Australian Reports (2000)
Aboriginal Revival in
Queensland
Rev Ron French, editor of Living Waters, the Journal of the Queensland Synod Committee for Renewal Ministries, reports on revival in North Queensland, continuing the account we reported in the previous issue of the Renewal Journal # 14: Anointing (1999:2).
A very dramatic move of God started amongst Aborigines in the Gulf of
Carpentaria (North Queensland, Australia) on 27 July 1999. The communities affected have been very hard
places spiritually, with serious problems from alcoholism, petrol sniffing and
violence. At Mornington Island where
the revival started, local Uniting Church Pastor, Iranale Tadulaia, reported
that the oldest person he had buried in the past year, had been 26 years
old.
Iranale, a Fijian, has been there for five years, and has been crying
out to God over the situation, with extended fasting. During one of these times two years ago, an eagle came and
landed on his arm and he asked God what he was trying to say to him. He felt the Lord speak to him from Isaiah
40:31, saying, “You need to fly like an eagle with strong wings to get higher and
very close to Me.”
After 14 days of his 21 day fast, he had a vision and saw himself
preaching to the whole of the Gulf Country, resulting in a great awakening, so
he made a banner depicting this and told his church about it, asking them to
pray about it Some of the older ladies
have been very faithful in their prayer for this vision to become a reality.
At the beginning of January 1999 Iranale felt the Lord told him to get
ready for revival in July. Then the
attacks began, with some racial tension against him and his family, with rocks
smashing through the windows of his house until his family left for a period in a safer country. But Iranale told
the Lord, “I will stay until you tell me to leave!”
In May he felt the Lord telling him to get ready and set the date for
27 July and invite a team for a mission.
(One of those he invited had been woken up during the night to pray for
Mornington Island; but he didn’t know where it was.) They began a fast for 40 days and nights from 1 June to 10 July,
with chain prayer from 8 pm every night.
During the fast, Iranale, felt the Lord speak to him from the message to
the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 about some of the Gulf communities,
including a bondage over the 1200 residents of Mornington Island, dating from
when the first missionary there was axed to death in 1917.
So he went to the site and fasted and prayed for seven days, resulting
in a breakthrough on 14 July - the day of the National Prayer gathering at
Uluru. Meanwhile, the faithful ladies
kept up their prayers as well, encouraged by a breakthrough at Palm Island (off
the east coast of North Queensland).
Many people there gave their lives to Jesus, with deliverance and
healing.
Five other pastors from various denominations and nationalities joined
Iranale in conducting the mission for six days - Jesse Padayachee (Brisbane),
David Coppard (Townsville), Apenisa Rabai (Palm Island), Saimoni Davui (Weipa), and Richard Roughsey (Mornington
Island). Music was led by Judel Jeans
(Townsville), Leon Roughsey, Robert Escott and Stanley Tuilovoni. Most of these men had been used by God in
the Palm Island revival.
South African pastor, Jesse
Padayachee, now living in Brisbane, spoke at the meetings. Jesse comes from an Indian Hindu family that
turned to Jesus Christ when he was 11 years old. God has taken him through the refining fire, so he knows what it
is to fast and pray sincerely to receive a breakthrough. He lives and experiences what he
preaches.
On the first night at Mornington Island over 100 people responded, and
by the end of the mission, around 500 people had been touched by God. People were healed - the deaf, cripples,
back pain, diabetes and heart diseases.
Many committed their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ and were freed from generational curses. A report from Iranale and Richard Roughsey says, “Spirits of suicide, and of
alcoholism were driven out and the old curses of sorcery and witchcraft were
broken.”
Their report tells of a young boy, born disabled - dumb, deaf and
couldn’t walk - who was healed - running around. His first word was “Mum”.
A woman who had a stroke and had been left so that she could not speak
and could hardly walk is walking around testifying about what God has done for
her. A woman came to the meeting with a
walking frame, but left the frame and walked home without it when the Lord
healed her.
Around midnight one night, a man called his family together and spoke
of what God had been doing in bringing the whole family to the Lord,
saying, “Everyone is welcome in this
home, but from now on there is never to be any alcohol in this house”.
A white policeman came to a meeting, drawn to what Aborigines were
experiencing but felt too ashamed to go forward. Next day, Iranale found him sitting in a corner, spoke to him
about his shame, took him home and led him to the Lord. The pub shut an hour early, with no customers. Next day there was no one at the women’s
shelter - they didn’t need that sort of help any more!
An old woman went to Iranale, desperate for a Bible. He found an old one and gave it to her, and
she gathered her whole family to read it to them all day. Iranale then sent out a plea for 500 Good
News Bibles, so he could disciple the people in God’s Word, and the Bible
Society was able to send boxes of them which arrived on 11 August, bringing
great happiness to the new Christians.
Iranale began follow-up, discipleship, baptisms, weddings. Counselors and trainers had special teaching
from Rev Rabai from Palm Island, starting the day after the mission. Future enthusiastic church leaders who
intend to take part in teaching are also enrolled as trainers. They had to move out of the church because
it was now too small. A Christian Youth
Fellowship was born on 16 August, with over 40 youth attending. The mayor and deputy mayor, who had
committed their lives to the Lord during the mission, spoke to the young
people, saying they want them to change and follow Jesus in a new way of
living. “Our community has gone through
many hard times. If God can change our
lives, He can change the life of this community.”
Iranale began to receive phone calls from other communities, asking
them to come and hold meetings there.
The group of pastors planned missions for Aurukun and Weipa from 19-24
August.
Once again, Jesse’s messages were simple and powerful, with solid
teaching from the Bible. People
responded, and Jesse would go down a line of 70 - 80 people, asking each one
what they wanted him to pray for. At
Aurukun, a twelve year old girl told him she was an alcoholic, and wanted to be
released from that and petrol sniffing.
Around 200 responded at Aurukun in three nights, and over 100 at Weipa,
seeking healing, deliverance, and the power and presence of God in their
lives. Some of them didn’t even wait
until the preaching finished before they came forward for prayer.
One lady at Aurukun was badly crippled with pain in her knees. She came forward, asking for healing from
the arthritis on the first night, returning for more prayer on the second
night. Then God began to challenge her
about her gambling addiction, so the third night she went out to surrender this
to the Lord. She was healed, testifying
to what had happened. Another woman
chided her for stopping gambling when her tax check was due next week. But she was very happy in her new life. One man said, “This is not gammon (pretend)
Christianity! This is real!”
At Weipa, the meetings were extended an extra night when Jesse’s flight
was cancelled due to a breakdown. He
asked the Lord what he wanted; feeling the Lord wanted a meeting with
believers. So he began by stating this,
then checking whether there were any non-Christians there. One young white woman put up her hand and
was gently led away to make the commitment she wanted to make. Then he began teaching the believers from
the Bible on the place of prayer in their lives. When he finished, no one could really believe that he had been
speaking for two hours - it had been so profound and challenging, and just
seemed like minutes.
Alan Randell, support worker for the area’s Calvary Presbytery of the Uniting Church went to all the meetings. He is amazed, saying, “We aren’t seeing anything like this anywhere else in the Uniting Church. I will never be the same - nor will anyone who was there!’ He is incredibly impressed by Pastor Jesse: how deeply he relates to Aborigines - and to God.
But he also reports on incredible attacks on the pastors’ families, as
Satan tries desperately to stop the work.
One had left the country for six months, another decided to leave after
an attempted rape of her 12 year old daughter and snifters trashing their home
while they were all at the meetings.
All the pastors’ wives in the Presbytery except one have had major
medical problems or surgery in the last
year. The Presbytery is facing major
financial struggles. The need to meet
the challenges of the revival brings in huge new financial pressures.
Further meetings were held in Mornington Island in October and Aurukun
and Weipa in November before the start of the wet season, and planned for other
Gulf communities after the wet.
Please pray for the local church leaders and their families, and the
evangelistic team. Pray for these
exploding churches - leadership, wisdom, maturity, finance, teaching and
especially discernment, true and firm - with every attack Satan tries to make.
Pray that attempts to use family loyalties to misguide or block the
work of the Holy Spirit will be ineffective and that these new Christians will
be protected from every attack.
War
When revival breaks out, as our story has already reported, Satan
endeavours to push through a backlash.
Since the beginning of the year 2000, Mornington Island has been rocked
with three youth suicides and one shooting.
Rev lrinale Tadulaia said the community has been shocked by these
tragedies but still, he says, the church is full.
Another planned rally was scheduled for late March and the people were
expectant. It was a community gathering
following a day of fasting and prayer and confession to the Lord.
“But it is spiritual warfare, up here,” says Irinale.
“We are being challenged very strongly. Families are still copping it.
I ask you to pray, pray, pray for us that we will be protected from
further attacks of the evil one and that the message and hope of the gospel
will get through to this community.”
Support worker with Calvary Presbytery, Alan Randall, reiterated that
prayer is vitally necessary. “You have
no idea the way Satan is trying to destroy this work of God. We must pray.” He said moves are being taken to set up prayer networks for each
of Calvary Presbytery’s ministers.
“They are on the front line and they and their families are being
targeted heavily.” It is a battle field
and unless prayer support is provided all that has been gained will be
lost.
Alan shared that Iri has found that the normal type discipling courses
are not sufficient for those who find Christ.
“Deliverance is necessary in this very spirit minded part of the world. The people are aware of the demon grog.
“Praise the Lord! They are also
becoming aware, even while drunk, that Jesus is their hope and salvation. But they need to be delivered from the
drink. “Thus Iri and others have been
involved in one on one sessions of deliverance with those who have given their lives to Christ.
“But that also has not been enough.
There has also been a need to reach out to the extended families with
deliverance, as well as the binding of the spiritual forces around their homes.
“As a result some homes now have signs advising people they are welcome
but asking that their bottles of grog be left outside as they are not
welcome.
“Mornington Islanders are very well aware of the spirit forces which
surround their island. There have been
many mishaps, disappearances and tragedies in the area, which have not been
understood.
“The problem with deliverance is that there can be major back lashes if
safety precautions are not put in place.
And this in part is what has been happening. We hope to remedy this,” Alan said the Presbytery meeting in June
will receive a report on what has been going on and a request that intercessors
be set up for all ministers and their families.
On a sideline to the move of God in Mornington Island, Iri now meets
with between 40 and 50 men each Sunday night.
These are the violent drunk men of the community who now realise their
need for change and they want to change.
They call themselves the Gubodango, meaning “good man”, and they meet
for fellowship and spiritual guidance.
Following the recent suicides the men now operate a service whereby two
of them go out on patrol, picking up the drunks and bringing them back for
shelter, sleep and breakfast.
They are now setting up a retreat centre on the north side of the
island.
Alan said never before has he seen, in any aboriginal community, a
sudden spontaneous rising up of eighty to ninety of your worst alcoholics
coming and gathering for fellowship on Sunday nights and sometimes mid week as
well.
Tony Peter (team leader) and Mark Badham (Outreach Magazine editor)
report on revival in School of Ministries outreaches in 2000.
Over 250 people were saved in the Central Queensland coastal town of
Yeppoon (population 12,000) over two weeks during Easter in mid April this
year. A team of 50 Bible college
students from Brisbane Christian Outreach Centre's School of Ministries
travelled to Yeppoon for a series of evangelistic meetings, voluntarily praying
and fasting up to a month before for revival.
Whole classes were impacted at Yeppoon State High School. Day after day, the team was invited to
return to the Yeppoon State High School to introduce Christianity and the Holy
Spirit to classes. Beginning at 8 am
and leaving at 3.30 pm each day, the team was given the opportunity to talk
about Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to classrooms full of students. They talked about the history of
Christianity in History classes, explained where Israel was located during
Geography classes and asked to explain “tongues” and the Holy Spirit to the
students in the English classes.
Newly saved youth were seen praying for each other in the school and
during the revival services. Many
received instant healings. Older
Christians asked them how they learned to pray for healing and they answered,
“It’s in the book [The Bible] you gave us.
That’s why we’re doing it!”
Street kids who were also saved during the outreach were asking church
members for the gift of interpretation to their new language of tongues. There was a real hunger to know more about
the Holy Spirit.
Principal of Yeppoon State High School, Rob Stone, saw a definite
change in the students. He said he was
in favour of the good work of Yeppoon Christian Outreach Centre in transforming
some of his students. He announced that
school chaplain Bernadette Mulholland was having a remarkable impact on the
students.
School Teachers See Changes in Students!
A number of students from the local catholic boarding school, St Ursula's
College, were also transformed as they were touched by God at the
meetings. Students who previously had
been difficult to control now carry their Bibles everywhere, preaching and
sharing their testimony with friends, inviting their friends to Yeppoon Christian
Outreach Centre youth meetings.
Staff from St Ursula’s College supported the school students’
transformations. They said it was in
line with the school’s mission statement – “to continue the mission of Jesus,
living and proclaiming Gospel values to all people, especially in our school
community.”
“We encourage all students to attend other churches, such as COC,” they
said. “We encourage what’s happening.
We encourage students to seek the truth.”
Yeppoon State High School chaplain and member of Yeppoon COC,
Bernadette Mulholland, has developed a close relationship with school teachers
and students. Since the revival meetings, she now has a core group of young
people who meet regularly. She has made
her home available every day to students to drop in for Bible study.
She recalled that at about 10.30 one night, following a Bible study
session at her home a few weeks after the revival meetings, three young people
asked to be baptised in water. She took
them to the beach and baptised them under a moonlit sky. One of the students had seen his friend
baptised during the Sunday service the day before. “The young people are very hungry,” she revealed. “I overheard a girl who has only just given
her life to Jesus tell her alcoholic mother,
‘I’m going to COC because I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!’
“A 15-year-old kid with rings in his ears, a spear in his eyebrow, a
pony tail and tattoos got saved recently and told his dad, ‘Dad, you taught me how to pray when I was
younger - how come you don’t still pray?’
His dad replied, ‘I’m sitting on the fence!’ I told the young man to tell his dad he'll get splinters sitting
on the fence.” The same boy has totally
given up alcohol and drugs, his mother exclaimed. She said he now reads the Bible every day. Bernadette said God spoke to her recently
and declared, “I want my young people!”
“These are God’s young people,” she announced. “We’re not looking for scalps here, we’re
looking for disciples.”
Revival stirred up the school
Amy, a Yeppoon State High School grade 11 student, had been a
‘back-slidden’ Christian, but rededicated her life to God at the recent revival
meetings. She said that the recent
visit by the Bible college students “stirred up the whole school - everyone has
been talking about it.”
Another grade 11 student who gave her life to God revealed that her
parents had been planning a divorce.
This had brought fear into her life.
When she got saved, she began praying for her parents and they have
since decided not to divorce.
Parents of a 14-year-old student told Outreach Magazine that
their daughter had become a lot more obedient since giving her life to God at
the recent meetings. They explained
that communication had improved between them and their daughter. “We're going
to back her up all the way because this is all good,” they declared.
Parents of another student aged 15 reported that their son had given up
his addiction to alcohol and drugs. “He
now reads his Bible at home - even during the State of Origin [rugby league
game]!” they announced. The boy’s
father declared, “Son, I'm proud of you!
You go for it with all you've got!”
Powerful youth rallies
On the first Friday night, up to 120 young people attended a youth
service. About 40 gave their lives to
Christ that night. Another 21 were
saved during a ‘miracle rally’ the following night. The team reported a number of healings, including a woman
delivered of demonic possession.
School of Ministries Principal, Pastor Peter Earle, revealed that many
of the students who gave their hearts to the Lord had been in trouble with the
law and “had studs coming out of every eyebrow and ear.” A local policeman who worked in the area of
juvenile crime attended one of the revival meetings and was surprised to
recognize some of the teenagers. “In a
place like Yeppoon, people took notice of the dramatic changes in the lives of
these young people,” said Pastor Earle.
“Locals saw that we seemed to have the answer to their social problems. That’s why the school kept inviting us
back.”
Yeppoon Mayor Supports Chaplaincy
Yeppoon Mayor Bill Ludwig told Outreach Magazine he had heard
about the revival meetings and agreed that a lot of young people had changed
for the better. He said he is
“wholeheartedly supportive” of what God is doing through the chaplaincy
programs in the local schools. He
agreed that spiritual things are more important than material things in the
local community.
After what appeared to be a normal Sunday night service in which
another 10 people were saved, “God just broke loose!” New Christians were getting baptised in the Holy Spirit, speaking
in tongues and praying for others.
During meetings people came off the streets and out of shops across the
road into the church and were getting saved within minutes.
Witches and Satanists turned up at the front of the church and in the
car park praying against what God was doing in the service. It was full-on confrontation! The witches and satanists retreated as
Christians prayed in the Holy Spirit.
Young people in the meetings who had never looked at a Bible were
asking for Bibles. Christians were
passing their Bibles down to the front for the young people to read. They were so hungry for the Word. Every one of them tithed that night. There
was genuine repentance among the young people as they got right with God. These
were youth wearing rings in their ears, noses, and eyebrows ... you name it.
Gold Fillings, Gold Teeth and Gold Dust!
Yeppoon COC church members woke up on Monday and Tuesday morning
laughing in the Spirit and discovered that they had gold fillings in their
teeth. While the team initially planned
to stay for one week, they decided to stay longer as they saw God moving
powerfully in the town. They joined
with the Yeppoon Christian Outreach Centre to continue the revival services
every night for over two weeks and saw at least ten people saved each night. At some of the meetings gold dust began to appear
on people and on one day a lady member of the church had whole teeth layered in
gold.
38 students travel to Dalby
A School of Ministries outreach team of 38 Bible college students also
travelled to the Queensland town of Dalby, an hour outside Toowoomba in the
Great Dividing Range, in mid-May for a five day revival outreach. A total of 24 people accepted Jesus as their
Saviour during the team’s visit. The
team described how five of the college students were praying one night when all
of them “felt the presence of God so thick that they couldn’t move” and were
“transported in prayer for over six hours” as they communed with God. They compared the experience to that of the
apostle Paul in which he too was not sure whether he was “in the body or out of
the body.”
A car load of seven students were driving to the nearby town of
Chinchilla - about 50 minutes away by car - to host the Sunday morning service
at the local Christian Outreach Centre church when gold dust began to cover the
inside of the windscreen. Gold dust covered the dash board, windows and
seats. Gold flakes appeared on the
pages of an open Bible in a student's hands.
165 Saved in Gunnedah
Another 165 people accepted Christ as their Saviour when the School of
Ministries team visited the New South Wales outback town of Gunnedah in early
June. Revival broke out again. For almost eight hours, the team’s Bible
college students captured the attention of the Gunnedah Public High School’s
students during a day when the school’s teachers chose to strike. “The team had been invited by the school,
backed up by the ministers fraternal, to run a religious education seminar that
day. Except for two teachers who helped
as facilitators, the team was alone with the students in the school hall for
the whole day," said Gunnedah Christian Outreach Centre's Pastor Roger
Armstrong. This was a miracle of God.
Team members reported that almost all Year 7 students gave their lives
to Christ. Over half the Year 8 students, over a third of Year 9 students and
about ten percent of Year 10 students accepted Jesus as their Saviour that
day. We prayed for and counselled each
student and we gave each of them a Bible.
A lot of them were in tears.
Each student filled out a salvation form for follow up.
While 22 young people were saved during the Friday night youth rally,
the highlight was the salvations at the end of the meeting during the ministry
times. We challenged young people
standing around in groups after the altar call to come to the front to be prayed
for and to experience the Holy Spirit.
When they saw their friends slain in the Spirit, many of the unsaved
young people accepted the challenge and walked to the front in groups to be
prayed for. One by one they accepted
Christ as their Saviour and began speaking in tongues. That day, 145 young people were saved,
including the public school students who attended the outreach team’s religious
education program.
Pastor Armstrong declared that the freedom to preach the Gospel and to
pray with students individually at the school set a benchmark. “The students experienced the power of God
touching their lives in a very real way.
It was quite significant and was very much appreciated by the
churches.” He reported that new
Christians classes were now being held in the school during lunch breaks. “All students, except for one, are
first-time Christians,” he exclaimed.
© Renewal Journal #15: Wineskins (2000:1) www.renewaljournal.com
Reproduction is permitted so long as the copyright acknowledgement remains intact with the text.
Back to main page