The Story of Jim Clark

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

 

 

“The Story of Jim Clark” is a story of redemption, of forgiveness, of mercy and grace. It is a testament of the love of God for His people.

I encourage you to not only read the written version, but also watch the video, as Doyle Davidson shares what God did for Jim Clark.

God will do the same for anyone, no matter the circumstances or the situation one may find themselves in, it is never too late--as long as there is breath we can call on the name of Jesus and be saved.

Romans 10:13

For whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

God Bless, Kathy

The Story of Jim Clark

Jim Clark was one of our piano players and had been for about four years. Jim was a well-known and liked manager of Mervyn’s department store. He had talked to me sometime before about his homosexual problems. In late October Jim asked to talk with me after bible school was over. He and I sat down on the ledge of the northeast corner of building. Jim talked to me about his sin. He said, “Doyle, no place has ever been able to help me and if there is any help it’s got to come through you.” He continued, “If God doesn’t deliver me I’m going back to San Francisco and I’ll certainly go to hell.” I prayed for the Lord to intervene into Jim’s life. That Friday he was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with AIDS. He never had a chance to sin again. He was in the hospital for about a week to ten days and I visited him every day. The last day I was in his room he couldn’t talk, but he pointed to a tablet and I handed it to him with a pen. He wrote, “I am not afraid, I am ready to go home.” That night he passed away.
 

Video courtesy  of Water of Life Ministries/Misty Reece

People came from New York, California, and Florida to Jim’s funeral. His family came from Illinois. His father asked me, “Did he make a full confession?” I replied, “Yes, sir!” I was asked to do his funeral of course, but God was most certainly dealing with my heart. I asked God, “What am I going to say?” He answered, “Tell them where he’s at! “Well," I asked, "where is he?” God said, “Turn to Hebrews 12 and I’ll show you.”

And I did, Hebrews 12: 22,23

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.

I stepped up to the pulpit. The sanctuary was full of sad faces, many were standing along the walls, slumped down, looking dejected. I began sharing how Jim Clark had a sin that he couldn’t overcome, and I spoke what he had told me before he went to the hospital and how God forgave him and set him free and shared the last words that he had written to me. As I continued to speak those people in that sanctuary began to sit up and look at me. The looks on their faces became pleasant and pleased.

Afterward the district manager of Mervyns came up to me and said, “Pastor, many of us came here today with heavy hearts, and your words comforted us and made us very happy to know where Jim Clark is.” This was probably one of the most difficult sermons that I had to deliver because of all the demonic activity that was in this sanctuary but as I spoke those satanic forces began to recede.

It turned out to be one of the most joyful messages I have ever delivered. I thank God for his word that his mercy would never depart from this house because I had obeyed him because I know where Jim Clark is at; he is with the Lord

(As written by Doyle Davidson/Water of Life Ministries)

 

 

Excerpt from "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom (The Vision)

Germany attacked Holland on May 10, 1940, the attack was devastating and six days later Holland surrendered.

Prior to the attack the Prime Minister addressed the nation and gave assurance there would be no war, Holland’s neutrality would be respected. The ten Booms, Corrie, Betsie and their father, were listening to the message that evening and suddenly their father stood up  and in anger turned the radio off. Corrie shares that there was a fire in his blue eyes that they had never seen.

“It is wrong to give the people hope when there is no hope,” he said. “It is wrong to base faith on wishes. There will be war, the Germans will attack and we will fall.”

His voice softened and he said to his daughters:

“Oh my dears, I am sorry for all the Dutchmen now who don’t know the power of God. For we will be beaten. But He will not.”

Five hours after the Prime Minister’s speech, Germany attacked Holland and Corrie and Betsie woke to the sound of bombs and planes, and fire lit up the night sky, but their father slept. They huddled together in Betsie's bed talking and praying. They prayed for their country, the Queen and Betsie prayed for the Germans, flying the planes.

And then Corrie had a vision. She said it was like a dream but she wasn’t asleep.

“I saw the Grote Markt, half a block away, as clearly as though I was standing there, saw the town hall and St. Bavo’s and the fish mart with its stair-stepped façade.

Then as I watched, a kind of odd, old farm wagon—old fashioned and out of place in the middle of a city—came lumbering across the square pulled by four enormous black horses. To my surprise I saw that I myself was sitting in the wagon. And Father too! And Betsie! There were many others, some strangers, some friends. I recognized Pickwick and Toos, Willem and young Peter. All together we were slowly being drawn across the square behind those horses. We couldn’t get off the wagon, that was the terrible thing. It was taking us away—far away, I felt—but we didn’t want to go…

‘Betsie!’ I cried, jumping up, pressing my hand to my eyes. ‘Betsie, I’ve had such an awful dream!’

They went to the kitchen and made a pot of coffee as Corrie told Betsie what she had seen.

‘Am I imagining things because I’m frightened? But it wasn’t like that! It was real. Oh Betsie, was it a kind of vision?’

'I don’t know,’ she said softly. ‘But if God has shown us bad times ahead, it enough for me that He knows about them. That why He sometimes shows us things, you know—to tell us that this too is in His hands.’

Corrie wrote that realization of the horror of the occupation was gradual. As arrests of Jews became more and more frequent, Corrie began personally delivering the repaired watches and clocks to their Jewish customers, that they might be spared going out in the streets to come to the shop. On one of her deliveries, she visited with a family over tea, and as they talked, everything appeared so normal—and at that moment the reality hit Corrie, and she knew everything had changed. The father of the house was tucking his children into bed and and as she listened to the children’s laughter she knew at any moment there could come a knock at the door and the family could be taken away. As their conversation continued a prayer formed in Corrie’s heart:

‘”Lord Jesus, I offer myself for your people. In any way. In any place. Any time.’

And then an extraordinary thing happened.

Even as I prayed, that waking dream passed again before my eyes. I saw again those four black horses and the Grote Markt. As I had on the night of the invasion I scanned the passengers drawn so unwillingly behind them. Father, Betsie, Willem, myself—leaving Haarlem, leaving all that was sure and safe—going where?”

The ten Booms’ home and tiny watch repair shop—the Beje—became the center of an underground network that provided refuge, provisions and escape for their Jewish countrymen, a network that spread to the four corners of Holland.

When their house was raided and they, along with others, were interrogated and finally loaded on a rickety bus, Corrie watched out the window as they drove across the Grote Markt:

"In a strange way it seemed to me that I had lived through this moment before.
Then I recalled.
The vision.
The night of the invasion. I had seen it all. Willhelm, Nollie, Pickwick, Peter—all of us here—drawn against our wills across this square. It had all been in the dream—all of us leaving Haarlem, unable to turn back, going where?”

And the prayer Corrie had prayed in her heart, offering herself for His people, He fulfilled it in her life. She, along with Betsie, ministered Jesus to untold numbers in Scheveningen and Ravensbruck and when Corrie was released, she went on to minister all over the world.

"This is what the past is for. Every experience God give us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see." -Corrie ten Boom

 

Kassandra

 

2 Samuel 12

 ¹⁶ David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.

¹⁷ And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.

¹⁸ And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?

¹⁹ But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.

²⁰ Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.

²¹ Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.
²² And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live?

²³ But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

Today, would be  my baby daughter's 35th birthday. She was born on a Monday-- early evening, and in the early morning hours of the following Thursday, as I held her in my arms, she slipped away.

It was the most difficult and painful thing I had ever experienced up to that point in my life. I knew nothing about the Lord and really had nothing to hold on to, nowhere to find comfort. I knew there was a God in heaven and knew about his son Jesus who was crucified and was my savior, but  he wasn't  Lord of my life.

Since those days, God has intervened in my life and I do have a relationship with the Lord Jesus, with the Father, and I know what 1 Thessalonians 4 says:

¹³ But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

¹⁵ For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

¹⁶ For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

¹⁷ Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

¹⁸ Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Oh how I thank God for those words!

When God ministered the verses in 1 Samuel 12 to me, about David and his son, especially, "I shall go to him..." it healed up a hurt in my heart that I didn't know was still there.

So today I can think on these things, and remember my baby girl and there is peace in my heart and there is joy, knowing I will see her again, and really believe that. And not just her, but others "which sleep in Jesus".

So I encourage you, if you have a broken heart, if there is sorrow, if you have ANY need in your life, Jesus is the answer. He died, was buried and raised again, on the third day for you and me. He not only took our sin on himself on the cross for us, he took our sorrow, our pain, our poverty...whatever our need, the Father provided through the death, burial and resurrection of his Son, the Lord Jesus.

If you don't know Jesus, if you aren't born again, you can be, right now today! You can have assurance that you too, will see those that have gone to be with Jesus.

Romans 10:14

"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Won't you call on the name of Jesus today? I promise you won't be sorry you did.

God bless,
Kathy

An excerpt from "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.  (Psalm 32:7)

(At Ravensbruck- Barracks 8 - Quarantine Compound)

 

"It grew harder and harder, even within these four walls there was too much misery, too much pointless suffering, every day something else failed to make sense, something grew to heavy. "Will you carry this too, Lord Jesus?"

But as the rest of the world grew stranger one thing became increasingly clear. And that was the reason the two of us were here. Why others should suffer we were not shown. As for us, from marching until lights out, wherever we were not in ranks for roll call, our Bible was the center of an ever-widening circle of help and hope. Like waifs clustered around a blazing fire, we gathered about it, holding out our heart to its warmth and light. The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer  and more beautiful burned the word of God.

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...Nay, in all those things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."

I would look about us as Betsie read, watching the light leap from face to face. More than conquerors...it was not a wish. It was a fact. We knew it, we experienced it minute by minute--poor, hated, hungry. We are more than conquerors. Not "we shall be."  We are! Life in Ravensbruck took place on two separate levels, mutually impossible. One, the observable, external life, grew every day more horrible. The other, the life we lived with God, grew daily better, truth upon truth, glory upon glory.

Sometimes I would slip the Bible from its little sack with hands that shook, so mysterious had it become to me. It was new; it had just been written. I marveled sometimes that the ink was dry. I had believed the Bible always, but reading it now had nothing to do with belief. It was simply a description of the way things were--of hell and heaven, of how men act and how God acts. I had read a thousand times the story of Jesus' arrest--how soldiers had slapped Him, laughed at Him, flogged Him. Now such happenings had faces and voices.

Fridays--the recurrent humiliation of medical inspection. The hospital corridor in which we waited was unheated, and a fall chill had settled in to the walls, Still we were forbidden, even to wrap ourselves in our own arms, but had to maintain our erect, hands-at-sides position as we filed slowly past a phalanx of grinning guards. How there could have been pleasure in the sight of these stick-thin legs and hunger-bloated stomachs I could not imagine. Sure there is no more wretched sight than the human body unloved and uncared for. Nor could I see the necessity for the complete undressing: when we finally reached the examination room a doctor looked down each throat, another--a dentist presumably--at our teeth, a third, in between each finger. And that was all. We trooped again down the long, cold corridor and picked up our X-marked dresses at the door.

But it was one of these mornings while we were waiting, shivering, in the corridor, that yet another page in the Bible leapt into life for me.

He hung naked on the cross.

I had not known--I had not thought ... the paintings, the carved crucifixes showed at the least a scrap of cloth. But this, I suddenly knew, was the respect and reverence of the artist. But oh--at the time itself, on that other Friday morning--there had been no reverence. No more than I saw in the faces around us now.

I leaned toward Betsie, ahead of me in the line. Her shoulder blades stood out sharp and thin beneath her blue-mottled skin.

'Betsie, they took HIS clothes too.'

Ahead of me I heard a little gasp. 'Oh Corrie. And I never thanked Him...' "


After weeks in Barracks 8 the women were moved to permanent quarters and the living conditions were no better, but Corrie and Betsie continued to minister hope to the women, an incredible and marvelous testimony of God's care and protection---His hiding place---in the midst of great trial.


"No pit is so deep that He is not deeper still; with Jesus even in our darkest moments, the best remains and the very best is yet to be.”  Corrie ten Boom


(Source: The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom with John and Elizabeth Sherrill, page 194-196)