Beloved Ethiopia, Nov/Dec 2012. Crusade, Women's Conference and Saved Orphans

Breakthrough Crusade in Jeldu - Great people!

Hanna's and PTL's Orphanage. Some of the 230 kids!

She was an orphan, and in jail for stealing food. She hadn't eaten for days! Now she will never be hungry again. Together with Pastor Tommy's daughter Rebecka.

Doretti was an orphaned street child who got saved 2 years ago. Now she is safe at Hanna's and PTL's orphan home in Addis.

Hard to imagine that these darling princesses have lived on the street!

First Women's Conference of its kind in Addis: "Sharpened for Greatness!"

Ethiopia, November/December 2012.

The crusade was held in a place where time had stood still for a very long time. There were no buses, cars, motorcycles or bikes here. Everyone walked, except for a few who came riding on horses. Some of them had walked for days from their tribal villages in the mountains. But they all wanted to meet Jesus.

On the first day, a man who had been blind for a long time was healed. Without even being able to see, he had walked to the meeting. Thank you Jesus, for touching him! Many people spent the night instead of going home again! The trip would have taken too long. They spent the night outside or on a simple farm, without running water, electricity or toilets. So we had two meetings each day. The music started at 6:30 in the morning, prayer at 9:00, worship at 10:00 and I started preaching at 11:00. The first meeting was over by about 12:30. But then by 2:00 the same afternoon, the next meeting had started, and by 5:30 that evening I had prayed for people to salvation, healing, deliverance and the baptism in the Holy Spirit twice. What grace from God! On the final day there were at least 40,000 people at both meetings, and the presence of Jesus was wonderful.

The work continues with our children’s center in Addis Ababa, called Hanna Orphan’s Home. Today we help a total of 250 children, and by January we are planning to expand with 3 more family units. We help children who have eaten food among wild dogs, young girls (11-12 years old) who had been in prison for stealing food, children with HIV/AIDS, children who have been shot, raped and abused. Yet they are children who have been restored by Jesus and by the staff at the children’s center in a fantastic way. The orphanage director, Hanna, is amazing. It would be hard to count how many children she hugs and kisses on the cheek each day. It is proof of the heart she has for the children she has committed her life to saving and helping.

The conference for women was a highlight. It was the first time a conference like that had been held in Ethiopia, and Jesus really did a great work in each woman there. The word from heaven lifted every single person in attendance. Many of them were healed, several were delivered, but the main thing was that most of them were filled with the Spirit and the fear and bondage on the inside of them was broken. When they understood how important women are, and how important the Biblical women were, something happened on the inside of them. They realized their true position in Christ. They even skipped the breaks so that they could have spontaneous prayer meetings. “Revival is here!” they said.

Threatened and persecuted, but victorious in the power of the blood of Jesus

Kathmandu, Nepal – October 2012. 

The crusade in Kathmandu, Nepal, was a breakthrough, despite the fact that we have never been more threatened. On the same day that we arrived, four Hindu fanatics in a truck carrying bombs were arrested on their way to Kathmandu where we were holding our crusade. Also, the government kept questioning how Christians could arrange such a huge crusade and they wanted to know where the money came from, and they threatened to send their security police. Hindu priests were warning people not to visit the meetings. On the first day, one of these Hindu priests came to the meeting, cursed the ground we were standing on, and called down the Hindu gods. The pastors were scared and the small churches were shaken, but after the first meeting on Wednesday, when a large number of Hindus were saved, the deaf received their hearing back, the blind could see, the demons were shrieking “I don’t want to come out!”, and people were set free, then the breakthrough came and the c

rusade was an enormous victory for Jesus. On the final day 10,000 people prayed the salvation prayer.

The fantastic power in the name of Jesus has caused the Hindus to defy their own leaders. Jesus has such an enormous power of attraction. Why? Because witch doctors and idol priests can’t cast out demons! Jesus confirmed this when he said that if you drive out demons in the name of Satan then Satan’s kingdom cannot stand. That is one of the reasons that a crusade attracts so many people – the power in the name of Jesus! When demons are cast out, they all realize that the God here is more powerful than the gods they worship.

Many people who had been powerfully demonized testified openly on stage that they had been set free. One man had been crippled with so much pain that he hadn’t slept for the past two years and the evil powers were controlling everything he did, but he was set free and his pain disappeared the moment the demons left him. He was full of joy as he testified, thanking Jesus.

During prayer for the sick on Friday, there was a teenage girl suffering from a muscular disease that had left her handicapped. During prayer, she tried to get up in faith, but couldn’t move an inch. She cried in disappointment.

That night after the crusade, Pastor Tommy was frustrated and asked God why she hadn’t been healed. After a long time in prayer, the Holy Spirit told Pastor Tommy to preach about the blood of Jesus on Saturday, and to release the sick and the sinners in Jesus’ blood. The entire meeting the following day centered around the power in the blood of Jesus. The effect was overwhelming and it was as if a spiritual lid was removed from the meeting. Many demons manifested right away, some of them shrieking from the possessed, “I don’t want to leave.” Many people were delivered. But the most extraordinary thing was that the girl who had been crying the night before because she hadn’t been able to get up, was healed, stood up and started to walk! First she needed help but after about 10 minutes she was walking on her own! See the photo.

Preaching about the blood of Jesus for Hindus who don’t even know what a Bible is might seem both illogical and fanatical. But we can’t forget that the struggle that Paul teaches us about is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil. They know and understand the power in the blood of Jesus! That is why there are occasions when we have to preach what is foolishness for this world, but the power of God unto salvation.

I can still see the children, baptized in the Spirit!

Lusaka, Zambia – September 2012.

The spiritual dimension broke through like an invisible cloud over the crusade grounds. A stream of children who had been filled with the Holy Spirit, healed, delivered, and then succumbed to His power were lifted up onto the stage. It was Sunday evening and the final meeting of PTL’s five day long crusade in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia. More than 30,000 hands had been lifted toward heaven, many of them new believers, as well as backsliders who had returned to Jesus. The crusade ground was a marketplace in the middle of the largest slum in Lusaka.

Right now it is 5:10 in the morning and it is still dark outside my hotel window. A bus has just pulled up to drop off the morning shift of hotel personnel. It has been several hours since that final meeting, but the memories from it are still so strong. Many of the visitors come every night, and even though there are so many people there is a strong personal connection with them, especially with all the children.

It is hard for us in the western world to understand that thousands of children, many of them so small that they have just learned to walk, come to the meetings each night and experience and participate in the meeting in a way that you have to witness to truly be able to understand. They sing, lift their hands, close their eyes, open their mouths to receive the Holy Spirit. Yesterday the meeting started at 5 pm and ended at 9 pm. Four hours! And despite such a long meeting, thousands of children rushed forward for the altar call. Many of them were baptized in the Holy Spirit yesterday.

In the midst of this filth, misery and desperation for God, there are such enormous contrasts to most of our churches in Europe. One of the words from Jesus that has resounded even more clearly for me the past few weeks is when Jesus tells of the 10 virgins. Five came along to the wedding, five were left behind. I couldn’t tell you who is who in this comparison. But when a five year-old child from the slums, who only owns one tattered shirt and a single pair of pants that are too big, lifts his hands and with tears running down his cheeks calls out to Jesus for help – then there are many thoughts that go through my head. And then when these children get spontaneously baptized in the Holy Spirit, it becomes – if possible – even more powerful and more tangible: Jesus is there! Right there in the midst of the dust, filth and misery, thousands of children get to experience the biggest thing of all – Jesus touching them at the very deepest part of their lives.

One miracle in particular that sticks out from this crusade happened to a young boy of about 7 or 8, whose legs were paralyzed. He couldn’t walk. I didn’t quite understand why, but they were going to operate on him and he was scheduled for surgery. During the meeting on Thursday night he got healed. On Friday they went to the doctor, who examined him and cancelled the surgery, and that evening the boy and his mother were on stage, testifying of what Jesus had done!

Our team in Zambia, with PTL’s Zambia director Mark in the lead, are doing a fantastic job. He also has the help of some other people who are amazing, too. We have our own band, DMK, who are anointed by the Lord to lead worship. Thank you to all of the churches and everyone who worked so hard for this crusade, and thanks to Mission Press who took care of the stage, sound and filming. But above all, thank you Jesus!

The night has turned into dawn, and breakfast will be served at 6:30. But I can still see them –- the children! How they lift their hands, receive Jesus, and get baptized in the Holy Spirit.