If preachers were serious and open-minded, they could have seen
themselves as the object of Mathew 7:22-23 “Many will say to me on that
day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive
out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them
plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you men of lawlessness!”
People
who operate in the name of Jesus doing things such as preaching, casting out
demons, or performing many miracles are called “men of lawlessness” (or “evildoers”
in other translations) by Jesus himself.
Why?
May be their motive is at fault (from God’s stand point of view)
But
even from human point of view, miracle is needed when the message itself is too
weak. That means if the message is true, it can stand on its own merit.
Miracles actually do a disservice to the message itself.
This
would also imply that Jesus too did not perform any miracles. Proof for this is
not only what Jesus himself says in Mathew 7:22-23, but also results which the
miracles produced. Jesus who said “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do
not throw pearls before swine” would not have given miraculous cures (what is
holy) to unappreciative people. If he had given, it is natural that recipients
of miraculous cures would have come in defense of Jesus when he was in trouble,
or come for preaching work after his death. Yet none of them came!!!