I just got back from Sweden. I went over there and did eleven arenas, auditoriums, opera houses. I did two churches while I was there. And we could've gone and done all churches, quite frankly, that wasn't what God put on my heart. And we went over and we saw tremendous break through. And I'm gonna tell you what happened when we were over there. Before we got there, we had some very difficult attacks from a particular denomination over there. They came against us and started goin' to the newspaper and sayin' that I wasn't of God. And we had put a lot into that outreach. But God, how many know, that God always has His way? So, when we went under attack, what did the Lord do? He raised up a standard against it.

And Black Sabbath was in town in Stockholm the same night I was in Stockholm. [Jeff will be teasin' Tim throughout this nugget. Jeff to Tim, the drummer: Well, that's got you happy again, doesn't it? How can you tell if your stage is level at a heavy rock concert? When your drummer is droolin' out of both sides of his mouth. Tim bangs the drums. Keep it up. Keep it up. Naw, I love you, brother, in the Lord. Hahaha, naw, I do. I love you. I really do.] But what happened was, the newspaper, the national newspaper in Sweden, thought that they would get some big publicity thing goin' or some big thing happen. I don't know who devised it. But it appeared that they wanted to interview me; then they wanted to interview Ozzie, Ozzie Osbourne. They wanted to try to get us at each others throats there in Sweden.

And this guy came in from the national newspaper, when I hit Stockholm. And he didn't believe in God. He said he was an atheist. And he was very caustic; and withdrawn; and sat down in a chair like that and said, 'Well, I'm here. Let's start the interview.' And I wanted to say, 'Duh! I didn't ask for this interview, you did. You know.' But I just held my peace. And I turned on a taperecorder. He said, 'What are you doing?' I said, 'I'm gonna tape this.' He said, 'Why? Don't you trust me?' I said, 'I trust you but I want to make sure everything is the way I said it. I don't want any mistakes.' He said, 'Well, I don't like you taping me.' I said, 'Why? Don't you trust me?' I said, 'Are you a believer?' He said, 'No. I'm not a believer.' Very bold about that or whatever. 'No, I'm not a believer.' I said, 'Well, what are you?' He said, 'Well, I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God. There is no God.' I said, 'Really?' So, I started sharin' in the interview. And as I went through the interview and started talkin' to him, I keep askin' him, 'Can I pray for you?' 'No, you can't pray for me.'

Then he said something like, 'Well, I'm not into God, because I just don't think I could ever live for God. So I'm not into Him.' So, he went from being an atheist to bein' an agnostic. He said, 'I don't know if I really believe in God.' 'I'm not sure about it.' That's what it was. 'I'm not sure about this.' So, he went to an agnostic. And I thought, 'Well, we're makin' progress. We're goin' in the right direction, here.' By the end of the interview, he was tellin' me, 'I just can't live for God. I just have problems, and I have this goin' on. I can't do it. I just can't do it.' I'm not gonna share what his problems were, but he had some areas in his life that he just wanted to live the way he wanted to live. So, I said, 'Why don't you tell God?' 'Tell Him what?' 'Tell Him how you feel. Tell Him you don't want to serve Him because you've got these things you enjoy doin' with your life that are against what you know is in the Word or whatever. Why don't you tell God that?' 'Oh, I can't tell Him that.' So, now he's a believer. He's gone to where he believes in God. He said, 'I can't tell Him that.' I said, 'Why not? Duh! He knows everything anyway. Tell Him.' 'I don't want to tell Him.' I said, 'Well, let me pray for you.' 'Well, OK.' So he prayed. So he prayed. And I am stayin' in touch with this young man. And what the result of that was, he got touched. God touched him. God's hand is on that man's life. He wrote us the most beautiful article. Gave us full page color pictures in the national newspaper. And what's amazing is, some people think, 'Well, we think we got to have the big religious guns over there in order to come over and do what we do. God, He'll speak through a mule or donkey or He'll go rescue some young leather-clad, rock'n'roll critic for a national magazine. And get him to write an article. How many know, God is on the throne? God does what God wants to do.

My Deepest Love,
Jeff
Living Word, Vandalia OHIO, November 22, 1998