Signs & Wonders Blog

While witnessing to Muslims, they object to Jesus being called “the Son of God” because Allah (the Arabic word for God) supposedly had no sons. When I quoted John 3:16 to one Muslim in particular, this man got hung up on the word “begotten.” He thought it only referred to the result of a sexual union.   The words “begot” and “begotten” are used numerous times in the Bible, usually in genealogy listings. Those words have other uses in Scripture besides records of human offspring . Look at The Message Bible’s rendering of John 1:9-13… “The Life-Light was the real thing: every person entering Life he brings into Light. He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn't even notice. He came to his own people, but they didn't want him. But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves. These are the God-begotten, not...

Christmas has many traditions associated with it. Unfortunately, there are religious ideas about the holiday without Biblical foundations. One reason for that is certain Christmas carols. For example, “The Little Drummer Boy” sings “I am a poor boy, too.” Jesus temporarily gave up heavenly riches but that doesn’t mean He was born poor. His stepfather Joseph had the resources to travel to Bethlehem and would’ve spent money on lodging if there was room for them at the inn. Meanwhile, a group of wise men brought treasures to the Messiah. Speaking of which, most people assume there were three wise men as in the song “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” Matthew chapter 2 doesn’t mention the exact number of wise men but refers to three types of gifts they had: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Notice these gifts were presented to a “young Child”…not a baby. Verse 11 also mentions them coming “into the house”…not before a manger. Therefore, the wise men didn’t see Jesus at the same time as the...

Today is Easter (or “Resurrection Sunday” as some Christians prefer calling it). According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, Easter is “the most important and oldest festival of the Christian Church, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ and held between March 21 and April 25, on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the northern spring equinox.” Some Christians avoid using the term Easter because it’s believed to have originated from the name of a goddess associated with spring. However, Easter is mentioned in the King James Bible. Acts 12:4 (KJV) says, “And when he [Herod] had apprehended him [Peter], he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.” Other translations use “Passover” instead of Easter. Just like with Christmas, Easter has pagan practices associated with it. Probably the most famous of which is children receiving candy from a character kn...

With the holiday season approaching, many businesses and individuals have already put up decorations. Among them are Christmas trees. A popular carol “O Christmas Tree” originated from Germany as “O Tannenbaum”, which translates as “O Fir Tree.” The original lyrics had nothing to do with Christmas. Nevertheless, I remember singing the German version a time or two while in grade school. Like other holiday traditions, some Christians oppose the usage of Christmas trees. One of my Facebook friends made a judgmental comment that people putting up Christmas trees “are worshiping the devil and have a mental disease.” Before giving my life to Christ, I didn’t have a Christmas tree in my apartment because of the time and expense involved. Instead, I drove up to Mom and Dad’s house for the holidays and enjoyed looking at their decorations. Nowadays, I still don’t own a Christmas tree mainly due to my missionary lifestyle. Once I heard e vangelist Jesse Duplantis talk about the time h...

Some people have this idea that to be a Christian, you have to check your brain at the door.  Recently an atheistic businessman published a LinkedIn article titled “Religious People have lesser IQ than non-believers!” In an attempt to back up his claim, the author included numerous graphs such as the one pictured here. He also added the caption “ Charts speak for themselves.”  We will now let God’s word speak for itself... “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” - Psalm 14:1 and 53:1 “...although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools” - Romans 1:21-22 “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” - Romans 8:6-7 "But the natural man does not receive the...

Three years ago on the day after Christmas, I went to a grocery store with a friend of mine. The store was still running holiday advertisements on their loudspeaker. Not once did I hear the announcer mention the word “Christmas.” When I was a kid, I often heard people say "Merry Christmas" to each other. Since then the world has gradually removed "Christ" from Christmas. In our politically correct society, Christmas trees are now often called “holiday trees.” School districts refer to Christmas vacation as “Winter Break.” They also prohibit religious songs from their music programs such as “Silent Night” in favor of ditties like “Frosty the Snowman.” 2,000 years ago, the apostles were commanded by authorities “...not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” (Acts 4:18) Today there are businesses requiring their employees to say "Happy Holidays" to customers instead of "Merry Christmas." Some city governments forbid N...