Now, I have always been a watchmaker.
I was the first licensed woman watchmaker in
Holland.
I repaired watches the whole day.
I had a jewelry store together with my
dad.
And I could sell good watches.
When you came to me, I could tell
you now, when you buy this watch, it
is so good, that even if it makes
a difference of two minutes in the month,
you come back and I can change it.
But then I thought later, I hope I
have not boasted too much about my watch.
What must I do when it makes a
difference of five minutes in a week?
You know, I do not sell watches anymore,
but I sell the gospel.
And I am so glad that when I
tell very much about the great joy and
love of the Lord, then I can never
boast too much.
For the reality is far and far greater
than I can tell you and you can
tell me.
And I hope that when we come in
heaven, and we look back at this time,
we will not be ashamed that we have
so lived as beggars.
And we are king's children, tremendous rich.
And that's why I am so glad that
I can tell you a little bit what
I experienced.
You all have heard of that terrible time
that we have had in Holland, and then
when the Germans came, and the leader Adolf
Hitler, and he intended to kill all the
Jewish people.
We started to save as many as we
could.
I had never planned it, but God had
planned it.
After some time I had a gang of
80 people, 30 teenager boys, 20 teenager girls,
20 men and 10 women.
And once we heard that in a Jewish
orphanage in Amsterdam, all the babies had to
be killed because they were Jewish babies.
When we heard that, our boys said, we
will save them and we will steal them.
And they went to that orphanage and they
stole all the hundred babies.
You will say, how is it possible?
I will tell you a secret.
Sometimes there came to us good Germans, who
were soldiers, who were in the army, and
they said, we don't like to work any
longer for Adolf Hitler.
We will not kill the Jewish people.
Can you help us?
And I always said, sure I will help
you.
Just come in.
And we gave them, of course, civil clothing
and we took the uniforms.
I have not to go into details, but
you understand how my boys stole the hundred
babies.
One of my bravest boys was Piet Hartog.
And Piet said that evening, I believe we
do the most important work that exists.
Just saving lives from the morning till the
evening.
I don't long to go back to college.
This is life.
I said, Piet, I am so happy when
I think of the babies that we have
saved.
But Piet, there is a work that is
more important even than saving lives, and that
is saving souls and tell the people about
the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then Piet smiled.
Piet said, I am a Christian boy.
I go to church, I read my Bible
and I pray.
But telling people a gospel, telling them about
Jesus, that is good business for my pastor.
I said, Piet, every Christian is called to
be the light of the world.
And every Christian must be ready to tell
the way of salvation to anyone who needs
it.
And in your time, in your life, Piet,
there will come a time that you will
see it the most important work for you,
to win souls for Jesus Christ and to
show that the way of salvation by believing
in Jesus and inviting Him into your heart.
Half a year later, Piet came into prison.
And when he came into the cell, he
heard that he had only one week to
live.
And a day before he was shot, he
wrote us a long letter.
And he wrote, all the men and the
boys in this cell are sentenced to death.
And I am so glad that I could
tell them that when they receive Jesus as
their Savior, that the Lord Jesus will make
them children of God, and that when they
go to be killed, that they go to
the house of the Father with the many
mansions where Jesus is preparing a mansion for
everyone who believes in Him.
And Piet wrote, I am seeing now that
the most important work for a Christian is
to win souls for eternity.
Say, young people, I have a message for
you from Piet Hartog.
Don't wait till the last week of your
life like he has done.
But give your life today to the Lord
and say, Lord use me.
Take my life and let it be consecrated,
Lord, to me.
How you will say it, I don't mind.
But tell the Lord that He may take
you to use you as the light of
the world.
And then I can tell you He will
use you.
And when you really will be used to
win souls for Jesus Christ, once when you
enter the beautiful city and the saints all
around you appear, many of them will tell
you, it was you that invited me here.
Boy, that will be a joy.
Then you will know that you have not
lived in vain.
Once there came a man to me and
said, will you save my wife?
She is arrested.
She has saved Jewish people and now she
is in a police station.
And there is one policeman who will run
the risk to set her free if we
pay him 600 guilders, but I have no
money.
I said, oh man, what does money say?
Let's see, I have 200 guilders, come back
after an hour.
And in that hour I asked all my
friends, say, have you money?
Give it.
It means to save the life of a
good woman.
When that man came back I gave him
600 guilders.
That man was a quisling, a betrayer.
His wife was not at all in prison.
But the Gestapo, the police of the enemy
had said, find out if Corrie ten Boom
saves Jewish people.
And he thought, I can do it and
make some money.
And he made some money.
He went home with 600 guilders.
But five minutes later the Gestapo surrounded our
house and we were all arrested.
Later when I was in a concentration camp,
there came a prisoner from my hometown.
And she said, say, do you know who
has betrayed you?
I said, no.
And then she told that it was that
man.
And there came hatred in my heart.
The man I had given my large penny.
But I know from the Bible that hatred
means murder in God's eyes.
But I also know from the Bible what
to do with your murder.
When we confess our sins, when we repent
and ask forgiveness, then He is able to
forgive us.
And the blood of Jesus declenches from all
the sins that we tell Him and ask
forgiveness for and repent.
And I repented for my hatred and the
Lord took that sin away.
That's the great joy.
The Bible tells very clearly what the Lord
does when you repent.
He takes such a sin and He casts
it into the depths of the sea, forgiven
and forgotten.
That's what the Bible says.
The Bible doesn't say, but I believe He
put a sign, no fishing allowed.
And do you know when I had repented
of that sin, the Lord cleansed my heart
with His blood.
And heart cleansed by the blood of Jesus,
He fills with the Holy Spirit.
And the fruit of the Spirit is love.
Love even for enemies.
And instead that I hated that man, I
loved him.
And after the war that man was sentenced
to death because he had caused the death
of many Dutch people.
And when I heard that I wrote him,
your betrayal has meant the death of my
old father who was 84 years old when
they brought him into prison.
After 10 days he died.
My sister who died after 10 months terrible
suffering.
My brother, he came out alive with a
sick man and died through that sickness.
And his son never came back.
I myself have suffered terribly in three different
prisons.
But I have forgiven you.
And that is because Jesus is in my
heart.
And when Jesus tells you to love your
enemies, He gives you the love that He
demands from you.
And I sent that man a New Testament
and underlined the way of salvation.
And that man wrote me, that you could
forgive me is such a great miracle that
I have said, Jesus, when you give such
a love in the heart of your followers,
there is hope for me.
And I have read in the Bible that
you sent me that Jesus has died at
the cross for the sins of the whole
world.
And I have brought my terrible sins to
Jesus and I know that they are forgiven.
Your forgiveness has shown me what it means
that there is forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
And that man was brought to death that
same week but he was reconciled with God
and God had chosen me, who had hated
him, to bring him to the Lord.
The greatest of all is love.
In 1 Corinthians 13, I believe that Paul
describes God's love.
There are two kinds of love.
Human love and God's love.
Human love fails on the long run, but
God's love never fails.
And I believe that this love that is
described here is the love of God, not
only in the heart of the Father, but
shattered, brought into our hearts through the Holy
Spirit who is given to us.
Romans 5, 5.
And when Paul uses the translation of Philips,
then he says, If I speak with the
eloquence of men and of angels, but have
no love, I become no more than blaring
brass and crashing cymbal.
If I have the gift of foretelling the
future and hold in my mind not only
all human knowledge, but the very secrets of
God, and if I also have that absolute
faith which can move mountains, but have no
love, I amount to nothing at all.
If I dispose of all that I possess,
yet even if I give my own body
to be burned, but have no love, I
achieve precisely nothing.
This love of which I speak is slow
to lose patience.
It looks for a way of being constructive.
It does not keep account of evil or
gloat over the wickedness of other people.
On the contrary, it is glad with all
good men when truth prevails.
Love knows no limit to its endurance, no
end to its thirst, no fading of its
hope.
It can outlast anything.
It is, in fact, the one thing that
still stands when all else has fallen.
And in my life all else had fallen.
I stood in Rollcall, in the concentration camp
Ravensbruck, where 97,000 women were killed or
died, also my sister.
When I stood there on Rollcall, one of
the guards used her time to demonstrate her
cruelties.
I could hardly bear to see or to
hear what had happened in front of me.
But suddenly a skylark came and he started
to sing in the sky.
And all the prisoners looked up.
And when I looked up, I looked at
the sky.
And then I thought that Psalm 103 was
written, As high as heaven over the earth,
so far is God's love and mercy over
all that fear Him.
And suddenly I saw it.
Oh, love of God, how deep and great,
far deeper than man's deepest hate.
God sent that skylark three weeks daily, exactly
due Rollcall time, to turn away our eyes
from the cruelty of man unto the ocean
of God's love.
How can you and I understand God's love?
At the cross, at the cross, where I
first saw the light, and the burden of
my sins rolled away, it was there by
faith I received my sight.
When we look unto Jesus, we understand, when
we look at the cross, what an ocean
of love He has for you and me.
I was questioned by a man in whose
hands my life was.
He was my judge.
It was wartime.
And if that man should say I had
to be shot, I should have been shot.
He asked me much about my spare time,
about what my certificates, and I told him
all.
When he asked me about my misdeeds, I
did not tell him all.
He has known only of eight jewels that
I had saved, and I hoped that there
were more than eight hundred.
But when he asked me about my spare
time, I told him about that work that
I had with feeble-minded children in my
little booklet, Common Sense Not Needed.
You can read about it.
And when I told that, the man said,
what a nonsense!
Hasn't it far more value to convert a
normal person than an abnormal one?
And then I said, if you should know
Jesus, you should know that he has a
great love and concern for everyone who is
in need.
It is possible that a poor, feeble-minded
child has more value in his loving eyes
than you and I together.
Then he was angry, and he called a
policeman and said, bring her back to her
cell.
But the next day I was again brought
to him, and then he said, I could
not sleep this night.
I had always to think of what you
told about Jesus.
We have time enough for the questioning.
First you must tell me what you know
of Jesus.
Boy, that was a chance!
I said, Jesus is a light.
Come into this world that everyone who believes
in him does not remain in darkness.
And I asked him, is there darkness in
your life?
That man said, darkness?
There is no light at all in my
life.
And I brought him the old, old story
of Jesus and his love.
After me Betsy, my sister, was questioned.
With great joy she testified to her faith,
and she told about Jesus, and then she
said, it is important to speak about Jesus.
It is more important to speak to him.
Do you allow me that I pray with
you?
He said, yes.
And she prayed with him.
The prisoner with her judge.
Five times Betsy was questioned.
Five times she prayed with that man.
Betsy died in prison.
But after the war I met that judge,
and he said to me, I can never
forget your sister's prayers.
Through her and through my testimony, God touched
the heart of that man.
And he became a friend instead of an
enemy.
But he had to do his job.
And suddenly he showed me papers found in
my house.
And to my horror I saw names, addresses
and particulars.
That could mean my death sentence.
And the death sentence of my family and
my friends who were in prison.
You will say, how is it possible that
such dangerous papers were found in your house?
But I must tell you that my teenagers
have done a tremendous, courageous job.
But they were not always careful.
And so it happened that these terrible papers
were found in my house.
The judge said, can you explain these papers?
I said, no, I can't.
And I felt deep unhappy.
But he knew how dangerous they were.
And suddenly he turned, opened the door of
the stove, and he threw all the papers
into the flames.
Oh my, how happy I was.
I should never have believed.
And you should have told me that I
could be happy when I was in a
prison of an enemy.
But that moment when I saw the flames
destroy these horrible papers, it was as if
for the first time I understood Colossians 3
.20, where it's written that Jesus has taken
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us,
has taken them out of the way and
nailed them at the cross.
See, do you realize that there are dangerous
papers for you?
Do you realize that in heaven all our
sins are written down?
And we have all to come for the
judgment day of God.
And if we have refused Jesus Christ in
this life, the judgment day will be terrible,
for we will have to pay and to
carry the punishment for our sins.
But when we have found Jesus Christ as
our Lord and Savior, in this life we
have nothing to fear, for we will find
out that Jesus has taken all our sins
and nailed them at the cross.
Hallelujah!
What a love!
What a Savior!
I had a little Bible.
When I was brought into that concentration camp
Ravensbruck, I had a small Bible, but a
whole Bible, Old and New Testament, specially printed
for what they called the underground workers.
It was very small.
I had it on my back.
But when we entered I saw that we
all had to be searched.
And I saw that they took away everything
that the prisoners had hidden under their clothing.
And I got scared.
I said, Oh God, these people may not
see me.
God, send your angels and let them surround
me.
But then I thought, yes, but angels are
spirits and you can look through a spirit.
I said, God, make your angels untransparent today.
You can pray very unorthodox when you are
in great need.
But God did it.
God did it.
The woman who stood in front of me
was searched, and then Betsy who stood behind
me.
And they did not see me.
So I came with my Bible in the
prison.
Strange story?
No, that's not strange.
That is what is written in the Bible.
Angels are ministering spirits sent to this planet
for your and my help.
And there are far more angels than demons.
Yes, there are demons.
And they can really come into your heart
when you do these occult sins of what
Ellen told.
You play with a witchy god.
You go to a spiritualist meeting.
You go to a fortune teller.
Then a demon comes in your heart.
But praise the Lord.
You can send them away in the name
of Jesus.
And don't forget, there are only one third
of the angels fallen.
So there are twice as many angels as
there are devils.
And really still far more.
For many of these devils are already sent
to hell.
So we can know that those who are
at our side are far more and far
stronger than those who are against us.
And that's what I have experienced.
Now when I came in that prison, we
had to live with 700 prisoners in a
room that was built for 200.
It was terrible dirty and very soon our
clothing were full of lice.
Those lice have caused many sicknesses.
But in some way they have helped us.
For the guards would never come into our
room.
They were afraid to get lice from us.
That was good.
The Bible was a forbidden book.
But twice a day we had a Bible
message in barrack 28.
And God had used for that angels and
lice.
God can use everything.
And what a joy.
Many of the people around me were killed
or died.
But many died with Jesus' name on their
lips.
And that was worthwhile.
Even Betsy's death and all the suffering that
I had to endure.
Can you forgive your enemies?
I cannot.
But Jesus in me can.
Some time ago I had a difficulty that
some friends, some Christian friends of mine did
something very mean.
And I had difficulty to forgive them.
And I said, Now Lord you have given
me that grace that I could forgive the
murderers of my family.
Now Lord it is not difficult for you
to give me forgiveness and love for my
Christian friends.
It took some time but I forgave them.
But you know that book that I have
written in the hiding place.
I wrote together with John and T.B.
Sherrill.
And I had to tell really my whole
life many things to them.
And so they had also heard of my
friends.
And John Sherrill once said to me, Say
Corrie, these friends of yours who did that
mean thing, what about them?
I said, That is forgiven and forgotten and
I will not speak about it anymore.
He said, I know that.
But I should like to know what do
they think of it?
I said, They take it easy.
They simply say they have not done it.
But they can say that but I have
everything black and white in the letters that
they have written me.
And John said, What?
Say where are your sins?
You have told that when you brought your
sins that God has cast them into the
depths of the sea and that there is
a sign no fishing allowed.
That is what happened with your sins.
And the sins of your friends you have
black and white?
Oh God give Corrie the grace to burn
all the black and whites of sins of
others as a well smelling sacrifice for you.
I have done it for her.
Say have you black and whites of sins
of others?
Do you realize that you have no forgiveness?
You can't forgive?
No I can't either but Jesus can.
And don't go to sleep tonight before you
have burned all your black and whites and
I know that is a little bit difficult
to burn papers here in America but you
can also make them just so small and
throw them in the waste basket that nobody
can find out what your friends have done
or your enemies.
And you will find out that forgiveness is
a tremendous joy for it is a key
that unlocks the door of resentment and the
handcuffs of hatred.
It is a power that breaks the chains
of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.
Now you and I have to be the
light of the world and I like to
illustrate that with my flashlight.
Some who have heard me some time ago
have seen it already but I don't mind
it.
I like to tell that to all of
us.
You know this flashlight doesn't give light.
It's not broken but I have only one
battery in it.
I need of course two batteries.
Now this is like you are in my
heart.
That first battery that is what happened when
you said your first yes to Jesus.
So that real decision and if there are
here who have never done it I hope
you will do it tonight and do you
realize that when you say yes to Jesus
so really it meant yes that the angels
rejoiced for your soul is very very precious
in God's eyes.
And the moment that you received the Lord
Jesus I told you already all the promises
of the Bible are yours.
I asked a lady say have you ever
received the Lord Jesus as your savior?
She said I go every Sunday to the
church.
I said that's good but a mouse born
in a biscuit tin is therefore not yet
a biscuit.
Do you know to be in the church
doesn't make you a child of God?
She said but my father and mother are
very fine children of God.
I said but God has no grandchildren.
You have to make a decision because the
Lord loves you and he likes to hear
that you say yes Lord Jesus.
I thank you that you love me and
I will love you.
Thank you that you died at the cross
for me.
Now I'm glad she did it that lady.
But now there comes such a terrific joy
in your heart when you know that your
sins are forgiven.
That many people say hallelujah I'm saved that's
the end.
Now you may say hallelujah but don't say
it is the end it is the beginning.
That moment you must cash your checks.
You must take all the promises of the
Bible and you must learn to live as
limitless rich king's children.
And one of the great promises of the
Bible is that Jesus said I will send
you the Holy Spirit.
And the Bible says be filled with the
Spirit.
And that is that second battery.
And that second battery the fullness of the
Holy Spirit gives you to be the light
of the world.
But I could not get it in my
flashlight because it is full of rags.
And you know these rags are unrepented sins.
This is pride.
This is jealousy, envy.
This one is unclean thoughts, unclean deeds, unclean
words.
This is selfishness.
These are occult sins.
Now I'm going to ask you something.
Will you tonight pray and will you say
search me O God and know my heart
today that is said in the Psalms as
a beautiful prayer.
You can also say Lord show me if
there are rags in my flashlight.
And that's just to say.
And then the Lord will show you and
say yes you are selfish.
You are dishonest.
You are a liar.
And whatever the Lord says don't make an
excuse for the blood of Jesus has never
cleansed an excuse.
But say yes Lord I am.
I have lied.
Will you forgive me?
And then repent.
And repentance means asking forgiveness and then in
the power of the Lord turn away from
your sins.
And that is necessary.
There was a pickpocket who was a very
good pickpocket.
He stole about 50, 60 watches every week.
And then he was converted.
He said now I am a Christian.
I steal only 5 or 6.
No.
When Jesus shows his great love for sinners
when that woman that was found in adultery
was brought to him the Lord said I
don't throw a stone on you.
And then he said go and sin no
more.
And that is what Jesus can say.
For he bids us fly and gives us
wings.
And when you have brought your sins to
the Lord then claim the fullness of the
Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit
is love and peace and kindness and goodness
and self-control and then you are the
life.
He does not do it.
I would say life is flesh life.
I think I have overlooked a little rag.
You see sometimes when we are very decent
sinners there can be such a little decent
sin in our heart.
Just a little bit of self-pity.
A little white lie.
But you know when we do not make
clean deck with as little sins in our
hearts we cannot be the light of the
world and I find one.
Sure.
But that is not a rag.
That is paper.
Twenty dollars.
No that is not a rag.
That is no sin.
It was only in the wrong place.
The money must not be in my flashlight
but in my purse.
You see when you have too many dollars
or not dollars enough often the devil brings
the dollars into your heart but your heart
must be filled with the Holy Spirit and
the Lord will do it.
He will make you really the light of
the world.
And that is the great joy.
We have not to strive and to try
and to try.
It is not try.
It is trust.
It is not do but done.
Our God has planned for us great victory
through His Son.
And I will tell you one story, one
experience of a short time ago.
I was in Russia.
You may not speak as a foreigner in
a church but I asked if I could
bring the greetings from America and from Holland
and they said yes.
And my greetings took 30 minutes.
And then we sang a hymn and I
asked the pastor may I say goodbye?
He said yes.
And I said goodbye 30 minutes.
So my sermon was a whole hour.
And oh it was a joy to speak
to these Christians and I say don't lose
courage.
The suffering of this time is not worthy
to be compared with the common glory.
God Himself will wipe away the tears from
the eyes and the best is yet to
be.
This world will be covered with the knowledge
of God like the waters cover the bottom
of the sea.
Jesus is alive and His light is stronger
than the deepest darkness.
I have experienced it that you cannot go
so deep.
Always deeper are the everlasting arms that carry
you.
Oh it was a joy.
It is always a joy to give these
people comfort.
But one morning I was in my hotel
room and I said God I like to
bring the gospel to the communists.
They have an eternity to lose or to
gain Lord.
And you died for the sins of the
whole world.
But Lord I cannot reach them.
Lord I need a miracle but You are
a God of miracles.
Give me a miracle that I can reach
the communists today.
And the same moment I saw on the
floor little holes in the form of a
pepper box.
The holes in a pepper box.
And I understood there is the secret microphone.
In all the hotel rooms in communist countries
there are secret microphones.
And they take every word you say on
that microphone.
On the tape.
And I said thank you Lord for that
answer.
What a joy.
I could give a message to communists.
Did they listen?
They not only listened they took it on
a tape.
And they did not give the tape.
They gave the tape to their chiefs.
And we prayed for all the people who
had to read these tapes.
And boy I had a joy.
I said you know people I have here
in my hand a book.
A book almost bursting by good news.
In this book is among all other riches
the great answer for the two paramount problems
that every human being has.
And that is the problem of sin and
of death.
For in this book you can read everything
that you have to know about Jesus Christ
the Son of God who died at the
cross for the sins of the whole world.
And when you receive Jesus Christ as your
Savior and you repent of your sins then
He will cleanse your heart from your sins
and He will fill you with the Holy
Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit is
peace and joy and love.
And Jesus gives you everlasting life and that
means life in heaven.
That is the answer for your death problems.
And Jesus has said come unto me all
and all that is also you there.
What a joy.
I can tell you I have brought after
that every day what I call my pepper
box messages in the communist countries.
Say people pray.
Pray for your fellow Christians.
Especially now for the fellow Christians in China.
Pray that your president will be used.
That there comes an opening that Christians can
come into China and help the Christians there
and bring the gospel to the many who
have never heard the gospel.
You know half of the greatest half of
the body of Christ is suffering persecution.
And what Shemini said when my feet were
whipped my hand felt pain.
And the feet are whipped of the Christians
over a great part of the world.
Pray for your fellow Christians in these countries
and be sure that you cash your check
so that you will be strong in times
when you should come in difficulties of persecution.
And the great joy is when you surrender
all to the Lord.
He will fill your heart with the Holy
Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit is a spirit not
of fear but of love and of power
and a sound mind.
I have here a glove that cannot do
anything.
But when my hand is in the glove
it can cook, it can write, it can
do many things.
No, I know that is the glove.
That's not the glove.
That's the hand in the glove.
You and I are nothing but gloves.
And the hand that is the Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit does the job that
He makes you children of the light.
The light in this very dark world.
But you must give room to the Holy
Spirit when my hand is only in the
midst of the glove.
Now the glove cannot do anything.
No, you must surrender every finger, every corner
of your life to the Lord and He
will fill you with the Holy Spirit.
Hallelujah!
Amen, we pray.
Thank you, Lord.
That there is such an ocean of love
available.
That love that you have brought into our
heart through the Holy Spirit.
Thank you, Jesus, that you did that.
And thank you, Father, that that love in
us is sufficient and more than sufficient to
overcome the problems that we have to face
when we come home, when we go to
our work.
We praise and thank you, Lord, that your
love still stands also when all else has
fallen.
And our Lord, search our hearts.
Show us if there are unconfessed sins, rags
in our fleshlight, pride, envy, selfishness.
Tell it us, Lord.
And we praise and thank you when we
repent.
You forgive and cleanse us.
And Lord, show us if there are black
and whites of sins of others in our
life, in our heart, perhaps in a little
drawer at home.