05 Dec Light in the Ukraine
In the year 2000 we took on the challenge of reaching the people of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine, with the love of God in mass public prayers. It was an undertaking like no other! The government’s new laws created enormous obstacles.
Two days before our event was to begin, the government illegally pulled all twelve of our permits. We were told that if we stepped up onto the platform we would probably go to jail. The Orthodox Church even went so far as to bring in 5,000 pilgrims from former Yugoslavia to hold a counter-miracle event involving a mysterious holy head and bones of a dead saint!
They threatened to protest our event and burn down our platform if we stood up to preach. The police were told not to protect us. Instead, they were assigned to another organization that was told to have an event next to our site at the same time. Then the government threatened to close any security firm that would help us with protection.
Three of the five Christian organizations sponsoring that national event became so alarmed that they backed out. The national press was told that they must write negative articles against us or be shut down. Our lawyer said there was one clause in the new constitution we could stand upon if we proceeded with our meeting.
Based on that ray of hope, we opened the event. God then sent an angel to us in the form of Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany. He was a believer who liked what we stood for, so he joined us that opening night. No policeman would shut down an ambassador! No protestor would burn down a platform with an ambassador on it!
That night we began an historic test of the new laws of religious freedom in a new country founded on law, not on the whims of men, and we prevailed! Today one of the greatest revivals in Eurasia continues in Ukraine. I believe the seed of this revival was planted at that moment in time when believers stood in the open air of the capital and spoke out the voice of blessing on their nation. They were willing to face the challenge, and they experienced a miracle!