The New Evangelistic Temple Church, formerly known as Evangelistic Temple (ET), has a glorious spiritual heritage from the Lord. It was founded in 1916 by Raymond T. Ritchey and his father Eli. Raymond Richey became a very famous American healing evangelist in his time, and he was a mentor to Kathryn Kuhlman and John Osteen (the founding pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, now the largest congregation in the USA). Partly because of Raymond’s evangelistic anointing and gifting in the area of divine healing, Evangelistic Temple grew quite large and impactful, ministering regularly to thousands. The subsequent history of Evangelistic Temple down through many decades following the passing of Eli and Raymond Richey was dramatic as other men of God took the baton from them and their successors to lead the church through the turbulent decades framing World War II, the prosperous 1950’s and 1960’s, and the Vietnam War. There is not enough time to recount the story here.
The current Senior Pastor of the newly-named New Evangelistic Temple (NET) Church in the new millennium is Tom Moffett. For nearly thirty years already, intercessors associated with NET have been praying according to the Spirit’s leading for restoration of the great miraculous healings to ET. Pastor Tom desires to see this not in its original manifestation as in the days of Raymond Richey when he was the sole instrument of the miracles, but in a form in which the Lord uses “ordinary” believers to heal the sick in Christ’s name. When Pastor Tom first proposed this to the congregation, there was great resistance because of the heavy inertia of the past wherein a single gifted individual was the focus of the ministry. But the Lord will have His way at the NET Church, and the glory of the latter temple will be greater than the glory of the former temple.
Sunday, September 4, 2005
At the morning service I gave the believers a brief crash course on how to minister healing as Jesus and his disciples did in the context of proclaiming the Kingdom of God to the lost. At the end of the meeting we did a demonstration of healing, and several people came to the front to testify of their healing as we believers exercised authority over disease and demons in Christ’s name. Pastor Tom told me afterwards that the teaching, closely based on Scripture, was very well received by the people.
At five in the evening we came together again for another hour of training followed by an evangelistic healing meeting in the same location. As I often do, I preached from John 14 where Jesus claimed to be the only way to the Father and in fact the very Son of God. To prove that this remarkable claim was the absolute truth, we asked Jesus to do miracles based on John 14:11…
John 14:11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.
And of course the very next verse says that we believers will do those same works:
John 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
I asked some newly-minted ministers of healing to come to the front to join me in exercising authority over infirmities and demons. Those who wanted healing remained in their seats and laid hands on themselves. Then I led all the believers in rebuking the infirmites as Jesus did in Scripture and commanding them to go in His name. About a half-dozen people were immediately healed and came to the front to testify of what the Lord had done for them.
The testimonies were relatively powerful for a venue in the United States and almost approached what we usually witness when we hold a Crusade in a country like Indonesia. A sister had come to the meeting in a wheelchair suffering from a number of debilitating infirmities and pain. After she was ministered to, she said she felt very good and was able to get up and walk around by herself with a surprised and thankful look on her face. The trained believer whom the Lord used to do this miracle herself testified earlier in the meeting that a crooked bone in her foot had straightened out during the mass healing. A young man had considerable difficulty and pain while walking because his twice-injured knee was out of place. During the mass healing his knee was completely healed. Another young man who had a severe problem with his wrist because of a run-in with the police during his earlier life testified that his wrist was completely restored. A man suffering from long-term mental illness came up to testify that he was healed (see below). There were also other testimonies of healing from the mass healing as well as from one-on-one ministry by individual trained believers.
I declared that through the amazing miracles done in the name of Jesus God had answered our prayer. Through them He had demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that the only way to receive the forgiveness of sins and escape from judgement in hell was by faith in His Son Jesus Christ who suffered on the cross for us. The miracles clearly proved that Jesus could guarantee our safe arrival in the Father’s house in heaven. The case for Christ was irresistible and irrefutable to anyone except for him who is destined for destruction.
Senior Pastor Tom Moffett reaffirmed that this is only the beginning of our relationship with NET Church. He would like us to hold the complete Seminar on The End Time Model of Evangelism for churches in Houston. During his closing prayer, he also prophesied that we would be given opportunities to teach and minister on radio and TV where miraculous healings would take place for listeners and viewers. May the Lord use the New Evangelistic Temple to restore God’s miraculous healing power to His Church in Houston as a tool for fulfilling the Great Commission during these end times.
From what the Lord did in this meeting, I conclude that the Lord is answering prayer and fulfilling prophecy regarding the NET Church. The glory of the latter New Evangelistic Temple will indeed be greater than that of the former Evangelistic Temple. Pastor Tom Moffett’s vision is being fulfilled: the glory will not be upon just a single gifted individual, but upon the entire body of believers who will heal the sick in Christ’s name with great power.
Comments from Pastor Charles Adiukwu on the meetings, who saw many miraculous healings after applying teachings downloaded from Elijah Challenge website:
“Our church, The NET Church (New Evangelistic Temple) in Houston, Texas, had started Sunday Evening Healing Services and I had just been introduced to your website www.TheElijahChallenge.org and I went there and downloaded as many of the articles as I could and quickly read all of them practically through the night. The next day, everyone that we prayed for at the healing service (by the prayer of commanding the spirits of infirmity to leave as Jesus and the disciples did it and as taught by you) was healed. We give God all the glory!”
“At the NET church the weekly Sunday Evening Healing Services are going on with incredible testimonies include healing of cancers of the lung and of the liver. No sickness scares us any longer! Senior Pastor Tom and I leave the ministry for the believers to do every Sunday after a short fifteen minutes of exhortation/teaching on the authority of believers to heal in Jesus’ Name.”
“…we know that we have tapped into the reality of the authority and power that Jesus walked in. At our house fellowships on Thursday evenings, I have been teaching them all that I received from the teachings on healing and we are witnessing healings and miracles at the hands of the believers and it is just amazing and good to know that we can transfer this understanding from the scriptures to all believers. It is simple and straightforward and is exactly what Jesus did and taught. Last meeting I taught on developing the “Faith of God” or mountain-moving faith; and as the teaching was going on, a child in the meeting developed an immediate medical crisis and was so sick that she was throwing up and we immediately commanded the infirmity to get out of her and we saw instant healing. They were about nine adults and three children that witnessed this. It was an instant confirmation of the Words of JESUS.”
“Thanks once again for the wonderful time we had with the teaching and healing seminar at the NET Church, Houston, Texas. Testimonies are still coming in respect to confirmed healings. A man spoke to Pastor Tom this morning testifying of a foot problem that was healed on Sunday night.
I was called by a member of the church this morning testifying of healing from long-standing mental illness. He said he always has to take prescribed drugs/medication before he could get any sleep. He was hospitalized three months ago for complications in this area. It got worse.
However when he was prayed for on Sunday night, he was healed of some physical pain and problems in his lower back and he was one of the people that testified at church.
He went home and forgot to take his medication and fell soundly asleep and woke up in the morning without any problems at all. Last night while wondering what to do, he again slept at 10.00 pm without the medication. He believes he is totally delivered. I know this man and I confirm that his manner of speaking is now significantly different.
I immediately prayed with him and I STRONGLY AND STERNLY COMMANDED THE DEMONS AND SPIRITS OF INFIRMITY NOT TO EVEN THINK OF COMING BACK AT ALL IN JESUS’ NAME.”