Signs and Wonders in Shillong

My friend and co-worker, Reuben Pradhan (http://torestoration.googlepages.com/), in Shillong, India, has just sent another report of his observations of the current move of the Holy Spirit there. His reports, beginning the first of September, have captured my imagination. I don't know what to think about everything, but I know I don't want to limit God. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Lord answered the prayers of our brothers and sisters there in India that He grant repentance to those in the West, and pour out His Holy Spirit here?

I recommend that before you read this most recent report, you go back and read some of the previous reports, to understand more of the context. Probably the best place to begin is Reuben’s introduction: “How It All Began” (click here to go to the article) .

23rd Sept 2006
9:00 p.m.
Shillong, Meghalaya, India 

Many signs and wonders were taking place among His people. (Acts 5:12)

Earlier this evening I went to meet a family friend of mine who is a Spirit-filled and devout believer. He belongs to a Presbyterian church where prayer meetings have been going on every evening now for several months. Initially, there was a very powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit in this place. I was told some young people stayed under the power of God for two to three days continuously.

This evening, just a couple of hours ago, I had a chance to visit this gathering with my friend. Three men (church leaders) were leading the song, "I surrender all," and the hall seemed to reverberate as the whole church sang harmoniously and wholeheartedly. As we entered the hall and joined the crowd in singing, I could feel the sweet and gentle presence of the Lord. In fact, at one point I felt that the Lord was walking down the aisle in the middle of the hall. Later, after the meeting, my friend described for me how the presence of God was very strong during the initial phase of these meetings. But later, as the leadership began to bring some regulations to the church, the manifestations began to decrease. However, it came both as a confirmation and a jolt to me when my friend continued, "Earlier you could feel the Lord walking up and down the aisle." I then told him that was what I had just felt, too.

It is at this point that Reuben's account moves on to things I find a bit more difficult. I can't imagine why God might do certain things. Yet I can't insist that God couldn't do things, just because I don't understand them. I can't validate the following signs and wonders from scripture. Yet neither can I conclusively deny them from scripture. I don't want to open doors to things that don't glorify God, but neither do I want to be the judge of something God may, in fact, be glorifying Himself through.

Reuben continued:

Here are some pictures my friend took with his cell phone recently in one of the meetings:

The girl in this picture was praying, when suddenly she saw blood dripping from the cross that stood above the pulpit in the chapel. She told some who were standing by her side about this sight. The others couldn’t see it, but suggested that she go and pray below where the cross stood. She did that. With her hands clasped she began to pray, continuing for some time. Later when she opened her eyes she noticed that there were blood marks on the palms of both of her hands. My friend who took the picture was astonished, as were the others. He tried to scratch the marks but they wouldn’t go away. The girl didn’t feel any pain at all in that portion of her palms, either. The blood marks stayed for five days or so. The picture was taken a day or two later.

Moreover, the day the picture was taken there was another manifestation–gold dust on her body. When my good friend saw this he was rather skeptical at first (in fact he was skeptical for quite some time). He tried to pull off the gold dust from her body in order to verify it but the flakes wouldn’t come off at all. In fact he wasn’t able able to feel it. Half-believing and half-confused, my friend simply held her hand and prayed for her. As soon as he finished praying the girl looked at him and smilingly pointed to some gold dust particles that were now appearing on the coat he was wearing, and one sparkling dust flake on his trousers. They remained there for the next few hours until he reached home, and then they disappeared. (The appearance of gold dust on people during this outpouring of the Holy Spirit has also taken place in other areas here.)

I was also told that while under the power of God this girl has received many visions, some of which were too profound for my friend to understand. I’ve been offered an opportunity to meet with her next week to hear her account, first-hand, of what the Lord has been saying and doing in her life.

Surely God has gotten the attention of His people through all these signs and wonders. I believe that through all these He is conveying His heart and some important messages to His Bride. May we hear His voice and continue to follow Him.

Reuben Pradhan
http://torestoration.googlepages.com/ 

I find such accounts perplexing. My Protestant mindset makes me suspicious of blood on the palms, glowing crosses, figures on crosses, etc. I am particularly concerned that superstitious Hindus, Buddhists, animists, and others can easily get their eyes on the physical phenomena and miss Jesus. Of course, as was reported in an earlier report Reuben sent, they can do the same thing with the Bible, itself.

I have been shown to be prejudiced against things that are truly of God in the past. Yet I also don’t want to be so open-minded that I over-rule God-given protections. Thus I find myself doubtful (a healthy skepticism?) about many of these manifestations.

I voiced some of my concerns to Reuben, and he shares them. Yet he is there in the middle of these events, and sees the fruit. Here is a clarifying response he just sent to me:

Dear Jonathan,

The cross phenomenon is rather puzzling for me too. Of course, like you I cannot doubt or limit the hands of God in working out signs and wonders beyond our comprehension.

The friend I mentioned in my Revival Updates page is R----. Last night when I shared with him my doubts about the image on the cross, he smiled and took out his cell phone with which he had taken some picture of the cross to show them to me. To tell you the truth, I had personally visited this chapel to see this cross, and to me it didn't appear spectacular or moving. I was skeptical. But last night when R---- showed me the pictures in his cell phone, the image in the middle of the cross was quite visible. It has a white shape of a figure hanging on the cross sometimes looking like a dove.

Although I was unmoved by the sight of the cross that day, I could still thank God for the crowd that had thronged the building, singing, repenting and praying–both inside the hall and outside on the compound. Large numbers of Hindus and other non-Christians came every day to witness this. And in their customary manner, they would enter the hall without their shoes. So you would see multitudes of shoes lying outside at the entrance of the hall. Although I was unmoved by the cross, seeing these throngs and their shoes did move me. I left the place thinking of Paul's comment, "whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice" (Philp 1:18 ESV).

But my landlady's teenaged granddaughter went there the first night, and later told me that as she was standing in the queue to touch the cross, she actually saw a vision of Jesus on the wall of the building. The face wasn't visible because it was glowing brilliantly but she could see the image up to the lower portion of the chest. That night she stayed in that hall beyond midnight, praying with her friends until 1 a.m.

However, we are told that the image on the cross is apparently fading away now.

More of Jesus,

Reuben

I am not ready to embrace such things as blood dripping from crosses, blood stains on palms, or miraculous appearances of gold dust. Yet, I also want to remain open to the Lord breaking through my biases and limitations. I don’t know what to think of all this (and apparently Reuben is in the same position), but unless something is blatantly unscriptural, I am willing to reserve judgment.

In the meantime, I continue to be thrilled by the accounts I am hearing of the Lord sovereignly intervening and revealing Himself among both believers and non-believers in this northeastern state of India. Many people there have prayed fervently for just such a spiritual move. May these reports stir me and all who read them, to cry out to the Lord for mercy upon ourselves, our own families, our communities, our nations, and the entire world. May we prepare for such an outpouring by saturating our minds in His written word, and embracing His chastening (trials) as pruning for the season of fruitfulness. For further thoughts on this, listen to the free downloadable message, "Preparation for Revival: Narrow Preparation For God's Blessing" (click here) .

Write Comment

Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code.
Name:
Title:
Comment:
Code:*

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved