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In Germany, Bonnke's home country, many people are suspicious of the evangelist because of reports they have heard about his miracle crusades. "He's regarded as a bit of an exotic figure here," says Wolfgang Polzer, an editor at Idea, the German Evangelical Alliance's monthly publication.

"In the Pentecostal sector of the evangelical community here, he does play a big part," Polzer says. "But throughout the community at large, most people remain suspicious or have never hear of him," he says. Bonnke's status is quite the opposite throughout Africa. Often referred to as the continent's own Billy Graham, the evangelist is viewed as a celebrity. "They see him as a superstar," says George Amu, pastor of Good News Bible Church in Lagos. "Signs, miracles, and wonders happen when he preaches."

Chibuze Agha, 25, stood near the front of the platform last night to hear Bonnke speak. "He's healing many people who are sick and in bondage," she said confidently.

Van den Berg says that Bonnke is unfamiliar to many Americans because he rarely visits the U.S. The 60-year-old evangelist says God called him to Africa at a young age. "Night after night, I saw the entire African continent, washed in the blood of Jesus, country after country," Bonnke often says.

Today, he holds almost all of his 9 or 10 annual crusades in Africa. He has spoken in 46 out of Africa's 53 countries, including Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and most recently, Sudan—an eastern area with a population more than 90 percent Muslim. The evangelist only recently made his way back into Nigeria, however, after an absence here that dated back to a smaller crusade he held in Lagos in 1986.

Until last year, anti-Christian government leaders had blacklisted Bonnke for almost a decade and would not grant him a visa to enter the country. When the evangelist tried to enter the northern Muslim state of Kano in 1991, riots arose that led to multiple deaths. This only intensified the country's resistance against him.

Rou Jarvis, a Southern Baptist missionary in Lagos, says Bonnke is controversial among many Nigerians. "He's very confrontational with Islam, and that's not good. If I'm going to win someone to Christ, I'm not going to tell them first that their faith is wrong."

Jarvis says when some of his native friends learned that Bonnke was coming to Lagos, they were concerned. "They were afraid that riots would follow," he says.

Bonnke's ticket back into Nigeria came when Obasanjo was elected president last year. A self-proclaimed born-again Christian, the leader officially invited Bonnke to come and speak. Within months, CFAN had organized a crusade in Benin City, another southern community.

After having been forced to stay away for so long, Bonnke's first experience in Nigeria last October was bittersweet. Although he drew his largest crowd ever with 500,000 people, the city was unprepared to handle the event. After the first night of the crusade, 16 people were crushed and killed in a stampede as thousands tried to exit the open field. Hundreds of others were injured.

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November (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44