Lagos, Nigeria
Friday, November 14, 2008
Dear Brethen and Partners in the Great Commission,
I am now in Lagos, the largest city in Nigeria. The Training is hosted by Pastor Anyanka, who along with her husband lead a ministry in a poorer area of Lagos right on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. When I was first driven into their complex yesterday morning, I thought we were driving through a garbage dump. When I asked about it, Mr. Anyanka told me that they purposely use the garbage to raise the level of the driveway so that it will not be flooded by the Atlantic.
The meeting was scheduled to begin at 9 AM, but it was almost noon by the time we got underway. When ministering in Africa, an American is forced to be extremely flexible in the face of unfamiliar circumstances and unexpected situations. (Please pray for me in that regard!)
It was a delight to train the servants of God. In this area of Lagos—and perhaps more generally in Africa where people already believe in the reality of the supernatural through the existence of witchcraft, idolatry, and ancestor worship—I was told that the attitude of the people is “seeing is believing.” They demand to see the visible power of God before they will believe in Him. But the Church here is weak in the area of producing such demonstrations of God’s existence. There is a lot of shouting and stirring up of emotions in church services, but little visible demonstration of God’s power in terms of healing the sick and casting out demons.
Thus the servants of God were extremely attentive as they absorbed the teaching from Scripture. I showed them the clear difference between pentecostal/charismatic tradition regarding healing and how Jesus and his disciples healed the sick. They could see it for themselves from Scripture. But the real clincher was the demonstration of healing at the end of the first session. As the servants of God laid hands on the infirm, they testified they were healed. In particular, there were two men who came forward with “moving objects” in their bodies. One in particular was in obvious pain and discomfort as he struggled to the front. These moving objects are generally caused by demons, perhaps sent through a curse invoked by a sorcerer.
Three brothers laid hands on him and sharply rebuked the demons and pain and commanded them to go in the name of Jesus Christ. The moving objects disappeared as well as the pain. Everyone rejoiced witnessing the miracle. And it was so surprisingly simple…and in accordance with Scripture! Rarely do I see servants of God so appreciative of the teaching as I do in Nigeria. They are determined to use this talent which the Lord has entrusted to them.
In the open-air Crusade later in the evening, the servants of God were lined up at the front ready for war after the gospel had been presented to the people. The people with infirmities came forward. The brethren laid hands on them and made short work of the infirmities and demons. In a few minutes, there was a line of people snaking up to the platform waiting their turn to testify what the Lord had done for them. The very last testimony came from a sister who testified that she had been experiencing problems with her memory and with intellectual tasks. She reported excitedly and convincingly that the Lord had restored her mind and memory!
By healing the sick through His disciples, Jesus proved that He had authority to forgive sin and to save from condemnation in hell.
After testimonies I gave the microphone to our Africa Coordinator Emmanuel. He challenged the people to give their lives in Jesus. Fourteen people came forward and repented of their sins, putting their faith in Jesus.
Because of the miracles, there should be more people in attendance at tonight’s Crusade meeting. Brother Emmanuel will be preaching, and I am staying back in my hotel to rest after teaching earlier this morning.
Please pray that the Lord will water the seed I have planted, causing it bear fruit 100 times through the trained servants of God and Elijah Challenge Coordinators. Pray that the Lord will graciously use his servants to do greater works later this evening at the Crusade to bring more people into the Kingdom of God.
I have three more meetings left on this trip—a final Training session tomorrow morning, an open-air Crusade in the evening, and a Sunday morning service at Rev. Anyanka’s church.
Thank you again for partnering with us, dear ones.
Sincerely in Christ,
William
This entry was posted on Friday, November 14th, 2008 at 4:47 pm and is filed under Elijah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.