Indonesian Great Revival

In 1965, a great spiritual revival began in Indonesia on the southeastern tip of Timor Island. The Holy Spirit poured out greatly upon the believers there, and signs and wonders and miracles that happened in the book of Acts of the New Testament also happened in the 20th century, three weeks after the start of the Indonesian Great Revival. A total of 70 mission groups organized by laymen went inland to evangelize and experienced miracles such as healing, casting out demons, resurrecting the dead, and turning water into wine, etc.

The wind  of the Holy Spirit blew in Timor 

On the evening of September 26, 1965, in the church prayer meeting, about 200 believers gathered to pray. Wonderful things happened! Just like how the Holy Spirit came in chapter 2 of the book of Acts, it actually happened in this church! While the church prayer meeting was going on, suddenly a loud sound came like the mighty rushing wind like the sound of typhoon!

As the Holy Spirit poured out, one brethren began to pray in German. And all the people began to pray in different languages ​​praising God. That night, heaven came down to the earth and some people spoke French and some people spoke dialects of different tribes. There was a woman who kept saying “Shalom! Shalom”. She didn’t know what she was saying in Hebrew! Others prayed loudly and beautifully in English (she actually did not understand English).

That night, everyone prayed in one voice. As the Holy Spirit lead and moved freely, the meeting went on to midnight. Many people’s hidden sins were revealed, and they confessed their sins. Not long after, they suddenly heard the fire alarm bell rang from the police station across the church. The people in the police station saw that the church seemed to be in flames and thought it was a fire, so they immediately rang the bell and asked the nearby villagers to go to the church to fight the fire. There was no fire truck on Timor Island. So when you encounter a fire, you will ring the bell first, asking the villagers to use their own barrels of water to fight the fire. When the villagers rushed to the door of the church, they saw that the church had flames, but they were not burned. At that time, when the villager saw this strange manifestation, many later  believed in Jesus and were filled with the Holy Spirit.

First repent of sins and then mission

After the Holy Spirit poured out on Timorese church, God began to deal with the sins of believers. Because in order to live a holy life, it is necessary to get rid of the bondage of evil and the first step in dealing with sin is to reveal sins, and then give people the opportunity to repent, so that they can go out to preach the gospel. Not only without the bondage of sin, but also with increased ability. In the past, Timor Island was a place where alcoholism was very serious. However, after the Great Revival, you can’t even find a cup of strong liquor. People can see that the Christian life is a holy life. The missionary team, after dealing with sin, became a holy vessel and wherever they went, they also revealed the power and glory of God.

The beast and the viper can’t hurt them

In the jungle area, there are often venomous snakes and other poisons in the forest. Many times they met a poisonous snake and said to the snake: “Do not move! I have to pass”. The wonderful thing is that the snake will stay quietly and not move nor bite them. The poisonous scorpion was the same. Once a co-worker was accidentally stabbed by the scorpion’, he prayed in the name of Jesus and immediately the pain was gone!

Sumatra is the sixth largest island in the world, with mountains running through the island. There are some places on the island that are sparsely populated. There are still primitive lakes and uninhabited forests. The missionary group that evangelized in the Sumatra forest needed to cross the river many times, but there were crocodiles in the river. When they got to the center of the river, the crocodiles tried to attack them. The brethren remembered Matthew 16:18: ” I tell you, ” You are Peter, I will build my church on this rock; the power of the hade (authority: the original is the door), will not prevail against you. ” So he said to the crocodile in the middle of the river: “I command you to leave in the name of Jesus!” The crocodiles turned and swam away and none attacked them.

During the revival, there is one special characteristic: before they go out to the ministry trip, the Lord will always tell them what to do ahead of time. They will write it down and follow the instructions. They will stop wherever the Lord told them to and evangelize right there. One time during the rainy season, it rained non-stop for up to 40 days, and there was no way to go out for missionary travel. But the missionary group went as usual, and many times, they did not bring umbrellas and raincoats. They only prayed and asked the Lord to watch and keep them. The Lord said to them, “Whatever you ask for, if you believe, you will have it.” Sure enough, the rain fell ten feet before and after them. They were not covered with any raindrops! When they arrived at the village, the villagers asked them in surprise: “Didn’t you walk in the rain?” They answered “Yes.” Because the villagers saw that although their feet were covered with mud, their bodies were dry.  These villagers did not believe when the missionary team said that it was because God protected them, but they could not find any rain gear on them.

Some villages in some jungles are known to be terrible places because people there were best known to be sorcerers and poison people. Once the missionary group entered the village, the local people took food and water for them to eat. The co-workers, though afraid, still trusted God and began to evangelize to the villagers after eating. After two hours, the villagers asked the co-workers what power protected them. It turned out that they put the most poisonous poison in the food. Usually they would die 3 minutes after eating. “How powerful is this God? I want Him also” The villagers all decided to give their lives to God, and burn all their sorcery and poisons in the home.

God led them to walk on water 

There was a time a mission group need to go through a river with no bridges. At that time, the tide of river was high and the river was 300 yards wide and the water was deep and rapid. It was the largest river in the island and the members went up to the river, not knowing how to pass. The bustling pagans on the river bank also stopped them from crossing saying, “Don’t go, you will drown.” So they prayed by the river: “Lord! What should we do?” When God revealed to one of the members, the member said, “God gave me a sense to “just cross the river.” Brothers and sisters, if we listen to people, we will stay here for two or three days. But I have to listen to the words of God. Since he told us to go now, we should do it accordingly and we can’t wait any longer. Just as that year, God told Joseph to take Mary and the baby Jesus to Egypt immediately. If Joseph waited until the morning, he would have been killed by Herod. When he finished, he put his foot in the water. The people on the shore quickly stopped him, but when he stepped on his feet and the water was deep to his knees. He took second, third, and fourth steps…. the water was beneath his knees. He walked to the middle of the water and turned back to the people on the shore and shouted: The water is not deep; therefore, the whole group of people followed to cross the river, and each member’s feet felt like stepping on hard ground and crossed the river smoothly. The people on the shore were surprised to see them, because the villagers knew that the river was twenty or thirty feet deep, and the pagans on the shore wanted to try it, but they almost drowned when they stepped on the water. Then the unbelieving villagers know that that was a miracle!

A little cassava and tea leaves fed the whole team

During the revival, there was a famine in Timor Island. There was a team of missions evangelizing in a certain village and many people turned their hearts to the Lord. At that time, the missionary group lived in the home of a pastor. The wife was worried that the food at home was not enough to accommodate more than 20 people. At that time, the pastor was moved by the Lord to remind the wife that there are still four cassava left in the house, which can be used to cook for the whole group. But the wife did not remember that there was any cassava. At this time, another brother confirmed to the wife that “the Lord told me that there are four cassava in the cupboard, you can take it out. And please give us tea.” When she opened the cabinet, she saw that there was really 4 cassava, and she took the tea and sugar that could only make two or three cups of tea. So she smashed the cassava and grind the tea. The wife prayed for the little food. The members had already lined up with a plate and a cup to get the food. When the wife cut the small cassava into a pieces of cake, it couldn’t even fill a plate. So she prayed as she served what is only enough to serve​​three people, but miracles happened. When the cassava was cut into half, the other half became a whole piece, so in the end everyone’s dishes were full and so was the tea. There was not much tea in the jar so the wife wanted to serve a little bit in each cup. But the Lord wanted her to pour a full cu, and she obeyed. As a result, tea kept coming out of the pot and many people drank a few cups. In the end, all the people were full with food and drinks. Not only that, there were still a lot left. They couldn’t finish it. Even the dogs were able to have some. God also cares for animals. So God satisfied the needs of every hungry person.

Angel accompany children and the resurrection of the dead

There are also children’s missionary groups that go out to preach. They are children from eight to ten years old, but love the Lord. They go to school at 7:00 every morning, and end at one in the afternoon, and they gather for prayer from 4 to 6 in the afternoon. After school at noon on Saturday, they walked five to fifteen miles to the nearby village to preach the gospel. Many times there were no adults, and some people asked the children if they were afraid? They ask in return, why should they be afraid? The children said, “When we go out, there are always a few angels who are protecting us, one in front, one in the back, and one on each side.” God used these children who love the Lord to pray for the elderly patients and many people were healed.

Another mission team went to a village, where a man died for two days. The family asked them to attend the funeral. That day there were thousands of people attending the funeral. The man had died for two days and his body stunk. In the tropical countries, when an individual had been dead for six hours, the body will begin to rot. It has been two days now! Suddenly, the words of the Lord came: “Now go quickly, surround the dead man and sing hymns; I will raise him from the dead.”

So they decided to obey the words of the Lord and went to the front, around the dead, and began to sing. At this time, the devil’s attack also came. He mocked us and said, “You are so stupid, singing around a stinky dead man. It is already hard to bear the stench beyond a hundred feet, let alone standing so close. As soon as you open your mouth, the smell will immediately slip into your mouth!” After singing the first hymn, nothing happened, After the second hymn, still nothing! In the fifth hymn, there was still no movement! But as they began to sing the sixth hymn, the toe of this dead man began to wiggle. Until they finished seventh song, and began the eighth, the man was really alive! He smiled and looked around and spoke: “The Lord Jesus raised me from the dead, brothers and sisters! I tell you a few things. First, although you are dead, your life is not over.” I have been dead for two days, this is what I personally experienced!” The second thing he said is: “Heaven and hell are real! I have seen it. The third thing I want to tell you is, if you don’t believe in Jesus, you can’t go to heaven and will for sure go to hell!”

After he had finished this testimony, the missionary group opened the Bible and read the words of God to prove it. In the three months that followed, the missionary group worked in this shackled place and led a total of 21,000 people to believe in the Lord, all because of the miracle of the resurrection of this dead man. Before the revival , the Dutch missionaries worked on the island of Timor for 60 years and 80,000 people joined the church, but life was not changed and they have never experienced the power of God. Everyone appeared to be Christian, but in reality, they were pagans, because they were still under the control of the devil. Very few people really have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The believers come to the chapel to sing hymns, read prayers, and after they go home, their life was still the same as before.

The revival not only brought born again Christ’s life into those who are willing to believe and obey, but also manifested the power of God. The Lord God said, ” I am Alpha, I am Omega, (Alpha Omega: the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet), the Almighty who was, and is, and is to come ” (Rev. 1:8) . This means: “I am here now, and I am here two thousand years ago, and I will come again in the future!” The Lord Jesus wanted the apostle John to understand that He is the only Lord, living two thousand years ago. Today, He still lives among us in the same way. He is not only the Lord of the past, but also the Lord of today, the Lord of tomorrow.

For many Christians, their Jesus is Jesus of two thousand years ago and Jesus of yesterday. Healing the sick and casting out demons are all things of the past. But the Lord said to us, “I am still alive today, not just two thousand years ago!” If I need a God, I need a God who is still alive today, not a God alive many years ago.

It is true! The Lord is coming again, but we need the Lord to be here today! For the Lord’s return, we may need to wait for one year, three years, ten years, and maybe thousands of years. But we need Him now! I need Him today! We are not living tomorrow and yesterday has passed, we only have today. We want His ability and His love today. His comfort. The Lord Jesus is here today. If you have difficulties, burdens, and illnesses, come to the Lord Jesus now, because Jesus is the Lord of now.