Signs & Wonders Blog

One of the worship leaders at Bethel Church in Redding, California recently experienced a tragedy. The two-year-old daughter of Kalley Heiligenthal suddenly died. For a while, Kalley and her husband Andrew plus the leadership of Bethel asked everyone of faith to pray that little Olive would be raised back to life. Unfortunately for them, t hat didn’t happen. I was disturbed to see mostly nasty comments in response to a CBN News article about the Heiligenthals . If those critics had a child that just died, wouldn’t they want to see him or her come back to life?  Raising the dead is mentioned several places in the Bible. However, many Christians scoff at the idea of modern-day resurrections. A few years ago, I got together with an old friend for coffee. Her interest in going to Germany prompted me to show her photos from the times I went there. Some were from a Reinhard Bonnke meeting in Berlin. During which, a Nigerian pastor testified of being raised from the dead. My friend’s

Christmas has many traditions associated with it. Unfortunately, there are religious ideas about the holiday without Biblical foundations. One reason for that is certain Christmas carols. For example, “The Little Drummer Boy” sings “I am a poor boy, too.” Jesus temporarily gave up heavenly riches but that doesn’t mean He was born poor. His stepfather Joseph had the resources to travel to Bethlehem and would’ve spent money on lodging if there was room for them at the inn. Meanwhile, a group of wise men brought treasures to the Messiah. Speaking of which, most people assume there were three wise men as in the song “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” Matthew chapter 2 doesn’t mention the exact number of wise men but refers to three types of gifts they had: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Notice these gifts were presented to a “young Child”…not a baby. Verse 11 also mentions them coming “into the house”…not before a manger. Therefore, the wise men didn’t see Jesus at the same time as the

The fast food chain Chick-fil-A is known for being closed on Sundays and promoting Christian values. Back in 2012, founder and then-CEO Truett Cathy spoke out against same-sex marriage. Threats of protests by gay activists prompted politician/minister Mike Huckabee to spearhead a Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. Long lines of customers arrived to show their support. Since then, Chick-fil-A continues to be assaulted for their “anti-LGBT” stance. New restaurants opening up in certain cities have faced protesters. What’s ironic is hours after the 2016 gay nightclub massacre in Orlando occurred, the local Chick-fil-A opened that Sunday to provide free meals to first responders, blood donors and victims’ families. Last month, Chick-fil-A announced they will stop giving donations to the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Many Christians interpret this as Chick-fil-A cowering to the homosexual agenda. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council stated, “Many peo

On this day thirty-nine years ago, musician John Lennon was shot to death outside his apartment in New York City. Years before as a member of the Beatles, John made the infamous remark, “We are more popular than Jesus.” To some people, the Beatles are still more popular with them because they don’t know the real Jesus. That’s why God needs His people to go into the world and share the full gospel with others. Unbelievers need to hear about a Jesus that will heal their broken hearts, cure their diseases, and of course, forgive all their sins. There was a time when John Lennon had a genuine interest in Jesus. According to Steve Turner’s book The Gospel According to the Beatles , John became a regular viewer of that era’s most influential TV preachers. In 1972 he sent a letter to Oral Roberts that the evangelist later shared publicly. Here are some of the comments Lennon wrote… “The point is this, I want happiness. I don't want to keep on with drugs. Paul [McCartney] to

At the beginning of 1990, I became dissatisfied with life. At 26 I had mounting debts from pursuing a music career and lost my enthusiasm working as a nightclub disc jockey. Around this time, a radio program I listened to called “Musical Starstreams” started running ads about a business opportunity. Forest (the show’s host) talked about a way one could earn a large income and have the time to enjoy it. Soon I received a video in the mail about a network marketing company called Nu Skin. After watching the video, I was intrigued enough to call Forest and find out why he was involved with a company that manufactured personal care products. Forest explained he wanted to make enough money to buy radio stations and air new age music full-time. Since Nu Skin was experiencing exponential growth, I decided to take advantage of this “opportunity of a lifetime.” I sold all my recording equipment to have extra money for purchasing product and sales aids. My goal was to build a residual inc

For many years environmentalists have issued warnings of certain commodities being depleted. While growing up in the 1970s, I heard a poem in school about the earth supposedly running out of trees . I also remember seeing TV commercials warning about shortages of oil and fresh water. Nowadays, hotels have signs encouraging guests to conserve water so we can supposedly “ save our planet .”  Now there’s another resource being targeted by activists. This past week I saw a BBC News headline claiming “the world is running out of sand” (the Smithsonian Institution published a similar report on their website). Immediately, I thought of God promising Abraham’s descendants would be “…as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.” (Genesis 32:12) Still, I read the BBC write-up which explained not all types of sand are in danger of extinction. It’s the kind used for infrastructure and making certain electronic products. I don’t take articles like this seriously when exagg

The Internet has been flooded lately with articles and posts regarding the conversion of Kanye West. Last week the rapper’s new album “Jesus Is King” debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Two days ago, Kanye performed at men's and women's jails in Houston. He stated,  “This is a mission, not a show.” Still, many believers are questioning the legitimacy of Kanye’s faith. One Facebook friend commented that if Kanye becomes part of a particular megachurch, he’ll dismiss him as a false Christian. Who is he to judge where God wants His people to plug into the body of Christ? (1 Corinthians 12:18) We are to work out our own salvation (Philippians 2:12). A question I’m occasionally asked is if someone who prays with me to get saved means it. That issue was brought up one time by my former pastor after we attended a prayer meeting at the YMCA. There I saw a woman smoking outside and felt led to witness to her. Chelonda wasn’t sure of her eternal destiny but believed the

If you’re a parent and your children do something worthwhile, wouldn’t you want to reward them? Our heavenly Father is the same way. While doing the work of an evangelist, I’ve seen unexpected blessings manifest. Back in 1994 when I first committed to being part of my church’s evangelism ministry, the pastor gave me clothes he no longer needed. A woman who was a leader in that ministry often offered to buy me dinner. The day after Christmas, one of the other evangelism leaders offered to give me his Chrysler Laser. This was the exact type of car I had been praying for! Years later, I was at a library in Tampa, Florida and perceived it was time for me to leave. I started walking home but suddenly felt led to stop and turn around. Eventually, I ministered salvation to a young woman at a bus stop. Then I approached a man standing at the bus stop directly across the street. Aaron was already saved and wanted to give me an offering. He then handed me a $20 bill. At the time I was

An objection that sometimes comes up when sharing the gospel is “heaven is here on earth.” Recently I heard that from a panhandler who wanted money from me (I handed him a snack and a gospel tract but he soon gave them back). It later occurred to me there is no need to beg in heaven. I could have also asked this man where one could find the Pearly Gates and the streets of gold on earth. That beggar might have been a Jehovah’s Witness. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society teaches that only 144,000 people will get into heaven while all other Jehovah’s Witnesses will live forever on earth. Before the latter could happen, Jehovah’s Witnesses left behind after the rapture will have to suffer through a tribulation period and avoid taking the mark of the beast. That certainly won’t be heaven on earth. Back in 1987, Belinda Carlisle had the #1 hit “Heaven is a Place on Earth” (from an album called “Heaven on Earth”). The lyrics talked about a couple enjoying each other to whe

Once I witnessed to a man promoting hunger awareness. This man didn’t believe in the existence of heaven or hell. Therefore, he thought feeding the hungry was more important than preaching the gospel. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:3, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” A nonbeliever’s good works won’t matter if he’s lost for eternity. Is it important to feed the hungry? Absolutely. Scripture exhorts us to do so (Psalm 146:7, Romans 12:20). The miracles of Jesus included multiplying loaves and fishes to feed the thousands who gathered to hear His word. In recent years, I’ve gone out of my way to give food to panhandlers as well as the gospel . Although food is a basic necessity, we should focus more on cultivating and satisfying our spiritual hunger. My former pastor Mac Hammond taught a series on that. He pointed out we can build an appetite for anything that consumes our thou

A few weeks ago I witnessed to a Vietnam War veteran panhandling near Walmart. After thanking him for his service, I handed this man a tract while saying, “I was also in the army…now I’m in the army of the Lord.” The expression on his face immediately revealed he wasn’t receptive to the gospel. One of his objections was the Bible always referring to God with masculine pronouns. A joke I’ve seen online is “Why do we say ‘Amen’ at the end of a prayer instead of ‘Awomen’? Same reason we sing Hymns instead of Hers.” But seriously, I pointed out to this veteran men and women are equal in God’s eyes. Galatians 3:28 says, “…there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” The only time women are always meant to be subordinate to men is in the marital relationship. Ephesians 5:23 says, “For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.” A body cannot have two heads. It also says in 1 Peter 3:7, “Husb

A few weeks ago, reports surfaced of immoral behavior involving Canadian-born evangelist Todd Bentley. Three of his former associates who I’m friends with on Facebook issued public warnings about him. Todd has denied most of these accusations. Meanwhile, a tribunal has been set up to investigate the charges. At the time of this writing, I’ve not heard of any legal action taken against Todd.  Unless he is proven guilty, I’m choosing to believe the best about Todd Bentley (1 Corinthians 13:7). It was around 2002 when I started hearing about him. His name stood out to me because I had a junior high classmate also named Todd Bentley.  The first time I heard evangelist Todd Bentley minister was at The River at Tampa Bay church in 2004. He wasn’t the scheduled speaker but Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne invited him to come up to the pulpit for a few minutes. Because he’s from Canada, I was surprised to hear Todd preach like an American Pentecostal. Over the next few years, I list

Major League Baseball is currently in the midst of its playoffs. Having lived in Minnesota most of my life, I’m rooting for the Twins who (at the time of this writing) need to make a miraculous comeback to finally get past the New York Yankees and possibly play in their first World Series since 1991. Baseball has been called America’s National Pastime. However, the sport became tainted 100 years ago due to the infamous Black Sox Scandal.  The Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds faced each other in the 1919 World Series. The White Sox were heavily favored to win but lost the best-of-nine series five games to three. It was discovered some White Sox players intentionally played poorly to receive money from gamblers. The “Black Sox” moniker reportedly came from the dirty White Sox uniforms. Tight-fisted owner Charles Comiskey refused to pay for having his players’ uniforms cleaned. Despite being acquitted in a public trial, eight of the White Sox were banned from profess

Today is National Coffee Day in the United States. According to a study by the National Coffee Association, 64% of Americans drink the stuff. Some people consume it throughout the day. Normally I have just two or three cups in the morning. Growing up I didn’t like coffee. Nevertheless, one of my chores was making coffee for my parents. The first device I used was a Mr. Coffee machine. Mom and Dad later got one from Norelco featuring “Dial-A-Brew” that adjusted the strength of the coffee. Around this time I bought my father a humorous card found in a drug store. It showed a roaring lion with the caption: “I’m not worth a damn until I had my morning coffee.” It wasn’t until my mid-thirties when I developed a taste for coffee. A friend from church often bought me cappuccinos from convenience stores whenever we stopped for gas. Another friend regularly patronized coffee shops and kept offering to buy me drinks there. I ordered coffee with added condiments such as flavored syrup

A challenge you’ll sometimes face when ministering to two or more people at once is peer pressure. It can work on the positive or negative end. One example of the latter happened two days ago on my way to a meeting in Minnesota. While at a convenience store I saw five teenage girls walking on the other side of the street. I rushed over to witness to them. Four of them seemed receptive to the gospel. As I was about to lead them in the prayer of salvation, the other girl influenced everyone else to walk away from me. I remember more examples of negative peer pressure while evangelizing one afternoon in Brooklyn, New York. Early in my outing, I approached three young men with the gospel. One of them expressed immediate resistance. A pastor with me at the time started ministering to this man while I continued talking to the other two (this is one reason why it’s best to evangelize with another person whenever possible). When I asked the two if they wanted to pray, one man looked at