I'm so very happy that tonight I may speak in this church. I've never heard of this church before. I don't know the people. A group of you have been in the prayer room, and that was very good, for I needed prayer. And I'm going to invite all of you to work together with me tonight.

By praying in the time that you listen, it's possible you can have the horizontal and the vertical connection in the same moment. You can pray and say "pray" that the Lord will give that message that you need and the people around you. I don't know anything about you. The Lord knows. It is possible that there are people here who like to go to church. But they have never made a decision for the Lord Jesus.

And the Bible tells us that we have to be born again. Now that is perhaps a difficult word for some of people, but born again, that means... That when you receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior and ask him to come into your life, into your heart, then he does in you that tremendous miracle that you are born into the very family of God.

And then you may say to God, "Father, my Father." And he says to you, "my child." Now pray for the people who have never done that before, that tonight they will see the great joy of saying yes to Jesus. But also pray for yourself and for the other Christians here, that the Lord will give a greater vision than you had before.

When there's no vision, the people perish. And we all know that we live in a time now that there is a great darkness and fog over the whole world. And the great joy is when we have the word of God, we can see the things as it were from God's point of view.

Look around and be distressed. Look within and be depressed. Look at Jesus and be at rest. Pray that we all get a new vision, that we see better the Lord Jesus. I was some time ago in a meeting in Holland with Stanley Jones. He is now with the Lord, you know that.

And we had, I was the last day of a conference, and he had a whole pile of papers. And he said, these papers here are written down, all the problems that you people have brought me in these days. I thought, my, that can be late tonight when he will answer all these problems.

And then he said, he laid his hand on this pile of papers and he said, "people, all these problems have one answer and that answer is Jesus Christ." Now one moment I thought he takes it easy. But he was right. He was right.

And when you have a problem here in your heart, in your life, the answer is Jesus Christ. And I pray that the Lord will give us, that our eyes are opened. That we see him. And that we see that he is exactly the one who is your answer.

Tonight I will speak about the hiding place. In Ephesians 1 it's written, "God has allowed us to know the secret of his plan." And it is this. He purposes in his sovereign will, that all human history shall be consummated in Christ, that everything that exists in heaven and on earth shall find its perfection and fulfillment in him.

And here's the staggering thing, that in all which will one day belong to him, we have been promised a share. Paul says in Corinthians, "we are ambassadors for Christ." representatives of Jesus Christ. And when I saw on the TV your astronauts, I have enjoyed very much to see that.

And then I understood these astronauts are representatives from the earth on the moon. And every one of you who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ is a representative from heaven to this world. And that is not easy. Now, let's be very realistic. How is the world? Oh, it is almost terrible to read the newspapers. For it is terrible in the world.

And everyone who has brains knows that it is going down and down. And now John says, "who is it that overcomes the world?" He that believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Do you understand what that means?

Now, you who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, do you understand that you are standing on the front line of a battle so dangerous as never before? Only because you know that Jesus is the Son of God.

And that is why you and I need to see the reality. And then we have nothing to fear. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and a sound mind.

I'm going to speak about the hiding place. In some way, I was sorry that we have none of these books on the book table, but I'm very happy that I can just tell you, or Ellen has already told it, that you can get one when you write to Billy Graham.

Why should I like you to read that book? Because John and Tibby Sherrill have written that with me together. And you will read my story. And then you will understand what it means to go through a very deep and dangerous way with Jesus.

And I was in a concentration camp where 96,000 women were killed or died. Also my sister. And there I had a hiding place in Jesus Christ. And it is good that you read it because it is possible that you are coming in a dangerous time.

And then you must know that that hiding place is available. And the hiding place of Jesus Christ is a fortress. For when you are with Jesus, then you stand on victory ground, whatever happens.

This book will be over some time a movie. Worldwide Pictures is making a movie of it. And if you like to pray for that, I will be very happy. For I did not know what a tremendous job it is to make a film. I thought now that is a question of two months and then they have a film.

But my, my, my. We need very much prayer. The choice who will play my role, the role of my sister, my father, and people, we hope that they will be people who understand the message that that film will bring.

Now I write a paper, "The Hiding Place," that is a letter that I sent to my friends. If you like to have that, then you must write to box 2040 orange. And if you have forgotten it, then just ask Ellen when you pass the book table and she will tell you that it is box 2040.

And why do I tell that? Because I need prayer voice. And in that book you will, in that paper you will also read about another hiding place.

You know, when I was arrested and my family was arrested, I had six Jews, a few Jews and two underground workers. And if they had been arrested with us, they should have been killed. But we had a secret room, a hiding place. And they went into that secret room and the Gestapo has not found it.

That was a very blessed hiding place. And now you Americans are such interesting people who are so interested. There come many of you to Holland to see my house. It is no longer my house, but there's another watchmaker who has that house.

And then they like to see the hiding place. Now that is already a long time away. But now, just to please you Americans, we have built up the hiding place.

And in my paper you will read everything. Now you will say, oh, that is such a center like the house of Anne Frank and the other places where you can read, see all the cruelties and the terrible things of concentration camps. No, that place in Harlem where I have lived 53 years of my life, that place will not show the cruelties.

But you will see there what the Lord has been for us in the time that we had that important work of saving Jewish people several years and then that we all were brought to prison. And it will be a house where the name of the Lord will be glorified.

For instance, when I was arrested, when I was in prison, I once was brought before my judge. And that judge had my life in his hands. It was wartime. And I had done very many things that could make that I should be sentenced to death. And my life was in the hands of that man.

But in some way the Lord gave me concern for that man. And also my sister Betsy. He has talked to him about the Lord Jesus. And when we testified to our faith, the Lord touched the heart of that judge. And instead of an enemy, he became a friend.

But he had to do his job. And so it happened that suddenly he showed me papers found in my house. And to my horror, I saw names, addresses, and particulars that could mean not only my death sentence, but the death sentence of my family and friends who were in prison.

The judge said, "can you explain these papers?" I said, "no, I can't." And I felt terrible, terrible unhappy. But he knew better than I how dangerous the papers were.

And he turned, he opened the door of the stove and threw all the papers into the flames. My, how happy I was that moment. If you had told me that I could be 100% happy when I was in a prison in the hands of an enemy, I should never have believed that.

But when I saw these flames destroy these horrible papers, it was as if for the first time I understood Colossians 2.14, where it's written that Jesus has taken the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, has taken them out of the way. and nailed them at the cross.

There are dangerous papers for you and for me. Our sins are written down in heaven. And if you believe it or not, once you come for a judgment day of God, have you rejected Jesus Christ in this life? It will be terrible.

But if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, then you have nothing to fear, for Jesus has taken your handwriting that was against you and has nailed him at the cross. You see here is a message.

And now in that museum we have a photo of that judge and me after the war together and the text of Colossians 2.14 in English, German and Dutch. You know, I have understood that what it means to be with Jesus, hidden in God.

That's an expression of the Bible. Do you know what that means? Now, this is you. This is Jesus and this is God. With Jesus hidden in God. That means that the devil has to go through God and through Jesus before he can reach you. Isn't that a joy?

So safe is it when you are hidden in Jesus Christ. When he is your hiding place.

In Psalm 91, we read, "Lord, through all the generations you have been our home." And Psalm 91, we live within the shadow of the Almighty, sheltered by the God who is above all gods.

This I declare, that he alone is my refuge, my place of safety. He is my God, and I am trusting him. He orders his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will steady you with their hands to keep you from stumbling.

You can safely meet a lion or step on poisonous snakes. Yes, even trample them beneath your feet. For the Lord says, because he loves me. I will rescue him. I will make him great because he trusts in my name.

I will answer him when he calls on me. I will be with him in trouble and rescue him and honor him. He orders his angels to protect you. I can tell you these angels had a full-time job when I was in prison.

And I have an idea that tonight they have also a job. I don't know full time, but I'm sure that here are angels in the church. I don't see them, but they are there. You have heard about that little paper, "Defeated Enemies," and that is no demonology.

It is just what I tell going over the world of what I have experienced of our power over demons. how the Lord Jesus was Victor. Sometimes I give a talk about demons, but then always I give a longer time to tell about angels. For don't forget that there are twice as many angels as demons.

Only a third of the angels have fallen. So two-thirds are still angels. And some of these rascals had been already sent to hell. So there are many more angels than demons.

And when you belong to the Lord Jesus, they are on your side. And you stand with them on victory ground. Once I was in Moscow and I had a huge red... Suitcase full of Russian Bibles. I saw that the custom officers ransacked every suitcase.

Now, I was scared. My suitcase was standing at the end. I thought, when he finds my suitcase and he opens it, he finds those Bibles that is forbidden to bring Russian Bibles into Russia. Will he send me to prison? Will he send me back to Holland?

I was really afraid. Now, I like to pray with an open Bible. You know, not really open always, but always to say, Lord, this you have said, Father, now you must do it.

And God likes it. God likes it when you mean business with the promises of the Bible, for he means business. And he likes it when you stand on the promises of the Bible.

Now, I said, now, Lord, I cannot open my Bible, but, Lord, in Jeremiah 1 is written that God watches over his word to perform it. Lord, these Bibles in my red suitcase, that is your word.

Now, with my hand on Jeremiah 1, I prayed, Lord, watch over your word, my Bibles, to smuggle them. But that was not written by Jeremiah.

But I have found it doesn't matter at all. The Lord not first tells you you must have a very sound exegesis before you can show God one of his promises. Oh no, the Lord sees the heart.

And it doesn't matter when you don't understand it. He understands it. And do you know that same moment I saw around my red suitcase light beings. They must have been angels.

The only time in my life that I've seen angels. I can't describe them. For the moment that I saw them, they disappeared. They didn't disappear, but for my eyes they disappeared. But also my fear disappeared.

I knew those who are with me are more and stronger than those who are against me. And at last when that man came to my suitcase, he said... Is that your suitcase, lady? Yes. The heavy one. Yes, sir.

He said, oh, I am through with my work. I will carry it to the car of the interest. And there that man brought that heavy suitcase to the car. I almost had shouted hallelujah, but I didn't do that.

It is so good that you tell me such thing and I tell you because we must understand that we have nothing to fear even when the earth were removed and the mountain thrown into the hearts of the sea. Whatever happens for a child of God, when the worst happens, the best remains and the very best is yet to be.

I read some time ago a text in the Amplified New Testament. And that was about from Philippians 3.8. Now Paul has written that letter when he was in a terrible dangerous prison where his hand was chained at the hands of two guards.

And he wrote, when he used the Amplified New Testament, I count everything as loss. compared to the possession of the priceless privilege, the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with him.

That he wrote, and I have experienced the same. I have learned to know Jesus more intimately than ever before. And that's why I have a testimony and can tell you about the reality of Jesus Christ and what it meant that I belonged to him.

When I was five years old, my mom brought me to the Lord Jesus. She told me, now... Corrie, you may ask Jesus to come into your heart. And I did, and Jesus did not say, you are too young. He came, and he has never let me down.

And it was a long time ago that I was five years. I'm now 81. Say, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, that little one, have you ever told that little boy, that little girl, that they could ask Jesus to come into their heart?

These little ones need the Lord Jesus just as much as you. And the great joy is that when this little one says, yes, Lord Jesus, come into my heart, then he comes.

I heard a little girl say, Lord Jesus, I'll be very naughty, but will you come into my heart and make my heart clean with your blood? And Jesus came. Don't wait till later, but do it tomorrow. And this is joy.

And I can tell you, I was in the hiding place of Jesus Christ since then. And that has meant something for me.

I remember that every evening when I was in bed, then Father came upstairs and he took me in. And then we talked. That was always the time that I could talk with him and tell him everything.

That was such a feeling of safety. And I am so glad that Father showed his love on that way.

And that when you are in the hiding place of Jesus Christ, that is a far greater safety and also feeling of safety than that. Father laid his hand on my face.

We must understand that the hiding place is available. Jesus not only died at the cross for your sins, but he lives and is with us always.

I heard a very interesting little story from an English officer. He was in a terrible prison in Germany. And he saw that there was a great chance that all these people in that prison should earlier or later die.

And then the Lord spoke to him. And the Lord said, go away. Walk out of this prison. and trust psalm 91:1 we live within the shadow of the almighty sheltered by the god who is above all gods and he was um accustomed to obey the lord so he did it and he stood up when he was there in a corridor suddenly he went to the gate and the guard said where are you going he said i am under the Sheltering of the Most High.

And they thought, Most High? That must be Adolf Hitler. And they stood in attention and let him pass. He went through another corridor. And there again were guards waiting and said, Hey, where are you going? He said, I am under the protection of the Most High. They stood in attention and let him pass.

That man came home. He was the only one from that prison who is still alive. I like that story. I thought that was beautiful.

And of course, we have not to have such an experience, but we have to realize that we are under a protection of the Most High because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the way to God.

And when we believe in that Jesus is the Son of God, we are sheltered by the Most High, but we are standing on the front line. And perhaps over some time, it will be still more dangerous than it is now. For what is going over the world, I don't know.

But one thing I know, I think most of you, or perhaps all of you understand, that we live now in the time. that we can read in the newspapers the signs of the time that Jesus is

Here is the cleaned and formatted sermon transcription:

Generation that will be there when these things happen. That is your and my generation. It is your generation. I don't know if I will live so long, but I hope that I will be there when Jesus comes. But we also read in the Bible that in the time before Jesus comes, there will be a very difficult time of persecution and danger.

And I know that some people say, oh, but before the persecution comes, we will be translated. Yes, that was also taught the people in China. But the tribulation came. More than a million have been tortured to death there.

And I believe that we must gather our riches in the promises of the Bible. That we may be strong when Jesus comes. And before that time. I believe in a translation of the church. I believe that we will meet him in the sky.

But the Lord said, in the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. I once met Bishop Cao. He had been 17 years in China as a bishop.

And he said, we have brought the gospel, and I'm glad we have done that. But we have neglected one thing. We have not told the people how to find in the Bible promises and realities how to be strong in times of tribulation.

Now, we are not there anymore. Most of the clergy is killed. I've been sent away. And the Lord really tells the people about how to be strong. But he told us, use your time to find in the Bible the text where you can be strong in times of hardship and tribulations.

Since that time, I write it always down when I read something that could help me in the time when things are difficult. You know, when my family and I were arrested, we were together in the police station. And then after that, we have not seen each other again.

But I remember that Peter van Worden, my nephew, He was 17 years old. He said, Auntie, what have you in your shoe? I said, Romans 8, what have you? He said, Ephesians 1, do you know what mom has? 2 Corinthians 4.

Do you know what it meant? We all knew what it meant to go into a prison of the Gestapo. And we all had just a little bit of the Bible hidden. My sister had hidden it under her hair.

I believe you and I must do what Joseph did. In the times of abundance, Joseph took all the abundance and put it into the barns. And when the terrible hunger came, he had enough for everyone.

I believe our spiritual riches we must gather in our barns. So that when there could come a time that we had no Bible and no preaching of the gospel and no churches, that we have it in our heart.

And you do not realize that the persecution and the tribulation over the whole world is very severe now. In the time that you are just enjoying your good food and the good houses and everything, I asked a missionary from Africa.

I said, say, tell me, I had worked with her in Burundi, is it true that 10,000 people have been killed? She said, yes, last year, and this year, 100,000. You don't know that. That's not in the papers.

In this time, thousands and thousands of people are killed. Christians are persecuted. And you say, oh yes, but it is not here. But wait a moment. You are a part of the body of Christ. And what Chimandhi said, when my feet were whipped, my hands suffered pain.

And when you, who are the body of Christ, know that in Russia and in Africa and in China, many, many Christians suffer in concentration camps and in prisons, then you must pray for them. And you must help the people who smuggle Bibles into these countries. And you must suffer with them.

What did I write down? From the promises of the Bible. For instance, the text, we have not a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and a sound mind.

And, you know, I can find it so quickly because I was in a time of tribulation, when I was surrounded by people who had had a training in cruelties, and the Bible was forbidden. But we had every day twice a Bible message in that room where we were together in a concentration camp with 700 prisoners.

And then the text from the Bible had helped us so much about the future. Romans 8, 18. In my opinion, whatever we have to go through now is nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us.

We are citizens of heaven. Peter said, our outlook goes beyond this world to the hopeful expectation of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. One day, when he will reveal himself in full splendor to men, we will be filled with the most tremendous joy.

The hairs of our head are numbered, and God has the whole universe in his hands. That means that God has a microscopic and a telescopic interest in you.

Rejoice in as much as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.

You know, when I came for the first time in America, I had to learn many English words that I had not learned in the high school in Holland. And I remember three words. I heard a millennium, premillennium, and postmillennium. I had never heard of it.

And I remember that I asked Dr. Geffen, what does that mean, a pre-postmillennium? He said, Corrie, that is a preposterous question. He was right.

I'm not at all interested in what you are. If you are an amillennionist, if you believe that Jesus comes before the thousand years. Or that you do not believe post-millennium or pre-millennium. I don't mind it, what you think of it. But do you know what I mind? And what I'm interested in, and I hope you are interested in.

That when Jesus comes, you are ready for his coming. We don't know when Jesus comes. It can take a time, it can also be that he comes today. Are you ready?

The Bible says, because you have a hope like this before you, I urge you to make certain that such a day may find you at peace with God and man, clean and blameless in his sight.

When he comes today. Are you at peace with God and men? Are you clean and blameless in his sight?

Perhaps you say, no, I am not. Then I can tell you something. Everyone who is in this church can be ready for Jesus' coming when he should come tonight.

You can be right with God and men. And you can be at peace with God and man and clean and blameless in God's eyes.

You say, oh, but you don't know me. Some of you think, no, I don't know you. But I know him. The great joy that the Bible tells, he who has started in you the good work will perform it until the moment of his coming.

And the Lord Jesus is willing to make you ready for his coming when you surrender all. The way to the cross is the way of repentance. When you come to Jesus, you must come with your sins and ask forgiveness.

And he will forgive and cleanse you. And then take all the promises of the Bible. You are no beggar. You are a king's child. You are a child, a son of the king of kings.

And the Lord himself will make you ready through his Holy Spirit for the great end battle that is coming very soon. And in the meantime, he will fill you and surround you with love.

The love of God that never fails. And that is what you need, not only when you are standing in the battle, but also in your school, in your kitchen, in your office, in your hospital, wherever you are in this world where God has called you, you are a representative from heaven in this world in a time.

That the world is very needy and may the love, mercy and power of Jesus Christ be multiplied to you during these days of titanic spiritual warfare. The Lord wins and is able to hold you up and cause you to triumph in all situations that you may face.

Hallelujah. Amen.

Thank you, Lord, for what you have said. And we know, Lord, that when you have spoken, we must give an answer.

Now, Lord, some of us have loved you already a long time. They have read the Bible. But tonight you have said to them, come unto me. I will give you rest.

And Lord, listen, who says now, yes, Jesus, yes, I am a sinner. I bring you, confess you all my sins. I will repent. Lord Jesus, come into my heart.

Thank you, Lord, that you came. Now, Lord, show them that you are their hiding place.

But, Lord, I believe that this evening you will give us the privilege to surrender again. And I will do it, Lord. I know that I am standing on the front line together with all those who have been persecuted for their faith.

Those who are with you are more than those who are against you. Do you know that you are very precious in God's eyes? Do you know when you say the first time yes to Jesus that the angels rejoice?

So important are you in God's eyes. And that's why I'm going to invite you tonight just to say your yes to Jesus as a decision.

But a walk to the cross is through repentance. When you come to Jesus, you must come with your sins and ask forgiveness. And he will forgive and cleanse you.

And then take all the promises of the Bible. You are no beggar. You are a king's child. You are a child, a son of the king of kings.

And the Lord himself will make you ready through his Holy Spirit for the great end battle that is coming very soon. And in the meantime, he will fill you and surround you with love.

Hallelujah. Amen.

We pray.

Here is the cleaned sermon transcription:

These children of yours who believe that you, Jesus, are the Son of God. And they are standing on the front line. Now listen, Lord, who says, Jesus, I surrender all. Rock, stock and bell, everything, 100%. Lord, take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. Oh, Lord, what can you do with a total surrendered child of yours? Lord, I'm so glad that they can talk with you and that you are there and that you have always time to listen. Lord, show us what sins there are in our life. If there is someone that we have not forgiven, and I praise and thank you, Lord, that there is an ocean of your love available through the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. Amen.

I made minor adjustments for clarity and readability, but kept every word exactly as spoken.