like. Paul didn’t even hint at signs and wonders. It is character building. Holiness isn’t about signs and wonders. I’d say it has nothing to do with signs and wonders.

 

It is the continuing emphasis on signs and wonders, on “expecting great things from God” which make us latch on to bad teachings like this.