Mylet Bhengu
Profile by Dr CUTHBERT CHIDOORI
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)
Nicholas
Bhengu’s first wife, Mylet, was one of the most beautiful women
I have ever known. Her beauty was both outward and inward, for her
character was as lovely as her face. My wife Enid first saw her at
one of our General Conferences. She still recalls how spell-binding
Mylet was. Enid simply could not take her gaze off her.
Throughout her life, Mylet struggled with poor health and she died
comparatively young in 1971. About 5 000 mourners attended her funeral
in Pietermaritzburg.
I was among those privileged to speak in the service, and then I laid her
to rest in the nearby cemetery. For all the rough and ready layout of a
typical township graveyard, it was a tranquil spot set among surrounding
hills and fringed with tall trees. As I pronounced the words of the final
committal, “In sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead”,
my heart was alive with the thought of Christ’s second coming attended
by crowds of angels filling the vale, calling the dead from the dust.
Strange to say, about
a week before Sister Bhengu’s passing, we had a prophecy in the
Harfield Road Assembly saying that a branch was plucked from the tree
leaving a scar that would never heal. As I spoke in the church, I recall
that Bhengu was sitting in the front row among the mourners, looking
stricken with his head bowed. In my address I used the imagery of that
prophecy. I said of Mylet’s passing, “A branch has been plucked
from the tree and leaves a scar”. As I said it my eyes were fixed
on Bhengu. It seemed to jolt him almost physically. He jerked his head
up suddenly, transfixing me with a brief gaze that startled me, then
lapsing again into his former attitude. I can’t say why he was
so galvanised.
King Sobhuza II of Swaziland sent an emissary to the funeral who read a
personal letter of condolence to Nicholas Bhengu from the king. In the
letter he told Bhengu he had to be strong. He speculated that Bhengu must
have enemies and such would gloat at his bereavement declaring that he
had come under the judgement of God in his loss. Therefore, the king said,
he had to be strong. It seemed to me like a brotherly admonition from one
leader of men to another, speaking in comradeship. In a way it struck me
as a comradeship out of the heart of Africa.
That day I caught another glimpse of Africa. Someone in the congregation
began to give the royal greeting, “Bayete”, for the king’s
emissary was himself a Swazi prince. Almost before the cry was formed it
was suppressed by others present. Such a greeting was not appropriate for
an occasion of mourning.
Truly the pulse of Africa was beating that day. Nicholas Bhengu himself
had composed a valediction to Mylet, and it too was read in the funeral
service. I have preserved it and I print it here exactly as Bhengu wrote
it, as a voice from Africa, a Christian voice but an authentic African
poem written in English.
A VALEDICTION TO A DEPARTED FRIEND - MYLET BHENGU
1. You began from nothing and saw nothing ahead,
Before you there was blankness and at times a mirage;
The desert, hunger and want were your food,
But in you was an indomitable spirit to press on,
In you was the will to look up and go on.
2. Your mate whose mind was made of flint enwrapped in lightning,
Whose heart was more than that of a lion,
Whose horns of faith overcame the bulls of Bashan,
Drank his inspirations and saw his visions, with you.
Forsook all like the Abraham of old.
3. You and your mate welded together by God’s Spirit,
He and you became one in one by God’s hand,
Both of you had nothing but the love and the will.
Your God, the Saviour, the Holy Spirit and the Bible to lead you.
4. These were your weapons and sources of strength,
Your portion was in humiliation, opposition and poverty,
Sickness also decided to assail you more than your mate,
Your will and faith to bring up your children in the fear of God,
And to work for God alongside your husband, were your food.
5. Towards sunset you saw unprecedented success,
In Africa, where the sons and daughters rose from dust,
To be honourable citizens of both heaven and Africa,
Orphans became doctors, nurses, teachers and lawyers,
Ministers of the Gospel rose from nothingness yearly.
6. Alas, my true friend, the angel was counting your years,
Twice you bore excruciating pain’s periods.
Without complaint your faith and will were compensated.
Prayer plus all available care succeeded,
You recovered to cover more for God and humanity.
7. The last count came, the third period of suffering,
Prayer rang throughout the world where your name
Was known through your mate and your labours of love,
Medical science was resorted to in every instance,
But the angel had made his last and final count.
8. Wednesday morning May 26th 1971
will never leave our memory,
When your life’s friend, husband and partner in tears and sadness,
Was left bereft, forlorn, bewildered and puzzled,
Ruth, Mvusi, Dawn on his side
Under a dark cloud of sorrow, hopelessness and despair.
9. But the morning star rose from the Lord our God,
“Your beloved is not dead, she has gone home before you,
You are also under a count, sooner or later you will follow.
Rejoice therefore, rejoice with the angels above,
For she loved and served the Lord to whom she has gone now”.
10. Sleep therefore, sleep my beloved friend,
Sleep for a while,
Rest in peace in the bosom of your beloved Saviour,
Sing with us and we shall sing with you,
“ JOY COMETH IN THE MORNING”
Soon your beloved friend will join the march on the golden streets,
He is left to rectify his mistakes and set God’s work in proper order.
GOOD NIGHT MYLET, GOOD NIGHT.
By Nicholas Bhengu.