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- Grant at The Seed Messianic Congregation
The Father’s Heart for Israel and the Church
Click here to read testimonies from the mission from Paul Tranchell and Audrey McIntyre.
Paul Tranchell shares about Poland on TONM+ Prayer Call.
Beloved,
As we write this note, we are driving to the airport from the Auschwitz concentration camp, the House of Life prayer house, and the Fountain of Tears, which are right across the street from the camp. We have been on the road for six weeks. In Italy, first with our children, visiting my mother celebrating her 90th year, and then cruising through the Mediterranean. It was a wonderful time with our family, filled with love and joy. At the end of September, we flew to London to celebrate 10 Days of Prayer throughout England, and we finished there in Poland. This past week, we joined together with an intercessory group from the United States, praying for spiritual life, forgiveness, and reconciliation to come out of the deaths of the concentration camps, both for Israel, the Nations, and the Jewish and Polish people.
It is difficult to know where to start, so we summarized our 10-day visit to the UK in our November Note and have outlined our visit to Poland below.
Worship & Watchmen Mission Poland – Poland, Auschwitz concentration camps, House of Life prayer house, and Fountain of Tears
For the last 9 days of our journey, we traveled to Poland with a group of mature watchmen/intercessors from the US to pray and intercede for Israel and the Church. Words cannot fully describe all we experienced during this week of intensive prayer. We had been preparing for this prayer mission for several months while also having a team of intercessors covering and supporting us daily. And we knew and felt strongly that our main focus was to pray for greater life to come out of the death and tragedy of the Holocaust. Remarkable to this focus, there are two new ministries the Lord has established right at the feet of the Auschwitz concentration camp. The first is an incredible exhibit crafted by Rick Wienecke, known as the “Fountain of Tears”. It uniquely depicts the suffering and death of Yeshua on the cross and the tragedy and deaths of the Holocaust.
The Second, is a House of Prayer called “The House of Life,” which was established by Mark and Cathy Warwick. We have attached pictures of The Fountain of Tears and the House of Life prayer house.
Before we visited Auschwitz, Mark encouraged us to first visit the Fountain of Tears, then tour the Auschwitz concentration camp, finally joining them at the House of Life. Below is brief description and some pictures that we sent to our family while we were visiting the camp. Below these pictures are images of the articles of clothing, glasses, suitcases, prayer shawls, and shoes that the Nazis stripped the Jews of as they entered the concentration camp.
Grant's Personal Text
This was just a glimpse of what we saw in Auschwitz. The wood from each block was taken by the poles after the war to build their homes that were destroyed by the Germans. And 3 million poles were killed as well during the same time, so lots to mourn. But some poles blamed the Jews for this so not much compassion for them, even after the war. And still no Israeli flag flying here. Identificational repentance is needed here between the Poles and the Jews and we have been praying about this.
You can see pics of the latrines, they were given 5 mins twice daily to go or be beaten or killed for more than the allotted time. You can see the large bunk beds in three stacks. 5 people per bed and in each stack and no socks, it was freezing in winter. The square piping going straight through the middle of the block was the only heat they got. And each block had a prefect prisoner that mostly ruled aggressively with severe punishment. These were either Poles or Jews who did this.
Many older people died on the trains before they even got to Auschwitz, some coming from Greece for several weeks with barely any food and nowhere to relieve themselves. 100 people per car and no windows. There was no grass or trees or sign of life in the camp, just death or work all around, as they worked them during the day with very little food rationing. The worst was the gas chambers seen at the end of our pictures, where 1.1 million Jews were gassed to death.
This is where we wept and prayed and took communion. The gas chambers were destroyed by the Germans but you can see the ruins. It was reported that many of the Jews going into the chambers were reciting Psalms 22 and 23. And we encourage you to read them. You can see the Israeli flag with the blood of communion we prayed over it, and the sisters buried Jewish emblems into the earth since none is allowed there yet.
This whole place is just unimaginable with the smell of death still being experienced. How low the depths of humanity can actually go is experienced in this place and it should never be forgotten, especially with our youth, which is why I took the photo of the many young Polish school groups that are now visiting here to remember these atrocities.
There is only one positive thing that came out of all of this death and that was a resurrection of the land of Israel. Please read Ezekiel 37 in the Bible for you to understand that in one day a nation would be born (see Isaiah 66:8).
Across the street from the House of Prayer we are working with here, there is a museum called the Fountain of Tears, which has been done by a gentile Israeli artist who we met. It compares the suffering of Christ with the suffering of the firstborn in the holocaust and there is something significant here that is difficult to put even into words between the suffering of Mashiach and the suffering of the firstborn in the family. Perhaps we need to meditate on this and ask God for a deeper explanation and understanding. I know we are doing this.
The house of prayer that has been erected here looks right over the camp and our focus has been to pray for the life that comes out of the death, the resurrection that comes after the cross for all those in the world who are yet to receive it. You can see the house of prayer pics at the end and the view from the balcony
We have been experiencing death and life in many of our prayer sessions and we know God has overcome death.
Lots of love,
Grant&Hali ❌⭕️
Auschwitz Concentration Camp
Fountain of Tears
During the week, the Holy Spirit led us into some intensive prayer sessions on the property, in the Fountain of Tears, in the House of Life prayer house, and through early morning prayer. We have come away with a much deeper understanding of the significance of this death and suffering and how the rebirth of the nation of Israel has come out of it. And the Lord led us into specific assignments connected to this focus, some of which were prophetic in nature.
It is a paradox for sure and highly complex, but we have all sensed a deepening of this understanding in our spirits. Not just experiencing the horror of this death but also the life that is coming out of it. During the week, we also learned a lot more about Poland and its people, as well as the suffering that they experienced amidst their German and Russian occupations. We feel strongly to pray for the healing of a victim spirit that is over both the Jewish and Polish people, and there is a great need for greater forgiveness and deeper repentance and reconciliation between the two peoples and between the two countries.
It was no mistake that we were to be here during the Feast of Tabernacles. As we came to the end of our time in the House of Life prayer house, praying and worshiping, we were looking on and facing the Auschwitz camp from the balcony windows. Drawing close to the celebration of Simchat Torah, The Lord gave us an incredible sense of love, peace, and joy. The Lord then led us to dance before Him in the Spirit, which is also a tradition of Simchat Torah. It is comforting to know that in the greater scheme of things, it is all finished through the cross and the resurrection. He has overcome sin and death, leading us into spiritual life and freedom, yet Jacob’s Trouble and the judgment on the nations is still to come and we must learn and know how to navigate and pray for this period before the Lord’s return. We believe this is one of the main reasons why the Lord brought us here at this time and it’s going to take some time for this to process.
We want to leave you with five pictures that we took. One was on the day we visited Auschwitz, and the other four were during the week, and at the end of our mission.
The first is an image of a butterfly, which you can see in the clouds above the camp when we were visiting it. The butterfly speaks of new life and transformation, which the Lord has brought and is bringing. The second was a picture of the sky when we came together to take communion to complete our prayer mission. If you look closely, there are seven strands of light similar to the Menorah. The Menorah speaks of light and love and the seven stars of the Spirit, but also directives from the Lord for His Body that we find in Revelation. We felt these were prophetic signs given to our group as confirmations of our mission to pray for greater transformation, life, and liberty to come into the Body of Messiah/Christ and for the world.
The third picture is a painting in the House of Life prayer house, done by an anonymous artist who is already home with the Lord, which portrays the death of the holocaust but also the life that came from it, as Israel was re-birthed as a nation, marking the beginning of this Restoration period for Israel and the Church. And the reconciliation journey now we must all enter into, in His Body, in order for the Bride to be made ready for the Lord’s coming.
There is a depth of revelation and understanding here which we believe the Lord will unveil to us as we move deeper into this restoration, into John 17 love and unity in TONM. The fourth and fifth pictures are of our special Watchmen group and the precious Saints that were assigned to this mission. Please note in the dinner shot, our special guide, Jacek Brinbaum who truly helped us organize and navigate the prayer mission. A special prayer and blessing on each one of these saints.
There are so many more pictures of the week that we spent in Poland with our group in Warsaw and Kraków but we just wanted to focus on the main message and the life coming out of this horrific death.
We sense from the Lord that everything we experienced there needs to go deeper into our spirits, enabling us to communicate this understanding in a way that both the Body and Jewish people may more readily embrace it. Upon our return, however, we did meet with Gregg Healey on “Heartbeat Israel“ to share our experience, as well as in TONM + on The R911 Project WATCH. They were both very inspired meetings. (Click the blue links to see the meetings.)
A special thank you to all those who prayed and supported this mission.
Lots of love in Yeshua,
And for His Glory!
Reconnecting Ministries
Testimonies From the W&W Mission
Paul Tranchell
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 1
Poland Ponderings Warsaw
Shalom Lovers of Israel.
We are processing and documenting our experiences in Poland. Here is our first release.
Poland Day 1 Warsaw
As we had a day of rest and prayer before starting our journey into Poland, it became clear that we would be carrying a heart for Israel and the Jewish People along with Poland and the people of Poland.
Jewish
We had four key stops in Warsaw. As we spent time at areas of prayer, prophecy, and ministry, we would take communion. Normally we would take a sip of the cup and pour out the remainder onto the ground as a drink offering.
The Warsaw Ghetto-
The Ghetto itself was destroyed completely as a result of the Ghetto Uprising. We visited the location of one of the gates entering the Ghetto. There was a monument that displayed a raised display of the original area. There was also an installation in the brick walkway and the adjacent park outlining the Ghetto wall.
The Warsaw Cemetery-
The Cemetery preceded the events of WW II and is still active today. It is unclear why the Nazis did not destroy it along with the rest of Warsaw. In addition to the normal graves, there are two mass graves that we visited. This is the first time that I experienced both an ongoing cemetery and mass graves. There was a significant emotional and spiritual impact of experiencing these together. On the one hand, a cemetery. There is a time to live and a time to die. A normal part of “life.” On the other hand, mass graves for a multitude who were killed just for being Jewish. The contrast was eye opening.
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews-
This was more of a learning experience, so we did not pray or take communion at this location. It was physically challenging. Three hours, non-stop, to review the 1000-year history of the Jewish experience in Poland. There were many years of good treatment along with years of oppression. Overall, it was obvious that Poland prospered when the Jews were free to function as a people.
Ghetto Uprising Bunker-
We tried to visit a bunker from the uprising, but it was under renovation, so we visited a memorial/monument. While there we encountered a Polish man walking his dog. He was quite belligerent, cursed us, and told us to go home. While not all Poles are like this, it gave us a hint of attitudes that remain in some.
Polish
We learned quite a bit about Poland during our day and at the Museum. Some interesting, shared experiences between Poland and Israel emerged.
The Warsaw Uprising- I learned about the Warsaw Uprising. Perhaps you have heard about it, but I hadn’t. Initially, I thought that they were talking about the Ghetto Uprising, but this was different. Towards the end of the war, it was clear that Hitler was losing, and the Polish Home Army rose up in a Warsaw rebellion. Hitler was not happy and diverted forces from his losing army to destroy 90% of Warsaw.
Poland Disappears- In a manner somewhat similar to Israel, Poland was eliminated as a country for 134 years. Clearly a shorter period of time and the Poles were not sent into a diaspora, but still.
Polish Boundaries- Through the years outside countries adjusted the boundaries of the country, similar to Israel. Currently the territory is less than the original Poland.
Poland has not apologized for its treatment of the Jews based on the statement “We were victims too.” We will discuss later but both the Jews and Poles have a victim mentality.
Paul
Day 2
Poland Ponderings the Fountain of Tears
Shalom Lovers of Israel,
This post will cover our experience at the Fountain of Tears. This is a unique and profound sculpture. This email may be a bit long although our visit was not the longest of our trip. We will cover 1. the concept and understanding of the sculpture 2. Tying the sculpture to Central New York 3. The full video of the sculpture 4. A book and curriculum for a discussion of the connection between the crucifixion of Christ/Messiah and the Holocaust.
- Some of you may have heard our discussion of this unique revelation after our 2022 Israel trip. We were able to visit the location in Arad, Israel. The second, and only other copy of this sculpture is just outside of Auschwitz/Birkenau, Poland. We’ve been blessed to visit both locations and had the opportunity to meet with, hear from, and pray for the sculptor himself, Rick Wienecke in both.
- The sculpture has seven panels and six pillars. Each of the panels has a sculpture of Christ on the cross and represents his seven last words. The six pillars have water dripping down and represent the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. As stated earlier, this combination and revelation is both unique and profound.
The following video offers a brief understanding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrZzZwYhoTI
- One of our goals for the trip was to take something from the Safe Haven in Oswego to impact Poland and bring something from Poland to impact Oswego and Central New York. We considered Auschwitz to be Ground Zero for Jewish death and Anti-semitism. Safe Haven was the only place to receive Jews in America during the Holocaust, so we considered Safe Haven America’s Gound Zero for life of Jews in America.
“Holocaust Refugees in Oswego: From Nazi Europe to Lake Ontario” is a recent book about the Safe Haven in Oswego. It is interesting in that it focuses on the people of Oswego and not strictly on those who had refuge. The last page of the book has one of the youths who had experienced the camp. He read a poem that was part of a collection of children’s poems from the Terezin Concentration Camp. The title of the collection of poems is “I Never Saw Another Butterfly.”
One of Rick’s last sculptures in the presentation is based on this. It is a child, in a crematorium, reaching through the door. The child touches the ground outside but not the butterfly.
I asked Rick to read the poem from the book’s last page next to his sculpture. He did this and the reading was recorded. We plan to take that recording to Oswego and play it.
As we discussed Safe Haven, our tour guide indicated that he had never heard of it and that it was not known among the area’s tour guides. After discussing the background of the facility, we left the book for him to read and share among tour guides at Auschwitz.
- During this visit we were able to purchase the video that is used for visitors at the Fountain of Tears. We have scheduled some time to share and discuss the video with our small group and are looking for additional opportunities and venues to share the information.
- We also purchased Rick’s book “Seeds in the Wind.” It starts with his life in Toronto, leads through his testimony of salvation, and into the process of hearing from God and completing the first and second sculptures.
I am reading through the book and found a curriculum for personal study of the topic. It includes a book, “A Dialogue of Suffering Between the Crucifixion and the Holocaust.” We have ordered the book and are hoping to pilot the material and offer it as a class after we are familiar with it. We will keep you up to date as we progress.
I can’t say enough about the profound and unique revelation that comes from this sculpture. Additionally, the impartation received during our visit played heavily into my experience at Auschwitz the next day.
Paul
Day 3
Poland Ponderings Auschwitz/Birkenau House of Life
Shalom Lovers of Israel,
This was the most intense day of the trip for me. As I entered Auschwitz/Birkenau, I was expecting to experience great emotional and spiritual pain. However, initially it was not as intense as I anticipated. The emotional pain would come upon me at some points, and I would be fine at others. As we stood before the ruins of the gas chambers and the crematoria, it started. During this experience, I was grateful for my Tabernacle Prayer experience that both warned me that it was coming and that it would end.
At that point I entered a very intense and painful reaction with heavy weeping and travail. I have never experienced such pain in my walk with God. I am not sure how long the pain lasted but I began to remember how the Fountain of Tears was tying the crucifixion of Christ with the activities perpetrated in these chambers. I saw and experienced a cross. It was like I was on the cross with Christ. Then I heard God say, “This is My heart for Israel” and I felt a sharp pain in my side. It was like when the spear pierced Yeshua/Jesus’ side and I felt it pierce my heart. That is God’s heart for Israel, broken and pierced. It was extremely, extremely painful. After that experience broke, I was relatively calm, and we finished our time at the camp.
We then went to the House of Life. There the leader began to talk about a painting and a concept that people talked about indicating that there seems to be a tie between this facility and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. A picture of that painting is attached. I was thinking about the tie between the Crucifixion and the Holocaust. I was thinking about the cross tied to these death chambers and this death camp. I suddenly spoke that this camp is equivalent to Golgotha. There is a Golgatha in Jerusalem, and this place is like Golgotha where the sacrifice of Jesus and the Jews are tied together, and the Heart of God was pierced.
From there, we finished our discussion and went into the prayer room. We worshiped and I felt something odd. It felt like I was covered with ash. The ash was from the Altar of Sacrifice. Because of the ash, I was not experiencing the peace and joy that I knew was in the room. It was a deep sadness, knowing that Holy Spirit was in the room, but I could not experience Him. I prayed for those who knew that there was peace where they were but could not experience it. It would have been devastating if I thought that I would be this way forever. But then comes Day 4, the washing at the Bronze Laver and the dressing in a new gown.
Paul
Day 4
Poland Ponderings Auschwitz 1 House of Life
Shalom Lovers of Israel,
The day started with prayer. We were praying about the victim mentality or victim status of people. Poland resists feeling sorry for their treatment of the Jews with the statement “We were victims too.” I sensed that the victim mentality was the ash. This was confirmed by Diane who had been considering the topic since the previous day.
Auschwitz 1
But first, we visited Auschwitz 1. We learned that there were two and we visited the number 2 yesterday. There were plans to build Auschwitz 3, but the end of the war precluded that. Unlike yesterday where the facility was quite sanitized, this facility was not. There were displays of shoes, luggage, etc. which were taken from the prisoners. There was also an experimental gas chamber that was eventually converted to a bomb shelter after more permanent facilities were built at other locations.
Treblinka was the first death camp established for the Jews and many from Warsaw were transported there. Auschwitz 1 was actually established for Polish and Russian prisoners, with Jews added to the facility later. As indicated earlier, Poles were victims of the Nazis also and part of our team focus was carrying God’s heart for Poland.
Chris experience: The one thing that took me aback at Auschwitz 1 was that memorials were set up. Most deaths at this camp were Polish and Russians, along with some Jews. As most Poles are Catholic, there were many candles burning as memorials for the dead. They tended to be Catholic memorials. I had a Jewish Memorial Candle from the US and decided that the Jewish dead would be memorialized here too. It felt like an act of triumph. I never cried at the camps. With the ramping up of worldwide anti-Semitism, it’s time for the resolve to be strong.
House of Life Prayer House- Visit 2
So, the next step in the Tabernacle Prayer was the Bronze Laver where we washed/scrubbed off the victim status. After that, comes the dressing in a new gown and a crown. Our strategy became to wash off the victims ash and cloth them in, not a new identify, but their true identity. The turban in the Tabernacle had the words Holy to the Lord. The turbans that were placed here had those words printed on it multiple, multiple, multiple times. The placement of the turban in our prayers was a restoration and that is to be the identify of the Jews as well as the Poles in their full identity. By now the people have been washed off their victim identities and restored to their original identities.
As I sat in the prayer room, I could now feel the peace and joy of God, I could soak in the peace and joy of God.
After that we had a great prayer time
Jacek- our tour guide
Maria- uniquely connected with Audrey
Mark and Kathy- the prayer house leaders
Paul
Day 5
Poland Ponderings Krakow
Shabbat Shalom Lovers of Israel,
While Krakos is an important and wonderful city, our experience was more learning and visiting with no real prayer points but points of interest.
Jewish Kazimierz-
This was the Jewish quarter of Krakow from the 14th Century until 1941. At that time the majority of Jews were transported to death camps, and some were moved to the Ghetto across the river.
This area is now a beautiful spot with restaurants and shops. We had our final meal here at Ariel’s Jewish Restaurant. It is located in a former Rabbi’s home.
One of our team members knew a woman who worked in the Fountain of Tears (more on that soon) in Arad, Israel and invited her to have dinner with us. I recognized her as the facilitator when we visited that location on our 2022 Israel tour. I mentioned that our team had prayed over the sculptor Rick and she mentioned that two groups had done that and indicated that one group had prayed over her that she would be “a translator for the Lord.” Audrey remembered that prayer from our team so that was us. Interestingly she was starting her efforts on that day to learn her sixth language. And she was in Krakow and could meet with us as she continued her efforts to learn that language. AH, THE CONNECTIONS OF GOD!
Ghetto-
We drove through, with commentary, the Ghetto but did not stop. Two interesting venues include a museum in a Pharmacy ‘Apteka “Pod Orlem.” It was the only pharmacy within the Ghetto limits and stayed open during the war and is now a museum.
There is a museum with a series of chairs representing those who died transported from that point. There are 33 oversized chairs and 37 smaller chairs, each representing 1000 Jews.
Schindler’s Factory Museum-
Perhaps you are familiar with the movie “Schindler’s List.” If not, you should be it tells the story of how Oskar Schindler purchased a factory and hired Jews to produce products. In doing so, he saved over 1000 Jews from death.
This museum is located on the premises of his facility. The museum is quite extensive and covers more than just Shindler’s activities with information on Krakow and the Holocaust.
Polish Pope John Paul II-
Poland is a heavily Catholic country and John Paul II was the first non-Italian Pope. He lived in Krakow off and on. He was a priest and eventually became Archbishop of Krakow. He is very popular in Krakow and his name is everywhere.
During our travels, we asked, has Poland ever apologized to the Jews for the Holocaust. The answer is no, and the comment was “we were victims also.” More on that in a future post.
However, John Paul II, as Pope, did repent and apologize for the role of the Church in the Holocaust. Given his home and history, I believe that is significant.
Main Market Square-
There were many beautiful buildings, statues, and monuments in Krakow. The Market Square stands out among those facilities.
The square is a massive place, surrounded by many beautiful buildings and a large church. There was in history a bugler who was shot in the throat mid-alarm. A bugler ascends to a tower in St. Mary’s Church, on the square, and sounds the cut off alarm in four directions.
Central to the Square is a large facility called Cloth Hall. This beautiful facility houses a variety of shops.
Krakow was a beautiful and meaningful city to enjoy and a fitting capstone for our Poland trip.
Paul
Audrey McIntyre blowing a shofar
MARIYA’S SHAWL
Several years ago, a fellow intercessor gave me a gift. At that time I was hosting a CT Prays meeting. We were introducing this 24/7 prayer initiative called “America Prays” to the Connecticut churches. We had Brian Alarid, founder America Prays as our keynote speaker. I was very busy at the time when she approached me. She told me the Lord told her to give this to me and she walked away. I didn’t open it until I got home. The gift confused me at first because this intercessor isn’t someone I know well. We’ve been in prayer meetings together, but we weren’t close friends. The gift was a large dark green shawl with large brownish pink cabbage roses. It looked like something Russian grandmothers wore around their heads. It was huge, swallowed me up and certainly not my taste. I was puzzled why she gave the shawl to me, but I didn’t ask her why. I put the shawl in my scarf drawer and promptly forgot about it.
About 1 ½ years later my roommate and I decided to go to church together one Sunday. She has a beautiful gift of dancing before the Lord with her scarf and when she does, breakthrough happens. She wanted to bring her scarf to church with her, but she didn’t think the church would accept her dancing with a scarf. I knew the pastor and I was sure he would be okay with her dance, so I encouraged her to bring her scarf to church. I told her I’ll take a scarf with me and we can dance together during worship. I went into my bedroom and for some reason I don’t know why, I brought that dark green shawl with me. The shawl still had the tags on, so I cut them off and left them on the kitchen table. Off to church we went!
We danced together before the Lord and as we danced I put my shawl over my head. Immediately I was in intense travailing prayer for eastern Europe. I could see faces as I cried out for Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, etc. The intense prayer lasted about 15-20 minutes and I sat down in my chair exhausted from the intensity of the prayer and totally confused with what hit me. What was all that about? I’ve prayed travailing prayers before, but never for eastern Europe. In fact, that part of the world wasn’t even on my radar!
After we returned home, I picked up the tags I left on the table and saw the shawl was made in Poland. I felt some sort of correlation, but still not sure what and where the Lord was leading me. At that time my heart was passionate for New England, especially for Connecticut. Not eastern Europe! Incidentally, this prayer was before the Russian/Ukraine war. (Was this why I was led by God to travail for eastern Europe?)
We went on a missionary prayer trip to Israel with Reconnecting Ministries in 2019, and in 2020 Grant Berry announced the next trip would be to Poland and Israel together. I felt a strong pull to go with them to Poland, but the Covid pandemic hit and we didn’t go anywhere. In 2021 there were still many restrictions, no missions trips scheduled then either. In 2022 another Israel trip was planned, I was one of the co-leaders. But no Poland trip.
This year, because of the Hamas / Hezbollah war in Israel, we all went just to Poland. As soon as it was announced, I knew I was supposed to go with them, and I’m to bring the shawl. I had no money, but if I’m supposed to go, I had peace the Lord would provide. And God provided powerfully! Someone bought my plane ticket and an anonymous donor paid for everything else.
We all prayed for Poland together as well as individually before we went on our missions trip. I sensed the Lord warning me there is a huge spirit of antisemitism in Poland as well as many old unhealed wounds.
I found it so interesting that a few of us in my house of prayer just finished an intense healing training class just before I left for Israel. Was the Lord preparing me for this trip?
A few days before I was to leave for Poland, I took my shawl to church with me and asked my pastor if the church could pray for me and for the shawl. The Lord told me I was supposed to leave it at the house of prayer we were going to visit, there was someone who I am supposed to give it to. After I told the church the “shawl” story, my pastor poured oil on the shawl and everyone powerfully prayed for me. I could feel the Presence of God all over me as they prayed!
I wore the shawl every place we visited in Poland: the scene of the Warsaw ghetto. The Jewish cemetery where the Nazis pulled down Jewish headstones. The Jewish museum telling the story of the 1,000 years the Jews lived in Poland. I wore it all through Auschwitz-Birkenau as we prayed the Light of God in that very dark place.
We spent 2 afternoons at House of Life, the house of prayer just outside of Auschwitz. This was a very interesting prayer house! You can see the gates of Auschwitz from their windows. The directors, Mark & Cathy Warwick told us they named their prayer house “House of Life” so they and all those who come to pray will speak life into that place of death and into the country of Poland. Mark and Cathy are a delightful English couple who generously hosted us, provided all kinds of sweet things to eat. We talked for a couple hours, then went upstairs to their prayer room to pray. At that time it was just Mark & Cathy and our prayer team. We worshipped, with Mark encouraging us to yield to the Holy Spirit, allow the Spirit to speak to us. Such a precious time of worship!
The door opened and a woman quietly walked in to join us. As soon as I saw her, I knew that she was supposed to have the shawl. She looked like a local woman and seemed overjoyed to see us. Cathy hugged her as a mother would hug her daughter. I could see there was a special connection between them.
After our time of worship, Mark asked if anyone wanted to share anything they experienced. I raised my hand. When Mark asked me to share, I stood up, and walked over to the woman. I wrapped both of us in the shawl. I told everyone the story on how I got the shawl and my experience with it in prayer. I told them I knew this shawl was supposed to stay in Poland and this woman is to receive it. I then prayed for her. Powerful time of prayer! I was told her name is Mariya Masha. Cathy ran over to us and excitedly told me she’s Jewish! I noticed that Mariya seemed a little embarrassed to be recognized as Jewish. She and I connected and she told me a little about herself. She’s not only Jewish, but she’s also Russian, Ukrainian and Polish. She also told me she’s not “completely Jewish”, only 75%. One of her grandmothers was a Communist. I marveled at how specifically the Lord led me to Mariya! This woman who represented eastern Europe! And she’s also Jewish! In the Spirit when I was under that shawl I saw a composite of her face, her generations of her people!
The following morning we had a very intense prayer meeting at the hotel. Mariya’s voice kept ringing through my mind. Especially her denying she’s fully Jewish. She seemed almost ashamed of the Jewish part of her. I had a sense her feelings about her Jewishness was indicative of many Jews still living in Poland as well as eastern Europe. I sensed many of the Jews still remaining in Poland had “assimilated”. They either denied their Jewishness because of all of the trauma their forefathers experienced in WWII, or they might not even know they are Jewish because their ancestors assimilated.
When we prepared for this missions trip, I was curious about the statistics that made up Poland. I discovered the Jews were living in Poland for about 1,000 years, they were welcomed in by one of the Polish kings. Then, in 1939 Germany invaded Poland and efficiently massacred most of the Jews through their death camps. Before Germany invaded Poland there were 3.3 million Jews living among the Polish people. Today less than 10,000 professing Jews are living in Poland. Also, the Poles suffered almost as badly as the Jews during the Holocaust. They were beaten, starved, and taken off to concentration camps. The Poles were considered almost as “subhuman” as the Jews. The Poles did everything they could to survive. Including turning in their Jewish neighbors for money and taking over their houses. After the war, the few remaining Jews tried to come back to their homes but they were told they were no longer wanted. They were told to “go back to Palestine”, or “go to the USA”. The Soviet Union took over Poland and they also made life miserable for both the remaining Jews and for the Poles. This went on for over 70 years, until the Solidarity Movement broke Poland free from the USSR, which fell apart a couple years later. So much pain! So many unhealed wounds!
An experience that happened in Warsaw keeps haunting me. We were walking back from the Jewish Museum to our hotel when we discovered another monument to the Jews. I brought communion elements with me on this missions trip, and we all took communion at key places we visited throughout Poland. I still had enough communion elements and was about to pass them out when an older man who looked to be in his late 70s-early 80s marched out screaming at us in English and Polish. I believe he thought we were all Jewish. He screamed at us to go back to where we came from. They don’t want us here. I believe over the years Poland had a lot of “tourists”, many visitors who wanted to see what happened to the Jews there during the Holocaust. Many of them were descendants of Holocaust survivors. The schools in Israel send their students to Poland to visit the death camps, to remind them where their ancestors came from. I could see all this kept bringing up the pain this man’s family might have suffered over the years, through WWII and they were part of the USSR. I also wondered if what this man was screaming about revealed the pain in many Polish hearts, yet he was bold enough to say it (or scream it!) where others are too polite? We asked our Polish tour guide Jacek if Poland missed the Jews? He said no they don’t. After a thousand years of living with them?? So much healing needs to be done here! So many old, old unhealed wounds!
Now is the time for the Polish people to be healed!
Then, as we walked through Auschwitz in the morning and prayed at House of Life in the afternoon, we all sensed a connection between Poland and Israel. It was through the deaths of the Jews throughout the Holocaust that the birth of the country of Israel had to happen. A couple of us had a strong sense of when the baby is in the birth canal there is a sense of “death” before the child is born. Even though Jews were massacred all over Europe during the Holocaust, the place of extreme death was Poland.
I was dreading visiting Auschwitz, I was so afraid I couldn’t handle the intense pain I knew I would feel there. But to my surprise (and all the prayers of our intercessors!), the Lord carried me throughout the death camp. A few months before someone gave me a white stone with the words “Revelation 2:17” stenciled on it (I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on it….” Declaring innocence). At the time I didn’t know why, but I felt led to bring the stone with me. When we got to Auschwitz, I knew this stone was to be buried there. This was to be a symbolic act of releasing the Nazis in forgiveness of all the evil acts they did. Even though we went to Auschwitz twice, I kept forgetting the stone! At first I was mad at myself for forgetting. We were taken to the officers headquarters and I had no stone to bury! I found a light gray stone and with my pen I scratched the Scripture on it. I left the stone on the front step.
The next day I found the stone as we were walking to the House of Life. Grant helped me bury it under the railroad tracks, the place where the separations took place: “To the right, you will be worked to death. To the left you are marched off to the gas chambers”.
When we were at the House of Life, we noticed one specific painting. Like most prayer houses, there was a lot of prophetic artwork, but this painting arrested our attention. Mark told us an artist painted this while visiting their prayer house. She later died and her family sent the painting to House of Life. The painting was of the gate at Auschwitz. There were streams of people leaving the death camps and walking into the Holy Temple. We were struck by the fact that when the Jews left their places of persecution in Europe, the country of Israel was founded 3 years later. We suddenly saw the depth of connection between Poland and Israel. Someone described an “umbilical cord”. But because the people of Poland are still carrying their pain, Israel still carries pain. Israel won’t be healed unless the People of Poland are healed.
The last thing a few of us did the night before we flew back to our homes, we walked to the railroad tracks where some of the separations took place just outside of Auschwitz (to the right, you will be worked to death. To the left, you immediately go to the gas chambers). One of us brought 3 trowels. We quietly dug 3 holes and planted seeds at this place of death. We declared life to Poland! Life to Israel! No more death!