Book Review: Miraculous Read?

     In exhange for a review, Bethany House Publishes furbished a complimentary copy of Miracles are for Real: What Happens When Heaven Touches Earth.  Authors James L. Garlow and Keith Wall provide a well-rounded, unbiased look at modern-day miracles from small answered prayers to death defying experiences. Within 250 pages and 17 chapters they equip the reader with theological views of miracles, answers to numerous questions skeptics may have and personal accounts of experiences that they have deemed "miraculous." Did miracles end with the apostolic age or does God still speak to individuals today? Are people just hallucinating or experiencing touches of the divine in a temporal body?
     Ambiguity still lingers, but I am somewhat more convinced than I was when I first opened the book. Miracles are for Real is a book that will pique interest and curiosity, but should be read with vigilant skeptism. It's easier to believe when we want to or are desperately seeking a miracle in our own lives. Given the authors did manage to keep the focus upon God, I still wouldn't recommend this book for a new believer in Christ as it might strip away their faith. Let it be know Garlow is a pastor of many years.
     On that note, let me point out that the stories contained in this volume seem to be from reliable sources as far as I, a reader, can tell. The authors, Garlow and Wall, point out that they have tried to research these experiences enough that they stand behind them as current-day miracles. Can God heal? Yes. Can God resuccitate? Yes. Can God perform miracles? Yes. Does He do so now? That is for the reader to decide if they believe or not.
      Overall, Miracles are for Real, is wonderfully engaging, entertaining and thought-provoking. I thoroughly enjoyed hoping in these stories. Maybe if nothing else, as a well-intentioned skeptic, hope is probably the best thing I can garner out of the pages. My hope is always in Jesus and if He still works miracles that manifest themselves through the physical world, well, I will hope in that, too.

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