GREAT JOY IN THE CITY!!

We're finally here! It took four hours by car for us to travel from Yola (where we were last night) to Mubi (where the crusade will start tomorrow). It was a long drive down broken, dusty roads through miles of forgotten desert wilderness with the occasional small village of mud huts and thatched roofs. The vegetation and land formations seem foreign, like a distant planet out of a sci-fi film. This is certainly one of the far corners of the earth.

About 70 Kilometers outside the city the crowds had already begun to gather in the streets to welcome us. By the time we reached Mubi the throng of people was a truly spectacular sight. I thought of Acts 8:8 "...there was great joy in that city."
Click on the picture to enlarge

As you can see from the above picture (notice the huge mosque on the right), we are now deep within a land of varied religious persuasions. But we have not come to present one alternative among many. We will not water down the message to pacify anyone. We are here with an ultimatum and a proclamation: "Jesus Christ is Lord!"

Tonight Evangelist Bonnke and I ministered to the pastors of the various committees that have helped to organize this event, and it is obvious that we are going to have a mighty harvest here in Mubi.

Below I have posted Evangelist Bonnke's report from today as well. Enjoy...

Dear Mission-Partners,

What a welcome to Mubi/Adamawa State, Nigeria. IT WAS OUR HOSANNA-DAY! Multitudes upon multitudes welcomed us, lining the roads. We traveled from Yola by road. It was a drive of four hours through a dry and thirsty land. Dust everywhere. About 70 miles before Mubi people began to line the road, shouting “Bonnke! Kolenda!” Have a look at the attached picture. It was overwhelming!

The State Governor had welcomed us in the State Council Chambers at Yola, and now the Emir of Mubi embraced us with the words that they had waited for our coming for a long time. All is set for tomorrow, the first crusade-meeting. We don’t need to warm up, we are hot already.

Mubi is bordering on Cameroon and we expect huge numbers of people. The Gospel will be preached and Jesus will triumph in this highly remote part of the country! Please pray for us – and a very special thank you to those who have helped us to make this Gospel Crusade happen.

Evangelists Reinhard Bonnke and Daniel Kolenda,
together with the whole CfaN Team.

Pictures by O. Volyk: The Hosanna-Crowd in Mubi

MULTITUDES

A friend of mine is visiting from Israel where many people go to get a sense of what it was like in Biblical times. That may be effective if you want to see geography, but if you want to know what the ministry in Jesus day must have been like, come to Mubi!

This afternoon, a group of us decided to go to the crusade ground after lunch (around 2:00 pm). What we saw was very touching and incredible. More then 50,000 people were on the grounds. Many were standing or sitting on the ground, waiting for the evening service, unwilling to give up their good spot. Others had built shelters where they were living throughout the week. It's hard for a western mind to imagine such hunger and tenacity. It made me think of Jesus ministering on the hillsides to the multitudes of people that stayed with him...sometimes for days.

An entire village had been constructed around the periphery of the gigantic venue. Shops, restaurants, a hospital and housing make up this huge marketplace where you can literally buy anything from crafts to underwear. It was truly incredible. (I will try to get pictures of this to post tomorrow.)

The scope of this event is so vast that it is almost as if a city has been built here just for the week. People will be born and people will die right here on the crusade ground this week. Many languages, people groups, cultures and religions are represented. I don't know what it can be compared to anywhere else in the world.


The Crusade tonight was awesome. The crowd grew to 425,000 and this is only the second night! After the prayer for salvation, there were many fascinating miracles and powerful testimonies. One man whose little boy had been healed brought an offering of thanksgiving...a live chicken! We will probably eat him before the week is over.


One man testified of being healed from blindness last year at our crusade in Yola. He announced to the people that he was a Muslim before Jesus healed him, but now he is a Christian and the crowd erupted in cheers. It is certainly not going to be popular to be anything else by the end of the week.

The mother in the picture below touched my heart so much. She brought her little daughter to the meeting praying that Jesus would heal her. During the prayer for the sick the mother put the little girl on her shoulders, covered her eyes and told her, "Look up to Jesus." After the prayer she put the girl down and to her amazement she started to run around able to see. The whole time the mother was telling the story, the little girl was touching my hand and touching my shirt and touching the microphone...everything was brand new. Then I began to test the girls eyes and when the mother saw how well her daughter could see, the tears began to gush out of her eyes and down her cheeks. I really believe that it was through the faith of the mother that the little girl was healed.



One lady brought her mother who was paralyzed. The woman could walk and run and even jump...she was SO healed! You can see in the picture below, the daughter was overwhelmed, weeping for joy. She told me, "My mother has suffered for so long, but now Jesus has healed her".




Again...many blind eyes were opened and many cripples walked, along with an assortment of all types of sicknesses and diseases. Jesus is certainly alive and well in Mubi, Nigeria.

I have posted Evangelist Bonnke's full report from tonight's meeting below.



(Written by Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke)

Dear Mission-Partners,

Today, the second day of the Mubi-Crusade saw an increase in attendance from 350,000 to 425,000 people. Evangelist Daniel Kolenda ministered tonight. It was pure and powerful Gospel and a great number of people received Jesus as their Savior.

This afternoon we were on the gigantic Former Army Shooting Range field, our crusade-venue, and were overwhelmed: around 50,000 people were camping out there in the dust... waiting for the evening service. This is the way it must have been in Israel during the days of Jesus when the crowds followed him, except that the crowds here are much bigger. Yet the same Jesus was also here tonight and again a flood of miracles followed the prayer for the sick: A mother came with her blind child. In tears she told the story of how she had put the child on her shoulders during the prayer for the sick and said, “Look up to Jesus”. She laid her hands on the baby and instantly the child’s eyes were opened! (See attached picture). Once again many other blind people received their sight and many cripples walked. A paralytic testified to total healing and a woman with a swollen belly said that during the prayer she watched as the belly shrank to normal size right before her eyes!

This morning the people gathered already at 5 AM for the Fire Conference and Peter van den Berg and I preached. We want God’s people to swim in God’s river of living water! God never supplies anything lifeless. In the Bible, water is living water, fire is living fire, bread is living bread and joy is living joy - living happiness. God does not operate a production line. He is involved in a perpetual action of newness, renewing, creating every moment, just as every moment the sun generates new light and heat. He is our Sun, our burning light, filling all our horizons with His glorious light and strength. He shines in Mubi-Land!
The momentum here is increasing wonderfully. Please continue to pray for us. We love you and pray for you too.

Yours together in the Harvest with the whole CfaN Team,
Evangelists Daniel Kolenda and Reinhard Bonnke.

Pictures by O. Volyk

OVER HALF A MILLION IN THE FINAL MEETING

I am sitting in Frankfurt, Germany now on my way home. As I reflect on the events of the past week, there is only one word that comes to mind..."MIRACULOUS". It started with the way the funds came in supernaturally just before the crusade was cancelled. And then throughout the week, it was one miracle after another. I have so many things that I still want to post about this trip, and I will be doing that for the next couple of days. Below is the report from the final meeting

BY EVANGELIST REINHARD BONNKE

Dear Mission-Partners,

One should call it THE MUBI-MIRACLE! It is beyond description. Tonight’s meeting was attended by 500,000 people – and that in North Nigeria! I can’t stop looking at these wonderful faces. The Holy Spirit brought us here. HE made us to seek the lost, look for the overlooked, and as we found them, in turn, they were found by JESUS. The total attendance over the 5 days of Gospel-Crusade here stands at 2,445,000 people.

We call it the Mubi-Miracle because it happened against all odds: First we were on the point of cancellation, due to lack of finance, when the Lord made “a way in the mighty waters”. Second it is the most unlikely of all places in Nigeria to have seen such a glorious heaven quake! Tonight’s miracles were no exception, as you see the from the pictures: Tonight's miracles were no exception. One man who was blind in both eyes for 23 years instantly received his sight. A woman, deaf for 30 years received perfect hearing. A lame woman jumped and ran and stomped on the platform and all the people rejoiced. These are only a few of the miracle testimonies we heard from the almost unending line of those who had come forward to testify.



A big thank you to all of you who stood and stand with us. We cannot recline or retire. In a few weeks our “wheels of fire” will take us back to another such place, this time the town of Bali in Tabara State, Nigeria. Please continue to stand with us and pray for us.

Yours together in the Harvest with the whole CfaN Team,
your TWO Evangelists Daniel Kolenda and Reinhard Bonnke.

Pictures by O. Volyk

TORRENTS OF HEALING WATERS!

(REPORT BY EVANGELIST REINHARD BONNKE)

Dear Mission-Partners,

This morning began with the Fire Conference in Mubi-Town. 65,000 church-workers attended – have a look at the attached awesome photograph!

Their hearts were as parched as the landscape around them, but the God who answers by fire did it again. Yes, the fire of the Holy Spirit really fell mightily.This Holy Spirit Baptism-experience is not for glory-fits on the carpet, but equipment for the task of the Gospel, to give it substance and reality.

And then the evening-meeting started with 630,000 people in attendance (A picture of a portion of the crowd is attached). The Gospel rang out as clear as a bell - and with glorious results. Daniel Kolenda was preaching. The messenger was marked by the message. The Word was “Thus says the Lord” and not “I am telling you...” Such Word penetrates and affects us, stops us in our tracks, spins us around, and gets us going for God, for ever. How much we wished you could have personally witnessed it.


All throughout the sermon the crowd was spontaneously erupting as miracles were taking place - without anyone praying! Innumerable sufferers received healing and deliverance. The line of those waiting to testify was almost unending. It’s as if torrents of healing waters rushed through the massive gathering.

- One young lady was crippled for 20 years. During the prayer for the sick, she fell on the ground and said that a man surrounded by light wearing a white garment came to her and said, "What do you want?" She said, "I want to be healed". When she awoke she discovered that she had full use of her legs...she could even run! (have a look at the attached picture).


- One little muslim boy who had crawled on the ground all of his life, stood upright for the first time tonight!

- A young girl's right foot was crippled. For four years she had walked on the side of her foot that was permanently twisted beneath her. I could see the thick callouses on the side of her foot. During the prayer she said that she fell to the ground. She heard a cracking sound and saw how her foot straightened. Jesus healed her!

Tomorrow, Sunday night, is already the last meeting of the crusade in Mubi – North Nigeria. Please keep praying for us. We need it so much.

Yours together in the Harvest with the whole CfaN Team,
Evangelists Daniel Kolenda and Reinhard Bonnke.







Pictures by O. Volyk:

On the Move...North

We just arrived in Abuja, Nigeria last night after a wonderful weekend of meetings in Birmingham, England. To give an idea of where we are, our hotel is right next to the enormous and spectacular "National Mosque" (pictured above) and today we plunge even further north to Yola and then on to Mubi where the crusade will begin starting on Wednesday. I am still basking in the wake of the last crusade just a couple of weeks ago in Isokoland. The final decision card count from that crusade was 803,563 over 5 days of meetings! Praise the Lord! I am expecting another gigantic harvest this week in Mubi. Keep praying for us. More to come...

THE MOMENTUM IS BUILDING

REPORT WRITTEN BY EVANGELIST REINHARD BONNKE

Dear Mission-Partners,

The third day of the Gospel Crusade in Mubi has passed. The momentum is growing fast, because tonight 540,000 people attended the service. The message we preach? JESUS SAVES! What does it mean? A full definition is impossible. It covers all life and isn’t just insurance from hellfire and a passport to glory. ‘Jesus saves’ are perhaps the world’s most comprehensive two words needing all sixty-six Bible books to explain. It is simple but has awesome depths, like all God’s ideas, and inspires new explanations and applications every day. Multitudes responded and received! Oh, what a wonderful Savior.

And then came another deluge of healing miracles followed by powerful testimonies. Look at the incredible pictures attached: One lady, blind for three years, smiled ear to ear as she demonstrated her healing to the delight of the crowd. A young lady who was BLIND AND DEAF FOR 23 YEARS received her sight and hearing! 12 women came up at once testifying that they were healed of bareness one year ago at our Yola crusade...they brought the evidence of their healing; 12 beautiful bouncing babies!






The weekend is before us and we anticipate a glorious Holy Spirit crescendo. Thank you for standing with us and praying for us. The Lord will be your great rewarded.

Yours together in the Harvest with the whole CfaN Team,
Evangelists Daniel Kolenda and Reinhard Bonnke.

HOLY CHAOS!

The “Hamatan” is a northerly wind that blows dust from the Sahara desert into Nigeria at certain times during the dry season. When it blows in, it obscures visibility, the sun looks like the moon, and everything on the ground is covered with a very fine, rust colored powder, similar to a woman’s cosmetic pressed powder.
We see it often here, but never before like this. Today it looked as if a thick fog had settled over the region impairing visibility and blocking out the sun. The last crusade a couple of weeks ago was in a swamp. Now we are in the desert under a cloud of dust. But nothing can stop the people. Their hunger is a force to be reckoned with, and they will not take no for an answer. I see in them the tenacity of the woman with the issue of blood…pressing in to apprehend the miraculous by faith!

Tonight we got the call to come to the crusade ground early: a good sign of a large crowd. We arrived on the gigantic field to find 350,000 people waiting to hear the Gospel!!! This is only the first night of the crusade, but already it is almost as large as the final night of the last one!

Evangelist Bonnke preached on the Blood of Jesus and broke curses of the region. As he was preaching demons were coming out, and then, after the prayer for the sick, the miraculous broke out like a pent up river. Across that huge field, like popcorn, sections of the crowd were erupting in jubilation as another cripple walked, another deaf mute heard and spoke, another blind man or woman could see.

At the foot of the stage hundreds of people pressed in, like sheep in a crowded pen, to give their testimonies of healing. Our workers were testing those who had been healed. It looked like Wall Street. One man would shout over the crowd, “Blind 10 years…two eyes!” as he held up two fingers; another would shout out the miracle he had just confirmed and another…it was a holy chaos! So many blind people were healed tonight. At one point a crowd of previously blind people all gathered around Evangelist Bonnke to testify (see picture below)


I have pasted Evangelist Bonnke’s report from tonight below as well. More to come tomorrow!


Dear Mission-Partners,

The first meeting of the Gospel Crusade in Mubi just finished and we returned to the Lodge. It was a glorious start. 350,000 people attended tonight! Have a look at the awesome picture. The Word of God and His presence penetrated each and everyone with multitudes repenting of their sins and receiving Jesus Christ as their Savior. The field is the biggest we have ever had. It could hold 5 million people, which possibly is way above the population in this rural area. Nevertheless we want to harvest every soul available for Jesus. Miracles happened non-stop! So many blind received their sight. See the picture of the Muslim gentleman with the yellow hat. He was 8 years totally blind, but Jesus healed him!

It moves our hearts to see the mass of people that have arrived under their own steam from the surrounding towns and villages and now camp on the dusty field until the end of the last service on Sunday. Jesus loves each and every one of them. We read that the Lord had a special eye for the unwanted, like Zacchaeus, the Samaritan woman, the Roman soldier, and the blind beggars. He knew the best of them … and the worst. He saw the fears, felt the despair and recognized the courage of little people. He was the supreme champion of the needy, the Saviour of their souls and the healer of their sick bodies. How similar the situation is today. JESUS IS THE SAME TODAY. His ministry continues through us His servants.

Thank you for praying for us. We are very grateful indeed. We cannot do this work without you. Don’t forget to open the attached pictures please – you will be greatly blessed.

Yours together in Harvest with the whole CfaN Team
Evangelists Reinhard Bonnke and Daniel Kolenda.

Pictures by O. Volyk:

425,000 attend the final meeting - Isoko, Nigeria Crusade

Dear Mission-Partners,

Tonight was the climax of the Gospel Crusade here in Isokoland, Nigeria and what a glorious finale it was. The crowd was teaming with 425,000 people hungry to hear the Word of God! After the prayer for salvation we prayed for the crowd to receive the Baptism into the Holy Spirit and the Fire fell. As the deafening sound of the crowd speaking in tongues rose to heaven, I could hear the words of the prophet Joel resonating in my spirit, “In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit upon ALL FLESH.” What a glorious time we live in. These are the days that “many prophets and righteous men longed to see…”

After the prayer for the sick, the miracles began:

- A 35-year-old man deaf and dumb from birth could suddenly hear and pronounce words with astounding clarity (see the attached picture).

- Another man, 32 years old was born crippled. All of his life he had crawled from place to place on his hands and knees which were visibly calloused and as worn as an old shoe. Tonight the power of God came upon him and he walked for the first time in his life!

- Several epileptics were also healed along with another deaf girl and many other various ailments and sicknesses. Jesus is so merciful.



Tomorrow we will all be heading home, but not for long. Our next crusade here begins in two weeks in the city of Mubi. Thank you so much for helping us to bring the Gospel to this remote village in the one of the world’s “uttermost parts”. Your every investment will return to you in eternal dividends. We are asking ourselves, as we always do, “what if we had not come?”

Yours forever in Jesus,
Evangelists Daniel Kolenda and Reinhard Bonnke,
together with the whole CfaN Team.

Pictures by Oleksandr Volyk

Waiting for the Rapture??

I heard a minister recently talking about the rapture and trying to make the point that every prophecy necessary to the return of Christ has already been fulfilled. One of his points was that the Gospel has already been preached in all the world according to the promise of Jesus in Matt 24:14 (And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.), “Now” he said, “We’re just waiting for Jesus to come back.”

If you are one of those standing in line waiting for the rapture like a ride at Disney World, consider these statistics on world evangelism that I have collected from a variety of sources. As you read these keep in mind that in the United States there is 1 ordained minister for every 200 people. Yet…

- For every million unreached Muslims there are less than 3 missionaries.

- In Afghanistan there are 17 million people, 48,000 mosques…but not a single church.

- In Turkey there are 44 million people, but less then 200 Christians

- In India alone 500 million people have yet to hear the Gospel

- 30% of the world’s population (more than 2 billion people) have had virtually no exposure to the Gospel.

- The New Testament has been translated into the mother tongue of over 80% of the world’s population. However the remaining approximately 20% will require over 5,500 new translations.

Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19). The word, “Nations” is “Ethne” in the Greek meaning ethnic people groups. Yet…

- There are an estimated 6,700 unreached or nearly unreached people groups.

- The countries with the most unreached people groups in descending order; India, China, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh.

- 98% of all unreached people groups are located in the “10/40 Window”.

THE GREAT COMMISSION IS STILL UNFULFILLED! Oswald Smith said, “We talk of the Second Coming; but half the world has never heard of the first.” Regardless if you are “pre-trib”, “post-trib”, “mid-trib” or some other “trib”, we must all confess that there is something desperately wrong with this type of doctrinal philosophy that makes us happy to escape with our own hides while the world burns and billions of people are lost. Where is the heart of Jesus in that? “…that none would perish, but that all would come to repentance.”

Here’s some food for thought; Jesus died more then 2,000 years ago. If it was God’s ultimate goal to rapture us all out of this “old god-forsaken world”, then why are we still here? What are we still waiting for? One person told me, “Jesus is building my mansion in heaven.” Really? It took him 6 days to create the entire cosmos, yet he’s been hung up with your “mansion” for 2,000 years? Not likely.

Heb. 10:12, 13 says, “but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET.” Since we are his hands and feet, then He must be waiting for…us. If He is waiting for us, and we are waiting for him, it would seem we are at an impasse. This is why Jesus told his disciples, “GO” into all the world and preach the Gospel. No more waiting and debating…just Go and PREACH.

“In the vast plain to the north I have sometimes seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been” -- Robert Moffat


Above picture: Christ for all Nations Crusade in Mubi, Nigeria - February 2009 - Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke preaching. To see the full reports from these meetings CLICK HERE

~ By Daniel Kolenda (www.danielkolenda.com)