Man raised from dead -- a sign!

Dear friends

On February 20th, I forwarded the amazing, documented story of a man whom God raised from the dead during a Reinhard Bonnke evangelistic meeting in Africa. The report was from the Charisma News Service. I am repeating it below for reference.

The purpose of this message is to report that while I have not yet seen the Bonnke video, I know two people who have seen it. One of them, not online, sent me a letter describing what happened. She said

"The man died on Friday, November 30, 2001, was embalmed with embalming fluid, and then on Sunday, December 2, 2001, God raised him from the dead.

"When the man from NIgeria 'died,' two angels took him to Paradise, where he saw angels and saints worshipping God. He was shown a beautiful mansion, and an angel told him that the rich man's prayer (Luke 1630), was about to be answered in this generation.

"(He) was then shown Hell, and is therefore another eye-witness of both Heaven and Hell.

My friend added that Reinhard Bonnke was recently describing the incident on television, saying, "This resurrection was granted to this generation BECAUSE THE COMING OF THE LORD IS SO NEAR."

Below is the story I reported on February 20.  By the way, I have been aware of Bonnke for many years and have always had great respect for him, his anointing and his ministry.  His Web site is at http//www.cfan.org/offices/usa/cfanusa.htm

May God bless and encourage you,

Jim

FROM CHARISMA NEWS - http//www.strang.com

LEAD STORY by Andy Butcher

Reinhard Bonnke Video Documents Modern-Day Lazarus

Nigerian certified dead, but revived days later at evangelist's meeting

The dramatic documentary of a modern-day Lazarus has been released by international evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. The German preacher who has led crusades in Africa for 30 years says that the remarkable resurrection of Daniel Ekechukwu is so well-documented that no one can be unaffected by the report.

Bonnke's Christ for All Nations (CfAN) ministry has released a 45-minute video of Ekechukwu's testimony, and also reported at its Web site how the Nigerian pastor had been certified dead and injected with embalming fluids before reviving three days later at a Bonnke meeting.

Ekechukwu's wife was so sure that God would bring her husband back to life after he was fatally injured in an auto accident that she persuaded the local mortuary to allow her to take his body to the church where Bonnke was preaching.

There pastors lifted Ekechukwu from the coffin in which he had been laid, and were amazed when the man started to breathe again as they prayed for him. The CfAN video includes footage of Ekechukwu beginning to stir, and later returning to the mortuary where his body had been laid out.

The "Raised from the Dead" report, subtitled "A 21st Century Resurrection Story," features interviews with one of the doctors who certified Ekechukwu dead, and the mortician. "It's shocking," one of them tells the video team. "Seeing a dead man, someone that was once dead and is now alive...it is very shocking. To God all glory should go."

Nneka Ekechukwu says that when her husband was pronounced dead after last November's accident, she remembered promises God had given her that she would not suffer any more misfortune. "I said 'This can't happen. I must do something, to prove God again.'"

On the third day after the accident, Ekechukwu's body was taken in its coffin to a church in Ontisha, where Bonnke was preaching at a service.  The body was taken out of its coffin and put on a table in the church's conference center, where several pastors began to pray. Senior pastor Pat Nwachkuw Sr. tells the CfAN documentary makers that when members of the church learned about Ekechwuku's resurrection, a woman who had been on crutches threw them away and started running, and her husband ran to the church altar to ask God to forgive him his sins.

Interviewed by CfAN, Ekechukwu says when he was being taken to the hospital in the ambulance, he was visited by two angels and taken to heaven. There he saw a "multitude" of people dressed in white who were singing and praising God. Then he was taken to hell, he says.

The angel told him that he had "another chance" to go back, and that the rich man's request to Lazarus -- to warn those still alive about hell -- had been "granted to this generation." Ekechukwu said that he had been told he could return to the living to give "a last warning to this generation."

In commentary on the video, Bonnke says that the testimony -- which has been reported in Nigerian newspapers -- spoke of "stubborn faith and the miracle power of Jesus." Ekechukwu's story is a "sign from heaven," he says.

Bramlett note:

The above is totally biblical. In Matthew 106, Jesus commanded the disciples to go and "raise the dead."  That is part of the verse where Jesus said, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils freely ye have received, freely give." (In most churches, we only hear the last six words of that verse -- at collection time!)

Then, in the Great Commission given in Matthew 2819, which we know also applies to us, Jesus said, "Teaching them to observe ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED YOU and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. "

We are not at the end of the world yet, so His command is still in effect! Until then, we are supposed to teach and practice everything Jesus commanded His disciples. (It's in the Book!)