Fire in the Philippines

Measure of Gold Revival Ministries

4-09-2007

This is my final report with all my thoughts and updates.

What does it take to make a man of God?

No man is ever fully accepted until he has, first of all, been utterly rejected.  ------------- Author Unknown

Yes rejection is a powerful forge used by God to test and try a man.  I have been rejected by the secular business world as well as the Christian Church.  But what does that mean?  Am I a failure?  Perhaps in the worldly view of some, but what about God?

No, I have fallen into the everlasting arms of my God and He has been my source and strength and He is leading me to the nations to spread His fame and wonder to those who know Him not.

“Do not we rest in our day too much on the arm of flesh?  Cannot the same wonders be done now as of old?  Do not the eyes of the Lord still run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those who put their trust in Him?  Oh, that God would give me more practical faith in Him?  Where is now the Lord God of Elijah?  He is waiting for Elijah to call on Him.”

                                                  ----------James Gilmore of Mongolia

I have called on God like Elijah and my God has answered.  My trip to the Philippines was a total surprise to me!  My God showed His strength and glory in our meetings.  We had a total of over 1,500 salvations and over 600 healings, many instantaneous and miraculous.  Here is our updated narrative.

3-16-07

We flew about 10 hours to Tokyo and then 4 1/2 to Manila and arrived in Customs at 10:50.  We were told by someone who is a "regular" into Manila that 5 747's arrive in Manila at that time and the trip through emigration, customs and getting your bag would take hours.  But we got in and out in less than an hour.  Praise Jesus as His grace continues to flow.  We stayed in CSM's building, CSM is Church Strengthening Ministry and they are wonderful people.  Next morning we met Aida Faustino who I contacted to get the room.  A real nice woman.  We flew to Dipolog and landed at that small airport and were greeting by many in the church of Renato Advento, as well as some pastors that are coming in for our pastor's training.  That evening I preached at their Friday night fellowship and spoke on the flow of the Holy Spirit and then had a wonderful prayer time.  We then had Filipino food, as Renato's son Bob had his 20th birthday.

We are staying in a Hotel downtown (about $20 per night courtesy of the Hotel Manager who is a believer - regular about $80 per night)

3-17-07

We went to Manukan (Chickens) prison this morning and preached on Liberty in Christ and had 35 accepted Christ, most of the people listening came forward.  Then this afternoon we went to the Dipolog city jail and preached on being reconciled with Christ and over 40 came forward to complete that eternal transaction with their Lord.  We then visited the Children's ministry of Renato's Church and enjoyed playing with the Children.

Tomorrow I will preach in Renato's Church and Josh will go and preach in another pastor's church in the morning and then at 5:00 pm we will start our 2 day crusade and a pastor's training Monday and Tuesday.  God is soooo good, we are rejoicing on over 70 have received Christ in the first 2 days.

3-21-07

Wow does God ever move on faith.  He is all my glory and all my wonder.  We did two Crusades two nights in a row on the top floor of the hotel.  It has a big room with a stage and seating for maybe 600 people.

The first night the busses started arriving at 5:00 PM and they were loaded!  Thirty or more people just on the roof alone and maybe 60 or more inside.  Many of these people had driven for maybe two hours to get here.  Our worship was powerful, some in Bisayan and some in English.  But the Spirit of the Living God was here.  I preached on the story of Jairus and the woman with the issue of blood and blind Bartimaeus.  To reach out when Jesus comes by in FAITH.  We called for those who wanted Christ and around 250 came forward, about half of the crowd.  Praise Jesus these people are hungry for the Lord.  Then I prayed for the sick!  Hallelujah to the Lord who answers faith, many were healed, some instantly.  One lady had a deaf ear restored.  One lady rose up from her bed to dance a jig.  Oh the Wonders of our God.  As many as  80 were healed out of about 100 people.  It is funny how God moves in the heart.  This night my emotions were flat and I basically felt nothing, but God was showing me that our emotions have nothing to do with his power and glory.  We sometimes  make the mistake that to get God to move we must get our emotions all roiled up, but that is not the issue.  The issue is do we flow with God’s power, love and compassion?  John 7:37-39 .

The second night the crowd swelled to over 700 from 500 the night before.  There was standing room only.  Many had heard of the healings and brought sick friends.  The worship was even more powerful and heavenly than the first night and I heard angles singing adding to the beauty and glory of what was happening and what was going to happen.  I taught two messages this night.  First I taught a simple evangelistic message and called for those who wanted the sweet Jesus and over 150 responded.  Hallelujah.  I told them that if they had come to see miracles that they had just witnessed the biggest one of all.  A soul coming to Jesus is the very greatest miracle. 

Then I taught a simple message on healing and looked at Isaiah 53 and told them that healing was in the atonement and spoke of how one could ask the Lord for healing just as one asked for salvation and the Lord of Glory would deliver.  And did He!!!!

We opened the altars for prayer for the sick and about another 125 came.  We started at the right and healing after healing occurred, many with instant results.  One man received his sense of smell and taste back.  A woman with a blind right eye was healed and could see out of that eye.  A woman had a goiter vanish, tumors went away, ulcers gone, I was in heaven.  Then came a woman with a little boy who looked like he was 4 or 5 months old, but he was 8 years old.  Oh how the compassion of Jesus flows!  I prayed for her and as I prayed a sudden bolt of heavenly lightening struck me and I stood up and cried out over the woman, "God will answer your faith, your faith, your faith!!"  I knew in that instant that this dear lady was not forgotten by her God and that as she walked in faith her child would grow.  The Lord told her to go out and buy bigger clothes as she would need them.  Oh my sweet Lord and Savior!! 

The first night the Lord told me this as I was sitting waiting for my time to minister.  "A woman who wants to have a baby and can't, I will heal her'

I stood up and announced that, but got no takers and so I said, maybe this is for someone to come tomorrow night.  As you know, two things could have happened, 1. No one would come or 20 would come and the Holy Spirit had just said one.  Well the one came and she said "A friend told me about you."  She wanted prayer, but I said, "It's already done just go your way and you will have your child.!"  Her smile told me that she believed and off she went to have her baby.

Out of the 125 or so that came that night, only 2 didn't receive their miracle.  Oh the Love of Jesus.

This morning we ministered in a small native village we had to drive an hour and a half and wade a river to get to and the Holy dropped in their too.  Many touched and filled with His goodness.

3-24-07

What a mighty God we serve.  I just want to tell everybody who reads this report that God is so very loving and so very much bigger than all our problems.

We had two nights of Glory in Mapadan the last two nights.  Pastor Blanco's sons and many others set up a sterling crusade and we had over 1200 both nights with the last night maybe approaching 1700.  God moved in power.

The worship was heavenly and attracted many to come to the central part of Mapadan where there was a central plaza with a large stage and large flat area in front.  The stage has a large sight with the message JESUS SAVES and John 14:6 with my name way at the bottom, exactly where it needed to be if at all.  For Jesus was the King these two nights. 

I believe the 20 or more pastors in Mapadan who spent countless hours praying, fasting and organizing was a big key to the success.  They are the troops who made the battle successful.

The first night we had about 800 come forward for Salvation and the second night we had another 250.  Oh the Glory of Jesus! That is the biggest miracle of this crusade those souls that were bought by the suffering of Jesus.  The pastors have a wonderful strategy for bringing those new converts into the church to disciple them.

Then God showed up in miraculous healing power as I proclaimed the desire of the Lord to heal just as sure as He will save.  The start of the healing miracles was a man I saw coming into the area with three people helping him.  He was a stroke victim.  I saw him and said to myself, there is our first miracle.  I was walking in heavenly places and saw what God saw.  I prayed for this man first and as I rose from prayer, I removed his cane from his hand and he proceeded to walk up and down the steps behind me with little assistance.  He then walked unassisted back to his seat and I saw him raising his hands later, a feat he couldn’t do before prayer.  The faith level rose to a fever pitch as the people saw this miracle and they came as little children to receive their miracle.  The first night over 250 came and nearly all received their miracle. Again and again the power of God healed, tumors, ovarian cysts, asthma, bleeding, allergies, blurred vision, migraine headaches, etc, etc.  The first night a vendor in one of the food booths outside our area heard the call for healing prayer and both she and her daughter came and were healed. One pastor brought 28 people who needed healing and every one went home with their healing.  Oh the powerful love of Jesus!!

The pastors were greatly challenged by the crusade.  I didn't even know how God was using me, but the first night I prayed for each person individually for about 2 hours to pray for each one.  I hugged, kissed and loved each one, which just felt natural to me as the Father poured out His love through me.  The pastors saw this and it challenged them to their core so they determined to do the same the second night and God answered.

The second night as many as 300 come for healing and many healed as well.  The second night the pastor's prayed with me for healing and God also moved on their behalf.  It was a repeat of the first night as God moved in power.  I have never before witnessed the power of God in such wonder as person after person was released from a sickness and pain.  A man with diabetes came and after prayer announced that He had been healed, a woman with multiple problems, in faith, told me that I had been sent to Mapadan for her healing and God agreed as she was made completely whole.  Oh the love of our God!  Joshua my partner in this mission trip was watching the healing and as I was praying for a little woman and asked God “Why are you healing this woman, don’t you have too much other stuff to do?  Aren’t you busy managing world affairs?”  But God spoke back and said “Because I am God and because I am good!”  And at that instant the woman I was praying for was healed.  Joshua filled with such joy he laughed for 10 minutes unable to take a picture.  (He was my “official” photographer)

This crusade has been described my the pastors of Mapadan as "historic".  The town was greatly moved by what happened there.  One pastor was crying out to God during my preaching and God dropped on him and baptized him in the Spirit.  I think many more were hit by the Holy Spirit as well. 

In response those pastors poured out such a love and respect back to us that it was incredible.  We truly serve a might God who saves and heals.

3-25-07

We ministered to the police department in Santa Maria in the morning and in the evening we preached at the Lighthouse Church in Uredenta a large city near San Nicholas.  I received my message on what to teach as I approached the pulpit.  It was the start of a family prayer circle and I spoke on the Lord’s prayer and spoke of each part as being a vital need in our hearts today.  Many in the audience were struck by the Holy Spirit as I spoke and doubled over and weeping.  The altars were full of weeping people.  Oh my Lord, take your glory for this servant is not worthy of it.  Hallelujah to the Lord Most High.

I preached in Pastor Blanco’s church Sunday morning and again Sunday night and many were touched to tears.  These are lovely, warm people who love the Lord and are ones He is selecting to work with Him.

3-28-07

Oh the life of a evangelist!  Our good friends and fellow workers in the fields, Dan and Tori Beaver put us up in Manila in some condos.  They stocked our refrigerator with snacks, soft drinks and juices and we had two days of lounging and swimming in the swimming pool under the coconut palms.

3-30-07

Off to Boracay!

We flew to Kalibo and took a 1 1/2 hour van ride to Catilcan where we got on a boat for a 15 minute ride to Boracay.  We went to the Church on the Rock and stayed in the home of Rolando and Theresa Atienza the pastors.  They are great people and we love them and were honored to stay in their home.

Boracay is a destination resort in the Visayas Islands in central Philippines.  The Philippines promotes Boracay as a tourist area and thousands of tourists go there.  But Boracay is an island of great differences, on the beach the rich and the beautiful walk among the palms, white sands, resorts and posh stores and only a few miles away is overwhelming poverty.

We ministered during the day and at night we also went to the beach and swam in the warm waters of the South China Sea.  The waters were cool and delightful.  But we felt a bit out of place among the rich tourists as we are not rich in the world’s goods, but rich in heavenly things.  We pray for those rich tourists that God would reach into their lives as well through this church.  When I come back we are planning on a Crusade in the central part of the beach district.

Sunday I preached in the Church on the Rock or as the Lord would remind us the Church under the Mango tree and the church of always new beginnings.  I talked on true success with the story of the grain of wheat falling to the ground and dying and bearing much fruit as the true story of success.  Many were touched and I ministered after church to those who needed prayer.  We Christians do not need to listen to the world’s ways as we are citizens of another realm and our God is bigger than this world.  Some needed healing which God delivered, some needed peace in their hearts and some needed physical help.  One needed a job, and jobs in the Philippines are few and far between.  But I told this lady we don’t have to listen to the world and that God has a job for her that very week.  And she got a call about 2 hours later for her to come in Monday for her training.  She was weeping with gratitude to her God for His quick answer.

The last several days in Boracay we have been ministering to the poorest of the poor who live in Nipa huts in the central part of Boracay.  Along the beach the rich tourists from dozens of countries roam the white sands and crystal clear waters of the China Sea.  But only a few miles away thousands of the workers who take care of them live in desperate poverty.  The Church on the Rock in Boracay provides food and spiritual hope to the impoverished people.  We have been into several barangay or neighborhoods of these beautiful people and delivered clothes, food and Jesus.  In one barangay Theresa brought me a man who was suffering from Asthma.  I asked her if he was a Christian and she said no.  I looked at the man and the Lord dropped on me and I pointed at the man and said, “I am going to pray for you and God is going to heal you and at the very same moment you will become a Christian.  I then prayed for him and stepped back and told him “Breath!”  He took his first deep breath in probably years and shouted “Praise Jesus, Hallelujah!!” 

  The Church on the Rock has evangelism teams who go into these barangay and evangelize the people through their children.  Pastor Rolando and Theresa Atienza are wonderful people who are dedicated servants of the Living God in their Church on the Rock which started 10 years ago under a Mango tree.  They are looking to build a whole new church, with three floors and a basketball court on top.  They have to first buy the land which will cost them $45,000.00 of which a $5000.00 payment has been made and the first of two $20,000.00 will be made this April and the second in  November.  The construction will cost about $104,000.00.  This is impossible money for these poor Philippine Pastors, but not impossible for our God.  Anyone wishing to contact Dan and Tori Beaver to donate can contact them at this address.  beaverbalita_seasia@yahoo.com

The Lord has a mission for the Philippine people.  His Spirit is brooding over the islands and a wind of the Spirit is blowing.  These brown skinned, brown eyed people are already scattered across the 10-40 window and God has a plan to set fire to the Philippines and send those flaming brands all across that window.  Glory to the God of glory, He reigns!!!

 

Evan Wiggs

 

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