Feb 2014 newsletter

"The harvest is plentiful." Matthew 9:37

Pete Niesen

In 2013 - 53.2 million homes around the world received the message of the Lord Jesus Christ and 8.8 million people have responded to receive Christ.

Billy Graham page 6.

FEBRUARY 2014

Celebrating the Harvest!

Amazing Stories of What God Is Doing

Praise the Lord for another year of incredible fully-resourced “going” combine, the power harvest for the kingdom! At Every Home for of the Gospel is truly unleashed to transform Christ, 2013 has been a year of God-sized the nations. dreams, bold prayers, and big miracles.

Africa: Ghana

This year, EHC projects have launched (or relaunched after years of inactivity) in 11 new nations, including four Creative Access nations where sharing the Gospel is dangerous or even illegal. With reports only finalised through the month of October, EHC workers have carried the Good News to over 53.2 million homes around the world. Already over 8.8 million people have responded to the message of Jesus, and more than 18,800 Christ Groups have been planted for the discipleship of new believers—just this year! When focused prayer and faithful,

Last year, the EHC Ghana office received a call from a man named Richmond. “I received your booklet about Christmas and salvation when your worker brought it to my home,” Richmond said, “and this message could change my life. Please, can I meet with someone from your ministry to discuss this?”

The EHC National Director, Karl Menyah, invited Richmond to meet him the very next day—Christmas day!

When Richmond came to the office, he told Karl he had read the booklet and wanted

to accept Jesus. “But,” Richmond asked, “is every detail of this booklet true? Will God really forgive all my sins?” Karl answered, “Oh, yes! Even if you are an armed robber or a murderer, God will still forgive you.” Little did Karl know, he was talking to just such a man.

the letters back to the women in the prisons.

During these second visits to the prisons, the team held gatherings to share the Gospel with the women.

“We have done this for two years now in different prisons,” EHC Director, Sergey Kostuskin, says, “and almost all the women accept Jesus at the end. This outreach is so effective because it reaches people on so many levels—the women, their children, the families, and beyond.” Praise God for the opportunity to take the hope of Christ to these women and their families!

“I am an armed robber,” Richmond confessed, sharing his life with Karl. “I work for a gang leader and have done many terrible things, robbing businesses of thousands of dollars and even murdering people.” Karl assured Richmond that God would forgive him even of these things if he committed his life to Christ, and Richmond was so relieved! There India: Bangalore-Karnataka in the EHC office on Christmas day, Richmond the robber committed his life to Jesus.

When EHC India workers arrived inThandagole Village during last year’s outreach, they knew After that day, Richmond left the gang and it could be a challenge to reach the people the EHC team helped him escape to a new because the village priest might stand in city. Now he is studying an EHC follow-up their way—so they decided to start by Bible course and Karl stays in touch with him reaching the priest himself! The priest’s name over the phone, encouraging him to stay was Patil, and when the workers knocked on strong in the faith. EHC workers also helped his door he gladly received them. One of the Richmond find a church near his new home.

EHC workers gave Patil a gospel booklet and “I am praying Richmond will one day join our began sharing the Gospel.

EHC team,” Karl says, “and preach the Good News to many more armed robbers so they When Patil heard that Jesus had come to the will also come to know Christ!” world to die for the sins of the people, he was eager to learn more. “I believe this,” he Central Asia: Russia-Novokuznetsk said when the worker finished, “and I want EHC teams in the Russia-Novokuznetsk region to receive Christ! Please, come and share reached the inmates of two women’s prisons. this with all the people in my village.” After This special outreach involved several visits to sharing the Good News with the rest of the connect with the women and their families. village, the EHC workers began training Patil On the first visit to the prisons, EHC workers in the Bible so that he could lead others to met the women and learned about their lives. Christ. Praise God, this village priest became The workers talked with the women about a minister of the Gospel! their children.The EHC workers then went and helped the children write letters and took ... continued on page 10 photos for their mothers. The workers took

GOD HAS A PLAN with Dick Eastman, International President of Every Home for Christ Because I believe God has called me, at least to some degree, to be a mission strategist, I have pondered the relevance of intercessory prayer and worship and the fulfilling a particular ministry mandate - any mandate. Specifically, at Every Home for Christ our mandate is to participate with others in helping fulfill the Great Commission by seeing a presentation of the Gospel taken to every home in the entire world. Most often two messages are given

to most homes in a targeted area - one for So, we knew we had our work cut out for adults and one for children. us. Obviously, we could not do it all, but we could do our part. Further, if all the critical It is estimated that as many as 2.7 billion parts came together in Christ, then all of us people in the world may never have heard could, indeed, do it all! the name of Jesus even once, or, at best, have never received a clear presentation of the In the midst of drafting our long-range plan, Gospel. What would it take for our ministry I was particularly encouraged by a promise to reach all of these people (living in some from Isaiah that fell into one day's Bible 500 to 600 million homes) in the space of a reading assignment. I read: single decade?

"I have a plan for the whole earth, for my As our global leadership team took a mighty power reaches throughout the strategic look at this ambitious goal, we were world. The Lord Almighty has spoken-who repeatedly challenged by what seemed to can change his plans? When his hand moves, be insurmountable obstacles. Consider, for who can stop him? (Isa. 14:26-27, NLT) example, the more than 100 million Muslim God, indeed, has a plan, and it is a plan for homes (500 million people) in the Arab the whole earth. We didn't have to come up Middle East, where restrictions seemingly with our own plan; we just had to tap into stopped us dead in our tracks. This could God's. It quickly became obvious to me have been cause to give up, were it not for that the restoration of intercessory prayer similar circumstances faced in Soviet Russia and worship was central to that plan. Of prior to the 1990s. In that part of the world, course, I readily realised that something things changed almost overnight, as I have of an unprecedented unity and spirit of described earlier. EHC has now visited more cooperation would have to sweep across all than 40 million households in Russia and the spectrums of Christ's Body. Still, I wondered, form Soviet Union, now known as the C.I.S. could intercessory prayer and worship (Commonwealth of Independent States). somehow help make all this happen?

Besides government restrictions, there were other formidable obstacles as well. The cost of fulfilling our total mandate was daunting - approaching a billion dollars. We knew we could not do it alone,and we also realised that, although the Body of Christ already easily has the resources needed to accomplish the mission, much of what is presently being done is uncoordinated, often unnecessarily duplicated and frequently overtly sectarian.

Order the book $10 See enclosed reply slip.

BILLY GRAHAM WARNS 'SECOND COMING IS NEAR' Famed evangelist talks to Whistleblower just before delivering On his 95th birthday Nov. 7, the most famous Protestant evangelist of the 20th century, Billy Graham gave what he called his final and most important message to the world. Called “My Hope America with Billy Graham,” it was viewed by millions on multiple television networks. His message? Not surprisingly, it was much the same core message Graham has steadfastly shared for seven decades – the love of God for mankind, as manifested in the sacrifice of His son on the cross, and the resulting free gift of salvation and eternal life through individual repentance and faith.

that the United States “can’t go on much longer in the sea of immorality without judgment coming.”

Graham – who has preached to more people, 2.2 billion, than any Protestant in history and has appeared on Gallup’s list of the “Ten Most Admired Men in the World” 56 times since 1955, more than any individual on the planet – told Whistleblower that people need to repent of their sins, turn to God and “take the narrow road that Jesus talks about in the Bible.”

“The narrow road means that you forsake sin and you obey God, that you live up to the Ten Commandments and that you live up to the Sermon on the Mount desiring to please God in everything. The narrow road is hard and it is difficult; you can’t do that yourself.

You need God’s help and that’s the reason we “We have been going down the wrong road ask people to come to receive Christ because for a long time,” Graham told Whistleblower. when you receive Him, the Holy Spirit comes “Seemingly, man has learned to live without to live within to help us live the life.

God, preoccupied and indifferent toward Our world is desperately seeking answers Him and concerned only about material to the deepest questions of life – answers security and pleasure. that can only be found in the Gospel. That “And yet mankind is also adrift morally and is the reason for my hope, that there can be spiritually, confused and fearful because he changed hearts and a changed society as we does not know where he is or where he is yield ourselves to Christ.” going. He lives in a world dangerously torn In what the Billy Graham Evangelistic by hate and violence and conflict, and yet he Association describes as the largest outreach feels powerless to do anything about them. in its six-decade history, Graham gave a He also knows his own heart is driven by powerful pre-recorded message the week destructive passions and motives he cannot of Nov. 7. The “My Hope” programs are seem to control or change.” available for viewing online, including on In his most recent book, “The Reason for My YouTube. “The Cross,” the primary program Hope: Salvation,” Graham wrote that the in the “My Hope” series, was broadcast on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is “near” and Fox News Channel, TBN, Christian networks Shortly before last month’s television event, however, Graham declared in an exclusive interview with Whistleblower that signs of the end of the age are “converging now for the first time since Jesus made those predictions.”

hours in the hayloft reading books on a wide variety of subjects.

In 1934, the 15-year-old Graham committed his life to Christ through the ministry of evangelist Mordecai Ham. He was 'final, most important' message travelling ordained in 1939, graduated from Wheaton College in 1943 and married fellow student and local television stations in a number of Ruth McCue Bell, the daughter of a missionary cities across the country. surgeon who spent the first 17 years of her life in China.

Heartache for America The current outreach began after Graham, who provided spiritual counsel to every president from Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush, released an open letter to America in the summer of 2012 titled “My Heart Aches for America.”

In the letter, Graham wondered what his late wife, Ruth, would think of a nation where “self-centred indulgence, pride and a lack of shame over sin are now emblems of the American lifestyle.”

Graham, who has appeared on the covers of Time, Newsweek, Life, U.S. News and World Report, Parade and numerous other magazines, compared America(and could have included Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom) to the ancient city of Nineveh, the lone superpower of its time. When the prophet Jonah finally travelled to Nineveh and proclaimed God’s warning, the people repented and escaped judgment, Graham wrote, adding that he believes the same thing could happen in America now.

Graham, who founded Christianity Today and Decision magazines, was reared on a dairy farm in Charlotte, N.C. Growing up during the Depression, Graham learned the value of hard work on the family farm, but he also found time to spend many

After college, Graham pastored the First Baptist Church in Western Springs, Ill., before joining Youth for Christ. He preached throughout the U.S. and Europe after World War II.

“In this ancient template, the nation undergoes a metamorphosis in which those who simply hold true to the ways of God, to that which the nation as a whole once held to, now find themselves increasingly at odds with the culture around them,” said Cahn, whose book has remained on the New York Over the ensuing decades, Graham Times bestseller list since January 2012. preached at crusades on every continent, from remote African villages to major cities, Cahn, the senior rabbi at the nation’s including a crusade at Madison Square largest messianic congregation, the Beth Garden in New York City that ran nightly for Israel Worship Centre in Wayne, N.J., and a descendant of Aaron, the brother of the 16 weeks. biblical prophet Moses, noted that Graham Hundreds of millions of people have seen has been known as the “pastor to presidents” him preach at stadiums and arenas around and has prayed at numerous presidential the world. inaugurations.

But the Los Angeles Crusade in 1949 vaulted Graham into international prominence.

At the time, William Randolph Hearst, the publisher of the San Francisco Examiner and many other newspapers, told his editors to “puff Graham.”

Test of time

Amid this growing immorality, Graham told “At 94, he hasn’t lost his vision,” Franklin Whistleblower that the greatest hope of the Graham said. “At 94, he is still concerned Christian faith is the return of Jesus. about people being lost and separated from God and spending eternity in hell, “That promise will someday become literal and it’s a burden to him. I would just hope history, and with God’s help we’re going to that others would see this and do likewise. be a part of that history that is yet to come,” We need to have that burden for the lost. Graham told Whistleblower. “Only Jesus And my father, even at this age, hasn’t lost Christ when he comes back again is going to bring hope. He will defeat every enemy. Sin that burden.” will be eliminated. Death will be eliminated.

The best is yet to come War will be eliminated. Crime will be Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, author of “The eliminated. The hope of the Second Coming Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery that holds of Christ generates energy and sacrifice and the Secret of America’s Future,” said one of faithfulness and diligence and zeal. the mysteries contained in “The Harbinger” The best is yet to be. Heaven is yet to be, is the parallel between the fall of ancient along with eternal life, Graham said.

Israel and the fall of modern America.

It is the hope of the Second Coming that thrills me every day of my life, he added.

I know that he’s coming again, and I know that he’s going to set up a kingdom of which there will be no end,” said Graham. “In Titus 2 it says, ‘Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.’ Our hope centres in a person, not in circumstances, not in a political party, but in a person.”

Billy Graham article by Troy Anderson, an awardwinning journalist at the Los Angeles Daily News, The Press-Enterprise and other newspapers for two decades.

Troy Anderson writes for Reuters, WND, Whistleblower, Charisma and many other media outlets. He’s also the president and

editor-in-chief of the World Prophecy Network, described as “an online newsmagazine and community spreading the hope of Jesus in the End Times.” He lives in Irvine, Calif.

whistleblower Copyright 2013 WND.com. Reprinted with permision.

Some years ago Billy Graham's wife who after reading of America's low moral standards and idolatry of worshiping the false gods of sex and technology said....

"If God doesn't punish America, He'll have to apologise to Sodom and Gomorrah."

The 95 year old Billy Graham sets the pace and is as Mark Batterson puts it in his book "The Circle Maker"when he writes on pages 44-45.

"God wants you to keep dreaming until the day you die.

You're never too old to go after the dreams God has put in your heart. And for the record, you're never too young either. Age is never a valid excuse...

If you keep praying, you'll keep dreaming, and conversely, if you keep dreaming, you'll keep praying.

The more you pray the bigger your dreams will become. And the bigger your dreams become the more you will have to pray. In that process of drawing ever-enlarging prayer circles, the sphere of God's glory is expanded.

Our date of death is not the date etched on our tombstone.

The day we stop dreaming is the day we start dying."

Just something to think about!

8.8 million people have responded to receive Christ through Every Home for Christ in 2013.

East Asia: Myanmar In the nation of Myanmar, EHC teams reached an astounding 193,945 homes with the Gospel during last year’s outreach. Over 1,300 people responded to the Good News, and 30 new Christ Group fellowships were planted as a result.

“The work was challenging,” the National Director said. “There were clashes between ethnic groups; people were being killed and houses burned. There was also strong tension between Muslims and Buddhists, and some extremist youth gave our workers trouble—following them and stopping them from sharing gospel booklets. But the local authorities did not ban our work, so we were able to complete it.”

two important Hindu festivals celebrated by the Nepalese every year, and they celebrate these festivals wholeheartedly. Now, because Christmas is considered a holiday, the people think Christmas is the ‘festival’ of the Christians, so they are very interested in and open about it. We can go from home to home and offer to explain the meaning of this holiday.”

During EHC Nepal’s Christmas outreach last year, teams reached 74,218 homes with the Gospel—sometimes trekking through mountainous areas to visit distant villages. In addition, workers shared over 8,500 special Christmas gospel booklets in schools, 11,345 booklets on college campuses, and 735 booklets in prisons. Through the Christmas outreach 475 people responded to the Gospel, Despite the challenges, the Lord allowed the and nine new Christ Groups were formed.

EHC Myanmar team to reach thousands of Praise the Lord for this incredible harvest! homes with His love. Workers reported signs Caribbean: Haiti and wonders of healing, open hearts and minds, provision of transportation and meals, Dear EHC Haiti, willing volunteers, and miraculous travel Thank you so much for the wonderful work through extreme weather and dangerous you are doing in Haiti! I accepted Jesus Christ roads. Praise God for making a way when many years ago, but soon after I felt very there seemed to be no way, opening doors discouraged and stopped going to church. to reach thousands with the Gospel in But when your team came to my house, they Myanmar! took time to talk with me and encourage me.

Since that day I have begun attending church South Asia: Nepal again, and my heart is full of joy. Thank you “Christmas is the best time for sharing the for coming to my home!

Good News of Jesus Christ in Nepal,” EHC Your sister in Christ, Nepal National Director David Lepcha says, Mrs. Edouard “because now Christmas day is granted as a public holiday by the government! There are