Go
Forth
Missions
“Till every knee shall bow and every tongue
confess...JESUS CHRIST is LORD.”
Xarkov,
Ukraine
Autumn 2001
GOD NEWS
Greetings, Beloved
of the Lord, and of us as well,
We hope this finds you standing strong in Faith and
Confidence in our God and Father.
Those who live in
the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
This I declare of
the LORD:
He alone is my
refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I am trusting in him.
For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from the fatal
plague.
He will shield you
with his wings. He will shelter you with his feathers.
His faithful
promises are your armor and protection.
Do not be afraid of
the terrors of the night, nor fear the dangers of the day,
nor dread the plague that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster
that strikes at
midday.
Though a thousand
fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will
not touch you.
Psa 91:1-7
In the light of recent events it is good know without
a doubt that our God is the true place of safety.
Many times in the last few years as we have faced danger; I have been
reminded of these verses, and the Lord has not failed us yet, nor will He in
these times, He is faithful. If
we fear Him and trust Him, we need fear nothing
else.
We hope all of you are encouraged in the Lord, rather
than dismayed or fearful because of the recent events in the
U.S.
We have found that what appeared to be a national tragedy in this land
has actually worked out for the furtherance of the Gospel.
The troubles that are afflicting this nation are causing the people to
become thoughtful, open and receptive to the Gospel.
They are learning the truth of Jesus' statement, "what does it profit
a man if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul."
Who of us would have imagined we would see the world stronghold of
Atheism turning to God in record numbers.
Or, who of us ever thought that we would see Yankee stadium filled
with unbelievers praying. God
uses these things and you will probably find that this is an hour of
unprecedented opportunity for us to share the Gospel to open hearts.
The outbreak of the Azusa Street Revival is attributed in part to
effect of the great
San
Francisco
earthquake on the people of that time.
I do not mean to ignore all the negative fallout from
what has happened, but we have to remember who we serve, and keep His eternal
purposes in mind. As the Lord
recently revealed to one of my associates, "One soul is worth more to God
that all the stars in the heavens."
So we can rejoice in the wonderful opportunity this gives us.
It has been many years since the hearts of Americans have been
conscious of God and so open to hearing from Him.
The man who
manned the missiles…
My son
John
was talking to a man in the church whose job for many years was to launch the
nuclear missiles (ICBM's) that were aimed at many of our major cities in the
U.S.
He said he was ready at any time to push the button to bring about our
destruction, in fact, in those days he thought it would be a good idea to
just go ahead and blow us up. Now
through the Gospel of Christ's love he is a changed man, after the
Trade
Center
incident he wanted to come to
America
and help. Only the Gospel can
change hearts.
The
Summer of Love…
We could call it
that because of all the weddings we had.
So many of the young people who came to Christ in our midst when they
were 12-15 years old have now grown up and are getting married, starting new
lives.
Of course the biggest news of all for us was
the marriage of our son
John Elijah Ed to Tanya Yurovna Kobets, one of our
youth leaders. They have been friends for many years, Tanya was one of the
first young people to join us our first year.
In fact
John showed me the spot where he first "ran into her" while playing tag with
the other boys outside our first building, when they were both about twelve
years old. Her father Yuri, by
the way, is one of our "village evangelists" that I highlighted in our last
letter.
All the kids are growing up, which is helping us
realize how long we have been here.
But we have a whole new crop to care for, who are now in our midst.
I am so thankful that many of the
older ones are staying around to help us with the new ones.
In fact our daughter Annie is graduating from
Bible
School in December and plans to rejoin us in the work here.
She was always one of our very best youth leaders and it will be a big
asset to have her back. If any of
you are interested in helping Annie financially it will free her up to devote
all her energy to the work of the harvest here.
Just make a note that you want your gift to go to Annie's ministry.
Harvesting with
great joy..
As you can probably imagine, although the work that
God is doing is glorious, the actual nuts and bolts work of being a
missionary in a strange land can be very difficult, tedious and frustrating
much of the time. But there are
times when God gives you such glimpses of the glory to be revealed that it
makes it all worthwhile. For
Joanie and I one of those times was the first
baptism we held this summer. I
thought it was about time I stopped baptizing and let the emerging leaders
have the honor this time. We
gathered everyone on one of the first warm Saturdays of the year on a public
beach at a lake in the city. In
what has become a tradition, we had a huge picnic together with much of the
church there. As always, Joanie
outdid herself, preparing enough food so that everyone who had not would have
something, and everyone had little would have no lack.
After a short
teaching on the meaning of baptism we had everyone gather on the steep bank,
while the home group leaders went down into the waters by twos to receive the
new believers into Christ's death and resurrection.
It was the first time I had stood in the background and watched during
a baptism. I was completely
undone; I just wept and wept as I felt what I am sure Jesus must feel as he
watches the reward of his sacrifice.
Young and old, strong and weak, even one cripple was carried in, men,
women and even children who insisted on being joined to Christ.
A multitude.
I just wept and wept as a I saw a whole
company of those we had poured out lives into for over seven years baptizing
a whole new multitude into resurrection life.
"He who believes and is baptized will be saved."
I just stood amazed as I realized that God had taken our feeble
efforts and our simple preaching of the Gospel and used it to bring so many
to Himself, from darkness to light, from death to life in Jesus Christ.
This is what we have lived for and we were seeing the fruit of our
labors, it was a glorious moment for which we are deeply grateful to God.
Rested, and ready to go again…
After
John's
wedding and some other commitments we took a long overdue rest from our
labors. Actually I was already
past the point of wanting it, but Joanie really needed a break.
The relentless pressure that is an inescapable part of what we do can
really wear you down. So off we
went to the
U.S.
and
Canada
for some prayer-counseling, some rest, and some medical and dental repairs.
We did not tell everyone in advance because we did not want this break
to be like the last one we took about six years ago when we wore ourselves
out trying to see a lot of people and get a lot of things done.
This time we really tried to get some rest and some focused family
time. It worked out pretty well
and we are back on the front lines, still reeling a bit from the conditions
here, and all the problems that are an ever-present part the work here.
On the other hand I am overjoyed by how well everyone has been doing
in our absence. Everything seems
to be flourishing except one or two things.
New churches "…and God
gave the increase." 1 Cor 3:6
Since the beginning of the summer, men from the group
I am discipling have started five new churches in the villages and assumed
the pastorate of another church here in
Kharkov.
So we have grown to six new churches over the spring and summer.
Pray for laborers for the harvest.
One pair is leading churches in three towns, another in two.
We have also gotten news of more churches started in the wake of
evangelism we have done, but we did not actually send the person who started the
church.
" And
how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach unless they are sent?"
How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
gospel of peace…!" Ro.10:14,15
Two things hindering us in this now are time and
transportation. With more of both
we could get more preachers sent.
Trying to get to the villages on public transportation is an exercise in
futility and a huge waste of time.
One brother is doing it, but it takes him almost three days to do what
the others do in one. What we
need at this point is about six good used cars, which would cost about
$3000-4000 each. Every car puts
two new evangelists out on the road.
With six this we could get about 12 evangelists on the road, at the
rate we have been going this has the potential of producing 45 new churches
within a year. It is even hard
for me to believe, but the moment is ripe.
Of course we would have to raise support for some of these evangelists
as well, but we are making progress in this area and we are all deeply
appreciative to every one of you who have sent the funds specifically to
support a local evangelist. We
still need more but we are thankful for all you have done.
So if you, your church, or home group could
help us with all or part of the cost of a car to send an evangelist out onto
the highways to the lost in the villages where they are dying to hear the
"Good News", you can be sure that there will be a crowd waiting to thank you
in heaven when you get there, for helping to send them the light.
"And the master said to the slave, Go out into the highways and
along the hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled."
Lu.14:23
Like watching
grass grow…
Once knew a guy who used to say that about watching
things develop. Well, it really
has not been that imperceptible, but it has been a big surprise lately just
to see how much our spiritual children have grown. "And He was saying,
"The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and goes to
bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows-- how, he
himself does not know. The soil
produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature
grain in the head." Mark 4:26-28
Since our time away was about a month more than we
had planned, it gave the gang here a good amount of time to handle things
on their own.
I was nothing but impressed.
They did not do a lot of things the way I would have, but I was
impressed with the way they did do things and especially by the results.
They showed great wisdom and energy to pursue the purposes of God and
to deal with the problems wisely.
Some had an opportunity to preach in my place and did remarkably well.
Not only that, but two were used of God as conference speakers.
From Glory to Glory…
Because of the
World
Trade
Tower
incident and other factors the speakers and teams for two conferences, here
and in
Kiev,
did not come as planned. Our
family was also delayed for medical reasons.
The organizer in
Kiev
invited my two assistants to teach in a conference there, and they both did
very well. Here in
Kharkov
they decided to just turn the conference into a worship event since people
were coming anyway. What began as
a Worship conference became an Intercession and Love conference.
The glory came so heavily during the worship that many could not even
stand. It then went from worship
to intercession, as people were weeping and prostrating themselves before the
Lord for the lost of their nation and the world.
One pastor was so overwhelmed with intercession he
could neither stand nor speak, only weep and cry.
Then he felt the Lord wanted him to preach.
He had some brothers carry him to the pulpit and lean him on it.
Through the tears he was able to communicate the word God had given
him. Others were moved to speak
as well. Although none had
prepared, all spoke under a powerful anointing and all centered on Love.
The result was that the entire assembly made a solemn covenant of love
with each other. Nothing was
planned but worship, which got to such high levels that on the third night
they just stayed the whole night in worship, but God had His own plan which
he was able to execute because everyone was so open to his God's voice and
what he wanted to do.
The results are tangible, I just get among them and I
feel love increasing in my heart.
This was especially meaningful to me because I had been telling the Lord
lately that I just did not think I had the love I needed for what is before
me right now. It is great when
you can just get around a group of people and receive an impartation like
that. God does things in the most
unexpected ways some times. I
love it.
I think they all see what they can do now, and I am expecting great
things.
Supernatural… happenings
I do not recall if I ever told you that there is a
lot of trafficking in the supernatural here, but not of a Holy kind.
As one woman recently come to Christ said when told that practicing
magic was not of the Lord. "why,
I never knew, all the women I know in my village practice magic."
Here when the doctors think a case is hopeless they often say, "the
only thing left to do is go to the "Bobka"(old women who practice a
syncretistic mixture of Eastern Orthodoxy and witchcraft).
People eat and drink vodka with the dead at graveyards.
They often see ghosts, and often speak with the dead.
As the Lord told me
years ago when I had not yet even begun to consider such things.
"The day is coming when as Moses before Pharaoh had to surpass the
magic of the Egyptians, the church (that's you and me) in the days to come
will have to surpass the power of the magicians and new age practitioners to
a level of power much higher than theirs."
And so it is coming to pass.
There are so many
signs, wonders, miracles, healings and supernatural interventions in the
lives of the people in the church here and in the villages we go to that we
do not even hear half of them. If
you are like me though, you love to hear about these things, so I thought
that this time I would add a bunch of interesting "Acts of God".
My eyes are healed!
Before I came to the Lord, I had a strange eye disease. It was like a
wall on my eyes, - some film was growing on my
eyes. I had been operated several times. The last operation was done by a
very famous Ukrainian surgeon. But after some tome the film started to grow
again. It was right before I’d come to the Lord. Then I still wasn’t sure
that there was God, and that He heals, so at my first meeting at the church I
decided to test Him. I said, “If You really exist,
then heal my eyes”. During worship time the Holy Spirit touched me, and I
cried a lot. By the end of the meeting I forgot about my prayer to God. But
several days later I noticed that the Lord did healed
me, my eyes were totally clean. Since then, 5 years past, and I am still
well, - there is no sign of the former eye disease.
Nadia Z.
The demons submit to us in Jesus' name!
Vitalik, the young man that we want to tell you about, was involved in
spiritism. He would invite demons, and they came. He just wanted to talk with
them about life, about the future, about the mysteries of life, and then part
with them peacefully. However, to his surprise, the demons had their own
agenda.
Soon after inviting the demons, nightmares started to torment Vitalik.
He could not sleep at night. The spirits would come and throttle him; they
would walk around his house, thus scaring the whole family. Once they even
attacked him, and scratched his neck. Vitalik himself changed a lot. One day
he punched a classmate. Later he could not remember doing it. When his
friends told me his sad story, I decided to tell him the Gospel.
After many explanations, he agreed to come to the church.
At the meeting, the demons started to torment him. Then I ran up to
Bill asking him to pray for him. After the prayer, he was better. That day
Vitalik repented.
Later Armen rebuked the spirits that tormented Vitalik. I expected him
to fall down, and the demons to scream through him, but nothing like that
happened. However, I was very surprised, when I later found out that the
demons had left Vitalik alone, and now he is happy.
He has been filled with the Holy Spirit and he amazes his friends with
the stories about our “wonderful church”, as he calls it.
Due to all this my girlfriend Ira could come to our
church and repented as well. Many times before I would invite her to come to
the church, but her husband was against it. But when her husband heard
Vitalik’s testimony, - he is their neighbor, - he said, “I will give her as
much money as she needs to get to church, if only she comes back home as
happy as Vitalik.”
I used to be a lesbian.
It all started with a haircut. I was very depressed. To comfort me my
mom decided to take me to a very good hairdresser. Her name was Nadia Y. When
we came there, she said, that she could give me a haircut only in a week. I
just cried. This was a last drop in a long list of my misfortunes. And then I
saw, that the lady’s face changed. I saw such compassion in her eyes! She
told me, “It is not the haircut, that you need.
You need Jesus.” I didn’t understand what she meant by that. As she told me
later, at that moment Nadia had a vision, where I was a baby falling down
from heaven into her hands.
When I came a week
later, she told me the Gospel, and invited me to the church to see a
Pantomime. She told me many things that day, she quoted scriptures to me.
Before then, I thought that I didn’t have anything that needed to be forgiven
for by God. I was a diligent girl, I graduated from high school with a silver
medal, and generally I considered myself to be behaving well. I was very
astonished when I learned, that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God”. I decided to go to the church to see. I was very surprised when one
Lena,
one of the ushers, hugged me by the door, and said, “Hi! What is your name?
Do you want me to introduce you to our youth?” I didn’t want to meet anybody.
After such an unusual welcome, I marveled at everything in the meeting.
First, I didn’t think there could be such good music in a church. Secondly, I
was very much touched be the Pantomime presentation.
But nevertheless I didn’t repent that day.
I decided to live my
own life. I fell into promiscuity; I started to go to rock concerts. I was
having fun. Until the landlady of the flat that we rented tried to manipulate
me and my girlfriend by saying that she knew we were lesbians, and if we
started to think of moving out, she was going to tell it to our parents and
to our classmates. I started to panic, then I fell
into depression. She finally called our parents.
During that period
of time, my hair grew. I needed a new haircut, so I phoned Nadia. After such
events in my life I decided to invite Jesus into my life. After I had
repented, Jesus came to me in my dream, and said, “If I have forgiven you all
your sins, how can you blame yourself?” I woke up rejoicing. Then I knew for
sure that I was forgiven. A week later God baptized me with the Holy Spirit.
It happened on the way to the university. Suddenly the power of God
came on me, and I started to speak in other tongues. I was speaking and
speaking, and couldn’t stop. People gave me strange looks, when I was going
along the street, then in the trolleybus, and in the subway. I just could not
stop. When I came to the auditorium door, I told to myself, “Enough”. I came
into the room, looked at my classmates, and realized, that if I didn’t speak
in tongues I would burst. I shut my mouth with my hands, and ran out. I found
a place, where I could be alone, and started to weep uncontrollably. After
that I felt great joy and freedom inside my soul.
My girlfriend was still a lesbian though. I still loved her. Then I told
God, “You know, that I love this person. I don’t want her to go to hell. Save
her.” Next morning we woke up totally free from lesbianism. She didn’t even
understand what had happened. But I
realized, that God had done a miracle for both of
us. Soon she repented. Now we both are serving the Lord.
Name withheld for obvious reasons
______________________________________
The young woman who shared the following two is one of our favorite
people. She grew up an orphan, as
have so many people who God has gathered into His great family through this
ministry. A woman who worked in
the orphanage took her home with two other children.
After a few years the woman died, and they were left on their own in
her little old house, where they fended for themselves for many years, since
she was twelve years of age if I recall.
When we met her she was a very hard, closed, withdrawn little thing.
Now she has blossomed into a lovely young lady who just shines with
the grace of God. She is known
among us as Luba "Halleluia" because the spirit of praise rests so strongly
on her. She often gets
spontaneous new songs to the Lord, which just breaks your heart with renewed
devotion.
Unusual Filling
One day my tooth ached very badly. I did not
have money to pay a dentist. On the same day we had an all-night prayer
meeting. I waited the whole meeting for the moment when we would pray for
personal needs. At about five in the morning I felt the Holy Spirit starting
to touch me. I had a feeling as if somebody was injecting my tooth. The pain
gradually left. When I came home and looked in the mirror, I saw that where
there had been a hole in my tooth, there was a filling. Several months later,
I went to see a dentist. I told him about the miracle, that God had done for
me. The dentist having looked at the tooth did not believe the miracle, but
said that the filling is made out of an unusual material.
Answered Prayer
Recently a man that I preached to 5 years ago received the Lord in our
church.
Once I was coming back home from the church, and saw a very sad man,
walking with a bowed head. I felt sorry for him, and I told him, “God loves
you so much. Come to the church”. But he told me to leave him alone. I prayed
that God would save him, and went home.
Recently in the church a man came to me, and said, “Do you remember
me?” I didn’t recognize him at first. But he saw me in the stage, and
recognized me. He told me that he was very sorry, that he didn’t believe the
Gospel then. Now he is an active member of our church. It is really
wonderful, that the Lord brought the man to our church, so that I could see
the answer to my prayer.
Luba A.
________________________________________
The following testimonies are from a young woman who
was saved and delivered from generations of mediums and witchcraft.
The Devil put up quite a fight for her in the early days of her faith,
but she has remained strong and overcome. These testimonies are especially
meaningful because all she has come through.
“Cult or not a cult?”, that is the question
Some time later after I came to our church, my mom came to one of our
services. She didn’t like it. She said to me, “It’s a sect. You are not going
here again!”, and she left. My friend and I prayed
that God would show my mother the truth.
The next morning she called, and with agitation she said, “Your church
is the right one. God Himself told me about it. I want to come on Sunday”.
I couldn’t wait for
her arrival to find out what happened.
It turned out that my mom also prayed that night, “God, maybe I don’t
understand something, but if my child is on the right way, confirm it to me
through a dream.” The same night she had a dream, where she saw me walking
with Bill and Joan along a lane of blossoming Chestnut trees (this is the
favorite tree of the Ukrainians). We were going towards the rising sun. When
the sun came out fully, its rays completely covered us. In the dream my mom
was following, but she could not keep up with us, because she was carrying a
heavy black suitcase. “That was my sins that were holding me”, she decided
when she woke up, and she repented.
“Hug her and
tell her that this is from Me”
Often when people would pray for me I would hear them say, “Lord, give
her a hug”. I was very skeptical of prayers like that, because I was
thinking, “God is in heaven, and I am on earth, how can He hug me?” Once,
when I was depressed, I asked the Lord one morning, “If you really can give
me a hug, then do it”. But by the
evening that day I was better, I was joyful, and already had different prayer
requests. After the meeting I came to one of the pastors with a prayer
request. I forgot about my prayer to God in the morning. But God told the
pastor, “Hug her, and tell her that this is from Me”.
How faith of one person overcame unbelief of another.
It was one year ago, when my dear mother came to visit me. On the way
to visit me she twisted her leg and she was just in despair. She was saying
to me how difficult her life was, and she blamed God for it. I told her: “God
can free you from your pain now!” But she was saying: “Stop that I can’t
believe that God is so good!” After long time of arguing, I got angry and put
my hand on her painful joint and said: “Lord, she doesn’t believe that
You can heal, BUT I believe, heal her according to
my faith”. It seemed, that after the prayer
nothing changed. My mother left. Only on the next day she phoned and said, “I
was so angry, I was walking, thinking my heavy
thoughts and not paying attention to anything. Suddenly in the subway I
realized, “How could I walk so fast and I don’t feel any pain?
Then I realized – God has healed me!
Natasha K.
Marriage ministry, Ukrainian
style
These are just some
samples of the work God has been doing in marriages.
The number of people who have been delivered from lifestyles of
adultery, desertion, abuse and other marriage problems is astonishing.
For how do you know,
O wife, whether you will save your husband?
I came to the Lord before my husband. In the beginning he was against
my going to the church and the home group. Once I came later than usually
from our home group. My husband was very upset. He told me that evening,
“Choose me or God. If you are choosing God, I am leaving tomorrow.” I got
scared after he had told me that. I went into other room, and prayed, “Lord,
I choose You. You will never betray me. If my
husband can so easily cancel all years that we had lived together, and
despise our child, then let him leave”. But the Lord did everything
differently. The same night my husband asked me to forgive him. Very soon
after that he also received Jesus as his Lord and personal Savior.
Praise God for letting me serve Him together with my husband.
Lena
No more adultery
Before I became a Christian, I had been committing adultery. However,
when I came to God I prayed: “Lord, take this desire away from me”, - and God
did that for me. I don’t have the desire to commit adultery anymore. Later
God told me to repent before my wife. I didn’t want to, because I was afraid
to cause her pain, but I decided to do so. I told her everything, and asked
for forgiveness. From that moment on our relationship is becoming better and
better. Praise God!
Anatoliy
40 roses
My wife Natasha loves roses very much. In addition, I like to surprise
her very much. I used to give her flowers without any special reason, just to
make her happy. Now we have financial difficulties in our family, so we have
to use our money sparingly. Because of this flowers in our home appear only
on birthdays. Once Natasha said: “O, I want roses so
much!” It was still a long time before her birthday, and I said to
God: “If her desire is important for You (I didn’t
understand fully why she needed the flowers so much), than give me those
flowers”. On the next day I was walking home from my job and was talking to
myself: “There is a flower-bed near our apartment, maybe I should go there
and pick some roses? No, it will
be sin”. But I wanted so much to make her happy. So, I was thinking about my
prayer. And suddenly I remembered that at the end of their workday the
sellers sometimes give away flowers that they didn’t sell. So, I went to one
of them, then to another – no success. Than I began to pray again: “Lord, if
You want to give joy to my wife, bless her with
flowers!” And I saw that one lady-seller had a big bunch of roses, of about
40. “Can you give me those flowers?” – I asked. Sellers around her started to
tell her: “Give them to him. She agreed, and I came home with a big bouquet
of beautiful roses. They were no different from an expensive bouquet. Then I
knew that desires of our hearts are important for the Lord.
Oleg P.
How a deaf and blind man heard the words of the Lord
My grand father is very old; he is deaf and blind. He’s come to the
Lord recently. Some time after that the Lord told me to visit him at his
village, and to do a communion together. In the village Maria, a Baptist
lady, looks after him. In the evening the three of us had communion together.
Afterwards, my grand father went to bed. Maria and I continued to fellowship.
We were sharing revelations. There was a wonderful presence of God in the
room. Suddenly I heard my grandpa mumble something (he was sleeping in the
same room). I came closer, and heard, that he was speaking in tongues! The
Lord told me, “Now he is going to prophesy”. Grandpa started to say, “The
Earth, and everything on it is going to be burned with fire. Look at the
desolate planets (then he even named several planets). The Earth is going to
be the same.” Then he continued to speak in tongues. Me
and even the Baptist lady didn’t doubt that this was a true prophecy from
God.
N.A.
Fight
with a maniac
Once when I
came back late from a church meeting, my husband started to yell at me, “Why
do you come home so late? You don’t do martial arts; you don’t have a gas
pistol. If some maniac should attack you, you will not be able to protect
yourself!” I started to think about what he had said. I thought, “Could God
allow such a situation to come into my life, and what would I do, if somebody
should attack me?” Then I realized, that I have got a
weapon, that is my word, and the name of Jesus.
The incident happened soon after that. My friend called me up to ask
me to come to pray for her. I didn’t know the way very well, I was going
there for the first time. I decided to ask a man coming towards me. When that
big guy came closer, I realized, that he is not
all okay. Then suddenly his behavior strangely changed. He asked me, “Where
are you going?” Boldly I told him, that I was going to pray. I asked him, if
he believed in Jesus. He darkly answered, “no!”.
Then he attacked me. At that moment I didn’t feel any fear, I knew for sure,
that nothing bad was going to happen. I looked straight into his eyes, and
said, “Satan, come out of this man.” My words infuriated the man even more.
He knocked me to the ground, and tried to touch me, but somehow he could not.
Then I cried out again, “Devil, leave this man alone! Blood of Jesus on him!”
When I mentioned the blood of Jesus, the man jumped off, fell on his knees,
and started to wail, “Lady, please forgive me.” I jumped up, and started to
pray for him. But he objected. Then I got angry with him, and said, “Get
away, in the name of Jesus!” And he went in the direction I pointed to,
repeating to himself, “I am the devil, I am the
devil…” Nadia H.
Released from the court room
Even if you are an ex-con, but you have repented and received the
Lord, God is able to release you.
As was my custom, I got drunk, and as usual I wanted to do something
radical. So, I decided to punish
my offenders. I took a knife and rushed on my enemies. And, of course, the
“enemies” reported about it to the police. My wife knew it, and since she was
a believer, she prayed all night. I also, when I sobered up, scared, started
to pray. In the morning a police detachment came to take me away. My case
took one year. I wasn’t imprisoned immediately, so I had time to repent, and
started to come to the church. I asked the pastors to pray for me. God heard
us. Every time when an officer would talk to me, God would give me favor.
Usually an ex-con like myself is kept in custody
until the court rules. But, they
somehow left me free.
Later there were two days in court. In the district court I was
sentenced to three years in a high security penal colony. I appealed, and
started to pray again. In the
Regional Court people are rarely
pardoned. Usually everything is done quickly, - they stamp “confirmed”, and
then say, “Go, our dear friend to prison, get better.” But they decided to
try my case, unusual for an ex-offender and without a bribe. At the court the
judge asked me if I threatened to kill those people. I told him everything.
But when I was asked, “do you confess the guilt?”,
I said, “no”. Everybody in the court marveled at my answer. I told them,
“Jesus had borne my sins, and I am justified”. The court gave me only three
years of probation.
Igor P.
Completely well
Alla had been sick with endometriosis for a long time. She was in the
hospital for one month. But the medical treatment was not successful.
At one point she lost hope for the healing. In one of the meetings,
Christi Lynch had a vision: Jesus was standing on the stage and his wounds on
his hands were bleeding. He stretched His right hand to the people and said:
“Healing…” At that moment Alla said: “Lord, if it is from you, heal me”. The
next day, she was supposed to go to the specialist for another examination.
And do you know what he found? – She was completely well!
We all thank
you together Lord for your wonderful works in Jesus Christ name.
Amen. More, LORD!
All of this is so
precious to us. We often hoped
would see the Lord consistently revealing his power like He has been, but we
hardly dared dream it would really happen in our own lifetime.
As they sing in
Argentina,
"When the spirit of the Lord is moving, then
move."
Let's all continue
move where He is moving and to harvest together in His Name.
We love you.
Grace and Peace to
you abundantly in Jesus Christ who so exceedingly gracious,
Bill and
Joanie,
John
and Tanya, Christie and Sarah,
and
the Saints in Xarkov
Bill and Joanie Lynch-
Missionaries
U.S.A.
Address:
Gallinskaya 22- A
Go Forth Missions
Xarkov
310068
P.O. Box
26863
Ukraine
Salt Lake City,
Utah
84126
Ph. (38)(0572) 21 24 42
E-mail: Gospel@kharkov.ua
