C U R R E N T F E A T U R E S T O R Y
by the Editors at ReligionToday.com
February 15, 1999
Americans push God away, evangelist says
An evangelist known for preaching to crowds of hundreds of
thousands of people in Third World nations is turning his
attention to the United States.
...K.A. Paul (see link #1 below), a 35-year-old Indian-born
preacher, conducted his first U.S. crusade Feb. 12-13 at the
17,000-seat Myriad Convention Center in Oklahoma City. About
19,000 people attended, Charlie McCuen, crusade director, told
Religion Today.
...Paul preached during both nights of the crusade, which
included music by Christian rock bands Big Tent Revival and the
Newsboys, and a 1,000-voice choir. He spoke briefly at a Saturday
morning youth rally featuring a concert by Out of Eden, Tammy
Tent, Lil Raskull, and Three Strands, an Oklahoma band. About
2,800 volunteers from 610 churches helped organize the events.
...He presented a Bible-based, evangelistic message and held
altar calls, giving participants the chance to indicate by coming
to the stage their decision to become a Christian. Crusade
organizers said they were tallying the number who came forward.
During the crusade, Paul mentioned his experience living under
religious persecution, and showed a six-minute video describing
how people in Third World nations are hungry for Christ and
willing to undergo hardships to follow him.
...Paul, a native of Andhra Pradesh, India, lives in Houston. At
age 19 he had a life-changing vision of lost souls falling into
hell, and began preaching in Indian villages. He has preached to
30 million people, according to his organization, Gospel to the
Unreached Millions (see link #2 below). In the last three months,
he drew 1.8 million people during crusades in India, and plans to
preach in Africa, the Philippines, and Hong Kong this month and
in March.
...Oklahoma City residents are "on a quest for hope in the midst
of tragedy," Paul said, alluding to the aftermath of the bomb
blast at the Murrah Federal Building that killed 168 people on
April 19, 1995. "But Oklahoma City is also representative of
every other American city as the people here seek answers to
youth violence, personal tragedy, and a country in moral
turmoil."
...Paul spoke about the need for the Savior. "Money, fame,
fortune, more relationships, sex, and drugs won't fill the gap"
in the human heart, he said. As Blaise Pascal, the 17th century
philosopher and mathematician, put it, there is a God-shaped
vacuum in every man, and it "can only be filled by Jesus," Paul
said.
...Preaching to Americans, who are much more materialistic than
Third World residents, is a challenge for Paul. Many ignore
gospel programs on radio and television, he said. The "many
diversions" that exist in the United States, such as sports and
television, leave "little room for the Lord," he told Religion
Today. "All our needs, wants, and desires are met. Most people
don't see there is any need to turn to God. In other countries
there is no such abundance."
...Yet materialism is not satisfying, he said. "Deep down, there
is an emptiness." He said his goal at U.S. crusades is to show
people their emptiness and "help them recognize that it can be
filled only by spiritual things -- by God." The United States
needs to realize that material things "have become our idols and
gods," he said. "It is time for us to turn around and go to the
Lord." Crusade director McCuen said the Oklahoma City event was
"very successful for a first crusade" in the United States,
considering that Paul is relatively unknown here. Paul spoke at a
Promise Keepers rally in Cincinnati in 1997.
...Paul is planning crusades in New York, Miami, Nashville, and
Charlotte, N.C., this year. He plans to hold 100 crusades in
India in the next several years. Indian crusades are held with
about a month advance planning and operate on a budget of about
$50,000, 2% of what it costs to hold a large crusade in the
United States, he said.
...Last year, Paul preached a three-night crusade to about
800,000 people outside the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, his
ministry said. The event occurred less than a month after a car
bomb devastated buildings, killing 247 people and wounding 5,000.
"Satan has come to steal, kill, and destroy, but God will turn it
around and he will bless this city like nothing you have ever
seen," he told the crowd. Nairobi leaders said it was the largest
crowd ever assembled there.
...The key to Paul's ministry is the support of 4 million people
who fast and pray every Saturday, he said. Gospel to the
Unreached Millions reportedly operates Bible schools and training
centers in 10 locations in the 10/40 Window, the predominantly
non-Christian areas in North Africa and Asia.
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RELATED LINKS:
1:
http://www.religiontoday.com/Archive/FeatureStory/view.cgi?file=19980924.s1.html
2: http://www.gum1040.org/
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