Volcano Island

Volcano Island from Jeremy Heemskerk on Vimeo.

Rabaul – Volcano Island

I am excited to announce, that my video for our Rabaul Crusade is finally finished! This will be my final video of my time here in Papua New Guinea because next month, I will be returning home to Canada to prepare for my wedding on Sept 26th. For those of you interested in attending my wedding please contact me at soulsurge@gmail.com for all the details.

V-O-L-C-A-N-O I-S-L-A-N-D

Just the word “VOLCANO” strikes terror, into the hearts of people all over the world. The thought of molten hot magma and billowing ash spewing from the earth with hundreds of megatons of explosive power are enough to strike fear into even the bravest of souls. So what in the world are we doing going to a place where witchcraft is common, and a live active volcano, like a ticking time bomb could blow at any time?

Well, we are going there to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God and to hold a crusade in one of the more remote locations on the island. And who could need this message more then these people of Rabaul, who are still recovering from the last eruption in 1993, which destroyed their entire city, and left everything buried beneath layers and layers of volcanic ash.

So we packed up all our supplies and went with our ministry team to the airport and boarded our flight to Rabaul. But whenever Pastor Joseph and I get on a plane to do anything related to ministry something really scary always happens, and this time was no exception. What started out as a beautiful sunny day with clear skies, and white puffy clouds soon turned real sour as the sun vanished and storm clouds began to appear. Our plane began to circle around in space trying to locate the runway, and turbulence began to shake the plane while thick darkness restricted all visibility. There was no telling where we were going, and I was afraid that the pilot might land us in the ocean.

The plane began to make noises like a woman in labor, and the flight attendant rushed back to her seat to buckle herself in, and positioned herself for a crash landing. I knew now that something was terribly wrong, because I have never seen a flight attendant act so quickly and look so frightened. If she was this scared with all of her years of flying experience, I knew we could be in for some serious trouble. So I closed my eyes and kept praying as I tightened my seatbelt and dug my fingernails into my chair.

Despite all of this turmoil, the pilot managed to find an opening and decided to go for it. Within seconds the plane turned at a 90 degree angle and rapidly began its terrifying descent through the storm clouds towards what I could only hope would be the runway. Sure enough the wheels smashed into concrete and the whole plane jerked as we made contact and eventually came to a screeching halt.

At last we had arrived, and for the next 10 days we began to preach at the crusade in the remote jungles of Rabaul. My mission was to record everything on camera, and for the first time since my arrival we had the necessary equipment to make that happen.

Just prior to our trip, a kind old lady donated 9000 kina to our television ministry for the purchase of the final studio camera we had been praying for. Now fully equipped, we were ready to record the messages and broadcast the crusade throughout the entire country of Papua New Guinea.

With the construction of the stage complete, the lights were installed; power was brought in and soon people began to gather around to see what was happening.
Each day excitement increased as more and more people came from the surrounding villages to see what was happening at the crusade. And within the first few nights of the crusade, through the preaching of Buck Stevens (New York), and Joseph Kingal, over 200 people came forward to surrender their lives to Christ.

God began to take over as their faith increased, and lives were being changed nightly as people responded to the word of God. God also confirmed the preaching of the word through miracles that began to happen, as people brought their sick to the front of the stage to be prayed over.

The most spectacular miracle I have ever seen happened right before my eyes. Some people carried a woman who was confined to what appeared to be a wooden chair to the front of the stage. And the pastor prayed over her, and took her hand and told her to stand up. Her faith was so great, that she immediately stood up, and received INSTANT healing from complete paralysis for the past 4 months.

She went up on stage and testified with many others to the miracle working power of God through Jesus Christ. Another woman who was struggling with a heart condition of 13 years came to the crusade and also went forward for healing. God gave her a word about the paralytic that Jesus healed, so she believed that God was going to heal her too, and as the pastor prayed over her the power of God filled her body, and she was completely healed.

Overall, the crusade was an incredible success and over 800 people came forward to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

I want to thank Buck Stephens from New York for coming to the crusade and investing his time to advance the Kingdom of God here in PNG. Many people including myself were touched by his ministry, and were blessed by his book “The coming Financial Revolution.” He had to leave early to go to his son Ben’s graduation, but we really enjoyed his stay with us and will keep him in our prayers.

Jeremy Heemskerk