Nature is like a code. To understand nature is to decode it. Decoding here means discovering sets of formula in which this mystery has been enwrapped in. He who has the formula has the key. When nature is unlocked, potentials are unleashed. Potentials are like energy and power available to anybody who, wishing, uses the formula of unlocking nature. The applicability of formula across space and time respecting the set conditions gives science a universal character. With time, an application of a discovery looks ordinary as enthusiasm ceases and new search is initiated. What differentiates an age from another is the level of awareness of the laws of nature. Scientists have over the centuries made amazing discoveries that have significantly changed the ways man had looked at nature in the past. Every age has also gotten scientists working round the clock to breakthrough where others have met with deadlock maybe with a modification of hypothesis. The ongoing breakthroughs in science and technology offer hope that one day nature would be finally demystified.
What is the place of miracle in nature? Miracle simply put, is an accidental interference in laws of nature. A school of thought close to David Hume views miracles as ‘a violation of the laws of nature.’ Miracle is when a calculable result or end is achieved without regard to established mechanisms or laws. Miracle is a disobedience to laws. This disobedience can take a form of a failure where after certain conditions as established by law have been fulfilled, the expected result fails to appear. It can also take a form where a result is achieved without due respect to laws. As days go by science is fast overtaking miracles in natural order.
God first revealed himself at creation. Next, he elected the patriarchs and through them He looked forward to establish himself a nation already contained in Abraham. When the time was ripe, God chose a Moses to liberate the descendants of Patriarchs out of Egyptian bondage and establish them as a nation in the Promised Land. The Passover and Exodus experience made deep impression on the people of Israel prompting them to see God as a warrior and wonder worker. Part of Biblical Psalms is praises to God who smote Egyptian kings and disgraced nations that attempted to exterminate Israel.
When Jesus did come, he worked miracles to convince his hearers that he had come from the Father and to demonstrate his power over nature. So great were admirations of the people towards Him that they even declared blessed the womb that bore him and the breast He sucked. Jesus also promised his disciples that they were going to do more great things. Yet, Jesus insisted that miracle was not the primary concern of his coming. He rebuked as wicked a generation that asked for signs and warned that only the sign of Jonah would be given to them. When sons of Zebedee requested for the key posts in the anticipated kingdom, Jesus enquired about their willingness to drink the cup he was going to drink. He saw in the tragedy of the cross a summit of his mission.
To the disappointment of the Jews who had anticipated a military commander-like Messiah, a political king, Christ chose the way of the cross, the very reason why they disassociated themselves from his claims and declared it a blasphemy. In this way, he made cross a permanent fixture in our way to salvation. St Paul writing to the Corinthians pointed out that while the Greeks sought for wisdom, the Jews went for miracles, Christians peach a crucified Saviour, what is foolish to the Greeks and offensive to the Jews but power and wisdom of God for Christians. Yet, the foolish plan of God is wiser than any human wisdom. (1Cor. 1: 22-25) By and large, Jesus never sought publicity in his miracle. He cautioned many he healed to avoid advertising him. When they wanted to crown him king after the multiplication loaves, he escaped from the crowd.
However, the toxic combination of poverty and bad governance in Africa has seen people seek economic salvation in the church. Economic woes are blamed on the demons now ubiquitous. The rising religious conventionalism looks at miracle not as a means but an end of Christian spirituality. Any church that does not perform miracles is considered inauthentic.
Consequently, there arise new schools of economic psychology which go by the name church. These are championed by petty industrialists who understanding psychological opportunities that abound in worship industry now go with the pseudonyms of pastors to deceive people. These business-minded evangelists, some of them itinerant preachers, have inculcated in people’s mind that miracle is true test of a church. To give credit to the churches, purported miracles adverts now dominate our radio and television, pages of newspapers, bill boards in the streets, and caller tunes. Despite daily exposure of the antics of these miracle moguls by the media they have continued to receive heavy support from their gullible consumers, most of them psychologically wounded.
According to The World Christian Encyclopedia, the number of Evangelical Christians in Africa has grown from 17 million in 1970 to over 400million in 2012. The damage this has done to the innocent and orthodox churches is obvious. But more pronounced is the collateral damage it has done to gospel of Christ and Christian spirituality at large.
This new approach to Christian faith has reduced religion to science. If a recitation of established biblical passages and a pouring of known portions are cures for specified ailments, then religion has become a science. The application of these formulas has given it a universal and objective character. If God cannot be tied to formulas, some of new practices like sowing seed become questionable in the manner they are emphasized and done.
While we know God to be the author of miracles, the languages of modern ministers do not suggest so. That miracles happen is unarguable but the way it is being stressed is abusive. We should first of all identify God in the ordinary before looking for him in the extraordinary. The current emphasis rejects cross which is the crux of Jesus coming and seeks to centralize miracle as the end of spirituality. Any means to separate cross from Christian life is a sale of Christ at discount. Unfortunately, Christ can neither be bought nor sold at discount.
