Miraculous Signs

About sixteen years ago, I was invited to speak at a Revival service at a local church in south Florida. Breanna and I were young in our marriage and just trying to make ends meet. She was teaching school and pregnant. I was working for Ricoh Lanier, attending school, coaching wrestling, and travelling to preach as God opened up new ministry opportunities.

The first night of the Revival was pretty uneventful, not in a negative way but in a normative way. We praised and worshipped in song. The gospel was preached. People made decisions to follow Jesus' love and leadership.

The second night, however, took a different turn. I have never publicly told this story, and even now, I feel hesitant, but here goes…

As I was preaching, a woman near the front of the church began to act out and be disruptive. At first, it was minor shenanigans, but it soon escalated to the point where the pastor signalled a couple of deacons in the church to escort her out kindly.

Things took an even more dramatic turn. When they went to grab her, she began to growl and chirp; then she took off running out of her high heels. The heels stayed still as though left neatly in a closet.

The church's pastor and his wife were shockingly prepared for the moment. He signalled to her to get the kids out of the auditorium, and a few other deacons covered exits to make sure they got out safely.

The woman, amid this exodus, dropped to the floor and began to slither underneath the pews like a snake. I was very shaken, as I had not seen anything like that before that day.

They prepared themselves to engage her as she slithered toward the front of the room. She popped up, and two deacons grabbed her, but she threw them off with incredible force. Mind you; this woman was about 5' 5" and 125 lbs tops. The deacons were men of some size.

The pastor yelled to me to help them, and I froze… but eventually engaged. We managed to wrestle her to the ground while praying in the name of Jesus. She swung wildly at us, gnashing her teeth and blurting out threats.

There was a colossal pulpit bible up on the stage, and the pastor told me to grab it and put it on her chest, so I did. He told me to open it up to the gospel account of Jesus casting the demons out of the man among the graves and into the herd of pigs. I opened it, and I read while they prayed and she fought.

Without warning, she sat up violently and shouted at us, "you can't have her," and then threw herself back to the ground. Undaunted, the pastor and his wife and the deacons continued to pray. I did as I was told and read from the gospel repeatedly. And then something broke… her eyes changed, and her body stopped seizing. She came to her right mind, thanked us, and praised Jesus.

Now, I know that story is a lot. And I know it is hard to comprehend intellectually, at least it is for me.

And I know that most of us have never been in that situation—but it does not make it impossible or untrue. The Bible is filled with more dramatic accounts than mine, but do we believe them or just read past them?

One of my favourite movie lines of all time is, "the greatest trick the devil ever pulled is convincing the world he did not exist." But he very much exists and is very active in this world.

We struggle to embrace the supernatural and miraculous aspects of the Scriptures… and the implications of those things on our life and faith.

Some people, even those who say they are followers of Jesus' Way, outright reject them.

But it is not just the Devil, demons or the idea of incarnate evil that trips us up; it is miracles of any kind and anything we cannot explain through what we define as rational.

Yet, so much of the natural world we engage in daily lacks the explanation of "how," including the wind or the earth's ability to dually spin and not fling us from it.

Further, for those who are followers of Jesus, the Scriptures are clear that the supernatural—both redemptive and non-redemptive—is real, and we embrace their reality when we embrace Jesus.

Miraculous signs should accompany the lives and works of followers of the Way. If they do not accompany my life, or yours, then there is an opportunity for us to truly trust Jesus and seek to see these things in His name. Only then will the church be all God designed and designated it to be.

Jesus' people are meant to manifest miracles.

We are meant to see our belief accompanied by reason-bending signs, and we must receive and walk in that truth if we are ever to have a rich and fully functioning faith.

We cannot continue to say we want a movement while sailing the ship half mast, we have to go all in on every word and act of Jesus, or our fledgling expression of this ancient movement will never find its fullness.

If you would like to hear more on this subject, listen to this podcast!