(one of the stories of Hope Church's history and ministries)
In 2000, Raul and two other missionaries wanted to reach out to the town of Lisa by showing the Jesus film. They went around town and distributed invitations to everyone they met, speaking with them about Jesus along the way. They had no idea that while they were forming relationships with the people of Lisa, the Orthodox priests in the area were meeting in secret. Threatened by the idea that Raul and his missionaries were influencing the townspeople, they decided they would stop at nothing to prevent the Repenters from spreading of the gospel in their town. Like the Pharisees, they made plans to trap Raul by asking him questions about false prophets and then accusing him of being one. Once Raul was identified as a “false prophet,” the priests would have an excuse to beat him.
The priest chosen to start the conversation with Raul was John, a man known throughout Lisa for being the town bully. John was a man with a quick temper who drank a lot, beat his family and was feared by everyone in Lisa.
The movie was shown in a park and about 100 people showed up. Raul stood in the back, praying that the crowd gathered would have open hearts to receive the message of the movie. While he was praying, Raul didn’t notice the small group of men standing a few hundred yards away, watching him. It was John and two other priests, preparing to lay the trap that would allow them to rid Raul and his gospel message from the town forever.
In the middle of Raul’s prayer, Raul noticed a man walking over to him. Excited at this potential ministry opportunity, Raul greeted him and they started a conversation. He learned the man’s name was John and he seemed to be curious about the Bible.
“Doesn’t the Bible say that there will be false prophets who will come to earth?” John asked Raul, hoping that Raul would deny this and by doing so, implicate himself as a false prophet.
Raul, completely unaware of John’s plan and excited about his curiosity, thought to himself,Jesus has called us to be fishers of men and this man is my fish! “Yes, the Bible does warn us about false prophets,” Raul said. “And if you like, I can show you in Matthew what they will look like.”
Not sure how to respond to this unexpected answer and not at all curious to learn more about the Bible, John balked and tried to walk away. Raul, determined to reel in his fish, grabbed onto John’s shoulders and pleaded with him to listen. But John refused.
“If you don’t have time to listen to me now, tell me where you live so I can come to your home and tell you about the Bible,” said Raul.
John, completely flustered at this point and anxious to get away from Raul, ran away without saying another word.
Through a little investigating, Raul found out where John lived and visited him a week later in hopes on continuing their conversation. Through the bay window in his living room, John saw Raul walking toward his house and promptly ran to his bedroom to hide, telling his wife on the way to lie to Raul about his whereabouts.
This went on for a few weeks: Raul would stop by John’s house, John would see him coming and hide. Until one day, Raul came to John’s house and found him drunk in the living room. Not deterred by John’s condition, Raul began to pray with him; that the Lord would touch his heart, that he would know the truth and the truth would set him free.
As Raul prayed, John began to feel something working inside of him. It was the spirit of the Lord speaking to his heart, wooing him away from his life of hatred and alcohol.
Over the next few weeks, Raul and John met and prayed together. Soon, John repented and accepted Jesus. And he became a new man.
The change in John was so drastic that no one recognized him anymore. He was kind and gentle, full of love and warmth. He stopped drinking, stopped abusing his family and stopped intimidating the townspeople. His wife was so surprised and fearful of the complete change in her husband that she asked Raul what she had done to him.
“What does he have that I don’t have?” she asked Raul.
“He has Jesus,” Raul replied.
Soon, John’s wife was saved as well. As they grew in their faith, their family grew as well. Before they became Repenters, they desired to have more children, but could not. After they were saved, they prayed to God and He blessed them with two more children.
These days, John works as a missionary at Raul’s house for orphans in northern Romania. His true passion is church planting, the very thing that he so wanted to prevent in his town before he met Jesus. He desires to bring the word of God and the gospel of salvation to unreached areas in Romania, to see Jesus changes lives throughout the country, just like his own life was changed.
John (middle) with his daughter at Hope Church's grand opening
