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Reinhard Bonnke: A Life of Fire:
In this episode of Kingdom Reformation with Glenn Bleakney, we take a deep dive into the extraordinary journey of evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. From surviving war-torn childhood as a refugee, to hearing the Spirit’s call to Africa at just eleven years old, Bonnke’s story is a testament to radical obedience and unshakable faith.
You’ll hear about the miracles that ignited stadiums, the personal struggles behind the pulpit, and the resilience that carried him through persecution, loss, and supernatural breakthroughs. More than history, this is a prophetic challenge: What hardened ground in your life—or your nation—could become the next harvest field?
Be inspired to embrace a life fully yielded to the call of God, where even impossibility becomes an open door for Kingdom advancement.
Join the community at KingdomReformation.org
Transcript
Welcome to the Kingdom Reformation Podcast with Glenn Blakeney.
Speaker A:Here the fire of revival ignites hearts and fuels a supernatural move of God throughout the nations of the earth.
Speaker A:Join us each week for prophetic insights, apostolic teaching, and powerful conversations that will equip you to live fully awakened in your kingdom purpose.
Speaker A:This is more than a podcast, it's a movement.
Speaker A:Learn more about us by visiting kingdomreformation.org now let's dive into today's episode.
Speaker B:Welcome to the Deep Dive.
Speaker B:We dig through the sources to bring you the most potent insights and, well, the stuff that really jumps out.
Speaker B:Today we're diving into a life of fire.
Speaker B:Reinhard Bonke's autobiography.
Speaker B:He was, you know, a huge figure in global evangelism.
Speaker B:But this isn't just a history lesson.
Speaker B:It's really about radical faith, incredible perseverance, and some truly mind blowing events.
Speaker B:A life total given over to a call.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:And what's so fascinating is getting behind the public figure Banka, known for these enormous crusades in Africa.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:But the book, it really shows the personal side, the early stuff, the foundations that aren't always talked about, how his youth really shaped everything that came later.
Speaker B:Yeah, and we're drawing directly from his own words, excerpts from the autobiography.
Speaker B:So it's his perspective we're exploring our mission to pull out those key takeaways, those surprising moments, so you really get a feel for this extraordinary life.
Speaker B:This Deep Dive is brought to you by Kingdom Reformation with Glenn Bleakney.
Speaker B:You can find out more@buydomreformation.org okay, so let's set the scene.
Speaker B: War I Germany, East Prussia,: Speaker B:Grim times.
Speaker B:Roads are shot, the economy's a mess.
Speaker B:And into this landscape drives an early evangelist, Luz Graf.
Speaker B:And a pretty nice Mercedes, actually, with Jesus is coming soon on the side.
Speaker C:Which must have been quite a sight back then.
Speaker B:Totally.
Speaker B:But Graff makes this observation.
Speaker B:Passing a baker, he says, I'm in the land where religion has twisted scripture into a pretzel.
Speaker B:It just captures that feeling of spiritual emptiness.
Speaker C:And that's a key starting point, isn't it?
Speaker C:Because it connects to this idea of spiritual lineage.
Speaker C:Graff, guided by the Holy Spirit, actually prayed for Bona's grandfather August to be healed in a place called Trun.
Speaker B:Wow, I didn't realize the connection went back that far.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's like it set something in motion, a family link to this kind of faith decades before Reinhard was even born.
Speaker C:It shows how faith can, you know, put down roots even in really hard times.
Speaker B:And those hard times definitely continued Bonka's own childhood was right in the thick of World War II.
Speaker B:He writes about their family's terrifying escape from Stablak, nearly getting caught in the Wilhelm Gustloff disaster, which was horrific.
Speaker C:Thousands died.
Speaker B:Unbelievable.
Speaker B:And then they end up as refugees in Denmark, imprisoned for four years.
Speaker C:Four years.
Speaker C:And the conditions terrible.
Speaker B:Mostly women and children behind barbed wire, barely any food.
Speaker B:Dysentery was rampant.
Speaker B:Just survival mode.
Speaker C:And here's a fascinating, almost cruel irony.
Speaker C:His father, Herman, gets released earlier as a POW precisely because he hadn't joined the Nazi Party.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:But the family, civilians, they stay locked up for years longer.
Speaker C:They eventually get moved to Puppendorf, which.
Speaker B:Had its own history.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:It previously held Jewish refugees from the Exodus ship.
Speaker C:And seeing all this, Bonnke's parents saw the re.
Speaker C:Establishment of Israel happening around that time as.
Speaker C:As direct prophecy being fulfilled.
Speaker C:It just makes you think, how does faith survive that?
Speaker C:How does it find meaning in the middle of such awful suffering and global chaos?
Speaker C:It points to a really deep spiritual grounding.
Speaker B:It really does.
Speaker B:But even with that background, Bonk was, by his own admission, just a kid, sometimes a bit of a handful.
Speaker B:Let's look at that side, too.
Speaker B:He calls himself a naughty boy.
Speaker B:There's the story about failing an English test and trying to hide it.
Speaker B:You know, like Adam in the Garden of Eden.
Speaker B:He says he actually used his lunch money to buy a whole new workbook to cover it up.
Speaker C:Huh.
Speaker C:That's very relatable.
Speaker C:That definitely humanizes him.
Speaker B:It does, but it also hints at some underlying tensions, doesn't it?
Speaker C:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker C:Beyond just kid stuff, there was this real friction between his Pentecostal upbringing and the dominant Lutheran society around him.
Speaker C:Pentecostal practices, like speaking in tongues, were often looked down on.
Speaker C:He mentions Lutheran kids calling them tongues talkers or even religious Neanderthals.
Speaker C:Yeah, and Pentecostal women had a distinct look, too.
Speaker C:Plain clothes, uncut hair and buns.
Speaker C:Part of that holiness tradition.
Speaker C:So Banka felt like an outsider.
Speaker C:But interestingly, unlike his brothers, who did well academically, he just instinctively pushed back against anything that didn't fit with his Pentecostal identity.
Speaker B:So that early rejection actually solidified things for him?
Speaker C:Paradoxically, yes.
Speaker C:It seemed to forge this resilience, this sense of who he was spiritually.
Speaker B:And that identity had a defining moment when he was just 11.
Speaker B:1951.
Speaker B:His baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker B:His dad insisted he go to this meeting.
Speaker B:His mom wasn't so sure.
Speaker B:And Reinhard, well, he just wanted to go play on a rope swing.
Speaker C:He'd found a very normal 11 year old desire, right?
Speaker B:But he goes and he describes feeling completely unworthy, like Reinhard, the null boy, the worldly boy, the naughty boy, just overwhelmed by inadequacy.
Speaker B:And then bamboo, this powerful spontaneous experience, he starts speaking in tongues.
Speaker B:Just completely overcome.
Speaker B:An undeniable encounter for him.
Speaker B:And even from that young age, maybe even before, this call to Africa was already there.
Speaker B:Deep inside, he talks about watching ships leave the pier in Glickstadt and just praying, how long must I wait for a ship to take me there?
Speaker B:The vision was already forming.
Speaker C:That clarity, so young, it's striking.
Speaker C:It wasn't just a wish.
Speaker C:It was this deep seated conviction, wasn't it?
Speaker C:It really set his life's direction.
Speaker C:A powerful thing to see in a boy.
Speaker B:So as he got older, he started acting on that call, though it wasn't always smooth sailing.
Speaker B:His first evangelistic tent meeting in Rendsburg.
Speaker B:He was only 21, maybe 22.
Speaker B:And this woman at the entrance just dismisses him, calls him some young evangelist who isn't even dry behind the ears.
Speaker C:Which is not exactly encouraging, not at all.
Speaker B:But he preached anyway, just the basics, what he called the ABCs of the gospel.
Speaker B:Repentance, faith, salvation.
Speaker B:And people responded.
Speaker B:Many conversions right there.
Speaker C:That shows his determination, even early on.
Speaker C:And it's around this time he meets Annie, his future wife.
Speaker C:But there's a key moment there too.
Speaker C:He's interested.
Speaker C:But then she says she'd never leave Germany.
Speaker B:And that was a deal breaker for him.
Speaker C:Initially, yes, it wasn't about lack of feeling.
Speaker C:It was about the absolute clarity of his call to Africa.
Speaker C:He knew, absolutely knew, he needed a partner who shared that vision 100%.
Speaker C:It really makes you consider the level of commitment, the sacrifices that sometimes come with following a specific divine calling, doesn't it?
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:And Annie did eventually embrace that call with him.
Speaker B:Their journey together was definitely not conventional.
Speaker B:He felt this pull to pioneer to start a church where there wasn't one.
Speaker B:Found this building in a German city.
Speaker B:It was actually scheduled for demolition.
Speaker C:Resourceful.
Speaker B:Totally.
Speaker B:And then the negotiation for the rent.
Speaker B: It was supposed to be: Speaker C:You can't make this stuff up.
Speaker C:As Bonkin himself said, God enjoys using unlikely sources.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:Like that rum company building.
Speaker C:And that pattern of unexpected provision continued right with the chairs.
Speaker B:Oh yeah, they needed chairs for the new congregation.
Speaker B:And this humble farmhand, a milker, comes to a meeting, feels moved and gives a donation that pays for all 75 chairs.
Speaker C:Incredible.
Speaker C:It just shows how faith, when acted upon, seem to unlock this flow of resources from places you'd least expect.
Speaker B:And amidst all this serious ministry work, we get this really lovely human story about his first son being born, Kaiyouh.
Speaker B:He mentions wanting six boys when he was younger and how his own mom was a bit disappointed when he was born, her fifth son.
Speaker B:She'd wanted a girl.
Speaker C:Ah, family dynamic.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So when Kaiyue arrives, Reinhardt is just ecstatic over the moon.
Speaker B:And he famously blasts Handel's Hallelujah Chorus out his window into the town square, shouting, hallelujah, I have a son from God.
Speaker C:That's quite an announcement.
Speaker B:Apparently, he did the same for his two daughters later on, too.
Speaker B:Just pure joy.
Speaker C:And what's interesting there is how that very public, almost radical ministry existed alongside a really deep commitment to family.
Speaker C:His parenting approach, from what he writes, really valued family time, listening to his kids.
Speaker C:There's that story about his son Freddie spilling silver paint all over the car.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, I remember that one.
Speaker C:Against the rules, right?
Speaker B:But Reinhardt's response wasn't anger or punishment.
Speaker B:He basically said, you don't need punishment.
Speaker B:His punishment was already more than he could bear.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It shows us real compassion.
Speaker B:Understanding the kid's own distress was consequence enough.
Speaker B:It's a fascinating blend of intense ministry and gentle family life.
Speaker C:So eventually, they make it to Africa, but the start wasn't easy at all.
Speaker C:He talks about being in South Africa, dealing with apartheid firsthand, riding in the front of a truck with his guitar while three black pastors had to ride in the back.
Speaker C:Just gutting.
Speaker B:A stark reality check.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And his first assignment?
Speaker B:Lesotho, which apparently had this reputation as the boneyard for failed missionaries.
Speaker B:Churches were dry and empty.
Speaker B:It sounded like incredibly tough ground.
Speaker B:So what did he do?
Speaker B:He fell back on what he knew from Germany, street evangelism.
Speaker B:Grabbed his accordion, started playing and singing to draw a crowd, then quickly shared the ABCs of the gospel before they wandered off.
Speaker C:Practical approach?
Speaker B:Very.
Speaker B:And his first convert there, a young Basudo man named Michael Kolassang, stepped forward saying, I want this Jesus.
Speaker C:And he became quite significant later, didn't he?
Speaker B:Hugely.
Speaker B:Michael Kolassang went on to become a bishop.
Speaker B:Pastored thousands, oversaw a national Christian radio station.
Speaker B:Incredible fruit from that one encounter.
Speaker C:But this period was also about a major internal ship for Bankos, wasn't it?
Speaker C:He had to change his own thinking.
Speaker C:He admits he initially blamed the people for the lack of miracles, calling it a miracle free zone.
Speaker C:But then he met Richard Njidi, a Zulu evangelist.
Speaker C:This Guy just had what Bonka called reckless faith.
Speaker C:Miracles happened around him constantly.
Speaker C:Seeing Njidi's ministry just flipped a switch for Blanca.
Speaker C:He realized God's word is not a question mark.
Speaker C:It is an exclamation point.
Speaker C:It changed everything for him, from timidity to boldness.
Speaker B:And that new boldness was tested pretty quickly.
Speaker B:An evangelist canceled a meeting last minute, so bank had to step in.
Speaker B:And fueled by this new faith, incredible things happened.
Speaker B:A blind woman started reading Isaiah 61 out loud.
Speaker B:And a little boy, maybe four, with twisted limbs.
Speaker B:Banka just held him, prayed, and the boy ran off, completely healed.
Speaker B:That was it for him.
Speaker B:He knew the Holy Spirit is a healing spirit.
Speaker B:He said, God launched my ship.
Speaker B:And talk about sailing into uncharted waters.
Speaker B:The Kimberly disco story.
Speaker C:Oh, that one's amazing, right?
Speaker B: to giving him five minutes at: Speaker C:Takes some guts, definitely.
Speaker B:Places a corium, shares the gospel, gives an altar call, and every single hand in the disco goes up.
Speaker B:Everyone.
Speaker C:Unbelievable.
Speaker B:A year later, that disco was a church with a big white cross outside.
Speaker C:It's just, wow.
Speaker C:And then there's the story of Gene Neal in Australia, equally astonishing in a different way.
Speaker C:He's in Perth, thinks he recognizes someone, but it's the wrong person.
Speaker C:But then the Holy Spirit tells him, clear as day today, it's not her faith, it's your faith.
Speaker B:Meaning it was on him to act.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:He prays for this woman, Jean Neal, who had this degenerative brittle bone disease.
Speaker C:And she's healed.
Speaker C:But here's the kicker.
Speaker C:Jean had already had a detailed dream about him, including his accent, telling her he was coming to heal her.
Speaker C:God was working on both ends before they even met.
Speaker B:That's incredible coordination.
Speaker B:But it wasn't all miracles and breakthroughs, was it?
Speaker B:There were serious challenges, like the friction with his sending mission, the Velberdeur mission.
Speaker B:They got nervous about the scale, the financial risk of his growing ministry.
Speaker C:Understandable from their perspective, perhaps, but difficult for him.
Speaker B:Deeply difficult.
Speaker B:He felt he had to resign.
Speaker B:But then he says he got a list, sharp word from God, basically telling him not to quit the call.
Speaker C:So, a moment of crisis leading to clarification.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:It led to redefining his role.
Speaker B:They eventually blessed him to operate as an evangelist under their umbrella.
Speaker B:But, you know, cautiously, the chairman apparently said something like, we have one Reinhard Bunk, but we don't want a second one.
Speaker C:Huh.
Speaker C:Speaks volumes, doesn't it?
Speaker C:It highlights the tension the spiritual battles, even within supportive structures.
Speaker C:And then there was the literal structure, the big tent.
Speaker C:This thing was enormous.
Speaker C:Eight times bigger than a circus tent.
Speaker C:Twelve masts, each seven stories high.
Speaker B:Just imagining setting that up, right?
Speaker C:And then the big tent disaster in Cape Town.
Speaker C:A storm just ripped it to shreds.
Speaker C:Devastating.
Speaker B:You'd think that would be the end.
Speaker C:Paradoxically, no.
Speaker C:It became huge news.
Speaker C:Suddenly everyone knew about Bonk and the tent.
Speaker C:And then these stories started emerging.
Speaker C:People taking scraps of the ruined canvas, praying over the sick with them and seeing healings.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:God turning disaster into something else entirely.
Speaker C:Is that divine alchemy again?
Speaker C:Using what looks like failure for his purposes.
Speaker B:But even amidst that, there were really personal hits.
Speaker B:He mentions a longtime supporter back in Germany who saw a photo of Annie, his wife, with her hair cut short.
Speaker B:And the supporter stopped all funding, called it a sin, and actually blamed her haircut for the tent disaster.
Speaker C:Seriously?
Speaker C:Oh, that's incredibly harsh and misguided.
Speaker B:Bong calls it a fiery dart of the enemy.
Speaker B:He admits it really got to him.
Speaker B:Momentarily shook his faith.
Speaker B:Shows the personal costs, the vulnerability, even in a mass, massive ministry.
Speaker B:But alongside the trials, there were these moments of deep affirmation, too.
Speaker B:Like his daughter Gabrielle telling him he was her favorite preacher.
Speaker C:Oh, that's lovely.
Speaker B:Especially powerful for him, remembering how Pentecostal preachers were looked down on when he was a kid.
Speaker B:A real turnaround.
Speaker B:And even his brothers, who didn't necessarily share his specific type of living faith, they still deeply respected him.
Speaker B:They voted him the best horse in the family stable.
Speaker B:High praise.
Speaker C:In its own way, that shows real affection, despite the differences.
Speaker C:Then there's the story of the From Minus to Plus booklet.
Speaker C:Pure miracle territory.
Speaker C:An anonymous caller, totally out of the blue, donates a million pounds after a.
Speaker B:Meeting, just like that, allowing them to print 25 million copies for evangelism in England.
Speaker B:Mind boggling provision.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:But even then, challenges.
Speaker C:He faced pressure from some German evangelical groups to remove his name and his organization's name, CFAN from.
Speaker C:From the booklet to promote unity.
Speaker B:Did he?
Speaker C:He wrestled with it, but ultimately agreed, prioritizing getting the message out over any personal or organizational credit.
Speaker C:A real lesson in humility.
Speaker C:Putting the gospel first.
Speaker B:Definitely.
Speaker B:And on a lighter, surprising note, he loved motorcycles.
Speaker C:He did.
Speaker C:Got his license at 21.
Speaker C:Saw it as practical transport back then.
Speaker B:And later in life.
Speaker B:His team gave him a BMW cruiser.
Speaker B:He writes about loving the speed on the German Autobahn.
Speaker B:Just a little glimpse of the man behind the mission.
Speaker C:It adds another dimension.
Speaker C: event in Khartoum, Sudan, in: Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:That was incredibly risky.
Speaker C:Hugely.
Speaker C:It initially had government backing, amazingly, but then just before it started, they discovered 13 landmines planted right where the crowds would be.
Speaker B:Good grief.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:They had to cancel immediately.
Speaker C:It just underscores the intense spiritual opposition and the very real physical threats he often faced.
Speaker B:And speaking of difficult situations, his time detained in a prison cell in Cameroon, that seems like it was profound for him.
Speaker B:He writes about connecting with the other prisoners, the criminals, and having this deep revelation about Jesus.
Speaker C:What was the revelation?
Speaker B:That Jesus made himself of no reputation.
Speaker B:That in his obedience he was treated like the lowest criminal.
Speaker B:And that very humiliation was part of his path to victory.
Speaker B:It hit Monk deeply right there in that cell.
Speaker B:So as he wraps up the book, looking back on 50 years of ministry, nearly 60 million recorded decisions, staggering.
Speaker B:He asks himself, what if I had never separated my father's voice from the voice of God?
Speaker B:Acknowledging that crucial early obedience, powerful reflection.
Speaker B:And he talks about passing the baton, specifically mentioning Daniel Kolenda as his successor, but also extending that call to the next generation.
Speaker B:To you, the listener.
Speaker B:It's an ongoing mission.
Speaker B:So when you boil it all down, what does A Life of Fire really show us?
Speaker B:It's this incredible picture of radical obedience, isn't it?
Speaker B:Faith holding strong through unbelievable challenges and seeing God provide in the most unexpected ways again and again.
Speaker B:It suggests that a life fully yielded to a call really can achieve what seems impossible.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:And maybe final thought to leave you with something Bonke himself wrestled with.
Speaker C:Sophers would ask him, why does this huge harvest happen in Africa but not in Europe or America?
Speaker C:And his answer was basically, well, why not in Europe and America?
Speaker C:He saw Africa transform from a missionary graveyard to a place of incredible spiritual vitality.
Speaker C:He believed that same shift could happen anywhere.
Speaker B:That's a challenge.
Speaker C:It is.
Speaker C:It raises that question for all of us, doesn't it?
Speaker C:What hardened ground is there in your life, in your community, maybe even in your nation that's just waiting for a spiritual harvest?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:What impossible looking vision might God be?
Speaker C:Inviting you to believe?
Speaker B:For powerful questions to ponder.
Speaker B:We really hope this deep dive into Reinhard Bonke's A Life of Fire has given you some fresh insights and maybe sparked something new.
Speaker B:Our thanks again to Kingdom Reformation with Glenn Bleakney for sponsoring this deep dive.
Speaker B:You can learn more@bookDOMREFORMATION.org hey, everyone, Glenn Blakeney here.
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