The Fire Increased in Winston-Salem

by Larry Rutledge | Oct 25, 2023 | Living Proof Tent Crusades, Winston-Salem

As I came to the Tent tonight, I had no idea how the meeting might unfold. The first two nights were so uncharacteristically different from the beginning of previous crusades. So I came expectantly, interested to see what God would do. And once again He blew my mind. What a powerful night in the presence of God!

We began again with Catherine Mullins and her band, and the Spirit of God immediately showed up. I often tell people that worship is our response to the revelation of God, and it is the worship leader’s job to reveal God to us. And that is what Catherine did. Through song and word she shared her heart and revealed the one true living God to us, and the people responded.

After fifty minutes of worship, Mario took the stage and said there is a theory that noise in church turns the sinner off and they won’t get saved, but when you give God the glory it removes the lost soul’s protection against God.

He had the people take their seats and then took an offering. He talked about the mandate on his life to increase the number of crusades across the United States in the coming years. And he shared how Mario Murillo Ministries no longer waits for an invitation to go to a city, but rather goes into a city that has a need, as the Holy Spirit leads.

Mario announced that he is building a national war chest to save the United States. Like the war bonds in WWII, this war chest will give the ministry the ability to go into any city at any time and put on crusades all over America. And he is going to raise up additional evangelists to save souls across this nation.

After the offering, Mario preached a soul winning message. He said the power of the Lord is present to do a miracle, and that He will change the direction of your life, once and for all, and make it as clear as possible what is the right thing to do.

He said the word ‘conviction’ means you are overcome by a profound need to do something. Not just right, but it is so completely right, that it is irresistible.

Mario shared about a time when he was invited to an event called the Holy Man Jam, where a representative from every religion in the world had been invited, and each person was allowed five minutes to defend their position.

The promise of the other religions was that your mind would be better, you’d be rich, and better as a person, but it didn’t deal with reality. The question Mario needed to answer was, ‘Why did Jesus come and what made Him different?’

At that time there was a serial killer on the loose known as the Hillside Strangler. Mario told the other religious leaders that they were talking about all these things for self-betterment, while the people in the room were worried about what to do about a serial killer on the loose. Cars and money are meaningless if my wife or child is killed, or crime invades my life.

Then he asked them one question: “Do you have power over Satan? Because if you don’t, nothing else matters. The Bible says, “he who sins is of the Devil.” For this purpose was the Son of God manifested that He might destroy the works of the evil one.”

You can be articulate and devoted to your religion, but you cannot destroy the works of the Devil. This is the most important issue in America because the number one condition we are seeing is oppression, coming from Satan.

Mario quoted Acts 10:38, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, Who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil, for God was with Him.”

The uniqueness of Christ is that he defeated Satan. This is what Jesus says, but it is not what Buddha, Mohammed, or even Oprah can say:

Luke 10:18, “And He [Jesus] said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

Mario talked about how the Devil tries to convince us it is a fair fight between him and God. He referenced the scripture in Revelation which says an angel was sent down to bind the Devil and cast him into the great pit. This was an angel who wasn’t high enough in rank even to warrant being named. So, if one of the lowest angels in heaven has the power to bind the Devil, how much more power does God have?

He talked about how we are living in hard and difficult times. The world is being influenced by Satan. The Bible says, “He who sins is of the Devil.” And Mario added that if you don’t know Jesus, He’s not even praying for you.

As he does each night, Mario called for those who want to be set free from sin, to be freed from the power of the evil one, and who want to surrender to Jesus Christ, to raise their hands. And they raised them up, all over the Tent. Then Mario had them stand and finally, come forward.

At first it looked like it might be a relatively small response, but as I looked out over the crowd they just kept coming and kept coming. The front of the Tent and the aisles were as full, if not even fuller, than the first two nights. Praise God!

Mario prayed with them and then directed them out to our waiting volunteers for one on one ministry.

He then began to share another message with the people, and told a story of a young Christian woman whom he knew. He saw her one day, she was dressed very provocatively, but that was not her normal look. When he spoke with her she said that her boyfriend was no longer interested in her unless she changed herself in this manner.

Mario asked how this was any different than what the church is doing? Changing the Gospel because someone lied and said the real Jesus is not attractive to modern society.

In the Gospels we see that He was so attractive and life giving in His ministry that when He spoke, people were afraid to eat for fear of missing what He might say.

He talked about preachers who walk into the Tent and are baffled, wondering why the place is full, why the people are coming early, and why they keep returning every night – it is because Jesus is in the house!

Mario said we could destroy the myth that we need to seduce people with twelve- minute-express-sermons and coffee. Jesus is enough! He’s enough to win the atheist. Enough to turn the culture around. Quit doing human programs and go back to a dependency on the Holy Spirit!

Mario said the most important revelation that the body of Christ needs is to see the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, cancers removed, and the most notorious addicts delivered.

Mario asked a rhetorical question: ‘Why can’t I boastfully and arrogantly demand that God heal me?’ It is because His Son died on the Cross. And in that question there is an intimation that God cannot be trusted to want to heal you, so you have to demand that He does it. But He does not have to. We cannot command Him to do our will.

You come in humbly, with mercy, and with the knowledge that any God who bankrupted heaven, putting His own Son on the Cross, is not on trial as to whether He loves you and wants to heal you.

After a bit longer, Mario had the people begin to pray in the language of the Holy Spirit. There was a holy presence in the room that came as a rush of power and filled the Tent.

Mario then pointed to a section on one side of the Tent. He identified a man midway back in that section who was being healed. And then Mario said there were people all over that section suffering in their spine and their feet. And people stood up all over that section.

As I started to make my way across the Tent to take pictures of what God was doing, I asked God under my breath to please include me in that group. I have been having lower back pain for some time and I had faith that God would touch it. As I stood next to those people taking the photos and praying for them, I felt the pain in my back begin to dissolve. By the time I left the Tent, at the end of the night, all the pain was gone.

Next Mario highlighted a woman in the middle section of the Tent, and said her sciatic nerve was being healed. She had pain down both legs and at times was bedridden. Her neck and her heart were healed. He then had her come out into the aisle, along with the woman who had been sitting next to her.

Then he returned to the man he had highlighted earlier, and asked the man’s wife to stand with him. He told the man God was going to use him, that his days of ministry are not waning, but are just beginning. He and his wife were being healed and a fresh anointing was coming on them. Mario also revealed that the man was being healed in his chest, heart, back, legs, and one entire side of his body.

He had everyone in that section lay hands on everyone who was standing, stating that God would heal their spines.

He then returned to the women he’d asked to step out into the aisle. In addition to the heart and sciatic healing, the first woman’s blood was being healed. Mario then turned to the other woman who was beside her, and revealed that her hands, forearms, wrists, back, and legs were all being healed.

He then focused on another woman who’d had a traumatic accident which had damaged her body, and he told her it was all being healed. Her feet, her knees, her ribcage were all healed, and she now had the ability to breathe without pain.

Mario went to another section and spoke to a man, telling him that God was going to give him boldness like a lion, and that God was removing a chronic illness.

Then Mario went to the back of the Tent and spoke some words in Spanish to someone in the audience, and used the Spanish word for “miracle.” At the end of what he said, a woman stood up. Mario said the miracle was so amazing she would have unspeakable joy.

He revealed that she had answered when God called her to travel, but on her journey she had contracted an illness. Her head was being healed, dizziness removed, and her stomach was being healed. Mario said that the Devil had used the illness to try to prevent her from going and helping the people, but God never forgot her willingness and her sacrifice. Her back, breathing, eyes, and legs, all were being healed.

Mario moved to another section and asked a man to stand up. He told him he was about to be filled anew with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Mario told the man that he had a gift, and that God was going to use it. He was healed of diabetes, and his heart, pancreas, and neuropathy of the feet were all being healed.

Mario then had him put his hands in the air and pray in the Spirit. The man was overcome with the presence of God and began speaking in a beautiful tongue. It was such a powerful moment.

Then Mario had the entire audience pray in tongues.

He pointed out a man and asked him if he believed in miracles. Mario said that God was raising up new voices, and that this man was one of the new voices. Another man who Mario identified as having been used to launch other ministries laid his hands on the man’s back, prayed over and imparted into this man and he began to pray in a powerful tongue.

Mario then went over to a lady and said that, just to tell her she was being healed was inadequate, that she was being revolutionized from within her cells. That the healing began in the bone marrow and would transform her. And that her burden to be used of God and to finance a ministry was all being honored. He had her lay her hand on her stomach and said the thing that had been growing in there was being burned out and that her next x-ray would show it was completely gone. She also began to speak in tongues. So much power was swelling all around her.

Mario had the people begin to pray in tongues again. Then said if they were near someone in a wheelchair, to go lay hands on them. He had people lay hands on others all over the Tent.

It was a powerful conclusion to an equally powerful night. Words don’t do justice to what we experienced. I urge you to go to Mario Murillo Ministries Facebook page and watch it for yourself.

And if you are able to get here, we have one final night – Wednesday, October 25th at 6:30 PM, at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds.

Come and get your miracle. I guarantee your life will never be the same.

All glory to God!!