Signs: Do they still happen? Why?

Someone asked me recently, “What’s the deal with signs?”

A short response to that might be summed up by Bill Johnson’s quote: “If you’re not going anywhere new, then you don’t need signs.”

I think any conscientious self-respecting saint aspires to grow into new places in God.  And if we’re growing into new places then ‘signs’ become a road-sign to help us know that we’re on the right road.  This is no different from our dependence upon a map or GPS in our travels to a new destination.  Signs help secure our hearts in confidence that we’re being led by His presence. 

Here are a few reasons that I like signs.

1)  They give indication of Heaven’s involvement and favor.
2)  They help convince the doubting mind of God’s reality and nearness. 
3)  They serve to surround our lives with frequent expressions of Father’s love.

And what does (perfect) love do?  It drives fear away! (I John 4:18)  So if we’re having fear/insecurity issues, maybe we’re not having enough evidence of Father’s love expressed in our life.  

Throughout the Old and New Testaments, God explains His ‘gold standard’ of authenticating His word, by requiring “two or three witnesses” to establish a thing (II Cor 13:1; Deut 19:15; Matt 18:16, etc).  

Some believers say that we shouldn’t use signs or fleeces now-a-days because Holy Spirit abides in us and he gave us a good brain to use.  To that I would ask, “So how is your track record when it comes to making decisions?”  If you’re satisfied with your percentage of success, then stick with your method.  If you’re disappointed occasionally, then you may want to try another option.”  I’ve presented my tried and tested method here and some tools here.

Here’s a side-bar question that deserves some serious consideration: In our walk with God, when does He get the opportunity to exercise His sovereignty in our decision-making?  Do we invite Him… or does He have to invade… or do we end up paying the consequences of doing it ourselves?  And what commentary does our answer say about our relationship with Him?

Others say that a believer shouldn’t ask for signs… we shouldn’t seek God for his hand (gifts/things/signs), we should only seek His face (His heart/presence).  But if we get His hand, then just look up a little higher and we’ll see His face.  They come together, if we want them.  

But God so wants to establish us in His love that He’ll use any method to confirm His love to us.  He even asks us to ask Him for a sign!  It’s true!

“Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” – Isa 7:11

Ahaz the king, responds with, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!”  But God is so committed to establish us that He responds, in essence, “Do you think you are going to weary Me?  I’m going to give you a sign anyway…”

I’m confident that the mindset that shuns signs, robs us of more opportunities to hear God’s voice and see His love demonstrated around us.

Jesus said that signs would follow those who believe.

And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will 1) drive out demons; they will 2) speak in new tongues; they will 3) pick up snakes with their hands, and if they 4) drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will 5) lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.” – Mark 16:18

But it goes without saying that these five signs are not the total scope of signs available to believers.  Just look around in our modern times and we can see many other signs attesting to the “believing” saints.

So what signs are acceptable on our list?  Is our list ever-growing?  Could creator God create a sign that we have never heard of?  Would that be okay with us?  Are we looking for more signs… or trying to disprove the signs?  Here’s a list of a few current ones:

Gold dust/gold flakes/gold teeth
Feathers –
Angel appearances/lights – Acts 20:8
Gem stones – cut/uncut
Meteorites –
Pennies –
Manna –
Fleeces –
Glory cloud – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQrTjbzbByA
Rain without clouds… or inside buildings –
Laughter/tears –
Shivers/chicken skin/goosebumps –
Oil flowing out of a Bible, walls, pulpits, palms of hands –

Are we multi-lingual?  How many ‘languages’/signs occur in our life?  Are we fluent in these languages?  Are we familiar enough to understand what they mean when these signs show up?  Think of it; if God can only speak to us through the Bible, then we can only hear from Him when we’re reading it.  Wouldn’t it be awesome for Him to be able to speak through anything at anytime?  And if we’re familiar with the unique ‘language’ that He’s speaking at the time, then our lives can get fortified accordingly. 

This is normal part of life for the believing believer (Mk 16:18).  So, let’s say it together, “Lord, we invite Your voice and presence to manifest in any way You would like.  Amen!”

Soon, I’ll post some personal stories of signs.

— MLH

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These signs shall follow those that believe…

Serious question: Have you ever pondered what sign you would like to accompany your life?

Jesus said in Mark 16:17-18,

 ^“And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

And of course this isn’t an exhaustive list of all the signs that shall follow God’s people, because Jesus ‘raises the bar’ for us in John 14:12,

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”

Jesus established what was possible through His life on earth, but because He went to the Father He’s made it possible for us to do “greater things” than He did.  And if they are “greater”, then it’s possible that they haven’t even been listed in the Bible.  Now if we won’t accept anything that is NOT in the Bible, then we’re going to have trouble with Jesus’ declaration that we will do “greater works”.  But this also begs the question, “How would we know whether a ‘sign’ is from God or not?”  I believe that Rev 19:10 gives us one method to judge by,

And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

We don’t worship angels… nor do we worship signs.  But let’s highlight the last sentence (my paraphrase); “whenever Holy Spirit speaks, He points to and magnifies Jesus.”   In short, when we see a sign, we ask, “Does it make Jesus look bigger and better in our eyes and does it make us fall more in love with Jesus?”

It’s obvious that the five signs that Jesus listed in Mk 16:17-18 occur in our world today… albeit, some more often than others.  But are there other signs present in our modern world that we could validate as bona fide God-signs?  Of course, that’s an easy question to answer when we look at the preponderance of good fruit associated with the signs.  A quick list of some of those signs might be; gold, shaking, cloud of His presence, feathers, rain from clear skies and indoors, oil, gold teeth, manna, gem stones… just to name a few.

So there really ARE signs today!  And they’re for all of us!  But lest we succumb to false humility eschewing anything so ‘lofty’ as a sign, consider Apostle Paul who said, “Earnestly desire spiritual gifts” (see I Cor 14:1).  There it is, a direct admonition to ‘strongly contend’ for Heaven’s resources.  God is eager to “show Himself strong to the one whose heart is completely His” (see II Chron 16:9).

Here’s the question again, “What sign do you want to accompany your life?”

What if…..

Well, I’ll let you in on a singular sign that has always gripped my imagination, my dreams and even at times, my prayers.  At special times a very gentle but superior Force that eclipses our earth’s gravity empowers me, such that I rise (or fly) off of the ground when being enabled by the Spirit of God.  That’s right, when the Lord’s presence is resting in a special way, I’ve ‘seen’ myself in dreams and in my ‘golden’ imagination effortlessly floating and flying above the ground.  In my youth it was just what I called, ‘body flying’, but in later years it is almost always associated with a spiritual impact happening at the time.  I’ve even had dreams so vivid and impacting that when I awoke I was as sure of my ability to fly as I was of anything around me.  I knew that I had discovered how to ‘fly’.  In fact, there have been times when talking with like minded friends and in a moment of heightened passion we’ve together taken a ‘leap of faith’…  I’m sorry to say that ‘flying’ hasn’t happened in my physical existence yet, but it has happened many times in my ‘other’ world.

I’ll take it a step further.  You know how we do teachings on how to receive the gifts of the Spirit, etc?  Well, I’ve had dreams where I’m actually teaching a congregation how to ‘fly’ by receiving the Gift of Levitation in the Spirit.  Just as John Wimber hosted healing clinics where everyone got to “do the stuff”, I modeled flying and then imparted faith for this gift to those present.  And it was so easy.  It’s not a man-thing at all.  And it’s not about goose bumps or lightning bolts.  It’s just becoming simple-minded and being enthralled in His presence upon you.  As our mind quiets down and our faith gets opened up… our physical reality catches up.  Did you hear that, it literally, gets ‘caught up’.  I’m confident this will really happen!

So while you’re pondering this whole idea, I’ll leave you with this very strange and wonderful sign of levitation that suddenly overtook a young man in 1630.  Unfortunately, the religious system of the day was too stiff and insecure to recognize that the fruit of this man’s life was benefiting everyone… except the jealous leaders around him.  I believe we will host and steward a new gift and sign better today.  

Saint Joseph of Cupertino

Joseph was born in 1603 in Cupertino, Apulia.  On Oct 4, 1630, the town of Cupertino held a procession on the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi.  Joseph was assisting in the procession when he suddenly soared into the sky, where he remained hovering over the crowd.  When he descended and realized what had happened, he became so embarrassed that he fled to his mother’s house and hid.

Joseph’s life changed dramatically after this incident.  His flights continued and came with increasing frequency.  His superiors, alarmed at his lack of control, forbade him from community exercises, believing he would cause too great a distraction for the friary. For the fact was, Joseph could not contain himself.  On hearing the names of Jesus or Mary, the singing of hymns during the feast of St. Francis, or while praying at Mass, he would go into a dazed state and soar into the air, remaining there until a superior commanded him under obedience to revive.

The mere mention of God or a spiritual matter was enough to take him out of his senses; at Mass he frequently floated in the air in rapture.  Once as Christmas carols were being sung, he soared to the high altar and knelt in the air, rapt in prayer.  The most spectacular experiences were his flying to images placed high above the altars and helping workmen to erect a Calvary Cross thirty-six feet high by lifting it into place in mid-air ‘as if it were straw’.  Ten men had previously failed to lift it.  Such feats earned him the nickname ‘the Flying Friar’

God began to work many amazing miracles through St. Joseph.  Over seventy times, people saw him rise from the ground while saying mass or praying.  Often he went into ecstasy and would remain completely enraptured, talking with God.  He became so holy that everything he saw made him think of God, and he said that all the troubles of this world were nothing but the “play” battles children have with popguns.  St. Joseph became so famous for the miracles that he was kept hidden, but he was happy for the chance to be alone with his beloved Lord.

Joseph was accused of attracting undue attention with his “flights”, and claiming to perform miracles.  The people flocked to him in droves seeking help and advice in the confessional, and he converted many to a truly Christian life.  However, this humble man had to endure many severe trials and terrible temptations throughout his life.  His notoriety was not well received by his superiors, which resulted in an Inquisition (he was shortly cleared and released), exile and solitude so as to curb his involvement with the people.  Joseph endured his ordeal with great patience.  He died on September 18, 1663.

Pope Clement XIII canonized him in 1767.

All information, quotes and excerpts about Joseph of Cupertino were secured from here and related web links.   Artist rendering of St Joseph

– MLH