Raising the dead

inquiry

     I have read the article Ezekiel: Wheels, Bones, and Restoration 
by Ray C. Stedman. I agree with every word according to what is 
written in the Bible.
     My mother passed away this year. We both had a sixth sense. 
Satan was very angry at her.
So he put afflictions upon her. She wrestled his evil spirit. He 
wanted to get my mother out of the way because he thought he could 
get me and my brother. My mother was always standing up for God. I 
guess me and my brother are a bigger threat to Satan and at the time 
I didn't understand how.
     In the hospital, I was wishing to God that he would show me a 
miracle like he did in the Bible days, raising Lazarus from the 
dead. My mother died. Breath left her body. Then a miracle happened. 
I felt her breath go slowly back into her body. She lived again for 
a good while longer.
Then she died for good in peace.
     Now I hear the Lord telling me that I can have the power if I 
believe in him and that he could  raise my mother. He tells me to 
wait just a little while longer. I know that we are living in the 
last days. The Lord told me that anything can happen.
     In 1996, he told me that I would raise the dead. The Lord told 
me that the only way I would get close to him is to read and study 
his word. He said that I am getting closer.
     I haven't heard talk of anyone raising the dead in this day 
and age. I think people in our generation is so far from God. That's 
why we don't see the great big miracles anymore. But I know that he 
will pour out his spirit in the last days.

response

It is good to learn of your love of God's Word.  We are told in the 
book of Hebrews, 4:11-13 that the "word of God is 
living...active...sharper than any two-edged sword, 
piercing...discerning...and exposing".  And Peter tells us, 1:23-25: 
"You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, 
through the living and abiding Word of God."  That Word, he says, 
"abides forever"  How blest we are that God has chosen to 
speak to us through the written Word which Peter further describes as 
"pure spiritual milk", the means by which we can grow up into mature 
persons who honor Jesus with godly lives.

Jesus shares your sorrow in the death of your mother.  He is 
the one who "has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows".  You may 
recall he wept at the grave of his dear friend, Lazarus.  And He 
alone is the one who has conquered death, and you, your mother, and 
all of His redeemed ones have His promise that "as in Adam all die, 
so also in Christ shall all be made alive."  Do read again I Cor. 
chapter 15, to remind yourself of our blessed hope!

During Jesus' ministry on planet earth, one of the miracles that 
authenticated him as the true Messiah was the raising of the dead. 
He still has power to do that, of course.  But listen to what he told 
his disciples in Jn. 14:12:  "Truly, truly I say to you, he who 
believes in me will also do the works that I do; and *greater works* 
than these will he do, because I go to the Father."
What do you think is greater than raising the dead?  I believe 
the scriptures make clear that our spiritual death is the real 
disaster, the result of the sin of which we all stand guilty before 
God.  In Ephesians, the Apostle Paul says, "And you  *he made alive*, 
when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once 
walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of 
the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of 
disobedience." (2:1,2)  The greatest miracle is when we come to the 
Lord Jesus, who conquered death, and receive new, everlasting Life, 
the Life of the Lord Jesus himself. He then offers to live in us and 
through us, transforming us into His own image. That is the greatest 
of miracles!

It is that continuing reality of Christ-in-you that satisfies your 
heart-hunger and gives you the power to love and serve others for 
Jesus' sake.  That is a life worth living, while we wait for the 
return of the Lord Jesus.  "For the Lord himself will descend from 
heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the 
sound of the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first; 
then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with 
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall 
always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these 
words." I Thes. 4:16-18.

Do you have a church fellowship where the Bible is clearly 
taught and Jesus is honored in the fellowship of believers?  We have 
a volunteer team who will gladly help you as you pursue your walk 
with Jesus and the study of His Word.  I am so glad you wrote me, and 
hope you will let us know if we can help you and your brother.

God's grace is greater than all our sin, and the enemy of our souls 
cannot prevail against our Sovereign Lord Jesus.  So grow in grace 
and in the knowledge of Him; that is our high calling!

Celebrating His grace,