Signs & Wonders Blog

Gospel Life Center in Munich, Germany When I’m evangelizing and find out someone is already saved, often I’ll ask where they go to church. Some reply, “I used to go to such and such church.” Others will say, “I have church at home” or “church is in my heart.” Sadly, many who give answers like that tend to act very unChristlike.  One time at the Florida State Fair, I saw two men handing out brochures. I offered one of them a gospel tract in exchange and discovered they were Christians. When I asked this man which church he went to, he defiantly replied, “I am the church!” I then knew there was going to be trouble. He then tried giving me another brochure about all the “corruption” going on in various churches. Not wanting to read stuff like that, I responded by quoting 1 Corinthians 2:2, “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Acting like a spoiled child, this man returned my tract saying he didn’t want to read it. A friend once sh...

As a minister of the gospel, it saddens me when I hear Christians give excuses not to attend church. Nevertheless, there have been instances when I opted to watch services online as opposed to sitting inside religious institutions. During the mid-2010s, I was hosted a few times at a house in Shelby, Iowa, a town of just over 600 people. The homeowner lived 40 miles away in Omaha, Nebraska. Because of not having access to a car, I only had three churches to choose from in Shelby: Catholic, Lutheran, and Presbyterian. I looked up info on these churches and perceived it wouldn’t be beneficial to sit through their meetings. As a child, I endured many boring services at the traditional church my parents took me to. The last time I was in Shelby,  the homeowner drove us to a house meeting in Omaha where the gifts of the Spirit manifested. I’d be open to going there again. There’s also a place I occasionally stay at in Casselton, North Dakota. Unless I have a ride into Fargo (which ...

An arena in Guadalajara To whom it may concern: I pray this letter somehow reaches the thousands mostly from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador who are traveling through Mexico towards the American border. First, I don’t blame anyone for wanting to come to the United States. As a natural-born American citizen, I’m thankful for the prosperity we have here. I also recognize my nation was largely founded by immigrants seeking a better life for themselves and their families. All my ancestors came over from Europe many years ago. There’s a missionary house in Florida I often stay where I’ve met many immigrants originally from Spanish-speaking countries. As far as I know, all of them came to the United States legally . Videos I’ve seen of some caravan members forcing their way into Mexico indicate they have little respect for authority. I don’t want people like that entering my country. We have enough crime here as it is. You should be warned here in America our cit...

Burger King once used the advertising slogan, “Sometimes, you gotta break the rules.” If you’re truly living for the Lord, He will occasionally lead you to do things that may seem risky and go against man-made laws. Sometimes I have evangelized in shopping malls even though security people will try to stop that because they consider it “ soliciting .” A recent exchange of emails with a Facebook friend about illegal immigration reminded me of a situation that happened fifteen years ago. In April 2003, I flew to Berlin to share the gospel in Germany. Originally I was scheduled to fly back to the U. S. a month later but opted not to despite my return ticket classified “non-refundable.” The Lord told me my leaving Germany then would be in His permissive will but not His perfect will. Eventually, He led me to visit other European nations. By September I was in Spain and perceived it was time to come home. One day I went to the Madrid airport hoping the airline would let me u...

J. Lee Grady is the former editor of Charisma magazine who still writes a weekly column for them called “Fire in My Bones.” Brother Grady often points out things done by Spirit-filled Christians that need changing. One of his best articles is titled “ 9 Bad Charismatic Habits We Need to Break ” (which was published five years ago). I encourage you to read Lee’s article in its entirety but will share the list of habits… 1. The body slam 2. The courtesy drop 3. The song that never ends 4. The amateur flag corp 5. The wannabe telethon offering 6. The sermon with seven endings 7. The praise-a-go-go dancers 8. The ear-shattering amp 9. The “jump-start” glossalalia After reading Brother Grady’s article, I thought of two more annoying Pentecostal practices... * Telling the congregation to “turn to your neighbor” numerous times to say something. I think it’s okay to do this once or twice during a service (I even tried it years ago when giving a speech on Bible pr...

50 years ago when Bud Grant became coach of the Minnesota Vikings, he instructed his players to stand still at attention during the national anthem. This discipline helped them become one of the least penalized teams in the NFL. Nowadays, a select number of players are dishonoring the national anthem by taking a knee or staying in the locker room. President Trump’s recent S.O.B. comment was a bit harsh but I agree with reprimanding players who won’t participate just like they are fined for other acts of unsportsmanlike conduct. In some churches, the congregation is asked to stand whenever the preacher reads the opening text of his sermon. The first time I noticed this practice was while watching Pastor John Hagee on television ministering from his church in San Antonio, Texas. A short time later, I started making trips to Pensacola, Florida to attend revival meetings at Brownsville Assembly of God. Then-pastor John Kilpatrick also had everyone stand up as he read from the Bible ...

During the late 1970s, I went through two years of confirmation at the Lutheran Church I attended as a boy. Back then I didn’t have much interest in spiritual things. It didn’t help I was mistreated by some of my classmates. Nevertheless, I learned more about the Bible from reading assignments and listening to tapes. One of the latter was a comedy routine by Bill Cosby about Noah that had me laughing hysterically. Occasionally I served as an acolyte, which the dictionary defines as “a person assisting the celebrant in a religious service or procession.” My duties were to light candles and put them out at designated times while wearing a long white robe. Another thing confirmands had to do was turn in critiques of the pastor’s sermons. That was an adjustment for me. I was used to letting my mind wander while sitting through unemotional messages containing few (if any) Scriptures. My confirmation class also went on retreats. We traveled to a campsite in rural North Dakota on ...

One of the most contested political issues today is immigration. It’s estimated there are now at least 11 million illegal aliens in the United States. Many Americans want to see them deported. What makes the situation more complex is anchor babies born to aliens are recognized as American citizens. Recently two minister friends who are immigrants themselves posted comments on Facebook suggesting we shouldn’t have any border controls. One of them claimed, “...restricting immigration is part of Marxist Socialism and is totally contrary to Biblical Christianity.” Yet when the Scriptures were written, cities had massive walls to keep certain people out . Even the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 will have a wall around it. While Native Americans have contributed to our society, the United States was predominately founded and built by immigrants and their descendants. The Statue of Liberty has a plaque on its base with this inscription: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddle...