Monthly News Updates
Thank the Lord, we have positive news of recent ministry in Ukraine. I have just returned from holding prayer for the nation in Lviv, West Ukraine. Two and a half thousand filled the magnificent Golgotha Church in Lviv. Worship was led by an inter-church choir, and prayer was led by pastors from Lviv region.
77 years ago, aged 15, God clearly called me to the former Soviet Union and Europe. Through 74 years in Ministry, He has confirmed that call – evangelistic crusades, confirmed by signs and wonders following. Hundreds of thousand saved, tens of thousands of incredible miracles, not just healings but every kind of miracle just as in the days of the Old and New Testaments.
Over the 74 years of my ministry God has never failed me, meeting all my needs in sickness, in that communist prison, in the extremities of ministry, even the 3 months’ evangelism in Siberia in the chaos after the collapse of communism, and all the hardships of so many sacrifices, away from my wife (who had to care for our family) for weeks and months at a time, yet never losing their love and support. My two special blessings now as I still travel and work harder than ever, are my phenomenal health (which shocks the doctors) and the never-failing love and support of all my family. Truly God is a good God who keeps every promise!
These experiences demonstrate how clearly God speaks to me and leads me. He did it again this summer when I met Him on the mountain. Of several questions and requests, by the time I came down, He had answered two, of which the most critical is a clear programme for the coming years, containing a clear command and power to fulfil it. This has been the pattern of my whole life – He instructs me what to do – I explain that it is impossible – He ‘pushes me off the mountain’ – and the miracle always follows!
On June 22nd, in the 3rd year of the unjustified Russian invasion of Ukraine, over 8000 people gathered in the Sport Palace in Kyiv for our 7th Major National Day of Prayer. Held under my initiative and led by Bishops of 20 Christian Confessions, military chaplains, government representatives, men on active service and ordinary people filled the venue… Yet even as the Prayer was taking place, at any moment a power cut or incoming missile attack could have closed the meeting... Praise God there was no incident!
By the time you read this I will be in Kyiv, leading thousands in prayer for God to deliver their nation. No, I am not afraid to go into what is a war zone. I lived in London as a boy in the 1940s when Hitler was destroying London during the ‘Blitz’ – I was not praying for safety, but that God would bring Revival to London! …Reading the Bible during my teenage years I saw the challenge, what was the purpose of the Church and of every born-again believer: ‘Preach the Gospel, heal the sick.’ That’s what I have done for the last 74 years – it’s what I understand ‘following Jesus’ means.
Thank you to all my supporting friends. Praise the Lord, we have wonderful news to celebrate! We have just returned from Kazakhstan – hundreds, young and old, found Christ and there were many, many significant healings. We held 5 meetings in the capital Astana, and 5 in the commercial capital Almaty. All 10 meetings were full, with up to 1000 in the larger venues.
As I write this I have recently returned from my week of prayer on the mountains in Switzerland. I felt a burden as I left and asked some of you to pray especially for our staff, not just in Dewsbury, but in all the countries where we are working. Our staff who live in Kyiv are under constant air-raid sirens, yet continue to produce all our TV programmes from our office. Vadim, as many will know, is a chaplain in the military and regularly travels to the front line with Bibles, general aid, life-saving equipment and generators. Some of our other staff are also in difficulty. Misha and his whole family are refugees from their home in Moscow and now live in Central Asia
Poland at the beginning of this month was a powerful blessing, working with Ukrainian refugees, with congregations of 1000 in each meeting. You will have seen our online reports. In the Saturday evangelistic meeting, we had 100 orphan children aged 14-18, bussed in by their Christian carers; over 150 refugees repented, we saw miracles of healing – testimonies were given on the platform, and others were shared on the buses as they went home. The pastors and missionaries who took part in this event shared their powerful memories of my ministry in Ukraine, Crimea, Belarus and Russia.
Our prayers are with you for the Lord’s blessing on your life during the coming year. Times are difficult. The danger of the two wars in Ukraine and Israel escalating, and political uncertainty in Europe, Britain and especially America, make for an uncertain future. Thank God, Jesus is coming back to take over the government of the world! Isaiah 9 is clear, ‘The Government shall be on HIS shoulders’!
My best greetings to you all and to your families this Christmas. May it be a time of renewal and blessing. In a world of uncertainty, we enter the New Year with Christ. I have just returned from our day of prayer in Essen, Germany. The response was tremendously encouraging, especially as the vision they have is to work with all three generations. Since my last newsletter I can report that we had a powerful day of prayer in Armenia in October. 3000 Pastors and Leaders attended.
There has never been a greater need than now to both act and pray! As we look at the desperate situation in Ukraine and now Israel, both are involving a much wider impact on the West. Either or both of these scenarios can lead to a third world war, or a total impasse, as neither Israel nor Ukraine can afford to lose. Israel is getting closer to its prophetic conclusion by the hour!
All the signs are of the possibility of the Rapture drawing nearer. The Bible predicts the signs – the frequency and impact of earthquakes, the rapid changes in weather patterns, with floods on one side and drought on another, and massive raging fires in several countries, bigger than normal. The Bible speaks of these, and signs in the heavens.
Thank you for your support in prayer and finance, especially during my latest evangelism in Central Asia: 12 days’ ministry in Kazakhstan and one week in Kyrgyzstan. What I am seeing, and what God is about to do in these Moslem nations, HAS to be Joel’s 2nd outpouring without limit – the latter rain greater than the moderate rain on the first Day of Pentecost! So I am calling for another Day of Prayer here, in the UK, Saturday November 11th to bring the power down here.
Thank you for your support in prayer and finance, especially during my latest evangelism in Central Asia. In the capital city Astana, they only managed to get a permit for me one week before our meetings started. But, for the first time in 20 years they were allowed to put a banner in the street to advertise the meetings; and after 20 years of ‘provocations’, (disturbances, created to bring in the police), we enjoyed absolute peace! They doubled the seating capacity in the church, and every meeting was virtually full. There were wonderful miracle healings.
Jesus said, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you to bring forth fruit and it shall remain” – the evidence is so positive in every area to which the Lord has called us! But we need much prayer because these new areas of evangelism are difficult and dangerous – and strenuous to get to!
This year is proving one of the busiest for me, it seems that the older I get the heavier the demand for my involvement! However, this year is recording some remarkable events.
As I write this, we have returned from Armenia where the Day of Prayer was a phenomenal miracle. Though we have been working towards a United Day of Prayer for Armenia for some years now, the developing critical situation with Azerbaijan precipitated action; with only one month to pull all our plans together and make it happen, on Saturday 27th May, 5000 people from all over the nation – some travelling up to 5 hours to get there – gathered in the Meridian Expo Centre, Yerevan, to pray for God’s protection over their land.
As I write this, I am about to go to Ukraine. In addition to meeting many church leaders, I shall be preaching in Kyiv. Despite the war the church is full of people praying for their nation! Shortly after my return, I will go to Germany to renew my relationship with our German friends and partners where Eurovision began as a charity in 1988. This time my visit is to hold a powerful Day of Prayer for Ukraine on April 29th in Altensteig. Germany is part of my ‘vision for Europe’ and I want to join with some of the churches to hold further Days of Prayer, not only for Ukraine but also for Germany.
I have just spent a further time in prayer and fellowship in preparation for the next move of God. From March 20th to 27th I will be in Uzbekistan to begin the next part of our move into evangelism in Central Asia. This is a critical region almost untouched by powerful evangelism with miracles and signs following. While Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan were exposed to traditional Orthodoxy under the Russian Empire, both were Islamic countries until Soviet Russia suppressed even that. There has never been real freedom to evangelise and even now we have to use whatever opportunities we can, as fast as we can. Armenia and Georgia were the first Christian countries in the world from the 4th Century, with a form of Orthodox faith and they resisted Islam, then communism took over.
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