Tramp for the Lord (23 page)

Revelation 22:20

S
ome time ago, I was with a group of students in the midwest. Some of them were new Christians, but most of them did not know the Lord. They were interested in all kinds of other things, and a Christian professor had organized weekly meetings to answer their questions. So it was that at the last evening meeting of that semester the professor said, “Now you can hear something about Christianity in practice.”

First, I spoke to those who were Christians. “How long have you known Jesus?” I asked.

One said, “Two weeks.” Another said, “Three years.” And still another answered and said, “I met Him only yesterday.”

Then I said to them, “Well, I have good news. I have known Him seventy-five years, and I can tell you something, men. He will never let you down.”

Next, I told the other students about Jesus Christ, and what He had done for me, and the great miracles also. When He tells you to love your enemies, He gives you the love that He demands from you. They were listening intently, and I was led by the Holy Spirit not to go into any doctrines or teachings other than the reality of Jesus Christ.

I told them of the joy of having Jesus with me, whatever happened, and how I knew from experience that the light of Jesus is stronger than the greatest darkness. I told them of the darkness of my prison experiences, realizing that only those people who were in a German concentration camp could ever fully understand. However, I wanted these students to know that, even though I was there where every day six hundred people either died or were killed, when Jesus is with you, the worst can happen and the best remains.

Afterward the students came up and we had coffee. One said to me, “I would love to ask Jesus to come into my heart, but I cannot. I am a Jew.”

I said, “You cannot ask Jesus into your heart because you are a Jew? Then you do not understand that with the Jew (Jesus) in your heart—you are a double Jew.”

He said, “Oh, then it is possible?”

“On the divine side He was God’s Son. On the human side He was a Jew. When you accept Him, you do not become a Gentile. You become even more Jewish than before. You will be a completed Jew.”

With great joy the boy received the Lord Jesus as his Savior.

There is a great new surge of interest in spiritual things. Many are interested in Jesus Christ who have never shown any interest before. Churches—which have been dead and cold like mausoleums—are coming to life. All across the world, many are being saved and being filled with the Holy Spirit.

At the same time, however, many others are turning away from God. They are openly worshiping Satan. Many others are calling themselves Christians, but are involved in the occult, fortune telling, astrology, mind science and other things of Satan.

I see over the whole world that there are two huge armies marching: the army of the Antichrist and the army of Jesus Christ. We know from the Bible that Jesus Christ will have the victory, but now the Antichrist is preparing for the time that will come before Jesus returns.

The Bible says there will be a time of tribulation, and the Antichrist will take over the whole world. He will be a very “good, religious” man, and he will make one religion for the whole world. After it has been arranged, he will proclaim himself as its god. The Bible prophesies that the time will come when we cannot buy or sell unless we bear the sign of the Antichrist; that means that world money is coming, and people know this today. If I did not believe in the Bible before, I should believe in it now. Because what was foretold in the Bible you can now read in the newspapers.

At a student meeting in California, a theological student approached me saying, “What’s all this talk about Jesus’ coming again? Don’t you know that men have been prophesying for years that He would come, and He never has. Even the early church could not live their religion, because they were too busy looking for Christ to return. He is not coming back. It is all foolishness.”

I looked at the young man. He was so smug, so full of scoffing, and I felt sorry for him.

“Indeed, Jesus is coming again, and soon,” I said. “And you have just proved it to me.”

He blinked his eyes. “How did I prove it to you?”

“Because the Bible talks about it in Second Peter 3:3, that in the last days there shall come scoffers walking after their own lusts and they will say, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? Ever since the early church men have been looking for Him and He has not come.’ So you see, my young friend, you are one of the signs of His coming.”

I am not afraid when I think about the coming of the Lord Jesus. Instead, I welcome it. I do not know whether it would be better for me to die and be among that great host of saints who will return with Him, or whether it would be better to remain here and listen for the sound of the trumpet. Either way I like the words of the song that says:

God is working His purpose out,
As year succeeds to year:
God is working His purpose out
And the time is drawing near—

Nearer and nearer draws the time
The time that shall surely be,
When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God,
As the waters cover the sea.

A.C. AINGER

I find that when Communists speak of the future of the world, they show a pattern for peace through communism. But when I ask them, “What about when you die?” they say, “Then everything is ended. There is no life after this life.” The Bible tells us that the Antichrist can imitate much, even the gifts of the Spirit. But there is one thing he cannot imitate, and that is the peace of God which passes all understanding.

But there are
good
things to tell about the future of the world. For instance, the Bible says the Tree of Life will be used for the healing of the nations. This means that there will be nations to heal, and there will be
healing
. I am so thankful that we have the Bible and can know the future of God’s plan.

As the end times draw closer and closer, so does the power of God grow greater and greater. One day, on a trip to Russia, I approached the customs officer with a suitcase full of Russian Bibles. I stood in the line and saw how carefully the customs officers checked every suitcase. Suddenly a great fear swept over me.
What will he do when he finds my Bibles? Send me back to Holland? Put me in prison?

I closed my eyes to shut out the scene around me and said, “Lord, in Jeremiah 1, it is written that ‘God watches over his word to perform it’ (1:12). Lord, the Bibles in my suitcase are Your Word. Now, God, please watch over Your Word—my Bibles—so I may take them to Your people in Russia.”

Now I know that is not what Jeremiah meant, but I have found that if I pray with my hand on the promises of the open Bible, I do not have to wait until my position is doctrinally sound. God sees my heart.

The moment I prayed I opened my eyes and saw around my suitcase light beings. They were angels. It was the first and only time in my life that I had ever seen them, although I had known many, many times they were present. But this time I saw them, only for a moment, and then they were gone. But so was my fear.

I moved on through the customs line, sliding my suitcase along the stainless steel table toward the officer who was doing such a thorough inspection. At last I was before him.

“Is this your suitcase?” he asked.

“Yes, sir,” I answered politely.

“It seems very heavy,” he said, grasping it by the handle and picking it up.

“It is very heavy,” I said.

He smiled. “Since you are the last one to come through the line, I now have time to help you. If you will follow me, I shall carry it for you out to your taxi.”

My heart almost overflowed with hallelujahs as I followed him through the customs gate and right out to the street where he helped me get a taxi to the hotel.

So even though we are rapidly approaching the time when the Antichrist will try to take over the world, I am not afraid. For I have an even greater promise of the constant presence of Jesus who is greater than anything Satan can throw against me.

The apostle Peter said, “Because, my dear friends, you have a hope like this before you, I urge you to make certain that such a day will find you at peace with God and man, clean and blameless in his sight” (2 Pet. 3:14,
PHILLIPS
).

Surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ must not be partial—but total. Only when we repent and turn away from our sins (using His power, of course) does He fill us with His Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Holy Spirit makes us right with God, and God’s love in us makes us right with men. Through that we can forgive—even love—our enemies.

Jesus Himself makes us ready for His coming.

Adapted from Agape Power #2, © 1972. Logos journal, 185 North Avenue, Plainfield, NJ 07060. Reprinted with permission.

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven
.

Matthew 19:14

T
ante Jans lost her husband before she was forty years old. He had been a well-known minister in Rotterdam, and she had worked faithfully beside him in the church. They had no children, and after he died it was clear that her place was to be in our house in Haarlem. She was a poet, author and organizer—especially was she an organizer! Soon after she moved into the Beje, she started a club for girls where she led the meetings and began publishing a small monthly paper for them.

It was long before World War I started, but a detachment of Dutch soldiers was stationed in Haarlem. Seeing many soldiers in the streets, Tante Jans decided to open a club for them too. She approached some wealthy people and within a short time had enough money to build a military home. Twice a week Tante Jans went to the house to lead in a Bible study.

Tante Jans also invited the soldiers to come to our house. Since they were lonely and did not like the street life, many of them accepted. Almost every evening we had soldiers in our home.

One sergeant was a great musician, and Tante Jans asked him to teach me and my sister Nollie to play the harmonium—an old pump organ. It wasn’t long before I was joining Tante Jans at the military home to accompany the singing.

One night, in my eleventh year, a large group of soldiers had gathered for the Bible study. Before I played, Tante Jans made me sing. The song I sang was about the lost sheep which was found by the shepherd. I sang it slowly and dramatically, climaxing it with the last line: “And the sheep that went astray was me.”

As I finished singing, a big, blond Dutch officer reached out and pulled me to him. Picking me up and sitting me on his knee, he laughed and said, “Tell me, young lady, how did you go astray?”

All the other soldiers laughed, and I was red with embarrassment. It did seem odd that such a little girl would describe herself as a lost sheep.

I had to confess that the line just belonged to the song and that I had never, never been a lost sheep. Then I told him that as a little girl, just five years of age, I had given my heart to Jesus Christ and could never remember not having belonged to Him.

The officer grew very serious, and his eyes filled with tears. “Ah, that is the way it should be, little Sweet-Face,” he said solemnly. “How much better to come to Jesus as a little child, than to have to stumble, as I have, always seeking the Shepherd.”

Then he closed his eyes and said softly, “But tonight I think I shall stop seeking, and let Him find me instead.”

That night there was deep joy in the Bible meeting. The Lord had used me to lead a man to Christ. It was the first time in my life, and it had taken place not because of what I said, but because of the Holy Spirit who was in me. It was a secret I have remembered all the years of my life as I have traveled the world—a tramp for the Lord.