CAVANNA

After a week in Mias Gerais, my next destination was the state of Rio de Janeiro and the city of Barra do Pirai. After many miracle services in Brazil, this was another amazing night. Not a huge crowd but probably fifteen testimonies of healing. A lady with a lump under her arm began to feel a “fire” on that area of her body and then, to all our amazement, the lump had vanished!  Many tears flowed as the Holy Spirit kept glorifying Jesus. A young man was healed in his back, knees and feet; while a lady suffering from arthritis began jumping with joy. Many back problems were seemingly cured, some having been freed from twenty years of pain. Hallelujah! The miracle of disappearing “lumps” continued the next evening in the area of Belford Roxo. This time, the lump was upon the breast of a forty-five year old lady and she had had the (cosmetic) problem since she was twelve years’ old. She, and around twenty others, testified to some form of healing in this poverty stricken area of Rio. I prayed for over two hours in this small church building and God healed the people, many of them children. One even shared that they had been healed of an irregular heartbeat (this would happen the next evening too), while another said that they were free of kidney pain. Most memorable was a little boy who fell to his knees and became a Christian in front of me.

  

Perhaps the greatest night of the mission was to follow. Taken by car to another dangerous area of Rio, I preached the Gospel to around a hundred and twenty people in a dance hall in Tijuca. Outside, armed teenagers roared by on motorcycles and the meeting was disturbed twice by the sound of machine gun fire in the streets! Inside, the Lord showed His power in a way that I have not often seen. EVERYONE who came for prayer testified to being healed – perhaps thirty people. It was awesome!  Among the miracles was yet another vanishing lump; this time a small girl whose lump in the throat was quite tangible in my hand. After prayer, it had truly vanished, much to the amazement of my interpreter Marica who witnessed first hand what the Holy Spirit can do! Nothng was too hard for the Lord in Tijuca – including the healing of deafness. One of the church deacons was in agony with back pain and was able to testify to his miracle. Another young man had been suffering in his spine for fifteen years. It was a night of wonders indeed, with around half a dozen responding to the Gospel message too. Glory to God!

The final meeting of the 2009 mission was in another Brazillian state and I travelled back from Rio de Janeiro into Minas Gerais once again. After such a lengthy journey, it was a joy to meet up with my friend Paul Dewar in the city of Curvelo, where the local church had erected a large stage in the central square and were preaching the Gospel each evening. I joined Evangelist Paul Dewar on the first night in praying for God’s power to come upon the people. Many demons showed themselves in the public square – one lady almost taking off into the air as I gave command in the Name of Jesus – and in the English language too. Thousands gathered on the final evening as I preached the blood and cross Gospel and urged all who heard me to ‘flee from the wrath to come.’ What a joy to see scores of people – sometimes whole families – responding to the call of salvation! One man got saved that night whose only plan in life before the meeting had been suicide. He shared his story publicly with joy!

        

In Curvelo, it was not possible to lay hands on the sick due to the enormity of the crowd. But my cries of “Sickness, come out!” rang out across the city through the PA system and many came forward to testify that they had been healed standing in the square. One girl came to the side of the platform and would not allow me to leave without laying hands on her leg – there was a severe problem in the bone and there was talk of the leg being amputated. I cannot say what became of her, only that as we prayed together on the side of the stage, all the pain left her leg and the sweetness of Jesus was around us all.

Another stamp for Brazil in my passport and, by the grace of God, not the last I trust. Praise God!

September 2009