The Elijah
Challenge Basic Training & Evangelistic Rally
A Communist Country in Asia | March 2010
A crippled man gets up and walks
Basic Training & Outreach in Country A
A very scenic bay near the coast
The Basic TrainingReported by a nameless disciple
We met on the third floor of the new home of a believer who had a transportation business. Many of the disciples who attended the Training, just as I found in the capital city earlier on this trip, were very zealous for the Lord. I found their faith and love for God refreshing. This is what happens when believers pay a price and must sacrifice for following Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, like Old Testament Israel many believers who are blessed by God with "freedom and prosperity" will inevitably take it for granted and become complacent. It is true that history repeats itself because sinful human nature does not change. The words of warning and rebuke of Christ to the Church in Laodicea in Revelation 3 must be heeded.
Mark 2 dramatically repeated in real lifeOn the third day of the Training, an evangelistic healing outreach was held in a more spacious home venue during the evening. Since we had been given the wrong address, we got lost. By the time we arrived at the house church, we were late and the place was overflowing with people everywhere. It reminded me of the crowd in Mark 2:
Mark 2:1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone”
8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’ 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins....” He said to the paralytic, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”That evening I shared from this very same passage. It happened that there were three people sitting in the front row who needed healing like the paralytic. The first was a crippled man who could not walk. The second was a paraplegic believer with a spinal cord injury. The third was a woman who had suffered from a stroke and a heart condition.
After the preaching from the account of Mark 2, I told the people that we would ask the Lord to heal the sick that very evening to demonstrate to everyone that He "has authority on earth to forgive sins." Many people had come to be healed. After prayer, I asked the trained disciples to come to the front. Then together we ministered to the infirm from a distance just as Jesus healed the centurion's servant in Luke 7. We commanded the infirm to be healed in Jesus' name. We told the crippled people in the front row to get up. I told whoever had been healed to raise their hands. Immediately the crippled man sitting in the front stood up on his feet with his hands raised high to heaven. He lurched forward and began to walk in the sight of the crowd. I myself was surprised.
Click here for the YouTube video of this gentleman walking.
A dramatic demonstration of the gospelIt was a vivid demonstration to the crowd that Jesus had authority to forgive our sins and save us from condemnation in hell.
Other infirm people who had been healed began to come forward. Click here to watch the YouTube video. One by one they gave testimonies in their native language of having been restored by the Lord. The name of Jesus Christ was glorified.
YouTube videos of eight of these foreign language testimonies:
Testimony 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
After the testimonies which demonstrated beyond doubt that Jesus Christ has authority to forgive sin, I challenged the people to repent and to believe on Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. Most of the people present were already believers, but some raised their hands to accept Christ, including the crippled man who had just gotten up and walked. Indeed his sins were forgiven---just as the sins of the paralytic in Mark 2 had been forgiven.
Afterwards several more people were healed as the trained disciples ministered to them one-on-one. According to the testimony of her grateful husband, the woman with the stroke was dramatically stronger than before. (The paraplegic believer was not healed.)
Healing-at-a-distance the morning afterThe next morning at the final Training session, the assembled believers shared more testimonies of people who had been healed or touched by the Lord the previous evening as they ministered in Jesus' name. One woman with advanced cancer at the meeting said that the pain in her body had disappeared. The owner of the house shared that someone had been healed of a heart condition.
Later in the morning, one of the sisters present received unsettling news that her father had suddenly fallen unconscious. He had high blood pressure, and was visiting at the home of a friend where he had some wine. Apparently the alcohol in combination with his high blood pressure caused him to black out. While unconscious, he became incontinent and emptied his bladder. Alarmed, his friend called his daughter who had been attending the Training with us. She promptly shared with us what had happened and wanted to go immediately to see her father.
But since we were going to study healing-at-a-distance later that morning, I told her to stay back and wait. After looking at the Scriptures from Luke 7 where Jesus healed someone at a distance, we would minister healing to her father at a distance from where we were meeting. Later we stood up and together we "spoke the word" to her father, commanding him to be healed and to get up.
Afterwards during the mid-morning break the sister left to check on her father. When she returned she told the disciples that about the time we ministered to her father at a distance, he returned to consciousness and felt fine. Since he had soiled his pants, he immediately took a bath. I was told that it is not wise take a bath after having lost consciousness from the combination of alcohol and high blood pressure. But he felt no adverse effects after taking the bath. Afterwards, he hopped on his bicycle and rode away with no ill effects at all. He felt well!
It is doneThrough the Basic Training the Lord has equipped His people to proclaim the kingdom of God with great power. We expect to hear testimonies from these sold-out disciples in the near future as they take the gospel to the lost everywhere in this communist country. They are not thinking about what God can do for them in this life, but rather what they can now do for God. They are looking for rewards far beyond physical blessings in this life. It is admirable.
Testimony received in August 2010"My name is Vuong I'm from Haiphong, maybe you don't remember me. I was in the class when you came to teach [in March 2010].
I thank God for sending you to Haiphong, Vietnam to teach us The Elijah Challenge. After the Training I practice what I have learned from you. I have been going to different churches in different provinces to train and minister to people there. God has been moving and has healed many people. Many were healed, such as from stomach, backache, eyesight problems. By the grace of God I ministered healing from a distance to some people who had liver and stomach cancer. After I ministered to them, their pain was gone and many of their family members came to God.
I just want to give you some report from what you invested in our country; it is bearing good fruit."
Luke 10:9 "Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.’"
