By Stephen Strutt –
Courtesy of http://www.outofthebottomlesspit.co.uk/421013521
Back in 2004 my wife and I took two trips to Romania. The first trip involved just my wife and I, visiting missionaries in Romania, and seeing their wonderful work with child cancer patients in Timisoara. The 2ND trip my wife and I, travelled with four of our children, who were aged 5,7,9 & 11. We were staying in the house of friends, in the rural suburbs of Brashov. It was around HALLOWEEN, and the kids were restless to get out and explore. The house were we were staying had a very small garden, but beyond it were extensive and beautiful forests. So we went off on a walk through the very scenic forest. However we hadn’t gone very far, when in the distance we could see a large rectangular contained area. We were yet around 300 yards away from it, when it is hard to explain but I suddenly “sensed exactly what it was”, without being close enough to be able to physically know what it was.
We also knew very little about Romania at the time, and its history. When one of my kids asked, “Dad, what do you think that distant structure is, I sort of blurted out, “ I believe that that is probably the grave-yard of young Romanian soldiers from the days of the communist wars.
We then walked up to the rectangular large area, and soon discovered that it indeed was a large grave-yard, but even more curious, there was a plaque there, stating that the grave-yard was full of young Romanian communist soldiers, most of whom had died at the very young age of 17-18. ( We did understand the language, as we had been many years in South America and spoke both Spanish and Portugese, and a little Italian. Romanian is a language made up of different Latin languages.)
You can imagine, we were absolutely amazed, as we all stood in front of the young people’s grave-yard, we suddenly felt so sorry for those unfortunate young soldiers, who had lost their lives in some crazy war of mankind, at such a young age.
My wife said, why don’t we all pray for these dead soldiers, who probably were forced into being soldiers, and had no idea what they were getting into.
We know from scriptures that “Nothing is impossible with God”, and as Jesus himself stated, “I am the Resurrection and the Life, he that believeth on me, though he were DEAD, yet shall he live!”
So we claimed those verses, and we all held hands, and prayed that if any of the dead soldiers would like to be set free from the grave, that they would turn to the light, and let Jesus save them.
Well, what happened next was SPECTACULAR….. It was like one would imagine a mini RESURRECTION EVENT.
All of a sudden, as we had just finished praying for the dead communist soldiers, we saw lights coming out of most if not all of the graves, and the spirits of those bound soldiers, being released, as they went straight upwards and quickly vanished within a second.
It was a very thrilling witnessing experience, one which we had never attempted before and one we would never forget.
We had felt attracted and compelled to visit the cemetery, long before we even knew that it even was a cemetery. We had never prayed for the dead before that day, but when we realized how young those poor soldiers were, who had died, we felt great sorrow and compassion for them; and that is what motivated us to pray for the dead for the very first time.
That is not quite the end of the story. It difficult to tell, but we think, that around 300 souls got saved from that communist cemetery of young Romanian soldiers that day. Praise Be to God!
Well, an even stranger thing was to befall us, as we got back to the house, where we were staying.
When we got back to our bedroom, it suddenly dawned on us that there was a large presence in our room.
I asked my wife, “what do you sense is going on?” Without hesitation she replied “The spirits of the Romanian soldiers are all here surrounding our room. They were all in their uniforms, and were all smiling. Both my wife and I sensed it at the exact same time, independent of each other. I asked my wife “Why do you think they are here?” My wife replied, they wanted to thank us for praying them into heaven, through Jesus. Then, just as suddenly their presence was gone.
My wife and I and family, were simply ELATED, and just so happy for hours on end.
We now know without a shadow of doubt, that it is possible to pray for dead relatives and loved ones..
…and even other people, because GOD is a God of Love, and cares about each and every soul on earth. “God is not willing that any man should perish, but that all men might come to repentance.