Nr.91 ended with: I continued, “I agree wholeheartedly with you, what we need is a total turn around and the overthrow of the present government and the setting up of a new one. There is only one thing on which we differ…….!” (See richardandmarina.net).

I saw many curious looks as they wondered what was coming. I repeated, “I agree with you, we need a total turn around and the overthrow of the present government and the setting up of a new one. The only thing we differ on is where this should take place; you say in the capital, Brussels, while I say right here, pointing at my chest, in our hearts. We need a total turn around here and the overthrow of the present “I” government and the setting up of the government of Jesus Christ. This is what will change us and the world. When man was originally created under God’s government, he rebelled and resisted God’s government, setting up his own. “Self” became and still is the ruler. And there are so many “Self’s” or “I’s” in the world, all wanting to be number one. That’s what’s wrong with this world and the only way to really change it is, to turn back to God and allow Him to be King. Man’s rebellion has separated him from God, from the source of all good.

Thank God, He didn’t give up on us, but continued to love us and sent His Son to pay for our sins and remove the wall of separation. As I was speaking I quoted John 3:16, which none of them had ever heard,  “The Bible says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I explained a little more, not knowing, that Marianne hearing these words, accepted Jesus right there and then. And a miracle happened in her heart and life. “He gave me a new heart and a new mind”, she told me. I thought of what had happened in Cornelius’ house in Acts 10, when Peter preached and the ones who were listening received Jesus. How wonderful to see this repeated! How is it with you, has there been a revolution in your heart? (Go to Musings).

Nr.90 ended with: “Then a man got up and began to speak about revolution. Her husband whispered, “We’re in the wrong place here, this guy is a communist……..!” (See richardandmarina.net).

Marianne looked at her husband, who through all the difficulties had stayed true to her, and said, “I would really like to hear what he has to say.” He agreed and they stayed. The speaker said that before continuing he wanted to go back to the film for just a few comments. He explained that one of the most important things a pilot has to learn is “flying blind,” which means that he is not to go by his feelings, but by the instruments on the panel in front of him. When pilots are flying through thick mist or clouds, they will lose their feeling of direction. One of them may say that they are climbing, while the other will disagree and argue that they are descending. The speaker applied this to us people, who seem to be flying through a mist and have lost their sense of direction. One will say that there is a God, while another will disagree. One will believe that there is life after death, while another argues that death is the end. Who do we listen to, there are so many opinions? But God has given us a dashboard with instruments, the Bible, and we need to heed that.

Then the speaker, I Richard, changed the subject. I knew that there were a number of younger people present who had communistic ideas. I told them that I wanted to speak about a word that could very well be the most important one in their dictionary, namely “Revolution.” Many nodded approvingly! I said that I had looked up the word and found two very good definitions. The first was, “Revolution, a total rotation or turn around.” Again nods of approval. The second, “Revolution is the overthrow of the present government and the establishing of a new one.” Many cheered!  I continued, I agree wholeheartedly with you, what we need is a total turn around and the overthrow of the present government and the setting up of a new one. There is only one thing on which we differ…….!”

Nr.89 ended with: “Then a colleague of Mieke talked to her about his wife who was having such a hard time and had come to the point of wanting to commit suicide, in fact, one day while he was at work she left a note for her husband and walked to the canal……………!” (See richardandmarina.net).

Marianne (not real name) walked slowly while all kinds of thoughts and memories raced through her head. Her father’s death when she was 9, her mother trying to raise five children by herself, then re-marrying. The painful relationship with her stepfather, the terrible times of depression, getting a job as a teacher, but not able to handle a class with 30 mentally handicapped children ages 6-12. Getting married, many things going wrong, having a serious nervous breakdown, it was all too much, why continue, life wasn’t worth living, she had no energy left, her life was in ruins, there was only despair. Her only thought was now, how do I end this, I want to die.

Close to the canal a small piece of newspaper blew over the ground and she picked it up. The first words (by accident?) were “Is there life after death?” All at once fear set in, the fear of dying. Was it because of her Catholic upbringing, or the lessons in religion she herself had given to her students about God’s existence? Whatever, it kept her from jumping into the canal. How long she sat there thinking she can’t remember, but she got up and started walking, halfway home meeting her husband who had found her suicide note and came looking for her. That night in bed fear overwhelmed her and she cried out to God. The next morning there were two Jehovah Witnesses standing at the door, who caused even more confusion. She decided to go along with her husband to a meeting in a hall in town where a film was going to be shown and someone would talk about the Bible. The film was about a pilot who crashed his plane because he did not follow his instruments, but his own feelings, what a lesson! Then a man got up and began to speak about revolution. Her husband whispered, “We’re in the wrong place here, this guy is a communist………..!”

Nr.88 ended with: “The next evening I went back to bring them a Bible as they did not have one. I rang the door bell and the woman appeared at the door with a big smile on her face ……..!” (See richardandmarina.net).

I looked at Mieke (not real name) and asked, “How are you?” “Real good” she answered, “last night after you left my husband and I talked until 2 am and then prayed and accepted Jesus.” “Well, that’s wonderful”, I replied, “and how did things go today?” Oh, very good” she answered, “but you know Richard; at my work do people ever swear.” Then I was the one to smile and said, “Well, isn’t that something, that they just started doing that today?” She looked at me with wide open eyes and began to laugh. I explained to her that they had been doing this all the time, but she had never heard it. Now that the Holy Spirit had come to live within her, her ears had been opened. I told her also that there would be more surprises yet. Sometime later I started a Bible study in their home as they were living in another town. Her sister and husband became interested and attended; they in turn talked to friends who started coming.

I had rented a hall in Beerse and held two evangelistic meetings there, each time showing a Moody science film followed by me preaching. A young man, Jeff (not real name) was there and started coming to the Bible studies at André’s; he brought his girlfriend along and a little later another friend. In the mean time, Mieke’s husband had talked to his brother in Eastern Belgium, in the province called Limburg and I was invited to their home. I will come back to this next time, but as you can see “the ball really started rolling”, it was so exciting to meet these interested and curious people. God was at work! Then a colleague of Mieke talked to her about his wife who was having such a hard time and had come to the point of wanting to commit suicide, in fact, one day while he was at work she left a note for her husband and walked to the canal……………! (Go to Musings).

Nr.87 ended with: “AMAZING! All the wonderful and at times miraculous provisions from the Lord. God is real! Hallelujah!” (See richardandmarina.net).

Last week I wrote that I’m running ahead of myself a bit and that we’re now into 1974, but we need to back up a little to the fall of 1973. It is 1½ years since the Antwerp church was started and it was doing real well and growing. Both my co-worker and I held home Bible studies and people were being saved, baptized and becoming part of the church, it was wonderful to see. I had also started a Bible study in Beerse, a town about 35 km east of Antwerp. A couple had agreed to open their home for a study. The man, André (not real name), witnessed to his employer, who, together with his wife started attending. André and his wife talked to a young woman on the train and she started attending. This lady talked to some friends, a young couple about this “new faith”, as some called it.

I visited them in their home on a Monday evening when the Jehovah Witnesses were there. I have met with J.W. many a time and always told them that we would only discuss two things, one, was and is Jesus really God, and two, what must we do to receive eternal life? So that evening also, they showed a number of Bible texts that talk about Jesus’ humanity. I then showed a whole lot more about His deity, two important ones, in Isaiah 44:6 where God says that He is the First and the Last, while in Revelations it says that Jesus is the First and the Last. They had no idea what to do with that. Then also in Is.44:8, God says that He is the Rock and there is no other, but in the N.T. it says that Jesus is the Rock. Since there is only One Rock, ……?! After some discussion they became very upset and left. I stayed and explained the gospel to the couple and then drove home. The next evening I went back to bring them a Bible as they did not have one. I rang the door bell and the woman appeared at the door with a big smile on her face ……..! (Go to Musings)

Nr.86 ended with: “But the Bible says that this world is Satan’s territory and that he opposes the work of God and we experienced that too, but we never expected it to come in the way it did……!” (See richardandmarina.net).

Oh dear, I’m running ahead of myself. The above mentioned problems came a bit later. In “Our Story” we’re now into 1974, while now it is 2014. So before going on, first this: I trust you understand that it is not easy to remember everything of these last 40 years. Considering that  some 24 churches were planted and that we started up a summer camp ministry for children and youth, and that I spoke in at least 40 conferences in more than 15 European countries, and that we went on furlough to Canada at least 10 times for periods of 2-8 months, one time staying 2½ years and helping in starting a new church there, and speaking in churches and conferences in Canada and the USA, and that I had two heart attacks plus a back operation and burn out and that Marina almost died and received a pacemaker just in time. Not to mention the 5 times we moved in Belgium, and every house, except the last one had to be fixed up, taking from 1 to 4 months work. Plus all the buildings we worked on to become usable as churches. So as we seek to remember, we have contact with others who give dates and stories. If any of you would like to help us, it would be greatly appreciated.

One thing I want to mention here yet and that is God’s loving care for us all those years. For example, it was really amazing to see that when the value of the dollar went down, our support went up, and vice versa, without our supporters in Canada realizing what was going on. When we arrived in Belgium we didn’t have that much support, but because the value of the dollars was so high, we had enough. Before we left Belgium we had much more support, but because the dollar had really gone down, from 70 Francs to 24, we had about the same as in the beginning. AMAZING! All the wonderful and at times miraculous provisions from the Lord. God is real! Hallelujah! (Go to Musings)

Nr.85 ended with: “And then a door opened to start a second work in a town east of Antwerp called Beerse, how exciting,,,,,,,,!” (See richardandmarina.net)

A group of young people from Holland was with us for a week of Bible study, prayer and evangelism. The girls used two bed rooms on the third floor of our house, while the fellows slept in our church building. After Marina had a break down, her younger sister came from Canada and stayed with us for about 6 months and was a tremendous help. Several times we went to Beerse with the team to go from door to door. It resulted in a few contacts which we followed up. Christians in Antwerp also had some connections in Beerse and Operation Mobilization had done some evangelism there and gave us the name of a couple willing to open their home for a weekly Bible study and thus the first step was taken. I started driving to Beerse every week for this study and some visitation.

In the mean time the work in Antwerp continued to grow. We had quite a large Sunday school and even Marina’s sister who didn’t speak Dutch helped out and so did our oldest daughter Rosa who was 9 years old. In the old building which, with a lot of work we had fixed up to use as a church, the pre-school children met in a small kitchen, there must have been about 24 of them, a crowded place indeed! A little boy of about 3 was very proud of his father’s big Bible and took it into the dry cleaning store where his mother worked and showing it to people would say, “Daddy’s Bible says, God cares for you”, a verse he had learned in Sunday school. We also had the joy of seeing a prostitute coming to know the Lord and stopping with her activities. People who have never been involved in starting a new church, especially with all young converts, have no idea of the joy and excitement experienced!

But the Bible says that this world is Satan’s territory and that he opposes the work of God and we experienced that too, but we never expected it to come in the way it did……! (Go to Musings)

Nr.84 ended with: “One day she told a neighbor lady that she was having a baby, which was coming out of her nose……….! 🙂 More next time.” (See richardandmarina.net)

Marina had some interesting experiences, especially with learning the language. She did real well learning Dutch during the six months that we were in Holland. But when we moved to Belgium, she had to start learning again, because they speak a lot of dialects there, and even though the Flemish is Dutch, quite a few French words and phrases are mixed in due to part of Belgium being French speaking. She had difficulties with some of the Dutch words that are much alike and yet mean something different. There were, for example, the words as “vallen” = falling, “valling”= having a cold”, this word is only used in Belgium and southern Holland, “gevallen” = fallen, te vallen = to fall, bevalling = having a baby.

One day I was in the kitchen and the door bell rang. Marina was in the living, closer by and went to the door. She had a terrible cold at the time, with red teary eyes and a running nose. She opened the door and our neighbor lady stood there. She looked at Marina and said, “What’s the matter with you?” Marina answered, “I have a “bevalling” (I’m having a baby) and it’s coming out of my nose.” I heard this and thought I was going to die laughing……….! 🙂 There have been similar incidents, which make life interesting, and sometimes a bit embarrassing.

We continued with evangelism and home Bible studies and more and more people became true born again Christians. The little church kept growing; it was really amazing and exciting to see God working in the hearts and lives of people. Of course, there were problems too, broken marriages and broken homes, ruined lives and other. In some cases we saw miracles happen, lives changed, marriages restored, due to the fact that people surrendered to the Lord and became obedient to Him. But we were not able to help everyone and this was at times heart breaking and caused sleepless nights. And then a door opened to start a second work in a town east of Antwerp called Beerse, how exciting,,,,,,,,! (Go to Musings)

Nr.83 ended with: “They put me out, put the shoulder back in and told me to stay overnight, but there was no bed free, except one, in the maternity ward….……..!” (See richardandmarina.net).

So there I lay, in the only free bed in the whole hospital, in the maternity ward. Now many of you have been there as you were born there, but I wasn’t, my birth took place in my grandparent’s house. So it was quite an experience for me, and for the nuns who thought it was hilarious! I had a fairly good sleep and after breakfast the next morning and getting cleaned up, the nuns got me to sit up. Then two of them came in, one holding a baby from a mother in the next room, who gladly “loaned” her baby for this, and put the baby in my arms. And there I sat, with a grin on my face, while the other nun took a picture, and they laughed and laughed, in fact after they went out I heard the whole ward laughing. A little later I was allowed to go home with my arm in a sling and a box with all kinds of things for mothers who had just given birth. 🙂

It was good to be home again. I couldn’t drive car, but I was able to continue giving Bible studies and preaching. My dear wife Marina, after having recovered quite a bit from her breakdown, was not only busy with household duties and helping our children with their school work, but also spent a lot of time preparing Sunday school materials as there was little of that in Belgium. And she helped some of the young converts, training them to teach Sunday school, as it was growing, and more and more children were coming. Marina is not an artist, but she drew interesting pictures for her pre-school class, like Zacheus climbing into a tree and Jesus coming and saying, “Come down, I’m going to your house.” However, she did have problems with the language at times and using a wrong word. One day she told a neighbor lady that she was having a baby, which was coming out of her nose……….! 🙂 More next time. (Go to Musings)

Nr.82 ended with: “This is speaking of the Jewish priests, but my Catholic listeners took it to mean their priests, so what now……..?” (See richardandmarina.net).

I explained to them that God no longer dwells in (church) buildings made by hands, Acts 17:24, but that He now lives in every individual believer, 1Cor.6:19 and in all believers together, called “the church”, 1Cor.3:16. Peter says that we, if we are true believers, are being built up as a spiritual house (temple), 1Peter 2:5, 9, and also as a holy (royal) priesthood. In Revelation 1:6 and 5:10 it says that Jesus has made us priests, and this, of course, was a tremendous surprise for these dear people, to hear that if they had truly accepted the Lord Jesus, they were now priests, unbelievable! But I told them not to tell their family or friends because they might think that something had gone wrong with them. 🙂 Imagine, for a Catholic person to say “I am a priest!” And yet that is true and what the Bible teaches.

While still living in Antwerp something happened on a Saturday afternoon. Some of you who have been following this story will remember that I dislocated my right shoulder several times, twice in Bible College and once in California standing high up in the fork of an almond tree with a club in my hands with which to hit the branches and so knocking the almonds to the ground. As I lifted my arms real high my shoulder dislocated again. There I stood, high up in the tree, my left hand holding the right arm, trying to keep my balance and in terrible pain. Someone came with a long pole and put it against my chest to support me. I leaned on it and slowly turned my right arm and amazingly the shoulder knob (head) slipped back into the socket. What a relief! Well, on this Saturday afternoon in Antwerp I dislocated my shoulder again and couldn’t get it back in myself. Marina phoned my co-worker who took me to a Catholic hospital close by, which was run by nuns. They put me out, put the shoulder back in and told me to stay overnight, but there was no bed free, except one, in the maternity ward….……..! (Go to Musings)