First, it’s easy to get offended at God giving what seems like a trivial blessing to us when people are starving. I remember hearing Heidi Baker speak about when she felt that she couldn’t eat chocolate. She had seen so much dire poverty in Africa that she felt guilty about chocolate or sitting in a hot tub–even though others invited her to speak somewhere, gave her chocolate, and paid the hotel room. She had seen natural disaster so extensive that rescue workers could only work for a limited time and had to be treated for PTSD.

Then God told her “eat that chocolate!” God and his will and love had nothing to do with the trauma and hunger she had seen. God is a wonderful, lavish heavenly Father who is eager to pour out his blessings on people. So why do bad things happen? God has given authority on earth to men. Because all men had sinned, Jesus came as a man. And those who receive the free gift of righteousness through Jesus will exercise dominion in life.

In other words, because God loves the people who are starving to death, we must act! God has put his Spirit and his heart in us for a reason!

Heidi needed to eat the chocolate and be thankful for it, because her view of the heavenly Father and His generous heart had been distorted. She was thinking as if it were God who was holding back and not helping the poor, starving people in her country, Mozambique. Her abstaining from the chocolate in front of her wasn’t going to help the people who were starving. Neither will it help poor, starving people if we see gemstones manifest and say “That can’t be God!”

Because of that experience with chocolate, Heidi always makes a point of having Cokes for the kids she has adopted. Why? Because it shows God’s lavish, generous heart.

In fact, Heidi needed to eat that chocolate for her own emotional health. And she needed her emotional health to be able to continue reaching poor people in Africa. Did you see the movie “Machine Gun Preacher?” There was a point in the movie where Sam Childers became so focused on the suffering in Africa that he got angry over people enjoying simple pleasures. This hurt his family and relationships, rather than helping him to continue reaching suffering people.

Manifestations like gemstones reveal where we’ve become offended with God. They show how we’ve looked at him through our experiences and disappointments instead of through Jesus. They challenge our distorted perception of God as stingy and removed from human need.

A few months ago I met a Christian leader from Iran. His face was glowing with God’s joy, and his body was covered with gold dust. Everything around him had gold dust on it. This is a leader from a country with heavy persecution. He’s risked his life for the gospel. Signs like gems and gold aren’t about self-indulgence. They are about revealing God’s love and his generous heart to us. Too many of us, like Heidi did, have begun to think as if God were stingy.

Betsie and Corrie Ten Boom experienced a miracle of vitamin drops multiplying when they were in a concentration camp. It continued so long that they just marveled. There was no natural explanation. They could have easily become offended at God because they saw this seemingly little miracle but there was so much pain and suffering all around. Instead, they received it with thanksgiving as a gift from God, learned to love their enemies, and shared God’s life with all the dying people around.

I once saw a woman in a wheelchair receive prayer. She didn’t get out of the wheelchair–but the fillings in her teeth turned to gold! It would be easy to get offended at God and say “Her fillings turned to gold, but why didn’t she leave the wheelchair?” Yet she was weeping because the revelation of God’s love overwhelmed her. The pain and disappointment she had experienced in life had not been God’s doing. And that’s the point.

I know of another couple that experienced something like this. Their marriage had been miserable for years and they were on the brink of divorce. The revelation of God’s love through a manifestation of gold dust and joy completely transformed their relationship. In fact, there are two couples that are close friends of mine whose marriages were totally ugly (affairs and all), but their lives and marriages were transformed as they experienced manifestations that, similar to this, could be offensive.

You may ask “Why would God give us gold and gems, when people are starving? If He can do that, why doesn’t he make food appear out of thin air for those people?”

I’ve experienced gold dust and gem dust, seen my friend’s fillings all turned to gold, and seen gems that manifested. There was an extreme sense of joy and of God’s goodness on all of these occasions.

And those are some of the things that have most helped me to persevere through hard times in order to reach hungry and hurting people. I dedicated my life to reaching people with the gospel years ago, and I’ve been willing to risk my life to do it. Last year, my daughter was threatened with kidnapping because I rescued and helped an old man in the country I moved to.

I can’t tell you how much the wild supernatural manifestations of things like gold dust have done to prepare me for trials like this. More than that, no matter what happens or what anybody does to me or my family, and no matter how much it hurts, I am now totally convinced that God is good, generous, and loving. I will never get angry at Him or blame Him for evil. Just as Heidi also welcomes manifestations like gold dust, I understand how these things reveal God’s heart to us, helping us to persevere, overcome opposition, and share God’s love with those who need it the most.

And by the way, God does multiply food for the hungry—but it’s not from somewhere up in the sky. He releases his grace and power through us as we walk in faith, growing in grace and the knowledge of Jesus, and learning to do the works he did. Just like my grandparents experienced supernatural multiplication of ham on the mission field, and like Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish, Heidi has fed about eighty children with a small amount of food.

Gemstones From Heaven

If you’re interested in reading more, you might want to check out Michael King’s book  Gemstones From Heaven. He shares what he has learned, answers some questions, and tells his stories of how God’s touched him through this manifestation. You might also want to check out my book The Power And Love Sandwich. It answers many questions about signs and wonders and deals with the issues that often make even Charismatic Christians afraid of God’s power.

Oil And Gemstones In Puerto Rico

Here’s a video for your enjoyment. It’s not really about the gemstones, oil, or gold dust. The really precious thing is the revelation of God’s love that comes through such signs. I spent hours watching such videos in my early 20s, because I wanted my attention to be fully captured by God and by what the Holy Spirit was doing. Because I constantly talked and thought about what God was doing, miracles began to happen all around me.

If you liked this post, you may want to check out my book The Power And Love Sandwich. God’s power and love are inseparable. Learn why you should seek God’s face and His hand!