Makai Rozália Sárkány Győző prédikátor élete (1908-1980)

He was born in Konyar on 16 January 1908. His great-grandparents had moved to this wonderful area from Transylvania. His father was a genteel tailor master. Because of the economic crisis appeared at the turn of the century, only some pieces of clothes were brought to him to get them fixed. His parents were believers. Three of their twelve children died in an early age, but they brought up nine children in an honest way. His father was the pastor of the small local Baptist church. So they kept the church meetings in their house, where every member of the family took part in it in an active way. Many famous preachers visited their house, among others brother Mihaly Kornya. His father considered himself as his spiritual bred. Because of their poverty, his parents could not let them study, apart from the elementary and technical institutes; however, they substituted this in grand part by the fact that the family was widely read. They read mostly church history, church literature, polite learning, and history writings. They got to know the Bible's stories. He had calvinist Bible class at school, but at the age of thirteen he got baptised by dipping.

After the year of sixteen he belonged to those who were up to two roads. A winter evening he was going home and his sins were pressing him very much. He sank on his knees, and he was praying crying: "If what the Bible says is true, please accept my young life, and let me know certainly that I am your son, and you are my dear Father. Please cancel my sins by Jesus Christ's blood, and set me free. If it is true that You gave from your Spirit to those fishermen, then please give me too, because I am not able to win over myself and my guilty desires with my own strength." He felt that the prayer had flown up and something would happen in his life. Next spring the Lord took his hand and led him to a church where ill people got cured as answers to prayers, and God's Holy Spirit overflowed. When he was there on the third Sunday, he was praying crying, he felt a pain because of his many sins, and he was praying for grace, asking God to pardon his many sins by Jesus' merits, and fill him with His Holy Spirit; and the Lord did it that time. This happened in July 1929. After this he got a call to preach the good news. His first mission station was in Borsod county, where God led him for the first time. Many people got saved, but in this a big help was the fact that more ill people became cured by prayer. "The Lord stretched forth His hand and a palsied minded and incapable man regained his soundness, his intelligence, and his ability to work. Other people got completely cured from different illnesses." One day the host, at whose house the meetings were held, seeing this asked him to pray for him because he had cataract on his eye. In the previous years this man had worked in America, and he had his eye operated there twice. Now the cataract was so strong and thick on his eye that he suffered because of it very much. When he stood next to him, Gyozo said: "I cannot do any miracles but the question is: Uncle Simon, do you believe that Jesus is also able to cure today?" He answered "yes". Then he said the followings: "I help you to believe and pray". They he poured some oil on him (on the basis of James 5:14), and the Lord's power touched this man. This happened on Sunday evening, and by the next morning the cataract unstuck from his eye, and he got completely cured. He still lived for about 20 more years, and never had any problems with his eyes any more. He gave his heart to Jesus, and later on he became Gyozo's father in law, the grandfather of his two children.

They lived for six and a half years with his wife in the Lord's service. They experienced many miracles and answers to prayers, but also many probations and persecutions. The authorities of those days prohibited the operation of the small churches in a strict way. They closed the prayer rooms. They prohibited for people to hold meetings and worship at families. If they did it, the preachers and often the participant brothers and sisters were hit. It repeated week by week that when they appeared at a settlement, they got expulsion from the town or village. If they did not know about their arrival, then they were brought to the gendarmerie after the worship, where they got profoundly hit. "One occasion, when the gendarmes were hitting me with gun-stock and other ways because I had preached the Word, my wife stood in front of me, opening her arm in order to protect me from the further hittings, and asked them to hit her instead of me. They hit her too, and she undertook the sufferings with me for Jesus. My wife became seriously ill. The Most High brought her away. She prayed like this before her death:
'My Lord to Whom I gave my young life, and for Your death on the cross that You did for me I put myself in your hands, now please come for me, and bring your child to You who hopes in You.' Then she saw Jesus nearing to her, her face started to shine, she opened out her arms towards Jesus and she ceased to live on this Earth saying "My glorious King, Jesus!" - Gyozo remembered.

Gyozo loved his wife very much, and first he did not want to get married again. Later on he asked the Lord to substitute this loss, and give a nice mother to his children, Sarika and Gyozo, and a praying wife for him. The Lord sent the 22 years old sister in Christ called Sarika as an answer to his prayer, who was an orphan herself too. Her brother was her guardian, who told her that this marriage can no way happen. However the Lord had other plans about this marriage. Her brother (Janos) told Gyozo his experience in this way:

"My dear brother Sarkany! When I heard from my sister about what serious topic you had spoken to her, I was shocked. I thought of your many sufferings in the holy service up to now, and the sufferings of our sister in Christ who had died, and then I thought that similar hard life would be waiting for my little sister. This made me so frightened, that even if I did not have any problems with your personality, I answered that it can no way happen. 'My sister, you cannot marry this brother.' I thought that by this the thing was arranged and finished from my part, and I went to sleep for the night calmly. In the morning, though, I had a big discomfort in me. I started to examine myself in an almost frightened way, what an ugly and rude sin I had committed, for which this big spiritual charge and discomfort were on me. This time, at my prayer the Lord's Spirit asked me: "Are you sure that this marriage is not from me?" To this I had to answer: "No my Lord, I am not sure of that." Then I received the following question: "How did you dare to say that no way it can happen, you cannot marry him?". "Brother Janos asked the Lord, - as he said, - to forgive him if he committed an error, and asked Him to convince him if this was from Him and calm him. In the meantime he had to go to his workplace, and there the conversation with God continued. He felt God's nearness so strong that when he arrived to his workplace he had to go to an outlying place, and then he experienced the followings. He had got a vision, (Acts 2:17) and saw Gyozo's first wife lying on her sick-bed and heard her prayer:

"My Lord, You know how much I love my husband, but I love You even more. You know how much I love my two little children, but I also love You more than them. I only ask You, my Lord, to give my husband a faithful wife who loves to pray and a loving dear mother for my children, who will be able to raise them up better than I could have done, and I am going to You happily." When this picture disappeared, the brother saw another room, and Gyozo in it as he was praying on his knees, and he heard the prayer: "My Lord, You took my dear praying wife and the mother of my two little children from my side. But I am not grumbling against Your decision. I only ask You to give me a praying, faithful wife and a loving-hearted dear mother to my two children, and I will be grateful for it." When this picture also disappeared, the brother heard this: "These two prayers were answered, and I gave them your sister as a gift."
"Do not ask what my opinion is - brother Janos continued. - The Lord answered your prayers, so I can only say: God bless you and multiply you!"

This request was answered by the Lord, because later on Sarika and Gyozo received eight more brothers and sisters from God: Irenke, Piroska, Ferenc, Eszter, Marta, Mihaly, Viola and Palma, so they raised up 10 children. They experienced God's providence and answers to the prayers day by day. Gyozo worried a lot about that Sarika was almost 6 years old and the little Gyozo almost 4: how they were going to receive the new mother into their heart and love her as their dear mother. He prayed for it, and asked the Lord to do this too. He describes: "Here I have to mention that at the funeral my son was stroking my face and he was crying, he tried to comfort me:
"Dad, do not cry, do not cry." But he could not say more than this that time, because he was shaking of crying, and everybody was crying with him, who heard his words.
When my bride came to make friends with the two little ones, I told the little ones: your mother suffered a lot and the Lord Jesus brought her to the home of the happy, and Dad asked the Lord Jesus to give you a new mom. He listened to the prayer, and see: here is your new mother. She is going to love you and take care of you from now on. The two children stopped in front of my bride, they were looking at her for a long time, and then they made a step closer, then they stopped, and looked at her for longer time, then all at glance they jumped upon her neck, one of them from right, the other one from left. They were kissing her, and said: "Dear Mom, do not go away from us any more!" The relationship was saint, and thanks to the Lord, they love their new mother very much even today, even if they are already parents getting grey too themselves." God answered him in this too.
"Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust." (Psalm 40:4a)
Glory to our good, prayers-answering Lord for everything!

"After the marriage my dear little son sat on my lap, and asked: "Dad, do you remember the funeral?" I said: "Yes, my little son, I remember." "And do you remember that I was stroking my Dad's face and asked you: Dad, do not cry, do not cry?" I told him: "I remember this too, my little son." He continued: "Then there in the cemetery the Lord Jesus stood next to me and stroke my head, and He said this:
"Do not cry, my little lamb, I am going to give you another mother." I told you not to cry because of this, but I could not continue then, and now the Lord Jesus gave us the another mother."
We do not have any reason to doubt in the child's experience. The Lord loves little children, and made the little lamb calm and encouraged him with love. After so many years, with grateful heart I remember the Lord's goodness who answers the prayers."

On 26 December 1936 they got married by the Lord's will. With the Most High's help, Sárika undertook the upbringing of the two orphan children with obedience. That time they lived in great poverty. They did not have any certain salary. They could only lean on God as for providence.
It was a very hard winter. They lived very poor having little money. That time the house rent cost quite a lot, so they had very little for food and firewood. In the room where they spent the nights, white frost was shining on the wall. The young woman tolerated this very hardly. In her childhood she was not a believer yet, she had eleven brothers and sisters. Her father was a smith, so they always had a warm home and food. However, the Lord Jesus helped them in a way that two of her brothers moved to Budapest and she undertook the cooking for them and she did the washing too. They paid for it, so their situation became better. In the meantime, her brothers got married, and the family were placed to Miskolc in 1939 by their church.

Let me write some of their faith probations. Since many people got cured by their prayers in time of his first wife, he became prejudiced, and adjudicated others who went to doctors when they had some skin illness and spent a lot of time for medicine. This time he heard that a missionary brother that he also knew had had an operation on an appendix in Vienna. He thought: how will this man put his hand onto ill people now, when he could not believe either? At the death of his first wife he understood the divine revelation in the Bible saying: "My ways are not your ways." He also got a skin illness, and he also used some medicine, but he still had got an even more serious lesson to learn. That skin illness got cured but in the meantime spots appeared at his joint, and these got further infected, and both of his hands got covered by eczema. It was so serious that on his hand the bone could be seen. His nails came off because of the illness and he had to preach with his hands in bandage or many times in white gloves. His young wife had to undertake the marriage with him, poor ill, in this way. One day when he arrived home from the service, he noticed surprised that his new wife was ill too. She was pale, coughed and looked bad. That time curing pulmonary disease in Hungary did not have good results, and it was not treated seriously like today. They kneeled down, and prayed very much. "My Lord, You took away my praying wife, I asked a dear mother to my children and a wife for me. You answered this with wonderful evidences. My Lord, do not take her away from me too, please, cure her, so that she can stay with us." Then he felt an impulse to put some oil on her on the basis of James 5:14, but he hesitated. He writes: "The Lord's Spirit told me again: put some oil on her and pray for her in this way! I showed up my hands crying that were full of wounds, and I asked: My Lord, with hands like these? Then I remembered of the brother whom I had disapproved of being ill, and I asked again: My Lord, with hands like these? Then God spoke to me: Yes, with these hands because "My power is greatest when you are weak" (2Corintians 12:9b).
Then I put off the gloves crying, and with my only one finger that was still healthy I put some oil on my wife. At that moment she got cured. This happened in spring 1937. Since then almost forty years passed, and my dear wife gave life to eight children, and that illness has never returned. Gratitude and glory to our God's Name!"

When in 1939 they went to Miskolc, they received the church that the Lord raised by Gyozo's and his first wife's faithfulness, lots of sufferings, hardship, persecution. Then their life was well-balanced for a while. The dear brothers and sisters surrounded them with love. They did their best to do the Lord's precious work. The Lord's blessing rested on them and their work. The little church was growing pretty well. Unfortunately, it did not happen for a long while, because the authorities of that time prohibited the meetings, so the time of new probations arrived.

Their first daughter, Irenke, was born on 18 February 1940. Within a short time the landlord warned them to move out of the house where they were living. They already packed up their things for moving out, when on 27 May 1941 the family became bigger by a new member, a little daughter, Piroska. The Saviour knows they did not murmured. They accepted the blessing with joy. In this hard situation the Lord was with them. They got some more days to stay in the house until the mother became stronger after the childbirth. From this house they moved to Diosgyor for a short while, and then to Pesterzsebet. There they frequented the Baptist brothers and sisters with whom they had dear brotherly relations. In 1942 they moved to Kassa. Then that territory belonged to Hungary. Here they were in touch with the highlander brothers and sisters. Since the small churches were not allowed to practice their belief, in order to earn the family's living, they opened a small shop called "Good Health". In the same year, on 19 December 1942 God gave them a new son, Ferenc as a gift. During this period, just like previously, they experienced how our Saviour took care of them all the time. They held the worship in their home in Kassa too.

In 1944 they had hard times again. On Pentecost Saturday Gyozo was arrested. His wife was left alone with five children, expecting a baby, without any money. The people who came for him did not say the cause. They did not even give any time for him to give the money he had with him to his wife. This happened at 10 am. They were waiting for him at home praying, but he did not come hours later either. In a circumstancial way she got to know where he was. The next day she went to the official place. She told her problem, in what a situation she was, then she was told that the reason for her husband was arrested was holding prohibited church meeting. She asked for permission to talk to him, that she got, but the money had been taken away from him when he got arrested and it was in deposit, so he could not give it to her. People did not care about what the wife would do with the family now. It was not easy, but both of them tried to place themselves to the best place, into God's dear hand. In the prison her husband asked the Good Father on his knees to be his family's providence, to give the every day bread mercifully from His own hands. They believed that they would get the help, since he was not imprisoned for some wickedness but because he tried to do His dear work. The Lord answered their prayers, and in a wonderful way He took care of them.
While he was in prison, on 20 June 1944 another little daughter, Eszter, was born. Now they had six children. When the mother was strong enough to be able to show the newborn baby to his father, she took all the six children, and they went to the prison. The policeman led the dear father to them, who took the little into his arms, and there in the presence of the policeman offered her to the Lord. The policeman, leaning to the door, was looking at the scene. He was so overcome by it that he could not hold his tears. After a short conversation, they had to get separated again, entrusting each other to our Saviour. They were glad at having met each other that they never forgot. After six days, from the prison he was brought to the detention camp of Garany for undetermined time. On the way he spent a short time in the prison of Budapest. There it was a hard time because Pest was often bombarded. While he was there, he could spoke about Jesus to many people. During the bombardment, by his faith he encouraged many people who had fearful heart. While he was away, the family was praying a lot so that Jesus protect him from all the troubles and bring him the freedom the soonest possible.

Their son Ferenc was one and a half years old then. He became completely ill because he missed so much his father who was not at home. For him the lack of his father was insupportable in an extreme way, but even the other children missed him very much. The little Ferenc loved praying. He had a small chair, he was paddling around the flat bringing that with him, and he put it down here and there, kneeled down next to it, and always said: "Lord Jesus, bless my father too". He did this many times a day, and the God Almighty accepted these prayers very kindly, since He says in His Word that we should be like a child. Before God the children's trust is kind.

After three and a half months, freedom arrived for him. On 11 September 1944, when the dear father arrived home, they gave thanks to the Lord with grateful heart. From this time on the little Ferenc became joyful and happy again. I have to add to this story that that time everything was sold by tickets. During these three and half months, they received everything from the Good Father abundantly. They could even give food for others. Many times they received food from three or four hundred kilometres, and they did not even know the dear brothers God used as means. We know that in Heaven this is written for everyone, as a sacrifice with good smell. When Gyozo arrived home, her wife showed him that she even managed to buy the firewood for the winter, twenty quintal coke for heating and the wood too. She happily made a testimony for her husband: "Apart from the fact that we missed you a lot - like the father from the family, - the Lord gave us everything. We did not miss anything else. Then Gyozo also told them how God helped him too. After all these, their family sang their favourite song and their hearts were filled with love and gratefulness for the Lord Jesus: God, You are great, and Your power is great." Gyozo told how he had experienced God's help in the middle of troubles. That period he was put among several types of people, and he asked for the Lord Jesus's protection. Seeing his praying, exemplary life, many people gained faith. They asked him to pray for them too. He never prayed aloud, but in many cases God answered aloud. When he left the camp, even some of the leaders there asked him to pray for them too.

After his coming home, he was under police supervision until in 1945 troops came to Kassa, and Kassa was joined to the newly created Czecho-Slovakia. In Kassa it was not allowed to do pastoral work, therefore they dealt with retail for some years. From this business some goods remained, that they could sell in the last weeks of the war, even if in the circumstances of that time it could have happened easily that the relief soldiers took the whole without paying them anything. Their fear was not without foundation, since the first troops that entered the city had the permission to take anything they wanted. "However, God protected us and our values all the while!" - his wife describes. -
"Once, a Russian general officer entered the small shop, and he was looking for a needle. Gyozo served him and thinking that the colonel was not going to pay, said: here you are the needles and have a nice day! However, he paid. When he was about to go out, he caught the sight of the lot of children in the shop, who were looking at him with fear, because the shop was a room of our house. When he saw them, asked them if they miss anything. We had experienced that they loved children, so we had the courage to say that we had not been able to give them any bread for days. Then he went away. A few hours later he returned, and he took a big warm loaf of bread out from behind of his mantle. He gave it to the children and stroked their heads. Following this, until we went away, he appeared every morning with a loaf of bread. The Lord Jesus can use anybody as a mean.

The formed government created the order that those who had moved to Kassa after 1938 and declare themselves as Hungarians, have to leave the country. Since we also declared ourselves Hungarians, in the sense of the law within 24 hours - leaving our values there gratis - we had to go to Hungary, on foot, with a maximum 20 kg bag per person! We asked the Almighty God to help us, and give us some advice, since He could see that we could not go like this, since it was very cold, and we had little children. Our prayer flew up to God, and He ordered for us a coach with a horse. However, the decree forbade this too, and we could have the fear that at the city's confine the couch would be sent back. We had been preparing for the hard travel praying one night long. It was already not possible to buy any food anywhere. We had to be in a hurry. We were not allowed to take any of our goods (furniture, pots, nothing) with us. We put some sheets, clothes on the coach, and as our wealth we brought our six children with us. The dear brothers and sisters in Christ and our neighbours were praying with us the previous night, and we left on 2 March 1945 in the morning together with God. We asked the Lord to maintain our physical soundness. We were standing before a lot of troubles and difficulties, but we experienced that His guardian angels attended to us. Shortly after we departed, it started to snow hard. We covered the coach by bedspreads, so that the children would not get wet. Our youngest daughter, the little Eszter was 8 months old. We could only place the four smaller ones on the coach. The two older children came on foot with their father. We had been travelling for a half an hour when the gendarmes stopped us. They asked where we wanted to go. We answered that to Hungary. They did not want to let us continue, because at time of deportation we did not get any passports. They asked us what we were bringing in the coach. My husband lifted the bedspread up, and showed our wealth: the little children. They were benevolent and said:

"Continue your way. However, other people will surely send you back".

We were praying hard, and the Lord covered us. Until we got to Torna, nobody said anything to us. Meanwhile, at a house we asked permission to enter so that we could change the baby's diaper and get warm a bit. Our legs and everything became insensible from the cold, but we had to continue our way. We arrived to Torna in the evening. Brother Lackó and his family had been living here, so we thought we would stay with them for the night and continue our way the next morning. However, we got to know then that their house had got bombed, and they moved to their parents' house, so there was nothing to do, we had to go forward. However, then the driver said he was not willing to continue the way with us, since we agreed with him until this. He wanted to put us out on the road. We asked him not to do this, we would pay him, but he did not want to take us any further for any money. After a lot of entreaties and naturally for a great amount of money he brought us until Tornanadaska. We looked for the magistrate of the village. We told him about our travel. He placed us in a school building to sleep. They heated up the room well, and also brought us some food. They told the driver that he has to bring us forward because in the village nobody had a coach. The old man seemingly agreed but in a short time he left us. We spent there a week. Then we managed to hire a driver from a neighbouring farm, who took us forward to Szuhakallo, where the parents of Gyozo's first wife lived.
They received us with great love. Then we found dear Grandfather Simon very ill. Some days before he was brought to common work, and his big toe got a wound by his ankle boots. The work supervisors pushed him so much that they did not let him lace them. Because of this a gravel got in it. By the time he arrived home, his foot was full of wounds. It got so infected that one of his toes started to die. You could not buy medicine those days, and there was no doctor in the village, so poor grandfather got a fever. His suffering got more and more serious. He had such a big pain that his mind wandered. His foot was very swallen. Then his toe died. Poor grandmother had to cut the thews off by a blade that had been holding his toe. A big wound was left there. Later on a doctor saw it and he said that unfortunately his foot has to be amputated because the illness had spread further. We already prayed with him more times, but his state did not improve. Once when the Grandfather was alone with Gyozo, they were talking and praying again. Dear Grandfather was crying very much, even if he had a very hard character.
Gyozo hugged him and prayed in the following way: "My God, You can touch that big wound and You have the power to heal it completely, but if for a certain reason there is a need for having a pain, please give that the wound get smaller." Then they felt that the Lord fondled Grandfather Simon. From this time on the pain got smaller, and soon the wound got completely cured. Dear Grandfather lived for many years after this, and he was healthy and worked. Thanks to God!

A month later they moved to Miskolc from here. In Kassa the Lord told them that the dear thing in His eyes will be if they go to Miskolc. He foresaid that it would be hard but He was going to stay with them. The authorities only gave them a plundered upstairs flat for use. The windows were missing. Since in the shops one could not buy any window glasses, they went to live in one room and covered the window by a blanket so that the children be protected a bit. That time no plates, no spoons, no pots could be bought, but they did not have any of these. That time even if they had enough money, they could not buy any kinds of food. But the Lord was with them. Here they had to start the spiritual work again. They prayed a lot. They held worships in their flat again. They cried a lot in front of the Lord asking Him to move the brothers' and sisters' hearts to come. On Pentecost Sunday 1945 only two brothers arrived from Kisgyőr village. Led by the Lord's Spirit, Gyozo said that he was going to Kisgyor with these two brothers and he was going to hold worship there. They went there on foot, since there were not any means of transport that time. When they arrived, they got to know that the brothers and sisters were in another village at worship. Some people went to call them home. That evening they held the first worship, and the next day they held a meeting again. The Lord's message deeply touched the brothers who were loaded in their spirit. They were longing for absolution, and then, after praying one and a half day, twenty-eight people settled their things with the Lord, and were filled by the Holy Spirit.
Among the brothers and sisters of Kisgyor there were youngsters who often went to Miskolc to meet them on foot. People were very poor. The young people went on bare foot up to Miskolc-Tapolca in order to spare their shoes, and they only put them on in the town confine. This road there and back is approximately 40 km! They held a praying hour every day that were very blessed and attracted the hearts more and more. That time brothers said when day arrived: "We came to the fountain-head!" That time the room next to their flat was hired and furnished as a meeting room. After the terror of the war, the distressed, scored people filled with mourning were looking for peace, comfort, getting off their loads. God led them in a way so that they could buy an old house in Bacso Bela Street, where they had the possibility to build. At the opening festivity 29 people were baptised. They could feel God's blessing outpouring.
At the beginning of 1946, by a revelation, God sent Gyozo to Romania. Many loaded, tired brothers and sisters were waiting for him there, who became washed in the Lord Jesus's blood, gained peace, and many of them became cured from their illnesses. Three months later, after finishing the task that God entrusted them with, they went home happily, filled with joy in their heart. Shortly after this, on 11 September 1946 the Lord blessed them and gave them a daughter again, Marta. On 22 December 1948 their son, Mihaly, on 3 October 1950 their daughter Viola, and on 1 March 1952 their daughter Palma were born. They arrived to one of the hardest periods of their life in 1961. Their congregation was flourishing. They lived in an earnest, faithful community with God and with the brothers and sisters. After a persistent work, their number multiplied to 120, among them many young people.

One day, on his mission travel, Gyozo felt bad. He had such a strong spasm that he could not sit or stand. He went home in pains. With his wife he prayed, and the spasm disappeared. However, these kinds of pains repeated for a year, then when he had these spasms again they called for a doctor. Until the doctor arrived, Gyozo prayed, and the Spirit told him: You have appendicitis. When the doctor came, Gyozo asked: Is this not appendicitis, Doctor? The doctor examined him, and he was immediately taken to the operation theatre because he had putrid appendicitis. When he woke up after having been operated, and was alone, he gave thanks to God for His help in his operation. Then the Lord's Spirit started to talk to him: 'Do you remember brother Ranev?' 'Yes, I do - he answered. 'And do you remember what you were thinking of him when he got operated?' 'Yes, I do' - he said with humiliated spirit. Then the Lord's Spirit said:
"My Child, now this happened to you to learn "Do not judge, and you will not be judged." (Luke 6:37) He was filled with endless gratitude, because he had learnt: "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline." (Revelations 3:19) In the hospital one of the pastors and his wife visited him. They came together with an old, believer sister who said lamenting: "Oh poor brother Sarkany, where did you get? Where did you loose your faith?" Gyozo put his hand on her mouth scared, and said: "My Sister, do not continue saying this, because I am here for having thought the same thing." But "all things work together for good to those who love God." (Romans 8:28) Yes, we have to learn this, and have to believe it. Several years later in Budapest he served in a Baptist church at a meeting. When after the service he was going out of the room, an old sister ran after him, and said: "Brother Gyozo Sarkany, please wait. I have to talk to you." He stopped and she asked: "Please forgive me because I had hurt you." She looked at him, and he recognised the old lady who had visited him in the hospital. "You have always respected me, and you have never hurt me - he said. - So why should I forgive you?" She answered: "Do you remember when you were in hospital and I asked lamenting where you had lost your faith, and then you put your hand on my mouth and asked me to stop saying such, because you were also there for having done the same. A few weeks ago I also was taken to hospital - the sister said, - and got operated with appendicitis. When I was over the operation, the Holy Spirit told me: "Do you still remember when you judged my son Gyozo? You can see, my daughter, this happened to you so that "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. {...} For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke 6:37-38) Let us give thanks to the Lord for his teaching us with love!
Now let us return to the testimony when he prayed above his ill wife when his hands were also ill. She was cured by God then; however, Gyozo's hands remained ill. After a relatively long time, one morning he surprisedly noticed that when he was having a wash he did not wear his rubber gloves as he always had done before, and the wounds disappeared without leaving any trace. He shouted to his wife exultingly: "Please come here quickly and look what the Lord has done!" And they thanked the Lord in an eager prayer for His endless goodness and love. God judged his sin when he had judged other people, and even if he had suffered for this, God relieved him. We know that He will never remember of it! "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit." (Psalm 32:1-2)

"I experienced the following things in 1957. As a consequence of having given birth to eight children, my wife became very weak and seriously ill. We went to see a doctor, who suggested that she should go through a big operation. He undertook the operation and provided a place in his hospital. We tried to entrust her to God with praying heart, and she went to hospital in these circumstances. She was over the operation and got out of the bed in a short time, and served her ill room-mates. She gave testimony on God's power and love. One Saturday, I went to talk to the doctor who had operated her. He told me with joy: "Well, Mr Sarkany, everything went great. When would you like to take your dear wife home?" We agreed upon Monday. He was still talking to me when he was called to the phone. He greeted me shortly and I got an inner feeling that somebody wanted to talk to him as far as my wife is concerned. I was still standing in the hall thinking he might call me, but it did not happen, so I went home. On the same day I sent a sister to ask a believer nurse how my wife was. She came back soon and said that there was a problem. My dear wife was bleeding and the doctor was called because of this. The next morning, on Sunday, I visited her. She was faint pale. She was speaking weak, without strength. She said that the doctor was in a sweat because he felt extremely bad about having told me previously that everything had gone fine. However, now they were incapable of doing anything. They could not stop the bleeding. In this way she was bleeding until Wednesday morning. That was the week of common prayer meetings in Miskolc held with the congregations of believers. The Baptist pastor asked the brothers and sisters to pray together for brother Sarkany's dear wife, thinking of their little children who needed motherly care. All the brothers and sisters who were present prayed together, and we felt God's presence. My wife did not know about this, but that night she had a lot of spiritual struggles. She thought to ask to go home, and we would pray for her at home. Early morning the believer nurse went to visit her and she said that the doctor could not let her go home in this state.
When the nurse went away, my wife took her Bible, and asked the Lord to say her something through the Word. Her Bible opened at the story of the bleeding woman, she read that. She said crying: My Lord, I believe, please help me in my defeatism. Than sweet warmth went through her members, and immediately felt that her bleeding had stopped.
In a short time the nurse came and asked how she was. She happily answered that she was already fine now. The nurse surprisedly asked her why she was saying this. My wife told her that the Lord Jesus had come to her and had cured her of her bleeding by the morning. The nurse doubtingly said "well, we will see". However, when she started to nurse her, smiting her hands together she shouted: "A miracle happened indeed: there is no bleeding!" She ran to the doctor to inform him and the head doctor of the department came too, and they asked: "Mrs Sarkany, what happened?" She repeated that the Lord Jesus had come to help her. When they let her go home a few days later, they said she would surely have to come back. More than twenty years have passed since than, and the recovery was complete." Gyozo Sarkany wrote these lines in Miskolc in 1978. Glory to God!

After the dear blessing, in 1961 personal attack started against Gyozo Sarkany. They had a lot of persecution. Gyozo's work permission was taken away. He was not allowed to do any service, and he had to sit in the rows. Only the Lord knows what he experienced in this period. In the church only people who did not have the talent for preaching were allowed to preach the Word. In this way their nice work went to ruin in front of their eyes. There were brothers who said crying: - "Brother Sarkany, we will not come to church because we do not get anything. We go home just like we came." However, they asked them not to do this and to keep on praying, and God would help. One can not describe such a pain that they experienced together with many faithful brothers, seeing the decreasing number of the church. The enemy reached its goal. They remained without a salary for five years. That period they still had five children with them: two of them attended grammar school, and three of them went to elementary school. However, the Good Father did not avert His eyes from them, and took care of them through brothers belonging to other churches. We know that God credited what they did for their good.
This period they did not have any official income, therefore they sold their part of the house. They spent a part of this money on their children's education, the other, bigger part was spent on the high costs of emigration petitions. Because, in their exasperation they accepted the invitation of their son Gyozo who lived in Canada and of the Hungarian church in Toronto namely that Gyozo could become the church's pastor. However, the permission to travel was refused. Then, because of the lot of worries, his wife got cerebral cramp, of which she got better and was cured completely by the Lord.
After five years passed, when they already lived in a rented house, asking for the Lord's advice, from the offered possibilities they decided for Kaposvar, even if they did not know the circumstances there. They moved to here with four children because their daughter Eszter got married in the meantime. In Kaposvar the church had only eight members, because for years they did not have a pastor and the small congregation broke up. A little prayer house was built, containing a pool for baptism. Numerous brothers and sisters also came from Pecs to the inauguration ceremony. Thanks to the Lord, they enjoyed God's blessings again. Their son Gyozo sent some money from Toronto and they had some new benches prepared to put in the new meeting room. We ask the Lord to bless him and all those who helped with anything for this holy work. They worked in Kaposvar for three years. During this period, the little church number grew to thirty five members. Many of their prayers were answered, thanks to the Lord. Here they experienced the joy of their work again. They were happy to have God with them.
When they had plenty of blessings, and the fruit started to ripe, in 1969 they were asked to return to Miskolc again, because the work here was in danger. The little congregation of Kaposvar felt bad about their return because they were one, but they also said yes to the Lord's will.
Arrived to Miskolc, a lot of difficulties waited for them again. Only 22 people took part on the occasion of the first Lord's supper.
We can imagine how big the pain was in their heart. Therefore, struggling with the plenty of difficulties, they had to start the work from the beginning. That time only two of them came back to Miskolc. They received many attacks in their trials, but they tried to look at the Lord, and they asked Him for strength to endure all these. Years, hard years had to pass until the struggle got quieter. Then the Lord encouraged them. In a short time more and more of the local people also returned. After this they decided to congregate a Brothers and Sisters' Meeting. Plenty of them became renewed, and a lot of ill people got cured. God wonderfully did His work. When they held the yearly Brothers' and Sisters' Meeting again, there were 250-300 people. Our good Father arranged and took care of everything. He blessed the occasions, so they took leave of the brothers from other towns having a recreation in spirit and body, in the belief of meeting them again soon. The last meeting led by Gyozo was held in 1980. So, after returning to Miskolc they could do this work for 11 years. They were full of plans, but the Lord brought another decision.
Gyozo's wife was lying in bed seriously ill for weeks, when on the night of 10 November she dropped besides her bed.
Gyozo jumped there to help but - as the doctors stated later on - he got a heart attack. Two days later he got two more heart attacks in the hospital, and he generally had a very weak heart all his life.

On 12 November, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, our sweet Heavenly Father who loves him brought him home. God proved that He loves his faithful servant very much, because He did not leave him suffer for long.
Gyozo always told the brothers and sisters: Look, not the ill people die but the one whose time arrived!

"At the funeral, five-hundred brothers and sisters, many church leaders, many followers, and his more than thirty family members were present from Hungary and the neighbouring countries, taking leave of him. I understood one important thing in my life: it does not depend on God if we will meet. In my case it is me, in your case it is you who has to make the decision. When? When it is still possible. Today it is still possible! I live believing that just like until now He has always helped us with everything, He is going to help me and my family - whom I received from Him - to get there: by grace, because He does not show favouritism!

Thanks and gratitude to Him forever!
Hallelujah! Amen."

Written by Mrs Gyozo Sarkany in Miskolc in 1982.

"The memory of the true be blessed!"

How wonderful the Lord is in all His acts!
Glory to His Holy Name!

Translated by Eva Varga

Compiled by Rozalia Makai      http://www.vargamakai.com

Soften my heart

Words and music Graham Kendrick

Soften my heart, Lord soften my heart;
from all indifference set me apart
to feel your compassion, to weep with your tears
come soften my heart, O Lord, soften my heart.

Jesus lives! Halleluja!!!

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever."
(Hebrews 13:8)

All things are for the best of those who love God!
by Ferenc Sarkany



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