First of all I'd like to greet you all with the words of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Peace be unto you all.
I feel privileged that I, as a bondslave of the Lord, can share about the Lord's grace to us and His mercy as He led our people from Russia to China, from China to Australia, from Australia to Canada. By the way of an introduction, I would like to share very quickly where we come from.
As we go around this northern continent and around the world ministering about the messages of the last days, people quite often ask me, "What is your nationality?"
I say "I'm not sure myself anymore." I was born in China of Ukraine parents, so we spoke Ukrainian at home, and the Turkish language in the street while playing with Turkish children as young boys. We spoke Russian, Ukrainian and Chinese in school. I've been wrestling with English for the last 20-30 years, so I'm not sure anymore what nationality I am.
If you want me to be honest, if you want to hear the honest answer; I am a Jew." And they say, "How come?"
"Because I am a son of Abraham by faith and my country is in heaven. I am not fighting for any nationality. I'm not racist, defending this or that race. No race. In Christ Jesus there is no race. To newborn men and women of God in the Lord Jesus, saved and washed by His blood, race doesn't matter.
As we go around ministering we are often asked, "What is your denomination? What affiliation do you belong to? What church do you belong to?"
I say, "Well, the Lord taught me only to speak from the Bible. I love my Word. I want to share from the Word of God and nothing else, so I'll answer that question from the Bible only. I belong to that denomination which was in days of apostles. I belong to the Antiochian church because they were Gentiles, and the first time in history they were called Christians. So my denomination is Christian."
And they say, "Well everybody is Christian." I say, "I beg your pardon, let's check by the Bible to see if everybody's Christian or not."
"I read in my Bible that the only denomination, the only true faith, was one faith. That was apostolic faith and that was established by Christ Himself in the days of apostles, with signs and miracles following. That's the true church; one faith. In heaven it will be one faith also. But anything in between apostolic faith and heaven is just a bunch of fences and cross-fences and barricades and different divisions. That is all man-made and it's not in the Word of God, so please excuse me if I don't belong to any of them. I belong to the first denomination which is called Christians. So if you are satisfied with that, let's leave it at that."
So that's just by way of introduction. People tend to leave me alone after that, because they really want to know what denomination I am. It has nothing to do with denomination. God did not intend any denomination. That is a man-made thing, just branching away and branching away. There is a lot of energy spent in branching away and defending denominations instead of the truth which is here in the Word.
We are going to turn to the Word of the Lord now and after that we will go into a little bit of background and sharing about the mercies of the Lord and how the Lord dealt in Russia and in China. So a little bit in Chapter Two from Judges, and I'll read directly word to word from my old fashioned Russian Bible. You can check to see if that's what it says there in your English. So we will start at verse 6.
"And so when Joshua have let all people go, and so the old sons of Israel went away to their own houses and to their own area in order to receive their inheritance of the land. And so at that time, people of God served the Lord all the days of Joshua and the days of all the elders through all the time and through all those people who they were seeing the mighty works of the Lord which has He performed unto Israel. But when Joshua died, son of Nun, the slave of the Lord" (My Bible says slave of the Lord. In your Bible it probably says 'servant of the Lord', but my Bible says 'slave of the Lord'). "He was being a hundred and ten years, and he was buried in the area surrounding the mount of Ephraim to the north of mount of Gashan. And when another generation arisen which did not know the Lord and all His works which Lord has done to Israel. Then sons of Israel started to do evil in the sight of the Lord, and started to be servants of Baalim. And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers whom He has led out from the land of Egypt and they had turned to other gods, to gods of other nations and which were surrounding them and they started to bow to them and they troubled the Lord and they brought His wrath. They forsook the Lord and started to serve Baal and Astoreth."
And for the second portion of Scripture. We are going to turn to the New Testament, Chapter 18 of Luke from verse one and a few verses.
"He also said a parable about prayer that we ought to always pray and not to faint, Saying, in one city there was a judge which was not of fearing God, and he was not ashamed of people. And so in that same city there was a one widow, and she was coming unto him and said, "Please defend me from my opponent." But he did not want to do that for a long time but then he said into himself, even though I am not a fearing the God and I'm not ashamed of people, but thinks this widow does not give me peace. I'm going to help her so that she will not come and bother me anymore. And the Lord said, Are you hearing what speaketh unjust judge? Would not God protect and defend His elect who are crying to Him day and night even though He is tarrying to help them? Verily I say unto you, He will send their help and protection soon. But when son of man cometh shall He find faith in the earth?"
This last passage speaks about prayer; about perseverance in prayer; about His elect; about the last days and the coming of the Lord. There is a very sad note in the end of this saying, "but when Son of man cometh, shall He find faith in the earth?" He will find many Christians when He comes, but shall He find the living faith in the Lord and His word and His plans for the church of God? So, in my infirmity I'm going to share how the Lord has shown mercy to Russia.
EVENTS IN RUSSIA
The revolution took place in Russia in 1917 and Russia was in for 70 years of great darkness, of atheism and the authorities fighting against God. So the Lord, in His mercy and His providence, decided to send help to Russia and put up a standard there and bring the Light of the Gospel into Russia.
The Lord sent one man from the U.S.A., filled with the Holy Ghost. He sent him to Russia. He was a Russian man, and he came into Russia and started to preach the apostolic message; the message of salvation; the message of sanctification; the message of holiness; the message of dying unto sin; the message of repentance; and the message of also entering into the blessing of the Lord - into the outpouring of the Holy Ghost and the miracles of God's power which are able to be performed when God's people seek His Face.
Russian people were very simple people at that time. The majority of them were farmers. There was hardly any education. The message preached was believed and so a revival broke out in Russia. It spread like a wildfire through many villages, many towns.
Within the first seven or eight years from 1923, when God sent that man into Russia, revival took over the whole of the Ukraine and all of Russia; as far as the Ural mountains which are the mountains running north and south, dividing the Russian mainland from Siberia.
So the Lord was doing mighty things and He was establishing a church there; a living church which was going away from the orthodox church. The orthodox church, as you may be aware, worships idols and icons, crosses and all those types of things.
There were many people, thousands and thousands of people, coming to the Lord through the simple message and the power of the Holy Ghost like in the days of the apostles.
The Lord used those peasants to walk on foot, and go on horses and on carts throughout the whole of Russia. Of course the Lord did not use the modern methods of jets and transportation, or big displays and big campaign advertisements months in advance like they do in America. I'm not judging America. I'm just comparing how the Lord did it in Russia.
My mother was a living witness of the revival that took place. She was in it herself and she's still alive and she's still in Canada with us. She related many mighty things that the Lord did for His glory in Russia. Saving hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people in Russia.
The Lord would pick out men by the Holy Ghost. He would tell them to fast and pray. The Lord would tell them the name of a village, the name of a street, and the name of a person where they should go. The Lord knew who was prepared in that village. The brethren would go there and find the man in the house. He was ready and prepared by the Lord to receive the message. They would start singing. They would start preaching the message and before you knew it, the whole village gathered by the prompting of the Holy Ghost.
They were not eloquent people. They were not people with mighty speech. They were just simple farmers carrying the message and the power of the Holy Ghost, like the simple fishermen in the days of Christ. They were preaching the Gospel, not in their own might, but in the might of the Holy Ghost.
The whole village would gather and before you knew it, most of the village had come to the Lord. They'd be drinking vodka. They'd be worshipping idols and then they'd become repentant. Then they become empowered of the Holy Ghost and miracles would begin to take place all over.
My mother was relating to me that all the miracles that happened in the days of the apostles and throughout the Old Testament, were repeated in Russia. People saw mighty wonders of God including the resurrection of the dead. The Lord was proving Himself a Mighty God, a Living God, even today in this last generation, a generation of unbelievers, a generation of darkness. So this was a direct working of the Lord in Russia.
My mother was sharing that while the revival spread right through the land, the people were really blessed. At that time they did not have many Bibles, because there was no printing press to take care of the needs of the Word of the Lord in Russia. Some Bibles were brought in from the west, from France and from England. There were some Bibles printed in England in the 18th century - but those Bibles were very few and far between.
The Lord taught them by the Holy Ghost, by direct revelation, by visions, by angels, and by the word of prophecy. The Lord taught them without Bibles the principles of holy living, and separation from the world. The Lord taught them the commandment of washing the saints feet so that the Russian revival church practiced the washing of feet. The ladies covered their heads. The Lord taught them that it is the sign, the visible sign of headship in the house, and for the angels that sign must be.
Many other things the Lord taught specifically by the Holy Ghost because people didn't have Bibles. Then, of course, when the brethren had the opportunity to check with a Bible, it was right in the Word. The work of the Holy Spirit was one because the Word and the Spirit is one and it cannot work otherwise. If anybody claims revelation, but it is not there in the Word of God; if they are contrary to it, then we should check and beware.
That was the mighty revival in Russia which took place in our generation. It was a blessing of the Lord and God had prepared Russia for the great and dark hours of the godless atheism and persecution.
As the time went along, around 1928, the Holy Spirit started to speak throughout all groups and churches in Russia. They did not build churches because they had no time. If they had time, they wouldn't have been able to build fast enough, because the people were coming to the Lord in big numbers. There were multitudes coming to the Lord because it was the work of the Holy Ghost - it wasn't the work of man. It wasn't what you call evangelistic meetings. It was the Lord. It wasn't man's programs. Man had nothing to do with it. They were uneducated, simple people of God. It was the work of the Holy Ghost. Believers just gathered in homes.
I asked of my mother, "What was the secret of the continuing presence and the mighty miracles of the Lord in Russia?"
She said, "The secret was the same as it was in the days of the apostles." It was mighty prayers. Russia experienced mighty prayers. People were in prayer daily, all over the villages or whenever the groups gathered. Every night there were prayers. To pray for two, three, or four hours, that was nothing unusual - mighty prayers to God with God revealing, with God speaking, with God rebuking, and God revealing secret sins of hearts right in those prayer meetings.
People were trembling when they were walking to those home meetings. They were walking in the fear of the Lord. They knew the Lord is alive, and that they had better walk very gently, softly, and walk holy, otherwise the Lord would reveal their sin right on the spot as they entered in. The Lord would reveal whatever their shortcomings or sins were. That was the direct work of the Holy Ghost.
About 1928, the Lord had started to speak throughout all those home groups throughout Russia about the things to come in the future. The Lord said by the Holy Ghost, "My children there will be a great starvation coming to this land. And after that there will be a great bloodshed and much suffering in this country. My children, whosoever will believe my voice and obey Me, I'll lead you out into another country and I want to deliver you and save you from the great sufferings which are coming upon this land."
That was the voice of the Lord coming independently throughout the whole Russian area. Many, many people have heard the same message about the days to come. That message came through and of course at that time people were still living very freely, even though it was during communist regime.
It took communists about 16 years to get in power and in strength. From 1917 to about 1933, they left the people very untouched and there was freedom and relative freedom of movement and preaching of the Gospel. There was not much persecution at that time. They really clamped down from '33 and on. Then it was a ruthless time of persecution and trouble for Russia. Before that time there was relative freedom for the Gospel there. People lived very freely. They had their own houses. They had their own cattle. Mostly they were farmers so they had their own farms. They were quite well off. But there was a cost!
The Lord was speaking that He wanted to deliver them from future suffering. So the Lord saved, set a condition, "whosoever believeth My voice and obeys Me, I'll lead them out."
It's not enough to be saved. It's not enough to be, empowered by the Holy Ghost. It's not enough to have miracles. That's all nice and well and it's in the Scriptures and it must be part of the church's life. Yes! It's for the New Testament believers. There will come a time when people have to pay the cost of obedience. Forsaking all for the sake of fulfilling the Lord's will and leave whatever, and go wherever the Lord will lead.
Out of those thousands and thousands of Christians who were used by God in Russia to proclaim the Gospel and to spread the message of the Living God, just a few hundred believed.
The Lord said to them, "My children pray and seek my face and I'll direct you."
Eventually around 1930, probably by 1931, the Lord's message came, "My people, time to move out." First of all the Lord will always speak in advance. As you read the Word of God, just like in the Old Testament, you read it in New that the Lord will always warn His people in advance. He will tell them of the things to come, because Christ promised.
He said, "When I go away, I'll send you another comforter, the Holy Ghost, which will tell you of all the things to come. He will also tell you of all the things that I have taught you." (John 14:26 paraphrased). Yes! That's the work of the Holy Spirit; not only to teach us, to lead us into all truth, but also to tell us the things to come.
That's what the Lord was doing in the days of old. Read the prophets. How many times did the Lord warn God's people, kings and nations about future things to come? Read about that in the Acts of the Apostles.
There was the time when Agabus the prophet came in the midst of the church and said by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, "There will be a famine in the land." Acts 11:28. Nobody knew. Everything was quiet. Everything was still plentiful at that time. God knew what was coming. So the people of God were warned by the Holy Ghost through that prophet in the New Testament age dispensation that there would be a famine. People of God were able to prepare for that and do necessary things, as you read in Acts.
The same Holy Spirit warned the apostle Paul not to go to Jerusalem because bondage was awaiting him there. Who knew that? Nobody but the Holy Ghost, God Himself.
So then we see that we have a Living God right on through the Bible. A Living God, speaking, teaching, rebuking, calling to repentance, but He'll tell you of the things to come as well. He will warn the people of God of future things. He always wanted to save and lead and protect the people of God. It was the same case in Russia.
Around 1931, there was a call of God, "My people, get ready to move out." There were only a few hundred people who were praying and seeking the Lord. "Lord, when do you want us to lead out." "Lord where do you want us to go?" They were praying and fasting because when the Lord warns you there is time to seek the Lord's face. If He warns you of future things to come, of any danger, then that's the time to really fast and pray and seek the will of the Lord for His further instruction.
So they were praying and the Lord said, "My children now this is the next city where you need to go." Being farmers in Russia with horse and buggies, there were no cars or trucks at that time. Russia, even now, is still very backward in way of machinery on the farms.
Anyhow, at that time it was just horse and buggies and there was one central railroad through Russia. The Lord spoke to these farmers who had never traveled more than a hundred kilometers in their lifetime, only to next village, on horse and buggy.
To these farmers the Lord said that He will move them out into another country. That was in central Ukraine, in the area of Kiev, and a little bit south. The Lord told some groups from that area, who were praying and fasting, to move to the next city south. When they came to that city, the Lord told them to move on to another city. He would give the name of the city. He was moving them from city to city, telling them names and addresses like in the days of old. We read that in Old Testament, and we read that in New.
How did the Lord direct those three men to look for Peter? How did they know where to go? They were told the location. They were told the name of a person, where to look for him, and they came right to that house. How did they know? Only by God's direct intervention and by God's direct revelation.
That's the kind of God we believe and that's the kind of God that was working in Russia and in China and He's still alive and well in Canada and America. If anybody is willing to believe the Word of God and have that Living faith because Christ said, "Have faith in God" (Mark 11:22). The Russian Bible says "Have faith of God"
Christ said with a very sad note "but when son of man cometh shall he find faith in earth?" That's the question which should stand in our mind as we minister.
God knew the condition of the churches in general all over the world. That in the last days before His coming that will be the condition. There will be many churches. There will be many believers, but will there be much Living faith in the land? That's the question. Why?
Christ, by His divine wisdom, knows that in the last days before His coming, the church will slumber and then sleep. That's the parable of the ten virgins. The ideal picture is that the people of God will be waiting in the last days. They'll be preaching about the coming of Christ. They'll be waiting for the coming of the Bridegroom. Yet Christ said the same church, the same ten virgins (which is the representation of the pure church) slumbereth and slept.
So that's the basics about the condition of the world wide situation of the church. They were waiting for the coming of the Lord, but then we read that the Lord tarried. There is also a reason why the Lord tarried, but that's another subject.
Anyhow, the people were moving from town to town, by direct instructions from the Lord, telling them where they should go. Like in the days of old, they knew the place to go. Eventually they came to the border of China and there was a test.
If you will remember, in the days of Israel as they were being led out from Egypt, the Lord told them when to start out and move. The Lord told them where to stop. They camped and stayed until the Lord told them to move.
So then a time came for this group of about two or three hundred families who were moving south. They came to the border of Russia and China. There was a stopping place by the border of Russia and China and the people were praying all the time.
Every day they were in prayer and saying, "Lord, what's next?" "Lord what do we have to do now?"
And the Lord said, "My children, just wait and be patient and I'll tell you when to move."
In the meantime they had to feed their children. They had left their cattle. They had left their horses. They had left their land. Everything was left behind.
This was a small group from the whole of Russia; those who decided to pay the price of obedience and leave everything behind. Now wasn't this required of the apostles? Leave everything and follow me." Compare Luke 14:33.
Now is that not the price that Christ requires of Christians even today? If anyone will not forsake of all what he has, he is not worthy to be my disciple." Luke 14:33 Wouldn't that commandment apply to us all even in this modern generation of the twentieth century?
Well, they left everything, and here they had to feed children and these Russian families were with many children. So what did they have to do?
They went searching for work here and there. They went into the orchards. They dug channels for irrigation and different things. Doing anything possible and everything trying to get a piece of bread.
There was a problem of accommodation. There has always been a problem of accommodation in Russia, even now. They had to live someplace. So what did they do? They went a little outside the town and dug little caves into the sides of the mountain. The whole group lived in those caves for quite a length of time, praying and seeking the face of the Lord. "Lord what is next?" That was their dwelling place.
I wonder how many bedrooms they had? Did they have a flushing toilet? - I'm not sure, I didn't ask my mother! Now, did they have running water in the caves when they dug them? Did they have a separate bed and privacy and a locked door? I'm not sure what they had there, but each family lived in a cave, in a hole in the mountain. But praise God, that was a group which was willing to follow the Lord at any cost.
Early in the morning, 5 o'clock in the morning, one brother would come and he'd start to sing a psalm. The Russian people sing lots of psalms. They have been put to a tune. He started out with his big voice to sing a song, a psalm, and then everybody woke up, washed their faces and came out. They start worshipping the Lord right there on the grass. Right in front of their own caves and praising God and ascending their prayers to the Lord and seeking for His guidance, for His direction and for His protection.
Before long, the murmuring started in the camp. Following the Lord is not all carpets and roses. If we read the Bible sincerely, check how the men of old lived. Take a look at how the prophets Elijah, Isaiah, Micah, lived. What luxury did they have? Did they live a luxurious life? Did they live a comfortable life? Did they live a rich life? Consider how many bedrooms Elijah had for his own accommodation, or any of the prophets of old? What about the apostles?
These people were seeking the face of the Lord but still the murmurings started in the camp. They said, "We left our cattle, and we left our milk cows there. There's no milk for children here. Lord what do we do?"
And the people started to complain and murmur. Wives started to complain to their husbands. "Now what? What is this? We are stuck here. There is no going ahead. We don't hear any more instructions from God and Lord told us He would deliver us into a new country. Here we are, still in Russia and we are in such poverty Lord."
People started to complain and then quite a few of them decided to go back to their lands. It was 1931, 1932. Everything was peaceful, there was plenty, and so they said, "we will go back. This must not have been of the Lord." Even though the Lord had moved them supernaturally from city to city. They never had maps to move. There were no geographical maps in those days! So how would they have known what city to go to next, but they were brought to the border of another country! They knew it was of the Lord.
Another uprising started and they began to murmur and complain and quite a big group decided to go back to their cattle, to their farming, their milk cows, the warm houses, and to a degree of comfort, even though their houses couldn't compare to America or Canada today. But still, it was relatively comfortable.
So they were longing, in a sense, after the Egyptian days, like in days of Israelites. Did they not say, "let's get rid of Moses, let us put ourselves in new leaders, and let's go back to Egypt. We had things there differently, we had onion, we had garlic there, we had good things there and now here we will die in the wilderness." Numbers 14:1-4 Paraphrased.
Isn't that the same spirit of unbelief, and the same spirit of murmuring that can be among people of God today? That was the case here.
Following the Lord and His direction and His guidance is not always carpet and roses.
Then during one of the prayers the Lord said, "My children, just be patient and humble yourselves and pray. I'm going to lead you to another country, and I'm going to save you from great trouble and great suffering. Just trust me. But if anybody returns, their children will be taken away from them, and their husbands will go to Siberia," The Lord said that right there on the border of China. "Also some of the mothers will eat the flesh of their babies if you return."
In spite of that warning the majority returned. There were only about forty families left by the border; faithful to stay, to pray and fast and trust the Lord. Of course they were not starving. Yes! They had a piece of bread, but it was not very comfortable to live in the cave. It wasn't very comfortable to depend from day to day upon the Lord, because they had no secure jobs like you have. So, there was no security at all. The only security was in the Lord. They decided to trust, but the rest returned to Russia.
Later on, about a year and half (two years) 1933 came with a big crush on Russia. It was the year of the taking away of old properties, confiscating all belongings, houses, land, horse-carts, horses. Everything went to the government. The food was taken away from the farmers in order to force them onto the collective farms, in order to bring them into the collective government farms. Those who did not want to go, died by way of starvation. Their families did as well. The husbands were taken to Siberia as enemies of the people. So in 1933, 6 million Ukrainians alone died by artificial starvation. Among them were quite a few Christians.
The Word of the Lord was fulfilled and came to pass right to the dot. All those Christian brethren who returned in 1933 were taken to Siberia like God said. Their children were taken away from them and went to the government schools.
When the starvation was happening, some relatives who came to China later on, told them that some of the mothers, being believers, ate the flesh of their babies in the Ukraine because of their disobedience.
So they may say, "How can a God of grace be such a cruel God?" It has nothing to do with cruelty of God. It was sheer disobedience. Just read about the Israelites in Bible. Now, were they not commanded to obey the Lord? Were they not commanded to follow the Lord's commandments and be a holy nation; an obedient nation? But the Lord said, "If you will not, then my blessing will be taken away from you." Don't we read in the Bible that the Israelite mothers, the people of the God, the holy nation, the separate people which God elected unto Himself, ate their children? Yes! They ate them. That was nothing to do with God intending or wanting them to eat their Babies. No! It was the spirit of unbelief. It was the work of the enemy which troubled the people of God. They were not watching and praying enough to stand in the faith and obediently trust in the Lord.
All that came to pass. There was great trouble and many thousands and thousands of brethren went to Siberia. There was great, great trouble from 1933 on in Russia.
In the meantime, a couple of months after the other group went back to Russia, the little group that was left by the border heard the voice of the Lord say, "My children, get ready to move into another country."
So when they were fasting and praying, the Lord divided those forty families into four groups. He named the heads of the families. He said, "My son, you and you and you." The Lord, by the Holy Spirit, named the heads of the families that He divided into groups. "You will be leaving on such and such day at midnight. I'll lead you out into another country."
And so, the Lord, in His divine providence, took them across the border into China. It was only a miracle of God. Only He could lead them across, because they had never traveled that far in their lifetime. They never had guides because they could not reveal their intent. At that time there was already much surveillance in the villages, so they were being watched.
They said, "Lord, we have the government here too in this village where we live; in this city. They're watching us. How can we move, Lord?" And Lord said, "My children, don't worry. I'll lead you out." The Lord told them to leave at midnight.
They were praying from evening right to midnight. When midnight came, they were in prayer seeking the Lord saying, "If you told us, help us, and lead us out." My mother related this to me. For that particular group, at midnight, the Lord raised a great storm. It was such a great storm. There was a very big wind with a big commotion and noise. Even the dogs on the streets didn't bark. Everybody went into hiding. It was a big storm.
Then the Lord said, "My children, it's time to move out." They left in the darkness of the night; at midnight. There was no KGB watching the streets or walking in surveillance. There was nobody on the streets. The streets were empty.
They left from the outskirts of that town, and they went quietly into the darkness. The Lord was leading them through the night. Because it was very close to the border, they soon came to the border. The Lord led them through by the wild paths in the bush.
The Lord was telling them to turn right, turn left, but they didn't know where to go, except that the Lord supernaturally led them. Turning them left and turning them right, group by group, they all went into China.
Yes! But also in spite of God working; in spite of God's miracles; in spite of the Presence of the Lord, there was always an element of man's flesh entering in, trying to disobey and do its own will.
Other groups went through safely without a coincidence. My mother related this about one group. They were being led by the Lord. He was instructing them and the moon was shining, but it was still quite dark. The path they were on was quite wide, and worn. They were on the passage that the Lord had directed them to. All of a sudden the Lord said them, "Turn to the right my children." This was just a little path going into the bush to the right, so they stopped there. A couple of the brethren said, "Well, why should we go to the right? This is a very big path, and it's very easy to walk for our children. We have children. We have our kettles here with water. If we go through the bush we'll be scratching ourselves and we will be doing this and that. It'll be very hard to walk for us and mothers with their children." And so they started reasoning. They said, "No, let's go straight." After that, of course, there was no more voice of the Lord. So they went straight. Do you think they disobeyed? They just walked straight!
Anyway, they were the ones that were to lead. Not very long after this they came into a wet area and they came into a very big swamp. Those two brethren who had taken over the leadership, and had rejected the leadership of the Lord, the divine leadership of the Lord, happened to fall into the swamp. As they started sinking in the mud, they cried, "Lord help us." People had to take off their shirts and quickly make a rope and throw it to them so that they could save them from certain death. That's what it means to disobey the Lord; when you want to do things your own way, and not the Lord's way.
When they came to the shore, they were all soaking wet. The people started to weep and cry bitterly. "Lord forgive us. We disobeyed Your voice, Lord. We wanted to go on the easier path. Lord forgive us, Lord." They were repenting and praying for a couple of hours and there was no voice of God. Eventually, as they were really broken down and really crying before the Lord, the Lord spoke to them in a very stern rebuke.
He told them, "Never, never disobey the commandments of the Lord when He wants to lead you to safety." So the Lord forgave them and the Lord told them to go back to the point that they had to turn. This time they had to turn left. When they turned left at that little, wild path, it led around that big swamp and they went all around that big area. They went around in a circle, but they were all on a dry ground. When they came to the other side, there were animals coming to drink at that swamp.
Once again they were on a big road. The Lord knew to lead them around the swamp, but the people wanted to go straight. So that's just an instance of how it is with the Lord when people want to disobey His word.
Finally they came to China, and of course there were many miracles on the way as they were being led. I will just relate a few of them and proceed on.
Each group was led on a different path and in different ways. One group, as it crossed into China, came into a little wilderness area which was completely desolate with just sand and nothing else. It was a literal wilderness with sand and no growth and no vegetation. They came to that wilderness and they had to walk through.
The Lord said, "Just walk through. Go straight." So they were walking with children on foot. The children were crying. The heat of the sun was burning, and the water in their kettles ran out. They were walking for quite a long time. They were crying, "Lord, we are exhausted. We are thirsty, Lord. Our children are crying. Lord, what we are to do?" The brethren called the group to prayer. They knelt down as the Lord had taught them to.
Our people were taught to pray kneeling down or standing. Never sitting up or lying down. That is to show that God is a Mighty God, King of kings. He's worthy of us bowing down.
They bowed down before the Lord and they started to cry, "Lord, what do we do, Lord? We'll die in this wilderness, Lord, if You do not help us." Then the Lord told them, through the Holy Ghost, "My children, go so many steps to the right and dig."
So they obeyed the Lord. The brethren obeyed the Lord. They went to the right as Lord directed, so many steps, and they started digging. They didn't hardly dig any, about a foot or so as my mother related, and the water came gushing out. They were praising the Lord and they were drinking and then they laid back on the sand, and they drank again. Everybody quenched their thirst. They filled their teapots, and they were glorifying and praising the Lord's Name, that He is even able to supply water in the wilderness where there was no water. So, only the Lord knew where the water was.
So praise be to His name because the Living God, the God of the prophets of the days of old, the God of the apostles is the same still Living God today, in this twentieth century.
All those groups came safely into China and the Lord led them into the same little town where they started to gather again. They were praising God there and then slowly they established themselves.
The land was very rich in China. They came into a mountain area which was an isolated area. There wasn't much population there, but it had very rich soil, so they started to farm and the Lord blessed them mightily.
Quite soon they built very simple houses - mostly mud houses with dirt floor, earthen walls and with some poles for the roof, covered with straw. These were very simple dwellings. But in those dwellings the people gathered for prayers daily. They were mighty prayers. Our people believed in prayers. Prayer was the secret of the apostolic success. As I read in my old fashioned Russian Bible the apostles were in the Word and prayer daily.
Why do the churches want to sleep today? Because the spirit of prayer has departed from the churches. Today the people of God will get busy with anything and everything; man made programs; this and that, but not prayer. After this, the spirit of prayer is lost. Therefore you will find that God's Holy Spirit cannot work. The Lord's Hand is moved through prayers.
So the people in Russia and China believed in mighty prayers. When they prayed, they prayed in one accord like in chapter 4 of Acts. They raised their voice with one accord and prayed, "Lord, help us."
My wife and I were born in China. We grew up there. When the time came that I came to the Lord in China I was at those prayer meetings. Those were mighty prayers when the young people would gather with older brethren, with grandmothers and grandfathers in a room, in a simple hut. Heaven came down and the Holy Spirit came down and talked to the young people, to rebuke them, comfort them, and reveal secrets of the heart. The Lord would bless and miracles would take place in those prayer times, because God loves the praises of His people and their prayers.
We experienced revival in China because the Lord started to send this simple group of forty families. He started to send them into different villages. There were quite a few Slavic villages, because many Russians and Ukrainians had run away from Russia just before the revolution and the big wars of 1914 and 1915.
There was a war between Russia and Germany. There was a big turmoil in Russia, so many thousands of people ran away from Russia while it was still free, while the borders were not yet guarded. The borders were quite free at that time. Many people ran away and settled in that area of China.
So the Lord was sending this little group, telling them where to go and they were preaching the Gospel. Within a very few years, the Lord blessed the church and they gathered the first harvest in China. There were about five hundred members within a few short years. The church was a mighty church. It was a praying church, because it was blessed of the Lord, even in China, with the miracles and signs which were in days of the apostles. The Lord is no respecter of people, but He seeks for those who want to see the face of the Lord. He wants a Living faith which is willing to obey the Lord. The Lord was doing mighty things in China.
From 1932 on, they were going through the villages, but anyhow, the central group was at that town where the Lord brought them; even though there were little groups in different villages. But like a mother church, so to speak, in that town where the Lord originally brought them.
So Lord was blessing His people, but of course at that time people were walking in the fear of the Lord. They were walking in very, very humble obedience to the Word of the Lord, and in obedience to God's commandments and His principles.
This was a separate church from the world and from the lusts of the flesh, lusts of the eyes, because it was just simple farmers and there were no such temptations as you have in America. All this modern age, and modern world - we had nothing of that kind in China. The people were just walking in simple obedience and trust. They were just a humble people of God, being farmers. So that was a group movement from Russia into China.
There were many other movements of the Lord. He moved His people from Russia, but I'll just share one, just one incidence and we'll go on to the Word of God and so we can conclude and share a message.
There was one brother who was living across the Ural mountains, probably about 1500 kilometers away from Kiev, which is central Ukraine. His village was towards the east. He went ministering to the people there in his village. This man was a man of prayer. The Lord was with him and the Lord was teaching him.
The time was coming that there would be a great crush coming on Russia with confiscation, killing and shooting, and finally, exile in Siberia. There were different rumors that there'll eventually be a control on Russia.
So this brother was praying to the Lord, "You know what these people are talking about here. There are rumors that we'll be persecuted and killed in Russia. So Lord, help us, and protect us. Lord save us." On one of the nights while he was praying, the Lord said to him, (his name was Ivan which means John in English) "My son Ivan, I'll lead you into the country of China." In our language China is Kitai. And the Lord said to him, "Get ready for the journey." Then the Lord gave him a night to leave. "On such and such a night at dusk, you are going to leave this village." And Lord told him what to do.
He was a quite well off brother, because he had eight cows and two pure-breed horses. To have eight cows in Russia, in those days, made quite a good farm, because you would have chickens and different things. That was quite a good farming operation.
The Lord said, "Leave your house. Leave your cattle. Leave your pure-breed horses. Leave everything. Put your milk cow onto the horse cart. Harness her and put her onto the horse cart. Take a couple of bags of millet grain and some other food and leave this village at dusk, in the darkness. Leave on such and such a road." The Lord told him to take a side road out of the village, and the Lord gave him the name of the next village where he should go.
So this brother was puzzled, as he had good transportation and his horses were good. But because he was a man of prayer and man of obedience, he decided to obey the Lord. And so, when the night came, he harnessed his cow. The Lord even told him the name of the cow - such and such name of the cow. He harnessed his cow to the horse-cart. He put the lights in the house. He fed his cattle. Fed his horses. Then he put his children and wife on the horse-cart and was quietly leaving the village.
As they were passing through the village, the people of the village saw someone traveling at dusk. They were saying, "Oh no! We have another gypsy coming to our village." Gypsies were traveling through all of Russia. They were stealing. They were doing witchcraft. They were doing all kinds of things, and begging. That's how they lived in Russia. They never worked in Russia. There were many, many gypsies traveling through Russia for many centuries. So the people thought that gypsies were traveling on the cow. It was a common sight that they traveled on the cow.
Now why was this? Why did the Lord do this? Because at that time there was very strict control. People could not move in and out of the villages because Russia was already gathering control on all the people. What did they do in Russia; this lowly prepared population? Each neighbor was told to spy on his next door neighbor and report what that neighbor says, what that neighbor does and where that neighbor goes. So each neighbor spies on the other and reports to the government, to the KGB, without knowing that the next door neighbor was also spying on them! They did that in secrecy and were offered some reward.
People were doing that so movement was checked very closely. So if this brother would have gone on horses, it would have been of immediate notice that he was leaving the village. Nobody was allowed to move from town or from village without permission from the authorities.
We experienced that same thing in China in the communist game. You had to have four stamps on a piece of paper, the reasons for where you go and for how long you go, before you can leave town, for only 10 kilometers out, sometimes. It was the same type of control in China that we experienced, so we know what we are talking about. It was the same condition in Russia.
So then, this brother left quietly. He was taken for a gypsy. The Lord sent him on a side road. Then what happened at midnight on the same night?
Right after midnight the KGB came to take this brother to Siberia because he was proclaimed as an enemy of the people. He was a rich man supposedly, and so his property would have been confiscated that night, and he would have been taken to Siberia and gotten rid of, because they killed many people and some they needed for labor. These they took to Siberia.
Many rich people were just simply shot - taken outside of the village and shot with a machine gun or whatever. They killed many millions of people in Russia, from 1933 on.
So anyhow, this brother left, and when they came to pick him up, there was no man and no family. Just disappeared! They didn't know what to do. Now what happened? The horses were there. Everything was there. Lights on in the house, but no man, and no family. They were amazed! So they waited for morning. They saw tracks leaving the gate and they saw the direction in which he left. They harnessed his horses and they made a big chase along that main road. Of course they were chasing for a long time, but with no result, because the Lord had sent him on a side road.
That man was traveling to the village which the Lord sent him to. The Lord promised that man that He will take him to Kitai, which is China. But of course he hardly had any education. He had no beautiful road maps like people here have. He had no signs of so many kilometers to such and such a town. He had nothing! So he had to totally depend upon the Lord. All he knew was the name of the next village. He was praying all the time. They prayed at night as it was summer time.
They were traveling on the cow. They pastured the cow, and they milked the cow. They used the milk to make porridge from the millet and feed the children. They praised God. If they traveled on horses, they couldn't have milked horses. But they milked the cow.
So the Lord uses the simple, the uneducated, the most unwise of this world to confound the wise and the prudent. The Lord put the KGB to shame by simply letting this man out to security and safety in China on the cow.
When he came to that next village, which wasn't very far, he prayed with his family. "Lord, Lord is this Kitai?" The Lord says, "My son Ivan, this is not Kitai yet. I'll take you to Kitai"
The Lord tells him the next village, and he just moved on. The Lord tells him the next address and so on. Then he has to ask people, "Where is it that village? Where is the road?" He has no map. Russia had no maps in those days, so he would ask people, "Where is that village?" and they'd point him to the road and so he happened to be moving south without knowing where he went.
Like Abraham, did he know the address? Did Abraham know where he went? My Bible says Abraham left his country and he didn't know where he went.
So, this brother was just traveling on and before he knew it, it was the end of summer. It took him all summer to travel from the middle of Russia to the border of China. And here is a disappointment.
He came close to the border, by the direction of the Lord. The Russian border, at that time, was already heavily guarded by German shepherd dogs and constant checking of the guard on horses. So it was already the iron curtain at that time. It was really controlled because the KGB did not want their people to leave. It was very strictly checked.
When they saw this strange sight, a man with a family traveling in direction of China, naturally it was a very suspicious sight. So they caught him. They confiscated his cow. They took his cart away and they made him a prisoner.
They caught some other people also who were appearing very suspicious to them. They made them cut dry grass along the border for hay for their horses. So this brother was weeping at prayer at night. "Lord what is this? You told me you will lead me to safety Lord. You'll lead me to Kitai and here I am. I lost my house, Lord. I lost everything there. I left as you told me, Lord. Here now I lost my cow, Lord. I lost my horse-cart. I have nothing left Lord! What is going on?"
And Lord was comforting him saying, "My son, cheer up and don't worry, I'll take you yet to Kitai. Just trust me. I'll take you to Kitai yet."
He was a prisoner! So they put this family and the families right by the border in the tents as a temporary dwelling place and the men were made to work with scythes, cutting the dry hay. He was working and he was praying. His personal relative told me this story in details. I forgot most of it.
Then one day, all of a sudden, fire breaks out on the grass site. A big fire broke out and then the wind was starting to blow. The dry hay started to burn very quickly. It moved towards the tents but it was quite a little distance yet. The border guards started to panic and they started to run for their life giving different orders and stuff.
The people dropped their scythes and they ran to their tents for their families. They wanted to run for safety and the wind was increasing with force. It was moving very fast on them and the fire was coming at them. The grass was burning and everybody started to run for their life with their children.
So this brother grabbed his wife and children and they were running away from the fire. As they were running they were crying, "Lord, what is this?" They just ran and ran. Eventually they were exhausted. They ran for a long time for safety. When they had run far enough away from the fire, they came to safety. They were totally exhausted and lost their strength to run.
They fell down on the grass and they started to weep and this man was on his knees and going, "Lord, here is my family running and we, Lord, are in such a desperate need Lord. What is this Lord? What is this happening to me? Lord, where am I?" And Lord said to him, "My son, this is Kitai!" He came to China. So the Lord deported him from prison into China by a fire.
This man and his wife started to praise the Lord. They rejoiced and thanked the Lord and the Lord then told them where to go. So they went and they found that group which had already arrived. Those four groups that came to the very same town. They joined it and praised the Lord for His guidance and protection.
So these simple people who believed and trusted the Lord and His leadership never saw the starvation in the Ukraine. They never saw the persecution and the trials. They never saw their children being taken away. They never saw Siberia and all those things which happened to Russia.
To be continued...
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Joseph Herrin
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