Evangelist many claim works miracles coming to Houston

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- It's claimed that he's made the blind see, the deaf able to hear and even raised a man from the dead. Now the evangelist best known for his efforts to spread the gospel in Africa is coming to Houston.

Reinhard Bonnke will be preaching Friday and Saturday at BBVA Compass Stadium.

In a YouTube video from 2008, a man said he'd been blind for 25 years and that he got his eyesight back at a Reinhard Bonnke crusade. Dr. Simeon Agbolabori of Chapel of Restoration has followed him for decades.

"Even though he doesn't call himself a healing evangelist, he calls himself an evangelist of the word of God," he says. "The Bible says when you preach the gospel, signs and wonders will follow, so we see the signs and wonders, blind eyes opened, dead raising up."

They're all things that have been reported at crusades just like the one that Bonnke will preach in Houston. Brian Gowan with Pray Houston is planning to attend both nights.

"I worked in the Medical Center for 11 years and in the health care ministry for 25 years," Gowan says. "And so I love what God can do through the doctors and nurses, but sometimes where the doctors' and nurses' hands leave off, there's still a need for intervention. So I just love to see it when God gets involved through prayer, faith and healing."

University of Houston sociologist Dr. Luis Salinas isn't convinced. He says the healings that have been credited to Bonnke may be a trick of the mind.

"In scientific research we often see the power of placebos; people being healed with sugar pills or saline solutions. So the power of the mind is just incredible. It can get people to heal themselves in these cases too."

"The healings and miracles are part and parcel of the gospel message that oftentimes the Holy Spirit is present to heal," adds Gowan.

Obviously Bonnke believes in the healing power of God, but he says his biggest goal is to see 100 million people give their lives to Christ through his ministry before the end of this decade.

His crusade is Friday and Saturday at BBVA Compass stadium, and you don't need a ticket.