Eric Metaxas | Miracles: What They Are, Why They Happen, and How They Can Change Your Life

Recorded Nov 4, 2014
Eric Metaxas is best known for his biographies, told with “passion and theological sophistication,” (The Wall Street Journal) of William Wilberforce and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, profoundly moral men who took unpopular stances and have since been vindicated by history. He is also the author of dozens of other works of nonfiction, children’s books, television scripts, and newspaper and periodical columns. Metaxas is a frequent contributor to news programs on CNN, Fox News Channel, and NPR, and also hosts a nationally syndicated Sunday morning program, 100 Huntley Street. His new book asks why miracles happen and what we can do to understand and use them in our lives.
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[@shayneseltzer9052]

This is something that happened to myself and my husband on our wedding night. We were married in 1959 and before we went to bed my husband prayed asking for God’s blessing. He stated that we knew that many couples divorce, but we wanted to honor our vows and to bless us. At that point we felt this kind electrical feeling. We couldn’t speak, finally my husband says “did you feel that” I said yes. To this day I know God did touch us and it helps me know he is real and true.

[@DWHalse]

Don’t know how I missed this vid. Just and old man now. Nevertheless I had the honor to travel around the world and witness with these tired old eyes, miracles, healings and the deliverance of hundreds. The only one issue I am still waiting for is the resuscitation of a dead person. Being a conduit for the amazing power of the Holy Spirit are events there are no words for. The humility and awe that follow still bring me to tears, at the tremendous love grace and mercy Father continues to pour out on His Creation. I pray daily that millions of you will find the faith and teachings that reinforce and validate the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s fun and terrifying at the same time. As a human being I have no ability to fix anyone but with obedience you can and will be used by the Holy Spirit to assist in growing the Kingdom, to His glory! Let your Kingdom come Father, on earth as it is in heaven.

[@michaelbrickley2443]

Have you seen or heard the story of the man in South Africa? Was made into a book, I think. Have the movie. Man was hit by lighning, as I recall, and he laid hands…bada bing bada boom. Faith Like Potatoes…My heart arrested in 2014. Was in MICU when it happened. They resuscitated and then did a echocardiogram and they said my Ejection was below the threshold that can sustain life. The avg. heart is 60%. The threshold is 10%. I was measured at 5%. At the end of the week, they told my family that they were sorry, there was nothing else they could do. One of my friends in Trinidad called my daughter and prayed over the phone. She had a vision of angels surrounding the bed. She told my daughter, “your father’s coming back.” I awoke the next day and my EF was a solid 10%. He is doing all kinds of things as you’ve seen. He’s trying to rouse a deaf and blind world. Shalom Aleichem

[@michellecardenas6072]

Amen, thank you for sharing your beautiful love and conviction of truth of Jesus Christ and his love for us through his touch.

[@michellecardenas6072]

@@michaelbrickley2443 wow. Beautiful. God bless.Thank you for sharing

[@michaelbrickley2443]

@@michellecardenas6072 you’re very welcome. There are many who never hear as I did, see as I have but when I talk to believers , almost all say this happened to someone, that happened to another. We need to share even when they’re laughing. At least we can say we tried. Shalom

[@susangruener6887]

Amen David! I know from which you speak! As a great grandmother I've been around long enough to totally agree!

[@DaKingDavid5]

I've experienced the supernatural but there are plenty of miracles that happen in every day life that we ignore

[@dianecowan3567]

Having experienced miracles myself, I know that if God wants you to experience a miracle you will know that that is what it is. You may question it at first, but you will come to understand it and your faith will grow.

[@leonardjeanette]

God has His hand on this man & I’m glad to have found these presentations

[@jenniferliepe9393]

If only my son had a professor like you in college his life will be so different right now God bless you

[@pippinbaker8440]

I , am very greatful, that I have experienced God's supernatural works, quite a few times, and they are precious beyond everything in this world, I don't talk about them often, but when I do, I make sure that in doing so, I am not casting my pearls before swine, Shalom

[@standuporsitdown2593]

I have had personal healing miracles. Been healed from a debilitating ear issue. Had hyperacusis after attending an air show. With prayer after suffering for a wk I was Fully healed and Fully Thankful! Been healed instantly from migraines more than once. Stomach aches, leg pain. Saved from near drowning. Our Great God loves us and wants to heal. Let us approach Him with Faith and reverence in our asking.

[@standuporsitdown2593]

@@lepidoptera9337 Next time you need a miracle I pray you call on Jesus. Except he's not a genie in a bottle. We were created to reflect His Glory and Know the Greatest Love of All. The one who made us and everything good.

[@dottieryan5574]

If you are a believer ... you ARE a Saint. Paul made that very clear in the New Testament ❣️🙏🕊

[@donnat639]

Yes, he did.... no one is a saint unless & until he/she is reborn spiritually. After which lifelong transformation begins & we battle evil in our flesh/world, mature & struggle. We “run the race”. keep boxing, striving: to attain, achieve victory, conquer. 👑

[@CJFCarlsson]

thankfully there are saints and there are saints, I'm happy to be a lower rung saint.

[@nancyott7486]

Very informative, Thank you. I am reading your book, Fish Out of Water! Fantastic! I my have experienced the Miracle of sobriety in ny life! Glory to God!

[@dorothypoole8908]

The doctor told my mother there was 1 chance in a 1,000 of having a baby. She had a miscarriage, then was very sick later. The nurse told my mother, if you ever get pregnant, I want to see the baby. I was 8 years old and prayed for a baby brother every dady at lunch. My folks were going to adopt a baby in November, but my brother arrived in October. My mother went and showed the nurse the baby.

[@Laura-Lee]

Eric mentioned people who are devout Christians. Some get quite a few miracles and some receive hardly any. I have been BOTH. I started out hardly ever seeing anything supernatural, then later, as time progressed, they started happening much more frequently. I think the crux of the matter is EXPECTATION. As I started seeing an occasional miracle, I started asking God for bigger things and thinking, "Well. If He did this one here and this one there, why can't He do it again?" My view of God got bigger and my view of how much He loved me got bigger and so I asked bigger. And it seemed the bigger and more frequently I asked He seemed to delight in seeing my increased faith and going, "Hold on. You haven't seen anything yet!" Now, 43 years later, I have seen Him answer me (and others) is such big ways I am always asking for bigger stuff. If He really is ONMI in all those ways, then why should I restrict Him and what He is capable of? Which is VERY different than starting with the belief that miracles were just for the early church and don't happen these days and so never expecting to see one. The danger is that I don't want to make God my servant. Doing MY bidding. But I think when Jesus says, "You have not because you ask not" is something we really need to consider. But like Eric said, there needs to be a middle ground. We accept that there ARE miracles but we need to look at them with sober judgment and a critical eye and not just accept them wherever and from whomever, because then we are open to deception by others and ourselves. Great talk. Great video. LL

[@wolfthequarrelsome504]

Miracles who knows but who decides they are from God?

[@jsshay01]

⁠@@wolfthequarrelsome504When you know the Lord Jesus Christ, you just know. There’s nothing like Him in the world. Of course; He is a miracle in Himself. Plenty of miracles have happened in my own life which have always led to good. Does the devil cause miracles? I don’t think so, he cannot create, only destroy, by working evil in people’s minds and actions. God works for the ultimate good and miracles are part of Him. Read the Bible, it is full of miracles which led to good.

[@pippinbaker8440]

Naturally, a miracle [in my humble opinion] is a supernatural experience!

[@lnln3656]

Eric, had an angel experience with my ex-husband while we were atheists. We dealt with it this way, lol: we NEVER talked about it - EVER! Think it is called disassociation, right? Only remembered the angel a few years later, when my born-again experience happened.

[@mermaidtailsgeig5272]

Sometimes I am out walking and I feel this very strange feeling like WOW... I am this spiritual being in a physical body in this foreign place. It’s like a feeling that I know I belong somewhere else... it’s like my soul jumps out and makes itself known. It’s a weird weird feeling.

[@michaelbrickley2443]

You are blessed with the knowledge of the truth. People have trouble understanding it but what you feel is a longing to return to your real home.

[@susangruener6887]

Amen! It's because it's true! God's Word says it is. Period.

[@bobmello1063]

God gave us Free will. We must learn and make our own way. Free Will has deep,deep meaning.

[@rward1904]

All men/ women travel the horizontal life line until in that life they are confronted with a decision will Mans will or Gods Will be acted on? That is the point of the cross the place where the horizontal is crossed by the perpendicular. Most past regrets are the fault of Mans will. The future receives the most prayer.

[@elizabethbowie9753]

God did not create evil. Everything He created was Good. God created an angel, Lucifer. Evil was found in him, so he was cast out of Heaven. Evil spelled backwards is Live. Everything God Ordains, the enemy tries to reverse/pervert. The literal meaning of the word wicked, is twisted. Twisted string is a Candlewick. Twisted rope is wicker. A person that has a wicked thoughtlife constantly goes against God, rejects God, or even hates God. Choose this day whom you will serve...

[@susangruener6887]

I've listened and watched Eric M. for quite a while, and I think he's just a great speaker, and a wonderful person. I enjoy his out-left-field humor... I seem to listen a bit closer... I enjoyed this a lot!

[@hopecrolius1694]

What struck me was how many of the questioners are seeking explanations around miracles as a phenomenon. "Maybe science will explain it later." Kudos to them for attending the lecture at all. But the stubborn rationality of people who just won't yield to the possibility of a divine creator who knows each of us and tailors miracles, even as his permissive will allow devil, is astonishing to me.

[@charlesmiller6281]

The fine tuned universe is the miracle of miracles. I saw Carl Sagan give his famous extraterrestrial life lecture. This was more than 40 years ago. Back then it seemed plausible. But what everyone forgets, at the conclusion after going from quadrillions to trillions to billions of planets in the end the likely number of planets with intelligent life he arrives at is: one. He of course delivered this as a joke, "And I'm not too sure about the one." Even so: one.

[@lynntaylor8973]

He d Has grown so deeply I’ve watched him for yrs he’s so open and clear Thank yo

[@alexandrakaraboukoukis2477]

God is Spirit & Those that Now Him Know Him worship Him In Spirit 🕊️✨🙄✝️

[@alexandrakaraboukoukis2477]

God Bless you Eric

[@upsidedowndreamer8724]

Please Jesus do the biggest miracle ever in my life. Pllleeeeeaaaassssse.

[@judywilliams1928]

My 1st Miracle, God's Dramatic Calling, in my life was when I was 18 yrs old & got into a car accident. Both cars were demolished, and it took an unconscious driver of the vehicle I was in to become conscious long enough to call my name to let Emergency crew know that I was left in the car. They found me under the luggage of the boy that was being taken to the Airport, which was killed, and in a pool of water mixed with gasoline!

[@judywilliams1928]

Specialists didn't expect me to live beyond 40 tops, and I'm now 65!

[@carmenwheatley5376]

St Augustine said: "Miracles. are not done in opposition to Nature, only in opposition to what we know about Nature". And he was not glib......

[@violinhunter2]

I shared the stage with Robert Plant some time ago. It was not a miracle but it was a coincidence. I have experienced four or five odd coincidences in my life which are hard to explain. On the other hand, years ago, I heard a voice call my name as I was fast asleep. I had forgotten to set the alarm and if the voice had not awakened me, I would have missed a very, very important appointment which changed my life.

[@brianedwards644]

Wholly agree with Mr Metaxas and thank the God that would die in the flesh for our sins. One of the problems we have is how to keep science honest while teaching our children. They have done a masterful job denying God has any place in the discussion. This needs to be vigorously pushed against by believers and any one who has an open mind

[@tedgrant2]

The purpose of miracles is to impress the reader and give him hope that he will live for ever.

[@bobmello1063]

I too have experienced this through out my life and am so greatful, but I keep this to.my self. By the way this shows my husband but I am a women. As I have grown older I realized how important God is and that his son Jesus gave us a great gift . Thank you, but as a Catholic remember the blessed mother Mary.

[@SuperMagnumb]

I am 62 and at 59 i finally surrendered to God and experienced the miracle of the new birth. Thien 2 years ago October 20 I saw a man 30s tall scary and covered in leather who was fully human looking and even made a crashing sound when he had fell off of the wall in my backyard since I had startled him, and he had tried to hide from me. I am not sure what he was doing but it was 3 am and my creepy roommate was just coming in as i was going out on the back porch. Well, he climbed up and sat on the wall and stared at me arrogantly for a minute and then as a cat walked by him, he reached down stuck out his arm and slid inside the cat and disappeared right in front of me. Can you guess what I saw? If you answered demon, then you are correct. unforgettable

[@shirleymason7697]

A professor/scholar at VAnderbilt U. created a lecture on a CD - eventually, whereupon, in her lecture she said that “the Red Sea,” transulated in the original language as “the reed sea.” She read the documents in their original language. Sorry, I long ago lost her name.

[@GayorgVonTrapp]

Can someone give an example please of a ‘miracle’ and enlighten us as to exactly what point the ‘divine’ intervened, and how they know?

[@terryhuffaker3615]

Robert Plant : Heaven Knows

[@7AMDG7]

Where was the location of this presentation?

[@jaggedstarrPI]

With respect: You were rude to the first questioner, the man who talked about Abraham's descendants. It wasn't your final response, it was your tone in interrupting an obviously nervous person of good intentions.

[@marcialynch8103]

I think there are many more miracles than you hear about. I have experienced several, but one is so "outrageous" - if you can use such a term to describe a miracle - That I rarely tell it because people find it so difficult to believe. But it did happen.

[@sheerbeauty]

Did anyone parse out that first question?

[@estherdaniels2032]

The question about Sainthood is made clear in the Bible. We who R saved by Christ R considered saints!;!

[@ruthfraser5773]

Believers are called saints in the Bible because they are expected to live like saints

[@alexandrakaraboukoukis2477]

You Got your Angel Periklis at your Baptism He Never Left you He is in you & around you Jesus ✝️✨🕊️🙄

[@elizabethbowie9753]

The Paraclete is the Holy Spirit, not an angel.

[@charlesgarrett9914]

I was @ Wolf Head on the campus @ Yale in 84

[@violinhunter2]

That question at 37:37 is the critical one: Why so much wickedness in the world if God can at any time intervene to make everything good? No more wars, no more violence, no more sickness, no more injustice, no more crime, no more domestic abuse, no more horrible natural disasters? Only time will give us the answer..... Satan is the god of this world but God allows him to do his thing. To God, a thousand years is as one day. Be patient.

[@apropos4701]

It is 2022, and now we have the miracle of covid vaccines. Isn't God good?

[@virginiabybee8405]

Too many ads!!

[@JadeDragon407]

Wow... I know this is a serious conversation, but... the comment that if Moses was alive today, he'd miss the burning bush because he'd be looking at his phone. I almost died 🤣🤣 I find that major "breaking the laws of physics" type miracles are something perhaps not expressly ordained in our time (or being saved for Daniel's 70th Week?), although at the same time, I find that too many extraordinary things are explained away as "mundane". Thusly, miracles likely are hiding in plain sight to a degree more often than credit is given. I retain "bizarre" theories that because God can see through the 4th (and beyond) dimensions like time, it's in that dimensional view that He can know what will happen before it happens. In His grace, He's able to keep us from certain harms/troubles, and more importantly, saw that the path of salvation would be necessary before establishing the laws and energies of the universe. Once He created the time dimension(s) [I believe there are 3]; He began to see the Mandelbrotesque "tendrils" of it that spanned off into all manner of combinations/directions. In cases like avoided tragedies, I almost have to argue that for something to not have occurred, it would have to have first occurred (even if only via God's future-looking eminence in knowing... although you can only know truth and things that are reality, so...). God, in his position outside the universe, can set up motions before an "already-occured" event to keep it from happening; if THAT isn't a miracle, I don't know what is. These, which we would have absolutely no idea of nor way to know such a thing, are the sort of miracles that likely occur constantly in the backdrop of this realm that we remain oblivious to. If you consider this as even a possibility, then it's impossible to say that God isn't active in each of our lives. This leads me to consider that God is cognizant of an infinite amount of possibilities, because even if the smallest detail changes, He alone knows what domino effect it could it have. On the other hand, it's almost a paradox that God is a granter of free will and does grant us a great deal of liberty with how we operate our lives (dangerous as that is); although knowing what we shall do before we do it, He well has ensured that His Kingdom comes out in the end just to the manner and specifications as He has ordained it, despite all our "help". Just small Socrates-esque ponderings over little questions and issues that I have time to time... nothing major...

[@alexandrakaraboukoukis2477]

Miracles metaxis

[@keithtomat9862]

Eric you should know faith comes first them merciles

[@ellencooney5563]

I believe Yeshua made it clear that we're not to ask for signs and wonders.

[@lesliehlopez7594]

There is another “provided by Jesus “ explanation of miracles that answers and explains those inconsistencies away from the scientific and “rational” answers to true miracles . They differ radically from the usual ones. Please refer yourselves to a “Course in Miracles “ ( Google it to get full info.

[@jeanrose4011]

Oooo

[@bestrongandcourageousdevot296]

The objections were all so routine, mundane and it so often seems like when one is giving them (I've heard them many times), that they seem to feel unique, brilliant or particularly intelligent. In this audience there seemed to be a New England, Ivy League or genteel way of dismissing while politely seeming to entertain the notion of miracles. Civilized people politely 'hear out' the unwashed dinner guest and dismiss them without talking with their mouths full... In becoming an actual believer, Metaxas' status has been diminished; so, he is given polite audience and that is all. This may be the product of the old Liberal seminaries teaching their future pastors that the Jesus of history is different than the Christ of faith and that they should believe the first but preach the latter. Now I suppose that we are all on a journey and we must be patient; alas, it is sad that so many objections still entrap people even though they have been debunked long ago.

[@SAMcClellan]

I was shocked at how dismissive he was, of the 1st person's attempt to verbalize how God used biblical events to influence history. Actually, a form of miracle to some, on how God works His plan/s, regardless of human intervention.

[@susangruener6887]

I don't think Eric understood what he was trying to say, and with his accent I could hardly understand this poor man. I'm sure he's fine...

[@carmenwheatley5376]

Alas, the process of making saints has been demoted. The Devil's Advocate is no more, and only 2 miracles are required as opposed to 6, and one can question whether the last batch were indeed miracles.......Once upon a time the Church was very exacting about saints and miracles, but no more.

[@GodsOath_com]

Please accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and get out of the religion you are laden with. He died to free you.

[@jackc981]

So sad he has been so rude To that gentleman with the question. Be kind to people That's still in process of learning English...

[@violinhunter2]

If you believe in your Creator, you would have to know that there is only ONE Earth. If God created more than one, then he would have had to send His Son multiple times to save sinful "humanity" everywhere He created humanity. Is humanity perfect on some other planet?

[@arthurfiorillo8591]

The meaning of life you had a better fall in love with our Lord Jesus to Get to our Farther God Gee; when I look at the wisdom of God, he did not pick the intellectuals to spread the word. and the gospels You are saved by the grace of God and faith in God oh foolish people nothing is permanent on this Earth the grave waits for you and me but"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

[@Gatorbeaux]

Luke was a physician and Paul was highly educated. So it wasn’t just a bunch of illiterate fisherman- I mean Paul wrote 1/3 of the New Testament. Jesus definitely used folks like Mary Magdalene and Matthew (tax collector) who were outcasts to help spread the gospel but he had some smart folks too

[@razony]

I'm an Ex-Christian. (Spiritual) I believe in miracles, but not from the bible sense. I NEVER heard of or seen miracles from Christians walking on water to save children/people out of love and need. (Mathew 14:31) But, from a 'Christian perspective.' Why can't Christians create miracles out of love and need? Why? Eric Metaxas reminds me of the Seinfeld episode about his TV sitcom about 'Nothing.' He kind of just rambles on without making a clear defining point or definition about...Nothing. Boring!

[@gailshmail3420]

Read William Blake's Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright to see how ultimate that question is, how could the Entity that created Jesus (the Lamb) also have created even in nature, terrible evil. Evil is what we have to prove ourselves against.

[@Warmsunset26]

Hmmmmm, a bit disappointed as he just rambled on.......

[@mermaidtailsgeig5272]

We are souls that keep reliving in each birth...our souls are born over and over until our souls reach the maturity of Christ. It’s like a spiritual evolution. The bad thing about this idea though, is you have to come back to this earth and relive again... striving life time after life time to finally reach the point that you don’t have to come back to earth. You reach the Christ, the Nevarna... it’s a struggle to reach ... that is why we have so many life times to keep trying. The reason I believe this is because it seems quite unfair that a person born into a dysfunctional family, or dire situations which made him/her into a “ ungodly” person, would not have another life time to have another opportunity to better his life. Some might say this God’sGrace takes care of that. Maybe that Grace is that your soul gets many lifetimes to improve and become divine. When one person dies, another person is born. Those souls of the dead are resurrected in the newborn . It’s the evolution of the journey of our souls to finally meet the Godhead. Hmmm... I read a book about Kabbalah .look into it ...

[@dorasnop7771]

to achieve Christ Conscience

[@scottwatkins8287]

> “When one person dies, another person is born. The souls of the dead are resurrected in the newborn.” If this were true, there would be no population growth.

[@desertflower13]

Christianity does not talk about reincarnation, only the Resurrection. We have one life to live while here on earth, and we all have the opportunity to hear about Jesus, "each person is without excuse" as the scripture says. Whatever we choose to do with that knowledge is up to each person, we can either choose to love Him, or to reject Him. But it is God who calls whom He will, we can do nothing of ourselves, if it is not His Will, that is why we that choose Him are called "The Elect." He elects whom He will, and others He will not, it is a mystery why that is. If it were up to us, we would NEVER turn to Him because of our sinful nature. It is only when He shines His Light on us and in us, that we can then respond to His Light and His love. There is no "Christ Conscienceness," while we are here on earth, we will only become like Christ when we are face-to-face with Him, then and only then will we be like Him. But while we are on the earth, yes, we strive to be more like Him, because we love Him, not out of obligation, otherwise that's what is called "works."

[@mr.wrongthink.1325]

He has plenty of evidence that religions exists. He has no evidence that gods exist.

[@dorasnop7771]

Define God....

[@mr.wrongthink.1325]

@@dorasnop7771 God is someone who created everything, including afterlife for us, and determines what happens to us in the afterlife. Is your definition very different? What is it?

[@mermaidtailsgeig5272]

Eric looks like he’s bored out of his mind.

[@fringedwellermccatintyre730]

I disagree.