Bible scholar and author, Derek Prince died in his sleep September 24th at his home in Jerusalem. The cause was heart failure. Within hours I received a call from his American office advising me of the news. That was followed by a letter from his son-in-law, David Selby. Derek was the author of more than 45 books, some of which have been translated into 60 languages, and his radio broadcasts, Keys To Successful Living, and Today With Derek Prince, have also been heard in more than 60 languages, reaching all parts of the globe. These include translations into all major Chinese dialects: Amoy, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Swatow. Millions of Chinese who knew Derek as Ye Guang-Ming (Clear Light) assume him to be Oriental. Other broadcasts go out in Mongolian, Arabic, Malagasy, Russian, Samoan, Tongan, Spanish, and English. More than 100 Spanish-language radio stations in Spain and Latin America dispatch his message to 15 nations. In the U.S., his broadcast is carried by some 115 stations. Millions of Derek's teaching cassettes, books, videos, have been given away free of charge to spiritually-hungry people around the world. At a Conference in Brighton, England, years ago, I met numerous pastors from Africa, Asia, and the Pacific islands, whose ministry had been birthed and empowered by Derek Prince. The island nation of New Zealand has been saturated with his ministry.
The DPM International Office, located in Charlotte, North Carolina, directs its work through a network of foreign branches in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, England, Holland, and Germany. I am personally acquainted with members of the International Council for DPM and say without hesitation that these are the finest, most committed Christian men and women I have ever had the privilege to know. Knowing them is one of the great honors of my life. With them are numerous other men and women who devotedly labor behind the scenes.
Derek was born in Bangalore, India, into a British military family and as a five year old, spoke Hindustani and English; at age ten, he began a serious study of Greek and Latin. He would later add to that an understanding of Hebrew, Swahili, and other European languages. At age 13, Derek's scholarship gained him admission to England's distinguished Eton College. A few years later, Cambridge University accepted him, honored him with a Fellowship, and acknowledged him as the Senior Scholar of the Year. Later, Derek studied at Hebrew University in Israel.
