Signs & Wonders Blog

Recently I reposted a powerful story circulating on social media. A church visitor requested prayer from the pastor because his cousin had died. “Pray that God will guide him in the afterlife.” The pastor asked, “Suppose you’re taking an exam. Should you pray before the exam or after?” “Obviously, before the exam.” “Right. When you pray after the exam, it’s like you’re asking God to change the grades. That is not possible because God is faithful. He cannot deceive the result. Similarly, when we die, the exam is over. We can no longer change our destiny. Hebrews 9:27 says that we die once and then face judgment. That means no second chance. I’m sorry for your relative. He can no longer be prayed for. That is why people need to understand the Gospel while they are still alive. They had to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior before it was all over.” One Facebook friend asked what I thought about praying for the dead. I replied, “Praying for deceased people is not biblical except when G...

One of the worship leaders at Bethel Church in Redding, California recently experienced a tragedy. The two-year-old daughter of Kalley Heiligenthal suddenly died. For a while, Kalley and her husband Andrew plus the leadership of Bethel asked everyone of faith to pray that little Olive would be raised back to life. Unfortunately for them, t hat didn’t happen. I was disturbed to see mostly nasty comments in response to a CBN News article about the Heiligenthals . If those critics had a child that just died, wouldn’t they want to see him or her come back to life?  Raising the dead is mentioned several places in the Bible. However, many Christians scoff at the idea of modern-day resurrections. A few years ago, I got together with an old friend for coffee. Her interest in going to Germany prompted me to show her photos from the times I went there. Some were from a Reinhard Bonnke meeting in Berlin. During which, a Nigerian pastor testified of being raised from the dead. My frien...

As Christians, we should stand for biblical truth. Unfortunately, some defenders of the faith are too quick to judge certain ministers as heretics. A few months ago, a Facebook friend blasted a well-known preacher for proclaiming at a local church, “Jesus was born again in hell.” I was at that same service. The “born again in hell” comment generated question marks in my mind. Other than that, I didn’t hear this preacher say anything that would be considered heresy.  While walking into the bathroom at this church, I pondered the “born again” comment. Suddenly, Romans 8:29 came to my remembrance: “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Jesus is also referred to as “the firstborn” in Colossians chapter 1 verses 15 and 18. Those of you familiar with the Apostles’ Creed will recall the phrase of Jesus descending into hell. Scriptures supporting that concept include… ...