Channel 10 Norway and PTL

Dear readers,

We are finally underway with Channel 10 Norway and PTL’s new Norwegian program series: Norway Direct with Pastor Tommy Lilja. With a new Norwegian PTL studio and a new intro and outro, we recorded six programs with a focus on Jesus. PTL is a collaboration and I know that there is an open door and a beneficial collaboration between PTL and Norway. It will be interesting to see how things develop. The first program will be broadcast on November 2^nd, but before then we have to get the programs translated and subtitled.

Included with each program are our crusade films, which we know will create a great positive reaction.

Also, Norwegian Channel 10 will be broadcast on the Thor satellite, which means that Swedish viewers who don’t have Sirius or ComHem can also follow Channel 10.

Christian TV is a tool with great potential when it is used properly.

All credit goes to Börje Claesson and those who stand with him. From nothing God has raised up a miracle in the middle of Älmhult, deep in the forests of Småland.

867 new believers already, two weeks before the crusade

Dear readers,

Sorry that it’s been awhile since my last post. There has been a lot going on this week. I am working a lot with our church, Folkkyrkan, where the vision is starting to really take hold and we know that a great future awaits us.

Several other projects are underway simultaneously. We are launching PTL in Norway in October, starting TV broadcasts in November, and that’s taken more time than I thought it would. This week we have worked on a Norwegian intro and outro, as well as designed the Norwegian studio. We have prepared for subtitles, since I hardly think anyone in Norway will understand my dialect. “Räkna med Pengar” and some other material has been translated and we are nearing the end of all of this prep work.

We have also received an offer to send the English version of our program in Asia. According to the TV director we would reach a huge number of households. I forget how many million he said, but it was a huge number. It would be so fantastic to get to show the crusade trailers and share about Jesus with all of the Asian households in the China/India regions who don’t even know who Jesus is. It would be so great if we could help out!

We are also launching PTL Children AID, a project where we are focusing on businesses to sell our CSR-packages, in order to release money for children in the third world. We are already helping many children, but all of our projects are under-financed, and now we are hoping that the budget can swell so that we can help more children.

We also want to do more in Nepal, which is wide open right now. We have 200 pastors who are living at poverty level and who could do so much more if we trained them and gave them a bit of money so that they could concentrate on their ministry. But that would also require a rather large budget since there are so many of them. But the Lord sees the need, and we’ll have to see what He does.

One very positive piece of news is that 867 people have already been saved in Sodo, the city where we are going to hold the next crusade in Ethiopia. As I told you before, we have started the School of the Crusader in Addis. Twelve wild, young evangelists. They are now cooperating with the local organization to improve the marketing strategy for our crusade and we already seem to have had a breakthrough. That raises the temperature and creates expectation. Thanks to all of you who are standing with us.

If God speaks to you about PTL and what we are doing, please let us know. Our ministry is a collaboration, something we all do together, one for all and all for one.

Have a great weekend,
Tommy

A tulip bulb on its own in the yard will never become a flower

I’m back from Africa, and we’ve had a wonderful Sunday in Sölvesborg. The church was nearly full and the atmosphere was charged.

I started a new theme today: Your best church NOW. About what a church is and how important it is to be a part of a church so that you can live your own personal best life NOW!

A tulip bulb on its own in the yard will never become a flower! Our goal is for Folkkyrkan in Sölvesborg to become nutritious soil where you as a bulb receive warmth, nutrition, water and an environment where you can put down roots, shoot off new sprouts, bloom and flourish. Together we’ll be a brilliant garden that reflects the glory of God.

One of the conditions to us having our best church NOW is that you are living your best life NOW. The church is you and I when we become WE.

I struggle with the fact that those who are sick or who don’t have a healthy, vibrant church where they live. Travel far if you need to, in the long run it will be worth it, because your life as a believer is most alive within a church. The potential that you have can only bloom when you’ve been planted in a church.

The year of jubilee has begun in my life – now anything can happen!

Today at 7:15 in the morning, the year of jubilee commenced in my life – the time when freedom is proclaimed for the poor. When everything that has been lost is returned, healed, and restored. I received a jubilee trumpet from Israel cast in genuine silver as a birthday present, genuine kosher. I am blowing the trumpet and proclaiming total freedom over Tommy Lilja. Everything that Satan has stolen in previous years will be returned and the party can truly begin.

At crusade after crusade the message of joy will be proclaimed, people who were held captive by poverty, disease, sin, demons, witchcraft, assault, and shame – for all of these a light will shine and the power in the name of Jesus will set them free, open the prison doors and release them into the kingdom of God.

Our goal is global impact! What are you saying, Tommy?! That’s right, just wait and see!

It’s been written that the most productive age in a man’s life is after 50, and the Word of God says that youth is renewed and old trees will produce new sprouts.

Dear friends, there is a policy regarding retirement in this country that says that old people should become less active. But God’s word says the opposite. I’m not going to become less active; I’m going to become more active! Listen! It says in the Bible that young men grow tired. I’m not young anymore, so I can’t get tired. Instead, I am now in the category of those who get their strength from the Lord; an old, scarred battle eagle, with a polished beak, sharp claws, and clear vision. When the storm comes, the wind of the Spirit lifts me above and through the storm. That is the difference: our years with the Lord turns us into master gliders. We realize more and more as the years pass that the power doesn’t come from ourselves, but from the Lord.

So dear friends, those of you who have celebrated your year of jubilee, throw off the yoke that says that you are old. Shoot new sprouts. In Sweden we say that old age means that life starts to fade, but in the Middle East they say that an older person is filled with life!

Anyway, I’m in Stockholm today. First we had intended to have a party with all of our friends in Folkkyrkan in Sölvesborg tonight, but because of my hectic travel schedule we chose to celebrate my year of jubilee in one of the world’s most pleasant cities, Stockholm.

Stockholm is only second to Jerusalem on my list of favorite cities. We flew late last night and a brother in the Lord, Martin, who is a top chef at an Italian restaurant, Chou Chou on Hantverkargatan, treated us to a big meal. He was with us in Israel. When we are in Stockholm we always walk everywhere. It took about 30 minutes from our hotel, through Old Town, past City Hall to get to the restaurant. And tonight we are celebrating at one of our favorite restaurants, a stone’s throw from Filadelfiakyrkan, which will be about a 60 minute walk – fantastic!

But above all, let all the honor for this day go to the Lord! Who knows what I would have been doing if he hadn’t saved me? No one knows, and no one wants to know, either!

Anyway, from one thing to the next: I received an e-mail from Ethiopia today. The preparations for the next crusade are underway. There are 12 people attending our School of the Crusader in Ethiopia and they are going to spend three weeks doing aggressive evangelization along with area churches. What an amazing time that’s going to be – I get excited just thinking about it! ABBA!

-Tommy

"We've never had a crusade like this one!"

You’ll have to excuse me, dear readers, if I seem a bit crazy, but I am just so happy. The crusade in Lusaka has been successful in every way and we have an open door in Zambia that is going to result in more openness to the gospel in the future.

The word is spreading across the country, about how many people got saved, how many were delivered and healed, and how many people came. Everyone is fascinated by how successful this crusade was, and how powerful the presence of Jesus was.

They also send their greetings back to Sweden and humbly say that, “We don’t want to exalt anyone, since Jesus deserves all the glory, but at the same time we have to tell the truth: that this is the greatest crusade we've ever had, and we didn’t know that we could gather this many people.”

Ok, time to pack my bags. I am leaving in a half an hour for the long trip home to Sweden. In 24 hours I’ll be back in the kitchen with my wife Carina. It’s always nice to come home.

40,000 people on the fourth night!

"But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you."
Luke 11:20

The Saturday evening meeting started with power in the name of Jesus and ended with baptism in the Holy Spirit, which resulted in 5,000-8,000 people getting baptized in the Spirit and speaking in tongues.

Tonight we broke every record and there were likely as many as 40,000 people there at one point

The leader of the crusade committee emphasized that “we have never had a crusade like this in Lusaka, with so many people and so much power.” Now the churches in the region have a huge task ahead of them, following up on all of the new believers.

We have one night left, and we are going to approach it full force!

The third evening in Zambia broke the 20,000 mark

Today we finished the leader seminar with two intensive sessions during which there was a tangible presence of the Holy Spirit. Many of the pastors witnessed that they had received a completely new view of leadership and the church, and that they had been touched by Jesus during the final prayer time.

The evening meeting was an explosion. After the sermon the deliverance tent was filled with people manifesting, and even though there were lots of ushers they couldn’t work fast enough: there were people lying everywhere.

Today there were over 20,000 people. The numbers have doubled each night, and we still have Saturday and Sunday coming up. The field is bigger than two football fields and can hold 100,00 people, and it wouldn’t surprise me if we get close that many on Sunday.

Today Jesus touched many people’s eyes. Many people who had trouble seeing were completely healed, and an estimated 300 people were healed from different diseases.

It was quite a celebration today! Thank you for standing with us in prayer. Tomorrow I will be at some meetings during the day. We will be planning upcoming crusades. I also have some office work to do before it’s time to prepare the evening meeting. Tomorrow is the evening when I emphasize the name of Jesus and the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Healing breakthrough on the second evening in Lusaka, Zambia

What a day. The leader seminar was packed this morning, and then we had an intense and amazing evening. It was a real celebration, and we still have 3 nights left! Jesus is going to shake this city before we’re done.

There was such a presence of Jesus the second evening at the crusade in Lusaka. There were over 10,000 people and once again many were set free from demons. People were thrown to the ground, old and young, when the darkness couldn’t remain because of the strong presence of Jesus.

Her brother had been partially paralyzed and mute after a brain hemorrhage. Tonight he was healed by Jesus, dancing and speaking!

Tonight I preached about the rich man and Lazarus. Thousands responded and rushed forward to receive Jesus.

She had been using crutches for a long time, but tonight she danced for joy before Jesus, completely healed.

This mother and son are crying for joy. The boy, who was deaf, had gone into the deliverance tent, where Jesus healed him. The mother didn’t realize it until she suddenly saw her son standing on the stage, healed! She ran up to see for herself – what a celebration!

Powerful start to the crusade in Lusaka, Zambia

Dear friends, I landed in Lusaka this afternoon after a 22 hour trip, and after some coffee, prayer and preparation, kicked off the series of crusade meetings. Typical African craziness: when I arrived the power went out and they couldn’t get the generator to start. But once the generator started and I started preaching, the power came back on. At the end of my sermon evil started to manifest, and many people were convulsing as demons were forced to leave them because of the strong presence of Jesus.

It was a wonderful atmosphere for the first night of meetings. It is late now, so I’ll send along some pictures of the healings. I have a leader seminar early tomorrow.

The woman in the picture was paralyzed in one leg and arm after a stroke three years ago, but was completely healed tonight.

The boy, who could only see white, with no details or colors, can now see.

Some of the miracles tonight.

Gender "experts" need to be confronted with true manliness

Something quite remarkable is happening in Sweden lately. We are educating gender “experts”, whose job it is to confuse children’s sense of gender.

They want boys to be girls and girls to be boys.

It is hard to figure out which lobby group is behind this policy, but it is easy to see that it is throwing our entire society into upheaval. Even those who teach the lectures, for example a professor in gender studies, are having problems with their own sexual identity.

There are good men and there are bad men. There is a false manly ideal. But men are men! Women are women. I respect that people are different, and that they have different sexual preferences. So why can’t the people who aren’t like me respect that we, who are heterosexuals, are men and women? Why is it so hard to understand that the connection between a newborn child and its mother is stronger than between the child and the father? Isn’t that obvious?!

In the same way, it is obvious that girls play with dolls; it is preparation for the day when they give birth to their first child. Men can’t give birth to children! But they can help, protect, and lovingly take care of the newborn child and mother.

Games at pre-school are a preparation for the way of life that is pre-programmed into our genes. Keeping a child from playing out what he or she has on the inside is one of the worst ways to help our children. What happens instead is that an inner pressure builds up that sooner or later will need an outlet.

True manliness can be suppressed and destroyed in many different ways, and there isn’t enough room to develop that in this blog. But one way is this hidden, unspoken pressure that we have in our society. In the pursuit of equality and fear of oppressing women we have also created contempt for men.

This is counterproductive, because our society needs men and women! In the same way that men need to learn about women, women need to learn about men. We aren’t alike, we aren’t going to be alike and we never will be alike.

The solution? Recognize and accept the differences and talk about, teach and help men and women to develop true, loving, constructive and caring gender roles.

Today it seems like the altar of materialism is more important than people. The genetically-programmed need for nearness that the mother and child have at the beginning is being attacked with a materialistic argument.

Of course men and women have identical salaries, and if the mother wants to stay at home with her children that should be a merit, and just as good a reason to get a raise as if they had worked.

God created us male and female. The politicians who zealously push for equally dividing paternal and maternal leave, and for forcing fathers to stay at home are also the ones who push for gender role experimentation in our pre-schools. This is all grounded in a rebellion against God, and it is a sign of the times, a part of the man of lawlessness.

In October I will be teaching on TRUE MANPOWER. I believe in women, and I believe that they are fantastic. BUT, I also believe in MEN. Manliness is being suppressed today. It is causing confusion: we don’t need Rambos – we need men after God’s own heart. That is what I am going to go into on October 30.

I owe it not only to the men of our time, but to all boys and young men.