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.

PneumaReview.com: 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.

PneumaReview.com: When did you sense the Lord’s call to ministry, and what is the specific calling that He has placed on your life?

When I was six years old I had a vision. I was not born-again at this time but I had a vision nonetheless. I believe that this vision was the first indication that there was a call of God on my life. I saw a large stone in front of me. The stone looked like it was rolling toward me. It was very close and was going to crush me. I did not know what the vision meant. Right before the stone got to me my mama slapped my cheeks and asked me what was wrong. Suddenly the vision was gone.

I forgot about that vision until the Lord Himself reminded me of it after I had repented (at the age of eighteen). I asked one pastor the meaning of the vision. He said: “That was a solid hard rock which would crush your life. But after the rock crushed your life, it was no longer you who lived but Christ who lived in you!”

When I repented the Holy Spirit spoke to me: “I called you! Follow Him just like when He called His disciples and said: ‘Follow Me!'” Since that day I have abandoned all of my hopes, desires, and aspirations and have followed Jesus. At the time, I quibbled a little with the Lord because I was not certain if that was from the Lord or not. “You do not have the right to quibble with Me!” the Lord said. “Your mother has already surrendered you to me. Your mother gave you to me in a vow when you were sick.” I asked my mama about this and found out that it was so. At first my mother forgot; but finally she remembered her vow; she had never told me about it. She was surprised when I asked her about it. My father did not know my mama had dedicated my life to the Lord. It was a secret promise between the Lord and my mama. No one else knew because my mama had said it in her heart. When I asked her about it, she said, “How did you know about that?” I answered, “The Lord told me I could not run away from Him because I had already been dedicated to Him by a vow.”

Early in 2003, I had a supernatural experience while I was alone in my bedroom; I met the Lord Jesus. I felt a strong urge from the Holy Spirit to pray and I obeyed Him. The presence of God was very powerful in that place. I felt unworthy to receive such a great honor. At that time I uttered one sentence that today has become the vision for Mawar Sharon Church. “We will build You 1,000 strong local churches with 1,000,000 disciples!”After I finished that sentence, the visitation ended.

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.

PneumaReview.com: 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!

PneumaReview.com: 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.

PneumaReview.com: What are some of the things you have seen God doing as Jesus is being proclaimed?

Many miracles and healings have been reported. For example in “The Festival of God’s Power” meetings held in Surabaya, Indonesia on October 8th and 9th 2010, a seventeen year old man was healed of deafness. On the first day of the crusade the Lord opened one of his ears and on the second day he was completely healed. Also, during this crusade a thirty-five year old woman who could not see very well was totally healed. These are just a couple of examples but these healings have been confirmed by doctors.

Learn more about Philip Mantofa and his ministry at: www.PhilipMantofa.com