DAWN Fridayfax 2000 #21

Cambodia

Two villages worship the Rain God

Advance, published by the Foursquare Gospel Church, reports that many Cambodians are coming to Christ through signs and wonders. According to the magazine, only 1% of Cambodia's population is Christian. "Recently, the inhabitants of two villages came to faith in Christ after experiencing God's might," they report. In one of the villages, the villagers asked a missionary pastor whether he would be prepared to pray for rain for their newly-sown seeds. In a nearby village, the villagers asked the same pastor to pray that it would not rain until they had finished sowing. The following week, it rained - but only in the village which had already finished sowing their seed. The inhabitants of both villages then declared that they were ready to become Christians, and were baptised.
Source: Advance, Foursquare Gospel Church

India

Prophetic prayer - healed of a heart problem

A pastors' seminar was held in Chennai (Madras) in southern India in April 2000 with Swiss prophet Erich Reber. "Not all of the city's pastors were enthusiastic about the seminar, and some came rather sceptically. Still, 300 attended instead of the 200 which had signed up," says local strategy advisor Joshua Pillai. "Several of the attendees were healed by prayer. Mr. Sundersingh, an engineer, suffered from a heart problem, and could only walk with difficulty. His doctors had given him only a short time to live. Only 50 years old, he had prepared himself to die. God revealed this to Erich Reber, who spoke it out. Mr. Sundersingh was too nervous to stand up to respond to the prophecy, but Reber prayed anyway. The next day, Mr. Sundersingh came to me to testify that he was the person addressed by the prophecy, and that he had been completely healed," says Pillai.
Source: Joshua Pillai, Chennai. e-mail: Subi@satyam.net.in; Fax (+91)-44-2301063

Sudan

210,000 listen to Bonnke in Khartoum

At the end of April 2000, German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke addressed up to 210,000 people in Khartoum, Sudan's capital. 148 local churches, including Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, invited people to the 6-day event. The first day saw a crowd of 60,000, some of whom waited for 10 hours before the event. In total, some 735,000 people took part in the events, Bonnke's first time evangelising in Sudan. CFAN, who organised the events, registered 132,000 'conversions' - seekers who responded to Bonnke's call to become Christians. Despite the Sharia law, which bans conversion to another religion in Sudan, the majority of the crowds were Muslims. In a television address, the nation's President spoke out against criticism of the event, citing the fact that Christians were in Sudan before Muslims, so it was only appropriate to allow the visit.

Escaped an assassination attempt

Bonnke escaped an assassination attempt during the events. Three marksmen who had planned to shoot him were arrested, according to the CFAN report. The armed men had mingled with the VIPs in Green Square, which the government regularly uses for special events. "Despite its positive influence, the event must be viewed with caution," says Steven Snyder, President of International Christian Concern, a group which observes the continuing persecution of Christians in southern Sudan. "The government's openness is a facade, intended to display religious freedom to the West. But that is not the case," he says.

16 Million "decisions for Christ"

"If it is right to name figures, we can say that in the last 12 years of our global mission (1987-1998), just over 12 million people have made a decision for Christ and been contacted by our counsellors. The true figure is more like 16 million, because our follow-up system was often over-stretched," says the missions organisation. "Also, we have printed and distributed over 100 million books and booklets in 70 languages all over the world."
Source: CFAN, Postfach 60 05 74, D-60335 Frankfurt am Main, Fax: (+ 49)-69-478 78 20; e-mail: Info@cfan.org

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