Does God Still Do Miracles by Dr. Brad Burke

Miracles and healing -- over the centuries, few topics have remained as controversial. In this compelling book, Dr. Brad Burke, systematically investigates the world of miracles and physical healing that defies natural explanation. But some reported "miracles" may not be truly miracles at all. How does one explain those who report instantaneous healing? Are there reasons why we shouldn't give God the benefit of the doubt and label every astonishing healing a miracle? What insights does God provide us so we can know the difference?

If you're ready for the truth -- you're ready to read,

An M.D. examines: Does God still do miracles?

From the Introduction

... According to a Newsweek poll conducted at the turn of the millennium, "84 percent of adult Americans say they believe that God performs miracles and nearly half (48 percent) report that they have personally experienced or witnessed one." Whether or not you believe God still performs miracles, you would have to agree that we live in a world obsessed with the paranormal. To fill the church pews on a Sunday morning, all a preacher has to do is announce beforehand that his sermon series will focus on miracles, angels or demons. To empty pews, all he has to do is announce that his sermons will focus on the holiness of God.

But do miracles really show off, to the greatest extent, God's love, power, and dominion?

Well-known Bible teacher Dr John MacArthur writes:

In many ways the daily outworking of providence, in which God constantly must

orchestrate millions of details and circumstances, is a greater miracle

than what we ordinarily think of as a miracle.

The influential people God brings into our lives at opportune moments, the key resources He supplies us with to accomplish His precise goals, His mind-boggling attention to "millions of details and circumstances" to bring about His perfect sovereign plan for our lives -- all of this displays God's genius, power, dominion, wisdom, and love much more than "comparatively uncomplicated miracles." Therefore, it is a "greater exercise of faith." insists MacArthur to believe that God will work everything out by providence, than to believe that God will instantaniously fix our problems with one or two miracles...

To better understand why God allows us to suffer, we must first critically examine the subject of miracles. We must ask some key questions: What is a genuine miracle? Is it God's sovereign will that everyone be 100 percent healthy? How exactly does God heal us? Is God still doing miracles of healing today? If so, why isn't He doing more? How common are genuine miracles of healing?

...Doesn't God warn us in the scriptures that false prophets will come and deceive people with counterfeit signs and wonders (see 2 Thess. 2:9-10)? Why then do Christians in some denominations harshly scold those who are doing what God commands everyone to do? (Examine everything carefully" 1 Thess. 5:21)...It takes absolutely no faith to believe in everything we can see and hear. But it takes real faith and courage to trust in God for what we can't see. For God tells us, "We live by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7).

This is, undeniably, a precariously sensitive subject that some churches and authors wouldn't dare touch with a ten-foot Bible. For if we conclude by the end of the book that miracles of healing aren't occurring today or that they are uncommon, I will have angered many who have based their theology on the idea that God guarantees us health. If, instead, we conclude that miracles are commonplace and that God wills every believer to be well, I will have offended many dear saints who are suffering terribly with physical symptoms. They'll wonder, "If God is doing so many miracles today, why isn't He healing me?"

It is inevitable that I will offend someone in this book. Nonetheless, the apostles never backed down from seeking out and proclaiming the truth -- and neither will I.

Contents

Ch. 1 - The Greatest Miracle Worker

Ch. 2 - Faith Healers: God's Servants or God's Embarrassments

Ch. 3 - Insights from the World of Medicine

Ch. 4 - "What Do You Think, Doc?"

Ch. 5 - "Where's My Miracle, Lord?"

Ch. 6 - How Common Are Genuine Miracles of Healing?

Ch. 7 - Solomon's Clues

Appendix 1 - Does God Promise Us Perfect Health?

Brad Burke, M.D. unofficially began his writing career in medical school when he started writing full-length screen plays. Following his residency training at UCLA, Brad took a five year sabbatical from medicine to write the series, An M.D. Examines. Currently, Brad lives with his wife, Erin, in the Windsor/Detroit area where he practices as a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist.

This book may be purchased from www.amazon.com.

The Power of Suffering by John MacArthur, Jr.

From the Introduction

The atmosphere surrounding today's evangelical church, with its emphasis on easy believism and "feel-good-about-yourself" Christianity, has fostered an unbiblical attitude among believers toward the existence of suffering and persecution in their lives. In addition to the natural aversion to pain and difficulty, many Christians have acquired the notion that hardships should not even cross their paths. When various difficulties do come their way they believe these difficulties are not from God. But this has not been the mindset of Christians from the earliest days of the church...

Jesus tells us we should expect troubles: "In the world you have tribulation" (John 16:33). He Himself did not avoid dealing with hardship and experiencing feelings of distress.

In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 the Apostle Paul, based on personal experience, gives a partial list of his troubles. "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed." Even history's greatest evangelist and missionary was not immune to sufferings, trials, and persecutions.

So we see that in God's sovereignty all kinds of difficulties and hardships are real and should be expected in the lives of genuine Christians. One primary reason many believers today have a hard time accepting the role of suffering in their lives or in the lives of friends and loved ones is that they have failed to understand and accept the reality of divine sovereignty. Many also fail to see adversity from God's perspective. In so doing, they completely overlook the positive, strengthening, perfecting effect that trials are designed to have on believers' faith...it is possible, and actually God's desire, that we do more than merely survive or barely tolerate a season of testing or suffering. The Lord wants the experience, though perhaps difficult, as we pass through it, to be a positive one in the end -- one that strengthens and refines our faith. (Job 23:10).

As you read this book it is my earnest hope that you will receive fresh new insights into the role of suffering in the Christian life. I pray that whatever misconceptions or doubts you have about the place of suffering in God's plan will fade away. May you instead, by His grace, be conformed evermore to the image of Christ as you understand better the refining power that pain and adversity exercise in the believer's life.

Contents

Ch. 1 - Suffering in the Plan of God

Ch. 2 - Examples of Faith in the Fire

Ch. 3 - Paul: A Profile in Suffering

Ch. 4 - The Silence of the Lamb of God

Ch. 5 - Preparing for Suffering

Ch. 6 - Dealing with Suffering

Ch. 7 - The Lessons from Sufferings

1. Suffering Produces Fresh Joy
2. Suffering Enhances Future Glory
3. Suffering Produces True Comfort
4. Suffering Yields Greater Wisdom
5. Suffering Yields Greater Humility

This book can be purchased at your local Christian bookstore or Chapters.

Churches That Abuse by Ronald M. Enroth

From the Back Cover

"Timely,. authoritative, and valuable. Gripping reading!" --

Margaret Thaler Singer, Univ. of California, Berkeley

". . . will serve as a classic." -- Christian Research Journal

". . . may help break the spell of abusive ministers and churches." --

Christianity Today

". . . a well-documented and invaluable exposure of spiritual abuse from power-hungry leaders."

-- Johannes Aagaard, The Dialog Center International, Denmark

... the visible signs of abusive religious groups are all around us and evident in media reports in our day. "Fringe" churches and religious groups often manifest sociological and psychological traits that can only be "abusive": control-orientated leadership, spiritual elitism, manipulation of members, suppression of dissent, harsh discipline, perceived persecution, to name a few.

Ronald Enroth's research and writings on cults, sects, and religious aberrations over many years have gained him a national reputation as an authority on unconventional religion. Here he describes how the troublesome traits are expressed, not hesitating to name names. Here also is help for victims who have found their way out and for people who work with them to put their lives back together.

Ronald M. Enroth is professor of sociology at Westmount College, Santa Barbara, California. Among his books on the cults and new religions are The Lure of the Cults and New Religions and Evangelizing the Cults.

Contents

Ch. 1 INTRODUCTION - Abusive Churches: A View From Within

Ch. 2 FRINGE AND FANATICISM - Abusive Churches Can Go Over The Edge

Ch. 3 PAST AND PRESENT - Abusive Churches Are Not New

Ch. 4 AUTHORITY AND POWER - Abusive Churches Misuse Spiritual Authority

Ch. 5 MANIPULATION AND CONTROL - Abusive Churches Use Fear, Guilt, and Threats

Ch. 6 ELITISM AND PERSECUTION - Abusive Churches See Themselves As Special

Ch. 7 LIFE-STYLE AND EXPERIENCE- Abusive Churches Foster Rigidity

Ch. 8 DISSENT AND DISCIPLINE - Abusive Churches Discourage Questions

Ch. 9 EXIT AND ADJUSTMENT - Abusive Churches Make Leaving Painful

Ch. 10 DISCERNMENT AND RESPONSE - Abusive Churches Present A Warning

Ch. 11 CHALLENGE AND CHANGE - Abusive Churches Will Always Exist

Preface

This has been a difficult book to write because it is a book that is critical of other Christians. One always runs the risk of being misunderstood and labeled "judgmental" or arrogant when you make evaluative statements regarding Christian believers and organizations outside your own immediate circle. The book is about churches and other Christian organizations that inflict psychological and spiritual abuse upon members through the use of fear, guilt, and intimidation.

However, when we refuse to pass judgment on any religious phenomenon for fear that such judgments might violate the norm of tolerance so prevalent in our culture, we abdicate our responsibility to the body of Christ to sound a warning where a warning is justified. Some boats need to be rocked, even Christian boats. The years of research that have gone into this book have validated to me the truth of a placard I display in my office: "Those who make it hardest to be a Christian in this world are the other Christians."

I can safely predict that not one of the groups discussed in these pages will agree that they deserve such mention. They will protest that they have been unfairly portrayed, that I have listened to "a few disgruntled former members" whose words should not be trusted, and who are not representative of the membership.

Let me assure the reader that the information I convey in this book is based not on my own fanciful imagination but on the actual experiences of real people whose accounts can be independently verified and who, to the best of my knowledge, have been truthful about their encounters with churches that abuse. Despite the defensive protestations of authoritarian leaders that ex-members of their churches lie, distort the facts, and are "accusers of the brethren," there is abundant evidence that a serious problem of abuse exists in the Christian community.

Researching and writing Churches That Abuse was often a depressing experience because in recounting their days in abusive environments, the survivors I talked with had to relive the pain and confusion, and yes, the anger. Sometimes they were embarrassed to admit that they had allowed these things to happen to them. They felt the absence of understanding people willing to help them "pick up the pieces."

It is my hope that this book will provide a context for understanding. If we have basic information about a subject, we can sometimes take preventative action. Regrettably, it is not always possible to "get through" to people already caught up in abusive churches. They do not see themselves as being manipulated or in any danger of spiritual abuse. Hence, the frustration of parents, relatives, and friends who try to reach or "rescue" them. There are no easy solutions to this problem.

In the final analysis, the book presents a hopeful outlook. Not only can individuals leave abusive churches and achieve recovery and restoration, but there are encouraging signs that some groups are themselves recognizing the need for change and are moving away from the fringe towards the centre. May their numbers increase.

This book can be obtained at www.amazon.com.

Counterfeit Revival by Hank Hanegraaff

From the Back Cover

The best-selling expose

by the host of The Bible Answer Man broadcast,

expanded and updated for the 21st century

COUNTERFEIT REVIVAL goes behind the scenes and uncovers the contradictions, false experiences, spiritual deception, and seductive allure of esoteric experience masquerading under the banner of truth. COUNTERFEIT REVIVAL draws you into the wildly popular and bizarre world of contemporary revivalism as it documents the devastating impact on congregations world-wide.

Counterfeit Revival provides biblical remedies to counter a paradigm shift that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of contemporary Christianity.

Hank Hanegraaff knows what he is talking about. He brings his unique talent, knowledge, research, and experience to full expression in this eminently readable, inherently memorable, and exhaustively documented evaluation of today's revivalism.

Satan is a master counterfeiter. Rather than presenting evil in its naked deformity, he masquerades as an angel of enlightenment. He wants people to encounter him and think they are in touch with the living God. His deception is a counterfeit revival.

"Truth is so obscure in these times and falsehood so established,

that unless we love the truth, we cannot know it."

--Blaise Pascal

HANK HANEGRAAFF serves as President and Chairman of the board of the Christian Research Institute International...Hanegraaff also hosts "The Bible Answer Man" radio program and is the author of popular books such as RESURRECTION and THE FACE THAT DEMONSTRATES THE FARCE OF EVOLUTION...

Contents

Part 1 - Fabrications, Fantasies and Frauds...

1. The Holy Ghost Bartender
2. The Party
3. The Vineyard Connection
4. The Pensacola Outpouring
5. The Fatal Fruit

Part 2 - Lying Signs and Wonders

1. Animals, Animation, Advertisements, and Athletics
2. A Jack with a Lantern
3. A Great Apostasy
4. A Great Awakening
5. A Muddy Mixture

Part 3 - End Time Restorationizm

1. End Time Restoration of Tongues
2. End Time Restoration of Healing
3. End Time Restoration of Charismatic Unity
4. End Time Restoration of Super Prophets and Apostles
5. End Time Restoration Hoaxes

Part 4 - Slain in the Spirit

1. Sisters
2. Suspect Slayings
3. Shakers and Quakers
4. Seven Scriptural Pretexts
5. Structural Defects

Part 5 - Hypnotism

1. The Arrival of the Mesmerist
2. The Altered State of Consciousness
3. The Psychology of Peer Pressure
4. The Exploitation of Expectations
5. The Subtle Power of Suggestion

"It is easy to make someone believe a lie but very hard to undo that work again."

--Mark Twain

Toxic Faith by Stephen Arterburn & Jack Felton

From the Back Cover

Healing Your Faith

Most of us began our journey into faith with trusting hearts. Yet incidents of abuse, media accounts of perverted religion, personal disappointment, loss, betrayal, and even unrealistic expectations of God can cause us to develop a warped or damaged view of faith. Too often, what began as an authentic relationship with God deteriorates into a defective faith with an incomplete or poisoned view of God -- one that allows the religion, not the relationship with God, to control our life.

• Heal your distorted view of God as weak, distant, and uncaring.

• Find release from your striving to earn God's love.

• Break free from an unhealthy dependency on religion.

• Learn how you can once again grow in the grace and knowledge of God.

• Learn how you can rediscover the reality of true faith in a loving God as you move beyond the suffocating limits of your own toxic faith.

Stephen Arterburn is the founder and chairman of New Life Clinics, host of the "New Life Live!" national radio program, and creator of the Women of Faith conferences. He is also a nationally known speaker, a licensed minister, and best selling author of more than two dozen books, including More Jesus, Less Religion.

Jack Felton is a licensed therapist, an ordained minister at New Hope Christian Counseling Center, and president and founder of Compassion Move Ministries. He is a frequent lecturer in the southern California area and has made numerous local and national television and radio appearances.

Table of Contents

Ch. 1 - The Extremes of Toxic Faith

Ch. 2 - What Are Toxic Faith and Religious Addiction?

Ch. 3 - Twenty-one Beliefs of a Toxic Faith

Ch. 4 - When Religion Becomes an Addiction

Ch. 5 - Religious Addiction: The Progression

Ch. 6 - Ten Characteristics of a Toxic-Faith System

Ch. 7 - The Five Roles in a Toxic-Faith System

Ch. 8 - Ten Rules of a Toxic-Faith System

Ch. 9 - Treatment and Recovery

Ch. 10 - Seventeen Characteristics of Healthy Faith

Appendix A: Do You Have Toxic Faith?

Appendix B: Twelve Steps to Overcoming Toxic Faith

Good and Bad Spirituality

If I were asked for a yardstick to discern good from bad spirituality, I would suggest three criteria to be detached from: material gain, self-importance, and the urge to dominate others. Unfortunately, much of what is labeled spiritualty in America today moves in the opposite direction. It means using the names of God and Christ to promote one's own importance, material gain, and right to oppress others.

-Rosemary Radford Ruether, Professor of Theology

You may obtain a copy of this book from www.newlife.com.