Joyce Meyer's Festival of Life Revives Mumbai

Dibin Samuel

Christian Post Correspondent

Sat, Jan. 19 2008 02:06 PM ET

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MUMBAI, India - Hundreds of thousands of people have flooded to Joyce Meyer’s Festival of Life in Mumbai, India, where renown Christian artists Delirious and Hillsong are performing live.

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(Photo: Christian Today India)

Hillsong performs at the Festival of Life with Joyce Meyer in Mumbai, India.

Taking place at the MMRDA Grounds, which has staged India's biggest events ever like Bollywood's Filmfare Awards and concerts with Shakira, the anticipated festival is drawing large crowds as charismatic Christian author and speaker Joyce Meyer preaches messages of salvation.

Dressed in an orange Indian salwar kameez, Meyer told the crowd, "I’m here to urge people to enjoy everyday with God.”

The festival began on Thursday with praise and worship from local church teams, whose Bhajans and traditional singing in Marathi and Hindi made the crowd feel at home, spreading hope and cheer in the minds of people. Bollywood's popular Anil Kanth and Vijay Benedict added few tapping numbers.

English Christian rock and worship band Delirious later stepped onto the stage, leading worship as the crowd echoed in loud voices the popular hit “Majesty” in Hindi – “Hey Prabhu.”

"Until now, these grounds were being prepared for the arrival of super stars from India and all over the world. But this week, it's being prepared for the arrival of the King of Kings, the Creator of the Universe, the Beginning and the End, the only Living God – Jesus Christ," according to a statement by the Joyce Meyer Ministries.

Meyer, who claims to have visited India more times than any other country, told the festival crowd, "We see people of different creed, color, caste and languages, but do not forget we are one army in Christ, who serves and loves the Almighty God.”

Quoting tales of King David and the blind Bartimaeus from the Bible, Meyer referred to her struggles in life, including how she fought off a troubled childhood and a sexually-abusive father to emerge as the person she is today.

Urging people to believe and trust in God, she said, "God wants to bless and help us in our life. Trust and believe in His word, and your life will change."

Also preaching at the Jan. 17-20 event is Brian Huston, senior pastor of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia.

Houston encouraged the people to be away from the mind of negativity and live positively. "Negativity is the indication of inner defeat. Negativity always justifies itself, excuses itself, and finds a reason for its existence," he said on Friday.

On Friday evening, at least 250,000 people gathered to hear Hillsong live. Their scintillating performance sparked the heart of worship and led the people in unison and grace.

Hillsong’s worship pastor, Darlene Zschech, later prayed for the worship leaders and encouraged them to worship God truthfully in spirit and not to be concerned over performance or popularity.

"I have never seen or been to such an amazing event. Marvelous is the presence of God here and I feel moved and encouraged by the sermons and music,” said one event participant.

"And more than all, when I see my brothers and sisters from different caste and color, joining together, I am just full of grace. I feel like Jesus Christ visited India and moved our hearts to serve him and love him more."

Joyce Meyer Ministries has been involved in extensive social work in Mumbai.

“We have 10 centers in areas like Ghatkopar, Bhandup, Vikhroli and Kalva that provide food to children in the city. We also run a transformation home for commercial sex workers in Badlapur where sex workers are provided vocational training,” said Scott Norling, Director of Asia of Joyce Meyer Ministries.

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usaindia

Thu Feb 21, 2008 11:58 pm
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Sadhu Sunder Singh a beliverfrom a Sikh background said abt a 100 years ago that India needs the gospel in an Indian cup not a western cup. Thats the problem w/Joyce Meyer not only does she present her message in a Western cup but her cup is full of prosperity teaching(rotten self centered teaching) instead of the biblical teaching of the gospel of the Kingdom.

shodan

Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:30 am
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Well, no one has said it better than usaindia:
"I lived in India for some time & have been in & out of the country many times. I can say w/little doubt that the big extrvagansas that the American Tele-vangelists put on is actually more of a distraction to the gospel & does little to spread the gospel to the unreached of India.
These big shows put on by Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer , & their like rarely ever attract unreached Hindus, Sikhs, or Muslims. But the great expense that is spent on putting on the "show" does convince radical hindu groups that American Christians are rich & are using their money to bribe the lower castes to become Christians."

And of course these ministries ARE rich and use these events for publicity to make themselves richer by getting gullible Chrisians here to give them more money.

fran

Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:07 am
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I have no doubt that there are well meaning Christians that come over to try to win Indians to Christ. I came to India on two short term trips before moving here. My impressions from those short terms trips to long term resident are very different! Those of you that don't live here don't know that there is huge difference between getting someone to raise their hand at a meeting and making them a follower of Jesus Christ. Every Hindu will add Jesus to their list of million of Gods but are the people raising their hands saying that I will forsake all other Gods and accept ONLY Jesus?? I highly doubt it. You are offering people in a third world healing but are you truly concerned with their eternal destination? Try to offer salvation without ANY strings attached. See how many hands will be raised. And when Americans have these huge tent meetings you also don't see the problems you leave behind for the rest of us here that have devoted our lives to reaching the nationals. If you want to ignore these issue then fine go ahead. But we that live here have to deal with it. Please, please do your homework before coming over here. WE love to have help but make sure that what you are doing is really helping the nationals and us or are you just trying to get pictures for your splashy newsletters and missions conferences?? This is not America.. what works in our home country doesn't mean it works here. Look at the long term fruit. Try to learn the culture so you can figure out what is the truth. Stop being the American that thinks they know it all compared to those of us that devote our lives to reaching the lost overseas!! How can you compare the knowledge of a short term mission team to those of us that are here for years and years?? I am not trying to put you down but shake you into reality.

Check out some of the stories on this Hindu site http://www.christianaggression.org/action_blacklist.php

lightlady2

Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:20 pm
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Actually my Pastor has travelled to India 3 or 4 years in a row now and conducted large outdoor crusades drawing 15,000 + people a night. 1,000s have come to Christ each eveing. We have seen widespread healings and deliverances, families restored, Churches built, lives absolutely transformed. From the above article it doesn't seem like the Indian people are comlaining about this event. Shouldn't we as believers be looking at Spiritual fruit in our inspection of ministry and of our own lives as well? If I am critical of a brother or sister where is my heart? Is this of Christ? Would Jesus or Paul condemn what we condemn today? Search your heart, search your Scripture, cry out to God and hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church. He is coming back for a United Bride, one without spot or blemish. Can we be spotless if we keep beating each other up? I tell you the devil has his work cut out for him as long as brothers and sisters insist on conformity to our dogmas and our man made doctrines"... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.Galatians 5:22-26
"Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you--who are you to judge your neighbor?" James 4:11,12

fran

Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:44 am
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I have lived in India for 9 years. I want you all to think about this. If India was open to people publically preaching the true Gospel of the Bible, don't you think ministries like Billy Graham would have already been here and still here having revivals?? The Indian Government will not allow witnessing in tent meetings. It would incite riots among the Hindus and others. So what these American ministries do is come here to exploit the Indian people by taking shots of big crowds and going back to America to put it on TV. They raise millions in the USA by saying they are reaching India for Christ when in fact it is not true. The fact that Meyers does Charity work is just a trade off with the Indian government. She has to do something for the people here or the Government won't let her in. Consider it a bribe for speaking in India.
To be honest I get sick and tired of American preachers coming here and exploiting the Indians. It is sick and needs to stop! These people here need to Gospel of the Bible desperately...they don't need to be used and abused. Shame on Indians that allow this to happen. I am sure they are receiving some kind of personal benefit from it.

NOTW

Tue Jan 22, 2008 8:25 pm
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The title of this article alone smacks of idolatry. Does Joyce revive the hearts of unrepentant sinners? I mean, she does claim to be without sin, and comes from the camp of the prosperity cultists who claim to be gods, but does God share His glory with any mere mortal man?

NOTW

Tue Jan 22, 2008 8:18 pm
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usaindia--
God bless you. Speak the truth.

usaindia

Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:21 pm
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As far as Joyce Meyer's base in India. I do know that she is on Zee TV there. She has a following among many charismatic & pentecostal Christians there. But again that is irrelevant. The prosperity gospel is destructive & misleading.

usaindia

Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:18 pm
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1st the ministries that Joyce Meyers supports in Andhra Pradesh & elsewhere is irrelevant. (even non-believers help feed the hungry)They may be good works but her prosperity gospel that she espouses in her books & teachings are destructive & distracting from the gospel. In other words her bad theology compltely negates any good works.

2nd the bulk of real ministry & outreach in India(& the rest of the world) is being done by believers who are willing to sacrifice & suffer for Christ. Joyce Meyer (& others like Benny Hinn) do more to attract attention to themselves rather than bring glory to Jesus.

3rd Joyce Meyer's extravagant lifestyle (justified by her bad theology) & her dependency on big show in places like India leads to the impressio n that Christianity in India is being supported by rich Americans. This can even indirectly lead to more persecution since many radical Hindu groups such as the RSS claim that the poor & lower caste convert b/e folks like Joyce Meyer bribe them.
(This may seem like a far fetched idea. But in 2002 an Indian paper made claims that there was a conspiracy in the Bush administration to convert India to Christianity. )
Joyce Meyers is actually doing far more damage to the cause of the gospel in India than she is helping.

APXH

Tue Jan 22, 2008 8:29 am
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usaindia, I understand your point. But when it comes to Joyce Meyer, we must also know that there is a good background. She didn't simply come without having a firm base in India. Her ministry based in Andra is doing marvelous works. Her books are doing very well. Many upper class people buy her books while her ministry continue to reach out to millions of people. Mumbai gathering is a kind of encouraging those new believers and alike. We need such gatherings just like we need those who are doing ground level preaching as well. Even if You and I can sometimes go hard on them, we won't be able to stop the work of the HS to unfold in many forms in our country - INDIA.

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