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Category Archives: Signs & Wonders
The author
Micael Grenholm, a Swedish charismactivist, apologist and author.
Humanitarian Relief and Supernatural Healing in the Philippines
Earlier this month the super-typhoon Bopha struck the Philippine island of Mindanao, the eighth most populated island in the world. Over 1000 people have died, 300 000 are homeless and the International Committee of the Red Cross is reporting that there is an urgent need for continuous humanitarian support in order to avoid enormous suffering.
The missionary organisation Iris Ministries gave a quick response to the disaster. They wrote on their website:
We aim to go into the shelters and partner with other relief groups on the ground to help distribute food and aid as well as pray for the sick, broken, the hurting. The team will be ready to go into the worst situations and will network with other organisations and local churches.
And four days ago they reported:
Iris Relief 1st Response Team alongside Operation Blessing were able to bring food, clothing and medical supplies to 160 families in Mangayon Barangay near Compostela. We held a children’s program and prayed for the sick.
When the Prophets Are Silent, People Turn to the Mayans
The Mayans – nice people, bad prophets
Musician and prophetic evangelist Simon Adahl once shared on Facebook how he had met a man who, after listening to Simon’s numerous miracle stories, exclaimed: “I had no idea that the church had something to do with the supernatural!” Simon was both surprised and sad when he heard this. Is the Western church so bad at representing God that people don’t realize He is a supernatural being?
I think we are. Even Pentecostal and Charismatic churches in the West often lack the abundance of signs and wonders we read about in the book of Acts. Other churches don’t even believe in it, or they are extremely careful, fearing that they would scare people away if they became “too” miraculous. They view signs and wonders as a danger and a temptation, and thus healers, prophets and wonder-workers are rare among them.
The New Age movement, on the other hand, loves miracles. And I believe that many turn to New Age because they are not satisfied with unmiraculous cultural Christendom that is being offered them in the church. Today, the Maya Calender has recieved massive attention around the world because it ends today, which according to some means that the world is doing the same. And this is not a marginal phenomenon. Around 10% of the global population thinks that there is a possibility that the world end this year because of the Mayan Calendar.
Why are all these people viewing the Mayans as a prophetic authority? Most of them do not worship Mayan gods. Most of them do not live according to Mayan culture. Still, for many the simple statement “the Mayans said so” is a sufficient argument for thinking that the apocalypse may come today, even though they have no plans about starting sacrificing animals to the serpent god Kukulkan. Thus, in order to debunk the theory, Mayan scholars have to argue why the Mayan calender did not predict the end of the world but just an epoch shift, rather than questioning why people view the calender as prophetic in the first place.
Pastor Pratap vs the Demons
Remember the Christian Youth Conference in Odisha, India, that my friends Joel and Steve participated in? Now, we got some video shooting from there. As you can see, the youths were desperately hungry for the Kingdom of God, and the Holy Spirit responded to their hunger. Joel, who by the way just has become co-author of this blog, was awe-struck when he came back to Sweden, and I can see why.
Joel and Steve also got the chance to interview pastor Pratap Pradhan. He is one of the regional leaders of Touching Asia, and a humble man of God. He oversees over 100 churches that they have planted over the years. They help the poor and develop communities while they heal the sick, preach the Gospel and casts out demons. In the interview, Pratap gives some examples of that:
Simon Adahl, St Matthew and Prophetic Enemy Love
Simon Adahl
Yesterday I was having dinner with rock musician and revivalist Simon Adahl. He and his close friend Orjan Armgren are two down-to-earth, humble people that experience countless miracles. I literally mean countless. I have attended four of their meetings where they share testimonies non-stop for a couple of hours. Still, Simon had so much to tell that he invited me to his house so that he could share even more.
Here are a few examples of what they have experienced:
– Once, Simon passed by a man he’d never met and suddenly said “The answer is Estonia”. The man was stunned. He explained that minutes earlier, he had prayed to the Lord “Where should my aid relief go, Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania?”
– Another time he called a man and shouted prophetically in the phone “Yes, you are My evangelist!!” Right then, the man had aimed a knife at his artery to kill himself. Now, he ended those plans and returned to God.
– A non-Christian lady came over to Simon and shared some troubles she had. Simon then suddenly said that he saw her as a young girl, running on a grass field with a kite, filled with joy. Orjan, who also was there, said “I hear the song ‘This Little Light of Mine'”. The woman immediately went down on her knees shouting “I want to be saved!” It turned out that they had pointed out her favourite activity and favourite song during the happiest time in her life.
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The External, Audible Voice of God
Yesterday I was visiting the Pancake Church of Kungsbacka in western Sweden. Unlike us in Uppsala who go out on the streets, these people actually had a church to serve pancakes in. Since Kungsbacka isn’t a megacity, a lot of youths knew that the church hands out free pancakes on Fridays, and since the Swedish weather isn’t tropical, many of them came yesterday to eat some pancakes, chat with us and warm themselves.
Kids gathering for worship
After a couple of hours, we had some worship together. All the kids joined us, either because they were curious or because they had nothing else to do. This was the scoring opportunity for every evangelist. Two girls from Gothenburg, Charlotte and Jennie, came to the front to preach. Their message was called “Five popular myths about God”. Myth 1: God is unreachable and far away. Myth 2: Only weak and unintelligent people choose to live with God. Myth 3: It is boring to live with God. Myth 4: God doesn’t speak today. Myth 5: I’ll be better off if I choose God the minute before I die.
It was seriously the best evangelistic sermon I’ve ever heard. Charlotte and Jennie poured out their love for Jesus and shared how exciting and wonderful it was to follow Him. They combined biblical teaching with amazing testimonies. One testimony especially astounded me: when Jennie told us how she has heard the audible voice of God.
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Supernatural Protection in War
One of the most amazing events during World War Two was that a small Italian village called San Giovanni Rotondo never was bombed. The Allied forces tried to eliminate a German base there several times, but they never succeeded. The reason? All the pilots who flew near the village suddenly saw a monk who stretched out his hands towards them, signing that he wanted them to turn back.
General Bernardo Rosini of the United Air Command reported that
“Each time that the pilots returned from their missions, they spoke of this Friar that appeared in the sky and diverted their airplanes, making them turn back. Everyone was talking about these incredible stories. But since the episodes kept recurring, the Commanding General of USAF General Nathan F. Twining, who happened to be in Bari, decided to pilot himself a squadron of bombers to destroy a target near San Giovanni Rotondo.
“When he and his pilots were in the vicinity of the target, they saw the figure of a monk with upraised hands appear in the sky. The bombs got loose from the plains falling in open areas, and the planes made a sharp turn to return to base without the pilots intervening.
“Back on the ground, everybody asked everybody else about the happening and wanted to know who was that friar. The General was told about Padre Pio and decided to visit him with the pilots in that squadron. The pilots immediately recognized Padre Pio, and he told the general: “So you are the one that wanted to destroy everything.”
Revival on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7) is a revival sermon. It wasn’t delievered in a cathedral to a bunch of silent church-goers, but in the midst of a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit where mighty miracles were occuring. Matthew describes how people came from far away in order to be blessed by the miraculous power that was flowing out from the hands of Jesus (4:23-25). I imagine the scenery as in the clip above, but even better. Every single one got healed: those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed. Revival fires were blazing!
A faith healer preaching enemy love
But when Jesus starts to preach, He doesn’t talk about “the anointing”, “open heavens”, “glory invasion” or some other Charismatic cliche. He talks about Kingdom lifestyle and holiness: doing good deeds, loving enemies, giving to the needy, fasting, praying, not storing treasures on earth, not judging people, doing to others what you would have them do to you, and so on. As I’ve written in a previous blog post, it is unfortunately unusal in many parts of the church today that faith healers speak about enemy love and denouncing wealth, or that Christian activists conduct healing crusades.
This is a shame, because I am convinced that not only does the Sermon on the Mount contain instructions for living an activist life that makes the world a better place, it is also a key for Charismatic breakthrough. Immediately after Jesus has delivered His sermon, He heals a guy with leprosy (8:1-4), then a paralyzed boy (vv. 5-13), and after that a whole group of sick and possessed people (vv. 14-17). Directly after stating that the Father will give us good gifts when we ask for it, He tells us to do to others as we would have them do to us (7:9-12). The gifts of the Spirit are given by grace, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t strive for holiness. On the contrary, if we do not act according to the commands of Jesus, our spiritual house may fall “with a great crash” (7:24-27).
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The Pancake Church
The multitudes are gathering. The sign says “Free pancakes”
Two and a half years ago, I feared street evangelism. It felt strange and silly to talk about Jesus to strangers, and I was terrified to meet someone I actually knew! However, I realized that street evangelism obviously was something that Jesus and the apostles frequently did, and instead of trying to argue that we shouldn’t live like Jesus and the apostles (like many others tragically do), I decided to join some friends who were going out on the streets of Uppsala giving pancakes to people and sharing the Gospel.
It basically changed my life.
Tools for evangelism
Today, I’m one of the local leaders of the Pancake Church of Uppsala, and I love to share the Gospel. My former evangeliphobia effectively melted as I discovered how easy and naturally it is to chat with people over a pancake. We try to create a relaxed atmosphere where people can hang around and have a good time. And many of the youths don’t have any problem with discussing religion – on the contrary, they often have strong opinions about it. Some are provocative, yes, but most aren’t. Actually, it’s quite amazing how many are interested in seeking God in this secularized country. (more…)
Eleven Medically Verified Healings
From Eric Hatfield’s blog the Way?
Sources
The source of the first story is the heart surgeon involved, Dr Chauncey Crandall of Florida, a respected cardiologist in the US (as this summary shows) with over twenty years experience. He has performed heart operations in many hospitals and holds professorships in several universities.
The other 10 case histories come from the book The Miracles by Dr H Richard Casdorph an experienced doctor and medical researcher who has published more than a hundred research papers in a career that has spanned almost 6 decades. In the mid 70s he undertook a research project with a difference. He interviewed ten people who claimed to have been miraculously healed of serious conditions. He examined all the case histories – X-rays, medical reports, etc – and also submitted them to medical specialists for review.
The healings
Jeff Markin
In 2006 Jeff suffered a massive heart attack and was taken to hospital where an emergency team of doctors and nurses tried for 40 minutes to re-start his heart without success. They called in Dr Crandall as a cardiac specialist, to confirm Jeff was dead.
“As I entered the ER [emergency room] it was like a war zone. Here was this lifeless body on a stretcher.” Dr Crandall said later. “His face, his arms, his legs were pitch black with death.”
Dr Crandall confirmed what the team already knew, Jeff was dead. However then a “voice” in his head told him to pray for the man. Dr Crandall was sure it was God, so he prayed for Jeff, then stopped the surprised medical team who were preparing the body for the morgue, and directed them to give him one more shock with the paddles. His heartbeat returned almost immediately and Jeff subsequently fully recovered.
Revival Report from Youth Conference in Odisha, India!
Intense worship
My church Mosaik is a very small church, but we love missions! Together with the missions organization Touching Asia and local churches, we organised a youth conference in Odisha, India, October 23-25. My dear friends Joel Gabrielsson and Steve Ferris were speakers. When the conference was over, they told us that it had been completely amazing. Here are som pictures taken by Steve, as well as a letter from Joel:
The brave missionaries: Joel and Steve
“The three days were absolutely astounding and I am still amazed at the mercy of God and his goodness! Steve and I taught three days of meetings focused on God’s Love and Discipleship and together with the leaders and all the youth we worshiped and danced and praised Jesus and met his goodness.
Kitchen staff at the conference
Creative Miracles
Marc Dupont, minister, prophet and revivalist, has in his book Healing Today (co-written with Anglican minister Mark Stibbe) described a creative miracle he experienced in the 80’s. By creative miracle, I mean a healing which involves the sudden appearence of something that previously did not exist, for example like when Jesus gave a man, who was blind from birth, his sight (Jn 9). In Dupont’s case, it concerned a clubfoot that transformed into a normal one (pp. 130f.):
Clubfoot Transformed
A woman brought her young son, who had a clubfoot, to me for prayer at the end of a meeting. In fact, it was the last of four nightly meetings held while I was visiting a church in the mid-west of the United States. After four nights of extensive ministry I was very tired. So when she showed me his foot with the obvious deformity, my tiredness took over and I felt no faith whatsoever to pray for this five- or six-year-old boy.
As she explained that he could walk OK, but had never been able to run successfully in his life, my heart went out to him, but I still felt my tiredness upon me. To step into a faith mode and believe for the impossible seemed even more impossible at that point in time.
However, as I knelt down and began to pray for his foot, almost immediately right in front of my eyes it began to change shape. What had, more or less, appeared as a block of wood covered by skin began to change into a normal foot with toes, an arch etc, all in normal size and shape. It had taken place so quickly that I was a bit dizzy. I wasn’t sure whether I was actually seeing a miracle happen, or was imagining it. It took all about five seconds for the transition to take place.
Charismatic Servants
The Servanthood of Jesus
Tragically, preachers and evangelists in the Pentecostal and charismatic movements are often seen as people hungry for power, who control the masses through promises of supernatural encounters only to gain money and status for themselves. Even though the accusation sometime is exaggerated, there are indeed many genuine cases of manipulation and control among us, which is extremely sad and stupid. This is defenitely not something that the Holy Spirit produces; and thus, it contradicts true charismatic living.
The basis of Christianity is love. God is love (1 John 4:8) and He loves us more than we can understand (Eph. 3:19, Rom 8:38-39). Although people have turned away from Him and sin, He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to give us eternal life through He died our death (John 3:16, Rom 5:8). God forgives our sins; by his grace we are saved and receive eternal life, not by earning it with good deeds, but by God’s grace (Eph. 2:8-9).
This grace is the basis not only for our salvation but also for the supernatural gifts that Jesus used to spread the Kingdom of God and instructed his disciples to use, they are gifts given by grace (greek charismata, grace gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4)) that we can not earn or deserve, but we recieve them freely by God’s grace (Ephesians 4:7). (more…)
Mighty Miracles in Malawi
The Lord executes justice for the oppressed, he gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. (Ps 146:7-8)
Christopher Alam was born in Pakistan, fled to Sweden when he became a Christian, moved to the United States after a while, and today he travels through Asia and Africa to preach at big gospel and healing campaigns. The power of God is powerfully manifested as the poor and broken experience all kinds of biblical miracles. “God [has] chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom” (Jam 2:5). Alam reports on his Facebook page:
MZILIKAZI, MALAWI: Several thousand people received the Lord Jesus tonight. Many deaf ears were opened. A lady who was carried to the crusade got up and walked perfectly! A baby had a huge tumor the size of a grapefruit that instantly and totally disappeared. A totally blind girl received her sight. A man who became totally blind at night and a girl who almost totally blind also received their sight. A girl with one totally blind eye was also healed. Many others were healed from different diseases and infirmities.
All Glory to our Lord Jesus who Alone is Worthy! What a wonderful Lord and Savior He is!
Friday Night: Tonight was a great night. I asked Pastor Dennis Hunsinger from Penn-Del to preach and I prayed for the sick. Pastor Dennis shared a powerful testimony on how God had healed him from cancer. Several thousand received Jesus and there were many miracles tonight. Lots of deaf ears opened tonight. A blind lady received her sight. Many others testified of the wonderful miracles that the Lord did in their bodies.
All Glory to our Lord Jesus!
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Holy Roller Mennonites
I discovered the Hopewell Network of Churches today, an interdenominational network which was birthed when Charismatic renewal hit some Mennonite churches. Though more denominations are included today, the network still enhance Anabaptist values – especially the pacifist stance – which makes this a unique and, in my opinion, more biblical type of Charismatic network. I love when they write:
We are charismatic in that we believe in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as a subsequent experience to salvation that is available to each believer. We believe all the gifts of the Holy Spirit are available for the believer today.
We have the expectation that the empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit will be embraced and taught in our churches. We desire to see believers in all our churches encouraged with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and taught how to exercise these gifts in their lives. We do not teach that the gift of tongues is the initial or only evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. There is flexibility in how these gifts are administered in the context of public services and the life of the church. Leaders are expected to lead people into a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit and to encourage the accompanying gifts.
We are Anabaptist in that we hold to many of the values of Anabaptism. We have the expectation that Anabaptist values will be supported and encouraged among the churches. The Anabaptist peace position, for instance, is the official position of the network in that we encourage forms of service other then the military. At the same time, we do honor individual conscience on this matter. It would be our expectation that every young person in a Hopewell Church has heard a clear teaching on the Anabaptist view as they make their life decisions about service.
We are evangelical in that we believe the primary focus of the church should be on the centrality of Jesus and his commission of reaching the harvest. We take a clear stand on the full authority and inspiration of Scripture.
Dead Raisings and Food Miracles
One of the most amazing books I’ve read is called Voice in the Night by Surprise Sithole. It’s an autobiography where Surprise tells about how the external, audible voice of God saved his life as a young man and called him to go and preach the Gospel in his homeland Mozambique as well as other nations nearby. He healed the sick, raised the dead, fed the poor and planted churches, just as Jesus had told us to do. Later on he became a leader in Iris Ministries.
In the video above Surprise shares a few of the stories that can be found in his book. Not only has he raised eight people from the dead, he has also seen a lot of food miracles. Like many other saints, he combines signs and wonders with poverty reduction. I think he is a wonderful example of a humble and joyful leader with really strong faith and burning compassion. We need to listen more to these guys also in the Western church!
Charismactivism 