30 Aug “Do Not Touch Them!”
In the early 1990’s when we were pioneering church plants across Russia, we set a goal to launch 5 churches in the now open city of Kazan, which had a long history of being half Muslim and half Orthodox.
People were walking away from atheism to find identity in faith again. As I preached at the crossroads of several walkways, a large crowd gathered to hear this foreigner with new ideas of Jesus. Towards the end, a man let out a howl so loud that I took notice. He kept shouting “I am a Marxist! I am a Marxist! I am a Marxist!” until I could not hear myself. I told him to come forward. When he got to me, I asked him what his problem was. He said he did not believe my message. I asked, “Do you have a physical problem?” He said he was almost completely deaf from the machinery noise where He works. To prove that God was with us, I laid my hands on his ears and commanded the deaf spirit to go. He began to hear and became very happy! At that moment, two police officers came up to remove me. They were going to be rough, but this man got between us and said, “Do not touch these people; I was deaf but now I hear.” He was ready to fight the police as he shouted, “These people are of God. Do not touch them!”
The police changed their attitudes and politely asked us to leave so harmony could be restored to the area. We said we would go if they let us finish with a prayer. The crowd gathered and was saved. God got his harvest, and we saw His witness.