Divine Grace – Last Days Decoded

Two Men of Destiny: I am Cyrus

So much of history doesn’t make it into either the history books or the nightly news, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t important or inspiring. The Old Testament often shines a new light on the place of musty, dusty history in relation to the events of our day – if we look closely:

Isaiah 46:8-10:
8 Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind,
O ye transgressors.
9 Remember the former things of old:
for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

Ecclesiastes 1:9:
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be;
and that which is done is that which shall be done:
and there is no new thing under the sun.

Restated: The patterns of the past show us the future. So keep studying the past as depicted in scripture, and elsewhere, then it will be easier to recognize the same type of event when it shows up in our day, and the same type of people! I recently came across a stunning example while studying the history of how modern-day Israel came into being, primarily in Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s book, The Oracle. Here’s the background:

Israel has a long and checkered past. We can go back to when God rewarded Father Abraham for his righteousness with the gift of a Promised Land:

Genesis 13:12, 14-15:
12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan,
and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain,
and pitched his tent toward Sodom.
14 And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him,
Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward,
and southward, and eastward, and westward:
15 For all the land which thou seest,
to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

Where was this land? It was the land of Canaan (later Palestine, now Israel). There’s been centuries of dispute over the rightful owner of this land: Christians, Jews, Muslims? To answer this questions we need to look at the title records, much as we do in real estate when property changes hands:

From Genesis 13 above, we clearly see that God gave this land to Abraham who lived about 4,000 years ago and “his seed after him.” Political control has not followed God’s estate plan for Abraham but has fallen in order to: the Egyptians, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Turks, Arabs and Jews (source: https://graham.uchicago.edu/events/early-history-holy-land-08-15-22).
It’s not news that this is hotly disputed in our day. The big schism emerges between claims from human history versus God’s history.

Let’s look at two examples from human history to see how title was returned to the Israelites. The first occurred after their 70-year captivity in Babylon. The Persian King Cyrus conquered the Babylonians and took control of much of the Middle East in 539 BC (Wikipedia “Fall of Babylon”). In 538 BC, he freed the tribe of Judah to return to the Holy Land with the injunction to build the house of the Lord God of Israel (Wikipedia “Edict of Cyrus”), also described in the Book of Ezra:

Ezra 1:1-3:
1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia,
that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia,
that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom,
and put it also in writing, saying,
2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia,
The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth;
and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem,
which is in Judah.
3 Who is there among you of all his people?
his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem,
which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel,
(he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.
(Also see Isaiah 44:28)

What did Cyrus do? He restored the Tribe of Judah to its original homeland given them by the Lord God of Israel. As you can see in this map, the land of Canaan was clearly under Cyrus’ control:

The Persian Empire, 490 BC, under King Cyrus’ successors
Courtesy Wikipedia Commons

So what is King Cyrus’ place in history that qualifies him as a “Man of Destiny”?

He just happened to conquer Babylon as Judah’s 70 years of captivity approached its necessary end or when they were due to be paroled from their enforced observation of 70 Shemitah years (a Sabbath on the Land every 7th year) that they had failed to voluntarily observe for 490 years previously (490 ÷ 7 = 70). So they were put into jail or captivity in Babylon while their homeland lay fallow, before being released by King Cyrus.
His edict not only releases them but commands them to return to Jerusalem and the land of Judah and build the house of the Lord God of Israel!
He was both a powerful general and a magnanimous ruler. He maintained respect for the history, culture, and religion of conquered lands, clearly shown by his actions towards the Israelites, and essential to their release from captivity.
On his tombstone and at the end of many official documents, he stated:
I AM CYRUS, King of the World.
He fulfilled both the Shemitah and Jubilee year promise of Restoration and Return of a lost people to their lost homeland, see Leviticus 25 below:

Leviticus 25:4, 8-10:
4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land,
a sabbath for the Lord:
thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee,
seven times seven years;
and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee
forty and nine years.
9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound
on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make
the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year,
and proclaim liberty
throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof:
it shall be a jubilee unto you;
and ye shall return every man unto his possession,
and ye shall return every man unto his family.

Note every 7th year was a Sabbath year (Shemitah in Hebrew), and every 50th year was a Jubilee year, both of which represent a restoration of possessions and blessings as well as a return to one’s possessions and land. So clearly the ancient Cyrus facilitated the tribe of Judah’s return to Canaan to rebuild Jerusalem and their second temple (known as Herod’s Temple).

So who is the other man of destiny? As World War II was winding down in Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to a 4th term in spite of bad health and took office in January 1945. He died shortly thereafter, on April 12, in Warm Springs, Georgia, of a massive stroke. That same evening, his Vice President, Harry S. Truman, was sworn in as President.

Truman was a nobody in Washington, a “Johnny Come Lately” to the pinnacle of power. Earlier, he had failed in business, then turned to politics in 1923, becoming a district judge in Missouri, then elected to the US Senate in 1934. He supported FDR’s New Deal and was prominent in passing bills and regulations in the burgeoning transportation industry, becoming known for his efficiency and integrity.

From 1941 to 1944, Truman headed the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, which worked to reduce waste and mismanagement in U.S. military spending. Commonly known as the Truman Committee, it saved American taxpayers millions of dollars and propelled Truman into the national spotlight. (www.history.com)

Subsequently, he completed FDR’s term in office and ran for re-election in November 2, 1948 against Thomas E. Dewey who was heavily favored to win, but which turned out to be one of the greatest upsets in American history. Some newspapers even announced Dewey’s win ahead of the poll results:

Truman’s Surprise Upset Victory
(various sources)

Truman came from an obscure background into a glittering world of power and privilege. He only emerged into the spotlight upon the death of FDR and then remained a relatively unheralded participant in postwar events. So what’s his claim to a unique place in history? Is it this:

From www.history.com: In an effort to end the war in the Pacific and prevent the massive U.S. casualties that could result from an invasion of Japan, Truman approved the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (on August 6) and Nagasaki (on August 9). Japan’s surrender was announced on August 14, 1945; however, Truman’s use of the atomic bomb continues to be one of the most controversial decisions of any American president.

As horrific as those events were, they may be eclipsed in the next world by his pivotal role in another historic event not even mentioned in that article or others: The restoration of the Nation of Israel as a Jewish homeland. Here’s a quick summary:

As WWII was winding down, the US State Department commissioned a study of the condition of Jewish Refugee camps in Europe. Earl Harrison’s report showed they were almost as bad as the Nazi concentration camps had been. Truman, incensed, sent the report to British Prime Minister Attlee asking the British government to renew the vast number of expiring visas for Jewish emigration to Palestine, a British protectorate since 1917. Attlee answered with a letter of resistance and warning.
Truman then responded by releasing both the report and Attlee’s letter to the press. The resulting public uproar pressured Britain into issuing 100,000 much needed visas to Jews desperate to leave Europe and begin reclaiming their ancestral homeland.
In late 1947, the newly formed United Nations proposed and passed a partition plan for the area between Jews and Arabs. Six months later, on May 14, 1948, Jewish leaders in the region formed the state of Israel. British troops left, thousands of Palestinian Arabs fled and Arab armies invaded Israel. In the Arab-Israeli War, Israel defeated its enemies. (New York Times Archive, U.N. Partitions Palestine, Allowing for Creation of Israel).
Here’s what happened next, according to the account in Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s book, The Oracle: Truman’s backing of the future Jewish state was fiercely opposed by his own State Department, which appeared resolved to thwart his will on the matter at every turn. Despite this he persevered and would be pivotal in the passage of the UN resolution that would bring Israel back into existence. And then, at the moment of Israel’s resurrection, it was because of Truman that America would become the first nation to grant UN recognition.
The newly formed country then sent their first official chief rabbi, Isaac Herzog, to America to visit the president. Rabbi Cahn continues:

The rabbi told the President that when he was still in his mother’s womb, the Lord had called him to be the instrument to bring about the rebirth of Israel after two thousand years. He told him that the Lord had given him the mission of helping the Jewish people at a time of despair and bringing about the fulfillment of the promise and prophecy of their return to the Promised Land. But the rabbi would become even more specific. He told Truman that in ancient times a similar mission had once been given to the leader of another great nation . . . Cyrus. The rabbi told Truman that Cyrus had also been given the mission of helping to redeem the Jewish people from their exile and restore them to their ancestral land. And then he read to the president the words of the ancient Persian king: “The Lord God of heaven hath . . . charged me to build Him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.” (See Ezra 1:2)

But wait, there’s more! God seems to enjoy embedding little clues or bread crumbs in history to be sure we don’t miss His hand in events important to His work:

Cyrus was in power for 30 years. Truman was in politics from 1923 to 1953, also 30 years.
Most scholars place Cyrus’ birth between 600 and 599 BC, so he would be about 60-61 when he conquered Babylon and ascended to the peak of his power, in 539 BC. Harry Truman was born May 8, 1884 and became president and leader of the free world April 12, 1945, just 1 month shy of his 61st birthday! Both were around the age of 60-61 when they ascended to power.
Cyrus issued the world’s first charter of universal human rights written on a “cylinder” declaring the right of those who had been exiled and displaced from their lands to return home, including the captive Jews. Truman’s working partnership with his UN appointee, Eleanor Roosevelt (the only woman among six) was effective in crafting and promoting the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, approved December 10, 1948. It’s interesting reading; see the full article in Providence Magazine.
King Cyrus freed the Jewish people after 70 years of captivity. President Truman was a singular driving force behind the creation of the modern nation of Israel in 1948, exactly 70 years after the first Israeli settlements in 1878.
King Cyrus issued his edict freeing the Jews in his first year in power. Truman publicized the Earl Harrison report on Jewish refugees in Europe toward the end of 1945 that successfully allowed many thousand of Jewish refugees to settle in Israel, also in his first year as president.
In Jonathan Cahn’s book, The Oracle, the Hebrew word Tashuvu means you shall return and included in Leviticus 25 at least twice. Each Hebrew letter also has numbers associated with it, as well as meaning that combines for the meaning of the word they spell. Interpreted in a rather convoluted fashion, the four letters in Tashuvu are: tav = 400, shin = 300, beit = 2, and vav = 6. Added together, they equal 708. Rabbi Cahn reports that the number 660 = the year 1900. So 660 = 1900. 708 – 600 = 48. 1900 + 48 = 1948 in Western years – the year Israel was made a nation! The rest of the explanation is even more convoluted, so if you want the details, read chapter 32 of his book . . . . I’m starting to believe that there’s a reason why the Tribe of Judah were leaders in the Old World and will be one of two in the Millennium – Ephraim being the other. They must have thought up all the crazy symbolism embedded in Hebrew and for proof, just read the Book of Isaiah!
Finally, President Truman’s letter to Prime Minister Attlee was dated August 31, 1945, a Friday and the start of the Jewish Sabbath day at sundown. It is a long-standing custom for all Jewish congregations worldwide to read the same passage of scripture before their congregations on the Sabbath (called a Parashah). Which particular one was read the next day of the full Sabbath, worldwide? Could any of us have picked one more appropriate?

Deuteronomy 30:3-5:
3 That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity,
and have compassion upon thee,
and will return and gather thee from all the nations,
whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee.
4 If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven,
from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee,
and from thence will he fetch thee:
5 And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land
which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it;
and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.

A final word from Rabbi Cahn’s book: The president asked the rabbi if the hand of the Almighty was in his actions toward the Jewish people. The rabbi responded that Truman had been given the task once fulfilled by King Cyrus and that he, like Cyrus, would hold a place of honor in the history of the Jewish people.

And here’s the capstone of this story – note this took place in the research institute of Hebrew University named for President Truman – Rabbi Herzog’s prophecy already fulfilled and reported in Advancing Jewish Thought, an online magazine article: The Story of Cyrus the Great, Invoked by Harry Truman, Is a Cautionary as Well as a Hopeful Tale):

In 1978, scholars and statesmen from the United States and Israel gathered for a symposium to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of Israel at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute at the Hebrew University. Among the presenters was Moshe Davis, a founding scholar in the field of America-Holy Land Studies, who offered his reminiscences of a 1953 meeting with Truman at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. Truman’s longtime friend Eddie Jacobson had escorted the former president to the meeting and introduced him to the gathered scholars as “the man who helped create the State of Israel.”¹ According to Davis, the remark caused Truman to turn to his friend and say, “What do you mean ‘helped create?’
I am Cyrus. I am Cyrus,” evoking the Persian ruler from the sixth century BCE who was hailed in the Hebrew Bible for allowing the exiled Judeans to return to their homeland.
Note: I’m sure this was not uttered in pride but acknowledging the earlier words of Rabbi Herzog about his foreordained mission fighting for the State of Israel.

To all who also consider themselves humble and obscure servants of truth and righteousness, this story should give us hope of being able to make a real contribution to the growing good of the world, an ending quote describing Dorothea, a humble and forgotten woman in the novel, Middlemarch). And while we may not have academic institutions named for us, nor being able to say, I am Cyrus, with a more obscure president, Harry S. Truman, we can contribute to the growing good of the world, especially in these times fraught with increasing darkness but also exploding with goodness and miracles.

Then we can also say with Elisha to his servant in 2 Kings 6:15-17:

They that be with us are more than they that be with them!

Elisha and the Chariots of Fire
Courtesy www.godsbreathpublications.com

A Feast of “Fat Things”

When we think of the coming events of the Last Days, how many of us think it will be a “Feast of Fat Things”? Not many – if any – but the book of Isaiah is clear about the Lord’s promises to His faithful:

Isaiah 25: 3-4, 6, 8-9:
1 O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
6 ¶ And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people A FEAST OF FAT THINGS, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.
9 ¶ And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

But aren’t these amazing promises? They’re echoed a little differently in D&C 58:1-21, but with still powerful reassurance. This doesn’t mean that the phrase “Great and Dreadful Day of the Lord” is only GREAT. It will also be DREADFUL and we can see many signs of those times coming at a gallop. The reason for this dichotomy is that Satan and God/Christ are at war, have very different methods, and provide us with opposition in all things (2 Nephi 2:11).

Satan works by FEAR and the Lord works by FAITH (see related BLOG). The Lord creates boundaries for how far Satan can go in each of our lives and nations, although it doesn’t usually feel like it. If people who experience near-death experiences can be believed, we all at least agreed to the adversities we would face in this life and some probably even volunteered for them, for added glory in the next life (implied in Revelation 20:4). And if you carefully study God’s “appointed times,” you will see how He also regulates the flow of history to create a beginning and end to global adversities. See my related blog posts: God’s “Appointments” With Man and God’s “Appointments” For Great Events. If the Lord could exactly time the events of the last week of Christ’s life to match the 3 celebrations around Passover, how much more can He orchestrate events and their timing in our lives?

To reiterate from my recent talk, Approaching Adam-ondi-Ahman, at the Book of Mormon Evidence Conference on April 6, 2023, we in America only get to the “Feast of Fat Things” at Adam-ondi-Ahman, grace for grace just as Christ did in His early life (D&C 93:18-20). At the last minute, the Spirit directed me to the image below, which speaks powerfully about our climb from the darkness of the Telestial world up our own individual progression to the Celestial glory in the Church of the Firstborn (D&C 76:52-54). We then end up qualified to be there when Christ comes to the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman. With each victory, we stand on higher ground, in greater light.

We are symbolically in an enclosed stone tower and, if we’re lucky, we’ll have a few small windows looking out on the promised glory, to keep us going in this relatively drab and often very scary world. So I want to share some of the “dishes” that will be served up to us at the final feast – hopefully for you to store away and trot out when you need a dose of hope!

Our Symbolic *Upward* Journey to Adam-ondi-Ahman
Inside the **Arc de Triomphe**, Public Domain Image

When we finally get to the top, we find where our own personal tower of growth and suffering ends: in a high place of glory, and literally at the coming of Christ at Adam-ondi-Ahman (D&C 88:95-98). In that promised glory, we will witness and assist in the great gathering of the 12 Tribes, symbolized by the 12 roads leading to this Paris landmark, the renowned Arc de Triomphe, and where this dark stairway actually goes, up onto its roof:

Aerial view of Arc de Triomphe, Paris – Licensed for use by shutterstock.com

Compare the long climb up that dark tower with the wonder and glory of emerging on top of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, built to commemorate France’s great military victories of the past, symbolic of our own personal triumphs.

Not only will you be crowned with deliverance, glory, and eternal rewards at Adam-ondi-Ahman, but you will be in a spiritual leadership position to see the entire gathering of the 12 Tribes of Israel, to participate in the building of the New Jerusalem, and then watch Zion spread out across America, then North America, safe in God’s protective care. While the rest of the world battles it out during Armageddon and is pummeled by the Abomination of Desolation, faithful seekers are rescued out of them by the 144,000, then brought to us, their nursing mothers and nursing fathers (1 Nephi 21:22-23). It’s hard to imagine a more glorious ending to our mortal Telestial struggles. Then read how an early Patriarch, Charles D. Evans describes Life in Zion:

The light of the gospel, which had but dimly shown because of abomination, now burst forth with a luster that filled the earth.
Cities appeared in every direction, one of which, in the center of the continent, was an embodiment of architectural science after the pattern of eternal perfections, whose towers glittered with a radiance emanating from the sparkling of emeralds, rubies, diamonds and other precious stones set in a canopy of gold and so elaborately and skillfully arranged as to shed forth a brilliancy which dazzled and enchanted the eye, excited admiration and developed a taste for the beautiful, beyond anything man had ever conceived.
Fountains of crystal water shot upward their transparent jets in the brilliant sunshine . . . .
Gardens, the perfections of whose arrangement confound all our present attempts at genius. . . .
Schools and universities were erected, to which all had access; in the latter Urims were placed, for the study of the past, present and future . . . .
All learning was based on eternal certainty.
Angels brought forth the treasures of knowledge which had lain hid in the womb of the dumb and distant past.
(published in The Contributor magazine in 1894; full version at www.NoFearPreps.com and in her book, The Great Gathering, pp 50-52)

Under Christ, Ephraim will manage the world’s government from the New Jerusalem and in spiritual partnership with tribe of Judah in the old Jerusalem – 2 capital cities. Finally the abuses and excesses of “wickedness in high places” will be vanquished, and one Mighty and Strong will lead us:

Isaiah 2:3 – 2 Capitals during the Millennium:
. . . Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
(See also Micah 4:2 and 2 Nephi 12:3)

D&C 85:7:
7 And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong, holding the scepter of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words; while his bowels shall be a fountain of truth, to set in order the house of God, and to arrange by lot the inheritances of the saints whose names are found, and the names of their fathers, and of their children, enrolled in the book of the law of God;

We have this and many other promises of eternity to anticipate:

From the Prophet Brigham Young:
Let me here say a word to console the feelings and hearts of all who belong to this Church. Many of the sisters grieve because they are not blessed with offspring. You will see the time when you will have millions of children around you. If you are faithful to your covenants, you will be mothers of nations. You will become Eves to earths like this, and when you have assisted in peopling one earth, there are millions of others still in the course of creation. And when they have endured a thousand million times longer than this earth, it is only as it were at the beginning of your creation. Be faithful and if you are not blessed with children in this time, you will be hereafter. (Deseret News, Vol 10, p 306, Oct 14, 1860)
And guys, you will be needed too . . . creating whole worlds, together with your own Eve!

For more inspiration, watch Michael Rush’s wonderful video on YouTube: Reality is Not What You Think It is . . . FYI: The second half contains most of the meat.

Finally, remember the words of an old man who suddenly stood up at the back of his Sunday School class that was criticizing the Willey and Martin Handcart companies for “foolishly” leaving for Utah so late in the year: You know nothing about it. What I experienced to come to know my Savior was WORTH IT, and I would do it again. That silenced the critics, and are “words to remember” when times look extra dark. God’s purpose is to refine us enough to qualify for all His promised blessings.

So onward and upward – Listen to some of my favorite music to put some pep in your step when you feel down, then add your own links in the Comments section:

Savior, Redeemer of My Soul – Dallyn Bayles and Jenny Oaks Baker
The Prayer – Tabernacle Choir with Katherine Jenkins and intro by composer David Foster
Come Go With Me – Kenneth Cope
Ye Elders of Israel – Priesthood Conference choir
Hope of Israel – Sung by us ordinary singers in General Conference
Nearer, My God, to Thee – Vocal Point
Mozart: Ave Verum Corpus– The Romanian Foundation for Excellence in Music, International Music Festival 2014 – a reminder that we have many brothers and sisters not yet gathered – and a benediction on you all!

Inspiration from the Life of Corrie ten Boom

Most people are still stressed because of economic worries, long pandemic restrictions, family worries, or just wondering, “What’s happened to our world”?

And I’m squarely in that camp. In February 2021, I signed up for a Church History tour that July that I wasn’t able to fully anticipate because it might be cancelled due to COVID restrictions. In normal times, I could have signed up and enjoyed months of happy anticipation, but I couldn’t allow myself that pleasure because it would just set me up for a bigger disappointment should it be cancelled.

This made me both sad and angry, mostly angry. Somebody STOLE our future! I’m not alone in that feeling and have heard others’ frustrations expressed in many forms: indignation, anxiety, negativity – abnormal for those people in better times. I tried all my usual emotional “bandaids” – good chats with uplifting people, doing service, watching escapist TV, and reading good novels – but finally turned to inspirational reading.

I got one of my favorites off the shelf: The Hiding Place, a memoir by Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch survivor of the WWII women’s concentration camp Ravensbruck where she and her sister were sent because her family helped Jews escape the Nazi net in Holland. She also lost her father after only 10 days in prison, a beloved nephew, and a brother who died soon after being released from their local prison.

Why did a Christian family put themselves in harm’s way? They could have just sat out the war safely repairing clocks, all while enjoying their large, happy family and many friends. Corrie’s father Casper ten Boom was a devout Christian who put his faith into action and gave a message of hope and faith to everyone he met.

He loved the Jewish people because of their great destiny and heritage. While out walking with Corrie during the German occupation of their town, Corrie commented on the many people forced to wear a yellow star marking them as Jewish: Father, those poor people!

Her father replied: Those poor people. But to Corrie’s surprise she saw that he was looking at the soldiers now forming into ranks. I pity the poor Germans, Corrie. They have touched the apple of God’s eye [the Jews]. He really lived the commandment to Love Your Enemies, a lesson Corrie would have to work hard to master later on.

Casper was also a wise father and knew how to teach difficult lessons. After Corrie had accompanied her mother and older sister to a family grieving the death of an infant, she was invited to touch a small, cold hand. Corrie was shocked by her sudden introduction to the physical reality of death. Later that night, she burst into tears upon seeing her beloved father, declaring, You can’t die! You can’t. I need you! Her father wisely counseled her:

Corrie, when you and I go to Amsterdam – when do I give you your ticket?
Corrie: Why, just before we get on the train.
Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things, too. Don’t run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need – just in time.

And isn’t that how our Heavenly Father works with us? We are expected to move forward in faith, believing that we’ll “get our ticket” just when we need it. Many of us gaze into the future and try to see what’s coming. While it is good to be prepared, there comes a time to turn the future over to God – a burden only He can really carry – trusting Him to give us our ticket when we really need strengthening, direction, or protection.

An example from my own life: I sometimes worry excessively about my children and grandchildren before they take a long trip or when my son goes mountain biking on rough terrain. During one of his outings, I couldn’t control my anxiety for him, so I remembered God’s promise to quiet our inner storms (2 Corinthians 1:3-7). Then I knelt and said a formal prayer asking that my fears be removed and peace descend. As I arose, that peace did appear and anxiety didn’t return. Sharing my concerns with my son when he returned for his hero’s breakfast, he replied, Don’t worry, Mom, I’m careful and I don’t want to die!
But it would have helped if he hadn’t sent me videos of a true dare-devil on that same trail! In any case, I got my ticket from an understanding God just when I needed it!

Corrie always looked up to her two sisters, Nollie and Betsie, as well as her father as model Christians, living their beliefs every day. But she acknowledged her own struggles to match their faith. In Ravensbruck, they spent many hours in a room infested with fleas that caused much discomfort. Betsie counseled her to be thankful in all things, even in this.

1 Thessalonians 5:18:
In every thing give thanks:
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Corrie couldn’t believe that meant being thankful for fleas, but they proved a blessing when they could teach their fellow prisoners from a hidden Bible, unmolested by the guards who wouldn’t go into that room!

In her follow-up book, Tramp for the Lord, the Years after The Hiding Place, Corrie feels called by the Lord to travel the world and teach the Christian lessons from her childhood and years of Nazi oppression. Each short chapter teaches another lesson she learned from almost 40 years of learning to trust the Lord to lead her in her travels and ministry.

Called reluctantly to return to post-war Germany with a message of hope and God’s love, she wrote:

The Germans had lost face in defeat. Their homes had been destroyed and when they heard the enormity of Hitler’s crimes (which many Germans knew nothing about), they were filled with despair. As they returned to their Fatherland they felt they had nothing to live for. . . . Then in a refugee camp, Corrie spotted an elderly woman who had been a concert pianist. Finding a broken-down piano, she played the Chromatic Fantasy of Bach beautifully. Tears came to Corrie’s eyes as she thought of wounded Germany, left with only the remnants of the past, but still able to play beautiful music. Such a nation will survive to create again, she thought.

Then Corrie told this woman what she had learned in Ravensbruck: Love still stands when all else has fallen. In the concentration camp; they took all we had, even made us stand naked for hours at a time without rest, but they could not take Jesus from my heart. Ask Jesus to come into your life. He will give you riches no man can take away from you.

While it was hard for Corrie to face a return to Germany, it was harder still to face a former guard, who came forward after one of her speeches on God’s love and forgiveness. Here’s her account of that meeting:

“It came back with a rush: the huge room with its harsh overhead lights; the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the centre of the floor; the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister’s frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. Betsie, how thin you were! The place was Ravensbruck and the man who was making his way forward had been a guard – one of the most cruel guards. Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out. A fine message, Fraulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!

“And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course . . . but I remembered him and the leather crop swinging from his belt . . . You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk. I was a guard there. But since that time, I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well, Fraulein – again the hand came out – will you forgive me?

“And I stood there – I whose sins had again and again been forgiven – and could not forgive. Betsie had died in that place – could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?”

But she knew that God’s offer of forgiveness has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. If you do not forgive men their trespasses, Jesus says, neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses. Corrie saw many war victims and commented: Those who were able to forgive their former enemies were able also to return to the outside world and rebuild their lives, no matter what the physical scars. But those who nursed their bitterness remained invalids. It was as simple and horrible as that.

“And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion – I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. Jesus, help me! I prayed silently. I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling. And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.

“I forgive you, brother! I cried. With all my heart. . . . I realized it was not my love. I had tried, and did not have the power. It was the power of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Romans 5:5: because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

And the promise of God’s strengthening grace is given to us in all circumstances when our own powers are inadequate. I remember when I was asked only a day before Father’s Day to fill in for a speaker in my church’s Sacrament Meeting the next morning. I thought, “this isn’t hard.” We have the greatest Father of all in God, plus the great ancient patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But no matter how I approached this talk, nothing came together. Everything I wrote came out sounding like an essay or lesson, not a tribute to everyday fathers. Finally, I just gave it back to the Lord and walked into church knowing He would help me and “give me my ticket” just as I needed it. I sat on the stand completely relaxed, smiling at the congregation anticipating along with them what message the Lord would have me share!

When my turn came, I walked calmly to the podium, never looked at my notes, and quietly heard words from God: Stand aside, your talk’s rubbish. I’ll take it from here. And He did. It suddenly came to me to pay tribute to my earthly father, then my great-great grandfather who was the last Christian in the Kent line to that point (a human spiritual father look up to), and finally to my son, a devoted dad to my two grandchildren. The talk flowed easily. I enjoyed it and several people later told me that they did too.

In many years of living, I’m slowly learning that God will fill our gaps. Gaps of courage, of faith, of inspiration, of direction when we truly need it and ask for it. I just have to keep reminding myself of that: to ask. And the more we exercise our faith muscles, the stronger they grow. The Christian road is often hard but there is a paradise waiting at the end. And not just in the next life but also at the end of every struggle, every challenge!