Madagascar Crusade Update

To give to the Madagascar Crusade: Click HERE

Charismatic Distinctives

The main belief of Charismatics is that God is still active and moving in the world today. This is the opposite of the cessationist view that miracles ended when the Apostles died. Here is a list of twenty-six distinctive Charismatics beliefs organized under five main headings. These teachings have brought enormous growth to the body of Christ around the world over the past thirty years.

1. Infilling of the Holy Spirit as a subsequent experience to salvation. “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18 NKJV).

           Speaking in Tongues / Glossolalia “I wish you all spoke with tongues” (1 Corinthians 14:5 NKJV)

           Interpretation of Tongues  “…unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification” (1 Corinthians 14:5 NKJV).

           Holy Spirit Guidance “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come” (John 16:13 NKJV).

2. Signs and Wonders “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:16-18 NKJV).

            Healing “But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5 NKJV).

            Miracles  “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8 NKJV).

            Faith  “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6 NKJV).

3. God Speaks to people today “Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place” (1 Samuel 3:9 NKJV).

            Prophecy “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:1 NKJV).

            Words of wisdom “For the LORD gives wisdom…” (Proverbs 2:6 NKJV).

            Words of knowledge “for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:8 NKJV).

            Visions & Dreams “Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams” (Acts 2:17 NKJV).

4. Power in the Spiritual Realm “And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease” (Matthew 10:1 NKJV).

            Discerning of spirits “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1 NKJV).

            Casting out demons “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name” (Luke 10:17 NKJV).

            Binding and loosing spiritual powers “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18 NKJV).

            Agreement in Prayer “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven”  (Matthew 18:19 NKJV).

            Power over Satan “No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house” (Mark 3:27 NKJV).

            Angels “And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him” (Mark 1:13 NKJV).

5. Blessing “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you
 and make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2 NKJV).

            Prosperity  “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 2).

            Seed Faith “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38 NKJV).

            Positive Confession “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21 NKJV).

            Anointing “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him” (1 John 2:27 NKJV).

            Being slain in the Spirit “Now when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground” (John 18:6 NKJV).  

Martyrs in Madagascar

Jequié, Brazil Soul Winning Festival - Victory in Jesus

When 10% of a City Prays for Salvation

Jequié, Brazil is located deep in the interior of the state of Bahia in northeast Brazil. The population of the city is 150,000 and on the final night of our Gospel crusade this week over 15,000 people gathered in the center of the city to hear the Gospel. Virtually every hand was raised when I gave the invitation to receive salvation. For the local pastors who often work for years without a single conversion, this is a harvest of unprecedented size.

For the past month, excitement has been building in Jequié. Billboards and thousands of posters announced that Jesus would do miracles. A huge stage was erected in a parking lot in the middle of the city and people streamed to the grounds anxious to see what God would do. Lively music greeted them. The atmosphere was full of excitement. On the first night of the crusade, Jesus did not disappoint the expectant crowd. Three people who were deaf in one ear claimed they were miraculously touched by God and were able to hear. Because of the miracle testimonies, the crowd sized doubled the next night.

On the final night of the crusade, I preached a simple Gospel message contrasting the kingdom of darkness with the kingdom of light. I asked, “Why come into the kingdom of God?” I answered, “Because there is joy, forgiveness, and healing in the kingdom of God.” I invited those who wanted to receive Christ to come to the front of the crowd. Counsellors from the local churches greeted them. The new believers gave us their names, phone numbers, and addresses. We presented each of them a beautiful Bible.

The next day, local churches used the decision cards to call each person who made a decision to follow Jesus. The churches formed teams who went out two-by-two to visit every person who got saved. They arranged a time to meet together to study the Bible. The ultimate goal is to get every new believer plugged into a local church so he or she can be discipled.

The church in this part of Brazil seems weak. Small neighborhood churches of 15-20 members are scattered around the community but it is estimated that before we came to Jequié there were less than 9,000 believers in the entire city.

In São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte the evangelical Church is growing quickly. Mega-churches with thousands of members are flourishing. However, in the northeast of Brazil, there is a great untouched harvest field of souls waiting. The church in the northeast is anemic and it is estimated that only 2-3% of the people in the interior of northeast Brazil are saved.

Over fifty million people live in northeast Brazil, six million of these live on the coast, the rest live in the interior of the country. The rural area is affected by constant droughts and is plagued by great poverty. Approximately sixteen million people live in villages. Thousands of these villages don’t have a single Christian witness. The landmass of northeast Brazil is three times larger than all the Central American countries combined.

Salvador, the largest city in the state of Bahia, was the center of the Brazilian slave trade during the mid-sixteenth century. African slaves were captured and taken to Brazil and they brought their traditional tribal religions with them. Today, their descendants continue to practice ancient superstitions. They often mix tribal and indigenous religions with Catholicism and evangelical Christianity.

Witchcraft is common. One woman who came to the crusade was unable to walk because of a curse that her neighbor placed on her. She got saved on the first night of the crusade and started to walk. Many people here are afraid of curses, hyper-aware of the spiritual world, and practice rituals similar to voodoo. Dozens of demonic manifestations took place as we took authority over the powers of darkness. Jesus set people free from a lifetime of demonic oppression.

I worked with Rubens Cunha, a Brazilian evangelist who has done over forty crusades in the northeast of Brazil. He says, “If I was to do a crusade in every city in the state of Bahia with a population of between 30,000 and 100,000 people, I could do one crusade a month for seven and a half years. If you have a passion for evangelism, please come and help us reach this ripe mission field.”

Over the next three years, the eyes of the world will be on Brazil as first the World Cup and then the Olympics are held there. As people stream to Brazil for sporting events, it is important for the church to come to northeast Brazil to evangelize. The harvest is ready, will you help bring in the harvest? 

Spiritual Earthquake Hits Haiti - Haiti Miracle Crusade

A Plea for Haiti

In January of 2010, Haiti suffered from an earthquake; this past week Haiti experienced a spiritual earthquake. Evangelist Daniel King traveled with a team of twenty-seven Bible school students to the Caribbean nation for a massive Gospel Festival. Their ministry impacted thousands of lives in Kawdé Bouké, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. In addition to conducting a five-day crusade, the team visited orphanages, poverty-stricken villages, and conducted a women’s conference, a pastor’s conference, a Kid’s Fest, and a healing conference.

Thousands of people made a commitment to live for Jesus. One life that was changed is a twenty-seven-year-old man named Wilnack Saint-Fort. One month before the Gospel Festival he saw team members putting up posters around the city. He asked if he could help. At first the team refused his help because he was obviously drunk.

Something about the team’s attitude attracted the young man. Every day for a month he followed them. After several days of building a relationship, they allowed him to pass out flyers and glue posters to the walls. After the festival platform was built, Wilnack volunteered to sleep under the platform to help guard the sound equipment.

He said, “One night I dreamed a dream. In my dream I was in a beautiful place and I saw many beautiful houses. I saw a Man in a white robe walk toward me and just as He opened His mouth to speak to me, I woke up. I knew that Man was Jesus and so I decided to live my life for Him.” On the second night of the Gospel Festival, Wilnack gave his life to the Lord. When he heard the question, “Do you want Jesus to forgive your sins?” he responded by raising his hand. He prayed the prayer of salvation and Jesus became his Lord and Savior. He plans to attend a branch of Victory Bible Institute that is being planted in his neighborhood.

“Follow up for new believers is extremely important to me,” says Daniel King, “We work closely with the local pastors and we distributed 10,000 “Life of Jesus” books to the new believers. My home church of Victory Christian Center, led by Sharon Daugherty, wants to plant Bible schools in every town in the nation of Haiti.” 

Every night, the team invited sick people to come to the front for prayer. God touched many people and they came to the platform to testify. Arms, eyes, necks, backs, and stomachs were healed by the power of God.

Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. After the earthquake, millions of dollars were poured into Haiti to help people. But the nation continues to need help. The pastors of Haiti need encouragement; the people need an outpouring of compassion, and the children need food. Daniel King says, “After the earthquake, the world’s attention was focused on Haiti for a short period of time, but now many have forgotten to care. Please don’t forget to pray for Haiti or stop giving to the ministries that are working there.”