Signs & Wonders Blog

I have a friend who for a long time was a “pre-trib” rapture believer and talked of debating an outspoken “post-trib” minister he allows to have meetings in his home. Having been to one of those meetings, I kept discouraging my friend from trying to correct this minister who wasn’t apologetic after I pointed out the inaccuracy of one of his claims . Then last month following a church service, my friend announced he now believes the church will be raptured “mid-trib.” When I gave a reason why I cannot agree with him on that, he got out his cell phone and was about to call someone to help defend his newly-embraced doctrine. Fortunately that got interrupted when my friend was called forward by two altar workers to receive prayer. I then quietly slipped out of the church. It’s one thing for Christians to reason together so we can all grow in knowledge of the Scriptures. Unfortunately, some focus on promoting doctrines that have no effect on people’s eternal destinies. Occasional...

One sign we are living in the last days is an increasing number of people not keeping their promises. While we might think of individuals who dishonor their marriage vows or refuse to pay their bills, another way people break promises is not being punctual. The dictionary defines punctual as “happening or doing something at the agreed or proper time.” If we tell someone we’ll pick him up in 5 minutes, we shouldn’t purposely arrive 30 minutes later. I have a close friend who has a weakness in this area. At least he apologizes when showing up late. On the other hand, I’ve dealt with people who frequently dawdle and don’t think it’s a big deal. What they are saying by their actions is, “My time is more valuable than your time.” Some cultures don’t value punctuality as much as others. While ministering in Germany a few years ago, I noticed the Germans themselves were often on time but a lot of the migrants there weren’t. One night I had to wait around for an Asian man I was stayin...

How would you feel if you wrote a book, recorded a song, or produced a movie and someone duplicated and distributed copies of your work without permission? I’ve seen Christian artists and ministers respond differently to this. Some don’t mind because they see it as a way to get the gospel out to more people. I like what Mike Bickle says regarding his sermon notes he makes available publicly, “If you’re going to copy it, copy it right.” On the other hand, a friend of mine was recently threatened with legal action by a ministry in response to him posting on YouTube an 18-second clip of theirs included in a video produced by another minister. I can relate to this ministry being protective of their videos made public. Certainly, I wouldn’t like it if someone posted one of my preachings if it was edited in such a way that my intended message was distorted (so-called “watchdog ministries” are notorious for doing this). However, legal action should only be considered as a last resort. ...

In response to this weekend’s release of the “Left Behind” remake starring Nicholas Cage (which I haven’t seen yet at the time of this writing), my Facebook News Feed has been flooded with negative comments. Many of which were posted even before the movie hit the theaters!  The criticism of “Left Behind” has mostly been about it depicting the aftermath of the rapture. Some Christians believe there won’t be a rapture at all. One Facebook friend went so far as to label those who preach a pre-tribulation rapture “heretics.” That’s a strong accusation considering that would include Tim LaHaye (the co-author of the original “Left Behind” series), Perry Stone, John Hagee, Hal Lindsey, Jack Van Impe and numerous other men of God. For the sake of time and to discourage online debates on the subject, I will avoid explaining in this article why I believe in a pre-trib rapture of the church. However, I need to point out a few things to any rapture bashers reading this. First, not all ...