Nr.161 ended with: “Oh yes, dear friends, we are on the winning side, our Lord Jesus Christ will ultimately triumph over all evil and I’m excited about that, hallelujah…………….! I hope you are with us?!” (See richardandmarina.net).

As mentioned last week, because of the rapid growth of the work, it was hard to keep up and so we were very thankful that the Lord raised up other workers to help us. The Luesink’s had joined us in ’71, but returned to Canada in ’74, the Gelling’s had come in ’75, the den Boer’s in ’76, the Threadcraft’s in ’79, returning to the USA in ’83, the Symons’ in ’81, Dave Dunlap in ’83, but returning to the USA in ’89, the Gifford’s in ’84. All of these, except Martin and Lydie Symons were foreign workers, but now two other Belgian couples came into the work in 1984, Guido and Marianne De Kegel in East Flanders and Luc and Nicole Vandevorst in Limburg, and more would follow in the years to come.

It was in 1977 that I was invited to Guido and Marianne’s home to explain the Bible and the gospel. You can read about this in episode 135. Guido was a real student and it didn’t take long before he started giving Bible studies, ultimately becoming the best Bible teacher in our churches and maybe in all of Flemish Belgium. He became an elder in the church in Eeklo and finally felt and obeyed the call of God and took the daring step to leave his good job and start working full-time for the Lord. We were delighted. He has had a great influence on the assemblies and getting things more organized. During the pioneers phase of a work, things go spontaneous, but after a while, there needs to be some structure and organization. We see this in the N.T. too with the growth of the churches. And so the work of the Lord grew and the Lord was glorified as His church was being built.

However, the original purpose of “Musings” was not so much to write a story about the work, but rather about our personal lives, which of course includes the work. It is “our” story and how we experienced the reality of the living God, His presence, His guidance, His provisions, His protection, His faithfulness and His blessings and we’ll come back to that the next time…………….! (Go to Musings).

Nr.160 ended with: “We were back in Belgium end 1983 and continued to witness the work of God’s Holy Spirit in the lives of people, and the growth of His church, exciting indeed…………!” (See richardandmarina.net).

From the first of January 1984 we were back in full swing and things were still really moving. In the next 10 years another 10 or so churches would be started and a number of workers would be added. Besides evangelistic Bible studies in homes, there was the work with the churches, the training of teachers and leaders. Conferences were held, regular baptisms, summer camps in full swing, youth weekends, and a once a month Saturday Bible school was started in two places, in Beerse for the people from around there and from Limburg, and the other in Ghent for the people from the Antwerp, East and West Flanders regions. Some 175 people took part. We went through most of the Bible books, as well as church history and other subjects. Many were blessed and grew in their faith and Christian life.

You know dear reader, I follow the news every day, as I want to know what’s going on in the world, but I get so tired of all the bad news that’s brought to us while we don’t realize that there are so many good things happening all over the world. When I think back now to those years in Belgium, people being saved, lives being transformed, broken relationships and marriages restored and so many other wonderful things happening in the lives of people, I praise the Lord.

And even today in 2015, while there is so much evil in the world, there are so many good things going on. At least 80.000 people are becoming Christians every day, while atheism is losing 300 people a day. Never have there been so many Christians in the world as right now. 3.500 new churches are being started every week all over the world. Not only that, but so many positive things are being done by Christians everywhere, in needy places, like prisons, hospitals, orphanages, halfway houses and so on. So many Christian organizations are sending help to people in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and other places. $545 billion dollars are given to Christian causes every year, that is $1.5 billion a day. More than 71 million Bibles will be distributed this year. But these things don’t make headlines in our newspapers or on TV, yet they are happening, praise God. Oh yes, dear friends, we are on the winning side, our Lord Jesus Christ will ultimately triumph over all evil and I’m excited about that, hallelujah…………….! I hope you are with us?! (Go to Musings).

Nr.158 ended with: “You see, our God is alive and well, He is real indeed, what about yours……….?” (See richardandmarina.net).

Yes, God is real indeed, we experienced that in so many different ways, small ones and large ones. We experienced that in the inward peace He gave us, in guiding us in such wonderful ways, in the conversion of so many people, different kinds of people, and the changes that happened in their lives. But also in our financial situation to which I have referred before, but to which I want to come back now as we had been in Belgium for more than 10 years. As you may know we did not have a set salary, we lived from gifts of the Lord’s people in Canada and a few in the USA. We trusted God to move the hearts of people. During those years the value of the dollar in regards to the Belgian Frank, now replaced by the Euro, changed quite a bit.

I think it was during our second year that the Canadian dollar was worth about 74 francs, but it didn’t stay there very long. It started going down to 50 francs and then to around 40, where it stayed for quite some time. Before the Euro came, in the dollar had gone down to 22 francs, can you imagine? And now comes the amazing thing, as the value of the dollar went down, our support went up and more and larger gifts came in, without our supporters realizing what was going on. It was really incredible. I have to be honest, as the dollar went down, we worried at times as to what would happen to us, but time and again, more support came in to make up for the loss, really amazing. We discovered that there was indeed Someone working behind the scenes and directing all this, praise God!

And this has continued through the years right up to the present. I will tell you more later. But it hasn’t always been easy and we have known difficult times too, we have not always been able to buy what we would have liked to have had, but He never promised to meet all our wants, He did promise to meet all our needs, and He has been faithful, and we thank and praise Him, as well as the people who allowed themselves to be used by Him to help us.

We have to honestly admit that there are many things about God and His ways we don’t understand, but we know that He is and “that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Hebr.11:6. He has proven Himself many a time to us and we’ll tell you more later……………….! (Go to Musings).

Nr.156 ended with: “Our home was often a busy place, three churches were started in our living room, and mom and dad were pretty involved, which wasn’t always so easy for our children……!” (See richardandmarina.net).

Moving several times was difficult for our children, because of change of schools, surroundings, friends, etc. When a new church was started in our home, on Sunday mornings the girls would have to get up in time to clean up their rooms and make their beds, because the rooms were used for Sunday school. Mom was on the phone quite a bit and Dad was away a lot. Many an evening when I left home to visit or give a Bible study somewhere, I would thank the Lord that He had given me girls and not boys, because if it had been boys, I would have had to stay home to play ball with them, but girls were the mother’s responsibility. That, of course, was totally wrong thinking, I realize that now, but not at that time. I understand now that girls need their father just as much as their mother.

And that’s not the only mistake I made as a father. I have apologized to our daughters, and one day when I was talking to one of them and said that I was so sorry, and that I had made so many mistakes, and that I wished I could do it all over again, she smiled and answered, “Oh Dad, if you had to do it all over, you would make other mistakes.” She has three daughters herself and knows that perfect parents don’t exist, and neither perfect kids. Before I had children I used to tell parents how to raise their children, but once I had my own, it was quite another story.

However, there are positive sides to being a missionary child too, learning and becoming fluent in a second language. Living in another culture, which broadens one’s mind. Travelling, both back to the home country for furloughs and seeing the grandparents, other family members and old friends again. But also enjoying holiday times in Europe. Besides the yearly one week Foreign Workers Conference, usually in France, we had also spent two weeks one summer in Switzerland using a camper that had been loaned to us by a dear Christian brother. And another summer we spent two weeks in a house of missionary friends in Austria, while they went camping with a tent. Great times!

All three girls attended Capernwray Bible School, Rosa and Renee the winter session in southern Germany and the Spring session in England, while Lily only attended the winter session in Germany. We would take them down in September and pick them up for the Christmas holidays, after which we would take them back again. One time, after having taken one of the girls back the beginning of January, driving home late at night on a very, very lonely road in southern Germany, with a temperature of minus 20 Celsius, our small diesel car stalled, the filter was frozen. There we sat, out in the nowhere, and no other car on the road and no house in sight……………! (Go to Musings).

Nr.155 ended with: “But the enemy didn’t sit still either and difficulties arose in our church in Beerse………..!” (See richardandmarina.net).

That difficulties arose in the small church in Beerse, was in a way, not strange. Look at the N.T. churches. Paul writes to the Galatians, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel.” Gal.1:6. “So soon!’ Yes, wrong teaching was coming in already. That is one problem that arises, but of course there are others. One of the most common difficulties is relationships. That is also the greatest problem in the world, from fights to marriage problems to family feuds to outright wars. Jesus came to restore relationships, first of all between God and men, and then between people, but that doesn’t go automatically and takes effort.

There was no false doctrine coming into the church in Beerse, but there was some friction between some believers, others were having marriage problems and some were becoming lukewarm. There was also a lack of leadership, and all this together caused the attendance to go down, and seeing it was a small church already, this was disappointing. One Sunday morning when I arrived there, there were only five people at the meeting, very sad and discouraging. Some friends figured I was wasting my time and they suggested closing the place and letting the Christians go to another church in the next town.

I drove home and went to my study, took my Bible and got down on my knees by a chair with the Bible open before me at Matt.16. I started praying and reading the words of Jesus in verse 18, “….. I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” I said, “Lord Jesus, these are your words. You said that You would build your church. You said that the gates of hell would not prevail against it, but Lord Jesus, in Beerse the gates of hell are prevailing, are You going to allow that? I will visit people, I will preach and teach, but You must build your church.” I prayed on like this for quite some time. Today there is a church in Beerse with about 45 people, which is not bad for a European Catholic country. They have their own building and two elders are leading the church. Evangelism is taking place and last year several people were baptized, praise the Lord. In 1997 the Henry Heikoop family came from Canada to Beerse and lived and worked there for three years. They were a great help in many ways and had a wonderful testimony in the town.

I wrote this to show that there is a battle going on, that there is an enemy, but at the same time, that there is a way to beat him. It is by prayer and standing on the Word of God.

Our home was often a busy place, three churches were started in our living room, and mom and dad were pretty involved, which wasn’t always so easy for our children……….! (Go to Musings).

Nr.154 ended with: “Yes, it was a real battle, but God was with us and it was indeed really worth it, you’ll see………..!” (See richardandmarina.net).

It’s 1982 and we had been working in Belgium now for ten years and much had happened, which made the battle worthwhile. Hundreds upon hundreds of people had been saved, baptized and become part of a local church. There was an assembly in Antwerp, one in Beerse and eight in the province of Limburg, amazing! Three churches in East Flanders and three in West Flanders, 16 in total, all praise to the Lord! As far as workers was concerned, the Gelling’s had joined us in 1975, the den Boer’s in 1979, the Threadcraft’s in December 1979 and Martin and Lydie Symons in 1981. In January 1980 a young woman, Joanna Groen came to work with us in Ghent. She went back to Canada and got married to her boyfriend Pete Gifford in June ’81. They came to Belgium as missionaries in May 1985, more about them later.

Besides evangelism and Bible teaching, we started churches and began training leaders for these. We also held conferences, and camps for children and youth during the summer. There was lots of activity going on and the Holy Spirit was moving, really amazing for a difficult West European and Roman Catholic country. Word of the Lord’s blessing got around and I was invited to come and speak at conferences in other countries. During this period I was in Sweden, France, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Spain, Italy, Austria and Switzerland. And everywhere the Lord blessed the ministry and missionaries and church workers were encouraged. And to most of these countries I returned later for more conferences. It was so uplifting to see discouraged missionaries and workers getting enthused again, yes, it was worth the battle. All the messages were taped and I heard of one instance where a worker somewhere in southern Germany got a hold of the tapes, listened to them some 20 times and started putting into practice what I had taught. The last I heard was, that he now has a church with 175 members, praise the Lord!

In the mean time while I was gone, Marina was holding the fort, looking after the well being of our children, and their schoolwork, answering the phone and counseling and praying with people over the phone. She taught Sunday school and trained others for that, she had her hands full, but it was worth it, there also, as it was such a blessing to see young believers becoming active and teaching and helping.

But the enemy didn’t sit still either and difficulties arose in our church in Beerse………..! (Go to Musings).

Nr.153 ended with: “But there was another reason why we had problems……..!” (See richardandmarina.net).

When God created the world and mankind, God’s enemy, Satan, appeared almost immediately to attack. Within a short time of Jesus being born, Satan, using king Herod, tried to kill Him. When Jesus wanted to start His ministry, He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness and was there attacked by the devil. And through the next few years Jesus was constantly under attack. When the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost and the Church was born, Satan came and stirred up opposition, and persecution of the new believers started.

The Christian life is a battle, not a Sunday school picnic. It is warfare. When I accepted Jesus I became very conscious and aware of the presence of God, but I also became aware of an another presence, an evil one. God is real, but so is the devil, and anyone standing up for God will experience that. And that’s one reason why we have problems, and in a sense that’s a good sign, because it means he is afraid of us and of what we are doing. I have often said that the only place where there are no problems, is at the cemetery, but there they are all dead. So if the devil never bothers you, you may well wonder whether you have any life.

Wherever God is at work, there will be opposition and problems. And God was at work in Belgium, and we experienced the opposition, in many different ways. The enemy attacked our spiritual life, our health, our marriage, our family, our ministry and so on. All kinds of things happened, some people who had seemed to be so genuinely converted left us and turned their backs upon us, which was heart rending. There were problems between believers, which is not abnormal, but not easy. There were problems with leaders in the church. We experienced a church split in one area, But thank God, sometime later these dear folk met and confessed things to each other and reconciliation took place. But it had taken a lot of time and energy, and it was very tiring at times.

A couple times, I became so overwhelmed with the problems that I told my wife, “Honey, pack the suitcase, we’re going back to Canada, I’m so tired, I can’t take anymore.” But 15 minutes later I turned around and told her to unpack because we just couldn’t leave, not as long as the Lord who had called us, had not given the word. From then on whenever I would tell her to pack the suitcase, she would wait 15 minutes before starting……! 🙂

Yes, it was a real battle, but God was with us and it was indeed really worth it, you’ll see……………….! (Go to Musings).

Nr.152 ended with: “God’s Spirit was moving and every week some were saved. The words of Psalm 118:23 come to mind, “This was the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.” But, ……….. there were problems too…………….!” (See richardandmarina.net).

Of course, there were problems, one cannot have babies without dirty diapers! And we had a lot of babies, “baby” Christians. The Lord had saved them and they were now on their way to heaven, but God had more in mind than that alone. In Romans 8:29 it says that we are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. In other words, God wants to make little “jesusus” out of us. Can you image what a world full of little “jesusus” would be like? Man was originally created in God’s image, but that image was messed up because of sin, so God sent a new image of Himself, His Son. He died for us and paid for our sins, was buried and then rose again, so as to be able to give us new life through His Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit now works in us to make us like Christ, but this is a lifelong process and is not so simple.

People become Christians, wonderful, but now things need to change in their lives and that can be painful and difficult at times. It is one thing to have someone become a Christian, it is quite another thing to have this person live like Christ as a true disciple of Him. Like in a family, all parents know that it is one thing to have a new baby, it is quite another thing to raise that child to maturity. In the case of discipleship, there was a lot of teaching and counselling involved, but it was wonderful to see people grow in their faith and change and become true disciples.

One of the instruments God uses to refine us is the Church. When we become born again Christians, we become part of the universal Church of Christ, but God also wants us to be part of a local assembly or church. Notice how often the church is mentioned in the N.T. Hebrews 10 speaks of “not forsaken the assembling of each other.” Every born again Christian is like a rough diamond, but just as diamonds need to be cut, so also Christians. And so God puts us together in the church and our rough sides rub with each other. This can produce heat, and sometimes it gets to be too hot and the Christian says, “I’m not coming any-more, I can believe on my own.” But that is running away from God’s refining process and that’s too bad because He wants to make beautiful diamonds out of us! (Go to Musings).