The Sanctifying Spirit of God
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
d
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)
The Bible school Bhengu attended was not Pentecostal. It was an evangelical institution and it left its mark on Bhengu in its ethical teachings and emphasis on holy living in obedience to the Holy Spirit. Bhengu often used to comment on what he considered were the ethical shortcomings of his Pentecostal confreres. His experience of the Holy Spirit was not only in charismatic acts of power, but in the area of conduct too.
Once, dressed in his
Sunday suit, Bible under his arm, he was walking in the streets of Kimberley
on his way to church. Along the road came trundling a man on a bicycle.
He was drunk. Because he was drunk, his mouth was full of spittle. For
whatever reason, who knows, as he came level with Bhengu he let fly a
gob of spittle which caught Bhengu’s jacket.
Nicholas Bhengu was a big man. In an eruption of rage he stepped forward
to pull the man off his bicycle. As he expressed it, “I would trample
him like an elephant!”
“
All at once” he says, grasping his shirt-front, “something
took me here”. A voice spoke in his heart, “Who are you representing?” He
quietly took out a handkerchief and cleaned his jacket while the drunk
man on the bicycle teetered unsteadily on his way unaware of how close
he had been to drastic retribution.
There is another occasion when the Spirit dealt with Bhengu’s heart.
He was a young man and somebody had given him a car, a great experience
for anybody. In his elation he set out from Durban to motor to Johannesburg
with his wife, Mylet and Mr and Mrs Alfred Gumede, his friends. At Pietermaritzburg
he remembered that he needed a cake of soap. He parked his car and went
into a department store to buy the cake of soap. Serving at the counter
was a young woman. Seeing Bhengu she said abruptly, “Yes, boy, what
do you want?” What gratuitous discourtesy!
Bhengu’s gorge rose. “Madam” he said, “I’m
not a boy. In fact, I’m older than you are. In any case, I am a customer
whom you are called upon to serve.” The young woman paled with rage.
Her teeth literally chattered with anger. The floor manager noticed that
something was amiss and intervened. He gave Bhengu his soap. Bhengu in
turn selected from his wallet the largest note he had, ostentatiously counted
his change, and sauntered out of the store twirling his car keys on his
forefinger, whistling insouciently to himself. The very picture of insolence.
Back in his car, his friends voiced their approval. “Jolly good!
You gave her just what she needed”. But at the same time he felt
something was amiss. He drove on his way up Town Hill out of Pietermaritzburg
on to Howick. As he drew into Howick, he stopped, did a U-turn and turned
back to ‘Maritzburg. “I have to go back”, he said.
The young lady blanched when she saw him. The floor manager looked concerned. “Yes?
Yes?” he said. “What’s the problem?” Bhengu answered
with downcast gaze, “Sir” he said, “I have come to apologise.
I’m a Christian; I had no right to speak as I did. Jesus would not
have done it like that. Please forgive me!”
God seems to have used dreams to speak to Bhengu.
When he was a young Christian before he entered the ministry he attended
a church pastored by a lady missionary. He did not like her and he knew
that many in the congregation did not like her either. He came to the point
where he determined that on the next Sunday he would stand up, confront
the lady missionary and invite those who would to come out with him to
form their own congregation. He was determined on this course.
Saturday night came. The next day would be the confrontation. Bhengu had
a dream that night. He saw a gigantic pair of legs surmounted by a torso
which stretched up into the clouds. The head was hidden by the clouds.
He saw himself attacking the legs with a machete and a chopper. He hacked
at them so that the blood spurted and the bone was exposed. Then all at
once the clouds above him parted. He saw the face. It was the face of Jesus
Christ. He was hacking at the body of Christ.
Next morning he rose from sleep, packed his few belongings into his little
suitcase, and crept out of town saying farewell to nobody. By a dream God
had prevented him from committing the grievous sin of destroying part of
the body of Christ, the church.