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Elijah Challenge Events with Vietnamese Churches around the World
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The pastors and believers of the Vietnamese Christian & Missionary Alliance Churches here are very excited at what the Lord has done. My host Pastor Phan Vinh told me that they have received a “second wind.” In trying to describe it, he even mentioned the word “revival” for the Vietnamese Churches. The Lord is restoring His power to His Church—His whole Church—for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. And He is also beginning to restore unity in His body, in particular between evangelical and charismatic churches.
Friday, October 21, 2005
We have completed the first two training sessions for six Vietnamese Christian Missionary Alliance Churches that have come together here. The second session had about twice as many people as the first session, and we are expecting more tonight. My host Pastor Vinh is very pleased with the success the Lord has given to us so far….he told me that the people are excited and happy at what they have heard and seen. Previously some did not believe that miracles are for today, only for Bible times. But now that they have seen some miracles of healing take place in the first two sessions, they are beginning to change their minds. One notable miracle involved an elderly white-haired woman who even while clutching a cane needed people on each side to hold her up while climbing stairs. She was very weak and frail, suffering from pain in much of her body as well as from a growth in her throat. After believers ministered to her, she threw down her cane and walked briskly several times back and forth at the front. She headed for the stairs that led up to the stage and walked up the stairs unaided. On the stage she lifted her hands in thanksgiving to the Lord. At the Saturday Crusade she would testify that she could no longer feel the growth in her throat. Four believers have been coming each evening from Sacramento, about an hour and a half of travel each way.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Our first Evangelistic Healing Crusade meeting for the Vietnamese Christian & Missionary Churches is over, and the saints are rejoicing. As I mentioned before, the Vietnamese CMA churches are quite conservative doctrinally. Their hosting a meeting involving supernatural healing is in itself already a notable miracle.
I preached the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Then I asked the Lord to prove that it was the undeniable truth by miraculously healing the infirm who were present. The trained believers came to the front and exercised their authority over diseases and demons. A handful of people soon rose from their seats and came to the front to testify of what the Lord had done for them. Each testimony was proof that Jesus was the Son of God and that by believing we could have life in His name. The pastors, leaders, and believers rejoiced at what they saw and heard…never before had such things been witnessed in a Vietnamese Christian & Missionary Alliance Church. The Lord had given His people success.
Unfortunately very few unbelievers had come to the meeting. A solitary twelve-year-old boy made a decision to trust Christ at the meeting after hearing the gospel and witnessing the miracles. However, an exuberant Pastor Vinh is looking ahead to next April in which he plans to work together with all denominations, both evangelical and charismatic, for a large Evangelistic Healing Crusade to be held in a large public hall. It turns out that this weekend is planting seed for very fruitful Campaigns in the future. I am delighted with this because this is in line with the burden the Lord has given me: the restoration of both unity and miraculous healing power to the Church for the proclamation of the gospel and the fulfillment of the Great Commission!
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Praise the Lord…our final Crusade meeting with the Vietnamese churches here is over and it was a wonderful success. The Lord was very gracious.
After the gospel was preached, the trained believers exercised their authority over disease and demons to prove that Jesus Christ indeed had authority to forgive sin and save from hell. Through them the Lord performed some wonderful miracles. One after another people came forward to testify of what the Lord had done for them.
Some were healed from years and years of pain and injury. One man who came to the meeting completely mute was able to say “amen” and “hallelujah.” A woman with severe hearing loss because of a bad accident some twenty years ago was able to hear again. People in the church usually had to use sign language to communicate with her, so they were so excited when she could hear them!
Some precious souls accepted Christ…a Hindu lady and her granddaughter (from India) received Jesus after the grandmother was delivered from pain in her knees. A Vietnamese lady came forward publicly to acknowledge Jesus Christ as her Lord. Jesus Christ was greatly glorified this evening before the lost and his followers from the conservative evangelical tradition.