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Give Thanks Unto the Lord!
Erlo Stegen

Erlo Hartwig Stegen (1935 - 2023). South African missionary and revivalist of German descent, born on Mbalane farm near Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, to Hermannsburg missionary descendants. Raised Lutheran, he left school after grade 10 to farm but felt called to ministry in 1952, evangelizing rural Zulus under apartheid. After 12 years of preaching with few lasting conversions, he experienced a transformative revival in 1966 at Maphumulo, marked by repentance and reported miracles. In 1970, he founded KwaSizabantu Mission (“place where people are helped”) in Kranskop, which grew into a self-sustaining hub with farms, a water bottling plant, and schools, serving thousands. Stegen authored Revival Among the Zulus and preached globally, establishing churches in Europe by 1980. Married with four daughters, he mentored Zulu leaders and collaborated with theologian Kurt Koch. His bold preaching drew 3 million visitors to KwaSizabantu over decades.
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Sermon Summary
In this sermon, the speaker shares their personal testimony of how they came to the school in 1996 due to a desperate situation after losing their mother at a young age. They express their initial hatred towards others but later experienced a transformation through their faith in God. The speaker emphasizes the importance of heeding the Gospel and not suppressing the truth. They also challenge the listeners to speak words that build others up rather than tear them down. The sermon references Romans 1:18 and highlights the need to be fully identified with Christ and learn to suffer with Him.
Sermon Transcription
Lord, our prayers are directed at you, the almighty God, the Lord of hosts. Great is your salvation, and your glory, and your royalty, and your kingship is so high and so uplifted and is unlimited. We cannot get to know it, we cannot find it all out. We praise thee, our God. Be with us now. Let this service, Lord, be in your hands. Work so that it would dawn upon all. For, Lord, we know that thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. And, Lord, we want to be in that kingdom now. Amen. Yesterday you heard how DSS began. You saw the slides? I'd like to ask some of the learners that they should share with us, and let's hear from them. That they've heard what the original goal and vision was, what do they say? What is their response? So I'm going to leave it over to them now. After that, when they've finished, then I'll close. Thank you. I'm so grateful for this opportunity I receive, as today is a day of thanks and of praise. I'm so grateful to God that he organized it, that we should have a school such as this. I don't know what my life would have become. I think it would have all come to an end long ago. I was thinking earlier on today what the Lord has done for me all these past years. I took a pen and paper and began to write down, but so much came to me, and I filled so many pages that I decided, no, let me just leave it and just speak spontaneously of what the Lord has done. There is much, and my heart bubbles over, overflows, but I'm going to just try and make a summary of it. I came to this school in 1996. I was sent here not because I wanted to, but my relatives realized that I was in a desperate situation. I was on the edge, and I needed help. What had happened was, when I was nine years old at the time, I'd lost my mother recently. She was dearly loved to me, and it was an awful blow. So when I was orphaned at that age, I felt totally deserted, as if though I was all alone in the world, and I developed a hatred for just everybody. When others would try and tell me something, I automatically rejected it. I didn't want to be spoken to. Life was just terrible for me. We had TV in the home, even though we were meant to be a Christian family, and I would do all sorts of terrible things with my friends, even though I was only nine years old. My aunt said, it's better that I come to this school, otherwise I'll never get anywhere. I was a very troublesome child. I was especially against those who truly took their faith seriously, and I said they're acting holier than thou. I was a nuisance to the teachers and to the aunties at the hostel. There were times when I could appear better, but I was really bad. At home, they began to feel that there was no hope for me. They didn't know what they could do to try and change me. Sometimes I'd just storm out of the house. I began to think that it's better to be dead than to live such a life on earth. I thought, well, I'm so small, I don't know how one does it. How does one kill oneself if you're so young? I began to fantasize about perhaps the car or the vehicle in which we were traveling back to school would overturn and be in a crash, and then I would die that way. I would wish for death by lightning. If there was a storm, I would hope that the lightning would strike our house and that I would be dead with them all. Now, both things happened. Both incidents happened. I remember correctly, we were at home, and we got together some of our relatives and got into a vehicle to go and visit someone else, some friends. We met with a terrible accident. Somehow, none of us were injured, although both cars were write-offs. But amazingly enough, I was the one, when in that accident, I just cried out and said, no, I don't want to die, don't let me die. At home, they would beg me to give my life to the Lord, to open my heart to Jesus, to come in. But I thought, no, I can't do that. At such a young age, it would just be the end of the world for me. Then, there was a storm. And then, it also happened that there was a storm at home. We were all in a little room, singing. It was like a ball of fire when the lightning struck, and it seemed to come straight for me. I was the one who got off worst with that lightning. Right through my leg, it turned white. I thought that was the end. Some neighbours rushed us to hospital. And we survived. And amazingly enough, many had been killed by lightning in that very storm, but the Lord protected me, I didn't die. Again, I saw, I need to change, I need to do it. But somehow, I was just pulled back. Now, in 2002, remember, I had originally come in 1996. I began to see just a little bit, just a glimpse of the necessity for me to be changed. And as I looked at our teacher, I liked the teacher, I didn't know why. One day, the teacher called me and spoke to me. I don't know whether I should mention, but let me do it anyway. I think many of you know her, Ms. Hatebe, the one who's from Escort. Even though I cannot say that she changed my life, but the Lord used her as an instrument to change me. She spoke to me, and it was just so clear to me, I had to give my life to the Lord. I've been rescued from death so often, I must give my life to him. I was in a clique at school, and I decided I need to go to each one of that group and apologize to them. I contemplated that, but it was just too enormous for me to think of going and personally apologizing for how I'd lived before, but still, there was that urge. I felt rejected by them, and I continued, I persevered, nevertheless knowing that the Lord loves us, even if this is their response. At home, too, I apologized to my grandmother and the other relatives, and I apologized for the way I had lived in such a terrible way in the past. As I made restitution and put things right, I felt like this burden, this load, which I'd been carrying all the time, like a load of bricks, was being removed brick by brick. Today, I stand here, and I praise God for what he has done, and I beg him to continue with his working in me. It's also made a difference to me academically. I was doing very poorly, and I was struggling. Satan, of course, was messing me up before that. But one thing I seek now is that I would always continue being in a right relationship with the Lord. Not that I have anything between me and the Lord that I am conscious of. I always put it right, and I want to continue in that way. It concerns me that there are many young people. I'm also young. When I just consider the condition of young people, I feel so terrible for them, and I just don't know what I can do to try and help them. I also regretted the way that I had been in the past. I'd thought that, well, many good things will make up for the wrong things. But I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I don't know what I can do to be able to act differently and be one who wasn't like as bad as I was, but that I'd be a different person. I don't know what I can do to change the lives of other young people. Please pray for me, all of you, that you'll remember me as I serve the Lord, that I would serve him with all my strength. Pray not just for me, but for all the other scholars as well. There are small little children who have been coming to me and they're also seeking the Lord and want to get right with God. Yet there are still some of the older ones who haven't yet turned to the Lord. It would be awful to hear if some of them would be in an accident and lose their lives. And I would say to all of you who are living for the Lord, and maybe you who are still seekers, maybe you're a doubter, you're not yet fully sure, you persevere seeking the Lord, be on his side, be with him, and we will live forever and ever with him in his kingdom. Should you be an orphan, remember that with the Lord Jesus you can resist temptation, you can recognize if Satan is tempting you and coming from different directions, and stay true to the Lord. I'd love to share so much more, but I'm going to just stop at that point. And I do know that I have the devil up against me, and he's angry at what the Lord has done in my life. The days seem to be passing by so quickly, it's as if time has just fast-forwarded. And let it be also true of the way that we live, that as time is passing by so quickly, let our lives be in tune with the Lord, and be with the Lord, and let's be living for him. Thank you very much. I'm Sipo Mapanga from Tunzini. I stand up thanking God for what he has done in my life, as this is a celebration thanking the Lord for what he's done over the last 20 years. We've heard often at school, we've heard the gospel, but many of us didn't listen to it or didn't heed it. I'd like to read from Romans 1 verse 18. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. And saying that, in verse 22, that they claimed to be wise, they became fools. And exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man, and birds, and animals, and reptiles. We at school, as scholars, come with two things in our hands. And it is up to us whether we come out with blessing or with the curse. I began school here in 2001, and I came not as a Christian. I came as a very shy person, not knowing who I was and how, just being very, I had no confidence. Yesterday, as I was looking at the badge of the school, and I looked at the symbol of the flame and its explanation being revival, but we had fought in every way to try and extinguish and get rid of that flame, and not realizing that it was like flames of hell in us. And as I see the symbol of the Bible, we were like those who would take that flame to want to burn the Bible because we resisted the word. The sword to us was rather something to hurt other people who had faith. Because we were wanting to just upset everything. I told myself, nobody can change me and make me a Christian. And years went by, I listened to many services and somehow was just not touched. Satan gave me the gift of mocking real believers, and he used me in that. And I brought many of my colleagues who slept up there in the boys' hostel, brought them down. So that through my mocking, they would see that being a Christian is just worthless, and some of them believed me. But until my day, my day came. When the Lord revealed himself to me, I didn't see my friends, my colleagues, nobody. I just saw myself alone before God. I began to realize immediately that if I die, where I'll go to? It was at night. I wasn't asleep. We were with some others. It was about 11 at night. But that night, I went to put my life right before the Lord in all honesty. And in giving my life to the Lord, I immediately became aware of those that I need to go to and apologize, because I'd been mocking their faith. And the Lord answered and said, those very ones that you were mocking, they are repenting too. And I see the genuine faith in such a way, and I know it for myself personally, that if anybody mocks me about being a Christian, I know exactly where I stand. I thought of my Lord crucified, how he was mocked and spat upon. I haven't been, I've never got to that stage, and I need to be fully identified with him and learn what it is to suffer with him. I had a hatred for the mission, although I didn't express it to most. As well, towards the co-workers, I had this hatred in me, although I didn't say it. They had told me many things, rules, how to live, but the amazing thing is now the Lord has taken those very rules of living and written them into my heart. I had, before my conversion, told my friends, you just watch me, five years after I leave school, you'll just see what I'm going to do. You'll see what an important person I'll be, and I'm going to go headlong, boots and all, into the world. When my friends reminded me of what I had said, I was indeed ashamed. It's a difficult thing to go back and to make right the words that you've spoken, perhaps lightly before, but now you need to seriously put them right. So I throw out this challenge to you as well. Don't speak things that hurt others and break them down, but that which will be up-building and a help. Many of the past pupils who've left the school say, oh, the services at KSB are so boring. Well, I agreed at that time. I also thought, well, here, you sit down, you hear singing, you hear preaching, and you can't move at all. But I didn't realize at the time that Satan comes to a person and he brings like a rotten potato, a filthy smell, something that will just work its way into you and infiltrate all your thinking about others. And then you go out as the rotten potato, and you are one who spoils others, and you land up in the place where that comes from, in hell. But you need to know how wonderful it is to just get rid of that rotten potato in front of you, remove it from you, and you'll see how wonderful life is. Some say, well, I'm so well off, I've got everything, I've got a car today. Remember that that car can become your coffin as well. You can drive home from here, and you don't know that it is your very grave. Therefore, let's get right with God. Let the wrath of God be upon us, for he still shows his hand of grace at the moment. Remember, you were born alone into this world, and you'll die alone in this world. You won't have your pal to boost you. Rather say, well, those who are friends of mine, Lord, help them to reveal what I'm like. You are maybe ashamed to stand for the truth. You're afraid of even the slightest scoffing. Remember what the word of God says, where Jesus said to us, he who is ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of one day. Maybe somebody said to you one day and whispered in your ear why they would never become a Christian, and you need to remember and recover that which was spoken to you and deal with it. That is why the potential is still there for scholars at DSS to go right through the system, to leave school, end up in jail, or whatever, in death, and experience the wrath of God upon them. Your academic excellence is utterly in vain if it's not with the Lord. I'd like to refer to Revelation 2, verses 4 and 5. Yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen. Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. I'm Sposiso Mavunja from Greytown. I'm a learner here at the Domino Savita School. There was a time when my only ambition here at school was just to get a good education, to get out, get a good job, get married, etc., and have everything. Christianity and the faith were something that just didn't influence me at all. In 1994 is when I came. Think of it, 12 years I'd been rejecting the Lord, not wanting to be a Christian. The Lord would speak to me, but I'd just brush His words aside. I had a hatred for the mission, from Uncle Elo through to every co-worker, the teachers all included. I would be so sharply critical of the mission, I just didn't want anything to do with it. I would speak in this manner also at home when I was there. I began to look at the mission through political eyes. I tried in every way to resist the mission and the school. I didn't realize then that I wasn't fighting against the mission or the school, but against the Lord Himself. I had decided for myself that I would choose a life that was the opposite of the mission. Flirting around, boozing, being with the boys, the pals, that was my life. I was so arrogant that should I bump into anybody from the mission, accidentally, outside of the mission, I would do anything I could to be critical. I would be sharply critical of Uncle Elo at home and speak about him and the mission there at home. If you could just try and fathom the hatred I had, you would be just amazed, you would be shocked. Those 12 years went by and towards the end of 2005, the Lord spoke to me and said, repent. In my heart, I immediately rejected it and I wanted to put it to one side, but God insisted and said, you repent. The Lord Jesus came and opened my eyes. He showed me my sins and I suddenly realized what a fool I had been in being such an enemy and so critical of the Lord's working at the mission. The Lord spoke to me directly and said, you are the fool. You are the one who is in trouble, not the mission. I repented at that time. I found just instinctively that the very people that I had hated and spoken so badly about, suddenly there was a love that filled my heart for them. Things just changed so instantly. When I would look at Uncle Elo, I would have a feeling of joy. When I would look at the co-workers or the teachers, there would be gladness in my heart. Those who were so close to me before my conversion, there was a distance between us. I thank the Lord so much for His grace, for waking me up at that time. Otherwise, if He hadn't have interrupted my life, I might be in hell already. I am in grade 11 now. I almost got right through the school system not knowing the truth. I say to you, if you are still in the school or you have left the school already, if you have that attitude which I had, well, what can I say? There is just a woe upon your life. If you persist in rebellion against God, it is like you are putting your finger in God's eye. If you die, where will you go? If you are still busy complaining, murmuring and murmuring against God, think of yourself, you past pupils. What have you done? What have you been speaking about at home? What could you have been doing for the Lord? Had you been living for the Lord? Just think of how He could have been working through you. If you still continue in rebellion against the Lord, you are binding yourself to Satan himself. I am sorry for you if you identify yourself with Satan. Just think of how terrible hell will be for you if you die in that condition. Remember, you will never be condemned for somebody else's guilt, only your own. You won't go to hell because somebody came and hit you. It is your response. It is the way that you respond that matters. Remember, you may have done all you could to criticize, but it is not the mission that suffers, it is you. May the Lord help you to wake up and set your lamp alight. Or is He saying to you, awake, but you still brush Him aside and you ignore Him? The next stage, if you ignore that rebuke from the Lord, is that He will remove your lampstand completely. I know now that I have no shame about the Lord. I know that I can go with the Lord anywhere. Even when some of my friends were startled by my conversion and thought I was going crazy, it only brought joy to my heart. And it just says one thing to me, that God does speak. God is there. He exists. And I don't know how it is possible to go through the school and to leave and not know and have the assurance that the Lord is alive. There is much more that I could say in testimony to that the Lord is alive, and that Satan is also there. Maybe you think that even Satan is just a symbolic figure and doesn't exist. He is there too. So the Lord says to you, wake up and repent, lest He remove your lampstand from its place. Thank you very much. My name is Paul Petersburg. I was also one of those that Satan used. At home, my mom is a Christian. My father is not. So I hated my mother because of her faith. And I thought, why does she make so many rules and stop us doing things that we want to do? Sometimes I would just break out from home anyway, go out with my trousers on, go to a bash, and do it knowingly, purposefully. I would flirt around. I had boyfriends much older than myself. My mom could see through me being spiritual, but though she could see what I was up to, I just ignored that and I wanted to do my will. At home, we do pray together. We live by prayer. I'm thankful that even in this period where I was not a believer yet, I was sure of the existence of God and I could see the real faith in my home. My mother used to pray earnestly for us and surrender us before the Lord. Even though I did my best to try and run away from God, there was still, nevertheless, the knowledge, what if I die? The Lord has worked wonderfully at home. I don't know where we would be without God in our lives. One of the children in our home was involved in a car accident. My mom prayed for that child and it was just hospitalized for two days. I don't know how to thank the Lord, and I also don't know what to say before Him, if I think back of the 16 years of my life that I've wasted before Him. But I'm so thankful for the Lord's love for me that He could bring me to that point where I could surrender to Him and be cleansed from my sin. And I know that what the Lord has done is something that is permanent and there's no going back again. So I throw out this challenge to you who haven't surrendered your life to the Lord. There's nothing else for you to do but to surrender your life to Him. Thank you very much. I'm from Mapumulo. Let me just describe to you a little bit of my life that I lived here at Dominus Evitae in the last 11 years. If anybody tried to help me or be nice to me, the very hands that would be helpful, I would just brush aside. If I think of the many opportunities that we used to try and break down the mission and to sharply criticize, it's been so often. And it appeared that those who had left the school and when one looked at them, they had left the school and were successful even if they weren't Christians, they got nice things and cars. So I thought, well, to be a success, I don't need the Lord. I can leave school, go through school, leave school and make a success of my life without binding myself to these Christian things. So I also had this hatred towards the mission and everything Christian and everybody connected to the mission. There was this inner hatred. But now as I look back and reflect upon these 11 years, I deeply regret it. I think now of a person who is not yet a Christian as one who is wandering near a cliff. If I think of myself, that was my condition. I was right at the cliff. In fact, having stepped over, had the Lord not caught me at that moment, I would have just gone down. But I thought that it was through my strength that I haven't done anything major that's wrong and bad. And so that is why I have asked the Lord's forgiveness for having pushed him aside for these last 11 years despite all the many messages where he spoke to me. It has all radically changed. Now I have such a love towards the Lord's work, towards all the people here of the mission. Now there's a word that the brother previously read that I'd like to refer to which I think is in accordance with that. In Revelation 2 verse 2, I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. And then to verse 4, yet I hold this against you, you have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen, repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Maybe you've left DSS already and you've now tasted of the world and you've thought, wow, it's so lovely in the world. Maybe you've never been through DSS but you know once upon a time the Lord spoke to you, He maybe called you here to the mission and you remember that first fervent love. But that love has now diminished. And Jesus says to you, if you do not repent now, I will come and remove your lampstand. It is the grace of God alone that you are in the place you are. It is because of His mercy. As has been spoken previously by the European representative that the Lord came and said, I want your children. But now the Lord says, I want your soul. The Lord stretches out His hand to you and says, hold fast my hand. The Lord brought you here with a purpose. He wants to accomplish something through you. But woe to you if you harden your heart and you turn away from that first love. Now another type of person who needs to really cry out to the Lord is the type of person who goes through the school and leaves and is just so complaining and critical of the school and the mission. I say to you, the Lord still holds you up in His mercy and has still protected you. And so far, so good. You are experiencing things are going smoothly. But the time will come where God says, enough. But if you repent, you can turn back to the Lord even now. You can give your life back to Him even now. Maybe you've never had that first love. You can still make a decision even now. Some say, well, I'll get converted when I'm about to die. The one brother said just now that if you get into your car, it could be that you're actually locking yourself into your coffin. I don't know how to bring this across to you that you would see that it is the time to repent. Don't ask yourself, well, maybe there's another time. No, now is the time. Repent and return to that first love, lest I come and remove that lampstand of yours. Now the others have spoken. There's finally what I'd like to say. In Revelations, it often says, he who has an ear, let him hear or listen to the Spirit and what He says. And I say to you, listen to what is said to the churches. Because one day the Lord is going to bring up this topic and say, remember the time when I showed you grace and I urged you to come to me and you brushed me aside? Where there's no opportunity anymore but only hell. That is why now is the time that you'd call upon the Lord, call upon Him indeed to save you. Don't let even this day go by without your calling upon the Lord and saying, Lord, I surrender to you that I will serve you alone from now on. Thank you for this opportunity I receive. As I listen to what they have spoken and what they have testified about, my heart is touched. It is a privilege for me to observe this because I know them from that very first year. They have passed through my hands. I know them from when they were still very young. When they say that they were rebellious, I know more about that rebellion. It's worse than they say. They dislike me personally. They felt like they could just get rid of me. And I would say, does freedom come from a person? But now I experience such fellowship with them and they have such a desire that we share together. Sometimes it's one o'clock in the morning and they still want to continue speaking about the things of the Lord. Daily, they don't grow tired. I'm just astonished at the clarity of heart and of mind where they daily pray for repentance. They say, Lord, give us the repentance of this day. And if you observe what the Lord is doing, the Lord is pointing and is showing in a direction. In the beginning, I thought, no, this is just perhaps just childishness, that which is happening with them. But then I realized, no, they are wise beyond their years. And that is something that God will show to you and reveal to you if you repent. If the Bible says that time will come to an end, go back to the Bible and look at what it says, for you can observe what is happening. Now, if even after the celebration, you as a past pupil, you know that I've just been running away from God? You need to get back to the Lord and come speedily back to Him. The Lord can show you mercy. I also ask, well, why do they speak before us all? It is because the Lord sees our spiritual need as well. This is a challenge that is thrown to and given to each and everyone, and I include myself. I don't want to point to anybody else. Like one of them said, you won't be judged for somebody else hitting you, but your response, who you are, is what matters. May the Lord help us, help those other students. Let us run with the Lord's revelation, what the Lord is doing. Sometimes I'd phone Uncle Elo and tell him, you know, I haven't got to bed, and it's one, we'd encourage each other, he wouldn't have got to bed before two. And if I would tell him, you know, Uncle Elo, I don't get to bed before two, there are so many people that want to make right and counsel, he'd say, well, I didn't get to bed before three yesterday. It spurred me on. Sometimes it is dawned, six o'clock in the morning. I would get a chance then during the day to have a nap, and then knock, knock, there would be some students saying, the Lord has spoken to me too. Let me emphasize this. This revival which you witnessed before you, I can really testify to that it really has happened a million times. If you finished DSS before 2005, I really sympathize with you because you've missed out. But still, you can run and you can find some of what the Lord has been doing. Don't say, well, it's enough because I've given myself to the Lord and to His work, because there are times when the Lord carries you beyond that and you sacrifice yourself completely. But experiencing the joy of being completely and wholly doing the Lord's work. And Satan, when you are living for the Lord in that way, Satan doesn't get a chance to put his dirt on you. Because you are in the work of the Father. Whatever the Lord is doing, remember, you've got to be busy with the Lord's work, the Father in heaven. But if you have been sidetracked, it's Satan who has got you to just fold your legs and not doing anything. The Lord Jesus says to you, brethren, either be hot or be cold. This is a different time. So let's see it properly and change our minds, transform our minds from the smallest to the oldest. We say thank you to Uncle Elo and to all the co-workers. We appreciate that you've been in the very heat of the battle and you see the fruit now of what the Lord has been doing. By the Lord's grace, we have seen the Lord and we are going to live full out for Him to the end. And you, older people as well, come closer to these school children and feel the fire. There is such a thing that a person can live right next to, very close to revival, seeming to you that you are in it, but it's just passed you by. But by the grace of God, there is such a thing that you are truly in it and be part of it. I don't desire anything else. The principal had been saying before, well, I don't know what will happen if it had to rain with the outdoor arrangements we have. I said, well, what will you do if it does rain? And we prayed and said, let the Lord's will be done. But I wasn't... I said, well, let the Lord's will be done. I was never anxious about the weather, even if it had to pour buckets of rain, it wouldn't matter because we are busy with this great thing that the Lord is doing from morning till night. That is why I realize that God is far greater than anything else. All our sports, all our fun things, far greater than rugby or cricket. Jesus Christ is the first. He must be number one. And woe to you, we'll have to see what happens to you when you stand before God one day where heaven, it's either heaven or hell, what will happen to you if you resist God. I often mention also overseas that Jesus Christ is far greater than soccer. Is Jesus the greatest one to you? Is he the first one to you? He's greater than sports. There's nothing else. Is that true in your life? If not, repent. You are not where God wants you to be. If he's not greater than money, than fame, than sport, than youth, whatever it would be, even marriage. If you ever get married, your husband has got to be the second one and Jesus the first. And the same with you. Otherwise, you're an idle worshipper. I'm closing with the word I read to you. The first Chronicles, 16 from verse 8. First Chronicles, 16 verse 8. Give thanks to the Lord. Call on his name. Make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him. Sing praises to him. Tell of all his wonderful acts. Sing out. Call on his name. Nothing else. I could speak about this topic till the sun goes down. But if the Lord allows us in his will, one day we can speak about that. We thank you Lord for what you've done for us. We thank you for your working. Lord, never stop with the work of your hands. And may your gospel go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit. That your name would be made known throughout the whole world. Starting among us and then going forth in mighty power, going across the whole world. Thank you Lord Jesus for the mercy and the grace that you've shown us and to the young people. And the grace you've shown to DSS. May your grace Lord Jesus abound to us all. Amen. The Lord be with you. Go well and live for the Lord.
Give Thanks Unto the Lord!
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Erlo Hartwig Stegen (1935 - 2023). South African missionary and revivalist of German descent, born on Mbalane farm near Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, to Hermannsburg missionary descendants. Raised Lutheran, he left school after grade 10 to farm but felt called to ministry in 1952, evangelizing rural Zulus under apartheid. After 12 years of preaching with few lasting conversions, he experienced a transformative revival in 1966 at Maphumulo, marked by repentance and reported miracles. In 1970, he founded KwaSizabantu Mission (“place where people are helped”) in Kranskop, which grew into a self-sustaining hub with farms, a water bottling plant, and schools, serving thousands. Stegen authored Revival Among the Zulus and preached globally, establishing churches in Europe by 1980. Married with four daughters, he mentored Zulu leaders and collaborated with theologian Kurt Koch. His bold preaching drew 3 million visitors to KwaSizabantu over decades.