Living Epistles - Part Six
The name George Muller is familiar to many Christians who have heard of his work in providing for thousands of orphans in England during the 1800s. His was a remarkable life. He was born in Prussia in 1805, what would now be called Germany. The Prussian people were known for certain characteristics that some have attributed to the region's success and influence.
Many people believe that some specific "Prussian virtues" were part of the reasons for the rise of their country, for instance: perfect organization, discipline, sacrifice, rule of law, obedience to authority, reliability, tolerance, honesty, frugality, punctuality, modesty, and diligence.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussia]
These traits describe George Muller's life and ministry throughout his adult life, but they were far from him as a youth. He was not raised in a Christian home, though his father chose for him to pursue a career as a clergyman. This had nothing to do with any religious belief, or devotion. It was merely a career decision to provide a good living and security for his father in his old age.
Before he was ten years old George Muller was stealing money from his father. As he entered his teen years he was drinking regularly, reading novels, and living an immoral life. His dishonesty led to his being jailed at the age of 16 for a brief period, having run up bills at expensive hotels that he could not pay. His father paid off his bills and beat him severely upon his return home. He was then sent off to study for the university and to prepare for a job among the clergy.
As a student of divinity, George Muller continued a profligate lifestyle. He stole money from friends, and lied constantly to cover his tracks and to keep his father satisfied. In 1825 he attended a Bible Study with a friend from the university, and it was there that God began a work of grace in his heart. In his autobiography, George Muller describes this time.
Now my life became very different, though not so that all sins were given up at once. My wicked companions were given up; the going to taverns was entirely discontinued; the habitual practice of telling falsehoods was no longer indulged in; but still a few times after this I spoke an untruth. I read the Scriptures, prayed often, loved the brethren, went to church with the right motives, and stood on the side of Christ, though laughed at by my fellow students... About Easter, 1826, I saw a devoted young brother, named Hermann Ball, a learned man, and of wealthy parents, who, constrained by the love of Christ, preferred laboring in Poland among the Jews as a missionary to having a comfortable living near his relations. His example made a deep impression on me. The Lord smiled on me, and I was, for the first time in my life, able fully and unreservedly to give up myself to Him.
At this time, George Muller understood that his life was to be lived for the glory of God, and that he could not give himself to the pursuit of worldly position, material security and social success. He considered that God might have him also walk away from the familial ties to his well-to-do family and labor in some foreign land as a missionary. He was fully willing to give himself to such a course, and he felt he must declare this to his father. He writes:
My father was greatly displeased, and particularly reproached me, saying that he had expended so much money on my education, in hope that he might comfortably spend his last days with me in a parsonage, and that now he saw these prospects come to nothing. He was angry, and told me he would no longer consider me as his son. But the Lord gave me grace to remain steadfast. He then entreated me, and wept before me; yet even this by far harder trial the Lord enabled me to bear. After I had left my father, though I (needed) more money that at any previous period of my life, as I had to remain two more years at the university, I determined never to take any more from him; for it seemed to me wrong, so far as I remember, to suffer myself to be supported by him, when he had no prospect that I should become what he would wish me to be, namely, a clergyman with a good living. This resolution I was enabled to keep.
There comes a time in the life of all those who would be true disciples of Christ, when they must face the cost of following Him wherever He might lead them. The plans of the Lord are quite often not the plans that our parents, brothers and sisters, wife, or children would choose for us. For this reason, Christ exhorted all who would truly be His disciples to consider carefully the cost.
Now great multitudes were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life (psuche - soul), he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."
I have found that most Christians make but small progress in a life of faith and in conformity to Christ until after they are brought to count the cost of surrendering all to Christ and accepting it. It is at this point that the Spirit begins to lead a person down paths that they would not have chosen for themselves, but which result in much spiritual growth. As one continues down in this life of surrender it will eventually lead to much fruitfulness.
There is very little fruit among Christians today, very little evidence of conformity to Christ, because there is such an absence of surrender. Christians today largely believe that being a disciple does not require the same radical commitment observed among the early saints of Scripture.
This surrender of our will to God very often results in hardship and trials and sorrow to those who take God's will to be their own. Yet the very things we consider hardships and distresses are the experiences Yahweh uses to lead us forth into a life of faith and obedience that will one day bear much fruit. So it was with George Muller. His willingness to surrender the direction of his life to God brought immediate rejection from his earthly father. His previous means of support was cut-off, but this was exactly what was needed in order to begin to teach this son of God to begin looking to his heavenly Father for all things.
The Lord directed George Muller to look to him for his support while he was at the university. As he was cast over onto the provision of his heavenly Father for the first time, he writes:
Shortly after this had occurred, several American gentlemen, three of whom were professors in American colleges, came to Halle for literary purposes, and as they did not understand German, I was recommended by Dr. Tholuck to teach them. These gentlemen, some of whom were believers, paid so handsomely for the instruction I gave them, and for the lectures of certain professors which I wrote out for them, that I had enough and to spare. Thus did the Lord richly make up to me the little which I had relinquished for His sake. "O fear the Lord, ye His saints; for there is no (lack) to those who fear Him."
From this small beginning of faith, George Muller was to grow in faith and reliance upon God until he was trusting Him for the provision of more than 2,000 orphans at a time, supporting over a hundred missionaries in part or in whole, and printing and distributing hundreds of thousands of Bibles and millions of tracts annually.
All of this was done without making any public pleas for funds. Mr. Muller had no television or radio program where he would make pleas for support. He had no advertising campaigns. He had no campaigns for capital projects. He did not work through worldly solicitations to have the needs of all of these heavy burdens met. Rather, he learned to take all his needs to God the Father. Having maintained a good conscience in only taking on those labors that he was assured the Spirit of Christ was directing him to, he was able to look to Christ to meet every need.
The year 1835 found Mr. Muller residing in England. He was ministering much through preaching at local churches. He had a few years earlier begun The Scriptural Knowledge Institute, which was a work aimed at the printing and distribution of Bibles and tracts, and the instruction of young people in a large number of Sunday schools which he supported. It was in this same year that he began to consider the work that was to bring him renown, even as it encouraged millions of Christians to place a much greater trust in God while encouraging them to come before Him confidently in prayer. This work was to be among the orphans of England. Mr. Muller described the reason for entering into this work in the following way.
I therefore judged myself bound to be the servant of the church of Christ on the particular point on which I had obtained mercy; namely, in being able to take God by His word, and to rely upon it.
For the previous ten years Mr. Muller had been looking to the Lord for all of his provision, and those of a growing ministry, and he had Found Yahweh faithful. Now he desired to stir up the body of Christ to walk in the same grace that he had received. He continues:
All of these exercises of my soul, which resulted from the fact that so many believers with whom I became acquainted were harassed and distressed in mind, or brought guilt on their consciences on account of not trusting in the Lord, were used by God to awaken in my heart the desire of setting before the church at large, and before the world, a proof that He has not changed in the least; and this seemed best done by the establishing of an orphan house. It needed to be something which could be seen, even by the naked eye. Now, if I, a poor man, simply by prayer and by faith, obtained, without asking any individual, the means for establishing and carrying on an orphan house, there would be something which, with the Lord's blessing, might be instrumental in strengthening the faith of the children of God, besides being a testimony to the unconverted of the reality of the things of God. This then was the primary reason for establishing the orphan house. I certainly did from my heart desire to be used of God to benefit the bodies of poor children bereaved of both parents, and seek in other respects, with the help of God, to do them good for this life. I also particularly longed to be used of God in getting the dear orphans trained up in the fear of God; but still, the first and primary object of the work was, and still is, that God might be magnified by the fact that the orphans under my care are provided with all they need, only by prayer and faith, without any one being asked by me or my fellow-laborers, whereby it may be seen that God is FAITHFUL STILL, and HEARS PRAYER STILL.
I think it is very needful to declare here that this is not some work that George Muller arrived at through the counsel of his own soul. As stated in his own words, he believed that God had led him to consider this work by placing before him so many souls who were walking in guilt due to their failure to trust in God. Nor did George Muller enter into this work hastily. His memoirs reveal that he patiently waited before the Father in every decision made concerning his labors. I have been much impressed with his testimony in this regard, and have shared it with a number of people over the years. In 1880 he preached a sermon where he shared the following:
Had it been left to us to make promises concerning prayer, I do not know that you or I could have done any more than say, "Ask, and ye shall receive." Yet, while the promise is so full, so deep, so broad, so precious in every way, we have here, as becomes us with other parts of the word of God, to compare Scripture with Scripture, because in other parts additions are made, or conditions are given, which, if we neglect, will hinder our getting the full benefit of prayer.
George Muller went on to detail a number of conditions that were attached to the simple "Ask, and ye shall receive." First, our petitions must be according to the will of God as is revealed in I John 5:14.
And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
Mr. Muller shared in his autobiographical work that he would discipline his soul until it entered into a state of rest whenever he was considering some work of God, or the expansion of some work. He said he would not trust himself to discern the voice and will of God until he was assured in his soul that he would be equally as content to hear God say "No" to a matter as he would be to hear God say "Yes." At the very beginning of this work, on November 28, 1835, he wrote the following in his daily journal.
I have been, every day this week, very much in prayer concerning the orphan house, chiefly entreating the Lord to take away every thought concerning it out of my mind if the matter be not of Him; and have also repeatedly examined my heart concerning my motives in the matter. But I have been more and more confirmed that it is of God.
George Muller did begin the orphan house soon afterwards, and God kept the work small for the first ten years. During the period from 1835 until 1845 he had never built an orphan house. The houses needed to keep the children were rented quarters. As many as 100 orphans and their care-givers resided together in a few houses that were all close in proximity in Bristol, England.
The record of these ten years is most enlightening for those who desire to understand the ways of God. During this period of time there were daily struggles for provision. It seemed that God rarely ever gave Mr. Muller and his fellow laborers anything beyond that day's provision. This led to great trials, and constant seasons of intense prayer that God might not fail them.
I have read these accounts a number of times, and the monotony of the struggle day after day is very evident in the journal entries of Mr. Muller. Yet, he was not dismayed. Indeed, he considered the daily struggle to be a very normal experience for all who would follow the Lord in obedience and faith. The countless trials also led to countless acts of divine deliverance. The timing of the Lord's provision was always such that never once in all those years did the orphans ever miss a meal. Yet day after day the laborers faith was tried. Summing up the year 1838, Mr. Muller wrote:
Should it be supposed... by anyone in reading the details of our trials of faith during the year... that we have been disappointed in our expectations, or discouraged in the work, my answer is... such days were expected from the commencement... Our desire is not that we may be without trials of faith, but that the Lord graciously be pleased to support us in the trial.
As I have considered these matters, and being acquainted with the testimonies of many other saints both contemporary and from previous times, and having walked with the Lord down very similar paths, I have observed that it is very common for Yahweh to lead His people to trust Him for their daily bread.
When Yahweh led the Israelites through the wilderness, He said He would provide manna from heaven each day. He instructed the Israelites to only gather what they would eat that day, trusting that He would be faithful to provide for them again the next day. Those who were fearful and did not trust gathered more than one day's supply, but it became rancid and bred worms.
When Christ taught His disciples how to pray, He uttered the words, "Give us this day, our daily bread." All those who will follow God by faith will be led to experience this daily dependence upon God. I can testify that it can be a very uncomfortable place for a man to walk, especially when he has others looking to him for their provision. Yet, God is faithful, and He would have us to rest in the confidence of that fact. There is a place of peace that all may enter into concerning Yahweh's faithfulness. He will keep us daily facing need, He will try us repeatedly over a prolonged period of time, until we learn the lesson of trust and resting in Him.
Once a year George Muller would publish an account of God's faithfulness. He would include testimonies of the daily struggles they faced, the prayers that were uttered, and the specific answers that were received. In this way he was able to strengthen and encourage the faith of millions of Christians worldwide.
Beginning in 1845 Mr. Muller was led of the Spirit to build orphan houses, as the number being admitted was increasing and it was causing some discontent among the neighbors where they were living. Forty years after the start of the orphan ministry the Lord had provided the means for a number of large homes to be built that would eventually hold as many as 2,000 orphans. The needs continually increased as the work expanded, and God continued to meet every need.
Note: Click on pictures to see them in higher resolution.
Number 3 Orphan House on Ashley Down, Bristol England.
The boys who were old enough were given exercise by working in the gardens during the growing seasons.
A group of girls from the girl's orphan house.
One of the reasons I am posting this series at this hour is to encourage the saints of God to trust in the faithfulness of Yahweh in coming days. I believe that great poverty will come upon many lands. Grocery stores will be emptied. Famine will cover many lands that have only known prosperity for generations. There will be many who will be displaced from their homes, and the Spirit even testifies that many saints will be led to flee.
People can only carry a meager amount of provisions with them, even as that nation of Israelites who fled from Egypt could only carry a few days worth of food. The time will come when all will need to begin looking to Yahweh for their daily bread.
Many of the years that George Muller was caring for orphans were difficult years economically in England. Despite this, God never let the orphans go hungry, or lack warmth in the winter, or fail to have a roof over their heads. If He provided for thousands of orphans because one man was inspired to trust in Him, what will Yahweh do for His people in days ahead? The Spirit bears witness that the coming days will be filled with tales of miraculous provision and deliverance. God's people will do exploits, and those who have faith in Him will be recompensed for their belief.
Dreams, Visions, and Current Events
I want to share some things that have been shared with me recently. As the hour grows increasingly late, the signs of birth pangs in the Earth are all around us.
"The Coming Bank Failures - A Prophetic Dream"
By Nathan Leal - August 25, 2009
The FDIC will soon be insolvent!
They will need their coffer refilled with more funny money.
A few months ago in the early summer of 2009, I had a prophetic dream about the banks of America failing. I have not gone into detail about the dream, so I would like to do that now. And I would like to talk about how to prepare for this event.
The dream begins:
I found myself standing on a street corner in a small town somewhere in the USA. As I looked across the street, there was a bank in a small building. The building was perhaps 50 to 75 feet wide. It was a one story brick building with large pane windows.
I suddenly heard the sound of propellers from an airplane. The sound was coming from behind me. Before I had a chance to turn around and look, a small propeller plane flew right over my head. It was a small passenger plane that would hold about 20 people. It missed my head by about 10 or 15 feet. It then flew right into the windows of the bank across the street.
As it went through the windows and with the glass broken, I could then see inside of the bank. I did not see many people, but I did see one of the bank employees immediately stand up when the windows broke. His back was to the windows and before he had a chance to turn around, one of the wings of the plane knocked him down. He was wearing a white shirt and a tie. I knew that he was the bank manager. But he did not see the plane coming. He was caught off guard.
As I watched all of this happen, I found myself screaming in my dream. I felt panic and dread! I ran across the street toward the bank. I ran to the right of the building and up the driveway to the parking lot on the other side of the building.
When I got to the parking lot, I saw the engine of the plane lying in front of me. As I looked to my left, I saw that the airplane had flown entirely through the bank and exited through this side. I expected to see a lot of debris inside the bank, including dead bodies. But I did not see that. It was just one giant hole with broken windows on the entry side and exit side of this bank. The furniture was gone; there was no debris, except for a fluorescent light hanging down by wire.
There was another person, perhaps a bank customer standing in front of me in the parking lot. I screamed to him, "Where is the plane?" He pointed to my right and said, "it crashed at the end of the parking lot!"
The dream was over.
Over the next few days, I pondered the dream and took the matter to prayer. At first, I thought that this dream meant that a small plane was going to crash into a bank. But the Holy Spirit of God explained it to me:
1. The small bank that I was looking at in the dream represents the small banks of America.
2. The propeller plane represents the economy.
3. The engine that fell into the parking lot represents the economic "engine" of America.
4. The bank manager represents the leadership and owners of small banks.
5. The crash of the plane represents an economic crash.
So here is what is going to happen:
At some point in our future, that economic "engine" of this country will no longer be able to bear its own weight. And it will fall off! When the economic engine falls off, it will cause the economy to crash.
Before the economy hits bottom, i.e. the airplane hitting the ground, it will take out and crash many small banks in America. When the crashing economy hits the small banks, the banks will be cleaned out. This is why I saw no debris in the banks. Does this mean they will be cleaned out of all of their money?
Also, when this event happens, the owners and managers of small banks will not see it coming. It will take them by surprise. This is why I saw the plane wing hit the manager in the back. He did not see it coming.
I believe that the panic and fear that I had in the dream will be the same panic that will overwhelm many people when this happens. Being caught off guard without the access to money or ATM debit cards could cripple the plans of Americans for days with no money to buy food or gas.
Also other things affected by sudden bank closures include:
1. Access to safety deposit boxes
2. Bill pay programs – Will a computer somewhere still pay your bills?
3. Automatic deposit – "Where's your money?"
4. Where do you send your mortgage or credit card payment?
5. Will checks bounce? – Will you get stuck with fees and a bad record?
6. Access to your money – Was it insured? Will there be a delay getting it from the FDIC?
7. Will a new bank take over the operations? How smooth will the transition be? Will your credit be affected because of loss payments or records?
When will this happen and What do I Do?
These are just a few of many issues that could arise in the event of a bank failure.
You may be wondering, "When will this crash happen?" That part I do not know. But I do consider this a warning from God.
What can you do about this? I would advise that you try to keep track of the health of your bank. Some banks are doing better than others. Some banks are very saturated with toxic loans. Finding out about the health of a bank may not be easy because today, many banks are cooking their books and lying to their customers. But in spite of this accusation, it would still be wise to try to find out the health of your bank. There are websites that are keeping track of the health of banks.
One of them is Bankrate...
http://www.bankrate.com/rates/safe-sound/bank-ratings-search.aspx
Type in the name of your Bank or Credit Union. I do have a caveat about researching the health of a particular bank. Their books could be "totally" erroneous and untrue to get a better rating. So in addition to researching your bank, I would also advise that you take the matter to prayer and ask God what to do.
Perhaps one remedy is to spread your money or savings into several banks. For those that are able, have some cash on hand. Some people have chosen to diversify their liquid assets into precious metals. Some people have chosen to invest their money offshore. Whatever you decide, let it be the Lord's leading.
I know that an article like this can create fear, but my intention is not to create fear. My purpose is to warn the people of God so that they can be prepared when this event happens.
God bless you, and may all of you be dwelling under the shelter of His wing.
Nathan Leal
[Source: http://www.watchmanscry.com/prophecy_banks_fail.html]
This dream is very similar to one I posted on the Parables Blog some months back. Indeed, there have been a number of dreams that have signified that a complete collapse of the economy and of the dollar is coming. I will relate a couple more here. The following is an excerpt from a Blog posted back in March of this year.
A brother in the Lord named Shane, wrote to me the following. It spoke of a dream he had early in the morning of January 4th of this year.
To be brief, in the dream I was walking down the concourse of large regional shopping mall and I was passing people walking the opposite direction I was walking who had a "stunned" look on their faces. They were all in small groups of like two to five or so people. I also noted that the stores were empty, which I thought was odd, but I kept walking. Finally, I rounded a corner and there was large group of people standing around in front of what appeared to be a "mall branch" of some bank, with several teller windows. The scene was strange in that all I could hear were whispers coming from the crowd and I felt "a fear" that seemed to be coming from them. Another strange thing was that there were these guys dressed in suits standing outside the perimeter of the crowd and they were wearing white gloves. They sort of looked like butlers or something but they had their hands crossed in front of them and were wearing these white gloves. To be honest, it sort of felt like I was at some kind of funeral.
Well, really didn't know what to do. So, I turned around and started to walk back the same way I had come and with the intent of moving quickly, but not running. However, before I had made it just a few feet, something caught my eye on the floor. I looked down and there were large denomination bills laying on the floor. I saw $100 bills, $50 bills and so on. Well, my first thought was to reach down and pick them up. However, something restrained me and reminded me of two things: One, it's not yours, and Two, look at it. It's laying on the floor! Then I thought; "What does this mean?"Then an understanding came to me: It dawned on me that it is on the floor because it is worthless! If it was worth anything, surely someone would have spotted it before me and picked it up by now!
Wow! I thought, then I began to move as quickly as I could to get away from these guys in the white gloves and the group of people standing at the bank. It seemed that I was walking for some time until I came to a white hallway sandwiched between two department stores and something inside me told me to turn and walk down the hallway, so I did. When I came to the end of the hallway, it was like I was somehow "transported" to another place inside the interior of the mall, like the mall security offices or something. When inside I noted that there was nobody there so I just walked around looking at things until I came to this room that had mirrors on the walls. I could see the reflection of the office furniture in the mirrors, but one thing that struck me was I could not see myself, or my reflection in the mirrors. Then the dream ended.
I don't know what all the dream meant, but from the feelings I got from being around that group of people at the bank were not good. They all seemed to have this "panic look" in their eyes, or worry at least, and they were all whispering among themselves, although I could not make out what they were saying. It was a very strange dream indeed. However, I just thought I would chip in with my own dream experiences here lately, as it seems to confirm what others are experiencing in their own dreams. I don't know if you have heard one like this or not. However, I believe that with all these strange dreams going on, and all of them pointing, more or less, to similar warnings, I don't think I am alone at all.
This dream doesn't need much interpretation. The people speaking in hushed voices, the palpable fear that was emanating from the crowd, the men at the bank branch with the white gloves, and the funeral atmosphere all point to the imminent collapse of America's banking and financial system. The collapse has been prophesied in a myriad of ways which the readers of this blog will already be familiar with. One of the most recent signs was observed when the US Airways flight crashed in the Hudson River just after takeoff. Aboard were many executives from Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank. This prophetic event foretold of a sudden event which will occur that will cause America to descend precipitously. The banking system will fall all the way to the ground, which was also signified prophetically when the World Trade Centers collapsed on 9-11-2001 with the resulting closure of the New York Stock Exchange.
The stores in this dream were also empty. This will occur for two reasons. There will be no more merchandise to buy, as some have prophesied that the stores will be emptied in one hour when calamity strikes. Additionally, people's money will be worthless, therefore shopping will be impossible. The money being worthless was additionally observed in Shane's dream as he saw large denomination bills left carelessly scattered on the ground.
[Source: http://parablesblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/money-soon-to-be-worthless.html]
Some months back I related the following:
A few weeks back I had an opportunity to fellowship with a brother named Joe Boes as we drove to a meeting in North Georgia. Joe shared some interesting things along the way. Joe has a friend who has been having unusual dreams of late, and he has been asking Joe what he thought of them. In the most recent dream this man saw himself standing outside when a very low flying airplane passed overhead. The plane was so low that it grabbed his attention, and he watched it fly on a distance and then it suddenly crashed into the side of a mountain and was destroyed. In the dream the man found himself saying "The economy just crashed! The economy just crashed!"
When Joe's friend related the dream to him Joe asked him again about the height of the plane. The man said it was very low. Joe told him this meant that the coming collapse was no longer far off, but rather that it was very near. The time until the collapse would no longer be measured in years, but in weeks and months. Joe shared with me more recently that he was told of another dream by a man with whom he works. The symbols were all very significant, and it appeared to be a dream with much meaning, but Joe had no understanding of it. Joe has discernment when the Lord provides him with understanding of a dream's meaning, and discernment to know when the voice of the Lord is absent. Understanding this about Joe, I am all the more impressed with the dream his friend had about the airplane crashing, and the immediate understanding that came to Joe regarding its interpretation.
In Nathan Leal's dream the plane was also very low when it passed over his head. I believe it has the same meaning. These things are close at hand. They are no longer far off. I would like to share some comments I wrote to the sister in Christ who forwarded me Nathan Leal's dream.
Dear M.,
I do not doubt that what is spoken of will occur, and that it is not far off. I think the fact that the plane was not far above Nathan Leal's head in the dream indicates that these things are close at hand. The crash will come and sweep everything away.
I went to the link for bank ratings and I found that the bank I use (SunTrust) has the lowest rating, just one star out of five possible. At the same time, I know this is the bank the Lord directed me to use. I do not keep much money there, and I have no nest egg socked away somewhere, so I have very minimal exposure to a bank failure.
When you think about it, it is those people who have come out from Egypt, who have surrendered to following Christ, and who have very little of this world's goods, who will be affected the least. I have no worry about paying a home mortgage, or a car loan. I have no concern about where to put my furniture and accumulated belongings. All I have will easily fit into the camper/van that the Lord has provided for me.
It will be those who are very much "in the world," those who have houses and land and furniture and loans and savings accounts, that will be the most impacted by that which is prophesied in this dream. There is much peace and freedom in having allowed God to lead us out of the entanglements of the world.
II Timothy 2:4-5
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
I am called to active service, and I have been led to lay aside the entanglements of this life. Though a majority of Christians find such a life undesirable and will not even consider surrendering all things to Christ, it will truly be found to be the place of peace in the days ahead.
"So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions."
Following are a few more links to recent articles I have received that are of interest.
Time for the Elderly to Check Out?
http://www.newswithviews.com/Betty/Freauf146.htm
Video of the Tornado that Struck the Lutheran Church in Minneapolis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALk1z5euBxI
Note: I have recently been posting a series titled Living Epistles - Testimonies of Faith. These are offered as encouragement to the saints to have the confidence to trust in God in days of great shaking. God is faithful, and He will provide for those who obey Him, and who put their trust in Him.
Living Epistles - Part Five
The following is a remarkable excerpt from the testimony of Boris Sorokovsky. Boris' family was from the Ukraine, from the area around Kiev. He shares how God led the Christians in the Ukraine to flee their homes before the Communists began a severe persecution in 1933 that resulted in the deaths of six million Ukrainians. Those who heeded the voice of the Spirit were delivered.
This testimony is very appropriate for this hour in America, for the Spirit is once more speaking to His people, and those who hear and obey will be delivered, while those who do not listen, and do not obey will suffer those things that the Spirit is testifying are coming swiftly. What follows is written by Boris Sorokovsky.
EVENTS IN RUSSIA
The revolution took place in Russia in 1917 and Russia was in for 70 years of great darkness, of atheism and the authorities fighting against God. So the Lord, in His mercy and His providence, decided to send help to Russia and put up a standard there and bring the Light of the Gospel into Russia.
The Lord sent one man from the U.S.A., filled with the Holy Ghost. He sent him to Russia. He was a Russian man, and he came into Russia and started to preach the apostolic message; the message of salvation; the message of sanctification; the message of holiness; the message of dying unto sin; the message of repentance; and the message of also entering into the blessing of the Lord - into the outpouring of the Holy Ghost and the miracles of God's power which are able to be performed when God's people seek His Face.
Russian people were very simple people at that time. The majority of them were farmers. There was hardly any education. The message preached was believed and so a revival broke out in Russia. It spread like a wildfire through many villages, many towns.
Within the first seven or eight years from 1923, when God sent that man into Russia, revival took over the whole of the Ukraine and all of Russia; as far as the Ural mountains which are the mountains running north and south, dividing the Russian mainland from Siberia.
So the Lord was doing mighty things and He was establishing a church there; a living church which was going away from the orthodox church. The orthodox church, as you may be aware, worships idols and icons, crosses and all those types of things.
There were many people, thousands and thousands of people, coming to the Lord through the simple message and the power of the Holy Ghost like in the days of the apostles...
My mother was a living witness of the revival that took place. She was in it herself and she's still alive and she's still in Canada with us. She related many mighty things that the Lord did for His glory in Russia. Saving hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people in Russia.
The Lord would pick out men by the Holy Ghost. He would tell them to fast and pray. The Lord would tell them the name of a village, the name of a street, and the name of a person where they should go. The Lord knew who was prepared in that village. The brethren would go there and find the man in the house. He was ready and prepared by the Lord to receive the message. They would start singing. They would start preaching the message and before you knew it, the whole village gathered by the prompting of the Holy Ghost.
They were not eloquent people. They were not people with mighty speech. They were just simple farmers carrying the message and the power of the Holy Ghost, like the simple fishermen in the days of Christ. They were preaching the Gospel, not in their own might, but in the might of the Holy Ghost.
The whole village would gather and before you knew it, most of the village had come to the Lord. They'd be drinking vodka. They'd be worshipping idols and then they'd become repentant. Then they become empowered of the Holy Ghost and miracles would begin to take place all over.
My mother was relating to me that all the miracles that happened in the days of the apostles and throughout the Old Testament, were repeated in Russia. People saw mighty wonders of God including the resurrection of the dead. The Lord was proving Himself a Mighty God, a Living God, even today in this last generation, a generation of unbelievers, a generation of darkness. So this was a direct working of the Lord in Russia.
My mother was sharing that while the revival spread right through the land, the people were really blessed. At that time they did not have many Bibles, because there was no printing press to take care of the needs of the Word of the Lord in Russia. Some Bibles were brought in from the west, from France and from England. There were some Bibles printed in England in the 18th century - but those Bibles were very few and far between.
The Lord taught them by the Holy Ghost, by direct revelation, by visions, by angels, and by the word of prophecy. The Lord taught them without Bibles the principles of holy living, and separation from the world. The Lord taught them the commandment of washing the saints feet so that the Russian revival church practiced the washing of feet. The ladies covered their heads. The Lord taught them that it is the sign, the visible sign of headship in the house, and for the angels that sign must be.
Many other things the Lord taught specifically by the Holy Ghost because people didn't have Bibles. Then, of course, when the brethren had the opportunity to check with a Bible, it was right in the Word. The work of the Holy Spirit was one because the Word and the Spirit is one and it cannot work otherwise. If anybody claims revelation, but it is not there in the Word of God; if they are contrary to it, then we should check and beware...
About 1928, the Lord had started to speak throughout all those home groups throughout Russia about the things to come in the future. The Lord said by the Holy Ghost, "My children there will be a great starvation coming to this land. And after that there will be a great bloodshed and much suffering in this country. My children, whosoever will believe my voice and obey Me, I'll lead you out into another country and I want to deliver you and save you from the great sufferings which are coming upon this land."
That was the voice of the Lord coming independently throughout the whole Russian area. Many, many people have heard the same message about the days to come. That message came through and of course at that time people were still living very freely, even though it was during communist regime.
It took communists about 16 years to get in power and in strength. From 1917 to about 1933, they left the people very untouched and there was freedom and relative freedom of movement and preaching of the Gospel. There was not much persecution at that time. They really clamped down from '33 and on. Then it was a ruthless time of persecution and trouble for Russia. Before that time there was relative freedom for the Gospel there. People lived very freely. They had their own houses. They had their own cattle. Mostly they were farmers so they had their own farms. They were quite well off. But there was a cost!
The Lord was speaking that He wanted to deliver them from future suffering. So the Lord saved, set a condition, "whosoever believeth My voice and obeys Me, I'll lead them out."
It's not enough to be saved. It's not enough to be, empowered by the Holy Ghost. It's not enough to have miracles. That's all nice and well and it's in the Scriptures and it must be part of the church's life. Yes! It's for the New Testament believers. There will come a time when people have to pay the cost of obedience. Forsaking all for the sake of fulfilling the Lord's will and leave whatever, and go wherever the Lord will lead.
Out of those thousands and thousands of Christians who were used by God in Russia to proclaim the Gospel and to spread the message of the Living God, just a few hundred believed.
The Lord said to them, "My children pray and seek my face and I'll direct you."
Eventually around 1930, probably by 1931, the Lord's message came, "My people, time to move out." First of all the Lord will always speak in advance. As you read the Word of God, just like in the Old Testament, you read it in New that the Lord will always warn His people in advance. He will tell them of the things to come, because Christ promised...
Around 1931, there was a call of God, "My people, get ready to move out." There were only a few hundred people who were praying and seeking the Lord. "Lord, when do you want us to lead out." "Lord where do you want us to go?" They were praying and fasting because when the Lord warns you there is time to seek the Lord's face. If He warns you of future things to come, of any danger, then that's the time to really fast and pray and seek the will of the Lord for His further instruction.
So they were praying and the Lord said, "My children now this is the next city where you need to go." Being farmers in Russia with horse and buggies, there were no cars or trucks at that time. Russia, even now, is still very backward in way of machinery on the farms.
Anyhow, at that time it was just horse and buggies and there was one central railroad through Russia. The Lord spoke to these farmers who had never traveled more than a hundred kilometers in their lifetime, only to next village, on horse and buggy.
To these farmers the Lord said that He will move them out into another country. That was in central Ukraine, in the area of Kiev, and a little bit south. The Lord told some groups from that area, who were praying and fasting, to move to the next city south. When they came to that city, the Lord told them to move on to another city. He would give the name of the city. He was moving them from city to city, telling them names and addresses like in the days of old. We read that in Old Testament, and we read that in New.
How did the Lord direct those three men to look for Peter? How did they know where to go? They were told the location. They were told the name of a person, where to look for him, and they came right to that house. How did they know? Only by God's direct intervention and by God's direct revelation.
That's the kind of God we believe and that's the kind of God that was working in Russia and in China and He's still alive and well in Canada and America. If anybody is willing to believe the Word of God and have that Living faith because Christ said, "Have faith in God" (Mark 11:22). The Russian Bible says "Have faith of God..."
Anyhow, the people were moving from town to town, by direct instructions from the Lord, telling them where they should go. Like in the days of old, they knew the place to go. Eventually they came to the border of China and there was a test.
If you will remember, in the days of Israel as they were being led out from Egypt, the Lord told them when to start out and move. The Lord told them where to stop. They camped and stayed until the Lord told them to move.
So then a time came for this group of about two or three hundred families who were moving south. They came to the border of Russia and China. There was a stopping place by the border of Russia and China and the people were praying all the time.
Every day they were in prayer and saying, "Lord, what's next?" "Lord what do we have to do now?"
And the Lord said, "My children, just wait and be patient and I'll tell you when to move."
In the meantime they had to feed their children. They had left their cattle. They had left their horses. They had left their land. Everything was left behind.
This was a small group from the whole of Russia; those who decided to pay the price of obedience and leave everything behind. Now wasn't this required of the apostles? Leave everything and follow me." Compare Luke 14:33.
Now is that not the price that Christ requires of Christians even today? If anyone will not forsake of all what he has, he is not worthy to be my disciple." Luke 14:33 Wouldn't that commandment apply to us all even in this modern generation of the twentieth century?
Well, they left everything, and here they had to feed children and these Russian families were with many children. So what did they have to do?
They went searching for work here and there. They went into the orchards. They dug channels for irrigation and different things. Doing anything possible and everything trying to get a piece of bread.
There was a problem of accommodation. There has always been a problem of accommodation in Russia, even now. They had to live someplace. So what did they do? They went a little outside the town and dug little caves into the sides of the mountain. The whole group lived in those caves for quite a length of time, praying and seeking the face of the Lord. "Lord what is next?" That was their dwelling place.
I wonder how many bedrooms they had? Did they have a flushing toilet? - I'm not sure, I didn't ask my mother! Now, did they have running water in the caves when they dug them? Did they have a separate bed and privacy and a locked door? I'm not sure what they had there, but each family lived in a cave, in a hole in the mountain. But praise God, that was a group which was willing to follow the Lord at any cost.
Early in the morning, 5 o'clock in the morning, one brother would come and he'd start to sing a psalm. The Russian people sing lots of psalms. They have been put to a tune. He started out with his big voice to sing a song, a psalm, and then everybody woke up, washed their faces and came out. They start worshiping the Lord right there on the grass. Right in front of their own caves and praising God and ascending their prayers to the Lord and seeking for His guidance, for His direction and for His protection.
Before long, the murmuring started in the camp. Following the Lord is not all carpets and roses. If we read the Bible sincerely, check how the men of old lived. Take a look at how the prophets Elijah, Isaiah, Micah, lived. What luxury did they have? Did they live a luxurious life? Did they live a comfortable life? Did they live a rich life? Consider how many bedrooms Elijah had for his own accommodation, or any of the prophets of old? What about the apostles?
These people were seeking the face of the Lord but still the murmurings started in the camp. They said, "We left our cattle, and we left our milk cows there. There's no milk for children here. Lord what do we do?"
And the people started to complain and murmur. Wives started to complain to their husbands. "Now what? What is this? We are stuck here. There is no going ahead. We don't hear any more instructions from God and Lord told us He would deliver us into a new country. Here we are, still in Russia and we are in such poverty Lord."
People started to complain and then quite a few of them decided to go back to their lands. It was 1931, 1932. Everything was peaceful, there was plenty, and so they said, "we will go back. This must not have been of the Lord." Even though the Lord had moved them supernaturally from city to city. They never had maps to move. There were no geographical maps in those days! So how would they have known what city to go to next, but they were brought to the border of another country! They knew it was of the Lord.
Another uprising started and they began to murmur and complain and quite a big group decided to go back to their cattle, to their farming, their milk cows, the warm houses, and to a degree of comfort, even though their houses couldn't compare to America or Canada today. But still, it was relatively comfortable.
So they were longing, in a sense, after the Egyptian days, like in days of Israelites. Did they not say, "let's get rid of Moses, let us put ourselves in new leaders, and let's go back to Egypt. We had things there differently, we had onion, we had garlic there, we had good things there and now here we will die in the wilderness." Numbers 14:1-4 Paraphrased.
Isn't that the same spirit of unbelief, and the same spirit of murmuring that can be among people of God today? That was the case here.
Following the Lord and His direction and His guidance is not always carpet and roses.
Then during one of the prayers the Lord said, "My children, just be patient and humble yourselves and pray. I'm going to lead you to another country, and I'm going to save you from great trouble and great suffering. Just trust me. But if anybody returns, their children will be taken away from them, and their husbands will go to Siberia," The Lord said that right there on the border of China. "Also some of the mothers will eat the flesh of their babies if you return."
In spite of that warning the majority returned. There were only about forty families left by the border; faithful to stay, to pray and fast and trust the Lord. Of course they were not starving. Yes! They had a piece of bread, but it was not very comfortable to live in the cave. It wasn't very comfortable to depend from day to day upon the Lord, because they had no secure jobs like you have. So, there was no security at all. The only security was in the Lord. They decided to trust, but the rest returned to Russia.
Later on, about a year and half (two years) 1933 came with a big crush on Russia. It was the year of the taking away of old properties, confiscating all belongings, houses, land, horse-carts, horses. Everything went to the government. The food was taken away from the farmers in order to force them onto the collective farms, in order to bring them into the collective government farms. Those who did not want to go, died by way of starvation. Their families did as well. The husbands were taken to Siberia as enemies of the people. So in 1933, 6 million Ukrainians alone died by artificial starvation. Among them were quite a few Christians.
The Word of the Lord was fulfilled and came to pass right to the dot. All those Christian brethren who returned in 1933 were taken to Siberia like God said. Their children were taken away from them and went to the government schools.
When the starvation was happening, some relatives who came to China later on, told them that some of the mothers, being believers, ate the flesh of their babies in the Ukraine because of their disobedience.
So they may say, "How can a God of grace be such a cruel God?" It has nothing to do with cruelty of God. It was sheer disobedience. Just read about the Israelites in Bible. Now, were they not commanded to obey the Lord? Were they not commanded to follow the Lord's commandments and be a holy nation; an obedient nation? But the Lord said, "If you will not, then my blessing will be taken away from you". Don't we read in the Bible that the Israelite mothers, the people of the God, the holy nation, the separate people which God elected unto Himself, ate their children? Yes! They ate them. That was nothing to do with God intending or wanting them to eat their Babies. No! It was the spirit of unbelief. It was the work of the enemy which troubled the people of God. They were not watching and praying enough to stand in the faith and obediently trust in the Lord.
All that came to pass. There was great trouble and many thousands and thousands of brethren went to Siberia. There was great, great trouble from 1933 on in Russia.
In the meantime, a couple of months after the other group went back to Russia, the little group that was left by the border heard the voice of the Lord say, "My children, get ready to move into another country."
So when they were fasting and praying, the Lord divided those forty families into four groups. He named the heads of the families. He said, "My son, you and you and you." The Lord, by the Holy Spirit, named the heads of the families that He divided into groups. "You will be leaving on such and such day at midnight. I'll lead you out into another country."
And so, the Lord, in His divine providence, took them across the border into China. It was only a miracle of God. Only He could lead them across, because they had never traveled that far in their lifetime. They never had guides because they could not reveal their intent. At that time there was already much surveillance in the villages, so they were being watched.
They said, "Lord, we have the government here too in this village where we live; in this city. They're watching us. How can we move, Lord?" And Lord said, "My children, don't worry. I'll lead you out." The Lord told them to leave at midnight.
They were praying from evening right to midnight. When midnight came, they were in prayer seeking the Lord saying, "If you told us, help us, and lead us out." My mother related this to me. For that particular group, at midnight, the Lord raised a great storm. It was such a great storm. There was a very big wind with a big commotion and noise. Even the dogs on the streets didn't bark. Everybody went into hiding. It was a big storm.
Then the Lord said, "My children, it's time to move out." They left in the darkness of the night; at midnight. There was no KGB watching the streets or walking in surveillance. There was nobody on the streets. The streets were empty.
They left from the outskirts of that town, and they went quietly into the darkness. The Lord was leading them through the night. Because it was very close to the border, they soon came to the border. The Lord led them through by the wild paths in the bush.
The Lord was telling them to turn right, turn left, but they didn't know where to go, except that the Lord supernaturally led them. Turning them left and turning them right, group by group, they all went into China.
Yes! But also in spite of God working; in spite of God's miracles; in spite of the Presence of the Lord, there was always an element of man's flesh entering in, trying to disobey and do its own will.
Other groups went through safely without a coincidence. My mother related this about one group. They were being led by the Lord. He was instructing them and the moon was shining, but it was still quite dark. The path they were on was quite wide, and worn. They were on the passage that the Lord had directed them to. All of a sudden the Lord said them, "Turn to the right my children". This was just a little path going into the bush to the right, so they stopped there. A couple of the brethren said, "Well, why should we go to the right? This is a very big path, and it's very easy to walk for our children. We have children. We have our kettles here with water. If we go through the bush we'll be scratching ourselves and we will be doing this and that. It'll be very hard to walk for us and mothers with their children." And so they started reasoning. They said, "No, let's go straight." After that, of course, there was no more voice of the Lord. So they went straight. Do you think they disobeyed? They just walked straight!
Anyway, they were the ones that were to lead. Not very long after this they came into a wet area and they came into a very big swamp. Those two brethren who had taken over the leadership, and had rejected the leadership of the Lord, the divine leadership of the Lord, happened to fall into the swamp. As they started sinking in the mud, they cried, "Lord help us." People had to take off their shirts and quickly make a rope and throw it to them so that they could save them from certain death. That's what it means to disobey the Lord; when you want to do things your own way, and not the Lord's way.
When they came to the shore, they were all soaking wet. The people started to weep and cry bitterly. "Lord forgive us. We disobeyed Your voice, Lord. We wanted to go on the easier path. Lord forgive us, Lord." They were repenting and praying for a couple of hours and there was no voice of God. Eventually, as they were really broken down and really crying before the Lord, the Lord spoke to them in a very stern rebuke.
He told them, "Never, never disobey the commandments of the Lord when He wants to lead you to safety." So the Lord forgave them and the Lord told them to go back to the point that they had to turn. This time they had to turn left. When they turned left at that little, wild path, it led around that big swamp and they went all around that big area. They went around in a circle, but they were all on a dry ground. When they came to the other side, there were animals coming to drink at that swamp.
Once again they were on a big road. The Lord knew to lead them around the swamp, but the people wanted to go straight. So that's just an instance of how it is with the Lord when people want to disobey His word.
Finally they came to China, and of course there were many miracles on the way as they were being led. I will just relate a few of them and proceed on.
Each group was led on a different path and in different ways. One group, as it crossed into China, came into a little wilderness area which was completely desolate with just sand and nothing else. It was a literal wilderness with sand and no growth and no vegetation. They came to that wilderness and they had to walk through.
The Lord said, "Just walk through. Go straight." So they were walking with children on foot. The children were crying. The heat of the sun was burning, and the water in their kettles ran out. They were walking for quite a long time. They were crying, "Lord, we are exhausted. We are thirsty, Lord. Our children are crying. Lord, what we are to do?" The brethren called the group to prayer. They knelt down as the Lord had taught them to.
Our people were taught to pray kneeling down or standing. Never sitting up or lying down. That is to show that God is a Mighty God, King of kings. He's worthy of us bowing down.
They bowed down before the Lord and they started to cry, "Lord, what do we do, Lord? We'll die in this wilderness, Lord, if You do not help us." Then the Lord told them, through the Holy Ghost, "My children, go so many steps to the right and dig."
So they obeyed the Lord. The brethren obeyed the Lord. They went to the right as Lord directed, so many steps, and they started digging. They didn't hardly dig any, about a foot or so as my mother related, and the water came gushing out. They were praising the Lord and they were drinking and then they laid back on the sand, and they drank again. Everybody quenched their thirst. They filled their teapots, and they were glorifying and praising the Lord's Name, that He is even able to supply water in the wilderness where there was no water. So, only the Lord knew where the water was.
So praise be to His name because the Living God, the God of the prophets of the days of old, the God of the apostles is the same still Living God today, in this twentieth century.
All those groups came safely into China and the Lord led them into the same little town where they started to gather again. They were praising God there and then slowly they established themselves.
The land was very rich in China. They came into a mountain area which was an isolated area. There wasn't much population there, but it had very rich soil, so they started to farm and the Lord blessed them mightily.
Quite soon they built very simple houses - mostly mud houses with dirt floor, earthen walls and with some poles for the roof, covered with straw. These were very simple dwellings. But in those dwellings the people gathered for prayers daily. They were mighty prayers. Our people believed in prayers. Prayer was the secret of the apostolic success. As I read in my old fashioned Russian Bible the apostles were in the Word and prayer daily...
My wife and I were born in China. We grew up there. When the time came that I came to the Lord in China I was at those prayer meetings. Those were mighty prayers when the young people would gather with older brethren, with grandmothers and grandfathers in a room, in a simple hut. Heaven came down and the Holy Spirit came down and talked to the young people, to rebuke them, comfort them, and reveal secrets of the heart. The Lord would bless and miracles would take place in those prayer times, because God loves the praises of His people and their prayers.
We experienced revival in China because the Lord started to send this simple group of forty families. He started to send them into different villages. There were quite a few Slavic villages, because many Russians and Ukrainians had run away from Russia just before the revolution and the big wars of 1914 and 1915...
There were many other movements of the Lord. He moved His people from Russia, but I'll just share one, just one incidence and we'll go on to the Word of God and so we can conclude and share a message.
There was one brother who was living across the Ural mountains, probably about 1500 kilometers away from Kiev, which is central Ukraine. His village was towards the east. He went ministering to the people there in his village. This man was a man of prayer. The Lord was with him and the Lord was teaching him.
The time was coming that there would be a great crush coming on Russia with confiscation, killing and shooting, and finally, exile in Siberia. There were different rumors that there'll eventually be a control on Russia.
So this brother was praying to the Lord, "You know what these people are talking about here. There are rumors that we'll be persecuted and killed in Russia. So Lord, help us, and protect us. Lord save us." On one of the nights while he was praying, the Lord said to him, (his name was Ivan which means John in English) "My son Ivan, I'll lead you into the country of China." In our language China is Kitai. And the Lord said to him, "Get ready for the journey." Then the Lord gave him a night to leave. "On such and such a night at dusk, you are going to leave this village." And Lord told him what to do.
He was a quite well off brother, because he had eight cows and two pure-breed horses. To have eight cows in Russia, in those days, made quite a good farm, because you would have chickens and different things. That was quite a good farming operation.
The Lord said, "Leave your house. Leave your cattle. Leave your pure-breed horses. Leave everything. Put your milk cow onto the horse cart. Harness her and put her onto the horse cart. Take a couple of bags of millet grain and some other food and leave this village at dusk, in the darkness. Leave on such and such a road." The Lord told him to take a side road out of the village, and the Lord gave him the name of the next village where he should go.
So this brother was puzzled, as he had good transportation and his horses were good. But because he was a man of prayer and man of obedience, he decided to obey the Lord. And so, when the night came, he harnessed his cow. The Lord even told him the name of the cow - such and such name of the cow. He harnessed his cow to the horse-cart. He put the lights in the house. He fed his cattle. Fed his horses. Then he put his children and wife on the horse-cart and was quietly leaving the village.
As they were passing through the village, the people of the village saw someone traveling at dusk. They were saying, "Oh no! We have another gypsy coming to our village." Gypsies were traveling through all of Russia. They were stealing. They were doing witchcraft. They were doing all kinds of things, and begging. That's how they lived in Russia. They never worked in Russia. There were many, many gypsies traveling through Russia for many centuries. So the people thought that gypsies were traveling on the cow. It was a common sight that they traveled on the cow.
Now why was this? Why did the Lord do this? Because at that time there was very strict control. People could not move in and out of the villages because Russia was already gathering control on all the people. What did they do in Russia; this lowly prepared population? Each neighbor was told to spy on his next door neighbor and report what that neighbor says, what that neighbor does and where that neighbor goes. So each neighbor spies on the other and reports to the government, to the KGB, without knowing that the next door neighbor was also spying on them! They did that in secrecy and were offered some reward.
People were doing that so movement was checked very closely. So if this brother would have gone on horses, it would have been of immediate notice that he was leaving the village. Nobody was allowed to move from town or from village without permission from the authorities.
We experienced that same thing in China in the communist game. You had to have four stamps on a piece of paper, the reasons for where you go and for how long you go, before you can leave town, for only 10 kilometers out, sometimes. It was the same type of control in China that we experienced, so we know what we are talking about. It was the same condition in Russia.
So then, this brother left quietly. He was taken for a gypsy. The Lord sent him on a side road. Then what happened at midnight on the same night?
Right after midnight the KGB came to take this brother to Siberia because he was proclaimed as an enemy of the people. He was a rich man supposedly, and so his property would have been confiscated that night, and he would have been taken to Siberia and gotten rid of, because they killed many people and some they needed for labor. These they took to Siberia.
Many rich people were just simply shot - taken outside of the village and shot with a machine gun or whatever. They killed many millions of people in Russia, from 1933 on.
So anyhow, this brother left, and when they came to pick him up, there was no man and no family. Just disappeared! They didn't know what to do. Now what happened? The horses were there. Everything was there. Lights on in the house, but no man, and no family. They were amazed! So they waited for morning. They saw tracks leaving the gate and they saw the direction in which he left. They harnessed his horses and they made a big chase along that main road. Of course they were chasing for a long time, but with no result, because the Lord had sent him on a side road.
That man was traveling to the village which the Lord sent him to. The Lord promised that man that He will take him to Kitai, which is China. But of course he hardly had any education. He had no beautiful road maps like people here have. He had no signs of so many kilometers to such and such a town. He had nothing! So he had to totally depend upon the Lord. All he knew was the name of the next village. He was praying all the time. They prayed at night as it was summer time.
They were traveling on the cow. They pastured the cow, and they milked the cow. They used the milk to make porridge from the millet and feed the children. They praised God. If they traveled on horses, they couldn't have milked horses. But they milked the cow.
So the Lord uses the simple, the uneducated, the most unwise of this world to confound the wise and the prudent. The Lord put the KGB to shame by simply letting this man out to security and safety in China on the cow.
When he came to that next village, which wasn't very far, he prayed with his family. "Lord, Lord is this Kitai?" The Lord says, "My son Ivan, this is not Kitai yet. I'll take you to Kitai"
The Lord tells him the next village, and he just moved on. The Lord tells him the next address and so on. Then he has to ask people, "Where is it that village? Where is the road?" He has no map. Russia had no maps in those days, so he would ask people, "Where is that village?" and they'd point him to the road and so he happened to be moving south without knowing where he went.
Like Abraham, did he know the address? Did Abraham know where he went? My Bible says Abraham left his country and he didn't know where he went.
So, this brother was just traveling on and before he knew it, it was the end of summer. It took him all summer to travel from the middle of Russia to the border of China. And here is a disappointment.
He came close to the border, by the direction of the Lord. The Russian border, at that time, was already heavily guarded by German shepherd dogs and constant checking of the guard on horses. So it was already the iron curtain at that time. It was really controlled because the KGB did not want their people to leave. It was very strictly checked.
When they saw this strange sight, a man with a family traveling in direction of China, naturally it was a very suspicious sight. So they caught him. They confiscated his cow. They took his cart away and they made him a prisoner.
They caught some other people also who were appearing very suspicious to them. They made them cut dry grass along the border for hay for their horses. So this brother was weeping at prayer at night. "Lord what is this? You told me you will lead me to safety Lord. You'll lead me to Kitai and here I am. I lost my house, Lord. I lost everything there. I left as you told me, Lord. Here now I lost my cow, Lord. I lost my horse-cart. I have nothing left Lord! What is going on?"
And Lord was comforting him saying, "My son, cheer up and don't worry, I'll take you yet to Kitai. Just trust me. I'll take you to Kitai yet."
He was a prisoner! So they put this family and the families right by the border in the tents as a temporary dwelling place and the men were made to work with scythes, cutting the dry hay. He was working and he was praying. His personal relative told me this story in details. I forgot most of it.
Then one day, all of a sudden, fire breaks out on the grass site. A big fire broke out and then the wind was starting to blow. The dry hay started to burn very quickly. It moved towards the tents but it was quite a little distance yet. The border guards started to panic and they started to run for their life giving different orders and stuff.
The people dropped their scythes and they ran to their tents for their families. They wanted to run for safety and the wind was increasing with force. It was moving very fast on them and the fire was coming at them. The grass was burning and everybody started to run for their life with their children.
So this brother grabbed his wife and children and they were running away from the fire. As they were running they were crying, "Lord, what is this?" They just ran and ran. Eventually they were exhausted. They ran for a long time for safety. When they had run far enough away from the fire, they came to safety. They were totally exhausted and lost their strength to run.
They fell down on the grass and they started to weep and this man was on his knees and going, "Lord, here is my family running and we, Lord, are in such a desperate need Lord. What is this Lord? What is this happening to me? Lord, where am I?" And Lord said to him, "My son, this is Kitai!" He came to China. So the Lord deported him from prison into China by a fire.
This man and his wife started to praise the Lord. They rejoiced and thanked the Lord and the Lord then told them where to go. So they went and they found that group which had already arrived. Those four groups that came to the very same town. They joined it and praised the Lord for His guidance and protection.
So these simple people who believed and trusted the Lord and His leadership never saw the starvation in the Ukraine. They never saw the persecution and the trials. They never saw their children being taken away. They never saw Siberia and all those things which happened to Russia.
It was a drastic, terrible time in Russia from 1933 on. Many millions of people died. The Lord saved them from the great war and the second world war which took twenty million people from Russia and the Ukraine. That's a big number. Six million died in the Ukraine from starvation in 1933.
Whatever the Lord promised them, everything came to pass. He delivered them from their country, from starvation and from those troubles which the Lord promised, even from the war.
The complete testimony of Boris Sorokovsky can be found at the following link:
Hell's Pharmacy - Part Two
Pictured Above: Pharmaceutical Parts Supplier
(Organs; eyes, kidneys, lungs harvested to produce biological material for vaccines.)
It is not hyperbole, sensationalism, or exaggeration to suggest that the world's largest pharmaceutical companies are using body parts from babies to develop their vaccines. They are then injecting these vaccines that contain the infant's DNA into millions of men, women and children, telling them that it will be of great benefit to them.
In part one of this series, found here:
http://parablesblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/hells-pharmacy.html
it was shown that a number of suppliers of Swine Flu vaccine who are under contract to the World Health Organization and the United States government, are developing their vaccines using cell lines developed from aborted babies. In particular, the company Crucell and their cell line PER.C6 were examined. As I have looked further into this subject I have found that this is not a new practice, and to the horror of many, they may discover in this writing that they, or their children, have already received vaccines that were developed from the cells of aborted babies.
In part one of this series I stated that the actions of these companies is sinister and macabre. A standard English dictionary defines the word macabre as:
Macabre: gruesome and horrifying; ghastly; horrible; of, pertaining to, dealing with, or representing death, especially its grimmer or uglier aspect.
In the year 1729, Jonathan Swift wrote a satirical essay titled, "A Modest Proposal." The subtitle read, "For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public."
What Jonathan Swift proposed in this writing is that the impoverished Irish population might ease their suffering by selling their children to the nobility and the rich. What would the nobility and rich do with these children? They would eat them.
Swift's writing has a shock value because it begins as a very serious piece, describing the impoverished conditions of the poor in Ireland. Then, out of the blue, he suggests his solution to this social dilemma. "A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout."
One deceit used by Swift to make his macabre proposal sound reasonable, is to describe the Irish infants using the language of animal husbandry. In doing so, he makes them appear less than human.
Once the children have been commoditized, Swift's rhetoric can easily turn "people into animals, then meat, and from meat, logically, into tonnage worth a price per pound."
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal]
What Jonathan Swift did in a work of fiction, America, her government, the medical community, and pharmaceutical corporations have done in reality. They have for years labored to describe a baby in the womb as less than human. John Holdren, an appointee of President Barack Obama, in a book titled Human Ecology, Problems and Solutions, made the following shocking statement:
"The fetus, given the opportunity to develop properly before birth, and given the essential early socializing experiences and sufficient nourishing food during the crucial early years after birth, will ultimately develop into a human being."
People of God, Jonathan Swift may well have used the same title for his satirical work as John Holdren, Human Ecology, Problems and Solutions. Shockingly, however, John Holdren's work was not intended as satire. He was being absolutely serious. The book from which this quote was taken was published the same year that Roe v. Wade became the law of the land. Like the Supreme Court, Holdren used language to describe the unborn baby as less than human, calling it "the fetus."
God declares the baby growing in the womb to be much more than a medical pseudonym for a piece of tissue.
Psalms 139:13
For You did form my inward parts; You did weave me in my mother's womb.
Thus says Yahweh who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you...
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you...
Yahweh, the God of all creation, declares that He knows the person from the very time in which they are being formed in the womb. Before we are fully formed, He declares that He knows us. Yet man, in his perversity, has described the child growing in the womb as less than human. Barack Obama's TOP science advisor has written and published his own view that a baby will ultimately become a human being if it is given the chance to develop normally in the womb and is then provided years of proper socialization and nourishment.
I can tell you clearly where such reasoning leads, right back to the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany. Note that John Holdren does not say that a baby becomes a human being at a certain age. He says that it must be socialized properly to be categorized as a human being. This leads directly to the ultimate result that some men, women and children will be declared less than human if they do not pass the governmental test for proper socialization. If you or I believe, or behave in a manner, contrary to what the government declares to be proper social behavior, we will fall into the category of being sub-human. If you are not human, then it is not murder to kill you.
Do you think this logic sounds extreme? It is the same logic that has been used to justify the slaughter of over 50 million babies in America during the last 36 years. By declaring them less than human, the government has declared it to not be a criminal act to murder a baby while it is in its mother's womb. For much of this time, they have even declared that it is not murder to kill a baby after it exits the womb, as long as the head has not been fully withdrawn. (Or in the case of a breech birth, the baby has not exited the womb further than its navel) This has led to the horrific practice of partial birth abortion, a form of abortion that Barack Obama supports.
Congress twice sought to ban this type of abortion, passing laws against it in 1995 and 1997, but President Clinton vetoed the legislation both times. In 2003 the Supreme Court upheld a ban on the procedure based on the argument that "A moral, medical, and ethical consensus exists that the practice of performing a partial-birth abortion... is a gruesome and inhumane procedure that is never medically necessary and should be prohibited." However, there are loopholes in their ruling, and with new appointments to the Supreme Court it is only a matter of time before even this "gruesome and inhumane" procedure is once more permissible as the law of the land.
By referring to the baby with the scientific terminology, those favoring abortion have employed the same tactics used by Jonathan Swift in A Modest Proposal. They have given people reason to view a child in the womb as something other than a human being. Jonathan Swift suggested that Irish infants should be viewed as merely animals to be harvested for their meat. The government, scientific community, abortion proponents, and medical and pharmaceutical industry have described infants as merely biological tissue and have thereby dehumanized them.
We see now that Barack Obama has given top appointments to those who would go even further in suggesting that a child is not even human after it has been born. It must be properly nourished and socialized for years before being determined to be human. The abominations this type of reasoning will lead to will be seen in the near future.
It is this same perverse and macabre logic that has led to the government awarding contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines that are derived from the organs and cells of aborted babies. In many cases the government has already demonstrated that they will not shrink from declaring such vaccines mandatory. They have been mandatory for years in order for children to attend the public school systems. The following excerpt is taken from the website of the national Right To Life organization.
Cell Lines Originating from Aborted Babies
There are two particular fetal cell lines that have been heavily used in vaccine development. They are named according to the laboratory facilities where they were developed. One cell line is known as WI-38, developed at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, PA. The other is MRC-5, developed for the Medical Research Council in England. WI-38 was developed by Dr. Leonard Hayflick in 1962, by taking lung cells from an aborted female baby at approximately the end of the third month of pregnancy.
Dr. Hayflick's article published in the scientific journal, Experimental Cell Research states that three cell lines, WI-26, WI-38, WI-44 were all developed from aborted babies. "All embryos were obtained from surgical abortions and were of approximately three months' gestation." In another journal article (American Journal of Diseases of Childhood) from an international conference on Rubella, Dr. Stanley Plotkin who developed a Rubella vaccine using WI-38, addressed a question as to the origin of WI-38.
Dr. Plotkin stated, "This fetus was chosen by Dr. Sven Gard, specifically for this purpose. Both parents are known, and unfortunately for the story, they are married to each other, still alive and well, and living in Stockholm, presumably. The abortion was done because they felt they had too many children. There were no familial diseases in the history of either parent, and no history of cancer specifically in the families."
The origin of the MCR-5 cell line, created in 1966, is documented in an article in the journal Nature by three British researchers working at the National Institute for Medical Research. J.P. Jacobs, et. al. write, "We have developed another strain of cells, also derived from foetal lung tissue, taken from a 14-week male foetus removed for psychiatric reasons from a 27 year old woman with a genetically normal family history and no sign of neoplastic disease both at abortion and for at least three years afterward..."
In both of these cell lines it is quite clear that the aborted children were presumed to be healthy, and that there was no life-threatening condition or other medically indicated reason for the abortion of these two babies...
The article goes on to provide a list of vaccines that have been in use for years that utilize these cell lines developed from aborted babies.
[Source: http://www.rtl.org/prolife_issues/LifeNotes/pdf/Vaccines.pdf]
The website goes on to mention that President George W. Bush ordered that America procure a supply of Smallpox vaccine in the event of a bioterrorist attack. No cases of Smallpox have been identified anywhere in the world since 1977. However, both the USA and Russia maintain live Smallpox virus which could be weaponized and used to begin the spread of the highly contagious, and often fatal disease. The Smallpox vaccine procured by the United States, in part was derived from aborted fetal cell lines.
It is a sick and sinister world that we live in. I can foresee the hour quickly approaching when some highly contagious plague is loosed upon mankind, and the proffered solution is to receive a mandatory vaccination that is derived from the cells of an aborted baby. Those who will object in the greatest measure will be Christians, and they will be vilified as radical religious extremists. Their refusal to take the mandatory vaccine will be viewed as detrimental to society. They will in many cases be rounded up and held in regional detention centers to effectively be quarantined.
The medical and scientific community has lost all sense of humanity. They have changed the language in which they describe human life to something devoid of personality. In doing so they have dehumanized mankind.
Science and the medical industry is on a course that views life in the womb as no more than a biological factory from which they might extract the material to meet their scientific and health goals. Progressively, human life from embryos to full-term babies are viewed as medical storehouses where cellular material can be harvested. Dr. Bernard Nathanson, creator of the pro-life films Silent Scream and Eclipse of Reason, stated the following:
"There are 1.4 million insulin dependent people in the United States and 30,000 new cases every year. To treat them, eight fetal pancreases are needed per person, harvested at 14 to 20 weeks and the prostaglandin abortion method must be used to preserve the pancreas. That equates to roughly 12 million fetuses at 14 to 20 weeks. With a total of 1.6 million abortions done annually in the US, where are all these babies, in that specific gestational age going to come from? Additionally there are four million people in the United States with Alzheimer's Disease and 250,000 new cases every year. It takes five fetuses at 9-12 weeks to supply enough tissue to treat a central nervous system disease for one person, but there are also paraplegics, cerebral palsy sufferers and stroke victims. We would need 2.5 million fetuses at 9 to 12 weeks per year at least. Currently there are 800,000 babies a year killed in this 9 to 12 week window. Where are the other 1.7 million going to come from?"
Some are advocating that human cloning is the answer to provide the necessary biological material. By cloning, limbs and organs, bone marrow, blood cells and all manner of biological material might be created for the express purpose of being harvested to be implanted in people who can afford the procedures. Such a plan is perverse and an abomination in the eyes of God.
One of President Obama's first acts as President involved expanding the research and development of embryonic stem cell lines. Such research again views human life as little more than a biological chemistry set.
Below is a picture of an infant at 18 weeks development.
Jonathan Swift was seeking to shock people into thinking when he described Irish infants as food to be eaten. The governments, medical and pharmaceutical industries, and science have lost all sense of shock and shame. They are able to suggest the most diabolical proposals without blushing, and without blinking an eye. They see the infant in the womb as nothing more than a biological storehouse, an accumulation of cells to be torn apart and harvested.
I am persuaded that God's judgment stands at the door. The sorcerers and conjurers employed by big pharmaceutical companies may view a baby as a source of material for their poisons and potions, but God attends to the silent scream of every baby murdered in the womb. The blood of tens of millions cries out for judgment, and it will not delay.
Do not allow the madness and unblushing abominations of others to dull your own sensibility. Vaccines that are developed from the cells of aborted babies, that contain the DNA of the murdered child, are not blessed by God for the healing of the nations. Such devilishly derived concoctions are an atrocity in His sight.
Babies are not given by God to become lab experiments. Killing them and then using their bodies as a pharmaceutical parts warehouse is not merely unethical, it is abominable. The medical profession kills the babies, and Big Pharma has acquired the bodies to make their vaccines. Will not all be complicit who knowingly receive such vaccines in order to promote their own welfare?
The infant and the unborn are the weakest members of society. They have no words to utter a defense. They have no strength to flee. It is up to those who do have strength and words to defend them.
Proverbs 31:8-9
Open your mouth for the dumb, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.
As I Was Writing
As I was writing this article an event took place in the upper Midwest of the U.S.A. that I believe relates to the message the Father is bringing forth. What appeared to be a relatively benign storm suddenly became severe, but it is the specific damage that it caused that arrests the attention.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America convention was being held at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The Central Lutheran Church is located nearby and was serving as a preparation area to provide meals to convention attendees. Suddenly the sky turned dark and a fierce wind arose and scattered the tables and chairs outside the church.
I am reminded of Christ, when He entered the Temple in Jerusalem and overturned the tables of the merchants and money changers. The Lutheran Church is the same church that George Tiller, America's largest abortion provider, was a member of until a gunman recently entered the Lutheran Church in Kansas City and shot him. Not only was George Tiller a member, but he was a deacon in the church.
This storm also damaged an independent music store in Minneapolis that bore the very unusual name the Electric Fetus. The windows were blown out and the roof collapsed while stores on either side of it remained undamaged.
Electric Fetus
I am persuaded that the Lord is declaring in this event that there are two core issues for which He is bringing swift judgment to the Lutheran Church. One is for her tolerance, and even support of, abortion. The other is for her present actions to sanction homosexuality within the church. The following item revealing the agenda of this Lutheran convention was found on the Catholic News Agency site.
Minneapolis, Minn., Aug 18, 2009 / 11:38 pm (CNA).-
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is considering a proposal that would allow members in homosexual relationships to serve as clergy. It has denied a motion to require a higher proportion of votes for the proposal to pass.
The Lutheran Church has already allowed the nation's largest abortion provider to serve as clergy, now they are voting on whether to allow homosexuals to do the same. It is suspected that a tornado was spawned from the thunderstorm moving through Minneapolis. It struck the church at approximately 2:00 P.M., the very time the convention was scheduled to begin consideration of the proposed Social Statement on Human Sexuality. This statement included comments advocating the acceptance of homosexuality as a normal lifestyle.
Not only did the storm overturn the tables outside Central Lutheran Church, it also damaged the church's steeple, leaving the cross atop it dangling upside down. The inverted cross is a symbol used by the Satanic Church.
The convention passed the Social Statement on Human Sexuality, but before it was passed various amendments were recommended.
including one that sought to replace a section of the social statement about "lifelong monogamous same-gender relationships" with one that asserts the "practice of homosexual erotic behavior as contrary to God's intent."
In a 667-303 vote, the assembly opted against the aforementioned change, following the recommendation of an ad hoc committee that advised against the amendment's adoption since the position articulated implies "a consensus that no longer exists."
[Source: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090820/elca-delegates-narrowly-adopt-new-sexuality-statement/index.html]
There is not even a consensus among this apostate religious organization that the practice of homosexual erotic behavior is contrary to God's intent.
A further symbolic note is that this same storm system struck a town called Loami. This is a name used prophetically in the Scriptures, and the understanding is very clear.
And Yahweh said, "Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God."
People of God, these are very serious matters. Judgment must begin at the house of God. He is even now making a division among those who are His righteous servants and those who are not. We will soon see the following Scripture fulfilled.
Ezekiel 9:4-6
And Yahweh said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst." But to the others He said in my hearing, "Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity, and do not spare. Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary."
Yes, God is declaring that homosexuality, abortion, and the macabre cannibalism of human fetuses, are abominations in His sight. Let those who fear God and love righteousness separate themselves from that which is bringing forth the judgment of Yahweh.
Living Epistles - Part Four
Hell's Pharmacy
Internment Coming
Living Epistles - Part Three
Living Epistles - Part Two
Living Epistles - Part One
The Beauty of Little Things
Could This Really be Happening in America?