Yes, I think that people have funky marks that show up on them (even bleeding ones). Although I think most cases reported are bogus, there are some legit, however I am not sure what they are for, nor the source.

Question

Pastor Lance, I recently read an article about someone claiming that they woke up to having the wounds of Christ on their body. Is that stuff legit? Does that really happen? If so, what’s the purpose of it?

Answer

Hi my friend. Stigmata is used as a word by different people, but I’m assuming you mean the ‘marks that resemble those of the crucified Christ’ that show up randomly on people. Are those legit?  It depends on what you mean.

Yes, I think that people have funky marks that show up on them (even bleeding ones). Although I think most cases reported are bogus, there are some legit, however I am not sure what they are for, nor the source. No one fully understands the Garden of Gethsemane phrase that says ‘Jesus sweat like great drops of blood’ and what it means. So, we clearly don’t understand what a stigmata is for.

It can be from one of three sources: 1.) physical reaction, 2.) God-induced sign, 3.) Demonic induced sign. So which is it? I’m not sure we can say. It can be all three but we just lump them all together as stigmata.

If it’s a physical reaction (stress induced wound), then it’s not hard to figure that one out. But whether it’s from God or not, we would have to look at a case-by-case basis. If it draws toward the Lord, then it’s likely a sign from God as to His presence in a situation. If it’s for no reason, or it leads away from God (by making something else an idol), then it’s likely demonic in nature as a distraction. We would have to look deeper to discern any given situation.