AMAZING

My Adventures with the Almighty
"The Amazing Precision
of
God's Perfect Timing"

" . . . A TIME to plant, and A TIME to pluck up that which is planted". Ecclesiastes 3:2b KJV (Capitals are mine for emphasis)

UNDER THE REPRESSIVE REGIME OF COMMUNISM, PARENTS WERE NOT ALLOWED TO TEACH THEIR OWN CHILDREN ANYTHING WHICH PERTAINED TO CHRISTIANITY OR RELIGION

I remember it so well as though it were only yesterday. With an urgency, the message came from the Holy Spirit to collect three sets of puppets immediately to take to the Soviet Union which was on the verge of collapse. Under the repressive regime of Communism, parents were not allowed to teach their own children anything which pertained to Christianity or religion. If they did so, and it was found out, they were subject to arrest, paying hefty fines, and spending time in prison. The USSR had decreed that all children did not belong to their parents, but were "property of the state".

SHE BLAMED GOD FOR THE TERRIBLE CALAMITIES WHICH HAD HAPPENED IN HER LIFE

At that time I did not know the complexity of the laws in that part of the world. All I knew was that I felt impressed in my spirit that equipping people half way around the planet to do children's ministry was what I should do. At that time, a lady who had been embittered by her daughter's death became a hopeless alcoholic. She blamed God for the terrible calamities which had happened in her life. Miraculously she was converted to Christ, and delivered from her drinking addiction during an 11 week revival I was preaching in Covina, California.

SHE SAID THAT SHE WOULD GIVE ME ALL THE PUPPETS IN THE DISPLAY

Through the succeeding years, she preached revival meetings, and later became the wholesale show room manager for a toy company at the L. A. Mart in Los Angeles, California. One day when I was visiting her there, I noticed some puppets on display. When I mentioned it to her, she said that they were phasing them out. After telling her about my vision for children's ministries in the Soviet Union, she said that she would give me all the puppets in the display.

I SHARED MY VISION WITH ONE OF THE LOCAL PASTORS. HE HAD NEVER HEARD OF A PUPPET MINISTRY, BUT WAS THRILLED

As it turned out, there were three complete sets of puppets. I envisioned one set for Moscow, Russia; a second set for Leningrad (later going back to its original name of Saint Petersburg), Russia; and the third set for Kiev, Ukraine. When our group arrived in the USSR, I shared my vision with one of the local pastors. He had never heard of a puppet ministry, but was thrilled, and assured me that his children's workers in the church would have no problem learning how to use them, and relate them to Bible stories.

AS COMMUNISM WAS IN THE PROCESS OF FAILING AND FALLING, THAT LAW HAD BEEN RESCINDED, AND I HAD ARRIVED WITH THE PUPPETS JUST AS IT BECAME LEGAL TO USE THEM

What caused him the greatest surprise and joy in receiving the puppets was the fact that just the week before children in his country were still property of the state and such an outreach for them was forbidden. But, as Communism was in the process of failing and falling, that law had been rescinded, and I had arrived with the puppets just as it became legal to use them. It was a testimony to the amazing precision of God's perfect timing. Some of our group used them to tell a story about Jesus in the main shopping mall in Moscow, right across from the Kremlin. Crowds gathered to see the novelty, and for the first time heard about our Lord and His love for them.

IT APPEARED TO A POTENTIAL OF 45 MILLION VIEWERS THAT NIGHT ON THE EVENING NEWS (IT WAS THE ONE AND ONLY TELEVISION CHANNEL THERE AT THAT TIME)

When we arrived in Kiev, Ukraine, one of the pastors was so excited, he arranged for a couple in our group, Billy and Patty Watson, to do a puppet show for the students in one of the schools. What was so astounding was that the show about Jesus, geared for children, was not only seen in the school classroom, but the Ukraine state television had been alerted to film it, and it appeared to a potential of 45 million viewers that night on the evening news (it was the one and only television channel there at that time). You can't buy publicity or get an audience like that together at the last minute--and it was all for free. Christianity on a child's level was now being presented on a station which had been built by atheists to propagate their godless agenda. Later, a Nigerian brother came to Kiev, and today he is pastor of the largest evangelical church in all of Europe. That's just one example of God's precision perfect kingdom timing. Are you trusting the Lord today to meet you, and supply your needs? He will not be late, even though it sometimes seems that way, but He will be right on time.