My teammate Jesse put this video together of the Crusade.
For four nights last week, Team Monarch was involved with the Hope For The City Crusade here in Padre Las Casas. The Crusade itself has sparked some interesting discussion amongst our team just regarding the approach of the overall Crusade and the approach the main speaker takes biblically. Personally, knowledge in this sort of area is not a particular strength of mine, so I’ve found the discussions to be good for my own knowledge. As for whether or not things were too this or that at times, or if the right points were being made and driven home regarding the Gospel and salvation, I don’t really know. Even after nearly a week to process it all, I can’t say I’ve come to any conclusions. I know some of this leads to big ol’ theological debates or whatnot. I’m not really interested in advocating or not advocating for any of it. But here’s what I saw with me own eyes over those 4 nights. Things I directly witnessed. Things that could have happened only through the presence of the Holy Spirit being at work. The presence of God was real.
Over the four nights, I’d put a ballpark estimate of roughly 800 or so people giving their life to Christ. I remember looking into the eyes of some of those people after they’d prayed. Tears streaming down their faces. The look of pure joy on their faces. Hugging anyone they could find. Lives changed. That was real.
Along with people being given the opportunity to pray, the first three evenings ended with people being invited down to be prayed over for healing. Our team was asked to assist and be a part of all of this too. So while I can’t say I ever found myself in this situation, I absolutely believe in the healing power of prayer and that the Holy Spirit will work through people to do that. Without a doubt people were healed. There was deafness, blindness, pain, and other things. That was real.
- I watched the speaker pray over a man with blindness in one eye where he could not see more than a few feet. He would pray for him and then test his sight by holding up fingers. The first few times the man would indicate that it was not better, so the speaker went and prayed again. Eventually they brought him to the front and talked with him before testing him. The man who a few minutes earlier could not see more than a few feet in front of him was able to correctly identify fingers being held up from roughly 10 meters away. They said they initially had to help him up the stairs because of his sight. Afterward, they had to help him back down because he was crying too hard to see straight. That was real.
- We prayed for a boy with severe arthritis in one of his legs. Bad enough that he used a walker and didn’t put pressure on it. At the end of the night, he was taking tentative steps without the walker and without pain. That was real.
- We prayed for a woman with three golf ball sized cysts either on or around her spine. She took our hands and placed them directly on the cysts. After praying, the cysts that she’d had for at least 18 months were gone. She said she was pain free and could not feel them. Tears streaming down her face. That was real.
- I watched a woman go from not being able to flex her knee to jumping up and down on it. A woman with severe back pain that left her unable to twist or turn at all, showed everyone that she could now twist with the best of them. That was real.
None of this was our doing. It was a Holy Spirit thing. It was real.
