Two years of The Elijah Challenge in Poland (2012-2013)
In November of 2012 and again 2013 we went to Christian camps in the beautiful mountains and country side of Poland, called Zakesciele, which is known for its deer hunting and alpine cabins. On each occasion, I was able to conduct an abbreviated The Elijah Challenge training in addition, to the other training we conducting on deliverance, evangelism and house-church planting. By God’s grace I also conducted another Elijah Challenge seminar in Warsaw after this second camp. So these are the stories of the results of these three Elijah Challenge healing seminars from 2012 and 2013.
On both occasions, 150 believers were trained. In 2012 about 32 people were healed (probably more than 32 but many people left before we could count them), during the training, I commanded from a distance and then those who were healed also laid hands on many other people and using the “power and authority of Jesus name” to heal others. Many people in the crowd could not get pregnant even after many years of trying so they asked for healing. Numerous people manifested demons, who moved from place to place in people’s bodies, several of these demons of infirmity were cast out and people were healed.
One woman had a huge stomach on an otherwise normal appearing body. She seemed to feel better as if she was getting healed and then she would get worse again. I asked her what was the issue, how did she develop this big belly (I assumed it was a tumor) and she said, years before she had nearly been run over by a car and from the time of this big scare, there was a “big balloon” in her stomach. I suspected it was demonic and we took authority over it several times and drove it out. She let out a long and loud belch and the “balloon” in her stomach disappeared. She rejoiced about her healing along with many others.
In the second meeting in November of 2013 at the same location about 150 believers were trained and some of these were retrained from the previous year. At this meeting several people came and showed us their new babies who had been born in the previous year after we commanded their reproductive organs to be healed and restored. They gave all the credit to the Lord and to The Elijah Challenge which taught commands for healing. A larger number of people were healed at this second meeting, approximately 50 people or more. Many back injuries, arthritic hands, ear infections, bad knees, and stiff shoulders, a hunched back and stiff legs, were healed.
After this second meeting, in Zakesciele, in 2013, I rode into Warsaw with some dear friends I met the previous year, to conduct House-Church training for the largest street church in Poland, which frequently had 150-200 people in attendance.
I was also invited to teach The Elijah Challenge at a large evangelical church in Warsaw. I conducted an abbreviated training for about 200 people (this is an estimate I did not count as I usually do) and then we began the healing part of the training. I had a lot of difficulty doing “The Elijah Challenge” healing this night, I tried not to let it show, but I was frustrated with the results. I had to do everything through one volunteer interpreter and then he had to leave and I finished up with another volunteer interpreter. I really needed at least three people to help interpret in a situation like this but I only had one at a time and they both were having trouble keeping up with the learning curve. My main volunteers for the healings were current Pastors from that church and other pastors from several other affiliated churches. I had difficulty getting the Pastors to stop closing their eyes and praying for people ineffectively, as they had always done in the past. I also had difficulty communicating with them as I only had one interpreter / translator and there was a lot of confusion. Although, more than 30 people were healed, I feel as if more could have been healed except some of the training did not get properly translated and passed down to the believers, through the interpreters. We also had three people manifest very loud screaming and shouting demons, which was another sources of confusion and distraction.
I have seen these demonic manifestations more and more frequently as Satan wants to distract the new believers from learning The Elijah Challenge and to scare and alarm some people. I have learned to bind the demons in Jesus name. I normally tie them up and silence them, using the name of Jesus and verbal commands for them to be silent and to be bound in the spiritual realm. This usually stops the loud outburst and the people wait passively, without being tormented, so we can get back to them later and address their demonic issues, after the more routine healings are completed.
There were many people healed that night despite the confusion. Including one who had sever vision problems another one who had a speech impediment, which made him sound like a drunkard when he talked (at least that is how it sounded to me but I do not speak or understand Polish). However, the one that sticks in my mind the most was one lady who had been run over by a motorcycle and her lower leg was horribly mangled, miss-aligned, and deeply scarred. Several people tried to heal her and I watched here limp from one person to another but she was not healed. She stuck around and I could see she wanted me to try and heal her as well. She was so desperate to be healed. When I had a chance, I was finally able to go to her and ask about her situation. I had seen others trying to heal her with no results so I also did not think she was going to be healed that night. However, I mustered up all my faith and tried three times to heal her but she could not see or feel any improvement. I finally hugged her and she thanked me for trying (in Polish), again my translator was not with me at the end of my attempts to heal her but I could tell what she was saying, she was one of the last people in the crowd to leave the building that night.
As we were cleaning up, the Holy Spirit’s presence lifted, as the meeting was now over, and as usual this left me quiet exhausted. I was trying to find some coffee to use as an energy pick up. I had seen a coffee pot that made strong “Turkish Coffee” previously, in a little office off to the side. Those who spoke English were speaking to me, all at once, I tried to pay attention to their words while looking behind them for the coffee pot, I desperately needed something to pick up my energy after all the traveling, teaching, and preaching. Suddenly, we heard a loud squeal of delight from the main door that led down three flights of stairs to the street. I turned to see the woman who had been severely injured by the motorcycle, now running straight at me with her arms open wide. She hit me like a linebacker and although I am much bigger than her, she drove me back a few feet and I might have fallen down but she was hugging me and rocking me left to right, in joy.
She was shouting and talking fast to me and to everyone else and I could not understand what was going on. She was screaming, laughing and shouting all at the same time. Everyone was talking to her and I could not get a word in edge ways. Finally one of the English speakers began to tell me what happened as everyone took turns hugging the lady.
It seems the lady had left disappointed that she was not healed (as we were also). But God told her “she was healed and that she would see when she reached the sidewalk outside”. She painfully walked down three flights of stairs and across the parking lot. When she reached the sidewalk she felt and heard the leg crack, and she was healed. She tested it and examined it and as the realization that she was healed set in, she ran up the stairs, without a limp, to share her joy and nearly knock me off my feet. I examined the leg and it did look straighter and better, but the scars were still deep and obvious. However, she could now hop on that injured leg, she could jump on it and she ran back and forth in some quick sprints. She thanked me and hugged me several more times. I told her to give the glory to God and not to me. She said “yes, yes, I did!” Then as quickly as she appeared she said, I have to show my family and she ran out the door and disappeared.
This was one of the most unusual healings I have experienced. I was a little frustrated with some aspects of this meeting. That was until she returned, rejoicing and put this all back in perspective! We serve a mighty, unfathomable and mysterious God, who does things the way he wants them to be done! Praise the Lord for his love, mercy, and grace! Lord forgive me for my impatience and bless the wonderful Christians of Poland!
Oh, I finally had some of that strong sweet “Turkish Coffee”, which powerfully raised my energy and lifted my spirits even further.
Pastor Carl Henderson of Texas trained with The Elijah Challenge in 2006