A Russian Vision Underground
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leave for Minnesota soon. They asked what spurred this sudden change on.
He told them that he has known since he was a child, but never told anyone. They all looked at him surprised and a bit betrayed. They all started talking, purposefully excluding him, but two of his friends.
Matthew and Lucas supported his dream and talked to him more about his childhood experience. They were skeptical that it was a dream or a childhood fantasy, but believed after he told them it happened again right after graduation.
“So now what?” Mat and Luke asked. Johnathan said he was going to try and change
the world. He wanted to show the world the kind of God he came to know as a child.
He had a close relationship with Him every day after that fateful one. Johnathan talked for a few hours, and then went home to tell his family goodbye.
“All aboard!” said the ticket man. He called and waved to the conductor to move out.
Johnathan was so excited, he was finally going away from his small town obstacles, and kicking open the door to a bright, new future. He arrived in downtown Minneapolis, the streets displaying the faces of sorrow, quirkiness, and hope on each corner. Now to find McSmitty Apartments.
He was in a new city with nothing but cloudy dreams, a couple summer’s savings, and hope of finding a job. He unpacked in his one-room apartment with few appliances, a broken down fridge and a small foil-wrapped T.V. This was nothing like home, but you don’t always start at the top he thought. This is temporary and as the old saying goes, “This too shall pass”. He walked down to the local restaurant to sample the neighborhood
coffee and culture.
He found new friends with the waitress and the Lake Street cross guard. It was time to leave and find Cross Winds 1st Street Church. He would get his training in the ministry from Pastor Hinley. Pastor Hinley was a tall, but stout man with a smile that seemed to light each pew. It wasn’t long until Johnathan was an Assistant Pastor to Pastor Hinley.
He could see the passion and love in Johnathan’s heart for God and all people. Johnathan did not care where they came from, their income, race, or backstory; he wanted them to have the relationship he had with God. It was Johnathan’s goal like that of the famous soft drink company to put something in the “hands of every man”. It was not a soft drink, but God, his word, and love. He loved when Pastor Hinley would let him have the pulpit one Sunday a month.
It was his Sunday to shine and share what was on his heart with his friends, co-workers, neighbors, and those who just needed some encouragement. He always started
each sermon with a joke, quote, or opening statement that seemed to speak to and soften even the stingiest pew warmer’s heart. This sermon was about something special, his last sermon, because he felt “called” to go preach in Russia. He had heard about a “Cold War” for awhile, and thought what better place to share God than with those freezing inside and out. He arrived in Stalintrot, Russia considered to be the U.S.S.R. in the 1960’s.
It was a cold, numb, place. He felt the ice cycles pointing from the hearts of the locals. What did he do to them, personally. America had been at war with Russia in the past, but there was still this “U-2 boat issue”. America and Russia were speaking, but a single mishap could mean another breakout of war.
Johnathan felt like a soldier going through a battle zone. He saw remnants of what Communism was trying to do to Russia. It was enslaving the people into poverty and he felt like a modern “St.Patrick”.
“How do I ‘break the back’ of Communism one soul at a time”? he asked himself.
It hit him, show them love like St. Patrick, but with a modern edge that people can relate to.
Johnathan raced to the community headquarters on his temporary passport and asked about starting a church. The Zoning Commissioner and a few other men told Johnathan it was a lost cause. He said it was his destiny to bring hope to Russia. The men got mad and couldn’t understand his feelings, they were confused and guarded themselves. Johnathan didn’t get an official permit, but he decided he would start a small group and make his own church.
He kept hearing in his head “Many great things have come from humble beginnings”.
Pastor Hinley told him this many times. Months passed and Johnathan has a makeshift home on the outskirts of Stalintrot. His home is a safe haven for many Jews, Russians, Polish, and a few Americans. It is used, tattered, and crumbling brick outside, but filled with mortar and love. Now the beginnings of a church take form.
Johnathan has to keep his church meetings low key at first. Secret-like meetings out of his home, soot-stained letters, and no proper electricity. He opens his home as a shelter and begins praying for people. The Communist-ran government is watching him, breathing the same breaths, and drinking the same “kool-aide” as some would say. When soldiers patrol by, but can find no faults to charge him with.
He is in no code violations and his meetings are kept quiet. The following Tuesday Johnathan went out to get some bread for communion and could not believe his eyes. People were lined up all around the block. They had heard of Johnathan, and that he knew God personally. Russia needed a savior, but it was not Johnathan, he led them to the true Savior.
Johnathan baptized people of all races in muddy water from the reservoir, prayed for healing, and gave messages of hope to all around him. He started getting a number of people wanting to hear more of this God who loves, heals, and delivers. The secret meeting place had been compromise, and moving was eminent. The Zoning Commissioner told a few soldiers to go over to Johnathan’s and run some people off, but to their surprise no one was there. A new safe location, even so secret I can not disclose it you was formed.
It was in the hills of Russia and man-made for this purpose. It took men, women, and children months to conceal and complete the “Russia refuge”. Johnathan worked and slaved with them to make a fortress impenetrable to the Communist terrors. Farmers gave them food when possible, water ways were dug, and clothes were sewn and donated by many. An underground system of tunnels for living and free church worship were constructed.
It would sound like they were living in the dark ages, but in fact they had almost every amenity possible. They were free to worship, live, and exist as citizens free from Communism. The first big service was held a week after living there. There were people cheering, arms waving for freedom of governmental tyranny, and people getting answers.
This was the start of a new Russia, a free Russia, and mending Russia.
Johnathan kept in correspondence with his family as much as possible and told of his progress in Russia. His family had nothing but tears of love and pride for their son.
Johnathan’s father said to his wife, “Can you image if we would have been selfish and kept him here? I can’t imagine how much good John has really done for them. He truly did have an experience with God on the hill that day as a boy, I believe it, Abbey”.
Slowly more and more exiles start hearing of the “Russian refuge” and show up unannounced. It was more hands to work, build a community of free worship, and opinions to help establish their idea of a new government. Johnathan looked back at where he had started, a small farm in a rural town, and was awe-stuck at where God had brought him.
“Where would these hurting people be if I hadn’t obeyed God? I was being set up to be not only an evangelist, but a new governor of the people”, Johnathan said quietly.
We have doctors, lawyers, teachers, writers, poets, chefs, farmers, and a few ministers. It was a new haven and open-church policy, the church never closed it’s doors to your cry. We have created a Utopia, but how long would it last? Word was spreading fast about this refuge and we felt it was time to separate into big groups and spread out. Johnathan appointed an older man named Dr. Grendel to lead the smaller group.
He had been studying under Johnathan. He felt Dr. Grendel was a good leader and strong Christian.
“New Russia” was deternmined to carve out a new home, a new church, their way of life, and remain free. A new journey was in the makings and Russia was going to be taken back by the Jewish people, one heart at a time. Johnathan died years later at the good, old, age of 92, and was buried honorably in a cemetery near the first Christian-Jewish church ever established in Russia.
~The Start of a New Era for the
Russian-Jewish Nation~
CREDITS:
Picture: Royalty Free “Explorer in a Cave” by Dreamstime.com
Meet The Author
As an only child I grew up with a wild imagination. I was born into a strong-
rooted Christian family in the Midwest. My writing talents began when I began
exploring the cow pastures and taking walks with my dogs alone. Everywhere
around me looked liked a picture of the Irish Countryside, and fueled my
imagination to write. Writing became my escape to lands I could only dream about.
I would write, sit under tree with roots that grew out making a bench while
overlooking the countryside, fall asleep, and dream. My parents trusted my
judgment as a child,