This trip was our shortest mission trip ever, yet arguably the most significant in terms of its impact upon the proclamation of the gospel in this major country.

The Suffering Underground Church

Our Campaign was hosted by the Chairman of the (National) Evangelical Fellowship, the only interdenominational organization for evangelicals we know of in this communist country and comprising 23 denominations including most of the underground churches (“house churches”). He is also the Senior Pastor of an underground church here with 14,000 members. In this country the evangelical churches are overwhelmingly unregistered, by the will of the government, and therefore go underground and illegal. There is significant government persecution against the underground Church here, especially in certain outlying areas. In one province, it is reported that out of about 200 underground churches, only two are still meeting. Pastors have been arrested and imprisoned. This is a suffering Church.

House Church (Underground) Meeting

The Historic Crusade

On the third day there was a large Evangelistic Crusade where non-believers were invited to come to hear the gospel and receive healing prayer. This was the very first mass meeting since the fall of this country to communism decades ago in which a foreigner was invited to speak. It turned out to be even more historic than that. Never before in the history of this country under communism had such a meeting been known to take place…

My wife and I were taken to a hall completely crammed with thousands of people who had been waiting an hour before the start of the meeting. There was no place to sit down even for us. People with various debilitating infirmities had been physically carried to the meeting; the area to the side of the speaker’s platform was filled with people in wheelchairs. One pastor said that never before had so many gathered for a gospel meeting in this country during communist rule. Never before here had so many infirm people come to be healed by Jesus Christ. There was an air of expectancy.

The Message of the Gospel

But I was reminded that the purpose of all the miracles was to bring precious souls to faith in Jesus Christ. I took the microphone and told them that the overriding purpose of the great miracles at which they had marveled was to provide the visible proof that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. The miraculous healings were the evidence that He had authority to forgive their sins and to save them from punishment in the next life, which many Asians dread. When I gave the invitation for non-believers to accept Christ, it appeared that about one-fifth of the crowd stood up. (Quite a few of those who had come to the meeting were already believers.) I led them in a sinners’ prayer, and the angels in heaven rejoiced!

We have been told that the pastors have decided to continue holding such mass meetings once a month or every two months---even in the face of possible government persecution. They and we believe that on this trip the impartation of power and authority has been accomplished. The great miracles the Lord did during the meeting with us present we are confident He will do through the local pastors. This will result in great advance for the gospel of Jesus Christ here. We believe this is in part the Lord’s reward to this Church for patiently enduring much suffering over the years at the hands of the communist regime. This is the ultimate purpose of The Elijah Challenge---raising up an army of Elijah-like witnesses for preaching the gospel. "My God is the true God, and I will demonstrate it to you in power."

Word about this meeting spread to other parts of Vietnam, as well as to other countries where there are large Vietnamese communities. After hearing about these meetings, "Don N.," the US-based head of Far East for Jesus which supports workers in this country, remarked: "Last night I talk to a brother, and he was surprised that something like your crusade happened [there]. ...Your crusade is a turning point in the history of Christianity [there]..." The Holy Spirit has encouraged and strengthened His Vietnamese Church!

July 2006: Ripples from the Crusade reach Europe

Heard while ministering in Langenhagen, Germany in July 2006

“Over lunch before a sister sat down with us and shared about the impact of the July 2003 Crusade in Saigon. We had not know the extent of it. The Vietnamese believers here in Germany were exuberant when they received the VCD of the Crusade and witnessed the great thing the Lord had done in their home country. It was a turning point of the gospel in Vietnam. They made copies of the VCD and boldly distributed them to Buddhists and idol-worshippers ("My God is definitely bigger than your god.") Some decided to follow Jesus after viewing it, as did a woman living in Warsaw, Poland who came to attend our meetings here.

Sometime in 2003 this sister received a copy of a videotape from the historic July 2003 Crusade in Saigon. She saw the miracles that took place and heard me preach the gospel. After viewing the videotape, she decided to follow Jesus Christ. When recently she heard that we were teaching in Germany, she came! Praise the Lord for His wonderful grace.

Meanwhile, things were happening at home as a result of the Crusade in Vietnam. Following that meeting there was a momentary surge in persecution; the authorities were upset at what had happened on their home turf under their very noses. A foreigner had come and preached at a big illegal underground meeting, and all kinds of unauthorized miraculous things were reported. But eventually when the believers in Hanoi---the very Communist north and the seat of power in Vietnam---heard of what the believers had done in Saigon way down south, they were emboldened to do the same thing themselves in defiance of the government authorities. Brazenly they held an open-air meeting in a park. The authorities were very displeased, but the believers would not be denied. Eventually the government capitulated and granted them the freedom to hold such meetings. There may be a saying that goes, "as Hanoi goes, so goes the rest of Vietnam." Now that it's legal in Hanoi, it's also legal down south as well in Saigon. Apparently the believers in Saigon are now enjoying a measure of freedom to gather and worship they had not known before. And it all started in July 2003 with that Crusade in Saigon! We are so thankful that we were a part of that historic event. It had more impact than perhaps we will ever know this side of eternity.”

 

The Crusade
The Miracles
The Capital City
The Immediate Aftermath
The Healing Encounter Training for Pastors
The Complete Syllabus of the Healing Encounter
Reconciliation between evangelicals and charismatics