By Jon Kauffman
Major Baugh
Major Harold Baugh, former Commanding Officer of the Fargo Salvation Army, was a wonderful friend to me and my wife until he passed away in 2019. His wife, Major Aleene Baugh, also our good friend, experienced a great miracle.
The Salvation Army has annual meetings for officers of the Salvation Army. Major Aleene’s daughter and her husband are also officers of the Salvation Army. One winter, Major Aleene was traveling to Indiana from Fargo to watch her grandchildren while her daughter and her daughter’s husband attended the officer’s meetings.
As she traveled through Wisconsin it began to rain and a thick layer of ice coated the highway. As Major Aleene came over a hill, suddenly her car began to fishtail. Major Aleene prayed asking God to send his angel to help her.
Suddenly her car righted itself. She looked up and could see an angel’s wings, one on either side of her car. The angel guided her car to the bottom of the hill where a family was stranded with their car in the ditch. Her car gently rolled up and stopped. The family joined her in the car. The angel guided her into to town where she left the family.
She continued on her journey with the angel guiding her car until she had passed through the rainstorm.
Many of us have experienced miracles.
The Case for Miracles
Lee Strobel has written an excellent book about miracles. The Case for Miracles, A journalist Investigates Evidence for the Supernatural, Zondervan, 2018.
Mr. Strobel explores the evidence for and against miracles.
In preparation for this book, Mr. Strobel commissioned Barna Research to conduct a national scientific survey to find the opinion of Americans about miracles. Among the fascinating findings of the survey, Barna Research discovered that 94,000,000 Americans have personally experienced a miracle from God.
Also quit interesting is the fact that only 67% of Americans believe miracles are possible, but among well educated medical doctors 75% believe miracles are possible. 55% of US physicians have seen results in their patients that they would consider miraculous. Page 31.
Dr. Michael Shermer
Lee begins by interviewing atheist, Dr. Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic Magazine. Dr. Shermer discusses his spiritual journey and why he does not believe in miracles.
Dr. Shermer was once a Christian who no longer believes. He tells how he became a Christian and why he left the faith. Dr. Shermer bases his skepticism about miracles on the writing of David Hume. Mr. Strobel reports in detail his interview with Dr. Shermer.
Dr. Shermer claims we do not have scientific evidence that miracles happen when people pray. Pages 35-69
Dr. Craig S. Keener
Next Mr. Strobel visits Dr. Craig S. Keener. Dr. Keener has written a 1172 page book about Miracles. In his book he documents many miracles. Lee Strobel lists many of them in “The Case for Miracles.”
Dr. Keener does not find David Hume’s arguments against miracles convincing. Dr. Keener dissects Hume’s arguments against miracles and shows they are lacking. Keener claims and demonstrates that Hume’s arguments are based on presuppositions and circular reasoning. Pages 83 – 88.
Dr. Keener documents 350 cases of blindness miraculously healed. He records Cataracts and goiters- instantly and visibly healed. Paralytics suddenly able to walk. Multiple sclerosis radically cured. Broken bones suddenly mended. Hearing for the deaf. Sight for the blind. Voices restored. Burns disappearing. Massive hemorrhaging stopped. Failing kidneys cured. Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis – gone. Life given back to the dead, even after several hours.
Dr. Keener provides expert and corroborating evidence. Page 95
Dr. Candy Gunther Brown
Strobel interviews Dr. Candy Gunther Brown. Dr. Brown has studied miracles from a scientific perspective. She discusses clinical studies that indicate prayer increases the likelihood of miraculous healing.
Dr. Brown visited Heidi and Rolland Baker in Mozambique and studied healings that were taking place as these two missionaries prayed for the sick. Page 121.
Tom Doyle, Missionary
In his interview with Strobel, Doyle shares that many Muslims have come to faith through dreams and visions of Jesus. Often these dreams will reveal facts that the people receiving the dreams could not have known. Jesus will often tell the person dreaming to speak to specific people and as a result of these encounters, many become Christian.
Dr. Michael G. Straus
In Strobel’s interview with Dr. Straus, Straus discusses the fine tuning of nature and the miracle of creation. Straus also discusses the implications of the expanding universe. Page 163.
Detective J. Warner Wallace
Strobel discusses the miracle of the Resurrection with Detective J. Warner Wallace. They discuss subjects such as eyewitness testimony and dealing with gospel discrepancies.
Dr. Roger E. Olson
In his interview with Strobel, Dr. Olson discusses reasons why we do not experience miracles. Dr. Olson asks, are we embarrassed by miracles? Page 213.
Dr. Douglas R Groothuis
Strobel ends the book with a chapter entitled “When Miracles Don’t Happen. Dr. Groothuis’ wife lives with great chronic pain. Traditional medicine cannot deal with the pain. Dr. Groothuis has prayed many times for her healing. And yet she still deals with pain.
Dr. Groothuis discusses the historical and scientific evidence for miracles. He quotes Joseph speaking to his brothers in Genesis 50:20 ‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.
When we are suffering God may intended it for good but that may be a small comfort in our pain. Why doesn’t God always perform miracles?
Groothuis defines miracles as outside the normal course of events. They’re a supernatural exception to the way the world usually works.
Copyright © 2020 by Jon Kauffman. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted when used to further the Kingdom of God. Permission is gladly given to re-blog this post.
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