I was sitting across the table from pastor Alexei and his leadership team from a remote part of Russia, sipping tea and talking about their journey as a church, and searching the  scripture about fresh ways to lead the church — by training new leaders and creating a team-based leadership and  decentralizing into a network of house churches in order to expand God’s kingdom in the region. Their hearts were bold and their attitudes were refreshing. But there was also a poignant and unspoken cry in their voices. They were willing to sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel, they were willing to step out and do hard things;  they had been taught many things — but they simply needed someone to guide and encourage them. They needed to be fathered!

The things I heard in that small, hospitable Russian kitchen were an all too familiar cry. There is an unreported worldwide crisis – not a political or economical or health crisis, but a spiritual crisis – it is a famine of fatherhood. We know that the advancement of the gospel and the health of local churches worldwide depends on the health of pastors and leaders. We also know that many pastors feel alone and unsupported. In places where systems of “support” do exist, they are often hierarchical, top-down structures, and the local pastors are not always cared for well through them. The more I interact with pastors, the more I see that they are crying out for relationship – for fathering. They can get teaching and countless other resources on the internet. But one cannot find a father online.

The Apostle Paul understood and taught the importance of teachers in the body of Christ. He also knew that teachers were not enough – fathers are needed (1 Cor 4:15). In the last few years I have had several key apostolic men from various countries confide in me that God is moving in their own hearts, shifting the focus of their ministry. They have told me that God is calling them, not to merely administrate the leaders whom they oversee, but to father them… yet they had not been fathered themselves. They are not sure how to do it. These words have haunted me.

There is a principle throughout scripture that fathers are to guide their children. Fathers are to lead their families (Eph 5,6). The fathers who lead their families well are to lead the church (1 Tim 3:4-5). One generation is to proclaim the works and ways of God to the next (Ps. 145:4).  When this happens, the Gospel is advanced and it effects on society brings stability.  But in the broad picture of world politics and within the church, hardly anyone knows what fatherhood looks like …

* From governments where statism has replaced the father as provider and protector, to orphanages which have sprung from AIDS epidemics;

* from the uprisings against perverted father-figure leaders in the Middle East to the teens, abandoned by deadbeat dads, rioting in Baltimore and other American cities;

* from consumer-oriented western families where dad is absent due to the need to keep up a certain standard of living, to un-Biblical hierarchical forms of church government where relationship-based leadership is not modeled.   Today, we have a fatherless generation with no identity, no purpose and no understanding of how to move on.   We have forsaken the ways of our Heavenly Father, and the earth is reaping the whirlwind.

Father (noun) is one of the primary self-revelations of God’s nature/character in scripture. He is Sovereign Lord, but He is also a Father, implying not only power and authority, but relationship and care. Fathering (verb) is an attitude of the heart. “Father” is a function, not a title.  Fathering means building relationships and imparting influence, identity, validation, protection, training and correction, which means saying the hard things when necessary. A father doesn’t merely sire children – he raises them in the way they should go. A spiritual father helps sons and daughters be grounded in the Gospel of grace.

You see, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is an agent of change. It has inherent power to change lives and an inherent apostolic nature. It is never stagnant, always dynamic. The Gospel constantly bears fruit and increases (Col. 1:6). Often in areas where the Gospel is introduced, it spreads rapidly, with groups of believers springing up like mushrooms after a rain. New groups of believers require new leaders and these leaders are often joined together in supportive networks.

This has an important application with the ministry of The Bridge International, an organization that has long focused on introducing the gospel to an area, training up indigenous leaders, handing ministry over to them and being a bridge of support to these works. In many such regions, The Bridge has helped train leaders and networks of churches have resulted (e.g. Love of Christ Church in Asbest, Russia and Agape Church in Almaty, Kazakhstan). Thank God, in many cases we have seen true spiritual fathers raised up to lead these groups. The Bridge does a wonderful job of finding needs and linking resources to those needs.

Jesus cares deeply for His church and we need prayer for wisdom as to how He wants to use us to care for these leaders. On a recent trip to Poland and Russia, I met with leadership teams in several different cities sometimes thousands of miles apart. Amazingly, they all asked identical questions: How do we identify our leaders? How do we train our leaders? How do we create team-based leadership, rather than the hierarchical models they have experienced in the past? How do we create networks of House Churches?

I am aware of several countries where this seems to be a trend. As a result of this trip, I have begun five coaching relationships via Skype with these leaders and their teams. Perhaps this is one way the Lord has provided to stay related to them and support them.

These men are heroes. They are hardworking, Kingdom-minded servants who love their people. They know how to reach their culture better than we do. They do wonderful work, but they need support.

It has left me wondering if it is possible to set up a network of caring people who can help “father” the fathers. Is it possible to create a model of shepherding shepherds that will work within the various cultural contexts of different regions of the world? Can we do this in such a way as to support, and not undermine the God-ordained authority in a region or local church structure? I am presently finding more questions than answers, but I feel that this is a pressing burden on the heart of our Great Father.

One seasoned apostolic brother wrote to me recently, “I find the greatest need pastors have is for regular encouragement and to know that someone is watching out for their soul.” Let’s pray together for “fathering solutions” that fit these varied cultural contexts and help to advance God’s Kingdom in the earth.

Derek Prince pointed out that a spiritual father is one who births children through the seed of the Gospel which he has personally sown in their hearts, or sometimes adopts those who are already believers, such as Paul did with Timothy.

 FROM R.K.’S CORNER 

 Whenever the media reports a senseless shootout or riot by young men, I post a simple question on my Facebook page, “Where is Daddy?” – a question I believe  echoes from the hearts of millions of young people, not only in the Western hemisphere, but all around the world.  As the father’s role within the traditional nuclear family keeps being attacked and disintegrated, we increasingly live in a fatherless society, with the tragic consequences we all too often see played out on the news channels.

This also reaches into the church, as many pastors who themselves have never experienced the protection, love, and mentoring, from their own fathers, find it difficult to point to faith and trust in our Heavenly Father!

In light of next month’s Father’ Day,  have asked Mark Medley, one of The Bridge’s longstanding partners, to write an article on the urgent need of fathers both in the home and the church.  He is well qualified, having with his wife, Melissa, successfully raised four children, now young adults, and he has also for the more than the two decades we have known him, carried a deep apostolic burden for the mentoring of fathers within the Body of Christ, not only locally, but in the nations.  For more background info, see:

https://www.bridgeinternational.org/pdf/august2010.pdf  

 

 

by Maiwa’azi Dandaura Samu – Conflict and Security Consultant

 The purpose of this article is to inform and educate the Bridge partners on the emerging global trends on the cataclysmic conflict raging globally against the forces of darkness represented by Islamic extremism, fundamentalism and ethno-political-religious militancy represented by groups like Boko Haram in Nigeria, and ISIS in Iraq and Syria. This then will serve as wakeup call and also form clear direction for Christians who pray for the nations and want to be informed about the issues, that they may be more effective and organized in their intercession.

The international systems and order as we know it is being shaken from its roots by violent Islamic non-state extremist and fundamentalist actors who seek to restructure the international order, which they perceive must be redesigned and controlled by the Sharia laws of Islam. They believe the present world order operated and controlled by the USA and its EU allies polarized by their Judeo-Christian worldviews is not only sinful, but highly hypocritical and over-politicized. So they seek to de-Westernize, and de-secularize the international systems. This is intended to create a new global divine PAX ISLAMICA via “thawra al-alamiyya” (Islamic World Revolution), which will be states under political Islam. To achieve this PAX ISLAMICA, the existing state structures must be eliminated, and a new borderless world order controlled by Muslim extremists be established.

To achieve this goal, the struggle, or Jihad, must be fought by extremist and fundamentalist groups on the different continents. The extremist groups are bound by this one dream – eliminate the establishment and institute a worldwide Islamic caliphate to continue where the Ottoman Caliphs stopped their jihad.

 The struggle is planned to be fought in all countries till present state borders are eliminated and the caliphate extends from coast to coast under one Caliph.

Therefore ISIS in Syria and Iraq are one nucleus meant to conquer all of the Middle East, North Africa and Israel. Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al Qaidain the Maghreb, and Al Shabab in Somalia are the African Pax (“Peace”) Islamica conquering machines. Al Qaeda and the Talibans in Pakistan and Afghanistan are meant to conquer the Far East and India; the Muslim fundamentalism on the rise in the North Caucasus to conquer Russia, the Xinjiang Islamic Fundamentalism to subdue China.  In conjunction with the rising Islamic extremist attacks and anti-Semitism in Europe, America, Australia, and New Zealand, they are all working to merge the continents into one global Pax Islamica under one supreme Caliph located in the present ISIS controlled region in Iraq and Syria.

Every country is expected to have its own Pax Islamica fundamentalist eye that will do the struggle or Jihad in that nation. For the extremist fundamentalist, any Muslim that is not an extremist is equally, just like any Christian, an infidel, deserving death, or be conquered and enslaved. The vision for fundamentalist world Islamization is blamed on, driven or egged along, by variable features triggering mass migration of the unemployed, environmental damages, socioeconomic marginalization of the generally vulnerable, ethnicity, racism, systemic and structural violence and discrimination of all kinds which they claim are placed on the pathway of the vertical ladder climb of Muslims globally.

Despite their deep contempt for modernization, Judeo-Christian and Western values, in their attempt to set up their own new global Divine Pax Islamica, they use Western logistical tools and Western theories to establish their new Islamic world order. These characteristic mindsets are the realities anyone engaged in defense and deterrence aimed against the extremists, must deal with. The underlying mindset which shaped the creation of ISIS and the Boko Haram caliphates, is that there can be no global peace till there is global Islamic domination—which  is— Allah’s global rule!

This conviction forms the ideological inspiration, framework and  determination of groups like Boko Haram, ISIS, Al-Shabab, Al Qaida and their global affiliates and movements who seek to globalize Islam and establish a global Islamic order or Pax Islamica. Their dream is to eliminate all competing civilizations and religions so as to establish the Pax Islamica. Their type of peace is a true threat to non-Muslims referred to by Shariah as Dhimmi (people who should be discriminated and subdued).

Therefore, Political Islamic Sharia necessarily contradicts human rights. It must consequently be clearly understood that extremist Jihadists are not just mere terrorist, but politicized religious violent actors with a new challenge against the present world order, and therefore a great threat to local and international security. They want to conquer the world, and will not stop till they are either all dead or win. 

Political Islam brings to the fore the picture of two civilizations in competition, or the clash of civilizations. The clash of civilization is properly the clash of cultures. It is not the culture of the West and Islam but the terrorists and other human beings irrespective of religion. It is the cultural divergence of value systems held by terrorists from what is expected by the normal community of human beings, which is proof of their illegitimacy. Boko Haram and groups of their kind are in a cultural war against the existing world order. This cultural war can only be won by upholding human rights and a renaissance of societal norms and value systems enforced in communities during peace times. This prevents the development of dangerous ideologies that estrange the weak and deceived from normal community values and belief systems turning them into possible terrorists.

The West began this process  (world revolution) by an intentional coup, by dethroning the Judeo-Christian world view and practices in  the west and the world. It worked hard to remove the Judeo-Christian influences, structures and institutions, and eliminate standards, morals and systems of values and. They opened the door and invited all kinds of demons and witchcraft with their alternate lifestyles, sexual practices, and sex orientation, the promotion of ungodliness and humanism. The generation influenced by this had no morals or foundation from which to create their identity.  In this vacuum, Fundamentalism is now rising up with its appeal to personal power, aggression and control. Western youth are being infected with this cancer due to  the appeal to be someone who help contribute and shape the new world order. Hordes of demons have been released into the world and the only standard that can most efficiently resist and resolve this reality is the power of the risen Christ. The military powers of the world are failing to contain these world. The Bible states that,  at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow including the knees of the Jihadist revolutionaries.

Combating the threat of political Islam can be a very difficult security dilemma. The actors fight an irregular war with which regular states are very unfamiliar. To protect communities from such an irregular war can be very embarrassingly confusing, even for well-trained, regular forces. In this war, the extremist jihadists’ intention is that “the enemy should be demoralized and made uncertain about what lies ahead.” In this way the terrorist maintains control of the situation and sets the agenda of how things must happen.

The struggle is about who will determine the crucial definition of the new ‘world order’ and therefore lead the international system into an uncertain future. The person that defines an order controls its operation. Political Islam,  therefore, aims at taking over the present world order, seeking to control the new world command. There is a desperate struggle in progress over the very life of the world, of which most people are still oblivious. Presently, only nations under their aggression have a glimpse of their intentions.

The struggle is about who will command the affairs of the world in the years to come. “Will it be the West, with its notions of territorial boundaries, market economies, personal faith, and the priority of individual rights? Or will it be Islam, with its emphasis on the universal mission of a trans-tribal community called to build a social order founded on pure monotheism natural to humanity?”

Of course Sayyid Qutb has answered this question long ago when he explicated that only Islam was created by Allah to guide humanity into the next world system and order of doing things, and eternity (Qutb, 1989). This 1989 Sayyid Qutb’s writing is the holy book that hardline Islamists use as the backbone for their violent Islamic ideologies.

A scholar suggests that the irregular war threats, strategy, and affiliates must be faced with the understanding and awareness of their conceptual distinction. We must differentiate between a deliberate enemy and a process, between prevention and strategies of reaction, and also between cooperation and confrontational alignments. If these conceptual differences are not properly discerned, the world will fail in its effort to create a defense and deterrence formula against extremism and fundamentalism. This, then, prescribes the course of applicable adjustments that will enable power-over the violent Islamists.

From the Iraq anti-American Al-Qaida reaction during Operation Desert Storm, ISIS, and Talibans in Afghanistan, Al-Shabab in Somalia to Boko Haram in Nigeria, none have been or may be completely overcome, due to their irregular nature of war and commitment to a new world security with an ideology which have not been fully comprehended. You can’t prevent a disease you don’t conceptually understand. The extremist Islamic irregular war is a major security challenge yet to be fully understood. Therefore, individual war cases like the Boko Haram situation must be addressed and contained with the appropriate response approaches according to the characteristics they exhibit.

 CONSEQUENCES OF ‘THAWRA-ALAMIYYA’ – ISLAMIC WORLD REVOLUTION

Destabilization of Society

The fundamentalist struggle, or Jihad and its conflict variables, have successfully escalated mutual suspicion, and polarized  old tensions between Christians and Muslims, Western and Eastern cultures, Arab nations and the West, and the Arab nations against Israel. Ethnic rivalries have also escalated, not just in the conflict flashpoints, but globally.  This has caused a disconnect between national and community diversities, due to the escalation of violence and destruction of livelihood which has resulted in erosion of the family unit.  Parents and children have been separated and picked up by Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) agencies and placed into various refugee camps. In the most violent cases, family members may not even know where the rest of their loved ones are.

Radical Islam has also caused the loss of adaptability between various communities that formerly adjusted well to each other in conflict situations. The lack of elasticity to adjust allows little misunderstandings to be amplified beyond reality, ending in escalation of violence, injury, hurts, stress, and trauma.

Internally Displaced Persons

In 2014, The Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed that 149,903 persons, victims of Boko Haram terrorism alone, have been attended to as IDPs in Borno State alone.  During the same time period, the Human Rights Watch estimates the number to be over 300,000.  These numbers only give an idea of the staggering number of IDPs in Northern Nigeria as a result of the indiscriminate killings, towns and village burnings, bomb and grenade attacks in crowded business places by the Boko Haram, as well as the heavy-handed counterterrorism operations which force people to flee their homes and businesses. Unfortunately, over 70 percent of them are women and children.

In Syria and Iraq, over 6 million people are presently displaced. Likewise, since 2009, Boko Haram’s violence has displaced 3.3 million people in Nigeria. The efforts to provide basic relief for the destitute, have drained state resources, and brought the finances of humanitarian agencies to the brink. Families of displaced persons also spend millions of dollars to find their loved ones.

Impact on Businesses and Commerce

Fundamentalist and extremist violence have forced the closure of markets, businesses, and income-generating enterprises. Most business people in such areas have lost everything they ever had, and have become IDPs. This turns people with good income into livid, vulnerable, poor and lost victims. Once, they were aspiring middle class citizens, now they are forced to beg for their very existence. Men who are the breadwinners in their families are usually the main targets for slaughter as they often are being hacked to death by the extremist militants. Others who escape death, are forced to take up arms and join gangs of robbers to survive, or join the extremists to make ends meet. Attacks on villages resulting in mass exodus, drives farmers to abandon their farms and fields. Uprooted from their communities, with no crops to harvest, on the run away from their oppressors, hunger becomes part of life for this part of the population.

Impact on Education, Culture & Health

One of the goals of Boko Haram in North-Eastern Nigeria is to paralyze the educational system. Due to the devastation by coercive military action, schools are continually  being closed while parents, teachers and students are trying to escape the violence. This casts an ominous shadow onto the future generation which has short and long term catastrophic consequences on both regional and national development. Due to Boko Haram’s rage against formal education, schools in the Northeast are in perpetual recess, school work is patchy and irregular, as students daily live in fear of their lives.  This does not allow for the focus needed to attain excellence in education, and acquisition of practical life skills. Moreover, many IDPs in those areas find shelter in the schools, while being given humanitarian assistance which are limited to life-saving interventions, only.  Since the schools have to remain closed to accommodate the IDPs, no educational goals can be achieved. Internally displaced children are powerless in  pursuing their education. Even governments with established IDP policies rarely set up schools in camps; this is even more true in areas where the IDPs are mostly ignored, as the government forces are busy combating terrorism. It is also unknown whether children displaced by Boko Haram living with host families are able to register and attend school with peace of mind, being traumatized by memories and nightmares from the loss they have endured.

Impact on Religion and Criminality

It is reported that presently, more than 1500 churches have been destroyed in the Nigerian places Boko Haram dominates. In the same manner, all the Christian communities in Iraq and Syria, as well as the Yazidis have been destroyed, and their right to practice their faith and values, are decimated.  The Christians who escaped death are scattered into different cities in other parts of the affected nations.

The destruction of the places of worship by desecration, looting and senseless massacre of the pastors in a Christian-dominated society, destroys discipline, and pulls back restraints, resulting in uncontrolled outburst of emotions and all kinds of criminal behavior. With Muslims alone living in those communities, these areas feel like ghost towns, as diversity and its contribution to creativity, joy of life, and productivity have been destroyed.

Maiduguri is an example of the scorched land left in the wake of militant extremism. Shops and businesses belonging to non-locals were attacked and looted. What was not taken by the militants and Muslim locals, was burnt or left to rot. Other shops considered too precious to destroy, i.e. pharmacies, were just simply taken over by local Muslims and converted to personal businesses. Amidst high tension, fear and insecurity, daily Mosque and Friday prayer sessions were being forcibly conducted.  Since fundamentalism is anarchist and creates anarchism, under the guise of protecting their neighborhood in the absence of any government authority, youth and vigilante groups took to massive looting, stealing, robbing, raping women, and abducting children. They engaged in terrorizing their neighborhoods under the cover of seeking out militant infiltrators, thereby killing innocent citizens and law abiding residents, making daily life a living hell. Many youth have reverted to traditional rituals and cannibalism.  These were pagan practices they had long abandoned due to their Christian influence, but the escalations of the fundamentalist violence have corrupted them away from their repentance, as they now seek for power and survival.

Implication on Marriages and Breakdown of Family Ties

Extremist violence and the coercive military action in the different affected nations generally results in the devastation of families and the supporting substructures, such as schools, food supply, and medical institutions. Since displacement may last for years sometimes or sometimes perpetually, displaced people never know when, or if, they will ever return to what they regard as normal or call home.  They are left with psychosocial wounds, and the fear of the future, with no hope of ever returning to their community.  This haunts them continuously, traumatizing them further.  They have to make do with a new normal that is not normal at all. Governments in developing nations like Iraq, Syria and Nigeria have not been known to rebuild any destroyed villages or cities.

When violent crisis happen, homes and marriages are the first to take the hit. Families are the bedrock on which societies and nations are built. Destroy them, you have no nation; build them, you have a vibrant nation. Perpetrators of fundamentalist violence understand this; the first micro-cell formation of society they attack, is the family!

 Institutional Failure

Fundamentalist and extremist violence weakens the economy by the destruction of homes, businesses, worship places, markets, etc. The economic security of individuals and households is a major challenge for development interventions in conflict-affected countries. Once the conflict fails or ends, how to feed people, secure livelihoods, and improve markets and market access becomes a major conundrum. Creating the institutions and structures to handle this herculean task is normally very challenging and never fully comprehended, nor actualized. Internally displaced persons become a burden in adjacent cities, stretching services and relationships of ethnic groups, and endangering escalation of new kinds of conflicts in the host communities. Stretching services and supplies lead to severe inflation and hunger. When the economy is weak, the people’s earning power is lowered, poverty intensifies and the middle class disappears. Suddenly, there are only the very rich, and the very poor. This in turn feeds dissatisfaction in the electorate who then begin to form all kinds of dangerous ideologies or philosophies against the system and the seating government, which result in riots, insurgency, terror and serious insecurity, fuelled by the advantaged but disenfranchised elites who feel they need to get back on top to keep control of their political advantages. A weak economy therefore victimizes the people, and compromises the security of the nation. This is a conflict trap or cycle that must be studied, and approached with informed strategic action.

Socio-Economic Impact

Socio-economics is the understanding of how economic activities affect and are shaped by social processes. With large populations relocating from the conflict flash-points, many commercial activities, and businesses crumbling, hundreds of owners close down their businesses and run.Banks and their customers in the region function under great strain and pains, capacity is then  greatly underutilized, business hours are restricted so as to guard against violent attacks.Investors who have had business transactions in the region for generations are forced to relocate, or are in the process of relocating, their industries and business outlets. Identifiable and previously successful local industries will be reeling in stagnation because investments cease due to insecurity. Many institutions are also forced to relocate their regional offices to safer havens, leaving the conflict region devoid of Foreign Direct investment (FDI). The tourism business is usually worst hit, as people stay away from such areas, arguably and rightly so, for the fear of the perennial ethno-political-religious fundamentalist conflicts. The community life which used to be buzzing with social activities, automatically die down under the fear of the unknown, and the concern for attacks. This makes the preaching of the gospel impossible and dangerous.

THE SOLUTION

When all is said and done, ‘thawra al-alamiyya’ (world revolution) extremism is based on the passion to change the world forever. It is a race to establish who will control the future of the world. It is a race for the soul of the world looking through Islamic divine lenses. Who will control the new world order and international systems – Islam, modernity, secularism and Western influences? So far, all have failed the world. It will take a higher spiritual power to effectively checkmate the ‘thawra al-alamiyya’ mammoth. This power must have unhindered access to men’s heart, regardless who they may be. This power must also be able to turn the hearts to its desired direction.

Only one power has made such claim – God of the Bible!

“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water, He turns it wherever He wishes.” Proverbs 21:1 (New King James Version)

“Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.” Proverbs 20:5 (New King James Version)

This higher power is only seen in the peace that Jesus alone brings to the heart of men that makes them beat their war implements into plowshares. Read what the Bible declares,

“He (Christ) shall judge among the nations, and rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore.” Isaiah 2:4 (New King James Version).

Give the world more of Jesus Christ, not less! Don’t ban Him from schools and government offices. Lift Him and His principle up to all men. His Word alone has the divine power to convert men, conquer hardened, insensitive hearts and transform the mentalities and ideologies of tough, bloodthirsty militants. Remove Him and prayers to God from society, then be prepared to build more prisons and pick up severed heads and torn limbs from extremists’ bombs and weaponry. Make a decision for the best and only way and solution to Islamic fundamentalism today, choose Jesus Christ!

FROM R.K.’S CORNER

This month, Steve and I have enjoyed  spending time with Maiwa’azi Dandaura Samu, who is staying with us for a few weeks after his PhD completion in International Conflict Analysis and Resolution at nearby Nova University.  He was born and raised in the Central part of Nigeria in the region where Boko Haram keeps committing devastating, atrocities against the population, especially among the Christians – see August 2010 Bridge Report – http://www.bridgeinternational.org/2013/08/.

As a young man, Maiwa’azi had an encounter with Jesus Christ and served for several decades as an evangelist. A few years ago, in the wake of the rise of radical Islam, he felt the Lord call him into a broader ministry. He now assists as a Conflict and Security Consultant secular authorities in their effort to combat the threats Boko Haram, ISIS and similar groups pose.

In this Bridge issue he has made available to us one of his published academic papers which I find very informative and helpful in understanding in more depth the threats fundamentalist Islam poses to the world in general, and Christian believers specifically!  I have been given the permission to adapt the article to our Bridge readers, thus references and footnotes are removed, It is posted in its entirety on the web, just click on the appropriate link on our website.

Please mark gifts to Maiwa’azi and his ministry Nigerian Workers. 

FROM R.K.’S CORNER

Last month, we commemorated the 25th Anniversary of the November 1989 fall of the Berlin wall, which became the symbol of freedom.

This month, there is another, equally important 25th Anniversary commemoration worth remembering: the December, 1989  bloody revolution which brought down the cruel Romanian Communist regime of President Ceausescu.  The catalyst in the chain of events which unfolded the following two years — the freedom movement sweeping across Communist-dominated Eastern Europe was ONE courageous young man: a youth Pastor and his congregation of committed believers in Jesus Christ!  It eventually caused the Iron Curtain to fall,  The story is compelling enough that, although published five years ago on the 20th Anniversary of the event, I have chosen to do a reprint of that article which you will find below — our Christmas gift to you!

In God’s providence, years earlier, I had a small — but not insignificant part — in the dramatic story by helping save the life of this young pastor, Laszlo Tokes, who became known as the man who sparked the Revolution!

This Christmas, as we look to the nations, we see so much darkness, turmoil, war, and suffering — especially in the region of the Middle East. In many ways, the unrest and uproar against wicked regimes and religious oppression in those countries are comparable to the situation in the communist countries just before the Iron Curtain fell. We believe another curtain is about to fall, this time in the Middle East — and the doors to sharing the Gospel will be wide open!

Friends—let us not take our liberty and freedom of expression of our faith and convictions for granted!  The descriptions of the names of Jesus Christ, written by the Prophet Isaiah (9:6-7) 700 years before His birth, echoed down the generations for another 2000 years, testifying that He is indeed the Light of the World (John 8:12)! This son mentioned in Isaiah, also said about himself in John 8:36,  “If the Son makes you free, you become free indeed!”

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.”

DECEMBER 1989 – 25 YEARS AGO – THE FALL OF EASTERN EUROPE’S IRON CURTAIN 

PREFACE

Ephesians 2:10 declares, “… for we are His (God’s) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  Have you noticed that these good works are most of the time not bombastic, earth-shattering events, but sometimes a string of day-to-day “happenings”?  They are likened to a woven tapestry; we see only the pattern on the top side, but on the underside the Master Weaver has intricately interwoven connections of the threads which each represents a human life.    When we as believers live in harmony with God and one another and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, His purposes are accomplished on this earth!

The Lord did the greatest miracle in the history of mankind — the birth of Jesus, by revealing Himself to a young maiden who simply responded, “Lord, let it be to me according to your will”. She bought forth EMMANUEL – God with Us!

My Christmas gift to you is a reprint of a true story from my life. It involves a Mission Director in Germany, a Theology Professor and his Pastor son in Romania, a Senior Pastor in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and myself. The “happenings” in each of our lives intersected as woven threads, and— unknowingly at the time, we each had a part in helping spare the life of the very person who became the spark-plug in bringing down the Iron Curtain!

A CHRISTMAS STORY – A Personal Testimony by R.K. Ulrich

1983— Christmas and Händel’s Messiah

From my seat in the balcony, I glanced around the white cathedral sanctuary festively decorated with hundreds of red poinsettias, filled to capacity with men and women in their best attire.  The massive, magnificent pipe organ above the altar provided a majestic background for the 100 voice choir and full orchestra of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (CRPC) as the magnificent annual Christmas performance of Händel‘s Messiah echoed throughout the building.

Leaning back, while enjoying the rich beauty of the sights and sounds of the music, pondering the profound depth of scripture verses from Isaiah to Revelation describing our Savior, I began sobbing and simply could not stop. It was a heart cry of intercession on behalf of the hundreds of wonderful brothers and sisters I had met from the underground, suffering church in countries behind the Iron Curtain while serving a two year tenure with an East European Mission located in München (Munich), Germany.  I was emotionally distraught at the tremendous wealth displayed in this church sanctuary, while the Christian brothers and sisters I had just left behind in Eastern Europe did not even have their rudimentary physical needs met.  Just a few weeks prior, I had returned  permanently to the States from my stay at the Mission with a commission from the Lord: a vision of a bridge spanning America, Europe, and the Soviet Union with the words, “Return to the States and be a Bridge – do not build one!“ I was to be a voice in the West, representing the believers who were suffering for their faith in the oppressive communist countries, while being a conduit for bringing resources from the believers in the West across this Bridge to the East (2. Cor. 9: 6-15).

During this concert, I had a sense that somehow, in God‘s providence, He had plans to intertwine His purposes  for the persecuted church in Eastern Europe, CRPC and myself.

1984 — CRPC Missions Conference

After my return from Europe to the States with the new commission, I re-established myself in Fort Lauderdale. A lovely elderly couple in our local church gave me a condo for rent at a price I could afford.  It was in that place, with the help of my church leaders and the Mission in Germany, that the small beginnings of The Bridge originated.  It “happened” to be located nearby Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church whose dynamic senior pastor, Dr. D. James Kennedy, was well known for his strong stand against the evil of atheist communism, calling it a religion.

Through one of the teachers at their school, Westminster Academy, I “happened” to be invited to speak to the students on missions. As a result, in the Spring of 1984, I “happened” to be invited  to participate at the annual week-long Missions Conference of the church, whereby missionaries from around the world participated. It culminated in the Missions Sunday service, where I “happened” to be chosen from among all the participating missionaries to present the passion for world missions to the congregation during Sunday service.

Mission Trip to Romania

The Bridge was given a generous donation of $1,500 for my participation—the exact amount I needed to go on a mission trip to Romania, which I did under the auspices of my friends at the Mission in Germany.  It was one of my many courier trips during which a co-worker and I would clandestinely deliver Bibles and other Christian material to our specific contact persons within the country. This time, before I left for the trip, the Director at the Mission “happened” to ask me if I would take a side-trip to the city of Cluj, located in Transylvania (a part of Romania dominated by ethnic Hungarians, home of the notorious Dracula) to check out the situation of a persecuted Christian leader who had asked for help.

After the delivery of the pre-scheduled material to our precious believers, my co-worker and I drove through mountains and forests and arrived in Cluj late in the evening, in an effort to evade the infamous Securitate (secret police, known for its brutality). We found the address, sneaked into the dingy apartment building, quietly walked up the many stairs, and tapped the secret signal on the appropriate door.  A stately, elderly gentleman opened the door and, without a word,  waved us into the apartment which indicated that he was a cultured, well read intellectual.

Istvan Tokes

Quietly, in German, Istvan Tokes began to tell an incredulous story.  He was a senior professor of theology at the Reformed Seminary in town, and had for years been intimidated and threatened by Ceausescu’s leaders to collaborate in the government’s atheist agenda against the Christian believers. “At times, the pressure became too great; I gave in and helped spread disinformation through the church”, he admitted, tears running down his cheeks.  He continued, “I have a son, Laszlo, who is a youth leader in  one of our churches in the city of Timisoara. There is revival among the youth there. Watching their faith and courage has made me repent.  Lately, I have also been speaking openly about the abuses of the regime and standing up for the church of Jesus Christ!” 

Istvan then told us that he had learned that government officials had secretly plotted to kill both him and his son — one to be caused by a car accident, the other by radioactive material to be placed in the doorpost of his house.  He then “happened” to hand me a typed, three page statement in German, outlining details of Ceausescu’s atrocities against the church and a plea for him and his son’s life.  He asked if I would bring this document to America and give it to influential people, preferably in Washington DC, who could make their situation public?  I accepted this precious document which was typed on an old-style typewriter.  After we had prayed and said goodbye, I took the document and hid it in one of my boots — aware that, if discovered, I might be arrested and charged with Western espionage.  There were stories told about Western couriers who had disappeared while on their trips, presumably caught and placed in Siberian prison camps.

Dr. D. James D. Kennedy

God had his protective hand over us; my co-worker and I returned safely to the Mission in Germany.  From there I flew back to the States.  I had no clue whom to contact. I did not know any prominent American government officials!  The first I did, was to translate the document into English. Then, I “happened” to consider that the funds for this trip had actually been provided by Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church — why not contact Dr. Kennedy?  After all, both men were Reformed theologians! I made an appointment.  Dr. Kennedy met with me and graciously gave me ample time to present my plea for help to save the lives of these two valuable Romanian servants of the Lord.    “What can I do?” he asked.  “Please inform people who can give this maximum exposure”, I pleaded, while handing a copies of the original and translated documents over to him, “Ceausescu will never kill these men if he knows it will give him bad press in America.”  Dr. Kennedy promised to pursue the matter.  I left, confident that the Tokes family were in good hands and under God’s protective wings.

1987 — Wedding and Food Parcels

in the ensuing years, with my partners in the US and overseas, I kept building the network of relationships of The Bridge International, domestically and internationally. Our powerful bi-monthly intercessory group prayed continually throughout the eighties that God would smash the Iron Curtain and open the doors for the Gospel.  The believers kept suffering!

In 1987, when Steve and I married,  we asked that our family and friends, in lieu of wedding gifts, donate a monetary gift via The Bridge toward food parcels for starving Christian families in Romania. Over $6,000 was sent overseas. Steve and I joined hands and hearts, and – while living in South Florida, have continues serving the nations with the Gospel with one hand, while doing business with the other.

1989— Fall of the Iron Curtain

In the late eighties, media news reported on freedom movements that had begun emerging in Eastern Europe. It began  with the Pope’s visit to Poland and the Solidarity uprising led by Lech Walesa.  Increasing in scope and intensity, it caused, in the Fall of 1989, a largely bloodless political upheaval in Poland, continued in Hungary, then led to what became known as the “Velvet Revolution” – a surge of mostly peaceful revolutions in East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria.  Romania was the only Eastern Bloc country to execute its head of states!

Romania’s Nicolae Ceausescu

Nothing matched what happened in Romania!  During his 21 years as Romania’s president, Nicolae Ceausescu, one of Communism’s most cruel and oppressive dictators, kept up a reign of fear, suppressing all opposition with the help of the brutal Securitate, with the largest network of spies and informers in Eastern Europe. In December 1989, his downfall came as a result of his violent overreaction to public unrest over issues such as food shortages.

A week later, while standing in line at the grocery store, I picked up a news magazine from the nearby rack. On he front was an image of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu’s dead bodies, shot to death by their own people!  As I read the feature article, I was stunned – it described Romania’s bloody revolution and revealed an incredulous tale –  Lazlo Tokes  and his father, Istvan, were the two Romanian pastors I had pleaded to be helped by Dr. Kennedy! Following is an excerpt from this news-article: 

“Laszlo Tokes — the man who Sparked the Revolution!  It began on December 15, with demonstrations in the western city of Timisoara against the harassment of a dissident ethnic-Hungarian Reformed Church pastor, Laszlo Tokes, who had the courage to speak up against the atrocities in his country.   On that day, an order was served to remove Laszlo from his post, causing his congregation to demonstrate against the order, which was violently put down by government security forces. The revolt blazed a trail to Bucharest and the rest of the country. This soon swelled into a massive protest, during which slogans like “We want bread” soon turned into “Down with Ceausescu”.

Ceausescu sought to restore his own authority, but amid bloody street battles on December 22, an angry mass of people stormed Ceausescu’s offices. He fled by helicopter, but was seized outside the city. In a summary court martial held in secret, he and his wife, Elena, were accused of ordering the deaths of 60,000 people. On Christmas Day, they were shot to death.”             

Dr. D. James Kennedy recounts in one of his books, “Interestingly, in the providence of God, I may have had a small hand in that situation. In the mid‑1980ties, I had been asked by a woman missionary, working behind the Iron Curtain, to write a letter to Nicolae Ceausescu. She wanted me to tell him to stop harassing two pastors in Romania , a father and son (who was a youth minister).  Frankly, I felt such a letter would be in vain. Why would a Communist dictator thousands of miles away listen to an American preacher?  But I wrote it anyway.  I mentioned that the eyes of the world would be on the situation. After the tyrant’s fall, I received a note from the missionary thanking me for that letter which I had forgotten all about. She said that after my correspondence, “although the harassments did not stop against the Tokes family, they had diminished. The important part is that their lives were spared.” The name of the youth minister was Laszlo Tokes, the man who had been instrumental in the fall of Communism in Romania!”

On December 16, 2009, on the occasion of the anniversary of 20 years since the fall of the communist regime, U.S. Ambassador to Bucharest, Mark Gitenstein, compared Laszlo Tokes with Martin Luther King. “When Laszlo appeared in the window and gestured his followers to come close, he was not aware that the Romanian revolution started at that moment. With that simple sign of encouragement he said in fact: ‘Come here and let’s confront tyranny’.  The same as Martin Luther King and Rosei Parks, Laszlo Tokes inspired those who were deprived of any right, to exert their God given rights, and so he gave the signal of the Revolution’s start”.