- Home
- Speakers
- Erlo Stegen
- God's Provision
God's Provision
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.
Download
Topic
Sermon Summary
In this sermon, Jack Himes shares a powerful story about his sister's experience of visiting hell. She describes the road to hell as deceptive, with glitter and lights that lead people astray. She witnesses the suffering of those in hell, with twisted faces, swollen tongues, and burning bodies. She pleads with the keeper of the gates of hell for air, water, or death to end their misery, but is met with the response that there is no relief in hell. Himes uses this story to emphasize the urgency of preaching the gospel and reaching out to souls before it's too late.
Scriptures
Sermon Transcription
We thank you, Lord, for bringing us together again and for protection until this moment. We ask you, Lord, to take this place and let it be in your hands, that this time would be yours, where you can work your work in our hearts. We ask you, Lord, to move above our asking and expectation. Amen. Have you seen an angel before? There is one, but I said she would sit somewhere here in the front, but I don't see... You know whom I'm speaking about. Where's that lady? There she comes from the back. You sit so far back, I thought you'd sit here in front. Come through. I want them to see an angel. And I'm going to explain to you why I say an angel. You come from Pretoria. Okay. Now, you'll have to introduce yourself, that I don't forgive you the wrong surname. Is it Fouchier? I can still remember it. Pretoria? Mrs. Fouchier. She's with her husband and three others. You arrived yesterday morning. Friday afternoon. Now, you know that overseas... Where are you, Linda, the Australian lady? Not overseas. Across the valley, there is a place where sick people are. She's from Australia. She prayed. She prayed for blankets. Said, we need blankets. Was it the same day or the next day? This angel arrived. With the blankets and said, can you make use of this? You see, things are received through prayer. What was the other? There was something white as well. I blankets as well. Now, you tell us a bit how it happened that you came here and how the Lord has led you. All right. Good morning, brothers and sisters. It's such an honor to be here in Pretoria. I can feel the Lord is here. Better than us in Pretoria. I've seen the blessings of the Lord here. Wonderful people. I came here to visit you. My pastor actually is giving me a break off, one weekend break off in the ministry. We've got also small kitchen in Pretoria, in a camp. We are feeding 700 people a day. We will be starting feeding 1,500 starting next month. I came here with prayers so that the Lord will speak to me while I am here in Kwasi Zobantho. Before I came here three days ago, the Lord is telling me, do not take mealy meal. They've got food there. I tried to call premier foods to give us a thousand of bags of meal to bring it here. That is just not happening. I tried to bring some sweets for the children. It's also not happening. The Lord is pointing out his hands onto the blankets. That some of them I've got them already a year ago. I kept them in my stock room for a year now. The Lord is pointing out, take the blankets with you. Kwasi Zobantho. Now do you hear why I say we were visited by an angel? Now our patients will have blankets. May these days when I saw what the Lord is doing through the school children, I said, Oh, what a wonky. I said, one wishes one could just forget about everything else and just preach the gospel. And I'm sorry for those of you who are business owners or you're employed, you're studying and you don't get the opportunity to go and preach about that name, which is above every other name. He who is the cure. But of course, I'm having a job following a career you need to do to be able to feed and provide for yourself, but you should be using every opportunity for the gospel. Think of those people that we've heard of who are crying out in their misery as they were dying and headed for hell. Remember I once told you about that American preacher, Dr. Jack Himes, who would gather the children together up to 20,000. Another minister asked him, how is it that you have so much zeal that you have such a passion to go and reach out to souls continuously every day? What is your secret? He said, I remember when as a little boy, I heard my elder sister upstairs crying out in a terrible way. And when I went there, I said, what's wrong? Have you had a dream? It was, she was screaming as if though she was hysterical. I shook her to wake her up and I asked, what are you crying about? Why are you screaming? What's wrong? Have you had a dream? She said, no, no dream. I said, have you had a nightmare? She said, no, it wasn't a dream. It was real. I asked, what happened? And she said, Jack, I've just got back from hell. She said, the first part of it, for a few miles, there is the glitter and the lights that deceive. The glitter and the lights which deceive the whole of mankind. And that is the road to hell. The thing about hell is that it is a last stop. There is no other place to go from there. She said, oh, the desolation, the hopelessness of the future with those in hell. And she said, when I got to the gates of hell, and I looked, I saw people who were in hell. I asked the keeper of the gates of hell, these people whom I see in hell, I saw these people whose faces were twisted and looked awful, whose tongues were thick and swollen, eyes bulging out, hands split, dropping blood. I saw their suffering as they burned. Not because this is the way of the world. I said, oh, sir, the keeper of the gates of hell, why don't you open and let some cool air come in here? And he said, no air in hell. Then I said, kind sir, well, let them have a drink of water then. And he said, no water in hell. Then I said, well, if that's true, let them die and get to the end of their misery. And he said, no death in hell. She said, my God, how long will they suffer? What if forever and ever? Eternal. And he said, there is no death here. And she said, as I turned to leave, I saw my daddy in hell. I shouted out and said, dad, are you in hell? Because he had been a nice dad. He had been providing for them. He had schooled us. Would go also to church. He had never bowed and said yes to Jesus Christ. And then this preacher said, the reason why I go around with such a passion all around the world to preach the gospel is because I don't want another child's dad to be in hell. We face many things. We are speaking here of real things. This isn't just fantasy talk. If you cannot understand and grasp and where the Lord can break through with this, then you are spiritually dead. You need to call those who come and sing and that you get prayed for and be raised back to life. Jesus came, he lived, he died as he had suffered and died on the cross. He was buried, rose again and ascended to the father. And he is able to do this. That is the one who can make Mr. Causa look like this. And to you, maybe you're not troubled by any disease, but you have that spiritual disease of the heart. Jesus can raise you up. And he has poured out his spirit, his spirit that convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment. Shall we bow our heads and pray? We thank you, Lord Jesus. You are seated at the right hand of the father. And you sent your Holy Spirit to be among us and to work among people. Lord Jesus, continue with your work. Lord, may your heavenly fire burn within us, lest another fire, hellish fire burns within us. May your grace, O Lord, be abundantly poured out to young and old, that they wouldn't just be coming to church out of habit, but that it might be a living thing. Amen. Amen. So you remember us in prayers, we go to the Congo and we'll remember you too. I've just spoken on the phone to Didier because he will be our translator into French there. Where are you? Yesterday I said, I'm taking you along, you are going to interpret for me. But then I remembered that Didier is there already. Otherwise I'd take you along. French. Maybe the next time. There are many nations here in Africa that speak French. There are many nations here in Africa that speak French. I said Didier, and he's already in the DRC, how is it there? He said, I'm sweating it out. It's awfully hot. And he said, but you'll like the heat. And I said, Didier, that's fine. Where I come from, it's extremely cold. I'm looking forward to the heat. Now we would have flown from there to the Ivory Coast for more services for more services but because there is International concern over African planes, they don't allow their planes to fly there. over African planes, they don't allow their planes to fly there. They've recommended that we rather fly back to Durban and from here, we fly straight there. IPCC 713 913 914 We would have gone across that river and then from there taken the plane but they said the planes are simply not safe. We need to fly back and leave from here. My prayer is that from Malachi for you, as the Lord said there, that he will come and cleanse and purify the sons of Levi, as one refines gold and silver, that his fire would burn out all the dross in you, that you would be cleansed. Pure gold and silver. Allow him, he who is at the right hand of the Father, who has sent his Holy Spirit to work by his Spirit to sanctify you, that he can use you. Don't come in with your sin to church and then leave with your sin again. No. Leave your sin behind. Then you are able to go to your neighbor and you can speak to him. You can lead him to Jesus. Thank you. Stay well.
God's Provision
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download

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.