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BTW - thanks for that informative list.Men of Israel, listen to this message: Jesus of Nazareth was a man certified by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know...God has raised this Jesus to life, to which we are all witnesses.
Acts 2: 22, 32
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
John 14:12
This was a great argument for the claims of Christ. He performed miracles, wonders, and signs, which certified that He was sent by God. On top of that, God has raised Jesus from the dead, and the apostles are witnesses of this. But this happened 2,000 years ago. Eyewitness testimony has lost its impact over this much time. But God, in His mercy, has given us even more amazing miracles within just the last two centuries, even some miracles that are still going on. The only problem is that these miracles are with the Catholic faith. But they certify that Jesus is the Son of God. Here are the highlights.
1. Miracle of the dancing sun in Fatima
It may seem odd that the sun is moving, since we know that the sun is stationary, at least in reference to the earth. Any actual, sudden movement of the sun would be a catastrophic to our solar system. And yet this is supported in the Bible, where God caused the sun to stand still (Joshua 10:12-14). In the case in Fatima and in the Book of Joshua, it is not that the sun was actually seen to dance or that the sun stood still. It is what the people observed. God can bend the sun's light rays so that it appears that the sun is dancing or that sun has stood still. It miracle is the bending of the sun's rays that makes it appears to us as dancing or standing still.
In 1917 the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three children several times at Fatima, Portugal. The last visit there were over 70,000 onlookers. But only the children could see and hear our Lady. One of the children, Lucia, then pointed up at the sky and shouted "Look at the sun!". The sun started to move around the sky, and started coming towards them. The people started to scream, thinking it being the end of the world. Then the sun went back in place.
Mind you, these were over thousands of people who witnessed this phenomenom. Critics say that this was a case of a mass hallucination. The problem with this is that people who lived in Fatima but did not go to the site and yet that they saw the movement of the sun. Not only that, the movement of the sun was even in the secular newpaper the next day.
How the Miracle of the Sun dazzled the sceptics | Catholic Herald
2. Incorruptible bodies of dead saints
Bodies of dead Catholic saints have decayed little or not at all! Critics explain this by saying that their bodies were preserved because they were buried in a dry place. But in many cases, these bodies were buried with other bodies of those who were not saints. The others were nor preserved.
My favorite is St Bernadette. Although she died 150 years ago, she looks as if she is just sleeping! See image below.
3. Miracle of our Lady of Guadalupe
Mary appeared to a Mexican peasant over two hundred years ago. She wrapped some roses in a tilma (a Mexican cloak made of burlap) to give to the bishop. When the bishop saw this, he saw an image of Mary painted on the tilma.
In the past century, the Catholic Church allowed experts to investigate. Artists tried to duplicate the image on other tilmas, but on burlap the paint would run together. Scientist discovered that the pigments was not any pigments on earth. What is even more amazing is that scientists magnified Mary's eyes and found that the pupils contained images of people! How could any artist 500 years ago do anything such as that?
https://magiscenter.com/the-science-or-lack-thereof-behind-juan-diegos-tilma/
4. Eucharistic miracles
There are many eucharistic miracles, but my favorite has been the miracle in Lanciano, Italy, which happened 500 years ago. the priest accidentally dropped the Eucharist on the floor while giving communion. It no longer appeared as a host but as a piece of meat. The church has had it on display since then.
This past century, the Church has allowed scientists to examine this. It found that this meat was tissue from a person who recently died, and yet this was on display for centuries!
5 Extraordinary Eucharistic Miracles that Left Physical Evidence (With Pictures!) | ChurchPOP
5. Stigmata
Many saints have had the stigmata - who have deep wounds on their hands and possibly also their feet. This points back to our Savior having nails driven through His nails and feet. The earliest stigmatic I can recall was St Francis of Assisi. The latest has been St. Padre Pio in the last century. The Catholic Church at that time thought that St Pio induced these wounds on himself. Because of this, he was forbidden to give Mass. But thousands came to see him. After he died, the wound on his hands immediately healed.
Mystery of Padre Pio´s Stigmata Analyzed by Scientist - ZENIT - English
6. Venerable Solanus Casey And St. Andre Bissette
This monk was not considered to be intelligent enough to offer Mass or to hear Confessions. So he was just given the job of a receptionist. But he talked to people as they came to visit the monastery. He prayed over them. And miracles started to happen. People all over the country came to Detroit to get healed! This happened just this past century.
Metro Detroiters share their miraculous memories of Father Solanus Casey
Also, the same thing can be said of Brother Andre in Canada.
Brother André: The Rocket Richard of miracles
7. Healings at Lourdes
In the 1800's Mary commanded a peasant girl at Lourdes to dig in the ground with her hands. Water started to seep out. Eventually, the water became a huge lake. And when people bathed in the water, many of them were healed. Even people to this day come to Lourdes for healing. The Church is very careful about declaring these to be real healings. They have a panel of doctors to examine each one. These doctors would be sceptics in most cases. If they can explain any healing with a scientific explanation, then the Church would not declare it to be an actual miracle. There are at least 70 cases that have no scientific explanation. This does not mean that the others were not miracles - it only means that it is possible that there is some other explanation. There have been those who say that they have debunked these miracle. But as with the resurrection of Christ, these debunking seem to me to stem from an anti-supernaturalistic bias (or, in case of these Catholic miracles, it could also be an anti-Catholic bias).
The Lourdes miracle that brought a Nobel prize-winning doctor to faith
This peasant girl was St Bernadette, who has the corruptible body I mentioned above.
Even if one or two of these can be explained away (which I do not think can be done), it is difficult to explain away all seven of these miracles. These miracles validate the claims of the Catholic faith. But more importantly, it attests the truth claims of Christianity. There is no other religion that can attest of miracles that can come even close to these.
you started out with this
Certainly that is true.
These texts are also true -
Matt 24
23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.KJV
2 Thess 2
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
... 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Rev 13
11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast
And so on the one hand I (like almost every other Christian on planet Earth) want to be watching for the signs that are from God - but at the same time I don't want to fall into the much-predicted signs-and-wonders trap that the Bible predicts for the end times.
Thanks for bringing that up
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