CLTP 32
Power and Protection!--Part 22
Thrilling Miracles from Our Worldwide Family!!
February 1997
Copyright 1997 by The Family
(For 9 years old and up. Selected stories may be read with younger children at the adults' discretion.)
Table of Contents:
Thou Shalt Hear a Voice
1
The Angelic Deer
2
Night Visitor
3
Followed!
3
Our Protecting "Angel"
4
His Never-Failing Protection
5
Down to the Last Drop!
6
Just a Routine Prayer
6
A Life-Saving Prayer
7
Angels All Around Us!
7
The Bus Trip
7
(Editor's note: The following thrilling, true-life accounts of the Lord's miraculous and awe-inspiring intervention have been gathered from testimonies sent in by you, our Family members around the world. Some of these events happened quite some time ago; others are more recent. In some cases, the article was sent in written in the dramatic style you will see below, and little editing was done by us. In other cases, we have done a bit more editing to make for exciting reading, since this was going to be a special "Power and Protection"-type issue. We hope you will have as much fun reading this as we have had preparing it for you!)
* * *
"Thou Shalt Hear a Voice ... "
"The chilly night air was pierced by the sound of screeching rubber ..."
From Arnie (of Aqua), Germany
Pull over at the next gas station! the Lord said to me very clearly.
"But Lord," I argued, "I don't need gasoline! Besides, the gas is cheaper in Stuttgart!"
A sign announcing "TANKSTELLE (gas station) 3 KM" flashed by.
Again the Lord's voice spoke to my heart.
"But Lord, I'm tired and it's already 3 A.M. I've got to get back home. If I stop now, I'll lose another 15 minutes and ... "
TANKSTELLE 1 KM zoomed by.
Like a father speaking to an errant child, the Lord spoke more firmly: You must stop!
I struggled to analyze and rationalize all of the reasons I was sure it was better to keep on driving. I had driven early the previous morning to Frankfurt to attend an important organizational and outreach meeting. The business had stretched late into the evening and it was almost midnight before I began the long drive back. I was pooped! Besides, the Family at home needed me, the van was needed for a road trip, and yes, the gas in Stuttgart was cheaper than at the Autobahn (highway) Tankstelle. All these thoughts besieged my weary brain as the final exit sign neared: Ausfahrt.
Somehow the Lord managed to get through my confusion. I punched the blinker signal and checked the mirrors. I was already in the slow lane and was on the tail end of a line of Dutch holiday makers heading for the Schwarzwald (Black Forest).
Lightening my foot on the accelerator, I eased the VW off the highway and coasted up to the gas pumps.
As I opened the van door, the chilly night air was suddenly pierced by the sound of screeching rubber ... punctuated by a loud crunch of metal!
Immediately a chorus of screaming tires arose as drivers desperately sought to avoid collision. In a moment, the remains of a dozen mangled vehicles were strewn across the roadway.
Red tongues of flames erupted somewhere in the wreckage, illuminating what now resembled a battlefield. Gas station personnel alerted the police and fire departments rushed to the scene with large extinguishers.
The wail of sirens and flashing lights announced the arrival of rescue teams. I stood mouth agape, my senses reeling under the impact of what had happened. As the numbness gradually subsided, I was jolted by a thought that sent shock waves through my system and physically caused me to jump.
"My God! If I had not stopped I would be right in the middle of that carnage!"
Praying desperately, I asked the Lord's forgiveness for my stubborn and argumentative behavior. Then sitting quietly in my car, I read several chapters in my Bible to calm my shaken nerves.
As I slowly drove around the blackened, twisted metal, the words of the Psalmist were echoing in my ears. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me" (Psalm 23:4).
* * *
The Angelic Deer
"Why does that deer keep running in front of the car?!"
From Tim Handyman (of Susanna), USA
Have you ever seen an angel-deer? God sent one to me!
It happened when I was young and in the Navy. Every weekend, a friend and I would drive the 130-mile trip to visit my mom in a nearby town.
I had been having trouble with one of my car's wheels, so to repair it I had gotten a new rotor from a junkyard. It didn't seem to be a perfect match, but I was able to make it fit and got the tire back on, tightening down the lug nuts.
Our visit went well, and the car showed no problems. Our visit now over, my friend Matt and I headed back toward the Navy base.
Matt wore a bunch of crosses around his neck. "They protect me from having any bad accidents," he told me. Although Matt and I were both Christians, we weren't in the habit of praying before making trips and saw no reason to do so this time either.
It was getting late as we headed home along the tree-lined, two-lane highway. The road was deep in a forested area, and there were no streetlights.
"Do you want me to drive?" Matt asked, seeing how tired I was. I knew that Matt didn't have a driver's license, and also had bad eyesight. But being so very tired, I brushed off any reservations and let him drive anyway.
Settled into the passenger seat, I slouched down and began to doze off. I was almost asleep when I suddenly felt the car jerk forward! My first reaction was to look at the speedometer. We were going at 70 miles an hour!
Right then Matt yelled, "Hey, look!"
We both stared in amazement as alongside the car ran a deer! Matt slowed the car down to about 60 miles an hour.
The deer then ran out in front of us, cutting into our lane slightly ahead of us. Again and again it did so, until we slowed the car down, and finally stopped altogether.
Alongside our car, the deer also stopped, and walked around in front of us. For a full 30 seconds the deer stood in front of the car and stared us both straight in the eyes. It then turned and disappeared into the forest!
Matt and I sat stunned for a few moments, hardly believing what had just happened.
When we finally decided to start off again, we had only gone a little ways when we heard a strange noise coming from the front of the car. We immediately pulled over on the side of the road and I got out.
I looked at the back tires; all were fine. But when I came around to look at the front tire that I had been having trouble with, I froze in my tracks. -- Out of the five lug nuts that were needed to hold the wheel on, three were missing and the remaining two were only holding on by a thread! The tire was sitting cockeyed!
The best solution I could come up with was to take one lug nut from each of the other tires to replace the three that had fallen off. With all the bolts tightened, we started off again, and made it safely home.
I know that it was God Who sent that deer to us. There is no way a "normal" deer could run at 70 mph! -- And the way it stared at us! It had seemed to us at the time that the deer was trying to cause us to have an accident. But we now realized that God had used that deer to get us to slow down and attend to the wobbly tire. -- If we had continued on at 70 mph, the wheel could have easily come off and we could have crashed and probably been killed.
If the Lord could use Balaam's donkey to deliver a message, I guess He could use a deer too!
* * *
Night Visitor
"Turning my head, I saw the bathroom window was half-open and the screen had been cut."
From Joseph Tenderheart, India
It was 3:30 in the morning as I stumbled out of bed to use the bathroom. Half asleep, I didn't pray. In fact, I was not at all in the habit of praying as I carried out this particular function!
As I went into the bathroom I heard a rustling behind the shower curtain.
Apprehensively, I slowly turned my head and glanced over at the small bathroom window. It was half-open and the screen had been cut!
Despite my prayerless attitude, and what I sensed was behind our shower curtain, the Lord mercifully took away any fear and replaced it with a supernatural peace.
I called out to my wife: "There's a burglar in the bathroom!"
As she came racing in to check, the man leaped out from behind the curtain, attacking me with the floor squeegee raised above his head!
Instinctively, I grabbed his upraised arms that held the stick, and the burglar and I crashed to the floor!
My wife screamed for help and accidentally turned the lights off. -- So to add to the confusion, we were plunged into total darkness!
Just then a 6-foot-tall, athletic brother arrived and overpowered the burglar, who began begging for mercy.
Amazingly enough, once the situation calmed down a little, we were able to pray with him and he received the Lord. We later let him go. Thank the Lord for His protection, and for Dad's counsel in situations such as these.
* * *
Followed!
"The suspicious camper was now blocking the road ahead of us!"
From Gabriel, Maria, Miriam and Luz, Colombia
The highway that we drove along just outside of Bogota was nearly deserted. As we pulled over outside a restaurant to ask for directions, we noticed that a camper also stopped behind us.
"Isn't that weird that that vehicle just stopped behind us, without anyone getting out or anything?" I remarked to my companion.
We decided that we should keep moving, but it wasn't long before we could tell that the suspicious camper was following close behind us. I slowed down till we were going at about 15 km per hour, hoping that they would pass us up and drive on.
"It's a two-lane highway with plenty of space, but they're just continuing behind us!"
I continued slowing down, so much so that the camper finally had to pass us up. We heaved a sigh of relief.
But just 25 meters in front of us, the camper turned into a side street and positioned itself as to stop us from getting by. Forced to slow down, we were now only about 20 meters away.
Quite unexpectedly, our vehicle was hit from behind by another car. Six men got out of the car and started toward us.
Our hearts froze, as we thought that they must be connected with the menacing people in the camper. But no sooner were we hit by the car than the camper veered away in the opposite direction.
The guys in the car that hit us happened to be six young guys who had had a lot to drink -- especially the driver. We talked to them, and after a while they all received the Lord. The next day they took us to a mechanic and paid for all the repairs on the bumper and trunk of our car. Praise God!
We later learned that there had been a number of armed robberies taking place in this resort town. The Lord works in mysterious ways, and it seems that in this case He used a drunken driver to deliver us from an assault!
* * *
Our Protecting "Angel"
"Just weeks after refusing to pay the local Mafia's tribute, we were astounded to find the front windshield of our car smashed in!"
From Michael and Christie, Ukraine
"It's getting difficult for me to keep the local Mafia away from your car," the local janitor -- who called himself the "commandante of the building" -- had explained to us. "I'm going to have to ask you to start paying me some 'protection money,' as I'll need to pay them." To prove the point, some minor item that had been taken off of our vehicle was sent back to us.
After praying and counseling about the matter, we had decided to start keeping the car in a nearby guarded parking lot at night. Although this was expensive, we felt it would be better than to risk losing the use of the car altogether, or starting to pay possibly ever-rising amounts of "protection money," still not knowing for sure if this would protect the car.
The next couple of weeks passed uneventfully. Then one afternoon we parked the car outside of our apartment building, as we were going to use it again later that evening.
When we came out of the building, we found that the front windshield had been smashed in! Apparently, the local Mafia weren't pleased with us parking the car elsewhere and not paying them.
Right away we gathered together to ask the Lord what to do. We claimed Romans 8:28, and came before Him desperately. "What should we do now, Lord?" we asked. "Should we ignore the incident? Or should we start paying money to the 'commandante'? Or should we call the police for help?" We received the verse, "The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion!" (Pro.28:1). We felt that we should "go on the attack!" We also received verses from Romans 13, encouraging us that "angels of righteousness" were there to help us!
So we proceeded to call the police. A couple of officers came right away, looked at the situation, and brought a couple of us with them to the police station to do a report. Our hearts sank as we saw the lengthy report -- the longer it got, the less likely it seemed that these policemen would be able to do anything for us.
Finally, the officer came to us, saying, "All we can do is give you a paper stating that your window was broken, so that maybe your insurance could pay for it. Or we could give you a note addressed to your local area police officer, asking him to possibly help you find the culprits. I'm sorry."
Throughout all of this, we kept praying desperately and looking for the angels that the Lord had promised to send. But by this time it seemed that there wasn't much hope left.
As we were about to return home, a well-dressed gentleman entered the room. When he noticed that we were foreigners, he asked us to join him upstairs in his nicely furnished office. He had been abroad and had visited our home country, which he really liked.
We explained about our work here and he asked, "Are you staying in a hotel or an apartment?"
"We have an apartment," we replied.
"Oh, then you must watch out," the man warned us. "There are lots of Mafia around!"
Upon hearing that, we couldn't help but laugh.
"Why, have you had problems?" he asked us.
We then explained to him the reason for our visit to the police station.
"Just one moment, please!" After a quick phone call, the door opened, and a huge, tough-looking police officer entered the room -- who we were later to find out people called "the bear!" He was from the section responsible for fighting organized crime.
"This man will go with you and straighten things out!" Our new friend told us. "Don't worry, he will have a 'chat' with the 'commandante' and explain to him that you are good people and that you don't have to pay any money here!"
The man made a final phone call, after which he declared triumphantly, "And from now on, your parking will also be free!"
He gave us his card, wrote his private number on it and said, "In case you have any problems, you can call me anytime, day or night!" Only then did we learn that this man -- the protecting "angel" that the Lord had promised -- was the police chief of our area!
* * *
His Never-Failing Protection
From Lamb, Australia
I had been anxious to hear from my daughter, Virginia, in Hungary, as it had been some time since we had communicated. For a week or so, I daily waited for the mail to arrive, hoping for a letter from her. But still, nothing.
One day I returned home from our CTP ministry, and hearing that there was still no mail, I just burst into tears. Karen stopped and prayed with me, as I felt so burdened for Virginia. After that I kept her in my desperate prayers.
Just a couple of days later, I got a call from Hungary. It was Virginia, and the first thing she said was, "Mum have you been praying for me?"
"Yes!" Oh, how I had been praying for her!
She then went on to relay to me that she had been in a serious car accident. The car had been wrecked, but Virginia came out without a bump or a scratch and her witnessing partner only had to have a few stitches. The Lord had told her that I had been praying for her -- which I definitely had!
From Phinneas, Amanecer Baker and Joy Friendly, Mexico
It was time for our weekly pickup of 50 gallons of donated milk. But we had no vehicle in working order!
"I'll drive you in my pickup truck!" one of our friends offered. Although this sweet man's pickup truck was not in good shape, we accepted, having no other alternative.
Before pulling out in the vehicle, we prayed with them for the Lord's protection.
We were surprised to see them driving back, just five minutes later. "We forgot the plastic milk crates to put the milk bottles in," they explained.
Little did they know that the Lord had engineered this oversight to bring about a miracle of His protection. For just as our friend pulled his truck into our driveway, the steering mechanism completely disconnected, leaving him with no way whatsoever to steer. The truck eased to a stop.
What a miracle that this incident occurred right as he was coming to a stop in our driveway, and not while driving along at a faster speed -- as we should have been at that very moment -- when lives could have been lost!
From Dust, Mercy and Paul, Germany
The day before one of our teams was scheduled to leave on a long bus trip to their new mission field, the roads were covered with ice. Traffic conditions were so hazardous that it would have been very unsafe to drive. -- We couldn't even walk along the 700 meters of dirt road which led from the main street to our house without slipping and falling on the ice. We were seriously considering postponing the trip, although it would have meant a great deal of complications.
They were scheduled to leave at 6:30 the next morning, and we would have had to finish packing and loading their belongings into the van through the night, in order to be able to make it on time.
At about 11:00 in the evening, we came together to pray about the situation, and which direction we should take. The Lord showed us that this was a test of our faith, that He was in control, and that He was waiting on us to ask Him to change the weather.
So we prayed for the ice to go away.
Almost immediately, a warm rain began to fall. The temperature rose from 0 to 9 degrees Celcius, and the ice began to melt! By the time we had to leave, the streets were clear and we were all praising the Lord for His wonderful answer to our prayer!
From Victoria (Russian national), Russia
One of our mail ministry members, Tatiana, told us the following story:
Her younger daughter, Katia, was going to take a trip to St. Petersburg. The girl had already bought a ticket for the morning train, but the evening before her departure, they found that they had no more money left, which they would need for expenses during the trip.
The whole family got together in prayer, asking the Lord to supply the necessary sum of 100,000 rubles ($23).
It was nighttime when somebody rang the doorbell. Katia rushed to answer the door, and in a few minutes returned with an envelope in her hands. Everybody ran to the window to see who had delivered it, but no one was at the entrance.
"He was wrapped in a scarf and wore dark glasses," Katia told them. "He didn't say a word to me; he just gave me the envelope."
Surprised, they opened the envelope to find just one bill: 100,000 rubles!
Everybody agreed that Katia had just met an angel from the Lord!
* * *
Down to the Last Drop!
From Josiah, Jewel and Angela, Nepal
It was early morning, and with our rain barrels empty, we were down to our last drops of water. The summer rains had not yet come to our little pioneer outpost in Kathmandu, and no city water had come in for a couple of days.
We all prayed desperately as YA Adam walked down the road a ways looking for water, and were very thankful that he was able to bring back two buckets of precious water from a community tap.
One scoopful went in each bathroom, for handwashing, and the rest was used sparingly throughout the morning. After lunch, we put the last of the water on to boil for drinking water and changed the dishwater.
We had no idea where our water would come from next, since the community tap would be all dried up by now.
Then the doorbell rang. It was Jo. Miraculously, he had been able to provision a water truck! These are normally quite costly and very difficult to find (they are mostly used by the military). The helpful driver filled up our water reserve tanks.
Great was our joy that same night to hear the sound of heavy rain, which filled up our two 200-liter water barrels! How we praised the Lord for His faithful, unfailing supply!
* * *
Just a "Routine" Prayer ...
From Salomon, Jeremy and Cherish, Mexico
My YA son, Samuel, was on his way from Mexico City to visit us. He had called to let us know that he was coming on the night bus, and would be arriving early in the morning.
Our Home prayed that night for Samuel's safe trip, and again the following morning at devotions. For us it was somewhat of a routine prayer, as this is what we've done all our lives in the Family when we know that loved ones are traveling. But in this case, the Lord allowed us to see just how seriously He took those prayers!
Samuel called us later that morning saying that he had just arrived, and that his bus had had an accident. The driver had been speeding, and while trying to overtake another bus, his bus had lost a tire, swerved a couple of times and then toppled on its side.
When the bus finally came to a halt, three people had been killed and many injured. Samuel was one of the few who came out without even a scratch. Thank God for the power of prayer!
* * *
A Life-Saving Prayer
From Dawn, Thailand
While out on a walk with some children, I noticed that a tourist had had a motorcycle accident about a block from where we were. Normally I would hurry the kids away from any possibly unpleasant sights, but I got a strong check to stay and make a learning experience out of it for them.
We were far enough away that all we could see was a man lying on the ground next to a fallen motorbike (there was no blood or anything). We all immediately prayed desperately for the man's healing.
We watched as some passersby took him to the hospital, which was just up the street, and then watched as the police came and marked the place where the accident had occurred, etc. The whole time I was explaining things to the children, answering their questions and drawing a lot of lessons about safety, how the police help, etc.
Later, our journey home led us past the hospital where he had been taken (where we had also done CTP programs), so we decided to try to visit him and see how he was and if we could help in any way.
The head nurse told us that he had just left, and that the reason he had had the accident was because he had been drunk when he was driving.
We prayed again for him, and one of the children prayed earnestly that he would learn his lesson and never drive again when drunk, and be really careful whenever he rode on a motorbike.
Two months later, while out personal witnessing I met a friendly tourist who took some tapes. While I was showing him some of our CTP photos, he saw the ones of the nearby hospital and said that he had an unpleasant experience near that same hospital. He told me he had been in an accident.
"I acted very foolishly," he said, "and I learned a very important lesson which I will never forget!"
Only then did I realize that this was the same man who we had prayed for!
He told me that when they had first brought him to the hospital, he had no pulse or heartbeat, and they thought he was dead. Then he miraculously recovered! He had left that hospital a few hours later to go to a hospital in his home country that could take care of some serious internal injuries which had occurred.
What a testimony for him, as well as for the children whose prayers had helped save his life!
* * *
Angels All Around Us!
From Servant, Seek, Eden and Joan, USA
We recently received the following letter from a woman who knows us well and has been a supporter for many years:
"Last night, I couldn't sleep. As I was just lying there, I started to pray, and the Lord led me to pray for the ones in your Home specifically. As I was praying, He showed me how a whole lot of warrior/guardian angels were rapidly coming out of your Home to protect all of you, by surrounding the entire house.
"They [the angels] were huge ... about three times the width of a man's shoulders, and tall as the eves of the roof! They all had swords drawn with their backs to the house, shoulder to shoulder and facing away from the house.
"I never saw the Enemy, but I knew he must have been there because of how quickly the angels came out of the house and made a barrier -- a barrier that nothing was able to penetrate. Above the house were thousands of angels who were ministering to those of you inside. There was so much peace for you inside. So much peace and freedom, and no fear."
* * *
The Bus Trip
"About an hour into our trip, I began to have an uneasy feeling that something was wrong ..."
From Josu Hijo, Mexico
Twelve-year-old Peter and I boarded the first-class bus at 6:30 p.m. for a three-hour ride to Mexico City. We were on our way home from a two-day road trip. Little did we know that we were about to embark on one of the most traumatic experiences of our lives -- but one which showed us how the Lord surely does take care of His Own!
About an hour into our trip, I noticed that a man left his seat and sat down next to the bus driver. Immediately I had an impression, almost like a premonition that something strange was about to happen.
"We'd better pray," I whispered to Peter. "Somehow I feel that the bus is going to be assaulted."
We prayed together, claiming the Lord's divine protection, and asking Him to keep us from all evil. We were soon to learn of the power of our prayer for protection!
By this time it was getting dark and almost everyone on the bus was sleeping. The bus began to slow down, and then pulled over on the side of the road. A few minutes later two men got on the bus. The driver closed the doors and continued driving.
Again, I began to get a message from deep within my being.
"It's going to happen now!" I whispered to Peter.
All of a sudden a man yelled out, "Raise your hands and close your eyes!"
This was the beginning of a nightmare that would last for the next 45 minutes. We were the first to be checked.
"Click!" I felt the cold nozzle of a gun cocked to my head. I was ordered to move to the left, then to the right as the man hastily checked my back pants pockets. The gun pressed tightly to my temple, then to my stomach, as he checked my neck, then my shirt pockets.
Feeling around in one of my shirt pockets, the man found what I knew to be a "Somebody Loves You" tract.
I dared to open my eyes a little to see his reaction.
"What is this?" he yelled.
"They are Christian pamphlets," I told him.
Immediately, he stopped checking me and moved on to check Peter.
Racing through my mind were Scripture after Scripture of the Lord's promises of protection. Verse after verse of Psalm 91, a passage I'd memorized long ago, came flooding into my mind. "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee." With this verse illuminated in my thoughts, I felt a great peace of mind.
I wondered if anyone would get hurt. I prayed for Peter, for all the people on the bus, then for the safety of the money I had with me, as that was my ticket to go on to another country.
Behind me I overheard an argument between the thieves and a passenger; they were threatening to take him off the bus or shoot him if he didn't shut up. The bus driver was so nervous that he almost crashed into an oncoming bus.
Then another thief came to check us again. He found our bags under Peter's seat. There was a Walkman and tapes in one, and a camera and Peter's wallet in the other.
Finding this bag -- that had been missed on the first check -- so infuriated the thief that he began angrily scolding Peter, putting his gun to Peter's head.
He checked under our seat for what seemed like 15 minutes. My heart was beating wildly. I began to desperately pray for Peter's protection.
I felt the bus slow down and finally come to a stop. The thieves got off the bus. Our nightmare was over!
Although they had taken all the money that people had, the first thief that checked us gave everyone a small amount of money, enough to get to their destinations. We also found "Somebody Loves You" tracts on other bus seats -- which the thieves had apparently discarded in their search.
The amazing miracle was that they did not check my pants pocket where I had all the money. (I had a money belt that I had taken off earlier, because I felt uncomfortable.)
We were joyously praising the Lord for His protection when I remembered the Walkman and tapes I had had in my bag.
"I'm sorry about the loss of the tapes," I told Peter.
But then, looking up, I saw the strap of my bag in the baggage compartment above our seats. To our delight, there we found the Walkman, tapes, and Peter's wallet -- all intact! The only thing the thieves took was an old camera that barely worked!
And so, the Lord fulfilled His promise: "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee."
[End]