RIVERS OF LIVING WATER (PART 1)
READ ERLO STEGEN'S BOOK, 'REVIVAL AMONG THE ZULUS' FROM COVER TO COVER,
IF YOU WANT REVIVAL:
IF YOU WANT REVIVAL:
HERE ARE A FEW EXTRACTS FROM HIS BOOK AS A BACKGROUND TO UNDERSTAND RIVERS OF LIVING WATER FLOWING:
2 TIM 3:1: This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2: For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3: Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4: Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5: Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
JOHN 14:12: 12: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father
JOHN 16:24: Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full
JOHN 4:13: Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
14: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
… THE BIBLE TEACHES US, 15: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
WHEN THE LORD JESUS LIVED IN THIS WORLD, IT WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING. HIS WORK DIDN’T END WITH HIS DEATH. JESUS ACTUALLY SAID TO HIS DISCIPLES, LUKE 12:49-50: 49: I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? (NIV: HOW I WISH IT WERE ALREADY KINDLED.)
50: But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! THAT WAS NO BAPTISM WITH WATER, THAT WAS THE BAPTISM OF HIS AGONY AND DEATH ON THE CROSS. THE LORD JESUS COULDN’T KINDLE THE FIRE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT BEFORE HE HAD FOUGHT THE BATTLE IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. THERE HIS SWEAT BECAME LIKE GREAT DROPS OF BLOOD FALLING TO THE GROUND. AFTER HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS, HIS RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD AND HIS ASCENSION INTO HEAVEN, HE COULD AT LAST ACCOMPLISH WHAT HE HAD COME FOR. NOW HE COULD CONTINUE HIS WORK IN THE FULLNESS OF HIS POWER, SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER. AT LAST THE MOMENT HAD COME TO KINDLE A FIRE.
IN ACTS WE CAN SEE THE LORD WORKING IN HIS RESURRECTION POWER, HIS OMNIPOTENCE, THROUGH HIS DISCIPLES. THE PEOPLE OF THAT TIME SAID: ‘THESE MEN ARE DRUNK.’ OTHERS MOCKED THEM OR WERE APPALLED, BUT PETER SAID IN ANSWER TO THEM, ACTS 2: ..Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16: But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy…
JOHN THE BAPTIST COULD SAY, Mt:3:11: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire…
THE LORD JESUS TALKS ABOUT A DISTINCT CHARACTERISTIC WHICH RESULTS WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES UPON A PERSON. HE SHALL RECEIVE THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT! (ACTS 1:8). IF THERE MUST BE A SIGN, LET US ACCEPT THE SIGN OF WHICH THE LORD JESUS SPOKE. THE GREEK WORD FOR POWER IN THE NEW TESTAMENT IS ‘DYNAMIS.’ IT MAKES ME THINK OF DYNAMITE. DYNAMITE HAS POWER, AND YOU DON’T USE THAT KIND OF POWER ON SOFT SAND, YOU USE IT TO BLOW THE HARDEST ROCK TO PIECES. THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS FOR SITUATIONS WHERE THE GROUND IS AS HARD AS GRANITE. THAT’S WHERE THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MOST EFFECTIVE.
JESUS SAID TO HIS DISCIPLES, ‘YE SHALL RECEIVE POWER!’
JOHN EXPERIENCED THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT HE COULD WRITE (1 JOHN 3:6,8): WHOSOEVER ABIDETH IN HIM SINNETH NOT: WHOSOEVER SINNETH HATH NOT SEEN HIM, NEITHER KNOWN HIM. HE THAT COMMITETH SIN, IS OF THE DEVIL.’ THAT IS HOW WE RECOGNISE A BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN!
IN ACTS 4:31 WE READ OF THE EARLY CHURCH THAT, WHEN THEY HAD PRAYED, THE PLACE WAS SHAKEN. NO WONDER! WHEN THESE PEOPLE PRAYED, THINGS HAPPENED. SUCH A PRAYER COULD SHAKE THE WORLD.
WE THEN TOOK A CLOSER LOOK AT THESE PEOPLE, AND GOT THE IMPRESSION THAT JESUS WASN’T JUST THEIR HOBBY OR SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND - NO, JESUS WAS THEIR VERY LIFE! THEY LIVED FOR HIM EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK. WHETHER THEY WERE TOGETHER OR NOT, THEIR LIVES WERE THE SAME. EVERY DAY OF THEIR LIVES JESUS WAS THEIR ALL. SOME OF THEM SOLD THEIR POSSESSIONS, THEIR FIELDS, THEN BROUGHT EVERYTHING AND LAID IT AT THE APOSTLE’S FEET. JESUS MEANT MORE TO THEM THAN ANYTHING ELSE.
… THAT WAS WHAT THE EARLY CHURCH, THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, THE RISEN LORD, WAS LIKE.
. PETER HAD THE GREATEST PROFESSOR AND TEACHER, HE SAT AT THE FEET OF THE GREATEST MASTER. BUT, EVEN SO, HOW COULD A PERSON WHO HAD JUST BEEN FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT SAY, ‘LOOK AT US.’ DIDN’T HE KNOW THAT ONE HAD TO LOOK AT JESUS? WE THEN DELVED INTO THE WORD OF GOD AND FOUND 2 CORINTHIANS 3:3, WHERE IT IS WRITTEN, 3: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. AND VERSE 2: Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men.. WE COULD NOW UNDERSTAND PETER. THE HAND OF GOD WAS AT WORK IN THE APOSTLES’ LIVES. THE SPIRIT OF GOD DID SOMETHING TO THESE PEOPLE. THAT’S WHY THEY COULD DECLARE WITHOUT SHAME, ‘LOOK AT US.’ EVEN BEFORE PETER BEGAN HIS HEALING MINISTRY HE COULD PROCLAIM WITH AUTHORITY, ‘LOOK AT US!’
LET US HEAR PETER ONCE MORE: ‘SUCH AS I HAVE GIVE I THEE: IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH, RISE UP AND WALK!’
SUDDENLY, A YOUNG WOMAN OF THE ZULU CONGREGATION, WHO HAD BEEN CONVERTED JUST THREE MONTHS BEFORE, STOOD UP. TEARS WERE STREAMING DOWN HER FACE AS SHE SAID, ‘O MFUNDISI, PLEASE STOP.’ THIS YOUNG WOMAN INTERRUPTED ME IN THE MIDDLE OF A SENTENCE! ASTONISHED, I ASKED, ‘YES, WHAT’S WRONG?’ SHE REPLIED, ‘MAY I PRAY?’ I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT TO DO…
BUT THEN I LOOKED AT HER AND I THOUGHT, ‘WELL, SHE ISN’T DECEIVING US, SHE SEEMS TO BE SERIOUS.’ THUS I SAID, ‘ALL RIGHT, YOU MAY PRAY.’ THIS YOUNG WOMAN THEN PRAYED A SIMPLE PRAYER, ‘O LORD JESUS, WE HAVE HEARD WHAT THE EARLY CHURCH WAS LIKE. COULDN’T YOU COME DOWN AND BE IN OUR MIDST AS YOU CAME DOWN TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO? COULDN’T OUR CHURCH BE THE SAME AS THE ONE IN JERUSALEM?’
AT THIS MOMENT MY HEART BEGAN TO BURN WITHIN ME. I THOUGHT OF THE TWO DISCIPLES ON THEIR WAY TO EMMAUS, WHEN THEY WERE JOINED BY A THIRD, UNKNOWN MAN WHO WALKED WITH THEM AND SPOKE TO THEM. THEIR EYES WERE OPENED AFTER HE HAD BROKEN BREAD WITH THEM AND THE ONE SAID TO THE OTHER, ‘DID NOT OUR HEART BURN WITHIN US, WHILE HE OPENED TO US THE SCRIPTURES?’ I THOUGHT, ‘IS THIS WHAT THEY FELT? O LORD, GRANT THAT YOUR CHILDREN AND YOUR CHURCH IN THE WORLD TODAY MAY BE LIKE THE EARLY CHURCH. CAN’T YOU DO IT ONCE AGAIN? REVIVE YOUR WORK, O GOD. CAN’T THE CHRISTIANS TODAY BE LIKE THE FIRST CHRISTIANS AGAIN?’ WITH THAT, I CLOSED THE SERVICE.
WHEN I GOT HOME, I CALLED ON MY BROTHER, WHO LIVED IN THE VILLAGE WHERE WE HELD OUR SERVICES, AND SAID TO HIM, ‘YOU KNOW, A STRANGE THING HAPPENED TODAY. THE MEETING WAS SUDDENLY INTERRUPTED, NOT BY TERRORISTS, BUT BY A PRAYER. IF THAT PRAYER WAS INSPIRED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT - AND I DON’T DOUBT THAT IT WAS - THEN I BELIEVE THAT THE RISEN LORD, THE LIVING GOD, WILL AGAIN BE IN OUR MIDST AND THE CHURCH OF CHRIST WILL EXPERIENCE WHAT THE FIRST CHRISTIANS EXPERIENCED IN JERUSALEM.’ A WEEK AND A HALF LATER, GOD RENT THE HEAVENS AND CAME DOWN!
CONVICTION OF SIN IS THE BEGINNING OF A REVIVAL
ISA 64:1: Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
2: As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!
3: When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.
4: For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.
THIS IS TRULY A GENUINE PRAYER FOR REVIVAL. IN 1966, IN OUR SPIRITUALLY DESPERATE SITUATION, WE PRAYED, ‘O GOD, IF YOU WOULD ONLY REND THE HEAVENS.’
THE PROPHET IS SAYING: ‘LORD, WE AGREE WITH WHATEVER YOU DO, EVEN IF THE PRICE WE MUST PAY IS HIGH, AS LONG AS YOU COME DOWN AND REMAIN IN OUR MIDST.’ WHEN I SPEAK OF REVIVAL, I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT REVIVAL MEETINGS. I’M TALKING ABOUT WHEN GOD RENDS THE HEAVENS AND COMES DOWN INTO OUR MIDST, AND EVERY PERSON THERE IS CONSCIOUS OF THE PRESENCE OF THE LIVING GOD.
WE ASKED OURSELVES WHAT THE LIFE OF A PERSON WHO BELIEVES IN JESUS SHOULD BE LIKE. IN JOHN 7:38 JESUS SAYS, 38: He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. HE DOESN’T SAY A LITTLE STREAM OR RIVULET. JUST IMAGINE WHAT A RIVER CAN DO. EVEN A SMALL STREAM CAN BECOME A MIGHTY CURRENT WHEN HEAVY RAINFALL CAUSES IT TO OVERFLOW ITS BANKS. WITH THE WATER FROM A RIVER WE CAN TRANSFORM A DESERT INTO A GARDEN, IRRIGATE FIELDS OR PRODUCE ELECTRICITY. HERE JESUS ISN’T ONLY TALKING ABOUT ONE RIVER, BUT ABOUT RIVERS OF LIVING WATER. WHEN WE ASKED OURSELVES AT MAPUMULO, ‘ARE THERE SUCH RIVERS OF LIVING WATER FLOWING OUT OF OUR LIVES?’ WE HAD TO ANSWER, ‘NO!’
WHAT IS IT LIKE, WHEN RIVERS FLOW? IT ISN’T POSSIBLE TO STOP SUCH STREAMS OF WATER. ONE CAN BUILD A DAM, BUT AN IMMENSE AMOUNT OF WATER PRESSURE WILL BUILD UP AND EVENTUALLY THE BARRIER WILL CRACK IF THE DAM WALL ISN’T STRONG ENOUGH AND IT CANNOT FLOW OVER. WHEN A DAM BURSTS ONE CAN WITNESS THE VIOLENT FORCE OF SUCH CRUSHING TORRENTS OF WATER. SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING, THIS MEANS THAT THERE IS NOTHING IN THE WORLD THAT WILL STOP THE RIVERS OF LIVING WATER WHICH THE SPIRIT OF GOD CAN WORK IN OUR LIVES.
I REMEMBER ONE DAY, I ASKED THE LITTLE CONGREGATION, ‘WHO OF YOU BELIEVES IN JESUS CHRIST?’ … SO I SAID, ‘LOOK, WE HAVE TO FACE THINGS SQUARELY. JESUS SAYS IF WE BELIEVE IN HIM, AS THE SCRIPTURES SAY, THEN RIVERS OF LIVING WATER WILL FLOW OUT OF OUR LIVES. NOW LET ME ASK YOU A PERSONAL QUESTION: ARE THERE RIVERS OF LIVING WATER FLOWING OUT OF YOUR LIVES?
‘NO!’ THEY SAID.
‘DOES THAT MEAN THAT YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN JESUS?’
‘BUT WE ARE SURE THAT WE BELIEVE IN JESUS. WE HAVE ACCEPTED CHRIST, WE SURRENDERED OUR LIVES TO HIM. WE CAN’T DOUBT THAT,’ THEY REPLIED.
‘WELL, IF THAT’S THE WAY IT IS, THEN WE ARE EITHER DECEIVING OURSELVES, OR THE WORDS JESUS SAID AREN’T TRUE.’
WHAT WERE WE TO DO NOW? WE HAD DETERMINED THAT WE WOULD NO LONGER JUSTIFY OR EXCUSE OURSELVES. ALL DISCUSSIONS WERE POINTLESS. NO WE WERE AT A LOSS, WE HAD REACHED A DEADLOCK AND COULD FIND NO SOLUTION TO OUR PROBLEM. BUT SUDDENLY IT SEEMED TO ME AS IF THE LORD WERE SHOWING ME SOMETHING. I LOOKED AT THE VERSE ONCE MORE, WHERE JESUS SAYS, He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said… IN OTHER WORDS, MAYBE SCRIPTURE HAS SOMETHING SPECIFIC TO SAY ABOUT THE LIFE OF A BELIEVER, AND NOT ONLY THAT RIVERS OF LIVING WATER WILL FLOW OUT OF OUR LIVES.
SO WE GOT TOGETHER AGAIN AND TOOK THIS INTO CONSIDERATION. WE SAID TO OURSELVES, ‘LET’S SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES AND LET THE WORD SPEAK TO US. LET US NOT TWIST AND TURN WHAT WE READ, NOR TEAR IT APART, RATHER LET US SHED LIGHT ON IT FROM ALL SIDES. WE MUST DISREGARD OUR WAYS AND CUSTOMS, OUR CHURCH LAWS AND OUR PERSONAL RELIGIOUS OPINIONS, AND HEAR EXACTLY WHAT THE BIBLE HAS TO SAY. DO WE REALLY BELIEVE AS SCRIPTURE SAYS?’
THEN GOD BEGAN WORKING ON THE GREATEST SINNER IN THAT CONGREGATION. IT WAS THE PREACHER, IT WAS I!
… I HAD SPOKEN ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT HUNDREDS, MAYBE THOUSANDS OF TIMES, BUT I HAD NEVER REALISED WHAT THE HOLY IN THE HOLY SPIRIT REALLY MEANT. IN ALL THAT TIME THE HOLINESS OF GOD’S SPIRIT HAD NEVER BEEN REVEALED TO ME.
WHEN THE PROPHET STOOD BEFORE THE KING, HE SAID, ‘AS THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL LIVETH, BEFORE WHOM I STAND!’ … EVEN BEFORE A MIGHTY, WORLDLY KING, ELIJAH WAS CONSCIOUS OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
I COULDN’T CLAIM THAT MYSELF. I WAS SUBJECT TO THE OPINIONS OF MEN. I WASN’T CONCERNED WITH WHAT GOD WOULD SAY, BUT WITH WHAT THOSE PEOPLE THOUGHT OF ME. WHEN I STOOD BEFORE THE CONGREGATION, I STOOD BEFORE MEN AND NOT BEFORE GOD.
NO, ELIJAH WAS A MAN WHO COULD PRAY! THE EARLY CHURCH PRAYED, AND THE PLACE WAS SHAKEN.
THEN GOD REMINDED ME OF THE WORDS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL, GAL 1:10: For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
EX 20:2: I am the LORD thy God, …
3: Thou shalt have no other gods before mE…
I WEPT INCESSANTLY AND CRIED, ‘GOD BE MERCIFUL TO ME A SINNER.’ THAT WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE REVIVAL. GOD WAS PUTTING ME THROUGH HIS MILL,
‘LORD JESUS,’ I PRAYED, ‘YOU SAID, He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said… BUT I DON’T DO THAT. I AM NOT CRUCIFIED UNTO THE WORLD LIKE PAUL. ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD, I SHOULD BE DEAD UNTO THE WORLD AND UNTO SIN!’ IN TIMES OF REVIVAL THE WORD OF GOD COMES ALIVE. IT SMITES US AND PIERCES OUR HEARTS.
I COULD ONLY CRY OUT, ‘LORD, THERE IS ONLY ONE PERSON HINDERING YOUR WORK, AND THAT IS ME! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!’
ONE THING AFTER THE OTHER WAS REVEALED TO ME…
THEN GOD REPLIED TO MY HEART, ‘IF YOU WANT REVIVAL, IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN ACCORDING TO MY WORD, AND YOU MUST BELIEVE AS SCRIPTURE SAYS…. YOU WANTED TO HAVE ME IN YOUR MIDST. BUT WHEN I COME, I COME AS KING, AND I WILL HAVE THE LAST WORD…
TO LET HIM BE OUR LORD MEANS THAT OUR WAY OF LIVING CORRESPONDS WITH HIS WORD, THAT WE BELIEVE AS THE SCRIPTURE SAYS, AND THAT WE ARE OBEDIENT TO HIM.
ALTHOUGH I HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF IT, GOD WAS ALSO BUSY WORKING ON THE CONGREGATION WHILE HE WAS WORKING ON ME. HE BEGAN TO CONVICT THEM OF THEIR SINS.
THE ZULUS, WHO HAD BEEN CALLING ME ‘MFUNDISI’ UNTIL NOW, BEGAN CALLING ME ‘BABA’ (FATHER). A ZULU DOESN’T USUALLY DO THAT. NOBODY BUT THEIR OWN PEOPLE ARE CALLED ‘BABA’. I MARVELLED THAT THEY SHOULD DO THAT, BECAUSE THEY COULDN’T KNOW WHAT HAD TAKEN PLACE BETWEEN ME AND GOD. THEY SUDDENLY TREATED ME WITH GREATER RESPECT THAN EVER BEFORE AND WERE WILLING TO GIVE THEIR LIVES FOR ME. SURELY THIS WAS BECAUSE, SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING, I HAD LOST MY LIFE WHEN I SURRENDERED TO THE LORD. I AM A WITNESS TO THE FACT THAT GOD’S WORD IS TRUE: Mt:10:39: He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
THE WORKING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
THE DAY CAME WHEN GOD RENT THE HEAVENS, AS IT WERE, AND CAME DOWN WHILE WE WERE GATHERED TOGETHER. SUDDENLY WE HEARD A NOISE LIKE A GREAT WIND. I CAN ONLY FAINTLY SUGGEST WHAT HAPPENED AND ATTEMPT TO MAKE IT CLEAR WITH A SMALL EXAMPLE. IT WAS SIMILAR TO PRESSURISED AIR ESCAPING FROM AN AIR PUMP, AND AS IF THAT WIND WERE BLOWING RIGHT THROUGH EVERY ONE OF US. THE SPIRIT OF GOD CAME DOWN AND NOBODY HAD TO EXPLAIN TO ANYONE ELSE, ‘LOOK, GOD IS IN OUR MIDST.’ EVERYBODY WAS CONSCIOUS OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD WITHOUT ANYBODY SAYING A WORD. ALL I COULD DO WAS TO BOWN DOWN AND WORSHIP THE GOD OF HEAVEN.
WHAT HAPPENED THEN? THE SPIRIT OF GOD CAME OVER THAT PLACE, OVER THE WHOLE AREA, AND BROUGHT THE PEOPLE. THE FIRST PERSON TO COME WAS A WITCH WHO LIVED SEVEN KILOMETRES AWAY AND WAS IN CHARGE OF A TRAINING SCHOOL FOR WITCHES. GOD BEGAN AT THE VERY STRONGHOLDS OF SATAN. TO USE THE PROPHET ISAIAH’S WORDS: ISA 64:1: Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
2: As when the melting fire burneth, ,,, ‘THE MOUNTAINS FLOWED DOWN AT THY PRESENCE, AS WHEN THE MELTING FIRE BURNETH.’ THE FIRE BURNED AS IF EVERYTHING WERE MADE OF DRY BRUSH-WOOD. WHEN I ASKED THIS WITCH, ‘WHAT IS IT YOU WANT?’ SHE ANSWERED, ‘I NEED JESUS. CAN HE SAVE ME? I AM BOUND WITH CHAINS OF HELL. CAN HE BREAK THESE CHAINS?’
I COULDN’T BELIEVE MY EYES AND EARS! FOR TWELVE YEARS I HAD TRIED IN VAIN TO CONVERT WITCHES, SOMETIMES FOR WEEKS AT A TIME AND THEY HAD ALWAYS CLAIMED THEIR POWERS WERE A GIFT FROM GOD. AND NOW, SUDDENLY, RIGHT OUT OF THE BLUE, A WITCH STOOD IN FRONT OF ME AND TOLD ME SHE WAS SICK AND TIRED OF HER LIFE AND WAS BOUND WITH CHAINS OF HELL.
‘WHO SPOKE TO YOU?’ I ASKED HER.
‘NOBODY,’ SHE ANSWERED.
‘WHO PREACHED TO YOU?’
‘NOBODY!’
‘WHO INVITED YOU?’
‘NOBODY!’
‘BUT I CAN’T UNDERSTAND THIS. WHERE DO YOU COME FROM? WHAT HAPPENED?’
‘WHY DO YOU ASK ALL THESE QUESTIONS? DON’T WASTE MY TIME! IF JESUS DOESN’T SAVE ME RIGHT NOW, I WILL DIE TODAY AND GO TO HELL!’
I HAD NEVER SEEN THE LIKES. I CONTINUED BY ASKING, ‘ARE YOU PREPARED TO OPEN YOUR HEART TO THE LORD JESUS AND LET HIM COME INTO YOUR LIFE?’
‘I AM PREPARED TO DO ANYTHING.’
‘ARE YOU PREPARED TO CONFESS YOUR SINS?
‘YES!’
WE PRAYED, ‘O LORD, SET THIS PERSON FREE!’ SUDDENLY THE DEMONS MADE A REMARKABLE STATEMENT. THEY SAID, ‘WE KNEW OF GOD THE FATHER, AND EVEN OF GOD THE SON, BUT SINCE THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS COME, WE ARE BURNING. HIS FIRE IS TOO HOT FOR US.’
THAT REMINDED ME OF THE SCRIPTURE: ZECH 4:6: Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. IN EPHESIANS 6:12 IT SAYS, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
UP TO THAT MOMENT THE FACE OF THAT OLD ‘SANGOMA’ (WITCH) HAD RETAINED A DARK AND HORRIFYING EXPRESSION, BUT THE INSTANT THE EVIL SPIRITS LEFT HER, THE EXPRESSION ON HER FACE CHANGED ABRUPTLY. SHE LOOKED LIKE A SAINT WHO HAD BEEN LIVING IN THE PRESENCE OF OUR LORD AND MASTER FOR MANY YEARS. WITH THE GLORY OF HEAVEN SHINING ON HER FACE AND IN HER EYES, SHE CRIED, ‘OH HOW MARVELLOUS, JESUS HAS SET ME FREE! JESUS HAS BROKEN THESE CHAINS OF HELL!’
MANY OF THE THINGS THAT OCCURRED AT THAT TIME WE DO NOT EVEN TALK ABOUT, BECAUSE PEOPLE WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND THEM, THEY WOULD SEEM LIKE FAIRY TALES. BUT THERE IS MORE BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH THAN OUR HUMAN MIND CAN GRASP. SUCH THINGS MUST BE EXPERIENCED BEFORE WE ARE ABLE TO COMPREHEND WHAT THEY ARE ALL ABOUT.
WE COULD GO OUT THE FRONT DOOR OF THE BUILDING AT ANY TIME OF THE DAY, ANY DAY OF THE WEEK AND THERE WOULD BE A HUNDRED, MAYBE TWO HUNDRED PEOPLE STANDING OUTSIDE. HARDENED SINNERS WOULD BE WEEPING LIKE LITTLE CHILDREN. ‘WHAT’S THE MATTER?’ WE WOULD ASK. ‘WE ARE SINNERS!’ WAS THE ANSWER. GOD’S SPIRIT HAD CONVICTED THEM OF SIN, OF GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THEIR OWN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. IT WAS AS IF THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT HAD DAWNED.
I REMEMBER ONE RAW, HEATHEN ZULU, A MAN FROM MSINGA, WHO SAT WEEPING IN A ROOM AS IF HE HAD BEEN BEATEN WITH A CLUB. BECAUSE HE WAS MAKING SUCH A NOISE, I WENT INTO THE ROOM TO SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON. ‘WHAT’S WRONG?’ I ASKED HIM. ‘THERE IS JUST ONE INCH BETWEEN ME AND HELL - JUST ONE MORE INCH, AND I’LL BE IN THAT PLACE,’ HE CRIED. AGAIN AND AGAIN WE HAD TO REASSURE THOSE PEOPLE AND SAY TO THEM, ‘THE BLOOD OF JESUS CAN WASH AWAY ALL YOUR SINS.’
GOD HAD KINDLED HIS FIRE, AND IT SPREAD THROUGH THE VALLEYS AND THE MOUNTAINS, SO THAT THOUSANDS WERE SAVED IN ONE WEEK, YES, EVEN IN ONE DAY. THAT HAPPENED AMONG THE ZULUS AND THE XHOSAS IN SOUTH AFRICA. THERE IS NO LIMIT TO WHAT GOD CAN DO. THE LORD JESUS ONCE STOOD UP IN THE MIDST OF A CROWD DURING THE JEWS’ FEAST OF TABERNACLES, AND CRIED WITH A LOUD VOICE, IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT THE PEOPLE WANTED TO KILL HIM: ‘IF ANYONE THIRSTS, LET HIM COME TO ME AND DRINK. HE WHO BELIEVES IN ME, AS THE SCRIPTURE HAS SAID, OUT OF HIS HEART WILL FLOW RIVERS OF LIVING WATER.’ MAY GOD GRANT THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS HIMSELF A CHRISTIAN IS A REAL CHRISTIAN, AS THE SCRIPTURE SAYS. I DON’T BELIEVE THAT IT IS NECESSARY TO PRAY FOR REVIVAL. REVIVAL IS THE RESULT OF A LIFE LIVED ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES, WHICH WE SHOULD BE LIVING DAILY. THIS MEANS CONSTANTLY PROGRESSING IN INTIMATE FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM, THE LIVING GOD. HE WANTS HIS CHURCH TO BE A PURE BRIDE WHO RADIATES HIS GLORY.
OUR PRAYER HAD MERELY BEEN, ‘LORD, RULE AMONGST US, FOR YOU ARE THE ALMIGHTY GOD OF OLD.’ BECAUSE WE HAVE EXPERIENCED THIS OURSELVES, WE CAN’T UNDERSTAND RELIGIOUS PEOPLE WHO SAY, ‘GOD WORKED SUCH THINGS IN THE FIRST CENTURY, BUT NOT TODAY.’ WE TESTIFY TO THE FACT THAT GOD IS STILL THE SAME TODAY, AND THAT HE RULES ON HIS THRONE!
I REMEMBER A BLIND MAN, WHOSE EYES HAD SUDDENLY BEEN OPENED, WALKING UP AND DOWN, SHAKING HIS HEAD AND CRYING AGAIN AND AGAIN, ‘JESUS IS MY GOD! HE IS TRULY MY GOD!’
AT THIS POINT I WOULD LIKE TO SAY A FEW WORDS ABOUT HEALING. AS A RULE WE DON’T PRAY FOR HEALING BEFORE THE PERSONS INVOLVED HAVE SETTLED THEIR SPIRITUAL LIVES. THE BIBLE TEACHES US IN JAMES 5:16: CONFESS YOUR TRESPASSES TO ONE ANOTHER, AND PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER, THAT YOU MAY BE HEALED. HEALING OF THE SOUL IS PUT FIRST. SO IF ONE PERSON SAYS, ‘I SUFFER TERRIBLY FROM ARTHRITIS,’ AND ANOTHER COMPLAINS, ‘I GET DREADFUL HEADACHES,’ THEN WE SAY TO THESE PEOPLE, ‘VERY WELL, THANK YOU FOR TELLING US ABOUT YOUR PHYSICAL NEEDS, BUT LET US BEGIN WITH YOUR SPIRITUAL ILLNESSES. HOW DO THINGS STAND IN THAT RESPECT?’
WE ARE LIVING IN EVIL TIMES IN WHICH EVERYONE PRAYS, WHETHER HIS LIFE IS IN ORDER WITH GOD OR NOT.
WHEN PEOPLE COME FOR COUNSELLING, WE TELL THEM THAT PHYSICAL NEEDS ARE SECONDARY, AND THAT SPIRITUAL ILLNESSES MUST BE TREATED FIRST. A SPIRITUALLY ILL PERSON MIGHT BE AFFLICTED WITH IRRITATION, ANGER, RESENTMENT AND MANY OTHER THINGS.
WE SHOULD SHOUT IT FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOPS AND PROCLAIM IT TO ALL THE WORLD: THERE IS NO GOD LIKE JESUS CHRIST! WHEN WILL THE NATIONS ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THERE IS NO LORD BUT HIM: THE LORD OF ALL LORDS, THE KING OF ALL KINGS?
Another incident during that weekend at tugela ferry will remain unforgettable for all who experienced it. A girl on a stretcher had been brought to the front near the pulpit. I noticed her during the services on Friday and Saturday evening. She lay there like a corpse, immovable, with her eyes closed. Not even her eyelids flickered. She couldn’t move her fingers, except for a single finger of her right hand, which could only be moved with an effort. Later I heard her tale of woe:
She had been completely paralysed for eighteen months and had been treated in five different hospitals, but the doctors could do nothing for her. Her relatives brought her back home, and took her from one witch doctor to the other. One of them used dreadful ‘medicine’. he caught frogs and fried them in a pan until they were boiling hot, then put them on the girl’s head, scalding her skin and hair, but the girl was not cured by this frightful ‘therapy.’ finally she was brought to tugela ferry by her sister, who was a teacher. The co-workers told me that this eighteen-year-old girl, whose name was anagreta, had asked that we pray for her.
‘but how can we pray for her, if we don’t even know her spiritual condition?’ I asked them. ‘has she straightened things out, made her life right and made peace with god?’
‘yes,’ said the co-workers.
‘but how can she do that, she can’t even speak!’ I asked in amazement.
‘we did it by whispering into her ear, and asking her whether there was sin in her life.’
At this point I must emphasise that there is no use calling upon a person to accept the lord jesus, if he doesn’t know that he is a sinner. What’s the use of trying to send a person with cancer to the doctor, if he doesn’t know that he has cancer? Show him that he has cancer, and he will go to the doctor of his own accord, without being told. He will even be prepared to go to a hospital and surrender himself to the knife of a surgeon.
I didn’t give in and continued to press my co-workers. ‘does the girl even know that she is a sinner?’
‘yes!’
‘how did you find that out?’
‘we mentioned various sins and asked anagreta whether she had even been disobedient to her parents, or whether she had been unfriendly, angry, unloving, or whether she had ever lied, etc. by the way she moved her eyelid, we could understand whether she meant yes or no. FINALLY WE ASKED HER, ‘WOULD YOU LIKE US TO PRAY WITH YOU AND ASK THE LORD JESUS TO COME INTO YOUR LIFE TO TAKE YOUR SINS AWAY?’ AGAIN WE RECOGNISED BY THE WAY SHE MOVED HER EYELID THAT SHE AGREED. WE PRAYED WITH HER, AND NOW SHE WOULD LIKE US TO PRAY FOR HER PHYSICAL HEALING.
THEN WE EXPERIENCED HOW GOD’S POWER WAS ALSO REVEALED IN THAT GIRL. IT HAPPENED IN THE SAME NIGHT, IN WHICH HUNDREDS OF OTHER PEOPLE WERE PRAYED FOR. WE SAW HOW THE BONES OF HER BODY BEGAN TO SHAKE LIKE THE LEAVES OF A TREE WHEN A BREEZE GOES THROUGH THEM. AN UNSEEN FORCE TOOK HOLD OF HER, LIFTED HER OUT OF BED ONTO HER FEET, AND SHE STARTED RUNNING! IN AN INSTANT THE LORD JESUS HAD COMPLETELY HEALED THIS GIRL.
THE NEWS OF THIS EVENT SPREAD LIKE WILDFIRE THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE AREA. FOR A FEW DAYS IT WAS AS IF THE VERY AIR WAS CHARGED WITH THE PRESENCE OF GOD. ONE MUST EXPERIENCE SUCH A THING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT. PEOPLE WOULD COME TO THAT PLACE AND BE CONVICTED OF THEIR SINS, JUST BY ENCOUNTERING THE PRESENCE OF THE LIVING GOD.
IN CONCLUSION, LET ME BEAR WITNESS TO THE FACT THAT THERE IS NO GREATER POWER THAN THAT OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. IT WAS NO LIE WHEN HE SAID THAT ALL POWER IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH WAS GIVEN UNTO HIM. THAT IS WHAT HE CALLED OUT TO HIS DISCIPLES BEFORE HIS ASCENSION INTO HEAVEN. WHAT HAPPENED THEN? SOME WORSHIPPED HIM, BUT OTHERS DOUBTED! IT IS DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE THAT ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO HIM, BUT IT SAYS EXPLICITLY IN MATT 28:18, ‘ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH.’ FOR THIS REASON HIS DISCIPLES ARE ABLE TO CARRY OUT HIS COMMAND, ‘GO YE THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL NATIONS, BAPTISING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY GHOST: TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED YOU.’ WHAT A GOD AND WHAT A SAVIOUR! MAY GOD GRANT THAT OUR LIVES DO NOT BRING DISHONOUR TO HIS NAME, BUT ARE SUCH THAT PEOPLE MAY RECOGNISE THAT THE WORD OF GOD IS THE TRUTH!
ERLO STEGEN
