Mombasa, Kenya 08 Report

In the past Kenya has been considered one of the most stable of the nations of Africa, but in the latter part of 2007 and the early months of 2008 violence erupted in this normally peaceful country. Tribal antagonisms came bursting to the surface as a result of a contested election and Kenya experienced one of the most painful periods of its history. Peace has been restored, but the many of the Kenyans are still mourning over the lost of loved ones, homes, and property.

 Our meetings in Mombasa, Kenya were held in a neighborhood comprised mostly of Muslims. As one of our sponsoring pastors put it, “I figured if we could hold a successful meeting here, we could have successful meetings anywhere in Mombasa.” Previously many attempts at Christian evangelism in this neighborhood had met with great difficulties. Often they were only able to gather a handful of people to the meetings, and in some cases Muslims had attacked them and forced them to shut down.

 One of the advantages we had in these meetings was the fact that my Kenya based SOGM-Africa team has been gaining considerable experience and skill in organizing meetings over the years, and in doing these meetings in Kenya they had the home-court advantage. They had been working and praying diligently months before the crusade took place and as I ministered I could soon see that their efforts had paid off in a wonderful way.

 We had over one hundred attendees at our pastors and church leaders’ conference. As usual I divided the ministry into two parts, teaching on the return of Jesus Christ and the principles of effective ministry. And as always happens the pastors were excited and challenged by the messages dealing with coming of Christ. However we did get a response from my teaching on the restoration of Israel that we did not expect, one that could have ended up tragically. It seems one or more of the Muslims living near the church could hear my teachings as the loudspeakers carried the sound into their nearby homes. As they heard me teaching on God’s protection and restoration of Israel they became upset. Many, if not most Muslims have two nations they especially hate: Israel and the United States. For them to hear an American saying positive things about Israel, and describing how God protected the Jews from attacks by their Arab neighbors didn’t sit too well with them. We learned that many of them got together and were planning to storm the meetings but one of their local leaders convinced them to leave us alone. Praise God for His protective grace!

 During the evening crusade meetings we saw the crowds increasing as the days went on. The first night we had only several hundred, which was a bit disappointing until I learned that in this area this was a major breakthrough. But by the last couple of nights we were seeing around 1,500 people coming out to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. A significant number of these folks were Muslims. On the first couple of nights they would come for the music and then leave as I began to preach, but toward the last few days they were staying for the preaching as well. Many of the Muslims living near the grounds would not dare to come and stand or sit with the crowd in front of the platform, and be seen attending a Christian event, but they sat leaning up against the houses and watched and listened. Because our sound system was a good one, the message carried well beyond the crusade grounds and would have been heard by many even as they sat in their houses.

 Despite the history of this Muslim neighborhood not tolerating Christian events, we had no trouble whatsoever. I suspect one reason was that the attendance was so large they were intimidated about attempting a violent attack on such a large crowd of people. On one night the Holy Spirit led me to preach a sermon aimed straight at the Muslims. Though I did not call their religion by name, I addressed a Christian concept that I knew would be alien to Muslim thought. I taught on Jesus’ revelation of God as a loving, kind, and providing Heavenly Father. The Muslim view of God is so much harsher, I knew that the Holy Spirit could take this message and touch the hearts of the Muslims with the knowledge of the goodness of God. As I preached that message on the love and kindness of the Heavenly Father, I sensed a much stronger anointing than any of the previous messages. It seems the Holy Spirit was eager to impress upon the Muslims this aspect of God, and to draw them, through Jesus Christ, out of the darkness of their false religion, to the true knowledge of God as it is revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 One of the crusade nights was dedicated to the reality of heaven. While it seems you rarely hear sermons on heaven in the United States, I find that simple messages on heaven, with a little information about the alternative, are a powerful means of drawing people unto Christ, as well as encouraging the believers. My wife, Benedicta, was with me during these meetings, and she was able to add a lot to this service as she shared her testimony. Some years earlier Benedicta died and was given a brief glimpse of heaven. Her life’s work was obviously not complete, as the Lord then sent her back to earth with instructions to tell what she had seen. Her testimony made a powerful impact on the hearers. I then followed up her testimony with a sermon on heaven.

 Before coming to Kenya I felt a strong burden in the area of healing and prayed much the same way the disciples prayed in the book of Acts: “Lord stretch forth your hand to heal, and grant that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” Each night I taught a brief lesson on healing from the Scriptures and then laid hands on the sick. Again and again we heard reports of people receiving instant relief. But more exciting still were the reports we heard from the churches on Sunday morning as people that were healed gave testimony in the church services. One man who had constant rashes and oozing on his legs received complete healing and deliverance. At the church where I spoke on Sunday we had a woman testify who had been both saved and healed at the crusade. She had lived with chest pains for years. These pains were so severe that she could hardly bring herself to move or roll over when she went to bed. She would just lie in the same uncomfortable position rather than experience the pain of moving her body. But after being prayed for at the crusade she went home and got a good night’s sleep being completely free from all chest pain.

 I freely confess that healing is a mystery to me. I don’t know just how the Lord heals, or why some are healed and others not. But I do know this, that when we lift up Jesus the Healer, and encourage people to look to Him for the physical healing of their bodies, some people get healed. And I also know that the Scriptures are filled with examples of healing and verses that reveal God as a healing God. I am convinced that these people who were healed are going to be a powerful testimony to the love and gospel of Jesus Christ as they go around sharing their stories in their Muslim neighborhood.

 The greatest and most satisfying evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in crusade evangelism is when we hear reports from churches of new converts that came to church as a result of the crusade meetings. In the small church I attended on Sunday morning, a church of about fifty people, there were eight visitors there that day that testified of giving their hearts to Jesus in the crusade. Reports like this were given in other local churches as well!

 Thank you for your support of SOGM, both in prayers and in your financial gifts. Despite the jittery economy in the U. S. these days, the work of evangelism must go on. Our Lord has told us that when we make His priorities our priorities, He will see that we have all we need. Seeking first God’s kingdom is a command that is never rescinded, and is always the best investment of all. There are no stock market crashes in the kingdom of God. With God’s Spirit upon us and His promises on our lips we will go forward. We will tell the Muslims and the atheists, the Hindus and the secularist the old, old story of God’s love in Christ Jesus.