USING BIBLICAL HISTORY TO JUSTIFY RELIGIOUS ABSURDITY (PART III)

“Scripture Is Our Authority, Not Their Supernatural Stories”

By Akin Ojumu

In the preceding installments, we examined the extraordinary assignments God gave several Old Testament prophets and demonstrated why the mere occurrence of an event in Scripture does not make that event normative for Christians today.

We also examined the claim that Jesus’ promise of greater works in John 14:12 provides biblical authorization for the spectacular supernatural stories told by today’s self-appointed apostles, prophets, and General Overseers.

As we have seen, that argument rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of Scripture.

But there is another equally serious problem.

The defenders of these modern religious celebrities seem to imagine that questioning a preacher’s supernatural claims is equivalent to denying the supernatural acts of God recorded in the Bible.

This is a false equivalence.

THE BIBLE DOES NOT ASK US TO BELIEVE EVERY SUPERNATURAL STORY

I believe that God parted the Red Sea. That does not obligate me to believe a Nigerian pastor who claims he can command the Atlantic Ocean to divide.

I believe Elijah was taken up into heaven. That does not obligate me to believe a contemporary preacher who claims he regularly flies through the air without an aircraft.

I believe the apostle Paul was caught up to the third heaven. That does not obligate me to accept the testimony of every religious celebrity who claims to have visited heaven.

And I believe that Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead. That does not require me to accept every unverified resurrection story advertised by a modern miracle ministry.

FAITH IN THE MIRACLES RECORDED IN SCRIPTURE IS NOT AN OBLIGATION TO BELIEVE EVERY SUPERNATURAL CLAIM MADE OUTSIDE SCRIPTURE.

In fact, Scripture explicitly commands believers to exercise discernment.

1 John 4:1

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

Notice that John does not command Christians to accept every supernatural claim without examination.

He commands them to test.

Acts 17:11 commends the Bereans because they examined the Scriptures daily to determine whether what Paul preached was true.

Even Paul’s teaching was subjected to scriptural examination. Yet today’s self-appointed apostles and prophets expect their followers to accept extravagant supernatural claims without scrutiny.

Ask for biblical justification, and you are accused of lacking revelation.

Ask for evidence, and you are accused of unbelief.

Question their doctrines, and you are accused of dishonoring a man of God.

Challenge their extraordinary experiences, and you are warned against touching the Lord’s anointed.

Apparently, the same Bible that commands believers to test all things must be suspended whenever the person being questioned carries the title of Apostle, Prophet, Bishop, or General Overseer.

How convenient!

MIRACLES IN SCRIPTURE HAD A PURPOSE BEYOND SPECTACLE

Biblical miracles were not meaningless exhibitions of supernatural power. They served identifiable purposes within God’s unfolding plan of redemption.

The miracles of Moses accompanied God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt.

The signs performed through Elijah and Elisha testified to the authority of God’s word in the midst of widespread apostasy and idolatry.

The miracles of Jesus revealed His identity, demonstrated the arrival of God’s kingdom, manifested His compassion, and bore witness to His messianic mission.

John 20:30–31 explicitly identifies the purpose of the signs recorded in his Gospel: that readers might believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and have life in His name.

John 20:30-31

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

The apostolic signs likewise bore witness to the Gospel proclaimed by Christ’s appointed messengers.

Hebrews 2:3–4 describes God bearing witness to the message of salvation through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 2:3-4

“How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”

Paul also refers to signs, wonders, and mighty works in connection with his apostolic ministry.

2 Corinthians 12:12

“The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.”

These miracles were not performed to establish celebrity brands, create religious dynasties, or transform ministers into supernatural demigods.

They testified to God’s revelation and redemptive purposes.

The biblical Prophets and Apostles were not professional entertainers. They were servants entrusted with God’s message.

The central issue was never the greatness of the messenger. It was the authority and glory of the God whose message he proclaimed.

SCRIPTURE MUST BE INTERPRETED, NOT MERELY IMITATED

The tragedy of much contemporary Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity is that biblical narratives have become a warehouse from which religious entrepreneurs extract whatever extraordinary event can be repackaged into a spiritual product.

If Elijah called down fire from heaven, someone must establish a ministry of commanding celestial fire.

If Elisha’s bones were associated with a miraculous resurrection, someone must begin marketing the spiritual significance of visiting the graves of dead preachers.

If Peter’s shadow was associated with healing, someone must develop a doctrine of supernatural shadows.

If Paul was caught up to the third heaven, someone must organize courses on accessing heavenly dimensions.

If an angel opened Peter’s prison doors, someone must begin advertising angelic prison-break anointing.

And if Philip was suddenly carried away by the Spirit, someone must turn supernatural transportation into a contemporary ministerial credential.

But the fact that Luke records Philip being carried away by the Spirit in Acts 8:39–40 does not mean Philip subsequently established an international school of teleportation.

The event was recorded as part of the historical account of the Gospel’s spread. It was not presented as a technique to be learned, a spiritual dimension to be unlocked, or a supernatural achievement by which ministers should measure their anointing.

This is the distinction that the admirers of today’s religious celebrities repeatedly fail to grasp.

A BIBLICAL EVENT IS NOT AUTOMATICALLY A BIBLICAL COMMAND.

A DIVINE EXCEPTION IS NOT AUTOMATICALLY A UNIVERSAL PATTERN.

AND A SUPERNATURAL CLAIM DOES NOT BECOME TRUE MERELY BECAUSE SOMETHING SUPERNATURAL HAPPENED IN THE BIBLE.

The proper interpretation of Scripture demands attention to its literary genre, historical setting, intended audience, covenantal context, and place within the progressive revelation of God's redemptive purposes.

Above all, it demands that we interpret Scripture in the light of the person and finished work of Jesus Christ.

As Paul instructed Timothy:

2 Timothy 2:15

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

Rightly handling the Word of Truth requires more than collecting Bible verses that sound vaguely similar to the latest supernatural testimony from a celebrity preacher.

It requires understanding what the biblical author actually intended to communicate. 

It requires distinguishing historical description from universal prescription.

It requires recognizing the difference between a unique prophetic assignment and an enduring command.

And it requires refusing to turn the extraordinary acts of God in redemptive history into promotional endorsements for contemporary religious showmanship and performative spectacle.

The Bible was not given to validate the imaginations of self-appointed apostles and prophets. It was not written to provide biblical cover for every extravagant supernatural claim made from a pulpit.

And it was certainly not inspired so that religious celebrities could rummage through its pages, retrieve some extraordinary event, and present it as proof that their latest spiritual adventure must be believed.

Not everything God commanded a biblical prophet to do is something He commands us to do. Not every miracle recorded in Scripture establishes a pattern that must be repeated. Not every supernatural experience constitutes a model for Christian spirituality.

And not every man who claims to have encountered God has actually encountered God.

THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY CONFER AUTHORITY ON THE STORIES TOLD BY TODAY’S RELIGIOUS CELEBRITIES.

If these admirers and followers of self-appointed apostles, prophets, and general overseers insist that every extraordinary experience recorded in the Bible validates the supernatural claims of their spiritual daddies and mummies, perhaps they should first explain why their apostles are not lying on their sides for 430 days, cooking over human excreta, eating scrolls, wearing wooden yokes around their necks, or walking naked in public for three years.

After all, those things are also recorded in the Bible.

They cannot selectively invoke biblical precedent when it flatters their spiritual heroes and suddenly discover historical context when the same reasoning produces embarrassing conclusions.

That is not biblical interpretation. That is selective reasoning in the service of religious hero worship.

The Christian’s responsibility is not to defend every extraordinary claim made by someone bearing a religious title. It is to examine all claims in the light of God’s written Word.

SCRIPTURE IS OUR AUTHORITY, NOT THE SUPERNATURAL AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF SELF-APPOINTED APOSTLES AND PROPHETS.

And the moment we fail to recognize that distinction, we cease to be careful students of Scripture and become gullible consumers of religious spectacle.

The Bible must be interpreted faithfully, not exploited imaginatively. 

The purpose of Scripture is not to manufacture a generation of supernatural celebrities whose extraordinary experiences become the measure of Christian spirituality.

Its purpose is to reveal God’s redemptive truth, testify to Jesus Christ, and equip His people for every good work (2 Timothy 3:15–17).

Christ is the center of biblical revelation.

Not the apostle with an international ministry. Not the prophet who claims to command the weather. Not the General Overseer who boasts of drinking tea with God.

And certainly not the religious entertainer who wants us to believe that the extraordinary events recorded in Scripture are credentials validating his supernatural autobiography.

THE BIBLE WAS GIVEN TO REVEAL THE GLORY OF GOD IN JESUS CHRIST, NOT TO PROVIDE PUBLICITY MATERIAL FOR MEN SEEKING TO GLORIFY THEMSELVES.

And the fact that something happened in the Bible is not proof that your spiritual daddy or mummy did it too.