George Jesze preaching in Auschwitz, Poland, with his interpreter

Jesus forgives!​

By Helen Jesze, 8th May 2016

“For the Lord will comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places. And He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanks­giving and the voice of song or instrument of praise,”

Isaiah 51, 3 The Amplified Bible

It was in May, 1999 that my husband, George, and I set off in our car from South Germany, where we were living at the time, for a 4 weeks ministry itinerary in Czech Republic and Poland. After staying with friends on the West German border, we crossed into Czech and drove to our first destination, Nymburk, 50 kilometres from Prague, where the Czech Women’s Aglow National Conference was to be held. During these very blessed days where the Holy Spirit moved in so many of the 300­400 women present; we also made important ministry contacts and I held a workshop: “Don’t scratch with the Chickens – Fly with the Eagle!”

We then spent two more weeks, staying much of the time with the Aglow national president and her family, where I ministered in nine Aglow groups and house meetings, and George preached in Moravian churches. (It was Moravian Christians who had led John and Charles Wesley, the later founders of the Methodist Church, to salvation in Jesus Christ.) We also spoke in a Bible School and met a bishop, who had been imprisoned for his faith, under the Communists.

The Mafia came in the night…

God moved in a mighty way, it was a very special time, although we did have our car stolen in Jablonec during the very first week! Fortunately just then George was staying in one town and I was in another place with most of our luggage, or all of that would have been stolen too! He was very sorry to lose his special Bible which he had used for over 40 years, but we prayed that someone would get saved through reading it!

Auschwitz

In a Skoda provided by our car insurance we travelled on to Poland, arriving in torrential rain in Auschwitz on a Thursday afternoon, where we were to have some meetings and stay with a pastor and his wife. Our first meeting was on Thursday evening. Before George was to preach I gave a testimony and was going to sing. As I walked to the pulpit the Lord gave me a prophecy, which began with these words: “The Lord will take away the stone at the door of your heart…”. It went on about the stone being rolled away so that the glory of Jesus’ resurrection could be seen, and that he sometimes has to remove ‘stones’ from the door of our heart which Life or satan have put there, so that his glory can be seen in us.

I gave the first sentence and waited for my interpreter to interpret into Polish, but she did not say anything. Thinking she might not have heard, I repeated my words, but again, only silence. I opened my eyes and saw she seemed ‘frozen to the floor’. Then she burst into tears and began to shake under the power of the Holy Spirit. We could see that God was taking ‘stones’ away from her heart. George and I prayed for her and she was wonderfully set free, and interpreted for us afterwards. We also prayed for her little boy who had a serious blood disorder, and when he was taken the following week to the hospital, tests showed that God had healed him!

Friday we had a free day, and the question was: Should we go to the Auschwitz Museum and one­time concentration camp where one million Jews had been killed, or should we spend time in prayer and getting ready for the meetings? Many people who go there come home very depressed and this does not help you to minister! George had already been to Dachau and Bergen­-Belsen, other Nazi camps in Germany.

The pastor and his wife told us that many church groups and individuals came to the town, visited the camp, then came to their church. Because they were very much affected by seeing all the photos and objects on show, especially the people from Germany would usually be very sad and ask forgiveness for what their nation had done in the war. They meant it well, but it was often a burden for them and the church. So we chose to stay home and took some extra time sharing with the pastor and his wife and encouraging them.

On Saturday we had a wonderful “Women’s Day” where I spoke morning and afternoon, and many received deliverances, inner healing and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Our last service was on Sunday, then we drove on to Poland. At the end of our 4 weeks, the kind Jablonec pastor drove us all the way home to Germany in the little Skoda and back again, returning it to the Czech insurance people, for we never found our own car again!

Jesus forgives!

A German friend of ours, Thomas, went with a Christian group to Auschwitz Museum and camp, and as he saw all the exhibits and photos, he was weighed down with a burden of guilt and sorrow at what had been done to the nation of Israel, by his nation of Germany. He felt led by the Holy Spirit to separate himself from the others and go into one of the barracks. Inside there were no lights and it was getting dark, but he still went in, and was amazed to see that someone had scratched the words onto the wall: Jesus forgives!

The forgiving, healing power of the Lord swept over Thomas and he was filled with a great joy! All his guilt dropped away as he remembered that the blood of Jesus washes every stain away. As he stepped outside it seemed as if the whole place was filled with peace. A beautiful bird was singing its heart out on a nearby branch and the sun was going down, painting the sky blood red. Yet as he watched the blood red turned to gold, and spread in a spectacular way across the heavens. He had never seen such a wonderful display of God’s handiwork, and he began to sing and whistle praises to him!

“Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…”

Isaiah 1, 18.

March of the Living

Last Thursday, 5th May was Holocaust Remembrance Day. Thousands of people consisting of a handful of survivors, with Jews and others from many nations took part in a ‘March of the Living’ in Auschwitz, where over 70 years before thousands of others had taken part in the ‘march of the dead’​, on their way to the Nazi gas chambers and other places of execution.

Through the centuries many have tried to destroy Israel; and today it is surrounded by enemies on every side. But God has a plan and they will never succeed and thousands of Jewish people are finding Jesus Christ as their Messiah. We may have had nothing to do with the Holocaust, but as anti­-semitism is raising its head all over the world, let us be watchful, and pray for and bless Israel as God shows us.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank you that your Son can forgive our every sin, and release us from guilt and shame. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem and Israel, as your Word tells us to. Put a wall of protection around them, and may they not only trust in their army and human wisdom to defend them, but may they turn to their God and His Son Jesus! We ask this in His Name.
Amen.