Dear friends:

When God shows up, strange things may happen! 

God is famous for rocking our boats, and rattling our cages.  He will not be constrained by our traditions.

The other night several of us were discussing bizarre or strange human reactions whenever God shows up and begins dramatically healing and delivering people and doing the things He did in the New Testament and promised for believers later.  Typically, the modern-day messengers are viciously attacked -- not by unbelievers, but by "religious" people!    

The same thing happened to Jesus, who was God in the flesh.  The "religious" people of the day attacked Him, called Him a heretic, and eventually even had Him killed!  They could not stand the things He was doing, even though it was plain to them, right before their eyes.  They knew the supernatural was taking place, but because of their hard hearts they attributed it to demon power.  It is much the same today.

"Religious" people are God's worst enemy.  They, not the sinners, are the only ones Jesus continually rebuked and actually called names, such as hypocrites and snakes! 

I am reminded of something interesting the late Dr. Bill Bright wrote in his 1995 book, The Coming Revival.  He was describing what had happened with two of the great 18th century evangelists, George Whitefield and John Wesley.  Dr. Bright wrote:

Fearless, Christ-centered preaching with people literally “falling on their faces” before God often is a hallmark of revival. In the John Wesley and George Whitefield revivals in England the awesome presence of the Holy Spirit was common and it had a powerful effect on the people. Concerning a Whitefield revival service, Wesley noted in his journal:

"No sooner had he begun … to invite all sinners to believe in Christ than four persons sunk down close to him, almost in the same moment. One of them lay without sense or motion. A second trembled exceedingly. The third had strong convulsions all over his body, but made no noise unless by groans. The fourth, equally convulsed, called upon God with strong cries and tears."

Wesley and Whitefield considered this strange behavior and had some individuals removed from their meetings. But a Lady Huntington wrote to Whitefield, advising him to leave the people alone, because stopping to remove them put a damper on the service. “Let them cry,” she said. “It will do a great deal more good than your preaching.”  And Wesley wrote in his journal:

"From this time on, I trust, we shall allow God to carry on His own work in the way that pleases Him.'"

We would be wise to follow Wesley's advice and do the same

Jim