Sabtu, 30 Agustus 2008

A TRUE LOVE STORY OF HERMAN AND ROMA


A  heart touching story from a Holocaust surviver.
 
                         A TRUE STORY Š..
 
A Girl with an Apple
August 1942. Piotrkow, Poland. The sky was gloomy that morning as we waited anxiously. All the men, women and children of Piotrkow's Jewish ghetto had been herded into a square. Word had gotten around that we were being moved. My father had only recently died from typhus, which had run rampant through the crowded ghetto. My greatest fear was that our family would be separated.
"Whatever you do," Isidore, my eldest brother, whispered to me, "don't tell them your age.. Say you're sixteen." I was tall for a boy of 11, so I could pull it off. That way I might be deemed valuable as a worker. An SS man approached me, boots clicking against the cobblestones. He looked me up and down, then asked my age. "Sixteen," I said. He directed me to the left, where my three brothers and other healthy young men already stood.
My mother was motioned to the right with the other women, children, sick and elderly people. I whispered to Isidore, "Why?" He didn't answer. I ran to Mama's side and said I wanted to stay with her. "No," she said sternly. "Get away. Don't be a nuisance. Go with your brothers." She had never spoken so harshly before. But I understood: She was protecting me. She loved me so much that, just this once, she pretended not to. It was the last I ever saw of her.
My brothers and I were transported in a cattle car to Germany. We arrived at the Buchenwald concentration camp one night weeks later and were led into a crowded barrack. The next day, we were issued uniforms and identification numbers.
"Don't call me Herman anymore." I said to my brothers. "Call me 94983."
I was put to work in the camp's crematorium, loading the dead into a hand-cranked elevator. I, too, felt dead. Hardened, I had become a number. Soon, my brothers and I were sent to Schlieben, one of Buchenwald's sub-camps near Berlin.
One morning I thought I heard my mother's voice, "Son," she said softly but clearly, I am going to send you an angel." Then I woke up. Just a dream. A beautiful dream. But in this place there could be no angels. There was only work. And hunger. And fear..
A couple of days later, I was walking around the camp, around the barracks, near the barbed-wire fence where the guards could not easily see. I was alone. On the other side of the fence, I spotted someone: a little girl with light, almost luminous curls. She was half-hidden behind a birch tree. I glanced around to make sure no one saw me. I called to her softly in German.
"Do you have something to eat?" She didn't understand. I inched closer to the fence and repeated question in Polish. She stepped forward. I was thin and gaunt, with rags wrapped around my feet, but the girl looked unafraid. In her eyes, I saw life. She pulled an apple from her woolen jacket and threw it over the fence. I grabbed the fruit and, as I started to run away, I heard her say faintly, "I'll see you tomorrow."
I returned to the same spot by the fence at the same time every day. She was always there with something for me to eat - a hunk of bread or, better yet, an apple. We didn't dare speak or linger. To be caught would mean death for us both. I didn't know anything about her, just a kind farm girl, except that she understood Polish. What was her name? Why was she risking her life for me? Hope was in such short supply, and this girl on the other side of the fence gave me some, as nourishing in its way as the bread and apples.
Nearly seven months later, my brothers and I were crammed into a coal car and shipped to Theresienstadt camp in Czechoslovakia. "Don't return," I told the girl that day. "We're leaving." I turned toward the barracks and didn't look back, didn't even say good-bye to the little girl whose name I'd never learned, the girl with the apples.
We were in Theresienstadt for three months. The war was winding down and Allied forces were closing in, yet my fate seemed sealed. On May 10,1945, I was scheduled to die in the gas chamber at 10:00 AM. In the quiet of dawn, I tried to prepare myself. So many times death seemed ready to claim me, but somehow I'd survived.. Now, it was over. I thought of my parents. At least, I thought, we will be reunited.
But at 8 A.M. there was a commotion. I heard shouts, and saw people running every which way through camp. I caught up with my brothers. Russian troops had liberated the camp! The gates swung open. Everyone was running, so I did too.
Amazingly, all of my brothers had survived; I'm not sure how. But I knew that the girl with the apples had been the key to my survival. In a place where evil seemed triumphant, one person's goodness had saved my life, had given me hope in a place where there was none. My mother had promised to send me an angel, and the angel had come.
Eventually I made my way to England where I was sponsored by a Jewish charity, put up in a hostel with other boys who had survived the Holocaust and trained in electronics. Then I came to America, where my brother Sam had already moved. I served in the U. S. Army during the Korean War, and returned to New York City after two years. By August 1957 I'd opened my own electronics repair shop. I was starting to settle in.
One day, my friend Sid who I knew from England called me. "I've got a date. She's got a Polish friend. Let's double date."
A blind date? Nah, that wasn't for me. But Sid kept pestering me, and a few days later we headed up to the Bronx to pick up his date and her friend Roma. I had to admit, for a blind date this wasn't so bad. Roma was a nurse at a Bronx hospital. She was kind and smart. Beautiful, too, with swirling brown curls and green, almond-shaped eyes that sparkled with life.
The four of us drove out to Coney Island. Roma was easy to talk to, easy to be with. Turned out she was wary of blind dates too! We were both just doing our friends a favor. We took a stroll on the boardwalk, enjoying the salty Atlantic breeze, and then had dinner by the shore. I couldn't remember having a better time.
We piled back into Sid's car, Roma and I sharing the backseat. As European Jews who had survived the war, we were aware that much had been left unsaid between us. She broached the subject, "Where were you," she asked softly, "during the war?"
"The camps," I said, the terrible memories still vivid, the irreparable loss. I had tried to forget. But you can never forget.
She nodded. "My family was hiding on a farm in Germany, not far from Berlin," she told me. "My father knew a priest, and he got us Aryan papers." I imagined how she must have suffered too, fear, a constant companion. And yet here we were, both survivors, in a new world.
"There was a camp next to the farm." Roma continued. "I saw a boy there and I would throw him apples every day."
What an amazing coincidence that she had helped some other boy. "What did he look like? I asked. He was tall, skinny, and hungry. I must have seen him every day for six months."
My heart was racing. I couldn't believe it. This couldn't be. "Did he tell you one day not to come back because he was leaving Schlieben?"
Roma looked at me in amazement. "Yes," That was me! " I was ready to burst with joy and awe, flooded with emotions. I couldn't believe it! My angel.
"I'm not letting you go." I said to Roma. And in the back of the car on that blind date, I proposed to her. I didn't want to wait.
"You're crazy!" she said. But she invited me to meet her parents for Shabbat dinner the following week. There was so much I looked forward to learning about Roma, but the most important things I always knew: her steadfastness, her goodness. For many months, in the worst of circumstances, she had come to the fence and given me hope. Now that I'd found her again, I could never let her go.
That day, she said yes. And I kept my word. After nearly 50 years of marriage, two children and three grandchildren I have never let her go.
Herman Rosenblat, Miami Beach, Florida
 
This is a true story and you can find out more by Googling Herman Rosenblat as he was Bar Mitzvahed at age 75. This story is being made into a movie called The Fence.

THE BEST IS YET TO BE!

The best is yet to be!

Reading: Isaiah 11
"The earth shall be filled with the knowledge
of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isa 11:9b)

At the Mount of Olives the disciples of Jesus asked Him, "What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Mt 24:3). He listed a number of endtime signs and then concluded, "The Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then, finally, the end will come" (v14).
The Devil is more furious than ever because he knows that he has but a little time (Rev 12:12). He stirs up the powers of hell to work against soulwinners and evangelists. He instigates rulers to persecute missionaries. Persecution has always been there, but it will be intensified towards the end (Mt 24:9,10). The promises of Christ to the Church in Smyrna and the one in Philadelphia are for all missionary-minded Christians to claim: "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer... I have opened a door for you that no one can shut... Look, I am coming quickly!" (Rev 2:10a; 3:8a, 11a). A missionary evangelistic revival is widespread all over the world. Church growth has never been so rapid in all these twenty centuries. Over 75000 souls are added to the Church worldwide everyday. The Lord of the Harvest is recruiting workers even at five in the evening because the harvest is still plenty (Mt 20:6,7). If Pentecost is compared to former rain, we will have the latter rain now, just before the Return of Christ so that every field becomes a lush pasture (Zech 10:1). The Holy Spirit will manifest His power in an unusual manner at this last hour.
The primary motivating factor in the life of Paul for evangelism was the Return of Christ. He loved souls because he loved the appearing of the Saviour. He desired his spiritual son Timothy to imbibe the same spirit. When he reminded Timothy of the Great Commission, he oftentimes referred to the Second Coming (1 Tim 6:12-15; 2 Tim 4:1,2). Eventhough the Great Tribulation has not yet come, the troubles faced by nations of the world are already great! The future is bleak. Leaders are baffled. The Church of Christ alone has a valid reason to lift up its head in optimism. Nations are boasting emptily of their past glory, but the Church can boast expectantly of its future glory! The main reason is that the earth is going to be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea!
All over the world God's Spirit is moving;
All over the world as the Prophets said it would be;
All over the world there's a mighty revelation,
Of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea!

DEAD CHURCH

Dead Church

Reading: Ezekiel 37:1-14
"Can these bones live?" (Ezek 37:3)

Prophet Ezekiel was given a vision of the backslidden people of God. Nothing but a valley of "very many" and "very dry" bones could explain their awful condition. They seemed to have gone to a point of no return. The people themselves cried, "Our hope is lost!" (v11). God asked the prophet, "Can these bones live?" He threw back the question to God saying, "Lord, You only know!" The situation from a human viewpoint was i-m-p-o-s-s-i-b-l-e !
The Church is no better today. There is form but no power. "They will act as if they are religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly" (2 Tim 3:5). There is a name but no life. Christ rebuked the Church in Sardis, "You have a reputation for being alive — but you are dead" (Rev 3:1). There is wealth but no vision (Rev 3:17). There are activities but no love (Rev 2:2-4). Instead of multiplication there are only divisions. In the words of the Preacher, "In the place of justice, wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, iniquity was there" (Eccl 3:16). Vance Havner pointed out, "We have comfortable homes to ride in comfortable cars to sit in comfortable Churches to hear comfortable sermons. What do we know about the reproach of Christ?"
An artist once was asked to paint a picture that would portray a dying Church, hoping if even that might inspire the congregation to realise their need forrevival. The painting showed a grand Church building with tall spires, magnificently carved-out pulpit stand, exquisite stained glass windows, huge wooden doors and glittering chandelier lights. Near the huge doors was a small offertory box, the mouth of which was covered by cobweb. Yes, any Church that does not send or support missionaries is a dead Church. As Dr. Oswald J. Smith (1889-1986) put it, "A Church that does not evangelize will fossilize!"
But God has not given up on the Church. The gates of hell will have to ultimately give in to the Church (Mt 16:18). On our part we must obey like Prophet Ezekiel and keep on prophesying (Ezek 37). "Cry aloud, spare not. Lift up your voice like the trumpet. Tell My people of their sins! Yet they act so pious!" (Isa 58:1). The Church will then come back to where it should be. It will stand up "like a great army" and conquer the world for Christ (Ezek 37:10). The world at its worst needs the Church at its best!
O Breath of Life, come sweeping thro' us.
Revive Thy Church with life and power;
O Breath of Life, come, cleanse, renew us,
And fit Thy Church to meet this hour!
                   (Bessie P. Head, 1850-1936)

DRY BONES ALIVE

Dear Friends and Partners in the Kingdom business,
The talk now in every local church is that we need revival and that we need a new baptism of the Holy Spirit and God knows we must have both.
 
The dry bones below are a picture of the Jews in captivity –scattered and dead. The 2 sticks [Ezek 37:15-17] represent the reunion of the entire nation of Israel which had divided into Northern and Southern Kingdoms after Solomon. Ezekiel probably felt he was speaking to the dead as he preached to the exiles because they rarely responded to his message. But these dry bones responded! And just as God brought life to the dead bones, He would bring life again to His spiritually dead people.
 
Ezekiel 37:1 The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out  in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord God,  You know.” 4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will  cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live.  Then you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. 9Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God:  “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ” 10So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.
 
If we want to see revival take place [revival is for the Church].
 
1] We need humble man and woman of God who are dependent upon God.
2] We need man and woman who hear God and speak forth what they have heard from God.
3] We need churches that recognize the need to hear God’s Word and receive the Spirit of God.
4] We truly need a change that touches the core of our lives, that goes deeper than our hair raising experiences.
5] We have a great need for the churches to unite and become ONE CHURCH of The LIVING GOD.
6] We need “The Army of God” to rise up to its full potential and fight a good fight and rescue and restore lives.
 
Oh God and our Father let your Pure Word and Spirit come and penetrate us and bring the change you desire in us. Send forth your man and woman who know you intimately to speak and serve your people.
 
Please pray for us that we may be full of the Holy Spirit and that we will speak the truth in love.
Please stand alongside us and pray for the coming meetings.
 
Malaysia
11/9/2008 Emmanuel Word Centre –Kulim -Kedah
14/9/2008 Emma Faith Naturing Centre –Penang
28/9/2008 Rivers of Water Church –BM -Penang
5/10/2008 Emma Faith Naturing Centre -Penang
 
India 5/8 to 30/8/2008 [Tiruvanthanathapuram / Thiruvalla/ Chenganur / Kotayam / Kochi / Kodanad]
 
Indonesia Sept 4/9 to 8/9 – 3rd Asian House Church Conference [Participant]
 
Chieng Mai -North Thailand Sept 22/9 to 26/9
 
October -Indonesia [Timor and Surabaya] 8/10 to 15/10/2008
 
1st November to 30th December 2008 –United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal…
 
We are a faith ministry. When you are lead by the Lord to give, do send your check to
 
KRISHNASAMY A/L RAMASAMY
 
I/C Number   -540303-07-5307
 
May Bank account number         : 107125195025
 
Home Branch number 07125      -KAMPONG BHARU
 
Swift Code                                       -MBBEMYKL
 
May the Father bless you with His favor as you walk in obedience to His Word.
 
Your friends and partners in the field of God.
 
Christopher and Vijaya.K.

TRIP TO INDIA

Dear Friends and Partners in the ministry of God,
As we seek to be like Jesus to serve the churches in building up godly leaders; specifically we desire to see leaders receive from the Father, who will serve the Father together with the Father and not seek to be served and specially treated. Today in our churches we have so many CEO’s and bosses, but we desire to see “shepherds who care for their flocks” and “fathers who pour out their lives into children” leading our churches. My friends please pray together with us that through us the will of God be done through the trainings we give in churches. Pray also for us that we who teach and train others will also finish this “race” [following the rules] marked out for us. As we receive the Father’s love we will pour it out freely to whoever and wherever the father takes us to.
Pray also for our churches that the hirelings be replaced with “shepherd hearted” leaders. Do give thanks to God for the good shepherds that some churches have.
 
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NKJV) 24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
 
The son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Matthew 20:28.
Paul’s idea of service is the same as our Lord’s: “I am among you as He that serveth”; “ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” We have the idea that a man called to the Ministry is called to be a different kind of being from other men. According to Jesus Christ, he is called to be the ‘door-mat’ of other men; their spiritual leader, but never their superior. “I know how to be abased,” says Paul. This is Paul’s idea of service—‘I will spend myself to the last ebb for you; you may give me praise or give me blame, it will make no difference. So long as there is a human being who does not know Jesus Christ, I am his debtor to serve him until he does.’ The mainspring of Paul’s service is not love for men, but love for Jesus Christ. If we are devoted to the cause of humanity, we shall soon be crushed and broken-hearted, for we shall often meet with more ingratitude from men than we would from a dog; but if our motive is love to God, no ingratitude can hinder us from serving our fellow men.
Paul’s realization of how Jesus Christ had dealt with him is the secret of his determination to serve others. “I was before a perjurer, a blasphemer, an injurious person”—no matter how men may treat me, they will never treat me with the spite and hatred with which I treated Jesus Christ. When we realize that Jesus Christ has served us to the end of our meanness, our selfishness, and sin, nothing that we meet with from others can exhaust our determination to serve men for His sake.
[1]Chambers, O. (1993, c1935). My utmost for his highest : Selections for the year (February 23). Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers.
 
We pray that you also will rise up to disciple others that is pour out that love you have received from the Father.
 
Please pray for our India Trip
 
Cities and town covered during this trip.
 
India 5/8 to 30/8/2008 [Tiruvanthanathapuram / Thiruvalla/ Chenganur / Kotayam / Kochi / Kodanad and Kothamangalam]
 
5/8 to 10/8/2008        Thiruvananthapuram
11/8 to 23/8               Kochi / Kodanad / Kothamangalam
23/8 to 27/8               Thiruvalla / Kotayam / Chenganur
28/8 to 30/8               Kochi
 
We pray that God will continue to increase in you His revelation of His love.
 
In His Majesty’s Service
 
Christopher and Vijaya.K.

DARING DAVIDS!

Daring Davids!

Reading: 1 Samuel 17:32-51
"He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" (1 Jn 4:4)

David before Goliath! A lad before a giant! A shepherd boy before a champion! With the armour Saul gave David, he could not even walk (1 Sam 17:38,39). David's brother got angry with him (v28). The King underestimated him (v33). The enemy cursed him (v43). But David had his strength and hope in the Lord (v45). He challenged Goliath, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear and with a javelin. But I come to you in the Name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied" (v45).
When we set out to do missionary work we might meet with intimidating powers, but we don't need to be terrified by the giants of science, technology and modern machinery. One man plus God is the maximum! There is no match for that. We need not be afraid of the Goliaths of today — oppositions that arise in the form of unfair "laws," direct and indirect intimidations and even attacks.
We need to be bold and daring. We must not give place to inferiority complex. Though a minority we are a significant minority. It is to the "little flock" the Father gives the Kingdom (Lk 12:32). The words of Benjamin Fernando are encouraging: "Crushing the Church is like smashing the atom: divine energy of high quality is released in enormous quantity and with miraculous effects!"
What David spoke sounded like an "unknown tongue" to Saul and his armies! True it was! He learnt it in the wilderness, alone with God. The Lord Himself trained David how to use the staff and the sling (1 Sam 17:40). He had five smooth stones but he had to use only one. The other four he kept for the future Goliaths! There is sufficient power in the Blood that oozed out from Christ's five wounds, to reach the five Continents. Let's not be afraid. God will cause our feet to be placed "on the necks of the five kings" (Josh 10:24,25).
Fear will only cripple us in our efforts to evangelise the world. He who has commanded us to go to the "ends of the earth" has also promised us that He would be with us till the "end of the age!" (Mt 28:19,20). Let's confess, "My God and I make an undefeatable team!" The fire of God cannot be damped out by the waters of man's persecution.
Ye Christian soldiers, rise against the foes in vales below;
Let all our strength be hurled;
Faith is the victory, we know, that overcomes the world !
                     (John H. Yates, 1837-1900)