I saw a Cardinal. Did I Just Receive a Sign from God? - By Elizabeth Prata

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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Ms. Prata represents herself as a Bible teacher and a guardian of doctrine. She has often appeared in our blog because of her careless and errant Bible exposition. So once again we take note of an incorrect explanation.

People see things and then decide that is it a sign from God or a particular instance of personal comfort in a person’s grief. Let’s use the “cardinal sighting” as an example.

It’s said that when you see a cardinal it means angels are near to you and bringing a loving or comforting message from their loved one in heaven. Or that it’s a sign from heaven indicating the loved ones’ spirit is with you. This concept has been around a long time and the thought occurs in many cultures.

But IS It a sign from God? Or, are there other small signs of comfort He sends us that only the person would understand? Some people day they saw a such and such and it was a sign from God, a particular sunset, a certain tree, a rainbow, etc

Let’s go over what we KNOW.

We know that:

— ‘Signs’ as defined in the Bible (Where in the Bible?)

 

are actual miracles  (A miracle is something different than a sign. A sign is not necessarily miraculous in the sense described by Ms. Prata. A sign is particularly a mark or identifier of God's work. The Bible does not tell us that miracles, signs, or wonders are synonymous.) 

such as speaking in tongues, visions, healing, raising the dead, and prophesying (having temporary ‘omniscient’ knowledge). ("Temporary ‘omniscient’ knowledge?" What in the world does that mean? "Omniscient" is "all knowing," a term used to describe God. 

This is not the definition of prophecy. There is nothing in the Bible that tells us prophecy is knowing everything. Nowhere in the Bible do we find that prophecy is a temporary ability. There is no example in the Bible of someone with the gift of prophecy losing the gift.

Prophecies will certainly cease at some point in time: 

1Co. 13:8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease...

This ceasing happens at the coming of the Perfect, which is the time when we will see and know fully, face to face in heaven [1Co. 13:12].

We suspect that Ms. Prata's point is that the gift of prophecy was temporary because of her belief that the Perfect is the Bible.)

A miracle is something that occurs that is outside of or suspends ‘natural’ law. (See Water into Wine miracle, blind-since-birth man sees miracle), — Signs in the Bible were for unbelievers & Jews as a judgment (i.e. Tongues at Pentecost- Isaiah 28:11–12 & 1 Corinthians 14:21) (Incomplete. Signs have multiple purposes:

• a testimony to the Jews [Ac. 6:8]
• bringing gentiles to repentance [Ro. 15:18-19]
• an identifying characteristic of an apostle [2Co. 12:12]
• a testimony to the truth of the Gospel [He. 2:4]

and also to authenticate the Apostles as having definitely come from God. (Mark 16:20). (Sigh. Incorrect. Let's actually quote the Scripture:

Mk. 16:20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

The reader can clearly see that "his word" was being confirmed, not the apostles.)

If a person is attributing an object or circumstance to God as a sign, this is dangerous. (Perhaps. But there are a lot of things that are potentially dangerous, like errant teaching. Leading Christians astray is not something Ms. Prata should take lightly.

Yet we don't dismiss teaching because its potential peril. We don't say that the gift of teaching has ceased because no one teaches 100% perfectly. The potential danger of mistakes is not a biblical criteria and does not speak to the biblical case. If Ms. Prata has a biblical case to make in opposition to signs, she would have to make it. She does not.

The real issue here for Ms. Prata is that she is a cessationist, which makes her hostile to anything that even hints at the possibility that God might reveal something outside of the Bible. A cessationist believes that all supernatural expressions like prophecy, tongues, and miracles, have ceased. 

This of course excludes signs, because that would reveal something outside of the Bible. We have dealt with this false teaching quite often in our blog. See our cessationism series here, and also the large collection of analyses of cessationist articles here.)

(...)