International evangelist Reinhard Bonnke saw hundreds of people come to Christ and healed on the final night of the Good News crusade in Orlando, Fla., while he also announced his ministry’s plans to hold more evangelistic meetings throughout America next year. Bonnke and Christ for all Nations President Daniel Kolenda used the Saturday night gathering, which drew more than 12,000 people to the Amway Center, to reveal plans of another crusade in Raleigh, N.C., on May 16-17, 2014, followed by other cities yet to be announced.
“After that we will go in rapid succession, crusade after crusade after crusade—and God is with us,” Bonnke declared. “Our God is able. He is capable to bless America with salvation like never before. We don’t look into the past; we look into the future. And the gospel is our nation’s future, in Jesus’ name.”
Kolenda later added, “This is only the beginning of a movement that I believe will go from state to state. … God is turning the tide, and we are going to see the kingdom of God push back the darkness.”
In typical Bonnke fashion, the 73-year-old evangelist mixed a bold gospel message with real-life stories of his conversations with unbelievers, skeptics and atheists.
“In Germany, they ask me, ‘Can’t you preach a little softer?’” he said. “But I’ve experienced [the gospel’s power]. I speak from experience. And because I know it works, that’s why I preach the way I preach. It works. … I am a living piece of evidence that there is power in the blood of Jesus.”
Bonnke used Revelation 3:20 (“Behold, I stand at the door and knock …”) as his centerpiece text, challenging the enthusiastic crowd to allow Jesus to enter their hearts and kick out “the wrong partner—the devil.”
“Where the devil subtracted, Jesus will add to you,” he declared. “You will leave this arena, this Amway Center, as someone who has been saved, washed and [will have] blessings added every day.”
On Saturday, the Good News Orlando meeting concluded as it did the previous night—with almost a dozen onstage testimonies of Jesus healing various ailments, from removing cataracts to alleviating severe asthma to unfusing joints.
“I’m not a teacher—I’m just an evangelist—but I want to teach you divine arithmetic,” Bonnke told the crowd. “Jesus turns minus into plus. He turns negative into positive. He turns failure into success. He turns hell into heaven and bondage into freedom. This is the story of the gospel!”
