Signs in the End Times Church

Part 1 – My Journey into Signs and Wonders
I’d like to be writing about God’s love – how to rest in His love and how to walk in it. And to be honest, I want and need more of His love – second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour… forever! But I feel compelled to write first about signs and wonders in the end times church. 

I believe we are either in or very near to the end times. Sure, Christians have believed this for ages, and I don’t doubt that some people will scoff at my beliefs (2 Peter 3:3), proposing other ideas (Jude 1:18). I’m not saying that we are definitely near the end times, but it’s my belief that we are… and it’s been my belief since a very young age that I would live through the end times. I don’t know the day or the hour, but I do know that the time is nearer than it has ever been and that the Church fathers warned us of its proximity (Rom 13:11, Rev 1:3, Rev 22:10). One thing is certain, we are nearer to the end times now than we have ever been before.

So if I still have your attention, I’ll tell you a little about my journey and how I’ve reached certain conclusions. I was raised as a Roman Catholic, which was a good thing for me. At the ripe old age of 25, the Lord reached out to me in the middle of the Mediterranean floating on a U.S. warship. Now, I don’t want to discount the prayers and actions of others who have played a part in my journey, but He chose to speak to me in a quiet, private fashion. He basically used a Gideon’s Bible that had been handed to me four years earlier, using it to reach me in a one-on-one discipleship program at sea. 

By the time my ship pulled into Haifa Israel, I was a newly re-committed Christian. Walking through the Holy Land, He spoke to me in both natural and supernatural ways so that I didn’t (and still don’t) question God’s ability to give spiritual gifts to His people (see http://mitchellmalloy.blogspot.com/2011/01/extraordinary-gifts.html). My sixteen years of Catholic education gave me a perspective of the Holy Land that allowed me to appreciate the places I visited through the Biblical stories I’d heard. Yes, being Catholic was a really good thing for me, and it prepared me for that special time in Israel where I could experience God’s presence in the context of scripture, history, and a reverence for His supernatural power.

So it’s in my spiritual DNA to appreciate both the natural and the supernatural, God working in both ordinary and extraordinary ways. Early in my Christian journey and continuing into the present day, Jesus has taught me through Scripture and experience, speaking to me and explaining verses that didn’t make sense, all the while showing me the importance of asking Him for understanding. In the years I’ve been walking with Him, I have not shied away from experiencing God or from weighing my experience against Scripture. So since signs and wonders are part of my personal experience, as I made my way through the Bible, a couple verses troubled me. First, was Jesus’ warning that “false messiahs and false prophets will appear, performing great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” (Matt 24:24). My second concern was His admonition that a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign (Matt 12:39, 16:4, Luke 11:29). Because of these verses, I developed a couple principals when it comes to the miraculous: 
  1. Just because it’s supernatural doesn’t mean it’s from God
  2. I can accept God’s plan to unfold either naturally or supernaturally
 Continued... Part 2 – Christian Witchcraft
http://mitchellmalloy.blogspot.com/2012/06/signs-in-end-times-church-part-2.html

copyright ©2012 Mitchell Malloy (http://mitchellmalloyblogspot.com/)




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