A Mississippi pastor who recently preached through the entire Bible for 96 consecutive hours has told how he came under fierce spiritual attack during his marathon effort.
That included a young witch who attempted to curse him as he was preaching the Gospel from Romans, and was miraculously saved after her black magic backfired.
Pastor Matthew Olson of the First Baptist Church of Sharon recounted to The Christian Post the physical struggles and spiritual opposition he faced when he set an unofficial world record for the longest sermon in history.
The pastor said he learned through the experience that “God allows hostility.”
“GOD USED YOU TO SAVE ME DURING THE 96 HOURS OF NON-STOP PREACHING”
He said he later learned that some of the pushback against him included formal curses from a group of occultists, one of whom later reached out to him after she was baptised following her unusual experience.
He recalled how he received a text from the woman which said:
“You don’t know me, but I’ve been trying to get a hold of you.”
“I need you to know this: God used you to save me during the 96 hours.”
“I was a witch up until last week.”
“MY FRIENDS AND I STARTED CURSING YOU. WE’RE SORRY WE DID THAT”
Pastor Olson told The Christian Post the woman known as Lindsay confessed that when she and her other friends who dabble in witchcraft became aware that a group of Christians they knew were gathering to watch the livestream of his preaching marathon, they decided to join with the intention of casting curses on him.
“My friends and I started cursing you, watching you and calling curses on you.’”
“I’m so sorry we did that, but I’m not sorry for what happened,’ she said,
Lindsay claimed that as she and her friends were spiritually attacking him, she began to perceive that the message of God’s love that the pastor was preaching was being aimed at her.
“WE WANTED YOU TO DIE, BUT YOU JUST KEPT GETTING STRONGER”
“We watched two men hold you up, and you looked into the camera, and Matt, you said that you could see us, that you loved us and that God loved us,” Lindsay texted Pastor Olson.
“We cursed you, and said that we wanted your insides to shrivel up.”
“We wanted you to die. But you didn’t,”
“In fact, the two men that were holding you up, they stopped holding you up. You started walking around and you started getting stronger.”
HOW THE WITCH GOT SAVED
Lindsay recalled how she and her friend Marcus gave up their cursing when each of them physically heard Pastor Olson address them personally during his sermon.
Lindsay and Marcus both heard him say their name to tell them Jesus loves them.
“Their friends got upset and left. Lindsay and Marcus stopped and just sat down,” explained Pastor Olson.
“And the Christians who had gathered, who were praying, came to them.”
“Lindsay said she got saved that night and was baptised a week and a half later.”
“That is, to me, one of the best stories of the entire thing,” Matt Olson declared.
WHAT PASTOR PREACHED FROM ROMANS 1
He later recalled that he had been preaching continuously for 72 hours when he reached the declaration of the apostle Paul in Romans 1 that he is “not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.”
Overcome by exhaustion and struggling to speak, Pastor Olson began to weep as he was proclaiming that true salvation comes from acknowledging one’s sin and trusting in the sufficiency of Christ’s righteousness.
“This world has been robbed by false religions that have made you feel that if you just tried more, if you just worked harder, if you just paid another dollar, or if you had that relationship, if you performed, that somehow then you would be loved,” he said as he leaned on the pulpit with his voice breaking.
“I serve the one true God, who, not in our performance but in our sin, demonstrated His love in this way”
“I CAN’T RECALL THE SERMON WHICH SAVED THE WITCH”
“It was during this time that Lindsay and Marcus said they heard me say Jesus could save them, and they heard their names.”
“i don’t recall actually saying their names. In fact I do not remember any point of that particular session.”
“It’s the only time that I have a complete block of the sermons.”
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