In this sermon, the speaker begins by acknowledging the presence of God and the significance of every individual's life. They express gratitude for Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and pray for blessings upon the listeners. The speaker then discusses the purpose and origins of their work, emphasizing the importance of rest and sharing personal experiences. They recount a story of a woman with a possessed daughter who exhibits supernatural strength and destructive behavior. Despite the mother's frustration, she resists harming her daughter and seeks help. The speaker concludes by highlighting the impact of spiritual practices on the community and the need for divine intervention.

Lord Jesus, we want to acknowledge this morning even your hand in our being here. Nothing just happens by accident. You said that not one hair will fall from our heads without our Father. And that you've not only counted the hair upon our head but that you've numbered them and that each hair has got its number. We thank you that you died for us on the cross. And we pray that as we are together, you would bless each one of us. Amen. I've been asked to speak a bit about the work. First of all, what we are doing here. And secondly, how it started. Now, if I may start with and begin with the second question, how it started. And then I'd like to share with you something about my own life and how things led up to the beginning of the work and how this work was born. And then if we've got the time, how things still carry on. God is a sovereign God. He works as he likes. Hebert Netzels' Hebel. Nobody can dictate to him. He is God. He knew us even before the foundations of this world were laid. And that's why I say it's not just by chance that we are here together this morning. Nobody amongst us chose to be a boy or chose to be a girl and to be born in this time. If I look back into my life, I can see clearly the hand of God. Today I understand. Years ago I didn't understand. Years ago I said, but why? Why should it be like this? And when I was a little boy, I don't know how old I was, maybe two years old, I climbed upon a table and there was a chair upon the table and then upon the chair. And then the next thing, I must have dived down and had head injuries. For days they thought I was dead. And for the rest of my life, till I was about 16 years old, maybe every second or third day, I had to be at the doctor with a terrible pain in my head. As soon as I studied, I got a terrible pain. At that time I couldn't understand it. That's a handicap if you can be at school only half of the time. And I liked doing sports and running. And then we raced on dangerous tracks. My parents had many pigsties and they were built out of big stones. And then we'd run races. So the one would run at the back of the pigstie and I said, I run where the gates are. And then one had to jump. Two steps and jump and two steps and jump. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. Running was a part of my life. And because of doing all these things, there'd always be an accident. I've got scars all over, on my head here, where I dived when we ran those races, dived into this brick wall and got the blow here under my chin. So I was lights out without being in the boxing ring. And then at school playing football and running with the ball and there was only one brick wall on the other side of the field. And I got onto the ball somehow and then dived into this brick wall. And everything that could happen would happen to me. Eventually, the doctor said, I should stop carrying on at school. A thing I couldn't understand. I wanted to carry on, but I couldn't. I couldn't learn so far as I wanted to. But today I know why. Then my friends would come back from school and then they'd tell me stories. They'd, after the holidays, they'd come back and say, men, you know, we've been together with our other friends and the one boy told me with how many girls he had sex during the holidays. The one boy had sex with three girls, another one with two girls. And it would shake me to my core. Today I'm thankful that God got me out of such a world that he had to use the means he used. Because who knows, maybe I would have got into that as well. In the meantime, our minister got converted. Strange things happened, accidents do happen, I told you. Now, I don't know what you say, whether that's an accident as well, if a minister gets converted. We had a minister who was a brilliant man up here, a genius. He studied overseas and at that theological college he was the first one who ever had such results. And I don't know whether after him ever reached the point he reached to. But it was by accident that he went there as well. He was a little boy and was unhappy. And he grew up and he thought, if I become a minister, Danselectif Freirevious, then he'll have peace in his heart. So, he went overseas to study. Studied seven years. And after he finished his study, he says he's going to come back to Africa to, he was from South Africa, to become a missionary here. And the professor said, my! Don't waste your time. What do you want in Africa? Africa doesn't need such people. He says, no, I'm going back to Africa. He says, but why? What are you going to do there? So he says, you know, all the bananas are crooked and I'm going to straighten them. So, they said, well, then you go. We can't help you then. And when he was a missionary, he preached. You know, I've never heard a preacher preaching like him. We usually fell asleep in church when the preachers preached. But when he preached, we were wide awake. And then after, then he found that that didn't satisfy him as well. So he was transferred to a white congregation, where we were. And then he didn't have peace in his heart. So he said to himself, I've got to preach more. I've got to work harder. So he preached more than any other minister we knew. But that didn't satisfy him as well. So, eventually, he didn't feel very well. He went to a Jewish doctor, who was an unbeliever. He didn't believe in Jesus Christ. And after thorough examination, the doctor shook his head. He said, look, you're right at the end. If you carry on like this, you'll have a nervous breakdown soon. You'll have to stop completely for three months. You dare not preach. You've got to have complete rest. Oh, and that was so humbling. Because he always said, these nervous people, there's something not right with them spiritually. And now it happened to him. And the doctor said, look, you dare not preach for three months. He said, but it is strange that you Christians fear death to such an extent. He said, I've noticed it. He said, I tell you this confidentially. There are many Christian people that come to me. And one thing I notice, that Christians fear to die. And they say they believe in the Messiah. He says, it doesn't make sense to me. We Christians will do anything that we can, possibly care not to die. Although we say we're going home. The journey home should be the best one. I remember when I was overseas the first time. And eventually the time came when I could go home. My, what a trip it was. If you're away from home for a while, and then you can go home. That's the best trip to go home. We call heaven our home, but we dread that. We'll try to do anything in the world that will save us from going home. Maybe it's because we're not sure where we're going. And so he went home, and he told his wife what the doctor had said. And he says, look, I can't believe that there isn't one person in the whole universe that can't help me. Surely there should be one. Even if all are wrong. Won't there be one person who can help me? I'm lacking something. I'm not satisfied. I haven't got perfect peace. But I don't know what it is. I became a minister. I'm preaching. I'm doing everything as good as I can. But I'm the most unhappy person. He says, even if I've got to go around the world, surely there'll be one who can help me. And then he had a certain person in mind who lived in Pretoria. He was an evangelist at that time. Later he turned out to be an ordained minister. And some years ago he passed away. So he made up his mind. He went into his car. He said goodbye to his wife. He says, I don't know when I'll be back. But I'm determined to go around the world till I find one person who can show me the way. He got as far as Pretoria, and he looked up this man, this evangelist. Now at that time, that evangelist wasn't very popular. People spoke many things, many evil things about him. He wasn't a famous person. People didn't like him. They spoke many things about him. May I tell you now, that if people just talk well of you, then there's something wrong with you. The Lord Jesus says, woe to them. Woe. Now if Jesus says, woe to a person, I don't think that that person is heaven bound. Woe to those of whom everyone speaks well. When there is truly a man of God, you must expect that the devil and his hosts will be against him. And people will speak a lot of lies. If people don't speak evil of something and someone, then don't waste your time on such a place or such people. There's nothing on the go. If the devil is fast asleep, then you can be asleep as well. Don't even go to the place. But if people go against it, that's usually a good sign. And now he was desperate. He says, well, in spite of what people have said, I'm going to go to this man. And he visited him. And they sat down and started chatting. Now he didn't want to just reveal to this man his true state and the way he felt. So they started talking. And as they spoke, he realized that this person's Greek wasn't as good as his. And he thought, man, what can this person tell me? Because I've got a better knowledge than what he has got. I'm better educated than this man. And then he was disappointed to find out that his Hebrew knowledge was worse than his. And that it wasn't as good as his. And then in his heart he said, oh my, this person can't tell me anything. How can a person whom you look down upon help you? But that man was a man of God and he could pray. And as they sat there, this man suddenly said, can't we pray? And they went down on their knees and they prayed. And this evangelist prayed. You see, some people you can't help. They know everything better. And then you can't help a person because they're satisfied. You can bring the best meal and put it before a person if he's not hungry. Then he's not interested. That's why the Lord Jesus said, blessed are those that hunger and thirst. So this man just went down. All he could do was pray. And he prayed. That's one of the greatest weapons we've got. And he said, Lord Jesus, you know the need of this man. Please meet with that need. And this man said, as he was on his knee, all of a sudden the words made sense to him. Behold, I stand at the door and I look. If any man hears my voice and opens, I'll come into him. And suddenly he saw what Jesus wants us to see when he says, behold. Then he wants us to open our eyes and look. And he says, suddenly he realized that Jesus was outside and not inside. And all that he knew was just a head knowledge. Jesus was there and not in his heart. And there on his knees, he says, Lord Jesus, please come into my heart. And that miracle happened. Immediately he left Pretoria and came back to us next Sunday. He was on the pulpit, preaching. And it was like a brand new person. Everyone in the congregation noticed that something had happened to this man. And as he preached, I realized, that's the Jesus I need. You see, we were church people. We were forced. Religion was just drummed down our throats. Forced down. And I said, when I'm grown up, I'll throw it overboard. Every Sunday we had to be in church, at church. And we wanted to play football and play tennis. But then all our parents forced us to go into church. And the only way of escape was to lie. Then I tell them I'm sick. And I worked out many plans just to lie, to say I've got a terrible headache. I'm not feeling well. One day I got so wise, I took the thermometer and I thought, well, I'll say I'm running a temperature. So I took the kettle and poured some boiling water on the thermometer. And then it just melted. And I said, Ma, what am I going to tell them now? What's happened to this thermometer, you see? By hook or by crook. I didn't want to go to church, you see. And then if we'd have a good tummy ache, then we'd get off with it. And I said, all right, you can stay at home. As soon as they're gone, I'm gone as well and we play football or do something else. And that was our life. And then when this minister got converted and he came back and told us what had happened to him, I realized, my, I need Jesus as well because I'm lying to my parents. I'm arguing with my brothers. We were five boys. And we'd come back from church after Holy Communion. And on the way home, after we had Communion, one felt so well, you know. And before we got home, we had an argument already. The one would say this and the other one would say that. And I'd feel defiled. And I said, oh my, now I'm back into that old thing again. And then I'd even be disobedient to my parents. My father would say something. And I'd talk back to him. I'd just tell him what I thought. And then afterwards, God would tell me, what about that disobedience? What about not respecting your parents? The Bible says, honour your father and mother that it will be well with you. And that your days will be lengthened. And then, I was so sorry in my heart. You see, there was this sin problem. And I'd say, Lord, I'll never be disobedient again. Lord, I'll never do this again. And the next thing, the devil was on top of me again. And when this man got converted and he told us that he had found the Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus had found him and that he had opened the door of his heart, I said, man, that's the thing I need. And I remember the day in our church, we used to stand up when prayers were offered and when we prayed. We'd just stand up. And I remember how I stood up that day. And I said, Lord Jesus, come into my heart. From that day on, nobody had to force me to go into church again. Oh, I wanted to go there and it was a punishment if I couldn't go. And one thing which I didn't like was reading. Oh, I didn't like to read books. I just read when I had to read. But when after the Lord Jesus had come into my heart, I couldn't get enough of the Bible. Every free moment I had, I'd read the Bible. It was sweeter than honey to me. There was nothing like it. I even got a small testament which I could put into this pocket. Wherever I was, whether I drove in the lorry or on the tractor or whatever I was, I'd read my Bible. Wherever I was, I'd take my Bible with me. Although I was still ashamed. I remember once after I had got to the station waiting for the train. We had to cart some things to the shop. The train was late. And when I had a few moments, I took my testament out and got my testament out and read. And then a black man came, looked through the window. And he says, hey, what are you reading there? Are you reading the Bible? And I said, no, it's not the Bible. This is just another book. He says, no, you're reading the Bible. Luckily it was in German, so he didn't know German. And I said, no, this isn't the Bible. You see, I was so ashamed of it. I'd always hide my Bible. And he says, no, that's the Bible. I said, no, look, read. You can't read what's written here. That's not the Bible. I told a lie. You see, I was a good Christian. Good Christians tell lies, can't they? Yes. Even if they're not good Christians, but we Christians, we're very good at it. Even the heathen know it. They say, you don't become a Christian because Christians are unreliable and they tell lies. And they're very fond of the opposite sex. That's what they say. And the promises in the Bible were so fantastic. I'd read, I'd learn chapters off by heart. John 15, for instance. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask whatever you like and it will be given to you. I could ponder on those things for hours. I said, if that would be the only verse and the only word in the Bible, that book would be worth more than all the treasures in this world. It's worth more than all the gold, all the silver, anything in this world. I said, Lord Jesus, is it possible that we can live a life where we can pray and we have the answer? I said, there's nothing like it. No success can be so great. Sports was my idol. Tennis was my idol. And I won't tell you what aimed my head in my head. But when I read God's word, I said, this is sweeter than anything else. There's nothing like it. And then I'd read in John 16, up till now you haven't asked anything in my name. Ask so that you'll receive, so that your joy may be full. That your joy may be full. At my father's place, the whole district gathered. The dance floor was at our home. Where four weeks before the party would be there, people would polish the floor to prepare it for that dance. People would booze at those dances. They'd dance till morning hours. But I didn't know joy. And then I read in the Bible, you'll be able to pray, receive the answer, so that your joy shall be full. Perfect joy. And peace, not as the world gives, but as God gives. You know, when I made a study of what Christ said, I said, there's nothing like it. And I said, God, if I could only have that life. The time came in my life when my parents, the rest of the family went visiting. I always had an excuse, I wanted to stay at home. Some people like to go and it doesn't suit them if they got to stay behind. I looked for times, and I lied for times, when I could be alone. Just to be alone. Because when everybody was away and I was alone, then I'd have a glorious time. I'd be on my knees. I'd sing. I'd take the hymn book and I'd sing. I'd take the Bible and I'd read. And it was like heaven on earth. I'd weep on my knees. I said, oh Lord Jesus, I love you. And that life which you have got for me, that's the life I want to live. And then I'd read, just as the Father has sent me, I send you into the world. And I'd read, what did the Lord Jesus do? I'd read of his ministry, how he taught the people, how he healed them, what he said. And my, I said, Lord, that's the life I'd like to live as well. I'd read in John 14, if you believe, verily, verily, he says, if you believe in me, the works I do, you will do also. And greater works than these. Verily, verily, I say to you, I say to you. The works which I do, he will do also. And you, I'd go through my Bible and I'd say, what did the Lord Jesus do? And I said, Lord Jesus, does that mean, if I believe in you, then I'll be able to do those things as well. And everybody, every man is a liar. But let God be true. He's the faithful and true witness, he can't lie, that's one thing Jesus can't do. He keeps his word. And then I'd read, in all these things, we are more than conquerors. In other words, to be a Christian, as the Bible says, can't be expressed in words what it is like. In English, there's no English word, there's no word in the English language that can describe what a Christian is like. He's not a conqueror. He's not victorious. He's not a victor. He's something more than a conqueror. I wonder whether your life is indescribable. There it says, his blood washes us whiter than snow. Not as white as snow, whiter than snow. Do you see, the Christian life is something supernatural. It's something you can't measure. You can't measure the height, the depth, the breadth of it. It reaches further than any language can reach. That's what a Christian life should be like. We are only sorry that Christianity has sunk to the lowest depths, that even Christian boys can come back to school and then they tell us with how many girls they had sex. Worse than the heathen. And then I said, Lord Jesus, that's the life I'd like to live. But then I didn't realise what was going to happen. Soon after that, I felt a call into the ministry. Oh my, you know when Jesus comes into your heart, everything changes. For me, the worst thing in the world was to be a teacher. I hope there are no teachers here. You see, my wife was a teacher. And she knows that I say so. And I said, that's the worst thing. But to be a preacher was still worse. And I said, no, that's one thing I'd never be. Never. Just to preach an hour or two on Sundays. Luckily they make it very short nowadays. To entertain people in church. And then just to baptise, to marry and to bury the people. I thought, no, that's nothing for me. And our ministers even wore dark clothes, you see. Dark clothes. And I said, no, that's nothing for me. And then I felt the call into the ministry. And to make a long story short, I haven't got time for that. I went through hell. You can't go through hell here. But that's just humanly speaking. It was like hell to me here on earth. Today I don't wish anybody to go through such a place. You see, I was stubborn. I was pig-headed. You know what a pig is like. You pull it by its tail backwards and it goes forwards. You push it and then it goes backwards. Or I go against the stream. You see. So we haven't only got something in common with the monkeys but with the pigs as well. I'm surprised that the evolutionists don't get on to the pigs too. That's where we got our mind from, you see. Maybe the skull from the ape and the brains from a pig. And I was disobedient. And I said, God, I'm prepared to do anything. But I can't do that. You see. For 18 months I learnt the lesson that disobedience costs much more than that of obedience. Just look into the face of a person who is disobedient, then you know what it's like. And you can't fight God. You can't. You're fighting a losing battle. We tell the Zulus, you can't fight God. He can't run into his hut and take his esagai, his kiri, and his diks, and his slangu, his shield, his skin shield, and fight the sun. Even if he's got a gun, he can shoot at the sun, but the bullet will go till it's tired and come back to where he is. And you can't even fight with a rock. You can hit your sticks to pieces. But that rock just gazes at you till you sit down and wipe the sweat off your brow. You can't fight God. It's a fool. And he's a fool who goes against God. Jesus said to Saul, it will be difficult for you to kick against the pricks. And if you kick against pricks, you don't hurt the pricks, you hurt your foot. You hurt yourself. So if we go against God, we don't hurt him, so to say, but we hurt ourselves. Although it causes him pain if we go against him. And till eventually I said, yes. All right, God, I'm prepared. But I said, God, on one condition. If I have to go and study, and if I've got to preach, then on one condition. I don't want to play church. You said, as the Father sent you, you sent us. Even if I don't preach in the churches, if I've got to preach on the mountains. All right, because you did it, Lord. The people in the churches in the Lord's time didn't like him very much. The scribes and the Pharisees. The Pharisees were, in our language, the saved ones. The people that are saved. Today, if I say you're a Pharisee, it's like a swear word, you see. But in those times, to understand it correctly, it's like being a child of God. Being born again. Being saved. And those people went against the Lord Jesus. You see, because he told them many things they didn't want to hear. And we people don't like it. If a preacher preaches the way we don't like it, he's got to go. If he doesn't go, then we go. And we go to those people that speak that what we like. Those are the right ones. And I said, Lord Jesus, if I've got to preach, then I want to be a preacher like you. But I never thought of the place, you see. I didn't know that a non-white was a human being. I'm not bluffing you. I really didn't know it. I was ignorant of the fact. I didn't know that a non-white had feelings like we. And that he was a human being like we are. No. We'd hit them. We'd kick them. We'd sway at them. And the Zulus were just keffers to me. So, I never thought that I'd ever preach to non-whites. I just thought to whites, you see. Now, I say, when Jesus comes into our heart, everything is revolutionized. Everything is back to front. And to the wrong direction. And after I had studied, the Lord opened the doors to the Zulus. Well, then I said, Lord, because I love you, I'll do it. And I went. And I told you that I said I don't want to play church. I want to preach the real thing. And then, I did that. Now, you know, it can be quite easy to preach to the blacks. You just tell them, look, you go to hell with your ancestral worship. If you worship the spirits of the dead, that's wrong. You've got to get converted. You see, you just hit straight from the shoulder. But if you've got whites, we're so well-mannered and so well-educated that we can only touch a person with gloves. Ladies' gloves, not boxers' gloves. And be very careful that we don't tread upon anybody's toes. So, I always used to tell preachers that have white congregations, I said, I feel sorry for you. They say, oh, it's not easy to preach to whites. I remember a white minister here along the north coast, I won't tell you why, away. He asked me once, he says, Erlo, tell me, when you preach, do you ever touch on sin? I said, well, brother, my vocabulary isn't very well, and that's why I suppose I've got to preach about sin. And I haven't got so many words to preach about other things. So he says, you know, it's very difficult for me. If I just touch on sin, the people move on their benches. I said, well, maybe for us missionaries it's still easier. You know, we can just tell them the truth. And say, look, you've got to do this, and if you don't do this, well, then you're on a dangerous path. If a person drinks, then we say, look, you're hellbound, flirting around with girls. But one can't tell a European that, can one? You'd be on dangerous ground to say something if they say it. No, it's good, you learn to know the opposite sex, you see. Go as far as possible, but don't go too far, you see. That's why people live together today before they marry, to adjust to each other and to know what kind of a person that is like. That's where all that leads to. But I was a missionary for 12 years. After 12 years, I was at the end. And these 12 years, there were many things that I experienced. You see, when I started, the Bible was so thrilling, so wonderful to me, and I shared this with people, and I preached it as the Bible says. And afterwards, I found out it doesn't work like that, you see. And then when it didn't work like this, I looked around, you see, and then I heard the American evangelists. They'd say, only believe, only believe. Everything is possible, only believe. You see, doesn't matter what goes on, only believe. And then miracles happen. So, I accepted that only belief theory and teaching, and I said, all right, maybe that's the missing link. And so I made a study, what does the Bible say about belief, about faith, and I preached about it. And I said, if you only believe, anything can happen if you believe. And after I finished, a few people came to me and said, my, that's wonderful if you only believe. Our father is blind, and could you pray for him? We believe that God could heal him. Well, I had to believe as well, because I preached this, you see, that only believe. And they said, can we bring him? I said, well, where is he? They said he's at home. I said, well, look, we won't pray for him during a service, because what can happen if I pray for him and he doesn't get healed, you see, what will the people say? I say, you come before the service, quite a time before the service, you see, and then we're alone and then we pray for him. And then they came, the whole family came with the blind father, the wife, all the sons and the daughters. So I made sure, I said, do you believe? Yes, they believe. And I scraped all my faith together as well, tried to make a big heap of it, as big as possible. So I said, let's pray. And we prayed, and earnestly prayed. When I had finished praying, I looked and he was still blind. You see, it shook me to the core. I said, but why? They were disappointed, I was disappointed. He didn't receive his sight. So I wasn't satisfied with this only believe story. And then another day I preached, and then the Zulus would say, you see, Christianity is the tradition of the whites. It is our God's service. We came with it. They have got their tradition. You see, when somebody dies, he doesn't die, his spirit carries on living. They are like the spiritists. And then they bring offerings and sacrifices for the dead. And the dead are the angels, they take care of them. They have their angels that are with them. You even get Christians and Christian preachers nowadays that talk of an angel, their angel. The heathens have got that as well, that's a certain spirit with them. And then this spirit is their angel, and guards them, and keeps them. If you didn't understand that correctly when I say some Christians, I can't expound on that. Then please come after the meeting and ask me what I meant for it. Otherwise, we haven't got time to cover everything. And I prayed and I said, Oh God, please work and grant that these people will be persuaded and get converted and be convinced that Christianity is not just the white man's religion, the Zulus say Jesus is the white man's God. They've got their gods. And they say we have got our gods. We've got the Father, we've got the Son, we've got the Holy Spirit. And they said, yes, Christianity is good. Look, you've educated us, you've built schools for us, you've brought the western civilization, and we've benefited a lot. But they say, it's not good enough. We still have got to kill the cows and the goats and put the skin around our arms, you see. We've still got to do that. And that would break my heart. I said, no, Jesus is enough. We don't need another sacrifice. Jesus was the sacrifice. And then I started in the Old Testament, I said, God, please give me the wisdom to persuade these people and convince them that Jesus isn't just the white man's God, but that he's the saviour of all mankind. I started in the Old Testament, all the verses, I prepared my message nicely, I tried to make it foolproof, that nobody will be able to get away. Just to prove to them that Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, nobody will get to the Father, not the Mohammedans, not the Hindus. It's just Jesus. When I had finished, there were a couple of hundred Zulus, when I had finished, an old mother came, and she says, tell me, is it true what you've told us? I said, of course, I wouldn't tell you lies. Even if I told lies, I didn't want to tell them in church, you see, while I preach. She said, no, it's the truth. And she says, is Jesus the white man's God alive? I said, yes. Is he still the same as you told us? I said, yes. She says, can you make contact with him? Can you speak to him? I said, yes, you as well. That's what we call pray. Everybody can pray. She says, oh, I'm so glad that I've at last found a person who worships the living God. You know, my grown-up daughter is mentally deranged. She's mad. Will you please ask your God to heal her? Oh, my. And I was clean bowled. And through this message, I had just cornered myself. And I said, what a fool I was. I didn't even leave a loophole. How will I get out of this awkward situation? What will I do now? I thought, well, if I'd have schoolchildren like you and students, educated whites, then we could talk business and sense. I would only ask you, are you sure it's God's will that she should get healed? Then I'm out of it. I'm away, you see. Or I'll ask you, isn't it the cross you've got to bear? Everybody has got to bear a cross. Now, are you sure this isn't a cross? Or isn't it God's time? Are you sure it's God's time? God has got a time for everything. He's got an eternal plan. He's got a time. Those are all truths we find in the Bible. But now, the simple woman, if I ask her these questions, in her simplicity, she'll just be confused. You see? She's too childish. In the meantime, the truth is, she wasn't childish. She was childlike, what we've all got to be. And I was the childish one. We've got to be childlike, not childish. And there's a world of a difference between these two things. So I couldn't show her that I was at a loss, you see? So I had to act very calmly, you see? Discipline myself. Act quite cool. So I said, well, where is your daughter? Is she here? No, she's at home. Oh. I said, if she'd be here, then I'd have a look at her. Maybe we could pray together. So where is she? She's at home. How far is it? Can we get there by car? She says, halfway. Then we've got to walk. I said, alright, I'll finish off here. And then I'll come with you. And then we go there. On the way, as we walked, she told me she's a widow for the last four years. She's got only one son who works in Durban. She's living with her daughter-in-law. You see, the blacks do many things we whites don't. The daughter-in-laws still live with the mother-in-laws there. And she said, I'm just living with my daughter-in-law. And this mad girl. When we got there and I looked into the hut, I said, but you didn't tell me half, not a fraction of what I see. There I saw this grown-up girl bound with wire on both arms to the center pole of the hut. And this wire had cut deeply into the flesh, both arms. The blood was flowing. There were scars as well, pointing to the fact that this wasn't just a new thing. And I said, how long has she been bound to the pole like that? She says, for the last three weeks. I said, but why don't you use a rim or something soft? She says, we've tried. But she's got supernatural strength and she just breaks it into pieces. And she says, when she runs around, we can't catch her again. She goes into the neighbor's fields, into the gardens. She just plucks out everything. The mealies in the fields, the cabbages. The whole neighborhood is up in arms. The men come with their sticks, with their dogs. They beat her, they chase her. She runs into the mountains. She says then, I don't know what's happened to my daughter. For days she's gone. It rains, it drizzles, it's cold. She says, do you know what it means to a mother to have a daughter like that? With tears in her eyes. She says, sometimes I feel as if I could just take a knife and just cut her throat. But she says, then there's something telling me, don't do it, that's a terrible crime. She says, then she contemplates suicide and thinks whether she could just make an end of her life. She says, because if nothing happens, I'll go off my head. It's just too much for me. But then the thought arises, what will happen of her daughter? She doubts whether her daughter-in-law would be prepared to look after this maid-daughter. She says, then the time she comes back naked, she just tears her dress to pieces. Runs around naked. Runs into the schools. The children fly out of the windows. They scream. And the principal calls the teachers together, the school board, and they say, something has got to be done about this. She was very vicious. There's a co-worker here that has got this huge scar on her arm where this girl had bit her. And she'd just bite. It would be like lockjaw. She wouldn't let go again. And others had to come, throw her onto the ground, and put something in between her teeth. Because she'd just bite anybody, like a dog, and wouldn't let go again. And in the meantime, she would speak in a strange language, which wasn't known to the others. Non-stop, day and night, she'd just speak in a strange tone. And then, the mother told me, she says, look at the cattle crawl. The cattle crawls are in the centre, and the hoods around the crawl. And she says, look, there isn't a beast left, isn't a goat left. Everything that hadn't been sacrificed to the spirits had to be sold to the witch doctors, or sold to pay the witch doctors and the witches and the sangomas. She says, I'm at the end. She says, but then suddenly she smiled with the tears. I can still see that smile, although that happened years ago. She says, I'm so glad that I found a person who serves the living God. Now there is hope in my heart that my daughter will be healed. It was like a dagger through my heart. I cried in my heart, and I said, oh God, can't you do something about this? You helped Daniel in the lion's den. You shut the mouth of the lion. You saved the three men in the fiery furnace. And they walked around in the fire, with the fourth man in the fire. And that was Jesus himself. I said, oh Lord Jesus, couldn't you do it again? In days of old, when men of God were faced with such a challenge, God intervened. I said, God, couldn't you please do it again? I went to three or four of my colleagues and shared this with them. And I said, would you be prepared that we come together and we pray for this girl? Maybe God will save her. We're praying for a revival, that God will pour out His Spirit. Maybe this is the match. This is just the matchstick that will kindle the fire that it will burn. The whole tribe knows this girl, from the chief to the least. And if this girl will get healed, maybe the whole tribe will get converted. They said, alright, we're prepared to leave everything. We'll pray. I went to my parents quickly on the farm in the Dalton area. And I said, could I get a room where we could keep this girl while we pray for her? They said, gladly. We'd nicely furnish the room with a few men. We went to fetch this girl. There had to be quite a few, otherwise she'd jump out of the car. There had to be people to control her, because she was so strong that a few men, at times, had to be present to control her. So with high hopes and expectation, we went, told the mother we've come to fetch the daughter. We'll pray for her. Now the whole tribe knew the Christians are going to pray for this girl. And that preacher said, our tradition is wrong. We shouldn't sacrifice to the spirits. We shouldn't go to the witch doctors. We shouldn't go to the witches. We are all wrong and the Christians are right. They said, we want to see what the Christians can do about it. So it was a real challenge. We took her home to my parents' place, to the room. She had hardly entered the room and she started throwing the chairs around, breaking them, turning the table upside down, and we had to remove all the furniture. We just left the bed. And then she wanted to pull the bed apart, the springs. So we had to remove the bed and we just left it fancy. A grass mat with a blanket. After a few hours, that room looked like a pigsty. Not with one pig, but with many pigs. Just about every window pane was broken in the window. She'd stand with her bare feet on the concrete floor, as if somebody was banging that floor with a sledgehammer. You could hear it 50, 100 yards away. She'd sing her satanic hymns. Some Christians told me, just plead the blood. If you plead the blood, the devil fears and flies. But the devil didn't fear, didn't fly. She even sang mockery songs, only as the devil can do it. Blaspheming the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And making fun of Jesus' death on the cross. It was terrible. You'd go to that room any time of the day or night and you'd find her like that. Singing those satanic songs. And we'd pray. And she'd just laugh and mock. We prayed for three weeks. After three weeks she wasn't healed. I was just about a nervous wreck. I was at the end. In these weeks, days and nights, we prayed and we said, Oh God, for your name's sake, heal her. Not our name is at stake, but your name is at stake. What are the heathens going to say about Christ? Undertake, Lord. But nothing happened. After three weeks, I said, now I feel like the evolutionists. I can share that if there are some of them amongst our midst, brothers or sisters, I can share with you what it means to believe such nonsense. Looking for a missing link, unable to find it. And I said, but the Bible says so. Knock, it will be opened. Ask, you'll receive. But it doesn't happen. There must be a missing link somewhere. When Professor Smith, years ago, found the Culicans, they had hopes that that's the missing link, you see, only to be disappointed again. And I said, I'm feeling like the evolutionists must feel. From that time on, I couldn't believe anymore that this Bible is really God's Word. You see, I would say, yes, part of it, but not everything. Some of it is true, but it can't be true from curve to curve. It can't be inspired. Impossible. You see, because what I experience counted more than what the Bible says. And I said, it can't be true because my experience contradicts it. And I'd be the fool on the throne, and I'd judge what is true and what isn't true. Everything I couldn't understand, everything that wouldn't fit into my little brain box, I would brush aside and say, no. Everything I couldn't explain, everything that couldn't, wouldn't go according to my feeling, I'd brush aside and say, it's not true. And I said, I'll never be such a fool again. Now I had to take that girl back to her mother, tell her she isn't saved. I prayed, I said, God, now send me somebody else. I can't face these people again. How can I tell them the Bible is true and it isn't true? How can I tell them God answers prayer and He doesn't? I said, I've got to be honest with them. I can't preach something that doesn't work. And then I've got to be honest with myself. I've got a heart as well, and I've got a conscience as well. I've got to be honest with myself. I can't just carry on bluffing others and trying to bluff myself. And then God, I don't know whether it was just by chance or whether it was an answer to prayer or whether it was just His grace, took me away from New Hanover District and sent me to Ladysmith area. And I said, I'll never be such a fool again. Whenever you preach, see to it that there's a loophole and that that hole is big enough for you to get out, that you won't get stuck again as you did before. So another six years I preached like that, till twelve years had passed by on the mission field. And after twelve years I was at the end of myself. And I said, what did I say in the beginning? I won't play church. What did I do? It's all a big game. And then I said, no, I can't carry on like this. Now I've spoken so long already, it's 12.30. I think you need a rest. I see some are a bit sleepy. Well, now you can have a break. And if you'd like to rest, you rest as well. The gong will go on. I always say I rather have people sleeping on their beds than sleeping here while I speak. You see, you have a rest. Maybe you had a late night. You had no rest. And you have a good rest now. At one o'clock you'll hear the gong. We'll have something to eat. And then as soon as we can again, we'll come together. And then I'll tell you how this work was born, what happened after that. Shall we pray? We thank you, Lord Jesus, that we can come together in such a way and share out of our own experiences what you have done and how things have gone. And may this time not be in vain. Grant that it will be of profit to everyone and that it will be a memorable day. To your glory. Amen.