World Impact Ministries / Peter Youngren

6 PM. Still in my room. The meeting has just started, but I don't leave the hotel until 7:15 to start preaching at 7:55 PM. Suddenly Marius Nicolaisen, our Gospel Campaign Director, messages me that our local coordinator has received word of a grave threat from a 'high official' in the President's office and we must immediately shut down the Gospel Festival. A militant religious group, maybe Al Quada is behind this, At first I argue against this. What if someone is just trying to fool us, to make us fearful? After repeated calls to numerous authorities asking for one more night is met with stone walling, it becomes clear that this threat is very real. If we don't obey there will be "serious damage to our coordinator and his family". We all know what "serious damage" means in Pakistan; burned houses and churches, beheadings, etc.

It was clear from the first service that God loves without discrimination. Immediately the platform filled with people eager to testify. A Muslim lady, her face covered by a black chadar, radiantly described how Jesus had healed her daughter who had been deaf for the past 10 years. Another dozen cases of deafness were healed. The night finished with a boy blind since early childhood, demonstrating how he could see everything. The crowd roared and praised God. More importantly thousands, mostly Muslims, eagerly responded to the salvation call.

Air travel can be stressful. Today was a day when everything had to work just right. First this morning at 6AM I had to convince British Airways in Helsinki, Finland [see yesterday’s blog] to check my luggage through to Karachi, Pakistan. This was quite a task since I am using three different airlines to get there and without being checked through I would never make my connection in London. The lady at the check-in counter assured me that this was ‘impossible’. Well, I kept firm and sure enough after some discussions my bag was checked all the way. That’s often how it is, with a little determination the “impossible” is possible after all.

I left Canada three days ago on my way to Pakistan. News of another bombing that killed 33 people dominated the news two days before I left. What drives this mission is to give everyone an opportunity for the Gospel. Yes, there are terrorists in Pakistan, but also millions of precious people hungry for Jesus.

On my way to Pakistan I took a detour, to visit Oulu in Finland, close to the Arctic circle. This is a thriving university city with a growing population. The Evangelical Free Church was celebrating its 125th anniversary, and had asked me to speak in four outreach services. The people were not focused on reminiscing about long ago “when God moved”, but keen on presenting Jesus to new people. The Saturday services were held in a concert hall to accommodate more people. I was amazed when I gave the invitation to receive Christ in the first service, it looked like about 25% of the people responded, and it continued like that meeting after meeting. When I gave the people opportunity to come to the microphone and honor Jesus for healings that had happened, many gave praise to God. It was quite a display of joy in conservative Finland, The second day he services were held in the church, and I’m happy the fire department didn’t check on us, because we were filled to way beyond the allowable capacity, including the church foyer.

The other day I stepped out of Coffee Culture on St. Paul Street. The rain was coming down heavily, so I lingered on the steps hoping for a quick improvement. Suddenly, a lady appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, shouting, “You people – why do you support the Jews over the Palestinians? That land belongs to the Palestinians, you know!” I have no idea who the person was, but she must have recognized me as an “evangelical Christian”, thus the “you people”. I hurried to explain that our organization works in Israel; six of our projects are with Jews and six with Palestinians. My response seemed to bring some calm.

Believers in Christ accept that something utterly amazing happened at the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Once and for all, God put the punishment for the world’s sins on Jesus. The phrase “the world’s sins” is all inclusive from Hitler’s murders to a gossiping church member; all was put on Christ. To millions this carries a profound meaning for their daily life, and they believe that what happened at the cross has power to transform people from the inside out. The message of what Christ did is commonly called “Gospel”, which means “Good News”.

(Peter is a regular contributing writer for the St. Catharines Standard newspaper. Enclosed is his latest editorial piece for your comment.)

In his book, Whistling In The Dark, Frederick Buechner writes, “There is perhaps no better proof of the existence of God, than the fact that year after year He survives the way his professional friends promote Him. If there are people who remain unconvinced let them tune into their TV for almost any of the big time pulpit pounders any Sunday morning of the year.”

Ouch!

Evidently Mr. Buechner has a problem with television preachers, and since I am one of them, I better pay attention. Is Christian television really that bad? I believe in listening to critics, including those who never attend church. You don’t have to agree with your critics, but you can learn something of value from almost anyone. When it comes to the quote from Buechner, I tend to agree—at least in part. Many Christian programs portray God as narrow minded, petulant, condemning and angry. A few weeks ago the organization I founded, World Impact Ministries, purchased The Christian Channel [Cogeco 186], so now I have the opportunity to do something about Christian television. Well, don’t expect wonders overnight, but I am keeping several common criticisms in mind, among them that Christian television is judgmental, boring and phony.

In the late eighties, think the Mulroney government, abortion was a hot political potato. The debate raged with considerable fervor into the nineties, until in this decade it has hardly been an issue that any political candidate with plans to get re-elected would want to tackle. Last time the issue was put to a vote in our federal parliament was twenty years ago, and with both pro-life and pro-choice forces deeply committed to a non-compromise position Canada was left without any abortion law. Right in line with Cuba, China, North Korea and handful of other nations. Even countries with arguably much more secularized populations such as Sweden, Denmark and Finland did not go that far, but retained some laws to protect the unborn in later stages of pregnancy,

The Maritime Provinces of Canada have always held a special place for me. It was there that I spent much of first five years in ministry going from town to town holding “revival meetings”, mostly in church auditoriums, but also in hockey arenas, tents and community halls. It has been a number of years since I was back there for any length of time, but last week we held series of rallies in most of the major cities. . .