A Message from our Lord by Sister Catherine

On Sunday, 9th January 2022, I received the following email from one of the students in our Doulos Training School (DTS), sister Catherine, who is in the United Kingdom. 

Testimony of Sister Catherine

"Dear brother Len and sister Jennifer.

This morning at around 6:00 AM, I had a vision of being in heaven, and our Lord showed me the setting sun. 

I met Jesus face-to-face and He said, 'As much as I would love to give more time to save souls, I cannot, because our Father the Almighty has set the sun in place and His plans in place, and they cannot be changed. Time is running out for saving souls, please tell our Church. I am always with you'

It was crystal clear, and a very vivid message and very powerful.

This message  has really got me thinking of the urgency of witnessing praying more.

I felt it is very urgent to share this message with you.

I feel such a stronger urgency to witness more and pray more for salvation of lost souls and pray for more people to join the Doulos studies and for some churches to wake up before it's too late.

Praying for you all. 

Bless you all. 

With love in Jesus our Lord. 

Sister Catherine."

[END OF TESTIMONY FROM SISTER CATHERINE].

---------------------------------------------

Closing Words

Dear friends, I have no doubt that what sister Catherine has shared actually happened to her, and that the Lord did speak to her in heaven. I know her and she would not make anything like this up. 

This message from our Lord agrees with what we have been hearing from Him through many other servants of His. Time is up. The end has come. He is coming back very very soon (Rev 22:7). There is no time to waste. The Father has determined it. As the Lord said at the end of the Revelation given to John the apostle:

"Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." (Rev 22:12-16)

Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Come! 

May the Lord help us all to be found ready when He comes. May He help us to be found faithful and obedient to all that He has commanded us to do, including the Great Commission to go and make disciples. May He help us to be faithful in prayer, especially for souls.

Author's Note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to read my other post about sister Catherine called Supernatural Encounter While Striving to Draw Closer to God. You may also read Rescue Souls, Share Jesus Without Fear, A Spirit Led Strategy for Evangelism, The Night the Lord Came into My Hut.  If you are interested in learning more about our three-year discipleship training school (DTS), please see here. Also see the Home page of this blog for more testimonies. You are invited to view my collection of blogs at Writing for the Master. 

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus. Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15). He preached that we must repent and believe. 

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International. He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org. 

The Voice That Changed Everything -- the Testimony of Dr. Stenhouse

Dr. Andrew Stenhouse

Today I would like to share with you the testimony of a dear friend of mine, whom I have known for about twenty-four years, who received his call to be a medical doctor when God spoke to him in an audible voice. What follows is a transcript from my interview with him on our Preparing the Way radio program on January 22, 2014. I have also inserted into the middle of the interview the transcript of my subsequent interview with him today on August 17, 2016, in order to get more specific details about his testimony. If you choose to listen to the audio recording of his testimony, please note that it will playback as two separate interviews, so the order of the discussion will not match the following transcript.

Dr. Andrew Stenhouse's Testimony
Len: Welcome to Preparing the Way, where we’re preparing the way for the imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ in repentance -- preaching holiness, righteousness, and truth. My name is Len Lacroix, and I’m your host for this broadcast. I’m a preacher and missionary to Eastern Europe with Doulos Missions International. And joining me today as my guest is Dr. Andrew Stenhouse, the president of Doulos Missions International. He’s a teacher of God’s Word and has been a medical doctor for over fifty years, having lived in England, Scotland, New Zealand, Fiji, Afghanistan, and has been in the US for the last thirty years. I’ve known him since around 1992 when we met in Virginia. And he’s been the president of our ministry for about the last five years.

Dr. Andrew Stenhouse, welcome!

Andrew: Thank you so much, Len! I appreciate the opportunity to be with you on this program today. It’s a joy. It’s a pleasure. And anytime you have the opportunity to introduce anybody to the Lord Jesus, it’s such a pleasure.

Len: Absolutely. I wanted to take a moment to ask you to share a little bit about yourself—just anything you want to say about yourself to the listeners on the program.

Andrew: Well, the first thing is that, as Len stated, I am not a pastor; I’m not an evangelist; I’m not a preacher. I’m a doctor and have the pleasure of introducing people to the Lord daily, on a daily basis, really, as I take care of them. And they respond at those times, particularly the times when they’re going through serious problems, such as in hospice and terminal illnesses. So they get the opportunity to hear the gospel, hear the Good News of the Lord Jesus and how He became the bridge from this earth to the Father. And, as far as myself, I was saved when I was a child, and since then have been trying to listen to the Father. And it was the Father that told me that I needed to be a doctor. I was wanting to be a geologist, but my Father said no, He wanted me to be a doctor. So I argued with Him a little bit with Him, but it was no good. And so that was kind of the story, and I said, “Yes, Father, I will be a doctor.” So, that’s where we are, Len.

Len: I wanted to ask you, Andrew, if you could please tell me that part about -- go back to the beginning where you first received your call. You had been a geology student, but then a female friend invited you to church, and while you were sitting there in church with her, you told me one time that you heard God speak to you in an audible voice and called you to be a doctor. So pick it up with the friend inviting you and go from there with that piece where you were in the church and how you heard from God.

Andrew: Well, this was a worship service. And I loved that and loved to go. And then during the preaching part, I heard the audible voice of God speak to me on the right side of my body. And I said to the young lady Ruth, “Did you hear somebody talk?”

She said, “Shush, Andrew. You don’t talk in church.”

I said, “I know.”

And then the next thing that happened was, it was the audible voice of God telling me I was going to be a doctor. And then nothing happened for a few minutes, and then suddenly, my whole body started to shake like a rag doll and it interfered with the service. And I suddenly said, “This is my Creator doing this,” and I started talking to God and telling Him how I hated the War in London during World War II and the bombs and blood and guts and people not coming back to school. And the one thing I didn’t want to do was be a doctor. So I kept on talking and the shaking got worse and worse. So I had to stop, thinking I might physically die. And so the next thing that happened was that I stopped talking, the shaking stopped, and then the voice spoke to me, not from my right side, but from the lower left side of my body.

And it’s as though the Holy Spirit or God was surrounding me, and said, “You will be a doctor.” It was a command.

And I said, “Yes, Lord, I will be a doctor.”

And that was how I got in, and from then on nothing else mattered in my life. My interests -- I immediately resigned from geology courses and also the Geological Survey where I was working. I was about seventeen at that time.

Len: Wow!

Andrew: And I changed islands, went to the south island, and took up pre-med at that time. None of the courses had I taken in the past.  I had taken languages and geology mainly, and mathematics. And here I was doing courses that people have been trained for all their lives.

Len: Wow! Now you said the south island…what country was that?

Andrew: That’s New Zealand.

Len: Okay, so this all happened in New Zealand. And it was a lady named Ruth, a sister in Christ named Ruth that invited you to church.

Andrew: Yes.

Len: Now when you were in that service, two things I want to know about it, if you can tell me. Do you remember what the -- when God first told you to be a doctor, how He said it to you? Not that it really matters, but do you remember what words He used when He said it the first time on your right side?

Andrew: Yes, as far as I remember, “You are to be a doctor.” “You are going to be a doctor,” or something like that.

Len: Yeah. Now the other thing I wanted to know was, when you say it disrupted the service, did you have pretty much a lot of people now with their attention focused on you?

Andrew: Yes, and everybody was moving away, as far as I know. And I left the service at that point after the whole thing was over. I didn’t stay in the service, because I couldn’t focus on anything else.

Len: Yeah, so people probably thought you were kind of strange.

Andrew: Yes, very strange. And I had actually been brought up very strictly and didn’t realize that God would do that.

Len: Yeah, I mean, you would never have done anything like that on your own.

Andrew: Oh, no! Absolutely not! And everybody that I would tell it to thought I was nuts, you know.

Len: That’s a big difference between geology and medical practice.

Andrew: Yes.

Len: The Lord redirected you. And now it’s been, what, over thirty years…practicing medicine?

Andrew: Yes, I’ve been practicing medicine over fifty-five years. I’ll be going on fifty-five years, and loving it and loving the people. And it has been such a joy, and God has really, through His voice—I never thought, I never was taught that God still spoke. But He really still speaks if we have our ears listening for Him. So I just encourage everybody that’s on this program, just to look forward to hearing the voice of the Lord. And look forward to receiving Him into their hearts so as they will have the peace that passes all understanding.

Len: Yes, absolutely. And one of things I appreciate about you is, the way that, you know, with your patients, that you don’t just treat them through medical science, but you pray for them, you know, with laying on of hands when they allow you to, and trust the Lord to heal them. And I think that’s a really unusual thing for a medical doctor to do, because there are plenty of Christian doctors out there, but I don’t know many that do that.

Andrew: Yes, that’s right. And you just ask them first, “May I bless you? May I just bless you?” And there’s not many people who will turn down a blessing. And then as I’m blessing them, I say, “Can I pray for God to touch you and to heal you?” And they say, “Yes.” And there’s so many people have been touched over the years by the Lord. And particularly when you hear His voice speaking.

Len: Yeah, that’s awesome. Praise God. And did I get it right that you’ve been in the US now for the last thirty years?

Andrew: Yes, that’s correct. I’ve been here back in the United States. I was born in Detroit, but lived overseas for quite a long time. And I’ve been back here since about 1972, ’73. Yes. That’s right.

Len: Wow. Praise God. Okay, well thanks very much for introducing yourself, and what I’d like to do is just go on to the next segment of the program, if that’s okay.

Andrew: Absolutely.

Listen to Interview Online

Editor's Comments
This is truly an amazing testimony of how God called a man to serve Him as a medical doctor. One thing you need to learn from this is that you need to listen to the Lord's voice. It's extremely important. The voice of the Lord changes your outlook, especially when He shakes you like a rag doll like He did with Dr. Stenhouse. In order to hear the Lord's voice, you need to be less involved in distractions. You need to remove them from your life, such as texting.

Only eternity will tell all that the Lord actually did through this humble servant of His during those fifty-five years of medical practice. I know that there were miraculous healings that took place, the gospel was proclaimed to the sick and dying, and people were introduced to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Dr. Stenhouse served in many different capacities over those five decades. That included working for the US Navy in a medical school that he helped to establish in Afghanistan. It also included having his own Family Medical practice in Texas in the United States for a number of years, later serving as a Professor of Medicine for Texas Tech in Amarillo, Texas, as well as working at the Veterans' Administration Hospital there. Toward the end of his career, he spent a great deal of time working in a hospice caring for those who were dying, which was something he thoroughly enjoyed.

He is a model for other Christians who practice medicine, demonstrating how to serve patients not only from a physical and medical perspective, but also from a supernatural and spiritual one, so that their bodies might be healed and their souls saved.

Andrew loves the Lord with all His heart, and I have always known him to be a kind, loving, compassionate, generous person, who cares about people. When I asked him around 2007 to serve as the president for our ministry, Doulos Missions International, he humbly accepted it, feeling he was unworthy for such a task. Yet he served in that role for seven years, until he officially resigned in August 2014. He had actually tried to resign one year before that, due to his health, but agreed at my request to serve longer to help fulfill the need we had at that time. That was after he had retired from medicine, which he would not have done if it had not been for his health issues. He loved his profession, and put his heart into it. His resignation from our ministry's board of directors occurred one year after we had returned from the mission field of Eastern Europe to the United States.

During the time that he served as our ministry's president and chairman of the board, he was a tremendous blessing to us. Countless times he has been for us a source of godly counsel and wisdom from the Lord. He has upheld us in prayer, too. He always has and still does maintain his practice of asking the Father and hearing the Lord's voice, even though it may be the still small voice of the Holy Spirit in his heart, and not the audible voice of God like he heard so long ago in that church. Now in his 80's, he still continues to have two-way conversations with the Father.

If you are a Christian medical doctor, I hope that this testimony has encouraged you, as well as edified and guided you to serve the Lord with such honor, integrity, love, and compassion for people. I hope it has encouraged you to be bold and pray for the sick, trusting the Lord to heal them, as well as share the gospel with your patients and lead them to the Savior. You have a tremendous platform and a position of influence, so use it for the Lord.

If you are a Christian medical student or someone who is considering the medical profession, may this testimony be an encouragement to you, too, to hear the Lord's voice, whether audible or in your heart. Being a medical doctor is a calling, so you need to be sure it is your calling from God before you proceed down that path. Seek Him diligently in prayer and He will direct you. As the proverbs say:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." (Pr 3:5-6, NASB).

"In a man's heart he plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." (Pr 16:9).

God has had a plan for everyone since before the foundation of the world. Your life is foreordained. God has included you in His wonderful unfolding plan, but He will not violate your own free will. You can either choose to partner with Him by doing His will, as brother Stenhouse did, and experience the joy and excitement of doing so, or you can do your own will and forfeit all that, as well as eternal life. It's your choice.

Author's Note: You may listen to the interview here at this link. If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to read The Holy Spirit Speaks, Hearing the Lord's Voice, Inquiring of the Lord, Baptized with the Spirit, Walking in the Perfect Will of God, Obedience by the Spirit, Discerning the Things of the Spirit, The Forgotten Sin of Worldliness, What's Wrong with the Prosperity Gospel?, The Cost of Discipleship, God Chooses the Weak Things, What is That in Your Hand?, Having a Servant's Heart, Avoid Becoming a Corrupted Christian, , Should you fear the Lord?, Holy Living in a Perverted World, An Open Mind that Loves the Truth, Sins That Will Keep You From Heaven, Ask for the Ancient Paths, Living a Life Worthy of the Lord, Supernatural Power for All Disciples, The Ways of Life, The Way, Will, and Word of God, Life After Death, The Power of God to Heal, Healing is in the Atonement, The Cause of Disease, Scriptural Guidance About Blood Transfusions, and Is it a Sin to Take Medicine? You may access more testimonies like this on the Home page of this blog. You are also invited to view my collection of blogs at Writing for the Master. 

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Prodigal Restored to God

Today I would like to share a testimony from a brother in South Africa, named Lusindiso, who was away from the Lord.  But God used the testimonies of His mighty deeds in the lives of other believers to bring Lusindiso back to Himself.  Here is his personal testimony:

I grew up in a Baptist Church. In my early teens, I then stopped attending church for worldly things like football. In my late teens, I realized I had a spiritual problem. I went from one witchdoctor to another looking for solutions until one day someone in one of the prosperity churches invited me. After a long time there, with no breakthrough in my spiritual problem, my finances were drying up, as they really ask for money there. Everything is about money. They have campaigns whereby you have to come with all your salary plus bonus and sell your things, and put it all in an envelope with a request, which they say they will pray over in Israel for God to answer your problems.

I then stopped going to any church. One day while browsing through the Internet, I came to a website, where I read a story of a certain ex-satanist from DRC, another African country about three hours flight from South Africa. I then began thinking seriously about my salvation more than my spiritual problem. Then while browsing through the Internet, I came to EternalDestinations.info, from which I read a lot of heaven and hell testimonies that really shook me. My uncle has been inviting me to his church. I then decided to go there. Ever since that time, I have been attending there. However, I have been giving them the testimonies from your website, as they are not a holiness church.

Their leader (the Bishop) has been introducing these testimonies to different groups (youth, mothers, fathers, etc). He has even given me the task of compiling these testimonies, and the corresponding videos, to give to these different groups, so that they may read and start letting go of certain things that the church wasn’t aware were sins before God.

In short, I am in a church that is still striving for holiness through the testimonies found from your site. We thank God for that. It’s not easy, as some are resisting what comes out of these testimonies. Perhaps they feel they cannot be told what to do by a ‘new congregant’ such as me. But I believe with time, God will help us, though we may not have time.

Lusindiso Mfidi

[END OF BROTHER LUSINDISO'S TESTIMONY]

Praise the Lord for bringing brother Lusindiso back to Himself by the saving power of Jesus Christ, through the testimonies of what He has done in the lives of others!  Likewise I pray the Lord will also use Lusindiso's testimony to bring more prodigals home.

My Personal Invitation to You
In closing, please let me say that if you are backslidden -- you were once saved, but are now away from Jesus Christ,  He is calling to you today to return to Him.  He leaves the ninety-nine other sheep in the flock to pursue you -- that one lost sheep.  Return to Him with repentance and weeping.  "Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, 'Take away all iniquity And receive us graciously, That we may present the fruit of our lips.'" (Hos 14:2) He will forgive you, and heal you.  But don't ever go back that way again!

There is nobody on earth more miserable than a backslidden Christian.  It's a terrible place to be. You might fool yourself into believing that your having fun, but the truth is that deep down inside your soul is aching. You have no peace.  The only answer is to cry out to the Lord for mercy and turn your back on sin.  Separate yourself from the world and consecrate yourself to the Lord once again in holiness. Pour out your heart to God in a covenant prayer something like this one.

It all begins with giving your life back to Him. Won't you do that today?

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.The prodigal son image was uploaded to Wikimedia as a donation by the Brooklyn Museum, and is considered to have no known copyright restrictions by the institutions of the Brooklyn Museum.

Author's Note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to read "Covenant Prayer," "Drifting Away," "The Truth Set Me Free," The Lord Healed My Backsliding, "Holy Living in a Perverted World," and a poem by my daughter called "The Good Shepherd." You are invited to view my collection of blogs at Writing for the Master. 

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Budapest Epicenter for Revival

Budapest at center; Eastern Europe is highlighted in yellow

During the fifty years that communism kept this region in captivity, their was no freedom of worship.  And although the political changes in 1990 brought a greater freedom, which allowed the disciples of Christ to do great exploits for the Lord over the past twenty-two years, there is still a great need.  Eastern Europe is still a very dark place. Less than ten percent of the people in these countries are evangelical. And many of the evangelical churches are steeped in formalism. All the same social problems that plague the US and western Europe have now been imported -- immorality, pornography, hedonism, materialism, alcoholism, drug addiction, divorce, abortion, and suicide.

However, before we came to Hungary, the Lord gave us a vision for Eastern Europe.  We felt that through the power of the Holy Spirit, there was going to be such an impact of the gospel on Budapest that it would ripple all across Europe and Russia.  We saw it like the epicenter of an earthquake, where there are concentric waves pulsing outward from here.  

Amazingly, we have received confirmation of this from the disciples here!  Although we never mentioned it to our brother in the Lord, David, he told Len that historically, Hungary has been the origin for revolutionary movements.  And he said that there have been prophetic words within the churches that Hungary is going to be an epicenter for a great spiritual revival, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit across Europe.  He said the Lord has given this vision to multiple disciples here, and we see it as an amazing confirmation of our own vision.

Please pray along these lines that the vision would come to pass.  The Holy Spirit has essential and central role in the advance of God's kingdom. This is the only way this continent will be reached with the gospel, not by man's efforts.  We need an outpouring of the Holy Spirit here!

Author's note:  You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."  

___________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Letting Go of Someone You Love

I went to the funeral for a dear man named Janos (pronounced YA-nosh) today. This was the usher at our church who was so full of joy and who died of a terrible cancer a couple weeks ago.

When we first came to this church, Janos was the usher who greeted us at the entrance with his great big smile and hugged us. He made us feel welcome there, even though we knew nobody. He escorted us to the seats in front that were reserved for English-speaking people who need translators. And he made sure we each got a headset to hear the translator during the service, so we could understand everything that was going on. Whenever there was a technical problem with the headsets, he would come right over without delay to help correct it, so we would not miss anything that was being said. Even though he didn’t speak English, Jennifer and I felt his love and joy, and it seemed like we got to know him in spite of our inability to communicate with him very well.

I had talked with one of the pastors about Janos right after he died a couple weeks ago. He told me that when Janos first discovered he was ill, he did not yet know how serious it was. He went to the weekly prayer meeting and he told the people there that he was ill. But he said that even if he were to die that very day, he felt like he had served the purposes of God for his life on earth and had fulfilled his mission. I recall that he also got up in church one Sunday, which was the last Sunday he was able to attend church. He went up front and with joy he testified for the Lord. He said that he had been given the opportunity to be a witness for Jesus during his lifetime. At work, he would smile and say hello to people, asking how they were doing. He said they would stop and tell him about the things that were bothering them. He would do this each time he saw them. After this happened two or three times, people would inevitably ask him why it was that they felt they could talk to him so freely when they were unable to do this with anyone else. He would explain to them that he is no different from them. They too could have this joy and peace in their hearts if they would give their life to Jesus as he had done. He said that through him the Lord had brought many members of his family to the saving knowledge of Jesus.

At the funeral, I talked with Ibolya (pronounced EE-bo-ya) about him at length. She told me the story from her perspective. In March when Janos became ill, he did not yet know how serious it was. He did not know what was wrong with him. He was only 45 years old and there was no reason to believe this illness was terminal. But Ibolya, who is a cardiologist, said she has been trained in the university to spot signs on a person’s face when they are close to dying. One day soon after he first became ill, she was standing by him while he was doing something and she noticed these signs on his face. She said she was thinking to herself that Janos was close to dying, but she didn’t say a word. Yet he turned to her and said, “Why do you think that I will die soon?” She was amazed that he knew exactly what she was pondering in her heart and they discussed it. She said, I am not saying that you will die right away, and she tried to encourage him.

He went to the doctor in March and a lump was discovered inside his abdomen. She said the doctor was negligent and scheduled the next appointment for Janos two months out in May! She had to get involved herself and helped to get him into chemotherapy, but it was too late. The disease was too far progressed and the medical professionals sent him home with no treatment plan or hope of living.

The church prayed earnestly for him over the past five months. There were many different prayer meetings at the church and in the homes, as well as people visiting Janos at his home to pray for him.

One Sunday evening very recently, Ibolya and her husband Laci (pronounced LOT-see) had been away on holiday about 200 km from Budapest, when Janos' mother called them on their mobile. The mother who is an old Christian said that she finally came to the point where she had released her son to the Lord and that he was very close to death. She was very concerned that Laci as his pastor and his wife, Ibolya should go to see him right away to pray and release him to the Lord.

So she and Laci made the trip into Budapest and visited Janos two days later on Tuesday evening in his home and talked with him. One of the questions they asked him was whether he was ready to go. He said he had been battling with terrible nightmares at night that he would go to hell. So they encouraged him that he knows Jesus and when he dies he will go to Jesus in heaven, not to the devil in hell.

After this they told him out loud from their hearts that they release him to the Lord. This is not something they did lightly, as they have known and loved Janos for many years and he was very dear to their hearts. After they released him, he said with complete peace and assurance, “I go. Hallelujiah!” And he smiled. Then they took communion together with Janos. The next morning he died and went to be with the Lord.

It is essential that we release our loved ones when it is their time to go and they are ready to meet the Lord, in order to help them die. Often times when one or more family members cannot seem to let go of their terminally ill or dying loved one, they prolong the person’s death needlessly. By not letting go of them, they can keep the person around languishing in a state of suffering, and it is so much harder on everyone. Ibolya has seen this time and again and she says it is necessary for the loved ones to say out loud from their heart to the dying person, “I release you (to the Lord Jesus).”

I told Ibolya about a lady named Merle at the nursing home across the hall from my mother, who was laying unconscious in her bed, languishing near death. I knew of her situation, but had not had the opportunity to visit her. My mother had also told me that the family of this woman had given orders to the nursing facility that nobody was allowed to visit with this lady except for family members. They did not want anyone seeing her in this terrible condition.

One day when I went to see my mother, she was not there, as they had taken her down for x-rays. So seeing that Merle across the hall was alone in her room, I asked the nurse at the nurse’s station if I could pay her a visit. They told me to go ahead right in. I went in and saw that she was laying there unresponsive, unable to communicate, her lungs making a terrible gurgling sound that showed they were filled with fluid. But knowing that she could still hear me, I spoke to her like I would speak to any person who is able to communicate.

I greeted her by name and introduced myself. Then I went on to share Jesus with her in a very loving way. Afterward, I led her in a prayer of repentance to ask forgiveness for her sins and invite Jesus into her heart. Although she couldn’t pray out loud, I encouraged her to simply repeat the prayer after me to God sincerely in her heart. As I shared and as we prayed together, I felt the sweet presence of the Lord in such a powerful and tangible way. It was awesome! Once we finished praying, I congratulated her and told her she was now ready to meet the Lord. I said, “You don’t need to be afraid anymore. You are ready to meet your Maker. When you die, you will go straight to heaven to be with Jesus forever.” I then told her she could release herself and let go, because it was going to be truly wonderful in heaven.

The next day, when I returned to the nursing home to visit my mother, the nurse on duty stopped me and thanked me sincerely for visiting Merle the previous day. She said, “Less than ten minutes after you left yesterday, she expired.” Once again, I felt the sweet presence of the Lord upon me at that moment. I knew in my heart that God had been keeping this woman alive on earth for that very short visit which I had with her. In His mercy, He wanted to give her the opportunity to get her heart right with him and establish a personal relationship with Jesus Christ His Son. God allowed circumstances to be such that my mother was not there and this woman was available with no family members visiting. It was a divine appointment, and once she released herself to the Lord, she passed from this life into eternity.

After Janos' funeral today, I went to the luncheon reception at the church. I spent time talking with David, the son of the deceased man. David, who is about 18 years old, told me about the days just before Janos died. His father’s disease had progressed rapidly, and his belly swelled to a great size, making it very difficult for him to breath or to speak.

David said he has some bad memories from this period. I don’t know why. Perhaps because of the terrible pain and suffering Janos was in and because of the nightmares of hell his father had. But David said he had many good memories as well. He spent time digging out old pictures of his Dad when he was younger and still healthy.

On the night before Janos died, David heard him praying in different languages, which Janos had never learned, such as Japanese, Italian, etc. He was praying in other different languages, as well, which David couldn't understand. Sometimes Janos would stop praying. Then he would wait, and answer in his native Hungarian "Yes, Lord. You're right. I'm sorry. Hallelujiah." David said this was the first time he had ever heard anyone do this, and it was one of the greatest things he had ever witnessed in his life.

On that same night, as David lay on his own bed, he had a dream, which was not a dream at all. It was so real that it was actually a vision. In the vision, his father lay on David’s bed and said, “Tomorrow I go to be with Jesus.” In the vision, his father Janos was perfectly healthy. His body was whole, not all swollen with cancer in his belly like he really was in the next room. And the next day his father died.

He said he loves his father very much. And when his father died, the first thing David did was get his guitar and worship the Lord. He sobbed and wept of course, but he worshiped the Lord, and the presence of the Lord was very real. He said he loves to worship with his guitar and whenever he does, the Lord always meets with him. He leads worship for the church youth group.

What a wonderful disciple of Jesus Janos was during his earthly life, and now he is with Jesus in heaven! He has left so much good fruit behind him here on earth. His son David is evidence of that. I'm sure he will hear the Lord say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.