Revival - World Revival 16

Isaac stood on the stage at Hillsborough Stadium.
 “I have been asked to sign the meeting today for the deaf people. I only know one sign.” Isaac made the V sign with his fingers. “The two fingers of God. V for Victory. In the name of Jesus, may all the deaf ears in this stadium be unblocked now.” A man stood up and shouted,
 “I’ve been deaf and dumb all my life. Now I can hear. And talk. How did I manage that?”
 “It must be a miracle,” said Isaac. “May God open the eyes of every blind person in this stadium, right now.” Shouts came from all over the stadium.
 “I’m healed!”
 “I can see!”
 “I’ve got my sight back!”
 “If there is cancer or leukaemia in this stadium, I command it to be healed in Jesus name, right now.” Cancer and leukaemia take longer to verify. There wasn’t any shouting this time. “Amputees. New limbs are going to grow right now.” A woman was standing in front of a man in a wheelchair who had no legs. Legs suddenly appeared. She went flying down the stairs.
 “Sorry,” said the man in the wheelchair.
 “It’s all right, I’m not badly hurt. And even if I was, I’m sure I’d be healed this afternoon.”
 “Stand up if you’re an alcoholic,” said Isaac. A few hundred people stood up. “In the name of Jesus, the chains of your addiction are broken right now. God will take away all desire for alcohol. You are dead in Christ. You can offer a dead person a drink and they do not drink it. Stand up if you’re a heroin addict.” A few hundred people stood up. “In the name of Jesus, all addiction, all craving and all withdrawal symptoms are gone now. Praise the Lord. You are free. Now stand up if you want to stop smoking.” A quarter of the people in the stadium stood up. “God, whatever you did for these alcoholics and heroin addicts do to the people who can’t stop smoking. We all know how much harder it is to do that.”

Jonah came on to the stage.
 “Every bad thing you’ve ever done, every evil thought you’ve ever had, all the sorrow and pain you’ve ever had, every illness you’ve ever had, Jesus took it all to the cross. Jesus hung there, and bore it all for you. He carried it all away. All your bad thoughts, bad deeds, and illnesses. Jesus took them on himself. Jesus destroyed them all on that cross.” While he was still speaking, Wendy’s angel appeared. He was standing in the middle of the football pitch, his bronze body towering above the stand. Wendy could see him, and so could all the children.
 “There’s a big tall man on the football pitch, Mammy,” said little Johnny. “Look, isn’t he tall?”
 “That’s rubbish, Johnny. You have too much imagination.” The angel started a song. The children joined in. Jonah stopped preaching his sermon. Soon the whole stadium were singing. This went on for half an hour. Sam stood on the stage.
 “You have been baptised in the Holy Spirit. How about being baptised in water? Baptism is when you leave your old life behind and die in the water, and the water washes away all your sins. Then you come out of the water and you live a new life. Who would like to be baptised in water?” A quarter of the hands went up. The leaders of the church met inside the stadium, behind the stands.
 “Thank you, Sam,” said Jonah. “Now 9,000 people want to be baptised. What are we going to do?”
 “I think it’s an excellent idea,” said Isaac.
 “How are we supposed to baptise 9,000 people?” asked Jonah.
 “They must have done it in Biblical times,” said Isaac.
 “Yes,” said Jonah, “but how are we going to do it?”
 “We’ve hired these coaches for a whole day,” said Isaac. “Get the drivers to take everybody to Ladybower Reservoir.”
 “Right now?” asked Jonah.
 “That’s what I said, right now. Anyone who didn’t come by coach can follow the procession in their own car.”
 “But they haven’t attended baptism classes,” said Sam.
 “You gave them an excellent word of exhortation,” said Jonah. “Out of the old life, into the new life. I couldn’t have put it any better myself.” They could hear the people singing in tongues, even inside the stadium. The sound was growing louder. “They understand baptism. What more could you teach them?”

Sam ran down to the electronics shop in Sheffield City Centre. He flicked through the catalogue anxiously.
 “I need a loud haler. Have you got a big one?”
 “Try that one there, it’s probably the most powerful.”
 “Have you got some of those lithium batteries that are supposed to last longer?” Megaphone and batteries in hand, Sam ran back to the stadium and boarded the bus to Ladybower Reservoir. When they arrived at Ladybower Reservoir all the people who wanted to be baptised stood in the water. They were going to baptise themselves. Sam began preaching through the loud haler.
 “You are leaving behind your old way of life, with all its darkness, depression and sin, and you are starting a new life. Bend your knees and put your heads under the water to join in the death of Jesus.” All 9,000 of the people did this. “Jesus was in the grave for three days. He went to Hell for three days.”
 “I don’t think they can hear you,” said Jonah. “Their heads are under the water.” A few at a time, the people in the water began to stand up again. A minute or two later, their heads were all above the water. Sam continued preaching. “Now you enter a new life. God will give you a glorious new life in his Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. That is how you are going to live. You have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer you who live, he lives in you. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” They walked out of the water on to the shore of the reservoir. 35 people entered Stephanie’s coach. 9 of them were soaking wet.
 “I hope you’re not going to soak the seats on my coach,” said the driver. Stephanie explained to everyone,
 “Can anyone who has a dry coat take it off and put it on a seat, so that the people who are wet have something to sit on?”
 As Wendy’s coach was going along the winding, twisting, country road, she saw her angel standing on the grass. His tall bronze figure towered above the trees.
 “Wendy,” said the angel, “start singing in tongues, now. You’re in great danger.” Wendy began the angel song. Everyone else joined in. A lorry was coming the other way. It swerved to avoid a motor cyclist. The coach driver jammed the brakes on and just managed to avoid a collision.
 “I hate driving through the Pennines,” said the coach driver. “3 fatal accidents on these roads in the last year.”

The council had a meeting.
 “A planning application to turn Hope Village into Hope Newtown. An application to build 10,000 community houses by Hope Village Community Church, to house all the people who are expected to become Christians in the next 2 years,” said Councillor Colin Jones.
 “But they’re a sex cult,” said Councillor Gary Davis.
 “These are liberated times,” said Councillor Karen Smith, the Planning Officer. “If 9,000 people want to be baptised into a sex cult, let them. You’re not one of those people who write letters to their MP about things people do in their bedrooms, are you Gary?”
 “Would children be at risk?” asked Councillor Gary.
 “They’re paedophiles now, are they?” asked Councillor Colin. “I wouldn’t believe everything you read in the papers.”
 “I want to see their child protection policy,” said Councillor Karen. “I want them to write me a really good one. We’ll make a good child protection policy one of their planning conditions.”
 “It’ll have to be open to public consultation,” said Councillor Gary.
 “I think the public have a high opinion of the sect,” said Councillor Colin. “Lots of people worshipping God, lots of people being healed. There might not be many objections to the plans.”

A few weeks later, Isaac looked at his email box. There were emails coming from all over the world. There was one from Egypt.
 “We filled a football stadium with 35,000 people in Cairo, most of them not Christians yet. They were by the time we’d finished healing them and praising God for 12 hours.” There was an email from Sunderland.
 “35,000 people saw the light in the Stadium of Light. Most of them have never been to church in their lives.” One email was from Mozambique.
 “10,000 people baptised in our church this weekend. We expect civil war to break out on Monday.”
 “Praise the Lord,” Isaac said out loud, to himself. “Revival is spreading worldwide.”