An Architect Speaks- Hans Hoos

My family was a nominal Christian family.  Our Christianity consisted only of being registered church members.

In our day to day life, God did not exist.  On Sundays my parents went to church but I never saw them praying or reading the Bible.  In the church and at school I heard about the things of God and learnt the Ten Commandments.  But I had only a vague idea of what a true Christian is and I could not resist the sins of youth.  My life had two faces.  On Sunday morning I would listen to the sermons and sing the hymns.  Despite being a singer in the choir, on Sunday evening I would go to the movies and fill my heart with many unclean pictures and thoughts.  My imagination got corrupted to such an extend that I planned and thought of doing crimes of the same order as the worst criminals did and of which I read in the newspapers.

The uncleanness and also the sin of masturbation made me realize my great inner need so that I began to go to solitary places to seek God and to weep about my condition.  But I did not yet know about true repentance or conversion.

With all my sin and guilt I entered married life.  Even on our honeymoon trip, adultery was in my heart.  But God in His great lovingkindness saw my misery and heard my cries and showed mercy toward me.

My wife and I were invited to the retreats addressed by Joshua Daniel.  The intense and the clear preaching of the Word of God helped me to acknowledge my sin deeply and to repent truly.  With tears I confessed before God all my sins and uncleanness and before men those sins which I needed to put right with them.  Thus I began to set my heart and conscience right.  I returned stolen things to their rightful owners, paid money back to an insurance company because I had deceived them and asked my teachers to pardon me for having cheated them at class tests.  I asked my parents, brothers, sisters and my wife to pardon me for my sins such as disobedience, lovelessness, etc.

Soon after that, as I was reading the Word of God, the Lord assured me that He had forgiven my sins through Isaiah 54:4, "Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed:  neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame:  for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more."

I had brought shame to the Lord by my shameful and hypocritical life in my youth and He had forgiven that shame.  Peace and joy, and a hitherto unknown consistency in reading the Bible came into my life.

The servant of God prayed for my sickness too and I was healed of a long-standing stomach ailment.

Soon my wife, who was led to repentance at the same time, and I began to pray together.  We experience the power and reality of prayer by receiving God’s help and deliverances in many crisis situations.  God’s Word gave us answers to questions in our marriage and the upbringing of our children.  The literature of the Fellowship was very helpful in building our spiritual life.  In my responsible position as a civil engineer, I learnt to take conflicts and problems to God in prayer and experienced God’s help in dealing with colleagues, business people and customers.

The desire grew in our hearts to pass on this saving message to others.  At first we served the Lord in our free time and at weekends.  Through Exodus third chapter, where God appeared to Moses at the burning bush, we saw God’s call to serve Him full-time for the salvation of souls.  God confirmed His call for full-time ministry through Jeremiah 15:19-21, "Therefore thus saith the LORD, if thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me:  and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth:  let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.  And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall:  and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee:  for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD…"