Mark 16:16-18
16
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17 And
these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall
they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
If it's one continuous Gospel throughout the NT, then every believer should be able to do these things. Jesus placed no time limit upon these "signs" listed above. There are those who claim ONLY ONE of these things as being operational, and yet they do not go out and even attempt these other things, such as laying hands upon the sick and they recover.
Now, if it's all one Gospel throughout, with all the Gospel elements mentioned by different apostles being under one dispensation, then why can't those who claim to "believe" do these things without resorting to diversionary tactics by claiming that they can "pray" in the tongues of angels? It's always claims for things unverifiable. God never operates on that basis all the time.
Given the sheer number of those who claim to be believers, why are hospitals and clinics growing in size and number, with ICU's filled with the infirmed, with many in those institutions being professing believers whose health has been ruined by the large amounts of lead, arsenic, cadmium and other harmful metals and chemicals in our food supply here in the West?
Just go to
this website and you will see a listing of LAB TESTED foods on the market that have unsafe levels of these and other deadly chemicals and metals in foods we all eat, and based upon our own Government's levels for safety.
Why are believers today dying so young from these things if Jesus was speaking to us today along with those people back then? Are you all not believers according to how the Bible defines those who "believe?" Most can and will ignore these questions, fearing to dare try and grapple with their own inabilities in these things, especially with the indictment of "...
these things SHALL follow THEM THAT BELIEVE..." Don't you believe?
If you believe, then why can't you do ALL or even SOME of these things. Yammering in gibberish isn't a gift or proof of being filled with Holy Spirit. The language of Mark 16 doesn't at all imply a limitation to only one of these items being operable within each individual believer, or even combinations, but instead says, in plural, to all who believe, THEY will do these things in the name of Jesus.
Rather than to ignore the question as does Roberts and so many others of his ilk, why aren't you all out there emptying the hospitals and clinics? Why are so many professing believers laid up in hospitals, and why are so many people out there possessed of devils in the asylums and prisons? Why are so many professing believers falling victim to the impurities in the food supply and water supply.
Never mind the accusations of unbelief leveled against me, explain why YOU can't do these things is they are all still operable? Don't you have faith? Don't you believe? This has nothing to do with me and what I believe or don't believe. Just answer the questions if you think you can without resorting to the feebleness of accusation against others and myself.
What I DO believe is that we today CAN'T do these things because those things were not written TO us under the Gospel of Grace as preached by Paul to the Jews and Gentiles. Nowhere did Paul preach the continuance of those things under the Gospel of Grace. Those things were promised under the Kingdom Gospel that nowhere pointed to the shed Blood of Christ in crucifixion, burial and resurrection. Only Paul's Gospel declared saving faith based upon those last three items as the Gospel that saves. Not water baptism, but simply faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Not by works, but by faith.
I was married to a Charismatic for 23 years before she died from COVID...but not because she lacked faith, but because none of those things are possessed by, nor empowered to, believers today. The mustard seed of faith was preached to those who were under the Kingdom Gospel, not to Jews and Gentiles under the Gospel of Grace.
Preaching the gospel of works as we see in James 2 is "another gospel" not meant for us today. Sound radical and heretical to your ears? If so, then put your faith to the test by getting your fat backsides out there and start trying to work those miracles, and your lack of any ABILITY and EMPOWERMENT to work any of those things will have them rolling on the sidewalks and floors in laughter at the delusional clown show of it all.
I believe Paul and the believers of that time did indeed have those miracles working through them, but the revelation of the mystery brought them to an end with the decline and setting aside of Israel in order to usher in the age of grace since Israel had failed in her duty to be the source for salvation unto the Gentile world.
So, what I disbelieve is that ANYONE here and beyond can lay hands on the sick and heal them, and that you can't do any of those other things as operators under the Kingdom Gospel. The REAL lack of faith here is in those who fail to rightly divide the word of truth. Some will twist my words to their own evil ends, and that is what it is. Witt will never empower anyone to work all those things in a world filled with people who need the TRUE Gospel.
MM