Reinhard Bonnke

How did you feel the first day a dead man was raised through you and how many so far?

I have seen, by way of certificate let me say, by way of certificate, whereas a baby had died in her mother’s womb. The doctor said tomorrow, they have to remove the dead baby from the womb. The lady had the admission to the hospital and I prayed and suddenly she started to scream and came forward. She was there with an enormous womb running forward, crying, holding her womb and crying, my baby, my baby and my baby. I said what’s wrong with your baby? When she was on the platform, then she said this is my admission to the hospital tomorrow morning for the baby to be removed. She said ‘when you called out in the name of Jesus, my baby leapt in my womb’ and the Holy Spirit spoke to me and I said, ‘ lady, you better rush home. Your baby will be born tonight.’ And God is my witness and my brothers are my witnesses too. When she walked from the platform, the first step on her way down and there the labour pain started.

She gave birth to a beautiful, bouncing baby boy. And that night when I drove home, in my car I preached to myself, I said Bonnke, today you’ve learnt a new lesson. Jesus can raise a dead from the tomb. So praise God.

I have not seen often the dead raised. What we saw with Daniel Elechukwu of Onitsha, I had never seen before myself, with my own eyes. That was the first time coming out the coffin after three days in the mortuary. ‘Rigours mortis’ set in. He was like a piece of iron. He will be with us at Ogbomosho to tell his own story. It is an awesome miracle. It’s been in the whole world. It’s been in the television around the world and everywhere in Europe, people talk about it. There was an investigative television team from South Africa, I was told they pulled up the entire secular world to expose all as an expected cookery. They have been there. So they said. That they followed up this so-called miracle. They found that it is factual but they said it’s left for you ladies and gentlemen if you want to believe.

I read it because I wanted to wash my mind and my heart of the dust particles that have gathered in the dirty world. When we read words of God it washes out all these things. So, salvation is a gift just as baptism of the Holy Spirit is a gift. Salvation is also a gift but when it comes to sanctification, I have to yield and submit to the Word of God. I have to say no when temptations come. It is all a matter of choice.

But you know facts are stubborn. They just won’t go away because some people wish them to go away. If people say it’s not true, at the end of the day, Daniel Elechukwu is still alive. There are still thousands of witnesses, there still the doctor who issued the death certificate, there is till the mortician who embalmed him and who as a result of that miracle, his family got saved and they are wonderful Christians today. It’s a fact. So, we can only say all things are possible with God. I believe we are going to see greater miracles.

How are you handling logistics so that the disaster that occurred in your last outing here will not repeat itself in this Ogbomoso.

Oh! Yes this is very important. I mean here is Rev. John Daku. He is the key man in the crusade and I don’t want anybody to get hurt. We are looking for open fields. You know, we buy up the harvests of the farmers. We don’t want to be closed in anymore by any wall because the more wall you have, the more accident can happen, so if we have an open field, we buy up the farmers’ harvest and they will give us their fields, we reap the eternal fruits and when the crusade is over they can plant again. So, they have the benefit of a double income. We just have an open field where nobody can get hurt. For me to know that anyone is hurt is as result of the crusade will be unbearable.

When are you going back to the North for a crusade? We learn that some people wanted to assassinate you in your last crusade. Is it really true?

No. I can’t be everywhere. The unfortunate happening in Kano, I came into crossfire of religious, ethnic crisis. With hindsight. I think it is safe to say this because such conflicts were there before and have been there since. So, this was one of them and I came into crossfire of such conflict, hundreds of people died, we escaped by the breath of the air and were saved. I will not go back to Kano because I don’t want to provoke anything. I am one of God’s servants among millions, if I can’t go, He will send others. There are a million places where I can go and the rest I leave to God. And I pray the Lord may continue to bless this great nation.

…This interview conducted at the Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Lagos was published in TheNEWS hard copy of 18 November 2002. The interview team comprised ADEMOLA ADEGBAMIGBE, Editor, RICHARD ELESHO and ERNEST OMOARELOJIE,