A Word From God ... and a One-Way Plane Ticket
//Mike Keyes
Mike Keyes boarded a plane in Tulsa in 1980 with a one-way ticket to the Philippines. He had $20 in his pocket and a footlocker with a few changes of clothes and his books and notes from RHEMA Bible Training Center. One thing he didn’t have was the assurance that someone would pick him up at the airport.
While Mike was an RBTC student, a guest minister from the Philippines spoke to the student body. As Rudy Trigo began to address the students, the Lord spoke to Mike’s heart: “After you graduate from school, go work with that man’s ministry.” Knowing he’d heard from God, over the next several months Mike wrote three letters to Rev. Trigo’s ministry, but he never received a reply.
“When I left the United States, I still had not heard from him,” Mike said. “I didn’t know if he even knew I was coming. When I got to Manila, it was the loneliest moment of my life. I looked out the window and there were two guards with Uzi submachine guns ‘greeting’ the passengers.
“At that time I thought, My God, I’m on the other side of the world. What have I done? If I missed You, I’m in a world of hurt, because I have nowhere to go,” Mike remembered. “Then the Lord spoke to my heart and said, ‘Just relax. You are where I want you to be. You’re doing exactly what I want you to do. I’ll take good care of you.’”
After a flight from Manila to Cebu, Mike had gone as far as his money would take him. If no one was there to meet him, he would be stranded in a foreign country with $20. As Mike walked off the plane, he spotted a Filipino man holding a small, handwritten sign that read, Mike Keyes.
“I was never so happy to see a sign in my life,” Mike said. “I shook the man’s hand, and he said, ‘You’re Mike Keyes? We’ve been expecting you.’”
Those words struck him. “We’ve been expecting you?” If they had been expecting him, why had he never heard from anyone? Why did he fly halfway around the world not knowing if anyone would be there to meet him?
“It turns out that Rudy Trigo did receive my letters but he purposely did not answer them, because he wanted to know how serious I was about coming,” Mike said with a smile. “He wanted to see if I had learned enough about faith to actually make the trip. Looking back, I am thankful and can appreciate his perspective. But at the time, I was not very amused.”
Hitting the Ground Running
Mike’s new sign-holding friend rented a hotel room for him that night, and the next afternoon they traveled four hours by boat to Tagbilaran. By 5:00 p.m. he was at Rudy Trigo’s house, by 6:00 they were eating dinner, and by 7:00 Mike was teaching in the Bible school. And he hasn’t slowed down since.
For two-and-a-half years Mike worked for that ministry teaching in the Bible school, holding crusades, and traveling throughout the islands ministering to as many churches as possible. Preaching in churches, getting people saved and healed, and casting out demons was the easy part. The hard part, many times, was getting to the churches.
“We would wade rivers, hike up mountains, and sleep on the ground using the Bible as a pillow,” he said. “Many times it would be pouring rain and the pathways would become rivers of mud, and we’d be on our hands and knees clawing our way up the mountain with our Bible in our backpack. We’d get to the service soaking wet, drop our bags, and start preaching.”
The Philippines comprise more than 7,000 islands, and 88 languages and dialects are spoken there, so Mike saw a need to get to other areas that Rudy Trigo’s ministry wasn’t able to reach. In January 1983, Mike started his own ministry based out of Ozamiz City. His goal: find people who had never heard the Gospel.
“We are still looking for the places that haven’t been preached to, that haven’t been reached,” he said. “That will never change. We’ll do that until Jesus comes. We’ve gone to thousands of villages over the last 30 years. Everything we do is based on the foundation of winning souls.”
Mike estimates that during his time in the Philippines he has seen half a million salvations—a number he says is “conservative.” Of course, when miracles and healings are taking place during the services, salvations are likely to follow.
Miracles in Abundance
During one crusade, a man showed up with his dead baby boy. He had just left the hospital where they had told him there was nothing they could do for his son. The doctor informed him of a crusade taking place in a local park and suggested that maybe he should take his son there.
When the man arrived, Mike and his team were already praying for the sick. Thousands were in attendance and thronging the altar. Unable to get through the crowd, the desperate father handed his son to the person in front of him and watched as one person after another passed the infant overhead all the way to the platform.
Mike grabbed the lifeless baby and prayed, and the child came back to life! Not knowing who the baby belonged to, Mike gave him back to the person who had handed the infant to him, and he watched as the live baby was passed over the heads of the crowd back to his father.
During that same crusade, Mike witnessed a creative miracle unlike any he had ever seen. On the fourth day of the seven-day crusade, Mike and his team were praying for the sick when a teenager crawled up to his feet. He had no bones from his waist down.
“His legs were like noodles,” Mike said. “He was wearing pants, but his legs were just dragging behind.”
Mike bent down and prayed for the teen. When he did, God spoke to him and said, “Tell him to come back tomorrow.” Mike told him to come back the next day. The boy said he would, then turned and dragged himself back through the crowd. When he came back the following day, Mike prayed for him again, and God spoke the same words.
“I told him to come back the next day, and without hesitation he said he would,” Mike said. “Then he crawled back through the people. They were laughing at him, spitting on him, and stepping on him.”
On the second-to-last day of the crusade, the teenager once again pulled himself up to Mike’s feet. When Mike prayed for him, he heard God speak those same words for the third day in a row. Not understanding but trying to be obedient, Mike told the boy to come back tomorrow for the final day of the crusade, and he said he would.
Mike was standing on the platform on the last day of the crusade when he saw the teen pulling himself through the field to get to the meeting. God spoke to him and said, “He crawled in here today, but he will walk out.”
Mike started praying for the sick, and before long the boy was on the ground in front of him. Mike bent down and prayed for him, “In the Name of Jesus, be healed.” God told Mike to pick the boy up, and when he did, his legs dangled below his body like wet noodles.
God told Mike to take the boy over to a handrail on the edge of the platform, put the boy’s hands on the rail, and let go. When he did, the boy fell to the ground, boneless legs curled beneath him with his hands still grasping the rail. Mike told members of his staff, “Pray with him! He is walking out of here today!”
Mike returned to pray for the thousands of others who had come forward, but a minute later he heard a lot of people screaming and praising God. He turned and saw the young boy still grasping the handrail, but this time he was standing!
A Lesson in Faith
“I’ve thought about what would have happened if he had quit after the first, second, or third day,” Mike said. “He would still be crawling around. To me, it was a great lesson in faith about what you have to be prepared to do until the manifestation comes. God could have healed him on the first day, but I think God wanted to let this boy develop his faith.”
If anyone would know about a great lesson in faith, it’s a man who left the United States with $20 in his pocket and a word from God. Mike believes if he hadn’t attended RBTC, he wouldn’t be able to do everything he’s doing now.
“The amount of help RHEMA gave me is beyond description,” he said. “Without that foundation, I don’t believe I would ever have been in a position to see any of this happen. If I had not been given such teaching on faith, I would never have had the strength to leave the U.S. with a one-way plane ticket. I consider RHEMA the platform that God used to train me to do the things that I’m doing.”
Mike’s son, Michael Keyes Jr., told his father he found true happiness only when he was ministering with his dad in crusades. In May, he completed his second-year studies at RHEMA Bible Training Center and walked across the same platform his father had 30 years earlier to receive his baton of revival to take to the world. When Mike Jr. boards a plane headed for the Philippines, someone will definitely be at the airport waiting with open arms to pick him up.
Prayer Requests
“We are believing for many more churches to invite me to come speak about who we are and what we do,” Mike said. “This is our primary source of ministry income. We are believing for a significant increase in monthly support, from individuals as well as churches or ministries. We are always believing God for the money to hold more crusades, update and upgrade our crusade sound systems and audio equipment, and acquire two vehicles to get us back and forth from these crusades.”
To learn more about Mike Keyes’ ministry, visit www.mkmi.org.