Isn’t it peculiar how those within the Christian sect will use anything to parade their own cause? One thing I’ve noticed is that when we want something to happen our way, we’ll see “signs from God.” One might say, “I believe God wants me to do this, because He’s been giving me signs!” It can be used in manipulation: “I think you should do this, because God has given me signs telling me that you should.” Anyone can say they’ve received “signs” from God—but this whole thing of divine “signs” is tricky business. When Julie broke up with me, I really wanted to be with her; I wanted God to want us together; and so everywhere I went, I saw “signs” that God wanted me to be with Julie. Of course, these signs were mere coincidences or me reading my own desires into random events and situations. Right now, I have no desire to be with Julie and am totally content with not being with her—so either God is a liar, or I deceived myself. I think we can want something so badly that we’ll try to convince ourselves God is on our side, and we’ll see “signs” with every blink of the eye. Most of the time, though, I think we might just be deceiving ourselves. We may think these signs are from God, but in the end it’s our own psyche trying to bend the rules to our favor. When it comes to people trying to manipulate us by telling us they’ve received “signs” telling us what we should do, we should be wary: if God is not giving us the same “signs,” then there’s a pretty good chance the other person is self-deceived.

I can’t keep the false prophets of the Old Testament out of my head. They produced “signs” wherever they went, proclaiming that these “signs” were from God. I have no doubt that they performed miracles and healings and such acts of that nature, but I believe that Satan can perform any of those. I believe he can and will use those to push us down wrong paths; during the Old Testament days, isn’t this what he did? I think of a story when the prophet Jeremiah preached against a false prophet, though the scriptures never deny that the false prophet performed “signs.” The “signs” were from a source that was attempting (and, sadly, succeeding) to drive the people away from God. The scriptures talk about false prophets during the days of the New Covenant (ahem, our days…) who will perform signs and wonders and such of that nature, but they will do so in order to pull people away from God (granted, they may think they’re performing God a favor, but they’re just fitting into the devil’s hand). Of course, the “signs” I’m talking about here aren’t exactly the kinds of “signs” that we talk about when we speak of God “giving us signs,” but the principle, I believe, remains the same: Satan can give us signs to keep us going down a wrong path or from taking the right one. In the end, I think, we should just be careful and prayerfully consider what is going on, allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, and let the word of God be our light.