Signs and Wonders

Sharing our guest house is an enthusiastic American couple. Over supper they tell us about their upcoming conference for 150 Central American pastors, teaching the prayer techniques that have brought signs and wonders to their California congregations. The Holy Spirit’s power, they say is now spreading across the hemisphere as a result.

They tell stories of dramatic stories of a woman walking  after 30 years of multiple schlerosis, of a man rising from a cancer deathbed. Their own sons have been healed, one from a milk allergy, the other from asthma.

They talk about walking the streets near their church one night each week, looking for people needing healing prayer.

I try to suppress my skepticism.

I fail.

The next morning Daniel and Gloria Boniché show me their Nicaraguan church and school. They talk of community outreach. Through training and praying, the Holy Spirit has transformed lives. An alcoholic has recovered, halted his domestic abuse, and now leads a prayer team. A terminally ill student has recovered.

And I believe them.

I tell Latin American missionary Joel Huyser the story of my mixed review: for the North Americans, the wonders usurp their lives. For the Bonichés, it is one part of a total Christian life.

 I can accept the Bonichés’ views, but not the North Americans’.

Joel says gently, “Remember, Carol, extremes breed extremes. Nicaraguan culture accepts the supernatural; North America, in the grip of secular materialism, does not.”

The power of polarization.

Of course.

I carry Joel’s comment with me, filled with wonder, touched by grace.