Lowell Hargreaves, an Amazing Facts evangelist, travelled to Budapest, Hungary, to call searching souls there to the Lord through a Revelation seminar. The following is the testimony of Akos Balogh and Anna Christina Pozderka as given by Ákos on the day of their baptism.
My name is Akos Balogh and along with Anna Christina, my wife, we had to travel a long way to finally arrive here. We were both trapped in the web of a false prophet, who was communicating with spiritual beings and continuously provided several seemingly undeniable proofs that he was led by the Lord. He showed us an apparently very simple and pure way of living, but he mixed it with — from a biblical standpoint — false and harmful teachings and principles. According to this religion, we had to leave our parents and all of our relatives. Anna was told she had to leave her two children, and I left my mother and sister. During those two and a half years, we gradually cut off ourselves off from the world more and more, breaking almost all physical ties.
Then one day I left this strange sect, though Anna decided to remain in the man’s company. But then one day, she came to visit me. She told me that the leader himself was ordered by spiritual entities to leave their home. He too had failed in his ways.
So she came to me as her probably last handle of rope to which to cling. We tried to start a new life as friends, because for those three years she was with that man, there was nothing between us. It was indeed hard to start anew, for the first time in our lives, without any guidance. We had been living a very strict lifestyle ... probably 10 times more self-sacrificing than the Bible even asks us to be. For instance, I only drank vegetable broth for nutrition those few years.
Clear Hearts
However, we soon started to open up our minds to the outside world. We carefully watched the signs of the times swirling all around us, and we put our trust in the Lord. We also felt the importance of the Bible, so we bought a New Testament. Slowly but surely, the ice that had developed on our hearts and enabled us to leave our loved ones began to melt.
But in our search to find a way out, while already working in regular jobs again, we took notice of a poster for a prophecy seminar. We had always believed in and had known that there would be a final judgement and that the whole universe was being prepared for that. We had been following the signs that seemed to indicate that it was all pretty close. Anna and I felt that this seminar might be that certain help from the Lord that we had long been looking and asking for.
We began to attend the presentations every day. The speaker, Lowell Hargreaves, explained God’s Word very clearly. It still took one or two weeks to become fully aware that we had found the way to the truth, because our first “teacher” taught us that the Bible was only partially true and that the book of Revelation had the most truth. He told us that the Bible as a whole, however, was not to be trusted since “it had been modified and re-written” in the past.
(PHOTOS. Top: The couple weds the day before their baptism. Right: The couple prays together before their baptism.)
So this is where we say a big “thank you” to Pastor Lowell. He was able to present us God’s Word with such clarity and authority that by his help, we began to realise, step by step, what sinful deeds we had committed. Having become aware of our sins and mistakes, we immediately changed the positions with which we had long been accustomed.
Apparently, by God’s grace, we had not been so brainwashed as to not be able to hear and listen to the truth. Convicted, Anna and I immediately decided to marry, and we also decided, having understood God’s commandments, that leaving our parents without just reason was sinful and that we should re-establish contact with them. Thus, as a result, I first saw my mother and sister after three long years at our wedding yesterday!
I can tell you, and my wife would confirm this, that our life has started to go in the right direction in every respect. Our heart is clear again. And all this has been crowned by this beautiful day!