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White Africans are most impressed by Bhengu's effect on the crime rate. In some areas it has dropped as much as a third, and last year Bhengu set himself to reduce crime in Johannesburg by 25%. He is still far short of his goal, but the attempt itself is remarkable in a frightened city (pop. 1,000,000) where 100,000 firearms are privately owned and virtually every house has a watchdog. In his preaching, Evangelist Bhengu is careful not to set up a kind of reverse color line. White preachers, he tells his native listeners, have the word too. "When you get hold of a bottle of gin. it comes in a white bottle. It tastes good. Sometimes you pour some into a black bottle for your friends. It still tastes good. I give you the spirit of God out of a black bottle, but if it comes out of a white bottle, it is just as good."
* He also speaks Afrikaans, Sesuto, Xosa, Sechuana, Shangaan and English.