Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
Right, but if he's preaching the gospel he's acting as an evangelist, not an apostle, so miracles are not required.
An apostle (in the context of our discussion) is one who has special authority to dictate truth to multiple churches, to directly lead multiple churches, to administer discipline to multiple churches, to appoint elders in multiple churches, and so forth. This is the kind of apostle Paul was, and the kind WL was purported to be.
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And pretty much the kind Hudson Taylor was, or William Carey was.
Again, I did not use the term "evangelist" though you would expect a missionary to evangelize (as Paul also did). Rather I used the term Missionary because we had earlier agreed in this thread that Christianity has shy'ed away from the term Apostle and instead substituted the word missionary.
(Also, the Bible makes it very clear that miracles are for the unbelieving, so, on the contrary they are very effective in the gospel. I had an evangelist share a story with me. He was in Haiti after the earthquake. There were gangs out to get his team. I think it was because of the way they distributed the food aid, I don't remember that part of the story. Anyway they were on a particular street corner preaching the gospel but regardless of how hard the gangs tried, they couldn't find them, even though people were telling them which street corner they were on. They said that when they got to the street corner they became "blind". This apparently was the testimony of the men in this gang.)
And this story illustrates to me, why miracles are a very poor substitute for the truth of the gospel. If you believe this brother's account, and I do, then it is a testimony of how God can be with us. But, if you don't believe it, what is the point, there is no way to prove it. However, the story was told as an explanation for why the crowds were suddenly coming to hear him preach. The local people had expected the gangs to come and stayed away, when they learned that they were unable to "find" him because they were going blind, then they came out in force. This is what a true miracle is supposed to be, it is God acting as a coworker. His miracle filled the hall so that now they could hear you preach the truth of the gospel.