If one is not careful, it is easy to watch the news, scroll through social media or talk with our friends and get the impression that there is nothing but evil happening in this world. Certainly, there is a lot of evil and bad news seems to be all too common, but that is not the whole story. Today I have some good news to share with you. While the mainstream media may not report about it, God is on the move and doing fantastic things, and today I want to share with you what Jesus did at our most recent crusade in a least reached nation in Asia.
I recently returned from our crusade in South Asia. This is a country we have ministered in many times over the years, and we have seen Jesus do wonderful things, but this time we targeted an area of this country that is most hostile toward the Gospel. In the last few years, crusades have been shut down by the authorities in this state and persecution against Christians has steadily increased in the last few years. The city in which we held our crusade had never before had a crusade like this as evidenced by the fact that the city was less than 1% Christian. These are the types of places we desire to go with the Gospel because there is such a need for it there. This crusade was a great success, beginning with the fact that God granted us favor with the local authorities so that instead of shutting down our crusade, they actually came and attended the crusade at our request.
The miracles did not stop there either. We always plan our crusades around the raining seasons of the countries in which we minister because rain is about as detrimental to a crusade’s success as anything is. This crusade was planned months away from the raining season, but for the 10 days leading up to the crusade it had received unseasonal rain. In fact, the night I arrived (the night before our first night of the crusade) it was pouring rain. Our team had been fasting and praying for the rain to leave but for 10 days it had not ceased. But the morning of the first day of the crusade, the rain had left, and it did not rain the entire time we were ministering! Not only that, but the morning after our crusade had ended, the rain returned. God has supernaturally removed the rain for the time frame of our crusade!
Because of the approval of the authorities and the lack of rain, we had thousands of people attend each night of the crusade and the miracles there were outstanding! Here I will share just a few of the miracles that stood out to me:
There was a 37-year old woman (pictured above) who came up on stage with her father. At the age of 6 she had lost her ability to speak. For over 30 years she had been mute, unable to say anything. Her father was there to confirm all of this information. But that night she put her faith in Jesus and for the first time in over 3 decades, she began to speak. Her first word was one of praise: “Hallelujah!”
We saw many demon-possessed people who were set free at our crusade, including one man who had been possessed by a demon for 20 long years. Now, for the first time in 20 years he was in his right mind.
There was a woman who had broken her kneecap five years earlier, but she was unable to have it fixed. For 5 years she had been unable to walk properly because of this injury. When I pray for the sick, I ask them to place their hands on the part(s) of their body that need healing. She said that as she put her faith in Jesus, she could literally feel her bones move and pop back into place and she had no more pain and could walk perfectly.
One man had endured a car accident that had given him severe back pain so that he had to always wear a back brace. He came on stage and, in front of everyone, removed his back brace for all to see, joyfully declaring that all the pain had left him.
For 3 years a young boy had struggled with a stammering tongue so that he could not speak properly, but after prayer, he came on stage and with no stutter at all, publicly declared that Jesus had healed him.
These testimonies are so powerful and a real testimony to what only Jesus can do. What’s wonderful about these crusades, though, is that the ministry continues long after we leave. In fact, I just received a message from our crusade director notifying me of other testimonies that I had not heard until I returned home. I wanted to share two of them with you.
First, there was a woman who lived in a city 40 kilometers away from our crusade, but when she heard about it, she knew she needed to come because she needed a miracle. For 24 years she had been unable to speak. After the crusade, as she started her journey back to her hometown, she started to speak!
The second story is a woman who was unable to attend our crusade. She is the director of the School of Nursing at the hospital that was adjacent to our crusade location. She had been in a wheelchair for many years and her health was deteriorating so that she could not come to the crusade but had to lie in her bed in the hospital. And yet, because of the close proximity to our crusade, she was able to listen to my sermons over the loudspeakers. As she listened each night, her faith grew and there in her hospital bed, she put her faith in Jesus and now she can walk perfectly!
These miracles are so wonderful, and yet these physical miracles pale in comparison to the spiritual miracles that occurred as 5,000 people turned from Hinduism, Sikhism & Islam to Christianity and are now being discipled by the 300 pastors and leaders who were trained at our Pastor’s Conference. Truly, this crusade has revolutionized this city because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I want to thank you for your prayers and support that allow these sorts of testimonies to become a reality for so many people who desperately need it. And I want to ask you for you to prayerfully consider giving to our next crusade in rural Ethiopia later this month. We are only a few weeks away from this crusade but are still in need of $8,000 USD. If the Lord would put it on your heart, would you consider giving to this crusade that will reach the tribal people of Ethiopia with the Gospel? Here is a short video recapping our most recent crusade there. Thank you, in advance, for your prayers and support. Together, we are seeing Jesus do incredible things around the world. The Gospel is Good News!
For the King,
Joshua Wagner