Since the 1980s some christian groups claim to have been experiencing a miracle from God. It began with the appearance of Gold fillings in teeth. It was first reported in South America and then spread to North America and spread through the 80s. A conference in Canada in the late 90s is what set off the phenomena more popular and more international. It has become to be known as "New Wine" groups and meetings from The Toronto Blessings Movement now generalized as the Blessings Movement.
Lets first see what God expects from us when it comes to things we can't always explain.
2 Peter 1:3 "seeing that His divine power HAS granted to us EVERYTHING pertaining to life and godliness, through THE true knowledge of Him who called us by HIS OWN glory and excellence."
Proverbs 3:13-16 "13 How blessed is the man who finds WISDOM And the man who gains UNDERSTANDING. 14 For her profit is BETTER than the profit of silver And her gain better than fine gold. 15 She is more precious than jewels; And nothing you desire compares with her.
Proverbs 8:10 "Take my instruction and NOT silver, And knowledge RATHER THAN choicest gold.
Matthew 23:17 "You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?"
Acts 3:6 "But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!”"
2 Cor 11:3 "But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ."
1 John 4: "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
Matthew 24:24 "False messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect."
Lets not read into scripture and take from it our own meaning but instead take the meaning that scripture itself is saying. Let scripture interpret scripture.
The Word of God is worth more than anything in this world. Worth more than Gold. The Holy Spirit will point to Christ as the means to the end and not anything of this world. But The Holy Spirit is not the only spirit that can and will do signs and wonders (miracles). Because of this God has instructed us to test them or our minds could be deceived to believe in the signs and wonders of something not from God. Now lets look at the 'signs and wonders' and claims of the Blessings Movement.
First lets look at the Gold teeth claims themselves. Christians were given new gold teeth by God, first recorded (by Blessings Movement supporters), then in Canada they were given fillings. The response to why the difference between whole gold teeth and fillings is that fillings were a greater miracle because they are more difficult than a whole new gold tooth. The Claim is that Gold miraculously manifests gold fillings in a persons tooth, or miraculously manifests an entire gold tooth. The reason, they believe, is to reveal his power and validate their faith. Sounds good.
So good that the leaders even told their followers that experienced it to go prove it by getting their teeth checked by their dentist. Dentist in Canada showed that the fillings were their work from dental records after members were encouraged to 'prove' the work of God. Even some leaders of a Blessings Movement groups recanted after they said God gave them a new gold tooth but then their dentists came out and said they did years earlier. Then a California group leader had his current dentist come forward and say that he did not put his new gold tooth in; but his old dentist came forward and said he did. See, the truth comes out. And all those people, before the truth came out, were genuinely convinced they witnessed a miracle. But they didn't. They were deceived.
The first problem with the 'Blessings Movement' is easy to spot if your are not already deceived. The movement does not point to person and works of Jesus Christ and the cross. Even though they will say the words "in Jesus' name", the means to the end is the tooth and gold; not Christ. Johns first and main point in 1 John 4. The means to the end is Gold and not something greater than Gold, like the truth of God and his son Jesus Christ. The claims fail at the most basic of all Christian belief; that Jesus Christ is the center of it all. Jesus' name is just used for the gold claims. An ATM of gold claims for a deceived and devoted following of a false teacher as warned of by Jesus himself (matt 24:24).
The second problem is the lies and inconsistencies in its leaders and blessings. The founders of the movement run into actual problems causing them to cancel events. Dentist come out and disprove the leaders gold filling claims (the gold cloud and gold flakes phenomenon is the same in its problems) If this is of God, why do they need to cancel the event? Did the dentists and news papers defeat The Power of God? Of course not. This means, when tested with scripture, that his 'sign and wonder' is not of God but of another spirit. So if Gold teeth is a bust, what about the rest of their 'signs and wonders' and teachings? We will test those claims later also.
My response: I believe in the creator of the universe. I believe in his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior that was crucified on the cross for my sins and my faith and trust in Him; through faith in Him and his Words, God the Father chose me and adopted me as his child, The Holy Spirit baptized me into becoming and remaining a child of God and preserves me until the day God calls me home. All because and through his son Jesus Christ. The Only Begotten Son of God, what he did is the center of the universal and all that is true. And a gold tooth is all I ask for and my mind is set on? Gold fillings are my means to an end in Jesus' name? That is terrible. I don't want my mind to desire anything other than the grace of God and his Love through his Son that transcends all the gold and silver this corrupted world could ever offer. I don't need signs and wonders because Jesus though the Holy Spirit satisfies that in me. The person and work of Jesus Christ is my 'sign and wonder' and he alone is enough for me. Witnessing God work in his creation and the natural world is just a privilege and a bonus. He is my means to an end.
What is interesting, because of scripture, it doesn't matter the details of the 'sign and wonder' because they all are to tested the same. As the Berean people did that, and Paul commended them for it; they searched the scriptures day and night to validate the teachings and signs of the apostles (Acts 17:10-15).
Followers of this movement will say that skepticism is making it "hard for them to receive the holy spirits gifts" because of the skeptical "attitude". That idea is in sharp contrast to Gods word and 1 John 4. Automatically exposing that teaching as a lie. They will use 1 Thess 5:19-22 as their proof test but fail in correctly interpreting it. They draw their own meaning from it instead of scripture interpret itself. According to their idea, I am more powerful than God because I can tell God what to do and when depending on my attitude and he is powerless to act unless I change my attitude. They will draw from other verses their own 'fulfilled prophecies' and fail to understand the context and language usage of that time and culture. Ignorance, selfish interpretation, and leaning on their own understandings is their sin as they deceive millions.
I believe God works miracles today.
I believe The Holy Spirit will do what ever is necessary to draw the elect to God by pointing people to the power of the Cross and the person of Jesus Christ.
I do not believe it is the Holy Spirit doing any Gold fillings or gold teeth because of the leaders and the teachings and evidences against these movements. It maybe spirit lead, but its not The Holy Spirit - He points to the Person and Works of Jesus Christ who deserves all glory.
Sources:
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
"Dental miracles" the latest to hit Toronto, Christian Week, Mar. 30, 1999
Nederlands Dagblad, May 1, 1999
TV evangelists forced to recant claims of God's divine dentistry, National Post, May 12, 1999
Struck by 'Golden Miracles', Los Angeles Times, Jan. 25, 2000
Gold Dust Phenomenon Stirs Up Questions Among Charismatics, Charisma News, Sep 8, 1999
"God 'gives' gold teeth to believers", The Times of London, Apr. 17, 1999
TBN on Sept.13,1999