Carl trained with The Elijah Challenge in 2006, and served as a missionary/evangelist in the Philippines until 2011.
I just returned from an exciting four day trip to visits our 20+ house-churches in Irosin, Bicol, southern Luzon, Philippines (a 17 hour bus ride from our home in Baguio). The area was devastated a few years ago by a volcano and Mayon Volcano which is nearby has been active in the past few months. Our churches there, have been under persecution from their families and the Roman Catholic Church. However, the simple, beautiful faith and obedience to the gospel which they exhibit was inspiring to me.
We sent one full-time Filipino missionary to this community and she has trained two more local missionaries-evangelist. They work with her and have planted more than 20 house-churches. I traveled by myself on this trip due to a shortage of funds, I was unable to bring our Filipino team of missionaries. When I arrived, I trained the 3 full-time missionaries, and seven others in The Elijah Challenge (TEC), Mass Deliverance, evangelism, church planting and many others in basic theology, etc,..
Of course God showed up, as expected, and ten people were healed. People were healed of vision problems, one elderly women wept when she found she could read her Bible again. Shoulder joints, knee problems, pain in the heart and irregular heartbeats were healed, severe headaches were healed, back pain, neck, shoulder and wrist pain, and neck injuries were all healed. One elderly woman who suffered from severe back pain, heart trouble and exhaustion was healed. This woman could barely stay awake or walk without assistance and had no energy. She frequently fell asleep while sitting or engaged in conversations. First she reported her back pain and the slowness of her heartbeat were healed. The second time, we used authority her circulation improved, the color came back to her face, she smiled and told us she felt good and she even hopped around a little and beamed at us with a smile from ear to ear. Later at lunch, I saw her waiting on others and she was even skipping as she went back to get plates of food to bring to others. Her recovery was very visible and two days later she was still smiling and telling others about what Jesus did for her.
Healing at a distance
The most unusual healing was the brother of one of our full-time Filipino missionaries Beth. He was in Manila (650 miles away /13 hours by bus) when he contacted her and told her he was in severe pain with gout / arthritis in his knees, ankles, feet and toes. He was unable to stand, walk, or go to work. Since we had just finished training when she got the message we used the “power and authority” of Jesus name to heal him at a distance. She told him we would pray for him and heal him and he testified back that it was 70% better the first time we commanded healing. We commanded healing a second time and he said he was completely healed. He told us, “if I stamp hard or kick something I can feel a little pain” but he could easily stand, walk and jump without pain. He returned to work the next day praising the Lord, after being healed from a distance of more than 650 miles away. He is not a believer, or perhaps I should say, he is not yet a believer but he is praising God and that is a good start.
In John 14:12, Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to my Father.” I wonder if someone being healed from 650 miles away might be one of the “greater things” Jesus was talking about?
We also did deliverance after showing the people how to renounce certain families of sins which are commonly used as legal grounds for demonization. We had them confess, renounce and forsake Contact with the Occult, Idolatry, Fortune Telling, Break Generational and Family Curses, Renounce Witchcraft, Psychic Bondage, Evil Soul Ties, Confess the Sins of their Fathers, Religious Spirits, Unforgiveness and Bitterness and confess their own habitual sins and close the door to Satan in their lives. Many people here have multi generational sources of witchcraft , Idolatry, Immorality, murder and unforgiveness running in their families before coming to Christ. They prayed prayers of commitment to Christ and we took authority over Satan and the demons and began casting them out. Eleven people were delivered in less than an hour.
The last day, seven people were baptized into Christ and one of them was also delivered during her baptism.
The reports I have received have been amazing as many more people have been healed in the community by our newly trained Christians. As one of our missionaries said “Praise the Lord, Pastor! We will continue to enforce God’s Kingdom in this place.”
Healing and deliverance is bringing the Kingdom of God. “Destroying the works of the wicked one” like sin, diseases, illness and demons is Kingdom work. When we do the work of the Kingdom we enforce the Kingdom of God upon the darkness. Amen, let us all agree to bring and enforce the Kingdom of God in whatever place we are. Let us bloom where we are planted!
In Christ service,
Carl Henderson
Missionary-evangelist
Philippines, Asia