You may have heard of Pastor Danny Nalliah from Catch the Fire (CTF) Ministries in Melbourne. He and his mate Pastor Daniel Scot recently ran afoul of Victoria’s controversial anti-vilification laws, but this didn’t stop Nalliah from contesting the Senate for the Family First Party. He was unsuccessful, but his running-mate Steve Fielding made the grade.

Danny Nalliah is a truly remarkable character and I thought you might like to know some more about him. For example, did you know he can heal the blind? - well, when he’s visiting Sri Lanka, anyway. Here’s the story, straight from the horse’s mouth:

At our first meeting in Colombo, a man totally blind for 17 years was brought up for prayer. Well, Glory to God, I placed my thumbs on his eyes and rebuked the blind spirit and claimed healing in the Name of Jesus. I finished praying and took my hands off. Instantly the man’s eyes opened up and he started shouting, ‘I can see, I can see!’ He then grabbed my tie and started telling me all the different colours on my tie. This really sent waves of rejoicing throughout the meeting. (CTF Ministries Inc., Newsletter, Sept. 2002, 2)

As you’d expect, God often speaks directly to Danny, giving him the good oil on all sorts of things:

The Lord very clearly spoke to me about [the anti-vilification law] on 9th April 2000 at 5.00 am in a dream in Ethiopia. He said, ‘Evangelism would be banned if the church does not rise up and be pro-active.’ (Newsletter, Apr. 2005, 1)

Seems a pretty clear link, doesn’t it, and I must say that it’s encouraging to see the Almighty keeping right up with the times and using words like ‘pro-active’.

But sometimes God favours Danny with personal appearances, as he did in May 2002, somewhere between Naracoorte, SA and Horsham, Vic.:

… I happened to look to the left up in the sky. I just could not believe what I saw. At once I shouted, ‘Chris, stop the car, stop the car!’ … He pulled over and we all jumped out and saw the Face of Jesus appear in the sky through the clouds … The face remained for about a minute and then disappeared … As we continued [to drive], the Lord spoke to each one of us and said, ‘I am watching over you, I am well pleased with you, my face is shining upon you’ … (Newsletter, Sept. 2002, 8)

Now Family First Party, aren’t you ashamed? Here’s a man with whom God is well pleased - said so Himself when He was floating about in the sky near Horsham one day! - and you couldn’t even give him the No. 1 spot on your Victorian Senate ticket. Just think, if you’d been a little more enterprising, God may have rewarded you with Senator Danny Nalliah and the balance of power.

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