Revelation 3:14-17, “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”
Many people think God is blessing them when things are going well, but they are far from God and cursed in reality. We see Scriptural evidence of this in the lukewarm church of Laodicea. This carnal church had wealth and prosperity, thinking highly of themselves; but God called them poor, naked, blind, wretched and miserable. If an outsider had looked for signs of God in the church at Laodicea, they would have errantly concluded that all is well. In reality, nothing was well! From this Bible passage we learn that “signs” can be very misleading.
One of my web visitors emailed me this week to ask some questions. He is single and has met a foreign woman online. They have been communicating for several months and their relationship has been flourishing. Yet he said that the country's borders were closed because of the COVID-19 scare. He said that his passport had expired, but he didn't realize it. And then he mentioned that the plane ticket ended up costing $600 more than he anticipated. So he asked me if these were signs from God that perhaps this relationship was not meant to be. I wrote back and kindly told him that I didn't think any of these things were “signs” at all, but mere facts. His passport expired. That is just a fact. The borders of the country where his new found girlfriend lives have been temporarily closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. That is not a sign from God, that is simply an event that is happening. The same is true of the increased plane ticket price.
But moreover, I explained to my young friend that God does not speak to us today through signs. Hebrews 1:1-2, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;” In Revelation 19:13b Jesus is called, “The Word of God.” John 1:1-3 and 14 teaches that Jesus was the incarnate Word of God (i.e., the Word of God became flesh). Jesus is the Living Word. The Holy Bible is the Written Word. God speaks to us today through His Son, through the inspired Word of God! God never speaks to us using signs, which is superstition.
I made the same mistake in 2013, when I decided to move from Guam back to the United States. In Hawaii, I simply went to find a regular taxi, but a stretched limousine transported me to the hotel where I had made a reservation. I thought perhaps that was a sign from God, welcoming me on my way to my new home. When I got to the Queen Kapiolani Hotel in Honolulu, I had simply reserved a standard room, but they gave me the penthouse on the top floor overlooking the island of Oahu. I had never been treated so well. I hadn't asked or even hinted at any of this. I thought again that perhaps God was sending me a sign, confirming that it was His will for me to move from Guam back to the United States to start a new life on my own. My former wife abandoned and divorced me in 2006, and I was stuck in life, needing to move on. I was all alone in the big cruel world.
But then everything started to go wrong. The medical clinic which had assured me twice that they could provide my pain medications blatantly lied to me. I told the woman who lied to me, that I moved 4,000 miles based on the wrong information she gave me over the phone. She couldn't have cared less. To add cruel insult to injury, she and a female office co-worker cruelly laughed at me as I walked out their clinic door. I wanted to murder them both, those ungodly witches, but I said nothing and committed it into God's hands for judgment (Romans 12:19). I had thought of going back and throwing a big brick through their clinic window during the night, to teach them a lesson, but I figured I would likely get caught and prosecuted, and God would see it also, and I knew this was not the way to handle the matter. So by faith I left it in God's hands to punish, and I still hold Him to that promise (Matthew 18:6).
There is nothing more evil in all this world, then when you laugh at the calamity of another. They were laughing because I told them that they would answer to God for causing me great loss. I also had told them that I forgive them, which was a joke to them. Just wait! Their day of reckoning is soon coming. Hebrews 10:31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” By hurting me, and then mocking my Christian faith, those two wicked women did that to Jesus (Matthew 25:40), and will pay for it accordingly in eternity (Galatians 6:7). You cannot hurt a child of God in the slightest way and get away with it (Matthew 12:36).
Getting back to the main topic, nothing was going right in Hawaii. After the clinic recklessly lied to me, leaving me without pain medications, I called 20 clinics on the phone and physically visited 15 more, but no one would touch me with a 10 foot pole without authorization from Worker's Comp. I even offered cash from my own pocket, but no doctor would help me. Being on Worker's Comp is worse than welfare! I digress. If you'd like to know more, I have written in much more detail about the inexplicable pain, emotional trauma, massive financial loss, bodily afflictions and profound suffering that I endured in my article titled: 'LET GO, LET GOD!' To God be the glory. I am just a redeemed sinner saved by grace!
So I've learned the hard way not to look for “signs” from God in life, because it is a foolish thing to do. Truly, it is superstition. You cannot show me one Bible verse that teaches us to look for signs from God. But Jesus did command us in John 5:39a to “SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES!” Many people have made horrible life-affecting decisions, merely because they thought God had shown them some type of sign. The Bible is very clear in no uncertain terms in Hebrews 1:1-2, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;”
There are two big problems with looking for signs from God. First, the Bible says God does not speak to us in that way. Second, there is no way to confirm whether an alleged “sign” is actually a sign from God or a mere coincidence. How would we know? We couldn't. But we CAN search the Scriptures and confirm God's will with sound Biblical interpretation. Be leery of anyone who claims to have received a “sign” from God, or claims that God appeared to them in a dream or a vision. Beware of anyone who claims that God told them to speak on His behalf, because the Bible identifies them as a liar and a false prophet.
2nd Peter 1:20, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” That means no part of the Bible was written to any specific person. That means Seventh-Day Adventist prophetess' Ellen G. White is a liar. Miss White claimed that God appeared to her in over 2,000 visions, commissioning her to confirm Bible prophecy as a voice for God. The Bible plainly says that no one receives any private revelations from God. Nothing is private! John 18:20, “Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.” Nothing is missing from God's Word. We have all that God intended for us to have.
There have always been occult (meaning: “hidden”) groups in the world. Secret societies intrigue men! There is an incredibly satisfyingly comradery that exists by belonging to a fraternal order, being a duly sworn member of a secret society of brethren. Sadly, many of these men are Christians, who ought not endorse such wicked organizations of the Devil. Freemasonry is without a doubt the biggest and most popular of secret societies in the world. Please consider that Jesus had nothing to hide. That is exactly what Jesus said in John 18:20. Secret societies have always existed because they have secretive agendas. I know from my own diligent research that the god of Freemasonry is Lucifer, who is represented by the All Seeing Eye, in the capstone, at the top of The Great Pyramid. These are common occult symbols, displayed even on back of every U.S. one-dollar bill since 1935.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of basing our faith, decisions and life only upon the true, timeless and tested inspired Word of God.
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