In this sermon, the speaker shares his personal experience of being imprisoned in a communist prison for 14 years. He describes the harsh conditions and mistreatment he endured, including lying on a cold concrete floor and being trampled on by prison wardens. Despite the suffering, the speaker emphasizes the importance of maintaining a positive attitude and finding joy in the midst of difficult circumstances. He encourages the audience to overcome their own sorrows and challenges by relying on their faith in God and understanding that they are not defined by their outward circumstances.

Dear brethren, dear sisters, and very, very beloved children. To brethren and sisters I say only dear. To children I say very, very beloved. First because during 14 years in communist prisons I have never seen a child. And for me it is a special privilege to see children. And the more so, as I have heard, that these children are Romanian. Am I right? Dumezil Srebrenic Vintic. I am very happy to see children of my own country. There are also other children here, and you are very, very dear. First of all I have to apologize for speaking to you being seated. During the prison years we almost never walked. We had sometimes heavy chains at our feet, up to 50 pounds. They were beating with rubber truncheons on the soles of the feet. And now it is difficult for me to stand a long time. It is difficult even to wear shoes, that is why you have a barefoot preacher before you. I can't stand a long time. Americans, American born people, have a foreign accent when they speak English. And therefore they don't understand me. But with a little bit of effort you will understand, and we will know each other. Before I speak to you, you should see my lovely wife, Sabina. I was in jail, but in another jail I did not serve all these 14 years. We are married since 108 years, 108 years of marriage. I 54, she 54, we got married on the same day. We did not see each other, and now we are together. And now before speaking to you, I read from the Gospel according to St. Matthew. In chapter 21, beginning with verse 7. They brought the donkey and the colt to Jesus, laid their clothes on them, and set him on them. And a very great multitude spread their garments on the road. Others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes went before Jesus who followed, cried out saying, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. I am Jewish, my lovely wife is Jewish too. And I will tell you something which usually is not known. The word Hosanna means in Hebrew, save, please. Hosanna means to save. Na is please. So often we find in the Hebrew Bible the word Na, please. We speak with our wives, with our husbands, with our children, with our parents, without the Na, without the please. Almost never in the Bible, in the Hebrew Bible do you find do this or do that. God, when he speaks with Abram and with this one and that one, he says, do this please. Is it not amazing? And the multitude also said to Jesus, save please, but not save anyway. Save please in the highest. You can be saved from a difficult situation. Here you have a few dollars and that will help you. You can be helped otherwise. You get a good job or some little capital to start something on your own that is already a better salvation from a difficult situation. There are different salvations. And the Jews who were there when Jesus entered in Jerusalem, they prayed, save us in the highest sense of the word to be saved. Save us in the highest. Hosanna b'Avomim in Hebrew. When I was in Romania, I met once on a bitter winter day a beggar on the street. He was so poorly dressed. He froze there. And he asked for a few coins. Now I did not happen to have coins with me. But he was somehow my stature. He was a good man. I have no coins. You come with me. Or if you can't come now, come tomorrow or whenever you like. Here is my address. Come there. And I will see you should get clothes. And my wife will see that you should get some food. And we will see how to help. Leave me alone with these stories, he replied. Give me now. Now I don't have. But I have on me. It will not help you. But for nothing in the world did he accept the idea to receive a better salvation than that which he expected. And we all from Jesus, we expect here and now. Don't tell me about the heaven. I don't know when in eternity. Have the needs today. And please fulfill these my needs today. There was a clever girl in Britain. You might have seen her pictures. Her pictures are everywhere. She was a teacher in a preschool. A girl? A teacher in a preschool. Her name was Diane. And at a public event. I don't know how. There were several girls and several Sunday school teachers. These preschool teachers. And the crown prince of Britain came there. And he told the girls that he might have a job with them. Make friendship with them. And now that was a great occasion to make the acquaintance of the crown prince. And she could have asked him. Could you not see for a better job for me? And the crown prince would have helped her to have a better job. Or she would have told him I don't know why. A crown prince can help in many ways, no? Give me some other school. A more prestigious school. Or help me to study further. To become something better than. And many would have asked the crown prince for different such little things. I'm not a crown prince. But I'm a director of a mission. And many come and ask me for the one thing or for the other. This girl said. Why should I become a better paid preschool teacher? It would be nice. He is a prince. I should be a princess. And he will be a king. And I should be a queen. And when all the other girls asked little things from him. She made it so that she should please him. And she is now crown princess. And when Queen Elizabeth will die once. She will be queen. Queen of Great Britain. She asked salvation from Roman. Salvation is the highest. Hosanna is the highest. Why should I get small things from somebody who can give me the biggest? Here I am a nobody. A girl. A teacher in a preschool. And her family was not famous. Her parents were divorced. And so on and so on. A girl. Branded somehow. But she made herself to be loved. But in charge. And she will be a queen. And we also, we make acquaintance with the prince. The prince of peace. He is the king of kings. He is son of God. We can get little things from him. We can. It is written in the Bible. Don't ask too little. It is written right there in the Bible. It is a unique occasion. I mean to get acquainted with President Bush. He can help us so much. To get acquainted with a Rockefeller. I don't know what millionaire. What it would mean for our mission such a millionaire. Can I talk a check for the needs of our mission? And for every one of us a Rockefeller can give you a good job. He can give you a position and so on. But it is nicer to become Mrs. Rockefeller. To get a job from him. And we make the acquaintance with the son of God. With the king of kings. He is the highest. And in our relationship with Jesus. We ask all for very little things. We have great opportunities. We hear that he can give eternal life. That is very nice. Eternal life never to die anymore. And he has a beautiful heaven. And everyone dares to think well it would be nice I should be in heaven also. I will be in a corner. But I should have a little place. Somewhere I should stand before the throne of God. I should be even there to adore him. Why does the God stand before the throne of God? My feet ache. I can't stand. And even before the throne of God I would not like to stand. Why should I stand? Then perhaps a little chair. Why? It is written. Those who will conquer. To those who will conquer. It is written in Revelation 3. I would not dare to pronounce it if it would not be written there. To those who will conquer. I said Jesus will give. To sit. Not to stand. To sit where? To sit with me on my throne. Prince Charles said to Dianne. Don't ask me for a better job. Don't ask me to be advanced in your job. Don't ask me for little things. You will sit with me on the throne of God. It is a moving life. And Jesus says. You will sit with me. On my throne. As I have conquered. And sit on the throne with my father. That is what we can reach. That is what we can reach. For Salah is the highest. Once you wish to save me. Save me in the highest sense of the word. We all would like. Those who are children of God. To be a little bit nicer child of God. Some children of God. They are children of God. But they are naughty. We would like to be a little bit nicer. A little bit gooder. I don't know what. But why a little bit? It is said when he will appear. We will be. Who knows how we will be? Like. Like. A little bit you know. We will also have a little bit of his. No. I will have. As much love, as much power as he has. I will have. As much wisdom as he has. I will have. Otherwise his promises he does not keep them. The grand things. Are said in the Bible. And we can have them. Jesus was on the cross. In terrible physical pain. And his heart ached. He saw his holy mother weeping at the foot of the cross. And he was a loving son. How did he feel about this? All the suffering which he had there. And he said to God. Elohim, Elohim, my God, my God. It was with God. And God is mine. And I am a man with a big real estate. So all of the universe is my real estate. Because it is my intelligence. It is my father's. And he loves every one of us. And he would be the only child. Pay attention to me. I had so many big men and martyrs. And I don't know what. And big preachers. But every one there is loved. As if he would be the only one. And he gives us everything. Heaven is my real estate. And all the beauties of heaven are ours. And we wish to be saved. In the highest sense of the word. We take it earnestly. We wish to be like him. We wish to possess all the beauties of character which he has. And to have all the possibilities. Of being of help to others which he has. And to be ready as he was ready. Also to forsake everything in order to save others. We wish to be Christ like. And we can have it. So that is about. Hosanna in the highest. To be saved in the highest sense of the word. And. Huge perspectives. Are open to us. We should not be like that beggar. Give me here. On the spot a few coins. I will not come far. To get clothing and food and perhaps a job. We are called to very great things. And we can obtain them. There is something very strange. In the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is God. God of God. Son of God. Equal with the Father. And he says that at the last judgment. Men will appear before me. And I will tell some of them. Go away from me. I have never known you. What kind of a God who does not know his creatures? He is meant to know how many hair I have on my head. And he will tell at the last judgment to some men. Go away. I never knew you. Not nice for a God to say. He has not known his creatures. He should know. He is all knowing. Why does he say I don't know? Now very rarely you have occasion to hear a Jew preaching. And therefore I will tell you a secret. Of the Hebrew language. The language of the Jews. In the Greek Old Testament. In the Hebrew Old Testament. And in the Greek New Testament. The word to know. Does not mean what it means in English. In Hebrew Yada. That is the word to know. In Greek it is Gnosis. You must remember it is written in the Bible. Adam. Yeah. Adam knew his wife Eve. And she gave birth to a child. Out of knowledge. How is it? He knew his wife. And she gave birth. And Abraham knew Sarah. And she gave birth. To Isaac. So knowledge. In Hebrew and in Greek. In the biblical languages. Does not mean the little thing. Which knowledge means here. Oh I know this man. Hello, hello. I told him hello. And he told me hi. And we know each other. Such a thing is not knowledge. According to the biblical language. As a bride is with her bridegroom. As a wife is with her husband. When you are in his embrace. Only then you know. And when he says. I never knew you. He will tell you the last judgment. To some people I never knew you. You have never been so near to me. As a bride with a bridegroom. As a wife with the embraces of the man. You have never been. You have been at a distance. You told me hello. Hello. In Hebrew. Save me in the highest sense of the word. I can be saved in this sense. That I and he. Should become one. In the song of Solomon. The bride says. My beloved is mine. And I am his. And she. The bride. She is a human being. And she tells of God. Jesus. You will see in the second chapter of the song. Under my head. She tells him to put his arms. He is a human being. He is God. And she tells him. You put your head. You put my head on your arm. Your arm. Your left arm under my head. And with your right hand. She tells God. And with your right hand you should caress me. That is what she says. And it is also in the song of Solomon. She speaks to God. Kiss me. With the kisses of his mouth. Have you ever received his kiss? What a rule. The kiss. Plays in the Bible. The song 2. Finishes with the verse. Kiss the son. The son of God is meant. Kiss the son. Now I know about the rest of the end. You try to be a biblical church. Now the Bible says. Kiss the son of God. Have you ever received his kiss? Then I give money in church. Very well. Kiss. I go a missionary to preach for him. But have you ever received his kiss? Did you kiss him? The song of Solomon says. Let him kiss me. With the kisses of his mouth. And Jesus when he was in the flesh. He was invited to the house of a. Pharisee. By the name of Simon. He was invited to a dinner. Appetizers. All kind of good things. And fruits and flowers. And everything was on the table. And he looked to all these goodies. And said Simon Simon. I have come into your house. And you did not give me. What did I not give? I told the maid to put everything on the table. The maid is no good. What is missing? I came into your house. And you did not give me a kiss. He raised our kisses. It means to kiss. As often in the original of the Bible. As often as you see the word worship. In the original in Greek. It is written to kiss. To kiss God. In spirit and in truth. Now what is the word? How can I kiss Jesus? When he was in the flesh. It was easy. Virgin Mary must have kissed him thousands of times. Like every mother. The apostles might have kissed him. It was a habit among the Jews. Sweetness and so on. But now when he is not in the flesh. How can I kiss him? Well my wife. Who was in one jail. And I was in the other jail. She received then more kisses than now. Because now when I wish to kiss her. The telephone rings. And I have no time to kiss her. A car is waiting for me. I have to run. I don't know where. And she does not arrive to be kissed. In prison I have no time to kiss her. I have two pairs of lips. Men can approach. The two pairs of lips. And they transmit to each other. Only carbon dioxide. And microbes and spittle. The heart is not in it. The heart is not in it. Kiss is the melting. Two souls have such a longing. Such a nostalgia. One for the other. We can't have happiness without embracing each other. That is what is meant our relationship. With God. On the day of the last judgment. Jesus will tell them. I have never known you. I saw you in church. I saw you read the Bible. I saw you did this. You did that. But there was never this relationship. Between bride and bridegroom. To be saved in the highest sense of the word. What has given me the privilege. To know things of God. Our country Romania is an orthodox country. And the orthodox like the Catholics. Had many icons. Many holy images. In their churches on the walls. This saint and that saint and that saint. I have seen saints not in pictures. I have seen saints in flesh. We have no real saints. Who because of this nearness with Jesus. Living in the embrace of Jesus. We are no more slaves of outward circumstance. We are not slaves of outward circumstance. We are slaves. There is a conflict in my family. But I must not be in the conflict. I just love both sides. I am not a slave because in the family there is a conflict. I must be in the conflict. There are troubles. I must not be troubled. I must not enter. Don't be troubled. If in trouble you are troubled. Then you have your trouble doubled. Because you have the trouble. We are no more under the pressure of circumstance. When a man is troubled. When a man gets angry. Wrathful. 42 muscles of the face enter in action. 42 muscles. When you smile only 4 muscles. No American would be so stupid to pay 42 dollars for what he can pay. What he can buy with 4 dollars. Then why should you crisp your face in trouble and sadness and wrath and so on. You are above these circumstances. I live in the embraces of the heavenly king. Of the heavenly bridegroom. Whatever the outward circumstances. I am not under them. I am above them. Not the whole of my soul. I am 6 feet 3. But not my whole soul lives here. A part of my soul lives in heavenly places. St. Paul and other Christians were in a jail. And they sat on the concrete. On the cold concrete of the jail as I said. They had no straw, no nothing. They sat on the cold concrete. And from there he writes such a useless thing. He wishes to explain where he sits. And he writes in a letter. We, the Christians there, we sit. Don't tell me where you sit. I know you sit in an unpleasant place. No, I don't sit in an unpleasant place. We are seated in heavenly places. A part of me is seated here. But this is not my whole being. I have a higher being. I belong to God. I am a bride in the embraces of the bridegroom. We are on a higher level than that. I have known such men and my lovely wife. Observe that I say not my wife. I say lovely wife. First of all because she is very lovely. And I have also practical motives. A few months ago a pastor came to me and said, I congratulate you. You won a lady for Christ. So I said, who is it? He said, well a lady came to me and said she has been converted thanks to Gurren Lagann. And he asked her, did you hear him preach? I never heard him preach. I never saw him. Did you read any of his books? I did not know that he has written books. Then if you never knew about him, never heard him, never read from him, how did he convert you? She said, I was not a believer. I have never been a churchgoer. I have never read a page of the Bible. I was not interested in religion. I entered to a neighbor and she was listening just to a cassette with a Bible study by Gurren Lagann. And I had to be polite and to listen to her for some 15 minutes. I must say this Gurren Lagann still bored me. He spoke about such things without sense about Thessalonians, Colossians, Philippians. I did not know what kind of fish these were. She did not know anything from the Bible. And I had only one single thought. When will he finish this boring speech of his? But then I observed that in 15 minutes he said three times, my lovely wife, my nice wife, my beautiful wife, I am married 30 years. I have not heard such words from my husband. That is the right religion. I will take it. I would not need this motive. She is just lovely. But it is nice to know and it is nice also to see my lovely husband. Not only my lovely wife. And she would have to tell from her experiences with female prisoners. I will tell you about one. I was in the same cell with Nicolae Mondovano, the great composer of Christian hymns in Romania. Because he composed Christian hymns he was sentenced to 16 years in jail. 16 years in jail for having composed Christian hymns. And now we were in the same cell. We were many prisoners. And drunken wardens entered and shouted, everybody lie down on the bed. That was their amusement. And you had to lie on your belly. It was winter, cold. We had no sweaters. We had no overcoat. It was sheer sickness to lie there. And they kept you there on the floor on the concrete as much as they liked. And they would also trample with their boots on you. And after an hour or so they had whims. After an hour they said, all right, now you can arise. And we all arose and everybody had his thoughts about these drunken wardens. And he arose with a smile. It takes only four muscles to smile. Only four muscles. You can smile in a prison and you can smile in a prison. And he smiled. With a big smile he arose and said, I will sing to you the new song which I have composed while lying on the belly in winter on the concrete. And it is a song which is sung now in the whole of Romania. It is a song of joy, a song of love, a song of gratitude, not a little bit of bitterness and of sadness in the song. The preschool teacher has become a princess. And this man has become, he was only a human being, he looks like me. But he has elevated him, he became Christ-like. Christ could sing, on the last evening he told his disciples, now I will be arrested, they will beat me, they will sentence me to death, they will spit on me, they will beat me, after his last speech he said, let us sing a song. And they went, in any case they will do it to you, they will whip you if you sing, if you sing or if you don't sing they will whip you. If you sing or will not sing they will crucify you. But with a song you will take it easier. And he said, let us sing. And this man knew to sing, he was a victor over external circumstances. He did not expect how to be Christ-like. I can be Christ-like this minute, yes, no? I can be Christ-like. I know, I try, I have not succeeded yet to be a good preacher, my aim in life is to be a good preacher, I did not arrive yet to this, but I don't despair, I am only 82, it is easier for these young ones. But still I did not die, no? And I can say, when I preach I ask myself, how will I be this afternoon in the Wesleyan church? And how will his face be? And how will his gestures be? I don't have to wait, when I will be in heaven I will be like him. I might not be able to be like him 24 hours a day, but I can be like him the next five minutes. These five minutes I shall try to speak like him and to smile like him and to be good like him and to be a good preacher. I have seen these Moldovans overcoming the circumstances. They brought in that prison it was an underground prison, underground. You pass near the prison you did not know it is a prison, cows grazed over the prison, dirt deep in the earth, I don't know how many feet under the earth goes this prison for prisoners. I was then already after eight years in jail and I was accustomed to everything. But for them it was the first day in jail and the first day is a terrible shock. You've been free, you've been with your family, with your church, with everybody and now at once they dress you in this garb of a prisoner like a zebra and from time to time drunk wardens would enter the cell and shout all priests, pastors all kinds of what you have here Christians, Jews, everybody who is with the religion should come out and they give you good beatings. Once they would call all the Jews for beating then they would call all the Christians for beating. I am a Jew and a Christian so I had to get two beatings until I learned the lesson. When they shouted all the Jews out for beating I did not go, I am a Christian. When they shouted all Christians out for beating I am a Jew. For them it was the first day and again and again because the guards came another shift and another shift and they called them out to be beaten and it was very sad for them and I wish to tell you a few words of comfort his name was Yush and I asked him brother are you sad and I hope never to forget that he lifted towards me beautiful blue eyes and said brother I know only one sadness not to be a saint. What do you say about such a word? If you stand in a pulpit and say such words that is what a pastor has to say you know but in these circumstances to say I know only one sadness not to be a saint well this sadness no other sadness counts for him anymore but it does not have all the money and all the health and all the family relations that does not count anymore if you have the one sadness not to be a saint yet and to continue and to have the hope to be a saint this I heard in prison and now I will tell you from female prisoners because you made the mistake to invite me instead of inviting my wife because who listens to her once does not invite me anymore she has written a book The Pastor's Wife who reads this book does not read my books why should you read here is something better I will tell you about for having worked in underground printing in communist countries it is not like here you wish to have a Bible you enter a shop and you buy a Bible and they ask you what Bible do you wish King James, New King James International Bible, Revised Version Living Bible, Dead Bible all kinds of Bible instead of having one Bible and fulfilling it they make every year another Bible for not fulfilling it but with us it is not so Gospels and Christian books get printed secretly the mission to which I belong my director is young Tom White, I am 82 he is 40, he is my director and we smuggled into communist countries not only Christian literature but we smuggled in also printing machines we made two printing shops secretly in caves in China we made such printing shops and now in Romania you can't smuggle in a machine but you smuggle in a lever and then another time a wheel and another time this and another time that and then an engineer goes there and puts everything together and that is how they work and she worked in such an underground printing press and one day she was discovered and it is a habit where do you get paper from where do you have the machine from where do you have the money and how do you distribute what you have printed how do you transport it from where do you take a truck and so on and so on and she had to say many things and she did not work alone in this printing shop so there must be others if she would have said then others would also have been arrested how to escape you can escape by a compromise with the communists I will not tell you everything I will tell you something and to begin to go their way just one way but she did not think how to escape suffering she had one thought it is so beautiful she had one thought I am tortured by a human being some husbands have the terrible habit of beating their wives some have even a worse habit a lady came to me once in tears and said please speak with my husband he beats me often I can take it already but he spits on me this I can't take speak with him he should beat me he should not spit on me it is such a beast in the mind of a beaten wife but it must be terrible but a beaten wife could overcome everything if she would say what a husband my God gave me he had a beastly man and he has confidence in me I will change him into a saint how should I do if she would think about this the hurts which she receives from him would not hurt her anymore she would not have the problem of a bad husband and he gave it to me that I should make out of cannibalism a saint if one has a bad wife I have never seen a bad wife I have seen only bad husbands and if one has a bad child and a bad parent and whatever he has everything can be overcome by the idea of love Jesus came into a sinful world and did not think how can I escape from the hands of these wicked men who must be crucified by their hands and that will save them all right crucify me only you should be saved that is the thought of Christ and this little frail girl perhaps 18 she had one thought how to bring to Christ the chief torture now we only had occasions to speak quietly with the torturers because to torture is a very difficult job one of the torturers told us what kind of a question is this why I shout because it produces pain you are beating pain you don't know what pain is you don't know what sorrow is ask me what pain is I beat you how long half an hour I have no more time for you because I have to beat so many and then you go back to your cell and you are quiet but I have to beat 8 hours a day the only music which I hear 8 hours a day I hear only this music 6 days a week 30 days a month since 10 years from early in the morning until late in the evening I hear only when I go out I am like mad like drunk then I go into a pub and get drunk go home and beat my wife too that is my life since 10 years you speak about suffering that is your life and therefore they took coffee breaks they would beat 2 hours or 3 hours and then they gave an order a soldier brought them a coffee they would light a cigarette they would ask you if you smoked too then they would give you also a cigarette they would tell you a joke they were jolly fellows if you had a joke they would listen to your joke it was just fine half an hour they had to rest and this coffee break was used by Christians always to talk with them and to talk about what we had on our hearts and this girl Anne Marie said to the torturer the captain of the secret police in vain you beat me you will never beat out from me my love towards God this you understand every Christian tells you this but I have to tell you something more never will you beat out of me not only my love towards God but my love towards you I love you wholeheartedly not very rarely you hear a girl saying to a man I love you wholeheartedly she said to him in those circumstances I love you wholeheartedly go away stupid girl we are not in love affairs here you better tell me about your counter-revolutionist your anti-communist activity don't tell me about love and so on she said I have to tell you one thing a thing which normally no girl tells to a man but here we are in exceptional circumstances and I will tell you things which girls don't say while you beat me I looked at your hands you might not know but you had very beautiful hands I imagined what joy your wife had when you caressed her first let me ask you a simple question is caressing not better than beating caressing it's so nice to caress you have a joy your wife has a joy it's so beautiful to caress and when you beat I don't have joy and you say you don't have joy yourself for you it is difficult to beat then why in the world don't you change from beating to caressing and I will tell you another thing I imagined how your wife must have vibrated when you gave her the first kiss you had such beautiful attractive lips now I ask you is kissing so sweet to kiss is kissing not better than yelling and swearing then why don't you give up speaking foul words and yelling and swearing and better kiss why don't you kiss just one girl more then you can do with me what you like have a boyfriend now every girl praises her boyfriend but my boyfriend is really something special not that he is loving he is love he is a flame of love and he has shed his love also in my heart and he has changed me it makes no difference to me anymore if somebody kisses me I love him if somebody beats me I also love him he made me also threw her to the concrete she fell she hurt herself at the temple and she passed out when she came to herself she saw him sitting like a meditation on a chair and he asked her you stupid girl what is the name of this boyfriend of yours I sat here and I thought he must be a smart guy this boyfriend of yours caressing he told you caressing caressing is surely better than beating how did it not come to my mind and kissing kissing is so nice to kiss such a joy kissing is better than swearing who is this boyfriend of yours who taught you such things when she told him the name of that boyfriend I will not tell you the name you will have guessed already that it is Jesus Christ she told him about Jesus Christ her boyfriend and he asked and he said well you must repent from your sins and you must believe and you must be born again but you could say these few words she was a Baptist girl so as a good Baptist she told him you must be baptized even if she would be a Wesley and she would have told it because in Russia now after 70 years of communism even infants very rarely an infant got baptized the problem of baptism exists because they don't know I come from Russia now I have been to Russia 3 weeks ago the ignorance in religious matters is abysmal they know nothing anymore about religion after 70 years of terrorism so I asked her what is baptism she told him you must enter in the water with somebody else and he dips you in the water and he says the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost so he says you baptize me she said I can't I can't baptize him and now the most amazing thing in the world in the history of the world church the most amazing thing happened he took out his revolver pointed the revolver at her and said you better baptize me or I shoot you now this poor man fulfilled exactly what Jesus had taught because Jesus said in Matthew 10 son will take the kingdom of God by violence by revolver we wish to enter into the kingdom of God and I can't I already shoot somebody to enter into the kingdom of God and he drags her to some pool which was near and he threw her into the water she entered into the water too she baptized him and it was a real conversion he risked his life and liberty and he freed her from prison he could have been put in prison in her place all these things happen now a girl under torture at the age of 18 or 90 and not having thought how can I escape the torture how can I escape the husband should not beat me anymore how can I have the wife should not nag me anymore how can I escape he should not betray me anymore she should not betray me how can I make I should not have such a bad boss if you have problems you don't know your bad your problem does not exist why do you have problems if you are a biblical Christian you should not have problems we have no problems we have challenges everything is for us not a problem but a challenge a bad husband is a challenge what a glory it would be if I make myself a child of God and a bad wife is a challenge and a bad child I called upon but said as he is so we will be he did not quarrel with sinners about being sinners but try to bring them to salvation and so it should be with us do you give me 5 minutes more my time has passed do you give me 5 minutes more you have to be polite you have to say yes but I promise it will be only 5 minutes I can't promise that every minute every second but I am in such a good mood because I have been 14 years in communist prison and a question which was very much discussed in prison which I hear also here in America there is suffering not only in communist prison there is plenty of suffering here in America where there are a few hundred people gathered here this evening I know that hundreds of sorrows are gathered this child has been believed so everyone has psychological problems so everyone has very deep sorrows and again and again in prison the one question was discussed if there is a good God and he is almighty then why so much suffering in my life why so much suffering in my life we know what it means to lose both parents 3 sisters and a brother in one day we know what it means to lose children we know what it means to have everything taken away from you we know and we have seen around us so much suffering and people ask again and again even if you don't say it with your mouth but every soul puts sometimes this question why is so much suffering in this world I will put to you another question what is the melody of a peach who here can say does anybody know what is the melody of a peach you will say a peach has no melody a peach does not have a melody a peach, a fruit or a banana has no melody so the question is stupid and to a stupid question there exists no intelligent answer suffering is wrong the right question is not why is this suffering but for what purpose again to the Hebrew in Hebrew the word why does not exist they don't say why they say lama you find it in our Bibles Elohi Elohi lama sabachthani when Jesus on the cross said and it is translated as why have you forsaken me the translation is not very exact it is very difficult to translate from the Hebrew exact lama means not why not what is the cause but what is the purpose of everything which happens what is the purpose in Romanian not nu de ce ci pentru ce nu care causa ci care scopul there is a difference between de ce and pentru ce there is a difference I explained to them in Romanian also the same thing in Romanian there are two different words what is the cause or what is the purpose and lama means what is the purpose of what is happening there exists no reply to the question why Jesus said they hated me in John 15 they hated me without a cause they just hated me in vain you would have sold the cause love has no cause Romeo was a great lover Romeo was at a masked ball and saw there a girl at a masked ball now how much of a girl can you see at a masked ball you see nothing of her body the more so that at that time you know the robes were the dresses were like those of nuns you saw nothing of the body and the face was covered she saw the tip of her nose and she fell in love with Juliet and no other girl counted anymore why for her why real love has no cause it just is and real hatred has no cause we are used always to answer cause instead of asking what is the purpose behind all these things now what is the purpose of so much human suffering this world the life in this world is like a university in which we learn two very great branches of science we learn to be able to hope in hopeless situations Jesus hoped when he was a crucified criminal considered criminal he had the hope that he can impart eternal life in the kingdom of God he the crucifer and he says to one near him alright I take you with me you will be in the kingdom of God he had such a hope we have to learn in this life joy in the midst of the greatest of sadness this even angels can't have because they don't have sadness the angels have only elementary school or high school university is to be able to be happy in sadness angels it is written in Ephesians 3 that angels learn from us and Peter also in his epistle says that angels wish to learn from us something which does not exist in heaven to hope when there is no hope to be joyful when everything is so sad the new testament is such a sad book Virgin Mary has to suffer she stands at the foot of a cross Jesus himself the morsel the apostles are sent like sheep among the wolves they will have to suffer they almost all died a martyr death but there is song in the new testament Mary sings and Zechariah sings and everybody sings and Jesus sings and his apostles sing together with him there exists the joy in midst of sadness which overcomes sadness and there exists something else love amidst hatred and love when you are terribly hurt to be able to love this is taught in this university and therefore we have to pass through so much suffering it's not easy to pass a university or to take a doctorate but if you wish to take it you have to build a university and we are taught to become Christ like beings to sit on the throne of God I am nobody I who have been myself one of the worst of sinners and I will sit on the throne of the perfect God what school I have to pass what school if I should become a doctor an architect I have to pass schools for this I have to pass the school of Godhead and therefore I have to pass through so much suffering and I finish by telling you just about one who has learned to love in spite of hatred around him if you did something contrary to the rules of the prison you were caught singing Christian hymns or speaking about Christ or I don't know what whatever they disliked then they would ask you what is your name there were sometimes very big prison cells much bigger than this hall 200 in one prison cell and the guards didn't know us by name so they asked what is your name Yom Kippur alright and he wrote you down you will get 25 lashes the beating always happened on Tuesday you were caught with something on Thursday and you had to wait until next Tuesday that you will be beaten but it was not a spanking as you give to a child it was a beating to the blood and you will get 25 next Tuesday and next Tuesday he came with a list from one cell to the other and one of them called out these names but he did not know there was another guard who came and we had one brother who as often as somebody else was called for beating he would say it is me and he would take the beatings for everyone he would take the beatings for everyone again and again they brought him bleeding and then after a time he would do the same thing the same thing he took so many beatings that he was near to death and we sat around him and we tried to comfort him and said brother in the end for you it is good now you will be in heaven you will get your reward and there will be quiet and there will be happiness and so on and he replied well may God do with me as he likes but if he would ask me I would tell him don't take me to heaven I would tell him leave me here in jail and we asked him why he said because there is a joy which I enjoy very much but which does not exist in heaven angels have many joys there is one joy which they don't have the bible says about three heavens in Corinthians the one heaven is if you believe in Christ and you are saved through his blood you have heaven that is heaven number one if you bring other ones to heaven then you have heaven number two you have your joy and the joy of those whom you brought to heaven they kiss your hands out of gratitude so you have your joy and their joy that is heaven number two and there is heaven number three to be here on earth with suffering and with gladness to take sorrows and pains of others upon yourself angels if they could envy would envy you for this this does not exist in heaven if I would be asked I would say to God leave me here I should continue this there exists a high calling what is Jesus about? Jesus is a being who had everything he was on the throne of heaven archangels, angels there was no joy no pleasure no beauty which he did not have and he forsook everything for somebody else for a poor sinner to help him also to come to eternal life and to be heavenly means to renounce to the I to the me terrible Jesus did not have an I he gave it he gave it he renounced to his life for us and this is the highest joy there exists such a life and you can be saved through this life Hosanna in the highest Hosanna you can be saved with little things as you go shopping and you have a list what you wish to buy so much cheese and so much this and so much that so he comes to God there is a shopping list every morning God please do this and do that and do that and in the evening we ask him what did you do the whole day why did you not do everything which I told you you can be saved in this sense and God can give you this and that but you have asked you can get it from him you can get but salvation is the highest sense of the world so other men should say when I have encountered Jesus I have heard the words which he would have said I saw gesture I saw an expression of the face I saw loving eyes I saw that is what Jesus is about to spread around him light and love could I not become something like this could I not become that is all which I had to tell you I am very happy that I arrived to the end of the sermon I have had three heart attacks until now I never know when I start a sermon if I will finish it I am very happy that I finished would you please stand for the blessing of God the father almighty of his son Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit be and remain with us all forever more Amen Thank you