And once again the worship team ushered us into God’s presence. The air was charged with anticipation after all God had done the previous three nights. The collective question on everyone’s mind was, what more could He possibly do this night? Well, God had an answer.
Mario took the stage and began his message by talking about the time Yoko Ono performed at Carnegie Hall. She walked out, sat down at a piano, and begin to play a single note, over and over and over and over. All the while staring at the crowd, daring them to challenge her “artistic genius.” As people began to leave, she looked at them as if to say, “You don’t understand music.”
He used this story as an illustration of how the church does the same thing. We take a gift of the Spirit and focus on it to the exclusion of everything else. In recent years, many in the church have been repeating the same single note over and over: the prophetic note. At conferences and at meetings, Christians seek personal ‘words from the Lord,’ ‘self-declaration,’ going online to get their ‘daily word,’—as if the words of their favorite prophet were a daily horoscope.
In the past, the only single note that was being played was healing. As American’s we believe, ‘if a little is good, then a lot is way better.’ Decades ago, the emphasis was on deliverance, and the single note was ‘everything is a demon.’
He asked, “When will we learn? It isn’t one gift we need—it is all the gifts.” He said the minute any ministry names itself after a gift, they go into imbalance. It is unavoidable.
The way to defeat the devil is this: if tongues will defeat the enemy, God will give the church a tongue; or if prophecy will do it, God will give the church a ‘word;’ if healing will do it, He will call out healings; or if deliverance will do it, then there will be power and authority.
That’s why the Bible lists these gifts, but they must work together. All the gifts must be in practice, not one or the other, alone. When the gift is properly released, there will be sufficient power.
The greatest truth about Christianity is that it is better not to persecute it. Because Christianity becomes stronger under persecution.
Mario said that the fully preached Gospel is not a dry message. God never meant for you to hear about heaven and hell without miracles. He meant for signs and wonders to confirm the preaching of the Word.
He then told a story about the time he started a ministry on the campus of U.C. Berkeley as a young evangelist. He was surrounded by people of intellect, so he studied the great apologists of the time to have a solid, intellectually grounded Gospel to preach to them.
Then one night he went to the campus where he found a hippie and began regaling him with all his great learning. Sharing what he’d learned from G. K. Chesterton and C. S. Lewis and the like. Suddenly, a very large, muscle-bound Marxist grabbed him by the neck and began choking him.
As he was struggling against this man who was intent on taking his life, unable to speak, in his mind, Mario cried out to God. And God responded, “Did I not tell you it is not might nor by power, but by my Spirit? Didn’t I warn you if you come on this campus, you don’t come here with head-knowledge or cunning wisdom of man? If you don’t have power over the devil, you shouldn’t be on this campus.”
When Mario surrendered, God told him to pull the man’s hands off and rebuke him in the name of Jesus. In a moment of surrender and obedience, God gave Mario the power to break the man’s stranglehold. He rebuked the man in the name of Jesus, and the man backed off.
Then the man started to come back toward him, but suddenly stopped as he saw something behind Mario that terrified him, and he fled. It was from that experience that they started the ministry called Night of Miracles, where God began to heal the sick on the Berkeley campus.
Mario talked about evil and about the attempts of Satan to overtake us, but, in reality, how little power Satan has. Unlike what Hollywood tries to tell us, God and Satan are not equal. The truth is that Satan has no power whatsoever over God.
He read the scripture in Revelation where God tells an angel to go down and bind Satan for 1,000 years. Not a specific, high-ranking angel like Michael or Gabriel; simply “an angel.” Even the lowest ranking of the angels has ultimate authority over the devil and his demons. They are powerless against God.
He talked about the challenges we face in the world. How the number one crisis in America is mental illness. We have created a way of life that is unnatural: it can’t be done. Love can’t survive our way of living. You can’t hold onto your emotions by willpower alone, you have got to have the Holy Spirit.
After describing the challenges we face in this life and then declaring the absolute authority God has over those challenges and the freedom that is available, Mario then made a call for those who need to be set free.
Hands went up all over the tent. And within seconds of Mario telling them to come forward, the front began filling up. It was the largest response we have seen in the four nights here in Bakersfield, and one of the largest responses we have ever seen in the Tent.
Hundreds came forward desperate to be free, wanting today to be the last day they would be controlled by drugs, or victimized by evil. Mario prayed with them for the power of Christ to set them free once and for all.
The worship team again sang, “A New Name Written Down in Glory” as our new brothers and sisters in the Lord left the Tent to be ministered to. That song is clearly the sound of the Bakersfield revival and will likely be present in all the events this year.
Once everyone had been ministered to, and had returned to their seats, Mario had a video played on the screen. It was the video of the woman who had been healed in Colorado Springs and who had testified Tuesday night here in Bakersfield, about her healing. She told Mario about the parasites that were literally consuming her from the inside out. She was skin and bones, could barely stand, and was clearly at death’s door. As we watched the video, it was incredible to see a miracle right before our eyes. The power of God was all over her.
Then Mario had the woman from the video come up to the stage, so we could see her, fully healed and restored. Her body is a healthy weight, and she can move and walk and dance freely without pain or struggle. She is living proof of the power of God to heal.
Mario then had the worship team lead the people in the song, “We Are Here,” and he asked the people to stand up.
Then he identified a man who was being healed in his back. His legs were healed from numbness, weakness, and pain. The man confirmed that his legs were numb even now, just from standing so long. He then began to move his legs up and down, started walking, then running and jumping!
Mario declared miracles were happening all over the Tent, even as we sang and worshipped God.
Another man on the other side of the Tent was healed in his arms and legs of a muscular deterioration that he has suffered since he was a young boy. The man began to move his legs without difficulty. He came out and walked and ran and jumped, across the front of the Tent.
Mario then called out people who were suffering from heart disease, diabetes, stomach ulcers, lung issues, anemia, glaucoma, and multiple cases of asthma.
He gave some good instruction to the people to not go off their medication before going to their doctor to confirm the healing. He talked about the time when Jesus healed the leper and had them go to the priest to confirm their healing. The verification brings glory to God.
Mario then had everyone who had a need in their body raise their hands. And then he asked everyone around them to place their hands on them and begin praying for them and their needs.
Mario made it very clear that it is never him performing any of the miracles of healing that take place. We are all the extension of Jesus, it is through all of us, not one man, that these needs are met, that these miracles are performed, and that God’s power is able to flow. In this manner, everyone receives a touch from God.
The Bible says, “These signs will follow those who believe…”
He had the audience declare, “I believe! I believe! I believe that my hand can be used of God!” He added that this teaching is important because, after tonight, Mario is going to leave town, but God is not leaving, and He wants to work through all of us, in whatever place we are found.
Words are not able to do justice to the momentous night we experienced. God was in the room, and He spoke truth, poured out His love, changed hearts, and healed bodies.
If you missed this meeting, I encourage you to find the videos on the Mario Murillo Ministry Facebook page, and watch them. And, if possible, I would encourage you to find a way to make it to one of the future events in Colorado Springs or Los Angeles. Bring the lost and the sick and see the power of God for yourself!