Millions Sit in Heathen Darkness

                                       By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.

     Millions of people living today have never heard the Name of Jesus Christ! Does this statement shock you? During our historic 1966 Gospel Crusade in Guntur AP, India I heard a voice saying, “Son, you are helping to fulfill My Word.” I thought it was Sadhu Vandanem speaking to me, but it was not.

      I asked, “Lord, how could I a young preacher from Canada possibly help to fulfill Your Word?” He answered, “Ask Brother Vandanem, how many in this large crowd have never heard the name of Jesus Christ before.” When I asked him, Brother Vandanem said: “About 95%, the crowd was mostly Hindu.”

    God then instructed me to read Isaiah 45: 5,6: “I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me; That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me, and there is none else.”

     I will never forget the impact that experience had on me. The message was crystal clear. Most of those in that large crowd had not before heard the Name of our Saviour and it is God's will for EVERYONE to know Him from the east to the west!

    An Evangelical minister became engaged in a heated debate with me many years ago when he heard me say that God still performed miracles today! He stated, “We do not need the Baptism of the Holy Ghost today with miracles and healing as they did in the Early Church, since everyone today knows that Jesus Christ arose from the dead!”

    Of all the ignorant statements a Gospel Minister could use as an excuse for the lack of spiritual power in his life, that takes the cake. Two things were evident, his belief showed utter ignorance of the authority and eternity of God’s Word and a total lack of the spiritual conditions of the world at large!

  Jesus Christ's final words to His followers called, ‘The Great Commission’ states: “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

    “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall recover.” (Mark 16: 15-18)

    History confirms that the spiritual gifts of healing promised by our Lord Jesus and later by St. Paul continued in the Church for the first four hundred years of the Primitive Church. John Wesley stated that they were lost to the Church because of unbelief!

   St. Mark wrote: “So after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into Heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Lord with Signs following.” (Mark 16: 19, 20)

                          JESUS WARNED: TIME IS SHORT!

   Jesus said: “Say not ye; There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest; behold I say unto you, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest, And he that reapeth receieveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.” (John 4: 35, 36)

     Our Lord declared: “I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work.” (John 9: 4); “Therefore said He unto them, the Harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest.

     “And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things that are set before you; and HEAL the sick that are in therein and say unto them: The Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

     “And the Seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy Name. And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10: 2,8,9, 17-20)

                            THE WORLD IN BIG TROUBLE!

    When the world is heading to Hell at breakneck speed, when heathen religions are gaining ground at an astronomical rate, when multiplied millions of demon inspired Islamic terrorists are causing havoc in the Middle East, Africa and gaining a large foothold in Europe, should we not be concerned?

    And when governments have legalized abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, marijuana and gambling, and there is so much sinful behavior, immorality, sexual perversion, drug and alcohol addiction, murders, criminality and unrighteousness going in the Christian Western world, is it not time we had a major Revival of Righteousness in our nation?

    The Catholic Church in Illinois withheld the names of at least 500 priests accused of sexual abuse of minors, the state’s attorney general said Wednesday in a scathing report that accused the church of failing victims by neglecting to investigate their allegations. The Clergy Sexual Abuse has cost the Roman Catholic Church 3 billion dollars!

    It is disheartening to learn of the widespread epidemic of homosexual pervert priests now being exposed world-wide. Instead of spreading the Gospel they have been destroying the lives of many little boys and young men!

    Pope Frances recently convened with high ranking Roman Catholic leaders from across the world trying to stop the epidemic of sexual abuse of boys by supposed celibate clergy. Coupled with the world-wide sexual abuse is the almost unbelievable tragedy of demon possession in Rome.

    Another sad story is the one concerning the dramatic increase of demon possession in Italy and the Roman Catholic Church is desperately trying to train enough exorcists to deal with that major problem.

                           DEMON POSSESSION IN ITALY!

Sicilian priest and long-time exorcist Father Benigno Palilla  recently told Vatican Radio that requests for exorcisms had tripled in the past few years. There were now, he said, 500,000 alleged cases of demonic possession recorded in Italy each year. 

   With a population of around 60 million, this means the Devil is apparently active in one of every 120 Italians. That’s a lot of demoniacs and a lot of demons – at least some 500,000 of them if they’re not multi-tasking.

     Why the sudden increase in possession by the Devil? Palilla attributes it to an increase in practices that “open the door to the Devil” – such as people seeking out wizards and fortune tellers, reading tarot cards, and generally dabbling in magic and the occult. The Devil is a real person, “armed with dark powers”, he declared in a television interview in December 2017.

                        SATAN CAST OUT & JESUS CAME IN!

     In our 1967 Trenton Gospel Crusade by the name of Jesus Christ, I was able to cast out many demons from Ralph Collins, a young man who was deeply involved in the occult. Here is a small part of His testimony:

     Finally, they began to come out of my body, shrieking terrified screams that tore at my throat. The battle had gone on for what seemed to be very long time. I finally lay still for a time.      

   This was followed by my speaking in a strange language. The evangelist held my head so that I was forced to look into his eyes and then he commanded, “You foul religious spirit, come out of him in the name of Jesus!” 

    There was one last convulsive heave of my body, a terrified scream and the last demonic spirit left me and I lay on the floor as one dead.

    After a time it seemed as though my body was filled by a very bright, pure light and a river of clear water was rushing through me. I began to speak in tongues as recorded in Acts 2: 4.

    I finally got to my feet and discovered blood on my shirt sleeve. Removing my shirt I discovered fang marks on my left arm as though I had been bitten by a snake. These marks remained for three days and then disappeared.

      This was the end. I was free. No more would I live in fear. The demonic influences were gone. In December, I was reunited with my wife and family. In closing let me say, “My name WAS Legion, for we WERE many”, but through the ministry of a man of God and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ I was set free.

     In many stores today, including toy stores we can find Ouija boards, tarot cards. Astrology books and many other such things. These are sold as mere entertainment. Contrary to popular opinion, these are simple games of entertainment. 

    They are a gateway that opens the mind to receive influences of demonic spirits that can and will eventually control and destroys the lives of individuals whom indulge those practices that Almighty God Himself declares an abomination. (Duet. 18: 10-14)

                     DARKNESS LOOMING LARGE!

    Darkness is looming large in the future of so many! Now is the time to “Throw out the Life-line” to the lost, confused and hurting! We have a saying in the Norwegian language which states: 'Det gaar imot kveld'.

    The literal meaning is: “It's starting to darken. Night will soon be here. We'd better hurry and get home.” For me it means: “Make sure you are safe, your children are out of harm's way.”  

     It also means that our personal day is coming to an end and we must face eternity and the Judgment Seat of Christ to give an account of our lives. It also means that we must help our fellowmen to secure their future in God's Kingdom; in the Family of Jesus!

    It also means that our Lord will soon make His glorious Appearance to Rapture the Church and bring His children Home. Although we rejoice in that glad reunion, but also must consider those who are left behind and the tyranny and sorrow for those who tragically missed the archangel's trumpet sound!

    JESUS warned: “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as the in days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matt.24: 37-39)

                         HERE IS A TROUBLING THOUGHT!

   One thousand years before the birth of Christ (1,000 B.C), the Babylonian Talmud stated that for the first time in history, men were given in marriage to men and women were given in marriage to women. 
   That happened just before God sent the flood to destroy all the wicked. Only Noah and his family were spared!

   The BIBLE says: “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. 
  "And God said said unto Noah, The earth is filled with violence through them, and, behold I will DESTROY them with the earth.” (Genesis 6: 11-13)

    While Noah and his sons built the ark, he preached the message of righteousness as well as God's mercy and safety through the ark, but no-one believed him. When the ark was finished and all were inside, God kept the DOOR open for another seven days of grace, but no-one accepted the invitation to come inside!

    Then, God Himself shut the door and the fountains of the deep were opened and the heavens poured water down on the land until the flood covered the earth! 

    “And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: And the Lord shut him in.” (Geneis 7:1,4)

   The Bible proves the goodness of God toward us all: “Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy.

     “He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and He will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7: 18, 19)

    MICAH, the prophet declares the mercy and goodness of God. He pardons our iniquities. He passes by or overlooks our sins. They are forgiven and blotted out by the precious BLOOD of Jesus Christ. He does not retain our sins but forgives and forgets them. He delights in being merciful. He returns to us when we return to Him.

     He subdues our sins, forgives us and gives us power over them. Prophet Isaiah states: “...and Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.” (Is. 38: 19). The Hebrew word used here for back is more specific. It is between His shoulder blades! 

   No-one can see anything behind your back between your shoulder blades. The prophet wanted us to know that when our God forgives our sins, He does not see them anymore. They are GONE!

                           CHRIST IS OUR ARK OF SAFETY!

    In the same manner, we declare that Jesus Christ is our ark of safety. Only He can save us from sin, degradation and eternal damnation. And because Jesus was judged in our place and died as our substitute on Golgatha in payment for our sins, we are made righteous, pardoned and taken into the Kingdom of God. 

     He became our propitiation, meaning that Jesus' pure and holy blood that was shed on the cross atoned for the sins of the whole world. His sacrificial death met the demands of divine justice and satisfied Almighty God.

    Jesus Christ stated, “Come unto Me, all ye who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11: 28); “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to Him, and will sup with him and he with Me.” (Rev. 3: 20). Amen.