United
Pentecostal Church Mannheim Miracles still happen - Yugoslavia |
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To
get from Mannheim to the town Padina in Yugoslavia took us about a 17.5 hrs
drive and we travelled around 1500 km. We left Saturday afternoon from Germany
and arrived there on Sunday morning about 6:30 AM. We had to drive through
Munich, then through Austria and Hungary. Well, we were invited to visit sister
Maria’s father, who came once to Mannheim to visit his daughter and he gave
us an invitation to visit him in Yugoslavia. I answered him, let the ladies
do this planning, because of the school and Sister Wey is working, she knows
when she can have a few days off from work. I did not plan to preach there
at his church, and wanted to rest. So the children got off for Easter vacation
and then everything worked out well.
Arriving there, Pastor Kolarik told me, that he has invited me to preach on
Sunday night and I should rest the Sunday morning and noon. I was willing
to submit and did preach there. But then I was told, that the other churches
around also wanted to hear me preach. And since we were there only for one
week and were invited for lunch in different houses and have coffee and cake
in other houses, it was very stressful for me. Even before we went to church,
we took 1 to 2 hrs time to visit other people. Well, being in a farmer town
now and me being a man used to the noise of the city, I was not prepared for
the sounds of a village. At 4:00 AM the roosters got the chickens (and me)
up, being on time every morning. This was it for me. The dogs there are small
and don’t seem to get higher than one foot and not longer then 2 feet. I was
amazed. They sleep during the day and at night they are communicating, which
means they did bark constantly.
I
have written down some miracles for you of the things the Lord has done, while
we were there. The people came to me in their homes with many questions, of
course Pastor Kolarik was with me, a very fine and patient man. They wanted
me to pray for them, but I asked Pastor Kolarik to lay hands on with me, as
we prayed, for I did not want the people to give me the glory. So we both
laid our hands on the sick to pray for them. In one house we came was a lady,
which had a very complicated operation. She did not sleep for 3 weeks, her
face was swollen and her eyes were red. I felt faith and spoke to her, that
we would pray for her and then she would sleep again like a baby. We laid
our hands on her and prayed for her. She just called Sister Maria a few days
ago and said, that she slept truly like a baby the first time after 3 weeks.
In the same room where we prayed, was Sister Kolarik, she had great pain for
days in her arm and in her back, a nerve was quenched and she has been using
strong balm for her muscles and to relieve the pain.
I felt faith for her healing rise up and then I asked her to come to me and
we would pray right now. We did so and she was instantly healed and rejoiced.
She later said, that she was surprised, that I called her right then for prayer.
In this room was also a family that could not have any children. We prayed
for the young man and we believe, the couple will be blessed with children.
He was a bandleader of a musician group and the whole town was proud of him,
then he gave his life to Jesus. Now their pride for him left. Praise the Lord!
In one house, where Grandmother and Br. Kolarik’s son with his family lives, we had coffee and cake, when someone came and said, that Grandmother is in bed and she has great pain, for she fell on her ribs and might have some of them broken. She was not able to sleep because of all her pain. So I said to them, I am willing to pray for her, if she wants prayer. So the Pastor and myself prayed for her. The pain left her and she slept after a while.
We were also invited to the home of Sister Maria's girlfriend. Her name was
Anna, she went to school with her. She is now married and has 2 children.
They are very sweet people and new in the faith. As I saw Anna, I observed,
that she was greatly burdened with a problem. I asked Sister Maria, what was
the matter with Anna. We then found out, that she had breast cancer and was
scheduled next week to go to the hospital. She had not told this to anybody,
except to her husband and she had great, great fear. Her husband said, that
he did not understand, why all this happened to them. I again felt faith rising
up and the Pastor and myself anointed both of them with oil and we told her
to raise her hands to God. The Holy Ghost fell on her and flooded her soul
again with joy. The spirit of God took away her fears and I told her: “You
have received your healing now”. We also prayed for her husband, so that his
faith would be strengthened. We all left the house rejoicing and felt it a
normal thing, that our God would heal people, if we just ask and believe.
She told us later, that when Sister Maria called her from Germany, that fear
came back to her that night and then after she slept, she had a dream from
the Lord and saw Sister Wey and me in this dream and a voice spoke to her,
saying this: "These two are sent to your house from the Lord and she
should not fear". Now we are back in Germany again and Sister Maria called
Anna up, because the hospital wanted to see Anna, to check on the cancer.
Sister Anna said, that the doctors told her, that the first diagnoses showed
cancer, but now there is no more trace or evidence of cancer to be found.
Praise the Lord, the Holy Ghost did heal her. Jesus did not take the stripes
for nothing.
I
preached in a small town, with about 50 people in attendance, the former pastor
is 92 years old and the Brother, which is presently the pastor of this church
is about half that old. He introduced himself as Pastor George, a very fine
man of God! He has been 3 years pastoring this church now. He was happy to
see me. You see, I never have been in a church in the East and I didn’t know
their customs as one like me coming from the west. As I preached and the anointing
came strongly upon me, God said to me to leave the pulpit, so I left and felt
in the spirit, that I should preach at the front of the pulpit. God's anointing
was so strong and moved on the hungry ones, so they were blessed and renewed
in the Holy Ghost.
God did stir up the whole church and at the end the Pastor came to me and
said, that the whole congregation will think now, that I told you all these
things you have preached on. I said: "What do you mean, Reverend?"
He explained me the situation about this chicken, which had been stolen and
of all the other things I have preached about. Of course, naturally I had
no knowledge of these things, but the spirit of God discerns everything. I
preached about a desire for the neighbour’s chicken, since they live in a
farming town. This stolen chicken was a big deal in the town, one Br. from
his church stole a chicken from someone else. Everybody knew it, poor guy.
Well, the brother did survive the deal, but I don’t know about the chicken.
(Not to mention, that we were invited into this brother's house for coffee
and cake, right before this service) Some people in the church had forgotten,
that God knows all things and He speaks to the congregation, when a man of
God preaches to them.
At Pastor Kolaric’s house, where we stayed for the time
of our vacation, we all talked about the great things that God was doing,
when Mirco, a young man came into the living room and sat down on the couch
with great pain, having 2 raw potato slices laid upon his eyes. I wondered
why he was sitting there weeping with potatoes on his eyes, while we all were
excited of what God has done. I asked for the reason of him having potato
slices on his eyes. (They do this kind of things there, when someone has pain
in the eyes). They answered me, that he had welded some steel together without
using his protection glasses, he could be blind by now.
So I prayed in my heart, “Lord what should I do?” He answered
and said: “Use the faith that you’ve got”. So I asked my
wife to get the clean white handkerchief from my suit. Then we anointed it,
put it on the Bible and laid our hands on the handkerchief and we all prayed.
I told Mirko to lay this handkerchief on his eyes tonight when he goes to
bed and he will be healed. He said that he would do just like I said.
The next day early in the morning he called the Pastor and said, that the
devil came twice in the night to his bed and told him to get the piece of
cloth off and put his potatoes back on. But he said: “I will obey the
Pastor, even if it would not give me any healing”, and then the devil
left him. He fell asleep and in the morning his eyes were OK! No more pain.
And he said: “I went outside and I could even look into the sun this
morning and it did not bother me.” Praise the Lord! Mirco is so excited
what God has done for him. We all rejoiced with him.
At the close of one service, the Pastor asked the sick people to come into another room, so we could pray for the sick and after earnest prayer, we heard the testimonies, what the Holy Ghost has done, while we prayed.
There have been many other miracles that had taken place and God gave visions, where He confirmed our prayers and preaching. To write all of it would take more than half a day. I just may tell you one more thing, that in the morning when I woke up, I felt like there was a dark canapé over me and a voice that said:” Don’t preach here like you preach in Mannheim, stay quiet, be still and reserved, you offend these people, this is not their tradition.” With other words, that spirit wanted me to suppress the Holy Ghost in me. I said no to that spirit and then he left.
Another old woman had a dream from the Lord and wanted her Pastor to know it, so she walked to his house and twice she said, there came a devil and told her, that it was foolish what she was doing and she should better go back home. But she resisted twice and answered I will go and tell him. When she came she told us, that she saw a big mountain and on the top of it laid a large open book. Then she saw the book from the top and she saw names written in golden letters and in-between there were names crossed out and they were no more in golden letters. She asked the Lord what this meant; He answered her, that everyone who is against the Pastor, He will cross out of the Book of Life.
After the Easter Monday Service at noontime, the Pastor asked for all those that are sick to gather in the back room for prayer and about 20 old ladies and 10 men came, he also asked for those that wanted to pray with us to come. I think 2 ladies were healed instantly, others were moved by the Lord. But I also felt, that some wanted healing, but were afraid to open up to the move of the Holy Ghost.
When we prayed for the blind child Mirco, one lady saw a large light over the church.
All in all, the people had been blessed, even though I just wanted to relax and have a vacation. I was spiritually and bodily very much exhausted because of …the rooster...the dogs... etc. They said if you stay here for two more months, then all this tradition would change. Many there are hungry and they are very sweet people of God.
Oh, I have to tell you also about Christiane, all the cats she saw, the little chicks, and little ducks she had to hold them all in her hands, and for her it was just like heaven.
When we arrived at home on Sunday morning at 7.10 AM after driving 17.5 hrs, we felt another page was turned in the history of the church here in Mannheim.
To Our God, Our LORD Jesus Christ be all glory, honour and praise and we thank HIM for all He has done.