Saturday, November 27, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Ex-Mayor Says He will Follow Jesus!
Ex-Mayor Says He will Follow Jesus
On the third night of the Nepal Healing Festival, we issued a challenge, “If you have decided to follow Jesus, come up on the platform and testify.” The first person to come to the platform was the ex-mayor of the city. The entire crowd recognized him. He publicly declared, “I have decided to follow Jesus. I asked Jesus to forgive my sins. From now on, I will live for Him.” All the people cheered for the former mayor.
Saved in the Morning, Healed in the Afternoon
On the fourth morning of the Fire Conference, Daniel gave an altar call for salvation. The Fire Conference is supposed to be for pastors and leaders, but we opened it up for the entire city to attend. Since there were many Hindus scattered throughout the church crowd, Daniel felt the need to give them an opportunity to be saved.
He said, “If you want Jesus to forgive your sins, then I invite you to come to the front of the church. If you have never given your life to Jesus, then today is your day.” About twenty people walked forward in response. Daniel asked them to all kneel on the ground and led them in a prayer for salvation.
One of the men who came forward for salvation was crippled. He could not walk without using a cane. Joyfully, he gave his life to Jesus.
Later, in the afternoon festival, the same man came to the platform. Instead of leaning on his cane, he was holding it high in the air. Jesus had healed him!
Nepal is Open to the Gospel
My wife Jessica worked in Nepal as a missionary for six months back in 2001. She says, “When I lived in Katmandu (the capital of Nepal) I could feel deep spiritual oppression every day. Believers were few and persecuted. At that time, Nepal was a Hindu kingdom closed to the Gospel. Daily we prayed that things would change in this beautiful nation.”
Since then, the government has changed hands several times and now for the first time in history, it is possible to publicly proclaim the Gospel in Nepal. The Healing Festival that we are doing in the center of Surkhet is unprecedented.
We have received no opposition, no persecution. Top government officials have given us their stamp of approval. There is great openness to hear about Jesus. Thousands of Hindus have come to the festival and heard about Jesus for the first time. Here in Nepal there are entire villages and people groups that are willing to forsake their Hindu deities and become believers in Jesus.
All the local pastors are telling us that it is a miracle that we are doing a public, open-air presentation of the Gospel in the center of the city, because previously it would never have been allowed.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Hindu Mother Saved
Hindu Mother Saved
Koussila comes from a Hindu family. She became a believer several years ago and ever since, she has had one prayer. Her one request to God was for her mother to be saved.
When Koussila head about the “Healing Festival” she was very excited. She volunteered to help setting up the festival. For three weeks she worked hard putting all the details of the festival together. Since she speaks English, she was able to translate regularly for Joshua Myers, our festival director.
As Koussila worked putting up posters and inviting people to the festival, she prayed that her mother would be willing to attend. On the first night of the festival, her prayers were answered.
Her mother stood behind the platform as the preaching began. She listened to every word. But, when we led the crowd in the salvation prayer, Koussila’s mother just stood there.
Koussila was helping us translate the miracle testimonies. After the healing testimonies were finished, Koussila left the platform and went to her mother. “Did you pray with the preacher to make Jesus your Lord?” she asked her mother. “No, I have been a Hindu my whole life and I was scared,” came the reply. Koussila began to witness to her mother. She explained the message to her and told her what it means to be a follower of Jesus. After several minutes, she asked her mother, “Would you pray with me and ask Jesus for salvation?” To Koussila’s delight, her mother said, “Yes.” Right there, behind the platform, Koussila led her mother to Jesus.
With tears in her eyes, Koussila brought her mother to us to share the news. Her mother was smiling. She still had a Hindu red dot in the middle of her forehead, but now Jesus was living in her heart.
Every King Must Have a Throne
Many village people have walked a long distance to attend the Healing Festival. Since it is to far for them to return home each evening, we have provided blankets for them to sleep on at night. All the churches and believers of Surkhet have opened their doors to house the villagers.
Today in the Fire Conference, one of the pastors stood up to address a problem. He said, “We have noticed that many of you have been going to the bathroom out in front of the church. We have a toilet inside the church that we want you to use. Since you are from the villages, perhaps you have never seen a toilet before. God has created you to be kings and queens, and as royalty you must not squat in front of the church, instead you must sit on the throne. Please learn how to use the toilet.”
Yes, we have Hot Water.
Before we arrived, our crusade director checked out our hotel rooms to make sure they were comfortable. One of the questions he asked the hotel manager was, “Does this hotel have hot water?” The answer was, “Yes, of course we do.”
To my disappointment, after a long dusty day preaching in the sun, I discovered that only freezing cold water came out of the showerhead. I gritted my teeth and took a cold shower. Sometimes when you are on a mission trip, you have to suffer for the Lord.
The next morning, at 5:30am there was a knock on the door. Blurry eyed, I answered the door. It was the desk clerk. In his hand was a pitcher of steaming hot water. “You want hot water for your shower?” he asked. By mixing hot and cold water in a bucket, I could have warm water to rinse off my body. So, technically the manager did not lie when he said the hotel has hot water, however, I still feel cheated somehow.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
God is Good!
God is Good
On the second night of the Nepal Healing Festival, Daniel King preached about the goodness of God. He told the crowd, “Everything good comes from God. Everything evil comes from Satan.”
Daniel proclaimed, “Sin, sickness, hate, fear, and poverty is from Satan; salvation, healing, love, peace, and prosperity is from Jesus.” The crowd laughed as Daniel tried to pronounce some of the words in the local language.
Then Daniel informed the people that a choice must be made between following God or following the way of sin. He read John 10:10, “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came to give you abundant life.” He continued with a passage from Deuteronomy, “Today, God sets before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life.” Finally, Daniel explained that Jesus said there is a broad road that leads to destruction, and a narrow way that leads to life.
“Every person must make a choice whether they will follow Jesus or follow the way that leads to death. Do you choose to go to heaven or do you want to spend eternity in hell? If you want to be a follower of Jesus, raise your hand.” Across the field, thousands of people lifted their hands high into the air. Virtually the entire crowd wanted to follow Jesus.
The Story of Pastor Padam
Twenty years ago, Pastor Padam was thrown in jail for preaching the Gospel. For five months he suffered in prison, wondering how his family was going to survive in his absence. Back then, Nepal was a Hindu kingdom and there was great opposition to the Gospel. But, now there is a new democratic government and people are becoming more open to Christianity. For Pastor Padam, it is a great miracle to be able to stand on a public platform and to talk about Jesus in front of the highest government officials. What he was once jailed for, he can now do in the open.
History Making
Throughout the town people are saying, “We have never seen anything like this before.” To be able to publicly proclaim, in the middle of the city, that Jesus is Lord is a great miracle. Never before have such large crowds of people gathered in this region to hear the Gospel.
