Personal Testimony — Edgar Reich

Thank you for all of your kindness and for your love. It was such an incredible experience To come and be with you last Wednesday night the Lord just blessed my heart with your prayers and with your love and I said to my daughter Suzanne and To my son-in-law Who have put me up.

I'm sort of a refugee again Rejected in America and They took me in and I shared with them your wonderful spirit of joy and of love and of reaching out to Everyone that comes and how precious you are.

So thank you for inviting me and I want to thank Mark and I Don't know if if I would ask someone to speak if I just knew them for a week, so he's a brave man. And He's a very very special person and I believe that it was by divine appointment a divine meeting that we should meet so I thank God for Him his life and for everyone here that I met.

I So Humble to see so many young people here and if it gets boring and I see you get up that I know I got to Stop so that's gonna be a good sign for me but God put me on a course of action in my life that He wants to be a testimony to you and whatever good you hear God has done.

I didn't do that. Okay, so anything that comes across to you Something that I might have done I did not do it was God's mercy and grace that did that. So if I may share with you one verse from 2nd Thessalonians 5 18.

Giving Thanks for God’s Providence

2nd Thessalonians 5 18. People often ask me what is the will of God well, there's several verses in Scripture, which is the will of God and This one says in everything give thanks. For this is the will of God in Everything give thanks for this is the will of God now what does that mean if I may draw on my own life and For some of the young people I got I'm ancient.

Okay. I got to go way back To when I was born in 1942. I was born in East Germany east of Berlin and My father was in the war in Russia. He was fighting in Russia with the Sixth Army he was between Moscow and Stalingrad and As he was fighting there in 1942 in August.

He had never seen his son his son is me and He was in that war fighting and was blown up by a hand grenade and died. So, why should I Why should I thank him for that and I wrestled with that a long long period of time.

This was a terrible happening. So why should I grow up without a father? Why should I not have a father and in time? He showed me that he's the father of widows and orphans. So there was a benefit that I didn't understand and so he became my heavenly father Eventually and Led me in a way that I ought to go.

However, that wasn't the only thing that happened then in 1945 three years later the Russians were coming towards Berlin and My mother had two children myself and a sister. We were in a house In East Germany and the SS troops came the German soldiers came the SS troops and told her that she would have to flee and She said no, I don't want to flee from the Russians.

I'm going to stay here I live or die with my children. And so they told her if you do not flee we will shoot you and your children. Because you will be raped many times you will be Misused you will suffer greatly and you will tell about the German positions That you know about so we will shoot you and so for the sake of the children my mother took the two children put them into baby carriage and started to walk in the winter of 1945 by the way, East Germany is a little bit like Canada.

It gets very cold in the winter time and so You freeze to death easily especially at night the Refugee track had to walk in the winter of 1945 during the night there were two reasons for that if you walk during the daytime you were attacked by fighter planes and you were shot and Bombs were thrown on you.

And the second issue was that if you slept at night, you would likely freeze to death. So the best thing was to walk at night when it was cold and to try and sleep during the daytime while hiding. So God saved my life about ten times during that period of time.

The first time was when we crossed a bridge going towards Berlin. We crossed the River Oder and as we crossed the bridge We had just passed the German soldiers blew up the bridge that was full with refugees.

They didn't bother to tell the refugees because the Russians were coming quickly and they didn't have time to argue or to do anything to Convince to let people across so they simply blew up the bridge with all of the people on the bridge.

So why should I thank God for that? Why should I be thankful? Well, God said I gave you life. So that someday you would testify for me so be thankful for that and Then we walked through that deep snow and there were bumps in the white snow all around us and my mother said To the other refugees.

Is this how we ought to go? Is this the Sign for us to know which way to go and the other refugees said no. These are people who were frozen to death. They sat down they couldn't go on they died and then ice and snow fell on them and they became the way to go.

My Sister was very young then she was only about four and a half years old, but that was her early memory in life. She was walking next to a woman and as we stood next to a river That we were supposed to cross.

This woman started to scream. Uncontrollably, she couldn't stop screaming and my sister didn't understand and this woman took this little child she had been holding on her chest and She held it up and it was frozen to death and my sister could not Deal with that anymore and from then on she could never go into a funeral parlor or see a dead person if she was so afraid of death and of dying and So my question to you is do you know where your future is?

Do you know where you're going to go if you don't have God in your heart? Do you think that? There might be such a person that loves you. There might be such a person whom you cannot see but you who has love and good for you in mind.

So we went on in that track we went to a city called Dresden and in Dresden 100 ,000 people died they were burned to death and they were Incinerated in the city they became like small dolls some of them because They turned into charcoal and the day we were there There was a man with us who said you cannot stay in the city.

And we went on that same day or else we would have died in that city we went on and went on to a train with 56 cars cattle cars full of refugees to go to the southern part of Germany towards Bavaria and the train was attacked by fighter planes and bombed the Train was destroyed 55 wagons there was only one wagon left that had living beings in them and we were in that 56 wagon.

So again, why should I praise God? Why should I thank him? In everything give thanks for this is the will of God. And so he let me live in Bavaria below Munich in a very beautiful area, but between Munich and Salzburg we ended up in a refugee camp and I started to die of malnutrition and of the cold and of other illnesses I had contracted and the doctor said you're Your son is going to die.

They said to my mother and my mother gave blood for me. But the doctor said your blood isn't strong enough to help your child and we have no other blood to give him. So my mother went out on the street.

Begging for my life. I don't know how she did that she didn't tell me all the stories because she wept so much whenever she told me and The letter she wrote me about these things was full of watermarks.

And so I know that I only heard part of the stories. I don't know what she did to beg for my life. Obviously, she didn't speak English and how she got the right American soldier I have no idea because his blood matched mine and.

So I got a blood transfusion and I lived so I have some American blood in me. Not Canadian blood but American blood. So God saved me. I grew up very poor. Again, I nearly died as a child. I had worms growing in me because we had to find food in the woods.

But God again kept me alive. And so he says in everything give thanks for this is the will of God. Now something unusual happened when I was 10 years old and my mother misused me as a child. She misused me sexually as a child.

Sin, Abuse, and God’s Redemptive Work

Okay, some of you Cannot identify with that others of you can but this is the horrible thing because this is sin and God does not condone sin. God is not responsible for sin. Now Satan sometimes may ask to sift us and he gets permission from God to do that.

But when we sin God is not responsible. When I sin God is not responsible. When I hurt you God is not responsible when I do evil God is not responsible because he is a Righteous and just God and he cannot sin.

However, when we do sin then God will take what is meant for evil. And Joseph said that to his brothers. For those of you who know the story Joseph's brother sold him to Egypt and he had to stay in prison for many years and then God lifted him up and then one day he met his brothers again, and he forgave them and He said you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

Okay, so here we have the situation that I was misused as a child and Certainly, how can I give thanks to God for that? Well, I had a very unforgiving character. I had a very Condemning character. I would judge you each person of you.

I would see I would judge Before I would even know you and make up my mind who you were or what I could trust you or How you were dressed and how you talked and what you did and you know. After this happened and God brought me back.

He gave me a new heart and a new mind so that I would have Compassion for those that had been hurt in life that it would have compassion for those that were hurting that I would have compassion for someone that falls on the street and gets drunk and Before I wouldn't get my hands dirty and now it doesn't matter you see because that person is made in the image of God that person Has a future that person has a soul that exceeds the value of this world.

So that is what I learned from that. So I praise God and this is the will of God to give Thanks and everything to him and I know that too many of you went through hard times. But when you look back, you know how you learned and what God gave you in turn.

To reach out to others and to show Christ and to show God through your life now. That they might know that God lives that Christ lives that there is a future and a hope it isn't Just damnation and hell.

Yes, you can walk that way if you want to because God gave you free will. But there's a future and a hope praise God. And so after I was misused by my mother I put that aside and I made this decision in my Inner self and I said from now on I will not let anyone get close to me.

So that I cannot be hurt and I built a castle in myself a white castle. In which I could hide where the real self and me could hide. I would no longer get hurt by anybody. You got too close to me and I would push you off.

Okay? If you got too close to me. You would see how vicious I could be if you got too close to me. I rejected you and Satan used that. Satan used that white castle not as a protection. But as a prison for myself.

Because I was alone and when I'm alone that I'm open to the attacks of the evil one. We should never be alone within ourselves or with others and so I had to learn that this castle had become my prison and Later on we will share how God opened up that prison.

I have a jacket today and their little handcuffs on that jacket and I'm set free. But sometimes I prefer to go back to the old prison. Okay, that's my will that's my own self. That is not God's way because he has set me free now.

Let me walk in freedom. Let me trust people. Let me love people. Let me love you. I don't care what you've done. I don't care where you've been now. I don't care where you've come from. But let me help you to know where you can go if you want to.

It's your free will it's not my will. It's yours. You can never blame me if you end up in the wrong place in eternity. But there is a future and a hope and so let us give thanks for the will of God in our lives.

Because he does mighty and wonderful things so I was super poor then at the age of 19 my mother got a pension from the German government. I had started to work at the age of 12. I left school in grade seven and a half.

I had no schooling no future and no hope at that point and God made it possible for me to go to Canada and After I went to Canada I got Cleaning jobs. I had two cleaning jobs an elevator job. And I thought that maybe I ought to go back to school.

But then I thought I was not really able to learn and I went to a government school to learn English. They asked me to write an essay. I wrote an essay on Canada about the freedom of choice in Canada.

And the teacher came back and said you won. I said what you mean. I won. What did I win. Was this a class competition. She said no. I sent all of your essays to a Canada white competition and you won and I said oh great great.

Give me money. I need money. And she said no what you won is to make a speech. Before the Queen of England and the Queen of England used to come to Canada in those days and we were new Canadians and So I had a chance to make a speech.

Unfortunately, the Queen of England felt sick. She didn't come so she sent Someone from the royal family. I don't know who it was. I made that speech but what God impressed on me was that I might be able to learn.

Because I had won and so Again in everything give thanks for this is the will of God. This was something good. I could identify with. This is something I could praise God for but don't just praise God for your good things in life.

Also praise him for everything that you need to learn because we learn in the valley. We don't learn on the mountaintops. We learn in the valley and when we're in the valley Then God draws us close to him so that we might know him and understand him.

Marriage, Education, and Personal Responsibility

The next step for me was to meet a young lady in Canada. Her name was Mary and her background Was from Ireland she had red hair and We fell in love and we got married. I didn't know that she had been misused as a young lady.

I had been misused and so we both perhaps Were keeping apart from each other to some extent because we could never share What what truly happened in our lives and because my mother was also my hero I really had suppressed it.

My mother had fed me when I was hungry. My mother had taken care of me when she could have taken her own life and ended her life. Her mother had my mother had given her life so that I could live so maybe she had a right to misuse me.

But this was wrong. This was very very wrong. She should have never done that parents you have no rights to mistreat your children you have no rights to do wrong to your children and God will judge. God will will punish you for doing that if you do.

My mother's lived for all of the rest of her life with guilt. My sister told me that my mother lived with guilt and she didn't know why. I didn't know why for many years until God opened that white castle and we'll share that a little bit later, but I Never knew, you know, I held in very high regards.

I never held it against her and So she was my hero and my hero could do even wrong even that and so when we got married we had two daughters and I I had a daughter Angela and daughter Suzanne and During that period of time I felt that I had to go further back to school as a mature student.

I was working during the day time, but yet I felt that I needed to go back to school. But I had no high school. I had no undergraduate degree. I had no university. So what was I to do? I Ended up putting ads in the newspaper and I asked for tutors.

And two Chinese students came who wanted to tutor me from the University of Toronto. They had come out of the Mao Zedong area from China. They were in Canada. Their parents were allowed to send them to university but not to pay their upkeep they had to work so that they would have food to eat and So they came and I said I'll pay you a dollar an hour and here's the deal this is February or March of the year in September The University of Toronto starts and I want to enter the University of Toronto in September.

That's the deal and they looked at me and they said well We're sorry, but You're not right in your head. This is not possible you can't do that you can never jump high school and get to university and so They started to teach me.

I said you try I try. I studied every night for seven hours from 5 till 12 midnight for six months or so and That They would tutor me so that they would bridge me now by the way when I want God to set me free I have to do my part.

God didn't do just a miracle and say I give you a degree without studying and That's the same for my Christian life. Because I have to battle I have to go into battle against that old nature That God has given me also and the new nature and they will be in constant battle in constant battle until God Lets me to be with him and that old body passes into eternity and turns into dust.

That's my outer body only but my soul Lives on forever and ever and ever and it becomes holy before God Through Christ Jesus not through what I do and that soul is safe forever and ever. So I had to realize that I had to do my part and Learn and I didn't like it and my wife didn't like it and the children weren't there yet.

But I said I got to do this. I got to do this and during those Four or five months of study. I also noticed that an undergraduate degree wouldn't do anything for me so I looked at some of these degree courses that were subsequent to an undergraduate degree and I decided well, I got a not only jump high school, but I got a jump University and I'm going to go into Postgraduate course and the Chinese students who were teaching me they said you have Flipped your switch.

We cannot rely on you that you can think straight and However, they were so determined they were working so hard with me how they were always using these Chinese words. When I didn't understand I finally asked them, what is it you're saying and they said well we're swearing at you.

And so I learned how to swear in Chinese. Lord forgive me I'm not using those words anymore Bit of Chinese and in September of that year I started in a postgraduate course For an accounting degree and I passed all of the initial courses and God God did it not I okay.

Because when we look at it objectively Everything that God gives in our mind is from him. It's not from me all glory belongs to him. Nothing, don't look at this man. I'm just dust okay. But God is our great and wonderful God he can do mighty and wonderful things.

Now after I had gone through school I started a very good job at a Vice president of a chemical company in Canada. It was an international group called Whitwell chemical and they Then made a huge acquisition in Europe of a nine hundred million dollar company.

So they asked me to Europe to go to Europe and run that nine hundred million dollar company. And so I went to Europe and I left my wife my family my children behind. But during all of these years dear sisters and brothers.

I was not right with God. Some of these things that I had learned as a child followed me and There were addictions in my life. There were sexual Addictions there were addictions to other things in my life, and I never knew how to cope with them so somehow they had to be acted out and I Went with the wrong people.

I went to parties. I went drinking. I went into drugs. I went with wrong women and When I was put into high positions I was very careful to hide all of these things and so I became an expert liar as well.

I became an expert liar and then I left my family and my wife and I didn't know each other anymore and I left and my two daughters had become Christians at a very young age and At the age of ten and a half and twelve.

He started to pray for that wayward father so young guys if you're a Christian and Even you see all the people in trouble. Don't just judge them but pray for them pray for your mom and dad. You're all the people don't give up praying for anyone in your family that has gone the wrong way or that has not accepted Christ, but Just remember that they will have to go to hell for eternity if you don't give that witness.

Because God has given you a witness. Maybe he has let you go through hard times. Share that how God released you from that share that what God did in your life give praise to glory. And God give thanks to him for this is the will of God.

Give thanks and everything to God for this is his will and so Here I was in deep sin in Europe and Didn't know how everything would end. I ended up in Geneva running this huge corporation then I Had a deal that I would come back to the United States.

And by the way, I should have been struck dead many times. I should be in hell today I should not be here at all today. Thank you Lord for Salvation, I'm sorry. Sometimes I have to cry a little bit afterwards.

I didn't cry when I sinned because Sinning is good at times if a preacher says sinning is no good. He's never experienced it. Okay sinning and those good times only last for a little time and We don't fear God because God doesn't always strike us dead when we sin.

I Don't know why he has so much grace so much forgiveness so much love. I can't understand that He's so gracious and so kind. So when I sin, I really deserve the ultimate penalty. But he has mercy and grace to forgive me.

So he was waiting for me there were two little daughters praying they said God we're not gonna give up on this man. Yes, maybe he deserves death and hell. But we won't give up we're gonna keep on praying for him.

So I came back to the United States the company that I was with we did well in Europe. We made 50 million dollars the last year that I was there and When I came back however, the company was sold and new management came in they did things differently and I Saw things wouldn't last so I went with a company That was called AP industries Inc they were selling plastic products and they had international businesses that weren't doing well and So I went with them and I ran roughly 300 million dollars worth of businesses that had companies in New Zealand in Australia in Japan in France and Italy in Germany in actually in Germany was just distributorship and In Denmark and so on in many countries in Europe.

Again young people all of this sounds very very Glorious the money sounds good. The traveling sounds good. But believe me if you're apart from the Lord, it's not worth it. There's a verse that says what shall it profit a man?

If he gains the whole world and loses his own soul, it's not worth it. It's not worth it because if you lose your own soul Then you have death and hell for eternity and eternity. Death and hell for eternity.

It's not worth it. The other thing is that Many of these big money people they have issues. They're addicted to power. They're addicted to sex. They're addicted to money. They're addicted to something and I was in a white castle.

I was in a prison cell. Do you think I had all that much fun at times? I had fun. But no looking back. What a waste of time what a waste of time. Okay, young people gave your heart to God give your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Do worthwhile things for him. Don't try sin. I Good they're keeping me from fun. But scripture says that these things are not keeping us from fun. They're giving us fun in life and I said Lord, but that can't be right.

You've got it all wrong. You got it reversed. No, he said No, I gave you fun. Because when you do right. You no longer have to lie. When you do right you no longer have to hide. When you do right you can look people into their eyes.

When you do right you don't have to fear the dark. When you do right. You don't have to fear the future. When you do, right? You don't have to fear eternity when you do right, you don't have to fear hell itself.

And so what a wonderful release that is, my beloved young people, and you all the people know, I don't even have to tell you, that is truth what I'm telling you. You already know it's truth. And so I just share with you, and God, for whatever reason, for whatever reason, has let me experience the lows and some of the highs in life, but they're not worth it.

It is Christ Jesus, the living Son of God, that is worth it. So now you ask, well, how did you get rid of this white castle? I was, about five years ago, and I lived alone, although I had a relationship with another woman for 18 years, I had left my family, I was not back with my family, and this woman still lives in Canada, by the way, I still talk with her, I talk with my wife now, we are all friends now, by the way, and I'll tell you how all of that happened, but we are no longer lovers, okay, we're no longer living together, because I told her that I accepted Christ and how that happened.

The Grave Vision and Conversion to Christ

I was at home on a Saturday morning, it was maybe 7 a .m. in the morning, I was half-awake and half-asleep, and all of a sudden I was in an open grave, six foot down. The grave was inside a graveyard, there was a tree on top of the grave, the sides of the grave were neatly cut out, I was lying on my back looking up, there was a late afternoon sun, there was a cold air coming through the grave, and I said, why am I here?

Let me get out of this place, I cannot stay here. So I tried to lift myself up, and I couldn't move, and I said, why can I not move? And so I looked at myself, and here I was bound up with great big ropes, and all of these ropes were my sins, and they were heavy, heavy ropes, and they kept me bound inside this grave, and they were so heavy I could hardly breathe.

And I said, how is this possible? I need to get out of here, I cannot do this. And I started to call for help, and I called, help, help, help, and I said, why is my voice so low, why can I not shout? And my sins were pressing down on my chest, and I could not shout for help, and I shouted, help, help, and I just whispered, and I said, I must get out of here.

And as I was whispering for help, the sides of my body started to turn white, and started to turn into dust, and then there were bugs coming out from the side of the earth, and the worms started to feed on me, and to bite me, and devour me.

And I said, Lord, what is happening? And the answer came immediately, if you die right now, you are going to hell for eternity, if you die right now. And you know, I realized that that was the truth, that was the truth.

Because of my sins, there was only one place that I deserved, and that was hell for eternity. And I had gone to church at some time point, and I knew that Christ Jesus was the way. And at that point, I started to call for help, and I said, Jesus, come and help me, Jesus come and help me, and I cried out for him that he would come and help me.

And as I was laying there, and it seemed like for an eternity, I seemed to waste away. Eventually a figure appeared on the bottom of the grave, and that person bent down, put his arm around my neck, started to lift me up, all of the ropes snapped off me as if they were thread.

I sat up, at that moment I woke up, I had fallen out of bed, I knelt next to my bed, and I asked the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to come and save me, and to make me right with him, and to fix all of the things that were wrong with me, and to make me a new person, and to work through me, and to do the things that he needed to do in my life.

And beloved, once we get saved, we still have a lot of old baggage that we carry. Even so, God makes us new, he gives us a new soul that is now holy before him through Christ. The old body has a lot of old habits.

Confession of Sin and Walking in Obedience

And so a process of revival started in me, and the process of revival has seven points. And the first point is really the confession of every known sin to God. The confession of every known sin to God.

After I got saved, I got so excited about God and I wanted to do all these right things, you know, but then some of these old things came back to beset me. And I said, what is this, God? And he answered me, and he said, if you love me, keep my commandments.

If you love me, keep my commandments. And the next day I prayed, and I said, I love you, Lord. And he said, well, if you love me, keep my commandments. And the third day I prayed, well, Lord, I love you.

And he said, well, if you love me, keep my commandments. And I said, what do you mean, Lord? I'm getting frustrated. What's wrong with me? You know, I accepted your son, and what is it you want me to do?

What is it you want me to do? And then the Holy Spirit started to show me, step by step, through the Ten Commandments, what I was doing wrong. And because of time, I'll just share a couple with you now.

But I was a compulsive liar, not only because I had to hide things, but also because of business, and whenever you talk to someone about business, you automatically say that everything is perfect, everything is good.

Nothing is wrong. And so maybe these are little white lies. Maybe they're not so important. But God calls me a liar. Come on, Lord, do you have to be so specific? I mean, isn't that self-righteousness, Lord?

You mean I have to give up every sin? I mean, sometimes I ought to say things just to please people. Don't you agree with that, God? No, he said. And then I tried to stop lying, and I couldn't. And I tried and I tried and I tried.

And one day I read Isaiah chapter 6. And here the prophet Isaiah was called into the throne room before a holy God. And when he came into the holy throne room, he said, Woe is unto me, a man of unclean lips.

I cannot stand before this holy God. I cannot even be in this holy throne room. I'm dirty and filthy with this sin. God will not tolerate this sin. And so a cherubim, an angel of God, came, and he took one of the coals of the altar of God, and he went over, and he touched the lips of Isaiah, and he became clean.

And I said, Lord, Lord, I know I'm nothing. I'm just a man of dust. You did this for Isaiah, and I pray right now. You send an angel to me. You touch my lips so that I don't have to lie anymore. And three days later, I don't know how it happened.

Nothing seemed to touch me. Nothing seemed to happen. But three days later, I didn't have to lie anymore. So praise God. God did it. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God.

Keeping Sunday Holy and Trusting God

Then I had some issues with Sunday. You know, I love TV. I love ball games. I love to waste my time. I'm sorry. I love to watch TV. And so God said to me, well, you know, my Sunday is holy. And I said, well, Lord, you know, what I'm doing really is relaxation.

So don't look too closely what I'm doing, but I'm just relaxing here a little bit, you know. And surely this must be all right with you. Surely this must be okay. And surely this must be all right with you for Sunday.

And then I had not canceled this adulterous relationship I had. God says don't commit adultery. Don't commit fornication. And I said, well, Lord, that's not humanly possible, what you ask of people. So I somehow can argue perhaps a little bit, somehow I can rationalize this and say, no, I don't have to walk already before you.

But he said in Psalm 24, who can ascend my holy hill? He who has clean hands. Lord, it's not possible. I can't do that. And during that period of time when I was arguing every time I prayed, he still says, if you love me, keep my commands.

Lord, I don't want to hear that anymore. You know, I'm tired of this. Why are you telling me this? Why do I have to go that route? And he said, no, if you love me, keep my commandments. I was invited during that period of time.

I was still running these big businesses. And our chairman in our company, he said, come to Florida, to my villa in Florida. We're going to have a meeting in Florida. We're going to look at all of your foreign businesses.