Photo taken by Sara K. Schwittek from her office window
It’s not the End – just a new Beginning!!
By Helen Jesze, 11th September 2021
“Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new. Now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert,”
Isaiah 43: 18 + 19 NASB
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds,”
Psalm 147:3 ESV
Today is the 20th Anniversary of “Ground Zero” – when we remember how terrorists flew planes into the World trade Center, the Twin Towers in New York, USA, killing almost 3000 people and injuring hundreds of thousands. This week on a Christian TV program, I heard the testimony of a “first responder”, a policewoman, who was called to the scene almost immediately after the attack. At that time she was in her 20’s and not a born-again Christian.
She described the absolute chaos, huge heaps of rubble and hundreds trying to run away, and the horror of seeing people jumping from skyscraper windows many storeys up, rather than being burnt alive. Covering everything was a huge cloud of dust and ashes, filled with every type of toxin, powdered glass from the numerous plate-glass windows, cancer-causing chemicals, which they were all breathing in. At that time there was no special equipment, breathing apparatus or fireproof clothing for her and her colleagues to wear, just a fireman’s helmet with no face shield.
The smell of burning smoke and flesh filling her nostrils remained with her for a long while afterwards. They worked for nearly three months, with very little time off, but few people were ‘rescued,’ they were ‘recovered’ – their bodies or body parts. A few weeks after, this lady started to be ill with all kinds of symptoms, which her doctor could not explain. She became so ill she went to a specialist, who told her she had a “9/11” illness. Thousands of “first-responders” and volunteers were becoming ill, many died in the following months and years following, as a direct result of being exposed to the poisons.
She became a Christian, was baptised in the Holy spirit and got married, but as her condition worsened and she was tortured with the sights and sounds she had witnessed, she felt a physical and emotional wreck. Her oesophagus was full of lesions and she was in constant pain. Her future looked bleak and she was kept alive by a cocktail of drugs. Her husband was very encouraging and supportive, and believed that God would bring her through and heal her. She began to have thoughts of suicide – that seemed the only way out – and these became more frequent.
One night when she was in the depths of despair, she turned on a Christian TV program. A man was preaching, suddenly he wheeled round and pointed his finger right into the camera, saying, “You are thinking of taking your own life, of committing suicide! Satan is telling you, you have no future, you might as well end it all! Jesus Christ is your answer and he is saying, It’s not the end – it’s a new beginning!” This lady knew God had spoken right to her, and something broke free in her life that night. Some of the mental torture left and a new peace came; she began to reach out for God in a new way.
She and her husband went to the church of this preacher, for a series of special meetings. Not realising that they were there during the beginning of September, in the meeting held on the 11th, a prophetic word was given about “Ground Zero” in a person’s life being healed! She realised that for the very first time, she was no longer bound by the mental and emotional trauma! God had set her free. The couple are now at Bible School, preparing for ministry.
“9/11” was the beginning of the war on terrorism, not only in the USA but around the world. In every war many of those who fought carry mental as well as physical scars for years, perhaps the rest of their life, and many do commit suicide. I knew a man in his 80’s who still had nightmares about the hand to hand fighting he had to do in Stalingrad during World War II, 50 years earlier. I was once going to preach in an American church, and the Thursday before, the Lord began to speak to me about some of the men in the congregation who were contemplating suicide, because of what they had experienced and seen on the battle fields of Iran and Afghanistan. Women are more prone to talk about their emotional needs, but men usually hide them and it eats away inside – whether we are a Christian or not.
On the Sunday morning after I had preached and prayed for a lot of people who had come forward, I shared what the Lord had shown me, giving an invitation for these men. It took courage to do this, but 4 men in their 40’s came for prayer, broken and weeping. That morning God did a lot of deliverance and healing!
I wonder if somebody reading this, is tempted by this lie, that it would be better to end it all. Not only people who have been in terrible situations of destruction and war, but in normal everyday Life, can be tempted in this way. During the pandemic, suicides and attempted suicides have risen; even ministers – some from mega churches – have taken their life, and our God of compassion is reaching out his arms to us today to take us in, set us free and heal our brokenness. He wants to make this true for us too –
Leave a Reply