Signs & Wonders Blog

Years ago while working for Billy Graham ’s film ministry, our department started the week with a chapel service. Initially, any employee could sign up to preach a twenty minute message. One Monday morning, I taught on healing. At the end, I asked those who needed healing to raise their hands. Then I instructed those who sat next to them to lay hands on that person. I’d seen that done before in various churches.   The next day one of my coworkers approached me and said my message “offended” some people’s religious beliefs. I suspect  he  was the one offended. No one else complained to me. However, our chapel services soon changed. Only supervisors were allowed to give the message. I wasn’t one of them. Laying hands on people shouldn’t offend believers who know what the word of God says. It’s part of the Great Commission. Jesus said in Mark 16:17-18, “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons…they will lay hands on the sick, and...

Some Christians don’t like it when they hear other believers witnessing to sinners by saying, “God has a wonderful plan for your life.” (Personally I prefer to use the term “awesome.”) Recently I saw a video produced by an evangelistic ministry that questioned how one could tell somebody who would later perish in a terrorist attack that God has a wonderful plan for his life. First, God is not looking to shorten people’s lives. Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” I’ve heard numerous testimonies of people who escaped tragedies like 9/11 because they listened to the leading of the Lord. Opponents of the “good plan” doctrine will cite examples of Christians who have been imprisoned, tortured, or killed for their faith. It’s true that 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer p...