God and Prayer

A tornado flattens one house and skips the next. A doctor says there’s nothing left to try—and then there is. Someone walks away from a wreck that should have killed them. And almost on cue, we reach for the same words: It must have been God’s will. Everything happens for a reason. He still has a plan for me.

But is that how God actually works today? Or is it just how we’ve learned to talk?

In God and Prayer, Ric Keaster takes the questions most Christians have quietly wondered about—and refuses to let them stay quiet:

• Does God still step into the physical world the way He did in Scripture?
• If enough of us pray, and keep praying, will He heal the sick?
• Why do faithful believers suffer while others seem to sail right through?
• When we say God “answers prayer,” can the answer ever be no?
• Is there a difference between God making something happen and allowing it?

His conclusions are, by his own admission, controversial. Keaster argues that the miracles and ongoing revelation recorded in the Bible served a purpose now complete—and that God works today through His confirmed Word, not by interrupting nature. You may close the book convinced. You may close it ready to argue. Either way, he asks just one thing: open your Bible next to his, and test every claim by both Scripture and the life you actually live.

Because what we read and what we see were never meant to contradict each other.

About the Author:

Ric Keaster has spent a lifetime teaching, preaching, and writing—first as a schoolteacher and administrator, then, after earning his doctorate in Educational Leadership, as a professor and Professor Emeritus. He serves the Rome Church of Christ in Proctorville, Ohio, and is the author of Twisted Scripture and Types in the Bible.