The Gospel - Proclamation alone or Proclamation + demonstration?

This past week I attended an event where the Gospel was BOLDLY proclaimed on a college campus. I won't mention the name of the ministry as this blogpost illustrates a common approach by evangelistic ministries that could have easily been dozens of other well-known ministries.

Skeptics, atheists, Muslims, LGBTQ+ students were all interacting with the speakers who presented. It was open Q&A. It was done honorably and respectfully (from ALL sides I should not fail to mention). 

Beyond the microphones up front, there were many other "Gospel conversations" taking place amidst the large crowd. 

What I am about to say might not apply across the board, but it did apply to the conversations I witnessed and it completely applied to the Gospel presentation that was going forth publically from the microphone at the front.

The Gospel was being preached and yet there was no offer whatsoever (or expectation?) that the truth of the Gospel would be demonstrated in some other way. 

What "other way" am I thinking about? Often when Jesus communicated the Gospel message He would heal the sick, cast out unclean spirits, and/or would reveal something supernaturally (i.e. a prophetic word).

This was NOT happening at this event. I've known about this ministry for many years and have seen them in public settings before taking exactly the same approach - verbal presentation of the Gospel without any offer and/or expectation(?) that God would confirm their words with something supernatural/miraculous.

My story on this particular day, while applauding their bold proclamation of the Gospel message, had me walking away wondering just how much more effective their event could have been.

While I was standing next to a young woman who was sharing her faith with two non-Christian college students, I saw the conversation going around and around. It was respectful. The girl was boldly testifying for Christ. These men heard the Gospel. And I asked God if He had anything that I could "add" to what was going on.

And then the Lord gave me a word of knowledge (1 Cor. 12:8) that one of these two men had back pain in the upper middle part of their back. I waited for the opportunity and then stepped into to interupt their conversation. I introduced myself as a pastor and asked the two men, "Does one of you have pain in your back?" (pointing to the exact location where the Lord had indicated through the word of knowledge).

The shock that next came from one of the men was quite strong. He wanted to know HOW in the world I could have known about his back pain. I simply explained that I believed that God had prompted me to ask him so that I could pray for his healing. He had NO OBJECTION WHATSOEVER when I asked if I could pray. 

I grabbed his hand (something I most often don't do in such a context) and prayed for God to bring His Kingdom to the man's back.

The problem/pain was NOT at that moment bothering him, and he told me he would have to wait and see if he was healed. I gave him my card and told him to please let me know what the Lord had done for him.

And then the money quote, as he says, "If I am healed, I am coming to your church!"

The other student wanted my card. And also interestly, so did the young Christian woman who had been engaging them.

I have not yet heard back from the young man, but as is almost always the case when God reveals a condition so specifically with a word of knowledge, I am confident that he was healed. And of course, I don't care if he ever comes to our church because if Jesus has done, what I believe He did in healing him, the young skeptic will find Christians around him who will help him come to Christ.

I used to be a bit more caustic towards an approach to preaching the Gospel that was merely verbal proclamation. I had come from that background, and when I began to see that God really did want to heal people and move more supernaturally through His children as they ministered to the lost, I was angry about the fact that I was a Christian for nearly 15 years before I learned that God really wanted to demonstrate His truth through miraculous means such as healing, prophetic words and/or deliverance from demonic influence. Note: those 15 years included a year in a Christian college, studying in a couple of seminaries, and being in full time ministry for over a decade!

I walked away from that event last week, not so much angry, as feeling sad. While it is possible that other conversations included prayer for the non-Christians being engaged (for healing, for deliverance), I left fairly certain that most of them did not. 

God has given to His Church "power tools" and many Christians are either not using them and/or don't expect that they should be used today. There wasn't a Christian there that didn't believe God COULD heal, but many of them did NOT BELIEVE (or expect) that He WOULD heal.

Having lived in the Middle East for 30 years, I know that it is extremely rare for a Muslim to come to Christ without some type of supernatural intervention (a healing, a dream, a vision, an exorcism). And yet, now in Southern California, many of Christ's followers don't realize He will do the same thing for the atheist, for the transgender, for the skeptic. Why? Because " Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever" (Heb. 13:8).