Juazeiro
do Norte is located in Ceará, a state in Brazil --- the
largest country in South America in terms of area,
population, and economy. It has the fifth largest
population in the world.
![](Pics%20for%20Juazeiro%202010/IMG_5522_17_1_1_1.JPG)
Juazeiro
do Norte, Ceará:
"the 2nd most idolatrous city in Brazil"
Visitação
de Deus
Summary
for the week for adults (children separate)
Number
of participating disciples from other cities: 290
Number
of participating
disciples from Juazeiro: 330
Average
number of homes visited by each team per day: 9
Total
number of homes visited from July 26 to 30: 9,577
Number
of people healed: 1,920
Number
of people who accepted Christ: 1,440
Visitação
de Deus ("Visitation of God")
in Juazeiro do
Norte, Ceará
I had been told that Juazeiro do Norte is the second
most idolatrous city in Brazil. Although people here consider themselves
Catholics, most of them worship a deceased man named Father Cicero.
He is acknowledged to have founded the city in the 1930s. He was
a Catholic priest, but because of his claim to have performed a
miracle of turning bread into blood which the Church could not
substantiate, he was eventually excommunicated by the Pope and
the Catholic Church. Eventually he became the mayor of Juazeiro
do Norte. Now he is considered a saint by the local residents,
and they pray to him. There is a large, 27-meter statue of him
on top of the mountain range overlooking the city. Devotees are
known to crawl on their knees kilometers on cobblestone streets
snaking up the mountain to fulfill their vows to him. Every November
around his birthday, a half million people come flocking into the
city from Ceara and the surrounding states to celebrate the event.
Followers
of "Father Cicero" crawl on their knees
up
the mountain
on cobblestone roads
The evangelical churches in Juazeiro do Norte are small and comparatively
few. In some areas of the city, there is no evangelical church
at all.
We
were faced with a challenge here---similar to the challenge which
the prophet Elijah faced in his time with nearly the entire Israelite
nation backsliding to worship Baal.
First, the restoration of unity
On
the first night
many of the local pastors came together under the leadership
of our host Pastor Jonathan Ferreira of the Visitation of God
to
wash one another's feet and to take Holy Communion together. There
was restoration of unity within the Body of Christ. Moreover, 24-hour
prayer for Juazeiro do Norte had been going up to the Lord for
40 days. The prerequisite preparations are being laid for the actual
battle to begin son against the powers of darkness here.
The
following night---likely
for the first time of the history of the Church in Juazeiro do
Norte---all if not most of the pastors and congregations
of the city came together. Prior to this there was little unity
between the mostly small, struggling churches of the city. Over
one thousand believers from the churches gathered to partake of
the Lord's Supper served by the pastors of the city, aided by many
pastors from other cities who have come to Juazeiro do Norte to
participate in the Visitation of God. It was an historic time of
celebration and unity for the body of Christ in Juazeiro do Norte.
An
historic time of unity for the body of Christ
Pastors
prepare to serve Holy Communion
![](Pics%20for%20Juazeiro%202010/IMG_5385_7_1_6_1_1.JPG)
Forgiveness
and reconciliation between pastors of the city
Elijah's challenge to the servants of Baal
I
was given the opportunity to share. The great darkness in Juazeiro
do Norte, I told them, reminds us of the situation Elijah faced
in Israel when most of God's people were deceived into worshiping
Baal. But I believed the Lord was about to fulfill in Juazeiro
do Norte Malachi's prophecy at the end of the Old Testament.
Malachi 4:5 See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that
great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.
Just
as the Lord used Elijah to bring the idolatrous Israelites to
acknowledge Him as God after the great miracle at Mt. Carmel,
so would He restore the spirit and power of Elijah---the boldness
and power that come from the Holy Spirit---to the Church in Juazeiro
do Norte in these last days to bring the idolatrous city back to
the Lord. I invited the people to attend the Basic Training to
begin on the following morning to learn how to heal the sick and
cast out demons as Jesus taught and commanded his disciples when
he
sent
them out to proclaim the kingdom of God to Israel.
Jesus'
command in Portuguese:
"Heal the sick" (Luke 10:9)
The first session
![](Pics%20for%20Juazeiro%202010/Photo%20A%20-%20Training%20Session.JPG)
Perhaps
600 disciples gathered for the first session of the Basic Training,
with over half of them local believers and the rest from out-of-town.
They were unusually zealous for
the Lord and received the teaching from Scripture with great exuberance.
During the last half hour of the Training I had them come forward
to lay hands on those with infirmities. After two rounds of the
exercise of authority over the infirmities by the disciples, a
total of about twenty people came forward to testify that the Lord
had healed them. Some of the testimonies appeared quite dramatic.
William
prepares the disciples to heal the sick
during a demonstration
![](Pics%20for%20Juazeiro%202010/IMG_5440_11_1_9_1_1.JPG)
Above & below:
People testify of being healed
during various Training sessions
![](Pics%20for%20Juazeiro%202010/IMG_5503_14_1_12_1_1.JPG)
![](Pics%20for%20Juazeiro%202010/IMG_5507_15_1_13_1_1.JPG)
Woman
gives up crutches (left)
After
the session was over, a man approached me. He had a painful heart
condition. Because of that his doctor told him he could not
run or even jog. I laid hands on his heart and rebuked the infirmity,
commanding his heart to be healed in Jesus' name. Then the man
took off and jogged around the front of the auditorium. He returned
to us and reported that he felt no pain whatsoever. He took off
and ran around a second time. His heart felt fine.
After
lunch the disciples went out, going door to door to heal the
sick and preach the gospel.
The second session
At
the beginning of the second morning of training, I asked the
600 disciples who had witnessed God's power to heal through them
as they went
from
home to home yesterday
afternoon to share the gospel. I was amazed to see a sea of hands
go up! The Lord is indeed faithful to fulfill His word through
these bold and obedient disciples.
Below
is a photo of half of the crowd
as people raised their hands. Unfortunately
only people in the front can be seen raising their hands. There
were
many, many behind them also who raised their hands, but are not
visible.
One
bold brother who has preached the gospel on the street shared
some very powerful miraculous healings which took place in the
home of a family of devoted idol-worshipers. Even after experiencing
miracles, they were reluctant to repent and believe on Jesus because
they had been told that their god would get revenge on them for
forsaking him. But after some encouragement the family changed
their mind and decided to believe on Jesus.
The
fifth and final session
At
the final session I did not feel like holding a demonstration
of healing at the end of the meeting. The disciples had already
had ample opportunities to heal the sick at the earlier sessions
and each afternoon they had gone from door-to-door praying for
people, healing the sick and sharing the gospel. So Friday morning
I thought I would simply wrap up the week-long Training with teaching
only---without having the disciples minister to the infirm.
But my host
pastor Jonathan requested that we minister to the infirm since
quite a few of them had shown up wanting to be healed.
I agreed, but would add a twist. I told the people that I would
leave early and leave the healing up to them. I looked over at
my young interpreter Ricardo by my side who had been
translating for me faithfully all week. I told the people that
Ricardo would lead them from the stage during the healing ministry
instead of me. By faith I boldly told them I expected that people
would be healed just as they were when I was present on earlier
days. In fact, I said I would be disappointed if they were not.
So I packed
up my laptop and made my way out of the auditorium as Ricardo
mounted the stage and called the infirm and the
trained servants of God forward to the front. It was in the Lord's
hands now.
My
interpreter Ricardo
leading the demonstration of healing
Later that
day I heard that the Lord had moved powerfully as the brethren
laid hands on the sick after I left. One man with a tumor/growth
bulging in his abdominal area found it flattening out and could
no longer feel the tumor. He testified through tears. One elderly
woman hobbled by pain was leaping up and down pain-free. Twenty
to twenty-five people testified that the Lord had gloriously healed
them. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness in performing His word. "Those
who believe on Him will do the works that He did." (John 14:12)
Final day of
outreach at Juazeiro do Norte
When the 600
trained Brazilian disciples went out to the streets around the
city plaza Saturday morning to heal the sick
and preach the gospel, many people with infirmities were healed.
This on the heels of several hundred infirm people who were healed
in their homes as the disciples went from home to home in the city
over five afternoons proclaiming the kingdom of God.
The
disciples praying
in the city plaza
Above
& below: sharing the gospel and healing the sick on the streets
On Saturday
evening, we held a large evangelistic healing service. (See the
photo below.) I preached the gospel from John 14:6, and
then the Lord confirmed the word through many testimonies of healing
as the trained pastors and disciples ministered to the infirm with
power. A handful of people came forward out of the crowd of mostly
believers to accept Christ as Lord and Savior after hearing the
testimonies which confirmed the gospel. Perhaps there had never
been such a meeting in the history of this city which has been
given over to the worship of the local god "Father Cicero".
This is just the beginning for the believers here as they seek
to take this idolatrous city for the kingdom of God.
Data for
the adults
Number
of participating disciples from other cities: 290
Number
of participating
disciples from Juazeiro: 330
Average
number of homes visited by each team per day: 9
Total
number of homes visited from July 26 to 30: 9,577
Number
of people healed: 1,920
Number
of people who accepted Christ: 1,440
Data
for the Children’s Ministry
People
from other cities who helped with the Nursery: 30
People
from Juazeiro do Norte who helped: 85
Total
number of children in the Seminar during the five days: approximately
530
Total
number of children reached for the Seminars and in the Schools:
1300
Number
of homes taken care of (including shelters): over 700
Number
of people reached: About 2000---including children,
adults, employees of the schools and shelter
Number of miraculous
healings & Number of decisions for Jesus:
We do not have accurate numbers. But each day there were about
450 children and teachers praying and ministering in the streets,
divided into groups. Each one of these groups reported miraculous
healings and conversions to Christ.
Reports
in the aftermath of the Training
"Os
milagres começaram a acontecer na igreja e no evangelismo
ainda em pequena escala mais estou treinando os lideres da igreja
mais já estou vendo os milagres acontecer por meio da
vida deles empondo as mãos sobre os enfermos sei que vou
dar mais testemunhos pra edificar a fé. Aguarde é lindo
o que Deus esta fazendo."
-Pastor
Ivan Ribeiro of the Juazeiro do Norte Ebenezer Church
[Rough
translation with help from Google: "The miracles started
happening in the church in evangelism and even more in small-scale.
I'm
training
church leaders
more, I'm already seeing miracles happen through their lives with
laying hands on the sick. I know I'll give more testimonies to
build faith. What God is doing is beautiful."]
Visitação
de Deus
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