Signs & Wonders Blog

Last Sunday, Super Bowl LVIII was the most-watched television broadcast in U. S. history. I started watching it in the middle of the 3rd quarter but turned the TV off after seeing four camera shots of Taylor Swift. I also got grieved in my spirit by some of the commercials. I waited until the game was over and then watched the highlights on YouTube to bypass all the media hype. One commercial aired that I later viewed online showed various individuals washing another person’s feet while a remake of the old INXS hit “Never Tear Us Apart” played in the background. That was produced by an organization called He Gets Us. Because of the exuberant cost of Super Bowl commercials (the going rate for a 30-second national slot was $7 million), some complained the money used for the foot-washing ad could have been spent on feeding the poor. One of Jesus’ disciples made a similar gripe in John chapter 12: 4  But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said,...

Today is Super Bowl Sunday . The defending champion Kansas City Chiefs will battle against the San Francisco 49ers. Four years ago, those same two teams played for the Vince Lombardi Trophy. I rooted for the Chiefs because of a prophecy promising revival would occur when that team wins the big game. Instead, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. That prompted many pastors to close down their churches. Around the time the Chiefs won the big game again last year, the Asbury Outpouring in Kentucky happened but got shut down after a couple of weeks. I’m still expecting a greater end-time harvest of souls to manifest before the Lord’s return. Since  the  Minnesota Vikings  ( my favorite team ) won’t be playing, I don’t care who wins Super Bowl LVIII. Often I don’t watch the game live, but catch the highlights later on YouTube. I prefer to avoid seeing all the pregame hype, commercials, and the halftime show. I’m also repelled by the increasing wokeness in professional sports. The NFL ...

Last Sunday, I went to a gathering of friends from church. Most of them weren’t interested in the Super Bowl. I didn’t start watching the game until the second quarter and mostly ignored the commercials plus muted the halftime show. Therefore, I missed seeing the Jeep advertisement featuring Bruce Springsteen. I wasn’t aware of the commercial until three days later when noticing a link to that in an article about The Boss facing a drunk driving charge (which resulted in Jeep pulling the ad off the air). I’ve never been a fan of Springsteen but appreciated his talents as a singer, songwriter, and musician. During the 1980s, I often played his records while working as a disc jockey. However, I became turned off to Springsteen as he vocalized his political beliefs more. 1994’s “Streets of Philadelphia” was written for a movie that condoned homosexuality. I thought it was one of The Boss’s weakest recordings. Yet “Philadelphia” was a top ten hit that won four Grammy Awards plus an Oscar ...

Shortly after the Kansas City Chiefs won the AFC Championship Game two weeks ago, Facebook friends posted a meme about the late Bob Jones who died in 2014. This prophet had ( according to Shawn Bolz ) predicted revival would come when the Chiefs win the Super Bowl. At first, I was skeptical of this prophecy. I recalled a similar one that surfaced four years earlier regarding the Carolina Panthers . They lost Super Bowl 50 to the Denver Broncos. Critics may look at all this and dismiss Bob Jones as a false prophet. However, I know of other prophecies given by him that were accurate. During the late 1980s, Bob prophesied: “The black panthers are coming to the lumberyard of Charlotte.” This was years before the Carolina Panthers entered the NFL as an expansion team. Their home stadium was ultimately built on land that used to be a lumberyard. 1 Corinthians 13:9 says, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part.” It’s possible for someone to receive a word from the Lord but then h...

Sports fans in America love rooting for the underdog. Just over a year ago, the Chicago Cubs had many people pulling for them (myself included) as they won their first World Series in 108 years. Now another franchise with a reputation of losing big games has a chance of finally winning it all. It happens to be my favorite football team. The Minnesota Vikings began playing in 1961 as an NFL expansion team. Eight years later, they appeared in their first Super Bowl but lost to the Kansas City Chiefs. Three years after that, I started watching Vikings games on TV while growing up in Moorhead, Minnesota. The following season, they reached Super Bowl VIII, which was played on my tenth birthday. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a Super Sunday for me as the Vikings lost to the Miami Dolphins. Nevertheless, I remained a Minnesota Vikings fan with quarterback Fran Tarkenton as my favorite player. Throughout the rest of the 1970s, I watched almost every Vikings game on TV. They consistently w...

Originally I didn’t plan on watching last Sunday’s Super Bowl. I wasn’t fond of either team playing and had no interest in seeing Lady Gaga’s halftime show. But after practicing a sermon, I decided to walk over to a nearby church that previously hosted a Super Bowl party. The church itself was closed but some men living in the dormitories were preparing to watch the big game and I got to join them. The channel was changed during halftime to briefly watch the Harlem Globetrotters on ESPN2. We ended up seeing a historic game. The New England Patriots came back from a 25-point deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons in the first Super Bowl that went into overtime. The Patriots overcame two costly turnovers to win their fifth Vince Lombardi trophy. The game illustrated that failure isn’t final…or in the famous words of Yogi Berra, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” The Bible has accounts of people who made major mistakes but God still used them to advance His kingdom. Moses killed an E...

Every year millions of people gather around televisions to watch the Super Bowl.  The first time I ever watched it was on my tenth birthday in 1974. I was full of excitement since the Minnesota Vikings was one of the teams playing for the Vince Lombardi Trophy. That morning at Sunday school, the teacher noticed my zeal for the big game. In front of the whole class he asked me, “Which is more important…church or football?” Without hesitation I replied, “Football.” My dad scolded me when he later found out about this. Back then I didn’t see any benefit in going to church. We attended a traditional institution that gave me wrong perceptions of Christianity (it would be another 17 years before I realized how real God is).  The Vikings ended up losing Super Bowl VIII to the Miami Dolphins. It would be their second of four Super Bowl losses during the 1970s. My favorite team hasn’t returned to the big game in almost 40 years. I would like to see the Vikings win it at ...

Last Sunday I watched Super Bowl XLIX between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. I rooted for Seattle partially because their quarterback Russell Wilson is an outspoken Christian. Like Kurt Warner of the St. Louis Rams 15 years before, I had hoped to see Russell lead his team to victory and then thank Jesus on national television. Near the end of the game with the Patriots leading 28-24, it appeared God had His hand on what looked to become a come-from-behind victory for Seattle. Wide receiver Jermaine Kearse juggled and caught a 33-yard pass from Russell at the Patriot's five-yard line. It reminded me of the miraculous helmet catch New York Giants receiver David Tyree (who’s also a Christian) made against the Patriots seven years ago in Super Bowl XLII. Two plays later, I was stunned and disappointed when  a rookie Patriots cornerback named Malcolm Butler made a game-saving interception near the goal line. Later I found out Malcolm is a believer who had...

Today millions of people will gather around TV sets to see the Seattle Seahawks take on the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. Despite the fact I enjoy watching NFL games, I plan to avoid certain parts of the telecast. One of them is Queen Latifah singing “God Bless America” before the kickoff. This is the same woman who  at last Sunday’s Grammy Awards  officiated a mass wedding that included homosexual couples. The Super Bowl halftime shows also had a couple of profane incidents by their performers. Although the commercials are often clever and entertaining, I’d rather just watch the football game. Prior to previous Super Bowls, my mom and dad often asked me to make a prediction. Usually, I haven’t come close to the final score but there have been exceptions. Prior to Super Bowl XXXVI, I picked the St. Louis Rams to beat the New England Patriots 20-17. However, I also told my parents that the game could go into overtime with the New England Patriots pulling off an up...

Last night I watched the second half of Super Bowl XLIV on TV. Originally I wasn’t interested in viewing it at all because the Minnesota Vikings (my favorite team) just missed advancing to the big game. But I changed my mind partially because I wanted to watch the Tim Tebow commercials that promoted a pro-life message. I didn’t see the commercials live because they aired during the pregame show and the first quarter. However, another memorable commercial came on near the end of the game. It was an Audi ad featured the “Green Police” (with background music by Cheap Trick which parodies their old song “Dream Police”). This ad could be a sign of things to come. Laws are constantly being passed to appease environmentalists. Two months ago in Washington, DC, a new law went into effect requiring businesses to charge customers an extra 5 cents for giving out plastic bags. I found out about this just before I stopped into a Subway restaurant in the nation’s capital o...