Interview with Pastor Philip Mantofa
Introducing Philip Mantofa: Pastor Philip Mantofa graduated from Columbia Bible College, in British Columbia, Canada, with a degree in theology. Since 1998, he has been serving Mawar Sharon Church, a growing church of 30,000 in Indonesia. Currently, he is one of the leaders of the Mawar Sharon denomination, which has a network of 70 local churches. He has brought more than 100,000 souls to Christ. His passion is to see nations encounter and experience the love of Jesus Christ and ignite fire in the younger generation to become pastors and spiritual leaders all over Asia. He and his wife have three children.
Pneuma: Please tell our readers how you came to know Jesus.
At one time I harbored a lot of hatred toward the Lord and toward myself. I was disappointed in my family, friends, and church. My days seemed dark. On one occasion I cursed the Lord, I challenged Him, and blasphemed Him. When I did this my heart began to beat fast and I collapsed. My heart was racing and I thought that I would die. My breathing became tight and I felt the presence of the Lord. He spoke to me and said “I love you.” When He said that my heartbeat became stable again and I stood up. Then I blasphemed Him again. This time I was thrown to the floor and my heart again began to beat frantically. Once again I felt the Lord’s presence and I cried like a baby because I heard Him again say that He loved me. I was on the floor screaming, “Why do you love me? I do not love You! Kill me now! Do it now while I hate You! Punish me now!” I rejected God’s love. I blasphemed a third time, again my breath was constricted and I was thrown to the floor. Once again His presence came to me and I heard a voice in my heart say as though crying “I love you.” After this my heartbeat once again became normal.
After these experiences I decided that if the Lord would not kill me then I would kill myself. No one knew of my plans to kill myself. Twice I planned to take my life but I could not do it because I thought of my family and how they would handle it. The third time I planned to kill myself I was interrupted by a phone call from my pastor’s wife and so I did not go through with it.
Two weeks later I went to church. I had a sense that there was going to be an altar call to receive Christ and I prepared to leave the service. I stood and started moving toward the exit. As I was reaching for the door knob I heard a man’s voice in my ear, it was very firm and loud. It was an audible voice. The voice said, “Philip, if you are not saved today, you will be lost forever.” There was no one standing near me, I then realized that it was the voice of God. I immediately ran to the front of the church and lifted my hands. I cried and cried. I also saw a very bright light. At this time I heard an audible voice speaking to me in English. The voice said, “I am Jesus and I love you.” I asked the Lord to let me die for Him. He told me to live for Him. That day He touched me and I was changed.
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