February 17
Early tomorrow morning I travel to India. First I will visit our Bible
school and children’s center in Delhi on Tuesday morning, and then in the
afternoon we leave for Hyderabad. We have a very important meeting at 11:00 on
Wednesday. Then in the evening we fly to Chennai. First we have a meeting with
our Nepal coordinator, then we will visit a village for lepers, and then on
Friday the crusade gets underway. PTL’s Field Manager Bertil Dolfén has already
arrived.
February 20
It is Wednesday evening here in Hyderabad. We have been flying every day
since Monday, and we are about to fly again, this time to Chennai and the
conference there. Everything has gone well. God has opened a huge door for us
to the Hindu-speaking Indians, about 600 million!
February 21
Right now we are in Chennai, a city of more than 9 million people! We
have just finished a meeting with PTL’s partner in southern India. Two positive
things are happening now. 1: We will have a small crusade in the slums among
the Hindus, along with a young church there. 2: There are many Christians in
Chennai, and the largest charismatic church in India is located here. It has
over 20,000 visitors every Sunday. I was just invited to preach there on Sunday
morning! That is grace from God.
February 23
We’ve just had a small crusade in Chennai. At first I was a bit
skeptical until I realized that over half of the people there were Hindus! That
became obvious when I started preaching, because Hindus, Muslims, and a loving
gospel release the presence of God in a mighty way. Nearly everyone received
Jesus, and those were first-time conversions! Many people were healed and now
the word has spread. It will be exciting to see what Jesus does tonight.
Early tomorrow morning I will be preaching in India’s biggest
charismatic church. It has over 600 pastors, so you can understand that it is
crowded both in the congregation but also at the pulpit. Yonggi Cho is one of
the speakers who is usually invited to come and speak. But I’m not going to get
all religious and complicate things. The power in the name of Jesus is the
same! I think I will wing it, because that’s the only thing I can do – listen to
the rhema from the Holy Spirit!
February 24
The church service started at 7:00 this morning. There were people
everywhere! Keep in mind that the church pictured below has another story, plus
people who were sitting in tents outside the building. The atmosphere was
wonderful and even though I didn’t have the chance to pray for people, the
Spirit of the Lord was at work. I winged it and the word I got was: Keep on
walking – some will cry “Hosanna”, others “Crucify”, but you just keep walking.
What is most important is that you don’t give up or grow stagnant. No
matter what storm or what success you are in the middle of, you still have to
keep on walking. It was full of encouragement, and then I also told them about
Sara who got healed in Nepal. Even though she was born with a muscle disease,
she didn’t give up, and at the age of 12 Jesus healed her. Tonight we will have
the final meeting of our mini crusade.
February 26
I arrived back home in Sölvesborg last last night, and have just
finished a full day at the office. About half of the people who attended the
final meeting on Sunday evening were Hindus. When we have mini crusades I
always have an altar call, which isn’t always possible at the big crusades. All
of the Hindus answered the altar call! It is so touching to see how gladly many
of them receive Jesus, and to see how intensely the Holy Spirit works. It is
also surprising to see how the Hindus receive healing in the name of Jesus.
There are no limits!
The pastor who coordinated the crusade was surprised at how many
non-believers came to the meetings. But what I remember most was all the tears
of all the people who experienced the Holy Spirit for the first time.
