Random Coincidences

I do not believe in coincidence ... they do not exist, because I believe life is by design.  When you encounter a cause, you know there will be an effect - conversely, when you slam into an effect, you can know the cause.  I have only once slammed into an exception!

So our story begins in 1973 ...

I was rather abruptly tossed out of my house for a series of lies told by my father's girlfriend, oh make no mistake, what was told was not true - which is not to say that I was an innocent.  Add a problem with the US Army and an intolerable mother, I moved to Seattle to help my uncle build a house.  There I met many kids my age in his neighborhood and at his church - eventually staying to go to school and in the process become a Christian.  From salvation, I fell into a group of Hutterites whom discipled me in this new faith.

So, little German boy, adopts an unknown faith and is schooled in it by a group of Swiss-German believers, whose past matched with his background ....  Naw, no coincidence there.

One Sunday at church, we had a special speaker.  He was a Dutchman, close enough to German to hold my interest.  His push was to raise funds for the smuggling of Bibles into countries where the Bible is outlawed or at least severely restricted ...  Afterwards, I stayed to talk with him because I was interested in knowing how someone with a Germanic background could willingly break the law.  No I am not naive, in this instance, because as a German you are raised with a set of obedience ... he was professing something against his very upbringing and I was confused.

We went to lunch together and my eyes were opened to an entirely new way of understanding life, a God perspective - not man's.  Nope, no coincidences there.

In 1983, I suddenly was overwhelm with the knowledge that I needed to do something to help believers in Bohemia.  Never been there, never could even travel there due to US laws governing my life.  Yet, I knew, I had to go ...

Shortly after this, a guy I had known for years - but not well, came up and said, "Kris, I have this overpowering feeling that I have to tell you something ..."  I had no idea what it could be but he was so stressed and so serious, I went to lunch with him.  I figured he was getting a divorce, everyone I knew was that year!  As it turned out, he confessed to me his entire life as a member of the Eastern European underworld ..... a part of which was how to smuggle heroin into there from Turkey.  ACK!  I understood that I was learning something I would need one day - but it was only a coincidence after all!  Right?

As my first trip approached,  I needed to find a European base for supplying me with Bibles in the chosen languages ... I called the American Bible Society.  They told me about Open Doors, a group already doing this.  So, I began researching Open Doors - and it was run by - that Dutch speaker I had met a decade earlier.  Now that really was a coincidence!

But, the last thing I was going to do was to compromise myself to an unknown group.  So, the slow dance began between us.  It was to be a decade before I could come to the conclusion that they were "safe" - mostly.  Eastern Europe is a delicate place and loose lips sink ships.  The last thing I desired was to get caught with a load of banned Bibles ...  It would easily translate into a lifetime sentence in prison.  Sigh.  But, they turned out to be about 99% in my book.  You have to remember every organization, especially Christian, has its challenges with Satan trying to compromise them ...

Make a really long story short, I were able to coordinate my Bohemia trip.  I fully expected to be busted so everything was set up for a very long absence on my part.  And then the problems began ...

Of course, my first trip was described last week.  It was a nightmare, the only way to put it simply.  People I thought I could count on, I could not.  Things that should have gone right, did not.  The daily detaining, by increasingly higher levels of security, made my faith stronger but wreaked havoc with my co-conspirator.  The change in destination outstripped my money and food supply - as well as, language skills!  The load of Bibles shifted and I was stuck with trying to figure out how to remove them - while a group of Bulgarians were trying to steal my truck!

On the other hand, I saw miracle after miracle on that trip.  I met many wonderful Christian believers on the other side of the Iron Curtain, their faith put mine to shame.  That lecture on smuggling?  Turned out to be the most valuable lesson before hand.  Quite literally, without it, the trip would have failed!

I left and returned to my office in Ireland.  Meeting after meeting with a staff whom was becoming increasingly resistant to the idea of working for their salaries.  I was being confronted by my Eastern European experience ... confronted by a post-Christian culture in Ireland and the net result to be seen in their lives.  It was a long, very long learning experience of God opening my eyes - but it was just all a huge string coincidences.  Right?

And I really, really, really wanted to just take a break from life and find peace ... acceptance would have been nice as well.

And I returned home a very, very, very changed man ...  Never to find that acceptance nor peace, in fact, the exact opposite was to follow and gain momentum.

Musical Saturday Morning

Are You With Me?

      Jesus isn't looking for admirers.

      

      He's looking for disciples. 

      

          There are many who start out as eager disciples.  They're on fire

          with zeal for the kingdom. 

                   But after a while the fire cools.

                   The bright vision fades. 

      "After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went

      about with him.  Jesus said to the twelve, 'Will you also go away?'

      Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have

      the words of eternal life; and we have believed and have come to

      know, that you are the Holy One of God.'"

                                                                   John 6:66-69

      Daily, hourly, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus asks each of us:

     

           "Are you with me?"

                      Am I with Him with my mind?

                      Am I with Him with my body?

                      Am I with Him in my spirit?

                                   In the way I use my time?

                                   In the way I use my tongue?

The answer we give (both in word and deed)

          either opens or closes our hearts to the power of his Word.     

Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell

to those at my home."  Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his

hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

                                                         Luke 9:61-62

Something to think about,eh?

To Be A Smuggler

Your Qualifications

• Able to stand, completely on faith, with your life on the line
• Does not talk to anyone about the mission
• Has someone to back you up, whom is completely trustworthy, for when everything falls apart?
• Can look someone in the eye and either evade a question or answer the real question – not what was asked
• Willing to be interrogated by boys with big guns
• Can travel and not be observed.  Conversely, can completely make an idiot of yourself – to achieve God’s goals
• Willing to accept that you may never come home, if caught
• Believe in a strong prayer life
• Sin life is under control – not playing in Satan’s graveyard
• Can learn some words of foreign languages
• Thinks quickly
• Can accept that there are other traditions and customs

 The Plan

• You will meet your Bible supplier at a pre-arranged place.  It will be easy to find and they will have made hotel reservations for you.
• Special transportation with special storage arrangements will have been made to conceal the literature you will be carrying across borders.  This could be a special suitcase, overcoat or vehicle.
• You are shown how to access the materials.
• You are given a name and address in a closed country to deliver your stuff to.
• You do some sightseeing, meet your contact and give them the Bibles.
• You return to your supplier and let them know how it went.
• Ta-da!

Reality

You live in a world that has been broken due to sin and is under the control of Satan.  You will be traveling through places which are almost completely under his control.  He will do whatever he can to stop you, if he can identify you.  Only through the power of God will you have safe passage and success.  Think you can handle it?  Let us examine a real case history and see how you would handle it.

• You arrive early for your flight and as you watch the food being loaded in the plane, you see the door torn off of the plane.
• The flight is cancelled but you can not go home – you lent your house for the next month.
• All passengers from your town are turned down for the flight, as only continuing passengers will be allowed on the repaired plane.
• You arrive at the capital of the country for your supplier at 3 am, two days late.  No one is there to meet you.
• You travel to the town you think your supplier lives in and find a place that seems to meet your agreed to place, but no one is there.
• You have no hotel reservations and the closest town center is many miles away – unfortunately, it is Sunday and you have no money as the banks are closed.
• Monday, you are able to track down your supplier, who is to say the least suspicious of you as you are now three days late.
• Your supplier has already sent someone on the trip you were to be taking.
• On your trip you discover that you are being followed by the GDU.
• You are held at the first unfriendly border for half a day and your vehicle thoroughly searched twice.
• You are further delayed and searched at the second unfriendly border.  You are also detained by an armed KGB officer.
• You miss your turn off and slam into a 17-mile column of Soviet Armour.  You are inspected numerous times, planes are sent to photograph you, another day is lost.
• You had expected to find someone who could speak your second language but no one does.  How are you going to find the Christians?
• You have to play tag with GDU and KGB agents for a day as you attempt to meet your contact.
• Bulgarians decide that they want to steal your vehicle while you are in it – trying to get your Bibles out of their hiding places.
• You meet your contact and pass them the goods.  What did you bring that they want??????
• You run out of gas.
• You spend 27 hours at a border trying to cross but so many people are being arrested that you wonder what is happening.
• Your money is not in order and the border guard is having a really bad day.
• You become completely lost – hint you don’t speak the language!
• You run out of gas, again.
• You make it back to your supplier who is totally freaked out.

Now you can sightsee and relax……..

Group Watch: Open Doors with Brother Andrew

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See also: Public Eye Website Search
See also: Directory of Right-Wing Groups

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Acronym/Code: OPEN
Principals: Brother Andrew, founder and president.

Categories: Religious

Background:
Open Doors is an international organization founded by a Dutch evangelist who goes by the pseudonym "Brother Andrew".  The organization gained its reputation by smuggling Bibles into areas it considers "closed" or "restricted" in terms of religious freedom. In surveying Open Doors activities, such areas turn out to be primarily communist countries. The organization also conducts seminars and training sessions and provides Christian literature and training materials to countries which are thought to be "threatened" or "free. " Prior to his involvement in religious activities, Andrew fought as a Dutch soldier against the independence movement in Indonesia. In that capacity, he participated in a massacre of civilians. Open Doors' ministry to the "Suffering Church" in restricted countries began in 1955 when Brother Andrew packed his Volkswagen with Bibles and delivered them to Eastern Bloc countries.  Brother Andrew later popularized his work in the 1967 book, God's Smuggler. The philosophy of Brother Andrew and of the organization is that "the Bible changes people, and changed people change the situation. " Christians in the "free world," according to Brother Andrew, were put there by God in order to use their great resources and freedoms to help persecuted believers in other countries. The organization is motivated by the commandment of Christ to "go into all the world and preach the gospel," known as the Great Commission.  It adds to this mission an anti-Communist analysis. In a televised special on Central America (which showed an Open Doors fundraiser being introduced by Ronald Reagan), narrator and actor Dean Jones described the group's perspective: "The revolution now in Latin America," he explained, "is only a foretaste of what will happen once the Russians have a strong foothold in Africa. Once they can afford the men and military power, they will move into Latin America in full strength, concentrating on Central America. " Jones went on to express Brother Andrew's belief that the Soviet intention "is to first cut off North America from South America, then to engulf all of the southern hemisphere in revolution. And then, finally, to isolate North America from the rest of the world. . . . " The film shows Brother Andrew with U. S. -backed Salvadoran troops on a search-and-destroy mission against guerrilla forces. "Better to go to them before they come to us," Andrew declared. ". . . If we do not go to the heathen with the gospel," he warned, "they will come to us with revolutionaries and occupation armies. " Latin America is seen as "the battlefield for the hearts and minds of young people who face an uncertain future," according to Brother Andrew. "Unfriendly political systems," he advises, "just as untaught religious sects, are the unpaid bills of the church. It's time we pay. . . now or later. . . ." Open Doors now has seven regional bases and 13 sub-bases in what it calls "the most strategic areas of the world. "

Countries: AB, AN, BL, CI, CU, CZ, ES, ET, GT, MZ, NI, PO, PU, SF, UD, UR, VN.

Funding:
Total support and revenue for Open Doors with Brother Andrew, Inc. (USA) amounted to $5,030,370. Of this total, $1,260,548 was spent on Bible and literature distribution; $209,148 on field research; $848,660 on public awareness and education; and $888,941 on other forms of ministry.

Activities:
Open Doors carries out a number of ministry support activities in "restricted," "threatened," and "free" countries. Its most widely known operations are those which involve transporting Bibles and other materials into "closed" or "restricted" countries. It claims to have delivered 70,000 Bibles to Poland while martial law was in effect. It carried out similar programs in Ethiopia, Cuba, Vietnam, and the Soviet Union.  In one clandestine late night mission off the coast of China, Open Doors spirited ashore one million Bibles weighing 232 tons. More recently in China, Open Doors has delivered 63,000 Bibles and New Testaments. In addition to the Bibles, Open Doors has delivered aids such as hymnals, cassette tapes, study materials for pastors, and even food and clothing to its "contacts" in restricted countries.   It has also distributed 50,000 Christian newspapers to soldiers fighting in Angola and has provided tape recorders for pastors in Latin America. The group also works in countries which it considers to be threatened by revolutionary movements. In such areas, Open Doors provides training and leadership seminars in order to prepare local Christian groups for the "persecution and suffering which may be imminent. " It has conducted training camps along these lines in Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America. These provide intensive study of the Bible and of church building techniques. It has sponsored "Survival and Victory" seminars and training conferences in Southeast Asia and Latin America, including Central America and the Philippines. The seminars focus on Biblical messages about persecution and the importance of discipleship and fellowship. They stress not only physical survival but "victorious Christian living" in all situations and are designed to help believers prepare for persecution. The sessions also stress the idea that communism is actually a religion, an "atheist philosophy" which uses "religious symbolism to put over its revolutionary theories. " Its radio ministry in Latin America, known as Al Punto, is broadcast over 500 stations and provides what Open Doors calls "a daily alternative to revolution. "

• Mozambique: The organization delivered 15,000 full color flip charts to help evangelize illiterate groups.

• Nicaragua: A volume published by Open Doors included a chapter which gave a surprisingly compassionate account of the Nicaraguan revolution, the motivations of the people in overthrowing Somoza, and the revolutionary Sandinista regime. It also discussed Sandinista social programs, specifically focusing on the literacy crusade. Brother Andrew discussed the implications of changes underway in the country and the role for Open Doors: "Cesar wants to create a completely new man in this country," Brother Andrew observed, "and we should help him. We know that only God can make a man completely new, so we, in Open Doors, should help provide the Word of God to those who are learning to read and write. Then there will be many new people all over Nicaragua. Jesus will have made them new through His Word!"

• Philippines: Open Doors has conducted "More Than Conquerors" and "Survival and Victory" seminars.

• South Africa: Open Doors has for years maintained a base in South Africa from which to launch projects in countries such as Angola and Mozambique. In South Africa itself, Open Doors works primarily with independent black churches. The organization believes that, by mixing Christianity and African traditions, these independent churches dilute the gospel. According to Open Doors, the resulting confusion--combined with inadequate pastoral training--make both the black clergy and their congregations receptive to revolutionary thought and/or activity. An October l988 article on South Africa in the group's newsletter frames unrest in the country as the work of thugs, bullies, and intimidators. It does not consider the impact of apartheid or other structural mechanisms of oppression and repression on popular sentiments or activities. Open Doors argues that "the battle for South Africa is essentially a spiritual one, and must be fought with spiritual weapons. The gospel is the only cure for revolution!" As part of its work in the country, Open Doors conducts "Project Timothy," a Bible training course aimed at black pastors. The course is designed to help those ministers repudiate the "theology of revolution" by exposing "doctrinal errors" in the independent churches. The group's goal is to train 3000 leaders of these churches.

• Soviet Union: Open Doors gave one million New Testaments in celebration of the 1000th anniversary of Christianity in the Soviet Union at a total estimated cost of $1. 75 million. Unlike previous operations, this one was conducted openly and not through couriers. Nonetheless, the organization continues its regular Bible deliveries to the USSR through "unofficial channels. "  Open Doors sells an eight card Christmas postcard pack printed in Russian. The organization believes changes which have taken place in the Soviet Union were the "direct result" of the group's "Seven Year Prayer Campaign" for the USSR begun in 1984.

Government Connections:

• Ronald Reagan was shown introducing a fundraiser by Open Doors
• The board of directors included a retired U. S. army general, Raymond O. Miller and former Secretary of the Navy, J. William Middendorf, who was later to be named by Ronald Reagan to be the U. S. representative to the Organization of American States.

Private Connections:

• An Open Doors film, "Inside China: The Unseen Church," is hosted by Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcasting Network.
• The Open Doors News Service promoted a critic of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. These publications accuse the Sandinistas of religious persecution and reportedly were financed by the CIA, receiving logistical assistance for the production of the book, Nicaragua: Christians Under Fire.

Misc:

• Brother Andrew believes that "God has his hand especially on the United States of America because in America there is all the potential for world evangelism, and world evangelism is God's primary purpose. I don't have to agree with its president or its way of capitalism, but I have to learn to look at that country the way God looks at it. "
• The Evangelical Foreign Missions Association (EFMA), an umbrella organization of faith missions and conservative denominations, turned down Open Doors for membership because of the latter organization's policy of publicizing its illegal activities.
• David Stoll, a researcher on evangelicals and the religious Right in Latin America, describes Open Doors as among those "agencies which refrained from explicit support for the [Nicaraguan] contras but identified so closely with North American interests that they made evangelism sound like a geopolitical insurance policy for North American churchgoers. . . "

This presentation is a summary of files available through GroupWatch: Profiles of U. S. Private Organizations and Churches as compiled by the Interhemispheric Resource Center, Box 4506, Albuquerque, NM 87196. < http://www.irc-online.org/ > See note at top of page.

 

Brother Andrew

Over Sixty years ago, God spoke to a young Dutch missionary with the words, "Strengthen what remains and is on the point of death" (Revelation 3:2).  From that very day in 1955, Brother Andrew believed that no doors could be closed.  No borders, no barriers, no armies could withstand the power of prayer ... and no power on earth could ever stop God's Word.
Brother Andrew was born on May 11, 1928 in Alkmaar, a town in northwest Holland.  He was raised in a Protestant home in the nearby small village of St. Pancras.  His father was a blacksmith and his mother was a devout "prayer warrior."

At the age of eleven, Andrew's formal education was cut short by World War II and the occupation of the Netherlands.  The horrible deprivation and persecution of war seen at this early age shaped Andrew's young life.  After the war ended, Brother Andrew enlisted as a volunteer soldier and was sent to Indonesia where he was wounded by a bullet in 1949.  Seriously injured and facing a lengthy convalescence, Andrew discovered that the greatest battle he faced was the one raging within his soul.  The kind smile and personal testimony of Christ's love from one of the hospital sisters led him to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior shortly thereafter.

Andrew studied the Bible voraciously, prayed continually, and finally traveled to Glasgow, Scotland, where he attended the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade's Missionary Training Center for three years. Returning to the Netherlands in 1953, Andrew led Bible studies and worked at Ringer's Chocolate Factory where he met his future wife, Corry Van Dam.
Inspiration for his life's work began on a package tour of Poland, he was astounded by the zeal and organization of young Communists. His heart ached for these teenagers so desperately seeking purpose and meaning.  At that time there were no missionaries working in Eastern Europe, Churches had been closed, Bibles had been banned, Communism and atheism were the only alternatives offered to young men and women with empty souls.

More trips followed in his now famous little blue Volkswagen to nearly every country in the Communist bloc: Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Bulgaria...then finally into Russia itself, the center of the Soviet union and the very stronghold of atheism.  At a time when pastors were being arrested and tortured, and Communist leaders were intent on eradicating every sign of God and Christianity, Brother Andrew quietly continued his work.  He smuggled in more and more Bibles to more and more countries, and encouraged the persecuted believers that remained behind the Iron Curtain.

Often Brother Andrew's trips were miraculously guided and protected. As one ruthless border guard looked over the boxes of Bibles in his car, Andrew prayed, "Father, You have made blind eyes to see -- now I ask you to make seeing eyes blind."  The guard then simply waved Andrew through the border crossing as if he had seen nothing!  "I'm not brave. I'm often scared stiff. I drive my car to the Iron Curtain border in the past and I have not the guts to go on. So I pull back ten miles, find a small hotel, I begin to pray and fast until I have the courage, or the liberty or the boldness to go in and that always works. But I would not go if my heart is beating with fear."

Then in 1965 Brother Andrew made his first trip behind the Bamboo Curtain to deliver Bibles and supplies to Chinese believers.  He found the situation to be horrendous. Mao's fanaticism had attempted to crush Christianity out of existence.  Andrew's efforts expanded in China and eventually into Vietnam and other restricted parts of Asia.  Brother Andrew soon began to visit Africa, Cuba, and Central and South America, providing Bibles, training, and prayer support for persecuted Christians in over 60 countries.

God's Smuggler, the account of these early years, was published in 1967, selling over ten million copies in over 30 languages.  For the first time, Western Christians became aware of the struggles and suffering of their fellow believers.  Many felt called to the ministry or mission field after reading of Brother Andrew's experiences.  Still others found salvation after hearing about God's faithfulness on his travels.

Through God's Smuggler, Brother Andrew's small Dutch mission became an international ministry with offices in 20 countries, 200 full-time workers, and thousands of volunteers.  Millions of Bibles have been taken into countries where Christianity is still either prohibited or severely sanctioned.  Several years ago, one million Bibles were smuggled into China in a single night on a custom-built barge carrying 232 tons of the Word of God!
By the year 2000, over 80 percent of the world's population will live in areas where the Gospel is forbidden or restricted.  For this reason, Brother Andrew has traveled extensively to the Middle East since 1985 and is gravely concerned about the conditions of Christians living under Islam, the fastest growing religion in the world.  In some Muslim countries, it is illegal to own a Bible, pray aloud, or to wear a cross, and punishment may range from flogging to imprisonment to execution.

And so, sixty years later, the need is greater than ever.  Because open Doors is an "end time" ministry, Brother Andrew feels that it is imperative to get involved with the Middle Eastern countries that will figure so prominently in the last days.  Until the Great Commission is fulfilled, Brother Andrew has every intention to continue being "God's Smuggler."

Boris Kornfeld

(I wrote this back in 2002, near as I can date it.  This was a part of my very first blog - destroyed by hackers and apparently, I never re-posted it!  Very surprising to have run across and then discovered I had not re-blogged.  I only learned about it via an old email from a publishing company wanting to use this as one of their devotionals!  Wow, someone liked something I wrote!  I think the original title was, You Can Change The World, back then.  I re-titled it Boris Kornfeld in the second blog, which was also destroyed, and the follow four!  This was part of a long conversation I had with Francis Schaeffer, on a Lucerne, Switzerland bridge - perhaps during spring of 1967?  His story moved me so much, I wrote it down that afternoon back at the hotel! Hope you like the memory ...)

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Whether you realize it or not, your faith in Christ is not without cost to you. 

Unfortunately, you live in a country where, if you live the typical American dream, about the worst thing that can happen is someone might make fun of you at school for being a Christian – assuming anyone even knows or cares.  But, this has not been true throughout the past two thousand years – to hold fast to your faith in Christ does come with a price and often that price is your life, the love of your family, fellowship with your friends and/or financial freedom. 

We have a God who promises “…all things will work for (HIS) good…”.  What good can possibly come from the loss of your life, family, friends and/or possessions?  Well, just ten years ago, the world changed mightily, though you may have been too young to care.  And, that change can be directly traced back to the workings of God during the winter of 1956, in the lives of three men.  

Our story takes place in the old Soviet Union, in order to rebuild their country destroyed during the war, they were in need of massive amounts of wood.  To gather the incredible amount of wood needed, required millions of men to build railroads, river barges, terminals, sawmills and ships, plus the cutting of wood and getting it to a river or railhead.  Along the way, gold and platinum were found in great amounts throughout Siberia and even more men were needed to mine these precious metals – conquering the world is expensive business!

So, let us see exactly how God used this situation and the lives of three men to change the world:

Boris Kornfeld, was a Russian medical doctor who ran a foul of the post war Soviet government and was exiled to a Siberian wood cutting camp for an unspecified political crime.  Siberia was more than a land of slave labor camps, it was a land of death camps – to be condemned to Siberia was to be condemned to death.  The hard work and danger of cutting timber, combined with a poor diet and lack of warmth, guaranteed few survivors and no successful escapes.

Unlike most of the prisoners, Kornfeld was a Jew – and not a very religious one at that.  With a name like Kornfeld, he was probably also of German extraction, perhaps a Volga German, exiled by Stalin by the millions to Siberia following the war.  Of the estimated 50 million Russians Stalin exiled to Siberian camps, about 32 million were Christian’s - sent in order to purify the land of their influence.

Kornfeld, across time, came to understand Christianity and, under the influence of a devoted Christian in his barracks, accepted Christ as his savior.  This Christian friend and him were deeply troubled by the treatment of prisoners by the guards and began reporting beatings, thefts of foods, etc. which they witnessed daily.  First, they complained to the camp commander and then the International Red Cross workers who would come for an inspection.  His Christian friend was not to live much longer and died from an accident with a mallet in the camp wood shop one night.

Fearing for his own life, Kornfeld moved into the camp hospital, in hopes that the guards would not be so brazen as to kill him in the hospital with 24 hour witnesses present.  He understood he was a marked man and that he could die at any time – and having accepted this as fact, he found the freedom to take a stand for Christ in that camp.  He continued to report on the inhumanity he observed in the camp and to witness for Christ – not only to other prisoners but also to the guards.

One night, a young prisoner was brought in from another camp, who had been operated on for stomach cancer.  As he cared for this unknown man, Kornfeld began to talk with him, during those times when the young man was awake.  All through the night he shared the story of his life, what Christ had done for him and the freedom he had now found.  The young man, also a Jew and also with a doctorate education, could not believe what he was hearing.  But, he continued to question and discuss throughout the pain filled night, the story Kornfeld shared with him.  Eventually, the young man was to drift off into a deep sleep.

The following day, once he was awake, he asked an intern to speak with the doctor whom had been with him throughout the previous night, only to learn that his caregiver had an accident with a large mallet during the night and was now missing a part of his head.

As he lay confined to his bed, he thought long on the discussions he had with Boris Kornfeld during that long and fateful night.  “Of what value was life, if a man could comfort him and yet the next second be obviously murdered beside his bed?”  The question haunted him until the night he too made the decision to accept Christ as his savior.

That man, who was to come to Christ, was Alexander Solzhenitsyn - Nobel Peace laureate, a major player in the creation of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb and future author of the “Gulag Archipelago” - the book smuggled out of Russia, a few pages at a time, by Swedish Red Cross workers.

It wasn’t until 1969 that a sufficient number of pages had been assembled in Sweden so that the book could finally be published in 1970.  Prior to this work, the world only saw the Soviet Union as a country of tremendous military and scientific achievement.  No one knew of the horrors of the Soviet Gulag system – not about the 8.5 million Christian dead, nor the estimated 32 million killed without “due process of law”, nor of the 18 million barely surviving in Siberian camps, nor that there ever was an insignificant Jewish doctor named Boris Kornfeld – whose legacy was to change map the world.  And, this book told the entire world for the very first time the shameful secrets of the Soviet system.

People were in disbelief - the story could not possibly be true.  Numerous governments and the UN began investigations to find out exactly what was true.  But by 1973, the truth was fully known.  Not only had satellites mapped the locations of thousands of camps in Siberia, but a botched attempt to expand Soviet influence into the middle east, by wiping out Israel, had left Soviet military might in question.  It still took 19 more years and millions of lives more before the Soviet Union finally collapsed.  The country that had once banned God, burned Bibles, leveled church buildings and killed more believers than had died in all of history’s persecutions combined, was now itself dead - as were many of its leaders.

Today the threat of communism is mostly gone.  But, the price paid by the Russian believers trapped under the dictates of their government was high.  Where will those opposed to Christ raise their banner next?  Russia still struggles – torn between those who still believe in the old system of godlessness and those who are pushing for religious liberty in their land.  The lesson they have learned is that government can not be trusted to protect your right of religious worship.  But, they also have seen that God will call into account those who oppose Him.  And, now they struggle to live in a country that is under God’s judgement – life is no easier for the Christian than it is for the atheist.

If one man could be pointed to, as being solely responsible for the downfall of the Soviet state, it was Alexander Solzhenitsyn.  Yes, the western countries, lead by the US economy and military innovations, forced the Soviet Union into bankruptcy through excessive military expenditures, but the “Gulag Archipelago” showed the world that the Communist hierarchy was morally bankrupt as well.  And, with this bankruptcy, God raised up a tiny army of people willing to put their lives on the line to bring Christ to this atheistic country and comfort to the persecuted believers.

But, that will be another tale - for me to share another time.

Musical Saturday Morning

One Hard Year

Not complaining, just observing.
Life throws me curves, I struggle to remain standing.
Satan on the other hand, hammers me.
And life is on my knees.

I ache.
Nothing is as it should be.
Not even Hitchcock could write something weirder.
Maybe Wagner though .....

I was jolted out of bed this morning by a memory of a spring day long ago.
1965, Laon, France, where I went to school with a bunch of other NATO BRATS.
Nobody liked Germans, I was the lone German, guess whom the butt of the jokes was!
Little ditties like:

"Roses are red,
"Violets are blue,
"No one will ever,
"Love you ..."

Yeah, dorks stand out in a crowd, even in fifth grade.
And all females avoid dorks.
Her name was Daphne Summers (Sommers?), one of two crushes in my life.
I really liked her because her eyes did not match and she was not "in" with the pack.
Like all others, she never knew the dork existed, except as a target.

And a lifetime later, I can still remember the taunts, the insults, the random hits upside the head with a brick (literally, several times!). 
How Daphne would laugh.
And I had trusted her.
Then there were the guys ...

I was listening to Level 42 today, a big mistake.
Their song, Something About You, calls to my spirit, to know such a feeling ...
No, not the carnal parts of the song, but the emotion - the knowledge of belonging.
The trust, the closeness, the sharing.
Yeah, not ever going to happen - I gave up.
I know: too old, too broken, too much a dork, too what-ever.

Jessamine, a friend, asked me what is up - because she knows it has been a hard year.
I told her what was down.
She told me, there is always hope.
I told her I can't see how.
She bought me an ice cream ...

"How - how can it be that a love
Carved out of caring fashioned by fate
Could suffer so hard
From the games played much too often
But making mistakes is a part
Of life's imperfections born of the years
Is it so wrong to be human after all

Drawn into the stream
Of undefined illusion
Those diamond dreams
They can't disguise the truth
That there is something about you
Baby so right
I wouldn't be without you baby tonight

If ever our love was concealed
No one can say that we didn't feel
A million things
And a perfect dream of life
Gone, fragile but free
We remain tender together
If not so in love
It's not so wrong
We're only human after all

These changing years
They add to your confusion
Oh and you need to hear the time
That told the truth
That there is something about you
Baby so right
Don't want to be without you
Baby tonight
Because there's something about you
Baby so right
I couldn't live without you
Baby tonight

And there's something about you
I couldn't live without you
Tonight"

After I wrote this, God's Spirit quietly comforted me in my pain and loneliness.
And I prayed for my source of pain: happiness, love and completion.
All things I would have given.
But am denied.

Mark's Ending

The Book of Mark is one of those enigmas in the Bible.  Heresy!, you say?  Not really, even the ancient fathers of the Christian faith all knew of the problem ...

From verse 9 on, the entire remainder of Mark, was an addition.
We know if came out of the Eastern Church, some even think they know the abbey/monastery which did it.
However, in the Greek, the text ends in verse 8 with the word, "Gar" or "For" in English ... for what, for whom, "for"!!!!!?????

Something was lost, but it certainly was not what we know as verse 9 today .....

Read Mark 16:1-8

So, the cross is the end of Peter's story told to Mark?
Is there more?

Well, really verses 1 through 8 have quite a bit to think about

Women Were The Witnesses
In their culture women could not testify to anything!
Anything they say they saw was instantly suspect.
They were the worst possible witness to the Resurrection!
Yet, they were ...

The Resurrection Is Confirmed
The women were told by an angel.
Who looked like a man in white clothing.
Who announced what has happened.

Forgiveness Is Extended
Well, that was the point of Jesus death and resurrection!

Fear
The women reacted in fear.
The angel appeared to be a guy.
The angel was not Jesus!

This is generally how real people, whom have seen an angel, react that I know of -
all others are suspect in my mind!

The Ending
Is open.
It is unfinished.

This is now the time of the Gentiles being extended forgiveness.
Not to the exclusion of the Jew however - Jesus came for them first and foremost!

With Apologies Emily

"When the Best is gone - 
I know that other things are not of consequence - 
 The Heart wants what it wants - 
or else it does not care -
You wonder why I write so - 
Because I cannot help - 
I like to have you know some care - 
so when your life gets faint for it's other life - 
you can lean - 
I wont break. 
We look very small - 
but the Reed can carry weight.
Not to see what we love, is very terrible - 
and talking - 
does'nt ease it - 
and nothing does - 
but just itself.
The Eyes and Hair, we chose - 
are all there are - 
to us - 
Is'nt it so?
I often wonder how the love of Christ, is done - 
when that - 
below - 
holds - 
so -"
 Emily Dickinson

So Emily Dickinson wrote this in the Spring of 1862 to her friend, attempting to console her.  I know when I first read this, I was maddened at her failure to complete any thought - but then, perhaps the thought did not need to be completed.  Maybe it was understood for they were like minded.

The heart wants what the heart wants, a phrase which has echoed though my mind this  year.  How does one explain the desire of the heart?  It will abhor what it will, it will be drawn equally inexplicably to  what it desires.  (No, we are not talking desire of the mind or corruption, but real desire in the realm of eternal values.)  If you are honest, no, you are not going to override it or force an issue permanently one way or another.  Yes, you can over-ride and hide from your heart's desire and what you know/knew to be true and right.  But, the truth will be known in your heart ... and you can not hide from it.  It will visit you in the wee hours ...

And we really do not like having our heart known - and then fear those whom do know.

One heart is but part of an equation.  When there are no other parts, there is no satisfaction.  If the heart was honest, there is no understanding as to why it is suddenly alone.

Emily wrote this to her friend Mary to console her at a loss.  And it has taken much thought to decipher the context and meaning of this verse.  Then it struck me last week:
Emily is telling her that she will help her bear her burdens,
If she will share them.
Emily tells her that the day will come when life grows weak,
And she will be there for her.
Then given this situation,
How much more so is the Love of God for each of us?

And I thought on this ... Emily, as far as I know, never married - but did have a special man in her life whom she could not marry.  So, she understood the plight of the heart - to know what should be, yet was unobtainable.  To know joy and then separation, over and over, repeatably.

Emily Dickinson was just a boring 19th century poet, something old Kris had no use for - nor understanding of.  And now, I see and I understand, but more so, I have gained a new respect for her.

It changes nothing in my life, other than to know in the history of mankind - I am not alone ...

Iraq Observation

Some observations ...

 1.  The garden of Eden is believed to have been in Iraq.

2.  Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq, is considered the cradle of civilization!

3.  Noah built the ark in Iraq.

4.  The Tower of Babel was in Iraq.

5.  Abraham was from Ur, which is in Southern Iraq!

6.  Isaac's wife Rebekah is from Nahor, which is in Iraq.

7.  Jacob met Rachel in Iraq.

8.  Jonah preached in Nineveh - which is in Iraq.

9.  Assyria, which is in Iraq, conquered the ten tribes of Israel.

10. Amos cried out in Iraq!

11. Babylon, which is in Iraq, destroyed Jerusalem.

12. Daniel was in the lion's den in Iraq!

13. The three Hebrew children were in the fire in Iraq.

14. Belshazzar, the King of Babylon, saw the "writing on the wall" in Iraq.

15. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, carried the Jews in captive to Iraq.

16. Ezekiel preached in Iraq.

17. The wise men could have been from Iraq.

18. Peter preached in Iraq.

19. The "Empire of Man" described in Revelation is called Babylon, a city in Iraq!

You probably know this one, Israel is the nation most often mentioned in the Bible – but do you know Iraq is second?

However, that is not the name used in the Bible. The names used in the Bible are: Babylon, Shinar, and Mesopotamia.

Makes me wonder, if Iraq is so important in history to God, what is next on the horizon for this nation ... ?  And against whom will God use Iraq?