Amazing, you are very prudent people, because the
free papers are still there.
Now, how do I explain that?
This is not Scotland, obviously, because that would
have been gone and all the books left,
but there is a package there, a dozen
or so, and I really want you to
take it if you're not acquainted with Open
Doors, because then you can receive our news
brief, monthly, and other papers, this time there
is supposed to be little, or not in
this one, devotional for the month of November,
prosecution updates, and if you really want to
know what's happening and want to get involved,
please take one of those packets, write to
us for a paper which is free, but
it may cost you everything.
So there is a risk involved.
I know that young people nowadays like risks,
so go for it, but you have to
run in that corner and one up here,
because tomorrow by this time I'll be on
my way to Holland.
I'll be speaking this morning, of course, about
the subject that is closest to my heart,
the suffering church in the so-called restricted
countries, but it is living behind so-called,
falsely called closed doors.
And tonight I want to speak more about
that world.
I'll show you, if I were an artist,
I would paint it in the most beautiful
colors, but I'm not an artist.
With my feeble words and my limited knowledge
of English, I have to paint you a
picture of that world and tell you what
God's word says about it.
Once we combine what God's word says with
the situation in the world, we find ourselves
right in the middle to act.
And that may be very surprising.
A while ago I took my American open
-door director to somewhere in the Middle East
to visit the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad,
and we had a house meeting.
The room was crowded with people, and I
was speaking from the word of God and
giving my testimony.
There was one particularly, I think, obnoxious guy,
big guy, dressed in white.
He was a Sufi.
He should have been more philosophical being a
Sufi, but he was very hostile towards us.
There was one young man on my left.
He tried with all his might to convert
us, to make us Muslims, to convince us
how good Islam is and how we ought
to blah blah.
And I was just witnessing and speaking about
Jesus, Jesus in my heart, Jesus who forgave
my sin, Jesus who has given me eternal
salvation.
I know it, things that they never know,
except when they die in the Jihad.
It's the only way for them to know
they go to heaven.
And then suddenly that young man on the
left tried to brainwash us and persuade us.
He jumped up and ran out of the
room to some place in the house, and
my colleague from America was sure he was
going to get his gun and shoot us.
So we just waited a little, and then
he came back with a stack of papers.
There was a correspondence course from Transworld Radio
on the life of Jesus, that he had
been following and filled out.
Answered all the questions.
How mistaken one can be.
You think it is a guy who is
going to shoot us, but all he wants
to know is, tell me more about Jesus,
I'm interested.
That's the world in which we live.
And I want to stress tonight that mission
work stops as soon as we see the
world, or parts of the world, as an
enemy.
Whatever name it has, Islam, or communism, or
terrorism, but mission work stops the moment we
see the world that way.
Because the moment when we, as individual Christians,
see any person as an enemy, and we
develop an enemy image of that person, because
of his hostility, or his appearance, or his
religion, or whatever, the moment when we see
him as an enemy, the love of God
cannot flow through us anymore to reach that
person.
We've placed ourselves outside the scope of God's
work in that person.
Beware!
I will speak about that tonight.
Because we want to win the world, and
we don't want to keep talking about closed
doors, because the problem is, our hearts are
closed.
Then our eyes are closed, and just like
Jonah and Nineveh, he let Nineveh go to
hell if it would depend on him, and
yet we have to convey the love of
God.
All that hostility in the world is only
a great opportunity to proclaim the message of
Jesus.
Now, tonight I want to speak about human
rights.
There's a lot of talk about human rights.
A lot of unrest in the world, including
in this nation, is all based on what
people perceive as their rights.
They're going to get it.
And I have noticed that the more people
speak about rights, the less they speak about
responsibilities.
The Bible speaks about responsibilities.
And yet I believe in human rights.
I'm also officially a member, I'm on a
committee on human rights with the Soviet Union
and the United States.
I represent my country, Holland.
But I have for myself, and for using
open doors, drawn up my own list of
human rights.
And I want to go through that list
with you tonight.
They're very simple.
Number one, everyone in the world has a
right to know who Jesus is.
Well, that should keep us busy for the
rest of our lives.
And yet we realize that they can only
receive that right if we give up our
rights, the right to myself.
Begin to live the crucified life, disregard danger
and hardship, and just go because he said
go.
As Pastor Steven already pointed out, there's no
substitute for obedience.
There's no substitute for going.
Actually, not even prayer can be a substitute
for obedient going.
So, everyone has a right to know who
Jesus Christ is.
And of course, I do base that on
the Word of God.
I don't even have to look at that.
You all know that.
What verse am I thinking of now?
That's a good one.
I was thinking about another one.
John 3, 16.
For God so loved the world that he
gave.
Was anyone excluded?
No, no one.
So then, why do we make all those
distinctions?
Who's in and who's out?
God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten Son, that whoever and wherever
and whenever believes on him should not perish
but have everlasting life.
That includes the everyone, every man, every woman,
every boy, every girl who has a right
to know who Jesus is.
That includes all those for whom Jesus died
on that cross.
And if we, through our unbelief or disobedience
or sheer neglect and lack of vision, would
not reach everyone, then basically it means that
Jesus suffered on the cross more than he
should have suffered because his suffering did not
cover everyone.
He left them out.
He didn't, he did.
And I so remember the weekly prayer meeting
we had in our Bible school in Glasgow
where I was together with Malcolm.
Every Friday night there was a prayer meeting.
They called it Prayer Battery.
And we were supposed to attend and local
people would come.
And there was one lady, I'll never forget
her.
I think she's the only one I remember
from that particular group.
Miss Clark.
Old, poor lady, bent over, short, long, black
dress, black shoes and there she came in
the prayer meeting every Friday night and she
prayed with the others and every prayer, every
night, every Friday night her prayer ended the
same.
Quoting from Isaiah 53 verse 11 that he
shall see the travail of his soul and
be abundantly satisfied.
That word abundantly she inserted, that's not in
the scripture.
It was a good one though.
That he shall see the travail of his
soul because all our preaching and our ministering
is based upon what Jesus Christ accomplished on
the cross.
And if we for any reason leave out
the cross in our preaching we deny the
people the entrance into the kingdom of God.
There is no salvation outside of the cross
of Jesus Christ.
And the moment we begin to compromise because
of liberal teaching or our own unbelief or
because we're scared of the Jews or the
Muslims who don't want to hear about the
cross that moment we're denying them entrance into
the kingdom of God.
And I'm here tonight to tell you that
the Muslims are open to hear the message
of the cross once you have earned the
right to their attention.
That may need some doing because we have
not built up much credit in the last
decades.
Until the end of the second world war
seven-eighths of all the Muslim countries were
colonized by Christian nations.
We never made a dent in that situation.
Business did, yes.
Hollywood did, yes.
Technology did.
But not mission work.
And today we're reaping the bitter fruits of
that terrible neglect.
When you earn the right to their attention
you can and should and must speak about
the cross of Jesus.
Why is there so much terrorism nowadays?
The fearful phenomena that seems to paralyze the
whole world.
We haven't found an answer yet.
Please don't believe that bombing the Tora Bora
mountains or Baghdad brings us one inch closer
to a solution.
We haven't found a solution yet to that
terrible threat of terrorism nor to the danger
I call it the challenge of Islam toward
the world and the church of Jesus Christ.
We haven't found it yet.
So let's look at these people as individuals
for whom Jesus Christ died and let us
be Jesus to them.
And I guarantee they won't blow you up.
And if they do then it's too late
for me to apologize anyway.
It only means you get there a little
quicker.
What is the problem?
I spoke this morning about those churches that
were blown up by the Muslims through bombs
in the church and one case that I
was recently in Babapur, Pakistan.
Half the congregation was killed instantly.
You think how awful.
Then a few weeks ago that nightclub disco
in Bali was blown up.
Hundreds of people killed.
And the whole world knew about that one.
Very few knew about it.
The church was blown up.
And I state here tonight that it is
better to be blown up in a church
than in a nightclub.
So just choose your place next time.
But that's the world in which we live.
And the terrorists are so active because no
one has yet confronted them with the claims
of Christ.
That's why they're terrorists.
They have no reason for living.
So they found a reason for dying.
Not long ago I was in one of
our homes.
We have a home in the jungle in
Colombia in the midst of that rebel area
and the drug trade and the shooting and
the kidnapping and the killing.
And so many children are being kidnapped.
Small children.
Sometimes we managed to rescue one of the
girls with her baby.
She's only 13 years old.
Because the rebels let them go or make
it easy to escape when they have a
baby.
And they're still children carrying a baby.
There's one boy Vladimir.
He was now 13 and I hugged him.
He was a killer.
In order to get into the rebel movement
you have to prove your guts by killing
a man.
He had already killed a murderer.
13 years.
And I hugged him.
And I thought, well, if these were my
sons and he begged, he said, they have
taught me how to hate.
Could you please teach me how to love?
And I could expand that statement to all
those terrorists that have been taught to kill
and to die.
Can anyone teach them how to live and
let live?
Terrorists.
They're reachable today.
And I believe if they are reachable, they
are winnable.
But we haven't made an effort yet to
win them for Christ.
They're so open.
God's door is so wide open.
Let's start with that basis that I tell
you tonight.
Everyone has a right to know who Jesus
is.
It doesn't depend on some overzealous Christians and
evangelicals who apply to join a mission and
go into the world.
It's the privilege of the entire body of
Christ to get on with the job.
Because they all have a right.
It doesn't depend on a call.
It's our responsibility.
Let's be serious about it.
And make an impact in this world today.
And tell the people who Jesus is.
That's point one.
Everyone has a right to know who Jesus
is.
Point two on my list is that every
Christian who suffers for his faith in Jesus
Christ has a right to be assisted by
the other parts of the body of Christ.
Everyone wherever in the world who suffers really
for the name of Jesus not for his
nationality or denomination but for his faith in
Jesus.
Everyone has a right to be assisted by
other parts of the members of the body
of Christ.
And I have a verse for that.
And that is what the apostle Paul writes
to the Christians in the Corinthians.
It's a very clear verse.
I will read a couple of those verses.
In 1 Corinthians 12 at the end of
verse 25 it says that the members of
that body should have the same care for
one another.
And if one member suffers all the members
suffers with it.
Now you are the body of Christ and
members individually.
They have a right to be helped.
And yet how many missions among the thousands
of excellent good missions are really reaching out
to the suffering church.
How many young people in the Soviet Union
I don't know, I hope there are not
many who has given up their faith in
God because in their loneliness the pressure and
all the seeming scientific arguments against the existence
of God haven't given up their faith.
Because they were not helped.
Because nobody came over there to put their
arms around them and sit together and share
Christ.
And then of course a terrible persecution that
took place under communism.
70 years of communism.
No historian will ever be able to find
out how many millions of Christians were killed.
And the terrible persecution that took place until
just, well not even till 10 years ago.
It's still going on in China, in Cuba,
in Laos, in Vietnam, in some of the
Central Asian Republics.
Even in Russia itself.
Will we ever know why did they fail?
If they failed they had the right to
be assisted when there was no one.
And that makes up the suffering church.
They have a right that says that we
should have the same care for one another.
Years ago I was speaking with Arthur J.
Smith about that situation and he had that
great one-liner that no one has the
right to hear the gospel twice before everyone
has heard it once.
I loved it.
I always did.
I loved his books.
Passion for Souls and those books.
I even translated them to Russian.
Russians love those books.
And we were discussing that and fantasizing a
bit and see how we could adopt that
statement or change it.
I came up with a saying, I said,
would you allow me to change it and
use that for our mission?
Why should anyone have two Bibles if not
everyone has one Bible?
He loves it.
Andrew, go ahead.
And so I've often used that statement because
I have spoken in big meetings, bigger than
this one, from the Bible and the interpreter
was the pastor and he had no Bible.
That made me feel very bad.
Why should I have two Bibles?
Did I say two?
Do you have two Bibles?
I bet you have three Bibles.
I bet you have five Bibles.
I bet you have ten Bibles.
I won't go any further because I asked
that question in Holland in the church and
I went up to 50, there were still
some hands raised.
Why should anyone have two Bibles when not
everyone, especially serving in such a strategic area,
from where communism and the revolution and terrorism
comes where they could do the greatest job
in preventing violence and we don't give them
the tools.
They don't even have a Bible.
There's something wrong with us.
We have a right to be assisted.
Same care for one another.
And I see the reports and you can
read them.
This is a Dutch copy of Open Doors.
It's always about people.
When we started this magazine 40 years ago,
I said to the editors there must always
be a face on the front page, but
never my face.
But we are a people-to- people
mission.
It's people that we want to help.
It's people that we want to reach.
And in our paper you can read about
the work, for instance, that we do in
Sudan.
And it's very risky.
Actually, our workers don't want me to go
there because you have to walk and march
10-20 miles a day in blistering heat,
bitten by mosquitoes and they think I'm too
old for that.
That's stupid.
I'm not too old for that.
But it's what they say.
We fly in illegally with Russian planes that
are illegally filled with Bibles and other things
that's needed.
Blankets, medicine, food for a starving population.
And then you read all those terrible reports
about the slave trade.
The Muslim armies from the North invade the
South and they raid villages and towns and
they take all the people they have in
prison, including the children, and they carry them
off to the North and then the people
are sold on the slave market.
The girls to become eventually sex slaves.
The boys, hard labor, chained with iron, chained
to the wheelbarrow, just as it was 50
years ago in the Soviet Union.
These are the Christian people in the South.
Then it boggles my mind.
I read that verse and I think of
my daughters.
I have two daughters.
And I think suppose they would kidnap my
daughter.
Just go along with my line of thinking.
Suppose they would kidnap my daughter and take
her to a slave market and sell her
to become a sex slave.
What would I as a father do to
get her out of that?
Father, can you imagine what you would do?
Do you have the guts to think that
through?
I would travel the world.
I would work and speak and write and
shout and yell and do probably rob a
bank.
Anything.
Well, not rob a bank as a Christian
but, you know, as a non-Christian I
would.
I would steal.
I would do anything to get enough money
and then travel to Sudan and buy my
girl back.
I would.
Wouldn't you, father?
You'd do anything to sell even your own
self if you could to redeem your daughter.
Why don't we do it for a black
girl in Sudan?
Is she not our sister in Jesus?
That we have the same care for one
another?
Are we still scriptural people?
Do we still live by the truth of
the Bible?
Or only accept selected verses to speak about
my blessing, first blessing, second blessing, third blessing,
Toronto blessing, every blessing and we don't take
the same care of one another.
And then we still expect God to come
down in power with the spirit and give
us revival?
Forget it.
We will not have revival until we obey
the principles of the word of God.
Have the same care for one another.
If one member suffers all the members suffer
with it.
Now, there is no clearer teaching in all
of the New Testament a teaching that cannot
is not open to any different way of
interpretation than this verse here.
Everyone has to agree because it is so
clear.
One member of this body of mine suffers
the entire body gets into action to support
that one member or release it of the
pain and duty and heavy carrying.
The whole body gets into action.
Everything in my body.
My heart, my blood, my muscles, my brain
if I have any.
Everything in my body to support that one
part.
And the Bible says well, that's the body
of Christ.
What are you doing?
They have a right to assistance on the
basis of the word of God.
The third point I said the first is
everyone has a right to know who Jesus
is.
As an evangelist I like that.
Second is that everyone who suffers for his
faith in Christ has a right to be
assisted.
Helped.
Supported.
The other part of the body.
This is the third point.
That's encouraging.
Everyone who lives in the so called free
world has a right to know how God
meets his people when they are paying the
price and the suffering.
And again that's why it's so important that
you read our newsletters and our books and
I write a lot of others of course
in my books.
That God is doing something in those prison
camps.
In the Gulag archipelago.
In the re-education camps in Vietnam.
And in the prisons in Saudi Arabia.
And in Sudan.
And in Peru.
I just visited our brother David in Peru
in prison.
He has already started a church in prison.
Because God's word is not bound although they
may bind the preacher.
And you go to prisons.
I've been in a number of prisons in
Colombia.
In Rwanda.
In Uganda.
In Saudi Arabia.
Even in Indonesia.
And see what God does in those prisons.
We ought to know that a person shut
up in prison is not immobilized.
Nor is he beyond reach.
We can go there.
If you want to.
And then you see the mighty works of
God.
I want to give you a verse for
that too.
In 2 Timothy 3.
There's a very good verse about that.
2 Timothy 3 verse 12.
And all who desire to live a godly
life in Jesus Christ will suffer persecution.
You say is that encouraging?
Yes.
Because identifying with the prisoners and seeing what
God does encourages us to pay the price.
That's why the overall tolling open doors and
all the misery that we deport is always
one of it.
The word of God is not chained.
God is sovereign.
One thing to sing it in a meeting
hall where everybody says amen to that.
But see it out in the prisons there.
See it where the suffering is intense.
See how God sometimes with a great sense
of humor works among his children.
Using them.
I remember the first time the Lord spoke
to my soul about this verse.
I was in a communist country in the
height of the persecution.
And I was preaching in a Baptist church.
The reason I mention the Baptist so often
is not because I want to please you
because this is a Baptist church, but for
the simple fact that most evangelical churches over
there are Baptist churches.
That's the reason.
I love the Baptist anyway.
And one day I was having an evangelistic
campaign in a big capital city and there
were several other Baptist churches in the city
spread out and I was not allowed to
preach as a foreigner.
So you probably say well Andrew how can
you evangelize when you are not allowed to
preach?
Well that's very simple.
I was allowed to give greetings.
And my, I had greetings.
Piles of them.
Greetings from my wife and family.
Greetings from my Open Doors team.
Greetings from my home church.
And I had greetings from the Apostle Paul.
And he had kindly written them down for
me so I could read them out to
the people.
I was only giving greetings.
I was not preaching.
Then I suddenly remembered a verse in Peter
that Peter says, he complains that Paul's epistles
were so difficult to understand.
He says that.
Therefore it's clear I have to explain Paul's
greetings a little.
Took me about two hours.
amazing how many people come forward when you
just give greetings.
To accept Christ.
Amazing.
Because you don't have to be preached to
communicate the love of God.
Anybody can do that.
Greetings.
Friendship evangelism.
Earn the writer their attention.
Offer them a cup of coffee or fix
a flat tire as I do for the
Muslims that walk over the pavement in my
street.
Do something.
That makes you friends.
And then it's amazing to see.
And then the next evening we would be
in another church but it was not announced
because it was illegal anyway what we did.
And the people were already standing outside of
the church building blocking the road and that
was attracting the police attention which we were
not too keen on.
And so we would not announce where tomorrow
night's meeting would be but it would be
crowded again.
Evening after evening, crowded.
And one evening the pastor, Baptist pastor invited
us to his home for further fellowship.
And we went there with a dozen or
so elders and a handful of pastors.
And I remember as I entered that house
everything looked so poor so totally bare.
There was no carpet on the floor nothing
on the wall no carpet no cover on
the table just plain wood.
And I was reading to them because under
communism they were not allowed to touch on
subjects like prophecy or Israel or return of
our Lord Jesus Christ or being soldiers for
Christ the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers was always
forbidden in these countries.
Lots of subjects I knew nothing about besides
not everyone had the Bible.
So I had my Bible on the table
explaining things and we were not offered any
coffee or tea, there were no snacks nothing,
just the word and us.
And then suddenly the door opened and first
we were a bit frightened, you know you
always are in those situations.
Police?
No.
There was a friend of mine from another
country even more restricted more persecution and I
had worked with him before in evangelism but
he was so effective they arrested him and
put him in prison for a couple of
years and we thought he was still in
prison but he came out free and he
walked into the room astonished us by his
presence so we all jumped up then we
hugged and we cried that's what you do
on those occasions and eventually we settled down
and sat again on our chair and they
expected me to continue but not me here
is a man who had paid a price
I wanted to learn from him let him
speak but he looked at me because he
hadn't seen me for a few years but
I didn't say anything then at last he
opened his mouth and was dead quiet he
said Andrew are there any pastors in Holland
in prison I didn't have to think about
that one I thought if there is anyone
it's not a good one in his country
only the good ones are in prison not
in my country and so I said no
without thinking I was really hurting him he
did not understand so as a writer he
said why not now I got nervous how
can I explain that no pastor in Holland
is in prison for his faith so I
began to say well we have liberty we
can preach our churches are open we can
shout on the rooftops we broadcast on radio,
television we have bible society, we have christian
bookstores we have Sunday school we have child
defense we have everything not realizing that everything
I mentioned was totally foreign to them and
they have none of that and yet the
church grows and is crowded evening after evening
and I saw that I completely lost my
audience so I I quit talking and it
was quiet for a long time and at
long last still looking at me the guy
said then Andrew what do you do with
2 Timothy 3 12 and I didn't know
how do I know that what we do
with the verses I do not know verses
about suffering are not our favorite verses we
don't memorize them we memorize John 3 16
and Psalm 23 1 and John 14 6
and but not 2 Timothy 3 12 not
verses about suffering and paying the price so
I didn't know what we do with that
verse I opened my bible and that verse
I began to read and blushed in that
setting I tell you everybody is staring at
you and they pin me down on that
verse and they have every right to do
so and I read all who desire to
live a godly life and you know the
moment you find a verse that you don't
like you turn into an instant theologian to
explain it away listen we do that and
I figured Paul was referring to the early
church but he says oh so that didn't
work and I think well maybe he meant
they might suffer but he says they will
suffer persecution and as I had no guts
to look up I kept looking staring at
that verse my eyes fell on a couple
of verses preceding this and for myself I
began to read quietly totally convicted that you
have carefully followed my doctrine followed means observed
my doctrine my manner of life my purpose
my faith my long suffering my love my
perseverance my persecutions my afflictions this happened to
me in Antioch Iconium, Lystra what persecutions I
endured and out of them all the Lord
delivered me but all who desire to live
a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer
persecution still quiet in that room everybody stared
at me at long last I knew I
had to reply somehow I looked up and
said forgive me we do nothing with that
verse and I knew there is a whole
lot of verses we do nothing with then
that verse began to live for me it
became a message I read it many many
times because I read through the bible every
year but it had never become a message
to my heart somehow a few words or
verses that I pass on to you tonight
that you already knew of course you know
your bible but they will suddenly become a
message of God to you I will not
let you go until you act upon it
all that want to live a godly life
there is a price and the more willing
we are to pay the price the greater
our joy will become one of my great
friends in the Soviet Union in those days
was Joseph Bondarenko have you ever heard that
name we have also written about him in
the past he was called the Billy Graham
of Ukraine the Billy Graham of Russia famous
evangelist, Baptist of course and the he said
okay I am not used to that thing
I may hit it occasionally and Bondarenko was
always preaching young good looking fellow full of
faith and full of joy he just radiated
the joy of Jesus and got arrested for
preaching and the first time he was sentenced
to three years imprisonment that is a long
time for a young man three years imprisonment
and he just continued to evangelize because a
change of location does not change your ministry
he was an evangelist when he was three
so he was an evangelist when he was
in prison and he continued to lead people
to Jesus Christ until the authorities were so
angry with him they threw him out now
remember that whenever they arrest you become aggressive
try to convert them and they'll throw you
out, it's the quickest way to get out
of prison or first it's the quickest way
to get into prison of course but then
it's the quickest way to get out of
prison, I've always done that when they arrest
me and they do right at the border
already I start preaching at them like mad
and they get so scared they really get
scared something wrong they know that wrong with
them too and I tell them that so
they never take a big risk with me
so they threw Bondarenko out and said don't
you preach anymore or we'll come back to
you out and he left every so many
young believers in that prison so he went
out and he preached again and we were
instantly we were supporting him and of course
he got arrested again and they took him
back and now they made a mistake those
Russians, they took him back to the same
prison uh uh and as he entered escorted
by a gang of soldiers the other prisoners
saw him and they greeted him with shouts
of joy they said praise the lord you're
back and he looked at them in bewilderment
he said praise the lord?
why?
he said well when you were here before
you led so many of us to Christ
but we don't know the bible you seem
to have the whole thing in your head
we don't know anything about the wonderful stories
of the bible or the doctrines of the
church and so we all come together every
day we say dear lord Jesus bring Joseph
back now what do you say to that?
so he said well that being the case
praise the lord and uh he continued evangelizing
and many more came to the lord and
what else does an evangelist want?
preach and see souls come to Christ right?
we don't speak about the conditions or the
circumstances do we?
well maybe anyway there was a great result
and the authorities were so angry with that
mistake they had made that they shut him
up in a cell which was in the
midst of a cold winter like here and
it was not heated and ice was on
the floor and the walls of that cell
and it was very cold and they put
him in there with a big criminal six
foot six huge fellow cruel bad looking and
they put him there and they figure the
circumstance and that man will finish off his
faith and Joseph is not a big man
and let's face it when you meet a
big guy you are intimidated I am maybe
you are not but I am and Joseph
was so he waited until midnight dark and
big fellow was asleep and he would slip
out of his bed and kneel on the
floor and pour out his heart to Jesus
one night something went wrong big fellow woke
up what are you doing there?
Joseph says I am praying to whom are
you praying?
I am praying to God for whom are
you praying?
I am praying for you big man said
what?
I have been so cruel to you you
pray for me Joseph says because God loves
you Jesus wants to save you make you
a new man big fellow jumped out of
bed knelt next to Joseph and within five
minutes accepted Jesus Christ and Lord the Saviour
you can do it and these two became
a terrific team in the prison Joseph quietly
speaking about Jesus big fellow saying get on
your knees accept him wonderful team terrific so
effective then of course the authorities were really
mad at them they were then put in
a cell cold unheated cell but there was
no bed no blanket no food no water
they were shut up there to die because
the entire prison authority gang and government were
scared stiff of people who love Jesus more
than their own lives and the two managed
to stay alive and stay awake for a
while one day maybe two days just walking
and holding each other until they couldn't stand
anymore they said to each other let's lay
down and go to see Jesus big fellow
said I will lay on the floor and
Joseph you lay on top of me maybe
my body will keep you warm and alive
maybe you get out and can preach again
whatever happens I'll see you in heaven when
we meet Jesus so they lay down and
authorities noticed that they had given up the
battle to live and to survive so they
walked in picked up Joseph by now he
had a heart condition and tuberculosis he would
never preach anymore written off finished so they
threw him out and when I heard that
Joseph was out of prison in those terrible
conditions I quickly traveled to Russia the first
time ever that I smuggled money I never
do that but I did for Joseph to
buy him food medicine, clothing traveling expenses because
I knew what he would do and he
did and a few months later we had
word that he was getting married he found
himself a beautiful bride by the name of
Mary quite appropriate Joseph and Mary I've heard
that before it's almost Christmas think of them
and they got married very secret there were
only 2000 people at the service because they
couldn't pronounce it but there was a guy
with a camera who made color slides and
I had a series at home or in
my office in Holland very poor quality but
terrific pictures you see that big happy crowd
singing rejoicing, listening to the preaching and then
you see the picture Joseph very serious looking
of course black suit and then next to
him Mary long white dress behind him the
best man, big fellow six foot six just
thrown out of prison he made it he
made it later a few months later the
news was that they had killed him on
the street they would not risk anymore putting
that man in prison and Joseph spent another
three years in prison until the day came
that I was standing at Joseph Red Square
in Moscow in front of the mausoleum where
Lenin is buried giving out scriptures and preaching
ten years ago God offers them tremendous opportunities
and only God knows how many people are
in heaven because Joseph was willing to go
to prison we ought to be so grateful
that Paul was willing to go to prison
so he could write most of the New
Testament it would be very thin if Moses
had not gone to prison that's the way
it is people living a scripture life they
should know what's going on in their mind
and in their experience another fellow that I
knew his name is Zia he was Afghan
believer and I met him the first time
years ago in Kabul when I was preaching
there he was blind he sat at the
front row the only church Afghanistan ever had
it was bulldozed by the Russians and now
God is building his church again but not
with bricks and stone people who come to
Jesus Christ it's a tremendous hunger for God
in Afghanistan first baptismal service I had with
Afghan believers there were 12 and they said
there are 24 more on the waiting list
I said I have no more time I
have to run unfortunately that was the truth
and fortunately I am a Dutchman I can
get on the KLM plane and run after
baptismal service but that is still life there
and they said there are 24 more I
said well I have to come back so
I came back I baptized the 24 they
said under there are 85 more I said
will it never end they said no there
are several hundred more in Afghanistan you got
to come back and baptize us because we
want to follow Jesus it's very difficult God
is doing in those very adverse circumstances and
I was there and I said Zia he
said there is a refugee like millions of
other Afghans did and he was caught in
Pakistan and put in prison first he got
married with one baby I think a girl
then his wife was pregnant and they arrested
him and they tortured him and they killed
him in prison it was my first friend
whom they killed in prison in Pakistan I
have now three friends that were killed there
and while he was in prison his wife
gave birth to a baby boy and she
called him Light Light it was a very
secret gathering where I dedicated the baby and
God gave me word that one day he
would bring the Light back to his country
Light is his name and incidentally he lives
in Canada pray for him I have lost
contact with him I don't know where they
live but Afghanistan needs him because they have
a right to know who Jesus is and
we have a right to know how God
meets the need of those in prison even
when they pay the ultimate price of laying
down the lives for Jesus like Heiko whom
I spoke this morning Victory I was in
Pakistan not long ago and they had arrested
one of my friends, a pastor in the
Anglican Church, an evangelist and he had led
so many young Muslims to Christ he became
a danger to the regime he married them
he baptized them so they put him in
prison and the whole month he suffered in
that prison and then suddenly they released him
and I just happened to be in town
when he came out so the next morning
I said Ejaz we must have breakfast together
man tell me about your experience what did
they do to you what did God do
for you his eyes began to beam with
joy he said 108 prisoners came to Jesus
that's not a bad average for an evangelist
in a month two dedicated their lives to
full time service if they ever get out
he said all night people are lining up
in front of my cell that I pray
for their healing he was dead tired after
a month of that a ministry like you
wouldn't even have in your own church day
and night God uses people in prison God
uses people in their ministry and in their
gifts so we had good breakfast and I
just rejoiced together with Ejaz I went to
my room I always have to stay in
a hotel unfortunately because it's still then and
now even more too dangerous to stay with
people and there was a phone call this
is a strange story but it was the
Ulama the head guy of all the Muslims
in Pakistan 140 million Muslims in Pakistan he
was the boss he was very sick he
asked if a brother could come and pray
with him I said sure that's our work
to be pleasant to people but remember he
was the head Muslim responsible also for the
persecution and the killing of my friends and
the imprisonment of the man I just had
breakfast with this morning then I had an
idea I told Ejaz I said Ejaz I'm
going to pray for Ulama and I want
you to come with me to pray for
him he said I come so when we
came to his office in the main mosque
the king's mosque that has meetings every Friday
with 100,000 Muslims in one meeting there
he was in his office and he invited
lots of other leaders from different Muslim sects
and teachers and high ups in the Islamic
world there and we sat together and again
I opened the only book I have I
spoke about Jesus and I answered many of
the questions and then I said now we
will pray and I kept my strongest teaching
for the prayer time I'll tell you why
you may even want to apply it sometimes
in your own experience here once you start
to pray with a person you can tell
God a lot of things that he already
knows but they don't know it yet and
that's what I do with the Muslims you
see because they are very reverent when we
pray we always stand up we never close
our hands like those stupid Christians do they
don't expect God to do anything Muslims pray
like this they want to receive from God
and I have already adopted that method pray
with your hands open God is going to
give don't close your hands God so we
began to pray and I stood to his
left and I prayed thanking God that Jesus
was not only the healer he was the
savior he was the son of God who
died on the cross to forgive our sin
and we can love him now expect him
to bless us expect him to hear us
expect him to meet us at the point
of our needs as I was I laid
my hand on the Mullah I felt another
hand on top of my hand to my
right hand I looked it was Ijaz just
come out of prison the day before he
was also laying his hand on his persecutor
that's what God does the doors are so
wide open the opportunity is so wonderful if
only we come back to the simple clear
principles of the word of God then we
find that it is simple.
One more baptism story and then I close
with an illustration and we should have time
for prayer maybe we have time for questions
because I realize I cannot say everything in
one short meeting but one of my baptismal
services with the Pakistanis not with the Afghans
it must have been three years ago when
I switched over to the Afghan situation the
whole family came from down somewhere in the
valley very fertile valley where they grow nuts
and fruit on terraced fields because there is
plenty of water and it goes down from
one terrace to the other you know how
that works they grow rice and fruit and
everything and they came all the way up
to the mountains area where I was having
my baptismal service, the whole family and they
wanted to be baptized and he said why
do you make that long journey to get
baptized there is so much water where you
live and there were illiterate people that knew
something about the bible that many of us
don't know I said why do you come
here he said Andrew it's so simple we
have a lot of water that flows from
terrace to terrace back into the canal gets
pumped up, goes back into the terrace waters
our fields floods our fields and we work
in the water and we have heard in
the bible it says be baptized and have
your sins washed away and he says well
if we wash our sins away in that
water and we come back to work tomorrow
it means we walk in our own sin
in the dirty water that contains our sin
and the bible says we should not walk
in sin so they said that's why we
go to brother Andrew because he has one
of those children's swimming pools and he throws
the water away after baptism now it's very
primitive thinking but it's very straight thinking you
know that after baptism there is a holy
wife you can't go back and walk again
in your sin and I just love that
illiterate people who are so serious about following
Jesus terrific and yet here is the great
challenge and the last story I want to
tell you maybe the last one until I
get more inspiration, maybe one more but we
were in Albania Albania you must know is
since 1967 the first and only fully announced,
pronounced atheistic country in the world proclaimed so
by the government there is no god or
any remnant of any religion in Albania left
the government proudly announced that and the whole
world took notice and I knew that Albania
even didn't have a bible, no wonder communism
becomes so total in its grip it is
no opposing force based upon the principles of
God why is it possible that a nation
in Europe till 10 years ago did not
even have a bible, is that astonishing you
know how many bible translations there are in
the English language, over 440 and there was
none for Albania you wonder why there is
total communism and now in some countries total
Islam or God forbid in some countries total
terrorism they don't have access to the word
of God to set them free and as
soon as the the Iron Curtain fell in
Albania a few weeks later we had our
first meeting there in the stadium the government
had given a fierce charge because they didn't
know which way the nation would turn what
way do you go when you have lived
for a long time in atheism and nihilism
they gave us the stadium, they gave us
the loudspeaker equipment they gave us the state
television to televise the first sermon nationwide and
I was the first speaker that evening that
evening the preacher so the whole nation could
hear what Jesus was they were very happy
but when I returned home one week we
had a number of churches established in Albania
especially in the capital city of Tirana people
wanted to know about God even as I
walked in the street hoping that they would
not recognize me from the big rallies and
television but they saw I was a foreigner
they come to me and say you are
part of the God team they didn't have
the terminology right you are part of the
God team hallelujah that's what I want to
be, part of the God team and we
went back to Holland and already of course
several missions including ours and others have been
working on the translation and within a year
we had the first Albanian Bibles printed in
Holland 50,000 copies and exactly a year
after the first big campaign by invitation of
the government they organized a Bible party what
did they know they said bring your Bibles
but also bring crackers and Coca-Cola and
cheese because we want to have a Bible
party so we had a big center there
cultural center we had a Bible party first
copy I gave to the president who was
a Muslim he was so grateful never seen
a Bible in his life he put it
on television second I gave the Bible to
the Imam, the head of the Muslims he
saw the Bible he was deeply touched, he
said oh Andrew, he said please will you
never persecute us Muslims because we also suffered
under communism he said no man I won't
persecute you but I will tell as many
of you people as I can about Jesus
hoping that they will follow him he said
oh that's alright they are not against Jesus
Muslims are per se not against Jesus so
then after some more very interesting experiences we
had a meeting in the military academy where
they train all the big officers half of
them accepted Christ in that one meeting terrific
experiences they were so open and then last
Sunday I had a meeting in one of
the local churches it was in a rather
big hall bigger than this the podium about
this size and it was I think in
a museum building on the main square in
the center of Tirana, the capital city and
I was sitting there next to my interpreter
a Dutch girl who was fluent in Albanian
and he was the music the band they
made noise they already had a nice western
concept the more noise you make the closer
you are to heaven you know how young
people sing nowadays I'm of the old school
but I can bear it they were wonderful
and here was the choir but the oldest
was maybe twelve years old I mean the
church was less than a year old and
the youngest was four and they were nicely
dressed mostly girls, they were jumping and clapping
and dancing and the nicest colorful dresses on
and they were so joyful they were already
singing their native Albanian songs and choruses not
translated from English no, Albanian great stuff then
my eyes caught a guy standing on the
floor filthy, long unkempt hair, never properly washed
in his life green t-shirt on and
the front was tucked into his trousers the
back was hanging out you could see his
bare back barefooted filthy from top to bottom
and he thought he was the conductor so
he stood here conducting the choir I could
have cried when I saw him I turned
to my interpreter and said who's that she
said that's the street child the streets are
full of them they have no one to
look after them not even a grandmother to
give them a meal they sleep on a
bench in the park, they steal to eat
and that's all they have I said how
does he get in here thinking he's the
conductor she said I don't know, he just
wandered in we couldn't stop him, now he
thinks he's the conductor I said listen I
can't preach when I see that guy so
I stood up I walked over to him
I think he was so close and so
far I grabbed him and I felt his
ribs protruding so skinny and I carried him
all the way to the back and I
put him on the lap of my team
mate, the wife of the American ambassador and
I said he is fancy, you keep him
here, otherwise I cannot preach, I will cry
oh boy it never happened to her I
think and she put her arms around that
piece of filth and I sat again next
to our interpreter enjoying the singing of the
choir and then something else happened a little
girl I think she was only four years
old bright little girl, she jumped down walked
straight to me laid hands on me and
prayed for me because I was the preacher
it never happened to me in the free
world I was so glad that she cannot
read and she didn't have a bible otherwise
she would have known that women should be
silent in the church but she didn't know
that I got a giant blessing and she
prayed for me God's ministry through the list
of us she happily turned back then I
had to preach and God gave me a
word in the spirit of compassion and love
many young people came forward to accept Christ
and we were all standing here praying for
them and I felt a little tug on
my sleeve and I looked my boy had
broken loose got away from Fancy's lap he
also wanted to be prayed for boy he
did we sat down and the choir got
up again and sure enough the little lad
stood there again to conduct the choir I
got up, I picked him up I put
him right in the middle of the singing
kids I said boy, here is where you
belong at the end of the service we
were standing outside the pavement shaking hands after
a while he came out too he didn't
shake hands, he walked to my left to
my right and there was a heap of
garbage there was no garbage collection of course
everybody piled it up where they could and
he trotted into that filthy heap with his
bare feet and he found some wilted flowers
somewhere he cleaned some of them and made
a little bouquet climbed back the heap walked
up to me and gave me the flowers
without saying a word then he turned around
and walked back to the park to sleep
on a bench to steal their food and
I couldn't run after him because I have
no team I have no home for street
children I have no money to take care
of him I just stood there with a
broken heart he was a boy that in
the course of an hour and a half
had influenced my life so greatly and I
just saw him move back to the park
why why is this world so topsy-turvy
does he have no right to a home
like we have to an education as we
give our children to warmth and protection to
church life, to a bible to education but
he will only get his right if we
give up our rights our right to self
our right to our privileges to our bank
account to our position to a million other
things only can we give up our rights
I want to close this session with reading
of a parable that I found in one
of Bailey's books it's also a tale, a
parable that can be found in the Talmud
I'll read it to you a certain man
had two sons one was rich the other
was poor the rich son had no children
while the poor son was blessed with many
sons and many daughters like me in time
the father fell ill he was sure he
would not live through the week, so on
Saturday he called his sons to his side
and gave each of them half of the
land of their inheritance then he died before
sundown the sons buried the father with respect
that night the rich son couldn't sleep he
said to himself what my father did was
not just I am rich my brother is
poor I have plenty of bread while my
brother's children eat one day and trust God
for the next I must move the land
to mark as the father said in the
middle of the land so that my brother
will have the greater share ah, but he
must not see me if he sees me
he will be shamed I must arise early
in the morning before it is dawn and
move the landmark with this he fell asleep
and his sleep was secure and peaceful meanwhile
the poor brother could not sleep as he
lay restless on his bed he said to
himself what my father did was not just
here I am surrounded by the joy of
many sons and many daughters while my brother
daily faces the shame of having no sons
to carry on his name and no daughters
to comfort him in his old age he
should have the land of our fathers perhaps
this will in part compensate him for his
indescribable poverty ah, but if I give it
to him he will be shamed I must
awake early in the morning before it is
dawn and move the landmark which your father
has set with this he went to sleep
and his sleep was secure and peaceful the
first day of the week very early in
the morning long time before it was day
the two brothers met at the ancient landmark
and fell with tears into each other's arms
and that spot was built to new Jerusalem
our Jerusalem so much about rights I give
it over to my friend and brother Stephen
to see what we can do about it
alright do you want this thing here?