closet for fear that if the priest would come to visit that he might see it.
When I was a baby I fell out of my high chair because of malnutrition, there was no
food so a rich family in Utrecht took care of me to get me back to normal again. I
didn�t have a happy childhood and I had 4 brothers 3 were younger then I.
When I was 15 years old, in 1958 my parents decided to immigrate to Australia.
When we arrived they put us in a camp with all little ex-army corrugated iron storage huts and I had to go to school, I didn�t know any English and my parents were poor
and there was no welfare at that time so if you didn�t work, you didn�t eat. Therefore
I decided to go to work and missed out on any education. In those day's Australians were very racist against immigrants (new Australians) and we were very much discriminated against.
In 1961 I met my wife in the local swimming pool and we fell in love and got
married in 1963, she was also from the Netherlands and immigrated with her
parents in 1960. We were very young she was 16 and I was 20 years old, one
year later we had our first son Theo, next we had Johnny, who died of a cot
death 3 months later and was a very hard blow on us. Then we decided to have
another son his name was Gerhard, Jerry the same name as mine.
In 1966 my parents and 3 younger brothers went back to the Netherlands and my
oldest brother and us stayed in Australia. 1971 was a big turning point in my life,
that's when while searching for the truth and reading a commentary on the book of revelations in the Bible, I came to the part about the Harlot of Rome situated on
seven hills, and on that moment God supernaturally revealed Himself to me and I realized that I was a sinner needing salvation and part of this diabolical system.
And right there and then I repented and accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour, and that�s when I became a born again.
Then in 1977 we had another son his name is Christiaan. When he was one year
old we had a massive car accident, that's when my wife ended up with a bad back
injury, and my son Gerhard was also injured and taken to hospital and was very angry and upset when he heard that his grandfather(MY wife's father) died of a massive heart attack on the same weekend when I took him to the doctor for an examination he died
in the doctors surgery.
Also around the same time I was starting to loose my zeal for the Lord I got interested
in the Pentecostal experience which I had never heard of before, that�s when I started going to the AOG Church, people seemed to be more alive and free, without any tradition like they have in churches where I was used to going, and I realized there
was something missing in my life, it created a hunger in my soul and a desire for the first love that I had with the Lord when I first got saved.
Then one day while reading a book called �Power to Praise�, the Lord revealed
Himself through the words and He baptized me in the Holy Spirit and when He told
me to open my mouth I received the gift of tongues which is available to every person who is willing to receive it, and is a heavenly language between the believer and God for the edification and building up in the faith of the believer, and also a mighty weapon to use in spiritual warfare against the enemy.
Then in 1987 we had Timothy, he seemed very normal at first, but after about 10 months he had some convulsions and when we took him to hospital they took a brain scan and they found that he had an very rare brain disorder. After that I had to give up work to look after him and my wife.
Then in 1989 after some investigation we decided to sell our home and go back to
the Netherlands because we were told that we were able to receive better medical assistence with our son, so that he might have a better and happier life.
But after about three months we were told by the doctors that he had only two years
to live and they refused to give him any treatment. And then they told us to go back
to Australia, so we had no option and did just that. But by the time we got back the prices had skyrocketed so much that we didn� t have enough money left to buy another house so we moved into public housing. The one good thing that came out of all this is that I saw my parents for the last time in the Netherlands, and the most wonderful thing
was that they both had become Christians since the time they moved back to
the Netherlands. But not long after we came back to Australia they both went to be
with the Lord.
Then our son Gerhard, Jerry left home and got into a lot of trouble with drugs and
other things and finished up loosing his life at the age of 26, that�s the price we have
to pay in a country where we have absolute freedom and where the children are now taught in school that God is dead and the bible is not relevant for today, and that�s
one of the main reason why children have no respect for anything or anyone anymore, not even their own parents.
Now his death was a very hard blow on all of us, and then our oldest son got into
trouble as well and nearly finished up in jail, But we thank God that he is married
now to a beautiful woman and has 3 children. He is now a pharmacist, owns his own business and is doing very well, and at the age of 41 he is already semi-retired.
Then Christiaan also got into trouble and still is but we are believing and praying
that he comes out of it.
About 6 years ago my older brother who was married 3 times and then divorced went
to stay with us, he was a very healthy and fit man and we were very close. But then
we found out that he had asbestos poisoning and as a result he died within 4 months
it was very traumatic, especially because my 2 youngest brothers came over here
from the Netherlands to see him for the last time, but his last wife lied about him to
my brothers, and they believed it, so that I had to confront him on his deathbed to
ask him if it was all true, but he set up straight in his bed and told me: No! everything
I told you is true! But they believed her any way, and this created a wedge between us and caused a lot of hurt and pain in the family.
My son Timothy is getting worse and sometimes has up to 5 grand mall seizures in
one day his condition causes him to be sick very often, and he also has to endure a
lot of operations and hospitalizations, also because of chest infections and a couple times he had pneumonia. He is incapable of doing anything even giving his food and medication has to be done by gastric tube. My wife is also on a disability pension and has been hospitalized many times.
I have to give Timothy full nursing care at home and get no respite on weekends, only just enough during the week to go out shopping, therefore I haven't been able to go to church for 19 years now.
All this has caused me so much stress, pain and hurt that I had serious medical problems including depression, but about 18 months ago I couldn�t take anymore and cried out to God and he answered and set me free from the pain, hurt and depression, and then He filled me with His Holy Spirit and gave me peace and contentment and the joy is hard to describe, for all I now do is praise Jesus all day long, and not only that,
He also healed me of something incurable and I don�t have to take any medication a
nymore the amazing thing is I didn�t even ask for it. Inside I feel like I'm a young man again; all praise to Jesus Christ the Lord!! I also have a new love for my wife I actually enjoy life again, and that happened about two years ago and I'm still happy and content.
Take care and God bless you all.