 |
Carl Johannes Jonsson |
Hello my friends and thanx VERY much for your prayers! They have meant more than words can say. This was a really tough yet successful outreach as you will read below and we definately needed your prayers to back us up.
This year ca 75 000 metalheads were gathered at Wacken Open Air, the biggest metal festival in the world!! Besides visitors there were also thousands of volunteers, sellers etc so all in all it was at least ca 100 000 people gathered. The festival takes place at a small town called Wacken in northern Germany.
We were ca 60 Christians involved in the outreach hailing from Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland.
A cool thing was all the incredible support and practical help we got with food and sleeping place from the two local churches Christuszentrum Itzehoe and Ev. Freik. Wilstermarsch. (Danke schön, you all rock!)
We were stationed in the market place (Metal Community/CMI/White Metal Shop and also had mobile metal bible teams offering metal bibles and prayer to anyone interested. At all these places Metal Bibles were given away for free to anyone interested. We just put up signs offering Metal Bibles for free and then the interested came and picked their copies.
As always we started each morning with prayer and worship at our base camp located ca 15 minutes from the festival area.
We also made sure that we celebrated the Lord's Supper at each of our stations, proclaiming Jesus' victory over satan and that each of these places belong to God. After we did this the air was cleansed and the evil forces had to move away from these areas.
As always Metal Bibles were spread to anyone interested. We put up signs saying "feel free to take a Metal Bible" and then the interested came forward and took a copy of it. Something really cool was to see how thankful so many were that they could get the Metal Bible for free. It felt really good to show them God's love by giving it away for free.
We also put out signs with the text "if you want to we can pray and bless you".
Several then came to us and wanted to have us to pray for them. So we were just there for the people, available for them and just showing them God's love, ministering to all that wanted our help. During the festival wemet many that were really open for God and had many questions about God and we got to witness to many.
We got a great start of the outreach, first three days ca 6000 metal bibles were distributed. On the third day we also heard that a wife had sent her husband to Wacken with the order that he mustn't come back unless he has a Metal Bible with him! So, the interest was definately huge. A total of 15 000 Metal Bibles were distributed this year! So, all the glory to GOD for that! Local radio and newspapers also came and did interviews about the Metal Bible, so God opened some really cool doors. Amen.
Most importantly however were all the good talks about Christian faith we had with people on the festival. Some were just on the borderline to come to know Christ. Pray that God will continue to work in them and in everyone that we got the witness for and/or got a metal bible with them home. Pray that God will continue to work in them and speak prophetically into their lives through the testimonies and Bible texts.
That was the good part - now over to the tough one!
Last year we had a great cooperation with the festival leadership about the Metal Bibles. Then, the festival even ordered 1000 metal bibles themselves to use at the festival! This year however things had radically changed to the opposite and the festival leadership were now totally against the Metal Bible. :-(
Something really sad happened as a result of this negative attitude. Without warning the guards came to my booth late on Thursday night and said that I, all of a sudden, was not allowed to have Metal Bibles in my stand and said that because of this I had to close down - and I had to do it NOW!! This happened in the middle of the night without any warning or other explanation. I told them that since I had paid for my place and also declared that I would have books (bibles are books) in my tent, I had all the right in the world to be there, but they were ruthless and merciless and said that we had to close down and get out of the festival area, right away. Then later, another chief guard came and cut our ticket bracelets in half and said we were banned from the area and were not allowed to come back.
So, since I realized that the guards wouldn't back an inch and had strong orders to throw us out, no matter what we said, we just kept silent and calmly and without any harsh words just packed down the tent and closed down. When this happened some however still came and wanted to have Metal Bibles but the guards stopped them brutally by force, gripped their arms and forced them to not take the Metal Bibles! Some others were trying to buy Christian Metal merchandise from us and they were also stopped by the guards. In fact we were treated just like criminals, although we had done nothing wrong!!! All the other sellers from the merchandise tents around us also couldn't understand why we the nice guys that treated people good were the ones that were thrown out. They totally sympathized with us. The metalheads that dropped by sympathized with us as well. No one could understand why we were thrown out.
Then when all was packed down the guards took me and the tent in their pickup. At this moment I felt like a prisoner going to jail. They drove me out of the festival area and then they just throw off all the tent stuff and metal bibles outside the area and then just left me there, out of nowhere, in the middle of the night!
My friends however were not allowed to go the same way as I went, instead they were directed to the opposite side of the festival area. Then it took one long hour before they finally found me. So until they came I just sat there alone on a metal bible box, feeling shocked, depressed, humilated, frustrated, angry and thinking about the situation. I have never ever in my life felt so humiliated and mistreated! I all know very well that we should be glad to suffer for Christ sake, and that is true, but I can assure you that I was everything but happy in this situation! Maybe I'm just way too immature and not as Christlike as I should be...
I never thought that I ever would be treated as a criminal. I also paid for my booth for the whole festival but now they just ripped me off of the two best days for metal bibles and sales. Anyway, I got back with my friends and came back to our base about 4.30 in the morning. Needless to say me and my colleagues were feeling extremely low the following day. We were totally crushed! I felt like I was not just under the surface, but on the bottom of the sea. That's how low I felt. I was totally out of energy and didn't even had the strength to pray nor worship.
However, God gave us new strength and we slowly started to recover, but it took a few days to get back in shape. Somehow, we however know that God will do something good out of this. God also protected us and our things so the guards couldn't hurt us nor destroyed any of our things.
But what we saw here was nothing else than real SPIRITUAL WARFARE! Satan, our enemy is so scared and angry that we Christian are at Wacken (the centre of the Metal world) and the impact the Metal Bible have on the metal world, now when it is also released in world languages like English and Spanish, so he tries even his most filthy and dirty tricks to try to crush us. But he won't succeed with that! Cause he is a Loser and Jesus is Lord! It seems that we are such a big threat to him that he even had to use the festival leadership and the guards to throw us out.
What we faced here was nothing else than persecution and it was like being in the book of Acts with Paul and Peter and the other dudes. They were treated even worse than we, thrown in prisons etc just because they were Christians. But just because we are Christians we should however not let people treat us bad against the law, but instead stick our constitutional legal rights, just as Paul did! Acts 16:35-39. So therefore I demand justice, to have the money back that I paid for my booth and compensation for the two days they took from me and compensation for being so mistreated, without having done anything wrong. I also want a big excuse. (A lawyer is now working for me and fighting for my legal rights, please pray for that).
Of course we have forgiven the guards and the festival leadership, cause they were just tools not knowing what they did. And we are not fighting against them, but against the demonic forces that used them as tools.
At the festival there were also lots of occult garbage. Even saw voodoo dolls and satanic bibles in the booths around us! There were also bondage shows taking place at the festival area. Still it seems like the Metal Bible was the most controversial thing on the festival. Wacken's motto is Faster, Harder and Louder, but it seems like the Metal Bible is too hard, too tough and too much Metal für Wacken! :-)
Anyway, on the positive side we had lots of great talks about Christ with people that came to us and wanted to talk. Of course there were also some people that just wanted to discuss and mock us, and some even burned bibles. Most of the people, however, that came to us had an open mind and were really thankful for the free Metal Bibles.
This year we also had the metal bible in Polish and Spanish! Especially the Spanish
speaking people were very thankful to get the metal bible in their language. Since Spanish is such a big language and the metal interest is huge in Spanish speaking countries we will now spread it in full force in South America, Central America, Mexica, Spain and all other Spanish speaking countries. That will be great and bring a big harvest for the kingdom of God! Amen, and that's what this is all about. As you see it is not a nice game we are in, but a brutal reality with a very real enemy. It's a brutal war about souls, but the hardships we face are all worth it for anyone that comes to know Jesus as a result and gets saved for eternity. It's all worth it! That's what I'm living for and no matter the cost I'm willing to pay the price.
Please keep all the the people that received metal bibles and that we ministered to in prayer, that God will urge them to read it and that God will speak prophetically into their lives through the bibles and that they will find Christ through it.
Besides spreading bibles I was also selling Christian metal merchandise in my Metal Community booth during the festival. My colleague Henrik from White Metal Shop that shared the booth was also selling cool belts, jewellery, rings with crosses and brutal Christian Metal. By standing there and selling Christian Metal many misconceptions about Christian Metal were broken. Pray that God will continue to speak to them through the Christian Metal merchandise they bought and continue His work in them and that the things they bought will be tools to help many to Christ.
To sum it up this was a real rollercoaster trip with both ups and downs. But as I said in the beginning 15 000 Metal Bibles went out and we got to witness and pray for many. Amen. So all in all, despite the bad treatment we faced GOD did many great things and He will continue and accomplish His work in each and everyone that we met. Cause the Bible says that the Word of God won't return void, since God will watch over it to complete His work in these persons lives. (Isaiah 55:11, Jeremiah 1:12). I'm sure God will somehow use also the hardships we faced this year to bring in a great harvest for the Lord. Psalm 126 also says that if we saw with tears we shall reap with joy.
So, I want to end this report to thank GOD for being with us and for all He did during this metal bible outreach. To GOD be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
In His Service
Johannes Jonsson
www.themetalbible.com (The Metal Bible)
www.metalcommunity.se (Metal Community)
www.whitemetalshop.se (White Metal Shop)
www.facebook.com/#!/groups/253275048028154/ (CMI - Christian Metalheads International)
www.streetchurch.se (Street Church)
As always we started each morning with prayer and worship at our base camp located ca 15 minutes from the festival area.
We also made sure that we celebrated the Lord's Supper at each of our stations, proclaiming Jesus' victory over satan and that each of these places belong to God. After we did this the air was cleansed and the evil forces had to move away from these areas.
As always Metal Bibles were spread to anyone interested. We put up signs saying "feel free to take a Metal Bible" and then the interested came forward and took a copy of it. Something really cool was to see how thankful so many were that they could get the Metal Bible for free. It felt really good to show them God's love by giving it away for free.
We also put out signs with the text "if you want to we can pray and bless you".
Several then came to us and wanted to have us to pray for them. So we were just there for the people, available for them and just showing them God's love, ministering to all that wanted our help. During the festival wemet many that were really open for God and had many questions about God and we got to witness to many.
We got a great start of the outreach, first three days ca 6000 metal bibles were distributed. On the third day we also heard that a wife had sent her husband to Wacken with the order that he mustn't come back unless he has a Metal Bible with him! So, the interest was definately huge. A total of 15 000 Metal Bibles were distributed this year! So, all the glory to GOD for that! Local radio and newspapers also came and did interviews about the Metal Bible, so God opened some really cool doors. Amen.
Most importantly however were all the good talks about Christian faith we had with people on the festival. Some were just on the borderline to come to know Christ. Pray that God will continue to work in them and in everyone that we got the witness for and/or got a metal bible with them home. Pray that God will continue to work in them and speak prophetically into their lives through the testimonies and Bible texts.
That was the good part - now over to the tough one!
Last year we had a great cooperation with the festival leadership about the Metal Bibles. Then, the festival even ordered 1000 metal bibles themselves to use at the festival! This year however things had radically changed to the opposite and the festival leadership were now totally against the Metal Bible. :-(
Something really sad happened as a result of this negative attitude. Without warning the guards came to my booth late on Thursday night and said that I, all of a sudden, was not allowed to have Metal Bibles in my stand and said that because of this I had to close down - and I had to do it NOW!! This happened in the middle of the night without any warning or other explanation. I told them that since I had paid for my place and also declared that I would have books (bibles are books) in my tent, I had all the right in the world to be there, but they were ruthless and merciless and said that we had to close down and get out of the festival area, right away. Then later, another chief guard came and cut our ticket bracelets in half and said we were banned from the area and were not allowed to come back.
So, since I realized that the guards wouldn't back an inch and had strong orders to throw us out, no matter what we said, we just kept silent and calmly and without any harsh words just packed down the tent and closed down. When this happened some however still came and wanted to have Metal Bibles but the guards stopped them brutally by force, gripped their arms and forced them to not take the Metal Bibles! Some others were trying to buy Christian Metal merchandise from us and they were also stopped by the guards. In fact we were treated just like criminals, although we had done nothing wrong!!! All the other sellers from the merchandise tents around us also couldn't understand why we the nice guys that treated people good were the ones that were thrown out. They totally sympathized with us. The metalheads that dropped by sympathized with us as well. No one could understand why we were thrown out.
Then when all was packed down the guards took me and the tent in their pickup. At this moment I felt like a prisoner going to jail. They drove me out of the festival area and then they just throw off all the tent stuff and metal bibles outside the area and then just left me there, out of nowhere, in the middle of the night!
My friends however were not allowed to go the same way as I went, instead they were directed to the opposite side of the festival area. Then it took one long hour before they finally found me. So until they came I just sat there alone on a metal bible box, feeling shocked, depressed, humilated, frustrated, angry and thinking about the situation. I have never ever in my life felt so humiliated and mistreated! I all know very well that we should be glad to suffer for Christ sake, and that is true, but I can assure you that I was everything but happy in this situation! Maybe I'm just way too immature and not as Christlike as I should be...
I never thought that I ever would be treated as a criminal. I also paid for my booth for the whole festival but now they just ripped me off of the two best days for metal bibles and sales. Anyway, I got back with my friends and came back to our base about 4.30 in the morning. Needless to say me and my colleagues were feeling extremely low the following day. We were totally crushed! I felt like I was not just under the surface, but on the bottom of the sea. That's how low I felt. I was totally out of energy and didn't even had the strength to pray nor worship.
However, God gave us new strength and we slowly started to recover, but it took a few days to get back in shape. Somehow, we however know that God will do something good out of this. God also protected us and our things so the guards couldn't hurt us nor destroyed any of our things.
But what we saw here was nothing else than real SPIRITUAL WARFARE! Satan, our enemy is so scared and angry that we Christian are at Wacken (the centre of the Metal world) and the impact the Metal Bible have on the metal world, now when it is also released in world languages like English and Spanish, so he tries even his most filthy and dirty tricks to try to crush us. But he won't succeed with that! Cause he is a Loser and Jesus is Lord! It seems that we are such a big threat to him that he even had to use the festival leadership and the guards to throw us out.
What we faced here was nothing else than persecution and it was like being in the book of Acts with Paul and Peter and the other dudes. They were treated even worse than we, thrown in prisons etc just because they were Christians. But just because we are Christians we should however not let people treat us bad against the law, but instead stick our constitutional legal rights, just as Paul did! Acts 16:35-39. So therefore I demand justice, to have the money back that I paid for my booth and compensation for the two days they took from me and compensation for being so mistreated, without having done anything wrong. I also want a big excuse. (A lawyer is now working for me and fighting for my legal rights, please pray for that).
Of course we have forgiven the guards and the festival leadership, cause they were just tools not knowing what they did. And we are not fighting against them, but against the demonic forces that used them as tools.
At the festival there were also lots of occult garbage. Even saw voodoo dolls and satanic bibles in the booths around us! There were also bondage shows taking place at the festival area. Still it seems like the Metal Bible was the most controversial thing on the festival. Wacken's motto is Faster, Harder and Louder, but it seems like the Metal Bible is too hard, too tough and too much Metal für Wacken! :-)
Anyway, on the positive side we had lots of great talks about Christ with people that came to us and wanted to talk. Of course there were also some people that just wanted to discuss and mock us, and some even burned bibles. Most of the people, however, that came to us had an open mind and were really thankful for the free Metal Bibles.
This year we also had the metal bible in Polish and Spanish! Especially the Spanish
speaking people were very thankful to get the metal bible in their language. Since Spanish is such a big language and the metal interest is huge in Spanish speaking countries we will now spread it in full force in South America, Central America, Mexica, Spain and all other Spanish speaking countries. That will be great and bring a big harvest for the kingdom of God! Amen, and that's what this is all about. As you see it is not a nice game we are in, but a brutal reality with a very real enemy. It's a brutal war about souls, but the hardships we face are all worth it for anyone that comes to know Jesus as a result and gets saved for eternity. It's all worth it! That's what I'm living for and no matter the cost I'm willing to pay the price.
Please keep all the the people that received metal bibles and that we ministered to in prayer, that God will urge them to read it and that God will speak prophetically into their lives through the bibles and that they will find Christ through it.
Besides spreading bibles I was also selling Christian metal merchandise in my Metal Community booth during the festival. My colleague Henrik from White Metal Shop that shared the booth was also selling cool belts, jewellery, rings with crosses and brutal Christian Metal. By standing there and selling Christian Metal many misconceptions about Christian Metal were broken. Pray that God will continue to speak to them through the Christian Metal merchandise they bought and continue His work in them and that the things they bought will be tools to help many to Christ.
To sum it up this was a real rollercoaster trip with both ups and downs. But as I said in the beginning 15 000 Metal Bibles went out and we got to witness and pray for many. Amen. So all in all, despite the bad treatment we faced GOD did many great things and He will continue and accomplish His work in each and everyone that we met. Cause the Bible says that the Word of God won't return void, since God will watch over it to complete His work in these persons lives. (Isaiah 55:11, Jeremiah 1:12). I'm sure God will somehow use also the hardships we faced this year to bring in a great harvest for the Lord. Psalm 126 also says that if we saw with tears we shall reap with joy.
So, I want to end this report to thank GOD for being with us and for all He did during this metal bible outreach. To GOD be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
In His Service
Johannes Jonsson
www.themetalbible.com (The Metal Bible)
www.metalcommunity.se (Metal Community)
www.whitemetalshop.se (White Metal Shop)
www.facebook.com/#!/groups/253275048028154/ (CMI - Christian Metalheads International)
www.streetchurch.se (Street Church)
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