Friday, October 03, 2003 8:43 AM
TLIG in Armenia
In a week’s time, Vassula will be witnessing in Armenia. The following report comes from the translator of the True Life in God messages into Armenian.
TLIG, ARMENIA AND ARMENIANS
Dear TLIG friends,
The members of the TLIG Armenia group have decided to share some testimonies with you. We believe this will provide a useful contribution to the collection of evidence for the Glory of Our Lord.
I am more than certain that, in reading the following pages, many of our brothers and sisters in Christ will be motivated to pray for our small TLIG group in Armenia, and all the more as the battle escalates day by day. A sincere prayer does miracles.
Sincerely,
Tigranuhi Markosyan
Armenia
OUR GOD IS A LIVING GOD!
TLIG messages have been disseminating throughout Armenia since 2001. So far, these messages have been accompanied by incredible stories of healing, visions and of course an increasing number of ‘newborns’ – newly converted ones.
Despite the diverse nature of these manifestations, however, one thing is common to all the readers, audio-cassette listeners, videocassette viewers ? they all reveal that their God is so simple, has so much Love towards them, is so near and can talk directly to them, and that consequently they all fall in love anew with Him.
As one graduate of a University of Law said after reading the booklet: “I could have never imagined that God could speak, that He could love and suffer for us. I thought worshipping means just to go to church, lighting a candle and saying your wish with fear in your heart towards God.”
PRAYERS PERFORM MIRACLES!
Our first story is about a godly Christian couple in Yerevan who host a weekly prayer meeting group of about 35 members, and where the translated TLIG messages are read. This couple had a medical emergency. Sister Varduhy, the wife of the leader of the group and the hostess of the meetings, had an acute fit in the right side of her body. The pain was so unexpected and so terrible that she could hardly knock on the window to call her husband. The husband carried her into bed with great difficulty. Before calling the ambulance he took the TLIG booklet and began praying in great distress a prayer for healing and salvation. She too was praying and asked God not to take her soul since there would be no one to clean the house and host the prayer group members.
At that time she heard a voice, “Lie down, the operation starts”. Varduhy could feel her muscles moving on the right side of her body. The pain was very acute, which was evidence that there was indeed an operation going on. The operation lasted for 15-20 minutes.
At one point, every movement and pain stopped, and Varduhy thought that the operation was over. She stood up, wanting to walk. However she again felt pain and had to return to bed. Again she heard the same voice: “We have not finished yet, wait for a while”. This was followed by another 15-minute cycle, with the same pains and muscular movement?
This time there was no break any more. And now there was no need to call an AMbulance. Varduhy was restored to full health and there was no indication that, not long ago, she had been on the verge of death.
Another story was told to me by sister Gohar, who attends our prayer meetings at the Brotherhood. One of her close relatives was practicing magic and sister Gohar began praying for her. Each night she would feel a strong demonic attack against her. She felt great despair as she experienced the fierce struggle with the demonic. I advised her to pray the prayer of St. Michael the Archangel. She took my advice.
The following Sunday she came up to me and told me that, after praying that prayer, she had fallen peacefully asleep. In the middle of the night, she opened her eyes as it were in Heavenly peace and could not believe what she saw?. Her bed was surrounded by a silver light and she saw wings of silver ‘fanning’ over her bedside. She felt a great warmth and was very encouraged?
Some time later the relative repented.
PROPHECY REGARDING RUSSIA THAT STARTED IN ARMENIA
Armenia was the first among the former Soviet republics that stood against the godless regime in late February 1988, as unarmed people took their stand against the well-armed Soviet forces!
The unimaginable was taking place: day after day, night after night, Jesus was calling us to Freedom Square to pray for renewal. The Soviet Army was eager to shed blood, and the tanks would circle the Square trying looking for an excuse to attack the multitude which stood without arms and without any means to protect themselves; but they could not. It was as though something was hindering them. It must be noted that, in other cities, the Soviet forces did in fact shed the blood of innocent, peaceful citizens. In Yerevan, the soldiers could not understand what force stood behind these Armenians that was hampering them?
The answer was simple: the crowd was praying! Perhaps for the first time in the history of the communist regime, a 103 year-old priest was preaching openly to hundreds of thousands Armenians and they were all praying to their Lord. As a result, their Lord spread His Almighty Arms to protect His people. His presence was so obvious and so warm, that even the attitude of those standing in the Square had changed. The crowd was overcome by a strong sense that they were all one Family, and that their Father was the God who had come down from the Heavens to be with His children who cried out to Him?
Later, when we obtained the full set of the TLIG literature, we learnt that in January and February of 1988 our Lord had given prophetic messages to Vassula regarding the resurrection of Russia!
How We Discovered TLIG
In one of our prayer & fasting days at my summer cottage we looked through a Russian copy of a selection of TLIG messages. This was our first introduction to TLIG, albeit in Russian. We read the messages aloud and began to meditate on them, and to pray that we would be able to obtain the entire book. Who could have known that, one day, the opportunity to experience LIVING DIALOGUE with God would be given to us so abundantly and, further, that we ourselves would become the publishers and disseminators of TLIG messages due to Suzy Vardanian from Australia, a well-known TLIG Family member, and Arpy Gouloumyan from the United States.
Just as the booklet was ready to go to the printers, we experienced a strong desire to go to St.George church by foot. Our purpose was to pray for the protection and blessed dissemination of the messages. Later on we learnt that St George played a central role in the TLIG messages.
Our Lady was preparing me
In 1991 I witnessed the apparation of Our Lady on Biblical Mt Ararat. Our Lady called me to a remote border village from where Mt Ararat is clearly visible. There, too, is a church named after Saint Gregory the Illuminator, who had been kept there in a deep pit for 13 years preceding 301 AD when the Armenian king adopted Christianity as state religion.
In those years Armenia was completely blockaded and was facing war and socio-economic collapse. There was no petrol, and no traffic. I had no car of my own and I asked Our Lady to provide me with transportation for the more than 30-mile trip from Yerevan, capital of Armenia, where I lived. Can you imagine that while the residents of Yerevan had to travel by foot for two or three hours a day in a completely paralyzed large city, Our Lady ensured five opportunities for me to travel to the Armenian border free of charge, without any obstacles.
The apparitions I experienced at Mt Ararat were similar to the one in Zeitun, Cairo – silent messages. Later, while I was translating a videocassette of Her apparitions in the 20th century, I had a strong desire to visit Zeitun, to see it for myself and to receive the blessings directly from Our Mother ? At the time I could never have imagined that, several years later, my TLIG friends Suzy, Avo and Arpy would invite me to join the Egypt pilgrimage… I could never have imagined that Our Lady would give me that honour!
Zeitun was the last place we visited during that 10-day pilgrimage. I’m sure you can imagine the feelings I experienced while entering the church. Our Lady gave me a warm welcome. I understood that she is interceding for all those who serve Her. Egypt, too is under her intercession, the country that gave the Holy Family refuge.
Our Lady then commanded me to translate Her messages those of Medjugorje and TLIG into Armenian, again silently and gently, and to regularly read these out loud to our Brotherhood gatherings (Brotherhood of Armenian Apostolic Church-lovers, headed by Hamlet Zakaryan) , which average 500 people.
Other Facilities are Important Too
There are thousands of refugees living in Armenia who are Russian-educated and cannot read Armenian. These refugees narrowly escaped from the brutalities perpetrated against Armenians in Baku and other cities in Azerbaijan in the late 1980s. For these people, and also for people with visual impairments and for those who spend most of their daytime in a car, Merouzhan, Mourad and I produced an audiocassette of the TLIG messages. We shared between us the roles of Jesus, Our Lady and Vassula. Once again it was clear that the Holy Spirit was guiding the entire process, at times even introducing modifications to our plans.
Actually, our original plan had been to produce a videocassette, but then something in our hearts changed and we felt a great desire to produce an audiocassette instead. I prayed and asked Our Lord for His approval for this unexpected change. At that very time Arpy visited us and told that she had found TLIG due to an audiocassette that she had bought by chance in a Los Angeles store. This very cassette had led her to Jesus? Through this testimony, the Lord was clearly encouraging us to move forward.
Angels and Incense
God blessed this ministry in Armenia. Suzy Vardanian helped me with the narration of the videocassette of Vassula’s 1998 Australia meeting. I translated the text into Armenian and then dubbed it.
During the dubbing process, the daughter of the technician could smell incense and myrrh. There was a moment when Satan wanted to cause havoc. The equipment we were using was not very sophisticated and, if I had stopped at that point, we would have to start re-recording from the beginning. For a moment I could see nothing before my eyes, as if all the letters had disappeared. But I felt the presence of the angels who stood behind me, showing me the lines. From then on I continued to feel their presence very strongly and this encouraged me to keep going.
The dubbed cassette was first shown publicly to an audience of 800 people. Even the little children among them kept silent for over an hour and a half? After the film was shown many from the audience approached me with tears of joy, expressing the encouragement they had received that their God is a Loving Father, so intimate and so simple?
Sacred Heart of Jesus
In the year 2000 my mother, who had been battling with cancer, passed away. One day, when she was in pain, she pointed out to the picture of Jesus of Sacred Heart that was posted near her bed and said: “Jesus says that I have a place in His Heart”.
I was surprised, as this was a Catholic form of adoration that I had learnt it from Mother Theresa’s Order in Armenia.
This was a sign for me. A few weeks after her death, I was invited to translate True Life in God.
TLIG is welcomed in the remote parts of Armenia
Below is a letter from Hranush Nersisyan, a resident of the village of Vahagn in the Lori Region, northern Armenia.
“By the will and mercy of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I was given the booklet, ‘True Life in God’, that has been printed by your STAMPA Printing House. I liked it very much and it has become very helpful for me. From the very first time I read I learnt so many things from it – very important things. But the inhuman tortures that my Lord had undergone before His crucifixion shocked me most. And all his passion ? for the salvation of all of us?!
The booklet belonged to another person and I had to return it to her, but I would like to have my own copy.
I want to express my thanks to the team who have worked on this booklet and printed it. I ask you if it is possible to send 4-5 copies to my address, or if not, then at least one copy just for me.
I do not even know whether this booklet is for sale or whether it is free of charge. Even if it is for sale, then please mail the copy at my address and I will pay for it.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Hranush Nersisyan.”
N.B: It turned out that one of our friends would be going to that very village and we sent an entire package of TLIG booklets.
