Signs

I first published the article below on Aug 17, 2002, but in my opinion at least, it is as timely now as it was then. Since 2002 I have had the pleasure of speaking to many who felt called “by certain signs” to enter into the service of God, to begin small group ministries, or home churches. surely this is a small sign of his majesty at work.
There was a storm that produced such heavy rains that the river had exceeded flood stage threatening one neighborhood where this one crotchety old man lived. He ignored the warnings of the police when they came around advising the residents to evacuate the area, his reply to the authorities being that the Lord would provide for him.

The floodwaters started rising, getting deeper and deeper.

The old man started praying to the Lord asking that God would spare him from the impending flood and shortly after he started praying he was distracted from his prayers by a noise outside of his house, he looked out the door and noticed that the water flooding down his street was now about half a meter deep and the noise that had distracted him was coming from a military truck, the National Guard having been called out to aid in the disaster. The soldiers pleaded with the old man to accompany them to higher ground and safety, but as before with the Police, he rejected their assistance telling them that the Lord would provide.

The floodwaters continued to rise, getting deeper and deeper and now the first floor of the old man’s house was completely inundated and he was forced to seek safety on the upper level of his home. Continuing to pray, asking the Lord to save him from the flood, he was again disturbed during his prayers by a noise. It was the local fire department emergency workers in a boat just outside his window who also pleaded with the old man to let them take him to safety but as before he told them to go away that the Lord would provide.

Well the waters continued to rise and he was forced to climb out the window onto the roof of the house and perched there he continued to pray when out of the blue there comes a Coast Guard helicopter whose crew once again tries to reason with the old man and rescue him from the flood, but once again refused citing his faith in the Lord.

So as the waters continued to rise, the old man was swept off of the roof of his house and he perished in the waters.

The next thing he knew he was in heaven before almighty God, and he fell down on his knees and cried out “Oh God, why did you forsake me and let me drown in that flood?”

God replied, “My dear child, I didn’t forsake you, I sent the Police to warn you of the danger, I sent the military to evacuate you, I sent a boat load of firemen to take you to safety, and I even sent a helicopter to rescue you off of that roof, what more did you expect?”

There have been many occasions in that my wife and I have found ourselves in the position of having to laugh at ourselves and quote this joke when we realized that although it may seem at the time that the Lord has forgotten us, we have actually been too ignorant to see the simple signs or suggestions that the Lord sent us in our time of need, and had we not been so oblivious to his message and had we followed his suggestions we would have been much better off.

I think in this day and age too many people are seeking a significant sign of the Second Coming when in actuality there are many simple “signs” appearing to those in tuned to the experience. Although I have met many people over the years that were not afraid to admit that they felt that they were gifted with some degree of psychic ability or “the know” as some of refer to the phenomena, that of being aware of, or having premonitions of things before they happen, however lately the rate or frequency that I am personally encountering people with “the know,” or those with feelings of having been led by unseen forces, those people that have witnessed or experienced a miracle or even those who claim to have a reasonable or seemingly rational awareness of some sort of guardian angel watching over them, is increasing dramatically. It is as if suddenly on almost a daily basis I am being led to people that have had some experience with one or more of the above mentioned phenomena.

Another interesting phenomena here in the states at least, is that while statistics show that more and more people are returning to their religious roots or seeking out other mainstream denominations or even new age ideologies, and renewing their faith in God, as reported in the national media, there is an emerging trend to establish “home churches” and also internet ministries, as people seem to be losing faith in the traditional churches. Most of these small groups preach conventional beliefs having split from their mother churches simply out of frustration with what they view as intolerant doctrine from the large denominations, however some are among those that some of us refer to as “new agers” that mingle the traditional Christian with Native American or even Eastern spiritualities. But whatever their ideology may be, it is at least curious that many are following their faith in God, being led to seek out alternatives to what is seemingly becoming highly commercialized religion. We actually have churches here that demand of their members a copy of their federal tax return or some other financial statement so that the church may determine that the member is tithing accordingly. They seem to be oblivious to the concept of brotherly love and fellowship normally gained through attendance every Sabbath, and more interested in the financial bottom line.

And we are even seeing Ministers who are leaders in the mainstream, traditionally accepted denominations preaching messages of hate and intolerance of other ideologies. It would seem to me that we would obtain more positive results in our efforts of spreading Christ’s message by witnessing to non-Christians through precept and example, Christ’s message of brotherly love, friendship, and peace instead of espousing greed and hate.

So am I crazy or what? Do you see indications that God is working in mysterious ways bringing those together that have tired of the greed and lust for power and control that seems to exist in some of the large denominations? Do you think that there is a dramatic increase among otherwise rational Christians to accept the concepts of premonitions, appearances of angels, or feelings of having been led by the Holy Sprit? Or can this trend be attributed to a change in social inhibitions and people are now less afraid of ridicule by their peers when admitting to such phenomena? Many of us that post to the Christian e-mail groups on the Internet feel that we have been led to do God’s bidding but is it just me or is there a trend that I am seeing, indicating a dramatic upsurge in the number of those willing to serve and in some way spread Christ’s message? Is it possible that all these are signs of the impending Second Coming of Christ? Is God preparing his children for the next kingdom? What a wonderful concept!

Rev. Ed