“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” Eph. 6:12(NASB)
New York is not a city to be taken lightly. Imagine a place where you could find the highest heights of power and riches and the lowest depths of darkness, despair and evil. New York would be right up there at the top of the list in both categories. The perfect place to win to Christ, rich young rulers or the down and out.
Several teams converged on New York City in 1980 for a two week crusade. We were there to break the bonds of wickedness; to set the oppressed free. As always, an enormous amount of prayer had gone into this venture. Even so, we knew that we were walking into a place that the devil thought was his territory. We weren’t expecting a vacation.
The guys stayed in Harlem at a big, old Church building called The Soul Saving Station For Every Nation. As always God had provided a place to stay. One of the deacons was gracious and offered to let us live right in the building, up on the fourth floor.
Well, the last residents of that level had been horses. Not only that, but the last time it had been inhabited was in the days when the primary mode of transportation was the horse and buggy. There was an accumulation of horse manure, rat droppings and almost one hundred years of dust that we had to contend with. But praise God, we were right where we wanted to be.
We went to sleep each night to the sounds of sirens and gunfire.
On our first night we went to Times Square. We were there to witness, but no one would take any literature or listen to us. It was impossible to get a conversation going with anyone. It was frustrating and depressing. We felt like we should just go home. We didn’t realize it at first, but what we were actually feeling was an awful spirit of oppression. You could almost physically feel the weight of it on you.
I was about to tell everyone to get back in the van when a scripture popped into my head. It was so clear and strong that I called all the guys into a huddle - there were about 15 of us - and shared it with them. It was Eph. 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
We got on our knees right there on the sidewalk in a big circle and prayed against the devil. Hundreds of people had to walk around us. We cried out to God to break the oppressive spirit that we all felt. We bound the enemy with our prayers. I looked up after several of us had prayed and there were people standing all around, watching us pray. So first one and then another of us stood up and preached. I don’t remember exactly all the words we said, but it was something like this.
“Hey, we’re praying against the devil here in New York City and you know why? It’s because many of you walk around here like you’re sad and depressed. Well, you need God’s love in your life and if you let Him, He will change you and make you a new person inside.”
In a few minutes those people left. No problem. We got back on our knees and prayed some more. In a few minutes we had another 20 people to preach to. After they left, we prayed again. Then the police came.
They poked us with batons and said we were causing a scene. They told us that passing cars were slowing down to listen and stopping traffic. So we left and went a block away to the next corner, got on our knees and prayed all over again. This time at least 40 people stopped to listen and hung around even longer. You could feel the power of God’s spirit in the air, not just binding the oppression, but softening peoples hearts. It was great witnessing.
One very distinguished gentleman that we shared with was the choreographer for one of the biggest musicals on Broadway.
“Walking home I felt a strange impulse to go out of my way. With out knowing it I came in your direction. When I saw you there and heard you preaching I stopped.”
He was open to the Gospel and gave us his card so we could call him the next day. He wanted to hear more.
But when we went back to pray again, the police came again. This time on horses! They came right into our prayer ring and made the horses rear up on their hind legs to make us stop. They forced us to leave.
Witnessing on the streets another night, the girls team was with us. Again it was tough witnessing. Again we all got on our knees and prayed the heavens open. This time there were about 35 of us praying. It was quite a sight praying on a corner at night with all these people standing around listening. Doing that gave everyone incredible boldness. Many of us preached while others witnessed.
One of us said, “God will reveal Himself to anyone who will open their heart. He will even do a miracle to prove that he is here.”
This was important. So many of those we talked to in New York just didn’t believe God was real.
Suddenly, one of the girls pointed into the sky and said, “Look everyone.” We all looked, saints and sinners alike. And we all saw the same thing. Up in the night sky was a CROSS!!! It was a big, white, shining cross, just stuck up there all by itself. Everyone could see it. There were no spot lights or other artificial lights at all. That night, God was showing the people of New York City that He was real!
God gave us boldness to do pretty radical stuff the whole time we were in New York. One day we got in a long line, two by two, and marched through the red-light district. As we marched we sang “We Are the Soldiers of the Army”, “Onward Christian Soldiers”, and “Stand up, Stand up for Jesus” at the top of our lungs. The area was filled with porno places and when we marched and sang under the eaves of these places the sounds of our singing and playing guitars was so loud it echoed in through the open doors.
One guy came out and followed us for several blocks. When we stopped he approached us.
He said, “When I heard you singing, something happened inside of me.”
Though he didn’t know what it was yet, the Holy Spirit brought heavy conviction on him. Later that night he got saved. Totally, completely, miraculously saved. It was beautiful. We wrote back and forth for many years and God took great care of him. He became a bold and joyful witness for the Lord there in New York City.
Mike Laughlin