and
Wonders
Dr. Norman Geisler
Wipf & Stock
PUBLISHERS
Eugene, Oregon
199 West 8th Avenue, Suite 3
Eugene, Oregon 97401
Signs and Wonders
By Geisler, Norman L.
Copyright © 1988 by Geisler, Norman L.
ISBN: 1-59244-734-1
Publication date 6/21/2004
Previously published by Tyndale House Publishers, 1988
Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
Scripture quotations marked nasb are from the New American Standard Bible. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1973 by The Lockman Foundation.
To my wife, Barbara, who in a labor of love has typed and greatly improved many thousands of manuscript pages for me over the past thirty years. Greater love has no author’s wife than this.
Alice in Signs-and-Wonders-Land
What Do We Mean by “Supernatural”?
Truly Supernatural or Merely Unusual?
Psychological or Supernatural?
Is There a Yardstick for Miracles?
Miracles and the Element of Faith
Are Miracles Always Successful, Immediate, and Permanent?
Is the New Testament Gift of Prophecy Fallible?
Were New Testament Tongues Real Languages?
The Use of Physical Objects in Healing
Did Only Apostles Speak in Tongues at Pentecost?
I wish to thank Robert Anderson, Warren Culwell, Karl Elkins, David Geisler, David Gowdey, Tom Howe, and Craig Schilling for their help in refining the ideas expressed in this book. Their insightful questions and interaction, as well as their zeal to know the truth about signs and wonders, was an inspiration to complete this project. I am grateful for all their efforts.
I also wish to express appreciation to Walter Martin, Thomas Edgar, and Roy Zuck for reading the manuscript and providing many helpful suggestions. Of course, I take full responsibility for the ideas expressed here. But due to their insights the final product is significantly improved.
1. Alice in Signs-and-Wonders-Land
The Christian in a World of Amazing Things
She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself “Which way? Which way?” holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing, and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size: to be sure, this is what generally happens when one eats cake; but Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way.
So amazed was Alice with her adventures in Wonderland that she “said nothing: she had sat down again with her face in her hands, wondering if anything would ever happen ...
|
About Signs and WondersSome Christians claim to be able to heal the sick and even raise the dead. Some people applaud this, while others are skeptical. Are these healers using the power of God? Are they faking? Or is their power from Satan? And what about nonbelievers who also claim to perform wonders? Are they tricksters or agents of the occult? Can we believe their claims about past lives, seeing the future, UFO encounters, and spirit channeling? Norman L. Geisler takes a sane and solidly biblical look at miraculous healings and other amazing phenomena today. With penetrating insight, he constructs guidelines for judging whether any so-called miracle is truly from God or from the realm of the demonic. Signs and Wonders also includes material on speaking in tongues and on the use of objects in faith healing. In addition, Geisler looks carefully at the clever trickery that charlatans use to dupe and swindle people. He shows that what often passes as supernatural can be explained as merely unusual. Here is a book for anyone who wonders about the power and the sincerity of those who claim to be wonder-workers. |
| Support Info | snswondgeis |