Focus on the Family with Jim Daly

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Preview:

Corrie ten Boom: And you will find out that forgiveness is a tremendous joy. For it is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hate. And is the bough that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.

End of Preview

John Fuller: I wonder if you’ve ever refused to forgive someone. Maybe they deeply wounded you, or you felt that to forgive them would be kind of excusing their behavior. Well, today on Focus on the Family, uh, you’ll hear the story of a Dutch woman who was empowered by God to give mercy, even in the face of unimaginable evil. Your host is Focus president and author Jim Daly, and I’m John Fuller.

Jim Daly: Well, our guest, Corrie ten Boom, was born in 1892, to working-class parents in the Netherlands. In the early 1940s, Corrie and her family risked their lives to help 800 Jewish people escape the Nazis. And Corrie is the lone survivor of her family’s incarceration in Hitler’s concentration camps. Providentially, a clerical error led to Corrie’s release from the camp, just one week after all of the women in her age group were killed. After her release, Corrie began sharing her story of forgiveness, redemption, and God’s willingness to heal even the most painful wounds. In fact, this story was shared with the world in a book called The Hiding Place, named after a small closet where Corrie was able to hide six people at a time in her home.

John: Mm-hmm. That’s right. And the book became a major feature film. I remember seeing that, uh, back when it came out. And, a highly acclaimed Focus on the Family Radio Theatre production as well. And what you’re about to hear is a message that Corrie ten Boom gave when she was 80 years old. Uh, in this, she is remarkably vibrant. I know you’re going to be captivated by her words.

John: So, please, uh, take advantage of this opportunity, sit back, relax, and enjoy this special presentation from Corrie ten Boom, on today’s episode of Focus on the Family.

Corrie: Now, I have always been a watchmaker. I was the first licensed woman watchmaker in Holland. I repaired watches the whole day. I had a jewelry store together with my dad. And I could sell good watches. When you came to me, I could tell you, “Now when you buy this watch, it’ll be so good that even if it makes a difference of two minutes in a month, you come back, and, uh, I can change it.” But then, uh, I thought to myself, “I hope I have not boasted too much (laughs) about my watch. What must I do?” And it makes a difference of five minutes in a week. You know, I do not sell watches anymore, but I sell the gospel. And I’m so glad that when I tell (laughs) very much about a great joy, a love of the Lord, then there, I can never boast too much. For the reality is far and far greater than I can tell you, and you can tell me. And I hope that when we come in heaven, and we look back at this time, we will not be ashamed that we have so lived as beggars. And we are king’s children. Tremendous, rich, and that’s why I’m so glad that I can tell you little bit what I experienced. Do you all have heard of that terrible time that we have had in Holland, when the Germans came, and the d- leader, Adolf Hitler, and he intended to kill all the Jewish people. We started to sh- save as many as we could. For I had never planned it, but God had planned it. After some time, I had a gang of 80 people: 30 teenager boys, 20 teenager girls, 20 men, and 10 women. And once we heard that in the Jewish orphanage in Amsterdam, all the babies had to be killed because they were Jewish babies. When we heard that, our boys said, “We will save them. And we will steal them.” And they went to that orphanage, and they stole all the hundred babies.

Audience: (laughs)

Corrie: (laughs) You will say, “How was that possible?” I will tell you a secret. You know, sometimes there came to us good, d- uh, Germans. And w- who were soldiers who were in the Army. And they said, “We don’t like to work any longer for Adolf Hitler. We will not kill the Jewish people. Can you help us?” And I always said, “Sure, I will help you. Just come in.” And we gave them of course a civil clothing, and we took the uniforms.

Audience: (laughs)

Corrie: I have (laughs) not go into details, but you understand how, uh, my boys stole a hundred babies.

Audience: (Laughter and applause).

Corrie: Hallelujah.

Audience: (laughs)

Corrie: One of my bravest boys was Pete Hahtoff. And Pete said that evening, “I believe we do the most important work that exists. Just saving lives from the morning till the evening. I don’t want to go back to, uh, to college. This is life.” (laughs)

Audience: (laughs)

Corrie: (laughs) I said, “Pete, I am so happy when I think of the babies that we have saved. But Pete, there is a work that is more important even, than saving lives. And that is saving souls and tell the people about the Lord Jesus Christ.” And then Pete smiled. (laughs) And Pete said, “I’m a Christian boy. I go to church, I read my Bible and I pray. (laughs) But telling people the gospel? Telling them about Jesus? That is good business for my pastor.” I said, “Peter, every Christian is called to be the light of the world. And every Christian must be ready to tell the way of salvation, to anyone who needs it. And in due time, in your life, Pete, there will come a time that you will see it, the most important work for you: to win souls for Jesus Christ, and to show that the way of salvation, by believing in Jesus and inviting him into your heart. Half a year later, Pete came into prison. And when he came into the cell, and he heard that he had only one week to live, and the day before he was shot, he wrote us a long letter. And he wrote, “All the men and the boys in this cell are sentenced to death. And I’m so glad that I could tell them that when we receive Jesus as their savior, but the Lord Jesus will make them children of God. And that when they go to be killed, that they go to the House of the Father where there are many mansions, when Jesus is preparing a mansion for everyone who believes in him.” And Peter wrote, “I am seeing now that the most important work for a Christian to win souls for eternity.” Today, young people, I have a message for you from Peter. “Don’t wait of the last week of your life like he has done. But give your life today, to the Lord. And say, ‘Lord, use me.’ Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to be how you will to- uh, will say it, I don’t mind. But tell the Lord that he may take you to use you as a light of the world. And then I can tell you he will use you.” And my (laughs) when you really will be used to, uh, win souls for Jesus Christ once, when you enter a beautiful city, and the saved all around you appear, many of them will tell you, “It was you that invited me here.” (laughs) And boy, that will be a joy. (laughs)

Audience: (laughs)

Corrie: Then you will know that you have not lived in vain. Once there came a man to me. And said, “Will you save my, my wife? She is arrested. She has saved Jewish people, and now she is in a police station. And there is one policeman who will run the risk to set her free if we pay him 600 guilders. But I have no money.” I said, “Oh man, what does money say?” “Let’s see, I told him that i have 200 guilders, come back after an hour. And in an hour, I ask all my friends, ‘Do you have any money? Give it. It means to save the life of a good woman.’” When that man came back, I gave him 600 guilders. That man was a quisling, a betrayer. His wife was not at all in prison. When the Gestapo, the police of the enemy had said, “Find out if Corrie ten Boom saves Jewish people.” And he thought, “I can do it and make some money.” And he made some money. He went home with 600 guilders, but five minutes later, the Gestapo surrounded our house, and we were all arrested. Later, when I was in concentration camp, there came a prisoner from my hometown. And she said, “We think we know who has betrayed you.” I said, “No.” And then she told that it was that man. And there came hatred in my heart. The man I had given my last penny. But I know from the Bible that hatred means murder in God’s eyes. But I also know from the Bible what to do with your murders. When we confess our sins, when we repent, and ask forgiveness, then he takes such a sin and he casts it into the depths of the sea, forgiven and forgotten. That’s what the Bible says. The Bible doesn’t say it, but I believe he put a sign, “No fishing allowed.”

Audience: (laughs)

Corrie: No. And do you know, when I had, uh, repented of that sin, the Lord cleansed my heart with his blood. And a heart cleansed by the blood of Jesus, he fills with the Holy Spirit. And the fruit of the spirit is love. Love even for enemies. And instead that I hated that man, I loved him. And after the war, that man was sentenced to death, because he had caused the death of many Dutch people. And when I heard that, I wrote him. “Your betrayal has meant the death of my old father, was 84 years old when they brought him into prison. After 10 days, he died. “My sister, who died after 10 months terrible suffering. My brother, he came out alive, but a sick man and died through that sickness. And his son never came back. I myself have suffered terribly in three different prisons. “But I have forgiven you. And it is because Jesus is my heart. And when Jesus tells you to love your enemies, he gives you the love that he demands from you.” And I send that man a n- n- New Testament and underlined the way of salvation. And that man wrote me, “That you could forgive me is such a great miracle, that I have said, ‘Jesus, when you give such a love in the heart of your followers, there’s hope for me.’ “And I have read in the Bible that you send me that Jesus has died at the cross for the sins of the whole world. And I have brought my terrible sins to Jesus, and I know that they are forgiven. “Your forgiveness has shown me what it means that there is forgiveness through Jesus Christ.” And that man was brought to death that same week, but he was reconciled with God. And God has used me, who had hated him, to bring him to the Lord. The greatest of all is love.

John: You are listening to the late Corrie ten Boom, Focus on the Family. And we have her book, The Hiding Place. And a CD of this broadcast presentation. It’ll have extra content. Uh, just call 1800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY. Or donate as you can, and request those resources when you’re at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. All right, let’s hear more now from Corrie ten Boom, on Focus on the Family.

Corrie: In first Corinthian 13, I believe that Paul describes God’s love. There are two kinds of love: human love and God’s love. Human love fails on the r- long run. But God’s love never fails. And I believe that this love that is described here, is the love of God. Not only in the heart of the Father but shed abroad into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, was given to us. Romans 5:5. And, when Paul uses the translation of Phillips, then he says, “If I speak with the eloquence of men and of angels, but have no love, I become no more than blaring brass and crashing cymbal. “If I have the gift of foretelling the future and hold in my mind not only all human knowledge, but the very secrets of God, and if I also I have that absolute faith, which can move mountains, but have no love, I amount to nothing at all. “If I dispose of all that I possess, yet even if I give my own body to be burned, but have no love, I achieve precisely nothing.” This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience. It looks for a way of being constructive. It does not keep account of evil, or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails. Love knows no limits to its endurance. No end to its trust. No fading of its hope. It can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all h- else has fallen. And in my life, all else had fallen. I stood in roll call in the concentration camp Ravensbrück, where 97,000 women were killed or died: also, my sister. When I stood there on roll call, one of the guards used her time to demonstrate her cruelties. I could hardly bear to see or to hear what had happened in front of me. But suddenly, a skylark came, and he started to sing in the sky. And all the prisoners looked up. And when I looked up, I looked at the sky. And then I thought that Psalm 103, where it’s written, “as high as heaven over the earth.” So far is God’s love and mercy over all that fear him. And suddenly I saw it, all love of God, how deep and great. Far deeper than man’s deepest hate. God send that skylark three weeks daily, exactly during roll call time, to turn away our eyes from the cruelty of man, and to the ocean of God’s love. How can you and I understand God’s love? At a cross. At a cross. When I first saw the light, and the burden of my sins rolled away. It was there by faith; I received my sight. When we look unto Jesus, we understand when we look at a cross, what an ocean of love he has for you and me. I was questioned by a g- un, man in whose hands my life was. He was my judge. It was a m- wartime. And if that man should say I had to be shot, I should have been shot. He asked me much about my spare time, about what my certification. I told him all. When he asked me about my misdeeds, I did not tell him all. He has known only of eight Jews that I had, uh, saved and I hoped that there were more than 800. But when he asked me about my spare time, I told him about that work that I had done with feeble-minded children. And when I told that, the man said, “What a nonsense.” As the far more value to confer to normal person than an abnormal one. And then I said, “If you should know Jesus, you should know that he has a great love and concern for everyone who is in need. It’s possible that the poor, feeble-minded child has more value in his loving eyes than you and I together.” And he was angry, and he called the policeman and said, “Bring her back to her cell.” But the next day, I was again brought to him. And then he said, “I could not sleep this night. I had always to, uh, think of what you told about Jesus. There’s time enough for the question, and first you must tell me what you know of Jesus.” Boy, that was a chance.

Audience: (laughs)

Corrie: I said, “Jesus is a light. Come into his world that everyone who believes in him does not remain in darkness.” And I asked him, “Is the darkness in your life?” That man said, “Darkness? There’s no light at all in my life.” And I brought him the old, old story of Jesus and his love after my Betsy, my sister, was questioned. With great joy, she testified to her faith and she told about Jesus. And then she said, “It is important to speak about Jesus. It’s more important to speak to him. Do you allow me that I pray with you?” And he said, “Yes.” And she prayed with him. The prisoner with her judge. Five times, Betsy was questioned. Five times, she prayed with that man. Betsy died in prison. But after the war, I met that judge. And I- he said to me, “I can never forget your sister’s prayers.” Through our- her- and through my testimony, God touched the heart of that man. And he became a friend instead of an enemy. But he had to do his job. And suddenly he showed me papers found in my house. And to my horror, I saw names, addresses, and particulars. It could mean my death sentence! And the death sentence of my family and my friends who were in prison. You will say, “How was it possible that such dangerous papers were found in your house?” But I must tell you that my teenagers have done a tremendous, courageous job. But they were not always careful. And so it happened that these valuable papers were found in my house. The judge said, “Can you explain these papers?” I said, “No, I can’t.” And I felt deep unhappy. But he knew how danger they were. And suddenly he turned, opened the door of the stove, and he threw all the papers into the flames. Oh, my, how happy I was. (laughs)

Audience: (laughs)

Corrie: I, I should never have believed, and you I shouldn’t have told me, that I could be happy when the, when I was in a prison of an enemy. But that moment, when I saw the flames destroy these horrible papers, it was as if for the first time, I understood Colossians 3:20, where it’s written that “Jesus has taken the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, has taken them out of the way and nailed them at the cross.” See, do you realize there are dangerous papers for you? Do you realize that in heaven, all our sins are written down? And we have all to come for the Judgment Day of God. And if we have refused Jesus Christ in his life, the Judgment Day will be terrible, for we will have to pray and to carry the punishment for our sins. But when we have found Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, in this life, we have nothing to fear. For we will [inaudible] to find out that Jesus has taken all our sins and nailed them at the cross. Hallelujah. What a love; what a savior.

John: Hm. We’re halfway through a classic presentation from Corrie ten Boom. And we’re going to hear the conclusion of her message next time.

Jim: John, I can’t imagine the pain Corrie suffered. Spending almost a year in a concentration camp. And it’s one thing to survive that kind of trauma with your faith intact. But it’s quite another thing to be able to actually forgive the man that caused the imprisonment of your family, and to share the Lord with your Nazi captors. Wow! I think that’s the epitome of the term “radical faith.” And we often say this, John, but it’s worth repeating: Many people are trapped in the sin of unforgiveness. Yes, it is a sin. The Bible repeatedly warns us that God requires us to offer forgiveness to others. In fact, in the New Testament Book of Mark, Verse 11:25, Jesus said, “When you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.” That’s from the New Living Translation.

John: And that is, uh, perhaps one of the more difficult aspects (laughs) of the Christian walk, as Corrie’s testimony demonstrates.

Jim: That’s so true. And boy, if you’re struggling with an issue of unforgiveness, please give us a call. Our staff would count it a privilege to hear your story and pray with you. And if needed, uh, they can set up a free callback from one of our caring Christian counselors. It would be an honor for us to help you in that way. That’s a big part of our ministry here at Focus on the Family. And let me remind you that we are a nonprofit organization and we rely on your contributions to help with the expenses, including our amazing staff. And if you can make a donation of any amount today, I’d like to send you a copy of the book by Corrie ten Boom, called The Hiding Place. It has a lot of fascinating details that we don’t have time to include on this broadcast. And if you’re not a reader, I’d highly recommend that you visit our website to get the download of our Radio Theatre production of Corrie’s story. It’s an immersive experience that you won’t forget. Uh, so get in touch with us today.

John: Our number is 800-A-FAMILY; 800-232-6459. Or donate online and request that book, The Hiding Place, at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. If you enjoyed today’s program, please plan to be with us next time, and tell a friend to join you as well, as Corrie ten Boom continues her remarkable story.

Corrie: Now when I came in that prison, uh, we had to live with 700 prisoners in a room that was built for 200. It was terrible dirty, and very soon, our clothing were full of lice. Those l- lice have caused many sicknesses, but in some d- way they have helped us. For the guards would never come into our room. They were afraid to get lice from us.

Audience: (laughs)

Corrie: That was good. The Bible was a forbidden book, but twice a day, we had a Bible message in Barrack 28. And God had used for that angels and lice.

Audience: (laughs)

Corrie: God can use everything.

Audience: (laughs)