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Karachi Pakistan - 20 Years Later ‘jesus Christ, Still The Same!’
December 3, 2005
Twenty years later and Jesus Christ is still the same! That was very evident to the ecstatic cheering crowd in Karachi on Wednesday night as the testimony line started with a line-up of cripples who had been instantly healed!
I could tell that Pastor Rasheed Akhter was not in the least disappointed that he had made the long trip in person to Canada about 10 months earlier to invite us back after 20 years since our first campaign in Karachi in 1985. That had been a big sacrifice for him as he had paid for his own ticket to travel to Kelowna as a special ambassador commissioned by the Ministerial of Karachi of which he is the president. His orders were clear and concise! Invite Brother Len back for a miracle campaign; do not take no for an answer; and ensure that he promises to return to Pakistan this year. His exact words were, ‘Brother Len, there has never been a crusade in Karachi like the one you held in 1985! Many others have come, spent lots of money, had beautiful singing groups, and preached good messages, but no one has brought the kind of miracles that we saw in your crusade 20 years ago! And nothing else will work to convince the Muslims of Pakistan that Jesus Christ is the Lord except real miracles! We need you to come back to Pakistan and you must come this year!
We knew it would be a stretch to fit it into our schedule but we simply could not turn down an invitation like that! And tonight I was extremely happy that both he and the entire ministerial had been so persistent! The huge YMCA grounds in downtown Karachi were lit up good and people were streaming into the grounds late into the night. In fact, it was not until almost 10:30 at night before I got to preach. But first we were escorted to the stage by a small high stepping group of Pakistani army soldiers while ladies lined the route on both sides throwing a continual rainfall of red rose petals on us! Then it was onto the stage where we were warmly greeted and then garlanded repeatedly with rings of red roses, with about 30-40 roses in each garland. With seven garlands of highly aromatic flowers dangling on my neck, probably close to 20 dozen beautiful red roses, I felt like a walking botanical garden.
The aroma was rich, sweet and beautiful, but I said, ‘There is an even more beautiful fragrance in the air tonight! It is the smell of God’s divine holy presence bringing forgiveness, healing, blessing and revival to the city of Karachi!’ And truly that fragrance would fill the grounds before the night was over!
As my international traveling buddy Tony Leblanc and a local videographer who worked for CNBC Pakistan captured the night on video, I unfolded a simple but powerful message about the Saving, Healing Delivering Jesus who had never changed! I made reference to some of the miracles we had seen twenty years ago in the same city, miracles like the old blind Muslim ladies who had received their sight, the deaf who had heard, the cripples who had walked, the demonized who had been set free and the young boy who had been born with his waterworks like a garden soaking hose that shot in all directions through all sides and how God had instantly made him whole!
What a wonderful Jesus! But would He still do the same tonight? Had He changed in the last twenty years or was He still the same Healing, Delivering, Saving Jesus that we read about in the Bible? It would not take long to find out!
Almost 10,000 people stood for salvation and came forward, hands raised in surrender to the Living Christ! According to those on the platform, the crowd on even this first night was mostly made up of Muslims and Hindus with a sprinkling of nominal Christians. But they lifted their voices and readily invited Christ into their hearts, hungry for this wonderful Savior who so loved them that He would die and rise from the dead to give them new life!
Then came the mass prayer for miracles of healing!
I encouraged them to reach out and touch God, to believe His promise, to believe they were important to Him and to know beyond all doubt that He loved them and wanted to touch them! Then we called on the Holy Ghost to come in power and I began to rebuke the binding spirits of sickness and disease. Within a few minutes there were hands raised all over the crowd of those who were signifying that they had received a miracle. And these were not people who had been healed of headaches, backaches and toe aches!
The first to the platform was a poor old Muslim man who had a white clothe tied around his head and hanging down one side of his face. What has God done for this man?’ I asked.
They said he had been crippled for the last three years but out in the crowd he had suddenly got strength in his legs! The old fellow walked back and forth on the stage, white rag swinging, as he declared he had been made whole to the cheers of the crowd! I asked him, Who did that for you?’ ‘Yesue naa,’ he answered!
The pastors shouted his response in English that ‘Jesus did it’ and the crowd cheered and clapped!
But already Pastor Rasheed was there, excited and wanting to interrupt. He was steering another old fellow who was very excited towards me. He was Miracle # 2, a man who had been lame for the last 3 years and could not even stand alone without falling down. Now he was running back and forth repeatedly across the stage to the wild cheers of the crowd. After several trips across the stage, first walking and then running back and forth, he finally said, ‘Let me go,’ and off he went running and rejoicing!
Miracle # 3 was yet another lame Muslim man who could not walk without his steel crutch but now he could walk back and forth without it, still limping a little but walking strong with out the aid for the first time in years.
The next miracle, #4 to testify, was a young woman who had suffered with a goiter in her throat for the last three years that was so big and sore it made it so she could not lift either arm at all. Now she was weeping profusely with gleaming tears of joy streaming down her cheeks as she pumped her arms straight up and down rejoicing in the goodness of the Living God. She was so elated she gave me a big hug and then kissed me on the cheek. She was a strong Christian believer, attended church regularly, but like so many Christians she had been prayed for many times to no apparent avail! But she had come believing for a miracle and she was going home healed and happy and giving all the glory to Jesus! Her shining eyes, sparkling through tears of joy, was enough alone to make the trip to Pakistan worthwhile! And the effect on the crowd that was now cheering wildly as she testified was enough to convince anyone that something far beyond the norm of everyday religion was happening on the YMCA grounds in Karachi!
The next to testify was a middle aged woman who had not been able to bend over for the last three years but was now touching her toes as God had made her whole. During her testimony the still rejoicing crowd began making a mad rush for the many buses parked waiting outside the huge compound. I looked at my watch it was midnight Karachi time! It was obvious the testimony line was over as the crowd rushed for home, but it was easy to tell they were stirred!
Jesus Christ really was the same - the same as He was in the Bible and the same as He had been 20 years ago when we preached here the first time! Word would surely spread like wildfire now and tomorrow would reveal what impact the power of these first five dynamic miracles would have on the biggest city in Pakistan! All we can say is to God be all the glory! And thank you again Pastor Rasheed for insisting we return to Karachi! And thank you to all my dear friends who sent us!
whom@worldharvest.ca
Source: Joseph Z Horacek josephneileen@juno.com
Location: KARACHI, Pakistan
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