"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another"
It's. So. Simple. Jesus spent all His time with prostitutes, tax collectors, and thieves. He spent all of His time serving those that could never do anything for Him in return. We are called to diminish ourselves, and glorify God. How have so many people got this twisted?…
Our last month was spent in Moldova. It used to be a soviet Russian country but now it's just it's own independent country as of 1991. It's the poorest country in Europe right now, and there we times while we were there that I thought that title reflected it spiritually as well. The main religion there is Russian orthodox, which from what I could tell appeared similar to Catholicism in some ways. The priest are the only ones who read the bible and who pray, and are very power, wealthy people there. And in some cases the priest will actually asked for money for prayer. They come to peoples houses, and take money, so that they can pretend to do what any pure hearted person can do freely. I remember one point walking down the street (and there were many homeless people in the city. We encountered them every time we went. We got to pray for some of them, hand out some bibles it was great, but anyway…) we passed this one man, who you could tell had been begging for money, and he was just sleeping behind a bench on the side walk. I watched as people walked right passed this man, and up to a priest standing on a street corner asking for money, and writing names down on a clipboard, I assumed for prayer.
..It made me sick.
Living in the mist of all this, is our host Jon. My first impression of Jon was that he was the happiest man I've ever met. When we got to his house He greeted us with his wife, his two children, and a huge smile on his face. He had two big rooms set up for us, and served us an amazing dinner. After dinner he came into our bedroom, and asked if if wanted to hear his story and about the church. We said "of course", and did not expect what came next at all.
About 10 years ago, Jon heard The Lord tell him to start a Christian church in the area of Moldova we were in. Jon did not know how to go about doing this, but he moved there an started asking people about Christ, and how they felt about Christianity. The priest their noticed what he was doing, and were less than pleased. One priest in particular became very angry, was determined to stop him. Jon was arrested for talking to people about Jesus on the streets, and he spent at least one night in jail for it.
Eventually Jon had gathered a small group of believers, and they started renting a room in a building to meet in for one hour on Sunday mornings. It wasn't long before that priest came along and convinced the owners of the building to kick the church out. But Jon knew what he had to do, and they started looking for a permanent building. He found a building that a lady was selling for about 80,000 USD, but the church had no money. They convinced the woman to hold the house for one week so that they could pray. For the next 5 days they prayed every day, and on the 5th day Jon got a phone call from a number he didn't know. The man on the other end said that he was from America, and knew Jon was trying to start a church, and wanted to bless them. This man sent enough money to pay for the house in full, and Jon still to this day does not know this man's name, or how he found out about the church. Crazy right? It gets it's more ridiculous….
That one priest was even more angry, and started trying to scare Jon away from his calling. One night two large men showed up at Jon's front doors, and beat him so badly he ended up in the hospital. He laid in the hospital for one week, and when he was released he found all the windows of the church broken, and all of the member's instruments and sound equipment stolen. But Jon knows the God he serves, and had no plans of backing down.
Well the priest decided to follow through with his threats, and hired a Russian assassin 200,000 euro to kill Jon. (*Please take a moment to imagine our faces when he's tell us this story.) The time came for the sniper to take his shot, and had Jon in his cross-hairs. He placed his finger on the trigger and as he was about to fire, his whole body began to shake, and his finger would not move. This man had claimed to kill hundreds of people, and could not understand what happened. So he approached Jon, and asked him what "power" was on him that protected him. The man was an atheist, so Jon explained that he was a follower of Jesus Christ, and his Holy Spirit was in him. The priest did not believe that God was protecting Jon, so he upped the money and offered 400,000 euro for Jon's life. The sniper told Jon he did not know why, but he just couldn't do it.
Soon after all this happened, the priest was driving his car when the gas pedal got stuck, and he sped up and ran into a stone wall. He survived, but had to get one arm amputated, and both his legs at the knee. Jon takes God's word for what it is, and because we are told to love our enemies, Jon when to the hospital to pray for the priest. The priest was confused by Jon. He told him that he was crazy, and refused his offer for prayer and asked him to leave. But weeks later, Jon was contacted by the priest, who wanted to meet with him. The priest said that he had met many religious men, but none willing to die for their faith. Jon continued to tell us about the church and it's members, and finally I asked "wait…what happened the priest???". Jon casually said in his broken English, "Oh he comes to the church now. You meet him Sunday."
Well he was right, and after hearing this story that sounds like it should have been out of a movie, I got to meet this man. He had two prosthetic legs, and introduced himself as Valentine. This is a man that has finally found the love of God, even though it cost him three of his limbs. And I'll admit, it was pretty crazy to watch Jon and this former priest play ping-pong together and talk like they were best friends.
A few years ago I started praying for God to put men in my life that would push me to be better, and show me more what God expected of me. There's no doubt that God has answered me, and is continuing to do that. I was honored to spend a month with Jon and his family, and see that even in the middle of the darkest places, Christ love is there for anybody who will accept it.
