Mar – 2007

March 01, 2007
RE:  PART II:  NIGERIA; A SPIRITUAL WONDERLAND.

Hi Friends.  I recently returned from an evangelistic trip to Nigeria.  This is a land of amazing spiritual wonders.  The spiritual history of the country is steeped in Satanism, voodoo, war, poverty, coos, over population, political corruption, spiritualism, witchcraft and religion over a period of thousands of years.  Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious field in the world and it is spreading like wildfire in Africa, S. Korea, South America and the underground churches in the middle east, China and N. Korea, etc.  In Nigeria it is driving out Islam and diminishing Roman Catholicism.

I went with a wonderful man of God named Francis Oviemnhuda who lives in Phoenix and is from Nigeria and holds crusades there twice a year. Repentance preacher Andrew Strom also came with us.  I have never worked harder and learned so much in such a short period of time as I did on this trip.  It was the hardest thing I have done in years and I lost 20 pounds in just over 2 weeks.  Francis is the hardest working Christian I have ever met and he spends most of his personal money to reach the lost there.  One of his team members named Abraham, works even harder.  This guy appeared super human.  All his team member were work horses.  His crusades are in the bush and reach people who can’t afford or do not have the means to get to the larger crusades.  It is trench spiritual warfare the likes of which I had never seen before.  Immense hardships.  Zero creature comforts.  It was so difficult that at one point Andrew Strom tried to go home but could not leave because there were not flights available.

There are some amazing ministries in Nigeria.  A man named Enoch Adeboye has built a 1000 acre compound outside Lagos that seats over a million people in his monthly services!  During the services thousands of miracles occur spontaneously.  It takes 8 hours to get from Lagos to the crusade due to the crushing crowds (about 40 miles).  He has started over 1000 churches in 30 countries (Redeemed Christian Church of God) and he will probably end up with the biggest ministry in the world (FOOTNOTE:  He finished  building the compound and it is now a full blow city.  His crusades now seat 2 million people per service; live).  A man named TB Joshua has a church in Lagos with 50,000 people attending each week. This man is the most controversial person in Africa.  Half of the Christians think he is of the devil and the other half, of God.  He has many whites and Asians attend his services and people flying in from all over the world to see him.  I don’t know if he is legitimate, however, the facts are these:  1. He has more dramatic miracles occur in his services than any known preacher in the world.  2.  He holds a number of strange doctrines that will never be accepted in mainstream Christianity.  3.  He holds many solid doctrines that are routinely agreed upon by Christians.  4.  He preaches Jesus.  5. He either has one of the most gifted healing ministries in history or he has the most powerful familiar spirits ever seen.  There is Reinhart Bonnke and a couple of other powerful evangelists that hold crusades where they preach to hundreds of thousands in each service!  To my surprise the insane “prosperity gospel” has hit Nigeria.  I was amazed.  All the billboards advertising the crusades mention ‘increase’, ‘prosperity’, ‘winners’, ‘signs/wonders/miracles’, etc.

Can you imagine preaching ‘prosperity’ to people living in shacks and mud huts?  The average Christian in Nigeria seems to be strong on praise and worship and singing but weak in the Word.  The country seems to need a massive teaching revival.  The first crusade we held in the bush had over 300 people attending.  After the preaching and to my utter amazement, nothing happened.  Not one person got saved or healed or delivered from demons at the altar call.  There seemed to be some kind of massive satanic oppression over the grounds.  The lights were attracting weird looking insects and praying mantis’ the size of small birds.  That evening, I sat on the side of my bed in my filthy hotel room exhausted, weeping and scared.  The demons were attacking me because they knew, that I knew, I was out of my league.  I looked up and saw a mutant wasp-like creature 4 inches long walking around in my dirty bathroom and there were cockroaches the size of baby shoes my room.  My sheets smelled like the sweat of someone else and the electricity and A/C went off (it does routinely in Nigeria) and I it was so dark that I could not see my hand in front of my face.  The next evening was my turn to preach and I decided I had nothing to lose.  When I got up to the podium I was heaving sweat, smelled awful, was exhausted and concerned but, I decided to go for broke and reach down for all my faith reserves.

I preached a 15 minute sermon on Eph. 1 regarding the believer’s glorious position in Christ.  I felt the anointing fall all over me.  I offered an altar call for everyone who was being tormented by demons or who was physically ill from evil spirits.  I then taught them, thru the interpreter, how to self-deliver from demons and sickness (PS. You can click the “self deliverance” button on my web site and do the same).  What happened next you would not have imagined.  About 80 men/women/children got hit by the Holy Ghost.  He swept thru the crowd!  I have never seen so much jumping, falling, writhing, yelling, crying, screaming, howling, jerking, shaking, spitting, etc. in my life.  Powerful demons I had never even heard of were manifesting and being expelled.  I ranted and rebuked them from the platform like I was on fire.  This wild scene went of for 40 minutes!  I saw black magic demons, marines spirits and dwarf demons manifesting.  The evangelistic team went thru the crowd casting demons out of the people. Bodies were flying thither and hither.  Some were suddenly healed of physical illnesses.  It even spread thru the grounds to the ones who did not come to the altar.  Later, praise and spiritual euphoria broke out in the camp.  I was shocked and happy and scared and exhausted all at the same time.  I never saw anything like it.  I used this mass deliverance technique 3 more times with similar results.  In one service I went into the crowd to lay hands on the people and they mobbed me.  It was mayhem.  They kept grabbing my hands and pulling them down on their heads.  All I saw was a sea of black faces of desperation for a touch from Father.  After the tribal crusades we went into Lagos.  I used the technique once.  It was wilder than the first time.  200 people all at once praying, rebuking, falling, crashing, yelling, spitting, rolling, vibrating and howling!  Wild hysteria broke out as the demons manifested and left.  This went on for 45 minutes!  After the group deliverance we held 3 healing lines.  As the people came up to me I had them open their mouths and lift their hands to heaven.  I would then grab them around the throat and rebuke the demons.  When the spirits would start manifesting I would swing the victim around into the arms of the crusade team and they would cast the demons out.  This went on for an hour. At one time a man with crazed eyes was in front of me.  I grabbed his throat and rebuked the spirit and told him to blow hard.  I whacked him across the chest and he fell into a trance!  I handed him over to the team for deliverance.  In one instance I heard a blowing growl noise over my left shoulder and I spun around looking to see who was coming up on me and no one was there!  It was a surreal experience.  The entire crusade team was energized by the amazing service and we sat in Francis’ room that evening rejoicing.

Francis’ held 4 or 5 healing lines during the crusades and I was so relieved to see about 80% of everyone that came down for prayer were healed instantly. A few testified they were gradually healed from the August crusade in 2006. He has a legitimate healing gift.  (FOOTNOTE:  Francis now ministers at the House of Healing every Sunday night at 4:00 PM).  What I found confusing was that I saw 4 small children with lower leg disabilities who were not healed.  I saw 5 or 6 deaf people healed and start talking and hearing right on the spot.  I took some pictures of the crusade grounds during the praise & worship time and the picture had strange orb-type round lights in the photo. Another one I took a few minutes later did not have them.  It looked like they were floating around in the air over the people.  I don’t know what to make of it.  Francis has a team of 6 pastors in Nigeria who work like Egyptian slaves for the Lord.  One guy slept on a bench and had not eaten in 2 days.  I am so pleased I went on this trip and plan to return.  I was so glad to get  home, as well. Thank you for your prayers. Mike