Treasures Hidden In Dark Places

A timely word from a brother in New Zealand

Treasures Hidden in Dark Places
Greg Woolston

Cast into the pit to find kindness in the murderer, compassion in the prostitute, love from the unlovely, encouragement from the broken and deformed., How can we separate ourselves from them… for they all have a cry within…” I REFUSE TO LIVE IN A WORLD WITHOUT LOVE”.
A brother of ours scratched on his prison cell wall those very words and soon after lost his mind. He was transfered to a mental institution, while there in his straight jacket an orderly told him how much God loved him, his love broke through. He left that place preaching Jesus, in the highways and byways.

HOW LOW WILL YOU GO.

I have a brother who lost his mind some years ago.. He rang me recently concerned, and said for days all he’d heard in his head was ‘Only God shall know when the last light will go out’. He said he had heard a Jewish rabbi cry these words out from a street corner some years ago & asked me what it meant. Just that morning I was reading a book of a brother who went to heaven… he was standing before Jesus & Jesus was saying ‘You’ll be sent back… tell them I’m coming back so soon’. While he was standing before Jesus he saw a great glory behind him… thousands of little lights were shooting out like falling stars. Jesus knew what was on his mind & said ‘You’re wondering about the lights’. Jesus then said ‘Every time a child is born in the earth, the moment it is conceived in the womb a piece of my Father goes out and enters that womb’. My brother said with a shout ‘Now I know that only God knows when the last light will go out’! All must go back to the Father… now how shall they know unless they hear?God has been good to me & provided in unusual ways. I have normally found things that other people have discarded, dumped or walked over to meet my family’s needs. Once while walking through a farmer’s property I came across a terrible stink & found his offle hole where he dumped all the dead animals. In amongst it all were long lengths of old timber which were old cattle yards that he had dismantled & thrown in amongst the dead animals to help burn everything when ready. The timber on closer inspection was cut from a beautiful native tree called Rimu. When I asked the farmer if I could buy it he said, ‘If you’re brave enough to go in & get it… you can have it’. I planed it & dressed it; it had been in the elements for more than a hundred years… it was beautiful. Once I got all the filth, moss & grime off it I made furniture & sold it to some of the best outlets in our country & put food on the table. If the people buying the furniture had only known. I could tell of many other stories where I have gleaned from rubbish dumps, the bush & other rubbish heaps & made a living but I might leave that till later.

Once while traveling through the land my wife & I had nowhere to sleep & asked two Christians if we could stay with them. When I got to their house something happened between the man & his wife & they would not have us. A local woman heard of our dilema & offered up her bedroom. She was a prostitute with three children. Her house was a mess. The youngest had gone to the toilet all through the house. There was no food in the cupboards. When I saw this woman cleaning her room & trying to make everything just right for us I wept. Her two eldest children were also so kind. Their rooms also stunk so badly. After looking I found they had wet their beds so often that their mattresses were rotten & the wire-woven beds had rusted & had big holes in them. I remembered the two christians that could not have us had two beds stacked in their garage. Beautiful beds. I went back to see them & after an hour of pleading they gave me the beds. I set them up in the children’s rooms… the children were so happy that they brought all their friends & some of their family to see their new possessions. While we were in that house some visitors came to see my wife. One evening while praying the visitors got very excited and began to say ‘The angels, can you see the angels!?’ I felt a beautiful presence but could not see them. What were they doing in such a place. The children’s mother’s name was Rebbeca. She experienced the sweetness of Jesus as did her children… she remained very proud & would not yield at the time. I was shocked & thought how can someone in such a terrible place, so broken, so miserable & so kind experience the presence of Jesus and not surrender. I saw at that moment that pride is no respecter of persons. Her daughter loved it all but loved Him most of all. I went to the local church & asked if they would help the family but they did not. We left that house. We went back to see them about 5 years later… I found the daughter down at the local church running a children’s church that was not a part of that church until she came.. I wept again & said ‘Father, they do not deserve her’. I am a selfish man; that’s why I have such thoughts.

I once was told by the Lord to go on a trip. I had no money. He said ‘Go’, so I went. When I came to the first town I met three friends of mine… Rachel, John & Jimmy. Rachel had been kicked out of a church because the youth pastor had slept with her & got her pregnant… He remained in the church & she was deemed unclean. John was an ex gang member. He had been hit in the throat with a baseball bat. When he spoke he made strange noises. He had been rejected in the church that he went to because they thought he had demons. Jimmy was a mental patient & they would not have him full stop. These three were beautiful souls. A lovely sister & two beautiful brothers that I’ve had special moments with. It was so humbling… they asked me what I was doing, they dug into their pockets & gave me all the money they had. I found it very hard to receive from them but what a blessing.

I must tell you… when I ended up in Rebecca’s house with those three children I also cried that first night in her house & thought what has become of me to end up in such a place… so full of myself, pride. HUMILITY GOES BEFORE HONOUR. We have been pouring over the blue print of what Christ has done for 2000 years. The angels in heaven are moving like never before for the sitrring in our mighty God toward the halt, the lame, the blind, the sick, the angry, the destitute, the lonely, the perverse, the base is great. For great is the love of the Lord. I have been full of excuses. My son Samuel is now 15 years old. When he was 6 years old he put his hand on top of his head & asked ‘If a man is filled right up to here with the Holy Spirit, then he is a man who has made no excuses?’. I have been that man so shallow, so lonely. Oh the terrible loneliness, for unless a corn of wheat falleth to the ground and die it abideth alone. I have cried all the way, ‘I do not want to die’.

Another time I had been driven out of an area & went to a new home with no furniture or possessions so I went to the local dump where they did recycling to get what we needed. One day while at the dump we found beautiful baby clothes, still with their labels. Someone must have lost their child. We took all the clothes home. A few weeks later I had a visit… I was asked to visit a man & his wife, I went. They were a poor couple but belonged to a big church. When we got to the house we found the wife up at hospital, she was crying… holding her new born baby in her arms & told me how they had no clothes for her. I was able to give her all the clothes that we had got from the dump… she was so happy. I was shocked that they belonged to such a big church & Jesus had to do his shopping at the local dump. I was once told of a brother who was thrown into a prison & they left him in his cell for nearly six weeks without food. He said ‘You would not believe it… rats carried little bits of food to my cell day & night’. I thought.. ‘God, why didn’t you just make a turkey appear’… He said ‘No, I use my people to bless my people’. Then I understood how selfish I was. Always waiting for someone else to do it when many times I could do the blessing myself.

Be ready, be open, be loving, be kind. I remember another day… my heart was broken when I met a brother who’s body was so broken down that he was in a wheel chair & could only use his mouth to write with & pick things up. He had to be looked after 24/7. His mother had nursed him all his life. At the age of 80 she had to let him go… with tears in her eyes she put him in a home. He had belonged to a church for 20 years. When I first met him I would find him in his room with a pencil in his mouth writing letters of encouragement to the people in the church that he had come from. It took him ages to write one letter. He did it gladly and with joy in his heart. I asked him if anyone in that church had visited him, he said ‘no’. I wept. What has become of us. Be ready, be ready dear friend of mine. When he says “go” do not decline.We find him in the deepest, darkest places… he’s a treasure hunter.

We only need his love to go empty handed.. that’s how my Father wanted me. The bible says that you’re the only answer… though I go with nothing Lord I choose to follow. At the garden lone & weary, hearken to my voice he said. let my friends depart in safety but imprison me instead, here is love untold, unrivaled, wondrous love beyond compare… tis’ the love of our sweet Jesus & his coming is so near.

Love, Greg.

In 2000, the Lord gave us a very specific word concerning this very thing... His Treasures.
The verse He gave us was Isaiah 45:3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

A brief excerpt from that word is as follows:
"For that which is coming soon – to get back the spoil that my enemies have taken into their households. For as Babylon raised up the cups – the golden cups – for themselves – and poured in their own wine. A spoil that belonged to My House.

So it is today. The prison houses of Babylon. The vessels, the golden cups – they are my people – they are my treasures. And I will bring them back again, from the bondage, from where my enemies have taken them."