“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days…” (Acts 2:17–18)
My father was a missionary to Communist Eastern Europe for 25 years. Before that, he was an attorney and had no intention of starting a ministry. His attention was captured in the 70’s when a prominent Russian pastor, named Georgi Vins, was arrested in Moscow.
The arrest and religious liberty debate made US news as President Carter and Breznev were fighting about it. The American church was doing nothing…there wasn’t much they could do. So my dad took it upon himself to raise money for the pastor’s legal defense.
Turns out, a lot of American Christians cared about Pastor Vins and donated to his legal defense fund. Now came the problem of having all this money but no idea how to get it to this Russian pastor…in the gulag. Praying for guidance, he flew to Moscow knowing nothing other than the street this man lived on.
Dad was walking down the street, watching for tails, worried he was being followed by the KGB, when a lady approached him. She took him by the arm and said “Please come with me.”
It was pastor Vin’s wife. She had been waiting for him, she said, because God had given her a dream the night before. In the dream, a bald American in a trench coat was bringing the much needed money for her husband’s legal defense. She knew exactly where to find him and what he looked like.
In our sermon series Vox Dei (The Voice of God) we’ve been looking at ways God communicates with us. Last week we talked about some supernatural means, like an audible voice from heaven or an angelic visitation. This week we’re talking about some of the more natural ways God speaks, like dreams, visions, and impressions.
I hope you’ll join us. See you in church!
