Nr.141 ended with: “And we saw many believing, not only in our area, but also in other parts of Belgium, wonderful! Much was happening……………….!” (See richardandmarina.net).

Yes, for a period of about 20 years, from the early ‘70’s to the early ‘90’s, we had an “open door” in Belgium. People were confused and didn’t know what to believe anymore. When a seminary professor who later became a bishop didn’t know whether he was going to heaven when he died, and when religious teachers were telling the children in school that the Bible wasn’t trustworthy and was full of scientific nonsense and historical mistakes, what were they to believe? When our three daughters were taught in a very Catholic school that Jesus did not really rise from the grave, because “that just isn’t possible”, what can one expect? So this gave us a tremendous opportunity to preach the Bible as the true word of God and to present the real gospel as the unchanging good news message from God. And when some believed and their lives changed, others became interested and started attending our Bible studies. And so over a period of 20 years 24 churches were started, actually a few more, but after a while a couple small ones merged, and a couple small assemblies among the Belgian soldiers stationed in Germany discontinued due to the soldiers having been withdrawn from that country.

But that special period of blessing and growth stopped, a period in which new people became born again Christians every week, or at times on the average, every day. Why did it stop? No one knows. Throughout church history we see that at certain times and/or in certain places or areas, God did a special work. And so He did in Belgium, and we were privileged to be part of it. At the same time I believe our way of evangelism and church planting had something to do with it too. We did not do much traditional evangelism, like door to door visitation, open air meetings and campaigns and so on. We found that the best place during that time was in people’s living rooms. That’s where we had our Bible studies and that is also where a number of churches were started. Much like in N.T. times, notice the phrase “the church in their house” in Paul’s epistles. Maybe we ought to get back to that, or, as time goes on, we may be forced, due to persecution, to go back to that, as is already happening in many parts of the world. Are we preparing for that………? (Go to Musings).

Nr.140 ended with: “We got talking about the Bible and at a certain moment I quoted Jesus’ words in John 14, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Her reply? “Who says Jesus said that?” Then I was dumbfounded…………..!” (See richardandmarina.net).

Yes, I was indeed, and I asked her to repeat what she had just said. So she said again, “Who says Jesus said those words?” To be honest, I became a bit irritated and answered her, “But it says that clear and plain in John 14.” “Oh yes” she replied, “but our college professor told us that Jesus’ disciples saw Him as the way, the truth and the life, and when they wrote the gospels they put those words in his mouth as though He had said them, but we don’t really know whether He did or not.” I was quiet for a moment and then said, “But what then did Jesus say and not say?” “We don’t know” she answered. “Well, who does know?” I replied. “The theologians” she answered. I smiled and said, “It is hard to find two theologians who agree. No wonder the girls you teach are not interested in what you tell them. Jesus says in Matt.15:6b, “You have made the word of God of no effect (powerless) by your traditions.” In other words, according to you, we could all have our own Bible, according to what each of us picks and chooses.” End conversation. Now dear reader, maybe Catholics reason differently in the country where you live, but this is the way it is in Europe, aside from a few exceptions. This is what is taught in the schools and this is what we were up against.

The word of God has power, real power! It isn’t just given for information, but just as much, or maybe even more for transformation! It is meant to change the lives of people. Physical healings are miracles, but the greatest miracle is the power of the word of God to change character, that’s what’s most needed in this world. We need something to transform people’s hearts from being selfish to unselfish. I wish I could tell you about the people I saw changed by the word of God. I would love to tell you about all the changed lives of alcohol and drugs addicts, broken marriages, homosexuals separating, etc. too much to mention here. That is what it is all about and all of this because of the gospel and a personal relationship with God. That’s why I continue to be really excited about the gospel, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, see Romans 1:16-17.

And we saw many believing, not only in our area, but also in other parts of Belgium, wonderful! Much was happening……………….! (Go to Musings).

Nr.139 ended with: “One night a professor from a Catholic Seminary attended, you can read about it in nr.67. What a shock his words were for the group of catholic people there……….! (See richardandmarina.net).

After I had given the Bible study and answered some questions, I asked the professor for his opinion of the Bible, you can read his answer in nr.67 on our blog http://www.richardandmarina.net. I also asked him whether he would go to heaven when he died. He said “no”, and that nobody could know that. I told him that I did and that I was sure I would go to heaven. I had everyone look up 1John 5:12, “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.13, These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” The Catholic people present were so shocked that one of their seminary professors, who would later become bishop, did not know whether he would go to heaven.

Over the years I have talked to at least 55 Catholic priests in Belgium, none of them was sure they would go to heaven except one, an abbot (head of a monastery). He told me that he had sacrificed so much for God that he would go to heaven for sure. “I have certainly earned it, if I don’t go to heaven, no one will,” his own words! How terrible sad. If the leaders don’t have assurance, or the wrong assurance, what of the people they teach and lead? What a mission field!

A woman, who was a teacher of religion in a girl’s high school, invited me to come and speak to the girls of two combined classes. She told me that these girls had no interest whatever in God or the Bible. I spoke for 1½ hours and you could have heard a pin drop, the interest was immense. Afterward she took me to a restaurant for coffee and to talk. She was dumbfounded and asked me how I did it to create such an interest. We got talking about the Bible and at a certain moment did I quote Jesus’ words in John 14, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Her reply? “Who says Jesus said that?” Then I was dumbfounded…………..! (Go to Musings).

(PS. Seeing many are away during the holiday season, July and August, I will just post one episode a week).

Nr.138 ended with: “And then there was a conference in Switzerland…………….!” (See richardandmarina.net).

Yes, an invitation had come from International Teams (IT) to speak in August ‘77 at their European Workers Conference in Switzerland, which was only a day’s drive from us. It was a wonderful time indeed and we met some great people. Les and Sharon Frey from our home assembly in Canada were there, they were part of a team working in Spain. I had married them some years before this. We also met Joe and Lois Black from the US who were engaged in the Lord’s work on the island of Sicily.

At the end of the conference a few of us got talking about having a workers conference on a regular base. Joe and I decided that he would organize it and I would do the speaking, at least for the first few years. Marina would get things organized for the children. And so the Christian Workers Conference (CWC) for English speaking missionaries in Europe was started. From then on we met every year at the end of August for one week. Usually we came together somewhere in France, but we were also in Germany at least once. Almost every year more people attended and once there were about 175 adults and children, but the numbers go up and down due to people being ill, on furlough, etc. They have been such encouraging and blessed times, really refreshing for both the missionaries as well as for the children. Often driving home after the conference our children would be crying as they missed their new found friends so much. This yearly conference is still ongoing.

Back to Belgium now, where things were really moving. I started a home Bible study in Ghent which grew into a small assembly in 1978. It is still going today, 2015, but much larger and they now have their own building. But more about this later, for much has happened in Ghent.

A Bible study was also started in Maldegem, in the swimming pool. Not in the water, of course, :-), but in a separate room. This was really something unheard of, a man preaching from the Bible in a swimming pool and it caused some to come just out of curiosity. But a little later we moved into the living room of a young couple, I’ll call them Gerard and Griet. They soon became born again believers and so did a few of their relatives and friends. One night a professor from a Catholic seminary attended, you can read about it in nr.67. What a shock his words were for the group of Catholic people there………………….! (Go to Musings).

Nr.137 ended with: “And then there were the camps, and the conferences…………! (See richardandmarina.net).

Marina has always had a passion for children. In Canada she was Child Evangelism director in SW Sask. and held Bible clubs in different towns and taught others to do this. In Belgium she organized the Sunday schools of some of the new churches, teaching and also training others to teach. Of course, a camp had to be started and we soon did this after getting established in Belgium. We began with a one week summer camp for children and youth and when we left Belgium in 2009, it had grown to three camps for children, two for younger youth and one for older youth. However in Belgium there were no nice lake front camping places with cabins like in Canada, we continually had to look for places and we used all kinds of buildings and/or tents. We have had camps in many different places, too many to name them all, but through the years they have really been used of God and many have come to know the Lord there or have had a fresh touch from God.

I have always been a real proponent of conferences and so is the Lord, I believe. Look at all the Jewish feasts in the Bible, times when God’s people would get together. We gathered the young Christians together at our baptism services, at picnics and then we started holding conferences, usually using the Belgium Bible College building. We have held Sunday school and women’s conferences, as well as men’s days, and the very much blessed family conferences, and these times were real feasts.

One of those conferences caused us to choose a name for our churches. From the beginning we did not want a name; we didn’t want to become another denomination. But one Saturday we came to the College for a one day conference, while the BEZ (Belgium Gospel Mission) was also holding a special day. There was a sign with an arrow pointing to the right and the words “BEZ Meeting.” There was another sign pointing to the left which said “Haverkamp Churches Conference.” That did it. I was not at all happy with that name and so after prayer and discussion we decided to call our assemblies Evangelische Christengemeenten Vlaanderen (ECV. Evangelical Churches of Flanders).

And then there was a conference in Switzerland…………….! (Go to Musings).

Nr.136 ended with: “Are you born again? Are you family members born again? And what about your neighbors? Maybe you should share some of these musings with them…….!” (See richardandmarina.net).

There is always joy when a new baby is born; we have had lots of joy as we have seen so many spiritual babies born all over Flemish Belgium, wonderful! But it’s not only that, there is also joy seeing these babies grow and become spiritual adults and even leaders.

Because our living room was getting to be too small we started looking for a building to meet in, but that was not easy. There was nothing suitable in Lovendegem, so we started looking in towns around us and finally found a building in the city of Eeklo, about 13 km north of Lovendegem, a place of about 25.000 people without any evangelical church, as is the case with most cities and towns in Belgium. Eeklo was also the town where a few years later our three girls would go to a Catholic high school which had about 3.000 students.

After some time the church moved to Eeklo to an old rented store that we had fixed up. The large room on main floor was the meeting room, while the living quarters upstairs were used for Sunday school classes. We had a few people from Ghent and also from Maldegem, a town west of Eeklo attending. In time to come Bible studies were started in these places and ultimately new churches.

As we were busy in our area, I also kept going back to Limburg a couple times a week to teach Bible studies and visit people, and I helped in Beerse too from time to time. But there were also other activities going on. It is of course impossible to talk about everything that happened, but let me mention a few. For about 4 or 5 years we held a church picnic on Ascension Day in a large park just east of Beerse. Those were wonderful times as we had anywhere from 150 to 300 people attending. We would have lots of games, or people would just sit around and talk. We would eat together and later on in the afternoon there would be singing with Marina playing her accordion and a number of people guitar. The day would be closed off by either Henk or I giving a brief message. These were great times of keeping in touch with each other and fellow-shipping together. They were discontinued when churches started having their own picnics.

And then there were the camps, and the conferences…………! (Next episode Friday, June 26)(Go to Musings).

Nr.135 ended with: “Guido and Marianne heard the truth and accepted it, this dear lady heard it too, and rejected it. What are you doing with the truth, what are you doing with Jesus………..? (See richardandmarina.net).

Quite a number of the new believers had come along to Beerse to be baptized, and great was the joy! We felt the time had come to start a church here in Lovendegem. What is a church? A group of born again believers who come together on a regular base to celebrate the Lord’s death and resurrection, to study the Word, to pray and to spread the Good News. So we started meeting on Sunday mornings, still in our house, singing, “Breaking bread”, preaching the Word and having Sunday school. By now there were three classes with children. Marina taught one, one of our daughters another, and a couple young converts taught the third class, after Marina helped them during the week to prepare a lesson. It was interesting to see that those who started teaching grew spiritually faster than those just sitting in the meetings listening.

You’ll have to pardon me if I repeat some things, but I have just stood amazed again and again at God’s work in the hearts and lives of people everywhere, in Antwerp, Beerse, Limburg and now here in East Flanders. Amazed at the miracle of the new birth, of which Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”, John 3:3. And with “see”, He means of course, “understand.” We use that word too when we explain something to someone, as we will often end by saying “you see?” You understand? You get it? Well, I have seen so many people “get it”, it is so real. I have often seen the expression on their faces change when the light dawned.

And it’s the same for all kinds of people, of all kinds of background, age, level of education, color and you name it, absolutely amazing. God is real. The Gospel is real. The Holy Spirit is real, and so is the new birth! Many a time people have told me that they don’t understand God, or the Bible, etc. I have answered by telling them that they are proving what Jesus and the Bible are saying. You can’t understand until you are born again, and that happens when you are willing to admit that you have sinned, and accept Jesus into your heart. Have you done that? Are you born again? Are you family members born again? And what about your neighbors? Maybe you should share some of these musings with them…….! (Go to Musings).

Nr.134 ended with: “I would be back in France at least 10 more times in the years to come. Later this year I would also be in Sweden, but now it was back to Belgium, where exciting things were happening………….!” (See richardandmarina.net).

Yes, back to Lovendegem where people kept coming. New ones came as relatives witnessed to them. So did I get to go to the home of Guido and Marianne Dekegel (real names) on a Wednesday evening in April 1977, after Marianne’s mother had become a true born again Christian and kept asking her daughter and son in law to have me come and visit them. They finally agreed and we had a wonderful evening together. Guido had been to two Catholic boarding schools and the very negative religious experiences there had turned him off as far as God was concerned. However, after explaining the Bible and the true gospel to them, they both accepted the Lord after I had left the house. No one knew at that time that sometime in the future Guido would become a wonderful full-time worker, which is why I use their real names.

But not all who were contacted, visited or came to the study became Christians. So was there one elderly neighbor lady, who came to a Friday night study. She was in the eyes of many “Lovendegem’s newspaper”, as she always seem to know everything about everybody and made sure that everybody else got to know it. I was going through Romans one and two. When I was finished, she just called out spontaneously, “That’s the truth mister, that is really the truth. I’m coming back next week and bringing my friends along.” She never came again! She had not lived a very moral life and now she was faced with the truth. She realized that knowing the truth, she either had to change her ways, or reject the truth, which she did, how sad! How true this is, there is no in between, we accept the truth, we accept Jesus, or we reject Him, there is no middle ground. As Jesus Himself said, “He that is not with Me is against Me” Matt.12:30. Guido and Marianne heard the truth and accepted it, this dear lady heard it too, and rejected it. What are you doing with the truth, what are you doing with Jesus………..? (Go to Musings).

Nr.133 ended with: “So now there were four churches, Antwerp, Beerse, Peer and Koersel, and a fifth one would be started soon, and that all in five years, the Holy Spirit was moving, amazing…………!” (See richardandmarina.net).

Yes indeed, amazing, and yes indeed, it was the moving of God’s Spirit, certainly not our work, we were just the instruments He used at that time, and what a great privilege to be used by Him. It was really something for a European Catholic country to see people converted almost every week. And we saw this happening in East Flanders too. Lovendegem was the name of the town we had moved to, about 20 minutes drive NE of Ghent. The Bible study at Luc and An’s place was moved to our house. Those attending had friends and relatives who became interested and I visited some in their homes. Several started coming to the Friday evening study and conversions took place at a rapid pace so that by summer we had some 60 adults and children in our living room. After singing together, Marina would take the children to another room and teach them, while I would give the Bible study.

The word of God’s blessing spread and I was asked by OM (Operation Mobilization) to speak at a workers conference in France, in the Château de St. Albain (close to Macon). The other speaker was a wonderful servant of God, Ralph Shallis, who died in May 1995. He had been a missionary and lecturer in North Africa and France. We had a great time encouraging the workers, some of whom were quite discouraged as France, like other European Catholic countries, is very difficult and not open to the gospel.

They wanted to know what we did to see such conversions and such church growth. They asked what our “secret” was. Of course, we did not have any “secret”, just a lot of prayer, enthusiasm, love for the people and home Bible studies where we preached and taught the word of God. It would take an epistle to explain everything and I may come back to this later.

I believe many of these dear folk went home encouraged, ready to put into practise what they had heard. There would be many more conferences like this. I would be back in France at least 10 more times in the years to come. Later this year I would also be in Sweden, but now it was back to Belgium, where exciting things were happening………….! (Go to Musings).

Nr.132 ended with: “What to do? Who to turn to? Well, there was only one sensible thing to do, I grabbed my Bible and started reading where I had left off the day before……..….!” (See richardandmarina.net).

I was reading the book of Acts and that morning I came to chapter 16. I read verses 6 and 7, “Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.” Something drew my attention and I read it again. The apostle Paul wanted to preach in Asia, but was not allowed by the Holy Spirit. Then he wanted to preach in Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit him. Strange and amazing, here was someone whom we may easily call “the greatest apostle of all times” and he wasn’t sure of the will of God. Twice he wanted to go somewhere, but the Lord stopped him. It really hit me and lifted me, Paul wasn’t sure of God’s will, but he kept moving, and as he moved the Spirit guided him.

Wonderful! Gone were my doubts. We had been praying all along that God would guide us. We felt we were on the right path and the Lord had not stopped us or redirected us, so we would go right on. Much later it became evident that this was indeed the will of God, as many people were saved in East Flanders and later in West Flanders and that 7 churches came into being in those two provinces in less than 10 years.

And so we moved, praise the Lord, a new adventure with Him. My co-worker, Henk Gelling went with me to visit the prostitute in “The Blue Room” in Antwerp, who was the owner of the house in Koersel, to ask whether the Gelling’s could take over the contract before the three year expire date. She was very nice and there was no problem, and so after we had moved out, the Gelling’s moved in, from Peer to Koersel. And even though we had already had Bible studies in that house and from time to time had celebrated the Lord’s Table there, now, on the third Sunday of January 1977, the official start of the new church in Koersel took place, praise God. So now there were four churches, Antwerp, Beerse, Peer and Koersel, and a fifth one would be started soon, and that all in five years, the Holy Spirit was moving, amazing…………! (Go to Musings).