I am not opposed to Mark 16:17-18. I am simply asking where are those signs the verse speak of as a promise to the believers?!
How often are they in your local congregation and to what extent?
Not everyone is given those types of things. If you were to look through scripture, you’ll find that given the 2,000 years of the Old Testament, there really weren’t very many miracles. God wants His people to walk by faith-not sight. As Paul and Barnabas found out when they healed the man in Athens, much to their regret, miracles can have unfortunate consequences. People thought they were gods and when they tried to explain who it was who really created the miracle they were stoned.
Miracles are used for various purposes for enacting God's will. But as has been repeatedly shown in scripture, miracles don't change the heart. God has to do that. Pharaoh saw all sorts of miracles. God appeared to Abimelech in a dream. The Philistines recongized the miracles of God when they stoled the ark. The unbelieving Israelites ate the food of angels for 40 years. None of these miracles did them any good. God could pop His hand out of the thin air and start writing on the wall and all people will do is look at it and say, “Whew!! There's something you don't see everyday, Myrtle.” People will not see a miracle even if the handwriting is on the wall.
Signs do happen and they happen through believers; they just don’t happen to everyone nor are they as frequent as we think they should be. But, today we have people like Benny Hinn or the Church who think miracles should pop up every two or three days and then jump up and down saying, “See, see”. They simply have a misunderstanding of the purpose of miracles.
We don't dictate to God that we want a miracle. In my thinking that is blasphemous. God dispenses His gifts as He sees fit and is necessary. He went for four hundred years and never performed a single miracle that we know of. What makes us think He should do something every few months?