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FROM THE DESK OF
JOHN S. TORELL
I have
been waiting for a year to write this part of The Dove, as circumstances
have hindered us from producing The Dove during year 2000. When I
realized there would be a delay in publishing another issue, the Lord laid upon
my heart to upgrade my monthly newsletter from being just a little news giver
from our ministry for the people listening to and supporting our radio ministry,
to a power packed six to eight page production. Writing such a newsletter once a
month takes a lot of time, particularly with regard to research and
documentation. People appreciate it, they tell their family and friends about it
and the circulation grows. If you are interested in knowing what I have covered
during the year 2000, you may turn to our website, and
with a click of your mouse, you can choose which issues you want to read or
print. If you do not have access to the Internet, write to us and ask for a
subject listing.
The operation of our ministry can be likened to a
chair with four legs. First we have Resurrection Life of Jesus Church, where I
am the pastor, located in Sacramento, California. The second leg is The Dove
ministry which was started in 1979. For the last ten years we have printed more
copies of The Dove than names on our mailing list, because, after the
first mailing, those who like our magazine call and talk to family and friends,
then request extra copies. Furthermore, as time goes on and new people are
introduced to our ministry, they request back issues.
Since we have produced some outstanding issues of The
Dove, with the size and quality upgraded from our "Collector’s
Edition" in 1997 and on, there is almost never a week that we do not ship
out back issues. As I look back now I can see that the articles, "Showdown
in Jerusalem" and "The Road to Armageddon" have become classic
writings with powerful documentation and photos of the key players in the World
Government. As young people (those born since 1970 and on) find our ministry,
they are fascinated by the material since they have almost no background in
history. When they learn that the information can be verified through their own
research, they get more excited and want to learn as much as possible. Once they
realize the gravity of the times in which we live and how short is that time, it
brings them into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, which is our goal to
begin with. They want to read the Bible and know it, they want to increase their
prayer life, and most of all they want to witness and evangelize and bring
unsaved people to Christ.
There are a number of nations into which The Dove
flies: into Asia, Europe and into areas previously controlled by the Communists.
But, if there is one area of the world that is responding to The Dove
more than others, it is Africa. People in Africa have little money and cannot
donate to the ministry. Our policy since 1979 is that The Dove is sent
out free of charge and all we ask for is a love offering to cover our expenses.
Since our brothers and sisters in Christ in Africa cannot send a love offering
to cover our cost, we send them free and believe that God will use His people in
the United States and Canada to help us out, and since 1979 this is the way it
has been done.
In order to protect our readers we will not give out
the names of the nations. But it is thrilling to receive letters from young
pastors and evangelists, born after 1970, and on fire for the Lord, telling us
that they read a copy of The Dove, which was sent to a friend of theirs,
and they want to have a copy for themselves. They state that they want to know
the truth so they can prepare their people for the times of trouble that the
Bible tells us is going to happen. Many of these pastors and evangelist
translate the articles in The Dove, and then make copies which they hand
out to their people. Thus we are having a mission organization that is totally
run by God himself, and even if I have never been able to travel to Africa and
preach, I am there through the printed word.
The third leg of our ministry is the radio ministry.
I have been preaching on the radio since 1975, over various radio stations. Each
program is 15 minutes in length and is aired Monday through Friday in different
states in the United States. We do not have any music on the program, instead I
sit down and talk the Bible to my listening friends using sermons that I preach
in my home church, divided into segments. There have been many salvations over
the years, with healings, restored marriages and all kinds of miracles. My
friends who listen to me send their gifts which pay the stations for the air
time. Without listener support there would be no radio ministry. From time to
time, when there is a national crisis or current event that will affect
Christians, I move from my sermons and talk about the pertinent issue.
The fourth leg of the ministry consists of two
parts. The first is our website, which has now been operating for about four
years. Our Internet ministry was originally set up by my good friend and brother
in Christ, Walter Gross, from Bay City, Michigan. Originally he started out with
us as a reader of The Dove, then about five years ago, he and his
ministry friend, Norma Tomkinson, invited my wife and me to come to their home
town so I could speak at a Bible conference. We became close friends, after
which a group from Michigan came to California to receive prayer and they were
deeply touched and set free. Walter, who was skilled on the computer, set up a
website and began to lay out sermons and articles. When Walter passed away about
two years ago and went to be with the Lord, the website management was taken
over by Lois Amacher who has built the site into a powerful testimony for
Christ. By linking with other ministries similar to ours, including some in
other nations, the traffic has been increasing week by week. How many thousands
of people read and download our material we will never know on this side of
eternity. Many write to us and ask for material and order our catalog. A main
feature on our site is the "Prayer Page." Our vision is that its usage
will increase and that it can be a clearing house for people around the world to
send us their prayer requests so that brothers and sisters can pray for them and
with them. We also encourage people to write and tell us about the answered
prayers.
The second part of the fourth leg is our publishing
ministry and mail order department. A number of people living in the United
States and in other nations want to be part of the church here in Sacramento. We
have a "subscription" ministry, in which people may subscribe to an
audio tape of my Sunday sermon. Some also want a cassette of the music service
with testimonies from people in the church. Each Monday copies are produced and
mailed out. Also available are the Wednesday night Bible Studies. Since we want
to have the messages get out, we have set the price very low, asking for a
donation of only $5.00 per audio cassette. Then we have radio listeners who
request cassette copies of the broadcasts. A small number of people who are out
of range for the radio programs, subscribe to the radio programs, and each time
we send out a cassette to the radio stations, copies are also sent to our
subscribers which they can play at home or in their cars.
I have also written Bible study books and other
small books which we print. If you are interested in what we produce, ask for a
free catalog.
WHAT IS THE THEME OF THIS ISSUE OF THE DOVE?
The main theme
of the Spring, 2001 issue of The Dove is, "HOW GOD
DEFEATED THE DEVIL IN THE 20TH CENTURY." Sometime in April,
2000, the Lord woke me up one morning and spoke to me about what he wanted me to
write in the next issue of The Dove magazine. In my spirit and mind I saw
a sweeping panorama of the tremendous battles which had been fought in the
spirit world and then spilled over into our world. The Devil almost managed to
bring the antichrist system into power, but God overturned it and it did not
happen. Once I began this project, I realized that it was not just a long
article, but a book. We are publishing the first part in this issue of The
Dove. The direction God gave me was to first show the acts of the Devil, the
planning and the wars and the suffering of mankind, then despite two devastating
World Wars and a number of small ones, Satan still failed. This is what I am
doing in this installment. Once I have covered the evil events, we are then
going to see all of the glorious work which God did in the last century. This is
going to be a gift to the children being born now who will one day wonder what
happened before they were born.
Following this main article, you will find a number of
shorter articles, each bringing up new and old tricks of the Devil and his
crowd. Each author has been given sharp insight from the Lord to point out the
dangers that we are facing.
For a number of years I have felt in my spirit that FRITZ
SPRINGMEIER is not what he claims to be, but rather a wolf in sheep’s
clothing. But I had no proof or documentation. But last year I was contacted by
some people, who had knowledge of Fritz and information and documentation
started to flow in. It is with sadness that we have to expose another impostor
in the Christian world. He is joining the ranks of people like Rebecca Brown,
Carl Sanders, Johnny Todd, Alberto Rivera and others who we have exposed over
the years. Todd is in prison, Rivera is dead, but Brown and Sanders are still
out there looking for pastors and flocks to fleece. If this comes as news to
you, ask for back issues of The Dove where you can read about it.
There are hundreds of prisoners in American prisons in
many states who read The Dove. We are glad to be able to minister to men
and women behind bars. It is, therefore, very fitting that we bring you a
testimony from a dear friend of this ministry, Bill Roberts, who has spent many
years in Ohio prisons. I hope that his message will be an inspiration to many
incarcerated Americans and also to people outside of prison. The short testimony
of Mrs. Christou will touch your heart. She and her husband have been members of
our church here in Sacramento for the last ten years.
I believe that if you read this issue of The Dove
from cover to cover, the Holy Spirit will do a deep work in your heart.
You will weep over the millions of people who lost not only their lives in the
20th century, but died without Christ and are now crying in hell.
When I wrote it, there were times my soul cried in anguish over the children who
never had a chance to live, but were stomped to death by a Communist or a Nazi
boot. Either way, death is cruel whoever occupies the boot. Then you will
realize the tremendous gift from God who saved you and me from hell and gave us
the chance to be born again. Everyday I praise the Lord Jesus Christ for the
gift of salvation. Millions will never hear the Gospel and millions never heard
the Gospel. Who am I that the Lord saw fit to reach out and save a wretch like
me? The old Gospel hymn "Amazing Grace" is becoming more dear to me
every day I live on this earth.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 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. For God sent not his Son into the world to
condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that
believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds
may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
John 3:14-21
THE SUFFERINGS OF PASTOR NEED
In closing, I want to share with you the
suffering that some of our brothers and sisters in Christ are going through
right now. This will also be a prayer request.
Those of you who have read The Dove for
some time, may remember that we have published some articles by Pastor Ovid
Need, from Linden Baptist Church in Linden, Indiana. For a number of years
he has been publishing an excellent paper called "The Biblical
Examiner." I have just found out that Pastor Need has suffered a series
of hard blows. He lost his father to cancer (he was 85 years old) in August,
1999 and in November that year Pastor Need had a series of heart attacks and
ended up in the hospital. The next year his wife, Carol, took sick and
eventually died and went to be with the Lord. The youngest of his children
is a fifteen year old girl, Christina, who he now has to raise by himself.
Pastor Need has been having problems on and off with the arteries to his
heart, and he is facing a tough time. The church he pastors is a small
church with limited finances. It would have been bad enough to lose a
father, then a beloved wife of many years, without his not being well and
still having to care for a young daughter. When I read the personal note
from Pastor Need in his last paper, I wanted to cry. Then the thoughts came
to me, "What am I complaining about?" I don’t have any
problems compared to Pastor Need and many others. So often, we look at our
own situations and think they are so bad, until we hear of someone really
having a bad time.
Please pray for Pastor Need, his daughter and
the church he pastors. And if the Lord so leads you, why not drop him a card
and encourage him.
His address is:
Pastor Ovid Need
P.O. Box 6
Linden, Indiana 47955.
Let us minister to those in sorrow while we
ourselves are still on the earth. The day will come when our lives here will
be over, and then there is no time for ministry.
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