Global
Reports
These
reports give some accounts of revival movements as we approach the new
millennium. Other reports are included
in the article “Revival into 2000”.
Pastors in France who once were ready to
give up on the country now are expecting great things from God. Marc and Annemarie Lebrun lead Christ Light
of the Nations in Paris, a growing charismatic church that “hungers for
revival,” Marc Lebrun told Religion Today.
That was not always the case. The French pastor and his Dutch wife spent
five frustrating years ministering in the south in the ’80s before calling it
quits. “We left in 1986 with a firm
decision not to go back, because it was too hard to minister there,” Lebrun
said. Pervasive secularism, cynicism,
and a deep suspicion of non-Catholic faiths make it difficult to reach the
French, he said.
Convinced that they were called to
Africa, the Lebruns tried to raise support to start a ministry in Zaire, now
the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Support was slow in coming, so in the meantime they agreed to fill in at
a small Paris church while the pastor took a three-month sabbatical. “We didn’t know it, but that was the
beginning of our ministry,” Lebrun said.
After finishing their tenure at the Paris church, the Lebruns started an
itinerant ministry to African churches in the city and later began their own
congregation. Today the thriving
interracial church has 150 members and supports a Bible school.
There are signs the tide may be turning
in France, Lebrun said. Pockets of
revival are breaking out in diverse places and new churches are being
started. “There are lots of places
looking for God and looking for new things from God. They are not big, but there is a new move, there is a new
hunger,” he said. “In churches with 20,
30, and 100 people, people are paying the price for revival through fasting and
praying. ”
The move flows from a special work of the
Holy Spirit experienced by Christians from all over the world at services in
Toronto, Pensacola, and Argentina, Lebrun said. He had his own renewal experience at Toronto Airport Christian
Fellowship in 1995. The “Toronto
Blessing” is a phenomena that has spread charismatic renewal to millions of Christians
and thousands of churches worldwide.
Lebrun said he experienced a deeper love for Christ, a new power for
ministry, and periods of “intense intercession” during his 10-day visit.
“The power of God hit” his church the
first Sunday after he returned to Paris from Toronto, Lebrun said. The presence of the Holy Spirit was so
strong that every member fell on the floor and began confessing sins. “Some were so afraid they crawled under
chairs, some got set free and were shouting for joy.” Many left the church after the experience but others pressed on
and gave up bitterness and unforgiveness and “got a deep love for God,” he
said.
Two hundred and forty-five people became
Christians during revival services in 1998.
From 18 June to 13 December, the church held revival services four
nights a week, attracting thousands from across France, Switzerland, Belgium,
and Germany, Lebrun said. Hundreds
reported being miraculously cured of sickness and being freed of persistent
sins, he said. About 40 people were
baptized and joined the church.
Church members are energized to serve
God. Street evangelism teams have
doubled in size and between three and 10 people are becoming Christians every
week through their ministry, Lebrun said.
The church continues to hold a week of revival meetings monthly and has
special evangelistic services every Sunday afternoon. The church also has a feeding program for the poor, a
publications ministry, and a Bible school with about 65 full- and part-time
students.
Prejudice against evangelical
Christianity is still a barrier to revival, Lebrun said. “It’s very different from the ’80s, but
there is still a big barrier to break to get people to church.” People fear
joining evangelical churches because non-Catholic faiths are considered “of the
devil” and are often lumped in with cults by the media and government, he
said. “They make no distinction between
evangelicals and Mormons or charismatics and Jehovah’s Witnesses. ”
The confusion leads to discrimination
against evangelicals, Lebrun said.
Christ Light of the Nations has been trying for several years to
purchase a church building but has been turned down for loans by several
banks. “They start out friendly, but
when they find out we are a church they say it’s impossible. Their attitude changes and they are somehow
against you. We have been to six banks
and it’s always the same,” he said. The
ministry has secured half the funds it needs and is continuing to trust God for
the rest.
The discrimination “is holding us back in
many activities, but we go forth in prayer and intercession to break through,”
Lebrun said. Greater unity is still
needed among pastors seeking revival, but “we can’t force it, we have to let
the Holy Spirit bring our hearts together.”
When unity happens, revival will come and break through barriers of
prejudice, he said.
Revival sweeps across denominational and
societal lines, Lebrun said. “Revival
is not a series of meetings. It is a
desert thirst for the things of God. It
is a willingness in people’s hearts to fight and sacrifice to see the kingdom
of God come in their lives, family, church, city, and land. It is a longing to see the glory of the Lord
manifested upon the earth. ”
New York
Report
by Kathryn Riss, from: Awakening List,
4 August 1999
Rodney
Howard-Browne, the South African missionary to America who brought Holy
Laughter and other manifestations to America in recent years, is preaching a
soul-winning crusade in New York’s Madison Square Garden. There have been almost no manifestations
during any of the meetings (I’ve attended all but one), but over 31,000
souls have been saved!
The River is flowing and is full of fish! But instead of just drinking in the
river, God’s people are fishing in the River!
People from all over the world who have been touched by the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit over the past several years have come to New York City and
are winning souls at (to me) unprecedented rates.
I met a woman who led 84 people to Christ in one day this
past Friday,
and know of two other people who led over 70 each to the Lord in a single day
of street evangelism.
These brothers and sisters are fired up with
the zeal of the Lord, a love for the lost, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit
to seek and save the lost.
Think about it. Ever since the beginning of the Toronto
Blessing, we’ve been told that the purpose of the anointing is for evangelism
and we should take it to the lost.
Maybe the time is drawing near to give away what we’ve received so
abundantly and go fishing! It’s harvest time in New York City, and I believe
this is just the beginning.
Brazil
From Awakening, 11 August, 1999
A lady from Brazil by the name of Silvana, was
divinely healed of five types of cancer about 4½ years ago. She has a miraculous testimony, but more
striking than that, there is a tangible, transferable anointing which people
have received as she prays for them, not only for gold manifestations, but also
for power in evangelism. By the time
she has finished giving her testimony, she is covered with gold and fragrant
anointing oil comes from her hands. She
normally prays for each person, and not only have many people been miraculously
healed, but people have gone forth from the meetings with that same type of
anointing to perform miraculous healings, signs and wonders, and to bring many
to Christ.
One pastor, Bob Shattles, was transformed by the power of God after having been
touched by the gold anointing. Since
that time, several people he has prayed for have been raised from the dead, and
over 2,000 have received the Lord in his everyday witness. Prior to this time, by his own testimony, he
was not a particularly bold witness.
The power with which he now shares Christ everywhere he goes seems
similar to the dramatic evangelistic anointings being witnessed on the street
evangelism teams involved with the Rodney Howard-Browne
Good News New York outreaches in 1999.
India
Reports from Dr Paul Pilai, Director of
India Inland Mission, August 1999.
Paul, a former Hindu lawyer, was
miraculously healed through a Christian’s friend’s prayer, and now heads
indigenous mission work in north India including a Bible College of 600
students which sends out 200 evangelists and pastors a year.
Manoharpur where Robert Stains and his
two sons were killed by burning them alive in their vehicle is seeing a mighty
revival. Thousands of tribal people
are coming to Christ. Several of our
teams are using the ‘Jesus’ movie all over that area where still Bajrang
Dal killers are brought to attack
Christians from outside that area.
They carry the images of goddess Kati who has ten hands filled with
weapons to kill and always drinking human blood and the image of Shiva dancing
over the heap of human skull. They use
these images to threaten the new believers with demonic power. Killing of Christians may continue in that
area, but the prayer of saints all over the world is making a change. Many Bajrang Dal killers also are coming to
know Christ in miraculous ways.
Our churches in Kashmir are suffering
much as the war is raging there between India and Bin Laden’s high tech Islamic
‘Mujahideen’ ( holy warriors ) with Pakistan as their base. With Chinese latest high tech nuclear
technology, and enormous amounts of Arab money. Pakistan and Afghan terrorists believe that there should be a
nuclear war in South Asia for the conquest by Islamic terrorists as an
‘historic Jeehad’ as a final holy war to wipe out Christianity. This big blow to Christian work in Kashmir
will affect us for a long time to come.
Gopal Magar and Sikha Rai two of our
Grace Bible College graduates working in Rukum district in Nepal were shot dead
by the Hindu police for baptising Hindus in Nepal. We have 278 men and women from Nepal, graduated from Grace Bible
College and have hundreds of churches under them. But secret attacks are still going on while thousands are coming
to Christ all over Nepal. More than 42
leading evangelistic organisations organised and directed by Grace Bible
College graduates are working all over Nepal today.
Today there are more than 2000 believers
worshipping in different house churches in Bhutan secretly. Having an open border with India, Indian
Christians are the only missionaries there.
No church buildings are allowed
in Bhutan. Many students graduated
from our Bible College are working in Bhutan.
This Himalayan foothill kingdom needs the Gospel desperately, and we
need your continuous prayer and support for this strategic ministry.
15,000 become Christians every day in India
The
message of Christ and demonstrations of supernatural power are making converts
in India, a ministry says. About
15,000 people are becoming Christians daily in the country of 900 million,
Guine Anderson of the Hong Kong-based Sowers Ministry told Religion Today.
Indigenous
evangelists are preaching in north India.
More than 5,000 congregations have been started by workers from 25 denominations
or missions agencies in the region since the 1970s, AD2000 and Beyond said.
Central and northern India are Hindu and tribal strongholds and
resistant to the gospel.
Prayer
and a new missionary zeal are behind the success, Anderson said. Christians used to be reluctant to travel to
the north because of its difficult terrain, climate, and hostile spiritual
atmosphere. But the prayers of
Christians worldwide have given the Indian church more boldness, he said. “Now, because the Spirit of God is moving,
people are willing to sacrifice — you have to be willing to sacrifice your very
life — and we are sending more native and local missionaries there.”
Workers
can start a church with 40-60 believers within two months of their first visit
to a village, Anderson said. Many
Muslims and Hindus, discouraged from trying to gain salvation through good
works and religious rituals, respond immediately to the message of grace
preached by Christians, he said. “When
they hear that Jesus sets you free and gives you eternal life, they respond
very quickly. ”
Others
become Christians after seeing a demonstration of God’s power. Supernatural healing and other miracles are
not uncommon, Anderson said. After his
conversion in the 1980s, he travelled with an evangelist in the region.
Evangelists
pray for the sick. “It has become a
pattern and it’s just like Jesus did.
He preached the word and healed people,” Anderson said. “We always tell them that it is not us, but
Jesus Christ who is the healer. We are
just instruments.”
Hundreds
of people became Christians after a woman was cured of a stomach tumour. Evangelists from the Sowers ministry prayed
for her after meeting her husband. “He
said he had gone to the [Hindu] temples all his life and made all the pilgrimages,
but still had no meaning in life and his wife was dying,” Anderson said. The evangelists told the man that Jesus
Christ would heal his wife and he invited them to his home to pray for her. That night in a dream he saw Jesus Christ
touch his wife’s stomach, and later told the workers. In the morning her stomach pains were gone and a visit to the
doctor confirmed that the tumour had disappeared, Anderson said. More than 80 families from their village
became Christians and have started a church as a result of her testimony.
More
than 80,000 people responded to Christ’s message at services preached by
evangelist P. P. Job. “It was so
awesome to see. They had such a hunger,
and you could see it in their eyes, dripping with tears,” said Anderson, who
prayed for people to be healed of diseases and other physical and spiritual
ailments.
Indian
Christians are persecuted more than ever for their faith. Hundreds of churches have been burned and
several missionaries killed by Hindu radicals in the past year. Nevertheless evangelists continue to preach
in dangerous areas. “Continue to pray
for India and for many people to come to Christ,” Anderson said. “We very much want the prayers of the body
of Christ. That is the reason that so
many are being saved. ”
Nepal
Source:
E-mail to the Renewal Journal
editor. A Nepal pastor in Kathmandu
wrote in April, 1999:
We have seen the great power of God more
this week than in the previous six years of our ministry. This week we had an annual celebration day at
our church. Three great healings
happened, and many were saved.
A Hindu man’s leg needed to amputated,
according to the doctor, so he went to collect the money for the operation from
his relatives. During that time he met
one of our church members. “Is there
any hope for my father’s leg?” his daughter asked. “Of course,” said our member.
Three people carried him to the church, holding his left and right
legs. They looked like big
pillars. When he entered inside we
were singing a song called “My life is in you; my healing is in You. ” We were continually praising the Lord.
All of sudden one fat woman fell down on
the ground and repented. She looked
like she was almost dead. She repented
like this, “Lord forgive me. I helped
some of my friends to do an abortion.
Relieve me from my guilty feelings. ”
I was concerned about the man suffering
from his leg. I was looking at him,
but then a voice came from another corner, “Lord I thank you that you healed
me. I needed three operations, but I
went to the doctor and he told me, ‘You don’t need the operations. I don’t know what has happened to your body
in the last month. ’” So he brought the
money which he has saved for operation, and we bought the sound system. He is playing piano in the church now.
Still I was looking at that guy who was
suffering from his legs. After worship
we did not see him in the church. We
were surprised. Where was he
gone? But we didn’t want to interrupt
the fellowship, because we were praying.
The next week he was supposed to come for
the service at ten o’clock. He and his
family came early at eight o’clock and were praying like any things. We thought the youths were practising the
songs for the service! Praise the Lord
the man who came with the help of his three friends, this week came with other
14 people to witness that God healed his legs. We asked him why he went so early last week. Nobody knew where he went. So he replied like this, “My wife had invited people to do Hindu
rituals for my health, so I went fast to stop her. I told her not to call anybody because I am healed by Jesus.
” Praise the Lord his 14 friends will
be baptised soon.
“It
all started with a vision in a hotel room,” says 45-year-old Bishop David
Oyedepo, who now leads the Living Faith Church (‘Winners’ Chapel’) in Lagos,
Nigeria, with an attendance of 42,000 every Sunday.
On
1 May 1981, Oyedepo saw a vision of desperate, distorted and hurting people
obviously in need of help. When he
asked God what it meant, God said “And from the beginning it was not so,” and
gave him the task of preaching the gospel.
Only a few days later, on 8 May 1981, Oyedepo founded the ‘Power House’,
a spiritual support system made up of people praying, fasting and preparing
themselves to serve others. Fellowships
started not only in Lagos, but also in Nigeria’s traditionally Islamic north.
According
to the American magazine Charisma,
the “Dominion Cathedral”, which Oyedepo founded in Kaduna in 1984, is the
largest church in the north of the country, with an attendance around
10,000. The church has to over 39
other African nations, including Ethiopia (attendance 1,000), Kenya (7,000) and
Ghana 7,000). On 29 August 1998, the
foundation was laid for what will probably be the world’s largest church
building, with space for some 50,400 people.
Oyedepo reports that the church provides the finance itself, saying “God
told me ‘Don’t collect money, collect people!’”
China
Modern
Peter supernaturally freed from jail
Source: Titus Pan.
(fax +49-6146-61496).
He
is known as ‘The Heavenly Man’, 41 years old, and famous not only in China:
house-church leader Liu Zhenying. He
has been imprisoned for his faith several times, and during one imprisonment,
according to Chinese sources, fasted for 74 days without water. On 16 March 1997, he broke both legs when
jumping out of a window to escape police before his most recent arrest. He was sent to a high-security jail, but
confidently expected to be freed. The
other inmates considered him to be mad.
His legs had healed by the time a fellow inmate, also a Christian, told
him “You can go now!”
“I
wanted to be sure,” says Liu, “and asked God for instructions. God told me that it was time. Revelation and information from God are much
more important than telegrams and telephones.
I have a simple theology. I
don’t look at what I see, but at what I believe. When God spoke to me, I saw one of the large prison doors open; a
guard was about to close it when the telephone rang. I went through the door, putting my life in God’s hand. Another door leading out of the prison was
also open. I can only think that an
angel opened it,” he says. “In all,
three iron doors opened in front of me.
It was perfect timing - I couldn’t have left 20 seconds earlier or
later. As I stood outside the prison, a
taxi stopped, and took me to a Christian house. The people had been fasting and praying for me for a week, and
already knew that their house would be my first stop after leaving jail. They already had a bed and clothes prepared
for me.”
Liu
reports that an increasing number of Chinese Christians are preparing
themselves for world mission, primarily among Buddhist and Arab peoples. They need to gain experience and be
trained. Liu does not know what the
missionary movement will look like, but that is not important for many people. “God sent me to Germany, which is, humanly
speaking, impossible, yet it has happened.
In this respect, my theology is very simple: listen to God’s voice and
do what he says”
Benin, West Africa
Cotonou,
1990 report – Christ for all Nations (CfaN):
CfaN’s
first campaign in Benin (West Africa) - one of the toughest ever. The people are largely indifferent. The President is an unbelieving communist.
Cotonou,
1999 report – Christ for all Nations (CfaN):
Multitudes storm the
Kingdom of God. The national attitude
has changed. The same President is now a
born-again believer. President Mathieu
Kérékou of Benin welcomes Reinhard Bonnke
CfaN
campaigns in Africa are up to six times larger than they were 10 years
ago. Again and again the numbers of
people who make decisions for Jesus far exceed our planning. For the third successive time the most
optimistic preparations for the follow-up work were hopelessly outclassed by
reality. This is the story.
Four
years ago Reinhard Bonnke and Peter van den Berg were astonished to be invited
to meet the former President of Benin, Mathieu Kérékou. With some apprehension they made their way
to the appointment to find - to their utter amazement - that Mr. Kérékou wanted to be “properly saved!” That
day he certainly was. The flame of the
Lord had ignited in the heart of this ex-President. That day ex-President and Evangelist became good friends. Zeal for the Gospel gripped President
Kérékou powerfully.
Then
in October 1998, Reinhard Bonnke and President Kérékou met again, this time in
the State House in Cotonou. Kérékou had
meanwhile been returned as President and as President, he pleaded with Reinhard
Bonnke to hold another CfaN campaign in Benin.
Although for CfaN this meant adjusting forward arrangements, the
pressure to go to Benin was considered to be coming not only from the
President, but also from rather higher up - from the Lord Himself.
So
the CfaN team went back to Benin.
January 26 to 31, 1999 - what a wonderful week it was! The event was backed by 32 churches and
denominations, and the trickle of response to Jesus Christ seen in 1989 had
become a floodtide. This report can do
little more than turn the spotlight on a detail here and there. This was not something that was over and
done with in six days; it foreshadowed a significant turning point in the
history of the nation of Benin.
In
the six days of the campaign 640,000 people came to hear the Gospel, and some
200,000 called upon the Lord for salvation.
Figures of this size can mean little to Westerners who have never
experienced such an event and could scarcely begin to imagine what it is really
like. A truckload of 120,000 follow-up
booklets - Now that You are Saved, which give instruction and guidance for the
new believer - was on site. The plan
was that each individual receiving Christ should be given a copy free of
charge, but supplies ran out as the counsellors did their utmost to make
contact with every person who had made a decision for Christ.
The
grounds of the local sports stadium was the venue chosen to accommodate the
vast numbers of people who streamed to the meetings. As Reinhard Bonnke looked out from the platform, he was “awed at
the drawing power and effect of the preached Word,” though he had seen it so
often before. To give an accurate
impression of what it is like to be at the centre of such sweeping and almost
unearthly powerful events probably exceeds the bounds of human language. Amplifiers enabled all to hear, but the Holy
Spirit’s communications system worked in a different, far more powerful
dimension, amplifying and penetrating the truth into the hearts of the people
standing there, acre upon acre, moved by the presence of God.
From
the platform one sees little more than an impersonal mass of people, but to
know what the campaign means to the individuals is something else. Each person is a little world of need, and
tales of the effect of the Gospel on countless families and homes would fill a
book. What must be taken into account is
that the people in Benin did not listen as Western nominalized Christians. In fact, many were devotees of voodoo, a
gripping superstition that is very hard to escape. No more crutches!
The
beliefs and practices of voodooism can be considered the indigenous culture of
the people of Benin. From Benin it has
been exported across the Atlantic to places such as the West Indies and Cuba,
and sometimes strangely mixed with Christian belief. Rituals include drumming and singing to bring about spirit
possession. By this means the people
seek to communicate with spirits, inviting them to participate in their rituals
and, using divination, they “receive help” from spirits in their troubles and
needs. Insanity is not uncommon, and
escape from its serpent-like coils is impossible except by the power of the
Gospel.
For
folk born and bred in voodoo, the news of a loving Father sending His Son to
set people free from fear and sin is a new concept, but one that in Benin was
as welcome as sunrise. The power of God
was seen decimating the works of the devil on a vast scale and bringing about a
mass exodus from the kingdom of darkness into the marvelous light of God.
Mister
Adoni was totally blind for 12 years.
He can see now!
The
glorious delivering power of God burst upon the multitudes. So many were pitifully pain-racked,
afflicted, possessed and even insane.
But when prayer was made, miracles took place just as in biblical times
- the blind saw, the deaf heard, the cripples walked, cancer victims were cured
and mad people became sane. At the
evidence of such divine mercies the crowds shouted themselves hoarse. This was the Acts of the Apostles all over
again, drama unmatched by anything out of Hollywood. Unfortunately, there is only space here to make the briefest
mention of some of the countless miracles that took place.
A
little boy, James Odenayo, came to the campaign wearing leg irons; he was
crippled in both legs and unable to walk without them. As Jesus moved through the crowd in healing
power, there he was, in full view of 80,000 people - walking without his leg
irons! Many blind people received their sight, among them Mr. Adoni, who had been totally blind for 12
years.
On
the Sunday afternoon an international football match - between Liberia and
Benin - was being played in the stadium just as the CfaN campaign was in full
swing. This was competition
indeed. European Football has reached
near-religion status in many countries, not only Benin, with devotees and
pseudo-worship not of Baal but Ball! However, on this occasion, the “high
priests” of “Ball” were not very happy, as two out of every three seats in the
stadium remained empty. Most of the
“fans” had simply found Jesus a greater attraction!
No
Christian meeting had ever managed to fill the conference hall in Cotonou that
had been booked for the CfaN Fire Conference.
Every day Peter van den Berg and Reinhard Bonnke ministered to the 5,000
Christian leaders and workers who attended and who drank in every word like
sand in the desert. It was not an
academic exercise, an intellectual “topping up” of a store of knowledge, but
the Word from the Head of the Church, the Lord in glory, to the hearts of all
who listened. As the evangelistic fire
was kindled in those hearts, it seemed to promise an unprecedented move to
spread the good news of Jesus Christ throughout Benin.
Before
returning to Germany, Reinhard Bonnke visited President Kérékou in his home,
and enjoyed an excellent time of fellowship and prayer. As the two men parted, the President said,
“When I finish my term as President, I think I will go from town to town and
village to village to tell my people about Jesus Christ. ”
Those
words could be significant, indicating at least hope of a new national policy
setting a Christian code for faith and morals.
During the campaign Reinhard Bonnke was accorded the kind of support and
assistance given to VIPs, including an official government limousine with
outriders for protection. This
reflected the intentions of a head of State who recognizes the importance of
the Kingdom of God for a modern nation.
“The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of
God lives for ever” (1 Jn 2:17).
Congo
A wall of fire
Source:
Awakening, from Meg Korpi, mkorpi@hotmail.com
Dr.
Bill Clemmer, Evangelical
Hospital Vanga, Democratic Republic of Congo, reported:
The current
fighting in Central Africa is a regional war which now involves eight African
countries. Last summer it spilled over
into Congo where American Baptist Missionaries have remained. The genocide and senseless killings in some
areas have occurred so often that many in the Western world have become immune
to the tragedy in this part of Africa.
But God’s people have been praying and He responds in sometimes
miraculous ways.
Tutsi soldiers
had broken down the door of a young pastor’s house and stood poised to
slaughter by machine gun fire, him and his entire family right where they
sat. Their intent was to massacre the
civilians in this Hutu village. “Wait!
the young man implored, would you not allow my family and I a moment to pray before
we die? I can almost picture the sneers
on the face of these soldiers as they watched this family, an African couple
and their young children soberly kneel, arm in arm, in a circle on the floor
and pray to God for mercy. The
remarkable thing is that the expected shots never came. After praying, the family slowly stood up
and saw that the soldiers were gone, not only out of their house but away from
their village as well. It was not until
several months later they found out just what had happened.
At a church
meeting in another town where Christians from both sides had gathered to pray,
this young pastor told his story and the seemingly miraculous way in which the
soldiers “just disappeared from his house and village.”
“I
think I can explain,” came a quiet voice from the back of the room, spoken by
one of the Tutsi soldiers who had been there that fateful day. “You see,” said the soldier, “I was there
when we broke into your house. I was
one who had your children lined up in my rifle site as you kneeled and prayed
... when suddenly a wall of fire, fierce and ferocious, jumped up and
surrounded the lot of you. We couldn’t
even see beyond the flames. Due to
the intense heat and fire, we knew the house would burn down so we fled. When we went outside and saw your home
consumed by fire and yet not destroyed, we fled the village as well. Later I realized that this was not the type
of fire we are familiar with but a fire sent by God. If this is how your God responds, I want to know Him too! I am tired of the fighting and the
killing. This is why I came tonight.”
Miracles abound
in war torn Central Africa. Prayer is,
and will always be, the only response to the tragedies and crises in our lives.
“Every
day, we distribute food to some 400 Kosovo Albanians who are housed in a
school in Durres,” writes a member of an Operation Mobilisation (OM) team.
“Following
that, a volunteer group travels to a refugee camp on the outskirts, to
distribute food there. One day not long
ago, there was only half a pot of bean soup left. Tani, who was distributing the soup, said ‘We don’t have enough
for the people here!’ Dane, another team member, told him to simply keep
serving. Tani filled bowl after bowl,
until all 200 or more had their soup.
On average, it needs 8 pots of soup for 400 people - it is completely
impossible that half a pot is enough for 200.”
Both team members knew that God had performed a miracle. “The Biblical miracle of the feeding of the
5000 was repeated here in Albania in this time of great need,” comments the
missions organisation.
Israel
Source:
Awakening, 6 June 1999, from Barbara Richmond, ruth311@juno.com
First 40
rabbi’s, now more than 200 Hasidic Jews in Jerusalem secretly worship Jesus, their true Messiah.
Barbara
Richmond has kept this amazing incident very private but now feels led to share her miraculous experience
in Jerusalem in 1995
involving a group of rabbis.
There is no
doubt that Barbara is a totally reliable witness. She is the
Director of Womens’ Ministries at a solid Central Florida church with which I am
familiar. I know her pastor. She is a popular Bible teacher, speaker, seminar
leader, author and radio host.
In September
1995, Barbara led a group on a tour of Israel, as she frequently does. On their free day, with no scheduled activities, she went with several of her group
for shopping into the
Old City of Jerusalem. Her friends
were in some shops and Barbara
was waiting for them outside on one of the narrow old >> streets.
She says, “It was a beautiful afternoon and I was leaning against one of the old stone
walls, just kind of praying in the Spirit, and enjoying where I was.”
Suddenly, over
her left shoulder, she heard a man’s voice call, “Barbara.”
She turned to look, but didn’t see anyone she recognized. The only male on that little street was a man she described as “in full black attire, big beard,
curls on the side” — an Orthodox rabbi.
She thought to
herself that he could not have been the one to say her >> name because they do not even speak to women
in public. In fact, she avoided eye contact as she
knew this sometimes offended them. She turned back, thinking maybe
she had been mistaken.
A few seconds
later, she again heard the voice say, “Barbara — isn’t >> that your name?” She looked again, and discovered the rabbi was looking right at her. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Come here.” She moved
toward him. He told Barbara his first
name and said, “I live here
in (the name of his neighborhood). I
wanted to tell you that I am
a believer that Yeshua is the Messiah.
As a matter of fact, there are 40 of us rabbis in the
community to whom, as we have been studying the Torah, the Ruach ha ‘kodesh (the Holy Spirit)
has shown that Yeshua
is the Messiah.”
Barbara’s heart
was so moved by this unusual work of the Holy Spirit that she broke into tears. The rabbi added, “At present we are secret believers, not because we are
afraid, but because the Lord, the Holy Spirit, has not told us to speak out our testimony yet. The Lord has told us to pray for our brethren, so we are
meeting at midnight, and we
are praying.” Barbara asked the obvious
question, “But how did you know
me? Why are you telling me this?”
The rabbi chuckled, and replied, “I don’t know you. But last night we were praying, and one of the other rabbis came over to me. He put his hand on my shoulder, and said to me, ‘Tomorrow afternoon at 2 o’clock, you go to (name of street she was on), and you will see there an American woman with black hair. Her name is Barbara. Give her this message.”
The rabbi then
gave Barbara the message. He said, “The
Lord wants you to know
that what was spoken over you 26 years ago, He is about to bring to pass. ”
Barbara was
stunned, and overwhelmed with emotion.
Only her husband knew
that exactly 26 years ago, in 1969, as a new believer of only three months, she had gone to
a Full Gospel Businessmen’s meeting in New York City where Kathryn Kuhlman, the evangelist with a powerful healing ministry, was one of
the main speakers. Barbara had only a momentary personal encounter
with her, but Kuhlman pointed her long finger directly at Barbara, as she often did with people, and spoke these prophetic words:
“The Lord is
going to take you to the nations and is going to do miracles at your hands, but you are going
to have to wait a few
years to see it come to pass.” Barbara had
never forgotten this.
He added, “The other thing that the Holy Spirit told this brother is that when you get home from this trip, you will have a letter from Africa waiting for you, inviting you to minister there, and you should go. It is the Lord who is opening this door, and it will be a turning point in your life.” Before they departed, the rabbi asked, “What do you do?”
Barbara
explained that she was a Bible teacher.
He replied, “Oh, would
you be interested in just some simple notes that I have >> accumulated since I have come to see
Yeshua?”
She said yes,
of course, and he later had delivered to Barbara’s hotel a collection of handwritten
notes of Hebrew and cultural insights into the New Testament, unique insights not evident in
the English or Greek words
themselves. Barbara considers these
notes a treasure.
Upon leaving,
the rabbi told her, “When our testimony becomes public, >> I am sure we will see each other again.”
When Barbara
got back home to the U. S., a letter from Africa was waiting for her!
It was an invitation to speak, which she obviously accepted. She reports
that miracles did, indeed, take place there, and that it was definitely a turning
point in her life. Barbara says there
are people who know nothing
about her Jerusalem experience who have come up to her and said, “Something really changed in
Africa. We enjoyed your teaching before, but
this is just a totally different plane.”
Barbara has
been to Israel since, but has not seen the rabbi, nor has she revealed his name,
honouring his request. I was most touched by
Barbara’s closing thoughts: “My prayer is that (this testimony) will cause people to realize the
lateness of the hour. When God moves sovereignly like that among
the Jewish people (revealing
the Messiah and manifesting gifts of the Holy Spirit described in the New Testament) - and among the
most religious of them -
the coming of Jesus is getting close! I
pray that everybody who
hears this will
be taken up with the urgency of the hour. ”
UPDATE
on the rabbi. A communication from the
rabbi to Barbara in late
1997 revealed the stunning news that several hundred Hasidic Jews in Jerusalem now believe that
Yeshua is the Messiah! Praise His
name!
©
Renewal Journal #14: Anointing
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