June 2010
Ethiopia evokes many images in the minds of
people: what do you see? Do you think of deserts, camels, ancient
civilizations? Or do you remember Haile
Salassie, the Emperor that called himself the Lion of Judah, or the communistic
regime or the Italian colonization? Or do you know about long distance runners
from Ethiopia; the famine that exhausted a nation; the recent bloodshed for the
past three years and now a new government and sudden peace and quiet?
I simply chose a date on the calendar to go
to Ethiopia and it happened to be the first week after the elections. Once
again the Holy Spirit's ‘Perfect Timing'! The United Nations Peace Keeping
Monitoring Force for the national elections was still around. America also sent
hundreds of youth workers to do life skills training in remote villages - all
the expense of America. The USA does so much for other countries without
expecting anything else in return. God bless America.
How the Lord arranged the Mission
How my trip to Ethiopia came about is
amazing. Graham Unsworth arranged a meeting for me with two Ethiopian pastors
in Birmingham. It took place in Birmingham's Elim church office. The Elim
pastor was also present. As I ministered to the Ethiopian pastors they wept and
knelt down and asked me to lay my hands on them. One of them was pastor Lemma.
‘Ethiopia needs to hear your message! Will
you come to Ethiopia?' Lemma asked.
Every time I tried to go, they would tell
me that it is too dangerous. This time they said, they don't know what it would
be like after the election, but if I want to come I should do so. I did. I
went.
The First Christian in Africa
The Ethiopian Eunuch attended the
celebrations in Jerusalem and returned home on his chariot when the Holy Spirit
prompted Phillip the Evangelist to leave his very successful evangelistic
campaign in Samaria and go to a lonely road in Gaza. I ask myself how many
evangelists would do something like Phillip. And there he encountered the
Eunuch a high court official who had command of all the treasures Candace,
Queen of the Ethiopians. The man was reading from Isaiah about a lamb lead to
the slaughter.
‘Who does the prophet speak about: himself
or someone else?' he asked Phillip.
Phillip began from that scripture and
explained Jesus Christ to him. When he had finished the man noticed a pond of
water and asked: ‘there's water, what hinders me to be baptized?' So obviously
Phillip's Gospel of Jesus Christ included water baptism of believers! I don't
know how anyone can separate immersion in water baptism from salvation. It is
one package deal if I understand the Scriptures.
‘If you believe with all your heart, you
may be baptized.' Phillip explained. Both of them stepped out of the chariot
and down into the water and Phillip baptized the man. When they came up out of
the water (so he did not simply sprinkle water on his head as some would have
us believe) Phillip was supernaturally caught away and found himself in Azotus.
Azotus means ‘stronghold' the seat of Dagon
the god of the Philistines. Evangelists are called to areas where there are
strongholds of the devil to break open the gates of the enemy so that churches
can be planted. Thank God for true evangelists! One man can make a difference
to a nation!
So the Eunuch was the first Christian who
brought the full Gospel message of Jesus Christ to Ethiopia about at 40 AD
making Ethiopia the cradle of Christianity in Africa.
The Ethiopian Connection
Pastor Lemma arranged the meetings for me
both in Addis Ababa and in Batujira, about 150 Kilometres away.
Addis Ababa means ‘new flower'. ‘Ijesus
Getano' means Jesus is Lord. It has tremendous power in the spirit realm where
there is much witchcraft and demonic activity.
I ministered in Pastor Lemma's home the
first night and met his wonderful family who are all in ministry with him. They
were amazed to hear that the Pelser family has been in the ministry for four
generations already.
‘This is something new to us. We thought it
was strange that all my sons want to be in the ministry as well. But now we are
encouraged by your family to be a ministry family!'
On Saturday I ministered to a group of
leaders. I spoke about the need and the benefits of accepting the full fivefold
ministry and showed them the illustration I always use of the hand that cannot
make a fist without the thumb. The apostle represents the thumb, the index
finger the prophet, the middle finger the evangelists that reaches out the
furthest, the ring finger is the pastor and the little finger that easily goes
into the ear represents the teacher.
Salam, a lady, interpreted my message into
Amharic, the Ethiopian language.
Afterwards the presence of the Lord was so
real, we all wept because the Lord touched our hearts and ministered to us.
There was such an awareness of His love and grace. They anointed me with oil
and thanked God that he made it possible for me to be there. Then Pastor Lemma
prophesied over me indicating special blessings for my family and church and
that more doors would open to countries I have never even thought of because
the time is short to reach the world. God would also give me a new message for
the last part of my life on earth to bring to the whole globe as we prepare the
bride of Christ for His return.
‘You are not a Foreigner amongst us; it is
like we know you for a long time already. My children say, you are one of us!'
Ethiopian Dishes & Music
I ate their communal meals with them: they
bake a large pancake called Injera made from teff that contains a lot of iron,
and on top of that they put Kitfaw (chopped raw meat and lots of butter and
chopped onion or chilli). There will always be some Kocho (a small hard piece
of bread made from the root of the Kocho tree that looks just like a banana
tree). Everyone shares the meal from the tray. You tear a piece of the Injera
off and then scoop the Kitfaw up with your piece of pancake. They have a habit
of feeding each other as a sign of honour. If someone puts his handful into
your mouth it is regarded as a sign of great love. The last time someone fed me
that way was my mother!
Ethiopian music is very linear: it normally
has one or two chords at the most and the other instruments improvise around
those chords. The vocals are very eastern, a mix between Arabic and Chinese.
When they dance they shuffle and circle. The unusual almost awkward rhythms are
distinctly Ethiopian. It is almost trancelike to listen to the same chord and
the same phrases being repeated all the time.
Divine Confirmation
Salam was surprised that her pastor
preached about the need for the fivefold ministry in the church on the
following morning. It was a sign to her that I was sent. The pastor has never
ever spoken about that in church.
The Conference in Batujira
On Sunday we took the long journey in
someone's 4X4 to Batujira where a conference was being held. They allowed me to
preach in the morning. My face wasn't on the conference poster, because no one
knew I was coming. Obscurity is part of the reward of a sent one! But it is far
better that way. Jesus never sought any fame.
I ministered on Zacchaus in Luke 19. I
shared all the disqualifications to actually see Jesus: he was short of
stature, he lived in Jericho and he was a tax-collector. A tax-collector was
appointed by the Roman Government to collect taxes from Jews. Whatever they
overcharged the Jews became their salary. So the Jews hated them for taking
their money.
But Zacchaus had some qualifications to see
Jesus: he made the effort to climb a sycamore tree (a fig bearing tree) to get
a view of Jesus; he was a giver not a taker and repaid anyone anything he took
from them four times! Also, his name means ‘pure' and the pure in heart shall
see God! When Jesus told him to come down he humbled himself and came down.
The most important thing is not Zacchaus's
effort to see Jesus, but the fact that Jesus saw him! When Jesus saw him, he
knew his name! Jesus knows the pure in heart shall see God and when he saw the
effort the man made to see him, he must have known that his heart was pure. So
Jesus called him by name: ‘Zacchaus! Come down for I must spend the day in your
house!'
The crowd criticized Jesus for eating with
a ‘sinner' but Jesus explained that he did not come for the self-righteous but
for the sinners. He shared the parable about the shepherd leaving the 99 sheep
to find the one lost sheep. He would go all that distance to Jericho just to
find Zacchaus! What an exorbitant display of God's grace - just for one person!
When Jesus stepped into his house he said,
‘Today salvation has come to your house!'
I got people in the audience to act out the
scene. We put Zacchaus on a chair and used all the microphone stands to create
the sycamore tree around him. I took one of the sound engineers to be Jesus and
then asked a crowd to follow him. When I asked for children to join the crowd
about a hundred ran forward! The kids loved participating in acting out the
word of God. That is what I do, performing the word and then expecting the Lord
to perform His word with signs and wonders following.
I told the people that no matter what might
disqualify them from seeing Jesus, because they made the effort to be in this
meeting they shall see Jesus! Jesus sees them today; He spots them in the
crowd! He is calling them by name! Salvation has come to Batujira!
Hundreds and hundreds of people were
ministered to as I sent the pastors and leaders into the crowd to heal the
sick, cast out demons after souls were saved and added to the Kingdom of God. I
also ministered with the anointing to heal the broken hearted ones. Many people
wept out loud as the Lord's anointing healed their broken hearts. It was
awesome.
Some of the young pastors got up and
ministered powerfully for deliverance. Many had visions during the meeting. But
they were intrigued with the way I opened the Scriptures in such a simple way.
The young pastors asked me, ‘do you have
the same Bible we have, because we do not see the things you see in your
Bible?' Afterwards we had lunch together, we atea communal meal of some Zil-Zil
bits and Kocho and Injera. Pastor Lemma fed me some of his chicken boiled in
tomato Wat (a kind of sauce). I obliged.
Several Pastors asked me for our Bible
School material.
‘I want to learn from you!' the one said.
‘Why don't you come and plant a church and
a bible school here in Ethiopia?' they asked me.
The Ethiopian Exodus
On the way back Pastor Lemma explained to
me that many Ethiopians have been scattered through the persecution all over
the world and that he could take me to many different parts of the world to go
and minister to them in refugee camps. One place he emphasised was Oslo,
Norway. He should go with me though, in order to interpret into Amharic.
So here is how it happened and could
happen: from Birmingham in a small office, to Batujira in a great crusade to
Oslo in Norway...who could have imagined or planned that? Only God can. His ways
are past finding out, but He reveals it to us by His Spirit. His thoughts are
above our thoughts...but He sends His word to reveal His thoughts to us.
Some Feedback
Many pastors offered to arrange crusades
and pastor's seminars for me; ‘your message is what we need here in Ethiopia!'
they kept on saying.
‘Your message is unforgottable!' someone
said. I have never heard that word before but it makes perfect sense. Because I
act out the Word, the picture remains in their minds long after the words are
gone.
As a young man who desired to be an actor
and studied and became a professional actor, I was very frustrated that I had
to give it up and go into the ministry. Why did God put the desire in me to
act? I felt that I had wasted my life away. Then in 1984 in Brisbane, Australia
I had a moment of divine breakthrough where I heard a voice say these two words
to me; Prophetic Acting. I wrote my doctoral thesis on that subject! I suddenly
realised who I was and what I was supposed to do. I found a scripture in
Jeremiah chapter one where God says, ‘I will perform my Word!' and that became
my motivation in the ministry!
The Birth of Something New
In Ethiopia the Lord also birthed something
new in my spirit in the Cradle of Christianity in Africa. It was necessary for
me to go there. Something happened inside of me.
Why don't you ask the Lord to birth
something new in you as well? A new idea can generate much wealth; a new
conviction can birth new values to live by; a new perspective can bring a whole
new dimension of understanding; a new relationship can open up new doors and a
new birth can be your salvation!
Let my visit to the Cradle of Christianity
be the trigger to spark off something new in you!
Pray this Prayer:
‘Father of my spirit, I need a new birth
within me. I am tired of all the old routines, tired of all the old things, I
have been going around in circles for too long: do something totally new within
me, please, in Jesus' Name, and birth something new in my spirit; renew my
thinking and revive my spirit; inject your supernatural power into my soul and
let your grace be sufficient for me each day of my life. I ask forgiveness
where I have ignored your Holy Spirit and I ask forgiveness where I have
sinned, cleanse me from all unrighteousness and create a pure heart within me.
I will teach others what I have learned from you. Let my life bring glory to
your Name. Amen.'
Expect something completely new to be
birthed within you from this moment onwards.
Let
this report suffice for now. All the glory to God!
Andre & Nola Pelser & family and
Harvester Reformational Church in Cape Town
Be Our Apostolic Partner
If you want to help with this apostolic
mission to reach the entire world you are welcome to contact us, in whichever
way it is possible: website, email, postal, phone and we will provide the
necessary details you require. God will bless you for supporting this end-time
work. You may even desire to start a satellite for Miracle Bible College where
you are. Contact us.
Ethiopia was the 62nd nation I
have gone to minister the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
I am humbled that God would even consider
using me. I am the least of the apostles and not fit to be chosen in my own
eyes - but God chooses the weak things of this world, the despised, the
dishonourable, and the rejected ones to do His work, so no one can boast. We
can only boast in the Lord.
Postal Address: PO Box 276 Milnerton 7435,
South Africa.
Websites: www.harvesterchurch.net; www.pelsermedia.com; www.householdoffaith.co.za
Email: info@harvesterchurch.org.za; mbc@harvesterchurch.org.za
Phone: +27847070909; +27215526593