The topic of what are called 'signs from God' is one that I find fascinating and is largely in my past, though I have drawn some definate conclusions on the matter.
It began through my experience with an extraordinarily religious woman named Denise who I learned about through a newspaper article on July 10, 1988 in which Denise was in dire need of a heart-long transplant operation. I contacted Denise through a letter, which led to Denise calling me on August 12, 1988, we met, and Denise received her very complex and life-prolonging surgery on September 3, 1988. She then recovered well enough to give what she called a 'Dedication' on January 1, 1989 in which she sang and spoke and dedicated the rest of her life giving testimony to others of what she and her family believed to be a miracle from God. And I was simply 'bowled over' to be Denise's 'Main Squeeze' at this time.
During her Dedication on January 1, 1989 (which I videotaped), Denise spoke of receiving many signs from God, one of which was to know that her decision to be on the heart-lung transplant list was the correct decision, she asked God for the operation to be on a Saturday (her family's day of worship) and that it be raining at the time, as her church believes that rain is a sign of the Holy Spirit. And, at about 3 a.m. on September 3, 1988, which was a Saturday, Denise received a phone call from Barnes Hospital in St. Louis in which a nurse told Denise that they thought that they had an organ donor for her. And it was pouring down rain at the time.
As I was standing beside my camcorder on a tripod listening to Denise's request for these signs from God during her Dedication, my 3.80 GPA engineering mind was doing a probability calculation behind the odds of Denise successfully receiving those requested signs and I was absolutely shocked by my back of the envelope estimate. Simply getting the surgery on a particular day of the week is only a 14% chance (1 of 7) but to add to that receiving rain on that day, perhaps 33% odds at the most, that figures out to be around only a 5% (0.14 x 0.33) chance to get that combination and she got them both!!!
As it would turn out, Denise recovered well enough to live a very normal life, taking antirejection drugs twice a day and continuous visits with doctors.
Six days after Denise's Dedication, on January 7, 1989, I recalled that I nearly died at birth when my lungs collapsed and my mother dedicated my life to be a Catholic priest if I should survive and if I wished. And, thus, I invoked my mother's prayer by deciding to support Denise and her ministry for the rest of her life on this date. And, only three days later, on January 10, 1989, I learned of the August 11, 1999 total solar eclipse in central Europe, Iraq, and Iran, which, together with the highly anticipated November 18, 1999 Leonid meteor storm (that I first learned about from my sixth grade teacher in 1965), would turn out to be, forever, the most shocking day of my entire life as I knew that I had uncovered the Matthew 24:29 prophecy, and thus, it seemed, it was a lead pipe cinch that Denise and I would eventually work out as a couple.
Two months later, in March, 1989, I read Rev. 11:3 for the first time and by June 1, 1989, I thought, "That must be us," meaning that Denise and I were probably those two people in Rev. 11:3.
Denise and I decided to get together on August 11, 1989, which I could easily see was exactly 10 years to the day before the infamous August 11, 1999 Mideast total solar eclipse. So I looked for something out of the ordinary to happen that day. When we got together on August 11, 1989, Denise and I walked down to a seldom-used one lane bridge and we both started throwing pieces of gravel into the creek, I was throwing 200 footers and Denise was just lobbing hers. We once both threw simultaneously and I heard a 'click' and then heard one of the rocks splash and I waited to hear the other splash. Denise laughed and told me that the two pieces of gravel hit each other----and I came unglued!!! That's nearly impossible to do when two people are trying to make them hit! So I got my unusual happening.
But the unusual things were not done happening that day. I would later learn at a Pizza Hut that Denise could not have a serious relationship with me unless I joined her church. Behind my calm exterior, many emotions flowed through me at that moment, primarily one of humor as Denise did not know about the fulfillment of Matthew 24:29 in 1999 or Rev. 11:3. I wondered, "How is this going to turn out?"
I went back home and assumed that Denise and I would still work out. On August 21, 1989, I had a most unusual experience that is so difficult to explain here so I won't try (it occurred when I was researching the microfilm of Hannibal newspapers around the time of my birth, April 1, 1954 through June 30, 1954, as I was born in Hannibal), but about 8 or 10 unusual coincidences literally fell in my lap when I was scanning this microfilm and I couldn't wait to tell Denise. When the hard copies arrived in the mail one week later, I called Denise and I couldn't wait to tell her about them. Before I could, Denise told me, "I have a steady boyfriend now," and I clammed up.
It was at this time, I placed my trust in God to guide me during the coming months and, I admit, I got into some strange situations and my mind conjured up some erroneous beliefs but I would eventually recover from each one of them. (Whenever I see Richard Dreyfus in the movie 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' and watch his bizarre behavior, I can relate to that as I did some odd things back in 1989-1990.) But the numerous unusual coincidences that I believed were genuine signs from God gave me the definate impression that I was being divinely singled out from all of the other Christian astronomers who were also bright enough to uncover the fulfillment of Matthew 24:29 in 1999 at this time in 1989.
On October 4, 1989, my brother was worried about me and he suggested that I admit myself into a psychiatric ward---which excited me as I would simply explain to a psychiatrist the many signs from God that I had 'collected' and I fully expected that he would issue to me a positive, upbeat medical evaluation that would be supportive of my belief system. At the end of my first session, my psychiatrist assured me, "What will be, will be. The medicine should not matter." That was encouraging to me but I would soon learn that it would go downhill from there.
Morning after morning, I explained to my doctor the various unusual coincidences that I experienced, my signs from God. He would finally tell me, "Let me try to explain to you why your loose associations do not mean anything to anyone else,"--and I was shocked by his indifference. (Years later, I would more carefully parse my doctor's statement and realize that he wasn't necessarily saying they weren't meaningful to me, just that they were not meaningful to anyone else.)
About 5 days after my admission, I had run out of signs from God to share with him and I apologetically told my doctor, "But that's all I've got." The medicines started kicking in and I was feeling horrible and I was very embarrassed about my original belief. One morning I asked my doctor a question of which I feared his answer: "Do you think that I'm losing my sanity?"
My doctor replied, "No, you're just a little confused, that's all."
Still, I was curious and I asked him, "Is it possible that I am that person (in Rev. 12:5)?"
My doctor replied, "Well, anything's possible but it's just very unlikely."
Fastforwarding to April, 1990, I was feeling great again, productive at work and was very grateful to my doctor for successfully ridding me of what I called the 'Revelation Demon'. I subconciously thought, "Better luck to whoever those two Christian astronomers actually are in Rev. 11:3."
As I have posted numerous times, on June 8, 1990, my doctor shocked me with his question, "If you are this person, what are you worried about?" which, of course, had the effect of gently nudging me back into the storyline of Chapters 11 and 12 of the Book of Revelation.
Six months later, on December 13, 1990, I mailed a letter of warning to the Kremlin in Moscow, anonymously, as I had associated Boris Yeltsin with '666' on September 18, 1989 in a way that was very straightforward and convincing to me (yet another sign from God) and I mailed a copy of that letter to a major newspaper, The Wall Street Journal. I then called my psychiatrist the next day and told him what I had done but added that I doubted that The Wall Street Journal would publish my letter. I also told my doctor that I saw that only small parts of the Book of Revelation were meaningful: the Two Witnesses of Chapter 11 and the boy in Revelation 12:5 and that all of the other prophecies in Revelation were probably just flowery mishmash.
Because I had noticed that the number '3' had a high statistical frequency in my life and the number '4' was statistically significant in Denise's life, I thought it possible that I was the Holy Spirit in the form of a man (just as Jesus would be born and later be called the Second Person of the Godhead). I bravely told my doctor over the phone on December 14, 1990, "I think that I'm the Holy Spirit."
In a slow monotone voice, my doctor replied, "I still don't believe you."
I nonchalantly replied, "I know. I paid you thousands of dollars to tell me that," which caused my doctor to muffle a laugh. After he regained his composure, he asked me, "Is there anything that I can do for you?"
I replied, "No, I'm just waiting for Denise to come along."
Years later, I would see my telephone exchange with my psychiatrist on December 14, 1990 as taking a major step along the Learning Curve in understanding my genuine, scripturally pre-ordained destiny.
So, in conclusion, I believe that God does speak to us through unusual coincidences but they are very subtle, at times, and they need the benefit of hindsight to fully understand. Without the ones that I experienced in 1989-1990, I would have had absolutely nothing, at all, that distinguished me from all of the other Christian astronomers who were also bright enough to be 'on the ball' in 1989 and uncover the fulfillment of Matthew 24:29 in 1999.
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