Reports: The Elijah Challenge in Brazil
May 2006
On this trip I sense we have experienced yet another breakthough—the Lord has anointed the equipping and teaching in a noticeably greater way. He has made us more effective in imparting mountain-moving faith for healing the sick and casting out demons to His people. This was quite evident in the speed and efficiency with which they dispatched infirmities and demons in the last two evangelistic healing services in our second venue of Sorocaba.
Brazil is the fifth most populous nation on earth and the biggest in South America. The Kingdom of Heaven is advancing there, and the Brazilian Church is sending out foreign missionaries to unreached nations.
The first leg of my trip took us to the Valley of Blessing, a large complex in the state of Sao Paulo under the apostolic ministry of Pastor Jonathan Ferreira who is a spiritual father to quite a few leaders in Brazil. The Valley of Blessing includes an orphanage and Bible School, just to name a couple of its ministries.
Our second venue was in Sorocaba, Sao Paulo with Pastor Daniel de Jesus Leite of Ministerio Renovacao em Cristo. Pastor Daniel is a leader in the realm of the Church, in the business arena as well as in government. The Lord has given him great favor. He was recently appointed to the position of Secretary of Economic Development for the city of Sorocaba, the area of Brazil which has witnessed the greatest advances in business development. He can have great impact on “marketplace evangelism.”
First Venue: the Valley of Blessing
May 19 I combined both teaching and healing ministry. The Lord performed mighty wonders, very unusual for us in an initial meeting. Usually we like to do extended teaching before we hold a healing service, but last night there was only a short opportunity for teaching. Nevertheless, the Lord moved with great power.
The Lord performed several miracles as the believers laid their hands on the infirm and exercised their authority in Christ. The most notable one involved a woman who said she had cancerous tumors in her breast. She was a large lady likely from a poor economic background. During the time of mass healing when many people laid hands upon themselves for healing, this sister laid her hands on the tumors.
When I asked those who were healed to testify, she came to the front along with others. Her eyes brimming with tears, she testified that the tumors had simply vanished. In front of everyone without a trace of embarrassment, she ran her hands vigorously several times up and down her chest and exclaimed that she could no longer find the tumors. The Lord had instantly removed the cancerous tumors from her body.
This was an unusual miracle, especially for an initial meeting. Among other miraculous healings, another woman testified that the Lord had restored her poor eyesight and she could see clearly my presentation on the screen at the front.
May 20 I taught and then had the believers lay hands on the infirm. Several people then came up to the stage to testify of what the Lord had done for them. Among them was a woman who had been diagnosed by her doctor with an incurable muscular disorder. Because of the tightening of the muscles in her upper body, she was literally shrinking in height. The doctor could do nothing for her. When a nameless and faceless believer laid hands on her, she was healed. She demonstrated at the front how she could bend and move about normally! A woman who could not see through one of her eyes because of a cataract could see with that eye. A man who had lost about half of his hearing could hear clearly again.
When I gave the altar call for salvation through faith in Jesus, precious souls raised their hands.
Sunday morning I continued the teaching. At the end again I had the believers apply what they had just learned. Quite a few were healed and came up to testify for the glory of Jesus Christ. One young woman said that she had leukemia, which is cancer of the blood. When a believer laid hands on her, she felt as if her blood was boiling. She believes that she has been healed, and is going to see her doctor to be examined. Quite a few people testified of actually feeling the healing fire of the Lord course through their body as hands were laid on them. One man told me he saw an explosion of very bright light and angels ministering to the infirm at the front as believers were laying hands on them. Like last night, there was much rejoicing among the saints as they saw the miracles and heard the testimonies.
A breakthrough is taking place in the Valley of Blessing. The spirit of Elijah is being restored to the servants of God here. Last night and this morning I made a prophetic declaration over the Valley of Blessing. It is to become a gateway through which God will demonstrate His power. I added that it is to become a portal for the restoration of the healing power of God to His Church in Brazil.
May 21 The meeting was accompanied by miraculous healings as the believers laid hands on the infirm with their newfound faith. Among several others touched by the Lord, a woman came to the meeting with her kidneys irretrievably destroyed by cancer. As a believer laid hands on her, she felt the Lord’s power moving in her body. She believes the Lord has healed her, and she is going to her doctor to have her kidneys checked. As we gave the invitation to accept Christ, a gentleman came forward and climbed up to the platform to indicate his decision. There was rejoicing in heaven and as well as on earth.
This morning’s teaching session was extended beyond the usual closing time of 10 AM by Pastor Jonathan for people who could stay for a second session. Although he had work to do in his office, he decided he needed to stay as well. The Lord anointed me to teach and gave me an unusual freedom to minister. The teaching appears to be having profound impact on the servants of God here. I am humbled by their response. Pastor Jonathan, a most godly and humble elder statesman of the faith, would like me to return next year to Sao Paulo to disciple the pastors. Another door may be opening in Rio de Janeiro as well.
May 22-23 During the session I taught them how to minister mass healing. One of the Valley of Blessing pastors, Brother Ferdinand, has a calling as a crusade evangelist. I called him forward and led him in ministering mass healing to the group. Afterwards four people, including Pastor Jonathan, came forward to testify that they had been healed of pain and infirmity.
At last night’s evangelistic healing crusade, the Lord did some miracles through his servants as they laid hands on the infirm, but not as many as usual or as we would have liked. Among the testimonies, one woman shared about her foot that had become deformed because of a broken bone in the foot that could not heal. She felt the Lord’s power heal her foot as sisters laid hands on it. She said the real test would be to walk in high heels. She said she would go home, put on her heels, and test the foot! A young woman’s poor vision was restored and she could read the time on the clock on the wall way in the back of the auditorium.
May 23 Our final meeting here was most unusual. I do not recall ever having ministered in such a difficult one. First I shared the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then, after prayer, I had the trained believers heal the sick to demonstrate that the gospel is true, that Jesus is the only way to the Father. But no miracles happened as the believers laid hands on the infirm again and again.
During this time there were two powerful testimonies from ladies who had been healed in earlier meetings. The Lord had set one of them free from 22 painful years of arthritis in her hands and feet, and she was excitedly jumping up and down on the stage to prove it. Of course these testimonies were wonderful, but we were trusting the Lord to do the miracles “live,” in front of the people last night.
Finally near the end three people came forward to testify after the Lord had healed them. A girl who was deaf in one ear could hear clearly, and a woman was climbing up and down the steps leading to the stage and walking all over the platform to demonstrate that she had been healed of some infirmity. (I did not receive the interpretation of her testimony.) A brother also testified.
After that I gave the altar call for salvation, and everyone accepted Jesus. However, all of them appeared to be believers already. I gave the floor back to Pastor Jonathan, and as he spoke two more ladies came forward to testify of their healings. It was quite a touching scene.
Second Venue: the City of Sorocaba with Pastor Daniel Leite
Meeting at Ministerio Renovacao em Cristo
May 24 After I trained the people and had them lay hands on the infirm, many—I would say 20 to 25—people were healed quickly by the Lord, some of quite longstanding infirmities. Perhaps the most spectacular involved an elderly gentleman who had suffered from a stroke on one side of his body. During the time of mass healing at the very end, he laid his hands on himself and exercised his authority in Christ over disease. There was immediate improvement in his condition and strength. Whereas he could not raise his arm before, he was now able to raise it up easily over his head. He was able to walk around much more normally. He was the very first to come forward to give glory to the Lord Jesus Christ through public testimony. The Lord is good. I told the people clearly that the Lord had done all these miracles to prove that He was in fact the Son of God and alone had authority to forgive our sin through His death on the cross.
May 25 When it came time for the believers to do what they had been taught, there was great mountain-moving faith present…we simply had no doubt that the mountains of infirmity would go when we commanded them in Jesus’ name. That is simply what Jesus taught.
The first man to come forward for healing had a badly herniated disk. His doctor had told him that he had two choices: either to undergo surgery or to prepare for life in a wheelchair. Even with surgery he could end up in a wheelchair, said the doctor. Three brothers laid hands on him and with great faith commanded the pain to go and the disk to be healed in Jesus’ name. When he tested his back, he found that the pain had disappeared and that he could bend forward freely. He had been completely unable to do this before the brothers ministered to him. He testified that the Lord had healed his back.
Elderly woman receives the laying on of hands. She had limped forward with pain from a prosthetic device in her hip
Afterwards she walks off normally with no pain
Others also testified of being healed in Christ’s name. One man had nerve pain (perhaps sciatica) from his hip down to his feet. Two brothers attacked the infirmity in Christ’s name twice. The pain left and he actually could feel the blood being pumped through and circulating in his leg as the brothers laid hands on him. He gave glory to God. Another man had lost partial vision in both eyes, and had already had corrective surgery in one eye. After two brothers laid hands on his eyes, he could see better through the eye that had not undergone surgery than the one that had.
I sensed unusually great mountain-moving faith present among the saints this evening, even within myself. The result was impressive miracles for an equipping session. The saints were greatly built up this evening through the teaching, and we all rejoiced at the goodness of God.
My host Pastor Daniel happens to be studying English once a week. He invited his English teacher, a Brazilian lady named Tania who is not a believer in Christ, to attend our first meeting last night. She was so impressed by what the Lord did last night that she returned again this evening. She had cancelled her English class and instead brought her non-Christian students to our equipping session meant for believers only. She came up to me after our session this evening and told me that she went to our website earlier today and downloaded the draft of our upcoming book End Time Evangelism. She is going to use it as material for her students to learn English. I think Professor Tania is not far from the Kingdom of God.
May 26 I continued the equipping of the saints. As I wrapped up the teaching, I invited some infirm people to come to the front to be healed in Christ’s name. About a half dozen people came to the front. Then I asked for people to come up to lay hands on them. Immediately, people came rushing forward to minister healing. I had never before anywhere seen such an enthusiastic response. Usually it takes a bit of time and cajoling before people will dare to step forward. Through the teaching the people had no doubt that they could heal the sick as Jesus commanded His disciples two thousand years ago (a command, by the way, that still stands). I believe two factors are responsible for this boldness. The Lord is graciously increasing His anointing on me to teach. Secondly, seventy percent of the people in Pastor Daniel’s church are new believers. New disciples of Christ can be much easier to teach than older believers; their faith is “fresh” and they can be hungry.
Trained believers rush forward boldly to heal the sick
As they ministered, the Lord’s power was evident and it was done according to their mountain-moving faith. All but one were healed and testified of what the Lord had done.
May 27 The Lord enabled me to share the gospel to the people with great clarity from Isaiah 53:4-5 perhaps in a way that they had never heard before. Then I asked the trained disciples of the Christ to come forward to prove that the gospel was indeed absolutely true, and that Jesus Christ alone had power to forgive sin and deliver from condemnation in hell. The proof would be the miraculous healings done in His name.
The disciples marched forward to the front with swords sharpened as if by a blacksmith who had fanned the coals into a roaring flame to forge weapons fit for their work of destroying the work of the enemy—infirmities and sorrow. Then the infirm came forward to be healed in Christ’s name. The miraculous healings done in the name of the Savior were many as people came up to the podium one after another to testify how the Lord had just set them free from various infirmities. One woman testified a growth on her arm had disappeared. One young man with a mental disorder testified he could now think clearly. Most of those who had come forward for healing testified that they had indeed been restored by the Lord.
When I asked who wanted to trust Christ for the forgiveness of sin and eternal life having seen the evidence for the gospel, all raised their hands. (Many of course were already believers.)
It was a great victory for the saints and for the Kingdom last night.
Psalm 149:6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to carry out vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with iron-bands, to carry out on them the judgment written; this is an honor for all His saints. Praise Jehovah!
May 28 This morning I completed the equipping. Part of it involved training in ministering mass healing. I had two of the people come forward to minister mass-healing-at-a-distance to those who had infirmities. The subsequent testimonies of healing immediately afterward were quite powerful. At the very end I prayed for the Lord’s impartation of a greater anointing upon them, for the double portion. I asked the Lord to give them what He had so graciously given me, and even more, as I laid my hands on each of them. There were manifestations of the Holy Spirit. And Pastor Daniel’s mother—who is a proven prophetess—spoke forth very encouraging words about what the Lord was going to do through me in Brazil and other parts of the world in the future.
In the evening we held an Evangelistic Healing Service. I preached from John 14—the same message that I preached last Tuesday evening in the Valley of Blessing when very little happened—and then had the trained saints come forward to heal the sick to prove that Jesus is the Son of God and the only way to the Father. This time, however, it was the difference between day and night. The disciples ministered healing and deliverance effectively and efficiently. Very soon people began coming up to the stage to testify that Jesus had healed them. There were many. Two ladies who had been unable to climb stairs showed that they were healed by going up and down the steps to the stage. One woman whose vision in one eye was completely clouded could see clearly after an unknown believer laid hands on her. Even very elderly people testified excitedly that they had been healed (these are generally more difficult to minister to). Very few were not healed.
Trained disciples heal the sick as Jesus did
Elderly woman on stage in pink raises her hand
to thank the Lord for healing her
There appears to have been a breakthrough in the effectiveness of the equipping. One factor contributing to this is the hunger of the many relatively new believers in Pastor Daniel’s church.
Pastor Daniel and the people are determined to continue what the Lord began this week. One brother leads a band and told me that he plans to take the band outdoors where they will draw people by their music. Then they will heal the sick who are there and tell them that “the Kingdom of God is near.”