What I have not seen is anything that vaguely resembles the things I read in the Gospels and the Book of Acts. Verifiable miracles. Documented miracles. And especially, the 100% track record that Jesus and the apostles had. Whatever they tried to do, they did. With Jesus there were times when people's faith failed, and so they did not come asking for His help. But those who did finally come, wherever He was, were never sent home disappointed. Never. Same with Peter and Paul. Faith reached out, the power of God responded, and voila! the miracle.

Today, one of the best of the faith healers will tell you he expects no more than 10% of his crowd to receive anything. And should you stand at the back door and allow the "healed" to walk by you, you might be saddened to find that most of the healings were not true healings after all.

An Unheralded Apostle?

Now I bring you the stories of the man who is the subject of this study. Well respected, getting more and more well known. Educated. Likable. Fun speaker. Fairly knowledgeable in the Scriptures. And announcing a claim to miracles that, if true, would help fulfill the statement of Jesus that "Greater works than these shall you do." If true, his recorded miracles would surpass the number accorded to any of the prophets or apostles we read of in Holy Writ.

Now, no one knows exactly how many miracles Jesus and His students performed, all told. Ditto with Elijah, Elisha, Moses. We assume there are more than actually recorded. With the brother in question, no less than twelve major breath-taking supernatural encounters have been a part of his own personal history. And he relates in the book thirty or more knock-down-drag-out miracles that he confidently affirms happened at his hands or the hands of someone he was watching in the same meeting. Oh my!

When I wrote to his organization, my eyes were made to pop even more by an associate who with coolness informed me that, indeed, the team of this man has witnessed thousands of miraculous events.

If he is telling us the absolute truth, the miracles that have been done by his hands and those around him should be heralded in all the news media, regardless of anti-Christian bias. Let the media put whatever spin they want on his teachings, and the source of his powers, but the miracles themselves would create a news frenzy that could not be handled

If the word of his miracles circulates from eyewitnesses to ear-witnesses, then surely every place he goes will not only be well-attended, but he will not be able to find a safe place to rest, as was the case with His Master.

Is that how it is with this man, and, yes, all the other men who are making such claims? Is there a media frenzy when this man comes to town, or to church? The claims he makes demand it! Is it there?

I do not wish to deny or affirm anything I have read or heard of this man. I've learned that only the cold-hearted deny everything and only the gullible affirm everything. I simply wish to lay out for you the "facts" as he sees them in his popular book, and ask you, what do you think?

I will also present to you doctrine and other material from his teachings, strange-sounding (to me) statements he makes, and ask you to be the judge (in the discernment sense, not the condemning sense), and ask again, Is this man to be believed?

We will talk about things he has re-defined from Scripture, re-named. And then there is the autobiographical portion with which we must deal.

Then you will be in a position to ask, What shall we do about it? About him, and about claims being made all over the church by others these days? Merely ignore them, and hope they go away (if indeed they are false). Let many others know about them?

Of course, if he can truly produce witnesses, documents, or even some sorrow, if he has embellished a bit? Though he is adamant about not having done that.

I want to emphasize once more that I am not an unbeliever. I have served the Lord many years. I happen to believe that our God is very much alive, and can do anything He wants, that we are willing to believe Him for. Anything. Even the fantastic claims of this book.

But could it be they are just claims? Are certain men taking advantage of an admittedly low-energy Western Church to restructure that church, and make room for themselves as the new leaders of it? No question that miracles, or even the talk of them, will draw a crowd. And when you see his emphasis on the new wave of apostolic leaders coming to the fore, you will understand that restructuring is on the way, if these men have their way.

You may one day have to make a decision of your own about men like these who seem to be popping up everywhere. I offer this investigation to help your thinking process stay Word-founded.

The Dancing Hand of God , James Maloney, 2008: Bible fact check

Now you know the man, and his book.

I would like you, if you will, to page through Mr. Maloney's book with me and see for yourself the hesitations that confronted my thinking. I will not quote him exactly, at least very much, due to copyright laws. Rather I will give you a sense of what was said, and then place Scriptural thought or words next to it. Here we go...

Page 9. As will become evident to some, Maloney's ideas are not only his own. Teachings like his have become almost commonplace in some circles of the church. Not sure why. Take Zephaniah 3. Not a major theological point. Maloney says that this chapter tells us that Jesus dances over His children. I scoured my NKJV to see if indeed this were the case. "Singing" and "rejoicing" are mentioned, but not dancing. I checked out all the other translations to which I have access. Nada. No dancing. Whether it is dancing or singing or just making a fuss over us, can we look at the context?

Context has become the "c" word among us. Charismatic-leaning people in particular have been guilty of stretching Old Testament prophecies to say whatever they want them to say. Sad hermeneutics prevail in some churches. But it is very important to know 1) who is speaking, 2) to whom is that person speaking, and 3) what time period is in view. Very important.

God is speaking, no question about that. Or at the very least, a Spirit-filled prophet named Zephaniah. And He is speaking to Israel, says verse 14. Telling them to be glad and rejoice!

Why so happy? Because of that third identifier, the time period. It is the time of the very end. All of Israel's judgments are finished! No more holocausts, not because Israel says so, but because God says so. "You shall see disaster no more."

Has this happened? Why Israel sees disaster nearly every day of the week, and her greatest one is still ahead. It is "in that day" that it will be said that the Lord is in their midst, that is, physically here, reigning in Jerusalem as King of the Earth! In that day the Lord Jesus Christ will rejoice over His remnant people, and all His followers in song, and who knows? perhaps in dance too.

What made us think He is doing that now? Perhaps He is, but this passage in no way points that direction.