Category: Divine Intervention

A MIRACLE IN THE SNOW

Blog 19 December 5, 2016 MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

Robert Wise explores the world of Divine intervention from an objective point of view. Can 21st Century people believe that the hand of God touches people in today’s world?

Read and you’ll find new insights.

Genesis 16:7-14 describes an angel visiting Hagar, telling her she would have a wild son named Ishmael. From the sound of the story, the angel appeared like a human and would have looked like any of us. In many of the previous blogs, I have described experiences in which angels could be heard speaking through someone’s mind, but were never seen. However, that’s only one dimension to the story. Here’s another type of experience.

My good friend Joe L. Wheeler wrote My Favorite Angel Stories (Pacific Press) describing such an encounter. Kari Surdahl relates she and her mother were traveling to Rapid City, South Dakota when a blizzard struck. Subzero temperatures made the weather extremely dangerous. Kari had slowed down to a crawl when the explosive bang shook the car.

A tire had gone flat!

Kari knew that the freezing temperature made changing the tire dangerous, but they had no alternative. The spare tire had to be put on for them to keep going. And keep going they must in the icy weather.

Kari reasoned that by jumping in and out of car she could keep warm, but snow would have to be brushed away from under the car. The task would be perilous.

With all of her might she tried to turn the wrench and loosen the lug nut. Nothing moved. Kari threw all of her weight on the tool. Nothing. She knew they were in big trouble. She and her mother would freeze to death!

But when Keri told her mother, she got an unexpected response. “The Lords knows our desperate need at this time,” she shouted into the whistling, brutal wind. “Let’s kneel down beside this flat tire and ask him to help us.” Mother an daughter knelt in the snow and called for divine intervention.

As their prayer ended, the bright lights of a pickup truck came up the road. A man who looked like a rancher got out of the truck and offered to help. As Kari watched he turned the wrench effortlessly. She was amazed. The man quickly had the spare on and wished them well.

Kari and her mother were astonished. It had all happened so quickly and completely. They got out of the car to thank him, but he wasn’t there. He’d probably gotten back in his pickup. They went around to the back. There was no pickup. He couldn’t have left without them seeing him go. They looked again.

There were no tire tracks. No sign was left in the snow. The truck and the man just suddenly vanished.

Mother and daughter got back in their car and realized what had happened. An angel had saved their lives.

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WHAT DO MIRACLES TELL US?

BLOG 16 November 7, 2016 MIRACLES NEVER CEASE

Robert Wise explores the world of Divine intervention from an objective point of view. Can 21st Century people believe that the hand of God touches people in today’s world?

Read and you’ll find new insights.

During the past sixteen weeks, I have been describing and relating miraculous events. How do we understand such occurrences? What can you take away from these stories.

The context for insight is in the scripture. Both the Old and New Testaments are filled with these amazing occasions. More importantly, the Bible gives us a larger picture for our understanding. As I talked with people who I considered legitimate, I’ve found that their “happenings” fit a biblical category that explains why miracles occur.

The Old Testament tells us that a miracle is a sign. The Greek word σήμεoν suggests that events like Moses’s struggle with Pharaoh, crossing the Red Sea (the Sea of Reeds), the Exodus itself, were all signs of the reality of God. This Greek word is used 73 times in the New Testament as well. We find it ten times in Matthew, 23 in Mark, 10 in Luke, 24 times in John, and 13 signs in the Book of Acts. Miracles were a sign.

In the New Testament, the birth of the Messiah came with a total uniqueness. When the shepherds came running to see the baby, their appearance was a sign to Mary. In John’s Gospel, miracles are messianic. Whether it be turning water into wine at Cana, or feeding the multitude, John made it clear that what Jesus accomplished was a sign that he was the Messiah they had been seeking.

In all of these instances, the event told observers that the intervention was not an ordinary act of nature, but a sign of the presence of God. Beyond the influence of man, the events came from God and put a new responsibility on the observer. These signs kept pointing beyond themselves to the One who was the true source of life.

Let us be clear: A sign is not a miracle, but a miracle is a sign. There are many signs throughout scripture that were not always understood by observers. However, when an authentic miracle occurred, it was a sign that pointed beyond the miraculous experience to the transcendent God.

This recognition of the miracle as a sign does not end with the Gospel’s story. The Book of Acts demonstrates that the Apostles’ ministries were filled with the miraculous. Acts 4:16 and 22 relates that the unbelieving Jewish leaders even recognized that the works of the Apostles were “signs.” The Sanhedrin feared that the these signs would establish faith. A miracle is a sign of God’s transcendent presence and power. Miracles confront us with the reality of God the Father working in our midst.

Don’t be afraid to buy in! A good God makes good things happen.

IF YOU HAVEN’T READ ROBERT WISE’S LATEST BOOK BIBLE LANDS: AN ILLUSTRATED GUiDE TO SCRIPTURAL PLACES GET ONE TODAY!

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MORE DIVINE INTERVENTIONS IN HOLLYWOOD

Blog 15 October 31, 2016 MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

Robert Wise explores the world of divine interventions from an objective point of view. Can 21st century people believe the hand of God still touches people today?

Read and you’ll find new insights.

Several weeks ago, I related an article in CLOSER magazine that detailed a near-death experience actress Sharon Stone experienced during a subarachnoid brain hemorrhage. She felt herself floating away from the hospital room and drifting toward a glowing, ever-expanding light. Sharon Stone believed she had died.

Many people responded and were intrigued. In these blogs, I usually report my findings from conversations with friends who experienced miracles or divine intrusions. However, I found these stories of movie personalities to be equally fascinating.

Here’s more.

Jane Seymour is a British-American actress best known for her performances in the James Bond film Live and Let Die , Somewhere In Time , and War and Remembrance. She has earned an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her father was Jewish and her mother was a Dutch Protestant who was a prisoner of war during World War II. Jane’s paternal grandfather had come to live in the East End of London after escaping the Czarist pogroms when he was 14.

In 1987, Jane was given penicillin, but suddenly had a severe allergic reaction. It quickly became clear that she was plunging into death. As the medical personnel tried to resuscitate her, Jane could feel them working on her body but her soul was going somewhere else. Her entire life began flashing before her eyes like an endless movie. She didn’t want to die and have someone else raise her children, but death seemed inevitable. Her abrupt recovery was from a near-death experience.

Singer Tony Bennett had a similar experience. Born and raised in Astoria, New York to an Italian-American family, Bennett began singing at an early age. He fought in the final stages of World War II as a U.S. Army infantryman in the European Theater. Forty years later Bennett staged a comeback in the late 1980s and 1990s, putting out gold record albums again and expanding his reach to the MTV Generation while keeping his musical style intact. He has won 19 Grammy Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bennett was taking a bath when he slumped into the water. Unable to push himself up, he began to feel a golden light surround his body with a warm glow. Rather than panic, Bennett felt quite peaceful. He said, “I had the sense that I was about to embark on a very compelling journey. But suddenly I was jolted out of the vision.”

Bennett had just survived a near death experience.

These two stories are just two more examples of the hand of God sustaining people as they came to the edge of life. Divine interventions come at the end of the human story as surely as they appear along the way.

Don’t be afraid. Trust the unseen hand that is still guiding your life.

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AND WHY DO WE LEARN THESE THINGS?

Blog 14 October 24, 2014 MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

Robert Wise explores the world of divine interventions from an objective point of view. Can 21st century people believe the hand of God still touches people today?

Read and you’ll find new insights.

In the previous blogs on miracles, I mainly noted what I have observed, describing experiences with people who reported miracles. An objective is to cause reexamination of expectations and rethinking of whether people are truly open to divine intrusions or miracles happening in their lives. Hopefully, institutional churches will rethink their approach and truly reach out for a physical touch of the divine in their worship services. Today, many say the words, but don’t expect results.

In addition, I have discovered that it is possible to learn practical steps for daily living. Here’s an example. Divine interventions can teach us how to live successfully.

            The letter of I John tells us that there are three issues we must be aware of and recognize how they can defeat us. In I John 2:15-17, he writes of two of these problems:

  •             Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world
  •             love for the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh
  •             and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the
  •             world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it: but he who does the will
  •             of God abides for ever.

The Phillips Translation of the scripture calls these two problems originating from the world primitive desires, greedy ambition, and the glamour of all that we think is splendid. In simplest and fullest terms, in John’s letter he warns about the flesh, the world, and the devil (also referred to as Satan or the Evil One).

Hard to overcome? You bet!

In a simplistic and overstated sense, the theology of the Orthodox Church (who considers itself to be the first church reflected in the Assyrian, Greek, Russian, etc. Orthodox Churches) is focused on overcoming the flesh, the world, and evil. Self-discipline and arduous struggle can harness the flesh and the world. But the Evil One? Is that possible?

Here’s a discovery. Angels are one of the ways the Holy Spirit intervenes. More will be coming on how people have experienced angelic interventions. At this point, you may have experienced times when Evil overwhelmed you so completely that you saw no hope in combating the attack of the Devil. If the Evil One doesn’t get you directly, it may attack a child, a spouse, a partner, etc., and the defeat can be even worse. What can you do?

Call on the angels. Christian tradition remembers Michael the Archangel was the leader of God’s angels, the army of God, and the first to combat Satan. Guess what? Michael is still at work, fighting for the victims of Satan.

You can’t overcome the devil so don’t try. Call on Michael the Archangel. Expect him to be God’s agent to help you defeat evil. Even though Protestants may be reluctant, Michael remains ready. The angel is the sure path to a divine intervention!

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ENCOUNTERING AN ANGEL

Blog 13 October 17, 2016 MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

Robert Wise explores the world of divine interventions from an objective point of view. Can 21st century people believe the hand of God still touches people today?

Read and you’ll find new insights.

Miracle talk and divine intrusions generally seem to occur among Christian people. In many Christian groups there is an unspoken assumption that Jews wouldn’t experience such things. Even though the Old Testament is filled with miraculous events such as the Red Sea parting and Elijah raising a widow’s dead son back to life, Jews are excluded today. Wrong.

Here’s an example to consider. I’ve discovered that an important ingredient in Jewish life is an encounter with God as well as divine leading. Karen Z. Brass is a close friend whose family live near me in Colorado. Her father was a survivor of five death camp including Auschwitz. Today her family regularly attends a synagogue.

Around seven years of age, Karen began dreaming about escaping her dysfunctional family and an extremely difficult and abusive mother. As she took her reoccurring dream of escaping this family setting apart, Karen began to understand she was being saved by angels.

This experience expanded with the emergence of a “circle of light” that appeared at night giving her the assurance and security to go to sleep. Angels were regularly quieting her fears.

When Karen became an adult woman, she became aware of spontaneous thoughts that popped into her head and gave her guidance. For example, she would hear a thought like “take the umbrella.” If she didn’t pay attention, it would rain and she’d get drenched. “Don’t wear those shoes” might come through. If she went ahead and wore them, Karen was certain to trip and fall. In time, Karen realized that she had a guardian angel who kept her protected. When the angels spoke, it began like a whisper. If they repeated the message, the whisper got louder. Karen now often holds out her hands to let the angel know she is paying attention.

Karen met her husband David through an angelic intrusion. At a synagogue service, as she started to park her car, the angelic voice insisted she move to a different place than she intended. Karen argued that she saw a better spot but the angel was insistent. She gave in and parked as guided. During the service, she met David for the first time and was immediately attracted. Continuing their conversation, David walked Karen out to her car. To her surprise, she had parked next to him!

Today, Karen never ceases to listen for angelic guidance.

While not a miracle, hearing and being guided by angels is definitely a divine intrusion. Obviously, the angels don’t stop to check your religious membership card before they respond. Here’s a word of encouragement for you. Is it possible that some of your thoughts might not be random? Could you have been guided by a guardian angel and didn’t know it?

It’s worth thinking about.

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DIVINE INTERVENTIONS IN HOLLYWOOD

Blog 12 October 10, 2016 MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

Robert Wise explores the world of divine interventions from an objective point of view. Can 21st century people believe the hand of God still touches people today?

Read and you’ll find new insights.

In 2007, I wrote Crossing the Threshold of Eternity about the near-death experiences of people I knew who had returned after being pronounced medically dead. Some of these stories were miracles; others divine interventions. However, they touched a nerve with many people who worried about their own deaths. These experiences revealed that the hand of God kept working when the human heart stopped.

Recently, CLOSER magazine revealed the stories of several Hollywood actors who had similar experiences. While not all were in the category of “a miracle” as defined in previous blogs, they reflect actions by the Holy Spirit that challenge us to dig deeper (which is the purpose of these blogs).

I write about people I know or have interviewed. I do not know actress Sharon Stone, but her story is important to share. As she lay in UCSF Medical Center fighting for her life, the actress thought her pain was so great that her head might explode. Doctors frantically searched for a cause, but the throbbing increased and Sharon thought her life was ending. She was experiencing a subarachnoid brain hemorrhage.

Abruptly, an over-powering sensation of well-being and peace descended over her. She felt her body leaving the hospital room and floating toward a glowing, expanding light. Sharon Stone believed she had died.

As she moved into the realm of this glorious light, she met some of her dearest old friends who had died. She was deeply moved as they talked and recovered contact. Sharon knew that she had left this world behind and was in a place of a wonderful light that brought reconciliation. Suddenly, she was sent flying back to the hospital room and returned to her body.

After she recovered, Sharon Stone realized that this experience had so affected her life that she would never be the same again. She was no longer afraid of dying and now says that she sees death as a gift. Sharon knows she is never alone.

Sharon Stone’s doctor Michael Lawton has worked with many people who had such experiences. He noted that when they encounter loved ones who had already died, they found them to be in “the peak of health, fit and happy.” The doctor has seen this many times. Her experience confirmed his observation.

What can we conclude? The goal of my blogs is to help readers rediscover a biblical perspective on divine interventions and healings. The objective is to raise the bar in their expectations. Sharon Stone’s experience can certainly help us to do so.

 

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MAKING SENSE OUT OF THE EXPERIENCE

BLOG 11 September 26, 2016 MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!

Robert Wise explores the world of divine intervention from an objective point of view. How can 21st Century people understand how the hand of God touches people in today’s world?

Read and you’ll find new insights.

In previous blogs I related my conversations with struggling people about their healings and experiences. They knew a force that Christians called the Holy Spirit had invaded their lives and filled them with a renewal that often literally saved their lives. The emotional pain and their fear of death was usually gone. A divine encounter had changed their future.

How do we understand such an occurrence?

The context for insight into such miraculous events is in the scripture. Both the Old and New Testaments are filled with these amazing occasions. More importantly, the Bible gives us a larger picture for our understanding. As I talked with people who I considered legitimate, I’ve found that their “happenings” fit biblical categories that explain why miracles occur.

The Old Testament tells us that a miracle is a sign. The Greek word σήμεoν suggests that events like Moses’s struggle with Pharaoh, crossing the Red Sea (the Sea of Reeds), the Exodus itself, were all signs of the reality of God. This Greek word is used 73 times in the New Testament as well. We find it ten times in Matthew, 23 in Mark, 10 in Luke, 24 times in John, and 13 signs in the Book of Acts. Miracles were a sign.

In the New Testament, the birth of the Messiah came with a total uniqueness. When the shepherds came running to see the baby, their appearance was a sign to Mary. In John’s Gospel, miracles are messianic. Whether it be turning water into wine at Cana, or feeding the multitude, John made it clear that what Jesus accomplished was a sign that he was the Messiah they had been seeking.

In all of these instances, something had occurred that told observers that the intervention was not an ordinary act of nature. It was a sign of the presence of God. Beyond the influence of man, the events came from God and put a new responsibility on the observer. These signs kept pointing beyond themselves to the One who was the true source of life. They were humbling and produced obedience.

Let us be clear: A sign is not a miracle; a miracle is a sign. There are many signs throughout scripture that were not all understood by observers. However, when an authentic miracle occurred, it was a sign that pointed beyond the miraculous experience to the transcendent God, a sign that the Holy Spirit was clearly working in lives.

This recognition of the miracle as a sign does not end with the Gospel’s story. As the Apostle’s ministries were recorded in the Book of Acts, their stories were filled with the miraculous. Acts 4:16 and 22 tells the reader that the unbelieving Jewish leaders even recognized that the works of the Apostles were “signs.” The Sanhedrin feared that these signs had the power to establish faith.

They do and continue to do so today.

EACH WEEK WE WILL BE HERE. TUNE IN. miraclesneverceaseblog. word press.com

Please send your divine intervention experience to: miraclestoday44@gmail.com

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A Surprise at Assisi

Blog 10 September 19, 2016 MIRACLES NEVER CEASE

Robert Wise explores the world of Divine intervention from an objective point of view. Can 21st Century people believe that the hand of God touches people in today’s world?

Read and you’ll find new insights.

George Vey was an interesting guy. For years, he had been a Dutch dairyman in Orange County, California and a staunch Calvinist (very) conservative Christian. Before Los Angeles spread all over Southern California, there were many such diary farms around San Dimas, Irvine, and the rolling countryside that was always warm and pleasant in the winter. George was contentedly running his farm when a real estate developer came along with a deal to build a mall on George’s pasture. Overnight George became a multi-millionaire.

One evening I was talking to him about faith and the subject of St. Francis of Assisi came up. George abruptly told me that he had a devotion to St. Francis. I was surprised because that idea couldn’t have been more contrary and foreign to his Protestant Evangelical faith. George told me this story.

Struggling with painful ulcers, his wife pressed him to go with her on a trip to Rome. George didn’t want to see the Eternal City, but agreed to go if she’d go with him to Assisi. He didn’t know a great deal about St. Francis, but profoundly admired him, his work, and his spirit. In order to get George on an airplane, his wife agreed.

Well before the last earthquake shook the Basilica, St. Francis’ grave was beneath a pile of rocks under the church where the famous frescos of Giotto hung. With his ulcers stinging, George walked down the stairs and sat down only feet away from the grave of St. Francis. He had no idea what he might see, but wanted to express his admiration. As George looked at the sight, abruptly before him a figure appeared in a brown robe with a robe cinch around his middle and wearing sandals. George instantly knew he was looking at the 12th century Francis of Assisi. Francis smiled and communicated telepathically that he was moved that George had taken the time to come to his grave to express respect and appreciation. Francis conveyed a blessing to George.

George stared in astonishment, almost not believing what his eyes saw. And then the figure was gone. George sat transfixed. After a long period of contemplation, he went back upstairs to join his wife.

Three days later they were back in Rome. For the first time, he explained his experience to his wife. She asked why he had waited days to tell her. “Because I wanted to make sure what happened was real. I know it is because my ulcers are gone.”

The condition never returned.

I would not call George’s experience a miracle or a divine intervention, but I would call it a divine intrusion. Uniquely for His own reasons, our heavenly Father can interject something wonderful into our lives. Could it happen to you? Sure.

Divine intrusions happen all the time.

Please send your divine intervention and/or miracles of intrusion experience to: miraclestoday44@gmail.com

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