I am finally able to tell you this news. We just got a massive green light in California. But it is amazing how close we came to losing this epic breakthrough for good. It all began at 3 a.m., on a night that would change me forever.
It is before bedtime, I am studying Matthew 7, 8, and Acts 16. There’s no inkling of how God is about to combine those chapters in an explosive visitation.
I am reading about the leper in Matthew 8 who, instead of crying, “Unclean! Unclean!” and avoiding people, came up to Jesus and begged Him to heal him. The leper said, “If you want, you can heal me.” It hit me: this leper broke the Law by confronting Christ. I was even more taken aback by realizing Christ also violated the ordinance of Moses regarding not touching lepers. Jesus put His hand on the diseased man, and said, “I want to heal you. Be healed.”
Next, I read about the vision of the man from Macedonia who said to Paul, “Come over and help us.” This reinforces my conviction that the Gospel is help. The Gospel is the greatest help there is. And, we should never limit its power or be ashamed of it. I drift off to sleep.
It is 3 a.m., and just like clockwork, a vision of a man from Fresno appears to me. He looks at me and says, “If you want to, you can come and help me.” This was not just any man. This man was degraded—more animal than human, ragged, twisted and torn apart by life.
And his cry for help was the most piteous, beseeching, heart-rending and mournful appeal I have ever heard.
Because of California law, I had cancelled all our outreaches. But now there was this! A plea that paralyzed me. I knew—beyond all doubt—that I had to defy those laws.
Think of it! There would have been no crusades. There would not have been miracles up and down Highway 99. We had to defy California State Law in Fresno. We drew a line in the sand in Fresno and the rest is history.
