Easy Chair Series

Macedonian Outreach

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels and Sermons

Lesson: 82-91

Genre:

Track:

Dictation Name: EC390

Year: 1986

This is R. J. Rushdoony, Easy Chair number 390, June the 24th, 1997.

This evening Andrew Sandlin is not with us, because he is at present in Johannesburg on his way tomorrow to Zambia for the conference there. Then Douglas Murray and Mark Rushdoony are both tied up and unable to be with us this evening. However, we have someone from Australia, Nicholas Seroni who will be sitting as our panel of questioners.

This evening it is my privilege to introduce to you my brother Dr. Haig Rushdoony and his wife, Vula Rushdoony. My brother is the retired professor and Vula was a corporate executive also retired. They are the founders and heads of Macedonian Outreach. Working in the Balkans especially in Bulgaria they have an extensive ministry there of a varied character and have been influential in enabling gypsies to form churches and leading them to Christ so I believe there are about 30,000 Christians among the gypsies now. Is that correct? Yes. And about 3000 of those are a part of the Macedonian Outreach ministry.

Vula , Haig, we are very happy to have you with us. Would you tell us something about the work you are doing? Vula, why don’t you start?

[V Rushdoony] Thank you and it is indeed our pleasure to be able to share with you tonight. We retired in 1990 and 91 respectively, Haig first and then I followed. And with all four of our children already adults, we found ourselves with very little to do just stay at home. So we literally got on our knees and asked the Lord to use us if this was pleasing to him. And he, of course, does not expect us to be always able, but he honors the availability of his people. And miracles started to happen and soon after this prayer we found ourselves going with a Greek pastor and his wife to Bulgaria. And this was back in 1992. And the work has expanded and is going on now in the sixth year and from Bulgaria the Lord opened doors into Albania, the former Yugoslavia and, of course in Greece and recently into Romania. So praise God for that.

[Rushdoony] Now just recently you were instrumental in getting how many tons of clothing to very needy people, Christians and others?

[V Rushdoony] Close to three tons of clothing and shoes. And we have been shipping all along clothing, however when I was there in April it was very cold and snowy, snowy and we realized that the children were not able to go to school or to church because they did not have shoes. And we had avoided sending shoes because they are so heavy and the shipping is expensive. So when we came home that became a very large project in our community for shoes for Bulgarian children and especially among the gypsy children. First this April about 500 pounds of shoes went to Bulgaria.

[Rushdoony] Gypsies are new to Christ, are they not? Up until this time there were very, very few Christians among them.

[V Rushdoony] That is right. The gypsies in Bulgaria as well as the other prior Communist countries were very, very prejudiced against their respective countries. They were segregated totally from the rest of the people in that particular country and put out in the villages among themselves. And they were told that they were ... they had no value. They were literally nothing. And when the doors opened and Communism fell and people came in with the gospel of the Lord they were so impressed that someone even God in that person of Jesus would love them that they were not receiving {?} enough of this, of the good news. And so we started the very first year that we were there, that over 1000 gypsies came to know the Lord as their personal Savior.

In fact, we happened to be there a year later, the day of Pentecost and gypsies came from all over the surrounding areas of {?} which is the second largest city in Bulgaria. And we all met in a big park and we had an all day service and brought at lunch time and then in the afternoon walked over to the river and at that time 160 of these dear folks were baptized in water. It was a very thrilling experience.

[Rushdoony] This is something quite new, is it quite new, is it not, for gypsies to come to the faith, because before World War II it was a rarity almost unheard of but the horrors of persecution by the Nazis and then by the Communists have shaken up the gypsies so they are ready to hear the gospel.

[V Rushdoony] That is right. And this is something very true and very few people know the fact that the gypsies in the time of Hitler’s Germany many, many thousands of them were also...

[H Rushdoony] Annihilated.

[V Rushdoony] Annihilated. Correct. Yeah, yeah. But not... not very many people here all know that fact.

So they were very and we are also very thankful because we are not there year round that indigenous pastors, Bulgarian men that love the Lord have become shepherds, pastors to these gypsies. So we know that they are taking care of all year round, even if we are not there. And that is something that we thank God for.

[Rushdoony] You have something to add to that?

[H Rushdoony] Yes, I remember the ... the first year we went over and it was a hot summer day. This was August, 92. There was a little sign posted in this village of maybe 600 people, if there were that many that there was going to be a Greek evangelist and American lay missionaries coming to seek in the soccer field which they call football back there.

As we sat there, people started to come, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. And it accumulated to over 1200 people. And when they heard something they liked, they would shout almost like in a football game {?} which in Bulgarian means, “Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.”

And afterwards it was hundred plus they came to Vula when they found out that she knew Turkish and most of these gypsies had original come from Turkey even though they {?} through generations.

[V Rushdoony] {?}

[H Rushdoony] But the older people... I remember this one lady just firing like mad, hugged Vula and said to her in Turkish, “Now that I am a Christian your God is my God and we are sisters in Christ. It was a very, very moving moment.

[Rushdoony] These are Turkish gypsies, are they not, who were stranded in the 75 years ago...

[V Rushdoony] That is right.

[Rushdoony] In Bulgaria.

[H Rushdoony] Yeah.

[V Rushdoony] That is right.

[H Rushdoony] Now the records show that at least 350,000 Turks, whether they were gypsies or ... or just Turks we don’t know, but statistics returned once the fall of Communism occurred to Turkey. But most of the gypsies have remained there.

[Rushdoony] Incidentally, the fact that you spoke Turkish was a point of contact. How many languages do you speak, Vula?

[V Rushdoony] Actually not as many as... as a lot of people, but I speak fluent Greek, because I was born and raised in Greek Macedonia. And English. I speak very distinct Greek dialect called the {?} dialect of Greek. And that has come in very handy with the refugees in Greece that have come from Russia and they will probably go for Georgia. A little bit of Spanish and, of course, some Turkish. So I get by.

[H Rushdoony] She gets by very well.

[V Rushdoony] Yes.

[Rushdoony] Now I understand there are real problems in Bulgaria which is an oil producing and grain producing country that distribution has broken down. Is it difficult to buy gasoline or bread?

[H Rushdoony] We no longer drive there. We... initially we would drive in Bulgaria and unless you have a garage to put your car, {?} because you won’t see your car again. We were broken into the firs time. Fortunately we took our passports with us, but our Greek pastor and his wife did not. And their ... many things were stolen. And the second time, while I was in church, they were going to steal it again and they {?} in... in... in sufficient time.

[V Rushdoony] It was the second time the same day.

[H Rushdoony] Same day. We used to pay what we pay close to five dollars a gallon for gas in Greece, you know, because of the Turkish government, the UN, the Greeks cannot extract oil from the Aegean which is in their territory, because the Turks complained. So the UN does not permit them so that all of their oil is imported.

Bulgaria, because of the Black Sea among other things, was rich in oil. We were paying 80 cents a gallon.

Now since... when we first went in, in 1992, the {?} which is their exchange was, I believe, something like 20 or 27 {?} per dollar. Last fall it was still ... or last... the last time I was there which was 95 April, it was 70 to one.

When Vula went in in September I was too ill and stayed behind, but it wasn’t it 270 to one? And when we talked to the Armenian pastor in February, it had risen to 1000 to one. You may recall that is the one time that Bulgaria hit the headlines, because they were walking the streets protesting. A person who had retired in 92 was getting the equivalent of 50 dollars a month. Today his dollar... his income was now worth eight dollars. They live in high rise apartments, you know, throughout Europe. So that means the heat is controlled by the owner of the apartment. So you are confronted—and as the pastor told us in writing and later confirmed over the phone—all ... all of their money was expended for gas, electricity and if you were retired or a worker. The average worker even in Bulgaria today and you had enough money to buy four loaves of bread the rest of the month. That is how critical the situation was.

When I called this retired pastor on the phone, another one who worked with gypsies, different from the one who we talked about, he thanked me for the clothes we sent and he said, “Brother Haig, can’t you send us some food? We don’t have any money to buy any food.”

And that literally broke our hearts and we then with God’s grace we did take the opportunity and we sent the post office... sent it as dry goods. We sent them dry rice, for example, rice in packages. We sent dry soup, things like that, {?} packages. It cost 21 dollars 60 cents, could not be more than four pounds. So we shipped them to six different pastors in Bulgaria and it got through. So after that we started putting them in the clothes and then we found out the situation. Even the Armenian pastor who had a position, he was still young enough that he was... he... he got no money from his parishioners, but he was paid as an anchor. And he had five people in his home and they were ... when we sent them peanut butter it was like manna from heaven.

So we had this big drive, food for Bulgaria. And we raised over 10,000 dollars, I believe. And our secretary, Linda Applegate went with Vula and we took across and they brought food and they took food and they took money and it was distributed. The deacons of the churches signed for so many, you know, loaves a week so that their money could be used for other things. So we took enough money for 55 villages to have bread for approximately a month. And we also sent through a Bulgarian contact in Greece that was in central Europe. We also send food for the Black Sea area to another congregation and help another 50 families of the Armenia community in the San Francisco Bay area raised money on their genocide day, April 24th so that we were able to help 200 Armenia families in Soviet Bulgaria. We also learned that Albania was in the same dire straits. We had a marvelous Greek pastor who indicated that Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia who went across, got through the mafia in Albania and fed 50 families with money that we sent over. He bought food on the island of Crete, pardon me {?}, pardon me and took it over.

So those are some of the ways that we were able to get money across. And then we have since sent money. The Greeks have followed up with another bit of money. We cannot directly send money into Albania and Bulgaria because of the mafia. It will be just confiscated. So we do it through third parties.

[V Rushdoony] I mentioned about the inflation of the money. When our secretary Linda and I were there with money for food in April their money was now 15000 {?} to a dollar.

[H Rushdoony] That is after the election.

[V Rushdoony] After the election.

[H Rushdoony] It went down. This man stole it all who became... he was supposed to be a figurehead president, but he challenged the {?} which was Communist dominated. They call themselves social democrats, but they were the Communists were in power in every key position. He challenged them and the people joined {?}. They went in the streets of Sofia protesting because they couldn’t survive with the money they had. They every day worker, you know, had like enough money left for four loaves of bread and nothing else.

[V Rushdoony] That is right.

[H Rushdoony] So they went in the streets and got parliament—the elections were two years away—to have the election in April and that is why Linda and Vula went in ahead of time, before the elections while, thanks, we didn’t know what would happen. You know, would they... would the elections be rigged.

At any rate the elections took place. The Communists were booted out. The premier now became a non Communist and the immediately it dropped... the leather dropped from 3000 to one to 1550 and it is now 1500. It has leveled off. It is still high compared to last fall, but at least now they have twice the money to deal with than they had in February. So it has helped.

[Rushdoony] I think this is important for everyone listening to know, because no matter how rich a country is in natural resources—and Bulgaria is rich in grain and rich in oil—and yet it is facing hunger and no gasoline...

[H Rushdoony] Yes. The price of ... in the streets.

[V Rushdoony] It is just sitting.

[H Rushdoony] Sitting there now. They won’t... they may steal your car, but they don’t have enough money to... to fill the gas tank.

[V Rushdoony] That is right.

[H Rushdoony] This is how we through the support of our pastors we get the money for transportation. That is part of the big need for them, see, because otherwise they couldn’t survive.

[Rushdoony] Well, this we don’t read about in the newspapers.

[H Rushdoony] No, we don’t.

[V Rushdoony] Unfortunately.

[Rushdoony] And it is important to know, because the whole world is facing devastation through inflation. We, ourselves, are further on the road to inflation than most people realize and they keep talking about inflation being only two percent now, but I don’t see how anyone who goes to a grocery store and shops can believe that.

[H Rushdoony] They can’t buy it. You know, feta cheese in Bulgaria is considered the finest feta cheese. The French may object, but it is considered the finest in the world. The Bulgarians don’t have the money to buy it.

[V Rushdoony] No. They can’t afford it.

[H Rushdoony] They can’t afford it. They can’t...

[V Rushdoony] And...

[H Rushdoony] We... we tried... we stayed at one of the homes and Vula and some of the women decided, well, let’s go buy some groceries. These people have been so gracious to ... to feed us for six days. Now it is mostly vegetables.

[V Rushdoony] Yes.

[H Rushdoony] They can’t buy meat. So we go to buy simple things like soap. They can’t find it. There was no soap to be found. And our ministry is bigger than what this is. We are supporting at least four pastors and I don’t know how many deacons in Bulgaria on a quarterly or... basis. We are helping children’s ministries there where they can now receive ... the... they can get children’s Bibles. We supply probably more than any organization more Bibles for children and adults in Bulgaria. We are backing off of that right now, because the International Bible Society has put out a pledge that it hopes to get a Bible in every Bulgarian home. Now the people send it, designate it for that, we will use it for that purpose. We do help children’s ministries there for the leaders to buy Bibles for children. They have tracks, materials so they can act out Bible stories. A child who goes to a session never leaves without having taken something home. It may be a Bible verse with a picture on it or a little tract that he or she can read. And they are reading to the parents, because now they are being the educated children.

[V Rushdoony] That is right. The was a very, very wonderful sight in one of the villages where the grandparents are illiterate. And just to watch the children now reading their Bible to the grand parents. That was very, very rewarding.

[H Rushdoony] We... two big projects in the Bay area. One church said they wanted to help build one of the Sunday school classes of ... of one of the churches for the children. And so they asked me to write a book about children of Bulgaria, which I did and we gave to every child at Christmas. And another... and they ... that money helped build that Sunday school room in {?} which is a city of 100,000. And another small church across the Bay raised money, the children did, again, the children, now, mind, not the adults, for a library. So we established through these two young... these churches of young children sixth grade on down, we were able to... they were able to build a Sunday school class, equip it and have Christian literature in it.

Another project that we have done is to set up at least a half a dozen libraries, give them money to set up libraries for adults and children in terms of any spiritual, you know, be it Bibles, be it aids and so on, that they can, you know, borrow back and forth.

Another thing we have done for the last two years is supply money for them to have seminars for their leaders, to train their leaders in the Bible, to understand the Bible better and also to how to teach biblical truths and understand children. So 95 November and again this last November they have had sessions there. We have had two couples who have helped support, to our knowledge the first gypsy young lady to attend the university there and she is getting the highest grades in the entire university. And she is working with the children’s ministries in three villages while she is going... attending the university.

[V Rushdoony] That is the most beautiful thing about this young woman who walks from her village to {?}

[multiple voices]

[H Rushdoony] To the... {?}

[V Rushdoony] To...

[H Rushdoony] And those are far distances, you know?

[V Rushdoony] ... take care of the children’s ministries.

[H Rushdoony] Yeah.

[V Rushdoony] Yeah.

[Rushdoony] Nicholas, would you like to ask some questions or...?

[Seroni] Yes, I... yes, I would, actually. I have been so encouraged to talk to you over these last few days about what you have been doing and what is striking to me is the... is the voice of hope that you express and your confidence in the future. And yet at the same time the realistic way you assess the situation there and identify the true moral problems that exist in these countries. Inflation is a moral problem. The theft of vehicles is a moral problem. The mafia controlling these countries is a deeply troubling moral problem.

What is your long term assessment of ... of Bulgaria and not just Bulgaria, but the other countries to which you... you minister? What is the place of the Church as a whole and so forth?

[V Rushdoony] In Bulgaria right now the hope is that the new government is truly democratic. But like any other venture it takes time for things to be corrected. Talking to our friends in Greece we just came back. We were told that for right now, spring time, they have their potato crop. So they have enough to get by through the summer. We do not know anything about that fall. What has happened in Bulgaria is the fact that the government would not release the farm land to the people unless they have they happen to have the old papers that prove that that parcel belonged to the individual family. So the farm land can just sit there and not be given to people to work.

On the other hand, that the crops that the government itself produces for its people was sold outside of Bulgaria after they... this is the old government, after they kept what they needed for themselves. Then they even sold the emergency supply outside. And this is the reason why they are in this situation.

Our hope is that because they are a very hard working people and they want to produce for themselves, our prayer and our hope is that the Christian world would pay attention not only to us, but others that have been there and come out with the real picture, because as Rousas said, you... you... you just don’t get the... the whole picture in our newspapers or our news, but those of us that have seen it first hand we would want the Christian world to pay attention and come forward until such time where they would be on the line and they would be able to take care of the situation.

[H Rushdoony] Well even now after only 50 Americans who have ever gone in in terms of anything spiritual in Bulgaria. The one thing as far as business that I know of is computer people going in now into Bulgaria. One thing and finish on Bulgaria, if you wish, I think we need to also commend the Armenians. We have dealt primarily with those in Sofia where there are only 2000. There are Armenians throughout Bulgaria also, 6000 {?} for example. But we have seen the priest and the pastor working jointly together and it is... it is a marvelous thing where the orthodox church is so predominant there and it can control things. But the... the Armenian priest and the Armenian pastor are working hand in hand and it has been a marvelous thing to... to witness.

[Rushdoony] I would like to comment on something so our listeners understand what is involved. You spoke of the problem farmers trying to prove title to what was their farm. This is true throughout central Europe and, as far as I know, only the Czech Republic has come close to a solution, but when you have had 50 years or more of Communism everything has been seized and confiscated. You know that your farm or your house was there, but how are you going to prove it now? Everything belongs to the state and you go and say, “But that was our farm. That was our house.” How can you prove it?

So this is a nightmare throughout the whole of central Europe and it is one of the many, many nightmares. When Socialism takes over it confiscates. It destroys and all records end up burned, destroyed. How do you start over again? This is creating a terrible situation all through central Europe.

Now, of course, you have described just one or two aspects of your work there. The medical work, I know, is considerable. You have brought over very seriously wounded children to this country for surgery and you had very broad and diverse ministry there. Do you want to tell us about a few of the aspects?

[V Rushdoony] In 1993 there was a group from my home town in Greece that was going with clothing and food and medication into Serbia. This was during the war with Bosnia and I asked if I could go with them as a Greek and I did. And that was a miracle in itself, but I did. And my purpose with going was to visit the children’s hospital in Belgrade. And when I got there I had with me a priest and two ladies from the Red Cross also in Greece. What our eyes saw was unbelievable. And what was so shameful to me as an American was the fact that as soon as the personnel in the hospital found out that I was an American they wanted to reassure me that they had nothing to do with the war, especially these children and why did America take such a stand against Serbia? And couldn’t I... didn’t I realize by looking that some of these children were also from Bosnia and Croatia, because the hospital is so large that they were bringing all the wounded from the other areas as well. And would I take pictures and bring them out to the United States just to prove that...

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[V Rushdoony] ...Serbia was not the bad guy in this war. And they were not taking care only of their children, but also the... from all sides. And what was so painful to me, especially as a mom, was the fact that because of the sanctions that America had put on Serbia there was no medication in this hospital.

[Rushdoony] Not even bandages.

[V Rushdoony] Not even bandages and they took {?} to this little boy, three years old, who was totally burned from his neck down. His whole body was charcoal. And the doctor said to me, “Take a picture of this and go show you people.” He said, “I don’t even have an aspirin to give this child from... for the pain.” And he said, “You know, this child is not even a Serbian.” He is a Muslim, but he brought him in from the Bosnia side, because this was his only chance. When I left that hospital I promised the Lord that I would come out and tell what I saw and that was the beginning of the medical part of our work. And praise God we have had 14 children that have come out for heart surgery.

[Rushdoony] Who would have died otherwise.

[V Rushdoony] Who would have died otherwise.

[Rushdoony] One of the children you saw and took a picture of...

[V Rushdoony] Yes.

[Rushdoony] The bones were sticking out of the flesh.

[V Rushdoony] That is right. That is right.

[Rushdoony] And that child died before you could get the paper work.

[V Rushdoony] Yes, yes.

[Rushdoony] ...done.

[V Rushdoony] Right.

[Rushdoony] I know that an American newspaper woman went over there and found that two doctors, both Serbian, had committed suicide because it was so nightmarish to see that suffering of little children and be unable to do a thing.

[V Rushdoony] That is right.

[Rushdoony] And to find that the nations that were supposed to be the good people of the world were frustrating every attempt...

[V Rushdoony] Yes.

[Rushdoony] ... to send in medicine.

[V Rushdoony] Yes. When I came back from that trip, I was really upset and frustrated and I thought, well, sure the Red Cross is going to come forward. So I called Washington, DC and I got to the main office of the Red Cross and the gentleman that I talked to said, “Mrs. Rushdoony, we are just as frustrated as you are. Our hands are tied. There is nothing we can do.”

And I said, “The Red Cross, since when do you take a political stand?”

And he said to me, “Since our president tells us that we cannot do anything.”

So that is where that stopped and we really couldn’t do anything at the time, but to try and bring these kids over.

[Rushdoony] You also have done a great deal to get Bibles in the hands of pastors and Christians.

[V Rushdoony] Yes.

[Rushdoony] And we forget that Bibles can be scarce in many parts of the world.

[V Rushdoony] That is right. That is right.

We thank God for that, too. There were people in the United States whose main concern—and rightfully so—was the spiritual welfare of these people. And although our first purpose as becoming missionaries in the Balkans was to bring the Word of God to these people, we also found out that a person that is hungry or cold, without the proper clothing, does not... is not able to listen care free. So that is when our work then was extended to both spiritual and also physical. As we fed these people and clothed them then we showed that they were so accepting to listen to the Word of God. And every one of our gypsies in Bulgaria that needs a Bible whether an adult or a child has a Bible of their own.

[Rushdoony] One of the problems there has been that some American pastors and leaders have gone over there and seen the devastation, the ruined churches, for example, bull dozed down by the Marxists and they say, “Oh, we will do something about it. Go ahead and start rebuilding.”

And they come home and they forget all about it.

[H Rushdoony] Rush, we had a personal experience. The ... one of the Bulgarian pastors telephoned us which is costing them a fortune, pleaded with us that this missionary had promised them several thousand dollars and the people went ahead and built the church. Vula tried twice calling them. This man even came to Switzerland, reassured the pastor who is coming and at the time we were just starting. We didn’t... we hardly had any money in the treasury. So we felt as Christians and as Americans we had to help these people. And so I was old enough that I could take money out of my IRA, so I took money out of the IRA, donated it to the outreach and we send the money over. Then when we were over there he said they need more money and I said, “Well, you know, I had to take it out of my IRA. I will go ahead and take some more.”

“Oh, no, no. I don’t want you to do that.”

But we have had a beautiful letter from those people. They have built a beautiful church. But, again, the Americans did not keep their word.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[H Rushdoony] They...

[V Rushdoony] Which is very unfortunate.

[H Rushdoony] Which is unfortunate, you see. Either we are a people... if we are supposed to be christens, don’t promise anything unless you are going to follow through with it or you have done more damage than good.

[Rushdoony] In Russia, central Europe, all through there, the number of missionaries and Bible believing pastors who rushed in and promised to do great things and told them, “Go ahead and start. Rebuild your church. We will help you,” and then forgot about them, has made the name of American Christianity anathema in many circles.

[V Rushdoony] That is right.

[Rushdoony] And it is giving the old Soviet Union or Russia an excuse now to shut the door...

[H Rushdoony] Which they are doing.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[H Rushdoony] Unfortunately.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[H Rushdoony] If you haven’t been registered since what was it? 1982? They are closing the door on the churches.

[V Rushdoony] {?} That is right.

[H Rushdoony] Yeah. And that could happen in the... in the Balkans. You know, the one thing, the one thing that people have going for them, I think, in Albania and in Bulgaria in particular is religious freedom. They have nothing more. They do have that. And our three fold purpose is very practical. We want to glorify God in all the spiritual things. We have mentioned many of them here. Medically which includes medicine now. We have a lot of people helping with medicine. Thank good for that where before we couldn’t even transport it. And then, of course, as Vula mentioned the physical part.

The ... we have been so amazed and yet we should... God works in mysterious ways . The paradox of the first cases of medical for six months we had circulated through another organization names of 10 critical patients from the hospital in Belgrade. Vula will remember this one guy before we could ever help. And while we were in Greece, we received a fax from our secretary called, “God works in mysterious ways.” And that was the theme of the article we put in the Chalcedon some years ago. Of all places, Arkansas Children’s Hospital opened the doors and when we came back the doctor called me and he said, “Haig, please, promise me you won’t publicize this, because the Clinton administration doesn’t want us and here we are in Arkansas in his state and we are the ones bringing the first kids over.”

[V Rushdoony] It was God’s sense of humor.

[H Rushdoony] Yeah. That is where we say God’s sense of humor.

Interestingly enough, we said nothing till the media got a hold of it and, of course, then it was all over. It was videoed all over the country and everything. And so that was the beginning of the...

[V Rushdoony] That is right.

[H Rushdoony] ... the medical and Vula mentioned that little Bosnian child. When we were back what was it, last year? We found out that they saved his life in spite of sanctions and he went back to Bosnia. I trust that he wasn’t killed in the war. The child that was, you know, practically nothing but abandoned.

[V Rushdoony] Another one of our countries is Albania and we really thank God, because ... because Albania had suffered the worst of all the other countries and was Communist the longest time as well, most attention was paid to Albania. And that is ok. A country of just a little over two million people has about 500 missionaries. And, of course, if the latest of the civil war, a lot of the missionaries have come out and escaped to neighboring countries. And although civil wars are terrible, when this particular instance, however, some of these missionaries have seen the need in Yugoslavia, Macedonia and some in Bosnia and Serbia and they decided to stay in those countries as missionaries. So this was one opportunity where they... Albania is a country that my heart before... before Communism fell was crying for, because as a Greek during the civil war in the early 40s I knew that children my age were stolen from Greece and taken over the border into Albania to fight Greeks by Greek Communists, children they grew up to become better Communists.

And we always wondered what happened to these thousands of kids. And I always wanted to go into Albania now that it was open to the western world. And God allowed that the second year of our ministry. We did go in with a lot of help, material, physical, spiritual help. But the Lord pointed out to us that because so much help is already there our ... my curiosity was satisfied and the only part of ... of our work in Albania now is sending clothing that cannot go directly, but there is a pastor like Haig mentioned in {?} who takes in the clothing and food.

Another part of the ministry is with the large amount of refugees in Greece. And the point I really want to make known to people is the fact that for the last five years there is a civil war going on in the Republic of Georgia, not in the big cities, but in the villages and towns. Very few people know...

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[V Rushdoony] ...thousands of people have been murdered, butchered and thousands of people then...

[H Rushdoony] Christians, now.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[V Rushdoony] Right.

[H Rushdoony] Christians, not the Muslims.

[V Rushdoony] Right this is...

[multiple voices]

[H Rushdoony] The Muslims are {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[V Rushdoony] This civil war is the Christians... the religious war. Yes. As a result of that, in Greece alone, in northern Greece we have 30,000 to 40,000 elderly and women and children living in barracks and Quonset huts and about 500 orphan children that were able to come from Georgia into Greece and these are Armenians and Greeks.

And the man that heard about this in Canada and left everything and went to Greece was an orphan from our Greek civil war time who when he heard this story, how hard... his heart was so broken that he took his wife and back to Greece and now he is a full time missionary to these people. We work very closely with them.

Macedonian Outreach supports 10 children. We would love to be able to support more, but one good thing is that we are able to send a lot of clothing there and whenever we are in our mission trip then we literally take food over form home to home and from barrack to barrack.

[Rushdoony] What most people don’t realize, you mentioned the Georgians as Christians. Originally the Georgians were a part of the church of Armenia.

[H Rushdoony] Yeah.

[Rushdoony] And when they became a part of the Russian Empire, they decided it would be politically wiser to become a part of the Russian Orthodox Church. Very, very few people in the world are aware of the fact that at one time the Church of Armenia which is not Catholic nor Orthodox, but was comparable to the Church of England, had churches clear across central Asia into China. And quite a new ... a number of churches in China as well as all that area in between. But by the time of Tamerlane, beginning with the Mongol hordes that raced across and took over Russia, those churches were obliterated. But at one time the missionary power and extension of the church of Armenia was staggering and yet nobody has ever bothered to chart that story.

Can you imagine a church from Asia Minor into China with all the area in between?

[V Rushdoony] That is right.

[H Rushdoony] Yeah. That is right.

[Rushdoony] Countless people from that Church are now in heaven.

[V Rushdoony] That is right.

[Rushdoony] And it is time that it was recognized. At one time the kingdom of Armenia, as these various churches were destroyed and the peoples obliterated, became a refugee kingdom for people from all over Asia, Christians who were able to escape.

[V Rushdoony] Yeah.

[H Rushdoony] Yeah, one of the things that ... as we move into the refugee camps, you asked earlier about Vula’s language. Of course {?} comes in handy there, because these are maybe third generations out of Turkey, Greeks and Armenians who escaped, went into Russia, Georgia, Armenia. Many then spilled over into Bulgaria and... and, of course, we are getting many into northern Greece. So this is where my Armenian has come in handy. And most of the—as you know—just as Greeks, most of the Armenians and Greeks are orthodox. And I have tried to go {?} and in talking with them and telling them about our background which was both Orthodox in Vula’s and evangelical.

And without exception every Armenian family we visited—and, mind you, many of these people until five years ago could not dare go to Church or they would lose their jobs.

[V Rushdoony] That is right.

[H Rushdoony] And they said without exception to me, “God bless you.” Every one as I spoke to them in Armenia. And it has just been a joy. We had so much going there. I recall the one time where we have met this elderly couple and this man said, “I was... I could... I am an artisan and I could not work in Armenia. There was no work. So I came here. Now I don’t know the language. I can’t do anything.”

So we tried to help the family out. So we give the mother the food and she says, “I don’t want you to...”

Now, mind you. These are people without Christian backgrounds who are looking out for one another. And she says to Vula later that, “Oh, do you ... would you be offended if I gave this to my brother’s daughter? Her husband was an officer in the Armenian army and he was killed and she has three young children. She has nothing.”

So we promised to come back two weeks later and we went to visit her and we did, but this is the way they think. They want to help each other.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[H Rushdoony] It has just been so overwhelming.

Another thing in Albania that we should mention is that we do help an indigenous, young Greek missionary over there on a quarterly basis. He has used the money, sometimes for medical needs, for whatever the needs are. We never put a.... you know, any... and then we helped last summer the Greeks had their first indigenous church camp there in Albania, in southern Albania. And so we have... we have tried to help in that way.

[Rushdoony] Nicholas, do you have a question?

[Seroni] Yes. That is extraordinary how much you have done in such a short time with so little money. What are the keys to doing that? And what can we do as Christians, fellow Christians in the West to support your work and to support the other good works that are being done through central Europe?

[V Rushdoony] Well, the most important thing, of course, is that we all pray for these people, that there is so much work to done that the Lord would send workers. Then I feel as Christians it is our responsibility to meet the need, whether it is physical or spiritual or medical, we could have been in their place, but it is only by God’s’ grace that we are not, in fact... I have people that say to me, “How could you do it? How can you hard take it?”

And it is not easy. In fact, on this last trip where there is so much hunger in Bulgaria. This was just now in April. And my heart was breaking and, of course, Satan likes to fight you and I could almost hear him say, “What difference can you make in this vast {?}?”

And our Lord’s gentle voice was in Mathew 25, “I didn’t say for you to do it for all of them, but as long as you do it for one of the least of these,” it says you do it for me.

So what can the rest of the Christians come, do? They can all of you cannot come with us on these trips, but in the name of the Lord who loves everyone no matter where or who they are, whatever you can do with your material, monetary help, we will be very careful and conscientiously to spend it to meet all these needs as long as we can. Promise the Lord that as long as we are able we will be available for you to use us.

[H Rushdoony] We do not... no person gets any money for helping. We have 16 intercessory prayer people. We have a committee of doctors who review cases at no cost, sometimes cost to them for mailings and so on. We have a computer committee.

[V Rushdoony] All of us are volunteers.

[H Rushdoony] All volunteers.

[Rushdoony] Haig and Vula put their own money into this work so that they are the biggest donors to the work of Macedonia Outreach.

Now Macedonian Outreach is a part of Chalcedon.

[V Rushdoony] That is right.

[H Rushdoony] Correct.

[Rushdoony] You can make donations to it either to Chalcedon and let us know you want this to go to Macedonian Outreach, or you can make it directly to Macedonian Outreach, but put in parentheses after it Chalcedon so the IRS if there is any audit will know that it is the tax exempt parent group.

Now what is the address if they send it to Macedonian Outreach?

[H Rushdoony] If they do, the address is PO Box 398, Danville. That is D, as in David, A N V I double L E, California, 94526-0398. And you can ... if you don’t designate it, then that gives us the liberty to use it where needed, but if you feel a need to designate it for shipping clothes which runs two, three thousand dollars a month or if you want to designate it for Bibles or whatever, that is up to you. We honor whatever you say.

[Rushdoony] Yes. If you are going to designate it, don’t do it on the check, but on a separate sheet.

[H Rushdoony] Yes.

[V Rushdoony] That is right.

[Rushdoony] For the IRS’s purposes.

[H Rushdoony] You will receive a receipt. And we... the same... we use the same IRS number that Chalcedon does.

[Rushdoony] Thank you and God bless you.

[V Rushdoony] And thank you very much. It was our pleasure.

[H Rushdoony] Yes, indeed. And thank God.