Baptism of the Holy Spirit: Why You Need Miracles Now More Than Ever

With such an abundance of documentation in the canonical book The Acts of the Apostles, or as it is also referred to The Acts of the Holy Spirit, regarding the mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit, it is odd to me that not a small number of modern believers are inimical to the subject.

The question is, why do so many either resist or outright deny the infilling and overflowing of the Holy Spirit? There is no single definitive answer. Several reasons become immediately obvious for why the baptism of the Holy Ghost is ignored, overlooked, denied, and even ridiculed by some Christians.

If you were to pose the question, as I have, to current church attenders concerning why miracles are no longer commonplace, most usually shrug and say, “I don’t know.” Another response sounds a lot like: “Only Jesus did miracles, because He was God.” Then there is always the standard, “We don’t need miracles anymore.” Let me unpack these answers or excuses in order.

The first one, “I don’t know” is probably the most honest of the three. Even a casual reading of the four gospels reveals a plethora of miracles. The volumes of miraculous manifestations continue unabated throughout The Acts of the Apostles, and to a certain extent through the remainder of the New Testament. There, modern churchgoers face a dilemma of doctrine: why are there so many miracles recorded in the Bible, while none are present in their own experience? What is missing? Can anything be done about it? The answers are the baptism of the Holy Ghost—and yes!

A major hindrance to experiencing miracles today is that those who fill our pulpits are silent on the subject. To destroy the church, all that is necessary is for the preacher to become reticent. I have witnessed the mere mention of miracles elicit sheepish embarrassment from pastors. Tragic yet true, I addressed this ministerial bankruptcy of backbone in my book The Miracles of Jesus. Here is an excerpt:

For many in our modern world, the very idea of miracles is ridiculous. They see no need for such a thing, and the thought of actually wanting a miracle is anathema to them. To acknowledge miracles would be an admission that there is a supernatural world, and that would mean they would have to admit the possibility of a supernatural God. And if there was a God, they would have to decide what to do with Him— to believe in Him, and trust and obey Him, or to reject Him and deal with the consequences of that decision.

The idea of miracles to postmodern man conjures images of chanted incantations and superstitious exercises. But for all their sophistication and information, overindulged moderns are woefully unprepared for conflict, whether it is natural or spiritual. They are in touch with their feelings, but have lost touch with the spiritual aspect of their existence.

In contrast, the man living in a remote region of the world may not know about space flight or the Internet, but he will surely know that there is a spiritual component to his life. He may respond to that knowledge imperfectly, since he many have never heard the gospel message, but he knows that the spirit realm is real and must be reckoned with. Could it be that this man is better positioned to respond to God’s intervention than the cosmopolitan urbanite?

This stubborn insistence that miracles—indeed, any supernatural influences—are unnecessary, at least in the Western world, is due to what I have often referred to as our ungodly affluence. As a result, we perceive no need for miracles. After all, we have the best doctors, the finest lawyers, and the most accomplished accountants, as well as an army of others who will meet our needs and cater to our wishes. The idea of miracles, or any form of the supernatural, is therefore dismissed as primitive and old-fashioned notions that are unnecessary and unenlightened.

The second objection in regard to the seeming lack of miracles today involves the Lord Jesus performing miracles because He was God. This assumes that no one else could operate in the miraculous, because obviously they are not God. This response is totally erroneous for a couple of reasons. One is that the Lord Jesus never did anything, miraculous or otherwise, during His earthly ministry exclusively because He was Emmanuel (God with us). He was and is God. The Bible states emphatically from where Christ’s ability and propensity to operate in the supernatural came. Here it is in Acts 10:38:

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

We have no biblical record of the Lord Jesus ever performing miracles previous to being thus anointed for service at John’s baptism in the River Jordan (Matthew 3:16). It was only after He received, as a result of the anointing by the Holy Spirit, that He began His mighty ministry confirmed with manifestations of the supernatural.

Here is further verification, from John 14:12; notice that King Jesus did not hesitate and proclaimed boldly: “Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in Me will do the works that I do also. And he will do greater works than these, because I am going to My Father.” First of all, please note the because. Our power is available as a direct result of Jesus returning to His Father and sending the Holy Ghost. The Savior made this statement to His disciples, all of whom were mere men. Therefore, if the only reason Jesus could work miracles was because He was God, He could not legitimately expect His disciples to work them, since they were not God!

The obvious conclusion is that our Lord’s miracles were accomplished as a man anointed by the Holy Spirit. He powerfully and prophetically informed His disciples that they could, in fact, do the same works He did (that is, miracles, signs, and wonders) by the same mighty power and authority that enabled Him to do so. That power was the agency and presence of the Holy Ghost.

The Lord Jesus was not the only person who was used with miraculous results in the Bible. The book of The Acts of the Apostles is replete with supernatural incidents, not accomplished by our Savior but by those who believed in Him. Miracles were not limited to the Redeemer in any way. Nor was their scope narrowed to those apostles whom He had chosen. Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul the Apostle, received the restoration of his eyesight after Ananias, an otherwise unknown believer, laid his hands upon him (Acts 9:17-18). Many miracles occurred during a revival in Samaria that began when Philip, the former deacon, went there to proclaim the gospel. This is biblical truth that proves beyond contradiction that miracles were in no way limited to the apostles only.

The third objection I cited in reference to miracles is that they are no longer needed. My response is, “Who says we don’t need miracles?” In many churches, they may be rare or extinct, but to say we don’t need them is nothing more than presumption or extreme hubris, not to mention selfish. What people are really doing when they voice such a shortsighted rebuttal is that they refuse to consider that God is real and involved in the affairs of men. This is the evil, malignant fruit of secular humanism rotten to its core. However, regardless of how deceived or misinformed one becomes, there can be no escaping the truth that we are spiritual beings. Here is another excerpt from my book The Miracles of Jesus:

I believe it is clear that regardless of how earnestly modern civilization emphasizes the conveniences that technology gives us, we still look for the miraculous. In fact, I believe we need miracles, whether we want to admit it or not. To explain why, I need to direct you to the creation account in the book of Genesis. Genesis 2:7 says: Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.

We have been created tripartite beings. The essence of our identity is spirit. We are spirits that have come directly from the Creator. We live in natural bodies, which enable us to remain on the earth, and we possess souls, which enable us to reason, to choose and to feel emotion. But the reality is that we are spirit beings first. That is our true nature, and we cannot deny it. Men may do all kinds of things to camouflage it and cover it up, to ignore it and ridicule it, but the fact is we are spiritual creatures.

The reason that men have an insatiable curiosity about spiritual things is because God created us as spiritual beings. We need Him to complete us—to fulfill the longing in our hearts for something more than the physical world we live in. We need to know that our lives have value and meaning apart from the number, size or value of all our natural possessions. We may experience pleasure from a proliferation of material things, but true satisfaction and fulfillment can only come from something greater than toys or trinkets, regardless of how much they cost or how impressive they appear.

Manufacturers, retailers and advertisers try to convince people that their lives would be complete if they only had the latest fad or food or feature that they will provide for a fee. But as many materialists have discovered to their dismay, a lot of money does not correlate to a lot of happiness.

In fact, some of the most miserable people alive also have the most money, popularity or notoriety. After having exhausted themselves with amusements, people look for something that is more satisfying. Many become involved with nominally or overtly spiritual pursuits, even those that have nothing to do with God.

There is a horoscope in nearly every newspaper that is published. Fortune tellers do business in every city and community. Board games that actively invite occult activity are perennial favorites. Involvement in cults, witchcraft and Satanism continue to be popular among the rich and famous as well as the poor and unknown.

Drug abuse is rampant among all socioeconomic groups. Many begin dabbling in drugs to see what kind of images they will perceive or experiences they will have under the influence of controlled substances. Before long, they face the deadly specter of addiction, with all the costs and consequences that go along with it. These people are all looking for the supernatural. And in some cases, they find it, but the price they must pay for a glimpse into the dark regions of the spiritual world is high indeed.

Even participation in such innocent hobbies as science fiction, fantasy or horror may be due to a longing to connect with something more meaningful than a life of stultifying sameness. I believe that there is a reason that so many millions worldwide are heading down blind alleys and dead ends while searching for meaning and truth. It is because they are compelled to seek connection with something or someone who can truly assign greater purpose to their lives. That search can only be satisfied in God.

May we plead for more of our great God’s involvement and His intervention in our lives, not less. In many cases, divine intervention will occur in the form of miracles or other supernatural manifestations that prove who God is. The miraculous confirms the oversight and involvement of the Almighty in our lives.

Another lightning rod of controversy among believers when it comes to the supernatural is that spiritual things can be falsely attributed with generating divisiveness in the church. During the charismatic renewal, which accelerated in the 1960s, some members of traditional denominational churches happily received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Those churches were challenged by this development, not because it was unscriptural, but because it created the need for them to examine their long-standing theology.

Local churches and entire organizations became divided about whether the baptism of the Holy Spirit was legitimate. A number affirmed that it was consistent with their doctrine, and others held that it was not. In not a few cases, those who resisted change and desired to maintain the status quo accused those who had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit of causing schism and division.

Quite the opposite was true—those who rejected the validity of the baptism in the Holy Ghost were actually creating the problem. They summarily rejected even the possibility of anyone receiving something from God that did not necessarily mesh with their denominational doctrine or preconceived paradigm. The baptism of the Holy Ghost was regarded as a “new development” within their established ranks. Their position was that those who had received the infilling and overflowing of the Holy Spirit were the instigators and insurrectionists.

The Old Testament is illuminating on this issue in 1 Kings 18. Israel was in the deadly grip of a famine, which had been prophesied by Elijah. Dust, destitution, and the dark specter of death scorched the earth as it thirsted for rain. Ahab and Elijah finally met. First Kings 18:17 tells the story: “When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, ‘Are you he that troubles Israel?’” Ahab, true to his ungodly nature, attempted to accuse God’s prophet of being a troublemaker. After all, Elijah was the one whose words accurately forecast the famine, so it would seem apparent that Ahab was correct. However, that is not the end of the story. Listen to Elijah’s riveting response in verse 18:

And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals.”

Elijah was not responsible for the drought; he had only given heaven’s prophetic response to the apostasy and idolatry of Ahab and his regime. Ahab had forsaken and insulted the God of Israel and worshiped another deity. God withheld the rain and announced it by Elijah’s prophecy as a consequence. So, as the late, brilliant radio host Paul Harvey would say, “Now you know the rest of the story.”

Could it be that rains of God’s refreshing and revival have been withheld not because multitudes of God’s people are crying out to Him earnestly seeking and desiring everything He has for them? Isn’t the actual problem the attitudes and platitudes of those in places of authority in the church refusing the blessing of the baptism of the Holy Ghost that the living God has for them and for every believer?

Regrettably, this sad scenario has played out in countless churches over the years. There are those who dare to ask for and receive more of Almighty God’s promise of power than they have ever been aware of in the past. They begin to understand that there truly is so much more to the Christian life than they have ever been told or that they have ever experienced. God the Holy Spirit floods and fills their entire being to overflowing with Himself. Believers thus empowered, ablaze with the holy fire of God, cannot keep it to themselves. They begin to tell everyone what the Holy Ghost has done in and for them in direct response to exactly what our Bible prophetically declares will happen when we receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. We become flaming witnesses of the power of God to save, heal, and deliver (Acts 1:8). We must guard against the propensity of those who have not had the same experience rising up to accuse those who have of dividing the church. The issue is not that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not authentic—but rather because it does not conform to long-standing church dogma. We must never allow the victimizers to blame the victims for the problem without recognizing their own refusal to acknowledge the truth.