Signs & Wonders: Could Wonder Woman be a Prophetic Sign Post for our Time?

(Warning: Spoiler Alert) The Warner Bros. and DC Comics film “Wonder Woman” released this past weekend is stirring up quite a frenzy, and not just at the box office. Smashing records with more than $223 million this female-helmed comic book movie now holds the record for biggest opening out of any movie directed by a woman. Is it possible the overwhelming reception of this 75 year old super heroin from the American World War era is a prophetic sign for our times?

With advertised themes like “Power. Grace. Wisdom. Wonder,” it has some among the prophetic community referring to it as a modern-day “Signs & Wonders,” a reference to an historic forerunner of her time Maria Woodworth-Etter who began her own Wonder Movement in 1844-1924.

Larry Sparks recently posted to his Facebook followers, “I sense the movie “Wonder Woman” might be prophetic in its timing. Holy Spirit is raising up a company of women who will prophesy with power and release His wonders!”

Nearly 100 years after the signs and wonders of Mrs. Woodworth-Etter, “Wonder Woman” is bringing the wonder back into American culture and influencing millions more across the globe with messages of honor, duty, and love.  Could it be that God has chosen to time His raising up a company of women with this female comic legend’s re-emergence for such a time as this, as the movie advertises “Her Time Has Come.”

Beyond the basic origins plot line that weaves a tale of Diana Prince being formed of clay by her mother Hippolyta and given life by the breath of Zeus, we see more subtle calls to action like “You’re stronger than you believe” and “You have greater powers than you know.” Placed among the Amazons, a tribe of all female warriors whose sole mission is to protect mankind from the god of war, Zeus’ son Ares, Diana is chosen to train harder than any Amazon warrior before her but she is never to know the truth about the power inside her and who she is to be, but that does not stop her from finding it herself. The matriarchs around her proceed to train her in the art of battle and instill her with virtues of courage, bravery, honor, and sense of sacred duty. It’s a culture that seems to mirror the modern movement of spiritual feminism to surround women with spiritual mothers and sisters that would allow a young woman to find the call within and safely come into a revelation of her own hidden power and gifts. Hidden away from the world by Zeus with a thin veil of fog that separates the Amazon home of Themiscyra from being visible to the world of men, Diana and her matriarchal tribe of warriors are soon confronted with a breach imposed by a crashing World War 1 spy airman named Steve Trevor who brings with him in hot pursuit an army of German naval men that brings Diana’s invisible world face-to-face with the visible.  As though peering through the fog, the Germans are surprised to discover the hidden island and are soon confronted by the tribe of Amazon Warriors. And, with their primitive weapons of bows and arrows proceeding on horse back in one of cinema history’s first ever portrayal of an all female ride to battle, the clash of two worlds begins. Though pierced by the new weapons of war, the Amazons skillfully defeat their male foes and Diana is confronted for the first time with the permanence of death brought by strange fire from the invading army’s guns. Against all odds and even the rejection of her own mother who implores her not to go and fight on man’s behalf, claiming “they do not deserve you,” she rises and boldly embarks on a journey to fulfill her sacred duty to protect mankind from the horrors of war.

It is in her journey into the world of men that we see the real Woman of Wonder be revealed. While she has the strength of a goddess, we soon see that she has the heart of a human.  With compassion and grace, we watch her navigate the pathways of love and the evils of battle. A battle between Diana and Ares reveals even more of the spiritual undertones as she comes to the realization that it is love that awakens the most powerful force in the universe. You and I. It is Ares who boastfully exclaims to her the revelation of her own identity having known it even before she did, “That (the sword) is not the god-killer, Diana. You are!” She shouts back at the lies of Ares who tries to convince her that mankind is really evil, full of selfishness and undeserving of mercy, “It’s not about deserve. It’s about what you believe. And I believe in Love.” In similar compassion, even for her enemy, she calls him “brother” just before she takes his life. But Diana knows the battle is not over.  Though the spirit of war has been expelled, she has learned that both darkness and light lie in the depths of the hearts of men and she vows to make it her life mission to see that love conquers the darkness. We get a glimpse of what is to come from this Woman of Wonder, sitting at her desk in the present time, she confesses her new mission “I used to want to save the world, but I have glimpsed the darkness within the hearts of men. Only love can truly save the world. So I stay. I fight. And I give. For the world I know can be. This is my mission now. Forever.” From the advertising of the movie we realize “Justice begins with her” and this is only the beginning of her story.

Lana Vawser said recently after seeing the movie, “The Lord spoke to me many months ago about the prophetic significance of Wonder Woman for what He is doing amongst women in the body of Christ right now!!! SO many prophetic messages in this movie!”

Surely, this historic display of Love, Sacrifice, and the Power of Belief on the big screen is no mere wonder to be dismissed easily.  Is it as many are calling it, a prophetic sign of the women’s movement in the church? My own experiences with Wonder have taught me this, if God often uses the “foolish things of the world to shame the wise; and the weak things of the world to shame the strong,” as Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians, then why not a Wonder Woman?