One of the most gospel resistant groups, in our modern day, among the Animists, Muslims, and Hindus of the world, is the young university student in the Western world, who has embraced materialism, rationalism, and atheistic attitudes. These satanic elements have enslaved these precious souls to the enemy. Yet, in the midst of this gospel resistant group, the Holy Spirit is powerfully at work, drawing these dear young people to our loving Jesus Christ! I know, as I saw it first hand on this most recent ministry trip to Austin, Texas, which has one of the largest universities in the world in it’s city–the University of Texas.
I was scheduled to travel to Belize this week, however, I arrived at the airport forgetting my passport, thus leaving me in a position having to reschedule the open air gospel meetings in Belize City to next week! Yes, I was frustrated and disappointed as I have been hindered from getting into Belize recently but God reminded me that He would make a way and mighty miracles will take place in Belize when we are finally given the opportunity to enter the land. So, obviously that excites me and am ready to serve the Lord!
Since the mission to Belize was postponed God directed pastor James Beason and I to Austin, the Capitol city of Texas, which desperately needs the gospel power with signs and wonders following to confirm the preaching of the Word! For many hours the gospel was proclaimed with supernatural force and miracles took place! Literally tens of thousands of young people jammed together within a few streets of the city to participate in the nightlife of the city! In the midst of these massive crowds we preached the good news of Jesus, distributed New Testaments, gospel literature, prayed for the sick and drove out demons in Jesus name! The crowds were largely resistant and in some cases hostile to the message of the cross of Christ! We confronted homosexuals, Satanists, prostitutes, and others from the underworld. We loved them, blessed them and shared the compassion of Jesus with them. At one point we could feel the violence about to spill over from those in the crowd. All of this would not deter us though as God was faithful to encourage us with his mighty works in our midst and divine protection. Here’s just a sample of the miracles that took place ~
- A young man in his 20’s, who is a professional athlete, originally from the United Kingdom and preparing to go back to a the British Isles on Tuesday enthusiastically received Christ as Savior as we shared the gospel with him. God had brought him all the way from the UK to Austin so that he could know Jesus as Lord! Amen! He had never heard the gospel presented clearly to him so he was very much ready to respond to the call of surrender! We were encouraged! This young man also received a New Testament!
- A brother in Christ, in his late 20’s, requested prayers of deliverance as he had been struggling with pornography and lust! He knew demons of lust and pornography had gripped his heart and he wanted to be liberated from these powerful dark forces of Satan that had bound him for so long! I began to battle the demons within him and this young man could feel the evil spirits exiting his body upon command for them to leave in Jesus name! At the end of the public exorcism, he was laughing and so joyful in this new found strength found in the releasing power of Jesus! When James and I first met up with him he was under a cloud of spiritual darkness but after this public deliverance, his entire facial disposition had dramatically transformed into one of light of Jesus, relief, and peace! What was truly beautiful about this was this was done in public for many to witness, for the public to see that God’s power is greater then that of the devil!
- A dear man, in his 40’s, who had been tormented by Satan for “years,” as he testified, had been experiencing years of horrific visions, that he was not even comfortable in revealing their content, was loosed from his satanic bondage and freed by the power of God! Again this occurred in the midst of many thousands. The watching world was exposed to the power of Jesus and many looked on in great interest!
- A dear lady, stricken with liver cancer, given a short time to live by doctors, was led to Jesus then requested healing prayer and immediately upon prayer felt much better and ready to serve Jesus! She loudly declared she felt released and was so happy! Then her and her boyfriend desired for me to marry them, as it was revealed that just prior to our ministry session, her boyfriend had proposed to her, so upon my return to Austin I’ll be performing their marriage! (It’s interesting to see that one of the functions God has us performing constantly is conducting marriage ceremonies, ordination ceremonies, and we are gladly here to serve the dear people).
Many other beautiful acts of the Holy Spirit took place and we praise God for His goodness! Many others turned their lives over to God. Many received an encouraging word. We were honored to serve these dear souls!