DESTINATION: Heaven

Heaven  

A survivor of Ravensbrück concentration camp*, Corrie Ten Boom travelled the world to share her testimony of the love of Jesus Christ, which she felt during the worst moments of her imprisonment. She seized every opportunity to deliver her message, sometimes with humour

One day, while preparing to return to Holland after a tour of the Far East, she booked a flight with many stopovers: Hong Kong, Sydney, Auckland, Cape Town, Tel Aviv and Amsterdam.

What is your final destination? asks the employee.

- Heaven, replies Corrie (2 Cor 5:1)

The hostess is embarrassed:

- How do you spell that?

Corrie spells: H.E.A.V.E.N

After a moment's thought, she smiled and said to Corrie,

- Ah, I understand! But that's not what I asked you.

- But that's what I'm thinking about. However, there's no need to make a reservation, I already have my ticket (Luke 10:20).

- You have your ticket to heaven! How did you get it?

- About 2,000 years ago, Corrie replied, someone paid for it. All I had to do was accept it. My benefactor is called Jesus Christ, and He paid for the ticket by dying on the cross for my sins. Then she adds: Without a reservation, it's usually difficult to get a seat on your aeroplanes. But it's worse when it comes to going to heaven (Matthew 7:13-14). I hope you'll reserve your seat.

Excerpt from testimonies by Corrie Ten Boom (Source: La bonne semence 2014)

GOD in Hell: The story of the Ten Boom family (Dutch) during the Second World War: Read about it or watch the video via our blog.

IS THERE A GOD?

"Growing up, I declared myself an atheist".   

Since primary school, I have been fascinated by intelligence (Proverbs 3:5-6). As I grew up, I declared myself an atheist. I despised those who believed in God, because intelligent people don't need God, do they?

At high school, I was babysitting for a young couple of brilliant doctors and I was amazed to discover that they believed in God. They encouraged me to read the Bible. I was reluctant, but I thought I should read the best-selling book of all time.

On their advice, I started with the book of proverbs. To my surprise, the pages were full of wisdom. Although I'd never heard a voice, I felt a strange sensation of being called out. It was unsettling and mysteriously attractive. I wondered if there really could be a God.

But perhaps my culture - in which most people were Christian or Jewish - conditioned me to find Christianity attractive? So I studied Buddhism, Hinduism and several other religions. I visited temples, synagogues, mosques and other holy places, with the desire to be done with this subject of God as soon as possible. But a battle raged within me. I wanted to spend more and more time with the God of the Bible, and at the same time I wanted to stop thinking about these subjects (Proverbs 8:17). I didn't want to believe in God, but I still felt a special sense of his love and presence.

I called myself an atheist, but I read the Bible.

In my first year at university, a student invited me to a Christian meeting. There, the preacher asked two questions: "Do you know there's a big difference between believing there's a God and following God?" and he added: "Who do you follow? Who is the Lord of your life?" I was intrigued. Was it possible that God really wanted to guide me?

That evening I prayed for the first time in my life, but I was still full of doubts. I asked Jesus to be the Lord of my life.

In the days that followed, my world changed dramatically, as if a flat, black-and-white existence had suddenly become full of colour and three-dimensional.

It's like forgetting a part in a mechanical assembly: it doesn't work properly. But if you add the missing part, everything works perfectly. That's how I felt when I handed my life over to God. I thought it had worked well up to now, but after being 'fixed', it worked 'exponentially' better! That's not to say that nothing bad has ever happened to me since the day of my conversion - far from it. But in all circumstances I can count on God's guidance, support and protection (John 8:12).

I used to think I was too clever to believe in God. Now I know I was arrogant and stupid to ignore Jesus, the Creator of the universe. And I want to walk with Him, humbly.

Rosalind (source : La bonne semence 2022)

WHEN I WAS A CHILD, I LOOKED FOR GOD

When a wretch cries out, the Lord hears, Psalm 34:7  

"Jesus delivered me, He healed the wounds of my heart, Luke 4:18".

Even as a child, I believed in God, but without really knowing him. My childhood and adolescence were difficult: my parents were separated and, at home, I often cried in my corner. From time to time I would pray to God in my room, asking him to give me joy.

I left home the year I turned eighteen, penniless. As the months went by, several friends took me in. Every weekend I went out, I led a not very healthy life, it was another escape from my sadness.

Then I met a boy. With his mother's consent, he offered to take me in. But this lady practised the occult, which made me feel uncomfortable, so I left. Two years later, I got in touch with her again. I didn't recognise her any more, she had changed completely. She spoke to me about Jesus Christ and what He had done for her, and I was very touched.

But it was at a Christian convention, some time later, that I believed in the Lord Jesus. I cried a lot that day, tears of joy and peace. God had answered the prayers I'd prayed to him as a child. I was looking for him and he came to me. Jesus delivered me, He healed the wounds in my heart, Luke 4:18, He taught me to forgive. Admittedly, I sometimes go through "deserts", but the Lord is with me.

If you feel lost, if you don't know where to turn, it's not the person in front of you who's going to solve your problems. The only one who can solve them is Jesus, Matthew 11:28! 

Vanessa (source: La bonne semence)

DELIVERED FROM SLAVERY: This book didn't leave me alone!

This book didn't leave me alone!    

"When I read these words, I wept, for all my life I had struggled.

From my earliest childhood, my life was marked by disappointment. Unloved by my parents, I wanted to find love in the world. I sought happiness in music and drugs. I was employed in a local authority office, and outwardly everything was in order. But inside me was the hell of heroin addiction.

One day, I was arrested and imprisoned in Munich. The doctors thought I wouldn't survive. I was full of drugs and had bad jaundice. But God saved me from death. After a dreadful week, I survived the physical detox, but went on with my life as before. Until I found a Bible. I put it in the back of my cell, determined not to read it.

Strangely enough, that book in my cupboard wouldn't leave me alone. Finally, I picked it up, opened it, and what I read shocked me. It says that God is the Lord, the King. He is the Lord, strong and mighty, mighty in battle. And it says that this Lord is my helper; I shall not be afraid psalm 25, psalm 118.

When I read these words, I cried, because all my life I had struggled to find attention and love.Then I prayed: “God, if you really want to fight for me, then I want to come to you”; That was in August 1986. Since then, I've come to know God better, and He has delivered me. I'm grateful to Him from the bottom of my heart.

Sylvia (from Bonne semence 2025)

OVER 2000 YEARS AGO : THE ADULT WOMAN John 8:1-11

THE ADULT WOMAN John 8:1-11 

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he went again to the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down and taught them.

Then the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst of the people, they said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Moses, in the law, commanded us to stone such women: so what do you say? They said this to test him, so that they could accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger.

As they continued to question him, he stood up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to cast a stone at her. And stooping down again, he wrote on the ground. When they heard this, they withdrew one by one, accused by their conscience, from the oldest to the last; and Jesus was left alone with the woman in the middle.

Then Jesus stood up and saw only the woman, and said to her, "Woman, where are those who accused you? Has no one condemned you? She answered: No, Lord. 

And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you: go and sin no more.