This is one in a series of daily excerpts from “The Legend of Morris Cerullo: How God Used an Orphan to Change the World.”

By Morris Cerullo

Port-au-Prince was abuzz the next day as word of the electrifying events in the stadium became the talk of the city.

The following evening the size of the crowd inside the stadium more than doubled, filling the arena to its capacity of thirty-five thousand.

The challenge match, however, was not over. The witch doctors may have been diminished on night one of the crusade, but changing a culture doesn’t happen overnight.

On the second evening the sky was menacing, with a thick layer of heavy-looking gray clouds hanging over the stadium. It seemed certain to burst into rain at any moment.

Morris had anticipated an upbeat, high-energy crowd on the second night. He was perplexed when he found the assembled people very reserved. Upon mentioning his surprise to one of the host pastors, the Haitian explained that his countrymen were very superstitious people, and being rained upon was a sign of bad luck.

Just before Morris took the microphone to present the gospel the clouds turned dark and ominous. Without warning, large numbers of people began to run toward the exits, desperate not to be rained upon and suffer the consequences of bad luck.

Not even realizing what he was doing, Morris leaped to the microphone and shouted into it, “In the name of Jesus I command you to stop running and stand still!” His interpreter quickly repeated the phrase to the audience.

As soon as Morris’s words echoed into every corner of the stadium everyone stood still and looked up at the man on the stage. The result looked like a children’s game where the music stops and everyone must freeze in place.

Morris was under a powerful, irresistible anointing from the Lord again that night. Seeing the cessation of the frenetic movement toward the exits, he issued the next command.

“Now, in the name of Jesus, turn around and look at me.” When the crowd obeyed in unison he finished his command: “Do you see those dark clouds above our heads?” Nearly every head in the stadium jerked upward and gazed at the clouds pregnant with rain. “Now you are going to know what kind of prophet of God I am. It will not rain until this service is over!”

Whether they were curious, scared, or hopeful, nobody else left the arena. They sat down, and Morris began to preach. For the next ninety-plus minutes he held them spellbound with stories about the compassion and love of God and offered a simple but profound understanding of how their lives could be changed forever that evening.

When he finished Morris gave a salvation call and prayed for the sick, the blind, the deaf, and the crippled. As had happened the previous evening, dozens upon dozens of people experienced miraculous healings. Thousands of people prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior.

Before leaving for the evening Dr. Cerullo gave one final instruction. “People of Haiti, this service is over. After I pray, if you don’t want to get wet you should leave quickly, because it’s going to rain.”

He closed the service in prayer and people moved out of the stadium quickly.

Less than fifteen minutes later the clouds burst open, and a torrential rainstorm drenched the stadium.