Signs & Wonders Blog

When asked by His disciples about the signs of His Second Coming, Jesus answered , “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, "I am the Christ,' and will deceive many...Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.” (Matthew 24:4-5, 11). The Lord later said in verse 24, “ For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” The word prophet comes from the Latin word “propheta” which means, “One that foretells future events; a predicter; a foreteller.” Throughout the Bible, men of God such as Moses, Elijah, David, and Isaiah were inspired or instructed by God to announce future events. Under the New Covenant, we still have prophets as well as other ministers who operate in the prophetic. Some of the latter get dubbed “false prophets” by critics who disagree with their teachings. Many of them don’t even claim to be prophets . In April 1997, John Kilpatrick, then-pa...

One thing I respect about Word of Faith preachers is they typically avoid “naming names” when talking about individuals living in sin. In contrast, critics often share sound bites of their sermons they disagree with in attempts to expose them. Is it ever appropriate to name names? Scripture gives us some guidelines. Jesus didn’t specify individuals as false ministers though He regularly stood up against the scribes and Pharisees as a group. In Matthew 23, he repeatedly called them hypocrites.  In Acts 13, Luke named a false prophet that Paul confronted…  6 Now when they [Barnabas and Saul] had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus,  7 who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.  8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from th...

It grieves me when Christians post “exposés” of ministries that have been a blessing to me. I avoid reading and watching diatribes from critics who disagree with particular doctrines. Sometimes they are from former associates and congregation members who didn’t like things they saw. Keep in mind that no church or preacher is perfect. Every denomination and stream of ministry probably had defectors because of leaders and staff members that went astray. Even Jesus had one that became an apostate (Judas Iscariot).  During  almost four decades, Hillsong Church grew to a reported 150,000 members in 30 countries. Unfortunately, they have gone through questionable practices and recent scandals. The pastor of their New York City branch got fired in 2020 following an adulterous affair. Earlier this week, founder Brain Houston resigned as Global Senior Pastor for breaching the “Pastor's Code of Conduct” involving separate incidents with two women. One resulted from “the consump...

A new NFL regular season begins in a few days. Armchair quarterbacks are already discussing how their favorite teams and players should do things differently this year. These self-appointed experts seem to think they know more about football than the coaches.  Sadly, this sort of thing happens in the Body of Christ. “Armchair pastors” criticize ministers for doing or not doing certain things. This past week, the Internet has been (pardon the pun) flooded with unChristlike remarks regarding a well-known pastor in Houston, Texas. Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church receives enough flak from heresy hunters who disapprove of his ministry . Now Joel has been lambasted for his response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey. Lakewood Church was criticized for not having services last weekend. Their website stated that was done due to “…concern for the safety of our members.” Many streets in Houston were impassible by flood waters. In the Upper Midwest where I’ve lived most o...

Some Christians are quick to demonize Holy Spirit manifestations unfamiliar to them such as people shaking. A few of these watchdogs accuse certain ministers of allowing a Kundalini spirit at their meetings. Kundalini is a yoga term whose origin is the Sanskrit word for snake. One dictionary defines Kundalini as “latent female energy believed to lie coiled at the base of the spine” and “a system of meditation directed toward the release of kundalini energy.” In response to a YouTube video posted to “expose” one well-known evangelist/pastor, I pointed out these Kundalini hunters don’t know how to test the spirits. 1 John 4:2 says, “By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.” The minister in question has altar calls for salvation that include leading newborn believers to say, “I confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” One critic responded, “So did Jim Jones. What does that prove?” I replied by askin...

A story you might have heard growing up was “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” In this Aesop's Fable, a shepherd boy repeatedly tricks nearby villagers into thinking a wolf is attacking his flock. When a wolf actually appears, the villagers ignore the boy’s cries believing it’s another false alarm. As a result, the boy’s sheep gets eaten by the wolf. Variations of this story have been told including a Sesame Street parody called “ The Boy Who Cried Monster .” The Oxford English Dictionary defines cry wolf as a “call for help when it is not needed, with the effect that one is not believed when one really does need help.” Sadly this sort of thing happens within the Body of Christ. Self-appointed watchdogs believe their calling in life is fault-finding preachers they don’t agree with. They flood the Internet with web sites attacking various ministries without mentioning those they actually approve of. A popular Scripture used by Christian critics is Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false p...

I’ve never had much interest in hunting. The only time I’ve done so happened when I was 19. One day I went for a country drive with a friend who brought along his BB gun. Just for fun he shot at birds sitting on road signs and telephone lines. My friend encouraged me to take a few shots and I killed just one bird. Since then, the closest I’ve gone hunting was playing Duck Hunt, a video game featuring a dog that laughs every time a player fails to hit any ducks. This past week a huge controversy erupted over a Minnesota man’s recent bowhunting trip in Zimbabwe. A dentist named Walter Palmer killed a lion that was part of an Oxford University research project. This lion named Cecil had been lured from the grounds of a wildlife preserve by Palmer’s safari guides.  In response to accusations of poaching, Dr. Palmer issued a statement saying he thought he had hunted legally and offered an apology. Nevertheless, the dentist received death threats plus had hundreds of protester...

Many times before publishing a new article in my blog or newsletter, I’ll share it with a friend to get their feedback. I always want to be sure my writings are accurate and don’t mislead people. It annoys me when someone starts making suggestions before reading the whole thing. Often their concerns are addressed later in my article. Ministers constantly face scrutiny like this. Religious watchdogs habitually take sound bites of well-known preachers they don't like and attempt to expose them. Sometimes it's made to appear these preachers said things they really didn’t mean. A recent example of this involved Victoria Osteen, who co-pastors Lakewood Church in Houston along with her husband Joel. A few of my Facebook friends posted a short video clip of Victoria making comments about worship that upset many Christians (some versions of this include an added "rebuke" by Bill Cosby)... . Eventually, Victoria issued a response saying, " I did not mean to imply...

It’s amazing how heresy hunters will fault-find the silliest little things. A few months ago while John Crowder was speaking at a conference in England, a group stood outside protesting various things he has said and done. One thing they didn’t like was John encouraging people to talk to animals. The protesters apparently forgot about Balaam and his donkey in Numbers 22. In verse 30 of that chapter, the donkey talked back. Scandalous! One could assume the animals in the Garden of Eden talked before the fall of man. After all, Eve conversed with the serpent in Genesis 3. Some people might also think of birds that talk today like parrots and mynas. But these creatures simply mimic words taught to them.  There are animals in heaven. Some people believe they will see their deceased pets there. Of course, that is open to speculation.  Nevertheless, the Book of Revelation mentions Jesus and His saints riding to earth on white horses and also describes beings that don't exist on e...