MIRACLES ARE OVERRATED

“Nothing attracts people like miracles.” This simple statement explains the motivation and
deceptive nature behind the fad of pulling people to be involved in a show of drama—using
promise of miracles as the bait.
Nowadays, the leaders that mount the pews are now after psychological manipulation
seduction. They now aim at stirring up euphoria in the atmosphere just to make sure they
gather lots of people. It would have been great if these people came to seek God, but no; they
simply came for a cinema show of signs and wonders from a God they never cared to know
about. Besides, they came to see magicians perform miracles; they didn’t come to seek God.
Many so-called men of God have seen the powerful pulling effect of miracles in attracting
people. And they’ve obviously been able to do quite a lot in making sure people come for
their crusades and outdoor meetings using dubious means to achieve such ends. They look for
catchy themes for their event, all in the quest to insidiously bait and catch people.
One of such so-called men of God is the German-born con man and faith healer, the famous
born-again scoundrel, Peter Popoff. Peter, in many of his faith healing crusades was known
for calling out names, phones numbers, and home address of particular people from his
congregation. Sometimes, he even went further to name the sickness ailing them and praying
for instant healing.
Many people believed Peter to be a true man of God until he met his waterloo in 1986. He
was taken down by arch skeptic James Randi on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. Randi,
along with a private investigator, attended one of Popoff’s then-popular prophetic “faith-
healing” crusades, and discovered that Popoff’s prophetic messages from God were really
just pieces of information picked up by his staff and whispered into Popoff’s earpiece by his
wife, Elizabeth.
Reports reveal that fifteen months later, Popoff and his organization filed for bankruptcy and
disappeared from public view.1
The manner in which Popoff’s ministry ended clearly shows the reason behind all the
shadiness that surrounded his ministry, which motivated him use lies to attract a lot of crowd:
His avarice for money. He knew that if he was going to be rich, then people had to come for
his gatherings. He knew that miracles attracted people and was determined to use it to lure his
snare. The snare where you give all the money you have to the ‘man of God’ in exchange for
a miracle.
Without a doubt, a man could be a true miracle worker for a while, and later on miss God yet
the ability to perform miracle stays with him. That means God doesn’t collect back the gifts
that he gives. This is the reason pagans and all kinds of people in all kinds of religions
perform miracles—yet still live grossly objectionable lives. This is with Satan being their
master.
Surely, we shouldn’t priorities miracles in our lives. We shouldn’t make it the basis for
trusting a man of God. Because if we become just miracle seeker, instead of God seekers,
then we become vulnerable to the deception of so-called men of God. These men of God also
become tempted to act like clowns displaying fake miracles instead of revealing God to the
people.
The word “clown” brings to mind the famous Dan Rice. Rice was a popular clown during the
19th century. An household name at the time. He was so popular that he coined terms that are
still in usage today, i.e., “one horse show” and “greatest show”. Your guess us as good as
mine: He was good at attracting people for his shows.
This made politician, Zachary Taylor hire him to campaign for him. The success of Rice’s
campaign for Zachary Taylor resulted in subsequent attempts by other politicians to try to
copy his approach. This led to the coinage of the term, the “bandwagon effect.” So, called
men of God have become clown that use fake miracles to attract attendee for their circus
show—all in the quest to get money from them, like Peter Popoff did. You hear phrases such
as, “break the back of poverty with a thousand dollars”, where in fact; there could be nothing
further from the truth.
Miracles Make You Wait on God
Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m waiting on God for my miracle?” But the question is,
when do you suppose God will answer you? That statement seems to suggest that God is
holding something back from us and we have to wait for him to release it. This doesn’t only
paint God in a negative and false light; it also makes us become inactive and irresponsible
creatures on earth, waiting for God to give us something and blaming him if we never get it.
While you’re waiting on God, apparently, you won’t get working because you believe you
cannot get anything done yourself so God has to do for you what you were suppose to do
yourself. This is what miracles make you become: irresponsible.
The sad story for ardent miracle seeker is this: The earth wasn’t made to function by
miracles. In other words, God is not the one meant to manage the earth, but man. Miracles are
God’s action. We need the action of man on the earth. Man was meant to mange the earth,
while God already put everything we need on earth for man to function on the earth and fulfil
his purpose. You don’t impress God by looking for what he does, you impress God by doing
things he created you to do with whatever resources you have available.
Moses was closer to God than the children of Israel that only sought miracles. The bible
enunciates: He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel. 2 If you’re
smart, you’ll seek for knowledge of God rather than miracles. You’ll seek for his heart rather
than his hands.
We shouldn’t become so spiritually minded that we lose earthly relevance. The truth is, if we
determine to fulfil our purpose for being on the earth, instead of seeing miracles, our lives
will be an example of a living miracle. In short, miracles are supposed to chase and follow
after us, not we chasing after miracles.
Miracle: Fulfilling Your Purpose on Earth
The Bible clearly states that miraculous signs will accompany those who believe.3 And all
these happen while we’re doing what he called us to do on the earth. By the way, what’s the
purpose of miracles, signs and wonders? An understanding of this will make us see that
miracles aren’t really a big deal because our lives ought to be the miracle that people see.
First, Jesus states in John 4:48, “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.”
Believing in God requires some signs. We need to know that God exist. And these signs
ought to direct us to him.
Signs, in their simplest definition, are indications. They indicate, point, tell, show or direct us
to something. If you were looking for a stadium where people play sports, you’ll need a sign
that points you to the stadium. When you see the sign, you won’t make a feast around the
sign because that’s still not your destination. They sign is never your goal, the goal is the
stadium you were looking for.
Now, a wonder is also a sign, but it’s a sign that amazes us. Hence, the words “miracle”,
“sign” and “wonders” are synonymous: they all point us to something. They point us to God.
Your life ought to be a sign that will give indications and directions such that when people
see you, they will be amazed at the wonderful things that God is doing in and through you.
That is the miracle that God wants to reveal on the earth: Your life purpose. So as Jesus right
said, “except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe” (John 4:48), people can now
believe in God through you.
Miracles aren’t necessarily external observable phenomenon that can’t be seen by careful
observation, they are inside you. Jesus says it this way, “The kingdom of God cometh not
with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or there, lo there! For, behold, the
kingdom of God is within you.”4
Be the miracle that the whole world is seeking. When you use what God has given you to
bless the world, that’s a miracle. Hence, stop seeking miracles, seek God, and he’ll make
your life a wonder.
1
https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/the_woman_who_took_on_popoff_the_hidden_story_of_crystal_sanchez_the_pe
ter_/
2
Psalm 103:7 (NIV)
3
Mark 16:17, NLT
4
Luke 17:20-21, KJV