1 00:00:00,710 --> 00:00:08,210 Ladies and gentlemen, dear brethren and sisters, on 2 00:00:08,210 --> 00:00:12,230 a Sunday morning, I walked towards my church 3 00:00:12,230 --> 00:00:16,290 and mused about the sermon which I would 4 00:00:16,290 --> 00:00:17,110 have to deliver. 5 00:00:18,430 --> 00:00:21,450 My text was that the return of our 6 00:00:21,450 --> 00:00:25,170 Savior is nigh, is even at the doors. 7 00:00:26,290 --> 00:00:28,370 And I remember that I said to the 8 00:00:28,370 --> 00:00:30,810 Lord, I can't preach about this text. 9 00:00:31,670 --> 00:00:33,330 It makes no sense to me. 10 00:00:34,410 --> 00:00:37,070 To be at the doors does not mean 11 00:00:37,070 --> 00:00:37,790 to be nigh. 12 00:00:38,610 --> 00:00:42,250 My soul is your bride, and you are 13 00:00:42,250 --> 00:00:45,770 my bridegroom, and you are nigh for me 14 00:00:45,770 --> 00:00:50,230 only if you have passed the threshold, not 15 00:00:50,230 --> 00:00:51,570 if you stand at the door. 16 00:00:52,350 --> 00:00:55,330 And even if in the room you would 17 00:00:55,330 --> 00:00:57,970 still not be nigh to me, I wish 18 00:00:57,970 --> 00:01:01,450 you in my embraces, only when I will 19 00:01:01,450 --> 00:01:03,870 be one with you and you one with 20 00:01:03,870 --> 00:01:06,830 me, then we will be nigh to each 21 00:01:06,830 --> 00:01:07,150 other. 22 00:01:08,590 --> 00:01:12,690 Luther said that a Christian is an alter 23 00:01:12,690 --> 00:01:14,890 Christus, another Christ. 24 00:01:15,930 --> 00:01:19,230 I believe what Saint Gertrude said in her 25 00:01:19,230 --> 00:01:19,930 daily prayer. 26 00:01:19,930 --> 00:01:23,630 Jesus, you are me and I am you. 27 00:01:24,330 --> 00:01:26,730 You are not you, I am not myself, 28 00:01:27,490 --> 00:01:30,930 but we both together are an entirely new 29 00:01:30,930 --> 00:01:31,470 being. 30 00:01:32,090 --> 00:01:33,030 I, you. 31 00:01:34,070 --> 00:01:37,530 For a Christian, Jesus is not nigh when 32 00:01:37,530 --> 00:01:38,630 he is at the doors. 33 00:01:39,290 --> 00:01:42,510 He is nigh only when the Christian ceases 34 00:01:42,510 --> 00:01:46,210 to live himself and Christ lives in him. 35 00:01:47,050 --> 00:01:50,350 And when I was so debating with Jesus 36 00:01:50,350 --> 00:01:53,310 a sermon, which I had to deliver after 37 00:01:53,310 --> 00:01:56,330 half an hour, at once a car of 38 00:01:56,330 --> 00:01:58,570 the secret police stopped near me. 39 00:01:59,350 --> 00:02:01,410 Four men rushed out of the car. 40 00:02:02,130 --> 00:02:04,670 In no time I was in the van 41 00:02:04,670 --> 00:02:05,870 of the secret police. 42 00:02:06,390 --> 00:02:07,410 I was handcuffed. 43 00:02:07,810 --> 00:02:09,610 I was blindfolded. 44 00:02:09,910 --> 00:02:12,550 I had been kidnapped by the communists. 45 00:02:13,470 --> 00:02:16,370 I was taken to a prison cell. 46 00:02:17,130 --> 00:02:19,730 And now let us all live in our 47 00:02:19,730 --> 00:02:21,330 imagination this whole. 48 00:02:22,670 --> 00:02:26,310 Blindfolded, you descend with me some slippery stairs. 49 00:02:27,370 --> 00:02:29,070 I do not know where I am led. 50 00:02:29,890 --> 00:02:31,750 A door opens before me. 51 00:02:32,630 --> 00:02:34,210 This blindfold is taken away. 52 00:02:34,990 --> 00:02:36,630 I am pushed into the cell. 53 00:02:37,490 --> 00:02:39,430 The door is banged after me. 54 00:02:39,710 --> 00:02:40,310 It is locked. 55 00:02:41,030 --> 00:02:45,090 And now Jesus is no more simply at 56 00:02:45,090 --> 00:02:45,690 the door. 57 00:02:46,470 --> 00:02:48,030 He is at a locked door. 58 00:02:48,610 --> 00:02:51,190 A door which I can't unlock. 59 00:02:52,370 --> 00:02:55,430 What would be your first feeling if such 60 00:02:55,430 --> 00:02:57,010 a thing would happen to you? 61 00:02:57,990 --> 00:02:59,630 I can tell you what happened to me 62 00:02:59,630 --> 00:03:00,070 first. 63 00:03:00,770 --> 00:03:01,550 I trembled. 64 00:03:02,470 --> 00:03:05,650 We knew already how the communists behave towards 65 00:03:05,650 --> 00:03:06,070 prisoners. 66 00:03:06,070 --> 00:03:10,550 It is not only beatings, whippings, but refined 67 00:03:10,550 --> 00:03:12,970 tortures, cruelties, doping. 68 00:03:14,110 --> 00:03:17,350 And I feared that under these atrocities my 69 00:03:17,350 --> 00:03:18,890 faith might break. 70 00:03:19,650 --> 00:03:21,650 I might become a traitor to the church 71 00:03:21,650 --> 00:03:23,810 and speak out its secrets. 72 00:03:24,530 --> 00:03:27,350 I was afraid of the tortures, of their 73 00:03:27,350 --> 00:03:27,730 pain. 74 00:03:28,870 --> 00:03:30,790 I did not know if only I was 75 00:03:30,790 --> 00:03:31,190 arrested. 76 00:03:31,890 --> 00:03:33,930 I did not know if at the same 77 00:03:33,930 --> 00:03:36,030 time they had not arrested my wife too, 78 00:03:36,610 --> 00:03:39,050 as well as brethren and sisters from the 79 00:03:39,050 --> 00:03:39,370 church. 80 00:03:40,090 --> 00:03:43,250 But somehow a Christian is another being than 81 00:03:43,250 --> 00:03:44,090 usual man. 82 00:03:44,850 --> 00:03:46,410 I had a frantic fright. 83 00:03:47,110 --> 00:03:49,770 But it was curiously mixed with a quiet 84 00:03:49,770 --> 00:03:50,310 peace. 85 00:03:51,170 --> 00:03:55,190 And while trembling, while being afraid, I could 86 00:03:55,190 --> 00:03:58,630 think about Jesus, that he once trembled. 87 00:03:58,630 --> 00:04:02,370 The gospel tells that when he was in 88 00:04:02,370 --> 00:04:05,890 the garden of Gethsemane, he passed through agony, 89 00:04:06,630 --> 00:04:08,430 that he was sore amazed. 90 00:04:09,170 --> 00:04:13,010 I had often wondered what these words, sore 91 00:04:13,010 --> 00:04:14,310 amazed, meant. 92 00:04:15,130 --> 00:04:17,970 To me they meant at that time that 93 00:04:17,970 --> 00:04:18,850 he was afraid. 94 00:04:19,990 --> 00:04:23,070 He knew that he would be terribly scorched. 95 00:04:23,730 --> 00:04:26,210 He knew his mother would be there while 96 00:04:26,210 --> 00:04:27,270 he would be scorched. 97 00:04:27,270 --> 00:04:29,470 How would his mother bear it? 98 00:04:30,170 --> 00:04:33,210 How would Saint Magdalene bear it, when nails 99 00:04:33,210 --> 00:04:36,350 would be driven into his hands, a spike 100 00:04:36,350 --> 00:04:39,590 into his feet, a crown of thorns would 101 00:04:39,590 --> 00:04:42,310 be put on his head, and then to 102 00:04:42,310 --> 00:04:46,090 hang naked on the cross, reviled by everybody. 103 00:04:46,990 --> 00:04:50,070 And there was also another fear in Jesus. 104 00:04:51,070 --> 00:04:54,250 The fear that having taken upon himself the 105 00:04:54,250 --> 00:04:57,490 sins of the world, having been made sin, 106 00:04:58,350 --> 00:05:00,510 by this he would be separated from the 107 00:05:00,510 --> 00:05:03,670 one who constituted his life, from the one 108 00:05:03,670 --> 00:05:06,330 who was his love, the Heavenly Father. 109 00:05:07,330 --> 00:05:10,490 And so my mind went to that Jesus, 110 00:05:11,230 --> 00:05:14,230 being sore amazed and in agony in the 111 00:05:14,230 --> 00:05:15,430 garden of Gethsemane. 112 00:05:16,290 --> 00:05:18,470 This happened in the first hours of my 113 00:05:18,470 --> 00:05:18,890 arrest. 114 00:05:19,870 --> 00:05:22,450 Then I remembered that in the Epistle to 115 00:05:22,450 --> 00:05:25,670 the Hebrews, it is written that Jesus is 116 00:05:25,670 --> 00:05:26,750 the image of God. 117 00:05:27,530 --> 00:05:31,470 Now if Jesus feared in that moment, does 118 00:05:31,470 --> 00:05:33,510 there exist any fear in God? 119 00:05:34,310 --> 00:05:36,010 Does God ever fear? 120 00:05:37,010 --> 00:05:37,710 I am a Jew. 121 00:05:38,730 --> 00:05:40,790 The Hebrew was current to me. 122 00:05:41,830 --> 00:05:44,310 Flashed through my mind the words known by 123 00:05:44,310 --> 00:05:45,090 all of you. 124 00:05:45,750 --> 00:05:48,170 The fear of God is the beginning of 125 00:05:48,170 --> 00:05:48,550 wisdom. 126 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:53,590 In Hebrew, Yerat Adonai Reshit Chochmah. 127 00:05:55,110 --> 00:05:58,950 This Yerat Adonai can be translated in two 128 00:05:58,950 --> 00:05:59,310 manners. 129 00:06:00,270 --> 00:06:04,530 It can mean my fear of God, my 130 00:06:04,530 --> 00:06:08,330 sentiments of fear, or it can be translated 131 00:06:08,330 --> 00:06:10,910 the fear which God has. 132 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:15,950 To understand the fear which God has is 133 00:06:15,950 --> 00:06:17,730 the beginning of wisdom. 134 00:06:19,050 --> 00:06:21,890 Now I wondered what fear can God have? 135 00:06:22,890 --> 00:06:25,570 He surely can have a fear. 136 00:06:26,430 --> 00:06:28,970 It is written in the Bible that the 137 00:06:28,970 --> 00:06:33,810 Pharisees closed the gates of heaven for themselves 138 00:06:33,810 --> 00:06:35,310 and for others. 139 00:06:36,290 --> 00:06:39,050 God can use men whom he wishes to 140 00:06:39,050 --> 00:06:42,410 have in heaven because I locked the door 141 00:06:42,410 --> 00:06:42,990 for them. 142 00:06:43,570 --> 00:06:47,390 By my behavior, by my false teaching, by 143 00:06:47,390 --> 00:06:50,510 my making others to be disgusted of Christianity, 144 00:06:51,350 --> 00:06:55,590 I can lock the door for men whom 145 00:06:55,590 --> 00:06:57,230 God wishes to have in heaven. 146 00:06:58,310 --> 00:06:59,610 God fears this. 147 00:07:00,310 --> 00:07:02,430 So there exists a fearing God. 148 00:07:03,070 --> 00:07:05,450 I would not subscribe now as a dogma 149 00:07:05,450 --> 00:07:08,690 to whatever I tell you, but these were 150 00:07:08,690 --> 00:07:11,350 the thoughts which flashed through my mind in 151 00:07:11,350 --> 00:07:11,870 that time. 152 00:07:12,930 --> 00:07:15,730 And then I understood why I had to 153 00:07:15,730 --> 00:07:19,810 be behind a locked door, why Jesus stands 154 00:07:19,810 --> 00:07:20,810 at a locked door. 155 00:07:21,670 --> 00:07:24,130 God does not wish me to commit sins. 156 00:07:24,950 --> 00:07:27,630 God does not wish me to hinder through 157 00:07:27,630 --> 00:07:30,330 my sins the work of his salvation. 158 00:07:30,930 --> 00:07:33,310 He wishes to purify me for a future 159 00:07:33,310 --> 00:07:37,030 work, and therefore I have to be in 160 00:07:37,030 --> 00:07:37,790 a prison cell. 161 00:07:38,510 --> 00:07:40,910 And with this thought I quietened down. 162 00:07:41,810 --> 00:07:44,450 Surely God had put me in prison for 163 00:07:44,450 --> 00:07:48,170 this purpose, to purify me for a higher, 164 00:07:48,670 --> 00:07:49,690 for a better work. 165 00:07:50,590 --> 00:07:52,270 I was alone in a cell. 166 00:07:53,470 --> 00:07:55,050 We have left this hole. 167 00:07:56,050 --> 00:07:58,510 The cell is 30 feet below the earth. 168 00:07:59,610 --> 00:08:02,030 The only pieces of furniture in it are 169 00:08:02,030 --> 00:08:05,470 four boards which constitute a bed, a straw 170 00:08:05,470 --> 00:08:07,450 mattress on it, and that's all. 171 00:08:09,590 --> 00:08:12,290 You have a cup of water in the 172 00:08:12,290 --> 00:08:18,570 cell, and some butter for other necessities. 173 00:08:19,550 --> 00:08:22,170 The cell is some nine feet by six. 174 00:08:23,150 --> 00:08:25,410 You have place to make only three steps. 175 00:08:26,450 --> 00:08:28,430 You are never taken out from this cell 176 00:08:28,430 --> 00:08:29,150 for a walk. 177 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:33,090 During years you will never see sun, moon, 178 00:08:33,270 --> 00:08:34,770 snow, flowers, stars. 179 00:08:35,830 --> 00:08:38,370 You will never have neither the Bible nor 180 00:08:38,370 --> 00:08:39,130 any other book. 181 00:08:39,909 --> 00:08:42,090 You will never see a man except the 182 00:08:42,090 --> 00:08:45,230 interrogators who will beat and torture you. 183 00:08:46,130 --> 00:08:47,450 You are alone in a cell. 184 00:08:48,290 --> 00:08:50,270 They meant you to be alone. 185 00:08:51,270 --> 00:08:52,670 But we were not alone. 186 00:08:53,590 --> 00:08:55,790 At that time I slept during the day 187 00:08:55,790 --> 00:08:56,770 as much as I could. 188 00:08:56,770 --> 00:08:59,930 I had decided to pass always the whole 189 00:08:59,930 --> 00:09:02,290 night in prayer and spiritual exercises. 190 00:09:03,130 --> 00:09:07,090 I awoke when everyone went to sleep, and 191 00:09:07,090 --> 00:09:08,930 I was never alone in the cell. 192 00:09:09,830 --> 00:09:13,970 Around me were the victims of my life. 193 00:09:15,170 --> 00:09:17,470 I had committed gross sins in my life. 194 00:09:17,710 --> 00:09:19,450 I did not wish to have children when 195 00:09:19,450 --> 00:09:19,830 I married. 196 00:09:20,350 --> 00:09:21,590 I was not a Christian. 197 00:09:21,750 --> 00:09:23,030 My wife was not a Christian. 198 00:09:23,610 --> 00:09:24,630 Just make an abortion. 199 00:09:24,630 --> 00:09:28,930 And in the cell now I saw these 200 00:09:28,930 --> 00:09:29,630 my children. 201 00:09:30,610 --> 00:09:33,610 And they asked, Father, why did you kill 202 00:09:33,610 --> 00:09:33,870 me? 203 00:09:34,450 --> 00:09:36,030 I have committed nothing wrong. 204 00:09:36,670 --> 00:09:38,210 I have never harmed you. 205 00:09:38,850 --> 00:09:41,090 Why did you take away my life? 206 00:09:41,910 --> 00:09:43,770 And for nothing in the world could I 207 00:09:43,770 --> 00:09:46,050 make these children disappear from my cell. 208 00:09:46,690 --> 00:09:49,270 They just danced around in a mad dance 209 00:09:49,270 --> 00:09:53,030 around me, pointing at me and calling me 210 00:09:53,030 --> 00:09:54,410 murderer. 211 00:09:55,710 --> 00:09:57,970 There were all the men whom I had 212 00:09:57,970 --> 00:10:00,490 slandered, to whom I had lied. 213 00:10:01,410 --> 00:10:03,830 There was Mother, whom I had made so 214 00:10:03,830 --> 00:10:05,090 many times to weep. 215 00:10:06,230 --> 00:10:07,870 Never have I seen her again. 216 00:10:08,230 --> 00:10:11,150 She died while I was in prison, after 217 00:10:11,150 --> 00:10:14,950 12 years of waiting, and her last words 218 00:10:14,950 --> 00:10:16,890 had been, My Richard. 219 00:10:18,150 --> 00:10:21,150 There were all those girls whom I had 220 00:10:21,150 --> 00:10:21,770 defiled. 221 00:10:22,630 --> 00:10:24,870 Everyone to whom I had committed wrong in 222 00:10:24,870 --> 00:10:27,650 my life was there in my cell, dancing 223 00:10:27,650 --> 00:10:31,530 around me, pointing at me, and calling me 224 00:10:31,530 --> 00:10:35,030 with all kinds of bad names which I 225 00:10:35,030 --> 00:10:36,470 knew to be true. 226 00:10:37,510 --> 00:10:40,550 I am a Protestant, and I believe that 227 00:10:40,550 --> 00:10:44,290 man is saved by faith alone, independent of 228 00:10:44,290 --> 00:10:44,630 deeds. 229 00:10:44,630 --> 00:10:48,310 There is one deed which saves, the fact 230 00:10:48,310 --> 00:10:51,250 that Jesus Christ died on the cross for 231 00:10:51,250 --> 00:10:51,690 us. 232 00:10:52,670 --> 00:10:54,690 I knew that if I had committed all 233 00:10:54,690 --> 00:10:58,910 the murders and whoredoms and lies and thefts 234 00:10:58,910 --> 00:11:00,850 which have ever been committed in the whole 235 00:11:00,850 --> 00:11:04,450 world during all history, lo, the Lamb of 236 00:11:04,450 --> 00:11:06,350 God who takes away the sins of the 237 00:11:06,350 --> 00:11:09,250 whole world, so my sins too. 238 00:11:10,290 --> 00:11:12,530 This is what my faith told me. 239 00:11:13,380 --> 00:11:15,530 But the conscience of a man is never 240 00:11:15,530 --> 00:11:16,050 Protestant. 241 00:11:16,930 --> 00:11:18,670 The conscience is always Catholic. 242 00:11:19,570 --> 00:11:22,050 You can be the staunchest Protestant and say 243 00:11:22,050 --> 00:11:25,670 faith and faith alone, and your conscience will 244 00:11:25,670 --> 00:11:28,090 ask you, And what about your deeds? 245 00:11:29,070 --> 00:11:31,750 I had a great struggle which lasted very 246 00:11:31,750 --> 00:11:34,190 much until it broke through. 247 00:11:34,830 --> 00:11:37,810 The blood of Jesus Christ has washed my 248 00:11:37,810 --> 00:11:41,770 sins, and has washed also the sins of 249 00:11:41,770 --> 00:11:43,950 the victims of my life, if they have 250 00:11:43,950 --> 00:11:44,430 believed. 251 00:11:46,090 --> 00:11:49,650 Zacchaeus had stolen from some Jew perhaps 100 252 00:11:49,650 --> 00:11:50,370 dinars. 253 00:11:51,310 --> 00:11:53,270 In any case, the Jew could not have 254 00:11:53,270 --> 00:11:54,730 done much with 100 dinars. 255 00:11:55,110 --> 00:11:58,130 It was a very small sum, but then 256 00:11:58,130 --> 00:12:01,750 Zacchaeus repented, and he gave him back 400 257 00:12:01,750 --> 00:12:03,110 dinars instead of the 100. 258 00:12:03,870 --> 00:12:06,450 And now that Jew could open a little 259 00:12:06,450 --> 00:12:10,370 shop, and I was sure that Jesus would 260 00:12:10,370 --> 00:12:12,570 give to everyone whom I had made to 261 00:12:12,570 --> 00:12:16,450 weep for every tear a pear, and that 262 00:12:16,450 --> 00:12:19,190 he can give eternal life to those from 263 00:12:19,190 --> 00:12:21,310 whom I had taken away this life. 264 00:12:21,950 --> 00:12:24,370 And by the blood of Jesus Christ, I 265 00:12:24,370 --> 00:12:28,390 and others who passed through this experience could 266 00:12:28,390 --> 00:12:31,830 overcome the terrible remorses which we had for 267 00:12:31,830 --> 00:12:34,570 whatever had been wrong in our past lives. 268 00:12:36,270 --> 00:12:39,370 And now the victims of our lives had 269 00:12:39,370 --> 00:12:39,870 disappeared. 270 00:12:40,670 --> 00:12:43,730 The communists meant us to be alone, but 271 00:12:43,730 --> 00:12:44,990 again we were not alone. 272 00:12:45,770 --> 00:12:47,630 God had said it is not good for 273 00:12:47,630 --> 00:12:50,170 man to be alone, and a man, if 274 00:12:50,170 --> 00:12:53,170 he is put in solitary confinement, simply commits 275 00:12:53,170 --> 00:12:54,850 sin if he remains alone. 276 00:12:55,070 --> 00:12:55,690 Why should he? 277 00:12:56,350 --> 00:12:58,190 He can have the company of angels. 278 00:12:58,950 --> 00:13:00,430 He can just evoke them. 279 00:13:01,090 --> 00:13:05,030 In Hebrew, the word davar means at the 280 00:13:05,030 --> 00:13:08,970 same time word and thing, reality. 281 00:13:09,690 --> 00:13:12,390 If a Hebrew reads the prologue to the 282 00:13:12,390 --> 00:13:15,130 Gospel according to St. John, he would read 283 00:13:15,130 --> 00:13:15,690 like this. 284 00:13:16,350 --> 00:13:19,170 In the beginning was the davar, the reality, 285 00:13:19,790 --> 00:13:22,570 and the davar, the reality, was with God, 286 00:13:23,130 --> 00:13:27,170 and God was reality, because word and reality 287 00:13:27,170 --> 00:13:30,050 are one and the same thing in the 288 00:13:30,050 --> 00:13:31,350 language of the Revelation. 289 00:13:32,110 --> 00:13:35,370 So if I say angel, I do not 290 00:13:35,370 --> 00:13:36,550 say only a word. 291 00:13:37,510 --> 00:13:40,110 I say a reality, and the angel is 292 00:13:40,110 --> 00:13:42,490 so happy that I have called him, and 293 00:13:42,490 --> 00:13:45,230 if I believe I can evoke him, I 294 00:13:45,230 --> 00:13:47,290 can evoke his real presence. 295 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:57,340 Secondly, I believe in the communion of saints. 296 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:00,940 The Bible says that we have around us 297 00:14:00,940 --> 00:14:02,480 a cloud of witnesses. 298 00:14:03,500 --> 00:14:05,300 It is not said that they are somewhere 299 00:14:05,300 --> 00:14:05,880 in heaven. 300 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:09,920 They are around us, and we felt their 301 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:12,420 nearness of the glorified saints. 302 00:14:13,900 --> 00:14:15,300 We had a terrible time. 303 00:14:16,100 --> 00:14:17,780 We were tortured and beaten. 304 00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:22,260 Sometimes they behaved very nicely with us, and 305 00:14:22,260 --> 00:14:25,120 they lured us, just give up your faith 306 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:27,120 and become our man, and you will be 307 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:27,880 free, et cetera. 308 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:32,520 You had to resist this temptation, and during 309 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:34,620 the night, the devil would be there in 310 00:14:34,620 --> 00:14:35,620 your solitary cell. 311 00:14:36,580 --> 00:14:38,340 It would be as if you could touch 312 00:14:38,340 --> 00:14:41,280 him, and the devil would tell you, don't 313 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:43,060 you see that Jesus is not the Savior? 314 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:46,180 Because if he would be the Savior, he 315 00:14:46,180 --> 00:14:46,860 would save you. 316 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:50,440 If he would be the Savior, he had 317 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:52,460 said, mine is the whole power on earth 318 00:14:52,460 --> 00:14:53,180 and in heaven. 319 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:55,880 Well, if he has the whole power and 320 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:58,320 is so good, why does he not deliver 321 00:14:58,320 --> 00:14:58,620 you? 322 00:14:58,620 --> 00:15:02,760 In times ago, I had written books proving 323 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:05,700 that Jesus is the Savior, but because of 324 00:15:05,700 --> 00:15:08,700 the terrible hunger, we had times with one 325 00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:12,280 slice of bread a week, because of the 326 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:15,520 doping, and all the other things through which 327 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:18,300 we had passed, I had forgotten all the 328 00:15:18,300 --> 00:15:20,980 proofs from the Old Testament that Jesus is 329 00:15:20,980 --> 00:15:21,380 the Savior. 330 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:25,000 But I believed in the communion of saints, 331 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:26,880 and there was. 332 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:31,440 She surely was and is here even now. 333 00:15:32,220 --> 00:15:34,900 There was Saint Mary Magdalene with us. 334 00:15:35,980 --> 00:15:39,120 I wondered then if we understand rightly the 335 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:43,740 words that we love him because he, Jesus, 336 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:45,360 loved us first. 337 00:15:46,140 --> 00:15:48,520 We love him because he has given us 338 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:49,780 forgiveness of sins. 339 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:52,420 We love him because he brings us to 340 00:15:52,420 --> 00:15:52,820 paradise. 341 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:55,640 We love him because he has died on 342 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:56,680 the cross for us. 343 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:02,000 When Saint Mary Magdalene first loved him, when 344 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,780 she kissed his feet, why did she love 345 00:16:04,780 --> 00:16:05,000 him? 346 00:16:05,700 --> 00:16:07,880 She didn't know if he would forgive her 347 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:08,300 sins. 348 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:10,960 She didn't know if he would take her 349 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:11,560 to paradise. 350 00:16:12,300 --> 00:16:13,860 He had not said a word yet. 351 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:16,280 She did not know if he would die 352 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:18,820 on the cross for her, if you would 353 00:16:18,820 --> 00:16:21,760 have asked her, why do you love Jesus? 354 00:16:22,460 --> 00:16:24,460 She would not have understood your question. 355 00:16:24,460 --> 00:16:27,760 She would have asked, but whom else can 356 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:29,480 you love in this whole world? 357 00:16:29,940 --> 00:16:31,960 Who is more lovable than he? 358 00:16:32,380 --> 00:16:34,780 She loved him for love's sake. 359 00:16:35,300 --> 00:16:37,760 She did not love him for his eternal 360 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:38,260 gifts. 361 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:41,460 She loved him and not his gifts. 362 00:16:42,380 --> 00:16:44,420 And when the devil came with his terrible 363 00:16:44,420 --> 00:16:48,860 temptation, look, Jesus does not give you deliverance. 364 00:16:49,420 --> 00:16:51,360 Jesus does not give you any help. 365 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:54,520 We had the cloud of witnesses around us 366 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:58,320 who told us just love Jesus for himself 367 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:00,280 and not for his gifts. 368 00:17:01,180 --> 00:17:03,660 Love him even if he will keep you 369 00:17:03,660 --> 00:17:07,040 your whole life in prison, as Job said. 370 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:11,420 Love him, believe in him, even if he 371 00:17:11,420 --> 00:17:12,200 slays you. 372 00:17:13,060 --> 00:17:15,460 It is the purpose of the communion of 373 00:17:15,460 --> 00:17:19,819 saints to strengthen you in time of great 374 00:17:19,819 --> 00:17:20,520 temptation. 375 00:17:21,900 --> 00:17:24,560 Another saint about whom I thought very much 376 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:27,640 in that time is a Britisher, St. Patrick. 377 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:29,660 I love his story. 378 00:17:30,420 --> 00:17:32,140 He was made a slave in Ireland. 379 00:17:33,020 --> 00:17:35,820 He succeeded to escape, but when he was 380 00:17:35,820 --> 00:17:37,380 free, he had one thought. 381 00:17:37,620 --> 00:17:38,900 What about my slaveholders? 382 00:17:39,660 --> 00:17:41,880 What about this cruel man who had beaten 383 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:43,880 me and who had trodden me under their 384 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:44,280 feet? 385 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:45,440 I am a Christian. 386 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:47,600 I must bring them salvation. 387 00:17:48,260 --> 00:17:51,980 And he went and brought Ireland to Christ. 388 00:17:52,860 --> 00:17:55,860 I felt that this is also our duty 389 00:17:55,860 --> 00:17:58,900 towards those who keep us in prison, who 390 00:17:58,900 --> 00:18:02,260 jail, who torture us, who kill many of 391 00:18:02,260 --> 00:18:02,700 us. 392 00:18:03,180 --> 00:18:05,320 Just the fact that they hurt the church 393 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:08,120 so much and that they torture so much 394 00:18:08,120 --> 00:18:11,160 the children of God shows how much they 395 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:13,680 need Jesus Christ, his salvation. 396 00:18:14,580 --> 00:18:18,860 There, in the years of solitary confinement, came 397 00:18:18,860 --> 00:18:21,200 to me in a very confused manner the 398 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:24,320 idea that we have to reward the communists 399 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:27,040 for all the evil which they do by 400 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:30,240 giving them what we have best, the gospel 401 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:31,360 of Jesus Christ. 402 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:34,340 It did not even pass through my mind 403 00:18:34,340 --> 00:18:37,600 at that time that after many years there 404 00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:39,840 will be an American mission to the communists 405 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:42,000 and a British mission to the communist world 406 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:44,780 and a French and a German and a 407 00:18:44,780 --> 00:18:47,600 Dutch one, one in Rhodesia and one in 408 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:50,280 Southern Africa, one in New Zealand, in Canada, 409 00:18:50,580 --> 00:18:51,220 in Australia. 410 00:18:52,060 --> 00:18:54,380 Now we have such missions in Norway, in 411 00:18:54,380 --> 00:18:56,300 Sweden, even in Japan. 412 00:18:57,060 --> 00:18:59,220 I did not know that this will happen. 413 00:19:00,360 --> 00:19:03,400 But we lived in the communion of saints 414 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:06,680 and they gave us the right thoughts. 415 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:11,180 But as for Jesus, he was still at 416 00:19:11,180 --> 00:19:11,760 the door. 417 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:15,760 When I wished him on this side of 418 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:18,120 the door, when I wished him in my 419 00:19:18,120 --> 00:19:21,260 embraces, when I wished him to be me 420 00:19:21,260 --> 00:19:24,720 and I should be he, I was very 421 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:28,100 much tormented and dissatisfied with the words that 422 00:19:28,100 --> 00:19:30,800 he is nigh, that he is at the 423 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:31,100 door. 424 00:19:31,940 --> 00:19:35,000 I remember Bible verses very vaguely. 425 00:19:35,580 --> 00:19:39,620 I remember that it is also written, Jesus 426 00:19:39,620 --> 00:19:41,800 says, I am the door. 427 00:19:42,540 --> 00:19:44,420 And then I would go to the door, 428 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:47,920 which was obscene, my mind was perhaps already 429 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:52,040 confused, and I would caress this door and 430 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:54,240 I would put my face towards this door 431 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:56,760 and I would say, you have come one 432 00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:59,460 step nearer, you are no more at the 433 00:19:59,460 --> 00:20:01,660 door, you are the door yourself. 434 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:05,940 And then came the great moment when he 435 00:20:05,940 --> 00:20:07,340 was no more the door. 436 00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:10,980 He was with me and the others, he 437 00:20:10,980 --> 00:20:14,440 was with us in the same cell, he 438 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:18,400 has passed through locked doors, the bride of 439 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:22,240 Christ received his holy kiss, and in his 440 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,900 embraces we simply forgot that we were in 441 00:20:25,900 --> 00:20:26,720 a prison cell. 442 00:20:27,460 --> 00:20:31,440 The doping continued and destroyed our memory, we 443 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:32,740 forgot more and more. 444 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:35,700 One of the most dramatic moments in my 445 00:20:35,700 --> 00:20:38,920 prison life was when I discovered one evening 446 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:41,320 that I had forgotten the Lord's prayer. 447 00:20:42,140 --> 00:20:43,700 I tried to say it and I could 448 00:20:43,700 --> 00:20:44,020 not. 449 00:20:44,860 --> 00:20:47,080 Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be 450 00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:50,440 thy name, I did not know any more 451 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:52,080 what comes after thy. 452 00:20:53,060 --> 00:20:54,720 And then for a long time I would 453 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:57,500 pray only so much, Jesus, I love you, 454 00:20:57,900 --> 00:21:01,000 and after a few moments again, Jesus, I 455 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,820 love you, and Jesus, I love you, until 456 00:21:04,820 --> 00:21:07,280 with the time even this became too difficult 457 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:10,480 for me, I could not concentrate my mind. 458 00:21:11,060 --> 00:21:13,500 It was the effect of the doping and 459 00:21:13,500 --> 00:21:15,880 of the hunger and of the other things. 460 00:21:16,780 --> 00:21:19,120 The Bible was wiped out of my memory, 461 00:21:19,820 --> 00:21:21,840 it came back as the effect of the 462 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:22,620 drugs past. 463 00:21:22,620 --> 00:21:27,300 The last verse which I remembered before night 464 00:21:27,300 --> 00:21:31,200 overcame my mind was one from St. Matthew, 465 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:33,880 that the Son of Man will come in 466 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:36,540 the hour when you will not think and 467 00:21:36,540 --> 00:21:39,020 on the day when you will not know. 468 00:21:40,580 --> 00:21:44,300 And my last prayer was, Jesus, now the 469 00:21:44,300 --> 00:21:46,920 hour has come when I know nothing more, 470 00:21:47,540 --> 00:21:49,460 this is the day when I can't think 471 00:21:49,460 --> 00:21:52,320 anymore, now it is for you to come. 472 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:55,460 And in that moment, the walls of the 473 00:21:55,460 --> 00:21:58,840 cell shone like diamonds, there was light in 474 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:02,100 the darkness, we had forgotten all the truth 475 00:22:02,100 --> 00:22:05,380 about the truth, we had forgotten the multitude 476 00:22:05,380 --> 00:22:09,320 of theological teachings, and also the multitude of 477 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,040 Bible verses which tell us the truth about 478 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:15,920 Jesus, and we had Jesus himself with us. 479 00:22:16,780 --> 00:22:19,160 We would not have changed with the Queen 480 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:21,840 of Britain or with some American millionaire. 481 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:25,620 Christians danced for joy in these communist cells 482 00:22:25,620 --> 00:22:28,780 when they realized the presence of the Lord 483 00:22:28,780 --> 00:22:30,140 Jesus Christ with them. 484 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:33,340 Now I have traveled a little bit through 485 00:22:33,340 --> 00:22:36,360 the world, I have seen many beautiful places, 486 00:22:37,060 --> 00:22:40,100 I have never seen such beautiful sights as 487 00:22:40,100 --> 00:22:43,380 God discovered to us in this subterranean prison 488 00:22:43,380 --> 00:22:46,020 cell when he gave us a glimpse of 489 00:22:46,020 --> 00:22:46,540 paradise. 490 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:51,540 Now I sometimes hear beautiful music, it can't 491 00:22:51,540 --> 00:22:54,580 be compared with the concerts of angels which 492 00:22:54,580 --> 00:22:55,220 we had. 493 00:22:56,120 --> 00:22:59,040 Some might say, well, this might have just 494 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:02,500 been a visual hallucination, the paradise which we 495 00:23:02,500 --> 00:23:03,580 have seen in the cell. 496 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,180 I would answer, perhaps it is only visual 497 00:23:07,180 --> 00:23:09,940 blindness from your side that you do not 498 00:23:09,940 --> 00:23:10,920 see this paradise. 499 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:15,920 This paradise exists, we have seen it, and 500 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:18,940 we have been together with the most beautiful 501 00:23:18,940 --> 00:23:22,800 and with the most lovable being, this Christ 502 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:23,320 Jesus. 503 00:23:23,620 --> 00:23:27,960 At once, being one with him, being in 504 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:32,420 his embraces, all his burdens became our burdens. 505 00:23:33,660 --> 00:23:37,620 The Westminster Confession says that man lives with 506 00:23:37,620 --> 00:23:41,480 the purpose to glorify God, and we had 507 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:42,580 to glorify God. 508 00:23:43,180 --> 00:23:47,780 These years of solitary confinement have not been 509 00:23:47,780 --> 00:23:50,600 only years of personal experience with God. 510 00:23:51,100 --> 00:23:53,960 We could speak with our wardens, we could 511 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,060 speak with the communist officers who interrogated us, 512 00:23:57,900 --> 00:23:59,840 and God helped us to bring several of 513 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:00,540 them to Christ. 514 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:03,120 They were with whips in their hands, in 515 00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:04,960 beautiful uniforms, with epaulets. 516 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:08,700 We were dirty, we had not washed ourselves 517 00:24:08,700 --> 00:24:11,880 for three years, we were in shabby suits 518 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:15,180 of a prisoner, but Christ was with his 519 00:24:15,180 --> 00:24:18,440 little brethren, the power of his Holy Spirit 520 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:21,740 was with his church in chains, and they 521 00:24:21,740 --> 00:24:24,340 could not convince us to betray our Christian 522 00:24:24,340 --> 00:24:24,840 faith. 523 00:24:25,500 --> 00:24:28,360 God helped us to bring some communists to 524 00:24:28,360 --> 00:24:28,740 Christ. 525 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:31,540 And then we would not lose our time 526 00:24:31,540 --> 00:24:32,980 even in the solitary cell. 527 00:24:32,980 --> 00:24:36,060 The cell is only relatively solitary. 528 00:24:36,860 --> 00:24:39,460 Only a wall separates it from another cell 529 00:24:39,460 --> 00:24:42,920 nearby, and there exists, thank God, the Morse 530 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:43,200 code. 531 00:24:45,180 --> 00:24:50,300 A, B, C, and so on. 532 00:24:50,740 --> 00:24:53,120 All prisoners learn it with the time from 533 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:53,700 one another. 534 00:24:54,360 --> 00:24:57,000 You begin with a primitive code until you 535 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:00,020 arrive to find someone who knows this code. 536 00:25:03,430 --> 00:25:06,470 Once you know this code, you can converse 537 00:25:06,470 --> 00:25:09,610 with the people who are at your right 538 00:25:09,610 --> 00:25:10,850 and at your left. 539 00:25:12,390 --> 00:25:17,630 One from nearby told me one night that 540 00:25:17,630 --> 00:25:20,530 he was so depressed and that he wished 541 00:25:20,530 --> 00:25:21,790 to suicide himself. 542 00:25:23,110 --> 00:25:24,790 I asked him if he was not a 543 00:25:24,790 --> 00:25:25,190 Christian. 544 00:25:26,910 --> 00:25:29,590 Oh no, he said, he knew nothing about 545 00:25:29,590 --> 00:25:29,870 it. 546 00:25:29,870 --> 00:25:33,530 By Morse code, the gospel was preached through 547 00:25:33,530 --> 00:25:35,770 the wall to a man whom I had 548 00:25:35,770 --> 00:25:39,010 never seen before, and he accepted Christ from 549 00:25:39,010 --> 00:25:41,590 a man whom he had never seen before. 550 00:25:42,090 --> 00:25:44,250 God made it that after eight years of 551 00:25:44,250 --> 00:25:46,870 prison and a half, when we were already 552 00:25:46,870 --> 00:25:49,930 in common cells, a new bunch of prisoners 553 00:25:49,930 --> 00:25:51,010 were brought in. 554 00:25:51,710 --> 00:25:54,610 One had a shining face, which was quite 555 00:25:54,610 --> 00:25:57,710 an achievement, to have a shining face when 556 00:25:57,710 --> 00:26:00,190 you had not washed yourself for so many 557 00:26:00,190 --> 00:26:00,670 years. 558 00:26:01,290 --> 00:26:04,130 The face was shining from behind a crust 559 00:26:04,130 --> 00:26:04,770 of dirt. 560 00:26:05,550 --> 00:26:07,670 From the very first words he said that 561 00:26:07,670 --> 00:26:10,090 he was a child of God, I asked 562 00:26:10,090 --> 00:26:12,150 him, how did you arrive to faith? 563 00:26:12,770 --> 00:26:14,370 Since when are you a Christian? 564 00:26:15,050 --> 00:26:17,370 He told the story that he had been 565 00:26:17,370 --> 00:26:20,230 in a cell, and from nearby somebody had 566 00:26:20,230 --> 00:26:22,410 tapped through the wall to him the gospel, 567 00:26:22,410 --> 00:26:24,310 and so he was converted. 568 00:26:25,070 --> 00:26:27,770 I asked him, in what cell did this 569 00:26:27,770 --> 00:26:28,130 happen? 570 00:26:28,890 --> 00:26:30,710 In cell number 12, he answered. 571 00:26:31,310 --> 00:26:34,350 I embraced him because I knew who had 572 00:26:34,350 --> 00:26:35,990 been in cell number 11. 573 00:26:37,010 --> 00:26:39,530 I look back now to these prisoners. 574 00:26:40,690 --> 00:26:43,830 At that time, they were sometimes very heavy 575 00:26:43,830 --> 00:26:44,610 to bear. 576 00:26:45,150 --> 00:26:46,390 We were terribly hungry. 577 00:26:46,910 --> 00:26:48,050 We shivered for cold. 578 00:26:48,630 --> 00:26:51,110 The torturers were very often bad. 579 00:26:51,110 --> 00:26:54,810 The longing after children, the longing after your 580 00:26:54,810 --> 00:26:56,510 family, after your brethren. 581 00:26:57,670 --> 00:27:01,510 But these years had also their unspeakable beauty, 582 00:27:02,110 --> 00:27:04,530 the beauty of being with the Lord. 583 00:27:05,430 --> 00:27:07,170 Another very unusual experience. 584 00:27:08,330 --> 00:27:11,190 Until going to prison, I believed that I 585 00:27:11,190 --> 00:27:13,730 believed the whole Bible to be the word 586 00:27:13,730 --> 00:27:14,250 of God. 587 00:27:14,950 --> 00:27:17,650 When I was in the solitary cell, I 588 00:27:17,650 --> 00:27:20,310 discovered that I had never believed the Bible 589 00:27:20,310 --> 00:27:21,550 to be the word of God. 590 00:27:22,110 --> 00:27:24,510 The Bible consists of white sheets of paper 591 00:27:24,510 --> 00:27:26,450 with black letters on it. 592 00:27:27,190 --> 00:27:29,550 I had always believed that only the black 593 00:27:29,550 --> 00:27:31,050 letters were the word of God. 594 00:27:31,390 --> 00:27:33,510 I had never given any importance to the 595 00:27:33,510 --> 00:27:34,090 white sheet. 596 00:27:35,010 --> 00:27:37,290 And now for the first time, the white 597 00:27:37,290 --> 00:27:38,630 sheet spoke to us. 598 00:27:39,250 --> 00:27:40,950 At the age of 12, say the black 599 00:27:40,950 --> 00:27:44,490 letters, Jesus was brought into the temple and 600 00:27:44,490 --> 00:27:47,030 amazed the priests by the answers which he 601 00:27:47,030 --> 00:27:47,330 gave. 602 00:27:47,870 --> 00:27:49,850 I am not interested if the priests were 603 00:27:49,850 --> 00:27:50,230 amazed. 604 00:27:50,790 --> 00:27:52,890 I would like very much to know what 605 00:27:52,890 --> 00:27:54,650 answers he gave to the priests. 606 00:27:55,450 --> 00:27:57,610 This is written in the Bible, but not 607 00:27:57,610 --> 00:27:58,370 in black letters. 608 00:27:58,850 --> 00:28:00,970 It is written on the white sheet. 609 00:28:01,710 --> 00:28:03,370 I would have liked very much to know 610 00:28:03,370 --> 00:28:05,830 what Jesus had done between the age of 611 00:28:05,830 --> 00:28:06,830 12 to 30. 612 00:28:07,530 --> 00:28:10,930 The apostles surely must have asked him about 613 00:28:10,930 --> 00:28:11,190 it. 614 00:28:11,550 --> 00:28:13,970 His development is of highest interest. 615 00:28:15,010 --> 00:28:16,490 It is described in the Bible. 616 00:28:17,090 --> 00:28:19,110 It is not written in the black letters, 617 00:28:19,550 --> 00:28:20,950 but on the white sheets. 618 00:28:22,010 --> 00:28:25,190 St. Luke went to Bethany and spoke before 619 00:28:25,190 --> 00:28:28,550 writing the gospel with Martha and Mary, asking 620 00:28:28,550 --> 00:28:29,490 them details. 621 00:28:29,950 --> 00:28:31,910 How did it happen when Jesus was in 622 00:28:31,910 --> 00:28:32,470 your house? 623 00:28:33,070 --> 00:28:35,210 Martha said, well, I had a little quarrel 624 00:28:35,210 --> 00:28:35,970 with my sister. 625 00:28:36,650 --> 00:28:40,230 And Luke, a conscientious historian, wrote down, well, 626 00:28:40,530 --> 00:28:41,770 this and this quarrel happened. 627 00:28:42,590 --> 00:28:44,210 And what can you, Mary, tell me? 628 00:28:44,970 --> 00:28:46,990 Oh, I sat the whole evening at the 629 00:28:46,990 --> 00:28:49,450 feet of Jesus and just listened to his 630 00:28:49,450 --> 00:28:52,350 talk, and he praised me for this, and 631 00:28:52,350 --> 00:28:54,670 I did not move from near his feet. 632 00:28:55,370 --> 00:28:57,330 And then St. Luke will have asked her, 633 00:28:57,330 --> 00:28:59,690 Now, if you have sat the whole evening 634 00:28:59,690 --> 00:29:01,810 at the feet of Jesus, would you please 635 00:29:01,810 --> 00:29:04,310 tell me, what did Jesus say on that 636 00:29:04,310 --> 00:29:04,610 evening? 637 00:29:05,390 --> 00:29:08,030 You just read in Luke 10, and you 638 00:29:08,030 --> 00:29:09,450 will find what he taught. 639 00:29:09,870 --> 00:29:11,450 It is not in the black letters. 640 00:29:11,950 --> 00:29:13,350 It is on the white sheets. 641 00:29:16,910 --> 00:29:19,010 There exists the mystery of the word of 642 00:29:19,010 --> 00:29:22,430 God, the mysteries which the bridegroom whispers into 643 00:29:22,430 --> 00:29:24,670 the ear of his bride, and there will 644 00:29:24,670 --> 00:29:29,170 remain always mysteries reserved only for her if 645 00:29:29,170 --> 00:29:32,010 this bride opens her heart for him. 646 00:29:33,030 --> 00:29:37,090 Every night I and many other Christians, thousands 647 00:29:37,090 --> 00:29:40,190 of us were in prison, we passed nights 648 00:29:40,190 --> 00:29:40,910 in prayer. 649 00:29:41,690 --> 00:29:44,070 We traveled from one country to another. 650 00:29:45,050 --> 00:29:47,810 Every night we were in the United Kingdom, 651 00:29:48,150 --> 00:29:51,110 in the United States, in Canada, in Australia, 652 00:29:51,450 --> 00:29:52,970 in New Zealand, in Africa. 653 00:29:54,650 --> 00:29:56,970 We have been very much in the United 654 00:29:56,970 --> 00:30:00,750 Kingdom, which has been once a country of 655 00:30:00,750 --> 00:30:03,850 saints and scholars, and about which we had 656 00:30:03,850 --> 00:30:04,970 heard so much. 657 00:30:05,450 --> 00:30:08,150 I knew the story of your revivals, and 658 00:30:08,150 --> 00:30:09,990 of Wesley, and of Spurgeon. 659 00:30:10,830 --> 00:30:13,230 I had this image of Great Britain, and 660 00:30:13,230 --> 00:30:15,110 every night we prayed for you. 661 00:30:15,850 --> 00:30:18,250 We prayed for the other English-speaking countries, 662 00:30:18,830 --> 00:30:20,750 and for all the countries of the world. 663 00:30:20,750 --> 00:30:23,810 We prayed for your churches, for your youth, 664 00:30:24,150 --> 00:30:25,010 for your children. 665 00:30:26,070 --> 00:30:28,750 And God has rewarded this prayer, that now 666 00:30:28,750 --> 00:30:31,030 I can be together with those for whom 667 00:30:31,030 --> 00:30:33,530 I have prayed, as you probably have prayed 668 00:30:33,530 --> 00:30:35,770 for those who are in prison under the 669 00:30:35,770 --> 00:30:36,230 Communists. 670 00:30:36,910 --> 00:30:38,030 I am free now. 671 00:30:38,690 --> 00:30:40,530 I can lead a mission to the Communist 672 00:30:40,530 --> 00:30:41,010 world. 673 00:30:41,710 --> 00:30:44,410 I wish to put on your heart, remember 674 00:30:44,410 --> 00:30:45,810 those who are not free. 675 00:30:46,550 --> 00:30:49,050 Tens of thousands of Christians are in prison 676 00:30:49,050 --> 00:30:54,870 in Red China, Russia, Romania, Albania, Zanzibar, Guinea, 677 00:30:55,370 --> 00:30:56,350 and other countries. 678 00:30:57,990 --> 00:31:01,490 Prisoners have had their eyes gouged out in 679 00:31:01,490 --> 00:31:05,250 Red China, members and tongues cut off. 680 00:31:06,350 --> 00:31:09,190 Let us be united in our hearts with 681 00:31:09,190 --> 00:31:11,890 the heroic underground church from behind the Iron 682 00:31:11,890 --> 00:31:15,490 Curtain, which is privileged and glad to give 683 00:31:15,490 --> 00:31:19,050 every year innumerable martyrs, that the name of 684 00:31:19,050 --> 00:31:21,550 the most lovable being which has ever walked 685 00:31:21,550 --> 00:31:24,530 on this earth, the name of Jesus Christ, 686 00:31:25,050 --> 00:31:26,190 might be glorified. 687 00:31:26,630 --> 00:31:27,870 God bless you all. 688 00:31:28,190 --> 00:31:28,430 Amen.