Stl Team Visits Russia 1961 — George Verwer

We regret that there are some very bad speed variations in the original recording of this talk, and we trust that you will determine not to be distracted by the slurring of speech which results from it.

On the other side of this cassette, we have presented a brief account of what God did in the Soviet Union in the summer of 1961. We have also heard the description of Communism and how Communists think and believe.

The Christian Answer to Communism

And I'm sure that you have come to the conclusion that, truly, Communism is a mighty force that is sweeping across the world. And now we are challenged with the question, or the answer to Communism, the Christian answer to Communism, what is Christ's answer to this deadly enemy?

And, of course, the place we need to turn to is always, is always the Word of God. No matter what our situation is, God has the answer. And the answer to Communism is found in the verse that I already repeated on the other side of this tape.

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. And so in simple terms, the answer to the onslaught of this enemy is the distribution, is the propagation of the truth. And, of course, the greatest truth we have is the truth of God's Word.

And I believe with all my heart that the distribution of the scriptures by dedicated and Christ-centered men is the answer to the onslaught of any enemy, be it Communism or even a worse enemy, Materialism.

Knowing Christ and Sharing the Truth

I praised God that it was about six years ago when I encountered the truth in Jesus Christ, and He changed me. And now I'm a Christian, and I can say that I know I'm going to heaven. I can say that I know in whom I believe.

I can say that I know that my sins have been forgiven. I can say that I have found reality, for I have found Christ. I trust that most of you who are listening to this tape can also say the same. You too have found the truth.

You too have found Jesus Christ to be real, and you can rejoice in the salvation that you have in Him. And yet isn't it strange that those of us who say we have the truth, those of us who believe we have the truth, live so wishy-washy, and give so little to the cause of truth, and do so little to see the gospel extended, when at the same time the people who believe a lie are doing so much to advance their cause.

Yes, the answer to communism is the propagation, is the distribution of the truth by dedicated men and women. But the problem is, where are these men and women? The problem is, where are our young people of America?

The problem is, where are the adults who say they believe in the cause of Christ? Oh, we're doing many things in America. We're doing many wonderful things. We're building more schools, and we're constructing more churches, and we're having bigger and better Sunday schools, and more Christian films, and more books for our own nation, and more Bible schools.

Oh, we're just doing many things. This isn't the end. This might all help. But oh brethren, let's get down to the basics. Let's get down to the core of the situation. The core of the situation is simply that we're not obeying Christ Jesus and his commissions and his commands that are found in the word of God.

Operation Mobilization and Sacrificial Discipleship

In this little movement, the name we have been given, Segmental Life has been given to us, a name which we don't care much about, but we have had because of the financial matters that any organization has, and so we have to incorporate.

But I'd like to just refer to this organization as a movement. A movement of students. A movement of students who are convinced to have the truth. A movement of students who are willing to pay any price, no matter what it be, to see God's will carried out on this earth.

Be it nights of prayer, be it fasting, be it suffering, be it death, oh, that God would give us that privilege. And in this little movement, we have seen miracles in Mexico. We've seen God open seven bookstores.

We've seen God distribute over six million pieces of literature. We've seen souls come to Christ. We've seen the truth propagated from town after town. Then in Spain, we've seen God work miracles. Impossibilities made reality by prayer.

We've seen close to a million pieces of literature already go out in the land of Spain. I believe God's word by a group of people who care for only one thing, Jesus Christ and his perfect will. All counts in this life.

Nothing more has any significance, only this one great pending factor, Jesus, his command, and his will. And in this little movement, we emphasize verses like Luke 14, 33 that say, except we forsake all that we have, we cannot be his disciples.

And we emphasize that verse simply because it's God's command. It's Christ's requirement to be his disciples. We've seen in communism a group of soldiers, a group of men and women who are dedicated to a lot.

So it needs to be in Christianity. A group of men and women who have forsaken all. A group of men and women who have no concern about anything at all except Jesus Christ. Except you forsake all that you have, whether it be material wealth, whether it be pride, whether it be impatience, whether it be any other thing that eats away at our soul unless we forsake it.

Whether it be family or friends, whether it be a job, whether it be a position, whether it be fame or fortune, Jesus says forsake it all. Many people have not understood this verse. They say it's impossible to forsake all, I can't walk around without any clothes.

But they seem to forget that at the same time Jesus Christ said forsake all, Saul said in Philippians, I'll supply all your needs. So the balance of this thing is giving everything to Jesus Christ. Renouncing everything, forsaking everything, and then let God supply your needs as he sees it in the light of a dying world.

As he sees it in the light of a time when the Russian is dying without Christ that we might have been with. Another verse that we emphasize a great deal in our work, in this little movement, is a verse found in 2 Timothy 2, verse 4.

No man at war entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And we emphasize this verse not because it's our idea, but because it's God's Word.

And we could go from Jerusalem to Revelation and we would find over and over and over again that God demands it all. In the Old Testament he says love me with all of your heart and all of your mind and all of your strength.

Jesus demands it all. I talked to a young fellow in Russia who wanted to become a member of the Communist Party. And he tried to be a member when he was 21 years old, but they refused his membership. But because he was too entangled with the things of his youth, with girls and a few other things, until he was refused membership in the Communist Party, which consisted of about 3%, I believe, of the total population.

Communist Party membership is rough and tough. And it's not easy to be a Communist in the Communist Party in the Soviet Union. And do you think it's any less for Jesus Christ? Do you think Jesus Christ demanded any less for those who follow the truth?

Oh, what a pitiful state we are in. Look around you. Your home, your car, your way of life, your manner of thinking, the way you walk, the way you talk. Tell me, does it all aim towards one primary goal?

The obedience to Jesus Christ and the extension of his will? Is all your thinking, all your talking, all your living, is it all centered around Jesus Christ? It should be. You say, well, this is fanaticism!

This is extremism! You're right. A person who does this is extremely in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. But this is the answer. You see, a fanatical extremist force can only be met and stopped by another force with equal power.

Another force just as dedicated. Another force just as extreme. Communists are extremists. Everywhere we went in the Soviet Union we saw posters, we saw signs, we saw literature. And all this literature aimed towards one thing, the advancement of Communism.

The conquest of the world by the forces of Communism. And the only answer to this was fanaticism. Oh, it won't be easy. In our little movement we've seen problems. We've seen hard times, we've seen sin creep in and Satan make monkeys out of us.

We've failed the Lord many times. And yet, the glorious thing about it is that when we rest in Christ, when we commit ourselves utterly to Christ, we go into this battle with a full assurance that we are victors in Him.

And the victory is ours before we enter, for Christ Jesus was victorious on the cross. And as we go in to present the truth to lost men and women, whether they be Communists or whatever other false cult, we go in with the assurance that we're victors in Jesus Christ.

We go in not resting in our own strength. We go in resting in the living God. And this gives us the advantage. This gives us the advantage over Communism. This gives us the advantage over every ism. Oh, what promises we have in the Word.

If only we'd believe Him. If we would only take God and His Word. If we'd only obey Him. If we'd only cast out every little bit, any little speck of rebellion on our part. And kneel to everything that Jesus Christ tells us to do.

Oh, we'd be miracles. But you don't talk and speak. And I could talk to you all night about what I believe the answer is. Now I want to tell you just a little bit about what God has led us to do. To combat evil all over the world, but putting better words and more scriptural terms, to advance the kingdom of God.

The Fifty-Million-Piece Literature Crusade

We have plans right at present for the largest literature crusade ever to take place in the world that I know of. We have set plans before God that are completely impossible. These plans consist first of all in the distribution of fifty million pieces of Christian literature.

Including tens of thousands of books, thousands of Bibles, and tens and tens of thousands of Gospels. And then millions and millions and millions of chapters. Fifty million pieces of literature we have set before the Lord.

He will provide us if we believe, pray, believe, and show God with all of our hearts that we need victory. And with this literature we will move into Europe. The key word, Operation Mobilization. So far we only have twenty or thirty students who have joined us.

Some adults in different places of the world have joined with these young people. They have promised to stand behind them in prayer and in desperate living. But as these students move into Europe, their plan will be to mobilize.

Thousands and thousands of churches throughout Europe will be contacted. Young people will be asked to join us next summer in a mass effort to cover every city in free Europe. In a mass effort to announce the truth of Christ and stand against the onslaught of communism in countries like Italy and France.

In countries like Germany and Austria. Thousands and thousands of letters will go out to England, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Turkey, Spain to invite young people to join together.

Trust will be purchased and rented. These young people next July will meet in key cities after our teams have worked for one year lining up the crusades, recruiting young people from many cities, from many nations.

The Spaniards are in a sense leading the way as we have seven or eight Spaniards all ready to go. These trucks full of young people loaded with tons of gospel literature will move into towns, will move into villages, will move into cities to present the claims of Christ.

We don't know how many people God is going to raise up. Maybe a hundred young people, maybe two hundred young people, maybe a thousand young people. This depends on your prayers. We are asking every missionary organization in Europe to join in.

We are asking every sound church to join in. And we will make every effort to reach every soul and spread Europe with a gospel message, with the truth. The printing presses will be turning off over one million packs a week.

Over one million powerful gospel messages with an invitation to study God's word and receive a free portion of scriptures. Everyone who writes in for these courses' names will go into a file. Some of them will go into permanent, permanent files on addressograph machine plates.

And these people will receive a constant flood of gospel lyrics. Books are being purchased about what we can find. Bibles are being purchased in every language to reach people of every language group.

A Call to Students and Older Christians

Yes, plans are being laid. Students are getting desperate. Perhaps you are hearing this tape because you have been in contact with one of these students. Perhaps the student that you have been in contact with has not had a tremendous bursting personality.

Maybe he has not expressed fully all that this thing is. But I pray that God will grip you. If you have not been gripped already with the great warfare that is ahead of that young person that you are praying for.

He is not going into a normal missionary situation. He is going up against an impossible task. He is going into a warfare. He is going into a situation that calls for such desperate action that I could not put it into words.

All I could ask is that you read chapters like Hebrews 11. Plans are being laid. Perhaps you are one of the students that is going and you are hearing this tape just before you are coming over to Europe.

And all I can say to you is, oh, make sure God has your all. Make sure God has your all. Make sure you are not holding back not one thing from Him. For if you are not, Satan will make a monkey out of you in Europe.

God wants soldiers. God wants young people, no matter how young they might be, to be desperately concerned and completely wrapped up in Jesus Christ. Perhaps you are one of the young people that has just come back from Mexico.

And you are going back to your college campus and your Bible school campus. And I say to you all that God might grip you. Might God grip you with a simple fact that around you on your campus are hundreds of young people who need to catch the vision.

Who need to catch the vision of Jesus Christ. Telling every man to forsake all and join in this warfare to stop evil and to prevent Christ in the truth to every soul on the face of the earth. Might God burden you to organize prayer groups.

Might God burden you to spend nights in prayer. Might God burden you to fast. Might God burden you to just become an extremist for His cause. For this is the only answer. Just because the school you are going to calls itself Christian doesn't mean a thing.

For let us face the fact that the Christian church in the United States today is bending at the niche. And what God is looking for is young people. Who will stand up against all the rottenness and the worldliness that is creeping into the church of Jesus Christ.

Young people who will stand against all criticism. Young people who will condemn backbiting. Young people who will speak evil of no one and walk in love. Fellowshiping with the Lord Jesus Christ. Young people who will take the steward of the spirit and instead of using it to carve up other Christians will put it to use against the enemy.

Young people who will forget about all the materialistic demands around them. Young people who will forget about all the things that so easily move in and deceive. And will stand for Christ whether it be in the university or the Bible school.

Whether it be in the high school or whether it be in the graduate school. Young people who will stand for Christ. Perhaps you are an older person. You say well I can't go to the mission field. I've got a family, I've got children.

I say the demands of Jesus Christ are the same for you as they are for the young person. Some of the most effective people in our movement are people over 60. Women who know what it means to pray. Women who bow their knees before us every day and cry for people like me who are so prone to error.

Women and men who are willing to take the name of a young person or the foe of a young person and lay it before the throne of grace and weep over that person. That that young person might not be triumphant.

You see because we are young. And some people say we are foolish and we're prone to error. And we can make mistakes and we know all of that is very true. And that's why we need your prayer. This little movement isn't going places because we're a bunch of apocryphal.

This little movement isn't seeing miracles come to place because we're all Peter's and John's. This movement is going places because a few people are on their knees. Upholding us and we in turn can uphold them.

And we labor together and united we stand, divided we fall. And remember the word of God said that long before Abraham Lincoln. And how true it is. Just as in the end of the Communist Manifesto Karl Marx makes the cry.

Workers of all countries unite. So Jesus Christ is calling down to his church this evening. And saying Christians unite. Turn from your sins. Turn from your prophetess. Turn from your materialism. Turn from your eating.

Turn from your laziness. Turn from your cocklessness and unite. Unite as men and women who are concerned about one thing. Seeing Jesus Christ exalted. Seeing God's word advanced. Truth penetrated. Into the very darkest regions.

Evangelizing Europe and the Soviet Bloc

Yes. Operation Mobilization could shape Europe. Every major newspaper in Europe will be contacted. Churches will be alarmed. We'll do everything we can to shape Europe. But we and ourselves can do nothing.

For it's only God in answer to prayer who's going to do anything in Europe. 50 million pieces of literature will never get off the printing press. Much less be distributed. Unless people get concerned.

Unless the handful of you who hear this tape. Connect your life to this cause. And then start to tell others. And bring others into this same vision. This vision of giving all to Jesus Christ. This vision of spending hours in prayer before God.

That the word of God might penetrate. But not only free Europe. For our next party and right along with this party is communist Europe. Literature is starting to win all these languages. A great book, Science Speaks, a gospel book, is going into Russia at this very minute.

And we'll start to mail literature into these lands. By sending literature registered out of Paris we can get it in almost any communist country. But this is going to take prayer. We want to send thousands and thousands of registered gospel messages into the Soviet Union.

Into Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. We have the addresses. I have a phone book from Yugoslavia. I have phone pages from Czechoslovakia. I have a guide to the chief city in Poland. I have a book that gives over 2 ,000 addresses in Russia.

So we want to start mailing in the gospel and registered letters. But we need people who will stand with us and believe God. For everything that's needed to get this job done. And then we have young people.

Young people who right now are studying Russian. And are willing to go into these nations. And it will not be long before many, and I say many young people, will be penetrating the Iron Curtain. You say impossible, you say ridiculous, you say foolish.

I don't care what you say. Anyone who's met anyone in our group already knows that what people tell us doesn't mean too much. But we're convinced that when God said all the world shall hear, he meant it.

And if he asks us to do a job, he'll give us the grace to finish it. And so these countries will be penetrated by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Perhaps this is your first contact with this little movement.

Perhaps you don't fully understand all these ideas, maybe even some of the terminology. This despotism and fasting, belittling, forsaking all, and the warfare. And you'd like to have answers to your questions.

Well I'll be very frank and very sincere. I would be glad to personally answer any questions about this case. You can write me, carlosmarat7, Madrid, Spain. I want to answer questions. I want to tell people why I'm so convinced about this case.

And you can write anyone else in our group and they will also try to give you the answer. It was in the university about four years ago when I became more convinced than ever that Christianity was the truth.

It was in a time of doubt. It was in a time when I wasn't even sure the Bible was the word of God. But through study, through prayer, through fellowship with the Lord Jesus, I became convinced that it was the truth.

And if the word of God was the truth, there would be nothing too high, no price too high to pay to see that truth set out. And I'll be glad to answer your questions. We want that people understand the way we believe.

We want people to understand why we're willing to do what some people consider foolish things to see the gospel of God. We don't believe we're rushing up a blind alley. We don't believe we're acting on just pure emotion.

We believe we're acting in the light of the truth. And we'd like people to write us. We'd like people to write us and tell us they're standing with us or write us and ask us questions. For you see, united we stand, divided we fall.

Unity in Prayer and the Final Appeal

Will you stand with us? You're a student going back to school. Maybe you're one of our leaders. Maybe you're not very much in this movement. Maybe you are. But we'd ask you to unite with us. And when we say us, we don't just mean our little small group.

We mean the whole body of Christ. We're not the only ones of age rising in the world. God has his children all over. The missionaries of your own church need your prayers. They need your prayers more than anybody else.

For around the world, missionaries have the same struggles, the same hardships, the same problems. Around the world, missionaries are being squashed by materialism just as much as the people in the United States.

Around the world, missionaries can just as easily become lazy and slap off just as anybody in the United States. And so we need to join together in prayer. United we stand, divided we fall. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Oh, I pray that all of us who hear this tape mic right now take a step of faith and say, God, I'll obey you no matter what. And then the first thing he tells us to do, do it. Whether it be through Luke 14, 33, or Hebrews 12, 1, or 2 Timothy 2, 4, or whatever you tell me to do, oh God, I'll do it.

If it be pray all night, I'll do it. If it be go to the fire and mixing field, I'll do it. If it be raise up a prayer group on my campus, I'll do it. So help me God, whatever you tell me to do, I'll do it.

Brethren in Christ, with that spirit, nothing would stop us. If we as Christians would open the world, God, with that spirit, nothing would stop us. We'll go through the iron curtain, we'll go through the bamboo curtain, and someday we'll all be together in heaven and rejoice that the word of God was exalted in every nation.

Oh, that we might realize that as we disobey God, we suffer, the world suffers, all suffers. May God drive this home to our hearts for Jesus' sake. For ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Let us pray. Lord Jesus, I must confess as I've spoken these words that I am condemned. Oh God, forgive me for my lack of zeal, for my lack of love, for my lack of concern. And oh God, we pray together that you'd work on all the hearts that we might yield completely to thee and do whatever you want us to do as revealed in your words.

The Mission Behind the Iron Curtain

For Jesus' sake we pray. Amen. This is a report on what happened in Russia and behind the iron curtain in the summer of 1961. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8, 32.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank thee that we who are in Christ Jesus know the truth. And the truth has made us free. We would ask, oh God, that as we listen to this tape and to a telling of this experience, that we might realize more than ever that we are the children of light and the sons of truth.

And that we have been called unto this great task of giving forth truth and of spreading the gospel around the world. Oh God, might we turn from ourselves during these moments and look to you. Might we look on the harvest and realize that indeed we must pray to the Lord of the harvest.

And we ask this in Jesus' name, with thanksgiving. Amen. As most of you know, the Lord gave us this summer a very interesting experience. For close to two years I've been praying and looking to the Lord for a ministry among the people of the Soviet Union and countries behind the iron curtain.

Little did I know that this summer God would open the way to start this type of a ministry. Most of you know that I was in Europe along with Roger Molstead and two other fellows to line up and make preparations for the coming crusade in Europe.

We were in Vienna making preparations for the crusade which will start in Vienna, Austria. When we went into the tourist office and questioned about possibilities of getting into Russia. We knew that there were possibilities but as far as we knew it would cost $11 or $12 a day.

We did not feel that God would lead us to make such an expenditure to do work in the Soviet Union. However at that time we were given the wonderful news that a new program within the last year had come into effect and the program was a program of camping.

And that instead of $11 a day we could go into the Soviet Union for $2 a day on this program of camping. Traveling in our own car. Also within the past year they had released the necessity of having a guided tour or a tour leader within the car.

And that meant that we could travel freely of course on roads that they prescribed in the Soviet Union. It was not long after that we knew God wanted us to take advantage of this opportunity. This camping program was only good for the summers.

We knew that if we didn't move in at this moment we would have to wait another whole year. And so before the Lord we prayed and laid ourselves that he might give us opportunity to preach the gospel behind the Iron Curtain.

The next day we headed for Yugoslavia. We heard that it was easier to get into Yugoslavia than any other Iron Curtain country. And so while we were waiting for our Russian and Czechoslovakian visa we went into Yugoslavia on a special visa.

It was in Yugoslavia that we got our first taste or received our first taste of getting the gospel out behind the Iron Curtain. In communist Yugoslavia we traveled through the night distributing hundreds and hundreds of New Testaments and Gospels of John out of the window of the car.

Throwing them over the fences of the houses, throwing them along the sidewalk. We went from city to city giving out the word of God. It was on our second night in Yugoslavia when we were in the city of Belgrade that the Lord gave us an opportunity to teach over a thousand portions of his precious word.

However on the next morning the police caught up with us and we were arrested and taken to the local police station. There we spent a day being questioned by the police at which time our literature, the little bit that was left, praise God, was confiscated.

We thanked him and praised him for this opportunity to work in Yugoslavia for it gave us a chance not only to give out close to 2 ,000 portions of his word but also to come face to face with each communist to see what they really believed.

It was at the end of the day or toward the end of the day that we were told that we had to leave Yugoslavia immediately and we were given 24 hours to get out of the country. We headed back to Austria rejoicing in Christ Jesus and looking forward to the entrance of Czechoslovakia in Russia.

We spent five days in the city of Vienna making preparations for our trip into Russia first through Czechoslovakia and then Russia. At this time we had a large rubber stamp made the size of an eight and a half by eleven piece of paper.

On this rubber stamp was a special letter track presenting the gospel to the Russians and also an invitation to write us to receive free material and we gave three addresses one in France, one in Switzerland, and one in Austria.

The rubber stamp had been finished the day before we were to leave and everything was set. We had 1 ,600 gospels of God within the walls of the car. We had 400, that's in Russian, we had 400 in Slovakian underneath the seats of the car plus other literature.

How we praised God that afternoon that we crossed the iron curtain into Czechoslovakia and yet as we looked around us it seemed that we had entered into a new world. As we drove across the border we looked as far as our eyes could see along a four line divided fence, electric barbed wire fence that's made up of the iron curtain.

On one side of this fence was a passage ground ten feet wide that set the entire length of the fence as far as our eyes could see. This ground was freshly raked so that they could see whether there were any footprints of any people in that area to make sure that no one escaped.

Also along this area were large towers. On top of most of these towers, at least the one that we saw, was a 17 or 16 to 17 year old fellow with a machine gun in his arm watching to make sure that no one left the land of Czechoslovakia.

It did not take us too long to get to Czechoslovakia. They checked the car somewhat carefully, but carefully enough to discover our literature. And that night was one of the most glorious nights of our lives as we traveled through one Czechoslovakian town after another distributing the word of God.

By the time we reached the Russian border over 400 Gospels of John had been distributed in Czechoslovakia, in cities where most people had never seen the portion of God's word, in towns where most of the men and women were confirmed atheists.

As we crossed into Russia, again we felt the powers of darkness around us. At the Russian border they checked the car very thoroughly. We had some Gospels of John hidden in our food box. One of the Russian guards who was checking the car took out the food box and started to investigate it.

His hand was about one inch from the Gospels of John when I caught his attention and he decided to speak no further. And so as we passed through the Russian frontier we again praised God for his grace and his faithfulness to allow us to enter that country with 1 ,600 portions of his word.

That night we went right to work. Roger and the hotel staff started to print the Gospel tract to be sent out along with papers from the Gospels of John. The ink was taken out from underneath the dashboard of the car.

The stamp pad was slipped out from underneath the seat of the car. The ink was taken out of the back of the glove compartment. And in a small hotel in Ust-Gorod, Russia, the printing device started to work.

At the same time I went outside and started to look around for a phone book. I might mention that the reason we were in a hotel is in that particular city they did not have any camping sites so they let us stay in the hotel for the price of camping.

Unfortunately in the town of Ust-Gorod I couldn't find their phone book so after a few hours we decided to move on. The next time we were off and they didn't have any camping sites we were again given hotels.

In the hotel Roger started to print and I went out again to look for a phone book. Again without any success. It seems that in the Soviet Union one of the books that's extremely hard to get a hold of is the phone book.

However the Lord enabled me to find another book that had a list of every town in the Soviet Union. And so we decided to start sending letters and gospel tracts to the postmaster of every town in the Soviet Union.

And that night I started addressing the envelopes with a Russian typewriter that we had brought along. The next day we arose and started out toward the city of Kiev. Little did we know what God had planned for us.

It was after we passed the city of Rovno that I decided to throw a gospel of John out the back of a car window. I mainly decided because the margarine that we had in the food box had melted on this gospel of John and I knew that we wouldn't be very wise to send it through the mail so I decided to just throw it along the highway when no one was looking.

I threw the gospel of John out. A half hour later motorcycle police pulled up. Pulled us off to the side of the road. We knew that God had different plans than we did. Someone had found the gospel of John.

Immediately radioed ahead and the police had stopped us only a few miles, about 25 miles down the road or less, 25 kilometers. We then were asked to wait. For two hours we waited alongside of our car.

Later on we found that we were waiting for two chief officials to come from the nearest big city. When these officials arrived we were escorted into a small room. There sat the officials around the small table and the gospel of John laid on the middle of the table.