"No church can save! No priest or pastor can save! No pope can say! Only JESUS! Can save! Jesus, Jesus, Jesus can save!"
Those were the words of rev. Reinhard Bonnke this sunday night at the arena in Seinäjoki before he gave an altar call where hundreds of people responded and came up to give their lifes to Jesus Christ. I had the priviledge and honor to be at the meetings last weekend and to share some thoughts and ask brother Bonnke some questions.
All I can say is that I got what I came for and it was like I thought it was going to be. Actually I was worried about meeting Mr. Bonnke. Worried that I would meet another "rockstar preacher" and my trust would ones again go down the drain. I am so blessed that God confirmed to me what I have thought about Reinhard Bonnke without meeting him in person before. I am so glad and blessed that I met a might man of God, a world evangelist that has both feet on the ground and being an ordinary and humble person. Bonnke have all ingredients to become a "rockstar" but I think his relationship with Jesus is so close that it is impossible for him to get lost.
For 50 years Reinhard have been preaching the gospel. Mostly in Africa, his first love as he wants to put it. Thats to where he is called and it amazes me that 55 million people have given their lifes to Christ the last 10 years. Thats a lot of people folks!
I use to be allergic to ministries and preachers putting out all the big numbers of people getting saved as I have seen people left behind standing there with just another prayer. When people get saved they need guidance into the Kingdom of God and they need other Christians to grow in their faith and in their new life with Christ Jesus. It was such a blessing to hear that around 50% of the money spent on the crusades in Africa are spent on counseling those who have filled in the salvation cards and decided to follow Jesus. I got even more blessed when I heard about how they make disciples of all the people and get them involved in the many different churches serving the Lord. Nothing about only one pastor or priest doing anything. Everyone can preach and be a tool for God.
- If God can use me, He can use anybody, says Reinhard Bonnke!
This is so true and Bonnke is a great example to look at. He have trusted the Lord and stayed close to the Lord and God have continued to open up new doors taking him from level to level. Imagine 1.6 million people in one meeting! I know that GOD would never trust all these souls to a man with other motives than souls being saved. One of Bonnkes many slogans is: Plunder hell and populate heaven! I like that!
Well I do recommend you to listen to Bonnke on line or live, read his books or check out some of his dvd:s. You will grow in your faith! I did it so God will do the same to you.
Meeting in Larsmo
Saturday night I had a meeting in Larsmo and first it felt bad to leave Seinäjoki to go to a small meeting with only 50+ people. I got there and felt empty, did not know what to say. I asked God what HE wanted me to do and HE told me to do what I am called to do. Ok, I thought, it must be a reason for this night as well.
After playing one of the new songs The Holy Spirit came all over me and it all started to flow. I did absolutely nothing, it was all GOD who showed up in a mighty way and one person got saved. It has never happened to me before that I in the middle of a sermon is pointing out a person in the audience and ask that person if he wants to get saved. He responded with a yes and when I asked if he feels the presence of the Lord he said that this is so unusual for him. He never done anything like this and never felt like this.
That was the highlight of my weekend. One soul! I am not Reinhard Bonnke with millions of souls. I am just me, a sinner saved by Gods amazing grace and I am happy, thanful and blessed that GOD is using a man like me. That one soul is so much more important than all money in the world. I used to have a dream, to become a big mighty man of God. I even tried to be the european version of Todd Bentley ( I had my tattoos before him(lol) but that wasn´t me. I was sure about I was going to preach the gospel in front of thousands of people. That vision is gone for now. It is all about bowing knees with one person at a time and lead one person to the Lord at a time. And it is also important that this one soul get personal counseling. Thats were I really respect Mr. Bonnke, he could just take the glory and honor and leave the place but thats not the case. I thank God for all people who are out there serving the Lord. We can all preach and thats what its all about! It is all about winning souls for Jesus! Look at the world if EVERY saved person would reach one soul per year! That would be a huge difference!
I pray that the words; "No church can save! No priest or pastor can save! No pope can say! Only JESUS! Can save! Jesus, Jesus, Jesus can save!" shall sink deep into our finnish and swedish church leaders troats. It is so true and especially here in Finland we need to hear this! This is what I call keeping the gospel simple and if you say that Bonnke did not preach of sin at all you are deadly wrong. WE ARE ALL SINNERS BUT BECAUSE OF JESUS...
Stay Blessed!
Pontus
