As I write this, I have just begun my 3-day journey back home. I am in Sri Lanka, the island nation that sits to the southeast of India in the Indian Ocean. It is no easy place to get to (partially why it will take me 3 days to get home), and most of this country is steeped in false religion. Sri Lanka is a Buddhist nation, but we conducted our Gospel crusade in a predominantly Hindu area. All across the island, I saw either a Hindu temple or a Buddhist temple. This country has been ruled by the devil for thousands of years. The devil was not happy that I was there.
We experienced lots of demonic opposition. The devil was not going to lose his territory easily. In fact, even now, as I write this, we have been stalled for more than an hour because of a flat tire. On multiple occasions our vehicle was almost engaged in bad car accidents. The truck carrying our sound equipment for the crusade was engaged in a bad car accident (thankfully no lives were lost). Although we had received governmental permission to hold the crusade months before, the local authorities refused to give us permission…up until the day before the crusade. Each night we had demons manifest at the crusade. It was clear that the devil was not happy that we were there; and he was right to be upset, for we did great damage to his kingdom this week.
We saw thousands of people attend the crusade, each night bigger than the one before. Hindus and Buddhists left the only religion that their families—for thousands of years—had ever known, to follow our Savior. Every night the sick flooded the altars for prayer. On the final night, I laid hands on more than 1,000 people who wanted healing. Here are a few of those miracles:
· A young woman (19) testified that she had been born with partial deafness. For her whole life she had never been able to hear clearly. But on the second night of the crusade, the Lord completely opened her ears to hear!
· A woman had had a massive tumor on her stomach for 8 months. She put her hand on the tumor, and when I prayed the prayer of healing, she felt the tumor disappear in her hand!
· On the final night of the crusade, a mother brought her daughter (9) on stage to testify that she was born paralyzed and had never walked. Her daughter’s bones and muscles were weak, but she walked with me across the stage!
The 65 pastors we trained at our Pastors Conference now begin the work of discipling all these new believers. Of course, the devil tried to stop our crusade, but he is no match for our God! Thank you for your prayers and support to help us reach the lost people of Sri Lanka for Jesus!
Evangelist Joshua Wagner