14. Experiences in Prison

Experiences in Prison At the time of the totalitarian regime all our spiritual activities were considered illegal and constituted breaking of the law § No. 178: to testify, preach the Gospel, gather, baptize or to take part in Communion, even to bury was strictly forbidden to us. When caught and accused we could be put in prison for 2 up to 15 years. And then came the day when I also was put in prison. I understood it was allowed by God. Never in my life had I felt so strongly the presence of God as at that time. I had heavenly joy in my heart and glorified God, singing praises all the time. Heavenly world came down into that prison. There was no sorrow or distress in my heart. I heard angels singing and rejoicing with unspeakable joy. But those around me knew nothing about this. I could love my enemies, I could endure evil things done to me. In this way I conceived that the love of God is the greatest power in the world. When I came into a cell, I first knelt down and gave thanks to God for the privilege of being persecuted for Jesus’ sake. I felt like being in Noah’s ark and even in the heavens. Sometimes the heavens were open. I desired to stay there for a long time. At first I was alone and only later I got a fellow prisoner. I prayed and sang Christian songs. If anyone came into my cell I told him the Gospel about salvation in Jesus. The guards could not understand it. When they took my food away from me I didn’t feel hungry. When they took my blankets or even my clothes from me I didn’t feel cold, because the Lord’s presence was upon me. After that they gave me prison clothes – it seemed to me they were the most expensive clothes I had ever worn. They were precious and glorious, because I wore them for Jesus’ sake. Then I could understand why suffering for Jesus was precious.

Once in a vision I saw the hands of an angel who handed me two cups. In one was a bitter drink, in the other a fresh sweet drink. After I had drunk from the bitter one, I was allowed to drink from the sweet one. And the angel said to me: “Don’t fear Paul, because I am with you and I will change your situation to a good one”. Then, in front of me I saw a great beautiful Bible. It came down from the Heavens and was open. I was reading from Peter’s first letter, chapters 3 and 4. The letters were beautiful as if written in silver. When I had come into the prison they took my Bible away from me. But I heard a voice telling me: “My words are spirit and life, nobody can take them from you. You must be full of the Word of God and testify to many people.” On another occasion when I felt weak, in a vision I saw the whole spiritual armour of God. It was the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the Gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And I heard the voice: “Take up all this armour, because you need all of it. Without it you cannot hold out or stand. You must know that your enemy is defeated and he only looks like a roaring lion. But all the power is given to Jesus Christ. And He is the only true lion from Judah, because He overwhelmed the devil. The evil one shoots his arrows against you, but I gave you the full armour of God.” Living here was like living in a heavenly mansion or palace. I smelt the odour of heaven and was very happy.

Once one of the prisoners looked at me and asked: “How can you be happy in this place, behind iron bars?” I answered: “I am happy because I am free in my soul and Jesus Christ lives in my heart. Therefore I have heavenly joy.” I preached the Gospel to them and they were amazed. Every day a guard led us to work in a factory. One day as he was leading me, he got angry with me and wanted to beat me... But he was just turning around and couldn’t hurt me. At that moment I saw an angel standing between him and me. The man looked around wondering, but could not understand. As I was sweeping the pavement, I felt like being in the streets of New Jerusalem… Hallelujah!

Once I witnessed one brother who was beaten by the prison guards. He remained silent, did not cry at all. I looked at him and blood was flowing down his face. Suddenly I saw a glorious crown shining on his head. To be wounded for Christ brings glory and honour to a Christian. I had this privilege twice too. I was thrashed by guards. They beat me, pulled my hair and beat my legs, but I felt no pain. After I returned to my cell I had a vision: I saw an angel who came and touched me with his hands. Instantly my wounds were healed and I was very glad and began to praise God. I had many opportunities to give testimony to prisoners and guards. However, it was not easy, because it was forbidden. If anyone was caught giving a testimony he could be transferred into a solitary cell. I was isolated in such a cell three times. But God was there with me.

It was also there that I was caught up to the Heavens. One day when I returned into my cell and prayed, suddenly I heard a strong wind and my spirit was caught up... After a while I could see the Moon not far from me, then the Sun and some planets. At last I saw the stars - maybe they were the Milky Way stars. It was a wonderful sight. I had never seen anything like that before. Then I noticed an angel standing beside me and showing me the space. I had great longing to stay there, but the angel told me I had to return to earth, because there was much work for me to do. As the wind and gale subsided I opened my eyes and was in my cell again.

After some weeks I heard the same sound of wind around me. I knew I would be caught up in the Heavens again. At once I saw a heavenly chariot of fire coming down to me from the heavens and it took me up. I did not know how long we were flying, because there is no time in heaven, and we arrived to a crystal-clear river. We were in the Paradise.

I got off and walked around. There were nice woods, all kinds of vegetation, various trees with many sorts of fruit. I hadn’t seen such sorts on earth. There were many kinds of flowers with nice odour. The leaves and the flowers don’t wither there, all things are eternal.

I spoke a new language and understood it well. I could name all the things I saw around me. It was something like in the Garden of Eden that we read about in Genesis 2:15-20. There were many birds and animals. I saw a lot of precious stones there too. The city of New Jerusalem will be built of such stones we read about in Revelation, chapter 21: jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, carnelian, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth and ametyst. I also saw white stones with names of these who would overcome. And the hidden manna (Revelation 2:17). I had great desire to stay there, but was not allowed to. I had to get back to the chariot of fire standing by the river and it brought me back to earth. When I opened my eyes the wind stopped. For the next 5 minutes I could speak in the heavenly language. The experience was great encouragement for me in the days of persecution. On another occasion the Holy Spirit caught me up and carried me to France. It was in the evening and I saw the capital Paris at night. The streets, squares and the Eiffel tower. My spirit hovered and entered a church. Just at that time the service was going on. The assembly was praying, preaching and glorifying God, singing in tongues. I watched the whole service, but they could not see me. I received a great blessing from that meeting and the Holy Spirit took me back to my place. I testified to other prisoners about it and one of them received Jesus and became a zealous and faithful witness of Jesus Christ. He was persecuted in prison too, but held out. In the prison there were also a lot of traitors. In every prison (or camp) were disciplinary cells. Any troublesome person was put into such a cell. Here the prisoner was given no food (or very little) and could not sleep due to cold in winter. Many believers were thrown into this cell and some of them died there. In winter some had to stand naked between barbed wire fences in the snowstorm. I was in the disciplinary cell three times. Once we got a Bible into prison in an amazing way. There were believers from several denominations there. From time to time we got together in small groups. We prayed, read the Bible and showed loving care to each other.

Sometimes we were checked by guards very strictly. Even at that time I was hiding a Bible. It happened twice that they couldn’t find it. Once it was revealed to me by the Holy Spirit that I would not be checked. Everyone had to go through a little room and the guards checked everything he had. As I was entering the room, immediately I heard a voice telling me: “Go out!” I didn’t open my bag and left the room. Nobody told me a single word! Thus I could experience God’s wonderful protection, praise the Lord! The word of God cannot be chained. The Gospel must be spread at every time and in every place. God’s arm isn’t short. He can save in every situation like in the days of the apostles. And if God allows us to go through a hardship, we come out of it stronger and purified like gold that is also purified in fire (Revelation 3:18). It is because: “All things work together for good to them, that love God.” (Romans 8:28) From the jail we were transported to various camps. In one camp there used to live between one and three thousand prisoners. There I had to work hard. First I worked deep underground in an uranium mine. Every day they were counting the prisoners. If somebody was absent or asleep, the whole camp had to wait for him. Every prisoner had his number; no one used their real name. I haven’t forgotten my number. It was: A - 018 801. We were given a meal twice a day, but it was not enough for the hard and difficult work. When we came back from the mines to our camp, we were terribly tired, but most of us had to go on brigades. Some of us broke down psychically and committed suicide. Then I realized why it was so important to be a true believer. The non-believer has no faith, no love or hope, and therefore it is more difficult for him to cope with hardships.

It is written: “Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes…?” (1 John 5:5) and “…this is the victory that overcomes the world, our F a i t h !” (5:4) It is a great privilege which we believers have. We can have great faith and hope in our hearts and therefore also God’s love. We can dominate over any bad situation and have victory in every fight against the devil, sin or this world. Because: “Greater is he that is in us, than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)

Also, we have a great protection from God. Never in my life was God so near to me as in those days I am testifying about. If God is for us who can be against us? Praise the Lord for His wonderful grace! Three times in my life I saw our Lord Jesus Christ. I remember these experiences well. I knew it was not an angel, but the Lord Jesus Christ. Once I saw Him in a similar way as John did on the island of Patmos. Jesus is the most powerful spiritual person. Therefore John the apostle couldn’t stand in front of Him and fell at His feet as dead (Revelation 1:17).

It took place in the jail. The Lord Jesus appeared in great light and clouds were around Him. He was clothed in a white robe with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool. His eyes were like blazing fire and His voice like the sound of rushing waters. I heard Him clearly saying:

“I am the first and the last... Fear not, for I am with you. There is no power against my power, there is no strength against my strength. He who touches you, touches my eyes. Be bold in your heart… all power is given to me in heaven and on earth, don’t forget... ” and many other encouraging words. I felt holy fear in my spirit. I could not look in His face, it was awesome and wonderful. I was strengthened in my soul and I was able to boldly proclaim the Gospel further on. I had many more experiences but I hope these are sufficient to encourage you too. The last days of my imprisonment were approaching. Of course, I didn’t know that. It was already the second time that I was in prison. Altogether I spent 6 years in jail and one year in a severe work camp. God can make the difficult days shorter and the blessed days very long. He can also make the bitterest times into the sweetest times. He can change every situation in our life for our benefit. He is the Almighty God also in tribulation. In those last days of my imprisonment they put me in a disciplinary cell for eight days. It was a little room like a tomb in underground. Only a little of light came in. The guard took me down and locked the iron gate. As I lifted my eyes in prayer I had a vision: I saw Jesus Christ with His apostles at the table eating and drinking at the last supper. And immediately I heard Jesus saying to me: “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer,” (Luke 22:15) and when He was saying: “before I suffer” He looked at me. I understood Him, but I was not sorrowful. He suffered much more for us than we can ever suffer for His sake. And our suffering for Him is blessed, because it is for righteousness’ sake. His suffering for us was much harder, because it was for our sins. (1 Peter 3:14)

Also in those days I was always in God’s presence and I had some visions from heaven. The Holy Spirit was teaching me to understand the book of Revelation and also showing me what was going on at home, in the church and in the camp. In this way I knew what I needed even in this dark cell which I couldn’t leave. I could also see the spiritual fight between the holy angels and evil spirits.

One day I saw, besides other things, the city of Prague - the capital of former Czechoslovakia and the castle of Hradčany. Then I saw the president sitting by the table and signing a document of amnesty for prisoners. I saw him sealing the document. Then I saw a great group of prisoners standing in front of the iron gate and the commander of the camp read out the names of the released prisoners. And then I saw us leaving the prison. Some days later exactly all of this happened but at that moment I doubted a little bit. The Holy Spirit showed me in a vision all my dear friends who were not released at that time. It was nearly midnight and I was still sitting in the dark cell alone and without food. It was also very cold there. I was tired and hungry.

Heavenly silence was around me. Then I looked up to the roof and there was light shining on me from above. The Heavens were open and beautiful flowers were falling down into my cell. I could smell a heavenly odour again. Heaven greeted me farewell on my day of amnesty.

Then it was dark there again. I heard the chains clattering and the guard opened the iron gate and called my number and name and led me out... It was like a dream for me... They led me to another building. Seeing me, the prisoners didn’t know the reason. But I knew, because it was revealed to me. When I told them about the amnesty they did not believe me. But the next day it came true. The amnesty was declared and all the Lord showed me through the Holy Spirit two days before that was fulfilled. We were standing in front of the iron gate of the camp and the commander was reading out our names. It was a lovely sunny day, everything was green outside and the birds were singing on the fence nearby. For me it was like the day of resurrection...

Then he read my name. As I was going through the iron gate of the camp, I heard the voice: “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature…“ (Mark 16:15) I understood it very well. With the heavenly joy in my heart, I travelled home to Bratislava.

Since then I have been preaching the Gospel in many places, towns, cities and foreign countries. They were about 20 altogether. The Lord has always been with me and I could see His great power and leading in His beautiful work. I consider preaching of the Gospel to be very important in the believer’s life. Nobody can stop the work of the Lord and the Gospel cannot be chained! Yes, now I can testify that the Gospel cannot be chained. Because “it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.“ (Romans 1:16) Jesus is the same yesterday, today and for ever. Glory and praise to Him. Hallelujah. Amen.