The Magical Miracle Tour

Travel Stories: When a German evangelist arrived to save Africa from Satan and his evil witch doctors, Frank Bures went along for the ride

Since accepting his destiny, Bonnke claims that in 63 crusades across the globe he has preached to more than 27 million people, with 10,160,500 decision cards filled out. He mainly works among black humans in Africa, but lately he’s branched out to brown ones in places like India, the Philippines and Sicily. He routinely claims to heal polio, cancer, blindness, deafness, tuberculosis and even to perform “supernatural reconstructive surgery.” He can also heal your marriage and money woes. Bonnke says he’s had more than 103 million “books” translated into 123 languages and dialects, and these are being printed in 42 different countries.

Bonnke was banned from northern Nigeria after his visit sparked riots that left 300 people dead in 1991. In 1999, he was sued by the families of 16 Nigerians crushed in a stampede at his crusade in which hundreds of others were also injured. Last year, HBO shot a documentary about Bonnke and his friend Benny Hinn in which they tried and failed to verify any of his healing claims.

But Bonnke’s claims have only gotten more extravagant since then. Late last year, he says, he resurrected a dead man in Nigeria. This was a slight improvement on a dead baby he resurrected in a mother’s womb the previous April. Fortunately, when the dead Nigerian man awoke, someone had a video camera handy, and now you can buy the whole thing (as seen on Benny Hinn’s show) for $35. Miracles are also now available on Bonnke’s Web site. Major credit cards are accepted. Bank drafts can also be arranged.

“Please be seated,” Bonnke said. He looked much like his poster, with his pallid visage sneering at the devil, Bible in one hand, microphone in the other. He raised them both in an appeal for calm.

When we had quieted down, he made his first announcement.

“First,” he said, “I want to say a prayer for those of you suffering under the curse of poverty.”

That probably included everyone on the field.

“Because, even though I am no economist, I pray for God to break the cycle of poverty and provide jobs for those of you who are unemployed!”

Another cheer went up.

Bonnke’s German-accented English was translated by Mzee Muro. When Muro’s words boomed out, the crowd went wild. And as Bonnke went on and he revved up the rhetoric, Muro followed suit. Bonnke rolled into his sermon, flailing his arms and storming across stage, with Muro flailing right behind him. Bonnke shook his fist and raised his Bible. Muro shook his fist and raised his Bible. Bonnke jumped up and down to make a point. Muro jumped up and down to make the point. Bonnke dropped his voice to a whisper, then back to a shout, and Muro did the same. Through every step, every flinch, Muro was there, half a step behind, like a shadow. No detail was spared translation. It was eerie. The crowd loved it.

The men shouted.

“Amen!”

“Amen!”

“Hey!”

“Hey!”

Bonnke’s sermon was on the theme of “Laws.” The law of gravity. The law of sin. The law of salvation, and so on—an awkward blend of physics and metaphysics, of tangible and intangible, of hard reality and nebulous divinity.

The audience reveled. They clapped and cheered as his points were translated. They shouted back. They exclaimed. Bonnke knew how to work a crowd, and so did Muro.

With his sermon over, Bonnke began to tell us of a time, back in Jerusalem, when a group of true believers were suddenly so taken with the Holy Spirit that they started talking in a language even they didn’t understand. And neither did the devil.

Only God.

Bonnke went into a long explanation of how, when he gave us the cue, we could close our eyes and speak in this language as well.

“But not yet!”

He shouted this again and again before going off on another tangent that eventually came around to speaking in tongues, which was a blessing we would receive.

To illustrate how we were to receive it, Bonnke called a young boy on stage and held up a 10,000 note (about $20). He bent down and handed the boy the note.

The boy grabbed the money, said “thank you,” and ran off the stage.

Here was something everyone could relate to.

“That,” he told us, “is how easy it is. Now raise your hands, close your eyes, and feel the Holy Spirit come down on you, just like it did in Jerusalem!”

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