Nicholas Bhengu – His Youthful Dreams
Nicholas Bhengu used to tell that in his
youth he resolved to have three things: An education, money and a place
in heaven.
The apostle Paul, surely one of the most outstanding examples of credit
worthiness in heaven, warned us to judge nothing before the time since
we must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ. Then concerning
our merits or demerits “the Day will declare”. Thus it will
be foolish to wax euphoric about the saintly qualities of even such a spiritual
giant as Nicholas Bhengu. Suffice it to say that heaven became the theme
of his preaching, the goal of his life and surely the resting place of
his soul.
My First General Conference of the Assemblies of God
The Congress on Mission and Evangelism held in Durban
W F P Burton and some Congo Missionaries
Nicholas
Bekinkosi Hepworth Bhengu
– His Youthful Dreams
– His Preaching
- Bhengu
and Education
- Bhengu and Money
- Miraculous Experiences
- Spiritual Happenings
- The Sanctifying Spirit
of God
– His Departure
Bhengu’s “Isinthunzi”
- Government and Politics
– Some Faults, Virtues and the Burden
of His Heart
President Lucas Mangope of Bophuthatswana
William
Frederick Mullan
The Fairview Assembly
Fred Mullan and the Gifts of the Spirit
A Miracle and a Vision
The Revival in Norwood
James E Mullan
Paul O Lange
William Branham in Durban
Oral Roberts in South Africa
Billy
Graham in Salisbury and Durban
The American Missionaries from Springfield, Missouri
C. Austin Chawner and the Portuguese Work
August Kast and the Mount Tabor Mission Station
Colin
La Foy and the Coloured Leadership
The Work in Zimbabwe
Mauritius and Reunion Island
Special
Answers to Prayer – 1
Special
Answers to Prayer – 2
A Beautiful Square with Good Vibes
Prayer and the Hippie Revival
The Young Turks
Tensions within the Group
The Split
of 1981 – Part One
The Split
of 1981 – Part Two
The Beginnings of the Faith Movement in South Africa
The Statement of September 1989
The Charismatic Renewal
The Start of the Pentecostal Revival World Wide and The Swedish Pentecostal Assemblies
Epilogue
APPENDIX 1 : How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit
APPENDIX 2 : The National Church by Nicholas Bhengu
APPENDIX 3 : Article from the Argus 5/02/1981
APPENDIX 4 : Pointers to the future of the Assemblies of God in the New South Africa (10/06/94)
He died on October
the 17th 1985. Nearly 10 000 mourners attended his funeral service held
in a stadium in Pietermaritzburg. He was buried in the nearby cemetery
next to his first wife, the beautiful Mylet. I had the very great honour
of laying to rest both Nicholas and Mylet Bhengu.
If Bhengu was able to witness his own funeral from where he lay in Abraham’s
bosom he might have been upset, for a full year or more before he died
he anticipated events by giving the following written instructions for
his burial, which his devoted followers could not bring themselves to obey
in literal detail, though I think the spirit was sufficiently observed.
His instructions were as follows:
1. The coffin shall be supplied by the undertakers without consultation
with either relatives or church people.
2. The hearse shall take the corpse from the mortuary direct to the grave
and neither to my home nor to church.
3. There shall be no funeral service either at home or at the church.
4. Hymns shall be selected by me which shall be sung while the coffin is
being lowered.
5. No speeches, no preaching, no ceremony and no wreaths. Absolutely none.
6. Announcements on the air and press should be as follows: “Nicholas
Bheka, son of Josiah Khanda, son of Yele Bhengu. Born on September 5th
1909 at Entumeni Mission Station, expelled twice for his faith by the mission
as a heretic, first as a young man, 21 years old. Came back to settle down
in his father’s land, built a home and was forced to leave in 1973
and settled at Mtunzini. Died at so-and-so on so-and-so at the age of so-and-so.” Nothing
else should be said, absolutely nothing! No watchnight services anywhere
and no substitutes.
7. Absolutely no slaughtering of any beast of any sort, not even a chicken
and no food provision of any kind.
8. The burial or funeral shall take place three days after my certified
death and no more.
9. The funeral should take place any day of the week and should not wait
for friends, relatives or church people.
10. All expenses shall have been paid for and there shall be no money collected
or given for my funeral.
The document is in keeping with the godly humility followed by Nicholas
Bhengu throughout his life. I frequently visited him in different African
townships where the Back-to-God crusade maintained houses to accommodate
him in his incessant travels visiting the assemblies. He would not dwell
anywhere else but among his own people. He lived like one of them, though
he could easily have demanded more sumptuous accommodation. One never failed
to note his simplicity in the austerity of the tiny township houses he
took as his home. In each place the assembly would accommodate someone
in the house to be caretaker, leaving a bedroom tidy for Bhengu’s
use when he needed it. The two exceptions to this austerity were a bungalow
in Swaziland built on ground presented to him as a gift by the late King
Sobhuza II and a fairly spacious house in Umbumbulu near Amanzimtoti in
Natal which he built for his retirement. He died before it was completed.
After his funeral I handed the keys to his second wife on the instruction
of the Back-to-God leaders. I believe there was a slight tussle between
the second Mrs Bhengu and Nicholas Bhengu’s own children who now
possess it.
When Brother Bhengu was alive I once visited the Swaziland house with him.
King Sobhuza had given ground to him, I believe in the hope that he would
reside there thus coming to live in Swaziland. In his lifetime the king
was a great admirer of Nicholas Bhengu. As far as I know King Sobhuza never
testified to a born again faith in Jesus, but he was an astute sovereign
with a deep regard for what was honourable, manly and dedicated to the
service of humanity. I think he saw and admired these qualities in Nicholas
Bhengu.
When Swaziland was granted its independence by Great Britain Nicholas Bhengu
was one of the invited speakers at the ceremony. He made his theme the
flags of the nations fluttering there, all needing to be drenched in the
blood of Calvary. Our dear brother and father seldom failed to come up
with an appropriate address for whatever the occasion required!
On the occasion when I was in the Swaziland house with Bhengu, he had a
visit from a young Swazi and his teenage sister. It was Prince Mswati,
the present Swazi king. I was charmed to see this Swazi pair smiling, friendly
and themselves charmed by the blandishments of the old Zulu leader and
friend of their father. He ever responded to the presence of young people
as though their youth renewed his youth.