Beauty for Ashes at the Bonnke Crusade

In June 2012, evangelist Reinhard Bonnke held a crusade in Kampala, which I was lucky to attend. I wrote a newspaper article about it that was never published. It is reproduced here.

A deaf and dumb woman regained her hearing and spoke for the first time in 29 years. A man who had been paralysed for seven months walked again, shouting the Name of Jesus and adding with delirious joy that he would never use a wheelchair again. A man from Rwanda who had been totally blind for five years got his sight back while a woman who had breast and cervical cancer returned on the third day to testify how God had healed her on the first day of the crusade. She even had medical papers to prove her case!

Some of the crowds that attended the crusade

These are a few of the numerous signs and wonders that rocked the Uganda Jubilee Gospel Crusade led by fiery German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke and his protégé and successor Daniel Kolenda, in Kampala on June 6-10, 2012. Makerere II Grounds on Sir. Apollo Kaggwa Rd.,was filled with people from all corners of the country and beyond, who came in desperate need of salvation, healing and deliverance. Like the woman in Luke 8:43 who suffered a haemorrhage for 12 years and exhausted all her resources seeking a scientific remedy until Jesus stepped on the scene, these people equally turned to the Lord with mustard-seed faith and didn’t get disappointed.

"Doctors have a different pill for every problem but God has only one pill that cures every condition – the blood of Jesus," said evangelist Kolenda, arguing that the stain of sin has caused the world much suffering and cannot be washed away by political, financial, scientific, scholarly, military or even religious detergents. "There's nothing humanity can do but to turn to Jesus with all our hearts because His blood has the power to cleanse us of all sin, to heal us, save us and protect us."

Witnessing these miracles firsthand and watching tears of joy gliding down the eyes of the recipients brought to mind the first verses of Isaiah 61, how God comforts the broken-hearted, releases captives and sets prisoners free; turning mourning into rejoicing, and giving beauty for ashes.

This was evangelist Bonnke's second time in Uganda. The first time was in 1990 in Jinja where his crusade was acrimoniously bunged up by the local authorities accusing him of "noise." Overcome with dejection from the rejection, he did what Jesus tells His disciples to do in Matthew 10:14-15: "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that town."

Well, it's said the rejection of Bonnke started the economic retrogression of the once industrial town of Uganda. The situation has since been compounded by impoverishment and an epidemic of jiggers that has dented the whole of Busoga. That’s why the Wednesday return of Bonnke to Jinja 22 years later, was of potent significance to the Basoga.  

"It's a sign that God has remembered Jinja again," said one pastor, adding that the town had seized the opportunity to right its wrong; seek forgiveness for disgracing God's anointed.  Bonnke was himself happy to forgive and give his full blessing – a move many were optimistic lifted the curse and unlocked spiritual and economic blessings that will help the town to flourish again.

After Jinja, the 72-year-old and his team were hosted by President Yoweri Museveni, before he opened the Kampala crusade. On the third day, First Lady Janet Museveni also appeared and joined multitudes who viewed the crusade as an early birthday gift to Uganda as it itches closer to its golden jubilee in October. The golden jubilee is a Biblical principle that typifies forgiveness, liberty and restoration.

The atmosphere was electric as people prayed and praised fervently; lifting their hands and voices worshiping God in truth and spirit.

The preachers were on a roll too with revivalist sermons that emphasised living lives fully dependant on the Lord. During one such sermon a woman got slain by the Holy Spirit and fell before me, rolling in the dust, speaking in unknown tongues punctuated with the Name Jesus. When she got up about 30 minutes later, she was smiling the most beautiful smile and radiating a joy from the inside out as I had never before seen.

The devil’s business was left in utter ruins, no doubt, as many who had dabbled in the occult brought their totems and related paraphernalia that made a mound that got burned. They then joined thousands others pledging their allegiance to Jesus from then on.

Family and general curses were lifted, and pastors prayed over a box brimming with prayer requests. Those without jobs were prayed for to find something meaningful to do. The economy was prayed for to stabilise; for oil money to be used to benefit all Ugandans. There were prayers against poverty, corruption, violence, divorce, prostitution, and against all forces of darkness that have left many bound. There were prayers for young women to get worthy men for husbands and young men to get beautiful God-fearing women. The evangelist Kolenda also commanded every infertile womb to be fertile in the Name of Jesus.

"You'll give birth to healthy babies; I believe nine months from now there will be a population explosion in Kampala in Jesus' Name,” he concluded, and cries of “Amen” and "hallelujah" rippled like a mighty earthquake through the arena.

If anything stood out during the four-day crusade, it was Romans 10: 13: whoever calls upon the Name of Jesus will be saved. It was emphasised as the secret to blind eyes opening, the lame walking, tumors disappearing, and the secret to all manner of ‘hopeless’ situations getting turned around for Uganda and its people in this golden jubilee year and always.