Interview with Pastor Philip Mantofa
On October 14th 2003, I once again had a supernatural experience in my room, this time I wasn’t alone. I was relaxing with my wife and daughter when the Holy Spirit spoke to me. “Stay awake later, after your wife and daughter are asleep.” I obeyed. After my wife and daughter were sound asleep, I gave myself to prayer and the Holy Spirit spoke to me for five hours without stopping. The Lord revealed to me the coming of a great spiritual revival. I saw a tsunami, enormous waves that were tens of meters high in front of me. The unbroken waves were extremely large. From behind the waves I heard a voice. “I have sent you a greater spiritual revival. It is very great and you do not know it. In one sweep many souls will be saved.” After I received that promise from the Lord, I went straight to bed. It was 4 o’clock in the morning.
Pneuma: Your homeland of Indonesia is predominantly Muslim. How receptive are the people of Indonesia to the gospel, and what are some of the reasons?
Indonesians at large are thirsty and hungry for a visitation from the Living God. The main reason is because the Bible says that the field is white unto harvest, and the Bible never lies! God knows the hearts of men and He speaks the truth. Indonesia is not exempt from His Word. A small and vocal minority of Muslim radicals would lead us to believe that Muslims are not a ready harvest. It is Satan’s lie! Worse yet, if Christians hearts are filled with the fear of man and fear for their own lives, lies enter in and kill faith. Another reason for the great reception of the gospel in predominantly Muslim Indonesia is the willingness of a few to believe God’s Word and obey the great commission against all odds. There are heroes of faith in this part of the world!
Pneuma: How is Indonesia different than other countries you have ministered in?
As far as God is concerned, it is not different than other countries on earth in the sense that God can work anywhere in the world. As far as I’m concerned, it is a place of two births in my life. Firstly, I was born here and I call this country “home.” But more importantly, Indonesia has been born in my heart by choice. After living most of my life overseas, in the year of 1998 – during one of the darkest times in the history of the nation, when Chinese minorities and Christians were persecuted, robbed, raped and murdered in broad day light – I returned to my homeland by faith for the sake of revival and the Gospel. I could almost say that, that day I went to hell to bring down the Kingdom of Heaven. Now that’s unforgettable for me! That’s my bonding with Indonesia.
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