Signs & Wonders Blog

Rick, me, and Lee in 2014 Except for believers who are alive when the Lord raptures His church, every person will experience death. It’s sad when it happens to someone we know. Fortunately, there is comfort knowing we will see them again in heaven if they were saved. Last Sunday, a fellow evangelist who I worked with passed away. Back in 1998, I met Rick Keenan through Living Word Christian Center ’s evangelism ministry. Around that time, I started witnessing more on my own in addition to planned outreaches through the church. That included meeting Rick and others at the Mall of America. He advised us not to close our eyes while we prayed as a group to avoid attracting attention from security guards. During 1999, I made six trips to the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, Florida. A couple of times, Rick invited me to live in his house while I made brief returns to Minnesota. Differences developed during my second stay there. Partially due to my missionary travels, we became estrang...

While I grew up in Moorhead, Minnesota, homosexuality was something my classmates in school joked about. Back then, I couldn’t believe anyone would seriously want a sexual relationship with a person of the same gender. Since becoming an evangelist, I’ve been mindful to  speak the truth in love  when  encountering individuals who identify as LGBT. This past Tuesday while sightseeing in Tucson, Arizona, I noticed a young couple goofing around at the streetcar station where I waited for a ride. The boy kept singing the old Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive.” I told him that was a favorite of mine, and I was around his age when that song was a hit. (This young man happened to be 14 years old - I was 14 when “Stayin’ Alive” was the #1 song in the nation). Toby and Lily eventually prayed with me to receive salvation. After giving them gospels of John, I played on my iPhone an ApologetiX parody of “Stayin’ Alive” called “ Stay in the Light .” Just before the streetcar arrived, Tob...

While in elementary school, I developed an interest in learning Spanish. That was triggered by watching “Sesame Street” during the early 1970s when they went bilingual. Later, I watched another show on PBS called “Villa Alegre” (“Happy Village”). Around that time, my fifth grade English teacher taught us some Spanish. I could’ve taken Spanish classes in high school and college, but my interests drifted toward computers and music. After becoming a street evangelist, I wish I had learned more Spanish. Nowadays, there are many Hispanics in America who don’t speak English. Most of them come from Catholic backgrounds. Therefore, a majority believe the gospel but haven’t yet made a decision to be born again.  Up until a few years ago, I simply gave Hispanics gospel tracts in Spanish. If I encountered one that knew some English, I'd witness to them by speaking simple words but mixed in a few Spanish words I knew to build rapport. That resulted in a few salvations. Then I started using...

As an evangelist, my primary objective is to save souls. Therefore, I minimize small talk during my witnessing encounters. Some individuals are inclined to engage in trivial discussions that have no relevance to their eternal destiny. Others who are already saved want to debate doctrine, which will take away time from those that need salvation. 2 Timothy 2:23 says, “But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.” Last Tuesday night, I participated in an outreach called Jesus Burgers, which aimed to primarily attract University of Minnesota students. Free hamburgers, chips, drinks, and freeze pops were available. The event was held on a corner in the Dinkytown area. I had lived there almost forty years ago during my time as a U of M student. So I spied out the land a bit while handing out invitation cards without asking people questions about eternity. The outreach leaders wanted us to spend a few minutes getting to know “pre-believers” (their term for sinn...

Even before committing my life to the Lord, I knew homosexuality was wrong. The thought of same-sex couples having intimate relations repulsed me. Nevertheless, I grew up around at least two guys who I discovered years later were homosexuals. One was a neighbor who lived two houses away from   my childhood home   in Moorhead, Minnesota. David was a bit eccentric. He had tall plants growing in his front yard that looked like a jungle. A year after I moved to Minneapolis, David died of AIDS. My parents told me he had admitted to them of being gay. Another was a junior high classmate whose locker was next to mine. Thomas seemed popular with the girls and even became class president. So it surprised me when I eventually learned of him becoming a homosexual. In 2011, Thomas died unexpectedly of a heart attack at 46. Although he wasn’t friendly toward me at school, I still hate to think of this guy being in hell. Three years before his death, Thomas got “married” to his long-time pa...

In his book “The Coming Revival”, Rodney Howard-Browne wrote, “If you're on fire for God and you’re full of the Holy Spirit, you can take the power of God wherever you go. But too many Christians are allowing the influence of the world to stop them or pull them down.” I’ve seen believers focus on negative things as a result of watching the news for hours or looking for the latest heresies spreading within the church. Recently a Facebook friend posted this on her page: “A worldwide revival is not prophesied in scripture. This is a NAR/WOF false teaching. The Bible teaches there will be apostasy—a great falling away. Believe the Bible!” NAR refers to the New Apostolic Reformation, a term used by the late Peter Wagner to describe a movement some have called “dominion theology.” That is a belief Christians will gradually take over all aspects of society. Although Jesus said in Luke 19:13 (KJV), “ Occupy till I come ” , the Bible also mentions the antichrist ruling the world during ...

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,...