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Category: revival
How Ukraine became a missions hub for Russia
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Argentina: Faith flourishes behind bars
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17-year-old New Christian sparks Revival in South Africa
17-year-old New Christian sparks Revival in South Africa
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17-year-old Evangelist sparks Revival in South Africa
Renewal Journal – a chronicle of renewal and revival: www.renewaljournal.com
By Reinhard Bonnke, posted 9 December 2019 on YouTube.
I’ve been for 40 years in Africa – my very favourite continent. What I have seen God do in Nigeria defies all description. So mighty. So glorious. So fantastic.
When I was a young evangelist there, about 30 or 31 years of age, I was in what they then called the Northern Transvaal of South Africa.
I had a crusade there. It was a small crowd, there were only 8,000 people, and it was in an open field of elephant grass – it’s as tall as an elephant. We had our open space. There was no road. I had to drive my car through that elephant grass to arrive.
I just had preached. I just had led a few thousand people to the Lord. We saw mighty miracles of God.
I still wanted to be alone a little bit. All had gone, and I was there. The generator was still running. I switched it off. It was a pitch-black night. No star in the sky, no moon, no nothing. I could hardly see where my car was.
I saw it then, got in, switched the lights on, and drove away through that high grass.
Suddenly there was a young man in front of me and he flagged me down. I stopped the car. I pulled the window down. I said to him, “Is there something wrong?”
H came and said, “No, there’s nothing wrong, but I knew you would pass here. I found Jesus as my Saviour in this crusade, and I knew you would come past here, and that I would meet you here, because I want to receive the Holy Spirit!”
I said, “What is your name?”
He said, “My name is David.”
I said, “How old are you?”
He said, “I’m 17 years of age.”
It touched me so much. I got out of the car and left all the lights on so that I could see what I was doing, laid my hands on him, and that moment it was as if lightning struck him. That was electricity. He was bending backwards, forwards, and burst out in new tongues. It was absolutely wonderful, something I had witnessed already so often, so often.
He said, “Thank you very much. I’m now going to my home village.”
And I went to the home of the people with whom I was staying.
Now here’s the point – 4 weeks later back at home I hear people saying there is a revival in Northern Transvaal.
I said, “Who’s the preacher?”
They said, “You will not believe it but it’s just a boy! Mighty miracles are happening through that boy.”
I said, “What’s his name?”
They said, “His name is David.”
I was preaching in another area. Then I already had a trailer and this time I also had a tent that could hold 10,000 people. And one afternoon there was a knock on my door. I opened. He said to me, “Sir, do you remember me. I’m David.”
I said, “Yes. I remember you very well.”
He said, “I’ve come to tell you what happened when I left you that night.”
He said, “Early in the morning, at the crack of day, at dawn, I approached my home village. And then I saw a mother.” That was a very polite word, courtesy, among the Africans there.
“A mother came towards me and she carried her child, and the child was crying, wailing, whimpering.” He said, “I knew that mother and I knew that the week before she had lost her first child to a fever. Now the second child was just as feverish.”
He said, “Suddenly, the love of God gripped me! And although by our custom I could not have spoken with her, I approached her and I said ‘Mother, can I pray for your child?’ And she said, ‘Anything. Yes, of course!’”
He said, “I prayed for that child.”
Immediately the child stopped crying and said “I’m hungry Mum. I’m hungry.” The kid was totally healed.
The mother was so happy she ran to the chief and said, “Chief, you know how I buried my first child. My second was just about to die when David prayed for my child and he is now completely well.”
The chief said, “What! I have a daughter who’s very sick. She was born a cripple. I have seen the best doctors in South Africa and nobody was able to help her. Call David, to pray for my daughter.”
He said he was called and went to that chief’s house. And the chief said to him, “There in that hut is my daughter. She’s never walked. Go in that hut and pray for her that your Jesus will heal my daughter.”
He said, “I went into that hut and when my eyes got used to the darkness I saw the girl.”
He said, “She had twisted legs, completely twisted, like spaghetti, you know.” And there she was.
He said, “I spoke to her about Jesus. I laid hands on her, and when I started to pray, suddenly,” he said, “we heard cracking noises.”
He said, “And suddenly we realised the bones were straightening.”
He said, “The chief waited outside and his daughter walked out. For the first time in her life she walked and the chief was screaming. Everybody was screaming.”
And the chief said, “David, for the next 10 days you are going to preach here to all my people.”
You know, in Africa when the chief speaks you’d better obey. And people came from all over.
He said, “They came from all over! And I preached every day for 10 days.”
I said, “David, you told me you just got saved in my meeting. What on earth did you preach?”
He said to me, “Maruti, I preached every sermon of yours!”
I said, “Hallelujah! Then you have preached the Gospel.”
People got saved. Pastors moved in and baptised those people in water. This is what God can do.
Clear the decks. God has something great for you in mind.
Open the window and shoot in Jesus’ name.
See also
Reinhard Bonnke’s beginnings in Africa
Reinhard Bonnke 1940-2019 – Legacy of Harvest
Reinhard Bonnke’s final crusade in Africa
GENERAL BLOGS INDEX
BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)
BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)
BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)
BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)
BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)
BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)
BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)
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17-year-old Evangelist sparks Revival in South Africa
Over 100,000 Renewal Journal views annually.
Seeds of Revival in Afghanistan
Seeds of Revival in Afghanistan
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Over 100,000 Renewal Journal views in 2020.
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Over 100,000 Renewal Journal views in 2020.
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Seeds of Revival in Afghanistan – https://renewaljournal.com/2021/11/21/seeds-of-revival-in-afghanistan/
Afghanistan: Children ask “Where does Jesus live?”
Renewal Journal – a chronicle of renewal and revival: www.renewaljournal.com
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Afghanistan: Children ask “Where does Jesus live?”
Renewal Journal – a chronicle of renewal and revival: www.renewaljournal.com
FREE SUBSCRIPTION for new Blogs and free offers
As the new Taliban government tightens its grip on Afghanistan, people there plainly see the darkness of Islam and they’re running toward the light of the gospel. “As Job says, in the book of Job he says, ‘When a man is in a heap on the ground, he stretches out his hand to God,’ so it’s in the midst of the desperation that souls are hungry, and so it’s a moment of opportunity,” Joel Richardson, with Global Catalytic Ministries (GCM), tells CBN News. Richardson says history proves that oppressive Islamic governance leads to revival in the Church. “Iran has the fastest growing Church in the world. Seven years after the ISIS blitzkrieg, there’s a revival in northern Syria…the establishment of Islamic government provides ripe soil for the Church to grow,” Richardson explained. The Church in Afghanistan is determined to do the same.
“They’re still actively meeting, studying the scriptures together and sharing the gospel. We actually have a report from one of our leaders who has been sharing the gospel with Taliban members that came into their village and they’ve actually be engaging in Bible studies and prayer,” said Richardson. While it’s often the sensational reports that make headlines, like a recent one that falsely claimed the underground Church there had all been martyred, or others that spotlight only heroic action, Richardson says Afghanistan’s Christians are just real people choosing to live out their Christian faith. “They say they’re scared. Many of them are in despair, but it’s in that weakness that they’re still pushing forward and they’re finding sweetness in all of it,” he said.
One Afghan Christian recently reported back to GCM: “There is pain and joy right now. God hasn’t left. There is no need to fear what the Taliban is doing. Bad things may happen to us, but God will do something and glorify his name.” Richardson worries this could be the calm before the storm, but he says Christians there have submitted themselves to the will of God, come what may. “They’ve given their future, their fate, over to the will of God, knowing that it could result in martyrdom. They understand that very clearly, yet they’re pushing forward regardless,” he said. The biggest prayer request right now is for divine protection. To be hidden from those who seek to do them harm, as they continue to go out and make disciples of men. That is the wish of the Afghan Church.
Source: CBNNews
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Afghanistan: Children ask “Where does Jesus live?”
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Miraculous Movements
Miraculous Movements.
Amazing accounts of God changing people – personally and communally.
From Miraculous Movements by Jerry Trousdale (2012).
From the INTRODUCTION – overview;
From CHAPTER 1 – a typical story.
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An excerpt from Miraculous Movements by Jerry Trousdale
INTRODUCTION
Miraculous movements are sweeping through some parts of the Muslim world today. The Spirit of God is moving in a powerful way — indeed, in a way that we think is unprecedented — as hundreds of thousands of Muslims are turning their lives over to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Former sheikhs and imams; men who bombed Christian churches and mercilessly persecuted the followers of Christ; ordinary men and women who have followed the teachings of Islam their entire lives — these and many others are finding the truth of eternal life through Jesus Christ, and the number increases every day.
Many of these Muslim people come to God’s Word by dramatic means, through dreams and visions, or as a result of seeing miracles, for men and women are being healed of physical disabilities and addictions, bands of hardened rebels are voluntarily laying down their arms, and thousands are seeing the power of God’s Spirit in their lives. You will read some of these stories in this book, and you will see that what God is doing among Muslims today is indeed unprecedented.
It is not easy to be a Muslim today. If Christians can begin to engage Muslims beyond the headlines of burkas and bombs, we will discover hundreds of millions of disheartened and discouraged people. Muslims’ lives are too often bounded by desolation and broken walls, but today many of them are desperate to discover people who love them, a God who loves them, and hope for the future.
We know this because we have observed up close thousands of new churches planted among Muslims; we have met these courageous people and heard their stories. You are about to meet some of them as well. Their lives will illustrate for you a marvellous picture of what transformation looks like among new Muslim-background Christ-followers. Reading their stories is a paradigm-altering experience, which is precisely what we Christians need in order to believe that this is possible and to make it happen.
When Jesus looked upon the lost people in first-century Palestine, “He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd” (Matthew 9: 36). And then He proclaimed something remarkable: these lost souls were a “plentiful harvest” that only lacked harvesters. Therefore, it is tragic when Christians look at Muslims, not with compassion, but with a default to fear, anger, and rejection.
If Christians were to be highly intentional about approaching Islam in a way that is inviting and attractive, without compromise, staying as consistently biblical as possible, here are some of the characteristics that we should expect to see:
* That approach would demonstrate the compassion and love that Jesus has for individual Muslims.
* It would be grounded in much prayer.
* It would depend on Muslims discovering God in the Bible and faithfully obeying His Word.
* It would be grounded in making disciples who make disciples, and churches that plant churches.
* It would be achieved by the efforts of very ordinary people participating in an extraordinary harvest.
* It would expect the miraculous favour of God to reproduce transformed people who are transforming whole societies.
And what would reproduction and transformation look like in Muslim countries? It would look like Muslim-background Christ-followers proving their discipleship by bearing much fruit. And when disciples multiply and obey, things change!
CityTeam and our partner organizations are seeing changes as increasing numbers of churches are being planted among Muslims in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, but our longest and deepest involvement with Islamic regions has been in Africa. Therefore, over the last seven years, for us and for a few hundred African ministries with whom we partner, the changes among African Muslim peoples has resulted in the following:
* more than six thousand new churches have been planted among Muslims in eighteen different countries;
* hundreds of former sheikhs and imams, now Christ-followers, are boldly leading great movements of Muslims out of Islam;
* forty-five different “unreached” Muslim-majority people groups, who a few years ago had no access to God’s Word, now have more than three thousand new churches among them;
* thousands of former Muslims are experiencing the loss of possessions, homes, and loved ones, but they are continuing to serve Jesus; * multiple Muslim communities, seeing the dramatic changes in nearby communities, are insisting that someone must bring these changes to their community also; and
* more than 350 different ministries are working together to achieve these outcomes.
DISCIPLE MAKING MOVEMENTS
Throughout this book, we will use the term “Disciple Making Movements” to describe what we see God doing to spread His gospel worldwide. In recent years, we have concluded that “disciple making” is a more accurate term than “church planting” to describe the core biblical principles at work in these rapidly multiplying movements. …
In a nutshell, Disciple Making Movements spread the gospel by making disciples who learn to obey the Word of God and quickly make other disciples, who then repeat the process. This results in many new churches being planted, frequently in regions that were previously very hostile to Christianity. All the principles that we are seeing at work are clearly outlined — indeed, commanded — in the pages of Scripture.
As we examine each of these principles, we will use terms that might not be familiar to the average reader, such as “Discovery Bible Study” or “person of peace.” … It is not our desire to create a new set of buzzwords and jargon to be bandied about in discussions of missiology, but merely to find easy ways to express important biblical concepts that are at the heart of what God is doing among Muslims today.
GOD’S STORY
This is God’s story, a testimony to the blessings that are “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3: 20), the movements of God’s Spirit that have made these first years of the twenty-first century “miraculous.” It is also the story of many brave men and women who, even this day, are taking God’s story to one more Muslim community, often at significant personal risk. And for those who have endured great suffering for the gospel, and especially for those who have given their lives in recent years for the sake of the gospel, this is also their story. It is our great privilege to share it with you.
CHAPTER 1: UNPRECEDENTED!
You must come back to this area! A tidal wave has come! Muslims are coming to Christ in a flood. Come and help us. — plea from a former regional Muslim leader who had become a church planter
THE SHEIKH’S DREAM
Sheikh Hanif’s dream was very curious indeed, both over-whelming and hopeful. It was not at all like the frightening and troubling nightmares that he had sometimes known. No, this was very different, and there was little time to reflect on this dream. It required immediate action because, according to the dream, something important would happen today, something that required him to be in place before first light.
Hanif was a seasoned Muslim leader. Like his father before him, he had studied the Qur’an for years. One of Hanif’s superiors had observed Hanif’s people skills, which had resulted in his being recruited to organize Muslim communities and launch new mosques. For eight years, he had done this with excellence. For his community, Hanif was the voice and character of Islam, a decent man who represented what it meant to be a good Muslim.
But there was one thing that no one else could ever know. Hanif’s commitment to Islam was genuine, but there was a deep void in his soul that Islam had never really satisfied. He longed for certainty regarding his status with God. He struggled to find answers or reasons for the violence inside his Islamic world. He grieved at the lack of compassion for suffering people. And he recognized that his religion did not allow him or the people he led to make choices for themselves, nor did it give them satisfying answers for the huge struggles of life. But this night, Hanif had awakened in the dark hours with a new hope burning inside: perhaps he was about to learn the answers to these questions!
It had been a dream like no other dream. In it, Hanif had encountered a very handsome and graceful man. The man addressed him by name, simply saying that he wanted Hanif to serve Him. But then came a warning: Hanif must learn to listen to Him, the man said. Surprised and shaken, Hanif asked, “Who are you?”
“I am Isa al Masih [the Qur’anic term for Jesus the Messiah],” the man answered, “and if you obey me, you will succeed in what you have longed for in your life.”
“What should I do?” Hanif asked.
Jesus showed him a tree standing alone atop a hill, a very busy road running beneath its branches. Hanif recognized the place, for it was well known to him and not too far from his home. Jesus then showed him the face of a man and said, “Go now, and wait under the tree by the road. Look for this man, for he is my servant. You will recognize him when you see him. Find him, for he will show you the true answers to all your questions about God.”
Hanif awoke from his dream, pondering his encounter with Jesus, still seeing the face of the man he was commanded to meet. He must not forget that face! In the press of crowds, he might only have a second to make the connection. Within an hour, the first glowing of the East African sky would begin, and the designated road would quickly fill with carts, livestock, and thousands of people with their loads, sometimes overflowing the road space beyond its shoulders and ditches. Finding the man in the midst of this chaos would be a genuine challenge.
Hanif dressed quickly and quietly, not bothering to pack food or water in his haste. He would have to try to outrun the sun to the exact place he was told to be so that he could be there to examine the face of every passing person. Hanif dared not tell his wife about this assignment. She might think that he was under a spell or becoming unstable. Or worse, she might even betray his intentions to the local Islamic council. And even if she was sympathetic, how could he explain that he was looking for a stranger who was being sent to answer all his important questions, deep questions that had tormented his soul?
How many years had he prayed daily, asking God seventeen times a day to show him the right way? But until this dream was given to him, he had feared that he would die without ever experiencing the right way of true peace and certainty. Of course, he had kept all the requirements of Islam — devotion to the Qur’an, leading the daily prayers — yet still he had no assurance of paradise, no enduring “salaam” (peace) inside. How many times over the years had he grieved when trusting Muslims asked him for help with the same issues he struggled with, or came asking how to find unity and love in broken families? How humiliating it was to give them the same answers of “more sharia” that had left him empty for years.
Hanif made his way to the appointed tree, sat down at its base, and waited. He waited and he watched; he sat and he scanned, searching every passing face. From time to time, a thrill would shoot up his spine: “That’s him! It’s . . . no . . . not him.” Time passed and people passed, and still Hanif waited.
In the late afternoon, several miles away, a man named Wafi was wondering if he would finally have a chance to get some sleep when he returned home the next morning. It had already been a full day, and there was still another hour of walking to get to the secluded place selected for this week’s all-night prayer meeting. Thankfully, the sunset winds so common in this part of Africa refreshed him and his companions. Today had been a good day, traveling on foot with the two promising young leaders whom he was currently mentoring, visiting new Christ followers in their homes. There was no better way of making disciples than this.
Wafi had developed an ability to find the people whom God had prepared and positioned to become bridges for bringing the good news of Jesus into a new town. For those who had the privilege of spending time with him, Wafi could always be counted on to model and mentor the disciplines of prayer, the processes for finding those “bridges” into a community, or the patience of overcoming trials. For Wafi, sharing, teaching, walking, praying, and enduring together were how Jesus discipled the Twelve, and it was the only way he knew to do the same.
Curiously, Wafi had recently had a strange dream, in which God had said to him, “I will give you a sheikh!” Wafi understood the dream to mean that God might have a plan to use him to disciple a shiekh who would perhaps become a bridge for taking the gospel to other Muslim leaders. But Wafi would have to wait to find out. That dream, however, was not in his mind as he and his two friends walked along the darkening road.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Hanif, still at his appointed place, was beginning to despair. He had not imagined that his dream-imparted task would take more than twelve hours of scanning innumerable faces, until the last light was growing dim in the western sky, matching his own fading hope. Then, in near darkness, there came a few more people on the now almost-empty road. He could barely discern three figures as the distance closed between them. And then, the one in the middle . . . yes! It was the face for which he waited!
It took a few minutes for the excited sheikh to convince Wafi that he meant him no harm, in spite of the intensity of his greeting. “My friend, understand! It is Isa al Masih himself that requires you to answer my questions tonight.” This seemed to Wafi like a heavy burden, to be met unexpectedly by a stranger and told, “You must answer all my questions . . . tonight!” But the man was unwilling to meet at a later date; he had waited all day — actually, many years — for answers to life-and-death questions, and he was not inclined to wait any longer. And Wafi could not pass up the chance to share the good news of Christ with this man who was so hungry to hear. (Strangely, it was not until much later that he made the connection between Hanif and his dream of God sending him an influential sheikh.)
Finally, Wafi suggested that they go quietly to Hanif’s house where they could have privacy to talk more in depth. There they found a stunned wife who understandably had more than a few concerns about what was happening in her family. But within days, she and her husband had both experienced what true freedom in Jesus Christ means, especially for those who had lived for so long with dark uncertainty and discouragement.
***
Since that time, Hanif has been well discipled in God’s Word, and in turn he has discipled two new leaders who are now planting churches in another area of his country. He has also felt the Lord calling him to an even more challenging Muslim area, where he has planted seven churches. And he loves to tell this story with much joy. The very good news is that every day, hundreds of stories like Hanif’s are happening throughout the Muslim world. Trousdale, Jerry. Miraculous Movements (pp. 13-23). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition Kindle edition
Added to BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)
See also
Sheikh sent to assassinate pastor, converted
Hope in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison
Egypt opening to the Gospel amid persecution
Iraq: Muslim from Ninevah discovered the Bible’s magnetism
Muslim Woman returns from the dead to tell about Jesus
Iran – fastest-growing evangelical population
GENERAL BLOGS INDEX
BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)
BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)
BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)
BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)
BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)
BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)
BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)
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Miraculous Movements
https://renewaljournal.com/2021/10/03/miraculous-movements/
Filled to Overflowing
Filled to Overflowing
I spoke with the prayer, worship and production teams at Riverlife Church in Brisbane. Thanks for prayers in faith for them for a fresh anointing and empowering.
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Filled to Overflowing: https://renewaljournal.com/2021/09/29/filled-to-overflowing/
Here is some of the planned PowerPoint, which I didn’t get to use because other free-flowing prayer and sharing happened instead.
. 
Read and listen and respond
Pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17) Make your life a prayer (Passion Translation)
Jesus’ last promise
Filled to Overflowing: words used to describe this:
Jesus – Holy Spirit descended, baptize in the Holy Spirit (Luke 3)
Jerusalem – filled with the Spirit, I will pour out my Spirit (Acts 2)
Samaria – the Spirit fallen upon, received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8)
Damascus – be filled with the Spirit (Acts 9)
Caesarea – the Holy Spirit fell upon, was poured out (Acts 10)
Ephesus – receive the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit came upon (Acts 19)
20 Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you. 21 Now we offer up to God all the glorious praise that rises from every church in every generation through Jesus Christ—and all that will yet be manifest through time and eternity. Amen! (Ephesians 3:20-21 TPT)
Pacific mission teams praying at Kenmore Baptist Church
Scenes from a revival conference in the Solomon Islands:
national youth conference overflow crowds
Grant speaking to a youth conference of over 1,000 where most responded for prayer.
See Flashpoints of Revival PDF, chapter 7, for more details.
These Kariki Island youths led revival on their return home
EXTRA RESOURCES
Flashpoints of Revival – Blog
Revival Fires – Blog
Flashpoints of Revival – PDF
Inspiring 6-minute video clip: DO IT AGAIN LORD 
LORD WOULD YOU DO IT AGAIN – a prayer that is being answered now
Message on Jesus’ Last Promise
Dante’s Group sings at 38 minutes; Geoff Waugh preaches at 48 minutes
Geoff refers to the video ‘Do it again Lord’
Jesus’ Last Promise – Blog and Video – Pentecost You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon youBlog: God’s Promise: https://renewaljournal.com/2020/05/25/gods-promise/Blog: Jesus’ Last Promise: https://renewaljournal.com/2020/05/25/jesus-last-promise Photos from around 20 countries are in both blogs.
Podcast link: 21st-century revivals – Riverlife Church: Geoff & grandson Dante talk with staff about revivals they’ve seen
God’s Surprises – link to free PDF
Recent biographical revival accounts in 20 countries.
Use any of this blog in any way. An idea for your youth, home, or study group.
GENERAL BLOGS INDEX
BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)
BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)
BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)
BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)
BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)
BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)
BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)
BACK TO MAIN PAGE
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Filled to Overflowing: https://renewaljournal.com/2021/09/29/filled-to-overflowing/
Renewal Journal – God’s Surprises https://renewaljournal.com/2019/01/14/gods-surprises/
The Insanity of God- free online movie
The Insanity of God
With dramatic changes in Afghanistan, thousands of Christians in prison in China and North Korea, murders across North Africa, is God worth it? This free movie explores those stories dramatically.
Free online movie: The Insanity of God
A true story of faith and persecution
Inspiring articles, discounted books, free PDFs
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The Insanity of God:
https://renewaljournal.com/2021/08/21/the-insanity-of-god-free-online-movie/
Renewal Journal – a chronicle of renewal and revival: www.renewaljournal.com
The Insanity of God – book link
The Insanity of God is the personal and lifelong journey of an ordinary couple from rural Kentucky who thought they were going on just your ordinary missionary pilgrimage, but discovered it would be anything but. After spending over six hard years doing relief work in Somalia, and experiencing life where it looked like God had turned away completely and He was clueless about the tragedies of life, the couple had a crisis of faith and left Africa asking God, “Does the gospel work anywhere when it is really a hard place?
Nik recalls that, “God had always been so real to me, to Ruth, and to our boys. But was He enough, for the utter weariness of soul I experienced at that time, in that place, under those circumstances?” It is a question that many have asked and one that, if answered, can lead us to a whole new world of faith.
How does faith survive, let alone flourish in a place like the Middle East? How can Good truly overcome such evil? How do you maintain hope when all is darkness around you? How can we say “greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world” when it may not be visibly true in that place at that time? How does anyone live an abundant, victorious Christian life in our world’s toughest places? Can Christianity even work outside of Western, dressed-up, ordered nations? If so, how?
The Insanity of God tells a story—a remarkable and unique story to be sure, yet at heart a very human story—of the Ripkens’ own spiritual and emotional odyssey. The gripping, narrative account of a personal pilgrimage into some of the toughest places on earth, combined with sobering and insightful stories of the remarkable people of faith Nik and Ruth encountered on their journeys, will serve as a powerful course of revelation, growth, and challenge for anyone who wants to know whether God truly is enough.
See also:
Christian missionary tortured in prison led 40 to Christ
North Korea: Cherishing the book he once feared
North Korean believers meet underground
North Korea: The blessing of forced solitude with God
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GENERAL BLOGS INDEX
BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)
BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)
BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)
BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)
BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)
BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)
BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)
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Siberia: The light of Christ in the darkness of winter
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Dream led to stolen ‘golden bowl’ instrument and hidden tribe
Dream led to stolen ‘golden bowl’ instrument and hidden tribe
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Authors Index
God’s leading through an unusual dream and a miraculous meeting led to evangelizing a hidden tribe in the Philippines.
By Mark Ellis —
In 2013 Caleb Byerly woke up with a start and began to furiously write in his journal everything he saw in a rather unusual dream. For the previous five years, the small-town North Carolina resident had been engaged in mission outreach to indigenous people and tribal areas in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.
“In the dream, I was standing on top of this mountain. I was looking out across the mountain, and I saw a tribe of people,” he told The Unseen Story. Caleb and his wife, Gladys, live in Moravian Falls, a town of 1400 in the foothills of the Brushy Mountains.
He had never seen the tribe before, so he asked, “What tribe are you? What people are you?”
“We’re the Tinananon tribe,” they replied. Caleb had never heard of this people group and he began to carefully observe their actions in his dream.
A tribal chief walked forward carrying a musical instrument. Caleb happens to be an instrument maker by profession, so his eyes “zoomed in” to study the distinctive design of an instrument unlike anything he had ever seen before.
It had 30 strings going all the way around the top of a golden bowl, from the outside, crisscrossing in the middle of the instrument. “I suddenly got a full download of everything about this instrument, what dimensions the instrument was, what material it was made out of, even like how it was tuned and how it was played. After that, I kind of zoomed back out.
“This tribal chief, he took the instrument and he put it on the table. He took two small sticks, and he began to play this instrument. As he played the whole tribe started to dance and they started to worship. This kind of sound of worship just filled the place. It was as if heaven and earth just collided. After that I woke up from the dream.”
God has spoken to Caleb through dreams previously, so he meticulously recorded in his journal the name of the Tinananon tribe. He made detailed drawings of the bowl, its dimensions and materials, a wooden ring that goes around the bowl, the strings connected by wooden pegs, and the two sticks used to play the instrument.
“I feel like when God speaks to you, it’s an invitation to partner and walk with God. It’s not just God commanding you to do things or God just saying do this, do that. But it’s the Holy Spirit inviting you into some new journey that he’s calling you into, and it’s connected to you, it’s connected to your DNA and your calling. I really value that a lot. I really thought that this would be a really exciting thing to follow with the Lord.”
Caleb began to search online for any reference to a Tinananon people group but came up short. “I contacted different organizations like Wycliffe Bible Translators, and Summer Institute of Linguistics to see if they knew anything about this tribe. But everywhere I searched, I could not find that word. I tried the different spellings, but just couldn’t find anything there. So I kind of gave up on that.”
But as a professional instrument maker, he was intrigued by the idea of recreating the instrument he saw in the dream. “I’m gonna make this thing!” he decided. Even though he had not put metal and wood together in that way, he was up for the challenge.
“I got into my shop, and I just kept breaking this thing. I kept breaking things and snapping things. I could not figure out this one process. I got really frustrated. I was like, I’m just gonna put this thing to the side. I just couldn’t figure it out.
“So, I kind of gave up on the whole dream. I felt like I had done my part. I wasn’t getting anywhere. So I just kind of gave it up.”
Trip to the Philippines
About six months later, he took a mission trip to the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, an area where he had previously been involved in ministry.
“I was on a Jeepney, which is like a public transportation. There was this man that was sitting on the other side of me. I could tell this guy was staring at me. I was like, what’s this guy doing? Every time that I would look at him, he would like look away.”
Caleb knows the national language of the Philippines, Tagalog, so he spoke to the man. “As I was talking to him, it turns out that he’s a believer! So we’re chatting and then right in the middle of our conversation, I heard the Lord speak to me. It wasn’t an audible voice or anything. It was just felt.”
The Lord spoke to Caleb’s heart and said, I want you to ask that man about the Tinananon.
Inside, Caleb resisted. No, I’m not going to ask this man about the Tinananon, he thought. I’ve already tried to do all my research.
A second time the Lord nudged his heart, Ask this man about the Tinananon.
Caleb built up his courage and said meekly, “Sir, do you happen to know Tinananon?
As soon as he said he word Tinananon, the man’s eyes got really big.
He leaned in and said, “Hey, that’s my people — that’s my tribe! How do you know my people?”
Caleb was rendered speechless for a moment. “Tell me everything you know about your tribe.”
Manigos began to explain that his tribe lives in a deep mountainous region of Mindanao. “This area is a really dangerous place,” he said. “No one from outside goes to this place.” Manigos estimated his people group numbers between 70,000 and 100,000 people, scattered throughout the mountainous region in pockets.
Caleb invited Manigos to follow him to the place he was staying and showed him his journal entry with the word Tinananon.
Manigos began shaking his head, and tears streamed down his face.
He said, “Remember earlier on the bus, I kept looking at you.”
“Yes, what was that all about?”
“I kept looking at you, and the reason why is because I’ve seen you before…I just realized where I saw you, I also saw you in a dream.”
Manigos explained that was born in the Tinananon tribe. He left as a young man and went to Davao City, the largest city on the island of Mindanao, with 1.8 million people. He came to know Jesus while he lived in the city, then God called him back to his tribe through a dream.
In the dream, Manigos had gone back to evangelize his people – with Caleb! “He saw me in his dream,” Caleb said, “and I came and joined him. He and I began to minister and bring the good news of Jesus to his people.”
They were filled with wonder and awe at the way God brought them together. The two men stayed together for several days. “We all worshipped together and prayed together for a few days. Manigos invited Caleb to visit his tribe.
“Yeah, I would love to go to your tribe,” Caleb replied, “but I need to ask my wife first.” His wife, Gladys, was eight months pregnant at the time. Going on a potentially dangerous journey, immediately before the birth of their first child was a big decision they had to make.
After Caleb flew home to North Carolina, he and Gladys sought the Lord’s direction. “We felt like the Lord’s hand was on it,” he said. “And if the Lord showed this, up to this point, then He would continue to be with us. So I decided I was going to go, but I wanted to get back in the shop and try to make this instrument again.”
Caleb got very focused and asked the Holy Spirit to help him. “The Lord gave me wisdom, gave me insight on the process of what to do…with the help of the Holy Spirit and my wife, we were able to get it. I finally made this instrument!
He put the strings on it for the first time. “I tuned it up the way I heard it in the dream. I got the two little sticks. And I started to play it. It was that same sound, the same sound that I heard in the dream. And I was like, this is it. I was just really excited about it.”
Caleb bought a plane ticket and left the next day for the Philippines, taking the instrument with him.
He met a tribal friend named Ansulao and his new friend, Manigos, at the border of the mountain range closest to the tribe. “All three of us, we got on this one little motorbike. It was like 120 cc, a little motorbike.”
A large storm had passed through the steep, undeveloped mountainous area the day before. “It was really muddy, very hard to get through there. And then while we were on this motorbike, another storm came. I was trying to hold this instrument, and I couldn’t hold it to my left or my right, so I had to put it above my head.
“Imagine three people on a little motorcycle. I was holding this musical instrument above my head trying to balance.”
They came to a hanging bridge, which consisted of two ropes and primitive wood planks. They managed to get across the bridge and were going up a steep hill, when the motorbike popped its gear and went into neutral.
Suddenly they were flying backward, toward the cliff. The motorbike wheel hit a rock and all three men went flying. “Thank the Lord, we landed in this smooth, green patch of grass, just feet away from the cliff, the drop-off cliff!”
As they entered the area of the Tinananon tribal group, Caleb heard the still small voice of the Lord once more: Caleb, I want you to take the instrument to the chief.
They started asking about how to find the chief’s house, which they learned was another three and a half hours away, on the other side of the mountain.
By the time they reached the chief’s house it was almost evening. Mud covered their clothing as they approached a small wooden house and knocked on the door.
When the chief opened the door he had a shocked expression on his face – especially to see an American in this remote area.
“We are, I am coming to your tribe for the first time,” Caleb said. “I just wanted to give this as a gift to you,” he said, holding the instrument in his outstretched arms, covered by a blanket.
The chief placed the instrument on a table and took the blanket off of it. “He saw this instrument and he started staring at it. He kept looking at this instrument over and over again. He kept asking me, ‘Where did you get this instrument from?”
“Well, I just kind of made it,” Caleb replied.
“No, no, I’m serious. Where did you get this instrument from?”
“Well, if you really want to know. Last year, I had this dream. In the dream I heard the name of your tribe, the Tinananon, for the first time. I’d never heard that word before. I also saw this musical instrument in the dream. I felt like my God has given this dream to me.
“After that I met this man, Manigos, who is from your tribe, and he helped me lead me to your house today. I was able to make this instrument. I just felt like I wanted to give this instrument to you today.”
The chief continued shaking his head in disbelief, examining the instrument carefully, asking questions about it. He summoned other leaders from the Tinananon tribe and they walked around it incredulously, pointing at it, saying “Salimbaa.”
“They have their own native tongue,” Caleb notes. “And I don’t totally understand their language. So I was pretty lost about what they were talking about.”
Finally, the chief motioned to them and said, “I need to show you something.” They left his house and went down a small pathway over to another structure.
“They call the house Paluvaran, which means House of Prayer in their language. This is the place where they worship. But it’s also sort of a storehouse of all their kind of ancient articles of their tribes. They have pottery work, metalwork, weaving, all these different things that are tangible evidence that their tribe has been living and existing for hundreds of years.
“I was amazed by this place. They had all these musical instruments on the side of the wall.” As a professional instrument maker, Caleb found it fascinating, incredible.
The chief informed him there were different musical instruments for each of their gods. “They have the god of the tree, the god of the stone, god of the river. And they’re not necessarily gods, but they believe that the one true God or the Creator has sent down angels to guard these different things like the angel of the river, the angel of the stone.
“Instead of praying and worshiping directly to God, they pray and worship to these different angels; the angels would be the ones to connect them to God. And so it’s a little bit different, but it’s not completely like they believe in many different gods, they believe in the one true God.”
Caleb noticed there was one spot that was empty on the wall between the other instruments. “They said that somewhere between 100 and 150 years ago, there was a tribal war. During this war, their most valuable musical instrument that worshiped the God of all gods was taken away from them.”
In response, they lamented for a time and created a song that goes something like this:
The Salimbaa was taken away from us,
God is going to redeem it back to us one day.
“It was a prophecy. This instrument is the instrument that worships the God of all gods. They said, ‘Today, you brought the Salimbaa to us!’”
Caleb was blown away. “Oh my goodness!” he exclaimed.
After that there was a small gathering of tribal leaders. “This is it! This is the Salimbaa!” they cried. Everyone knew what it was when they saw it and heard it played.
Caleb learned the Salimbaa’s golden bowl, with strings stretching from side to side around the bowl, that the convergence in the middle is the place where the Tinananon believe the Salimbaa connects heaven and earth.
“They said that, in the last time, in the last days, God is going to be coming down from heaven, and he’s going to call all the righteous people to him. When God comes down from heaven, God is going to be riding on the inside of the Salimbaa, as if the Salimbaa was an aircraft that connects heaven and earth.”
Their name for the God above all gods is Manama. “They started praying to Manama…and they dedicated this instrument back to God.”
As a sign of special honor, the chief placed a tribal leader’s headpiece on Caleb’s shoulder. “We now consider you a chief of the Tinananon tribe,” he said. “Whatever you believe God is calling us or leading us into, we’re going to follow you.”
Reeling from the whole experience, Caleb was humbled by the gesture. They stayed with the chief, Datu Lipatuan Suhat, for three days.
“There wasn’t a lot that manifested with him giving his life to Jesus,” Caleb told God Reports. “I did pray with him a lot and prophesied over him. But after we left, we didn’t return for a few months, but during that time, within a month or two, the chief had an encounter with Jesus, and the Lord spoke to him and he wrote everything out. That is when he gave his heart to Jesus.”
On the second visit, Caleb asked Chief Suhat how he could help the tribe.
“Well, if you can help us with one thing, I want you to help us translate the Bible into our language.”
In January 2015, Caleb arranged for Translators Association of the Philippines to meet with all 50 chiefs of the Tinananon tribe.
“Some of the chiefs didn’t want the Bible to be translated and others did,” Caleb told God Reports. “There was tension in the room. None of us as foreigners felt led to speak up. The chief came up to the front and opened up the Cebuano Bible, from Genesis.”
Caleb learned the Tinananon believe that God came down and took the soil of Mindanao and put it in his hands and blew on it and that is when the first man came alive.
“We believe God made man from his breath,” Chief Suhat said, “by taking the dust of the earth and breathing on it.”
Chief Suhat proceeded to read the biblical account of the creation of man:
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)
Then the chief paused, set the Bible down, and said: “It’s only the first few pages, imagine what it would be to have the whole Bible translated.”
The other chiefs nodded their heads in agreement. “That’s true,” they said, and all 50 agreed to let the translators begin their project.
Chief Suhat passed away in 2015, shortly after the translation process began.
Since then, there have been four churches planted among the Tinananon. “It’s just amazing, the open doors that the chiefs have given us for this tribe,” Caleb says.
“It was mostly through Manigos,” he adds. “He could speak the language and knew the culture. He has such a heart for his people. He has a God-given call to his people.
“Last year (2019) we went and visited the tribe and he had taken this small group of people on fire for the Lord and it’s grown to hundreds of believers there now.”
Could God connect an instrument maker living in Moravian Falls, North Carolina with an unreached tribe in the Philippines through a dream?
In 1727 the Moravian Church established a continuous prayer movement that ran uninterrupted, 24 hours a day, for 100 years. Moravian missionaries were part of launching the first large-scale Protestant missionary movement, beginning in 1732.
Did God touch Caleb and Manigos in response to the Moravians’ prayers?
“I felt like the Lord had arranged everything,” Caleb says, “in such a perfect way of organizing everything, just perfect timing. It was such an amazing series of events that took place that I couldn’t take any kind of claim for it.
“The best way I could explain is I was right there in the middle of the journey with God. I felt like He was there in the moment. I was like, yeah, this is Him. This is Him, this is what He did.
Caleb and Gladys Byerly are the founders of Evergreen Missions. Their focus is to partner with God in bringing His kingdom to the Earth. Caleb and Gladys focus mostly on mentoring and discipling indigenous leaders, who will go to their own people and bring them life from Christ Jesus. To learn more, go here
Adam Fish and his wife Brooke started The Unseen Story, which features firsthand accounts that reveal the reality of God’s love. Their interview/podcast with Caleb Byerly, along with many other great stories may be found here
GENERAL BLOGS INDEX
BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)
BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)
BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)
BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)
BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)
BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)
BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)
BACK TO MAIN PAGE
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Dream led to stolen ‘golden bowl’ instrument and hidden tribe:
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