Miracles, Magic, and Money Business!

Rev. Angela Lee Price
You see them everyday on cable television early in the morning and in the wee hours of the night, the prosperity "profits "peddling their miracle products and magic potions. It seems there is a "free" product for every situation, for every "going through," and it appears handkerchiefs are the stuff miracles are made of this season. There is...

1. Don Stewart and his green "Miracle Prosperity" handkerchief. He says if you make a vow of tithe of $1,000 or $500 and he will get 'Pookie' out of jail. I say that if you had $1,000, you could get 'Pookie' out of jail yourself.
2. The screaming Kerney Thomas and his Personal Prayer Package. His is the red "Blood of Jesus" handkerchief. Hmm...He needs to talk to Don Stewart so that they can get their colors straight. Which is it, the red hanky or the green one? I bet a few Deltas and AKAs could have some fun with this one.
3. Paul Lewis and his Miracle Olive Oil Soap. Won't a bar of pure shea butter soap and a bottle of olive oil do?
4. Peter Popoff and his Miracle Spring Water. Popoff got caught several years ago lying at one of his crusades about personal prophecies. It wasn't God talking to him afterall, but his wife talking to him through a hearing aid concealed in his ear. He is back and on BET. Lie to me once, shame on you. Lie to me twice, shame on me!
   
   

Judging from all I've seen on television lately, it would appear that this is the stuff miracles are made of this season! The cable television "profits" often quote Acts 19:11-12 to support their claims that handkerchiefs can heal you, that handkerchiefs can bring you financial blessings, "God was performing unusual miracles through Paul. Even handkerchiefs and aprons he had used were taken to the sick, and their diseases were driven away, and evil spirits would go out of them."

However, read down a little further in that chapter. You will discover that the seven sons of Sceva tried to do the same thing, but "...the evil spirit said to them 'I know Jesus, and I know about Paul, but you-who are you?' The man who had the evil spirit in him attacked them with such violence that he overpowered them all. They ran away from his house, wounded and with their clothes torn off " (Acts 19: 15-16).

Don't call on the "seven sons of Sceva," and their miracle products. Be careful when preachers tell you that you need certain objects, handkerchiefs, soaps, oils to give you what only God can give. It's a trick of the enemy that diverts your attention away from God and on to man. I'm not saying don't use anointing oil. I am saying it is wrong to use such items as gimmicks and as the sole remedies for healings and miracles.

Call on Jesus Christ and the whole counsel of His Word. Call Him up, as the seniors use to say, and tell'em what you want. He is a miracle worker! He will pick you up, turn you around, and place your feet on solid ground. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to thine own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will direct your paths." Turn off the television, open the door to the Word of God, and Jesus will come in.

Remember, it is not Mohammad, Buddha, Confucius, nor New Age that saves. Jesus saves!