PICTURES ARE BELOW THIS LETTER:

Dearly Beloved Partners of Joel Hitchcock Ministries,

Firstly, I would like to convey my deepest gratitude to you for all your prayers and concerns for me while I was in India. My trip to India was full of trials and tribulations, but I am glad to report that we as God's People have also had one of the greatest TRIUMPHS we have ever had, right under the nose of vicious persecution. Here follows my short report of what happened.

On my way to India I joined with the great Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke in the city of Ondotown in Nigeria. His ministry reaped another 1.2 million souls that week. One night there were a half a million people in the service. Brother Bonnke ministered with great power. I have supported his ministry for years and would encourage everybody who is interested in his ministry to know that the man and his ministry is for real and is marked by the deepest humility and sincerity. He shys away from the sensational, and therefor the reports of miracles and the dead being raised are trustworthy. I was totally humbled when he gave me an opportunity to bring a short message to the final crowd of half a million people:

Our crusade in India was going to be our largest crusade ever. We spent $26,000.00 on the crusade to secure the stadium, rent a platform, rent 15 generators to power the sound system and 500 lights of 1000 watt each. We also printed 350,000 hand bills (flyers), wall posters, cloth banners, taxi banners, and rented 6 giant bill boards and made 7 full color "cut-outs" of the evangelist. Our permits were stamped and signed by the police and we were expecting even more people than our previous crusade where 40,000 to 50,000 people were in a single service, and 80,000 to 100,000 in total over four days.

One hour before the first meeting two van fulls of police came, shut down our sound system and cancelled the meeting for the following reasons: (1) Sound Pollution, (2) Permits not in order. Both of these reasons were ridiculous. Firstly, India is one of the noisiest places on the planet anyhow. Traffic and honking of horns go on from morning till late at night! When Hindu festivals happen, the beat drums, blow wistles and make a noise for 14 days, day and night. Secondly, we had the proof of our permits.

We finally learnt of the true story. A militant Hindu group, the "RSS" was walking down the road in a procession to stop our meetings. The police stopped them before they got to the stadium. They believe that no other religion in India should be tolerated and have even murdered the Australian missionary Graham Staines. They said that they were going to blow up our platform and called my crusade director, Christopher Boda many times, cussed him out, threatened us with death and tried to intimidate us. Before I continue, I wish to publicly state that I forgive our enemies, in the Name of Jesus Christ. RSS people, if you are reading this, I want to state that you have my word that I also oppose forced conversions. Any person that is forced to convert to Christianity is not a true Christian. Also, we have never and will never give anybody money to become a Christian. True Christians are those who voluntarily accept Jesus as their ONLY GOD for no reward but to know that their sins are forgiven by His Blood. You too may accept him and experience the peace that you are craving for. Kindly contact me at joel@joelhitchcock.com for dialogue.

This is what the Hindu radicals had to say on video about this crusade:

"I don't think it's a crime to stop such meetings. It's not right to convert backward class people to Christianity through force or coercion or by giving them money."

"We are living in a Hindu state. I condemn conversions."

"We must come together as one and teach these Christians a lesson who are instigating conversions."

"These fellows want to project our religion as false. They say the Christian God is the only true God, and that our gods are stones and idols. They want to throw down the temples of our gods and godesses. They say their God alone forgives innumerable sins."

BE SURE TO READ THIS ONE: "I was an RSS correspondent and contested for city Mayor Elections...I am very glad these meetings are cancelled at the NTR stadium.... India is purely a Hindu state AND NO OTHER RELIGION MUST BE PREACH HERE. Every Indian must come forward and oppose it. People of other religions must not be given citizenship... If the Government hadn't stopped it, our youth were ready to intervine and stop these meetings themselves. We gathered here ("the Bajrang dal", who killed Graham Stanes,) and if the police hadn't stopped us on the tank bund road, WE WOULD HAVE COME OUT THERE AND YOU WOULD HAVE SEEN THE TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES!..."

That night 10,000 disappointed seekers of God (Hindu's, Christians and whoever) were turned away. The next night 20,000 came just to hear that the crusade was cancelled. In the face of this persecution, the Christians and the choir sang bold praises to God. You should see them on the video. USA residents may have this dvd or video (your choice) for free if you contact us. Other countries, please understand that shipping costs is very high. Still contact me and perhaps we can see what we can do.

It looked like a defeat, but I told my crusade director that God spoke to me as soon as the problems started that this was a manifestation that we had won that city! Christopher Boda is a great man of God himself decided not to tuck his tail and run. Since then he is known as Chris "BOLD-a". He asked me to stay one more week and in that time he challenged them in court. What started as just a peaceful miracle and salvation crusade festival, suddenly turned out to be a voice for religious freedom! Many pastors also went to court. It was in the newspapers, and the secular media came to videotape us too.

The issue even reached the Chief Minister of the State and went to the High Court of the State. What normally would have taken five to ten years took ONE WEEK! We won the court case! The next week we held our crusade right there under the nose of the enemy! We did it with the full protection of the Police! At first it was just going to be a great crusade, but it turned out to be a step up for the local Christians. Through this event they solidified their freedom to worship God in a open freedom they did not posess prior to this crusade. I was told that my crusade was the largest crusade to have been cancelled since Billy Graham's crusade was cancelled in the 70's. The publicity of this crusade and it's cancellation brought it out in the open, and gained a tremendous legal victory for the saints of God.

In fact, the former Prime Minister's son, Dr. PV Rangarao came out to the crusade himself. Even though he is still a moderate Hindu, he came out in support for the Christians and publicly praised them for who they were and for the power in their prayers! Right under the nose of the enemy! When Haman in the Bible made gallows to hang God's servant Mordecai on, it was reversed and Haman was the one hanging on the gallows, IN FULL PUBLIC VIEW. In our case, the enemy of the Gospel was greatly embarrassed and defeated.

On the downside, we never did rebound to the numbers we could have had, but the anointing was powerful. Miracles happened. One man was blind for two years, and could see everything clearly! He could count my fingers accurately. Another lady was nearly blind in one eye and was healed. One man was deaf in one ear. I put my fingers in his hears, prayed for him, and instantly he could hear! The same with another man. Many other healing miracles happened, including a lady who was demon posessed.

I preached and ministered as if we had the greatest freedom in the world. Pastors Kim and Connie Snyder from the First AG in Asheboro NC accompanied me to minister at the pastors' conference, which was also cancelled. However, they did an awesome job encouraging the pastors during the trial. We were advised not to leave the hotel, so they spoke on video in our hotel room and the video was then sent to the pastors. The pastors and Christians were greatly blessed. They also spoke at a local church and helped me minister to and also bless the orphanage financially. God bless them and their local church.

Partners, when I heard of your prayers for us in the USA and around the world, it touched me deeply. Please know that your prayers worked and that your giving and prayers wrought a tremendous victory for Jesus.

PLEASE ALLOW ME TO SHARE A COUPLE OF NEEDS:

Firstly, my crusade director Christopher Boda paid $10,000.00 from his own ministry to pay for legal fees and other additional crusade expenses due to the rescheduling of the crusade. I would like to help him.

Secondly, we hope to have a crusade in Venezuela in July and crusades in Brazil, India, Nigeria, Central and Southern Africa soon afterward. Each crusade is about $30,000.00 to $40,000.00. Our ministry is a relatively small ministry, but we are attempting and accomplishing great things and seeing awesome results. Please partner with us. E-mail joel@joelhitchcock.com for more information. God bless...

Here are some pictures that say a thousand words...

On my way to India I joined Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke in Nigeria. He let me address a throng of a half million people.

I spoke on that they should reach out to Jesus... Brother Reinhard won about 1.2 million people for Christ during this crusade.

India has been called "the most religious country in the world." It is certainly up there, considering the devotion to millions of gods.

Our advertising was awesome. A hundred thousand hand bills and fifty thousand wall posters. Many bill boards and profile "cut-outs"

I preached the word under a strong anointing, not compromising the gospel. The former prime minister of India's son, Mr. Rangarao addressed the crowd and testified of the power of the Christians' prayers--even though he still remains a Hindu. He was very kind hearted to us.IRACLE MASS CRUSADES THE SICK HEALED DEMONS CAST OUT DELIVERANCE MINISTRY

Here I am praying for a man who was deaf in his one ear. Immediately he could hear after prayer.

This dear lady was nearly blind in her one eye, but after prayer she testified that she could see...

We never did get our crowds back up after all the Hindu intimidation, but many still came and many accepted Christ.

A major legal milestone was reached for the children of God, and this will help them in years to come.

In the end, we had the police with us--watching over us and supporting us.