Not too many Russian-speaking people in the South Sound region of western Washington are familiar with the prophecies of Revelation.
The Russian-Ukrainian Parousia Church decided to do something to help educate their friends on what the Bible teaches about prophecy.
The church discovered something else in the Unhidden Mysteries of Revelation program they presented: Many of their own church youth had limited knowledge of end-time events and the Second Coming of Jesus. At the end of the meetings, seven church youth were baptized.
Vasily Svirida is one of the church youth. In his life, he wanted to be better but kept failing. He heard at church how people were reading their Bibles and praying, and he thought he would try it too. The more he read and the more he prayed, the more he realized over time how he was changing.
“My heart was full of happiness because of the love of Christ,” Svirida says. “I made a decision to live for Jesus. I wasn’t baptized (yet) and thought it was sufficient to just be a good Christian.”
Svirida continues: “I began to realize that we are living in the very last time, and there is not much time to delay with baptism. After baptism, Jesus is helping me make better decisions and live my life for Him, not for me. I pray often to God and read my Bible more.”
Svirida also brought his mother, Helen, with him to the meetings. When she saw her son make a decision for baptism, she reports how her heart beat quickly. “We had some prayers and serious conversations in our family," she says. "I am thinking over the decision to be baptized soon.”
The Russian-Ukrainian Parousia Church set out to educate their community about Bible prophecy and ended up training their own youth in a better understanding of last-day events.
Vasily Svirida is baptized following a prophecy seminar.
Seven youth commit their lives to Jesus in baptism after expanding their knowledge of Bible prophecy.
Vasily Svirida is baptized following a prophecy seminar.
