CfaN Christ for all Nations
Reinhard
Bonnke For $450 a Day
How much are you prepared to pay for the truth? How much would you
have paid Jesus to hear what He had to say? How much did Jesus charge those
whom He taught?
The suggestion that an
evangelist should charge for his services is outrageous! Yet this is what is
happening! Many evangelists do this.
They rent large facilities,
like an auditorium or lecture rooms, and then hold ‘seminars’ to teach those
willing to pay for the privilege. Is it right?
$450 A Day!
Reinhard wrote to his
supporters offering only 50 select ‘evangelists’ among them the opportunity
to sit at his feet and learn from him for the princely sum of $900.
Applicants are understandably vetted and individually selected.
The Face To Face
event takes place in Florida, USA, at the CfaN offices, over two days. The
cost includes meals and refreshments, but not accommodation, nor travel
costs. So, the two day event can prove a very costly opportunity – $450 a
day to listen to Reinhard, plus other expenses.
It’s a chance clearly only
available to the well-off. The poor need not apply!
What Would Jesus Say?
In the context of giving
others Gospel truths, healing, deliverance, and raising the dead, Jesus
said:
...Freely
[willingly]
you have received, freely [willingly] give (Matt 10:8).
JESUS NEVER CHARGED OTHERS
FOR HIS SERVICES. He never asked others for money. Is it right that those in
His service do what He would never do?!
If an evangelist must
charge for his services, is he really fulfilling Jesus’ words above?
Of course, staunch
supporters of Reinhard, and other evangelists who charge for seminars, would
say that I am being unfair – that it is not a matter of preaching the
Gospel, but of training others.
However, Jesus trained His
disciples and never asked them for money. Money wasn’t Jesus’
concern. Giving people the truths of God was His concern. So, I’m sorry, but
Reinhard and all others who practice this affront, are not supported by
Scripture. It is an outrage to demand money from people, or refuse to teach
them. Reinhard doesn’t do this at his ‘crusades’ so why do it in the
training of other 'torchbearers'?
The simple answer in six
words: It’s all a matter of fund-raising.
Admittedly, he has expenses
to cover – wages of his staff, the cost of facilities, catering, etc. But,
even so, to whom does he look for reimbursement? To God, or to man?
Why can’t he let people
donate according to their means, and allow God to bring the people on a
spiritual basis (that only God sees), rather than on a physical basis
according to who can afford it? Letting finances determine who attends and
who doesn’t sends a completely wrong signal to others, and also undermines
God’s selection process.
Did Jesus select His
disciples on the basis of their fiscal worth? Of course not! It’s
outrageous!
We Don’t Charge For MM Literature
Critics will argue that we ‘charge’ money for our literature.
So, what’s the difference between that and what Reinhard is doing?
Well, for a start, we DON’T charge others for MM
publications. We send them gratis. We certainly remind people of THEIR
obligation to support the giver, according to the principle in Matthew
10:10 that a worker
is worthy of his ‘keep’. So we indicate the rough production costs of each
publication. The suggested donation is often less than we need when
postage and other factors are taken into account.
The bulk of MM publications go abroad to third world
countries where recipients have little money and cannot reimburse us. So, we
operate Midnight Ministries at a thumping loss every year! How do we cope?
We trust in God to provide the shortfall.
God prevents us from sinking!
Let me just explain how we operate. It’s the same way Corrie
ten Boom relied upon God in faith. She trusted in God to provide for her
outreach, and because her motives were pure, He did.
She wasn’t out to make a name for herself. She loved the
truth of God and loved Jesus, and so she was willing to sacrifice to take
Him to others.
Reinhard did this in his early years in
Africa, so why has his
modus operandi changed? Because he is concerned to reach many millions
more, and looks at things humanly, thinking that money and manpower are the
means. As I have explained previously, his agenda is wrong. It is not
biblical. And his reliance has thus become compromised also.
God tells us through Zechariah (4:6) that it is not by human
or physical factors that God’s Work is done. It’s by His Spirit. And where
someone is in God’s will, He provides the means. Where you are not in God’s
will, He withholds the means.
That is not always the whole story, but it is the foundation.
Trust and obey is the principle.
Paul went without at times because of the failure of the
Corinthians and others to support him as they should have done. But Paul
never resorted to asking others for money. He reminded them of their
responsibilities towards God, towards the truth and towards him. But he and
all the disciples would not have adopted commercial fund-raising methods
which are secular, not godly.
Miracles Of Provision
MM’s work of God is not a human work. Because we are
appointed by Him, He is our mainstay and Provider. To explain more, here is
a quote from my article Is The Lord’s Arm Too Short?
You have to be in the will
of God to receive from Him. John wrote:
Now this is the
confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to
His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, what- ever
we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him
(1 Jn 5:14,15).
Quite often you don’t even
have to ask!
We have had an angel fill
the ink cartridge in our printer when we ran out of ink. We didn’t have to
ask. God works sovereignly to achieve His purposes. He knows what you need
before you ask Him (Matt 6:8).
Someone brought money to
our door after we fulfilled God’s command to send out 500 audio tapes. [The
tapes went to members of a cult, whom we knew would not listen nor respond.
So it was effectively a waste of money from a human point of view. The man’s
donation was the exact cost of the operation!]
When my computer crashed
and I had no money to replace it, God spoke to a lady to give us the precise
amount to buy a new one. He told her how much! She was shaken that God would
speak to her so directly! [I had told no one of my need.]
When we were
head-over-heels in debt, God moved various people to donate huge sums of
money to completely pay off our debts – on three separate occasions.
We have experienced other
miraculous incidents of God’s provision. Why? Because we are in His will,
doing His Work, not wanting for ourselves, but for Him.
And God is no respecter of
persons. He will provide for you, too, if you learn to stay in His will and
do whatever He has in mind for you. It may be very menial. He may have
simply called you to tithe from a regular boring job, to care for your
family, to love your wife and children, and to share His truths with the few
people whom you meet (and whom God shows you to share with). That may be the
extent of what He wants you to do as a part of His Work on earth.
But if you do it; if you
faithfully fulfil His will, and do your best, He will provide for you, too.
He will move heaven and earth, if need be, to make sure you have what you
need to obey Him.
Faithfulness is the key.
(End of excerpt.)
Recently in the troubles in
Kenya, a lady who is translating MM literature into a local language was
without food for her family. She hadn’t eaten for two days. She had no
money, no food, and nothing but God to rely upon. She didn’t write to me,
because her trust is not in me; it is in God. She demonstrated what each
person should do in such circumstances. She looked to God, just like Elijah
did, and God provided.
He sent an angel with a
small bag. The angel had the appearance of a man. He gave her a small amount
of food, and a small amount of money in Kenyan shillings, just enough to
provide for her family for a few days. Later, God provided through another
source for her.
Why A Prophet Is Used
Why isn’t God providing all
that Reinhard would like for his outreach? Because he is not in God’s will.
He has blocked the input
God sent him through a prophet. He has refused to change his theology where
it needs changing. He has refused to accept further truth. He has stubbornly
gone along ‘the same old way’ that he has been used to going for decades.
When you block input from a
prophet whom God sends, you shun the One who sent him (Luke 10:16).
God has to send a prophet
to Reinhard, because he is unable or unwilling to recognise God’s voice on
the issues that God is currently presenting to the Church. If people reject
the prophet, they reject God. It’s as simple and as disastrous as that! If
God could reach him by directly speaking to him about the current issues, He
would.
Put yourself in Reinhard’s
shoes. You have evangelised for decades. You have fulfilled God’s call on
your life to bring salvation to millions in Africa. You have seen countless
miracles of healing, deliverance from demons, and other wonders of God
behind you. You KNOW that God has backed you up mightily!
Do you think you would
listen to God if He tried to speak to you about altering your theology where
it is radically out of step? No. You would not think the prompt is from God,
but from Satan. You would be so convinced that what you believe is correct,
because of all that God has done all along, supporting your work.
So, God has to employ a
prophet for the task. Even then, the assignment is difficult, and you would
not listen immediately. God then has to cause other things to happen to
cause you to listen.
When He delivered
Israel from
Egypt, at first the
Israelites didn’t recognise Moses as His instrument. God had to confirm
Moses’ assignment by miraculous power. Also the Egyptian magicians wouldn’t
recognise Moses, because they had their own agenda and their own miraculous
power, too. Only when Moses’ power was superior to theirs were they forced
to concede defeat.
It’s the same with Reinhard
and us. He won’t recognise me – the new boy on the scene – someone with no
commendation from men, but only from God (2 Cor 10:18). However, when God
pours out His power – very soon – and raises people from the dead who have
been dead for years, then God-fearing (but errant) people will realise we DO
speak for Him; that He HAS appointed me as a prophet to speak for Him.
I have said to detractors,
if you think that you are appointed by him as part of the Work of Elijah
today in restoring the final foundation of truth for the Bride to accept
before Jesus’ coming, then prophesy of names who have been dead for years
and raise those people from the dead, then I will believe you. (And I
believe there will be others doing this as well as us. But they won’t be the
big names who have dominated the evangelistic stage.)
I have heavenly credentials
to demonstrate that I speak for God – a Dream Diary of hundreds of night
visions; likewise Helena’s; and the affirmation from God to other third
parties about MM’s work, that it is of Him. But do people take notice of
that? No. Just as Israel took no notice of what God told Moses, or what He
said to Elijah. Only when those men ‘produced’ miracles did people sit up
and listen.
Each prophet has a job to
do in the wilderness first, before he is revealed ‘to the world’. My job has
been to write a foundation of doctrinal truth for the Church so that she can
be put back on track. I did not seek this task. I didn’t want it. It was
assigned and confirmed through dreams from God.[1]
“Heap It Up”
One particular aspect of my commission has been to heap it
up.
And one shall say,
‘Heap it up! Heap it up! Prepare the Way, take the stumblingblock
out of the way of My people.’ (Is 57:14.)
God highlighted this text to
Helena many years ago,
before all MM’s publications and articles, and dreams from God were a
reality. With hindsight, we see its fulfilment. God confirms His Word with
signs following it. The word above is fulfilled in this instance by what you
are reading here, along with all the other publications pointing out God’s
standards of holiness.
God is calling His people to repentance again, to change, to
reform, to accept this restoration of truth.
More about this commission is explained in the publication More Than A Prophet.
I have been in my ‘hermit’s hole’ for 17 years, writing, as
led by the Spirit. In all this time God has provided our needs through a
handful of supporters, that’s all. We have no church backing. Churches
oppose us. I have no regular income, so God provides.
Elijah was at one time in a cave, supported by God because no
one else was there to keep him alive.
You should know that God promised a similar work to that of
Elijah’s at the very end (Mal 4:5,6). Elijah called down fire from heaven (2
Kings 1). So have we – people have been struck dead. You can read of that in
When God’s Judgement Falls, Terror At
Midnight,
and Don’t Abuse It, Use It! Those three
publications contain the accounts of what occurred in
Kenya when ‘our’ work was
blocked by evil people.
And anyone else who stands in the way of what God is doing
will come under God’s judgement in some way. That is why I tried to reach
Reinhard, before heaping it up in these articles.
Seeking To Impress Others
Reinhard’s Face to Face invitation flatters him:
Evangelist Reinhard
Bonnke is a man with an unquenchable passion for souls. Not satisfied
with seeing a single city, state or even an entire country won for
Jesus, he has pressed forward, through a lifetime of soul-winning and
sometimes with meetings of over One and a half Million people in
attendance, to pursue a goal of reaching the whole continent of Africa
with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In these
face-to-face and personal meetings with one of the world's greatest
evangelists, you will be challenged, you will be inspired and you will
be equipped to cast the Gospel net across nations.
Bonnke's cry of 'Africa Will be Saved!' is not just a mission statement,
it is an impassioned promise from the very heart of God that extends to
all nations and all peoples.
What is it that makes a man give much of his life to win a foreign
continent for Jesus? What causes over One Million people to make a
decision for Christ at one single altar call? What are the dynamics of
the signs-following Gospel that sees the cripples walk, the deaf hear,
the dead rise and that has the power to impact an entire city?
If you have a real heart for the lost and are already in pursuit of
souls as a full-time evangelist,
register now
to be part of this historic gathering. It will be a truly unique,
vision-casting, goal-setting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for those
who yearn to do more to win this, and future generations to Christ!
How blinkered!
The person who wrote that has no idea how close we are to the
end of this age!! He has no concept of how God works and why God has used
Reinhard.
You don’t choose to go into ministry, and then seek out
another man to train you. GOD calls you, trains you, in His crucible, for
the task. Then He empowers you, enables you, and backs you up.
The write-up above seeks to impress humanly. It is the sort
of secular marketing that true believers should not employ. It is using
human flattery, human commendation, rather than God’s commendation.
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:18 of the need to have the
latter.
I know that Reinhard has had that, but it’s not there any
longer, because his work needs to scale down and be redirected more towards
restoring truth than ‘converting souls’. It’s truth that sets people free (Jn
8:32) not preachers
seeking to save multitudes.
It is asserted above that Reinhard is “one of the world’s
greatest evangelists”. On whose rating is that appraisal based? Man’s, not
God’s.
I explain in Some Pitfalls Of Reinhard Bonnke’s Ministry
what God considers greatest. It’s what God said to me one day. It’s most
revealing!
Do You Want To
Evangelise?
If you want to evangelise, why? Has God called you to it? Do
you have His commendation? Or are you merely following the suggestion of
others – running off to do what you have been told by your mentors that you
should? If it’s the latter, don’t bother; you won’t succeed. Your calling
and empowerment has to come from Above, not from below.
I wonder how many young evangelists race off into the unknown
purely because that’s what they have been told is expected of them.
Many ‘evangelists’ aspire to a perceived ‘elevated’ position
out of vanity. Africans are especially prone to this mistake.
Reinhard never had that wrong aspiration. His love for God
and for people was what fuelled him, and guaranteed his success. God used
him because of the genuineness of his motives.
Equally genuine evangelists are unlikely to be queuing up to
get into Reinhard’s Face to Face meetings. It’s far more likely that
the false variety will be lining up to try and acquire their own dose of
fame. May God soon cut short this travesty and bring an end to this abuse in
His name!
In Guidelines For Evangelists I provide nine
directives for how to go about doing what God wants in evangelism. It’s not
what most expect. The booklet Witnessing For Christ also gives
further instruction.
You cannot go before you are properly taught and prepared.
There are some facts in those booklets which Reinhard is unaware of, despite
all his numeric success. You should know them.
God gave the following dream to an evangelist in
Kenya. It will give you
some clues as to what God considers most important and how to succeed. The
dream is in bold; my comments [in reply to him] follow.
I saw you in Migori
market preaching the gospel. Many people surrounded you to hear what you
were talking about.
I will not be there in person. The dream may depict how others will take
the message to that location by taking 'our' publications there.
After that you
called me to come and help preach the gospel.
That is your calling, too, from Jesus. Notice Matthew 28:19-20 is a
commission that involves EVERY disciple who is willing and
able, not merely the first ones whom Jesus trained. You are being
trained by Him though 'our' publications. If you are not familiar with
this truth, read Just What Is The Work? and Witnessing For
Christ.
God gave us many
people.
The response. God backs up those who 'go' for Him in sincerity and
unselfish dedication.
On the day after
that, you guided us into a very beautiful room.
This depicts the heavenly reward which Jesus promised us all in John
14:2. This will come later. First we all have to do Jesus' will on
earth, as is explained in 'our' publications. They show the way to
eternal glory.
When we entered that
room, Helena, Tonya and Zenya welcomed all of us with a smile and
invited us to sit in beautiful chairs, then they served us with a very
nice meal. We were all very glad and ate with gratitude.
This depicts how H, T and Z have all helped by their work and efforts to
make this literature available to you, so that you can partake in the
spiritual feast that the publications contain for those who will 'eat'
what they contain.
You took a very
close look at my meal and encouraged me to eat more. Your face was
shining when you did this.
When Moses came down from Mt Sinai, his face shone because he had
been in the presence of God. I have been in the presence of God while
writing MM publications.[2]
I couldn't write them of and by myself. God moved me in what was
written, hence the imagery of my face shining. My taking a close look at
your meal symbolises how I have paid attention to detail in some of the
particulars of doctrine which I have written about. Those are 'fine
details' of the faith – to do with Sabbaths, holy days, new moon
celebrations and other aspects summarised briefly in Wielding The
Divine Axe – which many other Christians are not aware of.
I was surprised to
see you serve a meal to so many people, and I was thankful to God and
praised Him.
This
depicts the many people who will benefit from what God has had us
write. It will not be just a small work. Soon, after the dead are
raised, it will be a worldwide work and reach MANY people! Millions!
That is the dream
which God gave me three times.
Three depicts finality in God's workings. We are very close to
the end of this age in relation to its overall history. There are only a
few more years left; very few! It's time to get to work and to work
diligently for Jesus! The Kingdom of God awaits.
Malcolm B Heap,
Feb 2008
Further Reading:
Guidelines For Evangelists
(£1) |
Witnessing For Christ (£2) |
The Festivals of God
(£1) | Our
Sabbath Rest (£3)
The Faith Once Delivered To The Saints
(£1) |
The Controversy Concerning Law and Grace
(£2) |
Apostasy In God’s Church!
(£2)
Meetings With Jesus (£2) |
God’s Church – Whose Authority?
(£3) | GET READY! (£1) |
Waking The Dead!
(£1)
| MORE THAN A PROPHET (£1) |