Signs & Wonders Blog

Today is Earth Day. According to Wikipedia, “Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection.” I agree men and women should be good stewards of this planet. After all, the first two people on this earth were assigned to take care of the Garden of Eden. Unfortunately, green activism has grown to ridiculous levels . While staying in hotel rooms, I’ve noticed signs encouraging guests to conserve vital resources such as water. By doing so we can supposedly “save our planet.”  The Bible repeatedly reminds us God made the earth. He made sure it has plenty of natural resources. Psalm 65:9 says, “You visit the earth and water it, You greatly enrich it; The river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, for so You have prepared it.” It also says in Ecclesiastes 1:4, “One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever .” The earth is not in d...

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...

One sign often cited by Bible prophecy teachers that we are living in the last days is Israel becoming a nation again. This is interpreted through Jesus’ Parable of the Fig Tree in Matthew 24 (also mentioned in the gospels of Mark and Luke)… 32 “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.  33 So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!  34 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.  35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away People have differences regarding how long a generation is in Scripture. Some have defined that as 40 years, 70 years, or 100 years. One fellow prophecy buff suggested it could last as long as the man’s lifespan during a particular time period. Other Old Testament passages associated God’s people to fig trees… ...

Despite living in Minnesota most of my life, I consider myself a North Dakota native having been born in Fargo. A recent oil boom has caused a marked increase of the Roughrider State’s population. It’s also resulted in a protest that has captured the world’s attention. The issue at hand is the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline that would run from the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota to southern Illinois, crossing beneath the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, as well as part of Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.  Many people including a few celebrities are “standing with Standing Rock” by blocking construction of the pipeline. One reason is to protect the water from a possible oil spill (the phrase “water is life” is often used by protesters). What should be pointed out is another pipeline and other utilities have been previously built underneath the Missouri River. The chairman of the Standing Rock Tribal Council happens to own a gas station. Anot...

Tomorrow is Memorial Day, a federal holiday honoring Americans who died while in active military service. Some people confuse Memorial Day with Veteran’s Day (observed annually on November 11th) that honors everyone who spent time in the Armed Forces. As a former National Guardsman myself, I go out of my way to thank fellow veterans who served our country. This also opens up doors to share the gospel with them. Memorials are mentioned throughout Scripture to honor God, His people, and to commemorate things He’s done for us. Here are a few examples… “So this day [the Passover] shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. ” - Exodus 12:14 “And you shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. So Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders as a memorial.” - Exodus 28:12 “Then you sha...

English preacher John Scotland often says at his meetings, “For those of you taking notes…save the trees.” This is meant to be a humorous jab at people who jot down too many notes during church services.  Sadly there are environmentalists who do ridiculous things like chain themselves to trees they don’t want chopped down. In this creepy YouTube clip , members of a radical advocacy group are hysterically bawling over dead trees…   Tree huggers who really want to take their cause to the extreme shouldn’t read books, live in wooden houses with wooden furniture or use paper money, Kleenex and toilet paper. If God valued trees as much as humans, He wouldn’t have told Noah to built an ark out of gopher wood ( Genesis 6:14) or instructed His people to use wood for various sacrifices. God is certainly not worried about earthly shortages. One time I was driving through Yellowstone National Park and saw a mountain range with a huge amount of trees. At that moment, the...