Greetings to all of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that you are standing firm in the faith, and in all areas are being transformed into the likeness of our Lord Jesus
I hope this is the last update from me here. I know I’ve said that before, but things are moving very fast right now. There’s so much I would like to share with all of you. So many things are happening all the time. The war is ON right now, and we have come to the end of this journey.
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I’ve now been locked up for one year and twenty days, and you who have followed this case know a little about how crazy it has all been, with the accusations of weapons smuggling and human trafficking, and with how I have been looked at as a national threat. If you have seen the REVEALED series on YouTube, you have seen how I got an email three years ago from one of the men behind the lies, first in Denmark, and then when I came here. And there, he wrote to me three years ago, “Good you are coming to America. Now I can finally destroy you.” And he also wrote, “I will get you to jail.”
So, if you haven’t seen the series, REVEALED, on our YouTube channel, then really go in and see it. But you who have been following, know a little about how crazy it is, but there’s even more. There’s actually much more to say than what you have heard about. There are many things I’m not able to share right now, but when it’s all over you will hear and understand the war we are in.
A big encouragement
I can only say right now that we are coming to the end of this journey. It is time to take the Promised Land, and not give up because of the giants we are facing in the land. We must all have the same attitude as Joshua and Caleb in the Bible, even when it’s difficult. And I know that we are tired. It is truly hard for me and my wife. We feel in many ways that we cannot keep this up for much longer. The battle has been very extreme in so many ways, and it feels like we are standing in front of a breakdown, or a breakthrough – one of those – and especially with my wife Lene and where she is right now.
But God has given us manna here in the desert again and again, and He keeps speaking to us and giving us hope and encouragement. The other day we actually experienced a great blessing, and God spoke to us in a beautiful way.
Two weeks ago, when I spoke to my son Sonny, back in Europe, he said, “Hey Dad, we are having a baby!” And I was like, “What? A baby!” This is baby number four that they are having, and I was like, “A baby!” And I was crying and very emotional. I’m extra emotional these days with everything, because yeah, it’s just different, as you can understand.
So, they are having a baby! Then he said, “A son,” and I was crying even more, “A son!” And he said, “On Wednesday.” So, I was like, “What? What?!” And he said, “Yes, on Wednesday.” So, I was like, “On Wednesday?” like, “Are you adopting?” That was my thought.
So, Sonny told me about how a few months after I got detained, his wife Hannah became pregnant, but they didn’t tell us because they wanted to tell me face to face when I came out. So, they waited a few weeks. I did not come out. “Maybe in a few weeks more he will come out.” No. Then there was a chance I could come out next month… No. Maybe the next month I would be out… No. And time just went on. So now, she was nine months pregnant, and it was time to give birth, so therefore they told us. This also shows a little about how long I have been here, and how again and again we have thought, “NOW it must be the day I will come out,” but I have not.
But the twelfth of July, Sonny and Hannah got a beautiful little boy, and what a blessing he already is! A beautiful little boy, and his name is Caleb. So now they have David, Joshua, Abigail, and Caleb. I have some pictures you can see here. Especially when I look at this little boy, how beautiful he is, there is one picture especially, where Hannah told me how Joshua is so excited about Caleb, he cannot get his eyes off him. And when I saw this picture here of Joshua and Caleb, I just looked at the two boys and I thought, “Joshua and Caleb, what does God have in store for you boys in the future?” Yes, and with David and Abigail and all of them.
I felt I needed to go in again and read about Joshua and Caleb, and when I did that, it just spoke to me. It truly spoke to me and Lene, and it gave us hope not to give up now. We feel we have walked through the desert, we have come to the Promised Land, and we are now facing the giants in the land. In many ways we are tired, and somehow almost want to give up, but no! God is faithful! And yes, even though the giants are so big, that we seem like grasshoppers in their eyes, we have a greater GOD, and it’s not time to give up now, it’s time to KEEP STANDING FIRM.
If you don’t know the story about Joshua and Caleb, you can read it in Numbers 14, or the beginning of Joshua. In Numbers 14:24 we read about the attitude of Caleb. It says here, “But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.” And this is the thing. We need “another spirit!” We need to follow God “wholeheartedly,” with EVERYTHING in us!
So, God blessed Sonny and Hannah with little Caleb, God blessed us with another grandson, and God has already used this little boy to speak to us! God
has great things in store for this little boy, and for the whole family!
Helping others – it brought a change
Things are happening in my case, and we will update you as soon as we can. But many things are also happening in here. Just two days ago, at 3:00am in the morning, my cell door opened, and a new man came into my cell. He put the mattress on the floor and slept there, because I had a lot of things on the bunkbed that needed to be removed first.
This man was just full of fear. He did not speak one word of English, and I don’t speak Spanish, but you could just see the fear in his eyes. I tried to smile, and tried to calm him down, but he was just afraid. He couldn’t lay down and rest, he stood up every time he heard a noise, and looked out the cell window, and I tried to calm him down.
It’s really an experience to see fear in the eyes when a new person comes here. I’ve experienced that several times when they come here, especially in the middle of the night. It’s hard when you’ve never experienced this before. Those people who came to our dorm, when they first came here, were put in a cell to wait, and they waited twelve hours with no food and no water – twelve hours in that cell.
At one time, the food came, but it was put outside the door, and no one brought it in. They were trying to call the officer to get the food brought in, but it didn’t happen. So, after the twelve hours of waiting, when they finally left that cell to come here to my dorm, they asked if they could get some of the food here, but they were told, “No.”
So, it’s just a shocking experience to come to a place like this, and many people are shocked and full of fear when they first arrive. But people are being changed. That same day, a man said to me, “Torben, I am so thankful for God bringing you here. We are all thankful. Torben, you have changed my life.” This man was a Baptist. He said he would sit in church every Sunday, in the same seat, him and his family, and would just criticize everyone. But, since he came here, since he met me and heard my teaching, his life has been changed. God is now speaking to him. He gets dreams and he is so thankful. His life is completely changed.
Besides that, he has now just decided to help three brothers here with a bond so they can get out. He’s also going to help them with work. They are going to live in his house for a time, and he is going to take care of them.
This is because he saw how I was working, how I was living in here, and how I was helping others. Like, every time new people come here, I ask if they need money for food, or money for the phone, and then we transfer money to them, because people should not be in here without anything, without extra food, or without being able to call somebody on the phone. It’s more blessed to give than to receive! There’s a young man for example – he was not able to talk with his mom for two and a half months before I heard about it, and then we transferred some money to him. We have done that several times, so he is able to call his mother.
So, this man saw how I was helping other people, and now he has started doing the same thing. He saw how I was giving to other people. He saw how I was not living for myself, and then he started to do the same. And he told me how it has just transformed his life. Also, his wife, she had never done anything like this before, helping other people in this way, but the other day she said, “I feel God! I feel God!” So, God is truly transforming him! He said to me, “You being here has changed the whole dorm. I know I will never be the same again.” And yesterday when we had a teaching, all thirty people came! So, many things are happening in here!
I now KNOW in a deeper way.
A friend, the other day, he said to me, “I cannot wait, Torben, until you come out, to hear what you have learned, the new teaching God has revealed to you.” And to this I want to say that yes, I’ve learned a lot of new teaching, things God has revealed to me about the kingdom of God, and the End Times, and persecution, and suffering, and the gospel, but EVERYTHING is changed.
It’s very difficult to understand, but I thought about it, there is teaching I’ve been teaching for years. Every time we do a Bible school, I always start with a teaching out of Joseph’s life, how he was thrown into the pit by his brothers, and later to jail, and how he stood in front of Pharaoh. I used to teach it and talk about character and different seasons in our life. I will never be able to do that teaching exactly as I have before, because now it’s just different. It is DEEPER. I UNDERSTAND what it means.
Like, I’ve been teaching for years out of Luke 10 and Matthew 10, where Jesus sent out His disciples. In Matthew 10, He says, “I’m sending you out as lambs among wolves, therefore be discerning as snakes and innocent as doves, and be on your guard…. And when they arrest you,” Jesus continues. I will teach that teaching again, but NOT the same. It will NEVER be the same, because I now UNDERSTAND it. I have FELT it. I KNOW it in a deeper way.
I know Jesus in a new way – I have experienced his love and grace in a new way – Job said this after his trial in Job 42:5 “I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.” Some people know Jesus as their healer, some as their provider. I now know Jesus in a new way through persecution – what an honor.
So, I will say, everything has just changed, and it’s difficult to explain what has been going on in our lives this last year. But it reminds me of a prophecy I got ten months ago. The end of the prophecy was this, “Who you were before you came into prison could not accomplish the work God has for you to do in the times ahead. He’s having to crush you in this season in order for you to become who He needs you to be in the next season of war. Rejoice because of this.” And I want to say that this is so correct! It is really special in so many ways.
So, here we are, one year and twenty days later, and hopefully this will be the last newsletter from me. I know I’ve said that before, but many things seem like it’s coming to the end. It can explode right now, in so many directions, and the war is ON! I feel that. So, I want to encourage everyone out there, BE BRAVE! Be devoted to God, WHOLEHEARTEDLY! Let’s STAY STRONG! Let’s not fear the giants! Let’s HAVE FAITH! God is WITH US, and it will be exactly what HE has said!
I want to say thank you all again for your prayers and your support. You can still support the work here, on FriendsofTorben.com, and there you can also send a letter to me if you want. As I’ve said before, this is so much bigger than me, or even our ministry The Last Reformation. This is really an attack on the whole Body of Christ, and you’ll see that very clearly when it’s all over and you hear all the details of what has been going on this last year.
Times are changing, and this is OUR fight, but GOD is doing something new, and the enemy will try everything to stop it. So, I want to say thank you. Stay strong. We love you guys. We are so thankful for your prayers and your support. Let’s pray for this, and pray for a breakthrough in our churches, pray that millions of souls will be saved, that the gospel will go out, pray that we will see strong disciples ready to obey Christ, and also of course for a breakthrough in our case, that all lies will be revealed and that righteousness will happen!
So, this is what I will say here. Big blessings! Love to all of you! We are fighting the fight, IN FAITH!
So, a big blessing here, from,
Prisoner of Christ,
Torben Sondergaard