Europe 2007

As preparations were made for the trip to Europe this year, the plan was that brother Howard Williams should accompany me and we prepared accordingly. Everything was put in place, we obtained the necessary visas, purchased the tickets and prepared to go. The meetings in the various places were planned with this in mind. But four days before our scheduled departure, Howard's father died. He had been ailing for a long time and it was not really a shock, but coming at this time, it completely threw our plans out. Howard had to change his mind about coming to Europe and it turned out that I made the trip alone. It would have been a blow to lose the money for Howard's ticket which we had already paid for, but we found out that we would be able to get a refund if we could produce a death certificate for his father.

Germany

The first stop was Germany where it was good to see Erwin and his family again. The campmeeting this year was to be at a place called Neudorf which was only an hour and a half away from Erwin's home. They had been able to obtain this place at a reasonable rate, but as it turned out, the location was not the best as many people decided not to attend because it was not centrally located and it was too far for them to travel. However, we did have 37 persons attending and most of them were eager to hear more of the message of Christ and His righteousness.

I felt Howard's absence more keenly than ever because it turned out that he and I had been scheduled as the main speakers at the campmeeting and since there was no one else available to fill his speaking slots at such short notice, I was informed that I would have to preach twice as many sermons as I had originally planned! This kept me very busy, preparing and preaching, but the Lord never left it up to me, He always did the preparation and the presentation and it turned out that the fifteen sermons which I presented were all blessed by Him.

In every place and in every age, there have been those who have risen up against the message and this has been true in Germany as well. Men of influence have set themselves to oppose it and have been busy warning people that the message being preached by Erwin Zoor is a false message. But like somebody once said, “you can't fool all of the people all the time.” People have grown tired of the same old stale doctrinal discourses which have no power, the theories which leave them empty and without the spirit of God. There are those with hungry hearts who truly desire something better than they have been fed over the years, people who are really looking for an answer to the question, “why has Jesus not yet returned.” These are the people who came to the campmeeting and they drank in the message with open hearts. Their response over the six days was truly a blessing.

Christ was present at the meetings and His spirit presented truth to the people in such a way that no one was left in any doubt that Christ and Christ alone is to be the center of our lives. We did not only come to understand a theory, but we experienced the power of the truth and each one resolved that by God's grace we would not allow anything to distract us from our single duty of bending all our faculties to the task of beholding Christ.

As I said, I was the main speaker, in fact I was just about the only speaker. However there were a couple of evening presentations by brothers Kay (pronounce Kai) Gurtner, and brother Rolf Meier. I could not understand what they said of course, but from what I was told, they were powerful presentations. Brother Meier in particular speaks of nothing but Christ and His righteousness, and he is filled with a desire to see this message swallow up all others. He is presently working in the north of Germany in every way that he can to see that this message reaches all who are willing to listen.

On Sabbath afternoon we hiked up to a place in the mountains where there is a small lake, in fact, more like a big pond. There we had a baptism of three people who had come to the campmeeting especially to be baptized. They were a man and two old ladies who were Russians. It was a dreadful day for a baptism. It had been drizzling all day, there was mist and fog everywhere and for me, it felt bitterly cold. I have a problem with cold, but many of the others also seemed to be cold and were wrapped in sweaters and windbreakers. I was concerned about baptizing two old ladies in this weather. One of them was 79 years old and the other was 80! But when I mentioned it to Erwin, he said, “they are Russians, they don't care about the cold.” Thankfully Erwin was the one doing the baptism, so I did not have to face the water.

Later, Erwin told me that the water was colder than in a freezer. It was the kind of cold which instantly freezes the bones. I could well believe it. I was shivering on the bank and I could not seem to get my hands warm. But as they were going into the water he said to one of the little old ladies, “are you cold?” She replied, “oh no my son, but the stones are hurting my feet.” After the baptism, these two old ladies were so happy, I was glad that we had been able to baptize them in spite of the cold. They acted like people who had been truly born again.

This was just about the final event of the campmeeting. The following day we departed for our homes.

Poland

We arrived in Poland two days after the end of the German campmeeting. There were not too many people in attendance, especially on the first day. There were eventually about 27 or so, but maybe about 18 on the first day.

Poland has always been a very interesting place for me. The attitude of the people is very different and there is always some controversy and many determined questioners. One of the unnerving things about being there is the fact that people seem to always say just what they think about other people. They have no reservations about saying critical or uncomplimentary things about other people to their faces. It is probably a well-accepted practice for I have noticed that people do not seem to take personal offence and do not seem to harbour hard feelings even when things like this happen.

Another prominent mark of Poland is that there always seems to be very strong feelings and questions concerning minor questions such as the covering of the head for women. There are always some people who seem to have a difficulty in separating the things which are really important from the things which do not matter too much. I suppose this is true everywhere, but somehow, they always seem to be present at the Poland campmeeting.

When this campmeeting started this year, I did not know how it would turn out. Last year we had presented the message of righteousness in Christ and it had seemed at the end that there was a very positive response to the message. However, there were several new people this year and besides, over the year several issues had arisen which had caused questions in the minds of some. The atmosphere seemed a little stiff with most of those present seeming to be waiting and watching. I suppose they were not quite certain of what to do with the message of Righteousness by faith and were waiting to see what Erwin and I had to say. The first two meetings were greeted with quite a few questions. The subjects on which I preached were, “Is Perfection Good Enough?” and “The Goal of The Law.” After attempting to answer a barrage of questions I discovered that there was a rumor that I was teaching that babies cannot be saved! Whew! Where do stories like that get started? Well, anyway, I made haste to clear that up and things seemed to relax a little bit.

After that I preached four more times and Erwin preached three times. In-between, Jacek also gave a couple of sermons. Slawek translated for me and I was happy to see that we all seemed to be in complete harmony in what we were presenting. I tried to cover the ideas which I thought were important for the people to understand and the topics on which I spoke were:

Life

Life after Death

Amazing Grace

The three gospels.



Erwin spoke on the following topics:

The two Adams

Who Needed a Sacrifice

Faith and Works

God blessed these sermons abundantly. By the time we came to the second to last day, the mood was entirely different. Slowly the reality of the truth dawned on the people that it was really and truly His own life which Christ has given to us as a complete gift, freely and without reservation. Then it was wonderful to see the change which took place. Suddenly it seemed to me that there was a warmth everywhere and everybody was much closer to each other. When I asked about questions, the reply was, “everything is clear. We have no more questions.”

On the last day I spoke on the three gospels. Here I showed the difference between the two concepts which are presently being debated in Adventism and the truth which we are teaching. I showed how one of these “gospels” is based on the belief called “original sin” which basically teaches that we are all charged with guilt by God, on account of Adam's sin. I also showed how the other “gospel,” the one embraced by most of the “historic” Adventists, teaches that the only thing wrong with man is the choices which he makes. That we are all capable of choosing right from wrong from the moment we become morally aware. I showed why these two concepts were completely wrong and unscriptural. Then I showed what the Bible truth is, and compared it with what we were presenting. Everything became clear to all who were there and any last lingering doubts were cleared up. The campmeeting ended on this high note and I have hopes that when, by God's grace I go to Poland again, it will be to find a people who are strong in the truth that Christ is all in all.

Hungary

The meetings in Hungary were planned for two different cities. The first set of meetings were in a town named Gyomro and were held in the dining room of a hotel. Here, there was a couple, Peter and Viola who had withdrawn from the SDA Church because of the Trinity issue. They were originally from Romania but had been living in Hungary for 17 years. They had arranged for us to have meetings in this hotel for three evenings and they had invited many people, both from the SDA Church and from the general public. When we arrived, Janos, Zsolt and Daniel were waiting for us at Peter's home. Later I met Peter and Viola.

On the first evening, there were about 30 people with most of them being Adventists, including the pastor of the local church. There were also a couple of Catholics in the audience as well as a biker with tattoos all over his body. The messages of course were focused on Righteousness in Christ and here, as everywhere else, there was appreciation and acceptance of the message. I was happy to find that the Catholic ladies had several questions at the end and seemed very willing to give serious consideration to the answers which were given. On this first day, the Adventists, including the pastor, were very cautious in their questioning but the pastor in particular seemed anxious to find out what my topics would be for the following meetings. Later I found out that Peter and his wife had created quite a stir on the issue of the Trinity and this was the question which the pastor (and some of the Adventists) were anxious to discuss.

So on the third evening, I spoke about the relationship between the truth about God, and the doctrine of Righteousness in Christ. I made it clear that the holy spirit is the actual life of Christ and not a separate person from Christ, and that this truth is the very foundation of Righteousness, since, when we receive the holy spirit, it is Christ Himself whom we receive who now lives His own righteous life in us.

After this meeting, the questions were very many and lasted for nearly an hour and a half. The pastor in particular had come prepared for this meeting and set out to ask what he obviously thought were hard questions. But they were simply the old questions which have been asked over and over again such as, “why did Jesus tell the disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost if there is no Trinity?” The people were delighted to find them easily answered although some of the Adventists seemed to grow more angry as the questions disappeared. One man stated that the spirit in the meeting was not good, but the rest of us were mystified at the statement.

Up to this point the pastor and I were on very civil and friendly terms and he seemed to me to be a very humble person. I commended him on this and after the meeting closed, we continued our discussion in a friendly spirit. However, at one point he asked me point blank why I thought the doctrine of the Trinity was so bad. So I told him straight out that those who worshipped a Trinity actually worshipped a false god because the Trinity was not the true God of the Bible. Upon this he became very grieved and turned away saying he would speak with me no more and that I had upset him very greatly. I was sorry for this but was happy that I had told him the plain truth. Afterwards he told Peter that he was not angry with me, but that he would not apologize for not shaking my hand.

From Gyomro, we went to Janos' city, Miskolc, where the brethren had rented a hall in a school for four meetings. One each for Thursday and Friday, and two for Sabbath. Here I met again with the dear brethren whom I had come to know and to love last year. Since I was last here, five of them had been disfellowshipped for not believing in the Trinity and for their views on Righteousness by Faith. Since that time they had been worshipping together as a home church and along with their family members had developed into a little group of about 25 people. Now I found them strong in faith and eager to hear more, particularly about Christ and His Righteousness. However, they had many questions to ask concerning organization.

The main problem which the brethren had was in understanding that they had a right to function as a group of independent Christians and to carry out the duties associated with Christian fellowship. In particular they were at a loss as to what to do about ceremonies such as baptism and the Lord's supper. It was evident that they could not expect the church from which they had been disfellowshipped to perform these duties for them, but they were understandably reluctant to take up such duties without some kind of authority and guidance. I pointed them to the Scriptures and encouraged them to exercise their liberty in the Lord. I urged them to look among themselves for those who were endowed with gifts for carrying out such tasks and to support them in taking up these responsibilities if they were willing.

The meetings were well supported. There were more than 50 people present at most of the meetings, although Janos and Attila expressed disappointment that there were not more. The room was very nice, but it was very warm, and a bit uncomfortable for the people, even though the first two meetings were held in the evening after work. The response, however, was wonderful. I could see the smile of understanding on many faces as some of the truths came home for the first time. I had a white board available and tried to simplify my points by illustrations and charts as much as possible and found that it was a great help in getting the people to understand.

Sabbath was especially well attended and people came from far away to attend. Included among them were two ministers from the Reformed SDA church who expressed that they had received a blessing, and who asked some sincere questions. One of the things which made me very happy was to see sister Meszaros from Kesthely present at both the meetings in Gyomro, and also at the Sabbath meetings in Miskolc. She traveled a far way by train to get to the meetings on both occasions and this was especially encouraging to me. May the Lord bless her in a special way for the efforts she made to hear and to receive truth.

Sister Meszaros is one of the first persons we knew of in Hungary who was willing to embrace the truth about God. When we first went to Hungary a few years ago the meetings were held in her home and of course, she is the mother of Saci Noyes, who is married to Steve Noyes and now living in Washington State, USA.

On the Sabbath evening after the final meeting, we met with a sister and her husband who are members of the KERAK Adventist church (the same church which disfellowshipped the other brethren) and who had questions to ask concerning the Trinity. They seemed to be honest and sincere people and listened carefully to our answers. At the end, they assured us that they now saw that the issue was an important one and they would be examining it more carefully in the future.

The time in Hungary ended with the first baptism conducted by the little group. There were seven candidates who presented themselves and since none of the brethren felt qualified to undertake such a task, it fell to me to baptize them. I interviewed each candidate separately and was convinced that they all understood what baptism meant and that they had accepted Christ as Lord of their lives and believed that He had taken their sins away. Among them were some who were being prepared by the KERAK group, but who now felt that they no longer wanted to be baptized by them. I explained to them that their baptism would be accepted by no denomination on earth, but only in heaven and in each case, there was a smile and a willingness to accept this.

So on Sunday morning we went down to a lake where we had a lovely baptism. The edge of the lake sloped steeply and it was a bit of a challenge doing the baptism without any of us capsizing, but the Lord preserved us from any mishap and in the end, it was a beautiful service.

After the baptism we returned to the home of Janos' grandfather where we were staying and where we had held our meetings last year. I was getting set to pack so we could leave, but the brethren were hungry for more truth and asked me to share one more message before we left. So we studied Galatians chapter four together as I endeavoured to show them what it meant that Christians are no longer “under the law.” This message also seemed to be a blessing to these brethren. It was with reluctance that we said goodbye.

One thing which I had noticed in Hungary was that the people were restrained and even to some extent reserved in their behaviour. They have a quaint custom of greeting a person with a kiss on each cheek, but apart from this, they do not seem to be as demonstrative as some of the people I met in Europe. But I must say that on this last day as we said goodbye, the feelings were on display and the hugs and well-wishes were real on both sides as we separated from each other.

Note:

Since we left Hungary there have been some wonderful responses to the meetings. The two emails below, received by Janos, are simply a sampling of how people have responded to the message of Righteousness in Christ. The first one says:

“… So far I've been listening for 4 hours to the recordings and my spirit is rejoicing greatly! This is that ancient and single gospel without which people and churches run dry. This is why grace is an issue of life and death. God is with you.”

The other one reads:

“I would also like to share with you my great joy in regard to Galatians which I mentioned to you already, and my feeling about reading Romans again this morning. That is, I GET IT!. What a miracle! After 17 years I finally came to this point, that there is no veil anymore between me and the word. How patient, tender, merciful and everything my Lord was, and is! In my heart, I almost feel like crying out of joy. Well, beloved, none can take this away from us anymore. I rejoice in Him and I rejoice with you.”

Romania

Romania was expected to be the biggest of the campmeetings we would be attending in Europe. Vlad kept telling me, “the people are waiting.” A day or two to rest after Hungary would have been good, but the meetings were scheduled to begin on the Monday after the baptism in Hungary. It was a journey of more than eleven hours and we didn't get started until close to six o'clock on the Sunday after the baptism. Erwin drove all night. Janos had decided to come with us and he stayed awake most of the night, keeping Erwin company. However, I was scheduled to speak at 8.00 the following morning and I settled down in the back seat to get some sleep.

We arrived at the home of Florin and Mihaela in Slatina, at 5.00 on Monday morning. Erwin and Janos crawled into bed to try to get a bit of sleep while I tried to prepare for the meeting. All too soon we had to get up and head for Criva, a few kilometers away where the meetings were being held. As Vlad had said, the people were waiting. There were about 70 of them present on this first day and it was great to see the familiar faces from last year along with some new ones. I spoke twice on this first day but I was not wholly satisfied with the presentation of the messages and realized that I was a bit tired.

At first, it seemed that things were a bit different from last year. It seemed that there was a bit more reservation on the part of the people, but as the week progressed I realized that it was taking a while for the close bond which we had established last year to be rekindled. By about the third day there was the same warmth and closeness with which we had parted last year. Again I felt that I had come home to family from whom I had been separated for a while.

The only speakers for this campmeeting were Sorin and me, and again it proved to be a hectic schedule. On a couple of days I had to speak three times, on the other days I spoke twice. Vlad was concerned that I should not leave before I had preached all the sermons I had available! Sorin spoke once or twice each day.

There are certain images from this campmeeting which stand out in my mind. The efforts of the people to express their love and appreciation was at times overwhelming. One memory which I have is of Robert. He is a little boy of about 10 years of age, but he seems to be slightly retarded. He seemed to recognize me from the videos of last year and as soon as I arrived he gave me a hug and planted a wet kiss on my cheek. He was constantly coming for a hug and a kiss. He could not understand why I would not speak to him and he kept asking me questions or trying to make conversation. All I could do was make signals to him and say, “Robert, I cannot speak to you.” He would conclude the discussion with a hug and another wet kiss on the cheek.

Another memory which will linger is that of another stout gentleman who would come and rub his bristly face against my cheek as he said the only words he knew in English, “I love you.” It was a bit overwhelming at times, but it was not hard to believe. Those who could not speak English would satisfy themselves with a hug or simply hold on to my hand and try to speak with their eyes.

Last year Costel was always offering me some “pepene” (watermelon). This year the crop was finished before I arrived but he was constantly trying to find some way to do something to express his love.

On the final day of the campmeeting, there was a baptism. The weather which had been warm and sunny changed suddenly on the day before the baptism and there was much rain. The roads which had been dug up in order for pipes to be laid became a morass of ankle-deep mud, but worst of all, the temperature dropped significantly, and suddenly it was quite cold. The baptism was held at the same river where we had it last year. It was a sluggish, slow-moving stream and it was not the cleanest water. On this gloomy, windy and cold day it looked forbidding. But nothing could quench the enthusiasm of the people. Dozens of them turned up for the baptism and sang lustily, ignoring the cold and the wind while they waited for the baptism to get under way.

I was determined to get it over with as quickly as possible for I did not relish the though of staying in the water too long. As I had expected, the water was bitterly cold and by the time I baptized the second person I was shivering and my voice quavered. Nevertheless, I was warm inside and happy to baptize the seven candidates. I had spoken to each of them personally and was persuaded that they were all fully aware of the importance of what they were doing and that each had fully given his or her life to the Lord. When it was over I stepped quickly out of the water shaking like a leaf, but there were dozens of hands ready to help me out and to wrap me in a huge blanket which helped me to thaw out as Costel and Erwin escorted me to the car where I quickly changed.

(On a sad note, since returning home I received news from Gabriela that one of the baptismal candidates, a lady named Mariana, returned home from the campmeeting after the baptism to find her clothes waiting for her at the gate of her home where she lived with her parents. She had been put out, I am not sure for what reason, perhaps for attending the campmeeting. She is now staying with the couple who accommodated us while we were in Romania, Florin and Mihaela. I am sure she would appreciate the prayers of all who love the Lord.)

We left Criva right after the baptism but not without some tearful good-byes. It was hard for us and for the people, but as always, by now, the thought of home was constantly in my mind and it made leaving easier. From Criva we drove for about 5 hours to the home of Vlad where we would spend the night. I was not prepared for what happened when we got there.

Vlad met us in the small town where he lived and then took us to a place where he parked the car. Then he said, “take nothing with you. Just get out and come with me.” I asked, “where are we going?” He replied, “to my home. We must walk for a distance so we cannot take anything heavy.”

I grabbed my toothbrush and sleeping garments and we started off on a path which seemed to be climbing up the side of a mountain. After a while we came out of the trees into open air and there we saw Vlad's house perched on the side of the hill. It was a very beautiful location with a view which took in wide open spaces and distant mountains. Vlad showed us that his property took in what seemed to me to be half of the mountain. He told us that he had plans to build a road up to the house which I could see was really necessary.

It was a joy to see vlad's wife Andi again and to meet their new son, David. He is still just a tiny thing, but it is not hard to see that he is the pride and joy of their lives. We also met Andi's father who is living with them. He is a pleasant man who seemed very happy to see us, although of course, I could do no more than smile at him since he does not speak English. He and Janos had a couple of good conversations.

As soon as we arrived at Vlad's home, the water for some mysterious reason stopped flowing. Vlad was at his wit's end and his father in law worked hard to try to solve the problem. They obtained their water from a nearby stream up on the hill and this had never happened before. All their work, however, did not restore the water by morning but we managed to make do with some emergency supplies which were in containers around the house. In spite of this small inconvenience, we enjoyed this time spent in the home of Vlad and Andi and were sorry when we had to say goodbye early the following morning.

Erwin's home in Germany was eighteen hours away and we drove all day and a half of the night with few stops. At about three o'clock in the evening we parted company with Janos in the city of Budapest. His home was out of our way but he assured us that he would be home by train that evening without any problems. As I watched his small, but dignified figure walking away with his knapsack on his shoulders and his guitar in his hand, I realized that I had come to love and admire this dear young brother from Hungary. In all my travels I have not found too many people whom I would give the label of “gentleman” more readily than I would give it to Janos. He has very high scruples without being offensive and behaves in a way which is a credit to his Lord. In addition to all this, he speaks English with a very, very British accent. It is hard to escape the impression when listening to him that one is in the company of a polished English gentleman! Janos is a genuine person though, and has a heart of gold.

We arrived back home in Germany at close to midnight, very tired and dirty, but extremely thankful to our Lord for taking us back in good time and in good shape. Erwin had projected that we might get back by about three in the morning and we were both surprised at getting back so soon. This, in spite of the fact that there had been very heavy rain which limited visibility for a significant part of the journey as we traveled through Austria and Germany.

Two days later I left Germany bound for Jamaica. For some reason it seemed to be the most tiring trip I ever experienced. From Germany to England then to Jamaica, I was on the road for about 24 hours but it seemed like it would never end. I could not sleep much and I could not seem to get comfortable in the seats, but finally it came to an end and I could rejoice in being with my family and loved ones again.

After this trip, I am filled with a desire to do more in the cause of truth. I see the need for more capable people who understand the truth to be preaching all over the world. Already there are requests for meetings in other places, Spain, Italy, the Ukraine, Russia, Zimbabwe as well as the places which were already visited this year. I cannot help feeling that God is preparing us for an experience which has only been seen on the earth one time before, about 2000 years ago. I feel that this is a wonderful time to be alive and that the truth of Righteousness in Christ, is the most wonderful thing a person could understand and believe. May our Father grant us all the wisdom to understand it and to believe it and to do all in our power to share it with others.