You Cannot Separate the Gospel from the Miraculous
I want to speak directly to something that has been troubling me deeply in recent ministry.
My lifelong commission is simple: preach the Gospel. That is what Peter and John did, that is what the Apostle Paul did, and that is what I have dedicated my life to doing. But as I travel – most recently returning from our National Day of Prayer in Ukraine – I find that so many sincere believers struggle with an issue that the New Testament makes completely clear: the undeniable connection between the Gospel and the miraculous power of God.
Signs Follow Belief
In Mark 16:15-16, the risen Christ gave His commission:
"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."
When I was a boy in school, I took this so literally that I preached it in the playground and classrooms: heaven or hell, choose Christ and live. But Jesus did not stop at verse 16. He immediately continued in verse 17:
"And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
Jesus gave a clear directive that when genuine faith takes root, things happen. There is evidence. Years ago, when I began preaching and saw no fruit, my father said to me: "You need the Holy Spirit, because when He comes, He will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment."
When the Spirit of God is present, evidence follows.
The Works Testify
Today, the greatest criticism and controversy in the church surrounds divine healing. People say, "David, miracles passed away with the apostles 2,000 years ago."
My answer to that is blunt: if miracles cannot happen today, then salvation cannot happen today! How can you accept the promise of salvation while discarding the supernatural power that confirms it?
Right before the crucifixion, in John 14:11–12, Jesus told His disciples:
"Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father."
Jesus pointed to His works – healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons – as the evidence of who He was and the Father dwelling within Him. And He promised that when He returned to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit, believers would continue those very works.
Standing on What I Preach
I do not preach healing as a theory; I live it. Sixty years ago, during one of my early crusades in England, local newspapers reported that the blind received sight and the crippled walked.
Four years later, I was diagnosed with throat cancer. People whispered, "He talks about divine healing, but he'll run straight to the surgeon's knife." I knew that if I told crowds Jesus heals while relying on an operation myself, it would be a contradiction. I refused the operation, took my stand before God, and He healed me completely. Decades later, when faced with lung cancer, the Lord delivered me a second time.
When I was held in a Soviet prison, I challenged God with His Word: "Lord, You brought Peter and Silas out of prison; You can do it for me." He answered by orchestrating an international miracle that secured my release through the intervention of the British Prime Minister.
If You Love Me, Keep My Commandments
In John 14:13–15, Christ declared: "Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son... If you love Me, keep My commandments."
Miracles do not glorify a human evangelist; they glorify the Father. They reveal the living reality of Jesus Christ.
I make no apologies for taking the Bible literally. We cannot water down the Gospel into safe intellectual doctrines stripped of supernatural power. If we love Jesus, let us take Him at His word, step out in faith, lay hands on the sick, and expect the Holy Spirit to confirm the message of the cross with signs following.