I will not be addressing whether these professing “faith healers” and “tongues speakers” are born again or not. They may be “religious charlatans” who profess to be born-again, and their focus is on performing “miracles of healing” to grow their congregations and to take in large amounts of money. I will add that I have NEVER read any scriptures in the New Testament “where one can be taught to perform miracles or to speak in tongues.” These were “gifts of the Holy Spirit,” not “acts to be learned from men.” Let’s consider now the main reason God gave believers the power to perform miracles.

The Lord told His disciples just before He ascended back to heaven, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And THESE SIGNS will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18). We read next (in verses 19-20) that Jesus was “received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and CONFIRMING THE WORD THROUGH THE ACCOMPANYING SIGNS.” It is vital to see that the main purpose of these SIGNS was to “confirm the Word,” which simply means those miracles would “point people to the Word of God and establish it in their minds that this was a new REVELATION from God. The signs were not meant to draw attention to the disciples who performed them, but to the gospel being preached which, if believed, would result in the greatest miracle of all, the NEW BIRTH (see John 3:1-8). Peter spoke of this clearly in 1 Peter 1:23, “Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.” I have witnessed firsthand crusades where there were supposedly people being healed but the gospel of Jesus Christ took second place, or no place at all. The main focus was on PHYSICAL HEALING and not on SPIRITUAL HEALING (the salvation of their souls from the malady of sin…see Isaiah 53:5 with 1 Peter 2:24). Physical healing is only a “temporary blessing,” but the spiritual healing (the forgiveness of our sins and being born-again) is an “eternal blessing.”

As we read through the book of Acts, we see that the apostles did perform miracles and that they served as SIGNS to “confirm the Word.” This is brought out also in Hebrews 2:3-4, “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, was CONFIRMED TO US by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with SIGNS AND WONDERS, with various MIRACLES, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will.” The Lord Himself performed miracles to draw attention to the GOSPEL HE PREACHED and then His disciples did the same, with God giving them the power to perform these SIGNS AND WONDERS. But as you read on in the book of Acts, we see miracles decreasing. Why? Ah, because people became convinced the gospel they preached was a true REVELATION from God! The SIGNS had “confirmed the Word” and they were no longer needed.

I know there are those today who call themselves Pentecostals because they believe that God is still using signs (such as speaking in tongues) today just as He did on the Day of Pentecost when the Church of God was born. Yet they fail to see what we have seen in our short meditation; that signs were given with a definite purpose in mind, to “confirm (prove, establish) the Word” and praise God it has been established that the Bible is indeed the WORD OF GOD! We also need to remember that Satan is also able to perform miracles and that the day is coming when he will give this power to the Antichrist to deceive people into believing he is the Savior. We read of this in 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12, “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is ACCORDING TO THE WORKING OF SATAN, WITH ALL POWER, SIGNS, AND LYING WONDERS, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion, that they should BELIEVE THE LIE, that they all may be condemned who DID NOT BELIEVE THE TRUTH but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” This solemn fact (that Satan can perform “signs and lying wonders” to deceive) should serve to make us suspicious when we see men claiming to be “faith healers” and teaching others to perform miracles and to speak in tongues. Is it really to “draw attention to Christ and His work on the cross that saves those who believe,” or is it to “draw attention to themselves?”  (DO)  (690.3)