ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST

A SPIRITUAL LANDMARK

January 24, 2012

Dear Mission Partners,

Tonight the crowd nearly doubled to 145,000!  The head bishop of the fellowship of churches here in Abidjan, Ivory Coast leaned over to me on the platform and said, 'These are the biggest meetings we've ever seen.' The pastors, chairmen and bishops are all 'over the moon' with excitement. This is clearly a historic event and a spiritual landmark for the Church and for the nation.

Tonight as I was interviewing those who had testimonies of miraculous healing, the crowd started chanting 'Je-sus, Je-sus, Je-sus' so loud that it was difficult to hear the testimonies. From all over the field shouts of joy were constantly erupting as the sick were being healed.  The level of faith and zeal is something truly extraordinary '“ even in our experience!

So many blind eyes were opened, the lame walked and many kinds of infirmities were healed.  Best of all, thousands responded to the Gospel and surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ! Praise the Lord!

THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION

January 25, 2012

Dear Mission Partners,

I'm sitting in my room here in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. I've just returned from the campaign field and I am absolutely overwhelmed. Oh how I wish that you could have seen it with your own eyes. The power of God swept across that field in such a phenomenal way. So many lame were healed I ran out of room on the platform '“ they started passing their crutches and wheelchairs forward and we stacked them in a heaping pile on the platform. (See the pictures above)

A woman who was lame and mute covered her face and sobbed uncontrollably, tears were gushing out of her eyes. It was so precious; I had to choke back my own tears. Then she told me that she was a Muslim! So I asked her if she knew who had healed her. She said, 'Jesus of Nazareth!'

Directly in front of the platform is the deaf section where an interpreter communicates the message in sign language. Tonight I witnessed how one of those deaf boys was healed and when the woman with him realised that he could hear, she absolutely lost herself! She started screaming and crying and shaking! I thought she would pass out from the shock, but she came forward with the boy and together they wept as they stood on the platform and testified to the extraordinary miracle.

Healing was happening all over the place. The crowd grew more and more excited with every passing moment. At times, so many people were being healed at once the crowd seemed almost hysterical! Then, over and over, they spontaneously began chanting 'Je-sus, Je-sus, Je-sus, Je-sus!'

The former Prime Minister was there with many other government officials. Today he is the minister of 'Reconciliation' (in charge of helping to restore peace after the civil war). He sat next to me on the platform and thanked us for coming. Suddenly the Holy Spirit brought 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 to my mind,

I was moved by this thought. Yes'¦we are also ministers of Reconciliation and Christ's Ambassadors. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. Now, He also makes His appeal through us to the world '“ be reconciled unto God. What a glorious assignment!

God's redemptive work

January 26, 2012

Dear Mission Partners,

As many of you will be aware, Ivory Coast has been plagued by many years of civil war. Terrible atrocities have been committed and much blood has been shed in this place. In fact, our crusade field bears a grim reminder of the desperately wicked condition of fallen humanity. At the back of the crusade field there is a distinct area where curious mounds of dirt are grown over with thick weeds. As our bulldozers were clearing the field in preparation for the campaign, we were asked by officials not to clear that particular area because it is a mass grave where countless unidentified corpses are buried. Yet, this week, this very field, once the scene of death and destruction on a massive scale, has been transformed into ground zero for a historic harvest and a mass Holy Spirit outpouring. It is a striking metaphor of God's redemptive work through the cross.

The crowd grew to 200,000 tonight in spite of the fact that Ivory Coast national football team was playing against Tunisia contending for the Africa Cup of Nations! Our event director asked one young man why he came to the meeting instead of watching football and he said, 'We need Jesus more than football'. This kind of hunger is what sets this campaign apart. The people are extraordinarily expectant and full of faith.

The video at the top of this report is from the very first testimony tonight. It is from a woman who was totally blind in both eyes. Last night her left eye had been healed and she came to give glory to God. While interviewing her, I discovered that her right eye was still blind. I told her to cover that right eye and prayed. Nothing happened. So I covered her eye and prayed again. 'Mama look at me. What do you see?' I asked. For several seconds she looked at me intently and then all of a sudden, she started shouting, 'Oui, oui, oui, oui, oui' (French for 'yes'). Jesus opened her eye on the platform in front of 200,000 people and, as you can imagine, the crowd went ballistic! Praise the Lord!

This has been a historic event that will leave an indelible mark on Ivory Coast. The entire capital city has been shaken. The news media is out in full force every night. Top government officials have taken notice and are coming for prayer. The church leadership has never seen anything like it before. I am sure that if the Lord tarries, the great-grandchildren of these people will still be talking about what Jesus did here this week.

And it's not over yet! We still have one more meeting tomorrow night. Please continue to pray for us '“ that the full payload of Holy Spirit impact will demolish every last bastion of satanic influence and that from this week forward, Ivory Coast will be known, not as a place of war and bloodshed, but as the dominion of the Prince of Peace.

SPEECHLESS!

January 27, 2012

Dear Mission Partners,

It's not often that I find myself without words, but right now I'm really not sure what to say. I've never seen anything before quite like what we experienced tonight.

Often, when a sick person gets healed, it causes a great commotion in the immediate area surrounding that person. When those standing close to the miracle watch it happen right before their eyes, it has a profound impact on them. They often begin to shout, scream, cry, jump, dance etc. and we can usually hear and see from the platform that a miracle has taken place out in the crowd. We've actually become quite accustomed to this phenomenon over the years as it regularly happens after the prayer for the sick.  But tonight was something altogether different'

Before I had even gotten up to preach (during the boring announcements), this started happening all over the field a scale that is hard to describe. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as we watched wheelchairs, crutches and walkers going into the air EVERYWHERE! One after another after another after another until the excitement among the crowd of 250,000 rose to fever pitch (even now it's emotional to recall what happened). The roar of the crowd kept growing louder and louder until those of us on the platform looked at each other with shock and awe! It was hard to believe what was happening!

The blind, the deaf, the mute, the lame and those with all manner of sickness and disease were being spontaneously healed '“ without a single prayer being said and even before the Gospel was preached. It reminded me of something Evangelist Bonnke has often said, 'Sometimes the Holy Spirit cannot wait for we preachers to finish our boring sermons '“ He itches to do great things!'

Now this amazing and historic event has come to a dramatic close and our whole team is in awe of what Jesus did this week. Nearly a million people attended the 5 days of meetings. The way Abidjan was shaken is like something out of the book of Acts. I can tell you for sure that I will never forget it. 

To those of you who helped us financially and who interceded for us '“ thank you, thank you, thank you! You are a part of the team and the CfaN family. We are co-labourers together in the harvest. We love you, we appreciate you and we thank God for your lives.

We now set our sights on Cameroon where we will be in just three weeks. We are still believing God for the needed finances. Please consider helping us today.