Rudi & Carmen Louw

The apostolic work Dr. John G. Lake founded in South Africa at the turn of the previous century: “The Apostolic Faith Mission,” played a big part in my life and spiritual upbringing. For instance, at 8 years of age, on August 8, 1978, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit while attending a prayer meeting with my parents at our local church. I immediately receiving the speaking in other tongues, but I have since then also learned to flow with the Holy Spirit and His anointing to preach, teach, prophecy and whatever other gifts of the Spirit needed to touch people's hearts and lives with the reality of God's love and power.

And so in 1989 I received a commission from the Lord while I was still attending Elyon Word Ministries (a ministry training center in South Africa): “Make known My mysteries to all My children, no matter what their nationality or religious background is.”

It was a very intense time of impartation during which God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, granted me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him and gave me clear insight into what He has to say to mankind in the work of redemption.

This is why then, today still, I emphasize new creation realities and the word of righteousness everywhere we go.

I believe that these truths literally form the very foundation blocks of Christianity and I see them as the very substance of the New Covenant and absolutely vital to every Christian’s life.

I believe that these truths were unveiled and made known to me for the purpose of establishing the believers individually in the faith of God, and to thereby activate them for the ministry of reconciliation entrusted to all believers by the Lord Jesus Himself, just as it also says in 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, one of my favorite scripture passages.

Since I became a steward of the mysteries of God, I have preached the gospel and labored among Christian brethren in most countries in the southern and northern part of Africa, in Great Britain, Europe, Pakistan, and also here in the United States of America.

It was in June of 1991 that I moved to the USA.

As I said in the beginning, Carmen and I got married on August 8, 1998, after God supernaturally revealed to me that she is the one I am to marry. I was living in Binghamton NY, and she was living in Cortland NY when we first met.

She was invited to a small storefront ministry to come hear a guest speaker from Africa speak. She expected an African, you know, the national geographic version, someone tall, dark, and handsome, and she was surprised when she found out that I was short, white and stocky, complete with freckles and all… ha… ha… ha…

But God started doing something in her heart through the preaching of the word, and she tells of how she felt the spiritual shackles of condemnation, low self esteem, and legalistic religious bondage come off as she, with tears running down her cheeks, listened to me preach the word of God for two hours... back then I didn’t know any better and wasn’t used to the American way of doing things.

In Africa we all often preached for long periods of time, and going to an all day meeting on Sunday was the norm, not the exception. We were all on fire with passion for the Lord and lived in constant revival.

Now I know y’all have tried to domesticate me from the day I came to this country, and I have complied as much as possible with you Americans and your way of doing things, but I have to warn you, I was born a lion, and once a lion, always a lion, so every now and then I have no choice but to let that lion out of the cage… he… he… he… watch out devil; I'm coming for you!

Hey, we are not here to play games; we are here to tear his kingdom down and to take over and establish God's kingdom instead!

But let’s get back to talking about Carmen and I. God put a love in Carmen’s heart for me that I still can’t get my arms around sometimes. I may not always understand how she can love me so much, but I sure do appreciate and enjoy it, and thank God every day for His indescribable gift of Salvation in Christ Jesus and for my sweet wife, the greatest gift I have ever been given in Christ Jesus besides salvation.

She has been a tremendous source of comfort and joy and blessing to me over the years, and to all who know her, a real treasure. Carmen is not only a good companion to me, but she is also my equal partner in ministry.

God put a love in her heart for me shortly after we first met, but she had to wait on me to get the same message. It was about 6 years later before I heard God for myself, and we finally got married. My only regret is that I wish I was a smarter man, and listened to the Lord much sooner about marrying my sweetpea.

But let me end with this: our life together has been one adventure after another, miracle upon miracle, from the very day we met, and the most exciting thing about it is that it’s just the beginning, we still have many years ahead of us for fruitful labor in the Lord!