Manna: Heaven

by | Jul 6, 2025

A lot has happened in our companion book this past week. Author Mitch Albom is expertly building the drama of the miracle phone calls, orchestrating several threads at once, including background on the delivery mechanism. The telephone.

Albom shared that one time, when a magazine interviewed Edison, he told the journalist about a project he was working on called a “spirit phone.” His invention might enable people to communicate with the dead. Edison explained his motivation. People want to talk to those who went before us, and his new invention will at least offer that possibility.

Not surprisingly, the story sparked a backlash, including 600 letters to the editor and numerous requests for the device. Nearly a century later, in the town of Coldwater, Michigan, Edison’s quest became reality. Except people were receiving calls from heaven on ordinary cell phones.

The day was set for the Friday before Christmas. Each of the chosen planned to receive a phone call while sitting on stage in front of a packed stadium and numerous news cameras. The whole world would witness the miracles firsthand. All would now know for sure that heaven is real.

But not everyone was on board with the plan. In front of a crowd of 600-plus attendees, Pastor Warren chose a story from the Book of Exodus to share for the weekly bible study at Harvest of Hope Baptist Church. It was a story about miracles and how people respond.

After God freed the Hebrew slaves, they traveled for years through the wilderness in search of the promised land. Shortly after leaving Egypt, the group started complaining bitterly as they crossed the desert. Provisions were a constant challenge. How do you feed so many people?

God heard the people’s complaints and provided for the people’s needs with something that resembled bread each morning. We translate the ancient Hebrew word as “manna,” which means “What is it?” In the evening, they were provided quail.

God’s instructions were clear. Food was provided for six consecutive days. Each family was to gather only what they needed each day. Leftover food would spoil if not consumed. However, on the 6th day, they were instructed to collect enough for two days. God didn’t provide food on the 7th day, but the extra day’s portion from the 6th day wouldn’t spoil. The 7th day was a day of rest.

“Do you know what happened?” Pastor Warren asked the large crowd. A small, older woman raised her hand. “They went out to get the manna anyway?” she answered. But when the people who went out to look for food on the 7th day found that God hadn’t provided it. Just as they were warned.

You must gather food for six days, but on the seventh day, the day of rest, there will be none. On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather food, but they did not find any.
Exodus 16:26-27

Pastor Warren continued, “Here you had a people who were being given the most amazing thing. Food from God. It tasted good. It satisfied them. It was the perfect nutrition.  But what happened? Some people still didn’t trust God’s Word. They went out on the Sabbath, even though he told them not to. Remember, manna was a miracle. A real miracle!”

All the commotion over the miracle calls from heaven was bothering Pastor Warren. Something wasn’t right. While there was a lot of good that resulted, who would have thought that 600 people would attend a Bible study? “Even with this gift from God, they wanted more,” Pastor Warren told them. “And what did they get?” “Nothing?”

“We cannot demand miracles,” Pastor Warren concluded. “We cannot expect them! What is happening here in Coldwater, dear friends, is wrong.” The pastor wasn’t referring to specific miracles, but to the expectation that God’s grace comes on our schedule and for our entertainment.

Joel Furches explains in an article titled “Atheism and the Psychology of Doubt and Belief” that while faith was once synonymous with trust, it is now more commonly used in the context of religious belief.  As a result, he concludes that faith is often thought of simply as “blind trust,” and belief is essentially a form of faith.

Psychologists generally agree that the human mind evaluates new information using an unconscious bias. In other words, we’re quick to believe whatever confirms what we already believe. And we’re more skeptical about information that disputes what we believe to be true.

For all Christians, what we believe as a Church is based on the holy scripture we call the Bible. A collection of books which, we believe, was inspired by God and contains both the history and everything necessary for salvation.

We’re reminded in the Book of Genesis that God created the heavens and the earth. God created humankind to be caretakers of God’s Kingdom. The land and its bounty do not belong to any of us.  And God provides everything we need. This is a miracle we experience every day. But is it ever enough?

You can join us each Sunday in person or online by clicking the button on our website’s homepage. Click here to watch. This button takes you to our YouTube channel. You can find more information about us on our website at FlintAsburyChurch.org.

This is a reminder that we publish a weekly newsletter called the Circuit Rider. You can request this publication by email by sending a request to FlintAsburyUMC@gmail.com, or let us know when you send a message through our website. We post an archive of past editions on our website under Connect – choose Newsletters.

Pastor Tommy

 

Our series was inspired by Mitch Albom. The First Phone Call from Heaven.  New York: HarperCollins, 2014.

Joel Furches. “Atheism and the Psychology of Doubt and Belief.” © Owlcation, July 20, 2022. Retrieved from: link

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