Apostle Demontae Edmonds doesn’t remember much about his childhood before turning 5 years old. One thing that remains vivid in his mind, however, is the way his aunt introduced him to the gospel, using him as an audience to help her gain confidence to teach her Bible school classes.
Looking back, Edmonds says his aunt’s actions were a huge part of helping to mold who he is now—an apostolic ambassador, author, leadership coach, prophet, podcaster and international speaker. It has led him to 25 countries to share the Good News of Jesus and help build future leaders for the kingdom through his worldwide ministry, Freedom 4 the Nations, based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Through Freedom 4 the Nations, Edmonds has laid hands on people and witnessed God’s power through miracles such as the blind seeing, the lame walking and the deaf hearing. He is known for his concise teaching of the Word, his prophetic accuracy and the ability to empower individuals to walk in their full God-given potential.
While God gave him those precious spiritual gifts that have benefited many inside and outside the kingdom, Edmonds also credits his aunt for helping stir up his enthusiasm for a ministry that demonstrates God’s unlimited power when she practiced her Bible class teaching before him. At the tender age of 4, he discovered just how powerful the Bible is, which gave him a hunger for more.
“She would use me as the practice person for her presentation,” Edmonds recalls. “She had these little boards where you could take cutouts of the Roman soldiers, of Jesus and of the cross where you could … change the pictures out with Velcro and stick them on the boards.
“So she presented the gospel to me that way,” he says. “And one day, after a few times of practicing on me, she asked me if I would like to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. Even to this day, I can see that very moment in my mind.
“He was already very real to me, and I had already felt His love at that point,” Edmonds says. “So when she asked me that very important question, the Lord was already welcomed into my heart. At 4 years old, that is pretty unusual. But with the gospel, Jesus says that the words I speak are spirit and life. At 2, 3, 4 years old, a child may not be able to fully comprehend the gospel message, but our spirit man can connect with the spirit of the gospel and the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”
Without a doubt, that Spirit took hold quickly in Edmonds’ life, and the fruits of his ministry are living proof.
Rising Miracles
During the early days of obedience to his calling, Edmonds says, God spoke to him about the restoration of miracles to the kingdom. While many in the body of Christ today have chosen to deny the possibility of the supernatural and miraculous, he teaches that these experiences are not limited to the Bible.
“Oftentimes we hear about miracles that took place in the Bible or even in our immediate past with people like Kathryn Kuhlman or John G. Lake. And with some ministries, it may happen, but it’s more likely that it does in third-world pockets overseas,” Edmonds says. “But I’m telling you, we’ve been seeing some very powerful miracles, even during the COVID pandemic.”
Edmonds says many people have affectionately referred to him as “The Miracle Man” due to the supernatural displays of God’s power and his prophetic accuracy within his ministry and meetings. That moniker is not something he boasts about or even cares to embrace, but the impact of his ministry within the supernatural realm is undeniable.
“We’ve had people write to us virtually over the internet—as we’re preaching or ministering or praying—that they have experienced tremendous miracles. I’m going to give you an example. There was a woman named Sarah Marie Ashbridge, and she had fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis She was confined to a wheelchair for three years, and [had] a tremendous amount of pain throughout her entire body. Right when we were preaching over the internet, the power of God came upon her. She got up out of the wheelchair, and she was able to walk. She was perfectly healed, and she has given that testimony publicly.
“We had a virtual miracle service online, and someone shared it with a relative who was bedridden in the hospital,” Edmonds says. “This woman had a very serious condition and illness where she couldn’t get up and walk around; she couldn’t do much. She was bedridden. All of a sudden, while the gospel is going forth, she felt this wind come into the room and lift her off the bed. She then gets up and walks as the pain left her body. We have a written medical record of that miracle happening as well.
“We’ve seen limbs grow. When we were in India, in one meeting, there were over a dozen people totally, or partially blind that were touched by the power of God and instantly became able to see,” Edmonds says. “There was one testimony where the gentleman who was not only able to see, [but] he looked up to the back of the building and said that he could read. The miracle of that is, he had never been able to see. So that means he was never able to read or was never taught to read. So now, not only was he able to see, somehow supernaturally God gave him the ability to read. So I believe there’s going to be an increase of those creative miracles until it gets to the proportion of biblical type miracles, and we’ve been seeing them consistently throughout our ministry.”
Coming Awakening
These miracles are only a small snapshot of the way Edmonds and his team are using technology and the media to show people the irrefutable power of God and to help reap a mass harvest in this next generation, he says.
He believes there are three keys to accomplishing another great awakening, which he believes is coming soon: miracles, media and marketplace.
“In talking about those three things, I’d like to start with marketplace. There are seven mountains of cultural influence. Traditionally, preachers focused on just one: religion. Churches were built; megachurches were built. But when you get into the educational mountain, the big government mountain, the business mountain, many times Christians and God didn’t have much influence, and the culture turned into an ungodly culture, even though ministries were prospering and growing. So, 40 years ago, you didn’t really have churches with 10,000; 15,000; 20,000 people. But 40 years ago, you couldn’t turn on the television and see naked people or hear profanity.
“So we have advanced a lot in that church space and church arena,” Edmonds says. “But now the Lord says for the kingdoms of the world to become the kingdom of our God, we need more people who can invade and integrate into these seven mountains of cultural influence. The cultural has to shift so the devil doesn’t have a foothold in these areas. That’s going to be very vital for the gospel.
“The second thing is the miracles,” he adds. “Throughout the Bible, we see that God is the God of miracles, from the Old Testament to the New Testament. It’s one of the major ways that he’s given proof to His Word; one of the major ways that He’s given proof to truth and one of the major ways that He’s given proof to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are so many competing religions, ideologies and doctrines. But when miracles take place—when the blind see, when the lame walk, the deaf hear, when limbs grow, when supernatural activity takes place—the debate goes out the window.”
Edmonds points to another time when he traveled to India and, while he was preaching at SRM University in Chennai, a group of Hindu and Muslim students, whom Edmonds calls “curiosity seekers,” witnessed a dynamic miracle. During his sermon, a loud rainstorm occurred, and the Muslim student group next door to his class was drowning out the sound of Edmonds’ sermon.
“At that time, all of a sudden in Jesus’ name, there was an indignation that came over me, and I commanded the noise and the rain to stop,” Edmonds says. “As I preached, many of the students ran to the altar. People got filled with the Holy Ghost, and Muslims and Hindus got saved.
“It wasn’t until the next day that the host of the ministry that invited me said to me, ‘Did you notice that when you told the rain to stop, it stopped instantly?'” Edmonds recalls. “I was just so focused on getting the message out that I didn’t even look for the results. But God did a miracle. I mean, Hindus and Muslims got saved because they saw proof of a power that was greater than the powers they were serving. So I believe miracles are going to grab the attention of people so Jesus can captivate their hearts.”
The third key to the coming harvest of gigantic proportions, Edmonds says, is the media. In recent years, the secular media has become a huge influence in America, and many have spread an anti-Christian, anti-Jesus message that has attempted to poison the minds of the public.
Edmonds says that if the enemy, Satan, can control what people consume through the media, then he can control their hearts and minds. Edmonds finds that unacceptable—and provides a godly alternative. He’s written several books, including Grab Hold of Your Miracle: 10 Keys to Experiencing Supernatural Miracles and The Supernatural Gift of Faith: Unlocking a New Realm of Prophetic Power.
As the host of Highways, which can be seen via Comcast Dish Network, on Atlanta’s channel 57 via XFinity and viewed globally via the internet through streaming services like ROKU and WATC, Edmonds uses the airwaves as a prophetic voice to deliver, equip and empower pastors and to deliver accurate prophetic words for nations and top church and secular leaders.
He is also the host of the show This is Freedom with Demontae Edmonds on the Charisma Podcast Network.
Transforming Truth
All of these efforts show just how important the media is in our culture.
“It says in the Bible that Satan is the prince of the power the air,” Edmonds says. “So, in our day and time, the airwaves, the air frequencies, whether by radio, whether by Wi-Fi, whether by internet or whether by television, he wants those mediums; he wants those media streams so he can influence people negatively, so he can cause them not to have faith in God, so he can distract them from prayer and he can distract them from relationship with God.
“We need to be just as intentional and strategic about moving into the space of all media streams and having a voice having an influence and presenting an image of Christ that people can connect with,” Edmonds says. “That can bring transformation to their lives, and they won’t be influenced by the doctrines of the devil. They won’t be influenced by false religions, and they won’t be distracted from having a relationship with God and give in to all of this imagery that has been presented to them that’s ungodly. I believe one of the greatest spiritual battles in this generation is going to be in the realm of media.”
Through the marketplace, miracles and the media, Edmonds says he believes God will send “strategic vessels into uncanny places” to bring His Word to the masses.
Through the vessel of his aunt many years ago, God raised up Edmonds as a strategic vessel, calling him to take the gospel into many uncanny places on this earth, including, of all places, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
“I was praying, and the Lord told me to go into the Pentagon and prophesy,” Edmonds says. “And I said, ‘Go where to do what? Lord, they kill people professionally and can get away with it.’ He told me, ‘I’m going to open the door for you.’
“The door didn’t open at first, but the Lord made the way, and I ended up prophesying to a group of generals and high officials,” Edmonds says. “They were weeping and crying, and they received the word of the Lord. Things were accurate down to names. So that goes back into that marketplace where we have to be open as believers to step out of the box and bring God into some untraditional, uncanny places.
“But your heart has to open to these things as mine was when I was a kid,” he adds. “As I said before, when your spirit man connects with the spirit of the gospel and the Spirit of Jesus Christ; that’s when transformation takes place. It’s the only way we’re going to change this culture and give it back to God.”
Shawn A. Akers is a content development editor for Charisma Media.