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Let your song echo the fire of God.
Set your torch ablaze.
Head in the clouds, feet on the ground.
BLAZE
Marja and Risto Lindqvist, you are warmly welcome to Finland, -
to the TV7 channel and to the Blaze program.
Thank you! It's a joy and a pleasure to tell about the Lord.
It's good to have you here.
Firstly, I'd like to hear the passage of the Bible -
which sets you ablaze in these days.
It's the well-known passage from John chapter 14, verse 6.
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life.'
'No one comes to the Father except through me.'"
This is the passage which in these days, -
in our changing society and in the spiritual life -
is more and more important.
Marja, in which way does this passage set you ablaze?
I pray every morning -
and I give myself to God as a reasonable service.
I want to take the way the Lord has shown us.
I want to remind myself to lay aside my own will.
The Lord is the way and the truth and the life.
The Bible is the only truth wherever we go.
I cast down reasoning and strongholds -
and every high thing we've set up or the enemy has set up -
against the knowledge of God.
In our life, we should decrease -
and crucify our flesh with is desires -
so that we could say as the Apostle Paul did: -
"It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me."
This passage of the Bible contains the whole message of the faith.
The Christian way, truth and life has come true in your life.
The ways you walk, the truth you meet -
and the life you live is not in Finland.
Most of the time you live in Haiti.
Where is Haiti located?
Haiti is one hour south from Florida by plane.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic share an island.
It's 10 Celsius degrees hotter there than in Florida.
It's a furnace! But it's a lovely place.
Haiti is about the size of Belgium.
There are 8 million inhabitants.
Most of the land is not suitable for living.
It's a populous country.
Haitians are of African descent. The island was once a slave colony.
The Haitians resemble the White what comes to their features -
but their skin color is black.
You meet many Haitians daily.
What has brought you to Haiti?
Let's say that we are destroying the kingdom of darkness.
We wage war for the Kingdom of Heaven.
We preach the Gospel.
We teach them. We have 25 churches there.
We teach the unbelievers about Jesus.
Jesus died on the cross and because of His wounds we have been healed.
Trough His blood our sins are forgiven.
The salvation is two-fold.
The people convert from the voodoo religion.
As soon as they are born again -
they receive the salvation and the healing.
It's wonderful.
Could you explain what is voodoo?
Voodoo is a satanic occult originated in Africa.
It involves human sacrifices.
It's forbidden in law, -
but in spite of it they use human sacrifices.
Various satanic rituals are very common there.
They have cockfights. They perform cruelty to animals.
The Haitian culture is very different from our western world.
You forgot the zombies and the cannibals.
It's only one hour away.
Why did you choose this as your life's work?
You used the phrase 'destroying the kingdom of darkness'.
You work in a way as a good pest.
Why do you want to bring the Gospel to Haitians?
When we came to Florida, we had worked in the Soviet Union, -
India, Sri Lanka as well as in the UK.
The Haitians invited us to work there.
At first we refused, because our vision was to work in India.
One time we spoke with the president of Haiti by phone.
He invited us. We promised to pray.
He promised to pray too. We went to visit the land.
We fell in love with Haiti.
We work in the worst and the most dangerous slum.
But we fell in love in it, too.
You mean the ex-president of Haiti? - That's correct.
He was a Christian president. - He is a former Catholic priest.
He worked in orphanages.
He was a significant person. He confessed the Lord.
The situation in the land was unstable. As the president -
he gave us the permission to work in Haiti.
After the revolution -
we had to apply for the permissions from the generals.
Our time in Haiti has been colorful.
How long have you been in mission work altogether?
You mentioned India, Sri Lanka, Soviet Union etc.
27 years.
And in Haiti? - 16 to 17 years.
How did the mission work start? What triggered it off?
In the year 1980 we had a prayer group of three people.
We started to pray at home every night.
In Finland? - Yes.
We prayed from 8 pm to 12 pm or to 2 am, -
or until whenever the Lord led our prayers.
We prayed for hours every day.
We had a spirit of prayer upon us.
The prayer group of three became an international organization.
The Lord started to call Risto to the full-time ministry.
We resisted for six months.
We had good jobs, income, debt and small children.
What did you do? - I was an occupational health nurse.
Risto was a marketing manager.
It felt impossible to live by faith alone
We said it's not possible.
During the 6 months God showed us His goodness.
He gave us more gifts of the Spirit and taught us.
After 6 months we answered the Lord's call -
provided that He would take care of our finances.
He made a covenant with us saying that He would take care of us.
He has kept His promise.
We've lived by faith. We don't know our future income, -
but each month we have paid our bills on time.
The CEO of TV7, Martti Ojares, -
says this channel has been founded on faith alone -
and on support of our friends, -
and each month the bills have been paid on time.
Praise the Lord!
When you feel financial pressure, -
it's good to remember how God called you.
When we fought against the call -
an angel appeared to the prayer group.
He urged them to found a support group.
When we told about our decision, -
our friends told about the support group.
The partners have been faithful, haven't they? - Yes.
What's its name? - Helsingin evankelioimisyhdistys ry.
They are people after God's heart. They have been faithful.
Nowadays it's hard to find.
The faithfulness.
The commitment.
I laugh on the inside when you say -
that you are an occupational health nurse and a marketing manager.
Walking with the Word of God involves nursing.
God is our Healer.
In a way you work corresponding to your education.
And you Risto have a wonderful marketing object. - That's true.
It's guaranteed to succeed. It shall not return void.
Risto Lindqvist, how long have you known the Lord?
I've grown in a Lutheran family.
The faith matters were familiar to me already in my childhood.
I went to Sunday School.
In adolescence I started to pull away, -
but the Lord drew me back.
I was filled with the Spirit. I started to prophecy.
I wondered it.
The Lord replied: "You slept in the Church bench, didn't you."
The Word works.
How about you Marja?
I started my walk with God when I was a child.
I withdrew, but in the adulthood -
we had neighbors who lived according to the Word.
It was something new to us.
We started to study the Bible and pray intensively.
I thank the neighbors who came to evangelize us.
We needed the evangelization, -
even though we believed in Jesus.
Jesus didn't have a role in our life.
We went to church, but Jesus didn't have a room in our lives.
Jesus wasn't real to us. We sometimes just asked Him something.
What do you give Him nowadays? - Everything.
Our time, money, belongings, children, our whole life.
Our soul, spirit and everything.
Education and everything we've gained. It's all Lord's.
What has Jesus given you?
He has given us a rich life, -
a life which you can't buy with money.
We have traveled a lot. We have seen different cultures.
Our life is full of God's miracles.
Praise the Lord!
The Lord has given an abundant wholeness.
He has given power and joy.
It's amazing when you can walk in every area of your life -
in the full anointing and power of God.
I thing it's fabulous.
We don't have to walk through defeats.
There is a sense of victory present all the time.
What does it require for you to say it?
You must surrender your heart wholly.
It requires love for God.
My love for the Father is immense.
The love is present all the time.
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
"No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6
Life without faith, what do you think about it?
It's hard to understand, but it's real to some people.
I believe it's empty.
In the world's economy everyone is going after what's their own.
The law in the Kingdom of God is: "Give and you will receive."
The Christian life is rich.
I believe it's very poor to be without the Lord.
Could you please give some examples of a Haitian's life -
who converts from voodoo to Christianity?
We teach very carefully the meaning of conversion.
We declare the rights of a new Christian.
One of the basic rights is healthiness.
Because of His wounds we have been healed.
I am the God who heals you.
We also teach how to be filled with the Spirit.
It belongs to every Christian the same way as the baptism does.
When they receive these things in faith, their lives change.
In the slum which is one of the most dangerous in the world -
one can see immediately who is a believer.
They become active in evangelism, intercession and councelling.
Soon they go to preach in the jungles.
It's truly a new page in their lives.
The Sunday service goes on the whole day.
They cook rice with a camping cooker.
They join at the meal of love. Then the service begins again.
You mentioned health.
What kinds of sicknesses there are because of the idol worship?
They make zombies. - What does it mean?
They bury people alive.
They give poison and bury alive.
They break the will of a person.
Later they raise the zombie give him or her antidotes.
They castrate the zombie. - They beat him or her up.
There is leprosy.
There is AIDS. - It's the biggest problem.
Tuberculosis is very common.
Some of the orphans have maggots under their skin.
It's terrible.
The spiritual darkness is obvious.
People suffer from unhappiness and from constant fear.
People usually become free from fears when they convert, -
but they are constantly afraid of the spirit of the dead.
Even when they are buried, the relatives fear -
that somebody takes a nail or hair from the deceased and offer it.
The culture is very different from the Finnish culture.
You have witnessed many conversions also in Finland.
What happens to a Finn in the conversion?
This trip has been wonderful. We've been traveling here one month.
Many have been filled with the Spirit and become free.
Drug addicts have been delivered from drugs.
There have been some ex-prisoners.
When they receive the Spirit, the light appears on their faces.
It's wonderful.
You can see that the light starts to glow in their eyes.
A 95-years-old got filled with the Spirit.
The thirst is great in the Finnish churches.
People search for God.
You look Finland from the distance.
What kind of prayer requests do you have for Finland?
We pray the fullness and the fire of the Spirit.
We pray that the spiritual eyes will be opened to see Jesus -
who is the way, the truth and the life.
Another thing is -
the different groups and ministries outside the church.
They stand in the gap and serve as a complement.
One of them is TV7.
I hope we are a complement set by God.
That's what we want to believe.
Is there Christian media in Haiti?
In 1991 and 1992 -
we were planning with some Canadians -
to send Christian children's program on Haitian TV.
Everything was ready, but then we found out that the people -
didn't have electricity or TVs.
We withdrew the idea.
There isn't Christian media. - There isn't always a radio.
I ask you to teach us, the Finns.
You live and preach the Gospel in a country and in a society -
where the GDP is minimal.
According to one statistics source -
a couple of years ago Finland's GDP per capita was 34 000 -
and the one of Haiti was 400.
Finland's GDP per capita is hundred-fold -
compared to the one of Haiti.
The life in Haiti is very poor.
The poverty of Haiti is really a problem.
As believers we often have to answer the question -
"How does your God allow this poverty," -
"this misery and abuse?"
What is your answer?
Many people starve to death in the slums.
Some of the weakest don't even get buried.
Our son, who was with us that time, said: -
"Look, mum, a pig is eating a corpse on the street."
It was desolate. But on the other hand, -
we've never heard of a believer that has died on famine.
If we think of the Haitian history, -
Haiti was once one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
They had coffee, tea, pineapples and other products -
when they were under the French rule.
The Haitians turned to voodoo.
They offered a pig to Satan at the altar of a Catholic church.
They promised to worship Satan, if he freed them from the French.
Some people say that this just encouraged them to fight.
However Haiti's economy went downhill after this incident.
Now it's the poorest country in that hemisphere.
In a way they have chosen their destiny themselves.
God doesn't want anybody to be poor.
They have chosen the darkness.
The enemy wants to kill, steal and destroy.
But we have also seen the growth in the churches.
Apparently the people needs the pressure in order to be saved.
Every week 30-40 members of our group -
walk in white clothes trough the slum singing praises.
We go and baptize the new believers.
It's a real joy to see the power of God in work.
More and more pagans convert to Christianity.
There are viewers who find themselves in a place of decision.
They are searching for an alternative to their present life.
They may have some occult tendencies in their life.
What would you say to these people?
What prevents the Finns to see God is the reasoning.
They have their own beliefs and strongholds.
The Apostle Paul tells us to disclaim all of them, -
all of the structures built under the label of wisdom and knowledge.
They are like the walls of Jericho.
They prevent us from trusting the Lord -
and knowing the Lord in every area of our life.
In Haiti we can say: "Disclaim voodoo. Come out!"
In Finland we encourage the people to trust in the Lord -
and to trust in His help at every moment -
in all areas of life.
How can the wall be pulled down?
One should take the Word of God in earnest.
I love the passage at the end of the story of the Prodigal Son.
The brother said to the Father: "this son of yours arrived".
He didn't say 'brother'.
The father said: "all that is mine is yours".
Unless we know what belongs to our Father, -
clung to the Bible and read its promises, -
we don't know what rights we have.
I want to bless you in your work in the difficult circumstances.
I'd like to ask you to read one more passage -
which you have chosen to our viewers.
It's Proverbs 3, verses 5 to 6.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart," -
"and lean not on your own understanding."
"In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."
I'd like to say, receive Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life.
He is the only one who can give an abundant life.
Receive Jesus today.
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