We visit many different places where hurting people are. In Russia I was asked by a Pastor to visit a tuberculosis hospital for adults. Upon our arrival I needed to use the restroom and someone told me where it was. Entering the rest room you noticed that it had not been cleaned in days. There was blood and mucus everywhere from the coughing wheezing people who lived in this terrible place.
We went into the living area of this hospital only to discover it was more like an open barracks. There were some sheets put up to separate the really sick folks. I was asked to speak to the patients. As I looked at them I saw some of the most hopeless people I have ever seen. They were not tended to by nurses, there was no medication given to them for their disease, it was simply a place for them to die.
I wanted to give them hope so I told them about how God had healed my back when the doctors had told me I would be totally disabled for the rest of my life. One man listened intently to my story and the message of how Christ can save and forgive them right now. When I finished he pointed his finger at me and said, "liar". He said if God had healed me then show him the scars on my back. I had had two major back surgeries and the scars were quite prevalent so I lifted up my shirt and showed him my scars.
This same man who was so bitter about his circumstance began to weep and he just fell into my arms. I held him for the longest time and was able to lead him to the sinners prayer as he openly confessed his sins and received Christ.
Dr. John Shane
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
God's Call is not an option
One of the first memories of visiting an orphanage is back in 1994. I was speaking at a Pastor's conference in the city of Perm, Russia and was asked if I would want to visit an orphanage? I was excited to visit these kids. When I got there I could hardly believe my eyes. There were 117 children at this orphanage that were between 8 and 16 years old. Most of them were dressed in not much more than rags. There shoes were worn out and many just had rags on their feet. The children were unkept and dirty. When asked by the director if I would like to take a tour of the orphanage I jumped at the opportunity.
On tour I was prompted by the Lord to look for toys. You know, a doll for a girl, a car or ball for a boy. Throughout the whole orphanage the only toy I saw was a single broken roller skate. I went into one of the bedrooms for girls. There were 19 beds in this one room and they were so close to each other that in order for some of the girls to get to their bed had to walk on top of other beds just to get to their own bed.
I looked under the beds and in what few closets there were and to my dismay I saw rat droppings everywhere. One of the children had caught a rat and made a pet out of it as well. I had the privilege of telling these children about God's love for them and many, if not all, raised their hands for their sins to be forgiven and to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
That night I went back to my hotel and began to weep and ask God to send someone to help these orphans. I wept and pleaded with God most of the night. Finally early in the morning when I again asked God to send someone to help these kids I heard a voice in my head that said, "OK John, you help them!" I was stunned and didn't have any idea what to do. I made all kinds of excuses as to why I couldn't help. I told God that I had to Pastor in America. I told Him I didn't understand the Russian language. I made more excuses than you can imagine as to why I shouldn't help but nothing persuaded God to change His mind.
By blind faith my wife and I stepped out to help the Russian orphans. Tens of thousands of them have been helped by our ministry and God has expanded our work to include other nations as well.
We are so blessed.
Dr. John Shane
On tour I was prompted by the Lord to look for toys. You know, a doll for a girl, a car or ball for a boy. Throughout the whole orphanage the only toy I saw was a single broken roller skate. I went into one of the bedrooms for girls. There were 19 beds in this one room and they were so close to each other that in order for some of the girls to get to their bed had to walk on top of other beds just to get to their own bed.
I looked under the beds and in what few closets there were and to my dismay I saw rat droppings everywhere. One of the children had caught a rat and made a pet out of it as well. I had the privilege of telling these children about God's love for them and many, if not all, raised their hands for their sins to be forgiven and to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
That night I went back to my hotel and began to weep and ask God to send someone to help these orphans. I wept and pleaded with God most of the night. Finally early in the morning when I again asked God to send someone to help these kids I heard a voice in my head that said, "OK John, you help them!" I was stunned and didn't have any idea what to do. I made all kinds of excuses as to why I couldn't help. I told God that I had to Pastor in America. I told Him I didn't understand the Russian language. I made more excuses than you can imagine as to why I shouldn't help but nothing persuaded God to change His mind.
By blind faith my wife and I stepped out to help the Russian orphans. Tens of thousands of them have been helped by our ministry and God has expanded our work to include other nations as well.
We are so blessed.
Dr. John Shane
Saturday, October 17, 2009
The good, the bad and the ugly
Over the years of ministering to orphans I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly. Children with no hope, little or no medical care, limited education and always with a sense of not being of value to anyone. I have seen orphanages of toddlers who are so drugged up they can barely function because there is not enough staff to take care of these children. I have witnessed teen orphanages where the directors and staff are so afraid of the kids that they allow anything and everything to go on with no repercussion for offensive behavior. I have seen handicapped orphanages where the children are simply treated as animals. I have seen flea and rat infested orphanages. I have seen children with not enough adequate clothing or shoes to get them through the winter. I have witnessed elderly homes where the old folks are left to themselves and no one seems to care.
In all of this I am keenly aware of what God promises to the widow and orphan. He says specifically the He is Father to the fatherless and that He is the Husband to the widow. If they are that important to God they should be important to us.
In our work it is sometimes difficult to not be judgemental but it is absolutely necessary if we are to demonstrate God's love, not only to the abused, but to the abuser. We have been able to lead many of the directors of these places to the Lord. I have held directors, who were abusers, and watched as they repented and wept in my arms.
Love your family. Pray for them. Don't condemn but be the Christian that God has called you to be and yes, sometimes God just wants us to hold our tongue.
Yours in Christ,
Dr. John Shane
In all of this I am keenly aware of what God promises to the widow and orphan. He says specifically the He is Father to the fatherless and that He is the Husband to the widow. If they are that important to God they should be important to us.
In our work it is sometimes difficult to not be judgemental but it is absolutely necessary if we are to demonstrate God's love, not only to the abused, but to the abuser. We have been able to lead many of the directors of these places to the Lord. I have held directors, who were abusers, and watched as they repented and wept in my arms.
Love your family. Pray for them. Don't condemn but be the Christian that God has called you to be and yes, sometimes God just wants us to hold our tongue.
Yours in Christ,
Dr. John Shane
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Auschwitz
While traveling in Poland in 1984 I had the privilege of visiting the German prison camp called Auschwitz. It was a death camp that had been used to murder some 4 million people.
From the moment you walked into the camp you could tell that some horrible events had taken place. The stench of death, even 40 years following WW 2, was very prevalent. Our tour guide was like a zombie as she went through each place and explained the tortures and torments and death that took place. She said everything as simply matter of fact with no emotion. I asked her later about that and she told me she had to do it that way or she would cry through the whole tour.
In the museum center one of the first things you see is a huge jar full of ashes. It is the remains of a few of those that were murdered in the camp. We walked through the torture chambers that were three feet by three feet and six feet tall. You could almost hear the screams as you looked at the fingernail scratchings from some of the people that were simply left to die without food or water.
At one of the walls in between the dorms was a place where one of the German officers shot to death with his pistol over 10,000 souls. They said the blood was over four feet deep in the ground at this wall when the camp was liberated.
Death was everywhere. When you entered into the mess hall to eat there would be people hanging on the gallows. Wholesale slaughter was everywhere. The prisoners were shaved of all their hair and their hair was woven and made into blankets and sold back in Germany. Everything they owned was stripped from them and for those that were not sent to the gas chambers they slowly died of hunger.
I went into the gas chambers where on a good day they would murder over 12,000 souls. I visited the crematoriums where they burned so many bodies that toward the end of WW2 they had to dredge the nearby river because the ashes of the bodies had caused the river to overflow the banks.
A German doctor by the name of Mengele was know as the Doctor of Death. He did horrible experiments on children, especially twins, before murdering them. On and on I could go about this terrible place.
When I went back to my hotel room that night I just wept and wept and kept asking God what we had learned as a people from these atrosities. The answer surprised me when I felt God telling me, "You have learned nothing except how to be more efficient killers." He showed me the millions of unborn babies we slaughter each year through abortion. He reminded me we have our own "Doctor of Death" in those that want to kill the elderly and handicapped and in His word He tells us that in the last days sin will get worse and worse.
Pray for America and our world. Christians have the only hope of survival and we must be about our Father's business by telling everyone of His Hope.
Yours in Christ,
Dr. John Shane
From the moment you walked into the camp you could tell that some horrible events had taken place. The stench of death, even 40 years following WW 2, was very prevalent. Our tour guide was like a zombie as she went through each place and explained the tortures and torments and death that took place. She said everything as simply matter of fact with no emotion. I asked her later about that and she told me she had to do it that way or she would cry through the whole tour.
In the museum center one of the first things you see is a huge jar full of ashes. It is the remains of a few of those that were murdered in the camp. We walked through the torture chambers that were three feet by three feet and six feet tall. You could almost hear the screams as you looked at the fingernail scratchings from some of the people that were simply left to die without food or water.
At one of the walls in between the dorms was a place where one of the German officers shot to death with his pistol over 10,000 souls. They said the blood was over four feet deep in the ground at this wall when the camp was liberated.
Death was everywhere. When you entered into the mess hall to eat there would be people hanging on the gallows. Wholesale slaughter was everywhere. The prisoners were shaved of all their hair and their hair was woven and made into blankets and sold back in Germany. Everything they owned was stripped from them and for those that were not sent to the gas chambers they slowly died of hunger.
I went into the gas chambers where on a good day they would murder over 12,000 souls. I visited the crematoriums where they burned so many bodies that toward the end of WW2 they had to dredge the nearby river because the ashes of the bodies had caused the river to overflow the banks.
A German doctor by the name of Mengele was know as the Doctor of Death. He did horrible experiments on children, especially twins, before murdering them. On and on I could go about this terrible place.
When I went back to my hotel room that night I just wept and wept and kept asking God what we had learned as a people from these atrosities. The answer surprised me when I felt God telling me, "You have learned nothing except how to be more efficient killers." He showed me the millions of unborn babies we slaughter each year through abortion. He reminded me we have our own "Doctor of Death" in those that want to kill the elderly and handicapped and in His word He tells us that in the last days sin will get worse and worse.
Pray for America and our world. Christians have the only hope of survival and we must be about our Father's business by telling everyone of His Hope.
Yours in Christ,
Dr. John Shane
Monday, September 28, 2009
I was traveling in Poland in 1984. It was a time when they were very communist and we as a country had declared Marshal Law against them. Poland of course was controlled by Russia at that time and the country was in great turmoil.
I was with a group of about 50 Americans. My friend and I were talking in our room when in came our young interpreter. He was a arrogant, pompous young man and he began to tell us how wonderful Communism was. He also told us that he did not believe there was a God and that the Bible was nothing more that myth.
We let him talk for a long time just to find out his thinking. Finally we had had enough of his propaganda and I asked him a question. "Do you want to know what my God thinks about you as an atheist?" He looked at me quite stunned and said arrogantly, "Yes I want to know what God thinks about me." I almost burst out laughing as I thought to myself, why would an atheist even care what God thinks about them if they don't believe in God in the first place?
I opened my Bible and pointed to Psalm 14:1 NLT which says; "Only fools say in their hearts, "There is no God. They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; no one does good." I handed him my Bible and asked him to read it out loud.
As he read the Word tears formed in his eyes and then great anger swept over him. He took my Bible, threw it against the wall and ran out of the room. Little did we realize that was the first scripture he had ever read in his life. He couldn't run far though because he was our interpreter.
That one passage of scripture sunk deep into his soul and four days later the young man and his family gave their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ. Never underestimate the Power of God's Word.
Dr. John Shane
I was with a group of about 50 Americans. My friend and I were talking in our room when in came our young interpreter. He was a arrogant, pompous young man and he began to tell us how wonderful Communism was. He also told us that he did not believe there was a God and that the Bible was nothing more that myth.
We let him talk for a long time just to find out his thinking. Finally we had had enough of his propaganda and I asked him a question. "Do you want to know what my God thinks about you as an atheist?" He looked at me quite stunned and said arrogantly, "Yes I want to know what God thinks about me." I almost burst out laughing as I thought to myself, why would an atheist even care what God thinks about them if they don't believe in God in the first place?
I opened my Bible and pointed to Psalm 14:1 NLT which says; "Only fools say in their hearts, "There is no God. They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; no one does good." I handed him my Bible and asked him to read it out loud.
As he read the Word tears formed in his eyes and then great anger swept over him. He took my Bible, threw it against the wall and ran out of the room. Little did we realize that was the first scripture he had ever read in his life. He couldn't run far though because he was our interpreter.
That one passage of scripture sunk deep into his soul and four days later the young man and his family gave their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ. Never underestimate the Power of God's Word.
Dr. John Shane
Saturday, September 26, 2009
New Hope's "Hope"
Dear Friends,
Greetings to you! This blog is long overdue and I apologize for not beginning this earlier. This first posting is just to let you know that God has laid it on my heart to share with you in ongoing testimonies about the ministry God has called us to.
We have been working with widows, orphans and elderly in several third world countries since 1994. We have witnessed first hand many of their trials, heartaches and victories while being able to lead tens of thousands to the Lord Jesus Christ and sharing with many thousands of others the first hand knowledge of salvation.
It is my privelige to tell you their stories. I will do this each week I am in the States. I trust that as you read these testimonies you will share the victories with others. God bless you all.
Yours in Christ,
Dr. John Shane
Greetings to you! This blog is long overdue and I apologize for not beginning this earlier. This first posting is just to let you know that God has laid it on my heart to share with you in ongoing testimonies about the ministry God has called us to.
We have been working with widows, orphans and elderly in several third world countries since 1994. We have witnessed first hand many of their trials, heartaches and victories while being able to lead tens of thousands to the Lord Jesus Christ and sharing with many thousands of others the first hand knowledge of salvation.
It is my privelige to tell you their stories. I will do this each week I am in the States. I trust that as you read these testimonies you will share the victories with others. God bless you all.
Yours in Christ,
Dr. John Shane
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