Preview - Ikot Ekpene

Nigeria
Nigeria, the “African giant”, as this country is often called, is 2.5 times the size of Germany, twice the size of France and, according to the latest estimates, has a population of more than 150 million. That makes it by far the most densely populated country on the African continent. Owing to its geographical position, the country has a tropical climate with only two seasons – the rainy season during the six months of summer and the dry season during the winter. Nigeria has a large number of different cultures and ethnic groups, which have been unified since the colonial period; there are more than 250 different ethnic groups with various languages.

Ikot Ekpene
Ikot Ekpene is a historical, regional trade centre with well over 250,000 inhabitants. It is the largest town in the federal state of Akwa Ibom, which is known for its oil wealth. For example, the Nigerian headquarters of the oil company Exxon Mobil is located here. In south-eastern Nigeria a range of mineral resources are mined, e.g. salt, nitrate, limestone and natural gas.
Most of the people belong to the Annang tribe from the sultry coastal area of south-eastern Nigeria but there are also a large number of traders and merchants from other peoples. Trade is in agricultural produce such as palm oil, palm wine, nuts, maize, yams, etc. The town has a long tradition of processing palm fibre (raffia) to make clothes, shoes, hats, handbags, mats and even items of furniture and is widely known for basket-weaving and carving.

There is a long history of conflict and fighting in Ikot Ekpene: at the time of colonisation the Annang fought against the British troops and there are today still conflicts over oil mining. In the Biafra conflict this town was also greatly contested because of its strategic position and was overrun several times by the civil war parties. The federal state of Akwa Ibom is three times as densely populated as Germany, It is worthwhile casting out the nets and proclaiming the gospel of peace in that region. We feel sure that God has prepared a mighty harvest there.

As you can see, in the season ahead we are expecting a might harvest of souls – several million people – for Jesus, the “Lord of the harvest” (Matthew 9:38; Luke 10:2). That is utterly impossible by human means! We know that we have to rely totally on the Lord. On his behalf we want to plunder hell and populate heaven!

Arrival - Tuesday, 4 November 2008

Dear Mission-Partners,

Today we arrived in IKOT EKPENNE, Akwa Ibom State/Nigeria. The Governor received us in the Council Chamber of the State together with his cabinet and gave us a very hearty welcome. “For this week I am handing our State over to you, Rev. Bonnke. Do what God has told you to do. We thank God you came and welcome you”, he said. Again the streets were lined with people rejoicing and shouting praises to the Lord. We rejoice with them, together with you.

What an honor to be an ambassador for Christ. We will continue to preach the Gospel with all that is within us. Jesus has given us power over all the tricks of the enemy. Our task is not mere demon hunting, miracle mongering and playing games. The church is not a show business. Demons must indeed be cast out and miracles do take place, but as Kingdom people we challenge the world’s forces of unbelief and godlessness, darkness and wickedness. We, mere mortals, make up God’s squads of troops, his men at arms, his answer, his Kingdom ambassadors, crying, “Be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Please pray for us. We are in an area in Nigeria which is known for kidnapping and extortion. Police and army have been beefed up for our safety - but we rely on the angel of the Lord who camps around those who fear the Lord.

Tomorrow will be the first day of the crusade! Thank you for your love and support. Your sacrificial giving is making this harvest possible.

Yours for Africa to be saved,

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

Pictures by Oleksandr Volyk: In the State Council Chamber of Uyo, the State Capital, and some of the welcome crowd along the road in Ikot Ekpene.

Day 1 - Wednesday, 5 November 2008

Dear Mission-Partners,

The first crusade-meeting today drew 125,000 people – and it was an excellent start. I preached my heart out – and the Lord gave a mighty harvest of souls, as well as glorious healing-miracles….like the 12 year old boy who couldn’t speak from birth. When he repeated every word loud and clear, the crowd went wild (please see picture). What a mighty God we serve. Tonight was a night of truly great deliverance from sin and Satan. Salvation flowed like a river when repentant souls called on the name of the Lord Jesus. It touched us deeply.

When God forgives sin, He forgives the madness of trying to do without Him. He saves us from ourselves, our suicidal, lemur-like independence. It is also a personal affront to Him. Sin is rebellion. It was summed up by the mob when Pilate offered Christ to the crowd. They screamed ‘We will not have this man to rule over us’. It was spiritual UDI, a Unilateral Declaration of Independence. We were never designed to carry on solo. Our nature was not designed that way, but that we should ‘live and move and have our being’ in God who made us. Without Him we cut ourselves off from the source of our existence. The acceptance of the Gospel changes all that, and that happened tonight a hundred thousand times!

Tomorrow morning the Fire Conference starts and the evening meeting will be another mighty highlight in Akwa Ibom State here in Nigeria. Please keep praying for all of us over here.

Yours for Africa to be saved,

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

Pictures by Oleksandr Volyk: Tonight’s attentive crowd, and the dumb-born boy who received perfect speech.

Day 2 - Thursday, 6 November 2008

Dear Mission-Partners,

This is day number two here in Ikot Ekpene/Nigeria, but we drove to the crusade-ground while it was raining. Still the crowd reached 140,000 people in eager anticipation of the preached and demonstrated Gospel. They were not disappointed. Daniel Kolenda ministered tonight with great authority and brought in another wonderful harvest of souls. Many miracles of healing followed simply because Jesus is forever the same.

This morning the Fire Conference commenced. We teach and preach for God’s men and women to understand and receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit in connection with the Great Commission. The Holy Spirit is not an extra. Nor is the Spirit an occasional presence, nor even an item in the creed. He is the all-essential, and only intended means by which the Church can live or move or be what it is supposed to be. Many will agree with that statement but then relegate the Holy Spirit to a mystical area moving unperceived, neither felt nor shown. Yet, if we want the Holy Spirit He must be the Holy Spirit described in the Bible: the wind of heaven, the tongues of fire, God in manifestation. There is no other kind of Holy Spirit. These Fire Conferences often have a greater impact than the actual crusades, because they compound the multiples and develop extended explosive thrusts in the harvest of souls.

Yours for a lost world to be saved,

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

Pictures by Oleksandr Volyk: Tonight’s crowd and Daniel Kolenda in action.

Day 3 - Friday, 7 November 2008

Dear Mission-Partners,

Although it was a very rainy day today (I’ve never seen such horrendous downpours), in the evening the crowd jumped to 250,000. The Word of God was powerfully and clearly proclaimed – with innumerable salvations. What an honor to preach to such a vast and open-hearted congregation. Next Jesus stepped in as the healer of the sick, releasing each time mighty salvoes of joy from the crowd. The blind saw and the cripples walked just as in the days of the New Testament.

Yes, the impossible happens when God is around. It is His hallmark. Creation itself began when He passed by. Job speaks of the universe as ‘but the outer fringe of His works’, or ‘the skirts of His ways’ like a track left by walking on the wet grass. So it was with Jesus. You could tell when He had passed through a Jewish village. There were no sick people left! Where He is there’s no problem about walking the waves, raising the dead, or feeding five thousand with a boy’s packed lunch. It just happens. The elements bend to His will. ‘He makes ALL THINGS work together for good to them that love the Lord.’ One thing is undeniable: Tonight Jesus was in the crowd, hallelujah!

Tomorrow the Fire Conference comes to a climax. The Holy Spirit will fall! We are rejoicing! Please pray for dry weather – and also for the finance still urgently needed for the next Gospel Crusade, which is to start the first week of next month. Our eyes are on Jesus, the Lord of the Harvest.

Yours as God’s reapers,

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

Pictures by Oleksandr Volyk: Tonight’s crowd and miracle-picture.

Day 4 - Saturday, 8 November 2008

Dear Mission-Partners,

Today the crowd reached the mark of 300,000 people – so many! I wished you could have been here in person. It’s not really the number that thrills us so much, but what God is doing on such a great scale! It is mind-boggling. Again the Gospel was declared with authority. Tonight’s theme was RESTITUTION, a powerful and necessary truth. The Holy Spirit moved in and touched every heart. You know, the message is not measured by the messenger. Its wisdom is not the wisdom of the person who brings it; it is the wisdom of God. We may go about the task in fear and trembling like Paul in Corinth but the Word is a hammer that shatters the rock. Jesus quoted Psalm 8:2: “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise.” Whoever hears the Word of God and speaks it is a bastion of the truth. Moses was not convinced that the Israelites would listen to his word, let alone do what he said, but in the end even the mighty Red Sea reacted to his voice and the waters fled when he spoke with God’s authority. The Gospel has the same word-quality, glory to God.

The final meeting of the Fire Conference was also a great breakthrough. The Holy Spirit fell with power. Thank you for all your prayers and all help. THIS HARVEST MUST AND WILL CONTINUE – in the name of Jesus.

Yours as God’s reapers,

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

Pictures by Oleksandr Volyk.

Day 5 - Sunday, 9 November 2008

Dear Mission-Partners,

We have just returned to the hotel from the last meeting of this glorious Gospel Crusade in Ikot Ekpene/Nigeria. Tonight 400,000 people attended the service. Although it rained in the meeting, Evangelist Kolenda again preached the Word of God with powerful results. The older I get the greater the wonder and blessings of our salvation become to me. When Jesus told Mary and Joseph, “I must be about my Father’s business” (Lk 2:49 NKJV), he was talking about the business of salvation. It was the Father’s business for the Son to be born and for salvation to be his immediate and direct business. He came to earth to be our Savior. He was the Word that spoke at Creation, but for salvation the Word came personally to us. His coming was life-long, a sustained sacrifice climaxing in the most horrible death. That was love in its most ultimate form. This Jesus is among us by the Holy Spirit.

Also: tonight great multitudes were baptized into the Holy Spirit and with fire – and many miracles of healing followed. It is salvation for the whole man, spirit, soul and body, spiritually, physically and mentally. Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and contribution which made this crusade possible. And may I be so bold to remind you that we still need the finance for the next crusade which is to start in about 2 weeks time? Thank you for your commitment and love for the harvest of eternal souls.

Yours forever in Jesus Christ,

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

Pictures by Oleksandr Volyk: Tonight’s crowd.